“They have sufficient hyperspace technology to make the journeys to the other galaxies but it’s not nearly as fast as ours,” pointed out Nomar. “I would suggest we help them to improve their hyperdrives so they can make the trips to other galaxies in a more reasonable length of time.”
Kathryn nodded. “We can make that part of our agreement.”
“There are some other technologies I would suggest we share with them as well,” said Panthel. “However, before we do that we must speak to the Originator Council and get their approval. Since the Galactic Union’s primary races are on a similar technological level as the Altons, I don’t believe that will be a problem.”
“We should be able to finish up the negotiations in a few more days,” said Kathryn. “That will give us time to contact the council and get their approval on any technology we want to share with the Galactic Union.”
“I will make a list of the technology I feel will be useful,” replied Panthel.
Kelsey was glad to hear they were just about finished with negotiations. While they were important, she was anxious to get back to Jeremy. Jason was asking about him two or three times a day. The Avenger and the other ships had all returned to the battlestation outside the satellite galaxy. Kelsey knew Jeremy was really concerned about the Creevak and their possible reappearance.
-
Later Kelsey, Katie, and Angela were in the officer’s cafeteria eating a light snack and talking about the kids.
Katie looked over at Kelsey and laughed. Kelsey had a large bowl of strawberries topped off with a towering mound of whipped cream. “You know, as long as I’ve known you there’s always a bowl of strawberries around. You’re as bad about them as Kevin is about hamburgers.”
Kelsey grinned. “At least they’re good for you.”
“Not with all that whipped cream,” said Angela. “You even ate those back at the Fleet Academy when we were still on the Moon.”
Kelsey nodded. “Yes, those were the good old days.”
Katie blinked, her green eyes narrowing slightly. “We’re not that old, at least not physically.” Which was true as all three of them had taken Alton and Originator anti-aging drugs which had significantly increased their lifespans. All three girls still looked as if they were in their early thirties.
Kelsey took a bite of strawberries and then looked at the other two. “Once this mission is done should we stay on the Dyson sphere for a while? Maybe it would be the best place for the kids rather than on a spaceship.” It was something she had been thinking seriously about.
“I would like that,” replied Angela with a nod. “The only problem is what would the guys want to do? Jeremy is always running off somewhere in the Avenger.”
“Putting out fires,” commented Kelsey. “I wish he would let others do some of that.”
“He did put Admiral Jackson in charge while we’re gone,” pointed out Katie. “Maybe now he would be more willing to stay on the Dyson sphere. After all, with all the new people coming from the evacuations in the Federation, there’s going to be a lot that will need to be done getting them acclimated to Alton and Originator technology.”
A look of concern crossed Angela’s face. “I wish we knew what was going to happen back in the Federation. What if the Eternals manage to destroy it? What would that do to us?”
“Admiral Tolsen is at New Tellus and his sister Rear Admiral Massie Tolsen is in the Solar System,” said Kelsey. “Next to Jeremy, Race is our best admiral. If anyone can stop the Eternals from destroying the Federation, it will be him.”
“I hope so,” said Katie as she took a bite of the cherry pie in front of her. “Someday I would like to take the kids back to Earth just to show them where we’re from.”
“Speaking of the kids,” said Angela, “I think they would enjoy growing up in the Dyson sphere much better than here on the New Horizon. Even as large as this ship is they are limited as to where they can play. At their age they need to be outside.”
Kelsey let out a deep sigh. She knew Angela was right. As much as she had enjoyed designing and building the New Horizon, her responsibly now was raising Jason in the best environment possible and that was not on a spaceship.
“I’ll talk to Jeremy when we get back. Maybe I can talk him into returning to the Dyson sphere, at least for a few years until the evacuees are all settled.”
“I think it’s time for us to settle down and quit flying around the universe,” said Katie, drawing in a deep breath. “We’ve done our share. There are projects we can still do on the Dyson sphere which are important. “Besides,” said Katie with a grin. “I want to see my grandkids someday.”
Angela and Kelsey both nodded. Perhaps it was indeed time for their explorations to come to an end.
-
Jeremy was back on board the battlestation reviewing the reports from Rear Admiral Barnes. It looked as if their goal of enlisting this cluster of galaxies in the war against the Eternals was well underway. They had been fortunate to contact a civilization like the Galactic Union. Jeremy wondered if there were other similar civilizations in any of the nearby galaxies.
“This looks very promising,” said Aaliss. “If we can use the resources of the Galactic Union, it should pose a serious threat to the Eternals’ continued advance through this section of the universe.”
Jeremy leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. He was in a small conference room just outside the Command Center of the battlestation. “I wonder if we should build a couple Originator shipyards here. We’re a long way from Originator space and it will take us seven or eight weeks to rush reinforcements here when the Eternals arrive.”
“Are you suggesting we build the shipyards here in the satellite galaxy or in the main galaxy?”
“Here in the satellite galaxy,” replied Jeremy. “We’ve as of yet to locate any major space going races. We could place an Accelerator Ring near the capital planet of the Galactic Union if they’ll agree. Transit time from the satellite galaxy to the capital system for our fleets would be cut to just a day or two at the most.”
