Читать книгу The Phoenix Rising - Gary MDiv Caplan - Страница 6

The morning of April 29, 2756, of the old Earth calendar, came hard for Fleet Captain Robert Allen Sheppard. He was awakened from a restless and all-too-brief rest period by the intra-ship communication system. Composing himself as best he could in the few seconds between hails, he answered the transmission.

Clearing his throat, he said in a rough voice, “Yes, Bridge?”

“Incoming transmission through the COMNET from Star One for you, sir," reported the voice of Lieutenant Bosq, the on-duty communications officer. “It's Admiral Wainright, and he's requesting to talk to you on the Alpha channel.” He paused. “Uh, sir, there's almost a twenty-second delay in transmission, even with the COMNET’s hyperspace-boosting capability, due to our distance here near the galactic rim, so be patient, sir.”

“Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. I'll take it in my quarters.” This he said as his fingers found the processor console and punched up an order of hot coffee from the synthesizer. The device hummed quietly during the synthesis process.

Admiral Wainright's picture appeared on the viewer, and he began delivering what Sheppard would describe later as cryptic orders, with few answers to Sheppard’s questions.

Minutes later, Commander Adams received an open intercom order from Fleet Captain Sheppard. “Sheppard here,” the captain said. “Set course for Star One emergency speed; we’re being reassigned I will be headed toward the bridge soon, then I will need to coordinate with the other ship captains in Task Force Four."

“All right,” said Commander Adams, addressing the flight control officer at the Conn. “You heard the order, Lieutenant; emergency speed! How long before we can get back to Star One?”

Lieutenant MacTavish’s fingers flew with precision over the navi-computer's touchpad as he inputted the course data, and then he sat back momentarily as the altered course data plotted. About a second later, he had his answer. Turning from the Conn, he said, “Well, sir, since we're about ten thousand light-years out from Star One, at this distance.” Accessing astrogation to set a safe jump pathway Mac Tavish determined that traveling at the ships emergency speed of translight velocity equivalent to one hundred thousand times C, the speed of light. “Sir it will take us a little over thirty-six days to get back. Now, if we had the upgraded jump system, we could get there in half the time.”

“That's fine, Lieutenant MacTavish. This ship’s engines can handle emergency speed for just about that long,” said Sheppard thoughtfully. “Take us home. Endeavor will put in for an overhaul while we’re at Star One.” Mac Tavish activated Endeavour’s translight hyperspace drive which initiated the formation a hyperspace transference tunnel allowing the entire ship to jump into a layer of hyperspace.

Sheppard addressed the communications officer. “Lieutenant Bosq, open a coded communications to Captain Jarred. As he is the next-senior captain, I will have to give him command of the other eleven ships in this task force. Besides, Endeavor is due for a refit soon enough. Perhaps Commander Adams can even arrange to get the upgraded drive system when we arrive at Star One.”

Star One was essentially a totally self-sufficient, multi-species Alliance of Worlds colony. The Star One facility included several communities with their own hydroponics, aquaculture, and gardens for food production. The huge space city inside Star One included multiple housing facilities for representatives of every member civilization and their families. Star One also contained the main campus of the Alliance of Worlds Academy, as well as two other universities. There were even training grounds for the starship officers and the space marines within the vast space station complex.

Sheppard did not want to tell anyone just now, but he was being promoted and would be reassigned. The admiral hadn’t provided much detail about his future assignment, but upon his promotion to the rank of commodore, he knew he would be required to transfer to a different ship.