The Originator Wars: Explorations: A Lost Fleet Novel
Page 10
The fleet was in an open cone formation with the Victory at the center. Hailey wanted to hit the Eternals as hard and fast as possible. It was the surest way to victory.
Hailey could feel the tension building in the Command Center as they closed with the Eternal fleet. This would be the first major battle since the Dominator was damaged. It would also be her first major battle under the command of Commander Zafron.
“Dominator is firing,” reported Captain Adams from his sensor console.
On the main viewscreen, a stream of blue energy spheres appeared heading toward the Eternal fleet. The Eternals tried to shoot them down but their energy beams were absorbed by the spheres. Moments later the blue spheres began to strike Eternal energy screens. Hailey knew the spheres would first absorb all the energy in the screen and then attach themselves to the ship hulls. Once attached to the hulls, the energy of the spheres would begin turning the hull material and eventually the entire Eternal warship into black space dust. Once a ship was struck, it was doomed.
“All ships are firing,” reported Commander Sutherland.
On the viewscreen, brilliant explosions of light suddenly appeared across the front of the Eternal formation.
“Eternals are returning fire,” reported Captain Adams. “Detecting large numbers of antimatter missile launches.”
“Brace for impacts,” ordered Hailey as she prepared herself. She felt her pulse racing as the battle began in earnest.
-
Both fleets were attempting to intercept the fast moving missiles with their defensive energy turrets but in most cases were failing. However, with thousands of missiles being launched hundreds were being intercepted. The space between the two fleets was lit up with small explosions indicating destroyed missiles.
The Originator battlecruisers turned broadside and opened fire with their main batteries, quickly scoring several hits with their antimatter beams and energy turrets. Missiles flew from their tubes, striking the Eternal ships.
Particle beam fire from the battlecruisers slammed into the main part of an Eternal warship setting off massive explosions and hurling glowing debris into space. The ship seemed to falter as its energy screen went through a cascade of colors as it began to fail even more. Several antimatter missiles arrived, turning the stricken ship into a miniature nova.
The lower section of an Eternal ship exploded and wreckage started drifting away from the ship. Several internal explosions split the ship in two. Both sections were then riddled with antimatter beams killing all Eternals still alive.
The entire forward section of the Eternal fleet was covered in explosions attempting to knock energy screens down. Whenever a screen failed, the ship died almost immediately from the sheer volume of weapons fire being poured into the Eternal fleet.
-
Hailey gripped the armrests of her command chair as the Victory shook violently. The ship’s energy shields were being stressed by the impact of Eternal antimatter missiles. Her eyes wandered to the damage control console where a few amber lights were blinking ominously. So far the ship had only suffered a few scorch marks to the hull.
“The Kingston is under heavy attack!” called out Captain Adams. “Her shields are about to fail.”
“Have several battlecruisers move in front of the Kingston to take off some of the pressure,” ordered Hailey, leaning forward in her command chair.
The main viewscreen changed to show the dreadnought. Its energy screen was lit up as if it was on fire. The ship was still firing its weapons but occasionally an Eternal energy beam would penetrate the shield, striking the hull. Several large glowing rents were visible. Hailey could imagine the activity inside as the crew fought to bring the damage under control.
“Have the Athens and Cambridge close with the Kingston,” ordered Hailey.
There was a sudden bright flash of light and the rear quarter of the dreadnought vanished. Instantly the fluttering energy screen collapsed completely, leaving the surviving section of the vessel open to attack. The Eternals didn’t hesitate as energy beams made short work of what was left of the ship, leaving a riddled and lifeless hulk drifting in space.
“No power readings,” reported Captain Adams, staring solemnly at Hailey. “She’s dead.”
Hailey felt her heart pounding in her chest. She blinked her eyes and turned her attention to the rest of the battle. Ships on both sides were dying. Her job was to make sure most of those doing the dying were Eternal vessels. “Continue to close the distance.”
“Firing gravitonic cannons,” said Major Marks as she pressed a glowing icon on her computer console.
-
The admiral in charge of the Eternal fleet shook his head at the audacity of the Originators and their Human partners. The Eternals would never surrender this galaxy regardless of how many ships the enemy committed to taking this galaxy for their own. If necessary more fleets would be sent to drive the Originators out.
“Enemy fleets are closing,” reported Second Commander Anston. “Our fleet is suffering heavy damage.”
“The Originators?” asked Admiral Qurant.
“The same. However, we are losing ships at a two to one rate compared to the enemy. Their dark matter missiles and dark energy beams are more than offsetting the power of our energy beams and antimatter missiles.”
The ship shuddered violently and several alarms began sounding. For a brief moment the lights flickered and then returned to normal.
“Dark matter energy beam strike to the bow,” reported Second Commander Anston. “We’ve lost two of our bow antimatter cannons and one of our missile tubes. We have several compartments open to space.”
Admiral Qurant thought furiously of what he should do. Even with the help his nanites gave him to think clearly and logically, he could not see a viable solution to win this battle. “We will continue to engage the enemy and cause as much damage to their fleets as possible. Once that has been accomplished we will make the jump into hyperspace and withdraw. It will be necessary to contact the Council of Eternals and request a larger fleet be sent to this galaxy.”