Aaliss nodded. “We could set up some automated mining operations. From the destruction the Creevak caused we know where some of the primary mineral fields are located.”
“It would give us a powerful presence here. We could also place two of our forty-kilometer battlestations at the location of the shipyards for protection or even one of the new 170-kilometer battlestations.”
“It is a sound strategy,” replied Aaliss. “We would be opening up a second front against the Eternals. It may be just enough to deter them from attacking this section of the universe.”
Jeremy looked up at the viewscreen showing the satellite galaxy. “What if the Creevak return before the battlestation gets here? We’re still talking about several months.” This was a deep concern of Jeremy’s. The Creevak could throw a huge monkey wrench in his plans.
“They have to come through the anomaly,” replied Aaliss. “We can use that to our advantage.”
“We put more of our fleet there until the station arrives,” replied Jeremy. He wished now he had brought a larger fleet with him. He hadn’t thought it would be needed since he had the battlestation.
Aaliss nodded. “I have run some simulations. I believe the Creevak could send more than one ship through at a time and possibly very rapidly if they wanted to. Much of it is just conjecture as we don’t know a lot about how the anomaly functions. I would suggest putting at least half of our current fleet there to act as a blocking force. That many ships using dark matter weapons should be able to stop any Creevak ships from coming through.”
Jeremy let out a deep breath. The Creevak could still wreck his plans. “We’ll do that. Not only that but we’ll take the Avenger there as well.”
“What about our exploration ships?”
Jeremy adjusted the viewscreen to show the closer galaxies in this cluster. “We’ll use the Accelerator Ring to begin sending them to the nearer galaxies along with a reason
able escort. I’ll contact Rear Admiral Barnes and see if the Galactic Union would like to assign some of their people to the ships to see how we go about first contact.”
“That is wise,” replied Aaliss. “Once we demonstrate to the Galactic Union how we go about first contacts and bringing other races into the alliance against the Eternals, we can turn more of that work over to them. They can guide this galactic cluster in resisting the Eternals with our assistance.”
“I’ll contact Rear Admiral Barnes and inform her of our plan. We’ll recall all exploration ships except the New Horizon. Once the ships are here we’ll give the crews a few days off in the battlestation before sending them through the Accelerator Ring. I’ll start sending more warships to the anomaly as a precaution starting tomorrow. We’ll leave ourselves as soon as all the exploration ships have left on their missions.”
Aaliss closed her eyes briefly and then nodded. “I just informed the fleet’s AIs here at the battlestation and the ships nearby. They are in agreement with the planned strategy. However, they are of the opinion we should station one or two exploration dreadnoughts at the anomaly. Their highly advanced observation instruments might be able to discover valuable data about the anomaly.”
Jeremy agreed with the suggestion. The exploration dreadnoughts might give them advance warning if the Creevak started coming through. Jeremy stood up and looked at Aaliss. Even though she was an Originator AI, she was quite beautiful. Jeremy wondered if the form Aaliss inhabited had been modeled after a living Originator. Perhaps someday he would ask her. “I’m going to go get something to eat and then head back to the Avenger.”
“I’ll be back on board shortly,” replied Aaliss. “I need to speak with Ariel and then make sure all ships are sufficiently stocked for their missions.” The battlestation had numerous storage rooms packed full of supplies for the ships. There were also massive armories on board full of whatever munitions the ships might need.
-
Jeremy made his way to the nearest cafeteria where many members of the fleet’s crews tended to take their meals when they were on the station. Stepping inside he was surprised to see Kevin and Brace sitting at a table over to one side. Getting in line, he filled his plate with Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. To top it off he added a couple of hot rolls with butter. Then he made his way to where his friends were sitting.
Kevin looked up, seeing Jeremy. Even now, he still had freckles on his face to go along with his red hair. “Hungry?”
Jeremy laughed. “Some. I thought you two would be down in the habitat area.”
“I’m helping with the combat robots on the battlestation,” explained Brace who was eating a pork steak and a baked potato. “Major Adkins requested some assistance and some information on how best to use the robots if the station is ever boarded by the Creevak or the Eternals and their warrior robots. We spent some time going over the critical areas of the station which would need to be defended.”
“How many combat robots are on the station?” Jeremy knew there were some though he had no idea of the total number.
“Six hundred combat robots and four hundred Marines,” replied Brace.
Jeremy took a bite of his Salisbury steak and then spoke. “We brought a lot of people out here with us. We’re a long ways from home and it might be a while before we can all get back to the Dyson sphere.”
“Soldiers and Marines will go where needed,” replied Brace. “They know their job and won’t hesitate to do it. Besides, this battlestation has some pretty good recreation areas plus the interior habitat is just like home.”
“We should make habitat areas in all of our battlestations going on long-range deployments,” said Jeremy. Jeremy figured it would be a great moral booster. “When I get back to the Dyson sphere and can speak to the Originator Council in person I’m going to recommend that.”
