Читать книгу Talcon Star City - Gary Boone's Caplan - Страница 4

The battlecruiser Phoenix and three other starships that were part of the twelve ships in Task Force One moved through a series of intensive maneuvers after coming out of hyperspace. The ships made full-speed arc turns and then half-speed turns to check maneuverability against the engineering specs. Some starships in the task force were still undergoing the testing maneuvers after assisting in the mission to the Quellus Borealis star system. After completing the series of maneuvers and sub light engine tests, the essentially rhomboid-shaped Phoenix slowed as it approached an Alliance of Worlds outpost colony, while some of the other ships in Task Force One prepared to gather hydrogen from one of the giant gas planets in the system as fuel for their fusion reactors and as the ships’ secondary power for operation.

Commodore Robert Sheppard, the overall commander of task forces one through four and the acting commander for the rest of the sixth fleet, was sitting in his secured chair, since part of the testing was for additional evaluation of the inertial dampening system following the ship-wide system’s enhancement. Glancing at the data briefly through his interlink to the bridge, he noted that the dampening system was again exceeding the previous specifications. Sheppard was in his command office near the bridge as the United Alliance of Worlds starship Phoenix completed another series of operations testing following its restoration after the battle and the strange events at Quellus Borealis Seven. Robert Sheppard was a tall, robust man with a light complexion, slightly graying hair, and blue eyes. He was a human with ancestors originating from the planet Earth; he was also a member of the Order of Star Knights. In the Alliance of Worlds, the Star Knights were gifted with psionic abilities, and as part of their code, they tended to use their metaphysical or psionic abilities and disciplines to aid them in preserving civilization.

While reviewing the data files of the encounter at QB7, Sheppard contemplated what had happened there a few weeks ago. He was also relaxing and listening to some old digitally synthesized recordings of Monteverdi, including the Orfeo Suite, and then to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto Number Four. Sheppard’s father had interested him in the classics when he was young.

The problem with the “victory” at QB7 was that it was a strange victory. Alliance of Worlds starships met their old nemesis the Varlon and were at a stalemate, even though the Alliance had brought three times as many ships to QB7; the Varlon had more durable hulls and shields and more powerful weapons. It’s what would be expected from an encounter with the Varlon, one of the more ancient and technologically advanced but xenophobic, space-faring civilizations.

The Varlon threat was one of the reasons for the formation of the Alliance of Worlds, since it provided mutual protection in numbers as well as in technological exchange. Now there were two hundred, fifty civilizations in the Alliance of Worlds with systems scattered across the Milky Way galaxy, although most of the allied members were located in the alpha and beta quadrants. The Varlon were expansionists, and by Earth reckoning, they were a highly intelligent Arthropod Coelenterate-like species. Recently they had resolved an internal political situation and were back in their expansion mode. They had also gained an ally, the Accad, who were a reptilian-type of race. This alliance between the Accad and the Varlon made the few other advanced, space-faring civilizations wary. It worried most of the more senior groups enough to consider working with the younger civilizations in the galaxy. Some were affiliated with the Alliance of Worlds, such as the group called the Hegemony, which was composed of four of the more advanced of the older, space-faring civilizations.

Most considered the Hegemony the first alliance; it included the Estrians, Karratins, Lyramenians, and Quarran. The Varlon had never succeeded in defeating or even really inflicting any lasting harm to them, and as time passed, the Hegemony became more secluded and tended not to interfere in the affairs of the younger civilizations. They did, however, transfer control of one of their older hyperspace communications systems, which they later dubbed the COMNET, to the Alliance of Worlds.

Not long ago Sheppard had commanded part of the sixth fleet that had been sent to defend a valuable Alliance of Worlds colony. Quellus Borealis 7 was a habitable Alliance member world with excellent and extremely rare mineral deposits, not to mention an ancient Calyx archaeological site. The Varlon had attacked QB7, and Sheppard and another commodore had gone to defend the planet. Then the Accad, who had recently become allies of the Varlon (the primary enemy of the Alliance of Worlds), arrived at QB7. In an unprecedented event, the Varlon pulled out and gave over the colony that Alliance of Worlds was in the process of acquiring to the Accad, or Accadians, as they were sometimes called. Later Sheppard learned from one of his previous Star Knight mentors, a Karratin, Garfield, what the Accad wanted and about the treaty they had made with the Varlon. As he continued to review the records, Sheppard pulled up the information Vice Admiral Garfield had provided. Garfield was now an exchange officer assigned to the sixth fleet as technical advisor and science officer.

