The lost fleet box set, p.9
The Lost Fleet Box Set, page 9
part #1 of The Lost Fleet Series
The crab dropped to the ground and lay there, twitching. It was the last one, and the shaken Marines looked at each other in shock.
“What the hell were those things?” demanded Sergeant Kops, as he stepped forward and put several more rounds into what he thought was the head of the creature.
“They’re not bleeding,” pointed out Private Hernandez.
Major McGown stepped closer to examine the creature, reaching out and touching it with his right hand. It looked like a regular crab with a thick carapace, only much larger.
“That’s metal,” spoke the major in surprise. “These are some type of damn robots!”
Major McGown spent a few minutes examining the other crabs, even finding it necessary to shoot a few of them again to stop them from moving.
“They’ve been here a long time,” he said finally. “See all the dents and gashes in their shells? Not only that, but some of them have damaged or missing legs.”
Concerned, he quickly sent a message to the other squad on the far side of the city about what they’d just encountered. With relief he was told the other squad hadn’t encountered any of the crablike automatons.
“I think we better pull back to the shuttle,” the major said, as he considered their situation. “There may be a lot more of these things around.”
He quickly passed the same order to the other squad. If they found any information as to what had happened on this planet, it wouldn’t be in this city. The last thing they did before leaving was wrap Private Slocum in a body bag, so they could carry him back to the shuttle. The private had been a good Marine, and Major McGown was sad to see Slocum’s life end this way.
-
“What do you think, Ariel?” asked Jeremy, after he had listened to Major McGowan’s report over the comm. The major had contacted the Avenger as soon as he returned to the shuttle.
“Scavengers,” Ariel answered, her dark eyes focusing on Jeremy. “A very primitive robot, probably placed on the planet after the nuclear bombardment.”
“But why?” asked Commander Malen.
“To ensure there were no survivors,” answered Ariel, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Makes sense,” Jeremy said with a frown. “There were probably many more of these things in the past. Major McGown said the ones he encountered looked old and even had damaged or missing appendages.”
“Jeremy,” spoke Kevin, gesturing toward one of his sensor screens. “I’ve found what appears to be some type of underground bunker in the mountains.”
“A Command Center of some kind?” suggested Commander Malen, looking thoughtful. “Perhaps we can find our answers there.”
“Have Major McGown take his two shuttles to those coordinates,” commanded Jeremy. “Also send four Talon fighters to fly cover and the reserve shuttle of Marines. If the answer to what happened to this planet and the others is in that bunker, I want to find it.”
-
The next day Jeremy leaned back in his command chair with a look of disbelief on his face. Major McGown and his Marines had recovered several old computers from the underground bunker complex. They’d also found some mummified bodies of the planet’s former inhabitants. They had been an Avian species slightly taller than Humans with atrophied wings on their backs.
Ariel had recovered some information from the two computers after a temporary interface had been built. However, it had taken nearly twenty hours just to understand the language. Fortunately the Avenger had an Alton language decryption program which helped Ariel finally make sense of what was on the computers. Even so, the hard drives had been badly damaged from age and normal degradation, and she could only recover about 12 percent of the information stored on them.
“They were attacked by a race called the Simulin,” Ariel reported, as she projected an image of one of the aliens on the viewscreen. The Simulin was slightly taller than a Human with skin that was opalescent. Blood vessels and some internal organs could easily be seen.
“Ugly things,” muttered Kevin.
“The Avians had several nearby colony worlds and traded with a number of other space-going civilizations,” Ariel continued. “They’d been at peace for hundreds of years when all the civilized worlds they were aware of were simultaneously attacked by this alien race. No one knows where they came from or what they wanted. Offers to surrender were ignored, and the surfaces of all known civilized planets were nuked.”
Ariel then projected an image of one of the Simulin ships on the main viewscreen. Everyone became quiet upon seeing the image. It was very similar to the ones that had attacked them when they had first arrived in this galaxy.
