by Gary Caplan
Now, she approached the commodore, who looked at her as she adroitly moved to his side. Diana Ares was a very attractive woman. She was strongly built, with short blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, and piercing blue eyes. In addition, she was also a transhuman originally genetically engineered by some human and Tyrian scientists.
“Sir, I still have not gotten your updated schedules so I can arrange security for you.”
“I will arrange to have them sent to your station when they are ready,” replied Sheppard.” Is there something else, Lieutenant Commander Ares?” he asked, smiling.
“Yes, sir. As you know, I was recently informed that Vice Admiral Garfield will be coming on board the Phoenix on a temporary basis. He has arrived but has not yet checked in with me. He seems to come and go, and according to the internal sensors, he sometimes just vanishes with no traceable route.” She paused. “I am not sure what to do here, sir, and the captain has not informed me how to proceed.”
“I see. Well, as for the security check, he is exempt; after all, he is still acting chief of security and logistics, overseeing all of the security division, at least for the time being. Plus, the Alliance Governing Council approved his posting. As for his coming and going, just get used to that; he has certain privileges as a high-ranking Karratin and as a Star Knight.” Sheppard looked Ares directly in the eye. “I assure you he is not a security risk.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Ares.
Sheppard dismissed her and went into his office.
As Ares entered back onto the bridge, she passed Lieutenant Commander Lee Sterling, who was working at his station. She had done his security check and found him to be quite interesting. He was a blonde-haired fellow with a Terran background and had traveled to or lived on several of Earth’s many colonies. Ares noted he was in good physical form and appeared younger than he actually was.
Commander York, who had been designated the Phoenix’s first officer, was coming on duty to relieve Commander Zachary, the primary operations officer and a senior starflight control officer. Zachary was originally from Earth’s Centauri colony. He had dark brown hair peppered with some white, and blue-green eyes.
Ares thought Commander York, a human originally from Mars, was an excellent officer. He was not that far from promotion to the rank of captain, and she got along with him well enough. He had clean-cut, “farm-boy” good looks and dark brown hair, and he was well built. From York’s description, Mars became quite a nice place after it was fully terraformed. He told her he likes to explore.
York was smiling as he walked over to his station. “I have been briefed about our mission,” stated York loud enough to be heard across the bridge.
“Oh, finally some useful information,” Zachary said.
“We will be tasked to seek out any new allies of the Varlon, and secondly to eventually support our forces in Rhendal sector,” stated York. Looking around, he could see some apprehension about the mention of the Varlon.
With a knowing smile towards York, Ares said, “Yes, well, you should be happy, as we will get to explore some of the relatively unexplored space in the sectors and subsectors bordering Rhendal.”
York said, “I am happy Diana and with all the task forces in the Sixth Fleet exploring and patrolling, it could take perhaps the better part of a year to explore the relatively unexplored subsector regions of Quellus and the neighboring sectors toward galactic spinward.”
The bridge became quiet as the crew absorbed the information. There was still much work to be done in order to get the newly constructed Alliance starship Phoenix out of the dry dock facility on schedule.
C HAP TE R 13
FLEET CAPTAIN ST. JOHN AND THE TALCONS ADDRESS THE ADMIRALSBOARD
Commodore Sheppard was on his way to the last Admirals Board he would be attending at Star One for some time. Sheppard had been at Star One for almost three months now, and he had barely one week until the Phoenix would leave dry dock and the task forces he was organizing were ready for assignments.
New security systems, protocols, and codes were almost fully established and tested, and senior officers would soon be able to attend future board meetings or acquire security information related to their missions from secure remote stations.
As Sheppard entered the meeting room, security verified his identity, and he was directed to his seating area. Sheppard looked around as he made his way to his reserved seat.
In the central area, Fleet Admiral Peregrine and some of his staff were prepping a briefing. No doubt, Sheppard thought, it was to be his briefing about the preparation to retake the Rhendal sector. It also looked as if Vice Admiral Garfield was going to make a report.
