The Phoenix Rising

by Gary Caplan

  “Did you say the Calyx have returned?” asked Taylor.

  “Yes,” Garfield said. “Evidently, with the decline and dispersion in their population, they moved to other duty locations. Not long after the duty change but before the Calyx sent more colonists, the records for this planets gate location were lost. A star in another system went nova where they kept the gate location for this system. The resulting loss of information of gate code location, and with no further colonists is why the small colony died out. Even silicon-based life forms like the Calyx die eventually.”

  “Ah, so no replacements came. What happened to the gate they used to travel between worlds?” Sheppard asked.

  Garfield turned his head toward the others, realizing by sensing their thoughts that Commander Taylor already knew the answer.

  Sharon said, “One of the Alliance of Worlds corporations removed it for study. I heard that from another of the scientists while on QB7.”

  “There is a new one now,” replied Garfield.

  “One more thing to report, sir,” said Taylor. “Both Commander Andor and I have been looking at the sensor readings, and we have verified that the ship’s systems have been improved; in some cases the efficiency is up to plus-fifty percent. We preliminarily concluded it’s as if the ships were reconstructed and made maximally efficient.”

  “Thank you, Commander Taylor. I will look forward to your formal report. On to other topics—I still need to digest this,” stated Sheppard.

  “Sir, the Aharri want to speak with you,” Sherman said.

  As Taylor and Sherman left the room, she inquired about positions in the Sixth Fleet.

  “Sir, I was interested in a transfer to the Sixth Fleet, possibly the Phoenix,” Sharon said.

  “If you fill out the request for transfer, I have no objection to finding you a position with the Sixth Fleet,” replied Fleet Captain Sherman. “You seem to work quite well with our Mister Andor.”

  The communications system activated in Sheppard’s office, and a three-dimensional virtual image of Captain Harrolid appeared. “Hello, Captain Harrolid,” said Sheppard. “Evidently the communications interface between our systems was worked out during the time I was on QB7.”

  “Yes such communication problems as they were have been resolved. Commodore Sheppard words cannot express my gratitude for the return of my crewmates and the restoration of my ships,” replied Klein Harrolid as he looked virtually around the room, then at Garfield. “You have a Karratin officer!”

  “Let me introduce Vice Admiral Garfield—among other titles, one of the dukes of Karro. For the Sixth Fleet he is actually a science liaison from our Karratin affiliates and one of my best advisors,” Sheppard said.

  Greetings were exchanged, and Sheppard updated the Aharri leader about what might have just happened. “I will request an ambassador be dispatched to meet with your people; perhaps we can help one another.”

  “Agreed. I look forward to working with your people further,” Captain Harrolid replied, and with that, the Aharri leader faded from the viewing imager.

  “All I know is that I have to send a report to Grand Admiral Pendragon, and I had better get started,” Sheppard said.

  “I will let you get to that, Bob. I’ll be on Zeloc and will communicate to the Calyx now within QB7; they are not likely to take communications from the Alliance of Worlds or any civilization that they might consider too primitive—no offense intended. I do not think they will mind the colony on the surface, as long as you leave certain subterranean regions of the planet alone. I’m relatively sure the Calyx will likely construct an additional defense station in orbit and on the moon.”

  Sheppard smiled and nodded as Garfield exited Sheppard’s command office, and then he was alone. He sat back at his desk. He had a lot to think about, and he knew this was just the beginning of what the Alliance’s old nemesis the Varlon and their new enemy the Accad were up to. He raised the volume on his music and heard that The Planets had restarted. “Mars, the Bringer of War” had begun to play. Sheppard remembered something that someone said to him once: “The future belongs to those who believe in the vision of their dream.”

  EPILOGUE

  During the course of the next several weeks, both the Rhyn and the Aharri would initially establish treaties of affiliation and trade with the Alliance of Worlds. At the same time, the Alliance of Worlds was gearing up for an all-out war. They would only be taking back what had been taken from them: the Rhendal sector. It was too close to other populated areas, so allowing the Varlon to keep most of it was out of the question.

