The Originator Wars: Search for the Lost: A Lost Fleet Novel

by Raymond L. Weil

  “Shields are up and weapons are coming online,” reported Waltorr, the ship’s tactical officer. “We have a target less than twelve kilometers away. Firing.”

  Fleet Commander Norlan stared intently at the tactical display seeing several hundred Eternal battlecruisers drop off the screen. Red threat icons were intermixed throughout his formation. The enemy had jumped right into the middle of his emerging fleet. “All ships, target those vessels and destroy them!” While it was true the enemy had managed to spring a trap they were still hopelessly outnumbered. Norlan was feeling anger that his flagship had already suffered major damage.

  -

  Rear Admiral Mann held onto her command chair as the Victory shook violently. On the viewscreen, it was evident the Eternals were now returning fire. “Continue firing; we still have some time before they can fully adjust to our ships being inside their formation.” On the main screens, the images shifted to show more ships of the fleet involved in heavy combat. The screen seemed to come alive with explosions and energy beams.

  -

  In space, particle beam fire from the dreadnoughts slammed into Eternal battlecruisers causing major damage, setting off massive explosions, and hurling glowing debris into space. Several Eternal vessels received critical damage and exploded in giant fireballs, which quickly faded away in the vacuum of space.

  Gravitonic cannons ripped into Eternal vessels tearing open compartments and exposing them to the vacuum of space. The beams played over the Eternal vessels causing irreparable damage.

  An Eternal energy beam struck the top section of a dreadnought causing a powerful explosion and debris started drifting away from the ship. More energy beams arrived, smashing through the already weakened energy screens and suddenly the vessel blew apart sending glowing wreckage across space.

  A pair of dark matter missiles slammed into the stern of an Eternal battlecruiser that had lost its energy shield. The ship vanished in a fiery explosion. Throughout the Eternal formation, massive explosions tore at and smashed through energy screens leaving the Eternal battlecruisers vulnerable. The dreadnoughts pressed their advantage, pouring weapons fire into the beleaguered Eternal fleet.

  On both sides energy weapons were seeking to bring down energy shields and powerful missiles were detonating trying to overload them with energy. In some cases on both sides energy shields were overloaded and simply collapsed. Sometimes the weapons fire was so heavy the ship beneath the collapsed shield simply vanished as it was turned into space dust.

  -

  Fleet Commander Solten’s eyes widened as he gazed at a viewscreen showing the damage to Fleet Commander Norlan’s battlecruiser. The entire forward third of the ship was in ruins. The battle was growing in intensity as more ships brought their weapons into play. The center of the main Eternal fleet looked like the heart of a blazing furnace. Damaged and dying ships were everywhere on both sides. Solten had never witnessed a battle of such intensity where warships were in many instances only a few kilometers apart. Weapons fire did not miss as the two sides hammered at each other.

  -

  Fleet Commander Norlan gazed in satisfaction as an enemy ship died under the heavy weapons fire of the Devastator and three other Eternal battlecruisers. When the weapons fire stopped all that remained of the enemy ship was a twisted mass of metal.

  “Find us another target,” he ordered. He had the numbers and all of his ships had finished exiting hyperspace. Shields were up and weapons were online. If the enemy refused to withdraw he would crush them.

  -

  Rear Admiral Mann felt her ship take an energy beam strike. On the damage control console several red lights appeared.

  “We just lost two secondary gravitonic cannons and four power beam turrets,” reported Commander Sutherland. “We have seventeen compartments open to space.”

  “Coming up on thirty seconds,” reported Caria as she prepared to take the Victory back into hyperspace.

  “We just lost the dreadnoughts New Terra and Calidon,” reported Captain Adams.

  “We have a lot of ships reporting damage,” added Lieutenant Sparks from Communications.

  “Jumping,” said Caria as a hyperspace vortex formed in front of the Victory. She used the ship’s gravity drive to take the flagship quickly into its center.

  Hailey felt a slight wrenching sensation in her stomach and then the Victory was exiting hyperspace near the 4,200 battlecruisers of the Originator AIs.

