by Tori Harris
The captain turned without further comment and headed back through the pressure door. Reynolds turned back to Logan and gave him a playful sneer followed by a smile that would melt any Southern boy’s heart.
***
Prescott entered his ready room for the first time this morning with Commander Reynolds in his wake.
"Any predictions?" she asked, seating herself once again at the conference table opposite the view screen.
"I’d be afraid to speculate at this point, but something is definitely up. I’m guessing we’re about to hear some more things we didn’t know, and were probably happier not knowing."
"Ugh, that’s what I’m afraid of. Nenir seems nice enough, but I think I liked it better when the only aliens we knew about just sent us nice gifts through the mail rather than showing up in person," she laughed.
"I’m with you there. Brace yourself, for better or worse I think we’re about to find out," he nodded towards the video screen as it switched from a live view of Earth off their starboard bow to the Terran Fleet Command’s official service seal. As usual, there was a brief pause, after which both Admiral Kevin Patterson and Admiral Tonya White appeared on the screen. Both admirals looked as though they hadn’t slept in a week.
"Good morning to you both," Admiral White began. "This vidcon is classified Top Secret, code word MAGI PRIME. Your ready room has been automatically secured for this briefing."
"Good morning to the two of you as well. Before we go any further, however, I am obliged to inform you that Commander Reynolds and I are cleared for MAGI data, but this is the first I have heard of MAGI PRIME. Has there been a name change?" Prescott asked, already dreading where this conversation was heading. Throughout his career, he often found that the more information he was cleared to hear, the more complicated and unpleasant his life became. It was also an ominous and unprecedented sign to have both the chief of naval operations and the chief of naval intelligence in a vidcon of this type.
"I wish it was that simple, Tom," Admiral White replied with an almost sympathetic smile. "Let me start by saying that you and Commander Reynolds are now cleared for both MAGI and MAGI PRIME intelligence. In my opinion, you should have both been cleared from the time you signed on with the Ingenuity project two years ago, but we are all obliged to follow what our orders say, not what we would like them to say, right?"
"Yes, ma’am, that’s certainly true."
Tonya White was a beautiful, African American woman who always reminded Tom of a Sunday school teacher he'd had as a child. He had never once seen her appear rattled and had never heard her raise her voice. That calm demeanor, combined with her nearly six feet in height, gave her a presence that was at once both powerful and calming. Rumor had it that she was being groomed for the Commander in Chief’s post when Admiral Sexton retired in a few years. In Prescott’s estimation, she would be a fine choice for the job.
White took a breath and looked down at her notes as if deciding where to begin a very long story. "Honestly, I need the two of you in my directorate for a full week of classified briefings to even begin to bring you up to speed. In fact, I had planned on doing just that as soon as we got some down time over the next couple of months. Unfortunately, the events of the past two days are forcing us to reevaluate just about every aspect of how we approach our mission. Admiral Patterson and I are keenly aware of the heavy demands we are placing on your crew this afternoon, so it is my goal to give you enough information to understand some of what you will be seeing later today and then get you back to preparing your ship for arrival at the Yucca Mountain Shipyard. Rest assured, you will be fully briefed while your ship is being refitted over the next couple of weeks."
Here we go, Prescott thought to himself, glancing at his XO who had taken on the look of a young girl about to be relieved of her favorite childhood fantasy by the harsh reality of a world run by cold, mirthless adults.
"What I have to tell you will generate many more questions than answers. I think it’s best if you just let me run through the briefing without interruption. Again, we don’t have time to do much more than scratch the surface, but we can take a couple of minutes for questions at the end." White paused to look her audience of two in the eyes, apparently gauging their readiness to hear what she was about to tell them.
"To summarize, most of what you know … and nearly all of what the public knows about what we have received from the Pelarans is a meticulously crafted lie." Admiral White paused to allow the initial shock of her words to process before continuing. "Just about everyone is aware that we have been receiving ETSI signals sent in the clear, with documentation written in English, for fifty years. Governments around the world were initially flabbergasted by the idea that all of this potentially dangerous technological data was out there for the entire world to see and take advantage of. I think many of us also believed that this was part of the Pelarans' plan. You know, treat us as one world working together as a single civilization, and maybe that would force us to start acting like one. Well, that didn’t happen. At least not initially. The most powerful nations each set about pouring resources into developing the technology as fast as possible to gain an advantage over their earthly rivals, all the while agreeing to the cover story of multinational cooperation. This went on for the first couple of years before the United States and China were the first to realize that, to put it bluntly, the Pelaran technology didn’t work."
The admiral paused and looked at Prescott. "I know I said to hold your questions, but I think it might help things flow more smoothly if I let you ask what comes to mind so far."
Prescott laughed, "I’ll bite, Admiral. What do you mean the technology didn’t work? Do you mean we weren’t advanced enough to figure out how to use it?"