  The entrance of the Accads with Jiyarr ships forced the Betellians, to reconsider that their policies of observation and tolerance needed some modification. They became willing to support the Alliance of Worlds with what for them would be an expeditionary fleet. Admiral Veiss would command this tactical force, and it was decided that the Sixth Fleet might be the likely repository for these Betellian starcraft.

  The Hegemony and their close affiliates the Cynz and the Calyx were also reconsidering several issues with the advent of the entrance of the Accads, since that meant the Jiyarr likely supported this incursion into the Milky Way. While they would attempt to use political measures and previous relationships with the Jiyarr, they continued to be wary of the Accadian presence.

  Members of the Hegemony—the Estrians, Lyramenians, Karratins, and the Quarran—also decided to increase production of starships and support base stations. The Karratins took the additional step of phasecloaking several facilities in order to monitor the Varlon and the Accad. The Varlon continued to use stealth, and so now would members of the Hegemony.

  Some considered the Hegemony the first Alliance, but they had never integrated as fully as the Alliance of Worlds had. The Hegemony also came to the decision to make a fleet to work with the other civilizations. The individual members of the Hegemony agreed it would be acceptable to distribute the ships within task forces to support some of the fifty fleets in the Alliance of Worlds involved with defending against the Accads or Varlon.

  In the interim, acting Fleet Admiral Sheppard and his crew would continue to look for Accadian facilities. The Alliance of Worlds had realized that the Accads had been in the Milky Way galaxy for not much more than a decade establishing bases. During the present time and into the future, the Alliance of Worlds and its allies would continue to restrict any local allies the Accads might attempt to gain using political means.

  One potential newcomer were some distant Talcon who were in a sort of stasis, according to the information given by Commodore St. John’s Talcon friends. These Talcons were arriving in two vast starcities, each four thousand kilometers across. If successful first contact could be established then a critical ally could be made. Unfortunately, the first starcity to arrive had not responded to hails, so Task Force One and Commodore Sheppard were dispatched to investigate and establish contact. It was likely that both the Varlon and the Accads were aware of the starcities and would attempt to strike at them before or while the Talcon were coming out of stasis.

  End of: The Phoenix Rising

  GLOSSARY OF SOME TERMS

  Alpha Quadrant: The region in which most of the Alliance of Worlds members are located, including Earth. It is also home to the Rhendal sector at the periphery, a portion of the Karratin Hegemony, the Viridian Assembly, and Star One. Most of the Quellus sector is located in the Alpha quadrant. The Meiosian are in the coreward section of the quadrant.

  Beta Quadrant: This region predominantly held by the Varlon and Accadian Empires. This is the region in which part of the more distant subsectors of the Rhendal sectors are located. Mercan sector is located in Beta quadrant.

  C: The speed of light—186,000 miles per second, or about 300,000 kilometers per second. Classes of Starships in the Alliance of Worlds: Waterway, Heroic, Legendary, Constellation, Galaxy. Alternate or subclass of the Legendary type include: Pegasus, and Oceanic

  Commlink: This is a generic term for a portab
le or mobile communication and information device. It also refers to the imbedded communication neural link that allows the user to access many types of information. Infopads also are a type of commlink.

  COMNET: A truncation of the Estrian-designed communication array stations (COMmunications NETwork).

  Conn: Abbreviation for flight controller. Delta Quadrant: Includes a few of the more advanced space-faring civilizations. The Delta quadrant is populated by Saldron, Estrians, Karratin, and Lyramenian. Other civilizations also populate this region.

  Gamma Quadrant: This region of the galaxy is largely unexplored, though there are many Cynz worlds here, as well as the Earth colony of Terminus. It is also believed that the Gamma quadrant is the region in which Supreme Commander Mor'ag of the Accadian Empire has his bases of operation.

  Hyperspace: The dimension that lies outside of normal space and the medium through which a starship must travel to cross vast distances, effectively moving beyond the speed of light. Some ships create a hyperspace slipstream corridor through sections of hyperspace.

  Lactar: An Accadian year (approximately 1.5 Earthling years). Light-year: Unit of distance equal to the distance light travels in one Earthling year (365 days). The Alliance of Worlds measurement is a similar distance.

  Linknet: The secured system of access to direct computer interface of links between all Alliance of Worlds databases and computer memory banks. Most Linknets are with the starship computer or base computer; however, the COMNET can be utilized to interlink over vast distances.

