-
The two fleets continued to close, Admiral Tolsen’s fleet in its disk formation and the Simulins in a globe. The Simulins had their ten battlecruisers at the heart of their formation with the escort cruisers surrounding them.
As soon as the two fleets reached engagement range, the two fleets began exchanging weapons fire. From each ship in Tolsen’s fleet small, ten-meter globes began launching. As soon as the globes left the flight bays, they activated their energy shields and accelerated toward the Simulin formation.
-
“Defense Globes are away,” reported Major Daniels. “Their energy shields are activated and their ion beams are powering up.”
The WarHawk shook slightly as several Simulin energy beams struck her powerful shield but failed to penetrate.
“Shield is holding at 92 percent,” reported Colonel Cowel.
“Firing particle beam cannons and power beams.” Major Daniels was directing the firing of the weapons from his tactical station. Eleven weapon techs sat in front of consoles that controlled the various weapons the WarHawk was equipped with. The battle dreadnought was the most powerful ship ever built by the Federation or the Altons.
Race turned his attention to the large viewscreen lit up from weapons fire. White energy beams, violet power beams, and the more deadly bright blue particle beams were evident as they flashed across space seeking targets.
On the screen, a Simulin eleven-hundred-meter escort cruiser had been bracketed by a number of power beams as well as particle beams. Its energy shield flared up into the ultraviolet and then collapsed, leaving its hull unprotected. Power beams drilled into the hull, blasting out huge chasms and particle beams tore deep into the ship, wreaking havoc with the interior systems. The ship suddenly shook violently and then exploded as its power systems were compromised.
“Simulin escort cruiser is down,” reported Captain Davis evenly.
“The Falcon is under heavy attack,” warned Commander Arnett. “Commander Braes is reporting his energy shield is down to 40 percent and the ship has sustained some minor damage.” Commander Setol Braes was an Alton and a very shrewd tactician.
“Move the Corvus and the Jaden closer to her to help give her support,” ordered Race.
The large viewscreen suddenly shifted to show the Falcon. The two-thousand-meter dreadnought was being attacked by a number of Simulin ships and her shield was glowing brightly from the massive onslaught of numerous energy beams. Even as Race watched one of the beams penetrated, blowing a massive hole in the side of the dreadnought. The ship seemed to shudder and her shield flickered. Two more energy beams penetrated, blasting large sections of armor off the ship to send them drifting off into space. The screen suddenly filled with light as a Simulin antimatter missile penetrated the weakened screen and detonated inside the damaged area. When the screen cleared, there was nothing left of the Falcon other than a mangled mass of molten metal and wisps of glowing gas.
“Falcon is down,” reported Captain Davis in a shaken voice.
“Defense Globes are in firing range,” reported Major Daniels.
Race shifted his gaze back to one of the tactical displays, which showed the six hundred and sixty small ten-meter globes rapidly closing with the compacted Simulin fleet formation. Even as he watched, they began to vanish as Simulin defensive fire started to destroy them.
“Fire the beams,” Race ordered grimly. He was feeling pain at the loss of the several thousand Humans and Altons on the Falcon. “I want the ion beams followed up with a full spread of antimatter missiles from every ship in the fleet. I want this battle over with and I want it over with now!”
“Yes, sir,” replied Major Daniels as he moved to comply with the order.
-
In space, the Simulins were attacking with their powerful energy beams and swarms of antimatter missiles. They had already managed to overload the energy shield of one of the approaching ships and now they were turning their fury toward another.
-
The High Commander in the Simulin flagship grimaced as his ship shook violently and the safety harness holding him in place bit tightly into his skin.
“Their shields are very powerful,” reported the Second Commander. “Perhaps more powerful than our own. It’s taking multiple energy beams and antimatter missiles to penetrate.”
“What of those small globes that are approaching?”
The Second Commander paused as he checked with the ship’s battle computer. His face paled as he turned back toward the High Commander. “The globes are armed with an ion beam that is capable of penetrating our shields. The battle computer says we must destroy them before they fire on us!”
“Too late!” called out the Simulin at the sensor console. “They’re firing.”
The High Commander looked at the ship’s main viewscreen; hundreds of strange beams were being directed toward his ships. “Destroy the globes!” he ordered, his voice filled with anger. “Hit them with our antimatter missiles!”
-
The six hundred and twelve remaining Defense Globes fired simultaneously, targeting all the Simulin escort cruisers. The Alton built dreadnoughts and the battle dreadnought WarHawk followed up the ion beam strike with a massive barrage of one hundred-megaton sublight antimatter missiles. The ion beams struck the shields, tearing four-meter holes in the protective barriers. Many of the inbound missiles impacted where the screens were undamaged, but so many missiles had been fired that others flashed through the small holes, striking the vulnerable armored hulls of the eleven-hundred-meter ships.
Across the Simulin defensive formation, deadly antimatter energy was released, disintegrating armored hulls, interiors, and Simulins. The ion beam and antimatter strikes were so massive there was little the Simulins could do in defense. Escort cruiser after escort cruiser was torn or blasted apart. When the Defense Globes stopped firing, all the Simulin escort cruisers were battered wrecks or in most cases drifting and glowing debris.