"See, that’s good. I’m glad you asked that question, Captain Prescott," she said, not missing a beat in spite of her obvious physical and mental exhaustion. "No, our engineers and scientists were able to follow along just fine. I’m saying that the documentation was crafted in such a way that some key element was missing from practically every design. Now, there were some other technologies, notably those related to the medical field, that worked as advertised, but all of the designs with potential military applications were unusable."
"They forced us to cooperate," Reynolds commented, speaking up for the first time.
Admiral White smiled at her affectionately. She had served with Sally’s father and had known her since she was a baby. "That’s exactly what they did, Commander Reynolds, and let me tell you they were damned effective at forcing the issue too. As you can imagine, there are some fascinating stories to tell about how the world’s most powerful nations were brought together and forced to play nicely, not only with each other, but with the smaller nations as well. We’ll have to talk about that another time. Suffice it to say that the ETSI data streams became very specific about what was expected. They made it clear that they were monitoring our compliance with their instructions and there would be consequences for any breaches of contract."
Admiral Patterson chimed in, "And there were breaches, too."
"Yes there were. I think all of the major players tried at least once to see what they could get away with on their own. Every time someone crossed the line, there it was, documented in the data stream for the entire world to see whose fault it was that progress had once again been stalled. It would sometimes be months before we received the next batch of useful information."
Prescott couldn’t resist a quick question when Admiral White paused for a breath. "So far, this still sounds pretty similar to what I thought I knew, so where does the big lie come in?"
White nodded and continued. "Well, as long as everyone was meeting their obligations per the Pelarans' documentation, we would receive bits and pieces of the missing designs. This allowed us to make progress, albeit sometimes frustratingly slow progress, across a wide spectrum of engineering and scientific disciplines. We were about ten years into the program when the Pelarans star
ted to get more secretive. We received plans for secure communication devices, each one genetically coded to a specific individual. When we started manufacturing these devices, we realized that they were interested in communicating and compartmentalizing what they considered to be classified data. In order to guarantee both security and multinational cooperation, they chose specific Human representatives through which to communicate. Each of these individuals received specific, key pieces of data. Accordingly, they were required by circumstance, if not desire, to work together in order to see the ‘big picture,’ if you will. The information they received, and continue to receive, is what we now refer to as MAGI PRIME intelligence. It encompasses some of the most highly classified data ever handled by Human beings, so welcome to the club, you two."
"We’re certainly honored, Admiral White, but, now that we are cleared for this intel, can you give us a little more information on what kinds of secure data the Pelarans have provided?" Prescott asked tentatively.
"That, Captain, would take more time than we have, I’m afraid," Patterson interjected. "A better question is probably what kinds of information they didn’t provide. Power systems, propulsion, weapons, you name it. Ingenuity has served as TFC’s public-facing cover story for years, but she’s really just the tip of the iceberg. I think what you are about to see this afternoon will begin answering your question far more effectively than what Admiral White and I have time to tell you this morning."
"That’s a fair statement," White said, nodding. "Another thing you need to understand at this stage is that the Pelarans have provided far more than technical data. Much of MAGI PRIME is intelligence information regarding other civilizations in this and other parts of the galaxy."
Admiral Patterson cleared his throat, letting everyone in the vidcon know that it was time to wrap the conversation up and get on with the day’s business.
"Now," Admiral White asked, "I’ll answer a couple of quick questions before we let the two of you get back to work. Captain Prescott?"
"I’ll take Admiral Patterson’s word that ‘seeing is believing’ and hold my long list of questions until I’ve had more time to digest all of this. I do have one operational question that I’ll ask now, however. You mentioned that our destination is the Yucca Mountain Shipyard. I’m afraid I’m not familiar with this facility. Are you referring to the Yucca Mountain that’s in Nevada? Wasn’t that a waste disposal site of some sort?"
"It was supposed to be at one time," Patterson replied. "Congress spent billions in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries preparing the site to be the national repository for all U.S. radioactive waste. Long story short, there was stiff political and environmental opposition to the site, and it was eventually defunded without a single ounce of nuclear material ever coming in the front gate. Fortunately for our purposes, most people are unaware that there is no radioactive waste stored there, and the site is absolutely covered with barriers and warning signs indicating that very bad things will happen to you if you get too close. When all of this MAGI PRIME activity started, Fleet was looking for a secure location to handle some of their heavier manufacturing and maintenance requirements. This place fit the bill like none other. I’ll reserve additional comment and let you see for yourself. I think you’ll be impressed, to say the least."
"Oh, I almost neglected to mention one of the most important reasons for this briefing," Admiral White interrupted. She stared down at her notes for a moment, shaking her head as she struggled to clear the cobwebs from her normally sharp mind. "There are design elements of Ingenuity that the two of you have not been fully briefed on."
Although not officially briefed, both Prescott and Reynolds had been intimately involved with every aspect of Ingenuity’s final construction process and shakedown cruise. They knew their ship, inside and out, and were aware of some of these "design elements," as the CNI put it, that were undocumented in any of the ship’s systems manuals. Some, like the inclusion of empty bays and ports located both fore and aft along the ship’s hull, were obviously intended for weapon systems installation at some point. Others had been the subject of wild speculation among various crewmembers, but served no obvious purpose.
