“Three hundred and twelve,” reported Second Officer Carmmod. “Most are heavily damaged.”
“The hyperspace interference field?”
“Still in effect,” reported the Eternal at the Helm. “It does not matter as our hyperdrive has been damaged.”
Durant’s shoulders slumped. He was facing defeat. Glancing at the one still functioning tactical display, he could see the Originators still had over one thousand ships left, including their flagship. “We die for the empire,” he said to his command crew standing around him. “We are Eternals and we know our duty.” Durant walked over and sat down in his command chair. All he could do now was wait for the Originators to finish killing his fleet.
-
Commander Zafron had just finished listening to the damage reports from the two fleets. Combined they still had three hundred and ten dreadnaughts and nine hundred battlecruisers. Many of the battlecruisers were damaged. The battle had been brutal with heavy losses on both sides.
“We will advance with all dreadnaughts screening the Dominator,” he ordered over the comm system connecting him to all the ships in the two fleets. “Our primary targets are the two main shipyards. We will attack them one at a time. The battlecruisers will stay back and initiate repairs.”
Kazak ran his hands over his tactical console. “All weapons are ready. I’ll hit the shipyard with ten of our blue energy spheres and then switch to the Eternal battlecruisers. This is a large shipyard, and it will take at least two minutes for the spheres to do their work.”
Zafron nodded. “Helm, advance the fleet. It’s time to finish this battle.”
-
Fleet Commander Durant sat quietly as the Originator fleet advanced. He had inflicted significant losses on the two fleets but not enough to save the system. As he watched the few functioning viewscreens, he saw weapons fire erupt. Originator ships were firing as well as the surviving Eternal battlecruisers.
“Blue energy spheres have struck the shipyard,” reported Carmmod. “The commanding officer reports the metal is simply disintegrating.”
Durant closed his eyes. His dreams of rising in rank in the empire were about to die. He felt the ship shudder and then a strange shrieking noise seemed to permeate the air. He opened his eyes, looking inquiringly at Carmmod.
“We’ve been hit by three of the blue spheres. Our ship is coming apart.”
Durant did not reply. Instead, he gazed at the front wall of the Command Center. Suddenly it seemed to vanish and he could see the stars. Moments later Fleet Commander Durant was dead as the harsh vacuum of space took the breath out of him.
-
Commander Zafron watched as the shipyard was turned into space dust and the last Eternal battlecruiser died. “Move the fleet to the second shipyard. We will attack it the same way.” Zafron leaned back in his command chair. He knew the battle was won. Once the last of the shipyards and orbital facilities were destroyed, they would stay here and finish what repairs they could to the two fleets. He would then combine them into one fleet and they would continue to attack the Eternal shipyards and bases in this galaxy.
-
On the Planet Gardell, First Leader Clondax studied the reports coming in from different galaxies within the empire. For the most part there was little unrest. However, in five galaxies it was evident Originator fleets were busy. There were reports of numerous shipyards and mining operations being destroyed.
“We cannot allow these losses to continue,” complained Second Leader Queexel. “What if the Originators send even more fleets?”
Second Leader Fehnral stood and gazed at the First Leader. “We could begin to lose control of some of our galaxies if these attacks continue. That cannot be allowed to happen.”
Clondax gazed coldly at Fehnral. Recently the Second Leader had been challenging his decisions more frequently. “I will order more warships to all five galaxies in question.”
“What of the fleets we have in Originator space?” asked Second Leader Tarmal. “My shock troops and warrior robots are now ready to invade the Shrieel in Simulin space.”
“Our war fleets are destroying Originator fleet bases as we planned. I have ordered a number of our battlecruisers to observe the Shrieel in question. They will report any unusual activity. Our invasion fleet for the Shrieel is ready and can depart at a moments notice.”
“Reports indicate our fleets are suffering heavier losses than expected,” said Second Leader Nolant. “The Originator fleet bases are more heavily defended than those we have encountered previously.”
Clondax knew this to be true. He was not pleased with the reported ship losses. “The Originators have placed more battlecruisers and large numbers of their attack spheres around the fleet bases. Our ship losses are nearly 300 percent higher than originally projected.”
Several Second Leaders were visibly upset by this announcement.
“We must move up our projected attack on the Simulin Shrieel,” said Second Leader Queexel.
“I agree,” said Second Leader Nolant. “The war against the Originators needs to be brought to an end so we can continue to expand our empire. Every day we delay our expansion allows unknown enemies to gather and prepare to resist us. As large as this universe is we are bound to encounter such an enemy eventually.”
First Leader Clondax thought swiftly about what needed to be done. Perhaps if he could take the vortex Control Center in the Shrieel the Simulins controlled, he could force the Originators to negotiate rather than face invasion. He would make his offer to allow the surviving Originators to live on one Shrieel and never leave it. “I will order Fleet Commander Parnon to take the fleet we have gathered for this purpose to the outskirts of the Simulin Galaxy. We will continue to observe the Shrieel and once we are confident of being able to launch our attack successfully, we will do so.”
