by Paul Phipps
TSN Companion, 1300L, Tuesday, December 1, 2026
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, it’s been exactly one month since the TSN met with Task Force 14 in the Southern Pacific. Does anyone else besides me feel breathless at the speed of events since then?” Admiral Webster began the weekly staff meeting,
There were chuckles and in a few cases outright laughter of the group of humans that currently made up the Human complement of the Terran Space Navy.
“Very well then, I believe it’s been a busy week for us all. As usual I’ve had my fingers in the various political pies. I can say that the President of the United States is extremely concerned about his Homeland Security Department. We’ve aided him and his efforts with a very large shipment of Truth Verifiers for use in ferreting out the bad apples.
I’ve had a nice chat with the Prime Minister of England also about our vessels using British Airspace. That … was interesting…
The Chinese are communicating a bit with us but only enough to keep the lines of communication open. Just about everyone else it seems is ignoring us or screaming their heads off at the United Nations. No big deal at the moment anyway.
And to round it off I have received a request to go speak to a joint session of Congress. I have accepted and am now scheduled for December fifteenth.”
There was silence as he finished up his brief description of his week.
“Seeker, what is the general status of the Fleet?” he asked her.
Seeker’s hologram stood up from her place at his right hand and began to speak.
“The fleet as a whole is at a nominal condition of Green. There have been several requests for special-purpose designs using existing fleet hulls as a basis. In particular Commander Webster’s request for training vessels for the recruits he is currently in the process of finding and recruiting. We are going to propose several designs based upon his and Ariadne’s specifications and fine tune them as we get more experience and data on their purposes.
Captain Thomas, has requested Special Purpose Air-Ambulances and General Purpose Search and Rescue vehicles, with an emphasis on building and terrain searches as would be occurring after flooding and earthquakes. Two designs are now in final review before full production begins. We see the need of this design on all TSN vessels capable of carrying smaller purpose built ships and will have all vessels construct their own using the approved final design.
Captain Thomas has also made the request of either adding to or modifying existing scanners on the Intelligence Gathering Drones currently on or around Earth to the design that the Louis Pasteur has come up with for detecting and destroying the Spores of the Bio Weapon known as De1t8 OR ‘Shaitan’s Breath’. The request has been granted and all IGD’s are in the process of being recalled and modified after return to their Mother Ships.” Once Seeker had finished she sat down and waited for the others to speak.
“Thank you Seeker, Captain Thomas?”
“Thank you Admiral, The Louis Pasteur has had a great week. We have finished with the Niasar Contamination site. As Seeker mentioned we have researched, designed and tested several specific purpose scanner/sterilizers for the De1t8 spore form of the Shaitan’s Breath Bio-War Weapon. In addition I am now pleased to announce an extremely interesting intelligence development.
We have extracted from our two prisoners that have the ‘artificial’ glands a good sample of the chemical compound being excreted into their blood streams. This chemical is very closely related to the Zombie drug that the Homeland Security people have used in their attempts to capture Commander Webster.
It also completely neutralizes the active form of ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ in the human body. And here is the kicker… It does NOT affect the original form of DE1T8 that was developed at Fort Detrick Maryland.”
Once her announcement was made there were exclamations both soft and loud from the rest of the humans in the conference room. Lt. Commander Fuller indicated he wished to ask a question.
“Captain Thomas, you’re absolutely positive of this?”
“Yes we are, Lt. Commander. So what do you make of it? I know my imagination is running like a crazy woman.” Evana said with a chuckle.
“I don’t know what to think of it and I don’t like to throw out speculation either. Would you please have all of the data sent to Johan the A.I. here on the Companion who is letting me help him with Intelligence analysis.” Lt. Commander Fuller asked her with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Certainly Lt. Commander, Henri is doing that right now. Next up is what I think was a major Public Relations Hit.
The Thanksgiving dinner and general celebration was huge, we filled up the Comfort and the Susannah was kind enough to take our overflow, we had nearly one hundred and fifty thousand guests from all of the services including the Coast Guard. The President of the United States even sent a video message.
The U.S. Army Public Relations office really outdid their selves and there were photo-journalist teams from all of the various branches. You can expect lots and lots of articles in the next month. So many that I’m contemplating a MAJOR Christmas party around the Nineteenth of December.
I am hopeful that all of the positive press plus Commander Webster’s work will bring some more qualified recruits to us.
I also took on board two hundred and fifty Critical care patients. All of them have very good prognosis according to the Med Center. In addition to those patients I have taken on board three hundred twenty five medical personnel from the various hospitals that asked us to treat these patients. I have great hopes that this program too will bring qualified professionals into the TSN. I also want to propose hiring some professionals on temporary contract, possibly of six month durations.
