The ship suddenly shook violently and in the distance, Admiral Sithe thought he could hear explosions.
“Energy shield is down,” yelled Commander Buckley, her face turning pale.
“It’s been an honor, Commander,” Admiral Sithe said just as a searing wave of heat flashed through the Command Center, annihilating everything in its path.
-
“The Star Defender is down,” reported Kevin, his face turning ashen. “The entire New Providence fleet has been wiped out.”
Jeremy felt his heart skip a beat. Admiral Sithe had been a fine admiral. Shifting his gaze to the tactical display, he saw the Dominator and the Distant Horizon were still jumping from location to location engaging the Simulins ships and then jumping away before a large force could be sent against them. Between the two Jeremy guessed they had already taken out over a thousand Simulins warships.
“How many Simulin ships are left?”
“The ones from the attack on Borton have arrived,” Kelsey said as more red threat icons began appearing on the nearby tactical display.
“Over seventeen thousand,” Ariel answered. “Even with the defense grid, the Dominator, and the Distant Horizon, we’re just not destroying them fast enough.”
Even as Jeremy watched, a fifteen-hundred-meter AI sphere jumped inside a tightly grouped force of Simulin ships. In a blinding explosion, the AIs set off all of their antimatter weapons, wiping out over eighty Simulin warships.
Jeremy grimaced at the sacrifice. For the most part the Simulins were staying spread out, ensuring those types of suicidal jumps couldn’t be made. He also knew the main reason for their fleet being so dispersed was so the Distant Horizon and the Dominator couldn’t use their energy siphoning fields against the Simulins. So far that strategy was working.
“AIs have reformed their fleet to give maximum coverage to all of our other ships,” Kelsey reported with anguish in her voice. “They’re taking massive losses. Over forty of the fifteen-hundred-meter AI spheres have been destroyed in the last five minutes.”
Jeremy looked at the viewscreens. The space around Gaia seemed to be on fire. Hundreds of nuclear and antimatter explosions were going off every few seconds. Energy weapons fire was prevalent on every viewscreen. On one screen, a nearby Alton battleship was being carved apart by Simulin energy beams. On another, an Indomitable Class battlestation was under heavy attack. In a powerful explosion it blew apart, sending debris raining down on the planet.
“Jeremy,” spoke Kelsey. “The Gaia has been disabled.”
“They’ve lost their energy shield,” Angela reported.
“Gaia is down,” Kevin said, shaken. The Gaia had been Rear Admiral Newman’s command. He had only been an admiral a short time.
“Simulins are beginning to target the planet,” Ariel reported, her dark eyes showing fear. “They’re launching thousands of nuclear-armed missiles.”
“The battlecarriers have launched all of their fighters,” Kelsey added as she spoke with Rear Admiral Akira over the fleet comm channel. “He’s recommending we send the bombers in while we still have them.”
“Make it so,” Jeremy ordered. “Have them target damaged Simulin vessels only.”
A sudden flash of white light filled the viewscreens of the Avenger. The ship shook violently as debris impacted the ship’s energy shield.
“What was that?” Jeremy knew it had to have been close by.
“The Cydonia Two,” Kevin said barely able to speak.
Jeremy felt stunned. The Cydonia Two was Alton Admiral Cleeteus’s flagship. Cleeteus had been with him from nearly the beginning.
“Jeremy, look at the main viewscreen!” cried out Kelsey in horror.
Shifting his gaze to the viewscreen, he saw a terrifying sight. Two mushroom clouds were rising up into the atmosphere of Gaia.
“Where did those hit?”
“In the countryside,” Kevin reported relieved. “A lot of missiles are starting to get through. General McGown reports that missile intercepts are becoming common. He has all of his Talon fighters up and covering the cities.”
Taking a deep breath, Jeremy looked at his command crew. They were all doing their jobs but fear was starting to show on their faces. Jeremy didn’t blame them. The Simulins were destroying everything.
-
Kazak stood in the Command Center of the Dominator. Since the battle had begun, he had lost twenty-eight of the AI warspheres assigned to him.
