“Lead the way,” Brenda said, cradling her assault rifle in her arms. Her platoon of Marines was heavily armed, though she doubted if any weapons would be needed. Since their arrival there had been no signs of life. If someone lived inside the Dyson Sphere, surely they would have made some type of response to the Federation fleet in orbit.
Moving cautiously forward, all the Marines and scientists entered the long corridor. Reesa hurried to the front and arrived at the other doors before anyone else. “We’re going to need the key to go any further,” she reported as she saw the small indentations indicating where the key needed to go. Turning around, she marched back to the entrance and, reaching her hand outside, she grasped the key and pulled it out. Stepping back inside, she had only gone a few feet when the entrance door slid back shut, sealing them in.
“Well, that’s not good,” said Sergeant Wilde, stepping over to the now missing entrance and running her gloved hand over the smooth metal.
“Don’t worry, we can use the key to get back out,” spoke Reesa confidently.
“Really?” Brenda said in a sarcastic voice. “And just where are you going to put the key?”
Reesa looked around the former entrance and her face turned pale. There wasn’t a slot for the key! The entire wall was smooth. “I don’t know,” she stammered. “There should be a slot for the key on this side but I don’t see it.”
“Crap!” muttered Brenda in exasperation. Once more, she had allowed the Altons to get her into a mess. She could already hear the lecture from Captain Abrams. “So what do we do now?” she asked, turning toward Reesa.
Reesa was silent for a long moment and then replied. “The two doors at the end of the corridor have slots for the key. I suggest we open them and see what we find. There has to be a way back out somewhere, we just need to find it.”
Brenda nodded. She didn’t see they had any other choice. They had finally found a way into the Dyson Sphere. The only problem was, they had the only key that could open the door, and no one outside had one. “Lead the way.”
Reesa quickly turned and headed for the two doors. They had finally gotten inside but unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a way back out. Now she felt responsible for the safety of the group. She had to find a way to get them safely back to the exploration cutter. What greatly concerned her was that it had taken over three months to find this entrance. What if it took that long to find way back out?
-
Above the Dyson Sphere, warning alarms were blaring on the WarHawk’s sensor console.
“Relief and supply fleet is exiting hyperspace,” reported Captain Davis as numerous friendly green icons began appearing on his sensor screens.
“Distance?” Race was concerned they might be too far out and would be subject to attack from the Shari.
“Two hundred million kilometers,” replied Davis.
“Damn, that’s a long way out,” muttered Commander Arnett as she peered sharply at the tactical display. “The Shari are bound to respond to their appearance.”
Race agreed. “It’s the Dyson Sphere; the thing’s so large the gravity well extends far out into the system. Even our hyperdrives could be damaged if we entered hyperspace too close to it.”
“I have Admiral Stoddard on the comm,” Captain Denise Travers reported. “He wants to know what his orders are.”
“How near the Dyson Sphere can they jump?”
“Twenty million kilometers and that will be putting considerable stress on their hyperdrive systems,” Colonel Cowel answered. “Some of those cargo ships’ drives aren’t full military grade.”
“We’re detecting some movement from the Shari fleet,” warned Captain Davis. “They may be preparing to enter hyperspace.”
Race looked at one of the tactical displays showing the Shari fleet. A number of ships seemed to be forming up into an attack formation. He wasn’t surprised; he had expected them to react to the appearance of the relief and supply fleet.
“Order Admiral Stoddard to perform a microjump immediately, we’ll be going out to meet him.”
“Fleet is at Condition One and ready for your orders, Admiral,” reported Commander Arnett.
“Weapons are online and energy shield is at 98 percent,” added Colonel Cowel. “The WarHawk is ready for combat.”
“Move us out, formation Alpha-three.” Race leaned back in his command chair. He needed the ships of that relief fleet intact, and he knew the Shari were going to do everything in their power to try to deny him that.
-
High Lord Aktill watched as his flagship prepared to make the jump into hyperspace. In front of the Judgment of Dawn, a swirling vortex appeared. He planned on jumping the fleet into an englobement formation around the new Federation force. He would destroy it and then hold that position, which was much nearer the Dyson Sphere than he currently was.