  “We made it,” breathed out Commander Sutherland with relief in his voice.

  “Other dreadnoughts exiting hyperspace around us,” reported Captain Adams.

  Hailey took a deep breath and then turned toward Commander Sutherland. “Erick, what did we lose?”

  Commander Sutherland took a moment to study the status of the fleet. Then he turned toward Rear Admiral Mann with a somber look on his face. “Eighty-seven dreadnoughts were destroyed outright, another fourteen that couldn’t jump were left behind. One hundred and forty-seven others are reporting various levels of damage.”

  Hailey winced at hearing of the destroyed ships and the fourteen other ships they had left within the Eternal fleet. By now the Eternals would have destroyed them. “What of the Eternals, how much damage did we do?” She would now know if her attack could be called successful.

  “Four hundred and seventeen Eternal battlecruisers destroyed and another two hundred and sixty significantly damaged.”

  That was a nearly five to one advantage for her fleet. It was a victory, which was a good way to start out what might be a long and dragged out battle. She was hoping the damage she caused might delay or put off the Eternals trying to conquer the Shrieel.

  “Order all ships which have suffered heavy damage to put in at the spacedocks on the Dyson Sphere,” she ordered. “The rest of our ships are to initiate on board repairs while we have a break in the fighting.”

  Looking at the tactical display, she could see the two Eternal fleets forming up into one large formation. She wasn’t sure how much time she had bought but she suspected it wasn’t much. “Contact Rear Admiral Cross and give him the latest data on the battle; have him transmit it to the hub. Fleet Admiral Strong needs to know what we’re up against and the results of our first engagement.” She knew the fleet admiral would probably rush here with a fleet, but it would take two days before he could reach the Dyson Sphere.

  Lieutenant Sparks hurriedly sent the message and data, knowing how important it was for this information to get back to the hub as soon as possible.

  Admiral Mann took a full minute to observe the developing formation of the Eternals. She reached a decision and activated the ship-to-ship comm link. “All ships, form up in attack formation A-Four. Combat is imminent, I repeat, combat is imminent.”

  -

  In space, the battlecruisers and heavy dreadnoughts quickly began adjusting their formation. Attack formation A-Four required two thousand AI battlecruisers to form lines four high and five hundred long. A gap was left in the center for the remaining heavy dreadnoughts to fill. Behind the front formation, the remaining 2,200 battlecruisers fell into four equal lines to act as reserves. Any gap caused by a ship being destroyed in the forward lines would be filled by one of the reserve battlecruisers.

  -

  At the Communications and Transport Hub Angela was on duty in the Communications Center. She was speaking to a young female Carethian who was being trained to operate one of the large communication consoles. Suddenly alarms began sounding on one of the consoles, and a large red light started flashing. Glancing over at the console Angela recognized it as the one monitoring Galaxy X-938. She felt a chill run down her back. She knew the warning alarms and the red light could only mean one thing: the Eternals had launched their long awaited attack against Rear Admiral Mann and the Dyson Sphere.

  Angela hurried over to the console where two Originator AIs and an Alton were sitting.

  “The Eternals have launched their attack on the Shrieel,” one of the AIs r
eported. “Rear Admiral Cross reports fourteen thousand Eternal vessels are in the system. Rear Admiral Mann has fought a brief engagement destroying over four hundred Eternal vessels and damaging many more. At the moment the two fleets are reforming their formations and further combat is imminent.”

  Angela took a moment to listen to the communication as well as briefly glance at the data sent. Turning she went back over to her command console and pressed the button which would put her in immediate contact with Jeremy.

  “He’s waiting for your call,” Ariel said as she appeared directly behind Angela. “I told him the attack on the Dyson Sphere has started.”

  Angela nodded as Jeremy came on the line. She quickly told him what was happening in Galaxy X-938 and then sent the data to his private computer in his office.

  “I was afraid of this,” Jeremy said. “The Eternals are hitting us with a much larger fleet than we expected.”

  “Can Rear Admiral Mann hold the Dyson Sphere?” asked Angela.

  “Yes, I’m not worried about that, but we’re going to take some heavy losses.”

