The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel (24 page)

“Contacts,”
Ariel blurted out excitedly. “Range is 9.2 light years and closing fast.
Estimated arrival at twenty-nine minutes.”

“Is it the
Dominator
?”
asked Kevin, his eyes lighting up.

“Yes,” Ariel
answered. “Detecting twenty-two inbound contacts.”

Jeremy
breathed out a long sigh of relief. “That’s all of them. Have the Simulins
picked them up yet?”

Ariel was
silent for a few moments as she checked the long-range sensors, which were
focused on the Simulin fleet. “I believe so. They seem to be forming up into an
attack formation and several ships have already entered hyperspace!”

“Damn!” Jeremy
said as he set his tea glass down and stood up. “Ariel, take all ships to
Condition One. Prepare the fleet to jump immediately outside the nebula. Let me
know as soon as you’ve calculated the
Dominators
most likely dropout
point.”

“Working on
it,” Ariel said as she sent messages to all the ships in the fleet ordering
them to go to Condition One.

She was also
busily calculating the most likely coordinates for the arrival of the
Dominator
and Admiral Sithe’s fleet. At the same time, red lights began flashing and
klaxons started sounding, announcing the setting of Condition One throughout
the ship.

“Let’s get to
the Command Center,” Jeremy said as he made for the hatch followed closely by
Kevin.

Behind him,
Ariel vanished as she shifted from Jeremy’s quarters to her customary spot
behind his command chair. Sometimes Jeremy wished he could move about the ship
as easily and quickly as Ariel did.

-

Commander
Malen jumped slightly as Ariel suddenly appeared behind the command chair. She
had been expecting it, but somehow Ariel’s sudden appearances still startled
her from time to time. Ariel acted so Human most of the time it was difficult
to remember she was an AI and her figure was a hologram.

“Status!”

“We’ve
detected the
Dominator
,” Ariel answered. “It appears all of the ships
that left on the mission are still intact. Fleet Admiral Strong has ordered all
ships to go to Condition One and prepare for an immediate jump to outside the
nebula. I’ve already calculated the exit coordinates and have distributed them
to all the ships in the fleet.”

“The Command
AI is requesting permission to jump,” reported Lieutenant Shayla Lantz from
Communications.

“How close is
the
Dominator
?”

“Eight light
years and closing fast,” Ariel answered. “The Simulins are in the process of
jumping as well. “They will arrive six minutes after the
Dominator
does.”

Commander
Malen frowned. While the
Dominator
could enter hyperspace immediately,
the rest of the ships would need at least a minimum of ten minutes for their
drive cores to cool down. The time would be necessary if they’d been doing
consecutive jumps with normal breaks in between for cooling and checking of the
hyperdrives.

“Command AI
has permission to jump,” Commander Malen said after a moment. “Their main
priority is protecting the
Dominator
from sustaining any damage.”

“Grayseth is
requesting to jump as well.”

“No,” Malen
said, shaking her head. “Inform Grayseth his fleet will jump along with the
Avenger
and the rest of our ships.”

“Messages
sent,” Lieutenant Lantz confirmed after a few moments.

On the
viewscreens white spatial vortexes began forming in front of the AI ships. Both
the regular fifteen-hundred-meter spheres and the one-thousand-meter warspheres
began vanishing as they entered the swirling vortexes and disappeared into
hyperspace.

-

The last AI
ship had just made their jump when the hatch to the Command Center opened and Fleet Admiral Strong and Lieutenant Kevin Walters hurried in.

“Status!”
called out Jeremy as he sat down in his command chair.

“AIs have
jumped, and the rest of the fleet is on standby,” reported Commander Malen.

Jeremy nodded.
“Ariel, how long until the
Dominator
gets here?”

“They’re at
seven light years and will be at the estimated exit coordinates in twenty-two
minutes.”

“The Simulin
fleet?”

“They’ve all
entered hyperspace. As I told Commander Malen, they’ll arrive six minutes after
the
Dominator
and Admiral Sithe.”

Jeremy leaned
back in his command chair as he thought about what was soon to occur. There was
no doubt the Simulins had detected the
Dominator
and the other ships in
her task group. By now they had also probably detected the AI ships, which
should be exiting hyperspace at the expected rendezvous coordinates.