“What have we jumped into?” asked Kevin, gazing at the viewscreen. He then turned toward Jeremy. “Why are they nuking all the inhabited planets?”
“I don’t know,” replied Jeremy, shaking his head. “I think it’s best if we return to our base and think over our next move.” One of the things Jeremy had hoped to discover was just how widespread the race was that had attacked them. Now that they knew who it was, they also knew the race was extremely dangerous.
“So we’re not continuing to where we entered this galaxy?” Commander Malen asked. That was supposed to have been part of this survey mission. If there was any hope of rescue, it was the most likely point of entry.
“No, not for now,” Jeremy answered, as he thought over his options. “We may send out some stealth scouts and place some vortex detection buoys in that system and the surrounding ones. At least that way we’ll know if anyone comes looking for us.”
“If we can get to them before the Simulins do,” pointed out Commander Malen unhappily. “Look at how quickly they responded to us after we made transit.”
“We need a plan,” Jeremy said, nodding his head in agreement.
“I’ve run several simulations based on events upon our arrival in this galaxy,” Ariel said. “I believe the Simulins keep at least two to three fleets at all times within range of our entry point. It’s the only explanation for how quickly they responded to our appearance.”
“That’ll pose a problem,” Commander Malen said with concern.
“Take us out of the gravity well,” ordered Jeremy. “When we get back to our base, we’ll have a staff meeting and see if we can come up with a workable solution.”
Every day that passed, it seemed less likely he would ever see Kelsey again. The Altons in the four science ships had a basic idea of what needed to be done to get them back home. However, it would take years to build Capacitor Stations similar to the ones the AIs had constructed. They’d even gotten the designs from the Command AI. The AI thought it would be a useless waste of resources, considering how many centuries they had worked on their Great Project.
The Altons had been quick to point out they wouldn’t need nearly as many Capacitor Stations as they sought a smaller spatial vortex than what the AIs had intended. Even so, the Altons admitted it would take years to complete such a project. Now, with what Jeremy knew of the Simulins, he had to admit that the Command AI may be right.
-
The Avenger had just left the gravity well of the planet when several spatial vortices suddenly erupted in close proximity to the ship. The battleship shook violently, and the lights dimmed from the spatial disruptions.
“Hyperspace drive is off-line,” reported Ensign Striker, as his hands darted over his console.
“Enemy contacts!” called out Kevin, his eyes growing wide. “Range two hundred kilometers.”
“All power to the shields,” ordered Jeremy, leaning forward in his command chair as two red threat icons materialized in one of the tactical displays, the alarms blaring. “Put them on the viewscreens.”
“Rerouting all power possible,” Ariel answered, as she swiftly adjusted the ship’s power systems. “Energy screen is at 130 percent. Enemy ships are on the screens.”
Jeremy glanced at the two large Simulin ships, as he gripped the armrests of his command chair. Jeremy knew the two ships were slightly larger than the Avenger and heavily armed. There had always been a risk the Avenger would be detected once it left the protective nebula that hid their base. They’d been pretty certain the unknowns would still be looking for the ships that had come through the vortex. It was one of the reasons they had waited two years before venturing forth.
“They’re firing!” warned Commander Malen, as the Avenger shook from weapons fire impacting the energy screen. “Those were energy weapons.”
“Energy shield is holding,” reported Ariel.
“Ready particle beam cannons,” commanded Jeremy, as he saw the worried look on the faces of his crew. “Target the nearer ship with our particle beams and then follow up with a full spread of antimatter missiles.”
“Locking on target,” Lieutenant Preston confirmed.
“Chief Engineer Simkins says he can’t hold this power level to the shield too long, or we’ll overload the power couplings,” warned Commander Malen, as she held on to a console to steady herself.
“How long before the Hyperspace drive is back online?”
“Simkins says ten to fifteen minutes,” Malen responded. “The drive core has been destabilized, and he’s attempting to recalibrate it.”