In consultation with Alessandra our Medical Research A.I. and the Med-Center A.I. I would specifically like to offer a contract to Dr. Avi Ben Davis of Tel Aviv University Hospital. He is considered the leading expert in Human Brain Chemistry. We believe we need his assistance in the matter of the scrambled Brain Engrams of our two prisoners.
And for my final bit, Hameed and the local Ayatollah of Ramsheh were returned last Wednesday to Ramsheh. They are following my orders not to harm or punish Hameed any further. It’s actually pretty interesting; she is getting a LOT of sympathy from everyone especially the women who are starting to pull around her in a support group. The men on the other hand are looking over their shoulders, a lot! And their treatment of the women and children has improved greatly. The Saturday sermon by the Ayatollah Abdul Mohammed was generally a wakeup call to everyone about morality and treating each other well. The fiery sermons he used to preach were totally absent this time. It will be interesting to see if this continues.” Evana concluded her portion of the staff meeting.
“Excellent Evana!” Admiral Webster said with a big grin. “You and the Louis Pasteur are working out wonderfully and the public relations with the Army and the other services have been noted in the world’s various media outlets.”
Evana nodded her head in thanks and blushed slightly.
“As for the temporary hires, yes go ahead with that. And thanks to Lt. Commander Johansson and his efforts with Johnny Reb we now have a positive cash flow. You can use those funds to pay your contracted Doctors. Make sure that you use the prevailing rates also.” Admiral Webster told her.
“Commander Webster, are you ready?”
“Yes Admiral, This last week was also a very fruitful week for us. On the personnel front I have interviewed and accepted the enlistment of Ms. Sarah Cavendish. She is a Warrant Officer Class One (Retired), of the Royal Navy. I am confident that she will be a major contributor in our Recruiting and Training program in the future.
Currently she is in the Med-Center of the Belle, because of all of the work on her severed spinal cord and the aging reversal techniques, I also directed all of the Normal implants be implanted at the same time. This means that she will be available for duty in around nineteen more days.
I had an
interview with Sean Davis of FOX/CNN. It was quite interesting and I submitted a complete report to the system for anyone to peruse. While I was there I made a good contact with Mary Roberts the head of the North American News Division. She wants to know if we will permit a news crew to be brought into the IUR for direct interviews with the government and populace.
My answer to her was yes, if they can get the written permission of the Government of the IUR. Also that when they were done their personnel would have to go to the M1 Base for the required six month’s isolation. So I expect something from them in the near future.
Next, I had a very interesting meeting with GameTestors Inc. After describing the Game and product to be tested by them they can guarantee one hundred certified testing professionals that will sign non-disclosure agreements.
We have also settled on a final design for the testing helmet. Visually it looks like a form fitting soft hood that is pulled over the head. There is a standard sleep-teaching mesh woven into the helmet along with the communication equipment. We will be delivering One-hundred of the helmets this afternoon to GameTestors.
The actual game is up and running on our internal Game-Net. I’ve tried it out and I must say that I was ‘blown’ away. The training modules are subtle but as time goes by become more informative. We have placed so many subtle ethical and moral tests in the game that I’ve lost track.
We also have put in what I call the Space War option. That is intended on weeding out the adrenaline junkies and shallow thinkers quickly. Mind you there are opportunities even in that mode to transition to the training mode. So we will see, I do expect that we will have lots of tweaks to make before we release it to our potential recruits.”
“Can a person get lost in this Virtual Reality you are creating?” Asked Commander Fuller.
“Yes they can, and that is a real danger. So we are putting in a timer for game play. Only one hour at a time and only twice a day.
However even with that short of a ‘playing day’, subjectively the players will spend several days to several weeks in game time once they and the system adjust to each other.”
“Very good, Commander, I am looking forward to seeing real results from this. And if it doesn’t work out this time we can always find a use for this sort of technology.” Admiral Webster told Ansel. “Anything else?”
“No Sir, that’s it for now.”
And so the staff meeting continued on until everyone was brought up to speed on the operations of the others.
GameTestors Inc., La Jolla California, 0930L, December 1, 2026
“Well Commander Webster, It’s a pleasure to meet you once again.” Harold ‘Hellion’ Rogers the Vice-president for Advanced Game Testing told Ansel as he shook his hand. They were in the lobby of the GameTestors building. And it was a very nice, very tasteful space filled with green plants and an indoor waterfall and Koi pond.
“Thank you Mr. Rogers, the pleasure is all mine.” Ansel replied with a grin. “I’ve brought a prototype with me so I can discuss the testing regime further with your team leader.”
“Excellent, excellent, and in this case you’re talking to him.” Mr. Rogers told Ansel with a toothy grin.
