by Gary Caplan
“As to who could be involved among the other nonaligned groups who have recently joined the Sixth Fleet, I’ll have to look into that,” Sheppard replied. “As for the corporate sector, I can ask, but I am not aware of prototype testing that has been authorized to collect animals.”
Felkestaar nodded.
“Oh, that’s good news: you just mentioned that you now have a better ability to deal with the Varlon’s nanotechnology weapons,” continued Sheppard. “Perhaps you might share some of that technology as my ships don’t quite have that capability. We still target empty space, or even sometimes our own ships that are near to the Varlon when they use the chameleon field and their other sabotaging systems to full effect.”
“Thank you for your assistance with this strange event,” replied Renjir. “It’s unfortunate our security protocols and our defense computer are not allowing direct interface with your own devices. However, once we determine a new safe intermediary system, I am sure information transfer and sharing will work better.”
Sheppard nodded and thought, They want to share but not too much and not too quickly, not unlike the Hegemony. He said, “You’re welcome, and I understand the need for security. I see the next briefing is about to get started, but I’ll keep my ears open for information.”
Sheppard actually didn’t mind that the various interface devices weren’t working to share information. He preferred an older style of device called a commlink, a handheld device with an external display on one side to access information. Others, like his friend the chief engineer of the Phoenix, had an implanted device connected to his brain, and some others wore a lens over one eye as a visual display for information access.
The briefing continued shortly after the majority of the guests took their seats. This time, a few Alliance of Worlds officers would be briefing with the Talcon officers they had worked with on status reports. Sheppard noticed Commodore St. John was near the presenters’ dais with two Talcon officers. The topic being displayed was the agreed-upon trade routes in Alliance of Worlds space. Initially, the Talcon had moved their starships close to a few Alliance colony worlds, which alarmed some people. The Talcon were on a peaceful mission, but the ships were not all that peaceful looking. As a result, the Alliance ambassador established some guide routes along specific vectors to approach starbases and colonies in the Alliance of Worlds. The Talcon made a similar request for the approach to the Starcity. Especially now, since the Talcon had established two colonies and a few outpost bases, they were going over the newer approach and contact protocols for those areas. This was all done to provide information and remove any interpretation of hostile action from members of the Alliance who might want to establish trade with the Talcon.
After that presentation, there was another short break. As Sheppard went to get a snack and some more tea, his old friend Admiral Nigel Braddock, fleet admiral for Second Fleet, approached him. Nigel Braddock was much older than Sheppard. Although he still had the twinkle of life in his blue-green eyes, his brown hair was lined with many streaks of gray. He was also one of Sheppard’s family friends. Actually, he was originally his father’s friend. Braddock was known as Mr. Stasis back on Earth as he spent many years in cryostasis machines and used multiple antiaging methods and alien technology to greatly extend his life.
Braddock was familiar with using long-range torpedoes from his role as one of the corporate executives of his company BradCorp. He had ordered launches of long-range intersystem torpedoes and sent mobile attack androids from his company’s defense force at the mining facility on Quellus Borealis 6 to help strike at the Varlon earlier in that battle more than a year ago at the request of Sheppard, whose task force was then still en route to defend the Alliance colony on the seventh planet, QB7.
“Robert, I hope things are better for you now,” said Braddock. “We both had losses of crew and starships.”
“Well, with the influx of various nonaligned groups to the Sixth Fleet, it’s a challenge,” replied Sheppard. “I lost good crewmembers and about half my original fleet when I was the acting fleet admiral. Now that Fleet Admiral Peregrine is in charge of the remainder of Third Fleet, and the Sixth, I have three star-cluster vice-admiral duties.”
“These Accads are just powerful and dangerous,” said Braddock. “I probably lost close to half of my fleet in the last year, and I know the Sixth was one of the first fleets to go up against this relatively new adversary. It’s worse for us that those assassins took out several of our senior ranking officers a year and a half ago, and the Alliance of Worlds has not replaced them, only transferred officers within our fifty fleets.”
