by Gary Caplan
Chapter 3
Back on the Phoenix
Sheppard headed to the bridge once he changed out of his more formal dress uniform and into his duty uniform. While changing he looked out at a large view screen that simulated the external view of space outside his quarters, including a partial view of the Starcity and some of the other ships in the Sixth Fleet. Like most Alliance of Worlds ships, the Phoenix was a generally rhomboid-shaped spacecraft composed of a reinforced trans-titanium alloy with multiple enclosed decks. As a Pegasus-class battle cruiser, it was over sixteen hundred meters in length and a third that at its widest. Phoenix had comfortable crew quarters for over two thousand officers, mission specialists, and support crew.
Phoenix had a rather large main bridge, including, as a Sixth Fleet flagship, an added task force command section, where he and his fleet coordinating officer, Fleet Captain Sherman, organized fleet and task force missions and reviewed mission logs. Sheppard would be heading to that section of the bridge as his duty station and office were located nearby. As he left his quarters, he noticed Sharon had left one of her journal pads she brought with her last night to catch up on some reading. They had been dating for several months now and were starting to get more serious. Commander Sharon Taylor was part of Fleet Captain Wilder’s crew as one of the chief science officers on the Phoenix. Relationships between crew were allowed onboard as long as one person was in another section and did not report directly to or were evaluated by the other person. He realized he would have to ask the science division for some help with the missing animal situation. He smiled—at least he would likely get to work with Sharon.
Sheppard headed to the main bridge, passing crew members. He had initiated a policy that he didn’t wish to be announced when he was on his way to the fleet command alcove or his adjacent office. Though some admirals seemed to like being heralded, there was no saluting on the bridge or crew quarters decks. Within the Phoenix there was also a secondary bridge, science and research decks, primary and secondary engineering control areas, and two separate hangar bays for multiple types of attack or support starcraft. There were even multipurpose areas for storage of supplies, and recreation areas for a prolonged journey, some of which could span over a few years.
Fleet Captain Wilder was on duty on the bridge. There were three shifts, and each had someone of at least captain rank on duty at all times. Wilder, like Sheppard, had some similar beliefs about organized types of bridge crew. In order to avoid cultural problems in the nerve center of a starship and prevent environmental compatibility issues in crews with temperature, humidity, or atmosphere differences, only those with similar tolerances were usually on the bridge for a particular duty time. The bridge could be changed for the crews, such as alteration in atmosphere type or temperature or pressure as optimal for that on-duty crew. This was set up for those crewmembers with enough differences that they might have problems being too hot or too cold. Duty times were organized to limit potential issues.
Wilder was sitting down at his command console and absentmindedly combed his fingers through his short brown hair as he began to review some starship readiness reports on his terminal. He wore a translucent eye covering, a computer linking device that allowed temporary connection between the data systems and his visual cortex to access secure reports for his eyes only. He, like some of this particular bridge crew, was human. With the ship in the outer docks within the Starcity, there wasn’t as much for him to do but get his reports done. Wilder had already taken some shore leave. He visited one of the more tropical habitats within the Starcity with a few other crew members as the guest of Renjir Felkestaar, who had spent several weeks on board the Phoenix over a standard year ago, and had become friends with many of the bridge crewmembers.
Captain Wilder began to announce to the bridge crew, “We will need to do another readiness drill simulation this week.” He looked over at the helm officer. “Lieutenant Commander Darani.”
“Sir, I have almost completed another one of the helm and navigation crew testing simulations with Commander York.”
Sheppard smiled at Darani as he approached the captain’s station. Lyra Darani was actually an adaptive nonhuman, a Quarlusian, and capable of a degree of shape-shifting. She had been given an assignment aboard the Phoenix at the request of Commodore Sheppard when the Phoenix first left the docks at Star One. She usually maintained in the form of a Kyz, one of the feline species that were also one of founding members of the Alliance of Worlds.
Sheppard watched the bridge crew interactions; he missed some aspects of that level of command. You tend to lose the camaraderie at the higher ranks when you have to analyze information and make larger, broader operations decisions. He looked at Wilder as he approached and said, “I have been volunteered by Renjir to help with a problem. Seems they have had some animal losses, and it’s only been Alliance ships on their sensors.”
“Animals, sir? You mean some group in one of our task forces or fleet is accused of this?” Wilder asked.
Sheppard replied in a slightly louder speaking voice to inform or involve other bridge crew. “From what I was told the Talcon don’t really believe it was the Alliance of Worlds that removed the animal specimens, but they think that some of our affiliates and new allies who are in the elder races might have done it for some reason, and they asked me to look into that.”
“You mean like the Betellians, sir?” asked the inquisitive Lieutenant Pelori from her nearby station. She was an Azurian navigator with powder-blue skin and short white hair. She had a face and eyes not too different from humans and also two small, antennae-like sense receptors coming from the crown of her head. The small antennae were rotating partially. Azurians were adaptable and could easily function in Earthlike environments.
“Yes, like the Betellians, and those with technology closer to or greater than the Talcon,” replied Sheppard. He looked around at the bridge crew, several of whom had taken notice of the information. “I’ll need some help with this from the crew, particularly bioscience to help look into the particular animals. Astrometrics could review the records of our sensor data to see what we can discover.”
