The Originator Wars: Universe in Danger: A Lost Fleet Novel

by Raymond L. Weil

  “We have two Marine units currently assigned to retaking them and a third in training,” answered General Wesley. “We’ve stepped up our assaults as the Simulins are attempting to regain control of the vortexes.”

  “How?” asked Jeremy, feeling confused. When he left, the Simulins in the Dyson Spheres seemed to be pretty well bottled up in their small areas around the vortex Control Centers.

  General Wesley took a deep breath. “They’ve been working on putting an energy shield in place above the intergalactic vortex they control in each of the remaining Dyson Spheres on which they have a major presence. I am greatly concerned we may not be able to retake the one in their home galaxy and possibly two others where they have a major presence.”

  “Let’s concentrate on the rest of them and we’ll deal with those three last,” suggested Jeremy. “How are Admirals Lukel and Cross doing toward eliminating the Simulin fleets in the galaxies the Simulins have conquered or are in the process of conquering?”

  “Both fleets left on their first mission last week,” replied Admiral Kalen. “Both admirals have a fleet of three hundred updated Originator warships and have been sending back progress reports daily. They have eliminated a number of Simulin fleets in the galaxy they’re currently operating in and have discovered the locations of the majority of the Simulin inhabited worlds.”

  “As advanced as the ships are they shouldn’t have any problems with handling the Simulin fleets,” said Jeremy. Of course both admirals were using heavy dreadnoughts as their flagships. “What type of battle plan did you come up with?” While he was gone, Admiral Kalen and the other admirals were supposed to come up with a plan to subdue the Simulins in the galaxies they had major fleets in.

  Admiral Kalen turned to a small computer screen on the conference table in front of him. “The Triangulum Galaxy has already been taken care of by Kazak, though we won’t quite be using those same methods in the other galaxies. There are nine galaxies the Simulins have major fleets in and twenty more where there are rumored to be small exploration fleets. In the nine major galaxies, two of them are completely controlled by the Simulins with probably no surviving technological civilization still surviving. We’ll save those two for last. In the other seven, we will fight several major engagements against Simulin fleets in order to demonstrate we have the ability to destroy their ships with impunity. Then we’ll use dark matter missiles to destroy several uninhabited worlds close to the most heavily populated Simulin planets to demonstrate our strength. At the same time we will issue an ultimatum. Surrender and disarm or we will start targeting their population centers.”

  Jeremy turned pale at hearing that. He had seen the effects of a dark matter warhead used on a populated planet. Kazak destroyed six inhabited Simulin worlds using the weapon. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “So do we,” replied Admiral Kalen. “However, the Simulins are responsible for the deaths of trillions of inhabitants across ten galaxies. I don’t believe we owe them any sympathy. Not only that, at least we’re offering them a chance to surrender and still live on the planets they have colonized. They didn’t offer that choice to all the worlds they destroyed. We will even allow limited trade between their worlds. They would be fools not to accept our terms.”

  Jeremy agreed this was the best option. With a possible war coming between the Originators and the Eternals, he couldn’t have major fleet units tied down fighting the Simulins. “Let’s hope the Simulins elect to surrender.” However, from what Jeremy knew of the Simulins, it would probably take the destruction of several of their worlds before they saw the light.

  -

  A few hours later Jeremy was in his office looking out the window over the city. The tall towers and ribbon-like walkways, which connected them, seemed like something one might see in a futuristic video. It was hard to believe this magnificent city had been built for Humans.

  “I wish the girls were back,” said Kevin from Jeremy’s side. “I just got back from seeing Angela in the communications center. Rear Admiral Barnes sent a message indicating they might know where the lost Originator ship is located.”

  “I saw that,” Jeremy responded. “I spoke to Bartoll earlier, and he’s going to have the Originator AIs in one of the research centers develop a drone to send to galaxies we suspect the Eternals control. He agrees with me that after what happened to our fleet, it’s too dangerous to send crewed ships to do the exploring.”

