“The stations are not detectable,” protested Commander Belson, his eyes widening in concern at the thought of destroying them. “They took several years to build. By placing ships around them we will be telling the Anti-Life where they are.”
Jeremy shook his head. “We’re not leaving anything behind for the Eternals to find.”
Belson let out a deep sigh and nodded.
“Our next line of defense will be the space station. It will be the heart of our defense above the planet. “Admiral Pence, your fleet will be tasked with defending the station along with all of Commander Belson’s remaining battlecruisers. Commander Belson, I want ten dark matter warheads placed in strategic locations on the station. Once it falls we will detonate them.”
Commander Belson turned pale but nodded.
“Rear Admiral Mann, I’m dividing your fleet. You will take one thousand heavy dreadnoughts and six thousand battlecruisers to protect the Accelerator Ring. We cannot let the Eternals damage it. Your other battlecruisers will be tasked with defending the 118 dark energy stations and the planet.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Hailey replied. “I will make the arrangements.
“Your remaining five hundred dreadnoughts will be joining my fleet. We’ll hit the enemy wherever we think there’s a weak spot.”
“Rear Admiral Barnes, your ships and the Dominator are to stay in low orbit directly above the stasis facility to prevent any Eternal weapons from getting through.”
“What about the defense globes?” asked Kathryn.
“Each fleet will use them at their own discretion,” replied Jeremy. “The new ones which came on the transports with Rear Admiral Mann will be used at the opportune moment in the hope it will cause the Eternals to withdraw. Are there any questions?”
No one said anything. “Very well, you may discuss this plan amongst yourselves and if there are any ideas to improve on it let me know.”
-
Later Jeremy was back on board the Avenger carefully reviewing the battle plan. He was examining each aspect. Everything he was doing was designed to cause the maximum number of ship losses to the Eternals.
“Do you think this will work?” asked Kevin. He was deeply concerned he might never make it back to see Katie again.
“We need to fight a delaying action until Admiral Jackson can get here. Once his fleet arrives we can complete the evacuation of the Originators in stasis and leave this cluster far behind. We’ll use dark matter missiles to erase all traces of Originator technology.”
“Commander Belson wasn’t real happy about using dark matter warheads to destroy everything,” commented Ariel.
“You can’t blame him,” said Aaliss, coming over closer. “They must have spent years building all of this and we’re going to blow it all up.”
“It’s war,” responded Jeremy. “Sometimes we have to make difficult choices.”
“So what now?” asked Commander Malen.
“We wait,” answered Jeremy. “We continue to awaken Originators and send them off in the transport ships.”
Leaning back in his command chair, Jeremy shifted his eyes to the viewscreens. On multiple screens Originator warships were visible. There were over fifteen thousand ships gathered, waiting for the Eternals. Jeremy’s greatest fear was it wouldn’t be enough. He needed a way to buy time until Admiral Jackson arrived but he had no idea what to do to gain that time. He also thought it might be a good idea to send a message to Kelsey. If he failed in his defense of the Originator stasis facility he knew he wouldn’t be going back home. For the first time he understood what Grayseth meant when he had said how important it was to have children to take up the burden of the parents.
At least if something happened to him and Kevin, Kelsey and Katie would have their children to carry on. It was a sad thought but Jeremy felt some relief knowing he would have an heir and the girls would not be alone.
Chapter Sixteen
First Leader Clondax stared at the tactical display showing the data from the long-range sensors. The edge of the star cluster which was their destination was beginning to show.
“How far are we from the hyperspace interference field?”
“Two point seven light years,” answered Fleet Commander Tarsal. “We have already slowed and are preparing to drop out of hyperspace.”
Clondax felt a subtle change in the Conqueror as it dropped out of hyperspace and exited the spatial vortex. On the viewscreens, the rest of the stupendous fleet that was his escort started to appear. Thousands of ships began to exit hyperspace.
“We’re a quarter of a light year from the field,” reported Garald, the ship’s sensor officer. “It is appearing on the sensors.” On the tactical display, a purple area became visible marking the boundary of the interference field.
Clondax leaned forward. “Can we neutralize it?”
“Sending out the countering field,” Fleet Commander Tarsal responded as he pressed several icons on his console. “Other ships are broadcasting variations of the field. We should know shortly if this is going to work.”
Clondax waited expectantly. After the many ferocious wars in their home galaxy, the surviving Eternals who had come out the victors spent thousands of years trying to learn the secret to neutralizing the hyperspace interference field surrounding their galaxy. They had finally stumbled across a neutralizing field, which would counter the hyperspace interference. Clondax knew a number of the ships in his fleet were now broadcasting different variations of that field to test its effect on the hyperspace interference surrounding the star cluster.
“We have a successful test of field XB-42,” Garald reported as the reports from the other ships came in.
“Have all ships begin to broadcast that field,” ordered Clondax.