“The Alliance is probably unaware that this system is actually a special site,” Garfield said. “In alternate dimensions, it is a support for certain boundaries. The Quellien crystals in this system have a purpose. Part of that purpose is that the Quellien be used for protection and support of the interdimensional and interspatial boundaries. The Accad removed some of the central crystals. Had they been selective, they could have removed some useful adjacent crystals, and the support aspect of the Quellien would have been intact, even if most of the planet were destroyed. However, they took some of the active pieces that have been there since that world was made. That severely diminished the protective and support functions of the remaining Quellien crystals.” Sheppard continued to watch a recorded version of the information provided by his mentor and friend, who had been, for a period of time, the Karratin Ambassador to the Alliance.

“The Karratins discovered this long ago, and we did not disturb the chambers with the central elongated crystals,” Garfield continued. “Even the Alliance of Worlds accepted the Calyx site as an archaeological site, and that area was placed off-limits for mining. The Accadian mining ship must have separated the section and removed a portion. Zeloc’s further scans indicated it has been repaired using the surrounding auxiliary crystal mass, and now conservation is in effect. The Accad mined only one level, where a particular special grade of resonant crystals could be found.”

Sheppard knew that, as a species, the Karratins were generally more genetically advanced than many of the other Alliance of Worlds members. Essentially, the Karratins possessed high mental aptitude as well as telepathic and telekinetic abilities as a racial trait, and they tended to be physically stronger and more agile than humans. The Karratins somewhat resembled humans, although they had slightly longer, tapered ears and perhaps a hint of green or violet to their skin. Like humans, they possessed head and facial hair. As a Karratin, Sheppard’s mentor Garfield belonged to one of the most advanced of the space-faring civilizations, and because of his racial genetics and perhaps some of his own technologic cellular regeneration, he had, according to record, already lived for a few thousand standard years. Other than some shading differences in his hair to hint at his age, he still looked the same, with distinguished-looking sideburns in front of his ears.

Sheppard eventually remembered, from his own Star Knight training, the Quellien power sources and the incorporeal entities known as Protren who monitored such places. Sheppard realized it was the Protren who had restored the Phoenix, the other Alliance ships, the entire planet QB7, and even the previously destroyed Varlon ships. He continued to watch the office recording

“This planet is believed to be monitored by the Protren, and its disruption would have consequences beyond the Alliance of Worlds, this galaxy, and this planar dimension,” Garfield said. “The earlier Varlon government previously agreed to not disrupt the Calyx complex on QB7, and if the Jiyarr had come to this system, they would not have been as disruptive as the Accad. There are members of the Jiyarr civilization who hold such things and places in reverence.” Sheppard had learned that the Jiyarr, who lived in what was termed the Perseus Cluster by Earth astronomers, had genetically engineered the Accad a few thousand years ago.

The voice of the communications officer came over his office commlink: “Sir, you have a linked hyperspace communication from Grand Admiral Pendragon and Fleet Admiral Braddock.” Sheppard thought, This will be my mission briefing.

“Stream and link the hyperspace channels through to my office, Lieutenant,” Sheppard replied. Virtual 3-D images formed of Admiral Pendragon, who was at Star One, and Admiral Braddock, who was onboard his starship, the Orion, a Galaxy class dreadnaught. The communication stream created images of the admirals as if they were in Sheppard’s office, and the process was essentially instantaneous, now that the second damaged COMNET array was fully operational after the attacks by the Varlon. Randolph Pendragon, one of the best tacticians in the Alliance, was a thin man with a good deal of white in his once-dark hair; he was from the Proxima colonies of Earth. Nigel Braddock was an average-sized human with hazel eyes and dark brown hair that was lined with many streaks of gray; he was also one of Sheppard’s family friends. Actually, Braddock was his father’s friend. Braddock was known as Mr. Stasis, as he had spent many years in cryostasis machines and used multiple anti-aging methods to greatly extend his life.

“Robert, it’s good to see you if only virtually,” Braddock said. “I read your reports about the harrowing experience you had with the Accad at QB7.” When Braddock had ordered launches of long-range torpedoes and sent large mobile attack robots from his company, BradCorp’s mining facility had been near the sixth planet, QB6 to help with the Varlon. Those launches had occurred earlier in the battle at Sheppard’s request, whose task force was then still on route to QB7.

