The Lost Fleet Box Set, page 26
part #1 of The Lost Fleet Series
“Reenergizing energy shield,” Clarissa announced. “I’m holding this position, since the Simulins seem to be waiting for Admiral Strong to arrive. I believe, when he does, they’ll launch a mass attack against him and us.”
“How many defense globes are left?” Kathryn asked. It seemed, at the moment, the AI was cooperating.
“Six,” answered Captain Reynolds. “The rest have been destroyed.”
“I’ll need them when Admiral Strong arrives,” Clarissa stated.
Kathryn nodded and elected not to reply. If they survived this, she intended to have a very long talk with the AI and a certain female lieutenant. She was also wise enough to know that they had only survived this long because the AI had taken command of the ship. She would have to take that into consideration.
-
Jeremy felt the Avenger exit hyperspace. He gripped the arms of his command chair, waiting tensely for the viewscreens to clear.
“Screens coming online,” reported Ariel. “Energy shield is up. Detecting three hundred and twelve Simulins vessels with more inbound.”
“Where is the rescue ship?” asked Jeremy, his gaze glued to the viewscreens. Suddenly a massive ship appeared on one screen. It was obviously of Alton design.
“That ship’s 2,600 meters long,” reported Kevin in amazement.
“No wonder Clarissa could destroy so many Simulin ships,” Commander Malen said, highly impressed by the ship on the viewscreen. It was larger than an AI ship!
“All ships,” Jeremy spoke over his minicomm, “take up defensive positions around the rescue ship.”
“It’s called the Distant Horizon,” Ariel said with a pleased smile. “I just finished talking to Clarissa, and she has confirmed that Kelsey, Katie, and Brace are all on the ship and are uninjured.”
Jeremy felt the room swirl when he realized his spouse was close by. He knew that Kevin and Angela must be feeling the same way.
-
“AIs!” exploded Commandeer Grissim, as she saw one of the hated 1,500-meter AI spheres appear on the viewscreen. “What the hell is going on?”
“I was going to mention that,” Clarissa said apologetically. “It seems the AIs have joined forces with our missing fleets in order to survive in this galaxy. They have placed their ships under Admiral Strong’s command.”
“We can’t trust the AIs,” spoke Colonel Leon, her worried face focusing on the viewscreen.”
“No,” Kathryn said in agreement. “But I do trust Admiral Strong, and we have to hope he knows what he’s doing.” She knew Admiral Telleck would have agreed with her reasoning.
“There are Alton ships out there as well,” pointed out Andram. “I don’t think the AIs will be a problem. I’m certain the Altons on the four science ships that came through with Admiral Strong would’ve taken steps to ensure that.”
“I hope so,” responded Commander Grissim, still doubtful. “I find it hard to imagine fighting on the same side as the AIs.”
“The Avenger has transmitted a set of jump coordinates,” Captain Travers reported. “I’m sending them to Navigation.”
“Simulins are closing again,” Colonel Leon announced.
On the tactical displays, the Simulin ships were now rapidly approaching the Distant Horizon and the ships Admiral Strong had brought.
-
“I’m sending out the last six defense globes,” Clarissa said. “I want to see if I can cause the Simulins some additional confusion.”
In space the six remaining defense globes suddenly powered up their sublight drives and accelerated at full speed toward the six nearest Simulin battlecruisers. The Simulins opened fire with their energy beams and easily destroyed two of them, but the other four had fired off their ion beams just fractions of a second before they too were annihilated. However, that fraction of a second was long enough to blow a brief hole in three Simulin energy screens. Microseconds later, all three battlecruisers died, as nuclear fire tore through their structure from the Devastator Threes which Clarissa had carefully fired through the brief holes in their defense screens.
-
“Ion beams,” uttered Commander Malen, as the three Simulin battlecruisers swelled up and then vanished from one of the tactical displays. “That’s how they destroyed so many Simulin ships. I recall studies were being done at New Tellus about using ion beams to bring down energy shields.”
