The Lost Fleet: Into the Darkness

by Raymond L. Weil

  Jeremy nodded. The Distant Horizon had used some special defense globes, which used ion cannons to disable the shields protecting the Simulin warships. It was a highly advanced technology and the Altons were having some problems with the available resources building a workable prototype.

  “I’ll be leaving shortly to try to send the Alton probe back home,” Jeremy said as they entered the large building. “What’s the current status of our Marines?”

  “Great,” McGown replied. “We’re setting up a rotation for the crews on the battlestations. One month on and then two weeks off.”

  “Are you being stretched for personnel?”

  “No,” McGown answered. “At least not yet. We have nearly forty thousand Marines available. Only a few hundred have requested to allow their enlistments to run out so they can move to the cities. I’ve moved ten thousand of them down to the surface off our warships.”

  Jeremy nodded. He’d already considered talking to McGown about retraining some of his Marines to handle other positions in the fleet. If the number of fleet personnel who wanted to come down to the surface of Gaia to live continued to grow, then it was something they would have to seriously consider.

  “What’s the current condition of the Anlon bombers and Talon fighter squadrons that we’ve transferred to the three bases?”

  They entered the large above ground command center. The walls were covered with hundreds of viewscreens, which showed views of the sky above, and the landscape around all three bases. There were even a few screens, which showed views of the main streets in the two cities.

  “Captain Marshall, change the main viewscreen to show the flight strip for the fighters and bombers,” ordered McGown.

  The indicated captain quickly changed one of the viewscreens and a long landing strip as well as several metal hangars were displayed. Along the strip, a number of fighters and bombers were parked.

  “We keep a squadron of fighters on the tarmac at each of the three bases ready to be deployed within just a few minute’s notice,” McGown explained as he gazed at the screen. “Between all three bases we have ten squadrons of fighters and six squadrons of bombers.”

  “What if the Simulins land their scavenger drones?” This was a big concern for Jeremy. If the drones were to get loose in the cities, they could cause irreparable harm. The scavenger drones were merciless and quite deadly.

  “Our Marines are equipped with armor piercing rounds that should handle them,” McGown replied. He glanced over at the admiral. “We also have emplaced laser turrets on towers around the cities’ perimeters, which should aid in eliminating them if they get that far. There are special munitions for the bombers which should be quite effective against them.”

  “Let’s hope they don’t get through our defenses and we have to use them,” Jeremy responded. “It’s good to know we’re ready.” He gazed at a screen showing the main downtown thoroughfare in New Eden. They’d named the city after one of the original Human Federation of Worlds’ planets.

  “This is a good planet and will make an excellent home for our people,” McGown said, seeing where the admiral’s eyes were focused. “I made a tour recently of the schools in New Eden. It was strange seeing human, Alton, and Carethian children all in the same classrooms.”

  Jeremy allowed himself to smile. He knew Kelsey’s two Carethian friends, Malith and Karelle, were talking about transferring to the planet and having children. There were four hundred and twelve female Carethians who’d made the transit in the Clan Protector. Grayseth had recently commented he would like to see most if not all of them go down to the surface of Gaia and start families. The Bears liked big families and their homes were like giant dens. The Carethians came from a very family orientated culture, and they all took their duties as family and clan members very seriously.

  “How’s your underground Command Center coming?”

  “It’s nearly complete,” answered McGown, turning to face the admiral. “We built it in an uninhabited area in case the Simulins try to target it. We’ve installed the Hunter missile batteries and the defensive laser turrets. We should have it finished and ready to move into in another four to six weeks.”

  Jeremy saw some movement on the screen showing the parked fighters and bombers. He watched as two Talon fighters accelerated down the runway and rose rapidly into the air. The two fighters did a barrel roll and then shot straight up into the sky, rapidly dwindling until they vanished from sight.

  “Some of our pilots like to show off,” grunted McGown, slightly embarrassed by the pilots’ antics. He would have a word with them later.

