The Lost Fleet: Oblivion's Light: A Slaver Wars Novel

by Raymond L. Weil

  -

  “AI warsphere WS-006 is down,” reported Captain Reynolds. “The vessel was attacked by an overwhelming force of Simulin battlecruisers. It looks as if the AI in command set off the ship’s self-destructs once the vessel incurred critical damage.”

  “We have other ships reporting damage,” added Colonel Leon as she listened to reports over her comm. “None of it is critical as of yet.”

  Kathryn took a deep breath. Shifting her gaze to one of the tactical displays she saw the ships defending the system’s inhabited planet begin to move toward the Simulin fleet. “Do we have communications with this system’s inhabitants yet?”

  “Translation software is running,” replied Captain Travers. “We should have communications in a few more minutes.”

  “We will continue to attack until we’ve established communication,” Kathryn said. She had also decided if she lost more ships the fleet might have to pull back anyway. She couldn’t risk losing her entire fleet in a battle that couldn’t be won.

  -

  In space, Operation Firestorm began. It was a daring last-ditch plan by the Ornellian fleet to buy their world a few more days of precious life. But now with the sudden appearance of the strange fleet assailing the enemy it might buy them more than that.

  All across the Ornellian system cargo ships suddenly powered up and activated their hyperdrives. Each ship was fully loaded with heavy cargo or raw material from the system’s mines. Entering hyperspace, the cargo ships set a course for the enemy fleet.

  -

  “We have ships entering hyperspace all over the system,” reported the sensor operator, looking over at High Commander Lantu.

  “They’re fleeing,” said Second Commander Darst.

  “More ships we will have to hunt down when this battle is over,” Lantu said coldly.

  “They’re not fleeing!” reported the sensor operator with concern in his eyes. “They’re jumping here!”

  -

  Hundreds of Ornellian cargo ships suddenly began appearing near the Simulin formation. As soon as they exited hyperspace, they turned toward the nearest Simulin vessel and began to accelerate. Each ship was manned by a small crew of volunteers from the Ornellian military. Their orders were simple. Jump as near the enemy fleet as possible and then ram them! It was hoped the sheer mass of the cargo ships and their cargo would overwhelm the enemy energy shields.

  The Simulin ships recognizing the approaching danger switched their targeting from the Ornellian warships to the inbound cargo ships. Massive explosions lit up space as the inbound cargo ships were blown apart. The ships were unarmed, unshielded, and easy prey for the Simulin weapons. Most were destroyed short of their intended targets, but sixty cargo ships managed to make their suicide runs smashing into the screens of Simulin vessels. Twenty-seven battlecruisers and thirty-three escort cruisers died flaming deaths as their screens were overwhelmed as the flaming mass of the cargo ships impacted the hulls. While the Simulins were concentrating their fire on the attacking cargo ships, the advancing Ornellian warships managed to use their pulse lasers to annihilate four more battlecruisers and seven escort cruisers.

  -

  High Commander Lantu eyes grew angry seeing the damage done to his fleet. Between the Ornellian suicide attack and the fleet attacking his rear echelon, he had lost over one hundred vessels in the last few minutes. Not only that, the Ornellian fleet was taking advantage of the brief confusion to close and attack with their modified pulse lasers.

  “Order the fleet to withdraw,” Lantu said in a cold and harsh voice. “We have suffered higher losses than expected and many of our ships are damaged.”

  “But the battle computer still projects a 76 percent probability of our eventual victory,” protested Second Commander Darst.

  “What if they hit us with more cargo ships?” responded Lantu, glaring at his second in command. Simulins didn’t question orders from their superiors!

  “I will give the order,” responded Darst, bowing slightly and moving off toward Communications.

  Lantu settled back in his command chair. This was an unexpected development. Very seldom if ever did a Simulin fleet withdraw from battle and this was the second time he had done so. The first had been for a tactical reason, this time it was to hold down damage to his fleet. He needed time to form a plan to deal with the attackers from the Fitula Nebula as well as the remaining Ornellian ships.