“Ariel, how
long will it take for us to enter hyperspace and reach the
Dominator’s
coordinates?”

“Twenty-eight
seconds.”

Jeremy’s eyes
shifted to the nearby tactical display. The AI ships were beginning to show up
on the sensors at the expected dropout point of the Originator ship. “Commander
Malen, I want all of our remaining ships to enter hyperspace and arrive at the
rendezvous coordinates forty seconds before the Simulins do.” That would give
his ships just enough time to raise their shields and bring all weapons online.
“Ariel can help coordinate the jump.” If they timed this just right, he could
get in an opening volley before the Simulins could raise their shields or fire
a weapon. He might also be able to take them by surprise.

Jeremy’s eyes
focused on the largest green icon coming toward the nebula, the
Dominator
with his wife, Kelsey. She was about to become involved in a major battle and
how she fought the
Dominator
might well determine all of their survival.
The Simulins outnumbered them by nearly three to one. Without the
Dominator’s
superior weapons this would be a very costly and possibly short battle.

-

“Admiral Sithe
is ordering us to go to Condition One,” Lieutenant Lee Michelson said from
Communications.

“Do it,”
ordered Kelsey as she studied the red threat icons on the
Dominator’s
long-range sensors. “Kazak, what is the makeup of that fleet?”

“Two hundred
twelve battlecruisers and five hundred seven escort cruisers. They will arrive
at our dropout coordinates exactly six minutes and eleven seconds after we do.”

“Can we jump
before they arrive?”

“The
Dominator
could. Admiral Sithe’s ships will need a few more minutes of cool down time for
their drive cores before it’s safe for them to jump.”

“What if they
jumped without the additional cool down time?”

“They risk
damage to their hyperdrives,” Kazak answered. “I believe the ships themselves
would be fine but the drives would need extensive recalibration and may even
suffer some minor damage.”

Kelsey looked
sharply at Kazak. “Recommendations?”

Kazak looked a
little uncomfortable as he answered. “We have the capability to destroy the
Simulin fleet. I can activate the energy-siphoning field as soon as the
Simulins arrive. In less than five minutes their ships will be powerless.”

“Our own ships
will be in range of the field,” Andram pointed out. “Kazak, can you localize
the field or set it so it doesn’t affect our own warships.”

“We may have
another problem with using the energy-siphoning field,” Lieutenant Tracey
Burkes said from her sensor station. “There’s a group of AI ships that have
just jumped to our expected exit coordinates.”

“Jeremy and
Kevin,” said Katie, her green eyes lighting up. “They’re coming out to help us
against the Simulins.”

Kazak was
silent for a moment as he was communicating with the ship’s core computer.
“Yes, there are a number of projectors on the hull of the
Dominator
,
which can be used to localize the affect of the siphoning-field. However, due
to the number of Simulin ships we’re dealing with it will be better if all of
Fleet Admiral Strong’s ships are within fifteen hundred kilometers of the
Dominator
.
I can then project the field out past that point.”

Kelsey pursed
her lips as she thought. “How soon before we can communicate with Fleet Admiral
Strong?” It was hard for her to say that and not just “Jeremy”.

“Two minutes
before we exit hyperspace,” Kazak answered.

“Lieutenant
Michelson, send a message to those AI ships at the two-minute mark,” ordered
Kelsey. “Inform them that they must be within fifteen hundred kilometers of the
Dominator
so we can activate the energy-siphoning field. If they’re
caught outside of that range, their energy could be drained as well.”

Kelsey settled
back in her command chair. It would take five minutes to drain all the energy
from the Simulin vessels. During that time, the Simulins would be attacking
with every weapon at their disposal. Her eyes narrowed sharply as she realized
how violent that attack would probably be. Admiral Sithe’s ships, as well as
the AIs, might take some heavy losses before the energy-siphoning field
finished its work.