  “I don’t mind it,” Jeremy answered. “It shows their level of skill handling their fighters.”

  “We have some good pilots, both human and Carethian.”

  Jeremy took a deep breath and then looked over at the general. “Charles, when I get back from the probe mission, we may be creating more AIs.”

  “I though it was coming to that,” McGown said with a deep sigh. “Ever since the Distant Horizon arrived and it became evident rescue was off the table, I’ve been hearing more people talk about coming to the planet and settling down. Even a large number of my Marines are discussing it.”

  “We have a new design for an AI sphere, which should be much more powerful than their current ships,” Jeremy said. “With the particle beam satellites, battlestations, and the AIs, the planet should be pretty secure, particularly if we don’t venture out of the nebula.”

  “We stay in our rabbit hole and don’t come out,” said McGown, nodding his head in agreement. “It’s the smart thing to do.”

  Jeremy didn’t like the idea of hiding from the Simulins, but being cut off from home, he didn’t have the ships or personnel to fight a galactic war. All he could do was send a warning back home and then retreat to the nebula and stay there. At least Kelsey, Katie, and Clarissa were here now. Maybe it was time for all of them to settle down.

  -

  Katie was staring at Clarissa with a deep frown on her face. It was obvious the AI was once more tampering with her program, making slight modifications to her appearance. Clarissa’s hips were slightly larger and all of her curves had been accentuated. Whenever she walked across the Command Center or stopped to talk to one of the male crewmembers, she instantly became the center of attention.

  “Has she always been this way?” Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes asked as she watched the AI speaking to Lieutenant Styles at the Helm. Styles looked like a lovesick puppy as he talked to the provocative AI.

  Katie laughed and nodded. “Sometimes more than this,” she replied. “Ariel did some experimenting but not to the extreme Clarissa has. Clarissa enjoys the attention she gets from the male crewmembers. Ariel has always been more reserved.”

  “An AI flirting,” said Kathryn, shaking her head in amusement. “What’s next?”

  “Who knows?” answered Katie, smiling. “Both AIs have been around for a very long time.”

  Katie could well recall the surprise she’d felt when Ariel had introduced herself back in Admiral Jason Strong’s office so many years ago. She’d snuck into Jason’s office searching for information on a computer program and Ariel had caught her. They’d been friends ever since. She cherished those memories of her time at the Fleet Academy and, of course, there was the New Horizon incident where all of them had nearly been killed. Since then both Ariel and Clarissa had looked over the Special Five, as they came to be called, doing everything in their power to ensure their safety.

  Looking at her computer console, Katie noticed that Clarissa was running battle simulations. Reaching out her hand, she entered a few commands to see how the AI was doing. Without surprise, she saw the simulations were of the Distant Horizon battling numerous Simulin ships. It looked as if Clarissa had half a dozen battle simulations running simultaneously. It wasn’t surprising; the AI was easily capable of multi-tasking and still interacting with the crew.

  “What are those?” asked Kathryn, seeing a blur of
movement on one of the screens above Katie.

  “Battle scenarios,” Katie answered. “Clarissa is fighting the Simulins trying to come up with the best possible tactics to ensure our survival. Both Arial and Clarissa run these almost continuously.”

  Kathryn frowned and then glanced over at Katie. “And who is commanding the ship in these simulations?”

  Katie took a deep breath and looked over at the admiral. “Sometimes you and sometimes Clarissa.”

  “I almost hate to ask, but who is doing the best?”

  “In the simulations where the Distant Horizon wins, Clarissa is in charge seventy-two percent of the time.”

  “That means I’m only at twenty-eight percent,” said Kathryn, frowning.

  “It’s her reaction time,” Katie quickly explained. “When Clarissa is in charge of the ship she can run simulations on her attacks to ascertain the best probability of victory. She can also control all of the ship’s systems to ensure maximum efficiency.”

