“Yes, Admiral,” Nolan replied. It wouldn’t take long to have a shuttle prepped and a squad ready to go.
“Altons and their interest in science,” muttered Madelyn Arnett with a frown on her face. “Sometimes they get so wrapped up in their explorations they forget to follow even simple communication protocols.”
“That may be true, but the marines with them shouldn’t have,” Race responded evenly. He knew as well as everyone else how Altons loved to do research, and the draw of this underground complex and the mysteries it might contain may have proven too captivating for the two Alton scientists causing them to take some unnecessary risks.
“Sensors are still clear,” Captain Davis commented. “No sign of any ships within sixteen light-years.”
This was a relief to Race. So far, Simulin ships had been reassuringly absent. “Remind the captain to be careful. While we didn’t detect any signs of any recent landings, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few Conqueror Drones lurking in those underground passages.”
“Message sent,” replied Major Nolan. “I’m sure my marines are taking all the necessary precautions. The shuttle and the support squad will be ready in ten minutes.”
One thing Nolan had done on this mission was to ensure all the marines who had gone down to the surface of the moon had armor piercing rounds as well as the more powerful explosive rounds. Both had been designed specifically to take out a Conqueror Drone. If it was necessary to send down another squad, they would be equipped in the same way.
-
Captain Lindsey Abrams frowned in frustration. It had been thirty minutes since she had received orders from Major Nolan to go out and search for the exploration team if they didn’t make contact.
“Corporal Haggard, is your team ready to disembark?” asked Captain Abrams as she checked her Alton environmental suit.
“Yes, Captain,” answered Haggard.
Lindsey looked at the corporal and the two privates behind him. “We need to go out and find out why the exploration team has missed their comm checks.”
The two privates looked uneasily at one another.
“Do you think they’re Conqueror Drones in that complex?” asked Private Sandra Carton as she checked to make sure she had armor piercing rounds in her assault rifle.
“I doubt it,” Lindsey replied as she picked up her own rifle and slammed a clip of armor piercing rounds in place. “More than likely the material the complex is built from is interfering with communications. We’ll go in, find the team, and then report back to the WarHawk.”
Going to the airlock, Lindsey led her marines down the ramp and toward the entrance to the Originator complex. Behind her, the airlock hatch slid silently shut. She had left four other marines on board for security. In addition, the twenty members of the ship’s crew were on watch. Even the cutter’s laser turrets were activated in case they were needed. Lindsey hoped she was right and the exploration team wasn’t in trouble.
-
Kelnor Mard led the exploration team deeper into the mysterious complex. He wasn’t sure but he felt they had descended a good two thousand meters. In a sealed off room near the surface, Reesa had stumbled across a map which seemed to indicate there was an intact computer center at the bottom of the complex. It was one of the few rooms they had managed to open.
“How much farther?” asked Sergeant Brenda Wilde.
She wasn’t happy about being out of contact with the exploration cutter and Captain Abrams. However, she couldn’t leave the two Alton scientists and she was hesitant to send any of her squad of marines back to report in. She felt there was safety in numbers and had decided to keep everyone together.
“Not much more,” Kelnor answered as he paused to catch his breath. There was obviously some type of power system in operation as the gravity had gradually increased the deeper into the complex they descended. Their instruments were even showing an atmosphere though it was too thin to breathe.
Sergeant Wilde looked around her in the lights from her suit. Each of the environmental suits had two bright lights, which they were using to light their way. Besides the two Alton scientists there were four research assistants, who were carrying much of the scientific gear, as well as five other marines. “Let’s take five and then we’ll move on. Kelnor, if we don’t find anything in the next half hour, I’m going to insist we turn back.”
“We’re almost there,” responded the Alton scientist, turning to face Sergeant Wilde. “Ten more minutes at the most.”
“We’ve come so far,” Reesa added. “We can’t turn back now!”
Corporal Metz walked over to stand next to the sergeant, his assault rifle cradled in his arms. “They’re probably already hunting for us,” he commented.
“We left markers for them to follow,” Wilde replied.
With a deep sigh, Brenda knew when she got back to the cutter she was going to get an ass chewing for being out of contact for so long. When they first discovered their comms didn’t work inside the complex, she should have sent a marine back to the captain to ask for instructions.
After five minutes she indicated for Kelnor to lead the way again. They were going down a corridor and occasionally they would find wide steps that led farther down. From the size of the steps, Lindsey thought the Originators must have been very tall, taller than the Altons. Even the ceilings of the corridors were far above their heads.
As they continued to walk through the corridors, they came across numerous rooms, all of which were sealed from entry. Several times they stopped and tried to force the doors open, but they refused to budge.
At last, Kelnor came to a stop before what appeared to be a metal hatch. The metal of the hatch seemed to reflect a dim glow from their suit lights. Kelnor stopped and looked back at the sergeant. “This is it,” he announced.
Brenda stepped forward and examined the hatch, not seeing any way to open it. “How do we get in?”
