The Lost Fleet: Oblivion's Light: A Slaver Wars Novel

by Raymond L. Weil

  “We have added a new and thicker lining to our heavy pulse lasers,” Krusk stated in a tired voice. “Our technicians believe they will stand up to four to six firings at the higher energy level before burning out.” The engineering crews had been working around the clock to get the upgrade completed.

  Lukel gazed sadly at a viewscreen that showed the blue-white world beneath the orbiting fleets. “These are indeed the ones we have heard about. The destroyers of worlds.”

  Over the past century, Ornellian exploration ships had encountered alien spacecraft fleeing toward the far reaches of the galaxy. In every instance when it had been possible to communicate they had spoken of a spreading horror from farther in toward the central regions of the galaxy, which was destroying all inhabited planets. After receiving several of these reports, the Ornellian Empire had pulled back their exploration cruisers lest they encounter and lead back this dangerous enemy to the empire. Instead they had built up their defense fleets in the hope that if this scourge ever reached the empire, they could be stopped. Unfortunately, no one had expected the enemy to be so advanced.

  “We are launching new and more powerful laser satellites every day,” First Commander Lukel added. “We’ve also added the new pulse lasers to our shipyards and stations.”

  “We will give a good accounting of ourselves,” Admiral Krusk said with a deep sigh. “However, to win this battle I fear we’re going to need a miracle.”

  -

  High Commander Zarth Lantu gazed with satisfaction at his assembled fleet. Two more fleets had arrived, and it was time to move on the Ornellians. While they hadn’t attacked any of the Ornellian systems or research stations, they had studied their communications in order to learn their potential weaknesses. Once the home system was annihilated, the others would be capable of offering only minimal resistance.

  “The battle computer estimates that 90 percent of the Ornellian fleet is now positioned around their capital world,” Second Commander Darst reported in a steady voice.

  “It is as we planned,” Lantu responded. His eyes focused on the tactical screen, which was showing a view of the Ornellian home system. Numerous red and amber icons moved about the screen. The red were Ornellian warships while the amber were cargo vessels. “We will move in and crush their fleet and end their world, and then we will visit their remaining star systems and cleanse all of their planets of organics. Once we’re finished, we will leave several of our smaller fleet formations to deal with their mining and science outposts. Within a year, the Ornellian organics will no longer exist.”

  “We do have one fleet that has not shown up,” reported Darst. “One of our sensor probes ceased to function and the fleet was sent to investigate. It should be arriving shortly.”

  “We don’t need them,” Lantu answered dismissively. “Prepare the fleet to enter hyperspace. It is time we end these organics for there can be none but Simulin.”

  “None but Simulin,” repeated Second Commander Darst as he moved away to carry out the order.

  -

  Admiral Krusk was awakened from his restless slumber as alarms began sounding. Sitting up he saw he had only been asleep for two hours. With a deep sigh, he reached over and activated the comm unit next to his bed. “Report!”

  “They’re here,” First Commander Lukel reported in an urgent voice. “We have enemy ships exiting hyperspace two million kilometers from Ornellia.”

  Krusk felt a chill run through him. This was it. “Bring the fleet to full alert and prepare to implement combat maneuvers. Send a message to the council that I expect us to be fully engaged with the enemy shortly.”

  Krusk quickly dressed and then paused as he prepared to exit his quarters. He looked around, knowing that he would probably never step back inside again. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, he closed the hatch and then proceeded toward the Command Center.

  -

  High Commander Zarth Lantu gazed at his tactical screen as the last of his 1,200 warships exited hyperspace.

  “The battle computer is recommending we move into attack formation 6-14-217,” reported Second Commander Darst, as he turned away from the computer console. His cold and uncaring eyes met High Commander Lantu’s.

  “Very well,” Lantu replied with little emotion in his voice. “All ships are to form up on the flagship in the designated attack formation and we will move on the planet.” Looking toward a viewscreen, he could see the target planet being displayed. It was a blue-white globe as most inhabited worlds were. From their earlier scans, it was teeming with billions of Ornellians, something the Simulin fleet and the accompanying Conqueror Drone carriers would soon put an end to.