  Kathryn was silent for a moment. She suspected that the AI was listening to every word she and Katie were saying. Nothing on the massive exploration dreadnought was a secret from the inquisitive AI.

  “Just make sure she asks me before she takes control of the ship,” Kathryn said finally. “Only if the ship is in immediate danger of destruction is she to act on her own.”

  “I’ll make sure she knows,” promised Katie. She knew how upset Rear Admiral Barnes had been about Kelsey and Clarissa taking over the ship in the battle when they’d reached the rendezvous coordinates where they hoped they would find Fourth Fleet. However, if the AI hadn’t taken control, there was a high probability the Distant Horizon would have been destroyed.

  Kathryn paused and then asked another question. “In how many of the simulations do we lose?”

  Katie hesitated before answering. Clarissa was running the simulations based on the Simulins’ tactic of attacking with overwhelming numbers. In none of the simulations were the odds even.

  “The Distant Horizon is destroyed in ninety-two percent of the scenarios.”

  Kathryn nodded and then said, “I guess it’s a good thing we’re not going on this mission alone.”

  Katie watched as the admiral walked back over and sat down in her command chair. Letting out a deep sigh, she wondered if she should talk to Clarissa about her current appearance. Even a few of the women were eyeing her speculatively. One thing she could say for certain; life around the two AIs was never boring.

  -

  Kathryn looked over her command console seeing the Distant Horizon was ready for departure. She wondered what they would find in the blue giant nebula. Glancing around the Command Center, she noted nearly half the duty stations were vacant. That would change as they neared time for departure. The majority of the Alton scientists had already left and gone over to the four Alton science cruisers. Shilum, Andram, Mikow, and a few others would be going on the mission in case their expertise was needed.

  The hatch to the Command Center opened and Colonel Anne Grissim walked in. Anne had been down on Gaia taking some well-deserved leave time.

  “How was your leave?” asked Kathryn.

  She’d even gone down and spent a couple of days at one of the lavish beach resorts. They had reminded her of the ones back on New Tellus that everyone raved about. She noticed Anne’s neck was a rosy red.

  “Great!” Anne replied. “I’d forgotten what a sunburn feels like. Guess I spent too much time out on the beach.”

  “Doctor Keil can take care of that if necessary,” Kathryn said. She’d also made the mistake of staying out too long in the sun and had gone to see the doctor upon her return to the Distant Horizon.

  “Already been there,” Anne replied as she walked over and checked one of the command consoles. “She gave me some ointment and a shot and said I should be fine in a few hours. I also got a lecture about being out in the sun after spending so much time aboard ship.”

  Kathryn nodded. She’d gotten the same lecture. One thing about a ship’s doctor, they never hesitated in speaking their minds to the commanding officer.

  “Any major changes while I’ve been gone?”

  “Since we’re out of the defense globes we’ve added another squadron of Anlon bombers in the flight bays.”

  “I bet Major Arcles was pleased with that,” Anne answered.

  “I imagine so,” Kathryn replied. “It gives him a few more options if we have to deploy them.”

  “What about our Marines?”

  “We’re leaving half of them on Gaia,” answered Kathryn. “The Marine complements on all of the ships are being drastically reduced.”

  “I’m not surprised,” responded Anne, nodding her head. “I always wondered why we had so many Marines on our ships. I don’t recall any battle where there was a boarding action.”

  “Our Marines will be taking on a new role,” Kathryn explained. “Between the battlestations and the three bases on Gaia their mission profile will be quite different than what it was.”

  Anne nodded in understanding. “Gaia will be our new home,” she said in a softer voice. “It’s hard to believe we’ll never see the Federation again.”

  Kathryn nodded. She had put a message to her father in the drone. He was the governor of Ceres and had been responsible for her getting command of the Distant Horizon. She knew he would be highly upset when he received the message. While they hadn’t been that close in recent years, they’d been back when she was younger. The message had been hard to compose, as it was likely the last thing he would ever receive from her.

