The Originator Wars: Search for the Lost: A Lost Fleet Novel
Page 18
Hailey realized she had to change her tactics. She couldn’t allow the Eternals to get inside the Dyson Sphere. “Place our fleet directly above the hatch between the Dyson Sphere and the Eternal fleet.”
“We won’t be able to maneuver,” warned Commander Sutherland. “They still have several other interior hatches to open before they can get inside.”
“I know,” answered Hailey, realizing this would doom her fleet. “There are some weapons inside the Dyson Sphere. If we can take out enough of the Eternal vessels perhaps those will be enough.”
-
The Originator fleet rapidly accelerated and moved in between the Dyson Sphere and the Eternals. The fleet was less than five hundred kilometers above the surface and directly above the now open hatch. Weapons fire between the two fleets rapidly increased with the Originator ships refusing to allow the Eternals to pass. Massive explosions occurred in both fleets as ships were destroyed, raining debris down on the outer hull of the Dyson Sphere.
At an order from Rear Admiral Mann, the Originator fleet turned some of their defensive power beam turrets toward the Dyson Sphere and began firing upon the Eternal combat robots and troops on the hull. The beams raked across the surface destroying every robot or Eternal they touched.
-
Fleet Commander Norlan stared coldly at the tactical display and then switched his gaze to the viewscreens. The Originator fleet’s drones had taken out eighteen hundred more of his battlecruisers. True, most of them had already suffered substantial damage, but it still angered him that the little drones could inflict so much damage. One bright spot was his warrior robots and shock troops had managed to get the large outer hatch open to the Shrieel. They were already working on the second hatch and expected to have it opened shortly.
“Concentrate our fire on the ships in the center of their formation,” ordered Norlan. “If we can crush their center the rest of the fleet will lose its coherence. The formation will fall apart and we can destroy all of their warships, leaving us a clear path to the inside of the Shrieel.”
Gazing at the largest viewscreen, Norlan watched as energy beam fire from an Eternal vessel slammed into the main part of an Originator battlecruiser, setting off massive explosions and causing the ship to break apart. The larger size of his warships and heavier firepower were beginning to decimate the fleet between him and his goal.
-
Rear Admiral Mann gazed at the tactical display as ship after ship in her fleet vanished from the screen. She held in her fear but it was harder to rein in her despair. She was losing and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
“We’re losing ships at an ever increasing rate,” reported Commander Sutherland as the Victory shook violently nearly throwing him off his feet. “The Eternal ships are just too large and have too many weapons.”
“What about the combat robots and the Eternals on the surface?”
“Our power beams have eliminated many of them. We’ve also been focusing on their small attack shuttles. Most of them have been destroyed.”
Hailey took a deep breath. At the rate her ships were dropping off the tactical display it wouldn’t be long until this battle was over. “Lieutenant Sparks, inform Maklyn we will not be able to hold this position much longer. He’s to inform Fleet Admiral Strong there is a chance the Dyson Sphere might fall to the Eternals. He may need to bring a much larger fleet to retake it.”
Lieutenant Sparks sent the message and then listened to the reply. “Maklyn says if we can hold out for just a few more minutes he can destroy the rest of the Eternal ships. He’s already sending the Shrieel’s Marine detachment and a large number of Originator combat robots to recapture the Control Center for the outer hatch. Once the Control Center has been secured the Marines and combat robots will move to the outer hull and clear out the remaining Eternal combat robots and troops.”
Rear Admiral Mann shifted her gaze back to the tactical display and the tattered remains of her fleet formation. “Have all ships close ranks, shields nearly touching. It will give us better protection and perhaps allow some of us to survive.”
“That will reduce our firepower,” warned Commander Sutherland.
“It will, but it still leaves our fleet above the entrance to the Dyson Sphere and as long as we’re here the Eternals cannot pass.” Hailey intended to carry out her mission to defend the Dyson Sphere even if it cost her every ship in her command, including the Victory.
