The Lost Fleet Box Set, page 17
part #1 of The Lost Fleet Series
“I don’t believe the problems with the drive would pose any danger for short jumps,” Shilum responded, then she headed toward the hatch.
“Take us to Condition Two,” Kathryn ordered, since there was no imminent threat to the Distant Horizon. “Commander Grissim, launch ten of the defense globes and put them out at a ten-thousand-kilometer perimeter. Let’s get a CSP out also. I don’t want to be taken by surprise in unknown space.”
The defense globes were a new development. They were similar to the particle beam satellites used for the defense of planets but with some major modifications. The globes were ten meters in diameter with a miniaturized sublight drive; they possessed an energy shield and two dual particle beam turrets for defense as well as offense. The defense globes were also equipped with an experimental ion cannon capable of bringing down an enemy’s energy shield. In a worst-case scenario, the globe’s fusion reactor could be overloaded to generate a ten-megaton explosion. The Distant Horizon was equipped with sixty of these, and they could be deployed rapidly from the ship’s two flight bays.
-
Captain Lacy Sanders and Major Karl Arcles shared duties in the flight bays. The major was the CAG for the Distant Horizon. He was standing in the Control Center for the ship’s two large flight bays. Inside the bays were sixty Talon fighters and forty Anlon bombers. He also had a handpicked group of experienced pilots.
“Launch the CSP,” he ordered, as he stood just behind the consoles that controlled the flight bays.
“Echo One launching,” came Captain Lacy Sanders’s voice over the comm system, and then her Anlon fighter exited the bay.
Close behind her three more fighters launched. They would form up in pairs and patrol the near perimeter around the ship. Lacy was now the commander of Echo Squadron. For a while she and Karl had been romantically involved, and they still cared deeply for each other. However, for the sake of their careers, they had decided to back off from the relationship for the immediate future.
Lacy looked out her cockpit window, awed at the massive starship she was flying next to. At 2,600 meters, it was, by far, the largest warship the Federation and Altons had ever built—though the Altons would claim it was more of an exploration ship. She saw Echo Two form up next to her and nodded in satisfaction. She had a well-trained squadron and knew they were ready to face anything this galaxy might throw at them.
Little did she know that very soon they would be facing a menace far more deadly than the Hocklyns or the AIs had been. This was the Triangulum Galaxy, and it was not a hospitable place to be.
Chapter Twelve
Back in the galactic center, Admiral Jackson shook his head as he watched the viewscreen for the umpteenth time. He had a high-resolution view of the Distant Horizon as it entered the vortex. Just as the nose of the ship hit the ring of light, a small object swept around the vortex and impacted the ship on its stern.
“How did we miss that?” demanded Jackson, as he looked at the others in the Capacitor Station with him. “Why didn’t our sensors pick it up?”
“It was moving at nearly 1,500 kilometers per second,” replied one of the Altons from a science station. “Speeds of that level are necessary to stay in orbit around the black hole. When the vortex activated, it interfered with our ships’ scanners. The Distant Horizon was fortunate it was only a glancing blow and in a very heavily armored section of the ship. If that had been a direct collision, the hull could have been compromised.”
Admiral Jackson let out a deep sigh of regret. He had to send a message to the Federation, Admiral Nagumo, and Governor Barnes about what had transpired. “Did they at least make it to the Triangulum Galaxy?”
“Yes,” answered another of the Alton scientists. “However, their exit point would have shifted, and they could be thousands of light years off course.”
“At least the ship is designed for exploration,” Jackson said, drawing in a deep breath. “They’ll just have to find their way back to where Admiral Strong and his fleets entered that galaxy. I wish I had better news to send. This will upset a number of very important people.”
Jackson had been assigned to the galactic center. For the foreseeable future a Federation and Alton presence would be kept at the Capacitor Station. His fleet would be doubled in size, and a luxury liner would be sent to allow his crews some recreation. The Federation had placed a high priority on the success of the rescue mission, particularly since the public had found out about it and support had swelled.