“We are the Eternals,” said Second Leader Tallard, satisfied with the First Leader’s answer. “It is our right to rule.”
The others nodded in agreement. It was time to end this war!
Chapter Sixteen
Major Brenda Wilde was inside another Dyson Sphere. She had been summoned because the stasis facility the squad of Marines had located was massive; far larger than any they had found so far. She had brought her main team along with her.
Brenda was standing in the facilities Control Center along with Sergeant Metz, Cynthia, Reesa, and Faboll. Faboll was hunched over the main computer console using the small device he always carried to access it.
“This is amazing,” said Faboll, his eyes showing excitement. “This facility was built specifically by the Originator Council to allow some of our best scientists and their families to survive. There are even two councilors listed as being in stasis.”
“Which two?” asked Cynthia. It had surprised her they hadn’t found more councilors in the stasis facilities as there was at least one councilor for every Shrieel.
“Councilor Aldon Metrecs and Councilor Alora Roan,” replied Faboll.
Cynthia frowned. The names were not familiar. Of course she wasn’t familiar with all the councilors from the different Shrieels. “Are they both from this Shrieel?”
Faboll shook his head. “No, that’s the strange part. They’re both from other Shrieels and not this one.”
“The councilor from this Shrieel may have died from the pathogen,” suggested Reesa. “My research indicates many of the councilors were deeply involved in trying to find a cure.”
Cynthia stepped over closer to Faboll. “What were their fields of study?”
“Councilor Metrecs is a computer specialist and expert on long-term stasis. Councilor Roan is a medical doctor trained in the effects of long-term stasis.”
This excited Cynthia. These were two experts they sorely needed even if they were councilors. “We need to awaken them as soon as possible. Do we know where their stasis chambers are located?”
Faboll nodded as he turned toward a wall in the Control Center, which held fifteen sta
sis chambers. “They’re in the two chambers on the far left side.”
-
“How many stasis chambers are in this facility?” asked Reesa. She was anxious to see the list of Originators in stasis. She had been interviewing a number of them from every stasis facility they found about the last days of the pathogen. Some of the stories had been truly terrifying. It was amazing how a civilization as advanced as the Originators could turn barbaric in the face of such a calamity. Reesa had hundreds of hours of recordings she had made during her interviews.
Faboll spent a few moments accessing more information from the Control Centers’ main computer. “This is unbelievable. If the data is correct, there are 118,016 of our people in stasis.”
Reesa took a step back her eyes widening. “So many?”
“Yes,” answered Faboll. “This facility was built by the council itself so it’s not surprising it’s so large.”
Reesa couldn’t help but smile. She would be spending days talking to some of these Originators. She just needed to choose which ones would have the most interesting stories. Reesa wondered if there was any way the two councilors would agree to an interview.
-
Brenda took a deep breath. She hated asking the next question. “How many have failed?” In most facilities nearly 12 percent of all the chambers had ceased to function. If that percentage was the same here they were looking at over 14,000 failed chambers.
“You are not going to believe this but not a single chamber is nonfunctional,” replied Faboll.
Brenda’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How is that possible? In every facility we’ve opened so far there have been a multitude of failed stasis chambers.”
“I can tell you why,” Leeda said as she came into the room. She had gone to check on some of the stasis chambers in the rest of the facility with a couple of Marines. “There are still repair robots functioning. It appears there is a small fabrication center to repair or build new ones as the old repair robots wear out.”
“We’ve never found anything like that before,” said Brenda. If there were enough repair robots still functioning, it would explain why all the stasis chambers were working.
Cynthia grinned broadly upon hearing all the Originators in the massive facility were still alive. “Let’s have some repair robots come down and remove these fifteen chambers. We’ll awaken them first before we touch the rest. They might be able to answer some of our questions about why this facility was built.”’
Brenda nodded. This was the procedure they had been following in all the stasis facilities. The Originators in the Control Centers were the ones trained to activate the awakening process for the stasis chambers. However, that would not happen here. Due to the excessive amount of time which had passed, instead of awakening any of the Originators in the facility they would all be taken to the large medical centers that existed in the Originator cities. There were two centers nearby and Brenda had already ordered their full activation. Teams of Altons, Originators, a few Humans, and medically trained AIs were standing by to receive the first chambers. It was also going to be necessary to send for more of the cure because of the large number of Originators in the underground facility.
“I need to send a message to Councilor Bartoll,” said Brenda. “He’ll be excited to learn we’ve found more surviving councilors.” Brenda hesitated and then turned toward Faboll. “Make sure we run the list of Originators in stasis against the known list of the members of the Defenders of Zorn.” So far in all the stasis facilities they had opened twenty Originators had been found who had past contacts with the organization. Those twenty had been revived but were being held for further questioning to determine if they represented any type of danger.
“This is going to take awhile,” sergeant Metz said. “This facility is nearly four times larger than any other we’ve found.”
Brenda nodded her head in agreement. She was also curious to learn why this facility was so large. Of course with the Originator Council being involved it might explain its size and why they had included a manufacturing facility for repair robots. Brenda was thankful they did. At least they wouldn’t be removing stasis chambers with mummified Originator remains inside. That was the gruesome part of this job Brenda found disheartening, knowing they had gone to sleep hoping to awaken in a future with the cure. Instead they died never knowing the cure had indeed been found.