-
“We’ve destroyed over 60 percent of the enemy fleet,” reported Second Commander Telan. “They have reformed into a dense globular formation with their energy shields overlapping in some sections. It has also reduced their firepower by 40 percent.”
Norlan studied the formation. It was evident the Originator AIs and their proxies were willing to sacrifice themselves in the vain hope he would break off the attack. They had already used their defensive weapons to kill many of his Eternal shock troops on the surface as well as countless warrior robots. It mattered little as there were now a sufficient number inside the Shrieel to accomplish their mission.
He was about to order a massive bombardment of antimatter missiles to shatter the Originator fleet formation when countless blue energy spheres suddenly appeared over the horizon of the Shrieel. They were coming from hatches several million kilometers away and curving in their trajectory around the sphere as they vanished into hyperspace. With foreboding he saw them reappear and begin to impact his fleet formation draining shields and then latching onto ship hulls. He felt his victory beginning to slip away.
-
Inside the main Control Center in the Shrieel, Maklyn sent the orders to launch as many of the blue spheres as possible at the attacking Eternal fleet. He intended to crush it. The Originator AIs had finally managed to reprogram the blue spheres to be able to attack at a much sharper angle, allowing the Eternal ships to fall into the weapons’ field of fire. Tens of thousands of the deadly blue spheres were already in transit toward the Eternal fleet.
-
“Take us into hyperspace,” ordered Fleet Commander Norlan as he saw the blue spheres decimating his fleet. Ship after ship was being turned into a thick gray dust. This time his ships were not being struck by just a few of the deadly spheres but by ten or twenty at a time.
“We can’t,” reported Second Commander Telan. “Our hyperspace drive was damaged when we jumped so close to the Shrieel. We still need another few hours to finish repairs.”
Norlan did not reply. He merely leaned back in his command chair and quietly watched the destruction of his fleet. It was evident now the Shrieels were much more heavily defended than he or the council had believed. After this battle he was sure the Originator AIs and their proxies would make adjustments as to how they defended the huge megastructures. Norlan was coming to believe the council had made a mistake when they decided it was time to conquer Originator space. This could turn into a very long and destructive war. The lights in the Command Center abruptly flickered and then went out. Moments later the Devastator and its crew became nothing more than gray space dust, which began drifting slowly toward the Shrieel.
-
Rear Admiral Mann sat in disbelief, scarcely believing she was still alive. Five hundred kilometers away a huge cloud of dust was falling toward the Shrieel. Even as she watched the massive hatch beneath her fleet closed.
“We won,” said Commander Sutherland in a quiet and shocked voice.
“Maklyn managed to get the blue energy spheres reprogrammed,” Hailey said, looking down at her hands and flexing her fingers. She looked back at the tactical display where a number of battlecruisers and several dreadnoughts were drifting down toward the Shrieel without power. “Lock tractor beams on those ships and pull them back into a stable orbit.” The battle was over and they had won. However, it had been at a heavy cost. She didn’t know the final numbers but over 80 percent of her fleet was gone. Looking at a viewscreen showing the Dyson Sphere and its marred surface, she wondered
how many more battles were in the future and if they would be as violent as this one. If she remembered what the Originators had said about their first war with the Anti-Life: it had lasted for well over one thousand years. This one could be much worse and much longer.
Chapter Ten
The Avenger stormed out of hyperspace into the system holding the Originator Shrieel. Moments later ten thousand other spatial vortexes formed and the massive relief fleet Jeremy had brought to Galaxy X-938 began making an appearance. He had already received a message from Rear Admiral Mann detailing the frantic battle in the system and how close they had come to losing the Shrieel to the Eternals.
“No active Eternal warships detected,” reported Kevin from his sensor console. “But there’s a hell of a lot of wreckage.”
Jeremy nodded. In the battle he had been injured in the Eternals had destroyed their wrecked ships before fleeing. In this case no Eternal vessels managed to escape. Already, Originator AI research vessels from the Shrieel were combing the wreckage for anything which might be useful both technologically and intelligence-wise. There was a treasure trove of information out there in the wreckage and Jeremy intended to search every inch of it for anything useful.