  Kevin looked out the large window and then spoke again. “The Eternals have to suspect our ships came from a Dyson Sphere. What do you think they’ll do?”

  “Seek us out,” Jeremy answered. “It’s what I would do. I suspect they’ll send a few of their ships or even fleets into the nearest galaxies where there are Dyson Spheres and see if they can detect any Originator ships. They may even check some of the more advanced civilizations in those galaxies to see if there have been any reports of strange, highly advanced vessels.”

  “Do you think they might attack one of the Dyson Spheres?”

  “Bartoll believes they might. So we’ve picked out the three most likely galaxies near what we believe is Eternal space and placed the Dyson Spheres in those galaxies on alert. Galaxy X-938 is where we expect the Eternals to appear if they do send a fleet to investigate Originator space since it’s the closest.”

  “That’s the galaxy we departed from,” replied Kevin.

  “Yes, I’ve already arranged with Bartoll to send additional military AIs there in case they’re needed. I’m also sending Rear Admiral Brenda Mann with a fleet as well. She has command of six hundred heavy dreadnoughts.”

  “What if the Eternals lock them out of hyperspace?”

  “They can’t, at least not anymore. Aaliss and Talmorr have updated the program they designed that got around the hyperspace-dampening field so it can instantly analyze the frequency of the field and jam it. Even if they lock us out of hyperspace, it will only be a second or two before our ships can jump.”

  “What about those energy beams they hit us with? I mean, it only took a few strikes for them to penetrate our shields.”

  “Bartoll thinks if we rotate our shields through a smaller set of frequencies but at a faster rate, it will give us better protection. He’s already set a group of AIs working on it.”

  “When’s Grayseth’s memorial ceremony?”

  “Two more days,” Jeremy replied with sadness in his eyes. “It will be held in the Carethians’ new city at an open-air amphitheater. It can hold nearly forty thousand Carethians and will be carried live on all of our cities video channels. I’m also going to declare a day of mourning in recognition of Grayseth’s contributions to our survival since coming to the Triangulum Galaxy.”

  Kevin stood quietly and then spoke in a softer voice. “It’s going to be hard not having that big Bear around. I don’t know how many times he nearly crushed me with one of those big bear hugs of his.”

  Jeremy grinned, recalling what those felt like. “I know, there were several times I thought he was going to break a rib or two.”

  Kevin’s face took on a solemn look. “Grayseth planned on mating soon. He mentioned that to me several times. There was a Carethian female he was seeing.”

  “Yes, he told me about her,” Jeremy replied with a deep sigh. “They planned on being joined in another few months. Grayseth was looking forward to having cubs to carry on his heritage. He was planning on a very large family. I plan to speak to her in the next day or so. I want to tell her how Grayseth died.”

  “Jeremy,” Kevin continued in a more serious voice. “Maybe we shouldn’t put off having families of our own. What happened to Grayseth could happen to us as well. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Katie without any children. I think Angela had the right idea. She seems happy. I don’t want to take that away from Katie. When the Distant Horizon returns, I’m going to have a serious conversation with Katie about having children.”

  Jeremy nodded. He had been thinking along the same lines. T
here was never going to be a perfect time, not with a war with the Eternals looming in the future. “Maybe you’re right. It will also keep the girls here where it’s safe.” That would be one less thing Jeremy would have to worry about. Both of the girls could work here at the Tower and still be part of the war effort. Then later, when the kids were older, they could go off exploring or do whatever they wanted. Jeremy wouldn’t block their careers.

  -

  Later Jeremy and Rear Admiral Susan Marks were standing in one of the large construction bays in one of the shipyards. There were numerous shipyards at the Communications and Transport Hub. They were watching an Originator battlecruiser being refurbished with updated weapons. Various sized construction robots were everywhere as they went from ship to ship carrying out their assignments under the watchful eyes of a number of Originator AIs.

