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

by Raymond L. Weil

  “They destroyed two of our battlecruisers?” asked Second Leader Nolant in disbelief. Nolant was responsible for war production. “Was the fleet detected again?”

  “The fleet was detected once more as it crossed the hyperspace detection system at the edge of the galaxy. We were able to determine the fleet’s destination and arrange for several of our stealth reconnaissance cruisers to meet and follow it. The fleet divided into two task groups and spent time exploring and taking scans of eight of our systems in the cluster. During that time the Eternal commander of Galaxy X-2496 arranged for several fleets of our battlecruisers to be waiting under stealth for the two fleets to return to the system they had left originally.”

  “Do we have any videos of the ships in question?” asked Second Leader Tallard, who was in charge of research.

  Clondax touched his hand to a computer control, and one of the unknown ships appeared on a large viewscreen.

  “I’ve never seen ships such as those,” Queexel said. Queexel was responsible for warship production.

  “They do not appear in any of our databases,” Clondax said.

  “Did we salvage any ship parts after we destroyed their fleets?” asked Tallard.

  Clondax let out a deep breath. “We were not able to destroy all of them. In the ensuing battle, we destroyed thirty-two of their ships and seven managed to escape. We also lost sixty-four battlecruisers.”

  “What?” uttered Queexel, his eyes growing wide. “How can that be? We have the most powerful warships in the universe. Our hyperspace disruption field should have kept them locked out of hyperspace. Those ships should have been destroyed. Is the Eternal commander of our fleets in that galaxy so incompetent? If so he should be removed immediately and executed.”

  “The hyperspace field did work for a few minutes,” confirmed Clondax. “But the unknown ships managed to send out an interference field which canceled it out, and then their remaining ships escaped. It was no fault of the Eternal commander. I have examined the records of the battle in detail. I can find no fault in the strategy or the methods the commander of the fleets employed.”

  “Who could have built ships such as these?” asked Queexel. “We must find them immediately and eliminate their worlds. They cannot be allowed to become a major threat.”

  Clondax was silent for a long moment as he gazed at his fellow Eternals. “The commander of the fleets attacking these unknowns believes the ships were equipped with Originator technology.”

  “Originator technology! Impossible! They’re all dead from the pathogen because of their misguided attempts to achieve immortality,” cried out Tallard. “We have studied the pathogen and know there is no cure.”

  “Their AIs may still exist,” Clondax said pointedly. “They could have allowed a race to access one of their Shrieels and sent a fleet to investigate what we have been doing since destroying the intergalactic disruption field they placed around our galaxy so many years ago. They must know the field is down.”

  The large hall was silent as the Eternals mulled over this startling revelation.

  “What types of weapons were used against our ships?” asked Tallard, still refusing to believe this threat came from one of the Shrieels.

  “Gravitonic cannons, antimatter beams, energy beams, and missiles armed with dark matter warheads,” Clondax answered.

  Tallard slowly shook his head. “Definitely Originator technology. It is as you have suggested. Either the AIs themselves have come to check on us or they have joined with another organic race. Both seem highly unlikely. Only upon the Shrieels is there the necessary technology and weapons to oppose us. I am also concerned about their use of dark matter warheads. That is technology we have banned.”

  “There is another possibility. Perhaps some highly advanced civilization found an ancient Originator ship and has managed to duplicate the technology on board,” suggested Second Leader Nolant.

  Queexel stood up. “We must send a fleet to find out.”

  The other Eternals agreed, echoing the same comment. “Send a fleet.”

  Clondax nodded. “It will be done. A fleet will be sent to the galaxy nearest Galaxy X-2496 where there is an Originator Shrieel. It is highly probable due to its nearness that is the galaxy this unknown fleet of ships originated from.”

  Queexel looked intently at Clondax. “Is it possible some Originators survived and they are only now reclaiming the Shrieels?”