“The battle is lost,” Commander Zafron said as he watched a second Indomitable Class battlestation die under the weapons fire of hundreds of Simulin warships.
“We have suffered only minimal damage so far,” Kazak quickly pointed out.
“Even so our ship’s computer is predicting no chance for victory. Fleet Admiral Strong and his people will die here if they don’t jump out.”
“They can’t,” Leeda said. “They will never abandon their people on the planet.”
“Leeda’s right,” Commander Malen said. “Jeremy will never abandon Gaia as long as a single person is alive on the surface.”
Kazak studied the ship’s tactical display for several long seconds even as the ship fired its gravitonic cannons, tearing two more Simulin battlecruisers apart. “We need to force the Simulin ships to gather together and move away from the planet.”
“Impossible,” Zafron said, shaking his head. “They are intent on destroying the defending warships and the defense grid.”
“There may be a way,” Kazak said. “They don’t want any of Fleet Admiral Strong’s ships to escape or they might have to fight this battle again one day.”
“What good will it do to pull them away from the planet?” demanded Zafron. “Once the Simulins have defeated Admiral Strong they will turn their full force on us. Even the Dominator and the Distant Horizon can’t fight a fleet of that size. We would be destroyed and I will not allow that.”
“Give Kazak a chance,” suggested Commander Malen. “We’ve suffered very little damage so far. We can wait a little while longer.”
Kazak remained silent as he contacted Clarissa. She was the only one that might be able to help him carry out his plan. If this worked, perhaps he could save part of Fleet Admiral Strong’s fleet and even Gaia.
-
“He wants us to do what?” exclaimed Kathryn in disbelief. “There’s no way Jeremy will abandon Gaia.”
“Look at the tactical display,” Clarissa said, putting her hands on her hips. “In twenty more minutes it won’t matter as every ship Jeremy has will have been destroyed.”
Kathryn looked long and hard at Clarissa. Even as she did she felt the Distant Horizon shudder from antimatter strikes against the energy shield. “Do you trust Kazak? The lives of everyone in the fleet and upon Gaia might depend on this.”
Clarissa nodded her head. “Yes, I do. I also don’t believe we have any other choice.”
Kathryn let out a deep sigh. On one of the long-range viewscreens, she saw a strikecruiser explode as a Simulin antimatter missile blew it apart. “Contact Ariel and I’ll contact Jeremy.”
-
Jeremy looked over at Ariel feeling perplexed. “What good will this do?”
“I don’t know, but it might draw the Simulins away from the planet.”
Looking at the viewscreen, Jeremy could see where four more nukes had struck Gaia. He took in a deep breath. The defense grid was in shambles. His only effective forces were the AIs and Rear Admiral Akira’s battlecarriers. Both the Dominator and the Distant Horizon still had the majority of their AI warspheres with them. Perhaps if he joined forces with them, they could damage the Simulin fleet sufficiently to make it withdraw. Jeremy knew it was a long shot, but what else was there?
“Very well, we’ll do it. “All ships are to immediately leave the orbit of Gaia and rendezvous with the Dominator and the Distant Horizon.”
Jeremy had Kelsey send a message to Rear Admiral Akira instructing him to position his battlecarriers beneath one of the
remaining Indomitable Class battlestations. His bombers were to continue their attacks against damaged Simulin ships while his fighters were to knock out any missiles targeting Gaia.
“Jeremy!” called out Kevin pointing to a viewscreen. Another nuclear cloud was rising above Gaia.”
“What’s that location?”
“Clements,” answered Kevin in a whisper.
Jeremy felt an icy chill spread across him. He was beginning to believe none of them would survive this battle. “Lieutenant Striker, plot a course to the Distant Horizon and get us there as quickly as possible.”
-
Simulin Supreme High Commander Altrab watched as the remnants of the organic and AI fleet fought its way through his fleet formation to where the two ships with ancient weapons waited. On a viewscreen, he saw one of the large AI ships blow apart under the fire of numerous Simulin ships. The AI vessels seemed to be trying to protect the organic ships. Knowing the AI spheres were the biggest threat due to the number of particle beam cannons they carried, he ordered his fleet to concentrate their fire on those.
