The Lost Fleet Box Set, page 13
part #1 of The Lost Fleet Series
They’d already jumped the Distant Horizon a number of times, testing the accuracy of Clarissa’s piloting. Kathryn had been highly impressed. Now they had to create a vortex ring, and she needed to find out what would happen going through it.
“We’re jumping to the Triangulum Galaxy—or M33, as it’s more commonly called on your star charts,” Andram spoke, as he watched Alton technicians input various commands into the new control stations.
“Nearly three million light years,” Kathryn said, still finding it difficult to believe that a jump of such a distance was possible. “I hope the navigation coordinates we’ve worked out are accurate.”
“So do I,” Andram replied with a small sigh. He was beginning to like and respect this Human admiral. She seemed competent and didn’t hesitate to listen to the Altons, though none were in the military. “We based them on what the Simulins used to come to our galaxy. We know, from the message they left for the AIs, how much energy was necessary. We’re also fairly certain that, when the Simulins appeared close to the black hole, they left devices behind to collect energy, so they could return to their home galaxy. There are some vague references to energy-collection satellites, though we’re not certain just what they meant.”
“Something similar to the Capacitor Stations but much smaller,” suggested Kathryn. “If they brought those with them, then the collector satellites would have had to be small in order to fit inside their flight bay or cargo hold.”
Kathryn’s words were interrupted as the main viewscreen suddenly came to life. It was focused on the black hole, a tenth of a light year distant. She knew that the Alton and Federation ships were orbiting the black hole, the same as the surviving Capacitor Station. The stars in this area of space were only a light week apart, but the area immediately around the all-consuming monster had been swept clean.
The center of the screen showed an area of darkness surrounded by a brilliant light too difficult to look at. The Alton technician operating the viewscreen quickly adjusted it, and the light around the black hole grew dimmer.
“Where’s all the light coming from?” asked Kathryn, looking over at Andram for an explanation.
“It’s the radiation from the black hole,” replied Andram. “Or, to be more precise, it’s from the accretion disk. Matter trapped there is spinning so fast as it spirals down to the black hole that its speed generates heat, causing it to ionize. The matter’s electrons separate from their nuclei and eventually fall into the singularity.”
“Where did the matter come from?” Kathryn asked. As near as she could see, the immediate area around the black hole was devoid of stars.
“The tidal forces from the black hole occasionally tear a star apart, and, over time, the star is pulled in toward the event horizon. Some of it falls directly in and seems to vanish. Part of it becomes trapped in the accretion disk. It takes time for the trapped matter to lose its centrifugal force and fall past the event horizon into the singularity itself. This, to put it simply, is what’s causing the black hole to glow. If we switched to a view of escaping radiation only, the black hole would look like a bright beacon at our galaxy’s center.”
Kathryn nodded her head in understanding. She knew Andram had simplified his answer, so she could understand it. The Alton research scientist was well versed in the structure of the galaxy and its different components.
“I noticed from our sensor scans that the majority of the wreckage from the battle fought here has already been pulled into the black hole or is very close to it.”
“Yes,” answered Andram, shifting his eyes to Kathryn. “During the battle, the AI ships, as well as their constructions, were knocked from their orbits. Once that happened, the black hole began pulling them in. There’s still a lot of wreckage closer to the black hole that will be pulled in over the next year.”
“We’re almost ready for the test,” an Alton technician reported to Andram.
Andram nodded, and, motioning for Kathryn to follow him, he stepped over to what was obviously the main control console. Mikow Lall and Shilum Torre were both seated there, plus a couple other Altons who Kathryn wasn’t familiar with.
“We’ll power up our ring generators,” Shilum informed them. “This is only a test and will require a minimum amount of energy from the station.” The small vortex-generating stations had been deployed the day before.
“I have a probe set to go through the vortex,” Mikow added, her light blue eyes shifting to the admiral. “I’ve set the vortex to open in a nearby star system that’s only six light years distant. One of our science cruisers, along with one of Admiral Jackson’s strikecruisers, is waiting there to retrieve it upon arrival.”
“Very well,” Kathryn said. “Let’s begin the test.”
The Altons had been careful to notify her earlier about the test. Most of them were beginning to accept her as being in charge of the mission. Each day the crew trusted her more and more. Any concerns she had of Kelsey, Katie, and Clarissa taking over the Distant Horizon were rapidly beginning to fade away.
The main viewscreen suddenly switched its orientation and focused on a dark area of space. Kathryn thought she could see several of the small vortex ring generators, but she wasn’t certain.
“Charging vortex stations,” Shilum said, as she pressed several buttons on the console.
On the main screen, beams of white energy suddenly shot out to the ten waiting generator stations.
“Five percent charge,” Mikow called out, as she watched several small data displays in front of her. “Ten percent.”
“Shut it down,” Shilum instructed, satisfied sufficient energy had been transferred. It would take the station two days to replace what they’d just transferred. They had already learned enough about the station to use its systems to capture power from the black hole.
“Power transfer shutdown initiated,” replied one of the Alton technicians. “Shutdown complete.”