Kevin finished off his hamburger and eyed the three French fries still on his plate. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to send the exploration dreadnoughts along with escorts to the nearer galaxies. We’re also going to send more ships to guard the anomaly until the new battlestation gets here.”
“The Avenger?”
Jeremy looked over at Kevin. “I’m taking it to the anomaly to command the ships we’re going to have there. We must make sure the Creevak don’t come through before the new battlestation arrives.”
“When do we leave?”
“Probably three or four days.”
“When will the New Horizon be back?”
Jeremy recalled what Rear Admiral Barnes had said in her reports. “Probably another week or two. They’ll come here to the battlestation when they’re finished with their meetings with the Galactic Union representatives.”
“Let’s hope the Creevak don’t show up,” said Brace. “It could throw a wrench into all of our plans.”
Jeremy was in complete agreement. They were so close to accomplishing the primary goal of this mission in setting up a blockade point against the Eternals. Jeremy didn’t want anything to screw that up and the Creevak showing up could do just that.
-
In the Solar System, the setting of martial law and the impending attack by the Eternals had created a mad rush of the general population to be evacuated. Every hour shuttles were launching from Earth and Mars carrying evacuees up to the waiting Originator transport ships. As soon as a ship was loaded, it left orbit and headed to one of the two operational Accelerator Rings.
-
In orbit near Earth, Fleet Admiral Nagumo watched as the Accelerator Ring activated and six large Originator transport vessels entered the swirling blue vortex.
Commander Summers was standing near Fleet Admiral Nagumo watching the main viewscreen. “The evacuation is proceeding rapidly now. Our latest reports indicate an influx of evacuation requests from the planets of Talon and Bison in the 61 Cygni System as well as from Harmony in the Alpha Centauri System. Similar reports are coming in from Epsilon Indi and Procyon A.”
‘Goombridge, Serenity, and Bliss are screaming for their own Accelerator Rings,” commented Nagumo. “Unfortunately we don’t have time to send them one and it’s not practical to send the Originator transports that far.”
“So what are we telling them?” On the main viewscreen, the Accelerator Ring shut down until the next group of transports was ready to leave.
“We’re stalling,” replied Nagumo. “They had an opportunity earlier to support us in the war effort and refused to do so. We’re telling them as soon as the other evacuations are complete we’ll send the transports to them.”
“Admiral, we have a problem,” reported Lieutenant Pamela Meyers from Communications. “The mining colony on Juno is refusing to evacuate.”
A deep frown crossed Nagumo’s face. Juno was about 260 kilometers in diameter and one of the larger asteroids. It was also rich in heavy metals. There were several large mining operations on the asteroid with the majority of the inhabitants living in two massive domes.
“How many people are currently on Juno?”
Commander Summers stepped over to a computer console and called up some information. “There are twenty-eight thousand miners and their families on the asteroid.”
Nagumo knew all it would take would be a couple of missiles and the habitat domes would be history. They’d also be a tempting target for any Eternal vessel. “Commander Summers, set a course for Juno. Have the assault ship Phoenix join us as well as one of the Originator transports. President Treadway has declared martial law and we’ll use the Marines to remove the miners and their families.”
“There could be violence,” warned Commander Summers. “You know how the big mining corporations have been about this evacuation.”
“This is a situation we can control and it will set an example for the other mining and scientific outposts. We’ll use nonlethal force but I want every single miner and their families removed from Juno.”
-
A
few minutes later the Luna, her escorts, the assault ship Phoenix, and one of the large Originator transports were on their way to Juno.
-
Mayor Brian Moss was in the Communications Center of the primary habitation dome on Juno. He had just received word from the home office on Earth, a fleet task group led by Fleet Admiral Nagumo was on its way to remove all the miners and their families from Juno.
“Like hell they will!” he muttered. The mining of heavy metals on Juno was a highly lucrative business and Brian’s bonuses were nearly off the scale. He wasn’t going to allow anything or anyone to risk that.
He turned to his second in command, Mike Adams. “Seal the mines so the military can’t get in. The miners can safely stay inside for several weeks if necessary using the emergency supply caches. Also, place armed guards at all entrances to the two domes to prevent them from getting in. If necessary I want those entrances barricaded.”
Adams looked doubtful. “This is the Federation military we’re talking about. If they want in, they’ll get in. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Mayor Moss glared at his second in command. “I’m not shutting the mines down and I don’t care what the military or the president says. Besides, they won’t dare risk injuring civilians.”
Adams nodded his head, still feeling doubtful about his orders. “I’ll take care of it but I think it’s a mistake.”
“You’re not paid to think but to follow orders,” replied Moss coldly.
Without another word, Adams left the Communications Center to carry out his instructions. He had a strong feeling this was not going to end well.
-
Using a quick hyperspace jump the small fleet made the transit to Juno to drop out a few thousand kilometers from the large inhabited asteroid.
“Who’s in charge down there?” asked Fleet Admiral Nagumo.
“A Mayor Brian Moss,” answered Commander Summers.
Nagumo turned toward Communications. “See if you can get Mayor Moss on the comm.”
The Originator Wars: Explorations: A Lost Fleet Novel Page 27