“Taking over all weapon systems,” Kazak said as he stepped forward with a look of deep concentration on his face.
Instantly from the Dominator numerous gravitonic cannons and antimatter cannons opened fire. It was as if a battering ram suddenly struck the incoming Simulin ships. Four of the escort cruisers exploded in brilliant flashes of light, and two of the remaining four battlecruisers seemed to crumble in upon themselves.
“They’re coming too fast,” warned Lieutenant Burke. “Impact in seven seconds!”
More explosions lit up the massive viewscreen around Kelsey. She could see the inbound ships as they were being quickly eliminated by Kazak. Looking at him, she was shocked to see what looked like a pleased smile on his face as he killed the ship’s enemies.
The rest of the escort cruisers were torn apart by the Dominator’s weapons, turning them into stardust. Another battlecruiser exploded, sending glowing debris in all directions. Only the fleet flagship remained, and now the weapons of the Originator ship were focused on it. Just prior to it striking the ship’s energy screen, it detonated in a massive explosion that lit up space.
Kelsey felt the ship shudder slightly and several warning alarms began sounding. “What are those alarms for?”
“We had a momentary breach of the screen,” Kazak reported as he scanned the ship for damage. “When the Simulin vessel was destroyed a large number of antimatter warheads detonated creating a brief gap in the energy screen. A piece of wreckage made it through the breach and struck the center section of the Dominator.” An angry look suddenly appeared on Kazak’s face. Turning, he ran out of the Command Center, vanishing through the large metal hatch, which led to the outside corridor.
“What’s that about?” asked Katie, looking over at Kelsey. “Where did Kazak take off to in such a hurry?”
“We had a power fluctuation,” Andram informed them. Then in a lower voice. “If I’m reading this correctly, it might have affected that center compartment we’ve been curious about.”
-
Kazak took every shortcut there was to reach the hidden compartment. Taking the key out of his pocket, he inserted it into the blank wall and was granted admittance. Hurrying inside, he stepped over to a control console and saw three flashing red lights. There was a backup system that was supposed to come on in case of a failure of those particular systems and for some reason it had failed to initiate. Quickly overriding the system, Kazak switched those systems over to manual control and reinitiated them. Very slowly the flashing red lights changed over from red, to amber, and then finally back to green.
Kazak then summoned two of the small maintenance robots and gave them instructions on the needed repairs. He then took a moment to walk through the compartment to ensure he had managed to reactivate the systems in time before irreversible harm could occur. Satisfied that everything was all right, he left the compartment to return to the Command Center. However, he was deeply troubled by the fact the Simulins had come very close to damaging or destroying the precious cargo the compartment contained. With growing resolve, Kazak now realized the Simulin threat needed to be eliminated. It was time to destroy their worlds.
-
“Weapons fire is continuing,” reported Lieutenant Donaldson. “Kazak still has control of the ship’s weapons and he is annihilating all the Simulin vessels systematically. The energy-siphoning field has exhausted their power and their shields are either down or in the process of failing.”
“Commander, the ship is moving,” reported Captain Brent Adams from Navigation.
“Where are we heading?” asked Kelsey, wondering what Kazak was up to.
Adams checked some figures on one of his data screens. “Toward one of the Simulin battlecruisers. It’s intact and Kazak isn’t targeting it.”
“Tractor beam has been initiated,” Andram said as he saw the information appear on his science console. “Kazak is drawing the ship closer toward us.”
“We have some computer programs activating,” Mikow added. “I believe Kazak is attempting to access the main computer on the Simulin battlecruiser.”
Kelsey suddenly felt uneasy. Just what was Kazak up to?
“I don’t like this,” Katie said.
“Me neither,” replied Kelsey, turning toward the hatch and expecting to seek Kazak returning at any moment. She needed to find out what was going on.