“It seems to work,” responded Kevin, his gaze glued to his Main Sensor screens and the tantalizing green icon that was the Distant Horizon. It was hard to imagine that Katie was so close.
“That’s the last of their defense globes,” Ariel announced. “The Distant Horizon isn’t equipped with an ion beam. They were only designed to be used by the globes as an experimental weapon.”
“Simulins are still closing, but they’ve slowed,” Kevin reported. “I think they’re unsure if there are any more of those defense globes.”
“They’re in weapons range,” Commander Malen stated.
“All ships fire!” Jeremy ordered. It was time to see how all the extra particle beam cannons would do against the Simulins.
Bright blue particle beams suddenly lanced out from the eighty-two warships Jeremy had brought. From the forty AI spheres over a dozen particle beams were fired from each one. The effect on the inbound Simulins was devastating. In less than a minute, a third of their fleet was reduced to burning debris, as the enhanced beams slashed through their energy screens causing havoc.
The remaining Simulin ships retaliated with heavy energy beam fire upon the Human, Alton, and AI ships. Two AI spheres exploded in brilliant blasts as their screens were quickly overloaded, and Simulin energy beams played across their hulls.
“Two AI ships are down,” called out Kevin, as green icons vanished from his Main Sensor screens. “Strikecruiser Dover is down.”
“We’re ready to jump,” Ariel announced. She was monitoring all the ships, as well as communicating with the Command AI. “The fleet is taking a lot of damage.”
“Battlecruiser Dominator is down,” spoke Kevin, as the battlecruiser’s green icon swelled up and vanished from his Main Sensor screen. It had been over four years since he had last spoken those dreadful words. He had forgotten how just how horrible they truly were.
“Jump,” ordered Jeremy.
Blue-white vortices opened up in front of the ships of the fleet, and they made a wild dash to escape the inbound Simulins. Even as they exited the system, another AI ship and an Alton battlecruiser exploded as their shields were overloaded.
-
“All remaining ships are safely in hyperspace,” Ariel reported. “Including the Distant Horizon.”
“We lost another AI ship and an Alton battlecruiser as we were entering the vortices,” Kevin reported.
“We have a number of damaged ships as well,” Malen added.
Though the battle was brief, it had been very intense. Jeremy nodded. “We just need to lose the Simulins and then return to Gaia. Once there, we can repair our battle damage.” He was anxious to see Kelsey, but he knew it would be many hours yet before that was possible. They had to play hide-and-seek around several nebulas before it would be safe to head for home.
Chapter Eighteen
It had taken two days, but the Avenger and her fleet had finally shaken their Simulin pursuers. Jumping around several gaseous nebulas had finally done the trick. After fleeing down a narrow gas-free corridor, the fleet had emerged and immediately made a long jump to an area of red giant stars which Ariel had felt would be free of Simulin activity. She had been correct, and now the fleet was returning to Gaia.
“Exiting vortex,” called out Captain Reynolds, as the Distant Horizon returned to normal space.
The main viewscreen quickly cleared, and a planet appeared. It seemed to be a mostly arid world with a wide green swath around its equator where numerous rivers and lakes could be seen. There were also two small oceans, which covered about 15 percent of the planet.
“It’s a habitable world, slightly smaller than Earth,” Clarissa reported. “The area around the planet’s equator is slightly over 1,400 kilometers across, and has a wide variety of plant and animal life.”
“I’m also detecting what appears to be a small city on the surface,” added Reynolds.
The two tactical displays continued to light up with numerous icons. One was truly large.
“Admiral Strong’s been busy,” commented Commander Grissim, as she gazed at what was appearing on the displays. “There are particle beam satellites in orbit and a number of what appears to be modified Type Two battlestations.”
The screen changed to show a massive structure above the planet.
“What’s that?” asked Kathryn, as her eyes focused on the strange structure. “It doesn’t resemble any type of ship I’m familiar with, and it’s much larger than the Distant Horizon.
“The Clan Protector,” Kelsey answered, barely recognizing the Carethian mobile shipyard. “It’s been expanded considerably. It will be wonderful to see Malith and Karalle once again.”
