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

by Raymond L. Weil

  They were seeking immortality,” explained Reesa, taking a deep breath.

  “It did succeed in extending their lives, but it had some unintended side effects,” Kelnor added. “Their birthrate rapidly began to decline and a strange illness appeared.”

  “Declining birthrates sounds like what happened to the Altons on Astral,” commented Race, wanting to hear more.

  “Yes, but this was much worse,” Kelnor said with sorrow in his eyes. “The pathogen, over time, mutated until it became virulent. The first evidence something was wrong was the declining birthrate. Almost immediately after that, the Originators began to die. They could find no explanations for the deaths and examinations of the bodies failed to reveal any clues. It took them several years to learn the pathogen they had injected themselves with to give them longer life spans had changed their DNA on the molecular level. The change was very slight, but it was prone to sudden mutations, which normally led to death within two to three days.”

  Race looked intently at Kelnor, guessing where this was going. “Are you telling me they all died from this disease?”

  “Yes,” Kelnor admitted, his shoulders drooping. “It took years, but in the end they all perished. Before they did they destroyed all evidence of their advanced civilization to ensure no one else made the same mistake they did.”

  “What about the complex on the airless moon?”

  “Their last redoubt,” Reesa said. “A group of their scientists fled with their families to the moon in the hope of someday perfecting a cure. That day never happened.”

  “You once told me they had a population of three to four hundred billion,” Race said, realizing the size of the calamity that had befallen the Originators. “How could they have made such a colossal mistake?”

  “Arrogance,” responded Kelnor. “The same type of arrogance which led my people to build the AIs so many years ago. They thought their science supreme and dared to challenge the natural order of things.”

  “We have our own life-extending drugs,” Race said worriedly. “The same thing could happen to us.”

  “Ours are not like the Originators’,” Reesa said. “The life-extending drugs used in the Federation and by my own people only slow down the aging process. They don’t attempt to stop it.”

  Race reached over to the small table next to his chair and picked up his coffee cup. He took a long sip as he thought over what the two Altons had just told him. Setting the cup back down, he looked over at Kelnor. “Do you know where the Dyson Sphere is?”

  Kelnor hesitated and then slowly nodded his head. “Yes; it’s in this star cluster very close to Capal Four.”

  “Crap,” muttered Race, shaking his head. “How close?”

  “Four light-years,” Reesa said softly.

  That wasn’t good as they suspected the majority of the Simulin ships in the star cluster were at Capal Four. “If we jump into the system where we suspect the Dyson Sphere is, the Simulins will probably detect us.”

  “That does pose a problem,” admitted Kelnor, looking expectantly at Race. “What are we going to do?”

  Race took a deep breath. He could only see one option. “We jump to Capal Four and destroy the Simulin ships.”

  Reesa turned pale at hearing this announcement. “Is there not any other way?”

  Race shook his head. “Not unless we want to lead the Simulins to the Dyson Sphere.”

  Kelnor and Reesa looked at each other. Kelnor despised violence but understood that at times it was necessary. Reesa on the other hand was one of the Altons who had a disposition that didn’t find violence so repulsive.

  “We’ll jump close to Capal Four and then send one of our ships in close to scan the system,” Race explained. “Once we know what’s waiting for us there we can make our battle plans.”

  “Then we’re going to fight the Simulins,” said Kelnor evenly.

  “Yes,” Race answered, his eyes focusing on the Alton. “We’re going to fight the Simulins and either drive them out of this cluster or destroy them.” Unfortunately, Race knew it wouldn’t be that simple. War never was.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Admiral Race Tolsen stood in front of the large viewscreen in the battle dreadnought WarHawk. A yellow G-2 star beckoned in the center of the screen. Capal Four was twelve light-years away and for the moment held his attention.

  “Corvus has jumped,” confirmed Commander Madelyn Arnett as the dreadnought vanished from the tactical display.

  “The ship should arrive at Capal Four in twenty-four minutes,” reported Taalon Briez, the navigation officer.