“Now let’s open up a vortex,” Shilum said with a trace of excitement in her voice. “Activating the vortex generators.”
On the viewscreen, a sudden glowing white vortex formed. There was a hint of blue on the outer regions of the anomaly.
“Probe is entering the vortex,” Mikow reported.
On the screen, a small probe could be seen approaching the glowing vortex. It flew directly into its center, and then, moments later, the vortex vanished as the generators shut down.
“Now what?” asked Kathryn, looking over expectantly at the Altons.
“We wait,” answered Shilum. “Times have been synchronized, and we should know how long the transit took, as soon as the probe reaches its target coordinates.”
“What are you expecting?” asked Kathryn. She knew these tests were very important to see how accurate they could make their eventual transit.
“If our hyperspace equations are correct, the transit should have been instantaneous.”
Kathryn nodded. If this test was successful, then, in just a few more days, the Distant Horizon would follow in the probe’s wake. However, instead of transiting to a nearby star system, the exploration dreadnought would be going to another galaxy.
Chapter Nine
One Year Previous
The four-hundred-meter-long stealth destroyer Everest was moving slowly through the outer reaches of a small G-Class star system, which showed evidence of a space-going civilization. The destroyer’s hull was coated with a composite material, supposedly immune to detection. All her power emissions were being held to a minimum with only passive sensors being used.
“What do we have?” asked Captain Wilkins, looking over at Lieutenant Schmidt, who was sitting in front of the ship’s Main Sensor console.
“It’s definitely a Simulin system,” Schmidt replied in a low voice. Everyone in the Command Center had been speaking quietly, almost as if they were fearful of being heard.
“We expected that,” Wilkins said, taking a deep fortifying breath.
This was the seventh system they’d found in the last week that held Simulins. It seemed as if this entire sector of space was infested with the dangerous aliens. He wondered what the other three stealth destroyers were finding. If they were discovering the same thing as the Everest, then the Simulins were far more widespread and numerous than they had been originally believed.
“There are twelve planets in the system with two in the liquid water zone,” Schmidt continued, as he studied the information coming in on his sensors. “The fourth planet is emitting high energy readings, indicating a large industrial and population base. The second planet is a little farther out, but it also shows a substantial artificial energy reading.”
“Two planets in one system,” spoke Wilkins with a frown, thinking about what type of industrial base that would mean. “What about the moons and asteroids?”
“I’m picking up evidence of heavy mining operations on most of the system’s moons, plus in the asteroid field between planets seven and eight.”
“Navigation,” spoke Captain Wilkins, starting to grow concerned about what he was hearing. “Keep us outside the orbit of the ninth planet and stay well away from any gravity wells. If we need to jump, I want to do so quickly.”
“Yes, sir,” replied the Navigation officer.
Captain Wilkins stepped closer to the tactical display, which was rapidly being updated with information from the passive scans. It was full of red threat icons, plus a number of unidentified objects shown as yellow.
“What are all those yellow icons?”
“Many of them are cargo ships,” Schmidt replied. “Also a number of what appear to be orbiting structures surround both the inhabited planets. Without using our full sensors, I can’t be sure, but I would guess they’re either space stations or shipyards. Three of them appear to be extremely large.”
“Then they’re probably shipyards,” Wilkins said in agreement. It would make sense with the high industrial base they had detected.
It was becoming quickly apparent from the systems they had visited that the Simulins were maintaining a heavy presence in this part of the Triangulum Galaxy. Each Simulin planet had at least one orbiting shipyard and large fleets of their fearsome-looking warships. Wilkins checked the tactical display to see if any were near the Everest’s current position. The nearest seemed to be at least one hundred million kilometers distant, probably a routine patrol, keeping tabs on ship movements in the outer system. There were a lot of yellow icons near the Everest, moving about.
“What should we do?” asked Lieutenant Rumson, the executive officer.
“We’ll stay in this system for a few more hours,” Wilkins said. “Then we’ll go on to the next target system. Admiral Strong wants a general idea of what’s around us, in case the Simulins discover our base in the nebula.”
Rumson nodded his head in understanding. All four new stealth destroyers were currently searching space within several hundred light years of the nebula, trying to determine just how large the Simulin presence was. So far they’d found seven systems inhabited by the strange alien race and four star systems with planets that showed signs of nuclear bombardment. They hadn’t sent down any shuttles down to the destroyed worlds, as they knew that Simulin scavenger robots were probably on the surface. They also didn’t want to risk discovery.
-
Jeremy was on the surface of Gaia—what they had named the planet to remind them of Earth. The planet had a narrow habitable band approximately fourteen hundred kilometers wide around its equator. The weather in the area was temperate, and a small modern city had been established, currently holding nearly two thousand Humans, eighty Altons, and sixty Carethians. Most of these were families, who had requested permission to live on the surface. A small spaceport had been built near the city, as well as a military base to ensure its safety.
Jeremy stepped from his shuttle and took a deep breath of the fresh air. It was much different from the air on the Avenger. He could smell the trees and a slight scent of flowers from the nearby forest. The air on the Avenger was missing these comforting elements.
