“Shall I give the order to fire when we’re in combat range?”
“No, let’s see what else these Humans do. We have an overwhelming force. When it’s time to destroy them, we shall.”
-
Admiral Knot watched in silence as the Borzon fleet drew nearer. Additional messages were being sent demanding they withdraw from Federation space. No responses were forthcoming. The fighters and bombers had formed up in front of the Federation fleet. It was somewhat comforting seeing the several hundred small green icons between the fleet and the approaching Borzon. However, she knew the pilots wouldn’t feel comfortable in their current position.
“Borzon fleet is now in combat range,” warned the sensor officer.
“Still no response to our messages,” added the communications officer.
“They can hear us, but they’re refusing to respond,” said Captain Marsh. “I don’t like this at all.”
“Energy shield is at full power and weapons are charged,” reported the tactical officer. “Missiles are ready to launch.”
Admiral Knot took a deep breath. “Fire four Devastator Three missiles at the Borzon fleet. Set the warheads to detonate twenty kilometers in front of the lead ships.”
Captain Marsh cocked his eyebrow. “They may perceive that as a threatening move.”
“It’s a shot across their bow. We’re telling them if they continue to advance the next missiles well be aimed at their ships.”
“Do it,” ordered Captain Marsh to the tactical officer. “Fire four missiles and detonate them in front of the Borzon fleet formation.”
Several moments passed and then the tactical officer turned toward the admiral. “Missiles launched.”
On one of the main viewscreens, four brilliant explosions lit up space just in front of the Borzon fleet.
-
Fleet Commander Lanton stared at the four explosions on the central viewscreen.
“Fifty megatons,” reported High Nest Leader Asdoth. “Those are warning shots.”
“Do we have their ships targeted?”
“Yes.”
Fleet Commander Lanton gazed with his multifaceted eyes at the viewscreens, which covered the front wall of the Command Center. “Destroy them!”
-
From hundreds of Borzon battlecruisers, white beams of energy flashed out to strike the shields of the Human ships. Sublight missiles with forty-megaton warheads began slamming into the shields as well. Heavy energy beam fire began to penetrate the weakening shields of several ships. The top section of a battlecruiser exploded and debris started drifting away from the vessel. A forty-megaton missile struck the hull, turning the ship into a glowing field of debris and plasma. A Borzon energy beam penetrated the weakened shield of another battlecruiser, blowing an energy beam turret to shreds and blasting out a huge hole in the hull. Defensive energy beam turrets began firing on the fighters and bombers. Small fiery explosions marked their deaths as they were rapidly blown apart.
-
“Charleston, Cambridge, and Krall are down,” reported the sensor officer. “The fighters and bombers are also being targeted and are suffering massive losses.”
The ship rocked as several missiles struck the energy screen. Suddenly alarms began blaring, and the battleship shook violently. “Multiple breaches along the forward hull, we’re venting atmosphere,” the damage control officer reported. “Damage control teams are enroute.”
Just then, the deck heaved under Admiral Knot and she found herself flying through the air. Struggling to stand, she stumbled back to her command chair. Looking around, she saw smoke and sparks everywhere. Alarms were screaming from the damage control board as red lights were rapidly blinking on.
“We’ve suffered severe damage,” reported Captain Marsh gravely. “Multiple decks are open to space, and we’ve lost both our sublight drive and hyperdrive. Most of our weapons are offline. We won’t be leaving from here.”
“The fleet?”
Captain Marsh shook his head. “Under heavy fire. We’ve already lost a number of ships, and others are severely damaged. The Potemkin is attempting to recover her fighters and bombers. She’s at the back of our formation and has only suffered minor damage so far.”
Admiral Knot looked at the viewscreens. Her eyes watched in horror as several nearby battlecruisers and a strikecruiser were blown apart.
“Order all surviving ships to jump now!” she ordered. “Captain Braddock is not to wait around to recover his fighters and bombers; if he does he will lose his ship.” She knew she was signing the death warrant of those crews. Better to lose a few hundred than the several thousand on the battlecarrier.