In the corner of the room stood a human Sheppard had not seen for a good ten years, Fleet Captain St. John. He had some grey in
85 his curly brown hair and had put on a few more pounds and yet still appeared in his usual good spirits. He was a former commanding officer of Sheppard’s who had left to go on a special mission with a task force to the nearby Magellanic Cloud galaxy. Sheppard thought that the ships that returned to Star One three days earlier must have been St. John’s remaining task force. The two ships that returned, of the twelve that left, had been modified by the aliens referred to as Talcon. According to what Sheppard had heard, the Alliance of Worlds was in the process of an affiliation treaty with these Talcon.
Fleet Captain St. John stood in conversation near two individuals of an alien species that Sheppard did not recognize. They must be the Talcon that he had heard about; they were an avian race with useful feathered wings, unlike the Rigezon, an Alliance of Worlds founding member who had vestigial wings associated with their arms.
Several other fleet officers were arriving and taking their seats, including Fleet Admiral Braddock and Grand Admiral Pendragon. Sheppard noticed Commodore Avery sitting near Vice Admiral Garfield. A small group were working around Garfield, helping him prepare what Sheppard surmised was a concluding status report.
Grand Admiral Merlos, originally from one of the Myranarr worlds, called the meeting to order. After a short debriefing of new events for the Alliance of Worlds, Admiral Merlos called Vice Admiral Garfield up to present a concluding report.
Garfield, in his Alliance of Worlds uniform today, began his speech. “I have excellent news,” he said. “As of yesterday, all saboteur cells operating in Star One have been eliminated. With the exception of one operative who we believe will be captured soon, all other agents and saboteurs have been apprehended.”
There were several nods of approval among the officers. He went on. “The Offices of the Inspector General and Central Security have completed verification scans of all primary through tertiary security zones in Star One, and all have been cleared. New sensor devices and protocols are in effect, and a full computer interlink briefing is available for your perusal.” Garfield looked around momentarily as his news set in and some officers activated their personal interlinks.
“We have since verified that the andro-synths were an older Jiyarri technology that is now being used by the Accads. These andro-synths were able to mask and, if necessary, partially alter their biometric and electronic markers in order to subvert the previous surveillance methods. The Quarlusian shape-shifters were under the direction of the Varlon, and it was verified during interrogation that they were working with the andro-synths on some sabotage projects,” continued Garfield.
“At this time all, the Quarlusian shifters who we determined were involved with sabotage are accounted for and are in detention. Both factions had occasionally worked together, thereby increasing the overall effectiveness of their attacks. Only one andro-synth remains in operation, and security forces are close to finding it. It has been successful in attempting to adapt to the scanners and other detection technology but has not been able to get past the high-intensity scanners. Its last attempt was foiled, and its operational equipment cache has been discovered and removed. The security threat potential for Star One is now minimal.”
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There were murmurs of approval.
“As I have essentially completed the task set by the Alliance governing council,” continued Garfield, “I will be turning over the post I have operated for the past eleven weeks to newly promoted Grand Admiral Scoris-lak. I thank you for this opportunity to assist.”
After finishing his report, Garfield nodded to Grand Admiral Merlos and stepped down from the presenter’s podium. Sheppard wondered what was in store next.
Melnos introduced Admiral Peregrine and he began his presentation using some visual mapping and the three-dimensional imaging presenter. “Recently, several new Varlon forces have been attempting to fortify a few planets in the Rhendal sector,” stated Peregrine. He showed a listing of Alliance of Worlds’ facilities and bases. “The following outposts, planetary bases, and star bases are under siege, with the Varlon gaining parsecs of space each day. Eventually, they will begin their process of digging in and fortification of planets.