Sheppard replied, “Well, Nigel, as you may know, the numbers of the Sixth have increased to over twice the original number of ships with Fleet Admiral Peregrine now commanding Sixth until the Third Fleet is back to numbers. I recall you also did get some of the other nonaligned or elder races’ starships into Second Fleet.”
“Yes, I got some of the Hegemony and Rhyn starcraft, who, having more advanced technology than us, can fight the Varlon more easily than Alliance of Worlds starships,” said Braddock. “I’m still a bit jealous of you. The Sixth Fleet has Vice Admiral Wiesse of the Betellians, who has his own small fleet, and Vice Admiral Garfield of the Hegemony, who both seem to attract others of the elder and the nonaligned races to the Sixth Fleet.”
Sheppard smiled and nodded then said, “Thank the creator for them. Each ship in the Betellian contingent alone is more powerful than five of ours, and they can handle the Accads’ Jiyharr-made ships as almost equals in space, only they tend to neutralize the enemy starships not destroy them.”
“You are right about their effectiveness, and they are builders not destroyers,” said Braddock. “Those Dyson spheres they’re building are proof of that, and if the Accads hadn’t arrived, I don’t think they would be getting involved as much with us ‘less developed worlds.’”
“Looks like we’d better get back to the meeting,” said Sheppard.
They both headed back and took their seats as Fleet Admiral Peregrine was finishing coordinating with one of the Talcon high admirals. Sheppard listened as the last group assembled to make a joint presentation, including Fleet Admiral Peregrine, who was from Rigezon. The people of Rigezon were an avian species and had vestigial wings, so they could not actively fly. Early on Sheppard noticed the Talcon were indifferent to the few Rigezon at first but eventually welcomed the other birdlike group as allies. Admiral Peregrine had proved his tactical ability and survival skills in battle, and his record showed his tactical ability to lessen the effect of the enemy’s greater power. The presenters were setting up some tactical images to show the assembled officers. The Talcon’s imaging and display systems had a wider spectrum since the Talcon could see slightly into the ultraviolet and slightly into the near-infrared spectrum. The projected images were quite realistic. It was a level above what the Alliance of Worlds used except in the most advanced holodome imagers that were used or those who interlinked with implants providing augmented virtual-reality images of space.
The display showed areas of space with glowing relevant nearby stars and planets, and representative images for starships. Selecting a ship or area enlarged the images and provided even more to view. Admiral Peregrine said to the audience, “To cause some additional havoc, the Accads had recently adopted their ally the Varlon’s method of using long-range hyperspace torpedoes containing an antimatter weapon. Both were in the process of establishing long-range hyperspace launching facilities. As these torpedoes used a portion of the antimatter to power the hyperspace engines that moved them, they had a defined range. As a result they could be launched parsecs away from an intended target system.”
Last year Sheppard and some of his comrades in the Order of Star Knights were sent on a special mission to a planet the Varlon had then recently taken. The mission was to remove three Varlon launching facilities that had sent some long-range torpedoes to strike at the Alliance of Worlds Headquarters a
t the Star One space colony. Peregrine’s presentation was short, and a discussion of how to go about dealing with the torpedo launching facilities that could now effectively reach the new Talcon colony or outposts was started. Now the Talcon were capable of dealing with the Accad or the Varlon and did not need to call for any Star Knights to help protect their civilization. They might need the assistance of the Alliance, but Peregrine did not recommend anyone in particular for that duty.
Robert Sheppard wasn’t the only Star Knight member present; there were two others: his mentor, Garfield, and Torlin Natarris. Natarris was one of the Zal, a founding member of the Alliance of Worlds that had built planetary rings around some of their worlds to defend against the Varlon. He was a fleet captain and a master-level Star Knight.