-
The Simulin High Commander gazed at the viewscreens in his Command Center in shock. Never in his long life had he seen Simulin ships destroyed so easily. For the first time in his career, he knew fear. Fear of the unknown and what these ships might mean to the Simulin conquest of this galaxy. If there were many more where these came from, this galaxy might pose a threat to the Simulin Empire itself.
“All battlecruisers are to continue to fire; we can still destroy these organics.” The High Commander knew it was his duty as a Simulin to inflict as much damage as possible on this fleet, even if it meant risking his last remaining vessels.
The Second Commander passed on the order, recognizing the fact these organics were a serious threat. “What if they find the Great Sphere?” he asked as he turned back toward the High Commander. “What will become of us if they learn the Old Ones’ science?”
“Then our empire will die,” answered the High Commander coldly. “We are Simulin and we will do our duty. Death to the organics for there can be none but Simulin.”
“None but Simulin,” answered the Second Commander though he was no longer quite so certain.
-
“All the Simulin escort cruisers are down,” Captain Davis reported in a subdued voice as he gazed at the destruction caused by the Defense Globes and the antimatter strike. The Simulin defensive formation was full of drifting wreckage. “The Simulins are still targeting the Defense Globes.”
“The Yellen is under heavy attack,” reported Commander Arnett. “Her energy shield is down to 30 percent and she’s taking substantial damage.”
“Move the Raven and Starling in front of her to take some of the beams while her shield regenerates,” ordered Race. On the ship’s main viewscreen, numerous small explosions of white light marked his dying Defense Globes. “Prepare for a second ion beam strike targeting the remaining Simulin ships.”
“Setting it up,” responded Major Daniels as he swiftly passed on the orders to his tactical team.
; The WarHawk suddenly shook violently and alarms began sounding. On the damage control board, several lights turned a glaring red.
“Energy beam strike to cargo hold twelve,” Colonel Cowel reported. “Only a fraction of the energy penetrated the screen, but it was enough to cause some damage. The hold is open to space and I’m sealing off the outside corridor.”
Race looked intently at the colonel. “Casualties?”
“Six,” Cowel replied. “There may be others.”
“Admiral, the Yellen has just been struck by an antimatter missile!” called out Commander Arnett, her face turning pale.
“Her energy screen?” asked Race as the main viewscreen shifted to show the stricken dreadnought.
“No,” Cowel answered with a deep sigh. “The missile penetrated her screen and detonated against the hull. I have contact with Engineering; they’re reporting heavy damage and their shield is down to 5 percent. They have no contact with the ship’s Command Center.”
“Major Daniels, launch that strike now!”
“Launching,” Daniels answered as his team sent orders to the other ships of the fleet as well as the Defense Globes.
-
In space, the four hundred and twelve surviving Defense Globes fired their ion cannons at the ten Simulin battlecruisers. At the same time, the remaining dreadnoughts and the WarHawk launched full spreads of antimatter missiles aimed at the areas on the Simulin energy screens where the ion beams were impacting. Over five hundred one hundred-megaton missiles slammed into the energy screens of ten seventeen-hundred-meter Simulin battlecruisers. On one battlecruiser, a missile detonated on the bow, blowing apart all six of the huge energy weapon spires. On other battlecruisers, the interiors were turned into molten metal and glowing gas. The heart of the Simulin formation looked as if a small nova had gone off.
-
The Simulin High Commander gasped for air as his ship was pummeled by forces he had never expected to face. On the damage control console, most of the lights had turned red and alarms were sounding. The Command Center was filling full of smoke from shorted out control consoles. The air was becoming difficult to breathe.
The Second Commander turned around and announced in a grim voice. “We’ve lost Engineering, our subspace drive has been destroyed, and the hyperdrive is not responding. We’ve lost communications with most areas of the ship.”
“The rest of the fleet?”
“Gone,” answered the sensor operator.
The High Commander took a deep breath. His eyes were beginning to burn from the smoke. He wasn’t afraid to die. What concerned him was the fact that he had no way to send a warning back to Simulin space.
“Energy shield is down,” reported the Second Commander in a detached voice.
The High Commander nodded. He didn’t reply. Death was part of a Simulin’s duty to the empire. The High Commander closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was nothing more he could do.
-
The WarHawk fired two antimatter missiles at the last surviving Simulin battlecruiser, turning it into a miniature sun.
Captain Davis turned toward the admiral. “Last Simulin battlecruiser is down.”
“Admiral, the chief engineer for the Yellen is requesting assistance. He has emergency power restored; however, many areas of the ship are open to space. He fears they lost the biggest part of the crew.”
Race gazed at the large viewscreen showing the heavily damaged dreadnought. The ship’s hull was torn open in numerous areas from energy beam strikes. A good three hundred meters of the bow was nothing more than mangled metal where the antimatter missile had struck. Other areas of the hull looked burned with deep chasms where explosions had gone off. A fiery glow was coming from some parts of the ship indicating out of control fires still burning inside. It was obvious the ship couldn’t be repaired with the resources they had at hand.