“Ok, then let’s be about it.” Ansel told him, “All we need for the demonstration is a comfortable couch you can lay down on. You’ll also want someone that can wait in the room with us as a witness. The first session only takes one hour.”
Harold Rogers looked at Ansel in a confused yet curious way. He then shrugged his shoulders, when a client is spending two million dollars for a month’s worth of work; the client gets to set some of the rules.
“Alright, follow me, I have a nice couch in my office and Nancy my Executive assistant can keep an eye open on us through the door.
Ansel stood at the desk and opened the briefcase he was carrying. He pulled out a hood that shown like black silk with the hint of stars glistening in the night.
“This is simplicity itself. Pull this cloth helmet onto your head, the front is cut to cover your eyes. Once you put it on you will feel it getting snug as it adjusts itself to your head. Initially you won’t see anything, and then you’ll see some sparks like static electricity in a dark room.
Make sure that you are lying down and are comfortable by that time. Then my friend, be prepared to enter the game of your life!” At which point Ansel laughed a bit theatrically. “Seriously… you are going to be blown away, or at least I hope so!”
At which point he handed the hood to Harold and sat down to watch. Harold in turn looked at the open door and he saw his assistant standing there with her arms crossed and watching him quizzically.
‘Sure, why not? If nothing happens then I can tell the guys that these people are a bunch of kooks.’ He thought to himself, then shrugged his shoulders and did as he was told. Lie down on the couch and pull the hood on…
One hour later he returned to normal consciousness and lay there on the couch. He felt the hood loosen and then become completely relaxed. His body felt stiff like he hadn’t been moving at all. But his mind, oh my lord, his mind!
“Oh my GOD!” he whispered reverently as he took the hood off and pulled himself to a sitting position. He then felt the couch with his hands and then the desk. “It was so real!”
“So how did you like it? What did you do?’ Came the two questions from Ansel and Nancy.
Harold looked at the hood in his hands and then at Ansel. “I’m not sure about the story yet, but you’ve got a trillion dollar winner in the equipment.” He then looked at Nancy his executive assistant and said. “What did I do? Nancy, I flew a Star Fighter across the black of space. I saw Jupiter and Ganymede as I flew, I felt my Ship be blown to pieces because I didn’t know what to do and my crew and my squadron was wiped out because I didn’t know what I was to do.
I was given another chance to go to school and learn all of the skills and other things that would keep them alive and fighting next time.” And then he looked at Ansel with a look of anguish and said, “But I had to come back here and I couldn’t fly with them against the Bugs!”
Ansel smiled at him and said, “They’ll wait for you to rejoin them, they need you and want you there with them.”
Harold forced himself to stand and on unsteady legs he started to stretch in a pattern that was familiar yet his body wasn’t responding the way it should. He looked at Ansel in surprise, “I remember everything! These Stretches and the close quarter exercises, the two and half G Gym. And Chief Robinson! She was a terror, but I learned so much from her.” He finished in wonder.
“How long was I gone?” He asked Nancy.
“You laid there on your couch for exactly one hour Mr. Rogers. You didn’t move about, you just breathed normally and it looked like you were asleep.” She told him in a worried voice.
He nodded his head slowly and looked at Ansel. “Well! I can tell you I’m convinced. When you said this was the most advanced Virtual Reality game to date. It’s not just advanced; it feels more real than where I am right now.” He moved to sit behind his desk and then told Ansel worriedly. “This has the potential of being one hundred percent addicting to certain personalities.”
Ansel sat down in the visitor’s chair and said. “Yes, we know that. Even the most well-adjusted person is only allowed two one hour sessions a day and at least eight hours need to separate the two sessions. If an addictive personality is detected the quality of the virtual reality is steadily downgraded to the point that the experience is not addictive or just simply cut off completely.
In addition each helmet is keyed to be operable only by one person. No one else can use another person’s equipment.”
“Good! I’m glad you thought of that.” Harold Rogers said with a sigh.
“So… What did you think of the Game itself? Is it playable? Any glitches or inconsistencies?” Ansel asked him.
“Not so far, but I will admit that I wasn’t looking for anything like that.” He paused than asked. “Is the story line co
nsistent? Will every one play the same game or is it flexible?”
“It’s more flexible than you can imagine, you went in for Star Fighter training. Your basic personality was analyzed and that was the fit for you. Your assistant, Ms. Horgrath here on the other hand might find herself in the Space Marine or Planetary Explorer training. That’s a guess, but it’s based on what we discussed while you were in Virtual Reality.”
Harold sat back in his chair and rubbed his face with the palms of his hands then gave a smile and a sigh. “You know, the guys and gals are going to have a field day with this. When can you deliver the rest of the equipment so that we can start testing your game?