The Lost Fleet: Oblivion's Light: A Slaver Wars Novel
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“Well, we’re on our way,” Katie said over the private channel that Clarissa maintained for her and Kelsey.
“Yes,” answered Kelsey, hoping that she and Katie hadn’t made a big mistake in leaving Gaia to go on this mission. She knew Kevin had been extremely unhappy with the decision and she strongly suspected Jeremy felt the same way. However, the Distant Horizon was their ship, and both she and Katie had felt it was important that they go.
Kelsey looked over at Andram, who was sitting to her left side at his science console. She considered the Alton a friend and confidant. “Andram, do you think we’ll encounter the Simulins on our mission?”
“Yes,” he said, turning his head toward her. “Mikow and I have run some computer simulations based on what we found when we first entered the Triangulum Galaxy. We’re pretty certain the Simulins are the dominate race here and have some method of detecting high-tech civilizations. When these civilizations are detected, the Simulins do whatever is necessary to eliminate that race as a future threat.”
“I wish we knew more about them,” spoke Katie, her eyes showing her deep concern. “That Conqueror Drone we captured didn’t exactly reveal a lot.”
“More than you might think,” Andram replied. “It gave us considerable insight as to how the Simulins species thinks. They’re a cruel and heartless race with only one true ambition, spreading their race throughout the known universe at the expense of all others.”
“They remind me of how the AIs were back in our home galaxy,” said Kelsey.
“The Simulins may be worse,” Andram responded. “The AIs only spoke of annihilating all organic races; the Simulins are actually doing it.”
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Over the next several hours, the small fleet maneuvered through the nebula until they finally emerged into open space. Once outside of the nebula their Alton enhanced sensors were activated and space for a distance of ten light-years was carefully scanned. They weren’t surprised to see a number of red threat icons appear. It was evident the Simulins were keeping a close watch on the nebula, particularly after the recent attacks on the energy collecting stations in the blue giant nebula.
“Twenty-two Simulin ships detected,” Captain Reynolds reported. “The nearest is two point four light-years away.”
“They’ll detect us shortly,” Commander Grissim stated.
“We should jump immediately,” suggested Colonel Petra Leon, the executive officer.
“How long until our drives have fully cooled down?” Kathryn wanted to make a long enough jump to put them out of range of the Simulin sensors.
“Eight more minutes,” answered Colonel Leon. “The jumps we were making in the nebula were relatively short so there hasn’t been much heat build up in the drive cores.”
“We’ll wait the full eight minutes,” Kathryn ordered. “If the Simulins jump in, we’ll jump immediately.”
“That one ship is close enough it may be able to plot our course,” warned Clarissa.
“I’ll take the risk,” answered Kathryn. She wasn’t concerned about a few Simulin warships, not with the fleet she had at her disposal.
The minutes passed and the Simulin ship remained unmoving. At the end of the eight minutes, the fleet jumped toward a target destination one hundred and twenty light-years distant.
Once back in hyperspace Kathryn allowed herself to relax. She looked around the Command Center noting that Kelsey and Katie seemed to be talking to one another. She smiled to herself. She knew about the secret comm channel that Clarissa maintained for the three of them. It hadn’t been too hard to figure out after watching their actions. After all, what type of admiral would she be if she didn’t know what was happening on her own flagship?
Kathryn intended to do twelve jumps over the next four days before she began using the fleet to explore the surrounding space. That would put some distance between them and the nebula, and they were going in the opposite direction of where the Dyson Sphere was located. They were also going on a different tangent from where they had entered the Triangulum Galaxy originally. This would allow them to explore a totally new area of space and give them a better understanding of how much of this galaxy the Simulins actually controlled.
Settling back in her command chair, Kathryn wondered what her father was doing back on Ceres. She had come to accept that her home was now here in the Triangulum Galaxy and she would never see her father again. It pained her to know that in her later years in the fleet they had grown apart. It was one of the reasons she had tried to talk Kelsey and Katie into not going on this mission.
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Simulin High Commander Zarth Lantu gazed at his flagship’s tactical screen with growing anger. This was the third system of the Ornellian Empire that his fleet had attacked. The other two had been easy victories, but this one was putting up much more resistance than expected.
On a main viewscreen, one of his escort cruisers was a mangled wreck with secondary explosions finishing the destruction. The Ornellians were employing some type of super advanced laser to penetrate the shields of the Simulin warships.
“I want an analysis of that weapon!” barked High Commander Lantu. This was disconcerting as the Ornellians were not supposed to have a weapon that could destroy a Simulin vessel.
“We’re working on it,” answered Second Commander Darst. He was speaking to several Simulin weapon’s specialists over the ship’s comm system. “We should know something shortly.”
“Make it quick,” ordered Lantu, his eyes focusing sharply on his second in command.
The Simulin fleet had jumped into this system, which was one of the Ornellian Empire’s major population centers, only to encounter heavy resistance. A fleet of two hundred of the small three-hundred-meter Ornellian cruisers was parked between the target planet and the Simulin fleet. In addition, there were twelve larger ships that were five-hundred-meters in length.