  -

  “Move the fleet out,” ordered Admiral Krusk in a grave voice. “We will meet the enemy in open space away from Ornellia and then gradually fall back toward the planet and its defenses.” Krusk was concerned that if he started the battle too close to the planet, the enemy might attempt to hit the planet with their nuclear bombardment missiles.

  “The order has been given,” replied First Commander Lukel.

  -

  In space, the Ornellian fleet formed up into a vast cone formation with the apex closest to the approaching enemy. The more powerful battlecruisers were spread throughout the formation to give the entire cone the same concentrated firepower as well as to protect the larger ships from the deadly energy beams of the enemy.

  The Simulins had formed up into a solid phalanx of ships one hundred ships in width and ten high with a reserve of two hundred additional ships to fill in for damaged vessels as needed. Also with the rear guard were twenty of the deadly Conqueror Drone carriers.

  From the planet came offers of unconditional surrender, ignored by the Simulins as offers of surrender generally demanded a promise from the winner not to exterminate the planet’s population and that was exactly what the Simulins intended.

  -

  “Enemy are within range,” reported First Commander Lukel in a steady voice.

  “Order all ships to fire!” commanded Admiral Krusk.

  Instantly from hundreds of Ornellians ships, pulse laser beams of tremendous energy leaped out to impact Simulin shields. Dozens of beams were targeted on individual ships, as these first kills were essential if the Ornellians had any hope of victory.

  -

  The bright ruby-red beams struck the Simulin shields and for a moment it seemed as if the attack was doomed to fail, then one beam followed by dozens began penetrating the energy screens. A Simulin escort cruiser exploded, sending debris in all directions as its engineering compartment was breached. A Simulin battlecruiser lost three of its spires as the tremendous heat generated from the pulse lasers burned through the ship’s armor.

  -

  High Commander Lantu gazed at his flagship’s tactical screen as several Simulin ships vanished from the display, indicating their destruction.

  “The battle computer confirms high-intensity pulse lasers,” reported Second Commander Darst. “However, our sensors are not indicating the Ornellian ships are suffering damage from their firing as before.”

  “An update to the laser system, no doubt,” stated Lantu, his eyes taking a cold and hard appearance. “Have all ships fire; I want those Ornellian vessels eliminated. Once their fleet is gone we will move on the planet.”

  Darst nodded and quickly passed on the order.

  -

  From the Simulin vessels, white energy beams flashed out, striking the Ornellian defense screens. Unlike the Simulin energy screens, the Ornellians had no defense against the powerful weapons of the Simulins. Shield after shield failed and when it did, the targeted Ornellian ships died almost instantly. Across the Ornellian cone of battle, ships exploded in fiery bursts of released energy.

  -

  “We’ve lost sixteen vessels,” reported First Commander Lukel. “Another twenty-three are reporting heavy damage.”

  “The enemy?” asked Admiral Krusk, feeling the pain of losing so many good and faithfu
l crews.

  “Two of their battlecruisers have been destroyed and four of their escort cruisers. They are closing the distance between our fleet and theirs. I fear our element of surprise is now gone.”

  “Began to fall back toward Ornell,” ordered the admiral, leaning forward and studying the tactical screen. “We’ll add the orbital defenses to our firepower; just maybe that will be enough to cause the enemy to retreat.”

  Lukel nodded and quickly passed on the necessary orders though he greatly feared that even with the firepower from Ornellia’s orbiting defenses it wouldn’t be enough to stop the massive enemy fleet they were facing.

  -

  “The battle computer is reporting an 88 percent chance of victory,” said Second Commander Darst. “We were not expecting their pulse lasers to be so effective. They must be pouring all of their ships’ energy into a single beam.”

  An alarm sounded on the sensor console and High Commander Lantu glanced over at the sensor operator. “Why is that alarm sounding?”

  “I have a small fleet approaching in hyperspace,” the sensor operator reported.

  “The fleet that stopped to check on the missing sensor probe?” suggested Second Commander Darst.