“Hopefully with this,” Reesa said, reaching into the pocket of her suit and pulling out a small round globe slightly smaller than her fist. “I brought this from Albania. It’s one of the few artifacts discovered when these worlds were first explored.”
“What is it?” asked Brenda, looking questioningly at the small globe. It was copper colored and its surface was perfectly smooth.
“We think it’s a key,” Kelnor explained as he took the small globe and inserted it into a circular depression next to the hatch.
For a moment nothing happened and then the globe began to glow. A grinding noise came from the hatch and it slowly slid open. Through the open hatch bright lights began to come on, revealing what looked like a control room.
“It’s intact!” exclaimed Reesa, her eyes filling with excitement. “In all of the exploration reports at Astral there’s no mention of any of the exploration teams finding something like this.”
Kelnor began to step inside when Sergeant Wilde stopped him. “What happens if the hatch shuts?”
“We’ll leave one of our assistants out here and several of your marines. If the hatch shuts all they have to do is remove the key and insert it again.”
Brenda nodded. They had come this far, they might as well see what was in the room. “Go on in, we’ll follow.”
-
Captain Lindsey Abrams was getting more aggravated the farther into the complex they descended. Sergeant Wilde should have known better than to go this far without attempting to reestablish communications.
“I think I can hear voices up ahead,” Corporal Haggard said as they descended another flight of stairs.
Getting to the bottom Lindsey could see several marines about twenty meters farther down the corridor. It only took a few moments to reach them. She was surprised to see they were standing in front of a large hatch lit up by a light from within.
“Report!” she barked, striding up to the two marines.
“Captain,” uttered Private Richard Trent, coming to attention. “We have found what appears to be the control roo
m for this complex. Sergeant Wilde, the two Altons, and the others are inside.”
“Corporal Haggard, I want you and Privates Mason and Carton to stay out here. I’m going inside to see just what the hell is going on!”
Lindsey stepped inside and came to a complete stop. The room she was in was full of equipment and what was more astonishing, it seemed to be working. “What’s going on?” she demanded, seeing Sergeant Wilde standing next to the two Altons.
The sergeant turned around and saw Lindsey. “Captain, we’ve found the control room for this complex.”
“I thought there were no functioning Originator artifacts,” said Lindsey, stepping over closer to the two Altons. Her curiosity at what was around her was pushing her anger at Sergeant Wilde to the back of her mind for now. She would deal with the sergeant later.
“Not until now,” Reesa said with a big smile. Even through her helmet, her look of excitement was obvious. “From what we can tell this control room has a self-repair system. This entire complex can be brought back to life if needed.”
Lindsey shook her head in disbelief. “It’s two million years old! How can anything that’s been here that long still function?”
“Originator technology,” Kelnor answered. “The Originators built things to last.”
Lindsey looked around the large room seeing the Altons’ assistants busy at several consoles. “What are they doing?”
“Downloading information,” Kelnor explained. “We managed to access the complex’s computer system.”
“Do you understand what’s being downloaded?”
Reesa shook her head in disappointment. “No, however, we have a translation program on the WarHawk we got from Astral. It’s not complete, but we think given enough time we can decipher what we’re downloading.”
Lindsey paused, feeling confused. “If your people once came to this world, why didn’t they mention this complex was intact?”
“That’s a big question,” admitted Kelnor as he examined some data flowing across a screen in front of him. He shook his head, as he didn’t understand what he was seeing. “Perhaps they were afraid of what was here. From what we know of the exploration of this star cluster, all exploration expeditions were banned shortly after the report on this complex was filed.”
“A mystery,” said Lindsey, drawing in a deep breath. “How much longer until you’re finished?”
“Twenty minutes,” replied Kelnor. “Then we can return to the cutter and go back up to the WarHawk to download this data into the ship’s computer and begin running it through the language program.”
“Twenty minutes then, and no more,” warned Lindsey. She turned to face Sergeant Wilde. “When we get back to the WarHawk, you and I are going to have a long conversation about exploration protocols.”
“Yes, Captain,” answered Sergeant Wilde, turning pale.
Lindsey stepped back so the Altons could finish up their work. At least there didn’t appear to be any danger. However, there were reasons for protocols and failure to adhere to them could resort in serious repercussions. She just wanted Sergeant Wilde to understand that.
-
Admiral Race Tolsen was standing in one of the WarHawk’s two large flight bays waiting for the exploration cutter to arrive. Next to him stood Major Nolan. This flight bay held two heavy shuttles, two small cargo shuttles, forty Talon fighters, and twenty Anlon bombers. The fighters and the bombers were anchored securely to the deck along the walls of the flight bay. At the far end were two large circular hatches behind which thirty Defense Globes resided. The other flight bay was set up very similarly. They had just been about to launch the shuttle with the squad of marines when the research team had emerged from the complex.
“Cutter is approaching,” Commander Grissim reported over the mini-comm in Race’s right ear.
“Captain Abrams seemed pretty excited about what they found in the Originator Complex,” commented Nolan as he saw the large cutter enter the flight bay, passing through the atmospheric retention field.