Kevin came to stand next to Jeremy, looking at the ship’s viewscreens displaying parts of the wreckage. Kevin’s brow furrowed as he gazed at the screens slowly shaking his head. On one screen, a nearly intact Eternal battlecruiser was the focus of several small Originator vessels. “The Eternals lost fourteen thousand battlecruisers trying to destroy Rear Admiral Mann’s fleet and then attacking the Dyson Sphere,” he said. “Rear Admiral Mann is lucky any of her ships survived.”
“Less than twelve hundred did,” Jeremy replied. Rear Admiral Mann and Rear Admiral Cross’s fleets had been nearly obliterated by the Eternals. Her tactic at the end with placing her fleet between the entrance to the Dyson Sphere and the Eternal fleet might have saved the Dyson Sphere from being taken over. If they had, Jeremy didn’t want to think about what he would have had to do to retake it. “The Eternals managed to destroy over nine thousand of our ships.”
Jeremy knew nearly eight hundred dreadnoughts had been destroyed. That came to sixteen thousand crewmembers who had died in the battles. With a deep sigh, he knew Governor Barnes was right. They couldn’t keep taking losses like this. At some point in time, they wouldn’t have the trained crews to staff the heavy dreadnoughts and other ships the shipyards were building. They needed the help of the Federation and that meant he had to have a long heart-to-heart talk with Bartoll and the other Originators. He wasn’t sure how that would turn out, particularly if Reesa and Leeda found more Originators in stasis.
There was a slim possibility the Originators might decide they didn’t need the help of anyone else to deal with the Eternals. Jeremy hoped this battle would demonstrate how dangerous that type of thinking could be. If not for Rear Admiral Mann, the Eternals might very well have conquered this Dyson Sphere. There was also the possibility Rear Admiral Barnes would find the lost Originators in the star cluster she had gone to. That was something else Jeremy intended to look into when he returned to the Communications and Transport Hub. If no word had been heard from the fleet sent to the cluster, he intended to lead another mission there to find out what had happened; only he would take a full warfleet in case Rear Admiral Barnes had met with an unknown force she couldn’t handle. He didn’t see how that was possible, particularly with the Dominator as part of the fleet.
“I have Rear Admiral Mann on the comm,” reported Lieutenant Lantz.
“Transfer her to me,” ordered Jeremy. He was anxious to speak to the rear admiral and congratulate her on her victory over the Eternals.
“Fleet Admiral,” began Rear Admiral Mann. “I’m glad to see your fleet. So far there have been no further indications of other Eternal vessels. We believe the two fleets that jumped into the system were the Eternals’ total force.”
Jeremy knew nearly all of Hailey’s ships were in the construction bays on the Dyson Sphere being repaired. She had very few ships that hadn’t suffered significant damage. “I’m sorry you lost so many of your crews.”
Hailey was silent for a moment and then replied. “We lost a lot of good people but it could have been worse if our new ships weren’t so automated. The repair robots are miracle workers. In the past ships the size of our heavy dreadnoughts would have taken a crew of thousands; now we’re getting by with just twenty.”
Jeremy knew Hailey was right. During the battles against the Hocklyns and the AIs in the home galaxy hundreds of thousands of crewmembers had died in some of the larger battles. He wished he had those crews here with him now.
“Rear Admiral Lindsey Cowel will be arriving in a few days with her fleet. Once she does I want you and Rear Admiral Cross to return to the hub for some well deserved R & R.”
Hailey hesitated and then spoke. “Lindsey doesn’t have a lot of battle experience. The Eternals are like no other enemy we’ve ever fought before. I request that either I or Rear Admiral Cross remain just to be on the safe side.”
“I’ll take your request under consideration. I think it will be a while before we see the Eternals try to take the Dyson Sphere again,” Jeremy responded. He was certain they would spend considerable time trying to discover what had happened to their fleet when it didn’t report back in and how it could possibly have been defeated. “I may also be recalling Admiral Jackson and Admiral Bachal from the Triangulum Galaxy. They are both battle tested and we can use their experience against the Eternals.”