The Talcon admiral sitting next to Ambassador Felkestaar began giving a report about defense supplies and what they might trade with the Alliance of Worlds. Sheppard heard his name and paid a bit more attention as the admiral said, “The Alliance officer Vice Admiral Sheppard will be involved in determining what happened to the missing cargo livestock that occurred over the past several days during his command watch.” The admiral turned to Prince Kyr and added, “Your Highness, I’m sure some information can be found about what happened to one of your favorite animal exhibits.”
Sheppard looked around and saw Renjir looking at him and nodding, and then Prince Kyr looked to him as he said, “I wish you well. Please keep me informed about any progress, Admiral Sheppard.”
Sheppard replied, “Yes, Your Highness.” He looked back at Renjir while almost biting his lower lip. Now it seemed he was volunteered after agreeing to look into the incident. Sheppard considered that he would have to be more careful in how he discussed things with the Talcon, even in the less formal breaks. He would have to take the issue of the missing animals more seriously now, since it had potential political ramifications with Prince Kyr having some kind of involved interest. Sheppard noticed Garfield had a pondering expression once the missing animals were mentioned. As Renjir was speaking, Garfield moved slowly toward Sheppard as if to make a whispered comment, but once Prince Kyr started talking, he paused and held any comment.
The rest of the briefing lasted barely half an hour, and it went fast since Sheppard was distracted by this new assignment, though it might be something the Star Knights might do, and Renjir knew Sheppard was a Star Knight.
Garfield motioned Sheppard over after the briefings were finished. He said, “I have a program that evaluates interesting Alliance of Worlds news events for my review, and I received some information that this animal loss is not the only occurrence.”
“What do you mean?” Sheppard asked. “Was this what you wanted to tell me earlier?”
Garfield replied, “Well, yes. Recently on four other worlds in the Alliance, animal specimens have been reported missing with no clear reason for their disappearances.”
Sheppard said, “I’ll have to have some crew aid me to look into those to see if there’s any relation.”
“If my device did not have an algorithm to scan alien newsfeeds, I would not be aware of that either,” said Garfield as they walked back to the Talcon conveyance that would take them to a travel station and finally an embarkation area to reboard their starships. The tram had seven compartments, each over twenty meters long and six meters wide. The entrance or exit area between the compartments was a pressure-sealed double door that automatically retracted when touch activated. There was no exit in between the attached cars’ sealed compartments. There was one main exit and entrance in each car or compartment.
One of Garfield’s multifunction Karratin devices produced a melancholy tune, and at the same time Sheppard sensed that Garfield was getting a telepathic communication. “I’ll have to return to Zeloc. It received a coded special notification that I will have to view in person.”
Sheppard noticed Garfield had stopped after looking to see if he was in a security scan zone. He didn’t like people watching him, so he kept his Star Knight abilities out of sight of others and few actually knew how he came and went. Sheppard had come to learn that his mentor, a grand master Star Knight, was going to use an advanced Star Knight power to translocate to his starship. Only a few could master such a psionic travel ability over great distances.
Sheppard said, “Perhaps I’ll see you aboard the Phoenix later.” Sheppard’s mentor looked worried, and Garfield never looked that way before.
“Yes, later. I must verify this message.” After saying that Garfield faded, using the travel mode that made Sheppard feel a bit of awe.
After Sheppard boarded the travel tram to return to the Phoenix by mundane methods, he was joined by Fleet Captain Natarris, who said as he sat nearby, “Well it’s good to see you, sir. It seems I am not the only one tasked to look into these vanishing animals.”
“It’s good to see you too, Captain Natarris. What do you mean ‘not the only one tasked to look into these vanishing animals’?” asked Sheppard. “Were you asked by Renjir as well, but with me being of higher rank I was accorded the responsibility?”
Natarris replied, “No, not exactly. It was a mission the Star Knights of my order asked me to look into for the Star Knight interorder coordination division, since some specimens from Zal had gone missing, including animals and plants. I’m still on full duty. That’s why I was scheduled to be at this briefing, until my request for leave was approved earlier today.