  “Are you taking a fleet?” Angela could not imagine Jeremy remaining at the hub if one of his fleets was in danger.

  “Yes,” Jeremy replied. “We don’t know if this is only a probe or the real attack. What if tomorrow the Eternals show up with a fleet two or three times the size of this one? I have a fleet ready for just this type of emergency. I’ll be leaving on the Avenger shortly. Inform Rear Admiral Cross I’m bringing a relief fleet but it will take us two days to get there.”

  “I’ll tell him you’re on the way,” Angela replied. She disconnected and prepared to send the message.

  Jeremy was about to go off again into a possible confrontation with the Eternals. Kelsey and Katie would both be upset with their husbands rushing off so suddenly. Angela was glad Brace’s military job kept him grounded to the Dyson Sphere. She didn’t like to worry about his well-being. Once her shift was over she was going to make it a point to go see both Kelsey and Katie. She knew with both of them being pregnant they would take their husbands going off into danger a little harder than they had in the past.

  “Take care of Clair while I’m gone,” Ariel said. “She has her training schedule to follow and with both Clarissa and I gone, it will be up to you to make sure she follows it. Being the oldest, sometime in the future she may be in a position very similar to Jeremy’s and will be the leader of the new special children.” With that, Ariel vanished.

  Ariel’s words brought some concern to Angela’s face. She hadn’t considered since Clair would be over three years older than the other children she might end up being the one in charge. Ariel had just given her something else to worry about.

  -

  Jeremy quickly made several calls and with Ariel’s assistance soon had everything set in motion to launch the reserve fleet. As he was finishing talking to Admiral Kalen Governor Barnes came into his office.

  The governor sat down as Jeremy finished up his calls.

  “So the Eternals have attacked Rear Admiral Mann’s fleet?” Governor Barnes had a concerned look on his face.

  “Yes, there’s been a brief engagement.”

  “Jeremy, every time we engage the Eternals we’re losing more people. At the moment that’s not a problem due to all the military personnel who came with us when we left Ceres. But at some point in time it’s going to be.”

  Leaning back in his chair Jeremy folded his arms across his chest. “We’ve reduced the crews on the heavy dreadnoughts to just twenty; ten in the Command Center, five in Engineering, and a small squad of Marines. I don’t see how we can reduce the crew size any smaller.”

  “I’m not proposing that,” Governor Barnes said. “I think it’s time we talked about making contact with the Federation and requesting help. They could provide the crews we need.”

  “The Originators might not approve of that,” Jeremy said. He too was concerned about the drain on the military if the war grew into a full-scale intergalactic confrontation. The battlecruisers of the Originators and their military AIs needed crewed vessels to guide them in the war effort. That was the purpose of the heavy dreadnoughts as well as to provide a heavy weapons platform.

  “We can talk to Bartoll. I’m only speaking of bringing Federation personnel to the Communications and Transport Hub, not to the other Dyson Spheres and most of them would be on this Dyson Sphere where our cities are located.”

  Jeremy took a deep breath. He knew Governor Barnes was correct. If they did not find a solution to the manpower problem they could very easily lose this war. “The Federation will demand access to Originator technology.”

  “I’m sure we could arrange some type of tradeoff,” Governor Barnes replied. “Perhaps some of the less sensitive technology would be the solution.”

  “Very well, when I get back from this mission we’ll sit down and talk to Bartoll. He’s brilliant and may see the wisdom of bringing in more Federation help.”

  “Have you heard anything from Kathryn?” asked the governor, showing concern for his daughter.

  “No, we haven’t been able to raise the Distant Horizon or any ship of Kathryn’s fleet for a number of days. I don’t believe there’s any reason to be alarmed. If they have found the lost Originators there may be a very good reason for the lack of communication. If it continues I will send an additional fleet to investigate.”

  “I hope there’s nothing wrong,” said Governor Barnes, sounding like a concerned father. “Kathryn means everything to me.”

  They were interrupted as Ariel popped in. “The Avenger will be ready to depart within the hour. Shuttles are retrieving the crew even as we speak.”