-
Jeremy was feeling relieved as the last Simulin ship had stopped firing. The enemy vessels were drifting helplessly in space without power. At the request of Grayseth, Jeremy was allowing the Bear and his Carethian fleet to finish blasting the Simulin warships into oblivion. The Dominator had stopped firing, and Grayseth had requested to be allowed to avenge the two cruisers destroyed earlier.
“Jeremy, the Dominator is using a tractor beam to pull one of the disabled Simulin battlecruisers up close,” Kevin said with a deep frown.
“Communications, get me Commander Strong.” Jeremy wanted to find out what was going on. He had already ordered Grayseth to spare one of the Simulin escort cruisers, as he wanted to send Marines on board so they could attempt to capture and access the ship’s database.
“Jeremy?” came Kelsey’s tentative voice over his minicomm.
“Kelsey, what’s going on with the Simulin battlecruiser you used the tractor beam on?”
“It’s Kazak,” Kelsey answered uneasily. “Mikow believes he’s trying to access the battlecruiser’s core computer.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know. Jeremy, when the Simulins tried to ram us, that secret compartment at the heart of the ship might have been damaged.”
Jeremy knew Kelsey must be extremely worried to mention that compartment over the comm. There was no way Kazak hadn’t heard. He also understood why she had. If the compartment had suffered any damage after the extremes Kazak had taken to keep it hidden, there was no way to determine how the Originator AI might react. Jeremy felt a cold chill run down his back as he realized the situation on board that ship might have just taken a dangerous turn.
“Kelsey, who has control of the Dominator at the moment, the crew or Kazak?”
There was silence for several long moments as Jeremy waited anxiously for Kelsey to respond. Then her distressed voice came back over the comm. “Kazak does, none of our consoles are responding. Andram says Kazak has complete control of the entire ship and there’s nothing we can do to override it.”
Jeremy felt his heart miss a beat. “Kelsey, can I speak with Kazak?”
“I’m here, Fleet Admiral Strong,” Kazak’s voice suddenly spoke over the comm. “I’ve used the Dominator’s core computer to break into and access all the records stored in the computer on the Simulin battlecruiser. I’m sending a copy of all the data to Ariel.”
Jeremy looked over at Ariel, who nodded confirmation.
“Thank you, Kazak,” Jeremy answered not sure where this conversation was going to go. “We wanted that information; that’s why I ordered Grayseth to leave one of the Simulin escort cruisers untouched.”
“That won’t be necessary now,” answered Kazak.
Suddenly, on the Avenger’s viewscreens the remaining Simulin ships began exploding as the Dominator reactivated its weapons. In less than twenty seconds, every remaining Simulin ship had been obliterated.
Jeremy was stunned by the sudden showing of the massive firepower the Originator ship possessed.
Kazak’s voice returned with a cold determination. “I have decided the Simulins in this galaxy pose a grave threat to the Dominator and the mission entrusted to me by the Originators. For that reason, I will destroy them.”
“Jeremy, I’m detecting a spatial vortex forming!” called out Kevin. “I think the Dominator is preparing to jump into hyperspace!”
“Kazak!” called out Jeremy as he looked at a viewscreen showing the massive ship. “We need to talk this over!”
Even as he spoke the AI’s name, the Dominator turned and accelerated toward the swirling spat
ial vortex. The ship vanished into its center and was gone. Moments later the vortex collapsed, leaving no sign of it or of the Originator ship. Jeremy gazed in shock at the viewscreen; there was no way to tell what Kazak was going to do. Jeremy also knew he was powerless to stop it. Kelsey, Katie, Mikow, and Andram as well as the rest of the crew were now under the control of the Originator AI. He didn’t know if he would ever see any of them again.
Chapter Sixteen
Reesa was in the large Control Center of the Dyson Sphere with Leeda and Rakell. It had been a full week since the red-haired Originator AI had brought her here. She had met several times with the AIs present, pleading with them to allow her to contact Admiral Tolsen and have Ambassador Tureen brought over to the Dyson Sphere. The AIs had steadfastly refused, saying contact with any civilization outside the Shrieel was not allowed.