“I propose we send the aforementioned fleets to give aid to our remaining colonies in the Rhendal sector,” Peregrine went on. “We will need those fleets if we wish to take that important sector back. It is a region of about two thousand light-years across in its largest dimension, being one of the ten prime sectors in the Alpha quadrant. I realize we are diverting a good many fleets out of the two quadrants in which the Alliance of Worlds has fleets patrolling. This campaign will initially involve at least nine of our fifty Alliance of Worlds fleets and will change the proportion of patrolling fleets per sector.”
There were some murmurs in the room as officers made low-voiced side comments to one another.
“I believe this is necessary,” continued Peregrine, “since Rhendal sector is also near the boundary between the Alliance of Worlds and the Varlon Empire. Rhendal sector has strategic value to the Varlon, and it includes many Alliance of Worlds–controlled systems with corporate facilities, military facilities, and many civilian colonies. If a large enough portion of Rhendal sector is taken, then the Varlon will be able to employ their long-range hyperspace antimatter torpedoes from that sector against several other member home worlds or colonies in the adjacent sectors. They will also have access to the raw building material and natural resources present in the core-ward planets of the Rhendal sector.”
Admiral Peregrine showed several tactical diagrams on the display unit, and, afterward, the grand admirals, including Admiral Pendragon, who had helped with the design and planning, officially committed forces to the plan. The Admiral’s Board decided to involve the second through eleventh fleets in the operation. That was roughly a fifth of the Allianc of Worlds’ fleet forces. They would later take the plan to Minister of Defense Narthag and Prime Minister Desserix for final approval.
Before the meeting concluded, Grand Admiral Merlos asked for everyone’s attention. “I would like to make several general announcements,” he said.
Sheppard took more notice when the Sixth Fleet was mentioned.
Merlos said, “Fleet Admiral Hethra, who was slated to take command of the Sixth Fleet, is to command a different fleet due to the aftermath of battle and the loss of command personnel in the eighteenth fleet.”
“Therefore,” continued Grand Admiral Melos, “Commodore Robert Sheppard will be given brevet command of the Sixth Fleet for the duration of this conflict, as there are no other similarly qualified officers at this time.” Sheppard was slightly stunned by the notification as he had thought Hethra would be commanding.
“Fleet Admiral Braddock and Fleet Admiral Peregrine have agreed to act as Commodore Sheppard’s command liaisons in deep space,” continued Melnos. “Vice Admiral Garfield has volunteered to be the science and engineering liaison for the Sixth Fleet, and he will also provide command advice to the commodore. Grand Admiral Pendragon will be supervising tactical coordinator to the commodore. Fleet Admiral Peregrine will coordinate command with the Sixth Fleet for engagements in Rhendal sector, when our strategic plan for Rhendal sector is finalized and ready to be implemented. The Sixth Fleet will have an additional mission: locating the position of any new Varlon allies.”
“Now, on to other new business,” said Grand Admiral Melnos. “I would like to introduce to you one of the Alliance of Worlds exceptional explorers: Fleet Captain David St. John!”
There was some applause as St. John stood up and moved forward. For his achievements, he was being awarded the Alliance of Worlds Order of Merit, the Alliance of Worlds Science Commendation, the Star Medal, and an overdue promotion to the rank of commodore.
St. John came up to the dais, shook the admiral’s hand, and stood as the admiral awarded his medals—including a second star cluster to make him a commodore.
“Thank you, sir” said St. John. “I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words and give all of you a short briefing. Please note, a full interlink briefing of my exploration mission has been completed, and the science teams will be presenting data in tomorrow’s Alliance of Worlds science symposium. I would like to welcome our new comrades, who have also had negative interactions with the Varlon and with the Jiyarr in the past. They too have sent exploration missions out, but their first encounter, unfortunately, was with the Varlon, and because of certain problems in their home worlds, they decided not to pursue further contact in our galaxy until recently.”
“My task force spent two standard years just traveling to get to the Magellanic Clouds and about six years in brief exploration.” St. John displayed several images on the imager; some were of Talcon settlements or cities and a few other races he encountered, as well as some interesting star systems.