“Have the Raven and Starling begin evacuating the survivors. I want that ship searched from bow to stern to make sure we leave no one behind.” Race knew a lot of people, both human and Alton had just died on that ship.
“It could have been worse,” Commander Arnett said in a measured voice. “We were lucky. The Simulins didn’t expect to face the ion beams the Defense Globes are equipped with.”
Leaning back in his command chair, Race gazed about the Command Center. The tension and the anxiety in the room were rapidly dwindling as the battle was over. “Major Daniels, land the remaining Defense Globes. Send out a few Talons to check the debris to see if they can spot anything useful. If they do we can send out some of our smaller shuttles to bring the wreckage into one of our landing bays.”
“How soon before we set out for the Dyson Sphere?” asked Kelnor, who had remained silent during the battle. He was feeling ill from the carnage they had caused as well as the loss of so many lives.
“Shortly,” Race answered. “We’ll finish the evacuation of the Yellen and then destroy her. Once we’ve swept the debris field, we’ll leave.”
Kelnor nodded. He was anxious to see the Dyson Sphere. Looking over at Reesa, he knew she was feeling the same. He could see her face was very pale; he wondered if this was the first time she had seen actual combat of this magnitude. He would speak with her later to help allay her fears.
-
Eight hours later, the WarHawk and her fleet of eighteen dreadnoughts made the hyperspace jump to the system that supposedly contained the Originators’ Dyson Sphere. Blue-white swirling vortexes appeared and the fleet emerged into a system of darkness. There was no sign of a star, no planets, no moons, no asteroids, and no belt of comets or icy remnants.
-
Commander Arnett was gazing at the tactical display as it updated. “Wow, talk about depressing.” She looked over at the admiral. “What if there’s nothing here?”
“It’s here,” Captain Davis replied from his sensor console. “While we’re not detecting the Dyson Sphere we’re picking up an object of mass.”
“It’s strange being in a star system and there being no light,” said Reesa as she gazed at the main viewscreen, which showed a sea of stars.
Kelnor reached forward and made some adjustments on his console. Instantly, the screen changed to show another area of space. The stars were still visible on the periphery of the screen, but a large circular object in the center was dimly apparent in the pale light from the stars. It was very dark in color.
“Is that it?” asked Race, standing up and striding over to stand in front of the massive viewscreen.
“Yes,” Kelnor said simply. “We’re probably the first people to see the Dyson Sphere in over two million years.”
The Command Center was silent as everyone gazed at the massive artifact in front of them. It was hard to fathom that anyone could build such a structure around a star.
“How large is it?” asked Colonel Cowel. He felt a cold chill run down his back at what he was seeing on the screen.
“It’s three AU in diameter,” replied Captain Davis. “I’ve reset our sensors and we can now detect the object. It’s made of some type of material that wasn’t reflecting our original scans.”
Race straightened his shoulders and looked around at his crew. “We’ve found what we came here for. I intend to take the fleet in closer, and we’ll do a careful survey of the exterior of the sphere.”
“There should be some way in,” commented Reesa, her eyes alight with the excitement of discovery. “Can you imagine the amount of living space there must be inside?”
Race turned and looked over at Captain Denise Travers, who was sitting in front of Communications. “Send a hyperspace message back to the Federation informing them of what we’ve found. Give them the exact coordinates and add that we’re beginning to survey the Dyson Sphere and will attempt to find a way in.”
They had left a string of hyperspace communication buoys so they could contact Federation space. Supposedly, the Special Ops people had a fleet on standby to come in and assist with protecting t
he Dyson Sphere in case the Simulins or the Shari were to come across it. Race would feel a lot better with more warships to help protect this discovery. It would be a disaster if the Dyson Sphere fell under the influence of the Simulins or the Shari.
“Set a course for the Dyson Sphere at forty percent sublight,” Race ordered.
By using the sublight drive at that power setting, it would take them a number of hours to reach the sphere. That would give them plenty of time to take readings on their way in. It would also help to ensure there were no surprises waiting for them. Race was intensely curious as to what they would find. He allowed himself to smile. His dreams of being an explorer had finally come true and here in front of him was the discovery of a lifetime.
-
High Lord Aktill of the Shari was back aboard his flagship after a meeting with the Shari High Command. His fleet had been heavily reinforced and he had been given direct orders from the Shari Grand Council of High Lords. He was to proceed to the Rylus Cluster and search it to see if it was the source of the unknown ships that had been attacking the empire for the last year. The unknowns were very powerful, and numerous Shari vessels had been lost in the engagements. Most of the battles had been fought between small task groups. This would be the first time the Shari had committed a major fleet.
“I feel uneasy about our orders,” commented Lower Lord Samarth, who was Aktill’s second in command. “The Rylus Cluster has been forbidden to us for generations. It is said that no one who has gone into the cluster has ever returned.”
“Rumors and superstition,” replied Aktill dismissively. He had also heard those old stories.
For centuries, the Shari had avoided the cluster as entry into it had been prohibited by the AIs as well as the Grand Council of High Lords.
The Lost Fleet: Oblivion's Light: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 21