TSN: Epiphany (Terran Space Navy)

by Paul Phipps

  Part of our mission is to nurture mankind, not drive it into a frenzy and start killing yourselves off. So we have to do this quietly and with careful deliberate steps. So we, the TSN that is, need your opinions and ideas on how to do this. Also if you noticed we displayed ourselves to your entire Task Force not just one or two people. We KNOW that this meeting will get out to your people as soon as your ships get back into port. How you handle it will tell us much about your leadership capabilities.”

  At that point Commander McAndrews held up her hand indicating that she wanted silence. A few moments passed and then she caught the eye of Commander Harris who had been sitting in an easy chair along the wall watching and listening to his officers question Commander McAndrews.

  “Excuse me please”, she said to the Officers around her. Then she go up and walked over to Commander Harris.

  “Commander Harris, I need to talk to Captain Welles or Admiral Crane. Right now.” She said with authority.

  McAndrews/Seeker/Comspeech Mode: Lucky, notify the Task Force via radio why we have gone to full Masking.

  Lucky/Comspeech Mode: Aye Aye, Sir.

  “Certainly Commander, can you tell me why?” He asked as he got out of his chair and headed for the door.

  “Of course I can, our ships have gone to full masking. That means that that they are to all appearances, not there. You can’t see them, use radar, or any of your other sensor systems to find them. The reason is that we have detected a Chinese Submarine that is about eleven miles away from the George Bush. And we have detected a Chinese Recon Satellite maneuvering to keep this section of Ocean under surveillance.”

  “I see, and what else do you intend to do?” The Exec inquired.

  “At the moment, nothing, we are going to let you decide what is the best course of action. Of course if you decide to let us take care of it. The results will be… Interesting.” Commander McAndrews said with a smile.

  “Interesting” The Exec said with a droll tone to his voice. “Why does that fill me with a massive sense of foreboding?”

  “Because you are an intelligent man and have a good imagination besides. I think that you will be a fine Captain one day.” Commander McAndrews said as they walked swiftly down a passageway to the Captain’s Cabin.

  Once they reached the Captain’s Cabin the Executive Officer knocked and waited. A few moments later a Steward opened the door and let them in. Captain Welles was sitting at his desk and talking on the Intraship Phone.

  “I see, the TSN ships have all just disappeared. Do you know why? Not yet? Well Commander McAndrews is here now with the Exec. I’m sure I will find out shortly.”

  As he hung up the phone He swung the chair around and just waited.

  Commander McAndrews brought him up to speed on what was occurring in orbit and what the TSN was doing at that time.

  “Hmmm, let’s go meet with the Admiral and his staff and see what he wants to do.” The Captain said as he stood up and motioned them toward the door.

  * * *

  Terran Space Navy SFC Lucky, 2105L Monday, November 2, 2215

  The men from the George Bush stared around with curiosity at the CIC on board the Lucky. The room was about forty by one hundred feet across and had viewscreens occupying most of the space on the walls. There were two holographic displays in the center of the room. One was showing an image of the Earth with an individual satellite orbit hi-lighted in Red. The other display was an aerial view of the area surrounding Task Force 14 and the Lucky and her Escorts. Friendly Ships were hi-lighted in Blue and the Chinese Submarine was hi-lighted in Red. There were no obvious chairs or Computer Workstations like they were accustomed to.

  In many ways it was like a stylized set out of a Science Fiction Movie. But the reality was far more interesting. Unlike a movie set the displays were real and did not have to be imagined by the actors.

  In the primary Holo-Field there was a projection of Task force 14 with the George H.W. Bush in the center position. The sea floor was displayed accurately and the position of the Chinese submarine was high-lighted in red with the ‘Lucky’ being in a sky blue color.

  “So Gentlemen this is the current local situation. The Submarine is currently just below the Thermocline and trying to get closer in. Your vessels are still in their normal positions around the George Bush and ours have masked their selves. Your two Attack Submarines are here and here. Any ideas, suggestions or questions?” Admiral Webster said as he looked around at his guests.

  Operations Controller First Class Absher said, “Admiral are there any other Chinese vessels within 500 Miles?”

  “A good Question, Lucky?” the Admiral asked.

  “There are no Chinese Flagged vessels that we can detect within 500 miles of our current position. There is however a Chinese Aircraft Carrier Task Force to the East of New Guinea, Lat Long of 80S 176W. They are approximately 1600 Miles away. They appear to have reached that point as a destination this morning and have been doing a figure 8 pattern since. They appear to be exercising their ships and doing underway replenishment training.”

  The Holo-Field seemed to pull out further and between the coast of New Zealand and themselves was a series of icons that indicated the Chinese Aircraft Carrier task force.

  “Thank you for that information, Lucky. Does the appearance of the Chinese Task Force indicate anything to you gentlemen?” The Admiral inquired.