“As you command,” responded Second Commander Anston. “I will have the fleet concentrate on the larger warships. I don’t believe there are any living crewmembers on the battlecruisers. The Originators and Humans will be on the dreadnoughts.”
“Do so,” replied Admiral Qurant. “We are the Eternals and it is our destiny to rule. This battle only delays this galaxy’s entry into our Empire for a short time.”
-
The intensity of the battle increased as the opposing fleets drew into pointblank range. Antimatter and dark matter explosions lit up the forward sections of the fleets. Energy beams of various types flashed back and forth seeking weaknesses in energy shields. Occasionally one would be found and a ship would explode or be riddled with weapons fire. In some instances ships were turned into miniature novas as dark matter missiles or antimatter missiles destroyed them. The battle was intense and unrelenting with both sides trying to destroy the other.
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The Victory shook violently as alarms began sounding on the damage control console.
“Multiple energy beam strikes to the bow,” reported Commander Sutherland as the lights dimmed and stayed that way.
“All power is being shunted to the energy screen,” called out Major Marks. “Screen is holding at 68 percent.”
“Battlecruisers 234, 336, 513 and 811 are moving in to help take some of the pressure off us,” added Commander Sutherland. “The Eternals seem to be concentrating their fire on our dreadnoughts.”
Several massive explosions of light on the main viewscreen indicated dying ships.
“We just lost the Justin, Hermes, Tripoli, and Fury,” reported Captain Adams. “Other ships are taking major damage.”
“Continue to fire on the Eternals,” ordered Hailey as she gripped the armrests on her command chair. “They are losing ships at a much faster rate than we are.” It pained her to see her dreadnough
ts being destroyed. They were her crewed vessels and she knew brave men and women were dying.
“More inbound missiles!” yelled Captain Adams as brilliant blasts of light covered the viewscreen. “Many of them are targeting us.”
“Hold on!” warned Captain Sutherland, preparing for the impacts.
The ship began shaking and then there was a loud explosion. Several consoles exploded, sending showers of hot sparks across the Command Center. People were screaming and yelling out commands as the Command Center descended into chaos.
Hailey saw and felt Commandeer Sutherland suddenly reach over and slap the harness release across her chest and then jerk her out of the command chair. At the same moment a large metal structural beam fell, crushing the chair and striking Hailey in the left shoulder. Hailey fell to the deck stunned and in pain.
-
“Ship status!” yelled Commander Sutherland as he stood back up on shaky legs. There was a large jagged cut on his right arm where the falling beam had struck him. Blood was dripping down onto the deck.
“Shield is at 15 percent and dropping,” reported Major Marks as her hands flew over her console. “Main power seems to be out and we’re running on secondaries. I’m trying to re-initiate the shield. It’s going to take a minute or two.”
“We don’t have a minute or two,” replied Commander Sutherland as he looked around the smoke filled Command Center. Red lights were flashing and alarms were sounding on numerous consoles. Rear Admiral Mann seemed to be in shock and was still lying where he had pushed her.
“We have fires out of control near Engineering and Life Support,” reported the damage control officer. “I’m trying to get repair crews to those areas but there’s a lot of wreckage.”
“Caria, pull us back so we can get some of this damage under control,” ordered Commander Sutherland. In the distance, he could hear several secondary explosions. There was no doubt the Victory was heavily damaged and might even have to be abandoned. “Also, summon additional medical personnel to the Command Center; we have quite a few injured.” Sutherland looked over at Rear Admiral Mann who was now sitting on the floor leaning up against the command console where a med tech was examining her. She had a look of intense pain in her eyes.
“How’s the ship?” she managed to get out.
“Still holding together, but barely,” replied Sutherland. “We’re pulling back to try to get some of the damage under control.” He just hoped the Eternals didn’t hit the Victory again before she reached safety. All it would take would be one antimatter missile and the ship would be toast.
The lights suddenly brightened and then went out completely. After a moment the emergency lighting flicked on. What now, wondered Sutherland. The situation seemed to be going from bad to worse.
“Secondary power has failed,” reported Major Marks. “Fires have cut the power lines. I’m trying to work my way around it. We’re operating on battery power at the moment.”
The ship shuddered again from another explosion somewhere in its interior. “Caria, did we get away from the combat area?” Sutherland knew if they didn’t, the ship wouldn’t survive much longer.
“Yes, sir,” Caria replied. “But just barely.”
“We have six battlecruisers shielding us,” reported Caption Adams. “My sensors are working on short-range only. We’re on the extreme edge of the fighting.”
The main hatch opened and emergency medical personnel flooded into the Command Center. Several went immediately to Rear Admiral Mann to help the med tech who was administering medical treatment to her arm.
The lights suddenly came back on and several of the consoles which had been down lit back up with power.
“I have rerouted the secondary power,” reported Major Marks with relief in her eyes. “Energy shield is at 20 percent and that’s the best I can do with the power we have available.”
