The Originator Wars: Search for the Lost: A Lost Fleet Novel
Page 29
-
“Lower the energy shield,” ordered Tammon, his eyes focused on the viewscreen. The Eternals were no longer firing on the station. He wanted to lure them in close.
The shield was lowered and moments later the Eternal shuttles began to dock.
Tammon allowed himself to smile inwardly. He had fulfilled his function as a military AI: inflict as much damage to the enemy as possible. Touching a blinking icon on his command console Tammon set off the six dark matter warheads hidden on the station.
-
In six massive explosions, twenty-four-hundred megatons of raw energy were released, blowing the station apart. Eight Eternal battlecruisers were destroyed from the blasts as a huge fireball formed. Fourteen others were destroyed by collisions with massive chunks of flying debris.
-
Jeremy had observed the battle from the Command Center of the Avenger. Already four of the stations were gone with the remaining two about to fall.
“Evacuation from the stasis facility is complete,” reported Aaliss. “We’re moving nearly seventy-two thousand Originators.”
“Same with the space station,” added Ariel. “We’re moving over forty-nine thousand Originators.”
“Transport ships are beginning to move toward the Accelerator Ring,” reported Kevin.
“Expect ring activation in six minutes,” said Aaliss.
“Last two hyperspace interference stations have been destroyed,” reported Commander Malen. “We lost five hundred and twelve Originator battlecruisers and all six stations. Estimated Eternal losses are two hundred and seventeen vessels.”
Jeremy nodded. This was about what he had expected. The Originator battlecruisers at the stations had not been the updated ones. He was holding those back around the planet and the Accelerator Ring.
On the tactical display, the six Eternal fleets were returning to the main formation. That was fine with Jeremy as it would allow him time to activate the Accelerator Ring and get the transports and their escorts safely away.
The minutes passed quickly and Aaliss activated the ring. The swirling dark blue vortex formed and moments later, the first of the six large Originator transports entered the activated Accelerator Ring to vanish into the safety of intergalactic hyperspace. Their escorts quickly followed and the ring shut down.
“Ships have jumped,” reported Aaliss. “Accelerator Ring is shutting down and safety locks are activating.” The safety locks would prevent anyone other than an Originator or one of their AIs from activating the ring.
-
First Leader Clondax gazed perplexed at the sudden and massive energy signature which had just appeared in the system they believed the Originator AIs and the proxy race had made into a base of some kind. For several minutes the energy signature persisted and then it disappeared.
“What was that?” Clondax was concerned it might be some type of weapon.
“It was a massive spatial vortex,” reported Garald. “I’ve never seen such a reading before. It was more massive than the vortexes reported to be in the Shrieels.”
“Prepare to take the fleet to the target system, but I want to come out of hyperspace in the outer regions of the system. I want full scans of the planet and the vicinity around it before we move closer. I want to make sure we’re not entering a trap.”
The sudden power surge concerned him. He had seen how all six hyperspace interference stations had been destroyed. Sensors had confirmed the use of dark matter warheads. He had lost double the ships he had expected. However, it was now impossible for the Originator AIs and their proxy race to block his fleet from entering hyperspace. It was time for the main part of his planned attack.
-
The dark blue vortex faded away as the Accelerator Ring shut down. Rear Admiral Mann had positioned her fleet to defend the ring from attack. If it were to be damaged or destroyed they would have no way to escape or get the remaining Originators to safety.
“Hyperspace vortexes forming in the outer regions of the system,” reported Captain Adams. He watched his sensors for several long moments and then turned back toward Rear Admiral Mann. “One hundred and twelve thousand Eternal battlecruisers detected.”
“Damn,” muttered Commander Sutherland, looking over at Rear Admiral Mann with a worried frown. “That’s a hell of a lot of ships.”
“Just more for us to destroy,” commented Major Linda Marks from Tactical.
“What are they doing?” Hailey’s fleet was at Condition One and ready for combat.
“They’re scanning us,” Adams replied.
“They’re suspicious,” Sutherland said. “They want to know if there are any other surprises. They didn’t like those hyperspace interference stations blowing up on them.”
“They may have detected the energy readings from the Accelerator Ring as well,” suggested Adams.
Hailey nodded. “Be prepared. They’ll be jumping in on us shortly.” Hailey tried to relax but her heart was beating faster and the adrenaline flowing as the time for combat neared. “As soon as the Eternals jump in I want all of our defense globes launched. Put them between us and the Eternals. We’ll use their ion cannons to freeze the Eternals’ shields and then launch our attack.” Hailey intended to attack the Eternals and drive them back away from the Accelerator Ring if they came too close.
-
Jeremy watched as the Eternal fleet spent nearly twenty minutes scanning the system, particularly the area around the planet.
“They’ll be jumping shortly,” Ariel said. She was using the Avenger’s sensors to keep track of the Eternal fleet.
“Are the cargo ships ready?” They were the forty ships that had arrived with Rear Admiral Mann’s fleet and contained the new defense globes.
“Yes,” Ariel replied. “They’re mixed in with our fleet. On your order they’ll release the defense globes and then pull back to the planet.”