  “When they arrive have them form up with the reserves,” ordered Lantu, turning his attention back to the battle. “They can assist in clearing the orbital space around the planet.”

  -

  Rear Admiral Kathryn Barnes gazed with deep concern at the long-range sensor display. “We know where those two Simulin fleets were going.” It was showing a massive ongoing space battle for control of the system they were rapidly approaching.

  “Yes,” muttered Colonel Leon unhappily. “I think we found our allies.”

  “There’s already a battle raging in the system,” said Commander Grissim as Anne studied the data from the long-range sensors. “It looks as if the Simulins have committed approximately 1,200 of their warships against a defensive fleet of 800.”

  “The defending fleet is pulling back toward the planet,” added Clarissa as she extrapolated the data from what the ship’s long-range sensors could see of the battle. “The defending fleet is losing six ships for every Simulin vessel they bring down.”

  Kathryn looked around at the faces in her command crew. “Recommendations?”

  “Even with our advanced weapons we’ll be badly outnumbered,” commented Commander Grissim evenly. “If we attempt to engage that many Simulin vessels we could lose a large portion of our fleet.”

  Colonel Leon shook her head. “We can’t just let the Simulins wipe them out. We know what they’ll do to the planet once they’ve destroyed the defending fleet.”

  “Billions of people will die,” Katie said poignantly. “Or in this case, aliens.”

  “We go in,” Kelsey said without hesitation. She knew that was what Jeremy would expect.

  Kathryn nodded. She had already made up her mind; she had just wanted to give her command crew a moment to voice their opinions. “I agree,” she said. “We go in. We’ll drop out of hyperspace in the outer regions of the system and then do a short and quick hyperjump that will put us right behind the Simulin fleet. We’ll deploy all of our Defense Globes and hit the Simulin rear guard. If we can smash it, perhaps the Simulins will break off their attack and withdraw.” Kathryn turned toward Clarissa. “When we engage the Simulins you will have full control over the Distant Horizon, the battleships Deneb and Pallas, and the battlecarrier Ardent. Can you handle that many ships in combat?”

  “Yes,” Clarissa said without a moment’s hesitation. “What about the Altons and the AIs?”

  “I’m sending the two Alton battleships in with the AIs; I believe they will work well together.”

  Commander Grissim checked her data screen and then turned back toward the admiral. “We’ll be dropping out of hyperspace in eight minutes.”

  “Take us to Condition One,” ordered Kathryn. “Captain Travers, I want to be able to speak to our other ships as soon as we exit hyperspace. Lieutenant Strong, I want to make a combat jump one minute after we exit.”

  -

  High Commander Lantu nodded to himself in satisfaction as he gazed at a large viewscreen. The shattered remains of dozens of Ornellian ships filled the screen. In the last few minutes, the battle had swung rapidly in his fleet’s favor as energy beams cut the Ornellians to pieces.

  “Forty-two more Ornellian ships have been destroyed,” Second Commander Darst reported. “The battle computer estimates another one hundred and twelve have suffered severe damage.”

  “Our losses?” asked Lantu.

  “Six battlecruisers and eleven escorts.”

  “A small price to pay,” Lantu responded. Simulins understood the need for sacrifice. The loss of a few ships from his fleet was of little concern.

  “Fleet dropping out of hyperspace at the outskirts of the system,” reported the sensor operator, sounding confused.

  Lantu frowned. “Contact the High Commander of that fleet and order them to fall in with the reserves.” Lantu didn’t understand why the fleet that had been investigating the missing sensor drone had dropped out of hyperspace so far from the battle.

  “High Commander, there may be a problem,” the sensor operator said as he studied his screens. “The ships showing up on the sensors are not ours.”

  “What!” Lantu barked, his eyes shifting toward the sensor operator. “What do you mean they’re not ours? Are they another Ornellian fleet?”

  “Fleet’s jumping,” the sensor operator reported as the ships vanished from his screen.

  “Where did they go?” Lantu didn’t like what he was hearing.