  Race nodded and walked back to his command chair and sat down. From their current position, they were only nine light-years away from where the Dyson Sphere supposedly resided. He had already focused the large viewscreen on that section of space. It had been disappointing as it revealed nothing, just darkness where a star should be. Even the long-range sensors failed to show anything at the coordinates.

  “I’ve run some simulations on the movement of the nearby stars,” Kelnor said as he stepped away from the ship’s primary computer station. “They are moving in a pattern which confirms something of high mass at the indicated location.”

  Race tapped the fingers of his right hand against the armrest of his command chair as he considered Kelnor’s words. “At least we know it’s there.”

  Race was highly curious as to what they would find when it was finally safe to jump to the system. He could barely contain his excitement at the thought of exploring the Originator’s Dyson Sphere, assuming they could find a way inside.

  Colonel Brice Cowel breathed out a deep sigh. “How soon do we launch our attack?”

  This brought Race’s thoughts back to the task at hand; the Dyson Sphere would have to wait a little bit longer. The Simulins in the Capal Four System had to be dealt with first.

  “As soon as the Corvus returns and we can find out what we’re facing.” Race knew for now they dared not approach the Dyson Sphere with the Simulins so close. If the Simulins were to discover the Dyson Sphere, it could spell disaster.

  -

  Commander Edison Smart was sitting in his command chair in the two-thousand-meter dreadnought Corvus. He was watching a counter on one of the tactical displays slowly counting down toward zero.

  “What do we have on the long-range sensors?”

  “Picking up Simulin warships,” the sensor operator reported as he studied the data on one of his screens. “So far seventeen confirmed though there could be more in lower orbits around the planets in the system.”

  Commander Smart took a deep breath and considered his options. His mission was very simple; sneak into the Capal Four System and take scans of the Simulin ships. He was going to exit hyperspace on the fringe of the system next to the rocky asteroids and comets that orbited far out past the system’s ten planets.

  “The Simulins are bound to detect us coming in toward them,” Colonel Jeffry Grayson, the executive officer, said uneasily. “They may be waiting for us.”

  “Perhaps,” Commander Smart answered as he leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “We’re not staying long enough for them to respond. We’re going to jump in, take some in depth sensor scans, and then jump back to the fleet.”

  Grayson heard the commander’s words but questioned whether it would be that easy. Very seldom did anything go as planned.

  -

  A few minutes later, the Corvus dropped out of hyperspace and quickly activated her stealth energy shield. They had only been exposed to possible sensor scans for a scant few seconds, but the Simulins should have detected their inbound trajectory and were probably watching to see where they would appear.

  Commander Smart turned toward the ship’s sensor operator. “I want those sensor scans as quickly as possible; we don’t dare stay long enough to allow the Simulins to respond to our hyperspace jump. There’s a good possibility they detected an energy spike when we exited the spatial vortex. Keep an eye on those
warships and let me know if they show any indication of preparing for a hyperspace jump.”

  “Scanning,” the sensor operator replied as his hands flew over the control console in front of him. “It will take twelve minutes to get a complete scan of the system.”

  Edison nodded. “We’ll stay at Condition One until further notice. Navigation, I want a jump plotted back to Admiral Tolsen. If the Simulins show up, we’re leaving.”

  Several tense minutes passed as Commander Smart watched the nearby tactical display, which was constantly updating as new data came in from the sensors. So far, seven planets were showing as well as numerous moons and several minor asteroid fields. There were also fourteen Simulin ships appearing as red threat icons. As of yet there had been no reaction from the Simulin ships to the presence of the Corvus. Edison was starting to wonder if the Simulins had failed to detect the Corvus’s approach.

  “Final scans are coming in,” reported the officer in front of the sensors.

  On the tactical display, three more planets appeared, and one of them was surrounded by red threat icons. Edison took a moment to count them and then shook his head. There were eighteen Simulin ships around the planet. That meant a total of thirty-two enemy vessels were in the system.