  -

  “Simulins are jumping!” called out Captain Reynolds as he saw the Simulin ships begin to vanish from his sensor screens. The large energy spikes were a sure sign of hyperspace activation.

  “We won!” said Colonel Leon exuberantly.

  “It wasn’t us completely,” Kathryn responded. “The defenders in this system sacrificed most of their cargo ships to halt the Simulin attack. I suspect once the Simulins have reevaluated the situation they’ll return.”

  “So what do we do?” asked Commander Grissim, looking over at the admiral.

  “We contact the inhabitants of this system and offer them what aid we can,” Kathryn responded. She wasn’t sure if there was anything they could do to save this system, but this was the first inhabitable world they had encountered, which had people other than Simulins on it.

  Commander Grissim looked intently at the admiral. “And what do we do when the Simulins return?”

  “We’ll deal with that situation when we have to go down that road,” Kathryn replied. “Right now I want to talk to the admiral in charge of that fleet.”

  “Admiral, the translation software has finished running,” Captain Travers reported. “We can communicate with this system’s inhabitants now.”

  “Good,” Kathryn responded. “Let’s contact them and see exactly what’s going on. Perhaps now we can finally learn what’s been happening in this part of the galaxy.”

  Chapter Nine

  Ornellian Admiral Krusk leaned back in his command chair in disbelief. Beyond all expectations, he was still alive as well as a major portion of his fleet. He was still finding it hard to accept what had just happened. “Try to contact those ships!”

  “They’re trying to contact us,” the communications officer replied as he adjusted his comm to the correct frequency. “They’re requesting permission to move closer to Ornellia, and they would like a face to face meeting to discuss the current situation.”

  “Do we dare allow them to come close to our home planet?” asked First Commander Lukel nervously. “Their ships are much more powerful than the world destroyers. This might be some type of trick.”

  “I don’t think we could stop them if we wanted to,” replied Admiral Krusk. He thought for a moment and then said, “Give them permission to go into orbit around Ornellia at twenty thousand kilometers. As soon as they’re ready we can meet on one of the orbiting stations.”

  Krusk listened as the communications officer sent the message. There was no doubt in his mind it was the appearance of this alien fleet that had caused the world destroyers to withdraw and not Operation Firestorm though the sacrifice of so many valuable cargo ships surely played a role.

  “They will be here shortly,” reported the communications officer. “They’re going to perform a short hyperspace jump and will appear twenty thousand kilometers from Ornellia.”

  “That’s inside the gravity well!” First Commander Lukel said in astonishment. “Won’t that damage their ships?”

  “They’re far more advanced than us,” Admiral Krusk responded. He knew one of his ships jumping that close to Ornellia would be torn apart from the instability created by being so close to an object of mass. It would result in serious damage to the hyperdrive system causing a dangerous and possibly fatal reaction.

  First Commander Lukel watched the tactical screen as the twenty-five icons representing the strangers began to vanish and shortly began to reappear close to Ornellia. “Their jump calculations are very accurate,” he observed.

  “Set course for home,” ordered Admiral Krusk a
nxious to meet these strangers. “Let’s find out who our benefactors are and why they’re here.”

  -

  Four hours later, Kathryn and Andram along with a small marine detachment went aboard the indicated orbital station. The station was obviously one used primarily for scientific research as it was only lightly armed with a few small laser turrets. It was much smaller than the two orbiting shipyards. They entered a small landing bay using one of the Distant Horizon’s shuttles.

  “Looks as if we have a reception committee,” commented Lieutenant Barkley, gazing out the shuttle’s cockpit window. “Damn, they look like the aliens in the old movies back home!”

