This is a very good story about the good guys against the bad guys. See, the galaxy is being destroyed by the Vorn, a.k.a. Destroyer of Worlds, or just Black Ships. This an insect-like race of beings that come to harvest our galaxy every million years or so and then they kind of go away. Now, when I say harvest, I mean that. They turn every living thing on a planet, moon, or space station into a consumable pellet that they can then eat. Nothing living is left on a planet, moon or space station once the Vorn arrive and do their thing. They also have advanced technology that just about makes their starships invincible. So, there’s really no stopping these voracious insects.
The galaxy humans exist in has a lot of intelligent races. They have been flourishing for millions of years since the last Vorn culling. Some have grown to become very advanced races now called Enlightened in that their people have left all aggressive tendencies behind and now pursue knowledge. They exist peacefully knowing that they are protected by some other races that are classified as Protectors. These are races of beings that haven’t yet reached Enlightenment so they still have some militaristic tendencies that allow them to defend the Enlightened. Still, even the Protectors don’t have the technology to stand up against the Vorn.
Well, except for one race called the Lakiams. They have built special missiles that have warheads in the two-hundred megaton range which when fired in volleys of forty or more against a single spot on a Vorn ship, can overload the Vorn ships shields causing a catastrophic explosion destroying the ship. That’s been done successfully in just one encounter with the Vorn. The Lakiams do not know if they can continue to stop the Vorn in this manner since these large missiles are expensive to make and the technology is very difficult to master. They are willing to share this technology with other Protectors to some extent. But, they need an alliance of all or most all of the Protector worlds so they can fight as one which might give them all a chance. Unfortunately, the Protector worlds are accustomed to fighting and doing their own thing and not cooperating with others. But Commodore Dreen, Commander of the Liakiam fleet feels he must get this alliance formed or they are all doomed.
Meanwhile, Admiral Kurt Vickers, a human from the planet Newton is in charge of protecting both Earth and Newton. The Solar System and the Newton System are in a very uninhabited sector of the galaxy far from the Protectorate and Enlightened civilizations. It’s thought that the Vorn would never find them and even if they did, the probably wouldn’t bother culling either planet since it wouldn’t be worth their time and effort. Still, Admiral Vickers knows that he must do something to help the galactic community or humanity won’t have anything to advance towards. They would be on their own when the Vorn wipes out all other intelligent races taking with them their advanced knowledge. He has a plan that might provide some additional allies for this galactic battle. Unfortunately, it’s based on a myth which he has to prove as true. Doing so, thought, might mean he will never return to Newton or Earth, ever!
There should be more Star Cross books so I’m looking forward to the series continuing. I’m not sure why, but the author isn’t showing this as a series on his cover titles. I had to find out which book in the series this was by looking at the end of the book. So, you need to be careful to get them read in the correct order.