“Some of the organic ships will make it to where the ancient weapons ships wait,” High Commander Jarald pointed out.
“Let them. We will leave one thousand of our vessels to continue to assail the planet while the rest of the fleet moves out to engage what remains of the organic and AI fleet.”
“What of the two ships with ancient weapons?”
“We will suffer losses,” Altrab said. “However, we will keep our fleet spread out over a large area so they cannot use the energy siphoning weapon against us. If we detect such a weapon has been activated, we will send more escort ships to jump into the coordinates they occupy in space.”
“That will not destroy them,” Jarald said. “We have already tried that.”
“It may not destroy them, but it will serve to disrupt any energy siphoning weapon they deploy. Have you not noticed that every time we jump a pair of escort cruisers into their locations, they suffer a slight drop in power?”
-
Jeremy’s face was pale as the Avenger took up a supporting position on the port side of the Distant Horizon. He noticed Grayseth’s flagship, the Warrior’s Pride, was on the starboard side. He was pleased that his Bear friend had made it out.
“How many AI spheres made it?” Jeremy knew a lot of them had been destroyed as the AIs had been almost fanatical in sacrificing themselves to save organic crewed ships.
“Twenty-seven,” replied Ariel.
“How many of our other ships made it out?”
“One hundred and twelve,” answered Ariel.
Jeremy knew that represented only twenty-six percent of the fleet he had started the battle with. “What are the Simulins doing?”
“The majority of their fleet is moving toward us but staying spread apart.”
“What are we facing?”
“Nearly sixteen thousand ships,” Ariel spoke softly.
Jeremy knew that not even the Dominator or the Distant Horizon could save them. His mind raced as he tried to think of a way to save the rest of his fleet and Gaia, but he could think of no solution.
“Angela, prepare to send a message to the Benson to take all the ships under their command to Ornellia. They’re to report to Admiral Jackson and inform him of what transpired here.” Jeremy was also considering sending his least damaged warships along as well.
Kevin looked at his sensors. “I don’t understand why Kazak wanted us to pull away from Gaia. It makes no sense. There’s no way we can destroy this Simulin fleet.”
Kelsey’s eyes suddenly widened. In the blink of an eye, she knew what Kazak was preparing to do.
“He’s going to destroy them,” she said suddenly.
“What?” Jeremy said, turning to face his wife. “He has no weapons powerful enough.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Kelsey replied, her eyes narrowing sharply. “He still has a dark matter missile on board the Dominator.”
Jeremy leaned back in his command chair. “And you’re just now telling me about this?”
“I had forgotten,” blurted out Kelsey.
“Ariel, what will happen if Kazak detonates the missile in the center of the approaching Simulins?”
Ariel quickly ran some calculations. She turned to Jeremy with an unsure look on her face. “It won’t be powerful enough to destroy the Simulin fleet. They’re spread out too much.”
Jeremy turned back to Kelsey. “Is there any chance Kazak has more dark matter on the ship that you didn’t know about?”
Kelsey thought over what Jeremy had asked. “I don’t know. He was supposed to have disposed of it all but knowing Kazak, it wouldn’t surprise me if he kept some samples.”
-
On board the Dominator, Kazak prepared to fire his lone dark matter missile. As Kelsey suspected, he had kept some samples of dark matter for future experimentation. Only in the last few minutes had the work and repair robots under the supervision of Jolban finished increasing the yield on the missile warhead. He had just finished explaining to Commander Zafron and Commander Malen what he was about to do. Both had expressed their concern about a dark matter detonation of such power occurring so close to the Dominator and the other ships.
“I have calculated a 94 percent probability that the Dominator and the Distant Horizon will escape unscathed from the blast.”
“What about the rest of the ships?” demanded Commander Malen.
“Only 48 percent,” confessed Kazak. “However, if we don’t use the missile their likelihood of surviving the next hour is zero.”