  “No,” Clondax answered. “The pathogen had no known cure. All of the Originators died out several million years ago. In all of that time until now, none of their ships have been spotted. We have sent a few highly stealthed ships to observe some of the Shrieels from time to time and not once have we detected the movement of any ships.”

  “We have discussed moving into Originator space,” Queexel said. “We control over ten thousand galaxies and have their space completely isolated.”

  “But there are still nearly six hundred galaxies in that region,” Tallard pointed out. “We know 212 of them contain Originator Shrieels. There is no doubt that if their AIs still exist, they would resist any movement by us into their space.”

  “It could be dangerous sending a fleet to inspect the Shrieel in the galaxy we suspect the unknown fleet came from,” added Nolant. “In the last years of our war with the Originators, they developed a military AI that was very dangerous. It could be those military AIs who were operating those ships.”

  “I doubt it,” Clondax answered. “From the debris we found, we detected a number of organic compounds. The ships were definitely crewed by organic beings.”

  “We must be cautious,” said Tallard. “The Originator Shrieels have a tremendous amount of ship construction capacity. While I don’t believe they could be a serious threat to us, they could still become a major hindrance if the surviving AIs inside become active against us.”

  Clondax slowly nodded his head. “We will send a fleet to investigate. It is essential to our future plans of conquest to know if the Originator Shrieels are going to become a danger. I will contact our commander in galaxy X-2496 and have him dispatch a fleet to the suspect galaxy immediately.”

  Clondax left the room without saying another word. For many years he had been advocating moving into Originator space. If the Originators were truly dead as he believed all they had to do was stay away from the 212 star systems which held Shrieels. If the fleet he was sending discovered one of the Shrieels was active and had sent the fleet to galaxy X-2496, it would give him the excuse he needed to launch an all out attack against Originator space. He had long believed it was a mistake to think the Shrieels were still a danger. Too much time had passed. As the descendants of the Originators, it was the Eternals’ right to take back what was theirs. Clondax expected to find a way someday to take over the Shrieels and add all 212 to the growing Empire of the Eternals.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes gazed at the small moon on the viewscreen. It was less than four hundred kilometers in diameter, but the sensor readings were confirming the readings Arlak Grall had taken years back. Twenty kilometers down was an Originator spacecraft.

  “It’s definitely one of our exploration ships,” Camlin said as she studied the data from the sensor readings. “It’s two thousand meters in length and seems to still be intact.”

  “If I’m reading this data correctly, the ship is wedged in a very tight cavern,” added Andram.

  “How did they ever get it in there?” asked Kelsey. Kathryn had informed her the day before of Jeremy returning to the Communications and Transport Hub as well as the death of Grayseth. Kelsey knew Jeremy would be highly upset at the death of his longtime Carethian friend. She and Katie had talked long into the night about it in their shared quarters.

  “The ship’s energy beams,” Camlin said. “They probably used them to bore a hole deep beneath the surface of the moon and then closed it up behind them.”

  “I don’t understand why,” said Katie, her green eyes look
ing confused. “Why go to all the trouble to hide the ship?”

  “I think it was done more to hide it from the Dominator than anything else,” said Jolban, the Originator AI who had been responsible for updating the Distant Horizon. “Kazak brought the Dominator here after his failed search for the missing Originators. Whoever was in command of the exploration ship must have decided there was a reason for what Kazak was doing. Perhaps he was allowing sufficient time to pass for the AIs in the Shrieels to come up with a cure. So they hid their ship, probably set up some type of automatic monitoring system to keep an eye on the Dominator and then put themselves into stasis.”

  “Waiting for something to happen with the Dominator,” said Kelsey in understanding. “Only why when we woke Kazak and took the Dominator back to Gaia didn’t the exploration ship wake up its crew?”

  “Time,” replied Jolban. “So much time had passed it’s possible the systems on the ship had degraded to the point that it was no longer possible to awaken the crew. I doubt if they thought they would be interred in the moon for over two million years.”

  Kathryn gazed at the screen showing the barren surface of the small moon. It was covered in asteroid impacts and looked extremely unstable. “Can your mining ships get the vessel free?”

