The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel (4 page)

“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.

“All ships
have deployed their defense globes,” Colonel Cowel informed the admiral.
“Globes are closing on the Shari vessels.”

The defense
globes were ten meters in diameter and contained an ion cannon capable of
tearing holes in an enemy ship’s defensive energy screen. From the nineteen
dreadnoughts, over one thousand of the small and deadly globes had been
launched. It was time to teach the Shari a lesson in humility.

“Let’s punch a
hole for Admiral Stoddard’s fleet,” Race said as he leaned forward, his hands
clenching the armrests of his command chair.

On the large viewscreen,
a fifty-megaton Devastator Three missile crashed into the stern of a Shari support cruiser and the ship vanished in a fiery explosion.

“All ships
form up on the
WarHawk
,” Race ordered over his minicomm, which was set
for ship-to-ship communications. “Wedge formation A-3.” Race didn’t intend to
allow the Shari to bring the battle to him, he intended to take his ships right
down their throat and send them to oblivion.

-

The eighteen dreadnoughts
led by the battle dreadnought
WarHawk
formed a tight formation and
advanced toward the heart of the Shari fleet.

Particle beam
fire from the dreadnoughts slammed into the main part of a Shari warship,
setting off massive explosions and hurling glowing debris into space. An
antimatter sublight missile arrived and the one hundred-megaton explosion incinerated
the ship in a bright and deadly fireball.

-

The
WarHawk
shuddered slightly as three twenty-megaton nuclear missiles exploded against
the ship’s powerful energy shield.

“No damage,”
Colonel Cowel reported. “Those nuclear missiles don’t have the power to
penetrate our screen.”

“Those energy
weapons do, if they can hit us with enough,” warned Commander Arnett.

“Defense
globes are in range,” reported Major Daniels from Tactical. “Ion beams are
engaging.”

“Our fighters
and bombers are going in,” Commander Arnett informed the admiral. “They’ve
joined up with Admiral Stoddard’s and will be going in together.”

“Have them
target ships where the ion beams have disrupted Shari energy shields,” Race
ordered. The Anlon bombers were each carrying two twenty-megaton Shrike combat
missiles.

On the big
viewscreen, one of Admiral Stoddard’s battlecarriers suddenly appeared. The
ship was under heavy attack from a number of Shari battlecruisers. Nuclear explosions
were covering the energy shield and numerous energy beams were seeking a weak spot.
The battlecarrier suddenly took a massive hit to her bow, losing most of her
heavy weapons. She quickly turned broadside and opened up with her remaining
power beams and energy weapons, firing upon the attacking Shari ships, seeking
to destroy her tormenters.

“That’s the
battlecarrier,
Sherman
,” reported Colonel Cowel as he listened to the
battle reports coming in over his minicomm. “She’s suffered heavy damage and
her commander is trying to evacuate as many people as he can in the ship’s
shuttles.” Even as he spoke, a massive white light suddenly flashed across the
viewscreen and when it died down, all that remained of the
Sherman
were
some glowing wisps of ionized gas and glowing debris.

“The
Sherman
is down,” reported Major Daniels in a shaken voice. “None of their shuttles
made it off the ship.”

“All ships,
ion beams are firing, target any Shari ships with weakened or damaged energy
shields, give our fighter and bombers as much covering fire as possible,” ordered
Race, knowing good people were dying. He wanted this battle over as quickly as
possible.

-

Admiral
Stoddard watched in incredulity as the
WarHawk
and her sister dreadnoughts
charged toward the heaviest concentration of Shari warships. Already the
inbound fire on his fleet was lessening.

“All ships, continue
on course toward the Dyson Sphere.” Looking at the viewscreen, he couldn’t
believe the size of the battle dreadnought
WarHawk
. He had heard how big
the Alton built dreadnoughts were, but seeing them in action was another thing
altogether. He winced as he saw another supply ship explode. The Shari had hurt his fleet but now, thanks to Admiral Tolsen, the survivors should be able to
make it to the safety of the incoming Federation Fleet less than twelve minutes
away.

