“Sergeant Wilde, still no key slot I assume?” asked Kelnor with an inquisitive look on his face as he walked up to her.
“No,” replied Brenda, shaking her head. “We’re trapped here and I don’t know see any way out.”
“Don’t give up hope; I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before whatever the guiding intelligence is in the Dyson Sphere contacts us.”
“Fish?” asked Corporal Metz, handing Kelnor a plate.
“No thanks,” the Alton replied. “I had several of the small fruits earlier.”
Metz nodded and put the fish back in the pan to stay warm.
“Have you learned anything new?” asked Brenda. She knew Kelnor and the other scientists spent hours each day going over the data they collected.
Kelnor’s eyes brightened. “This is all so fascinating. We’ve determined several of the patterns of the small robots in the city, and we’ve even picked up what we believe is the communications frequency they’re using.”
“Can we talk to them?” asked Brenda cocking her eyebrow.
“No,” Kelnor said, shaking his head. “Their communications are more of a series of simple commands. The signals also seem to repeat themselves every thirty-six hours.”
“Like clean here, water this plant, wash this sidewalk, go jump off a cliff,” suggested Corporal Metz.
Kelnor frowned at the corporal but slowly nodded his head. “Not including your last one, that is pretty much what the little robots are being told.”
“So that doesn’t really help us,” commented Brenda, feeling disillusioned. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life cooped up in this small valley. If they could just find some way to escape, it would solve many of their problems. They didn’t need access to the city, just more of the countryside so they could scrounge for more food sources.
“Ah, but it does,” answered Kelnor smiling. “It tells us there is a guiding intelligence in charge of the Dyson Sphere. Something is monitoring the city and instructing the little robots in their daily activities. While most of the commands are very routine and repeating, on occasion we have heard new sets of commands dealing with repair work that needed to be done.”
Brenda heard a noise and looking over toward the trail that led to the city; she saw Reesa and Melvin returning. She knew Reesa was growing more impatient every day and was pressing Kelnor to allow her to attempt to contact the Dyson Sphere’s guiding intelligence. Brenda was beginning to believe Reesa was correct. Something needed to be done soon to change the status quo.
-
Aboard the WarHawk, Admiral Race Tolsen had just returned to the Command Center after eating a light meal with his sister, Massie. She had come on board to discuss the current fighter patrols her squadrons were flying. She had expressed some concern for her pilots as they were going out past the defensive and offensive range of the Indomitable Class battlestations. Race had agreed to pull the patrols in slightly.
“Everything is normal,” Commander Arnett said as the admiral stepped into the Command Center.
“Take a break, Madelyn,” Race said as he sat down in the command chair.
For the past two weeks, the Shari had stayed in the outer system except for one large fleet they were keeping two hundred million kilometers away from the Dyson Sphere. Race suspected this was a quick response force in case the Shari felt the Dyson Sphere had been penetrated.
Race watched as Madelyn left the Command Center and headed to her quarters for some rest. Focusing his attention on the large viewscreen, he saw it was focused on the exploration cutter parked by the large structure the exploratory team had vanished into over five weeks back. Race had decided Alshan Kalar was correct, and the team was either dead or hopelessly lost inside. It was a blow to the exploration effort as Reesa and Kelnor were their foremost experts on the Originators.
Looking over toward Colonel Cowel, he noticed Major Nolan was speaking to him. “Major Nolan,” Race said. “Assuming everyone on our exploratory team is still alive, how soon before they run out of rations?”
Nolan sighed and slowly shook his head. “About now. Of more concern would be water. From what we know was available to them they would have run out several weeks ago.”
“So they could all be dead,” Race said.
Nolan hesitated and then nodded his head. “The Human body can survive about three weeks without food if you hold exertion to a minimum. Water is a different matter. Three to five days without water and your body will begin to shut down.”
Race looked over at Colonel Cowel. “What about our other research teams? Have they found any other possible entrances to the Dyson Sphere?”
“No,” Cowel answered. “However, we have discovered several large shallow bowl-shaped areas on the surface of the sphere. Alshan believes they may be massive airlocks.”
“Let’s concentrate our attention on the buildings around those areas,” Race ordered. “If those are airlocks, there has to be a way to activate them from the outside of the sphere.”
“Admiral, perhaps it would be best if we focused our efforts around just one of the possible airlocks,” suggested Major Nolan. “There’s one beneath our defensive grid, we could send additional exploration cutters down to it from our other dreadnoughts.”
“Contact Alshan Kalar and have him make arrangements for Alton science teams to accompany the cutters,” Race ordered. “We need to find a way into the Dyson Sphere, and we need to do it soon rather than later.”
“What about the Shari?” asked Colonel Cowel. “We don’t know what they’re doing on the other side of the Dyson Sphere. They have to be searching for a way in just as we are.”
Race nodded his head in agreement. “I’ve been thinking about that; we need to find out what they’re up to.”
“How do we do that?”
Race looked over at Cowel. “We have to go look. Due to the curve of the Dyson Sphere, we can’t scan the far side. The only solution is to take a fleet over to the other side and scan the surface.”