  “Yes,” answered Camlin. “I have already spoken to the AI in charge of the three ships, and he has assured me they will have no problem drilling down to the exploration vessel. They’ll make the tunnel large enough so the ship can be towed out. Once it’s out in open space, you can send a team on board to see if any of the crew is actually in stasis.”

  “There have to be a few,” said Katie. “I mean, why go to all of this trouble if there were no survivors on the ship?”

  “How long will it take to free the ship?” asked Kathryn. She was anxious to get this mystery solved and find out some answers.

  “Lontor believes he can have the ship free and towed out within forty-eight hours,” replied Camlin. Her eyes were showing excitement at what might be on the exploration ship.

  “Is there any chance some AIs are still functional on the vessel?” asked Commander Grissim who had been listening to the discussion.

  Camlin pursed her lips as she thought over the question. “It’s possible but highly unlikely. The ship wouldn’t have had the resources or power sources the Dominator has.”

  “What about the stasis chambers?” asked Anne. “Would they still be functional?”

  “Maybe,” Jolban answered. “The stasis chambers would have their own power source; possibly an antimatter chamber. Such a power source, if not overly stressed, could run the chambers for several million years but not much longer.”

  Kathryn frowned. “So if the power was depleted then any Originators in stasis would have died.”

  Camlin nodded. “Yes, there’s a chance anyone in stasis died a long time ago. We won’t know until we can access the stasis chamber in the center of the ship, assuming that’s where it is. There’s also the possibility the exploration ship has no stasis chambers.”

  Taking a deep breath, Kathryn knew the only way to find out was to free the ship. “Inform Lontor to begin drilling. Tell him to take all necessary precautions and not to endanger any of the three mining ships.”

  “Message sent,” replied Captain Travers a few moments later.

  On the large viewscreen, one of the mining ships moved down toward the moon until it was hovering just above the surface. From the bottom of the ship a beam of energy appeared, drilling into the hard surface. The other two mining ships moved to either side and began using tractor beams to move the mined rubble away from the site. A lot of dust was being stirred up, floating in the vacuum and light gravity of the moon and making visibility difficult.

  “Drilling has commenced,” said Jolban.

  -

  Kathryn sat in her command chair for several hours watching the drilling. So far there had been no problems, and everything was proceeding according to plan. Lontor was keeping them informed on progress with regular updates.

  “Incoming ships,” reported Captain Reynolds. “It looks like the Dominator and Commander Zafron’s task group.”

  “I was expecting them,” Kathryn said. “After Kazak spent so much time searching for the missing Originators there was no way he was going to miss us unearthing this ship.”

  “I’ve already spoken to Kazak,” Clarissa reported. “He’s quite excited about this discovery. I think he’s having a hard time believing the ship was here all this time.”

  “I’m glad Zafron’s here,” said Camlin, crossing her arms over her chest. “If there are indeed Originators in stasis on board the exploration ship, it might be necessary to awaken them before we take the ship back to the Communications and Transport Hub.”

  “We may also want to access the ship’s computers before we take it into hyperspace,” suggested Clarissa, her dark blue eyes focused on the large panoramic viewscreen. “As old as the ship is we’re not certain if it can survive such a trip.”

  Kathryn looked thoughtful and then spoke. “Perhaps we should take it to Ornellia for study. It would be safe there with all the fleet units we have in the system. We also have an Accelerator Ring in orbit that can be used to bring in AIs or other Originators from the Communications and Transport Hub.”

  “We may have to consider that,” Jolban said. “We’ll know more when the ship is out of the moon and in open space. I can go aboard with a few other AIs and determine the condition of the vessel.”

