The Lost Fleet: Into the Darkness

by Raymond L. Weil

-

  Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes gazed at the massive viewscreen, which dominated the front of the wall of the Command Center. It was focused on Gaia and she was relieved damage down on the surface had been minimal.

  “We only have some minor damage to the hull,” reported Colonel Leon. She’d been going over the damage reports that had been submitted from each department.

  “I wish we had the new energy shield ready to go,” Commander Grissim said. “It could make a big difference.”

  “It’s installed on the Gaia,” Kathryn responded. “She was in orbit along with the rest of our ships. Check with Commander Newman and see how the shield reacted during the battle.”

  “Admiral Barnes,” interrupted Captain Travers from Communications. “Admiral Strong is coming over and he wants to meet with Andram.”

  Kathryn nodded. She’d been concerned about going into battle with the research group on board, but Clarissa had been quite vocal about being able to keep the ship and crew safe.

  “He’s also bringing the other two Special Five with him.”

  Looking over at Kelsey, Kathryn noted the frown that had appeared on her face. Kathryn knew none of those five cared for that name. “Very well,” she answered. “Inform Andram the admiral is on his way over.” She would speak to Travers later and remind him to use the ranks of the five and not their nickname.

  -

  Jeremy stepped into the large research lab where the Altons and Zed were working. He saw it was a beehive of activity with over a dozen Alton scientists in the room as well as a number of Alton and human technicians. What immediately drew his attention was a large rocket-shaped device lying upon a big metal table where Zed was busy attaching some type of complicated looking electronic device.

  Kevin and Angela tentatively followed Jeremy inside, not quite sure why they were there. With surprise, they saw Katie and Kelsey were already in the lab along with Rear Admiral Barnes.

  “Admiral Strong,” spoke Andram, seeing the admiral had entered the lab. “I’m glad you could come over. We’re just about to run our first test.”

  “I need to finish installing this final hyperspace frequency wave emitter,” Zed commented as the AI used two of its tentacles to carefully attach the device to the missile-like object on the table. “It’ll only take another minute.”

  Shilum was standing near Zed observing what the AI was doing. “Is the power going to be sufficient?”

  “It should be for this test,” Zed replied as the AI finished the installation and then attached a cover piece making the small missile look whole. “We’re only using an infinitesimal amount of dark matter.”

  “Everything looks good,” Mikow informed everyone from her computer console. “Power is flowing and the emitter is ready to activate.”

  “What exactly are we doing?” asked Jeremy.

  “When we travel in hyperspace we actually enter another dimension of space time,” explained Shilum as she stepped over to Mikow’s console and studied several readings. “The jump drives in our ships generate a hyperwave that opens up a spatial vortex. The more power we can use to generate the hyperwave the faster our ships can travel. The governing laws in our universe prevent vessels from exceeding the speed of light because of the increase in inertial mass as a ship nears the speed of light. It would require nearly infinite energy to accomplish. However, in the hyper dimension the laws of our universe no longer hold true. We have also discovered the hyper dimension has a number of different levels, perhaps an infinite number, which can be influenced by dark energy and dark matter. What this device does is make the levels we normally use too unstable to allow hyper travel.”

  “What if the Simulins use different levels than we do?” asked Kelsey.

  “From what we have observed they travel in what we would call the midrange upper levels the same as we do. Those are the ones we’re going to destabilize.”

  Jeremy stepped over closer to Zed to examine the jamming missile. “How many of these would we need to keep the Simulins out of the nebula?”

  “Hundreds,” admitted Andram with a deep sigh. “However, if we were to deploy just a few dozen around Gaia’s star system we could make the Simulin’s drop out of hyperspace considerably short of the system. From what we’ve seen of their subspace drives, it would take then over a year to reach us from where we can force them to drop out. That’ll give us time to deploy even more hyperspace emitters, eventually sealing off the entire nebula.”