The Capacitor Station had become a key asset to the Federation. At the moment, it was the only thing big enough to generate the type of power another rescue attempt would require. However, Admiral Jackson strongly suspected there would be a lot of resistance to a second rescue attempt if no word was heard from this one, at least in the short term. Of course that was the problem; he knew of no way for the Distant Horizon to send a message back. The only way the Federation would ever know if the mission had succeeded was when the Distant Horizon returned with the lost fleets.
-
On Maken, former Fleet Admiral Hedon Streth awoke with a piercing headache. He sat up, and his hands went immediately to his head. He moaned loudly and took several long, deep breaths to slow his pounding heart. He massaged his brow, wanting the throbbing pain to go away.
“Is it a bad headache again? Did you have another premonition?” asked Janice, sitting up and looking at her husband with deep concern.
“Yes,” Hedon replied, as he lay back down and tried to relax. “I saw the Distant Horizon. There was a problem when it went through the vortex at the galactic center. They arrived in the Triangulum Galaxy, but they’re way off course, and it will take them weeks to get to where Jeremy is. They’re in extreme danger, and I don’t know if they’ll survive.”
“What kind of danger?” asked Janice, laying down and turning on her side to face Hedon.
“A great threat far more dangerous than the AIs,” he answered, while his breathing slowed back down. “All I know for sure is that the fate of our galaxy and many others depends on the Special Five being reunited.”
“Are they all still alive?” Janice asked in a hesitant and low voice, a fearful expression on her face.
“For now they are,” Hedon replied, his face pale from his headache. “But they all face imminent danger, and I don’t know if they’ll survive what’s ahead.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Janice asked.
If there were any way possible to go to their aid, Hedon would move the stars to accomplish that.
“No,” Hedon answered in a remorseful voice. “They will find their own destiny and hopefully save ours at the same time. There’s nothing we can do for them.”
“And you still believe they won’t make it back to our galaxy?”
“No,” answered Hedon. “In all three of my premonitions I didn’t see them returning.”
-
Governor Barnes was in his office meeting with Admiral Kalen. “They should’ve made the jump by now.” He spoke in a heavy voice. “Three million light years into an unexplored galaxy.”
“Admiral Strong and his fleets well be there,” Admiral Kalen said with confidence in his voice. “Admiral Telleck believed in Jeremy, and so do I. If anyone could have survived, it would’ve been him. In time they’ll build the energy-gathering stations that will be necessary for a return trip. You will see Kathryn again.”
“I hope so,” the governor replied, his eyes troubled. “I didn’t realize how badly I would miss her. In all her other deployments, at least I could send her a message or knew for sure where she was. It’s different this time.”
“This is what she wanted,” Kalen responded in an even voice. “She’s a fine officer, and I have all the confidence in the world in her abilities. She will find Admiral Strong and his fleets, and someday bring them home.”
Governor Barnes nodded. All he could do now was put his trust in Kathryn’s abilities. Admiral Telleck had believed in her, and so did he.
-
Jeremy was in the Command Center of the Avenger in high orbit around Gaia. He let out a deep sigh, realizing over four long years had passed since they’d arrived in the Triangulum Galaxy. Down on the planet, the small city continued to grow. Nearly ten thousand Humans, two hundred Altons, and ninety Carethians had moved to the surface and had begun families.
“I just finished speaking to Rear Admiral Marks,” spoke General Charles McGown. Jeremy had promoted Charles to the rank of general and had put him in charge of all the fleets’ Marines.
“How does she like our latest fighters?” Jeremy asked. A new construction bay had been added to the Clan Protector, and it was now capable of turning out Talon fighters and Anlon bombers. Jeremy wasn’t sure in its new configuration whether the Clan Protector would ever be capable of entering hyperspace again.
“She’s quite satisfied with the new squadrons,” General McGown replied. “We’re moving some of the older fighters and bombers down to the planet to our two military installations. They’ll greatly enhance our defensive capability.”
“Do we have enough pilots?” Jeremy asked. In the last year, the requests to be transferred to the surface had greatly increased. So far he still had sufficient crews to operate all the ships, but he strongly suspected that wouldn’t last much longer.
