The Lost Fleet Box Set, page 116
part #1 of The Lost Fleet Series
“Family,” Hedon said with a nod. “That’s what all of this has been about. Keeping our people safe and trying to make the galaxy a better place for everyone.”
For the first time in years, Hedon felt at peace with himself. He knew that while it wasn’t a premonition, the threat from the Simulins had been removed. He wished he could see Admiral Strong and the rest of the Special Five one last time, but he knew that wasn’t in the cards. A premonition from years back had told him he would never see the five again.
-
The Dominator was back in orbit around Gaia and Jeremy, Andram, Kelsey, and Kazak were standing in front of the hidden compartment deep within the ship. Kazak had agreed to reveal his secret after Jeremy jumped in with the Avenger and the two Alton battleships saving the Originator ship from certain destruction. They had barely escaped as the nova encompassed the system.
Jeremy had spent two days waiting for the Dominator to show up at the Simulin capital world. Ariel had predicted Kazak would take the Dominator there to either make demands of the Simulins or to destroy the planet. Jeremy had managed to move the Avenger and the Alton battleships in close to the system so they could make an emergency jump to assist the Dominator if it were damaged. They never expected to have to save the ship from an exploding nova. Jeremy knew if he had been just a few minutes late the Dominator would have been lost with everyone on board, including Kelsey and Katie.
Kazak looked solemnly at the three with him as he took the copper colored globe, which served as a key, out of his pocket. “What I’m going to show you is my biggest secret. It is the last hope to resurrect the Originators, and I have been programmed to protect it at all costs.” Kazak inserted the key into the waiting slot and the wall slid open. Stepping inside, he indicated for the others to follow.
Jeremy was the first one to enter and after taking a few steps came to a stunned halt. The room was full of large transparent tubes filled with some type of liquid. He could see vague figures in each tube.
“Children!” uttered Kelsey in amazement as she looked around at all the tubes in the compartment. “These tubes are full of children.”
“Intriguing,” said Andram as he walked over to the nearest and gazed inside. A young female Originator was inside the tube with her eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping.
“I don’t understand,” said Jeremy, looking over at Kazak. “We expected to find adult Originators in here.”
“There are a few,” Kazak admitted. “At the far end of the compartment there are twenty-three adults. Unfortunately, they are all suffering from advanced stages of the life extension pathogen. Those twenty-three are the greatest minds of all of the Originators. If I were to awaken them, they would die in a matter of hours.”
“The children,” asked Kelsey as she stared wide eyed at what appeared to be hundreds of tubes with children in them. She had never expected to find children in this compartment.
Kazak’s face took on a look of deep sadness as he gazed at them. “When the Dominator originally left the Dyson Sphere, it was equipped for research as well as defense. The blue energy spheres the ship used against the Simulins were not allowed on any other vessel. They were the Originators’ greatest weapon and as such that technology was never to leave any of the Dyson Spheres. However, because of the importance of the Dominator’s mission, the ban was lifted in this one instance.”
“Your mission was to find a cure,” said Jeremy, recalling a past conversation with Kazak.
“Yes, but we failed. The research scientists on board brought their families, and as the scientists succumbed to the disease, their children were put into stasis. If the children were awakened now, they would live out long lives, but eventually they too would succumb to the pathogen. The scientists worked to the very end, and when they realized they were going to fail, the remaining scientists decided to go into stasis and let me continue their work.”
“You failed also,” Kelsey said sadly. “Without a cure, you didn’t dare awaken any of the children or adults.”
“I even traveled back to the Dyson Sphere to see if I could contact other Originators, but none were left. No one answered my calls to Dyson Spheres in other galaxies other than AIs and they all reported the same. All the Originators had died.”
“All of them?” gasped Kelsey. She knew the number of Originators who had inhabited all the Dyson Spheres had to have been in the trillions.