-
Later Brenda returned to the facility out of curiosity. She had sent a message to Councilor Bartoll as well as Fleet Admiral Strong informing them of their discovery. Brenda was walking down a long corridor with stasis chambers stacked high on both sides. Occasionally she would stop to gaze at the occupants. Originator males and females, including children, were in the clear chambers. Occasionally a repair robot would zip by and stop at a chamber to examine it briefly before moving on.
“It’s spooky down here,” said Sergeant Metz as he gazed at an Originator woman in one of the cases. “It’s hard to imagine they’ve been asleep for over two million years.”
Brenda nodded. “I get the chills just walking down these corridors. Can you imagine what it must have been like toward the end in the Dyson Spheres? Leeda says millions of Originators were dying daily and the populace was becoming more and more panicked as it became evident there was not going to be a cure. There was actual fighting in some of the cities. Some tried to flee in spacecraft but the Originator Council shut all the space docks down. They did not want other civilizations finding Originator ships floating in space with dead crews on board. It would have allowed their technology to fall into the hands of worlds not ready for such highly advanced science.”
“Major, you need to come see this,” said Corporal Anastasia Malone as she ran up to the two. Anastasia had been given a promotion recently. “We’ve opened up a large compartment and you’re not going to believe what’s inside.”
Brenda looked over at Sergeant Metz who shrugged. “Lead the way.”
A few minutes later the three were standing inside a huge room. Along the walls were more stasis chambers.
“Are those what I think they are?” asked Brenda, gazing in worry at the two hundred odd chambers in the room. She could barely make out the occupants.
Corporal Malone nodded. “Yes, the beings in those chambers are Eternals!”
Brenda’s face turned pale. “Sergeant Metz, I want two full squads of combat robots as well as a squad of Marines assigned to this room immediately. If even one of those chambers acts as if it is going to open I want it destroyed!”
Metz hurried off to comply with Brenda’s orders. They were so far underground communication with the surface was nearly impossible. Brenda walked over and looked closely at one of the chambers. The being inside was eight feet tall, powerfully built and completely bald. His eight-foot tall form and muscular body seemed overpowering when compared to the slimmer forms of an Originator. The Eternals’ eyes were open and seemed dark and cold.
“I’d hate to meet him anywhere,” mumbled Corporal Malone, her eyes wide open and staring at the Eternal. “Just look at those eyes! What are they doing here?”
Brenda shook her head. “I don’t know. It makes no sense. All the Eternals were confined to their galaxy thousands of years before the pathogen began destroying the Originator civilization.” One thing Brenda knew for sure: there were going to be a lot of questions for the two Originator Councilors when they were awakened. “I want access to this room on a need to know basis only. I don’t want anyone entering without my explicit permission.”
“Yes, Major,” replied Anastasia. She was holding her assault rifle cradled in her arms.
Looking around the room Brenda saw equipment and consoles which she had no idea what purpose they served. Was it possible these Eternals were being experimented on by the Originators in the hope of finding a cure for the pathogen?
It took a while but Sergeant Metz eventually returned with the combat robots and Marines. Not only that but Leeda and Faboll w
ere with them.
“I don’t believe this!” uttered Faboll, looking around the room in shock. “How can Eternals be here? Their galaxy was cut off from the rest of the universe by the hyperspace distortion stations. This should be impossible!”
Leeda walked slowly around the room, examining each chamber. “Some of these Eternals have been operated on,” she announced. “It’s evident they were being used for some type of experiment.”
“I think the Originators in this facility were using them to seek a cure for the pathogen,” said Brenda. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“This isn’t good,” said Leeda with a deep frown. “How could they risk bringing Eternals here? What if they had gotten loose?”
“We should destroy them,” said Faboll, looking at the combat robots. “We should end this now. If these Eternals were to escape they could to incalculable damage.”
Brenda agreed with Faboll but she did not have the authority to order such an action. “I’ll contact Councilor Bartoll and Fleet Admiral Strong to see what they want done. Sergeant Metz, I want you to stay here until relieved.”
Metz didn’t look pleased with the order but nodded. “I’m going to have all of these chambers rigged with explosives. If even one starts to open I’ll blow them all.”
“Do it,” ordered Brenda as she gazed at the stasis chambers containing the Eternals. She felt a cold shiver pass over her. “We can’t let a single one of these Eternals leave this room.”
Brenda watched as Sergeant Metz and several other Marines began placing explosive charges on each of the stasis chambers. She had no idea how Councilor Bartoll and Fleet Admiral Strong would react when told of this discovery.
-
Four days later, Brenda was back in the large room containing the Eternals. A number of Originator specialists had arrived sent by Councilor Bartoll and Fleet Admiral Strong. Brenda knew Jeremy must be concerned as a full company of Marines had also arrived.
The Originator Wars: Conflict Unending: A Lost Fleet Novel Page 22