Commander Malen let out a deep sigh. “Use it.”
Commander Zafron nodded in agreement. “Use it.”
-
Kazak communicated with Ariel informing her of what he intended to do. Ariel quickly informed Jeremy that Kelsey was right.
“How will this affect Gaia?” asked Jeremy.
“Unknown,” Ariel replied. “There’s no way to know.”
“I saw what a dark matter missile can do to a planet,” Kelsey said, recalling the destroyed Simulin worlds. “There’s bound to be some damage to Gaia.”
“They’re preparing to launch the missile,” warned Ariel. “I’m ordering all ships to switch all available power to the shields and hold their weapons fire.”
Jeremy leaned forward in his command chair. The next minute would decide the fate of Gaia and the Lost Fleets.
-
Kathryn looked in shock at Clarissa. “Kazak’s launching an enhanced dark matter missile?”
“Yes,” Clarissa said with deep concern. “It will destroy the Simulins, but it could destroy everything else as well. Even Gaia. I’m directing all of our power to the energy shield. I’ve instructed the AI warspheres to do the same.”
-
Supreme High Commander Altrab felt confused. The enemy had stopped firing. He sensed something bad was about to happen.
“I’m picking up a strange power reading from the ancient ship of the Sphere Builders,” the sensor operator reported. “I believe the enemy ships have diverted all of their available power to their shields.”
Turning his eyes toward a viewscreen showing the mysterious ancient ship, Altrab saw a hatch open. In sudden fear, he wondered if he had fallen into a trap. For just a fraction of a second Altrab thought he saw a missile leave the hatch, then space seemed to erupt with a fury he had never imagined possible. One look at the viewscreens and he knew his fleet and the Simulin dream of conquering this galaxy were doomed.
-
The dark matter warhead exploded in the heart of the large Simulin formation. Instantly all Simulin ships within twenty-five hundred kilometers were vaporized. The blast wave rolled outward in all of its fury. When it passed a Simulin vessel, the ship simply ceased to be. For ten thousand kilometers every ship the wave touched died. Then it weakened passing over the Dominator and the Distant Horizon. Even here, a few ships with weakened shields exploded as their shields we
re overloaded by the dark matter energy. The wave continued reaching Gaia. Every particle beam satellite remaining in orbit was turned into molten wreckage. Several of the remaining Type Two battlestations lost their energy shields and suffered critical damage. Then the wave struck the planet. The atmosphere seemed to erupt in turmoil. Fierce winds swept the surface. Forests caught on fire and then the wave passed leaving behind a devastated world.
-
Jeremy fought to open his eyes. His head was pounding, and he could hear cries of pain around him.
“Wake up, Jeremy,” he heard Ariel’s concerned voice say.
Forcing his eyes open, he saw he was still in the Command Center of the Avenger. Smoke was everywhere and several consoles were on fire. Looking over at Kelsey, he saw she was conscious. Several other Command Center officers were passed out and lying on the deck, including Kevin.
“How’s Kevin?”
“Knocked out,” Ariel replied. “His vitals are okay; he just took a hard blow to the head.”
“Get some medics up here.”
“I’ve already sent for them,” replied Ariel.
“What’s the status of the fleet?”
“Unknown; the dark matter explosion knocked our power out. I’m operating the ship on emergency batteries while Engineering tries to get one of the fusion reactors back up.”
“Can you get me a view of what’s going on outside the ship?”
Instantly the main viewscreen came on. As far as Jeremy could see, were the shattered remains of Simulin ships. Close by he could see the wreckage of a battlecruiser and a strikecruiser. He wondered if there was even a fleet left.
-
Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes looked at the tactical screen feeling her heart beating rapidly. The Simulin fleet had been destroyed though a few vessels were still in orbit around Gaia. Of more concern at the moment was that a number of icons which had been green only a few moments before had disappeared. The Distant Horizon’s sensors were only picking up twenty-eight surviving ships that were not the fifteen-hundred-meter AI ships or the smaller one-thousand-meter warspheres.
The Lost Fleet: Search for the Originators: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 30