-
Reesa Jast was busy arguing with Kelnor at their camp over what needed to be their next move. They had set up a number of survival huts, which had been in their emergency supplies. The small huts were of Alton design and were even heated and air conditioned, though neither were actually needed in the small secluded valley.
“I still say we should broadcast a continuous message toward the city,” said Reesa, crossing her arms defiantly. She was one of those rare Altons who at times showed considerable emotion. “From the small robots we can see, there must be some type of control system somewhere. I can’t believe the Originators wouldn’t have foreseen the situation we find ourselves in. Why else would they have the energy shield set up to keep us in this valley and prevent us from being able to reach the city?”
Kelnor slowly shook his head. “We must spend more time studying the city with our instruments. If we provoke a response, there’s no telling what might happen.”
“Our food supplies will be gone soon,” Corporal Everett Metz commented. He was standing close by listening to the two Altons. “We’re fortunate the stream is providing us with fresh water, but we haven’t done any hunting though there are some animals in this valley which could provide us some much needed protein.”
Kelnor let out a deep sigh. “Corporal, if we begin killing animals, whatever is controlling the city and the small robots may decide to eliminate us as we would a rodent or an insect. We’ve found some plants and even a few fruit bearing trees that can supplement what supplies we have remaining.”
“I’m not much on being a vegetarian,” grumbled Metz.
“How much longer will our remaining supplies last until we’re entirely dependent on what we can find in this valley?” asked Reesa.
“Two or three more weeks at the most and that’s rationing them to a minimum and supplementing them with the plants and fruits we’ve found.”
Reesa nodded to herself. What the corporal had just mentioned was just another reason to try to communicate with whatever the controlling intelligence was in the Dyson Sphere. She just couldn’t understand why Kelnor was being so stubborn.
“Let me talk to Sergeant Wilde when she comes back about attempting to broadcast a communications signal,” pleaded Reesa, her eyes focusing back on her fellow Alton.
“You can talk to her,” Kelnor said evenly. “However, I’ll suggest that we wait until there is no other option. If there is a controlling intelligence in the Dyson Sphere, it must know of our presence by now. We just need to wait until it makes itself known.”
Reesa forced herself to calm down. It had been so frustrating the past few weeks to be so close to the city and not able to enter it. For her entire life, the Originators had been a fascination to her. Now all of the answers she so desperately sought were on the other side of the energy shield, and she had no way to get past it.
-
Outside the Dyson Sphere, Admiral Race Tolsen was in the Command Center of the battle dreadnought WarHawk with his sister, Massie. Massie had come over to visit as she wanted to speak with Race over several matters that concerned her.
“How are things going on the Hera?” asked Race as he leaned back in his command chair and looked over at his sister.
It still seemed strange to be so far from the Human Federation of Worlds and to have his sister at his side. He wondered what his parents were thinking about all of this. He was sure they were deeply worried. He wasn’t certain how much Fleet Admiral Nagumo had been able to tell them.
“Great,” Massie responded. “We’ve been working on getting the pilots of all thirteen battlecarriers used to flying with one another. “I’ve promoted Captain Weinhardt to the rank of major and he’s now coordinating all the flight wings from the different battlecarriers.”
“Weinhardt is a fine officer,” Race said approvingly. He was pleased to hear Massie was sharing her authority with others. The promotion of Weinhardt was a sound decision.
“Admiral,” interrupted Commander Arnett. “We have a group of twenty-two Shari warships inbound.”
Race sucked in a deep breath. For the last several days, the Shari had been probing the fleet’s defenses. “Massie, you better get back to the Hera. I’ll talk to you when this is over.”
Massie nodded and hurried from the Command Center. While it was doubtful her fighters and bombers would be needed for such a small attack by the Shari, there was always the possibility the probe was only a prelude to a major assault.
“What ship types are we facing?” asked Race, turning toward Captain Davis.
“Two battlecruisers and twenty support ships,” Davis answered as the information appeared on his data screens, which were analyzing the sensor information. “Looks like a standard attack formation with the support ships leading and the two battlecruisers trailing slightly behind.”
Colonel Cowel frowned and looked over at the admiral. “This is the third time in the last five days they’ve tried this. At some point, they should get tired of losing ships.”
Race slowly shook his head. “They have us trapped here. We have no idea how many warships they have between us and Federation controlled space.” Federation controlled space would be the former Hocklyn Slave Empire. “I’m sure their commanding officer is busy studying the data he gains from each attack seeking a weakness in our defense.”
“They have twelve hundred ships in the outer system,” Commander Arnett said as she gazed at all the red threat icons on the screen.
“That’s still not enough to be a threat to us,” answered Race, leaning forward to study the tactical display, now showing the inbound Shari vessels. “With the addition of Admiral Baasil and his Alton warships, it would take a much larger fleet than that to drive us away from the Dyson Sphere.”
He also had twenty Indomitable Class battlestations, forty of the smaller Type Two battlestations, and two thousand particle beam satellites. Unless the Shari were willing to commit a significant portion of their empire’s fleet, he felt pretty confident they could hold their present position above the Dyson Sphere for as long as needed.