Jeremy leaned back in his command chair. When the Eternals jumped in he intended to hit them with the special defense globes he had ordered the construction facilities at the Communications and Transport hub to construct. He couldn’t afford to fight the Eternals in a heads up battle; he needed some trickery to buy time. The new globes would be the second surprise. The exploding hyperspace interference stations had been the first.
“Eternals are jumping!” reported Kevin tersely. “I’m detecting tens of thousands of spatial vortexes forming in the outer system. They should be coming through shortly.”
Jeremy sucked in a deep breath. This was it!
-
Three hundred thousand kilometers from the planet, the Eternal fleet poured out of hyperspace forming a solid wall of warships. The ships orientated themselves and then began advancing toward the planet. The massive space station would be their first target and then the large ring protected by Originator ships. Scientists with the fleet had determined the ring had been the source of the high-energy reading and was some type of intergalactic vortex device. They would like to capture it intact to study.
“We’re detecting fifteen thousand plus Originator vessels,” reported Garald. “Most are Originator battlecruisers; however, there are also two thousand of their heavier vessels. The space station has a very powerful energy screen and is heavily armed.”
“There is a group of nine hundred of the larger vessels approaching us,” warned Fleet Commander Tarsal. He focused his attention on the tactical display showing the ships.
“Hold our current position,” ordered First Leader Clondax. He was curious what they hoped to accomplish. Nine hundred ships against his fleet was only going to be a mild hindrance. However, if they wanted to sacrifice their ships needlessly he would allow them to do so.
-
“We’re almost in range,” reported Kevin. “Rear Admiral Mann is launching her defense drones and placing them between her fleet and the Eternals.”
“Admiral Pence is doing the same thing placing his around the space station,” added Ariel.
&nb
sp; Jeremy took in a deep breath. “Launch ours and put them in front of our fleet in a pyramid formation, apex forward. Bring the fleet to a halt just outside of weapons range.” From their previous battles, they knew the range of the Eternals’ missiles and energy beams. “I want all ships prepared to fire their black matter missiles in sprint mode. Ion beams to target Eternal shields to prevent them from modulating. On my order, the defense globes will advance toward the Eternal formation firing their ion beams. I want every Eternal shield frozen.”
“The cargo ships?” asked Aaliss.
“Have them on standby.” Jeremy intended to use the regular defense globes to draw the Eternals’ fire.
-
First Leader Clondax watched as the large Originator ships deployed tens of thousands of their small drones. In the last several battles, these had been used to ram Eternal warships after firing ion beams to weaken Eternal energy shields. He suspected they were going to do the same again.
“The large ships in front of us have deployed nearly ninety thousand of the small attack drones,” Fleet Commander Tarsal reported. “I’ve ordered all ships to target them with defensive weapons as well as antimatter missiles. We should be able to prevent them from reaching our ships.”
“Those nine hundred ships will have dark matter missiles,” said Clondax. “It’s essential we destroy them.”
“Drones are beginning to advance,” warned Garald from his sensor console.
-
From the forty large Originator cargo ships inside Fleet Admiral Strong’s formation large hatches suddenly opened and sixty thousand special defense globes exited. These were slightly larger than the regular defense globes and had two major additions: a more powerful gravity drive and a dark matter warhead. The only other weapon they had was a single ion cannon.
-
“The new defense globes have launched,” reported Aaliss. “They are forming up behind the first ones. Cargo ships are beginning to pull back.”
“Send the globes in with our fleet directly behind,” ordered Jeremy, leaning forward anxiously. “Let’s see how the Eternals like our newest surprise.”
-
In space, the ninety thousand normal defense globes accelerated toward the Eternal fleet. As soon as they entered weapons range their ion beams fired.
The Eternals had been expecting this and space was suddenly filled with the bright flashes of exploding antimatter warheads. Each explosion destroyed hundreds of the globes. Defensive energy beams were sweeping through the dense drone formation leaving small fiery explosions in their wake where defensive globes had died.
The defensive globe formation was nearly halfway to the Eternal fleet with the new larger drones following closely behind.
-
“Seventy-four percent of the first line of defense globes have been destroyed,” Ariel reported. “The Eternals’ weapons fire will begin reaching the trailing drones in twelve more seconds.”
“Full activation on their gravity drives and send them in,” ordered Jeremy, his eyes focused intently on the tactical display showing both sets of defense globes. “The fleet will follow behind. Stand by to fire weapons.”
-
Where only a minute before the tactical display had shown two large masses of globes, now it showed the front section greatly reduced. Suddenly the trailing section sped up to twice the normal speed for a defense globe. They hurtled through the ravished front formation and began to suffer losses. It took the Eternals a few moments to adjust to the greater speed and then the second globe formation began to die.
Ion beams reached out freezing more Eternal energy screens. Additional globes died as antimatter missiles began to explode amongst them. However, the first line of drones sacrificing themselves and the increased speed of the new drones began to pay off.
All across the Eternal formation 400-megaton dark matter explosions began hammering their ships. One warhead was normally enough to knock the energy screen down on an Eternal battlecruiser and the second would severely damage it or blow it apart. The entire front section of the Eternal formation exploded in light as furious detonations of dark matter assailed their fleet.