  “Do you know exactly how many of these ships the Originators have?” asked Susan as several large construction robots replaced a section of dull looking hull armor.

  “There are two hundred and eleven Dyson Spheres plus the four here at the Communications and Transport hub. From what Kazak and Bartoll have told me there are several thousand battlecruisers in each one.”

  Susan’s eyes widened. “That’s nearly half a million warships!”

  Jeremy nodded. “Remember, at one time their civilization was spread out across countless worlds in all the galaxies where there is currently a Dyson Sphere. They pretty well pacified those galaxies, creating an era of peace. Then they created the Dyson Spheres, which would protect them and allow their civilization to grow for millions of years. They abandoned their worlds and moved into the spheres though they still explored and kept some contact with the other life forms.”

  “Then the Anti-Life tore everything apart.” Susan recalled what the Originator AIs had told her. There were a number of them teaching at the new Fleet Academy. “The Anti-Life appeared and tried to conquer the galaxies and the Dyson Spheres.”

  Jeremy nodded. “Yes, the Originators don’t speak much of what happened though I have managed to study a few of the battles. We’re talking about fleet battles involving tens of thousands of ships. It was quite brutal and no prisoners were taken. Both sides were playing for keeps.”

  “How long did the war actually last? I’ve heard from the AIs it was around a thousand years.”

  “Yes, that’s correct. I believe the actual time was 1,123 years including the time it took the Originators to enclose the Anti-Life’s galaxy in the hyperspace disruption field.”

  “A thousand years of war,” Susan said, finding it hard to grasp. “No wonder the two hate each other so badly.”

  “Two different philosophical views,” Jeremy explained. “The Anti-Life believed they were a superior life form and used the mechanical nanites to augment their bodies. They wanted to greatly extend their lifespans. Since they now call themselves the Eternals, I suspect they succeeded to some extent.”

  Jeremy watched as several large antimatter projectors were mounted to the battlecruiser. He knew this type of work was being done in every shipyard the Originators had. New military AIs were also being built and programmed to command the ships. In many of the shipyards here at the Communications and Transport hub the new heavy dreadnoughts were under construction. Jeremy intended to make them the backbone of the Originator fleet. The ships, while big, would be largely automated. Each would contain a Human, Alton, or Carethian command crew of around fifteen and a squad of Marines to command the new combat robots being built.

  “Are we safe here inside the Dyson Sphere if the Eternals attack?”

  Jeremy hesitated for a moment. This had been a growing concern of his since the battle with the Eternal ships. “I think so. Each Dyson Sphere has a large number of warships available for defense if necessary. All of the spheres are heavily defended, and those defenses are being augmented even more since the Originators discovered the Eternals have escaped their galactic prison. We’re probably still a year or two away from becoming involved in an actual full-scale shooting war, though there may be a few skirmishes between now and then.”

  “We’ll have a small cadet class graduating from the Academy in another few months,” said Susan, pursing her lips as she thought of her students. “They’ll make fine officers and fleet personnel. We’ve changed the curriculum with the help of the Originator AIs. The teaching methods we now have available will allow us to shorten the time to prepare a cadet from four years to two and a half. The first two years will be instruction and basic drills. The last six months the cadets will be assigned to actual warships. I believe you will be quite pleased with the results.”

  Jeremy’s attention was drawn to the far end of the spacedock where an Originator battlecruiser was lifting off from its berth. The ship rose up into the air and then proceeded to the massive airlocks which opened, allowing the ship to pass through into space. Jeremy marveled at how quiet the ship was. The gravity drive made little noise as it propelled the ship.

  “How many students do you have currently enrolled?”

  “The current graduating class has twelve hundred in it, the two classes below them have eight thousand and twelve thousand respectively.”

  Jeremy nodded. He was pleased with the size of the classes. Of course many of the students came from military families. Some had already been attending the Fleet Academy on the Moon and headed home to Ceres and New Tellus when summoned by their parents.

