“Which admirals do you want to command those fleets?” asked Councilor Trallis.
“Rear Admiral Braedon Cross will command one and Rear Admiral Cowel the other. I also propose we immediately send Admiral Bachal and his fleet to the Alton homeworld as well as three battlestations. The Alton home system is heavily populated and it’s essential we keep it safe.”
“What about Careth?” asked Councilor Barnes. “We should send a fleet there as well even if it is a small one.”
Admiral Jackson nodded. “We’re not expecting the Eternals to attack Careth until they’ve dealt with the Federation and the Altons, however it doesn’t hurt to take precautions. I propose we send Admiral Calmat and his fleet to defend Careth.”
“Admiral Calmat is a good choice and hunter,” stated Councilor Grayseth. “My people will fight well with him in command.”
“How goes the progress on a larger Accelerator Ring?” asked Councilor Barnes.
Councilor Trallis shook his head. “I have spoken to a number of our power experts and they’ve done some studies. While it is possible to build such a large Accelerator Ring, the power requirements to send a five hundred kilometer battlestation the distance Fleet Admiral Strong is suggesting is nearly astronomical. With our current level of science we can’t do it.”
“What’s the largest ring we can build and the biggest battlestation it could handle to get it to where Jeremy wants it?”
“We can build a two hundred kilometer ring to handle a one hundred and seventy kilometer battlestation. Anything larger and the power requirements become too much.”
Admiral Jackson leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful. “I would suggest we begin construction of the larger Accelerator Ring immediately. Also, begin planning the larger battlestation. We can use the forty-kilometer station plans as a starting point. I would like to see us begin construction by the end of the month.”
“I will talk to our engineers and construction people,” replied Trallis. “We should also consider exactly what we want to accomplish in our offensive against the Eternals and which galaxies we’re going to send our ships to.”
Councilor Barnes looked over at Admiral Jackson. “It seems as if we’re going to have a lot of irons in the fire at once. We’re not spreading ourselves too thin, are we?”
Admiral Jackson drew in a deep breath and then responded. “No, with our ship construction capacity here plus the Dyson spheres it won’t take us long to make good on all our losses we might incur in these battles. If we’re successful we should be able to force the Eternals back to the bargaining table and come up with a far better peace plan than the last one.”
Councilor Trallis entered some data on his hand held computer pad and then spoke. “Let us hope this works out as you have stated. We’re risking many of our ships.”
Admiral Jackson nodded. He hoped it did as well but in war, the unexpected always had a tendency to show itself. He suspected it would be no different this time.
Chapter Thirteen
Jeremy, Kelsey, and Jason were standing on a small balcony overlooking the small city inside the forty-kilometer battlestation. The city was spread out in a large chamber five kilometers long and one kilometer wide with a ceiling of five hundred meters. There were a number of small restaurants, shops, entertainment centers, and other businesses on its main street. Around the central business district were parks, small homes, and even a few apartment complexes. It was designed to give the station’s crew and the crews of the warships a place to unwind and relax. Jeremy had thought something like this would be necessary since there was a chance they would be away from the hub for nearly two years.
“Is that a lake?” asked Kelsey, pointing to a small body of water in the distance.
Jeremy nodded. “Yes, it’s not a large one but it does have fish in it and you can swim there as well. We even have few boats for people interested in water sports.”
“Where did the people come from who are running the stores and restaurants?”
“Volunteers from the civilian population,” replied Jeremy. “They’re being paid very well for their services. There are nearly seven hundred civilian volunteers and their families. We have a total population of Humans, Altons, Carethians, and Originators in the fleet of nearly 9,600. That doesn’t include the thousands of Originator AIs.”
“That many,” replied Kelsey.
“Mommy, I’m hungry,” said Jason, tugging on her hand. “Can we go eat? I want a hot dog.”
Jeremy grinned. He had arranged for them to spend several days in the city in one of the small homes designated for the members of ship crews. The one he had chosen had a nice green yard as well as a large play set for Jason. “Yes, let’s go eat. There are several nice restaurants and I’m sure we can find one that serves hot dogs.”
As they made their way down to the surface and then began walking into the city, Jeremy could smell the enticing aromas of various foods. There were other crewmembers about both men and women as well as a few Altons, Carethians, and Originators.
There was ground transportation available if needed though most people chose to walk the short distances to everything in the small city. Jeremy found a restaurant which served hot dogs as well as steaks. Going inside they sat down and placed their orders.
“Have you notified the Originator Council and Admiral Jackson of what we’ve found here?” asked Kelsey
Jeremy nodded. “Yes, I sent off a full report yesterday. I imagine they won’t be pleased with what we found.”
“All of our exploration ships except the New Horizon left on their exploration missions yesterday,” commented Kelsey as a server brought her a large glass of iced tea and a glass of milk for Jason. Jason was busy coloring on a paper with the crayons the restaurant had supplied. Kelsey knew from what Jeremy had told her there were other kids here as well with the civilian population. “They’ll spend the next three weeks exploring and surveying this galaxy, particularly all the worlds we know of that were inhabited by the Varnons.”