  “And us too,” commented Kevin with a frown. “It would tie us permanently to Gaia with no way to see what was going on in the rest of the galaxy, particularly the Sigma System.”

  “We would never know if any more ships come through from our galaxy,” Angela said worriedly. “There could be another rescue mission in the future and we would never know about it.”

  “Can we make our ships immune to the jamming signal?” asked Jeremy. He would like to continue to monitor the Sigma System as well as keep an eye on the Simulins.

  “No,” answered Shilum, shaking her head. “It’s not the ship’s hyperdrive we’re influencing with the emitters, it’s hyperspace itself.”

  “Perhaps we should leave several tunnels open through the nebula,” mused Andram as he thought over what would be necessary. “We could set up a number of the emitter satellites to shut down when signaled.”

  “It would still take a few hours for hyperspace in those areas to return to normal,” Shilum said as she ran some quick calculations on Mikow’s computer console. “It’d take a powerful hyperspace transmitter and several booster satellites placed strategically in the nebula to order the emitters to shut down in the designated tunnel areas.”

  “A hyperspace transmitter will still work?” asked Kathryn, showing surprise. “Wouldn’t the emitters affect hyperspace communication as well?”

  “No,” Andram replied. “Hyperspace communications use the lower levels or bands for messages. If we had the power and could assess the really high levels of hyperspace, communications across light-years would be almost instantaneous.”

  “That’s one of the reasons we’ve made the advances in FTL communication over recent years,” Angela added. “When we started using Alton power systems to operate our communication systems we nearly cut in half the time it took to send a message across Federation space. I ran some simulations with the aid of Ariel, and with the Fusion Five reactors and a big enough transmitter we could cut that time in half again.”

  “Everything seems to be functioning within the set parameters for the test,” reported Mikow as she checked her console one more time. She turned around and looked expectantly at Andram.

  “Very well, let’s turn it on,” he responded.

  “Activating the emitters,” reported one of the human technicians as he touched several icons on a computer display.

  From the small missile, a low-pitched humming could be heard. Everyone except Zed moved back from the device.

  “There is no danger,” Zed said in a nearly human voice.

  “Twenty percent power,” Mikow reported. “Disrupting wave is forming.”

  The device seemed to hum even louder and the level of pitch increased.

  “Forty percent power,” Mikow reported, her eyes staying focused on her computer display. “Disrupting wave has formed into a sphere ten meters in diameter.”

  “Confirm minor disruption of midrange hyperspace bands,” added Shilum as she studied the data that was flowing across one of Mikow’s displays.

  “Sixty percent power,” Mikow reported as the device began to vibrate slightly and the humming increased in pitch even more.

  “Confirming major disruption in all normal hyperspace travel bands,” Shilum reported excitedly. “It’s working!”

  “Eighty percent power,” reported Mikow as the device began to vibrate more violently.

  Suddenly sparks shot out from the device and one of the panels blew off, striking Zed’s metal cube. The AI moved back a few meters and continue
d observing. Then the humming faded away and moments later, the lab was in left in silence.

  “What happened?” asked Jeremy, fearing the test had failed.

  Zed and several Alton and human technicians approached the missile-shaped object and removed a number of panels so they could peer inside. Zed used several tentacles to remove one of the emitters, which looked shorted out as it had obvious burn marks on it.

  “We need to ground the emitters better,” the AI reported after a moment. “The emitter couldn’t handle the power we were feeding into it and the dark matter at its core burned it out.”

  “What does that mean?” asked Kevin. “If it’s grounded better will it work?”

  “Yes, I assume so,” Andram replied as he stepped over to examine the damaged emitter. “A full scale model properly powered and grounded should work fine.”

  “Then we can deploy these things?” Kathryn asked, her eyes showing excitement.

  “Yes,” answered Andram, smiling. “The test exceeded my expectations. It will require adjusting some of the hyperspace equations we set up to predict how the emitters would work, but I don’t see any reason not to go ahead and begin constructing some to deploy.”