“Hyperspace interference field is beginning to collapse,” reported Garald. “I am detecting several large stations orbiting the star cluster. They must be responsible for maintaining the field. They had a stealth field up but our sensors managed to penetrate it. There are also Originator battlecruisers around each of them.”
“We must destroy those,” said Fleet Commander Tarsal, shifting his eyes to focus on First Leader Clondax. “We can’t risk the stations’ changing the frequency of the interference field and blocking us out of hyperspace.”
“Send ships around the perimeter of the cluster to search for more of these stations,” ordered Clondax. “I want all of them destroyed.” Clondax was certain the Originator AIs had assumed their interference field would protect them from attack. They were about to find out how wrong that assumption had been.
-
Jeremy was in his quarters when Ariel popped in, informing him the Eternals had been detected. At the same moment the Condition One alarms began sounding and Commander Malen’s voice came over the ship’s comm announcing the setting of Condition One.
“How many ships?”
Ariel hesitated with a pained look on her face. “Over one hundred thousand. We can’t get an exact count because of the numbers.”
Jeremy’s face turned pale. That was far more than he had expected. All of his carefully thought out plans had just flown out the window. “What are they doing?”
“They dropped out of hyperspace just short of the hyperspace interference field. Aaliss believes they’re trying different methods to bring it down. We’ve detected a number of unknown energy fields being directed toward the field. Parts of the field are already showing signs of collapse.”
“Send the order to evacuate the space station. Have all Originators who are in the living quarters in the stasis facility on the planet and are capable of traveling to report to their shuttles. As soon as the transport ships are ready have Aaliss activate the Accelerator Ring and send them through. Standard escort of one heavy dreadnought and ten battlecruisers.” Jermyn wanted every Originator out of the system that could travel. With as large a fleet as the Eternals had shown up with, there was a possibility no more Originators would ever be leaving this sys
tem.
“Yes, Jeremy,” replied Ariel as she disappeared.
Jeremy drew in several deep breaths. The size of the Eternal fleet had just wrecked all of his defensive plans. It was time to think of something else. Leaving his quarters he encountered Kevin in the outside corridor.
“They’re here,” Kevin said breathlessly. “Ariel said over one hundred thousand of them!”
“Did you send a message to Katie?” asked Jeremy as the two hurried toward the Command Center.
Kevin nodded. “Yes, I told her it was going to be a while before we got back home.”
Jeremy didn’t reply. He and Kevin had been friends long enough that he recognized the fear in the back of Kevin’s eyes and in his words. Both of them had sent messages to their wives knowing it might be the last time Kelsey or Katie would ever hear from them.
-
Entering the Command Center, Jeremy went to his command chair as Commander Malen got up and moved to her station.
“We’ll have the last cured Originators from the stasis facility up to the transport ships in forty minutes,” Kyla reported. “The station will complete its evacuation in thirty minutes. All commands have gone to Condition One.”
“Hyperspace interference field has collapsed completely,” Aaliss announced. “Commander Belson is highly upset. He didn’t believe the Eternals would be able to penetrate the field.”
“Eternal battlecruisers are breaking off from the main fleet and circling the star cluster,” reported Kevin as he watched his sensors. “I think they’re searching for the interference field’s broadcasting stations.”
“Are the stations ready?”
“They’re ready,” answered Ariel. She was standing slightly behind Jeremy on his left hand side. “Energy shields just came online and their weapons are activating. Defensive battlecruisers are in position and ready to add their support to the stations. “There is a military AI in charge of each interference station. Dark matter warheads have been set for self-destruct.”
Jeremy nodded. A lot of AIs were about to die but Commander Belson had informed Jeremy that all of them had recent scans of their memories and could be recreated in new bodies when the fleet returned to the hub. So while they might die here they could be reborn again in the future.
“Eternals have located four of the stations,” reported Kevin nervously. “They’ll have the other two shortly.”
The Eternals had solved the hyperspace interference field much quicker than Jeremy had expected. Their main fleet was still holding its position while Eternal ships searched for the field generating stations. This was fine with Jeremy as time was passing. On the nearest tactical display, he could see dozens of shuttles taking off from the surface of the planet to rendezvous with the orbiting transports. Jeremy’s eyes shifted to another tactical display showing the Eternal fleet. It appeared as a nearly solid blob of red threat icons. If the Eternals attacked with that fleet and were determined Jeremy knew there was very little he could do to stop them. Somehow or another he needed to delay the Eternal attack. He had several plans but there was a chance none of them would work. It was time to roll the dice and see what happened.
-
“Six stations detected,” reported Motan, the Conqueror’s sensor officer. “There are also one hundred Originator battlecruisers defending each one.”
Clondax took a moment to study the scans from the various search groups. All six stations were identical and obviously heavily armed. The nearby Originator cruisers would make annihilating those stations more difficult. “Fleet Commander Tarsal, I want those six stations destroyed. We can’t leave them intact.” Clondax was going to take no chance on those stations putting out a new interference field, which might block his fleet from entering hyperspace. While he didn’t believe there was anything in the system that might endanger his fleet, he wanted an escape route left open if need be.