  “They’re here!” uttered Second Commander Darst, as twenty-six red threat icons suddenly appeared just behind the reserve fleet.

  Lantu looked intently at the tactical screen just in time to see six of his reserve battlecruisers vanish from the display.

  “The battle computer has identified the new ships as a mixture of AI vessels and their organic allies from the Fitula Nebula.”

  Lantu froze at this revelation. This was a much more powerful enemy than the Ornellians. He knew the AIs and the other ships with them had the capability to destroy Simulin vessels. He had studied the reports of these ships’ capabilities.

  “Order the reserve to reverse course and engage the new arrivals. We’ll proceed and eliminate the Ornellian ships and then return to assist if necessary.”

  Lantu gazed with concern at the tactical screen. His job was to destroy all other organic life that was not Simulin and now a powerful enemy had appeared to challenge that mission.

  -

  Ornellian Admiral Krusk gazed in shock at what he was witnessing on the tactical screen. An unknown fleet had dropped out of hyperspace and was attacking the world destroyers. Even more amazing was how easily they seemed to be destroying the enemy’s rearguard.

  “Halt our retreat,” he ordered with renewed determination. He knew if they moved much closer to the planet the enemy might be able to use their nuclear missiles against the surface. As much as he wanted to fall back to the planetary defenses, this new attack might just give him the diversion he needed to implement another plan. “Contact Admiral Prest and inform him to commence Operation Firestorm.”

  “Now?” asked First Commander Lukel, gazing intently at the admiral.

  Krusk nodded. “Yes, now. We might not get another opportunity. “Also, see if we can contact that new fleet!”

  -

  Kathryn winced as the Distant Horizon shook violently. Several red lights flared up on the damage control console. “Clarissa, I want the ship left in one piece!”

  “I know, Admiral,” Clarissa responded from her usual position just behind the admiral and to her left side. “There’s just a lot of weapons’ fire out there.”

  Looking at a viewscreen, Kathryn saw a Simulin battlecruiser swell on the screen. Suddenly several ion beams from the sixty Defense Globes they had launched struck the vessel’
s energy screen, tearing open small four-meter holes. Almost instantly two Devastator Three sublight missiles flashed through and detonated. Not even a Simulin battlecruiser could survive being struck by two of the fifty-megaton missiles. In a brilliant flash of light, the ship was blown apart, leaving only a few wisps of glowing gas to mark its passing.

  “Simulin battlecruiser is down,” confirmed Captain Reynolds.

  -

  In space, the sudden attack by the AI and Federation ships had stunned the Simulin rearguard. It took a few moments to turn their vessels to respond to the attack. During that time, fourteen of their ships were blown apart. Energy beams, ion beams, particle beams, power beams, and powerful missiles were flying everywhere.

  In the Simulin formation, several particle beams from the Alton battleships Starlight and Nova slammed into the main body of a Simulin battlecruiser, setting off massive explosions and hurling glowing debris into space. The newly modified particle beams were much more powerful than those used in the past. Moments after the beam blasted open deep fissures in the hull of the Simulin ship a single sublight antimatter missile sent it into oblivion.

  The Simulins were returning fire, but it was uncoordinated and the AI warspheres and the other Federation ships were having little trouble standing up to the attack. The newly strengthened energy shields were even capable of standing up to the Simulins’ most powerful energy beams for a few precious seconds, long enough for them to either move out of the way or destroy their attacker.

  Clarissa was using the four ships under her command like a Kendo master. Her attacks were quick and precise, bringing overwhelming force to bear. In less than four minutes, she managed to blow apart six Simulin vessels and heavily damage seven more.

  However, the Simulins still had a huge advantage in numbers. As coordination became better, multiple ships began targeting the vessels attacking them. An AI warsphere was bracketed by a dozen Simulin battlecruisers. Powerful energy beams impacted the ship’s energy screen, causing it to flare up brightly as it tried to resist the attack. Then one beam followed by three others penetrated the highly stressed screen, cutting deeply into the warsphere’s armored hull. In a massive explosion, the 1,000-meter ship detonated as its commanding AI set off the ship’s self-destructs.