Picking up his glass of tea Jeremy took a long sip. “I assigned ten dreadnoughts and twenty battlecruisers to each exploration ship. That should be adequate protection. I’m anxious to learn what they discover. Surely some sentient races survived in this galaxy somewhere. The Creevak couldn’t have wiped all of them out.”
“Who are the Creevak?” asked Jason, looking over at Jeremy. “Are they like the Originators?”
Jeremy shook his head. “No Jason, they’re like the Eternals.”
“Bad people,” replied Jason, his eyes widening. “I’ll have to make sure I tell Clair.” Jason then went back to coloring, his curiosity momentarily satisfied.
“How long are we staying in the city?” asked Kelsey. She knew that Katie, Angela, and Kevin were also planning on making an appearance in the next day or two. Jeremy had left Read Admiral Barnes in charge until he returned to the Avenger.
“For a few days at least, maybe longer. I’ve arranged for Ariel and Clarissa to give me daily updates on anything our exploration missions discover.”
Jason looked up from his coloring. “Is Clair coming? We could all go swimming in the lake. That would be fun.”
“We’ll see,” promised Kelsey. “We don’t know what the others are planning yet.”
“Clair will want to go swimming,” persisted Jason. “She likes the water.”
Jeremy’s laughter rang out across the table. “It looks as if we’re going swimming.”
The server brought them their food and placed it in front of them. Jason looked at his hot dog and then up at his mother. “Can I have a corn dog instead?”
Kelsey let out a deep sigh. “No, sweetheart. Eat your hot dog. You can have a corn dog next time.”
Jason nodded and picking up his hot dog took a big bite.
“Eat slowly,” said Kelsey, frowning. “We’re not in any hurry.”
Jeremy was enjoying his time with Kelsey and Jason. He knew as a father he should spend more time
with them but his fleet responsibilities kept pulling him away. He fully planned on enjoying these next few days.
-
Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes was sitting in her command chair in the Command Center of the New Horizon. She was studying some of the information they had gleaned from the Varnon computers. “What type of race are the Creevak?” She looked over at Panthel Bayl who was an Alton scientist well versed in alien cultures.
“We don’t know,” Panthel replied. She took a moment to call up some information on a science console. “All we can say for certain is they came out of the anomaly and immediately began to attack the Varnon research ships. After that they launched full-scale attacks on the Varnon worlds which as near as we can tell ended the Varnon civilization. We also know the Varnons clear up to the very end attempted to establish communications with the Creevak but never managed to do so.”
Kathryn pursed her lips as she though over the implications. “Why would the Creevak refuse to communicate?”
Andram Muce who was still at his science console turned to answer. “There’s a possibility the Creevak are so alien they don’t understand our methods of communication. It’s also possible their sciences are based on a different communication technology since they come from another universe.”
“Who started calling them Creevak?”
“The Varnons were able to board several wrecked Creevak vessels during their battles with them. They were able to partially translate a few records but not many. They know the Creevak have a large empire in their home universe, which spans multiple galaxies. The Creevak are intolerant of other races and only consider their race worthy of sentience. All others must be removed.”
Kathryn felt a cold chill run down her back. “You found this in the computer files we downloaded?”
Andram nodded. “Yes, the files actually contain the information the Varnon downloaded from the Creevak ships. I’m running a translation analysis of that information. We may know more when it’s complete.”
“Keep me informed,” ordered Kathryn. “Also, create a file of what you find so I can inform Fleet Admiral Strong.”
Kathryn leaned back and looked at the large viewscreen in the front of the Command Center. It was currently focused on the small satellite galaxy. The small exploration fleets would soon begin to report in and she was curious as to what they would find. Were the Creevak successful in wiping out the Varnons or somewhere in that galaxy were there still a few surviving Varnon worlds? Over the next few weeks they should begin to find out.
“What’s the status of the fleet at the anomaly site?”
“No change,” reported Clarissa. Clarissa had stayed on board to give Jeremy and the others some alone time with their children. “We have two dreadnoughts and four battlecruisers monitoring the anomaly. They’ve deployed several probes to take close up readings. If there are any changes we should know immediately.”
For a few days it would be relatively quiet until the reports from the various fleets began to come in. Kathryn decided to take it easy for the next day or so. She had some reading to catch up on in her quarters and Clarissa or Camlin would notify her if her presence was needed in the Command Center. Nearly half of the crew had gone over to the battlestation for some leave time. The rest of the crew would be rotated as the others returned.
“I’m going to go get something to eat and then turn in,” Kathryn said to Clarissa and Camlin. “Let me know if anything important comes up.”
With that Kathryn stood up and exited the Command Center. She knew the two AIs would contact her immediately if anything newsworthy occurred. For now she was looking forward to a nice meal and then a long hot shower. Then she was going to lie down and cozy up to a good book.
-
Back at the hub, Admiral Jackson was watching as the first battlestation entered one of the Accelerator Rings. Over the next twenty-eight hours ten of the massive forty-kilometer stations would be sent through the ring. The first three were bound for Earth, the next three for New Tellus, and the next four to the system of Tau Ceti, which held the inhabited planets of Horizon and Twilight. Once that was done several Originator fleets would be sent through. Then after a few more days ten more battlestations would be sent through all going to the Altons.