“Fortunately I haven’t had many Marines request to leave the service. We can train the necessary pilots and will have the squadrons combat-ready within two months.”
Jeremy nodded, shifting his gaze to the large viewscreens at the front of the Command Center. He had grown used to seeing the planet Gaia on the screens; every day it seemed more like home. In the past year, two of the four fleet repair ships had built twenty-six of the modified Type Two battlestations. These were in overlapping orbits to give sufficient defensive coverage to the entire planet. The crux of his defense was the Alton particle beam satellites. Slightly over 1,100 of them were in low orbit over the planet, each armed with a powerful particle beam cannon which could be used to knock down incoming missiles or fire on enemy ships. The final plans called for forty of the Type Two stations and 1,500 of the particle beam satellites.
The Type Two stations had been turned over to the Marines, and General McGown saw to it that sufficient crews were trained and placed on board as rapidly as possible. It had meant removing Marines from the orbiting ships, but the battleships and battlecruisers could easily get by with half the Marines originally assigned. General McGown was tying all the defenses into a control and command center, being built in a bunker deep beneath the surface of Gaia.
At the moment, he had a four-part plan of defense and offense. The first line was, of course, the powerful battlestations, followed by the particle beam satellites. After that he had ten squadrons of Talon fighters to intercept any inbound targets which got past the orbital defenses. If that failed, his two military installations had railguns, laser turrets, and Hunter missiles to take out any leakers. If it came to ground combat, he had five squadrons of Anlon bombers and slightly over 1,200 Marines to repel any invasion.
“Jeremy!” interrupted Ariel excitedly, as she suddenly appeared in front of the command console. “I just received a priority message from one of the AI ships deployed at Hantel Seven. They report activation of the vortex in the Sigma System.”
“What?” uttered Jeremy, in shock, leaning forward in his command chair. The Sigma System was where the Avenger and her fleets had made their unexpected transit to this galaxy. They’d been watching it from afar, hoping the Federation would mount some type of rescue mission. “Did anything come through?”
“No,” Ariel replied, her dark eyes focused intently on Jeremy. “It activated for nearly ten seconds and then collapsed. The AIs have confirmed that no ship exited the vortex. They believe the vortex was unstable as it was shifting wildly about.”
“It has to be a rescue attempt,” General McGown stated, his face showing excitement.
“Jeremy!” Kevin said, running into the Command Center. “Did Ariel give you the news?” Angela came hurrying in right behind Kevin. Both looked at Jeremy expectantly.
“Nothing’s come through yet,” he replied, while he thought about what needed to be done. “The Simulins are certain to respond to the activation of the vortex. By now they’ll have fleets on the way.”
“Jeremy, it’s bound to be Kelsey and Katie. We can’t leave them to the Simulins. They have no idea what they’re jumping into!” Kevin looked frantic. “This might have just been a test to see if they could establish the vortex. Next time they may come through in a ship!”
“I know,” answered Jeremy, his mind weighing their options. They needed to move quickly or this rescue attempt, if that was what it was, could fail. “Ariel, how close do we need to be in order to reach a ship that exits the vortex before the Simulins can fire upon it?”
“The vortex creates a lot of interference in its vicinity—like a ship losing power, as we experienced when we came through,” Ariel replied. “I don’t think the Simulins will risk coming too close until after the vortex collapses and there’s no danger of a backwash of energy. We would need to be within two to three light years of the Sigma System, if we want to reach them in time.”
“The Simulins can probably detect us at that range,” Jeremy said, looking concerned. It would be next to impossible to position a large fleet close enough to the Sigma System to do any good.
“Jeremy,” Ariel said, looking thoughtful. “Clarissa and I were in the process of designing an exploration ship for us to use, once the war with the AIs and the Hocklyns was over.”
“I’m aware of that,” Jeremy replied. They’d all discussed going off exploring once the fighting was finished.
“I believe that Clarissa, Kelsey, and Katie would have built that ship,” Ariel continued. “It will have a very powerful defensive energy screen, and, if the Altons have been involved, it’ll be heavily armed as a precautionary measure. I believe it will have at least the firepower of an Alton battleship.”