“Federation fleet is entering hyperspace,” reported Lower Lord Samarth.
Aktill took notice, seeing that his quarry was escaping. “As soon as the fleet exits the spatial vortexes, plot their hyperspace exit point and we’ll jump immediately to its location. We have the ships to destroy them, and I fully intend to do so.”
He was tired of allowing the Humans and their allies to demonstrate their superiority. Every battle he had fought against them had ended in disaster. He had one hundred and sixty battlecruisers and two hundred and fourteen support cruisers at his disposal. That should be sufficient to extract the destruction he planned on delivering to the enemy fleet.
-
Two hundred million kilometers from the Dyson Sphere, Admiral Stoddard quickly took his relief and supply fleet into hyperspace. Blue-white swirling vortexes formed in front of his ships and they quickly fled into them, heading closer to the Dyson Sphere. Even as the last ship entered the safety of its vortex, more vortexes began forming and Shari battlecruisers and support cruisers flew out seeking to destroy any stragglers from the Human fleet.
Near the Dyson Sphere, Admiral Tolsen led his fleet out past the defense grid and quickly accelerated, hoping to reach the support and supply ships ahead of the Shari. In his fleet he had the heavy dreadnought WarHawk, eighteen other smaller dreadnoughts, one hundred and twenty Alton battleships, forty-four Human battleships, ten battlecarriers, one hundred and nine battlecruisers, and two hundred and twenty-two strikecruisers. It was a truly powerful fleet, but due to the situation they were in Tolsen couldn’t afford to take heavy losses. Every ship he lost was irreplaceable.
-
Race shifted his gaze to the nearby tactical display, noting Admiral Stoddard’s fleet was beginning to exit hyperspace. At his fleet’s current speed, it would take nearly twenty minutes to reach the relief fleet. Race knew a lot could happen in that amount of time. In twenty minutes the entire relief fleet could be destroyed.
“Vice Admiral Tolsen reports all of her fighters and bombers are prepped and ready to be deployed,” Commander Arnett reported. “She’s armed the bombers for a shipping strike.”
“Shari fleet has exited hyperspace,” reported Captain Davis, and then a minute later he turned toward the admiral. “I’m detecting energy spikes.”
Race knew the supply fleet couldn’t withstand an attack from so many Shari vessels. Admiral Stoddard’s fleet would be wiped out before his ships could reach them. Even as he watched, he saw the relief fleet form up into a defensive formation and begin accelerating toward the Dyson Sphere and safety.
“They’re not going to make it,” Colonel Cowel pointed out as he checked some data on a computer screen. “The Shari will catch them and Admiral Stoddard doesn’t have the warships to hold them off.”
“They’re going to make it,” Race replied in a determined voice. “We can take the WarHawk and the other dreadnoughts and jump to Admiral Stoddard’s position. Our hyperdrives should survive the strain of jumping inside the gravity well of the Dyson Sphere.”
Commander Arnett looked in surprise at Admiral Tolsen. “Maybe,” she said with a t
race of doubt in her voice. “We’ve never tried a jump like that before in such a highly stressed region of space as the gravity well created by the Dyson Sphere. We don’t know what effect it could have on the hyperdrives.”
Race shifted his eyes over toward Madelyn. She was a trusted officer and friend and he took her words seriously. “If we don’t, the relief fleet will be destroyed. We’re their only chance.”
Madelyn nodded, accepting they had to do this. “The defense globes are ready to deploy as well as our fighters and bombers.” The WarHawk had eighty fighters and forty bombers on board. The other smaller dreadnoughts contained similar numbers of the small attack craft.
“Then let’s do this; I’ll send word to Massie and Admiral Lankell they have command of the fleet.”