“They’re both good admirals,” Hailey agreed. “Are you coming aboard the Dyson Sphere?”
“Yes,” Jeremy responded. “I want to meet with Maklyn and discuss what changes need to be made to the defenses of the other Dyson Spheres based on what he and the other military AIs observed during the battle.”
“Maklyn saved what remained of my fleet,” Hailey said. “If he hadn’t reprogrammed the blue energy spheres to fire at a much sharper angle, none of us would be here now.”
“It will be tomorrow before I can come aboard for a meeting. I want to spend some time examining all of the wreckage and see if we can discover anything valuable we can use against the Eternals.” Jeremy knew the blue energy spheres didn’t leave any wreckage, only clouds of dust. However, enough ships had been destroyed in regular combat to give them something to search.
“Until tomorrow,” Hailey said.
“Maklyn is one of our older military AIs,” said Aaliss, coming over to stand in front of Jeremy. “We have always kept a few around in case there was ever a threat to one of the Shrieels.”
“We’re fortunate he was here,” Jeremy said.
He knew from the reports just how close they had come to losing the battle. The fighting on the surface and inside the Dyson Sphere in the corridors around the entry port had lasted for hours. A large number of Originator combat robots and even a few Marines had been lost in the intense fighting. He was concerned about the Eternal combat teams. From the reports he had received, they were highly trained and quite lethal. It was these Eternal combat teams that had been so difficult to overcome in the corridors around the small Control Center that controlled the large external hatch. It was something he would have to talk to General Wesley about when he returned to the hub.
“Jeremy, I would like to lead a team and go on board that nearly intact Eternal battlecruiser,” requested Ariel. “I may be able to find what others might miss. I’ve had much more experience in combat than any of the AIs currently examining the wreckage.”
Jeremy took in a deep breath. He wasn’t comfortable with Ariel taking such a risk but she would know what information he wanted most. “Take Aaliss with you as well. I’m also assigning a squad of Marines and some combat robots.” Jeremy’s eyes returned to the Eternal battlecruiser on the main viewscreen. He knew Originator AIs protected by some combat robots from the Dyson Sphere were already on board searching the vessel. “That’s a big ship and there co
uld still be a few surviving Eternals on board as well as some of their combat robots. Don’t take any chances. If you run into trouble let the Marines and the combat robots handle it. You and Aaliss stay back!”
“Yes, Jeremy,” Ariel replied. She looked over at Aaliss. “Let’s go. This is our chance to examine Eternal technology and maybe even their weapons.”
Jeremy watched as the two left the Command Center. Normally he wouldn’t have even considered allowing Ariel and Aaliss to go on such a mission. However, the power readings coming from the damaged Eternal battlecruiser were nearly zero and he had an entire fleet surrounding the vessel.
-
An hour later Ariel stepped on board the Eternal battlecruiser, her eyes sweeping across the flight bay where they had set their shuttle down. Her eyes focused on four Originator combat robots standing motionless in the bay. There were also several Originator AIs there as well. Over to one side she saw several small shuttles she assumed they had used to board the vessel. Multiple portable lights had been set up in the bay to provide light as the power was out on the ship.
“There are more Originator AIs with combat robot escorts searching the vessel,” Aaliss reported. She had used her internal comm unit to speak to the other AIs in the bay.
“Have they found anything?” asked Ariel. She was curious to examine some of the technology on the vessel as well as see if she could locate an active computer terminal.
“Some dead Eternals,” Aaliss replied as she spoke to the AIs. “The ship has been heavily damaged with the Engineering section nearly severed from the vessel. One group of Originator AIs is heading there and the other is trying to reach the Command Center. There are numerous compartments open to space and most of the ship is in a vacuum.”
Ariel nodded. They were all wearing Originator protective suits though both she and Aaliss could survive for a short while in a vacuum.