“It is good to see the Clan Protector,” spoke Belal, the pack leader of the Bears on board the Distant Horizon. “I look forward to speaking to Grayseth, the leader of our clan.”
“As we all do,” replied Kelsey with a friendly smile.
Ever since she had ordered Clarissa to take control of the Distant Horizon, at least two Bears had been in her presence next to the Navigation console. They also accompanied her wherever she went on the ship. It was obvious they were concerned for her safety, though there was no need.
“Detecting a large CSP and a lot of warships,” Colonel Leon said, while she studied the incoming data. “It looks as if most of the Fourth Fleet, Admiral Cleeteus’s fleet, Rear Admiral Mark’s fleet, and Grayseth’s are in orbit.”
“I didn’t expect so many to have survived,” Kathryn said, as her gaze shifted to the tactical displays with all the friendly green icons. “It’s a relief to see so many Federation and Alliance warships in orbit around the planet.”
“There are also a lot of AI ships,” Captain Reynolds added in a brusque voice. “I’m detecting 460 in various orbits around Gaia. None of them are targeting us with their weapons though.”
“Damn, that’s a lot of AIs,” commented Colonel Leon with concern. The screen changed to show several of the stupendous AI spheres. “Even though Admiral Strong promised we had nothing to fear from the AIs, I’m still getting cold chills being in such close proximity to so many of them.”
Anne nodded. “Admiral Strong has found a good place to hide. I’m very impressed by what we see on the viewscreens and on the tactical displays. The nebula will block long-range sensor scans from the Simulins.”
“But it blocks our scans as well,” replied Kathryn. “It also puts a strain on the hyperdrive traveling through the nebula. Several times we were close to dropping out of hyperspace.”
“We’ll need to adjust our drive,” commented Shilum, who had come to the Command Center to witness their arrival. “I’m pleased to see so many Alton warships and the four science ships that came through with Grayseth.”
“Put us into orbit,” ordered Kathryn, allowing herself to relax. For the first time since they’d arrived in the Triangulum Galaxy, she felt relatively safe. They had succeeded in the first part of their mission: finding the Avenger and the lost fleets. Unfortunately she didn’t think there was any way they would ever return home.
-
“They’re here,” Kevin said with a big grin on his face as he stared at the massive exploration dreadnought on one of the viewscreens. He had excitedly spoken to Katie a number of times over the ship’s comm system.
“Admiral Barnes is in charge of the Distant Horizon,” Jeremy said.
He had held several long conversations with the admiral over what had happened to the Distant Horizon after they had jumped into the Triangulum Galaxy. It amazed him that they’d survived, particularly after jumping into a Simulin system. He was also anxious to talk to Mikow Lall about the scavenger drone she had disassembled. The more they could learn about the Simulins and how they operated in this galaxy, the better prepared they’d be, if the Simulins ever discovered Gaia.
“They encountered a lot of Simulin worlds and ships,” commented Commander Malen, cocking her eyebrow.
“The Simulins are apparently much more widespread than we originally thought,” Jeremy said with a deep and worried frown. “They may control a major portion of this galaxy.” It made Jeremy even more aware of the danger they were in and how important it was not to lead the Simulins back to Gaia. He still needed a good six months to finish the planned orbital defenses.
“The Distant Horizon found more destroyed worlds,” added Commander Malen, shifting her gaze from the viewscreens to Admiral Strong. “They sent a team down to one, and that’s where they encountered the scavenger drones. They lost several Marines in the altercation.”
“We’ll be holding a meeting on the Clan Protector shortly,” Jeremy informed her. “I’ve asked Grayseth, Rear Admiral Marks, and Admiral Cleeteus to attend. We’ll have to make an announcement to our people shortly as to what’s been happening back home and the possibility of returning to our galaxy.” He would inform the Command AI of the meeting but felt the people coming over from the Distant Horizon weren’t ready yet to meet an actual AI. That would occur later after they were debriefed.