  Kathryn looked out, seeing the small gray-skinned aliens and had to agree with the lieutenant. The Ornellians were bipedal and stood slightly shorter than a human. Their eyes were wide and narrow and their head was nearly round. Two small ears were on the side of their head and they were bald. Their skin color was a deep, dark gray. Their arms were very thin with three fingers and a thumb on each hand. One of the taller ones was dressed in a uniform and seemed to be standing straighter than the others. Kathryn guessed this was probably Admiral Krusk, their host.

  “Shuttle’s secure,” reported the pilot as she shut off the engines.

  “We’ll leave two marines in the shuttle,” Kathryn said as she unbuckled her safety harness and stood up. “Lieutenant Barkley, you and Private Jarman will be accompanying Andram and I to this meeting. Sidearms only so leave your assault rifles on the shuttle. These people are fighting the Simulins so they aren’t the enemy.”

  “Yes, Admiral,” Barkley responded as he opened a small arms locker and stored his assault rifle. Private Jarman did the same thing. Then both took out extra clips for their sidearms, tucking them away in one of the large pockets of their uniforms.

  “Atmosphere is only slightly less than Earth normal,” the copilot reported as the data flowed across one of his screens. “It should be safe to breathe.”

  Kathryn nodded. “Let’s go meet our new friends.”

  Going to the hatch, Lieutenant Barkley opened it and then proceeded down the ramp with Private Jarman, both of them keeping a watchful eye on the aliens waiting for them. None of the small gray people seemed to be armed. The tallest only came up to Barkley’s shoulders. Reaching the bottom of the ramp Lieutenant Barkley took up a position on one side with Private Jarman on the other.

  Kathryn stepped out onto the ramp with Andram following. They slowly descended and stepped over to where the gray aliens were waiting.

  “I’m Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes and this is my science officer, Andram.” They were both wearing small translation devices, which could instantly translate the two different languages.

  “Greetings,” replied Admiral Krusk with a slight bow. “I am Admiral Krusk and responsible for the fleets protecting Ornellia, our home planet. I must thank you for coming to our aid against the destroyers of worlds.”

  “The Simulins,” Kathryn replied. She did have to admit that the destroyers of worlds was a more apt name.

  “You know of these aliens?” asked one of the other Ornellians, stepping forward.

  “This is our chief scientist, Arlak Grall,” Admiral Krusk explained.

  Kathryn nodded. “Yes, we know of the Simulins. We have been at war with them for quite some time.”

  Admiral Kursk’s eyes lit up with hope. “I have a conference room set up for us to discuss what just happened with these Simulins. We would greatly appreciate any information you can give us on these attackers. They have already destroyed two of our inhabited star systems, and I greatly fear that if they can’t be stopped here they will destroy our entire civilization.”

  “We will do what we can to help,” Kathryn answered. “But I must tell you, we are far from our world and don’t have other fleets we can summon on such a short notice.”

  Krusk nodded his understanding. “Then you must be explorers.”

  “Yes,” Kathryn replied. “We came seeking allies in our war against the Simulins as well as to see just how far across this galaxy their influence has spread.”

  “Let us speak then,” Krusk said. “If you will follow me, we will go to the conference room where we can discuss these matters.”

  -

  The Ornellians and Rear Admiral Barnes spoke for nearly two hours, the Ornellians describing their civilization and how the Simulins had attacked their worlds without provocation. Kathryn in turn briefly described the Federation and how they had come to the Triangulum Galaxy. Occasionally a question would be asked that either Andram or the Ornellian scientist Arlak Grall had to answer.

  “It is evident that most of our weapons can’t be adapted to be of help,” Arlak said as Andram finished explaining the power requirements behind Alton energy beams as well as human power beams. There had been no mention of particle beams as their power requirement was even greater.

  “It would take a class three fusion reactor,” Andram said with sadness in his voice. “I fear the Simulins will renew their attack before we could even build one.”

  “We can help with your energy shields,” Kathryn said, leaning forward and placing her hands on the wood of the conference table. “I believe by making a few changes we can significantly increase the power of your shields.” She really wanted to help these people in their war with the Simulins, but the short amount of time they had before the Simulins attacked again was going to be a problem.