“Send the distress call,” ordered Jeremy grimly. He knew there was no other choice. He didn’t think the Avenger could defeat two powerful Simulin ships by itself.
“Lieutenant Preston, fire on your target!” ordered Commander Malen, seeing he had a target lock.
From the Avenger, two bright blue beams of light leaped out to strike the nearest Simulin ship. The enemy ship’s screen flared up brilliantly, and then one of the blue beams smashed through the screen, impacting one of the six spires that held the ship’s deadly energy weapons. The beam sheared the spire in two, just as a spread of six antimatter missiles impacted the Simulin ship’s energy shield. The shield glowed a brilliant white light as hundreds of megatons of energy were released.
“Minor damage to the Simulin ship,” reported Kevin, as he checked his sensors. “Their energy shield is still stopping the antimatter missiles.”
The Avenger shuddered sickeningly, and a number of alarms went off. On the Damage Control console, amber and red lights began to appear.
“Damage to primary hull at frame seven and nine,” reported Commander Malen. “We’re streaming atmosphere. An energy beam got through the shield!”
“Ariel, I want a coordinated strike on that Simulin ship with every antimatter missile we can launch,” ordered Jeremy. “I want the missiles going off at the same instant on the same spot on their shield.” Surely that would knock it down.
“Working on it,” Ariel responded, as she swiftly ran the calculations and readied the port missile tubes to fire. All twelve port missile hatches slid open, and, with a blur, the sublight antimatter missiles sped away.
The coordinated missile strike lit up the main viewscreen, causing it to dim briefly. All twelve missiles had arrived on target within a microsecond of one another.
“One got through,” yelled Kevin excitedly, as antimatter energy pummeled the Simulin ship.
On the viewscreen, the Simulin ship had a large gaping hole in its hull, and interior explosions could be seen hurling even more hull material into space.
“The other ship is firing,” warned Malen, as the Avenger shuddered uncontrollably, and more amber and red lights appeared on the Damage Control console. “We’re taking too much damage!”
“Contacts,” reported Kevin, as two large green icons suddenly appeared close to the two Simulin ships. “The AIs are here!” Kevin felt strange calling on the AIs to save their asses.
On the main viewscreen, two AI ships exited swirling white spatial vortices within two thousand kilometers of the Simulin ships. From each AI ship, ten heavy bright blue particle beams reached out, blasting holes in the enemy ships’ energy screens and tearing deep into their hulls. In only a matter of a few seconds, both Simulin ships had been reduced to riddled wrecks.
“It worked,” uttered Commander Malen with relief. The two AI ships had been hiding in the upper atmosphere of a giant gas planet where Simulin sensors wouldn’t detect them. It was a tactic Jeremy had insisted on, in case the Avenger was detected.
“It’s a good thing we agreed to install particle beam cannons on the AI ships,” Kevin said, leaning back and feeling relieved. He couldn’t believe he was grateful for the AIs, but they’d been holding up their part of the agreement to allow Jeremy full command of their spheres of war.
“Hyperspace drive is back online,” Commander Malen reported. “We can jump anytime. Simkins says it will function okay for now, but it’ll need a full check when we return to base. We’ve had to seal off several compartments that were open to space.”
“Power buildup on the two enemy ships,” Kevin said suddenly, as his sensors spiked. “I think they’re going to blow!”
“Ensign Striker, put some distance between us and those Simulin ships, and prepare to enter hyperspace. Commander Malen, let the two AI ships know we’re returning to base.”
Just as the Avenger prepared to enter the blue-white spatial vortex forming in front of the vessel, two massive explosions indicated the destruction of the pair of Simulin ships. Then the Avenger darted into the vortex and vanished. At nearly the same time, the two AI spheres entered their own vortices and also vanished. Moments later no signs remained that the five ships had ever been in the star system.
-
Later a ravenous Jeremy entered the officer’s mess, as he hadn’t eaten since earlier in the morning. He saw, without surprise, that Kevin and Ariel were already seated at a table. Going down the line, he quickly filled his plate and walked over, sitting down next to the gorgeous black-haired AI.