“What are you saying, Ariel?” Angela asked, her eyes focusing on the AI.
“I think they’ll escape the Simulins,” Ariel answered. “Their first reaction will be to jump to safety. If we’re waiting close by, we can see where they jump to and go meet them.”
“That’s a risk,” Jeremy said, not wanting to endanger Kelsey and Katie, but he didn’t see what else they could do. Ariel was right though; Kelsey and Katie would come through in the most powerful ship they could build.
“We’ll assemble a task force of ships and set out immediately,” Jeremy said, reaching a decision. “We have hyperspace detection buoys emplaced in all of the surrounding systems, so we should be able to tell where they jump to.”
“I hope this works,” Kevin said worriedly.
Jeremy knew Kevin would be concerned about Katie’s safety. And he probably felt the same way Jeremy did right now. It was strange to know that shortly his wife might be in the Triangulum Galaxy. It had been over four years and yet seemed much longer.
“Ariel, put me in contact with Rear Admiral Marks, Admiral Cleeteus, Grayseth, and the Command AI. We have plans to make,” ordered Jeremy. It was odd in a way, knowing they might have to rescue the rescue mission, which supposedly was coming for them.
-
Three hours later, Jeremy had his task group organized. He was taking the Avenger, three other Federation battleships, four battlecruisers, six strikecruisers, two battlecarriers, ten Alton battleships, and twenty Alton battlecruisers. In addition, the Command AI had agreed to furnish forty AI ships to go with the task group. It was a formidable force—one Jeremy felt confident could rescue any ship that came through the vortex.
“I wonder what Kelsey and Katie will say when they see we have AI ships with us?” asked Kevin. He was anxious to depart and kept walking over to Communications to see if Angela had received any new messages from the AIs at Hantel Seven. So far no further messages had been received.
“They’ll be surprised,” Jeremy predicted. “I just hope they don’t jump away when they see the AIs.”
“They won’t,” Ariel said, with a pleased smile on her face. “As soon as we’re within communications range, I’ll explain to Clarissa what has occurred with the AIs that came through with us.”
“Assuming Clarissa is on the ship,” Jeremy said. “She might not be.”
“If Kelsey and Katie are on the ship, Clarissa will be too.” Ariel was certain about that. “It will be wonderful to speak to Clarissa, Kelsey, and Katie again. I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time.” She was just as anxious to get underway as Kevin and Angela.
“Task group is ready to enter hyperspace,” Commander Malen said, then she stepped closer to the command console.
“Prepare to initiate our first jump,” Jeremy ordered.
In order to keep Gaia a secret from the Simulins, they’d mapped out a roundabout exit from the nebula. This would be the largest fleet they had taken out since they had first arrived at Gaia. They’d also stopped sending out exploration missions after the stealth destroyer Everest had failed to return.
“Ready to jump,” Commander Malen said smiling at Jeremy.
She was just as ready to return to space as he was. It had been boring orbiting Gaia for the last few years.
“Initiate jump,” Jeremy ordered.
“Jump,” commanded Malen, her eyes focusing on the viewscreens.
In front of the Avenger, a blue-white vortex opened. Ensign Striker carefully maneuvered the ship into its center, and, in a matter of moments, the ship jumped into hyperspace.
Jeremy gulped as he felt the gut-wrenching sensation of entering that mysterious realm. He had forgotten what it felt like to enter hyperspace. Glancing at the viewscreens, he saw the normal deep purple colors. He leaned back in his command chair, knowing it would be nearly twenty minutes before they dropped back into normal space. Was this really happening, he wondered? Were Kelsey and Katie about to come through the vortex into the Triangulum Galaxy? Looking around the Command Center, he saw excited and expectant looks on the faces of his crew. They were all hoping their isolation was coming to an end. However, Jeremy knew it wouldn’t be that simple. He suspected whatever had been built back in their home galaxy to activate the vortex would have to be built here in this galaxy also. The problem with that was the Simulins. He strongly suspected they would never allow any such construction in the Sigma System which would allow the Avenger and her fleets to return home.