“Yes. As the disease swept across the Dyson Spheres, the population rapidly decreased. Even the remaining children grew up and died of the pathogen,” Kazak explained. “However, there was a file I found in the core computer of the Dyson Sphere in this galaxy that suggested a large group of survivors had fled just before the end to a place they thought might be safe. I searched for them for thousands of years and found nothing. If they found a place of safety, it is well hidden.”
Kelsey slowly walked down the aisles of tubes, stopping to examine several. “Genesis,” she said softly, turning back to face Kazak. “If you could find a cure you could bring the Originator race back.”
Kazak nodded. He turned and looked at Andram. “The Altons are the most highly advanced race I’ve encountered since the Originators. Is there any chance your people could help in finding a cure?”
Andram paused in front of a tube holding a young male Originator, who looked to be five to seven years of age. “We do possess considerable knowledge of life prolongation drugs. I’m sure my people would be willing to work on this. But if the Originators never found a cure, I don’t know if we can either.”
“I accept that,” Kazak answered. “All I ask is that you try.”
-
Hours later, Jeremy and Kelsey were down on Gaia. Angela’s baby shower was planned for later in the day. Her due date was very near and both Katie and Kelsey were excited to get the party going. Katie had gone off shopping, saying she had a particular gift in mind.
“Do you think the Altons will find a cure?”
“If anyone can, it would be them,” Jeremy replied. They were walking down a street in New Eden. “Kazak is going to make a lot of data on the Originators’ biology available to the Altons. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Taking Kelsey’s hand, he wondered what was in their future. The menace from the Simulins had been greatly reduced but it was still there. He intended to send another task group out to Admiral Jackson to shore up the defenses in the Ornellian Empire and seek out new allies. The AIs were building new Warspheres at an ever-increasing rate. In two more days Grayseth was taking out a fleet to destroy several nearby Simulin bases. Jeremy intended to remove all Simulin threats within two hundred light years of Gaia. He would then send out AI ships to patrol the region and keep it clear of Simulin vessels.
He was also still concerned about Kazak. Since being rescued from the nova the Originator AI had been very cordial, but Jeremy knew it could all be an act. Kazak would bear watching. He still didn’t fully trust the Originator AI.
“Are you going to the baby shower?” asked Kelsey.
“No, I think I’ll pass,” Jeremy answered. “Kevin invited me over for a cookout.”
“Hamburgers,” groaned Kelsey. “You know that’s what he’ll cook.”
“I’m taking a couple of steaks,” Jeremy said with a grin.
At least for a while life could be normal. For the first time since coming to the Triangulum Galaxy, Jeremy felt there was real hope for the future. The threat posed by the Dyson Sphere supernova had been eliminated and the Simulins had suffered a major setback. For the foreseeable future, Gaia was safe.
-
On board the Avenger, Ariel was reviewing the sensor scans from when the power had failed on the Dominator. As she studied the information, she began to realize not everything added up. The Dominator should never have lost its power, even with the Simulin ships attempting to jump in on top of the vessel. With a worried feeling, Ariel began to wonder if Kazak had set the whole thing up. She decided the best thing to do was keep her suspicions to herself. She would monitor Kazak as closely as possible to see if she could discover any ulterior motives. She wished Clarissa were here with her. Between the two of them, they could solve any problem. It was times like this that Ariel felt extremely lonely.
-
In the Rylus Star Cluster Reesa, Kelnor, and Sergeant Wilde had been summoned to a meeting with the AIs. Entering the briefing room, they found Leeda, Rakell, Tamon and Sible waiting for them.
“I hope your people are comfortable,” Rakell said from the head of the conference table. “I also regret the lives lost fighting the Simulins.”
“They’re adjusting,” answered Brenda. “They all would like to go home though.”
“I’m truly sorry about that,” Rakell replied. “But that can’t be allowed. Your people have seen too much of the Shrieel.”
“Why have you summoned us to this meeting?” asked Reesa.