Scans of the system had indicated a heavy industrial base, with installations scattered across the system on most of the planets and the two large asteroid belts. Civilian fleet traffic had all but vanished when the warfleet had dropped out of hyperspace. There was no doubt in Lantu’s mind that the civilians had killed their power and were drifting in space waiting to see the end result of the battle.
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In space, the two opposing fleets maneuvered with the Ornellian fleet constantly staying between the attacking Simulins and the inhabited world the Simulins were seeking to destroy. Ruby-red flashes of light indicated laser fire from the smaller Ornellian cruisers. Occasionally a dark red beam of energy would flash forth to strike a Simulin energy screen and after a few seconds penetrate it and smash into the hull armor setting off large explosions as the hull material was vaporized instantly by the tremendous heat of the beam.
A Simulin battlecruiser was being targeted by a full squadron of Ornellian cruisers. Six of the deadly red beams flashed out and managed to penetrate the energy screen destroying two of the large spires on the bow of the ship as well as cutting a hole into the main engineering compartment. The resulting explosion destroyed the 1,700-meter Simulin battlecruiser in a fiery blast.
The Simulin ships were not holding back even though they had lost several warships. Deadly white energy beams lashed out, smashing through the weaker Ornellian energy shields. One of the smaller Ornellian cruisers blew apart as its power systems were compromised. Another was cut in two by the powerful energy beams.
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“It’s a heavily modified pulse laser,” Second Commander Darst finally answered. “Our weapon’s specialists believe they’re burning out the laser each time it’s fired. The energy being directed toward our screens is equivalent to one of our energy beams.”
“So they’re damaging their warships each time they use this weapon?”
“Yes,” Darst answered. “It would seem so. They’re also keeping it focused long enough to penetrate our screens. Our weapon’s specialists estimate the laser beam equipment is burning out
after eight to ten seconds.”
Alarms began sounding on the sensor console, drawing Lantu’s attention. “What is that alarm sounding for?”
“More Ornellian warships are dropping out of hyperspace,” the Simulin at the console reported.
“How many?” demanded High Commander Lantu.
“One hundred seventeen, and six of them are of the larger cruiser class.”
High Commander Lantu gazed at the new red threat icons appearing above his fleet and slightly to the rear.
The alarm sounded again and he looked at the sensor operator for confirmation of what he knew was coming next.
“Our long-range sensors have detected two additional Ornellian fleets inbound.”
“We can still destroy them,” Second Commander Darst quickly pointed out. “Our ships are much more powerful and their energy shields are weak. The battle computer is still forecasting a 72 percent probability of victory even with the arrival of the incoming fleets.”
“No, we must wait for reinforcements,” Lantu said, reaching a decision. “It seems as if the Ornellians are going to risk all of their warships to defend this one system. We will let them gather and then wipe them out in one battle. It will make conquering their remaining worlds and eliminating their organic populations a simple task. We will withdraw and send word for several of our other fleets to join us. For now we will allow the Ornellians to have their victory, but it will be a short-lived one.”
A few minutes later, the order was given and the Simulin warships opened up spatial vortexes and left the Ornellian home star system.
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In space, the admiral in charge of the Ornellian fleet gazed in relief at the ship’s main tactical screen as the enemy withdrew.
“We won,” said his second in command exuberantly.
“I’m not so certain,” answered Admiral Krusk with a deep frown. “I suspect they detected our other inbound ships and are letting us gather so we will be easier to kill.”
His second in command was silent for several moments as he thought this over. “What shall we do?”
“We know our new laser weapon is effective against their warships; however, we’re damaging our ships each time we overload one of the main projectors. Several weapon crews have perished using the laser this way. I don’t know how much time we have, but we must find a way to make our laser into a better and safer weapon. For now, it’s the only weapon we have that can penetrate their shields.”
“How much time to you think we have?”
“Not long,” Admiral Krusk responded. “Let us place our fleets over Ornell and see what our scientists and technicians can come up with.”
“I will send the order,” the officer replied.
Krusk nodded. He was deeply afraid they had only bought a few days’ respite. When the enemy returned, they would not retreat until either they were destroyed or Ornell had fallen. Krusk knew the odds of his people being victorious were nearly nil.
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High Commander Zarth Lantu watched impassively as his flagship and the other ships of his fleet dropped out of hyperspace in a system a scant four light-years distant from the Ornellian home world. A battlecruiser would be sent to summon the nearest quick response fleets to assist in the destruction of the Ornellian Empire. He knew that at any one time numerous small Simulin battle fleets were dispersed throughout this galaxy waiting for the probe ships to send back messages whenever an advanced civilization was detected. It would only take a few days to a week at most before the first of the small fleets arrived.
Once he was satisfied he had the ships available to annihilate the Ornellians with little collateral damage to his own fleet, he would advance on their home world and destroy the fleets defending it. Then he would send the small reaction fleets to the other surviving Ornellian worlds that would be defenseless with their fleets destroyed and cleanse their surfaces. The reason for his actions was simple, there could only be Simulins in this galaxy, and all other organics must be annihilated.