“They will be in weapons range in twenty minutes,” Commander Arnett added.
“Take the fleet to Condition One,” Race ordered. He wasn’t going to take any chances; he preferred to err on the side of caution. If anything went wrong, they were cut off from the Federation for help and all they could do was rely on their own resources.
-
High Lord Aktill watched his tactical screen with interest. For the last five days, he had been sending in small task groups to probe the Humans’ and Altons’ defenses. He had already learned those huge one-thousand-meter battlestations were to be steered clear of. Even the smaller ones had shown to have teeth that could severely damage or destroy a Shari warship.
“Lower Lord Dalold is requesting additional instructions,” Samarth reported.
“What are the Humans doing?” Aktill knew a Human admiral was commanding both the Alton and Human warships.
“They’re not responding,” answered Samarth. “We’re detecting higher energy readings which indicate their shields have come fully online, but their ships haven’t moved.”
“I want close in sensor readings,” Aktill said determinedly. “I want to know what’s so important about that region of the Dyson Sphere that the Human admiral has decided it must be defended.”
“Do you believe they’ve found a way in?”
“I doubt it,” Aktill replied as he turned his eyes toward a large viewscreen showing the Dyson Sphere. He still found it astonishing that any civilization could build such an object. If the Shari could gain access to the megastructure before the Humans and the Altons, they could learn the science that had allowed such a construction to be built. Once they had the science and technology, they could do what the AIs had failed to do, conquer the entire galaxy and bring it under the rule of the Shari Empire.
-
Lower Lord Dalold was pacing nervously in front of his ship’s t
actical screen. The red threat icons the screen was covered with were growing steadily closer.
“How long until engagement range?” he demanded as he stepped over to his command chair and sat down.
“Six minutes,” the sensor operator replied.
“All weapons are online and the energy shield is at 98 percent,” the tactical officer reported.
“Our other ships?”
“Ready for combat,” answered his second officer. “How close are we going to the Human fleet?”
“Close enough for detailed sensor scans of the surface of the Dyson Sphere,” Dalold answered. “We must see if they have found a way into the structure.”
-
The minutes passed by slowly and then suddenly two of the leading escort vessels exploded as powerful antimatter explosions blew away their energy shields. The missiles had come from one of the large battlestations.
“Weapons range!” called out the sensor operator.
“All weapons fire!” ordered Dalold, leaning forward with his eyes focused sharply on the tactical screen. “Sensors, I need those readings!”
“We still need to get closer,” the sensor operator replied.
“Navigation, take us nearer the Dyson Sphere.” Dalold knew this meant the probable destruction of most of the ships in his small fleet, but he had his orders. High Lord Aktill wanted detailed sensor scans of this section of the megastructure and Dalold would do what was necessary to get them.
The weapons fire increased between the two fleets. On one of the viewscreens on the front wall, the bottom section of an escort cruiser exploded, sending debris flying off into space. The vessel attempted to reverse course and escape the wrath of one of the Humans’ massive battlestations. Even as the ship was turning broadside, it was steadily firing its remaining weapons. Then the entire vessel was transformed into a glowing sun as one of the Humans’ antimatter missiles annihilated the ship.
Dalold suddenly felt himself flung forward and the safety harness he was wearing cut deeply into his skin. He gasped at the pain as klaxons began sounding. “Report!” he barked as he drew in a deep breath.
“The hull near Engineering has been compromised,” his second in command reported. “We have numerous compartments open to space and we’re venting atmosphere. There are also several fires burning in adjoining compartments.”
“Energy shield is down to 48 percent,” added the tactical officer. “We lost six of our energy turrets and three missile tubes.”
“What hit us?”
“Several of their energy beams,” the sensor operator answered. “At least two from what I can determine.”
“I’m flushing the air from the compartments where the fires are burning,” added the second officer.
“Enemy losses?”
“None,” replied the sensor officer. “We’re just too heavily outnumbered, and their big battlestations seem to be impervious to our weapons fire.”
Dalold’s shoulders drooped as he studied the tactical display. Eight of his escort cruisers were now gone and all of the remaining ships in his small fleet were under heavy fire.
“The Lightning Forge has been heavily damaged,” the communications officer suddenly reported. “They’re requesting permission to withdraw.”
Dalold shifted his attention to one of the viewscreens showing the other battlecruiser. Even as he watched, particle beam fire from one of the Humans’ smaller battlestations slammed into the central part of the Lightning Forge, setting off massive explosions and hurling glowing debris into space. The ship seemed to shake violently and then exploded, sending wreckage in every direction.
“Scans complete,” the sensor operator reported.
“Withdraw!” ordered Dalold, his eyes narrowing. “Our remaining escorts will remain behind to cover our retreat.”
The second officer stared at Dalold as if he couldn’t believe he had heard correctly. “They will all be destroyed!”
“That is inconsequential. Our mission was to obtain the sensor scans and we have done that. It serves no propose to allow our ship to be destroyed. If we can get back to High Lord Aktill with this information, then our mission can be considered a success.”
