As she began to turn around, she noticed what appeared to be several tracks in the loose soil. The tracks were about the size of her hand. They were round and had what looked like small indentations scattered in the print in a circular pattern. In the back of her mind, she felt as if she should recognize what these tracks were. Somewhere she had seen something similar. Then with a sudden chill, she realized what these were and where she had seen them. These tracks had been in one of the reports from the Distant Horizon probe. Hearing a louder noise in the hole, she glanced toward it and then screamed in terror. A Conqueror Drone was standing at the entrance!
-
Sergeant Madison was startled when he heard the frightened scream over his comm. “Who is that?” he called out, looking around to see who was missing. With chagrin, he realized the scream was from Reesa. The only place she could be was behind the large wall to his left. Taking off at a run, he clicked the safety off his assault rifle. Going around the corner of the wall, he came to a screeching halt. There was Reesa seemingly frozen in place and less than ten meters in front of her stood a Conqueror Drone. Raising his rifle, he fired a quick burst into the metal carapace of the deadly robot. “Reesa, get back behind the wall!”
Reesa stumbled backward several steps and then turned and ran. The drone immediately set out in pursuit.
Sergeant Madison switched his rifle over to full auto spraying a steady stream of rounds at the Conqueror Drone. With trepidation he saw that most were only bouncing off, leaving small dents in the metal armor. With fear, he realized none of his marines were carrying armor piecing rounds. “I have a Conqueror Drone in my quadrant,” he screamed over the comm. “Everyone get back to the cutter!” Even as he said those words, the drone was upon him. Madison felt intense pain as one of the large claws grasped him round the waist. Not today, he thought, grimacing from his body being crushed. Reaching down he pulled a Fulton grenade from his belt and pulled the pin.
-
Private Richard Trent heard the sergeant’s words and hurriedly ran toward the wall. He was almost there when he heard an explosion. Flame and gray smoke bellowed up from behind the wall. Going around it, he came to a stop upon seeing a grisly scene. The Conqueror Drone had been blown in two and Sergeant Madison’s remains were scattered everywhere. Trent felt as if he was going to vomit and then, turning, stepped back around the wall. “The sergeant’s dead, we need to get back to the cutter!”
“What do you mean the sergeant’s dead?” demanded Private Connor Simpkins.
“He’s dead!” yelled Trent with panic in his voice. He knew where there was one Conqueror Drone there were probably others. “Everyone, listen. We need to get back to the cutter as quickly as possible.”
“He’s right,” Reesa said. She had calmed back down and was looking at the situation in a more Alton like manner. “It’s not safe here.”
The research team quickly formed up and began moving hurriedly back toward the cutter. As they did, Private Trent contacted Captain Abrams and informed her of what had happened. Moments later, the call went out for all the research teams to stop what they were doing and return immediately to the ship.
-
Captain Abrams could barely believe what Private Trent was reporting, but she had heard Sergeant Madison’s frantic cry over the comm and then the grenade blast. The sensor operator on the cutter confirmed it. She immediately ordered the cutter to go to Condition One and be prepared to use the laser turrets to take out any Conqueror Drones that might appear in the vicinity of the ship. She also contacted the four Talons in orbit around the ruins, ordering them to come lower and search for possible hostile contacts.
Once she was satisfied she’d done everything possible, she had several of the cutter’s crew bring out magazines of armor piercing rounds to hand out to the four marines on guard duty outside the ship. She could kick herself for not having her marines carry some of the more powerful rounds with them. However, they had never expected to encounter anything as deadly as a Conqueror Drone on the surface, so she had refrained from passing out the armor piercing rounds not wanting to risk damaging the ruins if someone fired off their assault rifle.
Over the next few minutes, two of the research teams made it back to the cutter and hurriedly went inside. The six marines with them quickly grabbed magazines of armor piercing rounds and took up defensive positions outside the ship. On the cutter, the six laser turrets were activated and were ready to fire. All were aimed toward the ruins.
Hearing a loud whistling noise, Captain Abrams saw one of the Talons scream overhead and then suddenly a missile arrowed away to explode in the ruins.
“Conqueror Drone destroyed,” reported the pilot.
This wasn’t what Lindsey wanted to hear as it indicated there were more of the drones present. They needed to get off the surface and back up to the WarHawk ASAP. “Everyone be aware we have Conqueror Drones active in the ruins.” She made sure she had an armor-piercing round in the chamber of her assault rifle and grimly clicked off the safety. “All marines, keep a close watch on those ruins for any signs of movement.”
The other two groups finally showed up with Reesa’s group being last. “It was a Conqueror Drone,” Reesa said as she stopped near the captain. “They’re hiding in caves beneath the ruins. The Simulins must have been here and left the drones to ensure no one else searched the ruins for Originator artifacts.”
“Makes sense,” Captain Abrams responded. She saw another one of the Talons dive toward the surface and a line of tracer fire impacted the ground less than two hundred meters away. Black smoke rose up into the air.
“I have six Conqueror Drones heading toward the cutter,” the pilot reported. “Captain, if I were you I’d get off the ground pronto.”
Lindsey didn’t need to be coerced. She fully agreed. “Everyone, get in the cutter. We’re leaving!”