“What are you eating?” asked Jeremy, looking over at Kevin. He was pretty certain that was a hamburger and french fries on his friend’s plate.
“It’s a sad day,” Kevin said in all seriousness. “This will be one I will long remember.”
“I don’t understand,” Jeremy replied, as he bit into his ham sandwich.
“It’s the hamburger,” Ariel informed him with a playful smile. “It’s the last one. Once Kevin’s eaten it, no more are left in the entire fleet.”
“Oh,” Jeremy said in understanding. He saw Angela enter the open hatch and head through the line. Once she had selected her food, she came over and sat down next to Kevin.
“Last hamburger?” she asked, looking knowingly at Kevin’s plate. She turned toward Jeremy. “I had checked the day before and knew the supply of Kevin’s favorite food was getting dangerously low.”
“We need to be rescued,” Kevin announced mournfully, as he took a small bite of the hamburger. He savored every mouthful.
“Speaking of rescue,” Angela said, brushing back her brunette hair with her right hand, “it’s been two years. Do you think there’s still a chance?”
“There’s always a chance,” Jeremy answered. There was no doubt in his mind that, back in their own galaxy, Kelsey, Katie, and Clarissa were doing everything in their power to try to find them.
“Clarissa will come,” Ariel said with conviction. “She will never give up until she finds a way to this galaxy.”
“I miss Brace. I would have given anything if he had been aboard the Avenger, when we came through the vortex,” Angela said, her deep loss evident on her face. “I can’t help thinking I’ll never see him again.”
“Brace couldn’t be on the Avenger because of your relationship,” Jeremy reminded her, though he had wished the same about Kelsey and Katie. The last two years had been very difficult for all of them without their loved ones.
“What if he finds someone else?” continued Angela, voicing her greatest fear.
“I don’t think that’ll happen,” Kevin said. Then with a grin, he added. “You’re a hard act to follow and I should know.” They had dated briefly a number of years back.
“I’m sure he’s working with Kelsey and Katie,” Jeremy added.
“What worries me is what will happen to them, if they do make it to this galaxy,” Kevin said, putting down his hamburger. “I suspect the Simulins have fleets standing by, close to where we appeared, just in case another vortex opens up.”
“There are several nearby star systems where we could hide ships in the atmospheres of gas giants, like we did in the system we just left,” Ariel suggested. “If we have enough vortex detection buoys deployed, the hidden ships would know when anyone comes through a new vortex.”
“I think it’s a good plan,” responded Jeremy, nodding his head and taking a sip of tea. He would discuss it with his fleet staff once they got back.
They were fortunate the supply ships that had come through with them had been loaded with enough provisions to provide for the fleets, though they were beginning to run out of some basic foodstuffs. Several farms had been established on their base world to replace some of these items. Meat was a different issue. They hadn’t brought along cattle or any animal for slaughter. There were animals on the planet that would be good substitutes, though the taste wouldn’t quite be the same. Of course they had long since run out of coffee, and there’d been a lot of grumbling when that occurred. They still had another year’s supply of tea, and then that too would be gone.
“Do you think it’s safe for us to do much exploring?” Angela asked.
Jeremy watched her face while she spoke. He knew she too missed having meals with Kelsey and Katie. It had always been great when the five of them had been together.
“I don’t believe we have much choice,” Jeremy answered. “When we get back, I’m going to speak to Admiral Cleeteus and Grayseth about building some type of stealth destroyer or cruiser. We need to know more about these Simulins and what they’re after. The stealth scouts just aren’t large enough to get us the information we need, and they also can’t defend themselves if they’re detected.”
-
Kevin nodded and, picking up his hamburger, ate the last two bites. He wondered what Katie would say if she knew his favorite food was now a thing of the past. With a deep sigh, he wished Katie were here. Just like Angela, he would have given anything if she had been aboard the Avenger when it had entered the white vortex.