-
Admiral Stoddard was working quickly to get his fleet into a defensive formation while at the same time increasing their speed toward the Dyson Sphere. At any moment, he expected to see Shari spatial vortexes forming around his fleeing fleet. He had two battleships, four battlecarriers, ten battlecruisers, and twenty-six strike cruisers to defend the four fleet repair ships as well as the forty valuable supply ships at the heart of his formation. He knew from the size of the Shari fleet the sensors had detected it wasn’t going to be enough.
“Vortexes detected,” reported Lieutenant Brier as alarms sounded on his sensor console. “We have Shari battlecruisers exiting hyperspace around and behind our fleet formation.”
Stoddard nodded his acceptance of the report. Pressing his ship-to-ship minicomm, he contacted Commander Shayla Bream on the battlecarrier Concordia. “Shayla, I’m going to need all of your fighters and bombers if we hope to get out of this.”
“I understand, Admiral,” Shayla answered. “You do realize at the speed we’re traveling it will make recovering any of them highly unlikely.”
“I know,” answered Stoddard, feeling a knot form in the pit of his stomach. This would be the first time he had sent people on a mission knowing there was no chance of their returning. “We’re about to be heavily outnumbered, and those fighters and bombers may be the only hope we have of getting at least some of the fleet safely to the Dyson Sphere and Admiral Tolsen.”
Shayla was quiet for a long moment before replying. “They’re good pilots; they’ll buy the time those supply ships need.”
-
High Lord Aktill felt elated as his ship’s systems stabilized and the tactical and viewscreens came on. He had the enemy fleet right where he wanted them.
“They’re launching their small attack craft,” warned Lower Lord Samarth.
“Our point defense will take care of them,” Aktill replied dismissively. “Concentrate our fire on the ships protecting those supply vessels. If we can deny the fleet at the Dyson Sphere supplies, they’ll eventually have to leave.”
“That fleet’s coming out toward us,” Samarth said as he quickly pointed to a tactical screen showing the enemy fleet at the Dyson Sphere breaking orbit and accelerating outward. They’ll be here shortly.”
“It will not matter,” answered Aktill as he gazed at the red threat icons his ships had englobed. “By the time they arrive, we’ll have destroyed this fleet. This battle is ours.”
“High Lord, I’m detecting an energy surge from some of the ships leaving the sphere,” reported the Shari officer in front of the sensor console. “They’re opening up a number of spatial vortexes.”
“How?” asked Samarth in disbelief. “They’re too near the Dyson Sphere’s gravity well, they’ll be destroyed!”
“I don’t know how!” Aktill said loudly as his eyes focused on the indicated sensor screen. “I want all ships to concentrate their weapons fire on those ships nearest us. We must destroy them!” Once again, the enemy were showing their superiority. A Shari ship would be destroyed or at the minimum severely damaged if it tried to enter hyperspace so near the Dyson Sphere.
-
In space, weapons fire suddenly erupted from the Shari warships. Missile hatches slid open on the Shari battlecruisers and escort cruisers. Blue energy beams flashed out toward the Federation ships, striking their energy screens. Then twenty-megaton sublight nuclear missiles were launched. Across the Federation fleet, bright flashes of light swept across the formation as nuclear fire was released.
The battlecruiser Kasen was bracketed by a large number of nuclear missiles as well as hundreds of energy beams. Her energy shield radiated higher and higher until small holes began to appear. Several energy beams penetrated and the aft section of the ship exploded, sending debris flying away from the vessel. The Kasen was firing every weapon at its disposal but couldn’t leave its position lest the supply ships be targeted. Damage control teams rushed to the damaged area only to find the hull had been compromised so badly that everyone inside the aft section were already dead. Numerous compartments were open to the hard vacuum of space. The ship was shuddering violently and the lights were flickering. Alarms and klaxons were sounding warning of violent decompression in multiple areas of the vessel.
Then a twenty-megaton nuclear missile slammed into the damaged section, penetrating to the engine compartment. In a massive blast, the Kasen vanished as nuclear fire consumed the metal and crew of the ship.
-
“Battlecruiser Kasen is down,” reported Lieutenant Brier.
“Other ships are reporting damage,” added the communications officer.