Leeda stood up and walked over to a viewscreen. “Seven months ago one of your ships appeared at the primary communications and transport hub of the Originators. It is the first ship to travel there in over two million years.”
“One of our ships?” Brenda said confused. “I don’t understand. None of our ships have access to any of your intergalactic vortexes. We didn’t even know this Dyson Sphere existed seven months ago.”
“The ship didn’t come from this galaxy,” explained Rakell, nodding at Leeda.
Leeda activated the viewscreen and everyone in the room grew quiet. A ship was on the screen. A ship of Alton design but heavily damaged. Jagged rips in the hull and burn marks indicated the ship had either been in a major battle or submitted to a terrifying force. The ship looked to be nearly a total wreck.
Reesa stood up looking in shock at the ship. She instantly recognized it since she had seen it in orbit around her homeward. She also knew from what the AIs had told her before that this was the ship that had destroyed the Dyson Sphere in the Triangulum Galaxy. “That’s the Distant Horizon!”
Brenda recognized the name. It had been Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes’ ship, and it had gone off searching for the lost fleets! “Why are you showing this to us?”
“It’s quite simple,” Rakell began. “We want you to go to the transport hub, use the Distant Horizon to return to the Triangulum Galaxy, and attempt to find the Dominator and Kazak.”
“Why would we do that? Were there any survivors on the Distant Horizon?”
“Yes, there were a few survivors,” answered Leeda. “I will be going with you as well as Sible, who will serve as our pilot. As for the reason we’re going, we have a cure for the pathogen that killed off the Originators.”
“A cure!” echoed Reesa, her eyes growing wide.
“Yes. It took us hundreds of thousands of years of research, but a cure was finally found,” Leeda explained. “The Originators left us thousands of lines of research. One of those was the cure they had been so desperately seeking.”
“What good is a cure if all the Originators are dead?” asked Kelnor.
“That’s why we need to find the Dominator,” Rakell replied. “There’s a small chance a few Originators may still exist in the stasis chambers on board that vessel.”
Reesa felt her heart skip a beat. Was there still a chance for her to meet one of the ancient race?
“If we agree to this, will we be allowed to go home afterward?” asked Brenda.
“We will consider it,” answered Rakell. “But first you’re going to have to deal with Kazak and that will be no easy task.”
Brenda nodded. It seemed as if their mission was only just beginning.
The End
The Lost Fleet:
Search for the Originators
Chapter One
Seven months previously at the dark matter nebula Dyson Sphere...
Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes grimaced as she saw a Federation strikecruiser vanish in a fiery explosion from a Simulin antimatter missile. On another screen, an AI warsphere was breaking apart. The battle was going badly for the Federation fleet.
“The fleet is sustaining heavy damage,” Clarissa reported as she listened to the latest reports. “Fleet Admiral Strong is hesitant to withdraw as we may not be able to return. In all likelihood, the Simulins will increase the size of their defense fleets at the tunnel entrances to prevent us from ever gaining entry again.”
Kathryn could sense the growing desperation she knew must be sweeping across the fleet. Only the AIs would be void of this horrible feeling. If they failed in their mission, then everything might be lost. “Andram, is there anything we can do?”
The Alton scientist hesitated for a moment and then turned toward Kathryn with a grave look on his wizened face. “I may have found a way to destroy the Dyson Sphere.”
“What?” exclaimed Colonel Leon, her eyes growing wide in astonishment. “How? Our most powerful weapons can’t even put a dent in its hull.”
Andram turned back around and adjusted the ship’s large viewscreen. Instantly, the central sun appeared surrounded by half a dozen dark ribbons representing the power collection stations. “We destroy the system’s sun.”
Kathryn leaned back in her command chair in shock at hearing those words. She took a deep breath as she gazed at the Alton scientist. “Is that even possible?”
