by Krystyn Dean
Finally, Andrew said, “Admiral, we have done about as much as we can do. Frankly, you are doing extremely well for no longer that you have had your implant, I doubt you will need my help, but if you do, just send me a page and I will be happy to assist you in any way I can.” I thanked Andrew and left. It was truly amazing as I walked down the concourse I noticed that if I actually looked at someone and they had an implant, I could see their tag. I did not attempt to communicate with anyone, but it was interesting to see who had ID Tags and who didn’t. I went to my room in the hotel and stretched out on the bed, I asked Benji, “who is left on the Reagan, are any of the crew still there or have they all gone on liberty.” Benji answered at once. “Captain John, there is no one on the Reagan except dock workers. The crew have all gone on liberty, none of them have tags, so I don’t know their locations at this time. “Benji,” I asked, “when will you be able to communicate with the computer on board the new ship Excelsior?” “Captain John, there is a formal protocol for connecting to a ships computer. To connect we would need to be onboard the ship and have the proper codes. As you might imagine, it is a bit complex to make the initial contact due to the security involved, but I can query the Excelsior as to the progress.” “That won’t be necessary Benji, we can do that later.” “In fact, it has been a long day, I think I will get some sleep.” “As you wish Captain John, would you like a little music to relax by?” “No thanks Benji, just some quiet time.”
Two days later Benji said, “Captain John, incoming message from Admiral Miller. The Magellan has an 20:20 hours departure for Earth, he requests you join him for dinner aboard at about six thirty.”
I transported aboard the Magellan and went directly to Admiral Millers ready room, as I approached the hatch Admiral Millers Aide Carlos Chou opened the hatch and said. “Welcome Admiral Anderson, step this way please.” I followed Carlos in to the Admirals Ready room which had been set up for dinner. We were joined by, Captain William Godley, skipper of the Magellan. “We’re having some Salmon tonight John,” said Admiral Miller. “I hope that is OK for you.” “Absolutely Admiral, I said. I love Salmon, the replicators on board the Reagan are good, but they aren’t up to salmon and I miss it.” The Admiral said, “this is fresh, but you will find the replicators aboard the new ships are both better and have improved selections of food stocks to work with. I think you are going to like them.”
Dinner was excellent. We had a pleasant conversation. Just as we were having coffee, the Exec called and said, “we will be departing in fifteen minutes Captain.” “Captain Godley said go ahead and take her out commander, what is our transit time?” “We should be in low orbit by twenty-two hundred ships time which would be five P.M. local time Sir.” Captain Godley said “thank you Commander.” At precisely twenty-two hundred hours, the Magellan eased in to low orbit.
Admiral Miller said, “John, we don’t transport to Earth’s surface, only because we can’t supply transporters to the civilian population yet. Besides, we would prefer to keep the technology under our hats for the time being.” “This is top secret technology so don’t talk about it. At some point, we will need to get Earth the tech and materials to build their own, but right now everything needs to go to the fleet.”
“I understand Admiral, a shuttle will be fine.” Admiral Miller added. “John, you will be met at Joint Base Andrews; you will be transported to The Project’ facilities where you will be based for the duration of your stay on Earth.”
We are moving many of The Project people to Titan. Others are taking retirement. We are also closing the Nevada R&D facilities and moving everyone there to Titan. We have simply outgrown the facilities on Earth. And security has become a real problem. Many of the functions that don’t really need to be at Titan Station are being moved to Apsis Prime. We are also going to duplicate Titan Station in the Gamma Remidian system. Unfortunately, there have been some incidents that require pretty heavy security for all of our people.”
“You will be taken to several rallies and make some speeches to try to educate the population, but the most exposure will be on some Sunday morning talk shows.” “The U S Congress wanted you to appear at a congressional hearing, but we got that quashed.”
“You may remember Gunnery Sergeant Adam Scott. He will be heading up your security detail.” I said, “Scott is still a Gunnery Sergeant? I would have thought he would be a lieutenant commander by now?” Admiral Miller said, “I offered him a commission, but he insists that he is more effective as a Gunny.” “Can’t say that I disagree, he does one hell of a job.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
EARTHSIDE ONCE AGAIN
At Andrews Gunny Scott met me at the shuttle hatch. He said, “Welcome back Admiral Anderson, good to see you again sir.” I said, “It’s good to see you as well Gunny, how have you been?” Gunny said, “never better Admiral, I guess I manage to keep ducking at the right time.”
He went on, “get aboard the Hummer sir, we will be going to The Project for a briefing and then we have a pretty full schedule for the next week or two.” The Gunny wasn’t wrong. It was a brutal schedule. And even though I wasn’t going to have to appear before a congressional committee, that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t have to deal with politicians. On the CBS Morning show hosted by Winston Trome. I did my normal presentation on what we were doing and how it was going. A generalization of the overall war with the Eldirelians. When I was finished, Trome said, “Admiral Anderson, we are being joined by U S Senator Jarvis Moore, Dem. from California.” “He has some questions that we believe the citizens of the United States would like to have answered.” This was totally unexpected, but this is a live show, I couldn’t very well get up and walk out.