-
“It doesn’t look good,” Ariel spoke from where she was standing next to Jeremy. “The Distant Horizon has the necessary designs to build a vortex ring to take us back, but there’s no way the Simulins will ever allow us to build it. The necessary energy-collection stations are quite large and will take time to construct.”
“So they may be stranded here with us,” spoke Angela, who had gotten up to come closer to Jeremy and Kevin. She had spoken to Brace earlier and still found it hard to believe that he was actually here. Her heart had been racing while they talked. It had been so good to finally hear his voice.
“It looks that way,” answered Jeremy. “We’ll know more when we have our meeting.”
“It’ll be hard on our people, once they find out that we may not be able to go home,” Commander Grissim said. “It won’t help morale, and we may find people stampeding to live on the surface.”
“They have to be told,” answered Jeremy with a sigh. “We’re all in this together. Kevin, you and Angela will be going with me to the meeting.”
“Finally,” spoke Ariel, quite pleased with herself and Clarissa. “The Special Five are going to be reunited.”
-
Several hours later Jeremy, Kevin, and Angela stepped from their shuttle aboard the Clan Protector. A group of Marines and an honor guard of Carethians were waiting for them.
“Jeremy!” roared Grayseth, stepping forward and hugging his Human friend. “It is great that your mates have found their way to us. I am anxious to hear of their adventures.”
“We all are,” Jeremy said with a smile. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Even as they talked, another shuttle entered the cavernous bay to set down close to theirs. The hatch opened and Admiral Barnes stepped out, followed closely by Kelsey, Katie, a Marine captain, and a tall white-haired Alton.
“Brace!” squealed Angela, as she ran over to the Marine, wrapping her arms around him and smothering him with an affectionate kiss.
Kelsey and Katie were more reserved as they hurried over to their husbands, their eyes moist from tears of joy.
“Hi,” spoke Kelsey, as she stepped forward, giving Jeremy a big hug and a kiss on the lips. “It’s been a while.”
“I missed you,” responded Jeremy, enjoying the feel of Kelsey’s body in his arms. It was something he had dreamed of for a long time.
Katie was in Kevin’s arms and gave no signs of stepping back. “God, how I missed you,” she uttered, almost afraid to let him go, lest he vanish.
“I’m here,” Kevin said in a trembling voice. “I promise we’ll never be apart again.”
Jeremy released Kelsey and turned to face Admiral Barnes. “Admiral, it’s good to see you and your ship. It contained some very precious cargo.”
“Yes, it did,” replied Kathryn with a knowing smile.
She had already talked briefly to Kelsey and Clarissa about what had occurred on the Distant Horizon. Because things ended well, she had decided disciplinary action would not be forthcoming, particularly since she strongly suspected that Kelsey and Katie would shortly be transferring off the ship. As for Clarissa, Kathryn would just have to learn to deal with the talented and unpredictable AI.
Kathryn turned and gestured toward the tall Alton, who had accompanied them. “This is Andram, who serves as our science advisor. He’s anxious to talk to you about the current situation with the AIs. We were very surprised to find they’re now a part of your fleet.”
“We’ll explain that shortly,” answered Jeremy. He knew seeing all the AI ships in orbit around Gaia had to have been a huge shock to the crew of the Distant Horizon. “Now, if everyone will follow Grayseth and me to a conference room, we’ll discuss where we go from here.”
A few minutes later, they found themselves in a spacious room that Grayseth had set up for the meeting. There were refreshments and a sampling of fruits discovered on Gaia.
“You didn’t happen to bring any hamburgers along, did you?” Kevin asked Katie in a quiet voice, as they sat down next to each other.
“Hamburgers?” said Katie, trying to act confused. “Why would I bring hamburgers?”
Kevin looked crestfallen as he realized he would still be denied his favorite meal. He had so hoped that the Distant Horizon would have his favorite food on board.
Katie burst out laughing at the disappointed look on Kevin’s face, and, taking his hand, she spoke. “Of course I brought hamburgers! There are cases of them stored in one of the freezers on the ship.”