-
Fleet Commander Lanton watched the viewscreens as the Human fleet was annihilated. In brilliant explosions, the Human ships died. Their commanding officer had been a fool to bring the Federation fleet so close to a superior Borzon fleet. For that error, the Humans were paying the ultimate price.
“Their carrier vessel and four small escorts have jumped out,” reported High Nest Leader Asdoth. “The rest of the Human fleet has either been destroyed or will be shortly. All of their remaining vessels are heavily damaged and only a few are still firing on us.”
“Finish them off,” ordered Fleet Commander Lanton coldly. “The Humans must learn that to oppose us means death.”
-
Admiral Knott sat in her command chair. Heavy smoke was in the air, and a number of consoles were shorted out or on fire. Damage control teams were hard at work trying to bring everything back under control but the damage was too severe.
The tactical display flickered and then came on. It showed a devastated Federation fleet. Only three vessels remained: two strikecruisers and her battleship. Even as she watched the two green icons representing the strikecruisers flared up and then vanished.
Taking a deep breath, Admiral Knott wondered what she had done wrong. She was still thinking about it when the sensor officer screamed out a warning.
“Inbound missiles!”
The ship shook violently and then everything went dark.
-
“Human flagship has been destroyed,” reported High Nest Leader Asdoth. “Only five of their ships escaped.”
“A fine victory for our fleet,” answered Fleet Commander Lanton. “Let us proceed to the next target. Much of this quadrant is free for the taking. Only a few small Federation fleets are rumored to be in the region. Once the quadrant is secure, we will call in occupation forces and claim all of the former Hocklyn worlds for our empire. It is a great day for our people.”
-
In space, all that remained of the shattered Federation fleet were several glowing debris fields. Soon the glow dissipated, leaving no sign that a Federation fleet had ever been here.
Several light years distant, the Potemkin and her four light cruiser escorts exited spatial vortexes. The commander hastily sent off a message reporting the loss of the majority of the fleet. Captain Braddock greatly feared this was only the beginning.
Chapter Three
Fleet Admiral Jeremy Strong stood atop the balcony in the tall building, which was the new headquarters for the military and civilian government. He looked around at the towers and high walkways connecting the different buildings. It was a city from the future. There were wide thoroughfares and pedestrian sidewalks, numerous green parks, and everything one might expect to find in a super-modern city. It had been eight months since their arrival on the Originator Dyson sphere at the Communications and Transport Hub. There were four of the huge megastructures near the transport hub and the Originators and their AIs had agreed to build brand new cities for the Humans, Altons, and Carethians to live in.
“The new ships are ready,” commented Kevin, walking up to stand next to Jeremy. “What the Originators and their AIs have built is absolutely amazing. The Simulins would have no chance against these vessels. However, we don’t know about the Anti-Life.”
“Then it’s time.” Jeremy tu
rned and walked back into his office. Sitting at a large conference table were Governor Barnes, Admiral Kalen, Admiral Vincent Pence, Alton Admiral Lukel, Rear Admiral Barnes, Rear Admiral Susan Marks, Rear admiral Hiru Akira, Rear Admiral Braedon Cross, and Grayseth. In addition, Leeda, Camlin, Kazak, Zafron, and Bartoll were also seated at the table.
Jeremy took his spot at the head of the table, looking at the others. “I understand some of the new ships are completed.”
The ships had gone through numerous design changes before everyone was satisfied with the finished product. These ships had to be capable of flying between galaxies and going on extremely long deployments. They also had to be able to protect their crews and get them back home again.
“Yes,” replied Commander Zafron of the Dominator. “We have completely redesigned a new series of warships especially suited for Humans, Altons, and Carethians. The ships will not need large crews as most of the maintenance and repairs can be done by the ships’ repair robots. There are also special mechanical nanites, which can be used to seal major hull breaches and repair critical systems. However, the use of the nanites will be controlled by one of our AIs. We would suggest a few AIs be placed upon each ship to aid in their operation as well as to help train your crews. We’ve sent the designs to the other Shrieels and some of the shipyards on each have been dedicated to constructing this new design. In just six to eight weeks we will have hundreds of the vessels available.”