The second officer remained silent but carried out his orders. In moments, the ship had reversed course and was fleeing from the battle.
-
Admiral Tolsen watched the large viewscreen on the WarHawk’s front wall as the last of the Shari escort cruisers was blown apart under the unrelenting fire of one of the Indomitable Class battlestations.
“That’s the last of them,” Colonel Cowel reported with satisfaction in his voice. “We destroyed all of their ships except the one battlecruiser that fled the battle, and it was heavily damaged.”
Commander Arnett turned toward the admiral. “Why did they attack like that? It makes no strategic sense.”
Race raised his eyebrows as he thought of a possible answer. “Captain Davis, did you detect any sensor scans from the Shari vessels.”
“Just the standard targeting scans,” answered Davis. “Let me look at the data the ship’s sensors recorded during the battle.” Davis was silent for several long moments as he reviewed the information going across one of his computer screens. “That’s interesting,” he said finally. “If these records are correct, the Shari battlecruiser that withdrew was taking intense short-range scans of the surface of the Dyson Sphere during most of the battle.”
Race nodded his head in understanding. “They’re trying to determine if we’ve gained access.”
“We don’t know what the status of our exploration team is,” Colonel Cowel was quick to point out. “We haven’t heard from them since they went inside the structure.”
“I’m going to schedule a meeting with the other admirals as well as several of the other Alton scientists to determine our next move. I want Major Nolan and Ambassador Tureen to attend as well.” Something needed to be done to break the current stalemate with the Dyson Sphere. It was becoming abundantly clear they needed to find another way in.
-
Several hours later, Race stepped into one of the large briefing rooms on the WarHawk. The room had been set up with a large conference table and comfortable chairs. There were also sandwiches and beverages if anyone became hungry or thirsty. Race expected this meeting to last for quite some time as they had a number of decisions to make.
Taking his seat at the head of the table, he looked around at those who were present. Alton admirals Lankell and Baasil, Admiral Stoddard, Rear Admiral Massie Tolsen, Major Nolan, Ambassador Tureen, and four Alton research scientists.
“As all of you know, it has been over three weeks since the exploration team entered the structure on the Dyson Sphere. Since that time there has been no contact. We don’t know if they’re unable to communicate or have met with some fatal calamity inside the structure.” Race paused, looking over at the Altons.
“We have spoken much of this,” Alshan Kalar replied. Alshan was an Alton research scientist from one of the Alton science ships. “We believe there’s a high probability the research team managed to find their way to the inner surface of the Dyson Sphere.”
“Then why haven’t they returned?” asked Admiral Stoddard with a confused look on his face. “Surely they’ve had time to make their way back to the structure on the surface.”
“That’s the problem,” Alshan said deeply concerned. “The inner surface of the Dyson Sphere is equivalent to over two million planets the size of Earth. We don’t know what type of transportation they may have found or where they may have come out inside the Dyson Sphere. They could have become lost and can’t find their way back.”
Race leaned back in his chair. He had suspected this was a possibility. “Is there any way for us to open the entrance in the structure and send in a rescue team?”
Kalar shook his head. “Reesa had the only known key. We’re searching for another method to gain entry, but so far all of our research has yielded nothing that mig
ht be of use. A one hundred-megaton antimatter missile would probably blast a hole in the structure, but it would also do irreparable damage and it would take multiple explosions of the same magnitude to allow us to reach the inner surface.”
“How many blasts would it take?” asked Massie. She didn’t like the idea of using antimatter weapons against the hull of the Dyson Sphere. She didn’t think her brother would either.
“Over one hundred,” Kalar replied. “There is also a danger in using such explosive force against the Dyson Sphere.”
“What type of danger?” asked Admiral Stoddard. “We can move our ships far enough away to ensure they’re out of the blast radius.”
“No, not from the blasts,” said Kalar, shaking his head. “From the Dyson Sphere itself. It would be foolhardy to think it doesn’t have a way to defend itself.”
“I am against using any weapons of any sort against the sphere,” commented Ambassador Tureen, making his presence known. “From what we know of the Originators, they were a very intelligent and powerful race. Their offensive and defensive weapons may well be magnitudes in advance of anything we have developed.”
“But they’re all dead,” objected Admiral Stoddard. “The pathogen that came into being due to their immortality project killed them all.”
“Did it?” asked Tureen, pointing toward the single large viewscreen in the room focused on the megastructure. “That happened several million years ago. How do we know a few didn’t survive somewhere in one of the galaxies they inhabited or that a cure wasn’t found? We don’t know who or what might be on the inside of this Dyson Sphere, and I don’t believe it would be wise to risk angering them.”
“I will accept your advice,” Race said. As far as he was concerned, Ambassador Tureen was the legitimate representative of the Alton government and he would follow the ambassador’s recommendations.
“What happens if the Shari use their nuclear weapons against the Dyson Sphere?” asked Massie, feeling concerned that if there was a reaction from the megastructure, it could target them as well.
The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 7