  “We’re going to need all of them,” Jeremy said as he turned away from the work going on in the spacedock.

  “They’ll be ready,” promised Susan.

  -

  The next day Jeremy was in a small shuttle flying to the Carethian habitat. He was going to meet with Admiral Calmat as well as a number of other Carethians. One of the main reasons for this visit was to speak with Marille, who was going to be Grayseth’s chosen mate. Grayseth had confided in Jeremy that the joining of the two would have been in a few more months. In Jeremy’s mind, he could still see as plain as day the Warrior’s Pride ramming the Eternal battlecruiser, saving the Avenger. He wondered if the roles had been reversed if he would have been willing to make the same sacrifice.

  Looking out the viewport, Jeremy marveled at the habitation square they were flying over. They were still above the one the Humans had settled in. It was nearly as large as Earth with oceans, snow covered mountains, rolling plains, and even a few small deserts. He knew there was a multitude of wildlife as well. Some he was familiar with and others were vastly different than what could be found on Earth. It was amazing the complexity of the ecosystems the Originators had built. There was already talk of building some Oceanside resorts as well as ski lodges up in the mountains.

  It didn’t take long and the shuttle was setting down at the small spaceport near the city the Originators had built for the Carethians. Instead of tall, soaring towers like they had built for the Humans, here were smaller and more boxlike structures built of heavy stones. The tallest structure was no more than ten stories high. The city was also more spread out with numerous green belts and large parks. The Carethians preferred living in packs where large families could stay together. They believed in honor and traditions and would spend many evenings around campfires telling of past heroics by members of the pack or clan. In the new structures the Originators had built for the Carethians, a large fire pit existed on the bottom floor of each where the pack or packs could gather.

  Stepping out of the shuttle, Jeremy found Calmat and several other Carethian clan leaders waiting.

  “It is a sad day,” said Calmat formally. “Grayseth was our greatest leader and an example for all the packs and clans.”

  “He died in the hunt,” Jeremy said respectfully. “He was fearless in battle and unafraid in his sacrifice. He brought great honor to his clan as well as all of the clans represented here.”

  “He died in the hunt,” repeated Calmat with a nod. “It was an honorable death and one which will be spoken of for many gene
rations around our fires. Our cubs will learn of our great leader and what his sacrifice meant to all Carethians.”

  It felt strange to be standing here speaking of Grayseth. At any moment Jeremy felt as if he would hear his friend’s booming voice and then be embraced in a powerful bear hug. Sadly, Jeremy knew those days were gone.

  -

  Jeremy stayed with the Carethians through the memorial ceremony. He took time out to speak with Marille, Grayseth’s chosen mate. She was in mourning as were all of his immediate pack. By tradition for those who died before they were joined, the pack would take care of Marille as if she were one of their own. She would have a home with Grayseth’s pack as long as she wished. In the pack and the clan, it would be a place of honor.

  The memorial service was broadcast across all three habitation squares where the Altons, Humans, and Carethians lived. It was solemn and full of praise for the great leader. His exploits in defending Careth as well as Gaia were told for all to hear. In the end, Jeremy said a few words praising his friend and how he would be missed.

  -

  In Anti-Life space in the galaxy of the Eternals, a meeting was being held on Gardell, the capital planet. Gardell was a world of small oceans and large landmasses. It held a population of nearly ten billion, all dedicated to making their race the supreme rulers of the known universe. They already had a good start with ten thousand galaxies under their firm control.

  “This report from Galaxy X-2496 is quite disturbing,” said Clondax, the Eternals’ First Leader. “It seems a fleet of exploration ships appeared on the edge of the galaxy and entered the Stralon Star Cluster where we have a major resource gathering operation in progress. The fleet crossed one of our intergalactic picket lines where it encountered two of our battlecruisers and we assume destroyed them. Investigating battlecruisers found the debris from four ships: our two battlecruisers as well as two of the unknowns.”