“I don’t see a problem with having AIs on the ships,” answered Jeremy. Besides, he wanted his crews to learn as much about the ships they were operating as possible. “I’m glad to hear so many of the new ships will be ready so shortly.” He had watched in amazement how new ships were constructed in the Originator shipyards. It was almost unbelievable.
“What about the new exploration ships?” asked Admiral Kalen. Jeremy had made Kalen his second in command. It took a load of work off Jeremy’s shoulders and Kalen was a quite capable officer. He had commanded the Ceres fleet as well as the defenses of the planetoid.
“Finished,” replied Bartoll. “There are ten of them. We would like to begin searching the Triangulum Galaxy immediately for any signs of the group of Originators who left that galaxy’s Shrieel. Somewhere there must be evidence of where they went.”
“If we wish to fight a war against the Anti-Life and drive them back to their home galaxy, the finding of these other Originators is essential,” added Zafron. “Even though we have the help of all three of your races, we need our people for research. While our AIs do an adequate job at research, they don’t possess the intuition an actual living being does.”
Jeremy nodded. He had already discussed this with a few of the other admirals. “Rear Admiral Barnes, that will be your assignment. You will take the Distant Horizon and the new squadron of exploration vessels and return to the Triangulum Galaxy to initiate a search for these missing Originators.”
“How soon should I depart?”
“You will have your pick of crews for your ships. We have a large number of fleet personnel from Ceres as well as New Tellus. If we want to be able to match or surpass the Anti-Life in science and technology, it is essential we find these Originators. As soon as you’re satisfied with your crews you have my permission to depart on your mission.”
“The Distant Horizon has been modified only slightly,” Kathryn said. “However, the other crews will need several weeks to familiarize themselves with their ships.”
“The Dominator is ready to go as well,” commented Kazak. “We have a joint crew of AIs, Humans, and Altons. Quarters have been modified to accommodate each race.”
“I would like to be part of the crew of the Distant Horizon,” spoke Camlin.
“I accept that offer,” replied Kathryn. She knew Camlin was still trying to make up for her treachery at Ornellia.
“We have a number of crews that have been involved in the ship construction,” added Admiral Kalen. “While they didn’t do any actual work they have been inside the ships learning as much as they can about the technologies used. I would suggest you choose your crews from those who have been involved in the project. If my numbers are correct, we have enough semi-trained crew personnel to fill the rosters on over four hundred ships.”
“I’ll get to work on it immediately after this meeting,” replied Kathryn. Her own crew was on the Distant Horizon training with a number of Originator AIs. She currently had the best-trained crew in the fleet.
Jeremy nodded his approval. For eight months the survivors from Gaia and the volunteers Rear Admiral Barnes brought from the Federation had been living a life free from the threats of war. Now that was about to end. “Governor Barnes, what’s the current status of our people?” He knew it had taken a while for the people to acclimate to all the new and strange technology.
Governor Barnes smiled. “The technology made available to us in the three cities is amazing. Our children are going to schools specifically designed to familiarize them with Originator technology. Not the more advanced technology, but still far ahead of what was available in the Federation or on the Alton worlds. We have 4.3 million Humans, 2.1 million Altons, and half a million Carethians. All are in their own cities designed specifically for the three different races we have here. We have set up a large university where all three races attend together to learn even more advanced technology and science. These university classes are being taught by Originator AIs specially trained for instruction. In a generation our children should be very familiar with the technology used in our ships and in our cities. What we look at in amazement, they will take for granted.”
“What about the new Fleet Academy?” asked Jeremy, looking over at Rear Admiral Susan Marks. It had been one of his main priorities to get the Academy up and running to train new crews and officers for the fleet.