-

High Lord
Aktill gripped his command console as the
Judgment of Dawn
was struck by
intense weapons fire. A number of lights on the damage control console turned
amber and red.

“Ion beams,”
warned Lower Lord Samarth. “They’re tearing holes in our energy screens.”

“Target those
globes!” ordered Aktill in a shrill voice as he saw numerous Shari ships on the
tactical screen begin to disappear as they were annihilated by the deadly missiles
and energy beams the monster Human ships were deploying.

More Human
weapons were penetrating the shield, rattling the ship with each hit. More
lights on the damage control console turned a glaring and threatening red. High
Lord Aktill blinked his eyes and looked around, taking stock of the situation.
He could probably destroy or at least damage most of the attacking Humans ships,
but it would cost him the majority of his fleet.

“Their small
attack craft are launching missiles,” reported Lower Lord Samarth. “We have
many ships reporting their energy shields have been compromised.”

The
Judgment
of Dawn
shook violently and emergency klaxons began blaring.

“We have
multiple breaches along the forward hull, we’re venting atmosphere,” the damage
control officer reported.

“Energy shield
is down to 30 percent,” added Samarth with deep concern in his eyes. “We must
withdraw!”

Aktill slammed
his hand down on the command console in front of him ignoring the pain.
“Withdraw,” he grated out in anger and frustration. “Order all ships to enter
hyperspace and rendezvous at the fallback coordinates. This battle with the
Humans and their allies isn’t over. Once we have sufficient ships, we’ll resume
the attack and overwhelm them. We will achieve victory!”

-

In space, the Shari fleet began to break off contact and turn away. In just a matter of a few moments,
spatial vortexes began to open as the Shari ships began jumping away from the
battle.

-

“Shari fleet is withdrawing,” reported Captain Davis with obvious relief in his voice.

“All
dreadnoughts are reporting minimal battle damage,” added Colonel Cowel. “We got
off lucky.”

Race allowed
himself to relax. He knew the Shari had managed to heavily damage the relief
and supply fleet. From the reports he had received, he knew Admiral Stoddard
had lost three battlecruisers, one battlecarrier, four strikecruisers, and six
supply ships. Race knew that if he hadn’t arrived when he did, the losses would
have been much heavier.

“We lost
eighty-seven of the defense globes, sixteen Talon fighters, and twenty-three
Anlon bombers,” Colonel Cowel reported. “That includes the ones from Admiral
Stoddard’s battlecarriers as well.”

“Communications,
have Admiral Stoddard’s battlecarriers return to pick up their small craft.
We’ll stay here and provide cover while landing operations are being
conducted.” Race was confident the Shari fleet wouldn’t return, not after the
losses it had suffered.

The battle had
gone better than expected. It was still obvious the Shari hadn’t come up with a
battle plan to deal with the dreadnoughts. That was fine with Race. Right now,
they were the biggest ace he had. Once they were back at the Dyson Sphere, he
wanted to find out what was going on with the mission to the surface and if
Reesa and Kelnor had been successful gaining entry. He was also looking forward
to the arrival of Alton Fleet Admiral Baasil and his fleet. With the additional
Alton warships, he knew he had a more than decent chance of being able to
defeat any attempt by the Shari to drive his forces away from the Dyson Sphere.

-

An hour later,
the fleet was back in orbit around the megastructure. The supply ships of the relief
fleet had originally contained sixty Type Two battlestations. Unfortunately,
two of the large supply ships had been destroyed, leaving only forty battlestations
which could be deployed. However, even forty would make a significant increase
in their defensive and offensive capability.

“The exploration
cutter has returned,” reported Colonel Cowel, turning to face the admiral.

Race shifted
his gaze over to Cowel. “So did Reesa and Kelnor find a way in?” Race was intensely
curious to find out if they had finally managed to enter the Dyson Sphere.