Senator Moore walked out and sat down, ignoring my offer to shake hands. He started right out by saying, “I understand a naval Captain died in your service for some offense or another.” “I replied, I believe there was a press release that covered that very issue several weeks ago, I have nothing to add to the press release.” He blustered, “are you refusing to answer my questions?” I said, “Senator, I believe I just did. The press release covered everything that was pertinent. I’m not sure what else I could tell you.” Moore said, “for one thing the Officers name, and his nationality.” “The man was a member of one of the military organizations here on Earth and we are entitled to his name.”
“I replied, Senator Moore, the man was not a member of any Earth military organization.” “He was a member of and had taken an oath of allegiance to the Solar Federation Navy.” “His name is top secret; it is top secret to protect his family from any repercussions. His name and nationality will not be released. He was tried and convicted in a Sol/Fed Navy Court Martial, that court martial found him guilty and sentenced him to death. That is all the information that will be released.”
Moore said, “Admiral Anderson, speaking of courts martial, you were court martialed as a U. S. Naval Captain by the U S Navy. And yet here you are, an Admiral in the Sol/Fed Navy. Would you care to elaborate on that?” I said, “you know I was court martialed senator, and you also know I am not allowed to talk about it, so why ask me, ask the secretary of the U S Navy.” “As to my being an officer in the Sol/Fed Navy, I suggest you ask the Sol/Fed Navy why they took me on.”
Moore said, “we have asked the Secretary of the Navy why you were court-martialed, they cited National security as their refusal to answer. And when we queried the Sol/Fed Navy as to why you were brought in to their organization, they said we had no need to know. A rather cavalier answer considering that without U. S. funding the Sol/Fed Navy couldn’t even exist. How do you reply to that?” While he was ranting, Benji, said, “Captain John, the Earth provides roughly two percent of the total operational budget required for the Sol/Fed Navy, those funds are routed through the United Nations.” “The U S has pledged approximately 12 percent of the funds required to fulfill Earths share of the funding, but those funds have been held up by Senator Moore’s own se
nate subcommittee.” “The Federation does not require funds from Earth to field the Sol/Fed Navy, but including the Earth makes the Solar System appear a more integral part of the Federation and thus legitimizes the Solar System as a space faring system. The fact that the US has yet to pay their fair share is an affront to the other systems and nation members of the Federation.”
I thought, “thanks Benji.” When Moore had finally finished his rant, I said, “Senator, I don’t intend to get into a dispute with you about funding, that is not part of my job description, but I can tell you this. The U S is the only nation that has failed to make a contribution to the U N Fund for the support of the Sol Fed Navy. That situation is a direct result of a lack of action by your own senate subcommittee. And I can also tell you that your equivocation is a topic of discussion at the Federation level.” Benji had said he had some footage from the Federation Archives and he had somehow accessed the studios video system. I said “Senator, allow me show you what happens to a system that has no protection from the Eldirelian fleets.”
Did Benji ever deliver. This was footage I had never seen. It was bloodcurdling. The horror of the attacks. The killing and complete devastation was there for all to see. This was not a censored cut; this was raw footage of Eldirelian attacks on unprepared systems.
I said, “this is what can be expected without the protection of the Sol/Fed Navy, there is no one else to help. The Solar System has become recognized now as a space faring system, and if your petty politics prevail and the Sol/Fed Navy cannot perform, that is what you can expect.”
I believe that dead air is one of the worst things that can occur for a broadcasting station, but that is exactly what happened. Benji told me later that there was not a word uttered for nearly three minutes. Just the continued devastation as seen on the video screens. Finally, Benji, released the video equipment back to the studio computers. But the damage had been done. The phone banks began ringing nonstop. Most of them wanted Moore’s head on a platter, all of them demanded the Senate stop dragging their feet and pass the funding bill. Within a week, Senator Moore and his committee sent the bill for the SOL/FED Navy funding for a vote. It passed with an overwhelming majority.
That was the last show I did, we had gotten the attention of Earth’s population, they were onboard with the idea of the Sol/Fed Navy and recruitment went to new highs.
I was relieved when Gunny said the tour was over. He said “Admiral, you scared the shit out of people, but they needed it. You also made us a lot of friends. Now you need to take some personal time. I know you have children and grandchildren. I have set up a schedule that will allow you to spend some time with them before you go back to work.”
I said, “Gunny I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I am to know this ordeal is over. I will gladly take some personal time, but I am also ready to go back in to space, it has to be safer than politics.”