  Grayson was watching the nearer group of Simulin vessels when he saw several turn and begin accelerating toward the Corvus. “Commander, I think we’ve been spotted, or at least our hyperspace vortex was when we emerged.”

  “Do we have identifications on those ship types?” demanded Edison, looking intently at the sensor operator. He didn’t want to go back to Admiral Tolsen without that vital piece of information.

  “Yes, sir, there are ten battlecruisers and the rest are support cruisers. I’m also picking up energy spikes from several of the nearer Simulin vessels.”

  “Helm, get us out of here; take us into hyperspace immediately.”

  -

  Moments later, the Corvus accelerated and entered a swirling blue-white vortex. Shortly afterward the vortex vanished, leaving no sign of ever being there or of the dreadnought.

  White vortices formed and four Simulin escort cruisers burst forth. They scanned the area, but there was no sign of any vessel. On their long-range sensors, they could see a vessel in hyperspace leaving the area at a very high rate of speed. There was no point in pursuit as they wouldn’t be able to catch it.

  -

  Commander Smart allowed himself to relax as it became clear the Simulins weren’t going to follow them back to Admiral Tolsen. They had succeeded with their mission in finding out how many Simulin ships were in the Capal Four System. Now it was up to the admiral to find a way to destroy them.

  -

  Race was in his private office meeting with Commander Smart, Commander Arnett, and Kelnor Mard. They were discussing the sensor readings the Corvus had taken in the Capal Four System.

  “The third and fifth planets both have Originator ruins on them,” confirmed Kelnor as he studied a projection of the locations of the Simulin ships in the system. There was a small holographic table in the admiral’s office and they were using it to display the ship locations.

  Race walked slowly around the three-dimensional image, gazing thoughtfully at the Simulin ships. “Most of them seem to be around the third planet,” he said after studying the hologram for a few moments.

  “It was the Originator capital,” explained Kelnor. “Or at least from the data Reesa brought back from Astral, we believe it was their capital. The ruins on that planet cover much of its surface, more so than any other world our people found in their early searches.”

  Commander Smart was also studying the holo display. “It may indeed be their capital, considering how close it is to where we think the Dyson Sphere is located.”

  “We have to destroy those ships!” uttered Race emphatically. “If we don’t and they send word back to their galaxy of what we’ve discovered, we could face a massive invasion, particularly if they gain control of the sphere.”

  Kelnor had an impassive look upon his face. He disliked talking about war but knew in this situation there was no other choice. “This fleet was designed to be able to take out Simulin ships. I can assure you they have never faced vessels such as ours.”

  “Perhaps,” Race responded, his eyes narrowing sharply. “Don’t forget about the Distant Horizon, she was also very heavily armed. She’s as strong as our own dreadnoughts and these Simulins may be aware of her capabilities.”

  “Our beam weapons are more powerful,” Commander Arnett was quick to point out. “Our energy shields are also. We’ve made some advancements since Rear Admiral Barnes left on her mission.”

  Race walked back to his desk and sat down. “I don’t want us taking anything for granted. Their largest concentration of ships is around the third planet. In all probability, they will detect our approach and be ready for battle. This could get ugly really quick. Don’t forget their technology is at least on a par with our own.”

  “So what do we do?” asked Commander Smart, looking at the admiral. “Do we send word back to the Federation or the Altons that we need more ships?”

  Folding his arms across his chest, Race shook his head. “I don’t believe we can afford to wait. The Simulins are only four light-years away from the Dyson Sphere. We have to attack and attack now before they learn of it or accidently stumble across it.”

  -

  After the meeting and once the others had left, Race stepped into his quarters and took a moment to rest. Here he was about to make one of the biggest decisions of his life and he had no way to notify his superiors of the actions he was preparing to take. Much like when he had destroyed the Simulin fleet at the galactic center, Race was taking a risk. If he failed, then in all likelihood the Simulins would discover the Dyson Sphere and bring war to the Federation and the galaxy. Race sat down and thought briefly about his family. His sister, Massie, would never believe what he was about to do or even where he was. Just being within this star cluster inside Shari space was a tremendous risk. If the Shari found his fleet and discovered it was from the Federation, then war would be inevitable. It also brought up another question; why were there no Shari ships inside this cluster? They had detected Shari vessels outside the cluster but none since.