-
“Take us in,” ordered Jeremy, seeing the chaos the new defense globes were causing in the Eternal formation. “I want four waves of dark matter missiles fired and then pull us back out of weapons range.”
Lieutenant Striker sent the Avenger hurtling forward on its gravity drive into weapons range.
“Firing ion beams,” reported Major Preston as he pressed several icons on his console. Then a moment later. “Launching first wave of dark matter missiles.”
Jeremy’s eyes shifted to the ship’s viewscreens. Already the Eternal formation was lit up from exploding defense globes. Those in the first line that had survived were now beginning to impact Eternal screens and explode as they overloaded their antimatter chambers. Suddenly the intensity and number of explosions increased as the dark matter missiles from Jeremy’s ships began to strike the Eternal fleet. For a few moments it appeared the Eternal advance had stalled. They had slammed into a wall of fire!
“Incoming fire!” warned Commander Malen as the Avenger shook. “We took an antimatter explosion to the outer screen but it’s holding.”
“Dreadnoughts Xavier, Fury, Tempest, and Thunder are down,” reported Kevin. “We’re beginning to receive intense weapons fire from the Eternals. Most of the defense globes have either been destroyed or detonated.”
“Other ships are taking heavy damage,” warned Commander Malen. “We’re going to lose a lot of ships if this continues.”
“Second wave of missiles launching,” reported Major Preston. “Third loading into tubes.”
On the main viewscreen, a number of massive explosions in the Eternal formation marked dying ships. Just a few more seconds, thought Jeremy, and then we can pull back. He needed to force the Eternals to stop their attack and to do that he had to show them he could hurt their fleet.
-
In space, several ion beams froze the energy screen of an Eternal battlecruiser. Moments later a dark matter missile struck the shield causing a massive failure in one section. A second missile flashed through and slammed into the stern of the ship directly above Engineering. The entire rear half of the ship was instantly turned into twisted wreckage. Another missile arrived striking the bow of the battlecruiser finishing the destruction.
The Eternals were firing back. The attack of the defense globes was rapidly dying out as the globes either completed their suicide runs or were destroyed by Eternal weapons fire. The heavy dreadnought Princeton came under fire from a number of Eternal battlecruisers. Energy beams pummeled the energy shields, battering them down. Two beams penetrated, striking the hull and cutting deep inside the ship and setting off secondary explosions. Alarms began blaring as emergency bulkheads slammed shut sealing off the damaged areas of the ship. Repair robots rushed to contain the damage only for another beam to pierce the ship, destroying Engineering. The ship began to lose power and then an antimatter missile detonated inside one of the ruptures in the hull. Instantly the ship was turned into a small nova killing the crew and erasing it from existence.
-
First Leader Clondax watched in growing anger as Eternal ships died under the intense weapons fire from the exploding drones and the attacking Originator warships.
“We’ve lost fourteen hundred and seventy ships,” reported Fleet Commander Tarsal as he directed the battle over his ship-to-ship comm. “That second wave of drones had better shields, a more powerful gravity drive, and were all armed with a dark matter warhead. They used the first line of drones as a decoy to allow the second group to get close enough to reach our formation.”
Clondax shifted his gaze toward Tarsal. “What type of damage are we causing to their fleet?”
“Our superior numbers and weapons are beginning to make a difference. All the drones have been destroyed and we are now focusing the fleet’s weapons on the
approaching Originator ships.”
The Conqueror suddenly shook violently with the lights dimming and then coming back to full brightness.
“That was a dark matter hit to our energy screen,” reported Garald. “Fortunately we haven’t been hit with an ion beam so our screen is still at full strength.”
“Enemy fleet is withdrawing,” said Tarsal as the Originator ships began to pull back. “We took out one hundred and eighteen.”
First Leader Clondax was fuming. The enemy had tricked him with their exploding hyperspace stations and now they had used a new type of drone to destroy a large number of his ships. There could be no doubt the Originator AIs and their proxy race had won this round.
“Do not pursue,” Clondax ordered. “Have our crews begin ship repairs to all vessels.” He knew a large number of Eternal vessels had suffered major damage. From looking at the tactical display, he knew there were still large numbers of drones available to the enemy. The large ring structure had over one hundred thousand and the space station another seven thousand. Perhaps now was the time to contact the Originator AIs and their proxy race. The enemy had learned they could damage his fleet but he still vastly outnumbered them. They must know that if he wished, he could crush them.
“Marloo, contact the Originator AIs and inform them I wish to talk.” Perhaps by speaking to the AIs he could learn some valuable information such as who and where this mysterious proxy race had come from.
-
Jeremy pulled his fleet back and joined up with Admiral Pence at the space station. Several of his dreadnoughts quickly docked to the station for some much needed repairs.
“We lost over one hundred ships in the space of twenty seconds,” reported Commander Malen, her face slightly pale. “The firepower coming from that fleet was overwhelming.”
“But we destroyed over fourteen hundred of their ships,” pointed out Kevin. “It was a definite victory.”
“True,” Kyla said. “But look at what it cost us: all of our defense globes plus the new ones. We can’t do that again.”