The Lost Fleet: Genesis: A Slaver Wars Novel Read Free

detailing the continued buildup of Shari forces near the Dyson Sphere. “I fear the Shari are only playing for time. I’ve
received confirmed reports of massive Shari fleet movements close to Federation
space. There’s little doubt in my mind they are preparing for war.”
    Admiral Baasil
nodded in agreement. “Our long-range sensors have detected a buildup of Shari vessels in the systems near us. Commander Stockwell believes they’ll attack our fleet
rather than let us return to the Federation.” Commander Stockwell was the Human
officer in charge of the Star Avenger , the flagship of the Alton fleet. Nearly thirty percent of the crewmembers in the fleet were Human, something
the Altons had taken great care in not allowing the Shari to find out.
    Tureen’s
shoulders drooped at hearing those words. “The Shari don’t know the range of
our sensors and probably believe their fleets haven’t been detected. Can we
fight our way back to Federation space?” Tureen had hoped to solve this
situation with the Dyson Sphere peacefully but that expectation was rapidly
beginning to fade.
    Admiral Baasil
hesitated briefly before responding. “I strongly suspect, and Commander
Stockwell agrees with me, that the Shari have a number of fleets between us and
the safety of the Federation. They have no intentions of allowing us to escape
their space.”
    “Then what are
our options?” Tureen wasn’t militarily minded and depended on those in the military
to take the lead in those matters.
    “We leave
immediately and attempt to reach the Rylus Cluster and Admiral Tolsen. I don’t
believe the Shari will be expecting us to head out in that direction, and there
may not be as many fleets between us and the cluster as there are between here
and the Federation.”
    Ambassador Tureen
closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Opening them, he looked over at the admiral.
“You do realize that by leaving unannounced it will be tantamount to declaring
war?”
    “Yes,” Admiral
Baasil replied grimly. “But to remain is to risk the total destruction of our
fleet.”
    “Can we still
send out messages to Admiral Tolsen and the Federation?”
    “So far,” answered
Baasil, his eyes narrowing. “I believe the Shari don’t want us to suspect
anything is amiss so they’re not jamming us. However, it won’t be hard for them
to trace our FTL communication buoys.” There was a string of them between the
fleet’s present location and Federation space. There was also a second string
to the Rylus Cluster.
    Ambassador
Tureen stood up as he reached his decision. “Send an encrypted message to the Federation
to send the second relief fleet to Admiral Tolsen immediately. Send another
message to Admiral Tolsen informing him of our planned arrival and to be
prepared for immediate war with the Shari.” The second relief and supply fleet
had been waiting at the border of the Shari Empire for orders to proceed. They
had been held up so as not to heighten the tension with the Shari while the
negotiations were in progress.
    “How soon
before we leave?”
    “I have another
meeting scheduled for tomorrow with the Shari representative. I don’t believe
they’re quite ready to make their move on our fleet. Perhaps I can buy enough
time for the messages to reach the Federation and Admiral Tolsen. However, it
might be wise to discretely raise the alert level of the fleet. I don’t want us
to be taken by surprise.” Tureen knew due to the distances involved it would
take several days for the messages to reach their recipients.
    “With Humans
in the fleet,” Baasil said with a slight smile. “I don’t think anything could
take us by surprise.”
    -
    Three more
days passed and Ambassador Tureen was once more in the Command Center of the Star Avenger . He couldn’t help but think of the irony of the ship’s name.
The Altons were a peaceful race with over ninety percent of the population
pacifists. However, there were still enough Altons on their worlds