The down time was great, but I was actually glad to get back to work.
Back on Titan Station, Admiral Miller asked me to stop by his office. As I approached the hatch Admiral Millers aide Carlos opened the hatch and said” welcome home Admiral, go right in the Admiral is waiting.” I stepped in to the Admirals office and he said, “Come in John. Have a seat.”
“Where the hell did you get that footage and how in the world did you get the station to agree to run it?” I said, Admiral “I have no idea, Benji got it from what he called Federation Archives. And he also took over the stations video system. He did this on his own, but it couldn’t have been more appropriate. The Earth needed to wake up and realize that the Galaxy is not a safe place.”
Admiral Miller said, “I imagine what you and Benji did was highly illegal, but I doubt that anyone is going to squawk about it. Just to be safe it may be a while before we send you back Earthside.”
I replied, “that works fine for me Leland, I was able to spend some time with my kids and grandkids. They are all OK. I Renewed some old acquaintances and reached the point that I was ready to get back to work, So I am good to go for a while.”
“Excellent” said the Admiral. “We may have a situation brewing. the Credayall species is has been actively exploring their system, the Goranth System. The information we are getting is that they are close to developing a rudimentary FTL device, but they are not at the point they can defend themselves. Their home world is Necho. The Credayall are a bipedal species, but they are very unlike human beings. They are mammalian, but completely hairless. They are intelligent and are reported to be willing to defend themselves. They cannot, however, match up to the might of the Eldirelian Empire. We need to make first contact with them. They are completely unaware of other space faring systems so It needs to be done carefully. We want you to take Red fleet. That is your former First Carrier Group. And some elements of the Blue fleet that is on station at Apsis Prime. Take everything from Blue fleet that you feel can be spared. I want you loaded for bear when you go in to the Goranth System.”
“Take a token force in to the system, leave your heavies out on the Edge, they can get there quickly if you need them. Take the Reagan and two destroyers with you to make first contact.”
“There is no manual on how to make first contact, so do what you think will work. We need to bring the Credayall species on board. They are sitting ducks. Just what the Eldirelians like.” “Alright Admiral, when do we leave?” The Admiral said, “I checked with Rick Hill, and he believes all ships will be ready for departure by ten hundred Monday morning. That gives you five days to get familiar with your new systems and back up to speed.”
For the first time, I transported aboard the Reagan. As the glow faded, I heard someone say, “attention on deck, Captain on board.”
It was good to be home.
The first order of business was to get Benji set up with the ships computer. The protocol was a bit time consuming, but I wasn’t really involved; the entire process was handled by Benji. Once Benji had finished he brought me up to speed. The ability to access the ships computer was a major step up. There was no more information available, but everything was available instantly. There was no need to query other officers. I was also capable of accessing my officers throughout the ship who had the implant. Not all officers or crew were yet equipped with the implant, but Doctor Peggie Barton was working hard to get everyone fitted.
The Reagan looked the same, but looks can be deceiving. The old girl had gotten some serious upgrades, beginning with the new transporter. The shields had been enhanced and the FTL jump system had been upgraded so that we actually had the precision to make combat jumps. The ability to jump into or out of combat situations is going to be an outstanding asset.
Probably the most important tool we now have is the ability to talk to other ships in real time. No time lag, instant communications thanks to the technology coming out of the Four-qubit Cluster State Teleportation theory.
Technology is an important part of what we do, but the importance of the people who use that technology is often overlooked. We are fortunate to have excellent people who make our success possible.
Commander Landon Irwin is CAG for the Reagan. CAG stands for Commander Air Group. He is responsible for all ancillary air crews and their training. He is also responsible for the spacecraft/aircraft and their required maintenance.
The Reagan originally shipped out without our full contingent of fighter pilots. In fact, we had shipped out a full squadron short. We had the fighters, but pilots were in short supply. Colonel Irwin had spent the time while Reagan was in for refitting recruiting some more pilots. We had a full complement of pilots and crews for the fighter wings.
Preparing to leave Titan Base
It had been a long two weeks since I returned to the Reagan. Waiting had never been my strong suite. Now we were ready to head for the Goranth System. This will be a new experience. Humans will be initiating first contact with an alien race for the first time. It was a daunting assignment and not one I had been tra
ined for. Just like most events involving our activities in space, we are going in blind. It is good to have the counsel of Qobrun.
lieutenant Turner navigation/pilot said, “Titan Base reports all umbilical’s are disconnected and docking clamps are released.”
“Very well Lieutenant Turner, you may take us out of Titan dock,” Fritz replied. “Aye Sir, departing Titan dock now, maneuvering thrusters report all back slow. The Reagan slowly backed out of her docking space. lieutenant Allan said, “Titan base reports Reagan clear of mooring.” “