“Busy day,” commented Councilor Barnes, who was standing next to Admiral Jackson. They were in the Tower in the large Communications Center. It held numerous large viewscreens showing vistas of the entire region of the Communications and Transport Hub. Currently several of the large screens were focused on one of the Accelerator Rings as well as the line of battlestations waiting for transport.
On the screen, a bluish swirling vortex appeared and the approaching battlestation entered it to promptly vanish as it was accelerated to intergalactic speeds. Moments later the Accelerator Ring shut off as it waited for the next battlestation to move up and take its position before entering the ring on its gravity drive. Plans called for one battlestation every two hours to enter the ring.
“What does moving all of these fleets around do to our harassing tactics in the galaxies the Eternals are trying to take over?” asked Barnes as he watched several fleets of battlecruisers forming up.
“We’ve reduced the size of the fleets involved though the Eternals won’t know that. The only region where wide scale engagements are still occurring are where Commander Zafron and Rear Admiral Mann are located. They’ve put a battlestation in Galaxy X-7294 as well as constructed two Originator fleet bases. We’ve assigned a large defensive fleet to stop any Eternal incursions into the galaxy. I’ve also ordered Commander Zafron to begin offensive operations in Galaxy X-7295. We’re trying to make it appear to the Eternals we’re focusing all of our efforts into growing our presence in that region of space.”
Councilor Barnes nodded. “You’re hoping to make the Eternals think our fleets are concentrating there and not preparing to stop their attack on the Human Federation of Worlds and the Altons.
“Precisely,” said Jackson with a huge smile. “I spoke with Fleet Admiral Strong and described what I wanted to do in detail. He had a few suggestions which I’m going to add to our defensive plan. We’re preparing the biggest mousetrap in history and if everything works out right the Eternals are going to walk right into it.”
“What makes you so sure the Eternals won’t figure out what we’re doing?
“They’re too egotistical. They believe their nanites make them the superior race and look down on all others as inferiors. They even believe the Originators are inferior to them. We’re going to use their own superiority complex against them.”
On one of the larger viewscreens, another Accelerator Ring activated and a fleet of dreadnoughts with a large escort of battlecruisers vanished into the swirling blue vortex.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” said Councilor Barnes as the ring shut down, leaving only darkness.
“We’ll have a lot more people here at the hub shortly,” said Jackson. On several of the smaller viewscreens were views of some of the new cities being built on the Dyson sphere.
Councilor Barnes nodded. “Yes, we will. I’m hoping we can evacuate several billion Humans just from the Federation. The Altons will be sending at least that many as well.”
Jackson was silent for a moment and then he spoke. “At least if we fail, our people will be safe and we can continue. The war with the Eternals will go on until either we win or they manage to find some way into the Dyson spheres.”
Councilor Barnes knew Admiral Jackson was right. He wished Kathryn were back from her mission. He had read the reports Fleet Admiral Strong had sent back; they had been frightening. If the Creevak were to make an appearance Barnes wasn’t sure Jeremy had the forces with him to stop them even with the battlestation he had.
-
Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes had been summoned to the Command Center by Camlin. The first reports from some of the exploration fleets were beginning to come in.
“It’s th
e same everywhere they find a planet that was once inhabited,” Camlin reported. “Destroyed ships in orbit around a desolate world. It appears the Creevak destroyed all the planets inhabited by the Varnon.”
Kathryn had been afraid of this. “What about other civilizations besides the Varnon? We know from the records we downloaded from their ships there were a few.”
“The Searcher was sent to investigate the nearest known inhabited world which had space travel,” reported Clarissa. “That planet was destroyed. There is no surviving life on its surface. There is also no evidence of any battle being fought in the system. The Creevak came in and struck the surface of the planet with antimatter weapons, leveling everything. The Searcher and its fleet are going on to another one of the space traveling races mentioned by the Varnon.”
Camlin was studying the data coming in from the different exploration fleets and cataloging it for future study. She was also preparing short summaries of what each group was reporting. So far everything was highly depressing. “It’s possible there are no longer any sentient species surviving in this satellite galaxy.”
Kathryn stared at the viewscreen showing the satellite galaxy. There were over 200 million stars. Surely some sentient races survived! “Inform all of the exploration fleets to continue until notified otherwise. There have to be some species who survived somewhere in this galaxy. I find it difficult to believe the Creevak destroyed all of them.”
“We have no idea of the number of ships the Creevak sent to this galaxy through the anomaly or how long they stayed,” pointed out Clarissa. “They could have been in this galaxy for several hundred years sweeping it for signs of intelligent life.”
“Let’s hope not,” replied Kathryn. “We’ll write up a summary in the morning for Fleet Admiral Strong. That should provide time for more of the fleets to report in.” Kathryn sat down in her command chair and began reviewing the information coming in. The more she read the more depressed she felt. The Creevak were making the Eternals seem like Saints.
The Originator Wars: Explorations: A Lost Fleet Novel Page 17