“We’re only ten kilometers from the ocean,” Kevin said, as he walked down the shuttle’s ramp next to Jeremy. “Angela and I came down and stayed at one of the ocean side resorts that have been built.”
Jeremy eyed Kevin questionably and saw his best friend turn red, almost matching his hair.
“Nothing happened,” uttered Kevin, with a sigh. “Angela and I are both still hoping that we get rescued someday. We stayed in separate rooms, and spent most of our time laying on the beach and reminiscing about past vacations back on Careth and New Tellus.”
“Those were good days,” Jeremy agreed. “How did you like the food at the resort?”
The variety of food at the resorts had always been one of Kelsey’s favorite things, though Jeremy preferred the different fruit juices. There was one on New Tellus that he had fallen in love with, though it had now been well over five years since he had last tasted it. He would give anything if he could be on that beach with Kelsey right now.
“It was all right,” answered Kevin, with a sad look on his face. “They had hamburgers, but the taste wasn’t the same. Angela did mention some of the fruit drinks were really good.”
“We should be thankful the fruits and other items we’ve found on this planet are palatable,” Jeremy said. Several large farms had been established and were now responsible for providing most of the food for the fleets.
“Why did you want to come to the surface, Jeremy?” Kevin asked.
He had volunteered to accompany his friend because he wanted to get out of the Avenger for a few hours. It was nice to walk around without the metal hull of the ship being the only thing keeping out the harsh vacuum of space. The sun shining down on his face and the gentle breeze felt fantastic.
“I need to inspect the spaceport and the military facility,” Jeremy answered. “As time goes by, more and more of our crewmembers will want to come down to the surface. If we don’t see any signs of rescue in the next few years, we could very easily lose half of them.”
“What would that do to the fleet?” Kevin asked, his eyes showing concern.
He knew that it wasn’t practical to ask people to live out their lives on the orbiting spaceships. Already a large expansion project was ongoing in the city and it was expected to grow rapidly over the next few years as more and more crewmembers left the ships.
“Most of our ships are pretty automated,” Jeremy said, as he watched a ground vehicle pull up. They had constructed a small number of these to be used in the city and at the spaceport. “We can probably get by for a few more years, even with additional people coming to the surface. We’re already using the supply ships’ crews to fill in for some crewmembers and to help out at the resorts and farms.”
“Do you think they’re coming?” Kevin asked, as his eyes shifted to Jeremy. “It’s been over three years, and we’ve seen no signs of a rescue attempt. Our entry point has remained empty with no probes, ships, or even the hint of a vortex.”
Kevin was beginning to give up hope of ever seeing Katie again. A number of AI ships were stationed close to the system where they had initially appeared. Two AI ships were hiding deep inside the atmosphere of a gas giant several light years from there. Stealthed vortex detection buoys had been placed in that system and the surrounding ones, so the AIs would know instantly if a rescue ship appeared. So far, other than an occasional Simulin vessel, the system had been quiet.
“I refuse to give up hope,” Jeremy answered. “I spoke to Tanith and Garan several days ago. Both Altons are convinced their fellow scientists in our galaxy would’ve realized shortly after the battle that we made the transit successfully. The two Altons estimated it would take four to six years before a rescue mission could be properly equipped and launched. The biggest obstacle will be the energy needed to power a hyperspace tunnel which can reach this galaxy.”
“Of course the Simulins will be waiting for them,” Kevin said. He knew Kelsey and Katie would be on that mission, if it ever did occur. “They won’t be expecting an attack as soon as they make transit.” This really worried Kevin, and it was something he thought about often.
“I’ve spoken to the Command AI,” Jeremy said after a moment. The AIs continued to hold up their end of the agreement, and all their ships had now been fully repaired and armed with multiple particle beam cannons. The Command AI had indicated that they would like to work more closely with the Altons, since the ancient race were their creators. “They’re willing to place more of their ships around the system where we think a rescue ship will appear.”
“Why do you say 'think'?” Kevin asked, as they climbed into the ground car. He had always assumed where they had exited the vortex would be where a rescue mission would appear.
“Tanith mentioned that even a slight deviation in the angle of entry or in speed could send the rescue mission almost anywhere in this galaxy,” Jeremy explained. “It has something to do with the power they’ll have available to create a hyperspace tunnel. They won’t have hundreds of AI Capacitor Stations supplying energy, like we did.”
“You mean, they could appear hundreds or even thousands of light years away?” Kevin said incredulously, realizing just how hard it might be for a rescue mission to find them. They might search the galaxy for years and never find the Avenger and her fleets, particularly since they were hiding inside a gaseous nebula.
“Precisely,” Jeremy said, as the ground car began moving.
Kevin leaned back and was silent. He wasn’t sure what to say. After hearing that, it seemed very possible he might never see Katie again.
-
Later Jeremy and Kevin were busy inspecting the small military base built to protect the people who had elected to live on the planet. It wasn’t a large base, but it was surrounded with a series of railguns and laser turrets which were capable of shooting down any inbound missile. There were also a number of missile interceptor batteries that could take out a missile entering the atmosphere from low orbit.