“I was asked to explain some relevant information that linked encounters we had in the Magellanic Clouds to recent occurrences in Rhendal sector. We were attacked by unknown starships which we later learned from the Talcon, were called the Accads, harried us with powerful ships in several subsectors near the edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy near the end of our exploratory mission,” St. John said. “If the Talcon people had not helped us, we would probably not be here to make this report. Our return journey was in retreat, and with the help of the Talcon, we modified our engines and were able to return in half the time.”
Commodore St. John continued. “Upon entering Star One subsector, we were only able to stop and dock with the help of the tractor/repulsion beams, as the ship’s main drive had been damaged shortly after entering the Milky Way galaxy, by a cloaked Ceyloom ship. We had inadvertently breached one of their scattered territories. To’kir’s ship followed us to Star One, and he has subsequently become the Talcon ambassador.” St. John looked at the avian Talcon, who was standing near the podium.
“I have learned from the Talcon that these Accads are setting up installations or have already set up bases in several nearby galaxies. The Talcon have had skirmishes and battles off and on with the Accad for the past several centuries. Captain To’kir informed me the Accads have a relatively new leader, and for the past several decades the Accad have been pressing their attacks. To’kir and I believe they will start with our galaxy soon.”
Some murmurs and side conversations started for a few seconds, and Grand Admiral Melnos had to call for order. Melnos thanked Commodore St. John for his briefing and continued with the last areas of fleet business, then called an end to this Admirals Board.
Just before he was about to leave, Grand Admiral Pendragon stopped Sheppard and gave him an info-disc with orders.
With a congratulatory demeanor, Pendragon said, “Robert, because you have shown not only superior leadership ability, but additionally the skills necessary to take over for a superior officer, you are granted the privileges of acting fleet admiral. You will still wear the commodore’s rank, as you have been recently promoted; however, now you will be responsible for the entire Sixth Fleet, not just a commodore’s four task forces with fifty or so starships.”
Sheppard was a little surprised, but he realized several of the other admirals must have supported this act
ion. He nodded respectfully and replied, “Aye, sir,” then saluted Grand Admiral Pendragon.
“Now you’ll be responsible for over two hundred and fifty cruisers, carriers, and dreadnaughts—over three hundred ships if you include the strike cruisers, frigates, and support transports of the sixth,” continued Pendragon. “This disk contains special orders; I made it before Lord Garfield informed me that internal communications were secure. I want you to have the original, in case the other four commodores in deep space now under your command require the official hard copy,” Pendragon said with a wink.
“Oh,” he continued, “also I have arranged for Fleet Captain Sherman to be assigned as your fleet-coordinating officer. He is also being granted brevet commodore privileges and rank to assist you. He will be reporting to you before you depart. He is an excellent officer. Like any fleet officer you will need someone qualified at coordinating fleet actions, Robert.”
With that, Pendragon walked onward to catch up with Grand Admiral Melos. Pendragon was considered an eccentric human, but he was one of the Alliance Fleet’s best tactical geniuses.
Before he left the meeting facility, Sheppard had a brief personal conversation with his old friend Commodore St. John and congratulated him on his excellent exploration work. They agreed to meet to discuss old times and new issues before Sheppard departed.
Before they parted, Sheppard found out that Commodore St. John was to be assigned command of one of the Legendary-class battlecruisers named after his previous ship, the UGAS Indefatigable. He would be assigned to Admiral Peregrine’s fleet. Then Sheppard headed into the great city inside the inner walls of Star One to go to Qualen’s for his evening meal and to celebrate his new responsibilities.
Walking and looking up at the rising curve of the inside hull and scenery of the 120-kilometer Star One station made him feel somewhat more relaxed. Sheppard took a magrail ride from the meeting complex to the stop near Qualen’s. On the magtrain, he continued to look at the scenery of the trees, the internal river and streams, the buildings and personal dwellings within Star One that came into view. Sheppard went to Qualen’s because he wanted to relax and think about his new responsibilities before he returned to his quarters onboard the Phoenix. It was only a few days until departure.