With a deep sigh, Reesa looked over at a nearby bank of immense viewscreens. There were ten of these massive Control Centers scattered about the Dyson Sphere. Each one controlled an area nearly equal to several hundred thousand Earth-sized planets. The views on the screens were breathtaking. There were mountains covered in snow taller than any she had ever seen before and massive planet-sized oceans teeming with sea life. Leeda had commented some of the oceans were over sixty kilometers deep. There were deserts, grasslands, and forest areas, which seemed to go on forever. Then, of course, there were the amazing cities.
Reesa had learned from Leeda there were over thirty thousand perfectly preserved cities on the surface of the Dyson Sphere. Each city had the capacity to accommodate anywhere from three to five million Originators. That was enough room for over one hundred billion of the ancient race. Reesa had commented this didn’t seem like enough to handle the population of the hundreds of Originator worlds discovered in the far distant past by Alton explorers. Leeda had explained that many cities had been demolished to allow for the growth of some of the ecological regions of the Dyson Sphere. There were regions where one could fly for thousands of kilometers and never see a city.
“So the little robots keep all the cities in repair?” asked Reesa as she saw several zipping about on a nearby viewscreen in what was obviously a city street.
“Yes,” answered Leeda, folding her arms across her chest. “We also have larger robots that work in the forests and other areas to help maintain the necessary ecological equilibrium for the different regions.”
“Is the entire surface area of the Dyson Sphere livable?” Reesa knew that in close orbit around the star the Dyson Sphere enclosed a series of slowly rotating panels provided eight hours of darkness each day to the different regions. The days inside the Dyson Sphere were twenty-eight hours long.
“No,” replied Leeda, changing the view on a screen to show the darkened interior of a covered region of the Dyson Sphere. “Thirty percent of the surface of the Dyson Sphere are covered regions where the environment can be adjusted to accommodate any type of species the Originators wanted to collect. This helped to ensure dangerous species couldn’t get out and affect the biospheres around them.”
“Like a zoo.” Reesa looked intently at the screen Leeda was pointing to. “I don’t see anything.”
“Just wait,” Leeda said with a mysterious smile.
On the screen, light slowly began to appear but it was very dim. Reesa drew in a sharp breath of amazement when she realized what she was looking at. There were flowers covering everything for as far as she could see. The colors were astounding and she thought she could see movement. “What are those?”
“It’s a flower species that is semi-sentient. Those flowers are nearly one hundred meters across, and they’re on plant stalks that sit on the surface eight hundred meters beneath them. If you watch closely, you can see the flowers slowly changing colors. That’s how they communicate. They only have a language of several hundred words or color combinations. They live for about ten to twelve thousand years and then die. In their place, a new seedling will begin anew to take the place of the parent.”
“Why are they here?”
Leeda changed the screen back to a view of tall snow covered mountaintops. “When the Originators were actively exploring the different galaxies they came upon a number of species in danger of extinction. Some of those they brought back to the Dyson Spheres and nursed back to health. The plan was to eventually return them to their worlds, but the life extension pathogen put an end to that project. Instead, the AIs on the Dyson Spheres were entrusted with keeping those species alive. For the most part we’ve succeeded, though a few have succumbed over the eons.”
“There are many such habitats within the Dyson Sphere,” Rakell said. “Some contain numerous species too dangerous to roam free, and there are a few habitats which no longer contain life. The Originators were great collectors of plant and animal life. If Leeda has the time, she can show you some of the unique specimens that only exist now inside the Shrieel.”
Reesa turned away from the screens. “Have you considered my request to allow Ambassador Tureen to enter the Dyson Sphere? He would be much better at answering your questions than I am. He’s considered to be a great leader of my people.”
Rakell remained silent for a long moment and then slowly shook his head. “No. We have never allowed admittance to any of the Shrieel in all the years since the death of the Originators. We’re not going to change that policy now. It would be best if your people left.”