  Race remained seated for several more minutes and then got up to fix himself a cup of coffee. Shortly he would be going to the Command Center and giving the order to set course for Capal Four and the Simulins. If they were successful in defeating the Simulins, then their next destination would be the Dyson Sphere. “Massie, you would never believe any of this,” Race said aloud as he took a deep drink from his steaming cup. “I’m just glad you’re back home where it’s safe.”

  Finishing his cup of coffee, Race straightened his uniform and exited his quarters. It was time to find out just how powerful his fleet was.

  -

  Forty minutes later twenty-one blue-white spatial vortexes opened up in the Capal Four System spewing forth the massive vessels of war. The Simulins had detected the inbound fleet and hastily rearranged their ships into a defensive formation. There had been just enough warning to gather all of the ships in the system into one fleet. They were mystified as to what race this could be approaching so rapidly. However, they were confident their superior technology, particularly their weapons, would be able to deal with this impending threat.

  -

  The High Commander of the Simulin fleet gazed intently at his tactical screen as red threat icons began appearing. Twenty-one large icons were shown exiting hyperspace nearly in combat range of his fleet. On one of the Command Center’s viewscreens a large cylindrically shaped ship appeared.

  “What does the battle computer say of these vessels?” he asked, turning toward his second in command. They had detected a single hyperspace entry into the system hours earlier and even tracked the vessel as it approached the system and then left it at a high rate of speed.

  “Alton,” the Second Commander replied. �
��The ships most resemble those built by the Altons.”

  The High Commander was silent as he thought about what that might mean for the upcoming battle. The Altons were a very advanced race. Since coming to this galaxy, the Simulins had taken the time to learn what races might be the biggest threat to their goal of eventual conquest. They were not pleased to learn several very large galactic empires controlled most of this galaxy. It was also daunting to discover the Altons were an older race and highly advanced, perhaps as advanced as the Simulins themselves. It would take a huge commitment of Simulin forces to subdue and eliminate the organics of this galaxy. That was why it was crucial for them to find the Great Sphere. So far their searches of these old worlds had failed to shed any light on where the sphere might be.

  “Why are they here?” asked the Second Commander.

  The High Commander’s eyes suddenly widened. “The Great Sphere; they must know of it! They have come here searching.” He turned toward the Second Commander and spoke in a cold and harsh voice. “We must destroy this fleet; they cannot be allowed to find the Great Sphere. If they were to find the sphere our plans to conquer this galaxy could be met with failure.”

  “They shall be destroyed,” responded the Second Commander. “There can be none but Simulin.”

  “None but Simulin,” replied the High Commander.

  -

  Race was in the Command Center watching the tactical displays. He had formed his fleet into a disk formation facing the Simulins with the WarHawk at the center. The Simulins were in a defensive globe formation and slowly moving away from the planet to give them room to maneuver if needed.

  “Weapons are ready to fire,” reported Major Daniels from Tactical.

  “All ships are at Condition One,” added Commander Arnett. She was using her mini-comm set on ship-to-ship to communicate with the rest of the fleet.

  “Four minutes to combat range,” reported Captain Davis from Sensors.

  Race took a deep, steadying breath. He always felt apprehensive when going into battle. “I want all weapons to fire as soon as we’re within range. Also, launch all of our Defense Globes as well as those of the rest of the fleet.” The WarHawk had sixty of the small ion beam globes and the other dreadnoughts had thirty each. If he could use the globes’ ion beams to knock holes in the Simulins’ energy shields, he might just be able to win this battle with minimal losses. It was a tactic the Simulins wouldn’t be expecting.