“We set it up very similar to the one we had on Gaia,” replied Marks. “Only it’s much larger. We expect to graduate ten to twelve thousand new fleet personnel each year once the first class reaches graduation. The Originators have made available considerable training material on their technology. We even have a number of simulators as well as small craft to practice with. I believe you will be very satisfied with the results.”
“Bartoll, has there been any indications of the Anti-Life being active in any of the galaxies where there is an Originator Dyson Sphere?” Jeremy was still confused as to the reason the Anti-Life were staying away. The Anti-Life had to know of the pathogen that struck down the Originators.
“No,” Bartoll answered. “All Shrieels are now required to stay in constant contact with the Communications and Transport Hub. They are monitoring communications in all of their galaxies. Most of them have a few advanced civilizations. Hyperspace communication is quite common and we are monitoring it. There has been no report of any Anti-Life vessels or attacks.”
“Do races in some of those galaxies know of the Dyson Spheres?” asked Kevin.
“In a few of them,” admitted Bartoll. “In those rare cases, the AIs in charge of the Shrieels have warned them off and told them not to return to the system the Shrieel is in.”
“We have also created more combat AIs,” added Kazak. “They are similar in ability to me and are perfectly capable of defending all the Shrieels from attack. If any Anti-Life ships are detected in a system containing a Shrieel, they will be fired upon and we will be informed immediately.”
Jeremy leaned back, looking thoughtful. “I still don’t understand why they have stayed out of all the galaxies where there are Dyson Spheres. Why haven’t they moved in and tried to take possession of those galaxies?”
“We believe they are concerned about the AIs we created long ago to help operate and maintain the Shrieels,” replied Bartoll. “When we fought our war against them, we were already using military AIs though not as advanced as Kazak. They may fear any type of attack will result in massive retaliation by the AIs.”
“We believe the Anti-life have been conquering the galaxies
surrounding those we have Shrieels in,” said Commander Zafron. “It is their way of containing us. It is also highly likely at some point in time they will turn their vast war machine on our galaxies once they are confident of victory.”
Jeremy was quiet for a moment. “We need to send out a mission and try to find out what the Anti-Life are up to. I believe we need to explore several of the galaxies just outside the periphery of those where there are Dyson Spheres. We need to have an idea of the military strength of the Anti-Life and the type of weapons they use.”
“The only way to confirm that is to find a vessel of the Anti-Life and engage it,” Kazak said. “I will volunteer to lead such a mission once we return from our search.”
Jeremy looked questionably over at Commander Zafron since the Dominator was his ship.
“We’ve installed all the new weapons upgrades and have completely updated the ship,” Commander Zafron replied. “I believe the Dominator could handle an Anti-Life vessel without serious risk of harm.”
“We also need to take care the Anti-Life doesn’t discover that a few of us are still alive,” Bartoll said. “For that reason, it might not be wise for Commander Zafron to go on this mission.”
“I can handle the ship,” Kazak said evenly.
“I agree with Bartoll,” said Jeremy. “For the time being the Dominator will return to the Triangulum Galaxy to help in the search for the missing Originators.”
-
The group spent considerable time planning strategies and discussing what needed to be done to get the Humans, Altons, and Carethians ready to operate the new warships the Originators and their AIs were building. When everyone was satisfied they had done as much as possible Jeremy turned toward General Wesley. He was in charge of the forty thousand Marines at the large military base built just outside the city.
“General Wesley, how is progress on driving the remaining Simulins out of the Control Centers of the Dyson Spheres progressing?”
“Slowly,” General Wesley replied. Wesley had been in charge of the Marines in the Astral System but had volunteered to come with Rear Admiral Barnes. “The Simulins by now must be aware of what we’re doing. Every time we recapture one of the Control Centers, they lose contact with that particular galaxy. We’ve taken six so far and resistance is getting stronger. The Simulins have placed more troops and Conqueror Drones at each Control Center. Captain Wilde is currently trying to retake another even as we speak.”
The Originator Wars: Universe in Danger: A Lost Fleet Novel Page 4