  “I agree,” Andram said, as he used a small handheld computer pad to run some figures. “We can add a new control module that will allow your shields to be modulated, which will substantially increase their resistance to the Simulin energy beams.”

  “Will it stop them as your shields do?” asked Admiral Krusk. He had seen how the Simulin energy beams had little effect on the admiral’s fleet.

  “No, not completely,” admitted Andram, shaking his head. “Your ships just don’t have the power.”

  “What about their pulse lasers?” asked Kathryn, trying to think of something to help the Ornellians. She just couldn’t stand by and watch their civilization wiped out.

  “I find it intriguing how you managed to increase the power to your lasers,” Andram said with a quizzical look on his face. “We have pulse lasers but not of that strength.”

  “We use all the ship’s power in one focused burst,” explained Arlak. “When we first tried this we burned out the tubes and even lost several weapons crews when the systems failed. We have added a new and thicker lining which will allow the pulse lasers to be fired possibly eight to ten times before they suffer the same fate. We just don’t have a metal or alloy that can stand up to the tremendous amount of heat the laser generates.”

  Andram’s forehead creased in a frown as he thought about possible solutions. “We have an alloy that might be suitable,” he said after a moment. “It will stand up to the heat and might allow your pulse lasers to continue to fire without fear of burning out.”

  “Is it an alloy we can produce?” asked Arlak excitedly.

  “Yes, I believe so,” Andram said. “I can give you the specifics once I return to the Distant Horizon. We have some samples on board.”

  Admiral Krusk took in a deep breath and then looked over at Rear Admiral Barnes. “What chance is there we can defeat these Simulins?”

  Kathryn leaned back and briefly closed her eyes. She had hoped the Ornellian admiral wouldn’t ask that question, at least not yet.

  Krusk noticed the human admiral’s hesitation. “We can’t win, can we?” he said in realization.

  Kathryn looked around the table at the desperate looks from the Ornellians. She knew they were looking for any hope she could give them. “I’m afraid not,” she said in a soft voice. “The Simulins have overrun every civilization we have found in this galaxy. Between here and the galactic center are nothing but bombed out worlds, which no longer hold life. If they find an opponent capable of resisting them, they keep calling ships in until they can destroy their opp
osition.” Kathryn went on to describe some of the dead worlds they had found as well as the Conqueror Drones and how they killed.

  The room became silent as if everyone had stopped breathing. The Ornellians looked at one another with faces of deep anxiety as they realized their last hope for survival was fading. While these new aliens were powerful, they didn’t have the forces available to turn the tide of the war.

  “We understand,” Admiral Krusk said in an even voice. “It’s obvious it would take too long to adapt your technology to our vessels and the Simulins will not give us that time.”

  “Then we send the word to our other colonies to evacuate,” spoke one of the other Ornellians, who had thus far been silent.

  “Evacuate?” Kathryn said, her eyes narrowing. “Where to?”

  “While we have held these Simulins here our other worlds have been preparing evacuation fleets,” the Ornellian answered. “I’m Tomar Pelh and I represent the Ornellian ruling council. We have long heard rumors of a violent race that was destroying all the worlds in its path. As a precaution, each star system in our empire prepared a fleet to flee to the far reaches of our galaxy if and when that race found us.”

  Andram nodded his head in understanding. “A prudent decision. However, I don’t know of anywhere in this galaxy that might be safe for such an evacuation fleet. At the current rate the Simulins are advancing through this section of the galaxy, it will only be a few hundred years before they reach the rim stars.”

  “That’s why we changed the destination of the fleets recently,” Arlak said in a somber voice. “The evacuation fleets will be traveling to a star cluster far outside the galaxy.”

  Kathryn thought over what Arlak was suggesting. Nearly all galaxies had star clusters that orbited them. Some were fairly far out. “It might work. There’s a chance the Simulins won’t be interested in the star clusters. If your people can make the journey, they might indeed find a safe refuge.”