“The IOC division has other Star Knights involved?” Sheppard asked.
“Yes, maybe one or two others, I gather from reading reports. My own research indicated other planets also had similar occurrences of missing animals over the past few weeks. Now the Talcon have had some kind of loss as well, and they have more advanced technology than us.”
Sheppard had been on an important Star Knight mission with Natarris before, and he considered Natarris a friend and colleague. Natarris was a master and more highly ranked than Sheppard among the Star Knights. That was likely why Natarris was asked by the Star Knights to investigate.
“Yes, this doesn’t seem like coincidence now, but some kind of plan,” Sheppard replied as he looked out the conveyance tram’s windows.
Sheppard pondered the situation. He was fairly well educated and had almost completed a doctoral degree in astrophysics, but his military and earlier colony defense time took precedence. As the Talcon conveyance moved forward, after about the equivalent several kilometers the tunnel opened up onto farmland with fully grown plants and a small forest of native trees. He had seen this view from a different angle on his first visit to the Starcity. It was still a grand view.
He looked at Natarris and said, “Do you think the Accad are looking to develop some kind of biological weapon to destroy our food chains by striking at key animals or plants?”
“That is an interesting theory, but I’ll have to look at the information I have to find support for it,” Natarris replied.
Sheppard said, “I’m thinking about a worst-case scenario. The Accads have access to the Jiyharr, and the Jiyharr technology is as good as or better than the Betellians’. I’m not sure what they would do with animal samples.”
“I haven’t heard that they’ve begun that, but you’re right, we don’t fully understand their motives,” said Natarris. “We may have to work together on this. I’ll send a report to my order and request guidance. They may have me contact Star Knight intercoordinating division to get some help since this is not an isolated event.” The tram approached the stop that would allow embarkation to the different ships. Gravity here at the periphery of the Starcity near the docking facilities was slightly less than in the more central zones of the Starcity. One could still walk, but if you started to move too fast, you might leap if you did not compensate your stride. As you traveled toward the docking area, things were just about one-half earth gravity and continued to decrease as you got closer to the outer docking areas.
“Yes, we might have to work together as Star Knights on
this,” said Sheppard. “I’ll need to get back to the Phoenix and speak with some bioscience officers. Then I suppose I’ll have to eventually visit the Talcon zoo and inquire about the missing creatures. I should make a more personal effort as Prince Kyr seems to have some interest in this as well.”
Natarris became more formal and saluted Sheppard, the quick salute made him almost move and bob up, before he compensated his balance in the lower-G area and then said, “Perhaps when you complete your inspection, you can contact me and we could meet to discuss the results. I would like to know some details for my report to the intercoordinating division.”
Sheppard returned the salute and replied, “I’ll contact you after the completed analysis.”
Sheppard continued to the shuttle area, where a T-200 multipurpose craft was docked.
Lieutenant Corwin greeted him. “Sir, are you ready to return to the Phoenix?”
“Yes, it’s time. I have more tasks now to get started than I thought I would have.” Lieutenant Corwin had served with him as one of his primary starfighter pilots for close to two years now. Sheppard entered the entry of the T-200. He noticed the crew had started preflight checks. He looked for a seat and secured himself for the ride. The T-200 was a type of starcraft that could be set up and deployed as a ten-crew-member scout ship. This one was configured as a transport and had additional seating set up. Sheppard noticed some other Alliance of Worlds crewmembers seated in the other passenger seats who had been allowed some limited shore leave on the Starcity for cultural exchange or to arrange trade and supplies.
Sheppard sat back as the flight checks neared completion. The T-200 would launch shortly, and the few minutes to get back to the Phoenix would allow him time to ponder. He had a new unexpected assignment, and as he thought more about it, he wondered what he had gotten himself into.