-

Jeremy was
watching tensely as the counter on the tactical display was counting down. As
it reached zero, the
Avenger
accelerated and entered the swirling
blue-white spatial vortex, which had formed in front of the battleship. He knew
from the tactical display the other ships of his fleet, Human, Alton, and Carethian were doing the same thing. They had just received an FTL message from
the Command AI informing them they needed to jump as close to the expected
dropout coordinates of the
Dominator
as possible. It had been necessary
for Ariel to calculate the hyperspace jump for all of the ships of the three
fleets so they would exit within fifteen hundred kilometers of where the
Dominator
was going to be. The Command AI had gone on to explain the Originator ship was
going to activate its energy-siphoning field, and it was essential no friendly
ships get caught in it. If they did, they could become easy prey for the
Simulins.

“Damn, we’re
putting a lot of ships in a small area for a hyperjump,” muttered Kevin.

“Don’t worry,”
Ariel said in a confident voice. “We’ll emerge in a scattered globe formation
with the
Dominator
in the center. There won’t be any dangerous affects
from the jump. I’ve done hundreds of pinpoint jumps before and we’re all still
here.”

Jeremy was
confident of Ariel’s navigation abilities. “Once we exit hyperspace scan for
any ships that might be more than fifteen hundred kilometers from the
Dominator
.
If we detect any, it’s critical they use their sublight drives to get within
that safety zone.”

He had
originally planned on dropping out of hyperspace behind where the Simulins were
due to appear in order to catch then in a crossfire between the
Dominator
,
Admiral Sithe, and the AI ships. Now he had been forced to change his plan and
commit all of his forces together.

“Simulins?” he
asked, looking over at Kevin.

“Forty-four
seconds after we exit the vortex,” Kevin answered and then continued. “We’re
cutting this pretty close, Jeremy.”

Jeremy gazed
at the viewscreens and the swirling dark purple colors that seemed to be in
constant turmoil, and then he felt a gut wrenching sensation and knew the
Avenger
had exited hyperspace.

“Status!” he
demanded as the screens in the Command Center gradually began to clear of
static.

“Energy shield
is at 60 percent and increasing,” reported Lieutenant Charles Preston. “Should
be at full power in another twenty seconds.”

“Sensors
coming online,” added Kevin as his fingers flew across his screens touching
icons. “We’re four hundred and eighty kilometers from the
Dominator
.
Scanning our other ships to check on their locations.”

“Weapons
coming online,” reported Lieutenant Preston.

“All systems
are powering up and working at optimum levels,” Commander Malen said as she
checked her command console. “All departments are at Condition One and all
interior hatches and bulkheads have been closed.”

“Damn!”
uttered Kevin, his face turning pale. “Two Carethian cruisers are three
thousand kilometers from the
Dominator
!”

“Grayseth is
ordering them to head toward the fleet as fast as possible,” Ariel reported as
she listened in on the ship-to-ship communications. “He’s quite aggravated the
two cruisers mistimed their jump.”

“Spatial
vortexes detected,” said Kevin, looking worriedly toward the nearby tactical
display, now coming alive with green and red icons. Two green icons were
intermixed amongst the red threat icons that were rapidly appearing.

“Some of those
Simulins vessels are exiting inside the fifteen hundred kilometer safe zone,”
warned Ariel as she used the ship’s sensors to scan surrounding space. “They
won’t be affected by the
Dominator’s
energy-siphoning field.”

Jeremy quickly
passed on orders to his fleets. “All ships, fire on any Simulin vessel within
the fifteen hundred kilometer exclusion zone. They must be destroyed!”

-

In space, the
Simulin warfleet exited hundreds of swirling spatial vortexes. For just a few
seconds they were vulnerable as their shields and weapons were still powering
up.

The one
hundred and forty AI ships fired instantly upon detecting the Simulin vessels
exiting their vortexes. Their fire was concentrated on the emerging
battlecruisers within fifteen hundred kilometers of the
Dominator
as
they were the biggest threat. Space was suddenly filled with massive antimatter
explosions as precisely aimed sublight missiles exploded against the unshielded
hulls of the Simulin warships.

One AI
antimatter missile slammed into the bow of a Simulin battlecruiser, vaporizing
all six energy beam spires as well as the front three hundred meters of the
ship. Two more exploding missiles quickly turned the rest of the ship into
burning plasma.