“What about the Simulins?” demanded Reesa, her voice rising. “They have access to over thirty Dyson Spheres. They’re using them to conquer entire galaxies, wiping out trillions of intelligent beings. How can you stand by and allow that to happen?”
Rakell’s eyes narrowed sharply. “We did not allow them access. We believe they found a command key somewhere. That key would enable them to access the spatial vortex stations on a Shrieel. They would not be able to access other areas without the AIs present lowering energy shields. It is the only explanation we have been able to come up with that might explain how they have managed to access so many of the Shrieel.”
“What’s to stop them from just landing on the inside once they’ve gained admittance?”
“They can’t,” answered Leeda. “If they try an energy shield will activate, preventing them from landing.”
Rakell was about to say something else when his eyes widened. “The Simulins have returned. A fleet of two hundred and seven of their vessels has been detected exiting hyperspace six hundred and ten million kilometers from the Shrieel.”
“What if they have this command key?” asked Reesa anxiously. She still found it hard to believe the AIs were refusing to do anything about the Simulins. “Can they gain access to this Dyson Sphere?”
Leeda and Rakell both looked at each other with worry in their eyes. “We’ll deal with that when the time comes,” Rakell answered. “From our scans it looks as if your Admiral Tolsen is preparing to engage the Simulins. Let us go to the Central Control Station where we can watch developments.”
Reesa only nodded and followed the two Originator AIs down a long corridor. She was deeply concerned such a large fleet of Simulins had shown up. With the disturbed area of space at the galactic center, it would take a tremendous amount of energy to send ships to the Rylus Star Cluster. She didn’t think the Simulins would commit so many ships unless they felt they could gain entry to the Dyson Sphere. Somehow or another she needed to talk the AIs into letting her contact Admiral Tolsen and tell him about the danger of the command key the Simulins possessed. Leeda had played for her the message the Altons were broadcasting in an attempt to gain the trust of the guiding intelligence of the Dyson Sphere. While they had found the message intriguing, it had failed to sway them in their policies concerning contact. Somehow, she had to find a way to change their minds.
-
Admiral Race Tolsen entered the Command Center of the WarHawk as the Condition One klaxons began sounding. He had been eating in the officer’s mess when Commander Arnett had summoned him.
> “We have Simulin warships that have just exited hyperspace six hundred million kilometers from the Dyson Sphere,” Commander Arnett reported from her command station.
Race sat down in his command chair and looked at one of the tactical displays, noting the new red threat icons now present. “How many and what ship types are we dealing with?” He had been afraid the Simulins would eventually return.
“Two hundred and seven,” reported Captain Davis as he checked the data on one of his sensor screens. “Scans indicate the presence of eighty-four battlecruisers and one hundred and twenty-three escort cruisers.”
Colonel Cowel shook his head. “That’s a good sized fleet. Eighty-four Simulin battlecruisers are nothing to trifle with. Those things can do a lot of damage.”
Race looked at the red threat icons representing the two Shari fleet formations. “What are the Shari doing?”
“Nothing,” Commander Arnett said as she turned toward the admiral. “If I had to make a guess, they’ll stay out of this hoping the Simulins will inflict significant losses on our fleets. Then, once we’ve defeated the Simulins, the Shari will move in and try to finish us off.”
“Communications, send a message to the Federation informing them of the presence of the Simulin fleet. Also, let them know we may have no choice but to abandon our position around the Dyson Sphere and return to the Federation.” Race couldn’t allow his fleet to be destroyed by the Shari if the Simulins managed to substantially weaken it. It was better to attempt to return to Federation space than risk his fleet in a battle against a numerically superior Shari force.
The Command Center suddenly became deathly quiet. They knew any attempt to return to Federation space would involve them having to fight their way through over eleven hundred light years of Shari controlled space.
“We’ll lose the communication line once we transmit,” warned Commander Arnett. “The Shari are bound to detect it and trace the signal to our last line of FTL communication buoys.”
The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 25