  “Good luck on your mission,” Governor Barnes said as he stood to leave.

  “We’ll be back soon and don’t worry about Kathryn. With Clarissa and the Dominator I’m sure they can handle any problem they come across.”

  “I hope so,” Barnes replied.

  Jeremy hoped so too but for now he needed to get to the Avenger. Galaxy X-938 was two days away and he needed to arrive there as soon as possible. Jeremy greatly feared they were about to find out if a Dyson Sphere could survive a full-scale Eternal attack.

  Chapter Nine

  Admiral Mann gazed stoically at the tactical display showing her fleet in its offensive formation. On the viewscreens, the five lines of warships and the four supporting lines looked impressive. It was by far the largest fleet she had ever commanded. When the Eternals advanced, she planned on meeting them head on and inflicting as much damage on their fleet as possible before retreating back toward the Dyson Sphere. She knew she was going to lose a lot of ships and good people but this was war and people died in war. Also, the military AIs on the Dyson Sphere needed as much information on the Eternal ships as possible before engaging them with the sphere’s weapons.

  “Eternals are advancing,” Commander Sutherland reported as several alarms sounded on the sensor console. “They are in a pyramid shaped formation with the apex forward. The inside of the pyramid contains additional layers of vessels.”

  Hailey took a moment to study the Eternal formation. It gave them defense in depth plus a wide field of fire. The way the ships were stacked in the pyramid meant nearly every ship had a clear firing zone. “We’ll let them close to thirty million kilometers from the Dyson Sphere and then we will advance. I want that Eternal formation lit up with dark matter missiles.”

  It was unusually quiet in the Command Center. Everyone knew they were taking five thousand ships to fight nearly fourteen thousand. Not only that, the Eternal ships were much larger than even the dreadnoughts in the Originator fleet and more heavily armed.

  “Message from Rear Admiral Cross,” reported Lieutenant Sparks. “Fleet Admiral Strong is preparing to leave the hub with a large relief fleet but he won’t be here for two days.”

  Commander Sutherland shook his head. “Transit time between galaxies, particularly as many as the Originators control, jus
t takes too much time. By the time the fleet admiral gets here, the battle will be over.”

  “He knows that,” Hailey replied. “But we’ll need those ships to replace our losses and to prepare for the next attack.”

  There was no doubt in Hailey’s mind that if they managed to defeat the Eternals this time they would keep coming back again and again. There was a good chance Galaxy X-938 and the Dyson Sphere in this star system would become the center for this war between the Eternals and the Originators.

  “I just hope we’re still here when he arrives,” Sutherland said meaningfully.

  “We will be,” Hailey replied. “The defenses on the Dyson Sphere are too strong. We just need to reduce the size of the Eternal fleet enough so those weapons can finish it off.”

  No one knew how effective the weapons on the Dyson Sphere would be against the Eternal warships. The Originators and their AIs seemed confident but those defenses had not been tested in battle against an Originator battlecruiser.

  “Eternal fleet is nearing the thirty million kilometer range,” reported Captain Adams. “They’re coming straight toward us.”

  “Advance the fleet,” ordered Hailey, settling back in her command chair. “It’s time to engage the Eternals in a full scale battle.” This would be the third time she had engaged the Eternals and she had been victorious in the first two. Now it would be a major fleet battle with both sides intent on winning.

  “Fleet is advancing and holding formation,” reported Caria. “Gravity drive is operating at 20 percent. All power systems are at 100 percent.”

  “Weapons are ready to fire,” added Major Marks. “Dark matter missiles are loaded in the tubes on all ships.” As well as coordinating the weapon load outs on the Victory, she also communicated orders to the other ships of the fleet. “Triplex energy shield is up.”

  “We’ll open fire as soon as we get within range. We need to take out several thousand of those battlecruisers and then it will be up to the Dyson Sphere to finish the battle.” Hailey intended on retreating close to the Dyson Sphere and allows the military AI in the sphere’s primary Control Center to activate the Dyson Sphere’s weapons. She would observe the attack to see if it would be necessary for her fleet to re-engage.