  Kathryn looked at the tactical display. Her two ships which had stayed to protect the construction ships disassembling the Accelerator Ring had joined the Distant Horizon. Both ships were off the Distant Horizon’s starboard bow. In addition, three other exploration dreadnaughts were above the ship and to the rear. Kathryn was pleased Commander Zafron would soon be here. There were rumors of a few rogue Simulin fleets still roaming around. It would be a disaster for one of those fleets to gain control of the Originator exploration cruiser they were attempting to retrieve. With nine exploration dreadnoughts, Kathryn was confident she could fight off any foe.

  -

  Kelsey, Katie, Mikow, and Clarissa were eating a quick meal before returning to duty. Kelsey was consuming a large dish of strawberries covered in whipped cream while Mikow and Katie were splitting a club sandwich.

  Clarissa was eyeing Kelsey’s overflowing bowl of strawberries. “Why do you not tire of eating those? Over the years I’ve seen you eat hundreds of bowls of strawberries.”

  Katie grinned. “She ate them at the Fleet Academy on the Moon as well. That was when she first met Jeremy, and no one knew she was from the secret base on Ceres the old Human Federation of Worlds survivors had established.”

  “So long ago,” said Mikow, her eyes widening. “Sometimes I forget all the years the five of you spent in cryosleep. How did you do it?”

  “It wasn’t that hard of a decision after what we experienced on the New Horizon mission,” answered Katie. “We thought we were all going to die until Admiral Sheen appeared with the WarStorm and rescued us from the Hocklyns. That mission changed our lives.”

  Clarissa let out a deep sigh. “I can remember the days back in the old Human Federation of Worlds when we first discovered the Hocklyns. They appeared over a mining colony, and Admiral Streth was called in to see if they were a threat. Then later we went on a mission deep into Hocklyn space. When we returned, the Human Federation of Worlds had been destroyed by the Hocklyns and the AIs. Fleet Admiral Streth gathered what survivors he could and fled to Earth. One of our scientists knew the secret location and revealed it to the admiral.”

  Mikow nodded. “If I remember correctly it was my people who brought Humans to settle the worlds which eventually became the former Human Federation of Worlds.”

  “Yes,” answered Kelsey, recalling her history. “It was their belief that if the AIs who controlled their old homeworld ever became hostile, the Human worlds would be able to control them. It didn’t qui
te work out the way they had hoped. They didn’t realize the Simulins had made an appearance and drastically altered part of the AIs’ programming in the Master Codex.”

  Mikow shook her head. “Somehow all this sounds familiar. We have the Anti-Life who have used mechanical nanites to greatly modify their bodies, and now they are out trying to conquer the universe. It makes me wonder sometimes if we’ll ever know a time of real peace.”

  “It’s been nice these last few months living in the Dyson Sphere,” said Katie with a deep sigh. “It was peaceful and we knew we were safe. That may no longer be true with the threat from the Anti-Life.”

  “Grayseth died on Jeremy’s mission to Anti-Life space,” Kelsey said with sadness in her voice. She was going to miss the big Bear. While he came across as gruff and powerful, he could also be very gentle and kind.

  “He has to be feeling the loss,” said Katie. Both she and Kelsey had lost Carethian friends when the Simulins attacked Gaia.

  “Grayseth was to be joined in a few more months,” Kelsey said softly as she dwelled on the thought. “He wanted to start a family to carry on his legacy.”

  Katie leaned back and blinked her eyes. “I’ve been telling Kevin we should do the same. He’s been hesitant so far. I think he still worries about our future.”

  “Jeremy and I have had the same discussion,” admitted Kelsey. “Angela has a child, and she still has her career. Maybe when we get back we need to speak to our husbands again about this.”

  “I agree,” said Clarissa with a pleased smile. “Ariel and I both want more children to train.”

  Katie looked exasperated and only shook her head. “We’ll see.”

  -

  Kathryn had managed to get a good night’s sleep and was back in the Command Center. The drilling was still on schedule and more scans had been taken of the exploration ship embedded in the moon.

  With the arrival of the Dominator, Kazak was able to determine there was still an active power source on the ship. Kazak felt certain the power source was being used to power the stasis chamber that he suspected was in the heart of the vessel.