“The Shari are bound to respond to that,” warned Cowel with a frown. “Look what we did to the fleet they sent to scan our part of the Dyson Sphere.”
“It’s a risk we’ll have to take. Let’s get the additional exploration cutters launched and then we’ll take a short trip to the other side to see just what the Shari are doing.”
-
High Lord Aktill nodded in satisfaction at the latest report from the Shari scientists working on the far side of the Dyson Sphere. Every attempt made to access the structure had thus far failed. However, the lead scientist was confident that by using carefully shaped charges in the one to two megaton range, they could blast their way in. Already the first series of charges had been set and were ready to detonate. All Aktill had to do was give the order. However, he had been hesitant as the Humans hadn’t deployed explosives, which made him wonder if they knew something he didn’t.
“High Lord Ansell will be arriving tomorrow with his fleet as well as additional supply ships,” commented Lower Lord Samarth.
Aktill nodded. “He is bringing an additional four hundred warships as well as more research scientists.”
“That will give us an impressive fleet,” Samarth said. “Are we going to attack the Humans?”
“Not yet,” Aktill replied. “The Humans obviously have not found a way into the sphere and their supplies are limited. We have sufficient fleets deployed between the Rylus Cluster and Human controlled space to ensure any inbound supply ships will be detected and destroyed.”
“So we wait for them to run out of supplies?” asked Samarth.
“For now,” answered Aktill. “As long as they stay in the same location over the Dyson Sphere we will not interfere.”
“What about those other ships we detected a few weeks back?” asked Samarth.
“They’re called Simulins,” Aktill replied. “When their ambassador was negotiating with the representative from the Grand Council of High Lords he told us about those ships.
They’re from another galaxy and seek to conquer ours. The Humans and their allies have already fought a few battles against them.”
“Then they are our enemies as well as the Humans,” stated Samarth.
Aktill looked over at Samarth. “The Humans claim the Simulins are also seeking the Dyson Sphere. They wish to harness its power to bring many more of their warships to our galaxy.”
Samarth shifted his eyes to one of the viewscreens on the front wall, which showed the megastructure. “These Simulins possess very powerful ships. If they were to gain control of the Dyson Sphere and learn how to use it to bring more of their fleets to the Rylus Cluster, our empire could be in danger.”
Aktill didn’t reply. There was a Human saying he had learned about recently which went something like “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” If these Simulins did become a major threat to the empire, it was something to consider.
-
The next day, the battle dreadnought WarHawk and the dreadnoughts Corvus and Trieste left the safety of the defensive grid. They had an escort of twenty Alton battleships, four Federation battleships, and forty strikecruisers. Race intended to do everything in his power to avoid a major fleet battle with the Shari. His plan was to jump far out into the system, reorientate the fleet and then jump to the other side of the Dyson Sphere where they could take some detailed scans of what the Shari were doing.
“All ships are accelerating outward,” Commander Arnett reported. “The fleet has moved into standard defensive formation D-A3 around the WarHawk.”
“We need to accelerate for ten minutes and then it should be safe to activate our hyperdrives,” added Colonel Cowel. There had been some stress on them when they’d jumped away from the Dyson Sphere the last time. The extra distance should greatly decrease that.
Race looked over at Captain Davis. “Any response from the Shari?”
“Not yet,” Davis answered as he watched his screens. “By now they’ve detected our movement on their sensors.”
“If there’s going to be a response, we should detect it shortly,” commented Colonel Cowel.
“Communications between the ships of the nearer Shari fleet, which we determined to be their quick response fleet, has drastically increased,” reported Captain Denise Travers from Communications. “They’ve definitely detected us.”
“Keep an eye on them,” ordered Race, settling back in his command chair. “If there’s any indication of an energy buildup I want to know about it immediately.” An energy buildup would indicate the Shari ships were preparing to enter hyperspace.
The minutes passed rapidly by, but the Shari fleet remained stationary. Communications traffic had increased and there were indications they had raised their energy shields, but no hyperspace vortexes were being detected.
“Fleet is ready to enter hyperspace,” reported Commander Arnett. “Hyperdrives are charged and the first set of coordinates have been entered into the navigation computers.”
Race nodded. “Take the fleet into hyperspace, Commander.”
-
Moments later, a swirling blue-white spatial vortex formed in front of the WarHawk. Similar vortexes formed in front of the other vessels of the fleet as well. The ships quickly entered the vortexes, which collapsed in upon themselves leaving no sign of their presence or of the warships that had gone into them.
Far out in the Dyson Sphere’s star system, the blue-white vortexes formed again and the fleet made its reappearance. New coordinates were sent to the fleet’s navigation computers and after a few more minutes, new vortexes formed. Once more the fleet ships vanished into them.
-
High Lord Aktill watched without surprise as the Human fleet reappeared on the far side of the megastructure.
“They’re going to scan the region of the Dyson Sphere where our scientists have planted the explosive charges,” Lower Lord Samarth said as he turned toward Aktill. “What should we do?”
“The ready fleet is powering up their hyperdrives,” commented Aktill, seeing an opportunity. “Send word to Lower Lord Dalold he’s to jump his fleet to the enemies coordinates and destroy them.”