"Your chief engineer, Commander Logan, is already cleared for MAGI PRIME, by the way. Several crewmembers in his department are up to speed on the systems themselves, but not the comprehensive information implied by MAGI PRIME clearance. They will be able to participate in the work at Yucca, however. We refer to their clearance level as code word PARTHIAN. The two of you are now cleared for this data as well, of course."
Prescott nodded his understanding to Admiral Patterson, then did the same to his XO, who seemed to be chomping at the bit to ask her question.
"Admiral White," she began without hesitation, "can I assume we were provided with intelligence information on Nenir’s people, the Wek, and their Sajeth Collective alliance?"
"Yes we were. We expected to run into them eventually, just not anywhere near this soon."
"Okay, so can I infer from our … how shall I say this … rather intense response to their arrival that we see the Wek as a potential threat, in spite of the friendly exchanges we have had with them thus far?"
Admiral White narrowed her eyes slightly, considering the meaning behind Reynolds' question. "I think you can infer that we are very much in uncharted waters here, Commander. We’re not taking anything for granted at this point. I can tell you that the Pelaran profile data regarding the Wek civilization seems to be spot on so far. They are described as an aggressive species, skilled in the use of both diplomacy and, when necessary, the application of military force to expand their territory and influence. Another interesting fact is that pretty much everything the Wek have said so far was predicted in the intelligence data provided by the Pelarans."
She paused, looking thoughtfully at Reynolds. "You must have had a reason for asking, Sally. It’s certainly not what I expected you to say after introducing you to this topic. I’m curious, what prompted your question?"
"Frankly, Admiral, I have had a bad feeling about the Pelarans for a long time. None of it has ever made a lot of sense to me, and Nenir’s question last week about what we think they expect from us in return for all this knowledge is one that resonates with me."
"Well, that’s certainly a valid concern shared by many on the Admiralty staff as well as the TFC Leadership Council. Once again, however, the Pelarans told us in advance, almost word for word, what we should expect the Wek to say, and they were exactly right."
Commander Reynolds shrugged, "It just occurs to me that just because the Pelarans knew what the Wek were going to say, does not mean that the Wek aren’t the ones telling us the truth."
Chapter 7
TFC Yucca Mountain Shipyard Facility
In a tradition dating to the mid-twentieth century, over four hundred technicians, maintenance workers, and active duty Fleet personnel formed one of six groups lined up shoulder to shoulder to "FOD walk" the length of berth nine. The decidedly low tech but effective approach to minimizing foreign object damage was performed twice weekly at all TFC shipyards, and again any time a starship landing was expected. The line had the look of a religious processional, with each participant walking with their heads bowed, scanning the concrete ramp immediately in front of them. The target of their focused search was pretty much anything, be it tools, trash, rocks, or even dead insects that might be launched into the air at incredible speeds during Ingenuity’s zero mass approach and landing. Before the area could be declared "FOD free," the entire path the ship would take to reach her final destination required a painstaking sweep. This included the massive, four hundred meter by four hundred meter entry cavern and the kilometer long "taxiway" leading to her berth.
The geology of the Yucca Mountain ridge that made it so attractive as a long-term waste repository also provided the ideal location for hiding massive, underground construction facilities. Much of the work on the underground cavern itself had already been c
ompleted centuries before Fleet engineers began the process of dramatically expanding and repurposing the huge facility. Near the center of the mountain, a natural curve in the ridgeline’s meandering path provided the perfect location for a giant, manmade cave entrance. Once inside, the entrance tunnel opened to a nearly ten-kilometer-long shipyard facility. Although Fleet now operated six similar installations worldwide, Yucca Mountain was the largest and was considered more secure than the other sites. This was due primarily to its remote, rugged location as well as the mountain’s ostensible purpose as a nuclear waste site. It was also one of only three facilities with berths capable of handling ships up to twelve hundred meters in length.
Now, with the imminent arrival of Terran Fleet Command’s flagship, automated warning announcements echoed throughout the facility: "Attention, TFS Ingenuity arriving in three zero minutes. Zero mass procedures are in effect. Please clear the approach to berth nine immediately."
***
TFS Ingenuity, Earth Orbit
Ensign Blake Fisher jumped involuntarily as Commander Reynolds placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you ready for this, Ensign?" she asked, stifling a laugh. Reynolds had been looking over his shoulder at the Helm control station for several minutes, observing his progress as he worked his way through a series of prelanding checklists. "You seem a little on edge."
"Oh, yes, ma’am. Sorry, Commander. I had no idea you were standing there. You know how it is, I’m in my own little ‘no pressure, all I have to do is land a two-hundred-thousand-ton starship’ world here."
"Just another day at the office, Blake. What was it the captain said yesterday? ‘Wiggle your fingers and toes,’ I think it was."