Admiral Stoddard took a deep breath. On one of the viewscreens, he could see a number of the ships of his fleet under heavy attack. Powerful nuclear explosions were striking the energy screens as well as hundreds of Shari energy beams. In a one on one matchup, he could destroy any ship of the attacking Shari fleet, but his ships were outnumbered nearly ten to one.
“Battlecarriers are launching their fighters and bombers.” On Brier’s sensor screens, hundreds of small icons began to appear.
A brilliant flash of light suddenly caused one of the viewscreens to dim. When it returned to normal, a small glowing debris field was visible.
“Strikecruiser Jaden is down,” reported Lieutenant Brier in a strained voice.
“Battlecruiser Ajax is reporting a loss of power,” added the communications officer. “Their engine compartment suffered a direct hit from a pair of Shari energy beams. Commander Siler is reporting the damage is too severe to repair.”
“Have them move to the center of our formation,” ordered Stoddard, seeing his fleet die around him. He felt powerless to prevent the carnage the Shari were inflicting.
On one of the viewscreens, a battlecruiser was visible. A bright explosion suddenly struck the ship’s bow, and when the light died away, a good three hundred meters of the ship was missing. Shari energy beams began striking the ship, carving deep glowing holes in the hull of the vessel. Admiral Stoddard didn’t have to ask to know this was the Ajax. Two massive explosions suddenly shook the battlecruiser as nuclear fire swept through the vessel. In moments, a glowing fireball was all that remained of the battlecruiser.
“The Ajax is down,” reported Brier.
Admiral Stoddard shook his head. He had known Commander Siler since their days together at the Fleet Academy. He had a wife and teenaged daughter back at New Tellus.
-
High Lord Aktill felt gratified as the Human ships died. Even as he watched one of the viewscreens in his Command Center, he saw two of the Human supply ships vanish from the tactical screen as they were blown apart. The ships had been struck by several sublight nuclear missiles and a multitude of Shari energy beams. As the screening warships were slowly being eliminated, it was allowing the Shari fleet to target the supply ships at the center of the steadily weakening formation.
“Spatial vortexes forming,” warned the Shari officer at the sensor console. “It’s the ships from the Dyson Sphere.”
Shifting his gaze to another viewscreen, Aktill saw a swirling blue-white vortex form and one of the enemy’s monster ships emerge. Within seconds of emerging, the
ship’s weapons fired and its missile tubes began launching.
Aktill flinched as he saw several of his battlecruisers vanish under the powerful attack of the massive vessel. The ships were obliterated in enormous releases of uncontrolled energy.
“Those warheads are fifty to one hundred megatons,” reported Lower Lord Samarth, his face turning pale. “A hit from just several of those warheads will take our shields down. Our sensors are indicating the larger explosions are from antimatter.”
Aktill frowned. He had known the Humans and the Altons had antimatter warheads in some of their missiles. The Shari were conducting research on antimatter, but the scientists involved were still years from producing a viable warhead.
More vortexes opened and eighteen more ships emerged. While these were not quite as large as the first one, they were quite deadly as well. Aktill knew the battle had just changed significantly. “All weapons, continuous fire; we must destroy as many of those support vessels as possible!” He knew that his time was now severely limited before he would be forced to withdraw.
-
“Deploy defense globes,” Race ordered as he saw his other ships had arrived. “Launch fighters and bombers.” He watched as the Command Center came alive with intense activity as the crew prepared for battle.
“All batteries, continue to fire. Target that lead Shari ship,” ordered Commander Arnett.
“Firing power beams,” reported Major Johnathan Daniels as his fingers touched several icons on a screen in front of him.
On one of the viewscreens, the four violet colored beams of energy smashed into the energy shield of a Shari battlecruiser.
“Firing particle beam cannons,” Daniels reported evenly as four bright blue beams speared the Shari vessel.
The particle beams penetrated the battlecruiser’s energy screen and struck the vessel’s hull. Four titanic explosions resulted and when the carnage died down, the enemy vessel was in a hundred pieces.
“Shari battlecruiser is down,” reported Captain Davis.
The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel Page 3