Race nodded. He had spoken briefly with Kelnor Mard, and the Alton Originator expert had confirmed a significant discovery. Race was hopeful that perhaps they had found the secret as to where the Originators’ Dyson Sphere was located, if the sphere actually existed. He was also a little concerned as half a dozen Simulin ships had been detected on the long-range sensors. Currently, the WarHawk’s entire fleet was operating under stealth mode with the stealth energy shields up.
The exploration cutter set down in its docking berth and magnetic clamps rose up out of the deck to lock the ship securely in place. Moments later, the main airlock hatch opened and Captain Abrams as well as the two Alton scientists appeared. Seeing the admiral and the major, they descended the ramp and made their way over to the two officers.
“We found it!” exclaimed Reesa with an excited look in her eyes. Her thick white hair even looked a little disheveled.
“Found what?” asked Race, wanting to know what the Alton scientist was so excited about.
Reesa took a deep breath and then replied. “We found an intact computer core inside the complex. We managed to activate it and download most of its files.”
“Two million years and it still worked?” said Major Nolan with disbelief in his eyes. “How is that possible?”
Kelnor looked at the major and said. “The Originators used building materials far in advance of anything we have. Also, keep in mind this complex is on an airless moon. Most of the complex was in a vacuum, which protected it from deteriorating. There is also a good possibility that even the sections we accessed where there was an atmosphere only had one because the complex detected our presence. Most likely the complex has an automatic self-repair system that has kept its essential systems operating over all of these years.”
“So, what is in the files?” Race asked, his curiosity growing.
“We don’t know,” Reesa confessed with disappointment showing on her face.
“We need to run the files through an Originator language program we brought with us,” Kelnor said, showing patience. He had learned over years of research that some things couldn’t be rushed unlike Reesa, who was much younger and tended to rush into things.
“How long will that take?” asked Race. He didn’t like staying in one system too long. Every hour they stayed here increased the likelihood of the Simulins stumbling across his fleet.
Kelnor let out a deep sigh. “A few more days. It will take that long for the language program to decrypt the files. The program only contains an estimated 9 percent of the Originator language.”
This worried Race. He didn’t want the Simulins to find this system, particularly with an intact Originator complex on the moon. He could destroy it with a Devastator Three or even with an antimatter missile though he hated destroying something that had survived for over two million years.
“I think it’s best if we jump to another star system,” he said after a moment. “If the Simulins find us here they may be just curious enough to do a search. We can’t have them finding this complex.”
“Excellent idea,” said Kelnor, nodding his head in agreement. “I want to go to the Command Center and begin uploading the files into the ship’s computer.”
“Let’s do it then,” Race said, turning and motioning for the two Alton scientists to follow him.
Captain Lindsey Abrams stepped over closer to Major Nolan. “We had trouble maintaining communications once the research team went inside the complex,” she informed him.
Nolan gazed at the captain for a long moment and then spoke. “Let’s go to my office and we can discuss it, particularly since I imagine there’ll be more of these research missions. I don’t like the idea of not being able to communicate; too many things can go wrong in those types of situations.”
“Yes, sir,” Lindsey replied. “We need better protocols to handle these research missions. If we don’t, then someone else is likely to be killed.”
-
It w
as two days later and Admiral Race Tolsen was in his quarters sipping on a cup of coffee as he read the latest department reports. The WarHawk and the other ships of the fleet were performing within expectations and thus far had eluded detection by the Simulins. Engineering had fine-tuned the ship’s power system until it was now running at optimum levels. Even the Altons, who had helped to design the ship’s upgraded Fusion Five reactors, seemed impressed. Jalen Dothan was the ship’s chief engineer as well as being an Alton and was highly qualified in reactor design. His assistant engineer was human and had been working overtime with several other technicians to increase the ship’s power efficiency.
Race was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock on the hatch to his quarters. Putting the reports down, he got up and walked over to the hatch, opening it.
“Admiral,” said Kelnor Mard respectfully. Reesa Jast stood just behind him with an excited look on her face. “Can we come in?”
“Certainly,” responded Race, stepping to the side and gesturing for them to enter.
After the three of them sat down Race looked over at Kelnor. He suspected the reason the two Altons had come to see him was because they had news about their translation program.
Kelnor and Reesa were sitting on the sofa and Race was across from them. “How is the translation program doing?”
Reesa’s face seemed to glow as she spoke. “It’s done! We just finished going through some of the data. It’s remarkable what was stored in that computer core.”
“The Dyson Sphere?”
“It’s real,” confirmed Kelnor with a slight nod of his head. “However, sadly enough, that’s not where the Originators went.”
“Then where are they?” Race had assumed the Originators had evacuated all of their worlds to go and live inside the megastructure.
Kelnor sighed and leaned back closing his eyes briefly. “It seems the Originators were experimenting with a pathogen that would greatly enhance their life spans.”
The Lost Fleet: Oblivion's Light: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 19