“Yes,” Andram answered. “Shilum and I have been doing some calculations. If we take the Distant Horizon to the outer edge of the corona of the star and launch all of our antimatter missiles into the photosphere, it should cause a sufficient reaction to cause the star to go nova. It will take some precision because all of the missiles need to detonate within milliseconds of one another to cause the photosphere to become unstable enough.”
“We’ve lost another battlecruiser, and two more strikecruisers,” Captain Reynolds said in a grim voice as the green icons vanished from the tactical displays. “We’ve also lost eighteen warspheres in the last seven minutes. If we’re going to do something, it needs to be soon. We’re losing a lot of people!”
“Clarissa, if we do this, can the Distant Horizon escape the nova?”
Clarissa was quiet for a long moment and then answered. “No, Admiral. The nova will be nearly instantaneous, and we most likely won’t be able to activate our hyperdrive in time to escape. The sheer mass of the sun and being so deep inside its gravity well may cause the drive to fail catastrophically when we jump into the outer regions of the corona.”
“Can we send some of the AI ships to do this?” asked Commander Grissim.
“No,” replied Andram, shaking his head. “Only the Distant Horizon possesses an energy shield powerful enough to allow us to get as close to the corona of the star as we’re going to need to be. We’re actually going to be within the outer edges.”
Kathryn closed her eyes briefly. She had always known there was a possibility she could die in her service to the fleet. Now it seemed as if that time had arrived. There were six large shuttles and four small cargo shuttles in the ship’s flight bay. “Commander Grissim, give the order to evacuate all nonessential personnel.” She looked over at Katie and Kelsey. “That includes the two of you as well as Andram, Shilum, and Mikow.” She wasn’t going to be responsible for the deaths of two of the Special Five, and Jeremy would need the three Altons and their knowledge.
“Admiral,” protested Andram, “you may need me to coordinate the missile strike.”
“Clarissa, can you launch the missiles to do the job?”
“Yes, Admiral,” Clarissa said softly. “I can do it. There’s no reason for Andram or any of the others to stay. It’s best if they leave.”
“What’s the nearest ship that can take on our shuttles?”
“The AI command ship is nearby,” Commander Grissim answered in a steady voice. “It has ten warspheres and twenty of the fifteen-hundred-meter spheres as escorts.”
Kathryn nodded. That would be a safe place for her people. “Clarissa, contact the Command AI and inform it of what we’re getting ready to do.” She looked around at Andram and the others who were still standing in the Command Center, hesitant to leave. “Go now,” she ordered. “Or I’ll have you escorted to the shuttles by Marines.”
“Goodbye, Admiral,” Kelsey said, her eyes filled with shock over what they were about to do. She had never imagined anything like this. Kelsey couldn’t see herself leaving the Distant Horizon. She felt as if she was abandoning her post.
“It’s been an honor,” Katie added as she walked over to Kelsey’s side. She looked over at Clarissa and a tear formed in her eye. “Clarissa, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine, Katie,” said Clarissa, turning toward her with a weak smile. “You have always been my best friend. Don’t forget me.”
“I won’t,” sobbed Katie.
“You all need to go,” Ordered Kathryn. “It’s been a privilege to serve with you.”
Kelsey started to reply but instead she nodded and left the Command Center followed by the others.
The Command Center was quiet for a long moment and then Kathryn began giving orders. “Clarissa, expedite getting them off the ship and anyone else we can get to those shuttles in the next few minutes. I want to make our hyperspace jump to the star as soon as possible. Contact Ariel and tell her what we’re preparing to do.”
“I already have,” Clarissa replied as she squared up her shoulders. “She’s not happy, but she understands the necessity of what we’re preparing to do.”
-
“They’re going to do what?” exploded Jeremy, his eyes taking on a look of incredulity He couldn’t believe what Ariel had just reported.
“Andram and Shilum have figured out how to cause the central sun to go nova. They’re already evacuating all nonessential personnel to the Command AI’s ship. Clarissa says we have twenty minutes to get out of the Dyson Sphere before the nova reaches us.”