Fleet Commander Tarsal began sending out orders and shortly six small subfleets left the larger formation and set out toward their assigned targets. There were fourteen hundred Eternal battlecruisers in each of the new formations. Tarsal was confident those would be enough to overwhelm the defending battlecruisers and the defenses of the stations.
-
The subfleets proceeded to their targets and began to globe them but carefully stayed out of weapons range. They scanned the stations and the waiting battlecruisers but found nothing out of the ordinary. Once all six stations were englobed the Eternal vessels began to move closer.
-
On board one of the stations Tammon, the military AI in charge, studied the approaching enemy vessels. There were ten other AIs inside the station’s Command Center standing or sitting in front of the consoles. All the others had been evacuated. “Our energy beams are more powerful than those on our battlecruisers. We will use our beams and antimatter missiles to bring down the Eternals’ shields. Our support craft will then destroy them.”
“Weapons range in thirty seconds,” reported the AI in front of the station’s sensors.
The seconds passed as the Eternal vessels crept closer.
“Fire!” ordered Tammon, his eyes focused sharply on the tactical display.
-
From the station eighty powerful energy beams reached out, striking a number of Eternal vessels. Antimatter missiles began launching in sprint mode. Antimatter projectors opened fire at the enemy ships, trying to bring down their shields.
The Eternals’ shields flared up brightly. They were being rotated through a series of frequencies designed to make the screens more resistant to energy weapons fire. There were also no ion cannons on the station, which could freeze the screens to make them more vulnerable.
Antimatter missiles slammed into the shields of numerous Eternal battlecruisers releasing torrents of energy. The energy washed over the shields but failed to bring them down. Energy beams struck the shields and failed to penetrate. The shields flared up brighter and brighter under the stupendous onslaught of offensive weapons fire.
-
Tammon noticed with surprise how ineffective his weapons fire was. He had firmly believed his energy weapons would be able to penetrate the Eternals’ shields. It was going to be necessary to change tactics. “All battlecruisers, open fire.” It was not going to work out saving the battlecruisers to take out damaged vessels. He needed more weapons fire to take down the Eternals’ shields.
-
With the increased weapons fire one by one the Eternal battlecruisers began to see their shields starting to fail. Energy beam fire from six Originator battlecruisers smashed through a weakening shield, slamming into the hull of an Eternal vessel, setting off massive explosions and hurling glowing debris away from the ship. Two antimatter missiles arrived, detonating against the hull and splitting it in two. Additional missiles arrived turning the two pieces of wreckage into glowing fields of plasma and gas.
In the Eternal formation, other battlecruisers were meeting their end as their shields were overwhelmed by the massive amount of weapons fire coming from the station and the Originator battlecruisers. Several glaring flashes of intense energy designated dying Eternal vessels.
However, the Eternal ships were not idle. They were laying down a heavy energy weapons fire at the station as well as the defending Originator battlecruisers. Eternal energy beams drilled through the shields of several defending battlecruisers, cutting deep into their hulls compromising numerous compartments and opening them up to the vacuum of space. Antimatter missiles arrived, turning ships into miniature supernovas of intense heat and released energy which quickly faded away leaving only a few wisps of glowing gas behind.
The middle section of an Originator battlecruiser exploded, sending debris hurling away from the ship. An Eternal energy beam struck the damaged section and began cutting the ship in half. Before it was finished an antimatter missile arrived, blowing the ship apart.
Energy beam fire began pummeling the powerful energy screen of the space station. Occasion
ally a beam would penetrate, blasting out deep pits in the hull. Energy beam turrets and missile tubes were being destroyed as various sections of the station came under fire. A section of the energy shield became unstable and an antimatter missile penetrated, blasting a massive hole in the station and causing its structure to become unstable.
-
“Weapons at 32 percent,” reported the AI at tactical. “Hull integrity is failing in 72 percent of the station.”
Tammon considered his options. “Hold all weapons fire and redirect the power to the energy shield. All surviving battlecruisers are to jump out and return to the space station.”
Orders were quickly sent and the twenty-eight battlecruisers still capable of entering hyperspace opened up vortexes and fled.
“Turn off the power to the entire station except for the Command Center and the energy shield,” Tammon directed in a calm voice. Gazing at the primary viewscreen, he waited to see what the Eternals would do.
-
The Eternal commander noted the stoppage of weapons fire and the departure of the surviving Originator battlecruisers. The station was heavily damaged and no longer capable of resistance. “Move the fleet closer and prepare to send our warrior robots and a squad of our shock troops over to take control. We will take this station so we can study its technology.”
-
A number of Eternal battlecruisers moved closer and began launching assault shuttles. If the shield did not come down shortly they would use weapons fire to force it into failure. It had to be close already.
The Originator Wars: Search for the Lost: A Lost Fleet Novel Page 28