In just a few moments, everyone was in the cutter and the hatches were closed. Even as Lindsey made her way toward the small Command Center, she heard several of the laser turrets fire. Then the cutter lifted off and began to accelerate back toward space and the safety of the WarHawk.
-
Race was standing in one of the smaller briefing rooms with a deep frown on his face. Major Drake Nolan, Captain Lindsey Abrams, Kelnor Mard, Reesa Jast, and Private Richard Trent were sitting at a small conference table. Race had just finished listening to their reports of what had happened on the surface.
“It’s obvious the Simulins have been here sometime in the last two years,” he said after a moment. “I’ve sent several squadrons of Talons skimming across the surface where all the major Originator cities once were. In nearly all of them, the pilots have reported signs of Conqueror Drones.”
Major Drake Nolan shook his head. He had been stunned to hear of the death of Sergeant Madison. The sergeant had been a career officer and extremely dedicated to the corps. “It’s obvious the Simulins are aware of the locations of at least some of the Originator worlds and are taking steps to ensure no one else has access to them.”
“That seems to be correct,” answered Race. “From the overflights our fighters are doing we estimate there are only a few hundred Conqueror Drones on the surface. They didn’t become active until Sergeant Madison killed the first one, which indicates they have some way to communicate with one another.”
“Just enough to discourage exploration,” said Captain Abrams, agreeing with the admiral that the drones were in communication with one another. That would make them even deadlier since it indicated they could coordinate their attacks. “What do we do now?”
Reesa and Kelnor looked at one another and then Kelnor nodded. “We go to Capal Four,” he said in a soft voice. “From the data we have from Astral on the early explorations of this star cluster, there are more ruins in that system than any other.”
“Why didn’t we go there first?” asked Major Nolan. He was aggravated the exploration of this planet had cost him a good marine.
“This
was the first Originator system our ancestors discovered,” Reesa explained. “We had more information about this system than any of the others and felt this was the best place to begin our search.”
Major Nolan let out a deep breath and looked over at the admiral. “If the Simulins know about these worlds, there could be Simulin ships at Capal Four or at the very least more Conqueror Drones.”
Race nodded his head in agreement. “Can your marines handle the Conquer Drones?”
“Now that we know what we’re facing I believe we can,” Nolan replied. “We’ll have to send down larger contingents of marines with the exploration teams as well as heavier weapons. We have several armored vehicles in one of the storage holds we can send down as well. We’ll want to deploy more Talons and a few Anlons in case we encounter large numbers of the drones.”
“Our mission is to find this Dyson Sphere if it actually exists,” Race said after a moment. “I don’t think we have any other choice but to proceed to Capal Four and explore that planet. If we encounter Simulin vessels, we may have to engage them.”
“There are several other systems on our way to Capal Four we should stop and investigate,” Reesa informed them. She was still feeling shaken from what happened on the planet. She knew she had come very close to being killed by the Conqueror Drone. She also felt guilty about the death of Sergeant Madison. “One of them has what we believe to be a research base on an airless moon. It was discovered toward the end of the explorations of this star cluster and there is very little information in the data about what was found there.”
“You think the data was purposely left out?” asked Race, his eyes narrowing sharply.
“Possibly,” Reesa answered. “All the other Originator worlds have extensive research reports. This moon has almost none, just a casual mention.”
Race was tempted to push on to the main world, but there was little doubt in his mind if that world had been the Originator capital there would be Simulins there or at the least a large number of Conqueror Drones on the surface. It might be best to check out a few more systems before they went to Capal Four.
“Very well,” he said. “We’ll visit a few more systems before going on to Capal Four.”
A few minutes later, Race was on his way to the Command Center to prepare the fleet to get underway. The Conqueror Drones had been an unexpected find and one he wasn’t pleased with. His mission had just become more difficult and substantially more dangerous. His biggest concern was what they would find at Capal Four. There had been no sign of Simulin ships and he wondered if the reason for that was that they were all in one place. The most logical place for them to be was Capal Four and Race knew he would have no choice but to engage them if they were blocking access to the planet. With a deep sigh, Race knew no matter what he did his fleet was going to war.
Chapter Twelve
Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes stared at the tactical display in confusion. They were nearly at the location the Ornellians had said the artifact was, but nothing was showing up.
“Explanation?” she asked, looking over at Andram.
The Alton scientist spent a few moments examining the data coming across several of his screens and then turned toward the admiral. “I believe the hull material of the artifact is impervious to our scans. We’re still two hundred thousand kilometers from the location the Ornellians gave us.” Andram reached forward and made some adjustments to the large viewscreen in front of him. Instantly a massive and ancient ship appeared.
“It seems I’m correct,” he said pleased his assumption had been the right one. “The hull material of the vessel is absorbing our scans and nothing is being reflected back. It’s a very ingenious stealth system.”
Kathryn gazed at the viewscreen, spellbound by the apparition that nearly filled the entire screen. There was absolute silence in the Command Center as everyone gazed in awe at the massive ship. From what the Ornellian scientist Arlak had told them, she knew the vessel in front of them was five-thousand-meters in length and six-hundred in diameter. It was a perfect cylinder and from what she could see on the screen, it must possess an unknown drive system.