“Yes, they
did,” answered Cowel, with a strange look on his face.

“Why do I feel
there’s a but in what you’re getting ready to say?” Race was concerned, as he
knew at times Reesa could be a little reckless. She was unusually high-spirited
for an Alton.

Colonel Cowel
took a deep breath and then continued speaking. “Reesa managed to use the key
to get a door to open in the structure. Sergeant Wilde then had the other Marines
in the cutter come out with a large amount of supplies and they all entered the
structure together. Everything was being observed on the cutter and records
were made. After entering the structure, Reesa was seen to reappear at the entrance,
remove the key, and then vanish back inside. Almost as soon as the key was
removed, the entrance closed and there has been no contact with the research
team or Sergeant Wilde since then.”

Race took a
deep breath and let out a long sigh. He knew Major Nolan and Captain Abrams wouldn’t
be happy to learn Sergeant Wilde and the scientists were missing. “Send the
exploration cutter back down. I want Captain Abrams and at least one squad of Marines
to go along. The cutter is to stay on location until I send down another
shuttle relieving them.” The exploration cutter was large enough that it could
stay down on the surface for weeks if necessary.

“Yes, sir,”
Cowel answered as he turned away to carry out the orders.

“At least
they’re inside,” Race said, leaning back in his command chair and wondering
just what was going on within the sphere. He wished they had communication with
the exploration team.

“I’m sure
they’ll be fine,” Madelyn said. “Reesa has the other scientists with her as
well as Sergeant Wilde.”

Race just
hoped Madelyn was right. What concerned him was that Reesa had the only key,
and there was no way for them to find out what had happened until the research
team reappeared. At least they had a full platoon of Marines as well as their
supplies with them.  All they could do was wait.

Looking over
at a counter on one of the tactical displays, Race saw it would be another
twelve hours before Admiral Baasil arrived. Shifting his gaze to the big viewscreen
showing the Dyson Sphere, Race wondered what Ambassador Tureen would think of
all of this.

-

Reesa Jast let
out an exasperated breath. The corridor they had been following had led them to
another dead end. Once more, they had come up against a metallic wall with no evidence
of a slot for the key.

She turned and
looked at Kelnor. “What now?”

“There was a
junction a ways back,” he said. “I suggest we return to it and try another
corridor.”

It took them
awhile to retrace their steps and then proceed along another well-lighted
corridor. After walking for several hours, they came to another seemingly
sealed wall, only this one had an indentation for the key.

“Why is everything
in here so clean?” asked Sergeant Wilde as she looked around. “This place looks
as if it was built yesterday. And have you noticed, not a single light in the
ceiling is burned out.”

Kelnor paused
and slowly nodded. “The material this place is constructed of is far beyond
anything our science has to offer. There may also be some type of automated
repair system operating.”

“Do we use the
key?” asked Reesa, taking it out of her pocket.

Kelnor looked
toward Brenda for her approval.

The sergeant slowly
nodded her head. “I don’t think we have any choice. This is the first place
we’ve come across in a while that has an access point for the key. I think we
have to use it so we can find out what’s on the other side of this wall.”

Reesa slowly
approached the key slot and with trepidation, gently put the key in place. With
an eerie silence the wall slid open, revealing a large lighted chamber.
Stepping inside, she stared around in wonder as the others cautiously followed
her. Once everyone was inside, Reesa turned around to retrieve the key only to
find it now rested in a slot on this side of the wall. Without hesitation, she
reached out and removed it. The wall instantly sealed back up but at least this
time the key slot remained.

Turning back
around, she began examining the large chamber. “What is this place?”

“A transportation
center,” Brenda said as she walked over to stand on a platform where some obvious
transit cars were waiting. “I’ve seen something like this in New York City. The
subways there still run, though they’ve been highly updated.”

Kelnor walked over
to the front car and looked inside. “There’s a slot for the key inside,” he
reported.

Reesa and the
rest walked over. “This might take us to the inside of the Dyson Sphere.”