“Message from the Dominator,” reported Lieutenant Sparks. “We’re to stay back until the battle is over. Commander Zafron is taking over command of both fleets.”
“Acknowledge the order and transmit to all of our ships that Commander Zafron is taking command until further notice,” ordered Commander Sutherland.
“Can we save the ship?” asked Rear Admiral Mann. She was standing with the aid of a med tech. Her arm was in a protective sling.
Commander Sutherland looked over at damage control.
“Most of the fires are out but we have a lot of hull and internal damage. At the moment the hyperdrive and sublight drive are both down. The chief engineer says it will take about four hours to get the hyperdrive back up and operational. We’ll have minimal sublight in about another hour.”
-
The main viewscreen suddenly came back to life. They could still see the battle raging in front of them. The Dominator was in the middle of it, devastating Eternal vessels with the ship’s blue energy spheres. Glowing and burning wreckage was everywhere but dying out quickly from lack of oxygen. The space around the front of both fleets seemed to be on fire from the continuous explosions of antimatter and dark matter missiles. Small nova-like flashes of light indicated dying ships on both sides.
Hailey winced when she moved her broken arm. The med tech had given her a painkiller which helped. She needed to get down to the med bay and have her arm reset. With Originator medical technology, she would be as good as new in a few hours. She saw several of her command crew being carried out on stretchers. Looking at her command chair, she saw it was completely crushed by the structural beam that had fallen. If Commander Sutherland hadn’t pulled her to safety there was no doubt she would have died.
-
On the Dominator Commander Zafron was relieved to hear the Victory was safe. He ordered two dreadnoughts and six battlecruisers to see to its continued protection. “What is the status of the Eternal fleet?”
“They are starting to fall back,” replied Kazak as he fired another wave of blue energy spheres at four nearby Eternal battlecruisers. In another few minutes all four ships would be reduced to black space dust. “We’ve eliminated over half of their fleet and their ship losses are now at the rate of three of theirs to every one we lose. Probability of our victory is at 96 percent.”
“Enemy ships are beginning to enter hyperspace,” reported Captain Grayson. “They’re leaving!”
“Continue to fire on them until they’re all either destroyed or have made the transition into hyperspace,” ordered Commander Zafron in a cold and uncompromising voice. The anti-life deserved no mercy and would get none from him.
The battle quickly wound down and soon the last Eternal vessel was destroyed. For the first time in many long minutes no explosions were taking place.
“Secure from Condition One and go to Condition Two,” ordered Commander Zafron. “For the time being this galaxy is ours. I intend to move one of the battlestations here and use it as a base to hold this galaxy.”
Zafron knew the fighting was far from over. No doubt the Eternals would send more ships to try to push the Originators out of the galaxy. With the battlestation in place, it would make it that much more difficult for the Eternals to accomplish.
-
Rear Admiral Hailey Mann was in the med bay where her arm was being healed. She was busy studying a computer pad listing the damage to the ship. It was obvious her flagship was going to spend at least a good month in a repair bay. Leaning back on her pillow she closed her eyes. They finally had a victory against the Eternals in this galaxy. She knew of Commander Zafron’s plan to use one of the forty-kilometer battlestations as a major base so they could hold the galaxy. Once the battlestation was in place, six fleet bases would be built around the galaxy to respond to any Eternal incursions. Once all of that was done, it would be time to move on to the next galaxy. This was like draining the ocean one drop at a time. While they might have taken control of this galaxy there were thousands of others waiting ahead of them where more battles would have to be fought. It was a war which might never end.
Jeremy was in the Command Center of the New Horizon. The data from the preliminary scans of the satellite galaxy they were orbiting were in. Originator scientists along with their AIs and Human counterparts had chosen twenty stars for the first survey. All should be capable of harboring life.
“We’ll send out the New Horizon and four other exploration dreadnoughts,” said Jeremy to Rear Admiral Barnes. “Each will be accompanied by ten dreadnoughts and twenty battlecruisers. Our other ships will remain here until the initial survey is completed. Once that’s finished we’ll do a more detailed survey of the satellite galaxy before moving on to the main galaxy.”
Rear Admiral Barnes looked thoughtful. “How many systems do we want to explore in the smaller galaxy?”
“Depends on what our initial survey finds. It would be nice if we can find some space going races who will aid us against the Eternals. If we could unite this cluster of galaxies and satellite galaxies against the Eternals, it would be a pretty good roadblock against their future expansion.”
Kathryn nodded. “As long as the Eternals don’t realize what we’re doing.”
“Not to mention as far out as we are the technology we encounter in these galaxies might be considerably different from what we’re used to,” added Kelsey. She could hardly wait to begin exploring; it was what she had designed the New Horizon for. The super exploration dreadnought was equipped with everything imaginable which might be needed for exploration. As well as a number of Altons who were trained in first contact protocols. The ship also had a very large crew including a considerable number of Originator AIs.
“I have communication buoys ready to deploy when we leave,” added Angela. “It will allow us to coordinate better and keep in constant communication if we find anything important.”
“When do we start?” asked Kathryn. She was ready to begin exploring. She was already missing her father but knew she had a duty to perform just as he did.