“It’s in a small asteroid field,” Captain Reynolds reported as he projected the results of his sensor scans up on one of the holographic tactical displays.
“It doesn’t appear to have been hit,” pointed out Colonel Leon, gazing at the ship on the viewscreen. “With the density of the asteroids in this field, the ship should have taken a few strikes. I don’t even see a dent on that hull.”
“It may have some type of automatic avoidance system to protect it from asteroid impacts,” commented Clarissa. “I’m detecting what appears to be very low power readings from various parts of the vessel.”
“I thought our sensors couldn’t pick anything up.” said Commander Grissim, shifting her gaze to the AI.
“I’m not using our regular sensors,” Clarissa informed the commander. “I’m using our short-range sensors in heat detection mode and have been scanning the surface of the ship for variations in temperature.”
Kathryn turned her attention back to the Originator ship. “Is it safe for us to approach?” She could feel her pulse racing from just thinking about what they might soon discover.
“Yes,” Clarissa responded. “I believe most of its power systems are either dead or nearly exhausted.”
“Andram?”
“I agree,” replied the Alton scientist. “However, I think I would maintain a minimal distance of two thousand kilometers. If Clarissa is correct and the ship is using an asteroid avoidance system, we could cause it to react to our presence.”
Kathryn spent a few moments pondering what to do next. There in front of them was an Originator ship. The technology on it would be far in advance of anything they currently had. It might even contain the secret to getting them back home. “Suggestions?” she asked, wanting to hear from the other officers.
“Move in to three thousand kilometers and send a shuttle over,” said Commander Grissim. “It can do some close scans of the vessel and search for an entrance. Our energy shield will protect us from the asteroids.”
Andram shook his head. “The Ornellians never found a way in. We may have the same difficulty.”
“I have a suggestion,” spoke up Clarissa from her position to the left and slightly behind the admiral. “Let me try to communicate with the ship.”
Kathryn turned to look at the AI with narrowed eyes. “What do you mean, communicate? There’s no one alive on that vessel. It’s over two million years old.”
“Not with the Originators,” Clarissa clarified. “I want to try to contact the ship’s computers or its AI.”
“Mikow?” asked Kathryn, looking over at the ship’s Alton computer expert, wanting her opinion. She didn’t feel very comfortable with Clarissa’s suggestion. They had no idea how the Originator ship’s computer or AI, if it had one, would react.
“It’s a reasonable assumption,” Mikow answered with a nod. “A ship as advanced as that one may indeed have an AI. It may be our best option.”
Katie pursed her lips and then added. “If it does, the AI has been out of contact for an unbelievable amount of time. It may no longer be rational or even sane. Clarissa will need to be careful when attempting to contact it.”
“I can handle it,” Clarissa said confidently. “I know what it’s like to be alone.”
Colonel Leon was studying the ship on the viewscreen when she noticed something ominous. “I can see a lot of indentations in the hull as well as several turrets that may contain weapons. If we awaken this AI does that ship still have enough power to fire upon us?”
“Unknown,” Clarissa answered. “It’s possible the ship has dormant power systems it could activate.”
Andram looked at the ship on the screen for a long moment. “If it does they’ll be very weak. If it could generate its own power, I believe we would be detecting it.”
Reaching a decision, Kathryn turned toward Lieutenant
Styles at the Helm. “Take us in and keep a distance of three thousand kilometers between us and that ship. Colonel Leon, I want a shuttle with a minimal crew to launch and proceed to scan that vessel. I want a detailed scan of every square meter of that ship. Clarissa, if after we have finished our scan we can’t find a way in then I’m authorizing you to try to make contact.”
“What about the rest of the fleet?” asked Commander Grissim.
“They’ll stay here at Condition Two,” Kathryn ordered. “We’re back in the Ornellian Empire and there are Simulins around.” They had detected a number of Simulin ships on the long-range scanners, but so far the Simulins hadn’t given any indication of detecting the Federation ships.
-
An hour later, after a cautious approach, the Distant Horizon had moved into position three thousand kilometers from the mysterious Originator vessel. From its flight bay a small shuttle departed and moved slowly toward the waiting ship.
Captain Lacey Sanders was in the pilot’s seat and Lieutenant Ronald Stehr was in the copilot’s seat. Behind them, two specialists watched the shuttle’s scanners and computers.
“I’m taking us down the side of the vessel toward the bow,” Lacey said over the comm channel, which linked them to the Distant Horizon. “We’re taking scans and close up videos of the hull.”
Looking at the Originator ship, which was only one hundred meters away, Lacy could see large turrets set partially into the hull. There were no cannons visible or any signs these were actually weapons, but she had a haunting feeling they were. No ship this large would venture out this far and not be armed. The videos they were taking were being transmitted back to the Distant Horizon and being displayed on the large viewscreen in the front of the Command Center.
The hull of the Originator ship was a very dark blue, almost black. As the shuttle moved slowly down its length, there was no apparent damage or any reason to explain why the ship hadn’t moved from this spot.
The Lost Fleet: Oblivion's Light: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 16