“The report you sent was interesting,” Pendragon added. “I also requested a brief report from our Karratin exchange officer, Vice Admiral Gar fa’eld,” he continued, using the proper phonetic pronunciation of his name. Years ago, while Sheppard was at the Alliance academy on Star One, the students started calling the then Karratin Professor “Garfield” as it was simpler, and he accepted that. “It seems the Karratin Lord’s account is more speculative than yours; however, he does address some issues you probably avoided speculating on.” Sheppard recalled that Garfield was again assisting the Alliance’s ambassador Alotar in securing a treaty with a civilization called the Rhyn.

“In any case, let us get to your mission, as you are now over forty days at maximum speed; moving farther from Star One, you will still be in full charge of the sixth fleet as acting fleet admiral. As before, Admiral Braddock will be your senior in deep space for the next few months; then, depending on your location, Fleet Admiral Peregrine or Fleet Admiral Taylor will be available as your senior while you finish with your present tasks and move a large portion of sixth fleet starships to eventually help Admiral Peregrine and the other fleets with his strategy to retake the Rhendal sector from the Varlon.”

“That sector is too close to the main Alliance of Worlds planets—and has many Alliance colonies that are fighting even now—for us not to try to re-establish control,” Braddock added. Sheppard nodded; he knew Fleet Admiral Peregrine, who was from Rigezon. The Rigezon were an avian species but had vestigial wings and could not fly. Sheppard had served under Peregrine on the Constellation class battlecarrier H’jum’pta years ago when he was a squadron starfighter wing commander and Peregrine was a decorated fleet captain who was then working toward a promotion to commodore.

“With most of the other fleets, including my fourth fleet being involved with the buildup of forces to retake Rhendal, I will be available to you, Robert, if you have any fleet operations questions, as we both move farther away from Star One and access to the COMNET becomes reduced,” Braddock said.

“Thank you, Sir; however, Sherman, my fleet liaison officer, is quite knowledgeable, and we are for the most part working well as a team,” Sheppard replied. “He is at acting rank, as am I, due to the Androsynth assassinations of the senior fleet officers that could have been assigned to the sixth and other fleets,” Sheppard said, with a note of sadness in his voice.

“It is good to know that Sherman is working well for you; I thought as much,” Pendragon said. “From the earlier information we obtained from our recent Talcon visitors on the hyperspace course of the Talcon worldship, we have determined the Star Cities’ probable arrival subsector. As you know, Robert, most of the other relatively nearby fleets are occupied with moving to retake the Rhendal sector and a few task forces with heading to strengthen our bases in the nearby Mercan sector. The Talcon Star City will enter a region of space not too far from the sixth fleets’ patrol areas… It will be your task to make first contact with them and hopefully obtain a new ally.”

Sheppard straightened and looked directly at Pendragon.

“Since the other Talcon have returned, and Commodore St. John agreed to provide transport for their representative, you will have to arrange a rendezvous point with St. John to have their Talcon ambassador transferred to your ship,” Braddock said.

“There are two Star Cities coming to our galaxy; each is over four thousand kilometers in diameter,” Pendragon said. “The second will arrive several weeks after the first one. Our long-range attempts to establish communication have not yet been successful.” Sheppard nodded while listening to the briefing.

“We believe that the crew and colonists are in a type of stasis or sleep,” Braddock added. “We arrived at that conclusion through discussions we had with the Magellanic Talcon who originally returned with Commodore St. John, and that is the probable reason for the lack of communication.”

“Even the COMNET has not elicited a response,” Pendragon continued.

“So it’s probable that either the Varlon or Accad are aware of the Talcon Star Cities’ arrival and will attempt to strike at them before or while the Talcon are coming out of stasis,” Sheppard stated.

“Yes, that is highly likely,” Pendragon replied. “The Science division, along with our new Magellanic Talcon friends, has made some determinations as to where the first or closer Star City will likely come out of hyperspace. That data is encrypted in my transmission stream.”

“Thank you, Sir; I am determined to greet the Talcon Star City in a friendly manner—hopefully before the Accad or Varlon attack them,” Sheppard said.

“Good luck, Robert, and Godspeed,” Braddock said. “I will await your report.” Sheppard smiled and saluted.

“As will I,” Pendragon said, as the communication streams sent across the encrypted COMNET closed.