  “How many would we need to protect just the immediate area around Gaia?” asked Jeremy. There was still a danger the Simulins could attack before the emitters were ready to deploy.

  Andram stepped over next to Shilum and the two spent a few minutes checking equations on one of the computer consoles with the help of Mikow. Finally the two seemed to agree and Andram turned back around.

  “Fourteen will adequately protect Gaia from attack,” he reported.

  “How long will it take to build them?”

  Andram gazed at Zed with a questioning look in his eyes.

  “With the aid of human, Alton, and AI technicians, as well as unlimited access to the construction facilities on the Clan Protector, we can have fourteen ready to deploy in three days,” Zed answered.

  “Can we get by with fewer?” asked Jeremy, wanting to keep the Simulins away from the system.

  They knew which way the Simulins came from when they jumped into the Gaia System. If it would work, he was going to deploy half a dozen of the emitters just outside the system to block the Simulins’ return.

  “No,” Andram answered. “It would only deflect the Simulins’ emergence point to a clear area, possibly even in another part of the Gaia System.”

  “Understand also that the disrupting wave the emitters generate only travels at the speed of light in our dimension. Once an emitter is deployed it will take nearly forty hours for it to reach maximum coverage,” added Shilum.

  “Then let’s get to building these emitters,” Jeremy ordered. “I want them deployed as soon as possible.”

  “Ariel and I will have tentative blueprints for a full sized model within the hour,” Clarissa said as she suddenly appeared next to Katie. “I’ve already downloaded all the necessary information.”

  “Zed and I will go over to the Clan Protector and begin setting up an assembly line,” added Kurene, who had been observing everything. She was in the lab because Zed was.

  “I’ll speak to Daelthon to make sure he understands the importance of this,” added Jeremy. He wanted everyone to understand construction of the emitters had first priority over everything else, even repairing the damaged warships.

  As everyone filed out of the lab, Jeremy just hoped they had the time. He was deeply worried the Simulins would attack again before the emitters were ready to deploy.

  -

  All five of them were in the officer’s mess on the New Horizon.

  “Can we get the emitters finished in time?” Angela asked. She’d spoken to Brace earlier and had been relieved to hear he wasn’t involved in the fighting on the ground though many of his Marines were.

  “I hope so,” replied Jeremy, wanting to sound positive. “It should take the Simulins several days to gather the forces they need to attack us again.”

  “Maybe,” Kevin said doubtfully. “The fleet we engaged between the third and fourth planets escaped with most of their ships intact. They could return at any time.”

  “Yes,” Jeremy admitted with a frown. “After viewing some of the battle data it’s evident their main purpose was to keep us from returning to Gaia. In many instances when one of their ships was damaged it immediately withdrew to the back of their formation rather than press the attack.”

  “Same as we did,” Kevin said. “That’s why losses on both sides were so light.”

  “The only problem is they can afford to lose ships and we can’t,” stated Kelsey. “We can’t replace the lives that were lost.”

  Jeremy knew Kelsey was right. Every ship they lost impacted their population base. They’d lost more people in the recent battle than the number of babies born since the fleets had become stranded. He took a deep breath and gazed down at the food on his plate; he didn’t feel much like eating.

  “We’ll get the emitters built in time,” Katie said, her light green eyes glowing with confidence. “I know Andram and the others will do everything they can to make that happen.”

  “And once the emitters are in place we have a wedding to finish planning,” quipped Clarissa as she suddenly appeared next to the table with a big smile on her face. “Ariel and I have come up with some other ideas for a beach wedding.”

  “On, no,” muttered Angela, closing her eyes.

  Katie and Kelsey started laughing. Only Clarissa could go from talking about life and death to planning a wedding.

  “I have picked out an outfit also,” Clarissa announced. She closed her eyes and her clothing changed. She was now wearing a dark blue low cut dress, which was extremely short. It also showed a tremendous amount of cleavage.