“Is this a priority, sir?” said Commander York, the first officer of the Phoenix. York was sitting at his station using his interlink to read information. York, originally from Mars, was an excellent officer. He was up for promotion to the rank of captain. He had an athletic, clean-cut, outdoorsman’s good looks.
“I am not sure what level of importance to give it, only that some of the creatures were from Prince Kyr’s zoological collection and that we need some results soon,” said Sheppard.
Wilder said, “We will assist as best we can, sir, but what about the other Starcity that arrived in our galaxy last month? I thought we were scheduled to be part of that welcoming delegation.”
Coming out from the fleet command section of the bridge, Commodore Sherman, Sheppard’s fleet coordinating officer, said, “Yes, we were in kind of a hurry, but that part of our mission was reassigned by Grand Admiral Pendragon. He is personally going to visit the other Starcity of Princess Lyrial, who is the sister of this Starcity’s leader.” Sherman had just walked the relatively short distance from his station in the fleet operations command alcove section that was connected to the bridge and to Sheppard’s office.
Sheppard noticed a few of the officers were not at a bridge duty station and might be returning from leave. Sheppard said, “As we’re in a space dock, we can use the briefing room on this deck, Captain Wilder, call the senior officers to meeting. I’ll announce my plans then.”
“Yes, sir; can I notify you of staff readiness once initial ship duty business is finished?” said Wilder.
As he turned and headed toward the command alcove section, Sheppard replied, “That’s good. You can start with ship’s business and then notify me.”
Sheppard walked into the command alcove section, containing the fleet tactical display systems interfaces. The two tactical officers along with Commodore Sherman, who wa
sn’t technically part of the Phoenix bridge crew, came to a degree of attention while still remaining in their seats in case acting Vice Admiral Sheppard wanted them to acknowledge him in some way. Sheppard noticed the two commanders who worked for him monitoring in real time the course and missions of the task forces that composed about half of the Sixth Fleet.
Sheppard used his commlink to open the security door to his office area. Although a few small, angled plasti-glass window sections allowed someone approaching the office to see if there was a meeting going on, the views within were minimized. Yesterday, Sheppard had been talking here via hyperlink from Star One on a secure channel with his colleague and friend Commodore Avery about security issues and the newly reported locations of their enemy’s long-range torpedo facilities. After he entered and the doors whisked closed behind him, he activated some music. Sheppard liked listening to some old digital synthesized recordings of Monteverdi, including the Orfeo Suite, and then perhaps Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto number four. He then read some secure memorandums and reports until Fleet Captain Wilder notified him the group was assembled.
The meeting room was large enough to easily accommodate twelve people around an oval table with five additional chairs to one side of the table. There was an escape pod access in the nearby corridor. Meetings here tended to be more formal, at least initially. As Sheppard walked in, the lower-ranked crew came to a brief attention. Sheppard called an at ease, and people sat back down in the seats. Sheppard knew that Wilder had already conducted some of Task Force One’s crew’s and ship’s business in his briefing just prior to this. Most of these people were Wilder’s officers and were assigned to his bridge crew section.
As Sheppard looked around, he smiled at the crew. He had worked with all of them to some degree over the past year, and they were fellow officers. At the table were Commander York and Lieutenant Commander Lee Sterling, the Phoenix’s second officer. Commander Zachary, as senior helmsman, would occasionally work as first officer. Senior security officer Lieutenant Commander Diana Ares glanced up from her security systems checks as Sheppard moved across the bridge. Sheppard briefly recalled her strength from a martial arts sparing he did with her recently; he still had a bruise. Ares was different form the other bridge officers in that she was a transhuman originally genetically engineered by a consortium of some human and Tyrian scientists. Present also was Commodore Grey, an old friend of Sheppard’s. He was one of the Phoenix’s doctors and also served as the Sixth Fleet’s chief medical officer when Sheppard had temporary fleet admiral duties.
The next three officers he would probably need the most initial help from where the chief engineer and the two senior science officers. The chief engineer of the Phoenix, Commander O’Brien, would occasionally come up on the bridge, but he spent most of his time in engineering control section. Sheppard would need his help and perhaps Ares’s contribution to determine how the animals were taken. O’Brien was a brawny fellow of Irish descent, with fiery red hair and moustache. He was an old friend of Sheppard’s and one of the people who originally helped him with his flagship selection on Star One.
The last two senior officers were Commander Andor and Commander Sharon Taylor. Andor was Task Force One’s coordinating science officer; he was also a Class 3000 series artificial intelligence. Andor had silvery skin and appeared generally human. Sheppard had personally selected him as part of the crew.
Sharon Taylor had joined the crew almost a year ago as a bridge officer. Alliance forces under Sheppard had rescued her and some others from QB7, where she was working with a research team before the Varlon arrived. She was a human with blue eyes and long, sandy-blond hair that she wore up during duty hours. She just happened to be a brilliant scientist and very pretty as well. She was also Sheppard’s girlfriend and would be one of the officers he would have to call on for help.