Sheppard read a few more reports and then sent a message to Fleet Captain Wilder with information and instructions for him to arrange a rendezvous with Commodore St. John’s ship, the Indefatigable. He briefly thought about the various admirals who were helping him, including Peregrine, who had given him tactical advice, and Nigel Braddock, who had sent some ships to QB7. Nigel was originally an engineer and businessman; he was also president of BradCorp, a diversified company building starships, robots, and similar devices. He had even helped design a line of sea- and spaceships for SEDA—the Sea Exploration and Defense Association—including one called the Oceania-class cruiser, which the Alliance of Worlds also used.

Braddock was now in the Star Command section because of his reserve status, which he obtained when he joined TERRASEC, the Terran Space Exploration and Security Council. Later, when that organization merged with the Alliance of Worlds, Braddock continued an intermittent affiliation. He found it a beneficial one, since three centuries ago, Earth had been one of the founding planets of the Alliance of Worlds.

After completing his personal log, Sheppard left his office and went down the corridor to the larger tactical planning and briefing room. It was not in use, so he walked over to a secured and shielded viewing portcullis, ordering the computer to lower the room illumination so he could view the stars. He could see part of the aft and starboard sections of the Phoenix as he looked outward, contemplating his plans.

Like all Alliance of Worlds spaceships, the United Galactic Alliance starship Phoenix was a rhomboid-shaped spacecraft composed of reinforced trans-titanium alloy with multiple enclosed decks. As a Pegasus class battlecruiser, it was over sixteen hundred meters long and a third that at its widest area. There were comfortable crew quarters for over two thousand officers, mission specialists, and support crew. Phoenix had a very large main bridge, including an added task force command section, where Sheppard and Fleet Captain Sherman organized fleet and task force missions. 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 the starfighter attack craft. There were even multipurpose areas for storage of the supplies and recreation areas for a prolonged journey over a few years.

The sixth fleet, like the other forty-nine fleets in the Alliance of Worlds, had approximately two hundred, fifty capitol ships in its armada. The capitol ships were of several classes, from the largest Galaxy class dreadnaughts, spanning over five thousand meters, down to the smaller Waterway class lightcruisers, which were eight hundred meters long. In between were the Constellation class battlecarriers, which were close to the Galaxy class in size but had more starfighter craft. Next were the battlecruisers, and there were three major types: the Legendary class, the Oceania class, and the Pegasus class. These ships were named after legendary places or things, large planet-bound bodies of water, and flying creatures, respectively. The battlecruisers ranged in size from just over two thousand meters to over sixteen hundred meters in length. The next type, the Heroic class heavy cruisers, was named after heroic or notable citizens or ancient persons of the member worlds. Heroic class ships were usually twelve hundred meters long. The final class of capitol ships was the Waterway class, with ships named after notable waterways and rivers of the member worlds.

Sheppard continued to look out the observation portcullis. He was dressed in his duty uniform, its embedded sensors sending occasional updates about his health to the medical surveillance database. Likely, now that looking at the stars calmed him, his blood pressure was slightly lower than it had been earlier. The duty uniform of the Alliance of Worlds was unisex and designed so that each section’s uniform jacket was represented by a unique color scheme. White represented line officers and command; blue was for the sciences section; a light green color was designated for the medical division; an orange-red was for the engineering and maintenance section, and yellow-gold was for operations, the general operation of the starship.

Sheppard’s duty uniform jacket was the bone white of command; the duty shirt, like that of all sections, was dark gray, and the collar area displayed his rank. On his left shoulder was the insignia emblem for command of the sixth fleet. Others wore the emblem of the ship—in this case, the Phoenix. On the right shoulder was the small section patch to represent fleet officer. On his right breast he wore his identification badge, and on his left, the insignia symbol of the Alliance of Worlds. The commlink hand unit or an embedded interlink device could also be used to distinguish an individual by the information chip located in the uniform. The duty shirt showed the rank designation on the collar, and the jacket sleeves were broken by the section color and rank designation near the sleeves’ end. The jacket even had storage pockets. The ship’s duty trousers were charcoal gray, extending to above the ankle, and the duty boots were charcoal black

Although Robert Sheppard was the acting admiral for the sixth fleet, his fleet command rank was granted as much because of his experience and skill as because of the relatively recent assassinations that occurred on Star One, the Alliance of Worlds Headquarters, which had resulted in the deaths of many senior fleet officers and ministry officials. Sheppard touched the two silvery constellation-like star clusters of an Alliance commodore attached to his uniform’s neck area, which he had received relatively recently, as he thought about his continuing mission to locate threats to the Alliance. He also thought about his recent added mission to make first contact with the other Talcon who had recently entered the Milky Way galaxy, having traveled in hyperspace from their own galaxy.