  “The Chinese have been getting more bold with their Blue Water Navy since we pulled back to the United States and our Historical Possessions like Guam and Puerto Rico. But in any case that location is not a traditional area for them to do exercises. Especially since Australia increased its own naval presence to stop Illegal Immigration and those Damned Pirates operating out of Africa and Indonesia.” Captain Johansson replied.

  “Also 1600 miles isn’t all that far away. They could be within strike distance of us within a day for a Drone Strike with no chance of recovering them back on board and 36 hours or so of a full strike with midair refueling for their Manned Aircraft. On the positive side they shouldn’t have the capability of Satellite control of their drones as we should be out of their coverage pattern.” Petty Officer Absher said.

  “Do you think that they would attack Task Force 14?” Admiral Webster asked.

  “No, not really. We aren’t at War with China. And as a point to think about, they are trying to fill the vacuum we left behind in a Geopolitical sense. Unfortunately for them their innate arrogance keeps tripping them up. But they might be very curious about us if they thought we had a new technology that they hadn’t managed to steal yet.” Chief Photojournalist Ferrell pointed out.

  Guangzhou, Swimming Dragon Class AIP Submarine, Monitoring American Task force 14, 2115L, Monday, November 2, 2026

  “Lieutenant Li, come to periscope depth” ordered the Captain.

  “Periscope depth, aye”, repeated the Lieutenant.

  “Use the Starlight amplifiers”

  The crew in the Conn Room were quiet as they each went about the assigned duties. In the People’s Liberation Army Navy, it paid not to let your attention wander.

  “Interesting, I can only see the American ships on the Horizon. There is no indication of that gigantic vessel we spotted this afternoon. Could it have slipped away from us?” The Captain muttered to himself. Then he looked at his Executive Officer, “Any thoughts on that?”

  “No, Captain, not at this time… Maybe it can only be detected by natural light?” He said, then immediately blurted out. “Could this be an exercise in testing new types of camouflage or projection of extra-large size for propaganda purposes?”

  “Although we are dealing with the Americans here, they aren’t magicians. Either the ship we saw exists or we witnessed a deception. Or it is so stealthy that it just slipped away from us. I’m not sure which of these, is a fact. All we can do at this point is communicate this information back to base.” The Captain stated.

  “Since the Americans are staying in this locale we
are going to have to back out to do our transmission. It’s a pity, I would rather have used a disposable message buoy. This will take more time.” The Captain said to his Exec.

  “Take us back below the thermocline and use a heading of 030. Let me know when we are 30 miles from this location.”

  The Captain then headed for his cabin to write up his report for transmission. It was very perplexing, who knows, maybe we will run across that giant ship at that location?

  * * *

  “It appears that we masked in sufficient time Admiral.” Lucky said.

  “Yes, it does. The question is now, what is he going to report. Use the IGD monitoring the submarine to relay any communications from the Sub back to us. We need to find out what they know.”

  “Well Gentlemen, I think we can stand down for a bit. Once we have some more intelligence we can make some decisions.” Admiral Webster said to the Navy personnel surrounding the display.

  “In the meantime, Commander McAndrews has been keeping the Admiral and his staff up-to-date on what we have discovered. I am interested in hearing what he has to say. Any guesses from you?” He said.

  The men just looked from one to another and shrugged or shook their heads. Captain Johansson then said.

  “I’m sure that we all have ideas but are too well trained in keeping suppositions to ourselves.”

  * * *

  Admiral Crane and his Staff are watching the same Hologram projection as Admiral Webster.

  “Thank you for those updates, Commander McAndrews. Also I appreciate you using your equipment to show us what your Carrier was showing Admiral Webster.” Admiral Crane said.

  “No problem at all Admiral. I’m glad you found it helpful.”

  “In the meantime how about you people doing some brainstorming about what to do with this submarine” The Admiral said to his staff. “We will meet back here at 0800 tomorrow unless something else pops up tonight.” He paused, then “Dismissed and a good night rest to you all.”

  Terran Space Navy SFC Lucky, 0430L Tuesday, November 3, 2026

  “Captain Edgewood, its 0430” Lucky announced into the dimly lit room that Captain Edgewood lay sleeping.

  “Hmmm, Yes, 0430, Yeah… Right” Captain Edgewood said as he sat up on the edge of his bed. He then pulled on his Shipsuit and prepared for his day.

  “So where do I go get some exercise, Lucky?”

  “Just go to the Trans-Portal and say Gymnasium and you will be sent there directly. I suggest that you have a protein drink before exercising though. Your suit is indicating some dehydration and protein will be helpful during your exercises.”

  “Protein Drink? I usually don’t have anything except water before doing my exercises.” He started to walk toward the Trans-Portal. “Ok, I’ll take your suggestion.”

  “I’ll have some ready for you at the Gym. Also a trainer will be available for you.”