Sheppard said, “I was tasked with an unusual project. Ambassador Felkestaar asked me about some missing animals on the Starcity. He was wondering if I knew anything or that perhaps some of the elder races who have joined our fleet may have had something to do with that. Before the end of the meeting, one of the Talcon admirals mentioned me by name and that I would be looking into the disappearances of a few of Prince Kyr’s animals. Then the prince looked over and asked me to keep him informed.” Sheppard paused, and he saw that Commodore Grey was starting to say something. Grey was a mature human of almost seventy but was still hale and able. Only his thinning hair and some gray strands gave his age away. Especially with the induced longevity from medical advances on human lifespans, he was considered only middle aged.
Dr. Grey said, “So you’re saying you got drawn into a possibly politically complicated situation by Renjir to help him in some way. We know that he is a bit of a practical joker from when he spent some time before coming aboard the Phoenix with St. John’s crew, and later that month with us when this Starcity first arrived.”
“You’re right: he does have his more jovial side,” said Sheppard. “But after the meeting, Fleet Captain Natarris, who also attended the joint briefing, talked with me privately in a Star Knight to Star Knight way. He indicated that he had been placed on a mission by his order and that other animals have gone missing on a few other worlds over the past weeks. So something is going on, and it’s not just at this Starcity.”
“Now that has more ominous implications,” Dr. Grey said.
Sheppard replied while nodding, “It could. I’ll visit the Talcon Zoo and investigate this personally, since some of these animals were Prince Kyr’s and this investigation has some political implications. What I would like is for help to review security scans of the suspected missing specimens, our own sensor logs of the time, to look for something similar to a Varlon chameleon cloak or some other means of camouflage. I’m sure Commander Andor or someone in science section can perhaps determine something about the animals or why these particular specimens went missing. Are they valuable? Also, some theory of how the animals were taken, possible technologies…” He looked at O’Brien. “Even if we don’t have that level of technology yet, maybe some theory on how they were removed without that impressive automated Talcon security system being notified until afterward.” O’Brien seemed to be listening while using his interlink as Sheppard talked, probably multitasking and remotely checking ship performance data in preparation to leave space dock in an augmented reality of what he actually saw in the physical world and the interfaced icons of the virtual one broadcast through his imbedded interlink.
O’Brien said, “Sir, I will look at the information and try to figure out why something like this could have happened from an engineering standpoint.” Sheppard had known O’Brien for several years, and he was one of the best engineers in the Alliance.
“Sir,” said Wilder, “this could be a good opportunity to work with the Talcon more closely to gain further trust with them.”
“I agree,” replied Sheppard. “Since we don’t have a veterinary officer here, I think at least I should take someone from science and security on my visit.”
Wilder said, “Sir, I’m sure Ares and Taylor could accompany you on your zoo investigation.”
Ares looked relieved after being cooped up in dock. Diana Ares was a very attractive woman. She was athletically built, with short blond hair, light skin, and piercing blue eyes. And Sharon smiled.
Sheppard nodded. “All right, get any equipment you think we might need for this, and we’ll meet with the Talcon liaison where the animals were taken from.”
Dr. Grey said, “Mind if I go along, Robert? I’m not a veterinarian, but with all the alien anatomies I have to deal with, sometimes I feel like one.”
Sheppard smiled and replied, “I don’t see why not. At the least if one other two-star-cluster-ranked officer is involved, that will indicate to the Talcon that we take the problem seriously.”
The computer voice interrupted then, stating, “Yellow alert, yellow alert, yellow alert.” This occurred simultaneously along with the
alert lights flashing near the entrance to the room.
Wilder used a computer link to access the ship’s main computer. The computer device link or CDL was used as a primary interface device to view the relevant icons to interface with the ship’s computer or communicate to another interlink device. He said, “We’re in dock; there was no scheduled drill for today. What is the ship alert for?”
A relaxed female computer voice responded, “COMNET has received a coded data transmission. The cipher wasn’t present, so the message was held until Admiral Garfield just recently provided a Hegemony cipher code, which then triggered an automated alert status, Captain. This alert status is a warning for starships in a one-thousand-light-year radius.”
“That is quite a large warning area,” said Wilder.
“Not much we can do about that in dry dock, but Commodore Sherman can send an investigatory starcraft,” stated Sheppard.
Captain Wilder said, “Let’s get to our duties. This meeting is over.”
As the bridge crew filtered out, Sharon said with a smile, “Well, it looks as though I’ll get to help you once again inside the Starcity.”
He smiled back as he once again admired her great smile. Sheppard’s commlink whirred, and he looked at his device. The device indicated someone was in his office as the detector had gone off; it then identified Vice Admiral Garfield as the visitor.
“Yes, I’ll meet you in launch bay two. I have a visitor in my office. I should go—it’s Garfield.
“Might be about the Hegemony cipher,” she said as she gave him a tender lingering pat on the back and then headed down the hall.
As Sheppard entered his office, he saw his old mentor looking at one of his morphable multifunction devices.
Garfield said, “Robert, I bring some disturbing news. As the highest-ranked Hegemony representative here and the Sixth Fleet’s senior science division officer, I should inform you of a very serious incident.