  -

  Jeremy gazed at the main viewscreen and the world it was displaying. Gaia was an arid world with a narrow swath of green that circled the planet around the equator. There were several small oceans and a large number of rivers and lakes in the habitable area. Gaia was slightly smaller than Earth and the habitable area was only fourteen hundred kilometers across with a wide variety of plant and animal life. It was enough to serve them for many hundreds of years if they could remain undetected by the Simulins.

  “All ships report ready to depart,” Ariel said from Jeremy’s left side. “Trip to the blue giant area will take nine days.”

  “We’ll have to drop out of hyperspace twenty-two times before we reach the nebula,” Commander Malen informed him as she looked at some navigation calculations on her console. “Kelsey has plotted a course which should allow us to avoid most of the systems that might have Simulin worlds or outposts in them. She based it on what they learned while they were fleeing the Simulins on their flight to the Sigma System.”

  “Let’s just hope she’s right,” Jeremy said. He had all the confidence in the world in Kelsey’s navigation abilities. She was one of the best in the fleet.

  Jeremy allowed his eyes to linger on Gaia for a few more moments, and then he turned toward Commander Malen. “Take the task group out of the gravity well and prepare to enter hyperspace.”

  They didn’t have to exit the gravity well as all the ships’ hyperdrives were capable of opening up stable vortexes even in close proximity to a planet. However, there was no point in putting unnecessary strains on the task groups’ systems if it wasn’t necessary.

  “Helm, take us out,” ordered Commander Malen. “All ahead one-third sublight. Distant Horizon will jump first, followed by the rest of the fleet.”

  The Distant Horizon had the best sensors and was the most powerful ship. If she jumped into danger, she would have the best chance of survival and could warn the rest of the task group.

  “Twenty minutes to jump,” reported Ensign Striker. “Hyperdrive is charged and ready to initiate.”

  -

  All eleven warships quickly left Gaia behind and accelerated outward. The small, compact system only had four planets and a very small asteroid field.

  Once sufficient distance had been put between them and Gaia, a swirling blue-white spatial vortex formed in front of the Distant Horizon. The ship quickly accelerated and entered t
he center to instantly vanish. Moments later the vortex collapsed, leaving no sign of it ever existing. Shortly after vortexes formed in front of the other ten ships and they too entered them and quickly vanished.

  On the battlecarrier Retribution, Rear Admiral Susan Marks watched as the vortexes collapsed. She let out a deep breath, hoping Admiral Strong was successful in his mission. She also hoped they didn’t lead the Simulins back to Gaia if and when they returned.

  Chapter Six

  The small task group slipped out of hyperspace for the fifteenth time and instantly activated their stealth energy shields. So far they’d avoided the Simulins and were well on their way to NGC 604.

  On the Distant Horizon, Kelsey was staring at the viewscreen in front of her displaying the nebula. It was aglow with energy from the blue giants. The magnificent sight mesmerized her.

  “The stars are very young,” explained Andram, noticing Kelsey’s interest in the nebula. “They’re very hot, with temperatures around 72,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

  “It almost seems alive,” said Kelsey as she gazed at the nebula. The nebula appeared to be pulsing with a red glow.

  “Intense ultraviolet radiation ionizes the hydrogen gas in the nebula, causing that effect,” explained Andram. “It’s a stellar nursery with hundreds of newborn stars.”

  “Have you located a suitable location to deploy the capacitor stations and vortex generators?” asked Rear Admiral Barnes as she stepped over closer to the two. The view of the nebula on the massive forward screen was breathtaking.

  “We have several possibilities,” replied Andram, turning to face the admiral. “We’ll need to take some additional readings when we get closer.”

  “Admiral Strong is saying we’ll spend six hours here to check our hyperdrives,” reported Colonel Petra Leon, the executive officer.

  “Our own drive is functioning normally,” added Shilum from where she was sitting at a science console. “Betrem reports the drive is functioning well within its operating parameters.”