  The Captain went to the Trans-Portal and was sucked in ….. and out. Into a very large Gymnasium, definitely a professional setup. He liked the Pool on the inside of the Running track. That would make a welcome dip after doing his five mile run.

  “Sir, I am Arnold, the Trainer for this Gymnasium. Would you please tell me what sort of exercise regime you want to work on” said a projection of a man appearing to the captain’s left.

  And so began Captain Edgewood’s day on board the Star Fighter Carrier Lucky.

  * * *

  “Captain Johansson, its 0530 Sir.” Lucky announced to the Captain.

  “Whaaa, Oh… Yes, 5:30 Time to get up.” The Captain muttered sleepily.

  “Admiral Webster is having Breakfast Buffet in the Wardroom at 0600 Captain. I believe he has a surprise for you too.” Lucky said with relish in his voice.

  “Right. Please inform him I will be there.”

  And so on for each of the eleven Navy men who were visiting the Lucky.

  * * *

  “Good Morning everyone” Admiral said with a tone of good humor in his voice. “Eat heartily, we have a lot to do today.” He said before eating his own breakfast of a small steak with eggs and apple juice.

  The rest of the men followed suit with each giving their request and eating quickly as their individual orders arrived on the table before him. There was some small talk between them as the breakfast was consumed.

  As he pushed the remains of his breakfast to the disposal slot in the table he said, “Now that we have had a good start to the day, I want to bring you up-to-date on the situation with the Chinese submarine. It is the Guangzhou. Our IGD intercepted their transmission to their base in China. The interesting thing is that they did spot the Lucky earlier on in the day and took some photographs of her and Task Force 14 for a size comparison. They are mystified as to our disappearing without leaving any sound traces in the ocean for them to pick up. They have two theories they are working on. One is that they stumbled on the Navy doing an experiment in holographic projection or that what they saw was real but stealthed in some way and has left the area of the task Force.”

  “I expect that they will continue to shadow the George Bush for a while longer. “ Commented Chief Hartman. “If I were the Admiral, I would set sail for San Diego. It would cause all sorts of speculation on the Chinese part.”

  “Perhaps he will, but I think that we will head North toward Guam” Lt. Harrison volunteered

  This then started a whole round of speculation. It was fun, but in the end none of them really had an idea what Admiral Crane would decide to do.

  “Captain Johansson, Lieutenant Harrison, I want to offer you an opportunity today to do something different. Interested?” Admiral Webster said with a broad smile.

  “What are you offering, Admiral?” Captain Johansson said with a tone of wariness.

  “Well now, how would you like to go for a spin in a Starfighter? Mind you the Onboard A.I. will actually be doing the piloting but you will be in the Command Pilot’s seat. There are two additional seats available. If anyone else wants to go they are available. Lt. Harrison, I would like to offer you a ride in a scout ship like Roland, the one we came here in. I suggest that you take Chief Butler, Chief Ferrell and Petty Officer Absher with you. There are positions for all of you that will correspond to your duties on board the Bush.”

  “You are just going to let us take a ride in your vessels?” Captain Johansson blurted out.

  “Yes, of course. Mind you, you are mainly going to be passengers but the AI’s on board have limited human interaction time and I want them to get a feel for what it would be like to have regular crews. Consider it a training exercise for all of you. Oh yes” he paused, “there is a serious side to this. I want you to go take a close look at this Chinese Carrier Task Force. I have a feeling about them.”

  “If you don’t mind sir. I really think that we need to inform Captain Welles of your offer.”

  “Certainly, I was hoping you were going to say that.” The Admiral smiled once again.

  * * *

  “So…. Let me get this straight. Admiral Webster has offered you and some of your men a ‘ride’ in a Starfighter and a Scout ship for the purpose of letting you get a feel for their technology and also to go have a ‘look-see’ at the Chinese Carrier Task Force. Is that correct?” Admiral Crane said with a slight incredulity in his voice.

  “Yes Sir, that is correct.” Captain Johansson voice came back over the communicator Commander McAndrews had set up out of her ‘magic” briefcase.

  The Admiral then turned his attention to the Commander, “Did you know about this offer?”

  “Yes, I did Admiral. I made the suggestion to Admiral Webster this morning and he obviously liked it enough to offer it to your men.”

  “I see… Or maybe I don’t. What is your reasoning behind this offer?”

  “Several things will be accomplished.

  One, we believe that the Chinese Task Force should be reconned, If only to confirm what the IGD’s have found.

  Two, by having your men along
they can get a firsthand impression of the situation and bring back that information to you when they return from their visit to the Lucky tomorrow.

  Three, we want them to get an idea of the capabilities of the smaller vessels we have.

  Four, Lt. Harrison is an Amateur Astronomer and we thought he would enjoy the chance to get a view of the stars from Orbit after the Chinese are checked out.” The Commander ticked off her points on her fingers as she talked.