  “Clarissa!” admonished Katie, her eyes bulging. “I’m not sure that’s appropriate for a wedding, and I suspect you’ve enhanced your boobs again.”

  “Only somewhat,” Clarissa said defensively. Then, with a frown, she closed her eyes for a moment and her boobs shrank and the dress adjusted to show much less. “Is this better?”

  “We’re getting there,” Katie said noncommittally. “Kelsey and I will help you pick out something to wear.”

  “Can we go shopping?” Clarissa asked, her eyes lighting up. “We could set up some holographic projectors in one of the clothing stores in New Eden.”

  Katie let out a deep sigh. “Maybe,” she replied. “Let’s get the hyperspace emitters built first and then we’ll talk about it.”

  “Great,” Clarissa answered. “I’ll tell Ariel we’re going to get to go shopping.” With that, the AI promptly disappeared.

  “Wait!” Katie began, but the AI was gone.

  “Guess we’re going shopping,” Kelsey said, shaking her head. “That should be an interesting experience.”

  Kevin and Jeremy said nothing. The entire exchange had been highly humorous. With the danger they were facing it had been nice to feel normal for just a few minutes. Jeremy wondered if that had been the real purpose of what Clarissa had done. Sometimes Jeremy suspected the two AIs understood humans much better than they let on.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ten days passed and the first fourteen emitters were successfully deployed with no interference from the Simulins. Tensions were high in the Gaia System as the second wave of hyperspace emitters were readied for deployment.

  “I don’t understand,” Kathryn said to Jeremy with a confused look in her eyes. They were in the Command Center of the Avenger discussing the coming emitter deployment. “Why haven’t they attacked?”

  “I don’t know,” Jeremy admitted as he leaned back in his command chair and folded his arms across his chest. He looked over at Kathryn sitting in the other chair to his right. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It might,” Ariel said as she turned and stepped away from Angela’s console where she’d been discussing the upcoming wedding. “What if the Simulins need their ships elsewhere?�
�

  “What do you mean, elsewhere?” asked Jeremy, looking perplexed. “They pretty well control this galaxy as near as we can tell.”

  “Yes, but remember the Dyson Sphere and the intergalactic vortexes we detected?” Ariel reminded him. “What if somewhere they’ve met unusual resistance and need the ships for an attack?”

  Jeremy sat silently for a moment as he thought over Ariel’s words. “You don’t think they’re mounting an invasion of our home galaxy, do you?”

  “Unknown,” Ariel responded, her dark eyes focusing on Jeremy. “Though it is a possibility. After we located the Dyson Sphere and beat back their first attack here in the Gaia System, they may consider our home galaxy a potential threat.”

  “I wish there was some way to destroy the Dyson Sphere,” Kathryn said with a frown spreading across her face. She’d come over to the Avenger to discuss the new energy shield the Distant Horizon was being equipped with. “If we could, it would cut this galaxy off from other Simulin controlled ones and ensure our home galaxy stays safe.”

  “We have no idea how far they’ve expanded or even if this is their home galaxy,” responded Jeremy, wishing they had more information. “For all we know, the Triangulum Galaxy is one of their conquests. I agree it would be great if we could do something about the Dyson Sphere. However, it’s so big and the material it’s constructed from is probably impervious to any type of weapon we currently have. I don’t think a particle beam or an antimatter missile would affect it.”

  “I can confirm that,” Ariel said. “The scans the Distant Horizon took show the entire sphere is composed of several unknown alloys of tremendous strength. Some of these same alloys were found in the excavations the Altons did on several of the abandoned Originator worlds they discovered in their early explorations.”

  “It would have to be in order to withstand the radiation from the star it surrounds. I don’t see any way we can attack it.”

  “I wish we knew more about these Originators,” commented Kathryn. “From what Andram said their science is tremendously more advanced than the Altons.”