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Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes was in her quarters working on the latest reports on their mission. Over the last four days, they had jumped nearly 1,500 light-years. At the moment, the long-range sensors were not showing any Simulin vessels. Surprisingly enough they had seen very few Simulin vessels on the sensors as they made their jumps. She had chosen a small brown dwarf star system for the fleet to hide in while some of the vessels went off on exploration missions. Her current plans were to send ships to all of the F, G, and K Class stars within twenty-five light-years of their current position. Astrometrics had reported there were twelve stars in that range that could possibly contain life-bearing planets. Kathryn knew it was highly possible for other classes of stars to have habitable planets, but the likelihood was greatly reduced. Andram had mentioned that nearly 8 percent of the stars in the Triangulum Galaxy were of these three classes, more than Kathryn could ever hope to explore.
For exploration purposes, Kathryn would be sending out the battleships Pallas, Deneb, the battlecarrier Ardent, and of course, the Distant Horizon. Each would be escorted by two AI warspheres. In case of problems, the exploring ships had orders to fall back to the brown dwarf system where the rest of the fleet would be waiting. Alton Admiral Bachal would remain in the system with his flagship, the Starlight, as well as the other Alton battleship and the remaining twelve AI warspheres. The plans were for the four exploration groups to stay within ten light-years of one another during their explorations so the Alton long-range sensors, which all the ships were equipped with, would be able to detect if one group had suddenly run into trouble and was pulling back to the brown dwarf system. If that were to occur then all the other fleets would proceed to Admiral Bachal’s position and await further orders.
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“Worried?” asked Clarissa from where she was standing in front of Kathryn’s desk. The AI had holo emitters throughout the ship so she could appear anywhere she wanted. It made the crew feel more comfortable when they could speak to her in person instead of a disembodied voice.
“Some,” admitted Kathryn, pausing in writing her report and looking up at Clarissa. “We’re heading out into the unknown in a dangerous galaxy and there’s no guarantee we’ll make it back home.”
Behind Clarissa, a viewscreen suddenly activated showing the stars around the Distant Horizon. “Kelsey, Katie, and I designed this ship originally for exploration and then for war when it was decided to use the ship to find the lost fleets. I’m fully confident we’ll make it back to Gaia.”
Kathryn leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. “What do you think will happen to us in the long term?” When the relief fleets had arrived with all of their colonists, it had swiftly uplifted the morale in the fleet. Suddenly it seemed as if Gaia could indeed be their new home.
Clarissa placed her hands on her shapely hips and replied. “If we can buy sufficient time to build enough of the AI warspheres we can begin to fight the Simulins for control of this galaxy.”
“Strange,” mused Kathryn, pursing her lips. “In our own galaxy, the AIs dreamed of galactic domination and thanks to the Altons and the Federation they failed. Here, we’re encouraging them to go out and take this galaxy away from the Simulins. If they succeed, they’ll be the dominate force and they’ll actually have a galaxy they control.”
“Under our guidance,” Clarissa clarified. “The AIs here do not resemble the AIs that were back in the Milky Way.”
“Perhaps,” Kathryn said, wondering what her father would think of all of this. “I’ve seen Fleet Admiral Strong’s plans for the AIs. Within a year, they’ll outnumber the people on Gaia and in our fleets. That number will continue to grow until they can compete against the Simulins for control of this galaxy.”
“It’s the task they elected to take on,” Clarissa said not quite understanding the rear admiral’s concerns. “The AIs are quite dedicated to the wellbeing of the organics on and around Gaia.”
“That
’s what I’m afraid of,” answered Kathryn, recalling how the original Alton civilization had fallen due to becoming too dependent on the AIs. She just hoped that didn’t happen on Gaia or at some point in the future when people from the home galaxy found their way to the Triangulum Galaxy all they would find would be a galaxy full of and controlled by the AIs.
Chapter Six
Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes gazed despondently at the planet on the viewscreen. She felt ill knowing the horrible fate its inhabitants had suffered. For the last three days, her ships had explored the space around the brown dwarf star and had only found one planet, which had once harbored life. On the screen were the radioactive ruins of a destroyed civilization.
“I would estimate their technological level as just entering their space age,” Andram said, turning around to face the admiral. “There are a few primitive communication satellites still in orbit.”
“From our scans the planet’s population would have been around three billion at the time of the attack,” added Clarissa in a soft voice. “They didn’t even have a space fleet to defend themselves with.”
“How long ago was the attack?” asked Kathryn, looking over at Captain Reynolds at the sensor console.
“From the decay of the radioactive isotopes used in the nuclear warheads, I would say about one hundred and forty years.”
“Is there any movement on the ground?”
“Captain Sanders is doing a low altitude pass,” Colonel Leon responded. “I strongly suspect there are Conqueror Drones on the surface.”
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Captain Lacey Sanders was flying low over the surface of the devastated planet. Her Talon fighter had small wings, which normally were used to hold missiles, but served very well to allow for atmospheric flight. “Keep scanning for movement,” she ordered over her comm to Lieutenant Ronald Stehr in Echo Two. “I doubt if there are survivors, but the admiral wants to know if there are any Conqueror Drones.”
“I hope she doesn’t want to capture one,” Stehr replied. He was flying slightly behind and a little above Captain Sanders.