Aktill stood up and gazed at the ship’s tactical screen. Dalold had four hundred ships in his fleet, more than enough to annihilate the sixty or so ships the Humans had. It would no doubt be a costly victory, but it would remind the Humans whose space they were in and that the only way they would leave would be in death.
-
“This isn’t good,” commented Captain Brent Davis from his sensor console. “I’m detecting what appear to be explosive charges in one location on the Dyson Sphere.”
“Crap,” muttered Colonel Cowel, looking at the admiral with concern in his eyes. “They mean to attempt to blast their way inside.”
Studying the tactical screen, Race saw the Shari had over one hundred warships in orbit above the site where the explosive charges had been detected. “Captain Davis, can you estimate the yield of the explosive charges the Shari plan on using?”
“One to two megatons,” he replied with narrowed eyes as he studied the sensor data. “They’ve set up a series of six charges at the location we’re scanning. I would guess they’re going to detonate them with a delay of several microseconds between explosions.”
“Will it penetrate the sphere?” asked Commander Arnett.
“Unknown,” answered Race, wondering if the Shari had found a weak area on the hull of the Dyson Sphere. “It’s something we’ll need to ask Alshan about.”
“They’re probably shaped charges and the explosive force will be aimed downward,” said Major Daniels from Tactical.
Captain Davis looked over at the admiral in alarm. “Detecting the activation of spatial vortexes at the location of the nearer Shari fleet.”
“Their quick response fleet?” asked Colonel Cowel, with his eyes narrowing sharply.
“Yes,” Davis answered. “As brief as the jump will be they’ll be here shortly.”
Tapping his minicomm and adjusting it to ship-to-ship, Admiral Tolsen quickly warned the rest of the fleet to be prepared for imminent combat.
The fleet tightened up its defensive formation as it continued to scan the Dyson Sphere for any other evidence of Shari activity. Race knew this might be his only opportunity to take such detailed scans. He was certain from now on the Shari would keep this particular area of the Dyson Sphere under heavier guard.
“Vortexes detected,” warned Captain Davis.
“Shari warships emerging,” added Colonel Cowel. “How much longer are we going to stay, Admiral?”
“Captain Davis, how soon before your scans are complete?”
“Five minutes.”
Race gazed at the nearby tactical display filling with red threat icons. “Let them fire first and then hit them with everything we have.”
“Yes, sir,” Commander Arnett replied. “Tactical, I want a full spread of one-hundred-megaton antimatter missiles. Target two of their battlecruisers and I want to see them vanish from the tactical display.”
“Missiles are targeted,” Major Jonathan Daniels replied. “Power beams and particle beams are charged for follow up.”
The WarHawk suddenly vibrated and several of the viewscreens flashed white.
“We’re under attack,” reported Colonel Cowel. “Those were twenty-megaton nuclear blasts!”
“Launch missiles!” ordered Commander Arnett, gripping her command console. “Take those battlecruisers out!” No one was going to fire on the WarHawk and get away with it.
-
From the WarHawk and the other ships of the fleet one-hundred-megaton sublight antimatter missiles flashed from their tubes to impact almost instantly on the energy shields of the Shari warships.
Multiple antimatter missiles slammed into the energy shield of a Shari eleven-hundred-meter battlecruiser causing the shield to flare up brightly. Then a single missile penetrated and slammed into the center of the vessel, causing the ship to vanish in a fiery explosion. Wh
en the light faded away, only a few pieces of glowing wreckage were visible.
Other Shari vessels were being targeted. Violet colored power beams and bright blue particle beams penetrated the energy shield of a nine-hundred-meter support cruiser, opening up countless compartments to space. Supplies, hull material, and even a few Shari crewmembers were hurled away from the ship. A power beam penetrated into the engine compartment, destroying the vessel’s fusion generator. Instantly, the ship lost all power and its struggling energy shield faded completely away. Moments later, the ship exploded as too many vital systems became compromised.
-
Lower Lord Dalold groaned as he watched the battlecruiser Veblen blow apart as a Human antimatter missile detonated in the heart of the vessel. The viewscreen faded to darkness as it was overloaded from the sudden light.
“Report!” he demanded as he felt his flagship shudder violently. The repair work from the last battle had only been completed a few days back.
“Energy beam strike to the bow,” the damage control officer reported. “Repair teams are en route.”
“All ships, focus your weapons fire on the vessel in sector twelve, down fifteen at ninety degrees. Continuous fire until the ship is destroyed.”
Dalold was determined to destroy the Human ships even if he had to do it one by one.
-
On the Alton battleship, Nebula’s Fury, the energy shield suddenly radiated into the ultraviolet. On board, Commander Waylon gripped his command chair as the ship was severely hammered. “Status?”
“Shield is at 68 percent and falling,” reported Tactical.
“Heavy energy beam fire and nuclear ordinance are impacting the screen,” added Vishane, who was an Alton and executive officer. “I’ve directed all energy reserves to the screen.”
“All weapons continuous fire,” ordered Waylon as he glanced over at the damage control board, seeing several red lights suddenly flare into being.
The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 10