  Quadrants: The Milky Way galaxy is divided into four quadrants: the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta quadrants.

  Delta Gamma

  Alpha Beta

  Selkecks: Accadian term of distance equivalent to approximately one and a half kilometers.

  Star flight controller: The flight controller is the control section that houses both helm and navigation control stations. Star Flight Control Officer: Position of title given to the pilot of a starship. The star flight control officer's duties include piloting the vessel as well as plotting courses through the ship's navicomputer.

  Tzura: Accadian term of time equivalent to slightly over one Earth week. Parsec: A unit of distance equivalent to 3.26 light-years. The term is a contraction of “parallax second,” showing the unit's origin in ancient Earth astronomy.

  Alliance of Worlds naval ranks: (higher to lower)

  Grand admiral, fleet admiral, vice admiral, commodore, fleet captain, captain, commander, lieutenant commander, first lieutenant, second lieutenant, ensign.

  Sector: defined here as an area of space measuring 1000 light-years, each across x and y directions. Sectors are variable in the z direction from 50 to 500 light-years, depending on how core-ward the sector lies. A typical sector in the Alliance of Worlds space contains about fifty to one hundred viable, life-sustaining stable star systems, although sectors toward the core will often contain more. The Milky Way galaxy is divided into several sectors and subsectors, grouped into four main regions of space, called “quadrants.” Sectors are usually named or numbered. Many in common usage are often named for a major star or planet located in that sector (ex. Quellus sector, Rhendal sector, Mercan sector, Omega sector). Subsectors are 100 cubic light-years and may have numbers and letters, such as Subsector 10Rh, or the tenth subsector in Rhendal.

  Sector Alpha: This is one of the most important sectors in the Alliance of Worlds space. This is the main sector wherein lies Star One. Sheppard’s Fleet Postings: Robert Sheppard first posting as ensign and part of his second-lieutenant time was onboard the Waterway- class cruiser Eteran. His remaining second-lieutenant time as wing lieutenant through first lieutenant onboard the Constellation-class dreadnaught Orion. As lieutenant commander and later starfighter wing commander, he was stationed on the battlecarrier H’ jum’pta under Fleet Captain Peregrine. Then Sheppard transferred to a first officer position as a commander under Captain St. John on the Heroic-class ship Indefatigable before its refit for Magellanic Cloud journey. When St. John’s science mission left on the long exploratory science mission, Sheppard decided to continue his time as a starfighter squadron wing commander and became first officer on the Legendary-class battlecruiser Valiant that was in one of the task forces under Commodore Peregrine’s command. After his promotion to captain, he was given command of a new Heroic-class heavy cruiser, the Endeavor. He continued later as fleet captain of Task Force Four, and he stayed onboard the Endeavor. After his promotion to commodore and upon gaining another star cluster, he chose the Pegasus-class battlecruiser Phoenix as his flagship. Star One: A massive space station 120 kilometers in radius that doubles as Alliance of Worlds headquarters and one of the Alliance of Worlds starbase and starship construction facilities. It is located in Alpha sector, approximately 300 LY from Earth.

  Starfighter Types:

  A squadron wing usually consists of twenty starfighters of varying types. The larger types, such as the Sentinel and Guardian, have multiple configurations. Examples include:

  Sentinel-class: Multi-manned attack craft (also called T50)

  Guardian-class: Multi-manned attack craft (also called T100)

  Scimitar-class: Two-man attack craft

  Valkyrie-class: Single-man attack craft Star Knights: They are mostly preservers of civilization and not police or security. They are organized into several “Orders,” some of which can be almost vigilante like. Star Knights use mentallic or psionic disciplines and metaphysical manipulations. Some are able to access other dimensional planes and utilize additional abilities. In the Alliance of Worlds, most have psi-level ranking designations on record. The Star Knights’ authority is not universal, and not all planetary governments sanction their actions.

  U.G.A.S. : United Galactic Alliance Starship. This is the abbreviation for the starship member notation for Alliance of Worlds starships.

  Zilakh: Accadain unit of time equivalent to approximately one and one-half standard months.