by Paul Phipps
Webster/ Private Com Mode/ Very good Honey. You definitely are the smart one of this team.
Seeker/Private Com Mode/ And don’t you forget it.
Webster/ Private Com Mode/ I’ll meet you at the Scout then.
Webster then turned and headed for the Trans-Portal that gleamed Green and Gold in varying fractal patterns on the wall. As he touched it he was surrounded by the faint halo of a force field and was sucked in…
…and out into the wardroom of the scout ship Roland. Roland was a small vessel only 250 feet in diameter and was a nearly perfectly round disk and with a thickened center. In fact Roland looked just like the cartoonists depiction of a Flying Saucer. Of course this was a deliberate choice of shape and also a declaration to all who were going to see him shortly. Roland’s personality matrix was still coarse because he had had only limited contact with humans. Mostly through video in fact. So meeting the Fleet Admiral in person was both an honor and a chance to smooth out some of the rough edges on his personality.
“Welcome aboard Admiral Webster, I am named Roland.”, Roland spoke with a certain clipped edge to his voice that sounded almost Teutonic in fashion.
“I’m glad to be aboard Roland.” Webster said to the air in the empty wardroom. “Please display on this wall our flight over to the George Bush. Also has my Aide arrived?”
“Yes sir, displaying requested video now. Your aide has arrived and is behind you sir.” Roland spoke authoritatively.
Webster turned and looked at his red headed aide and noticed that she had a similar uniform to his displayed with the rank bands of a Commander.
“Good morning to you, Commander McAndrews”, Admiral Webster said.
“Good morning to you also, sir.” The Commander replied and then tilted her head, “McAndrews is it? Am I Scottish?” as she spoke with a highlands’ brogue.
“Yes, I do believe Scottish will be most appropriate Commander.” Admiral Webster said and then told Roland, “I believe we are set here and we have a date to meet. So let’s be about it Roland. Nice and slow, so that all of the good Navy personnel can record us on their personal video equipment.”
Roland changed the coloring of his hull from a deep matte Black to a blinding White. His quadruple landing legs retracted into the hull and once again his hull appeared as a smooth featureless flying disk. He rose vertically and then moved in the direction of the front of the SFC Lucky. As he passed over the bow he drifted down toward the surface of the ocean below and stabilized at a height of 100 feet. He then turned and assumed a course that would bring him on a tangent in front of the George H. W. Bush’s Starboard escorts and arrive at the stern of the Carrier.
* * *
U.S.N. CVN George H.W. Bush 1150L November 2, 2026
“Captain! Lookouts have spotted a White UFO lifting off of their Carrier and moving forward. It appears to be a real Flying Saucer.” The Chief Quartermaster on duty reported to Captain Welles.
“What does Radar see, Chief?”
The Chief Quartermaster went to the Sound Powered phone operator and passed the question to him and thus down to CIC. The Executive officer of the Bush had switched places with the Captain as he was the one normally on the Bridge and the Captain was in the Combat Information Center. The Exec, Commander Harris, asked the Senior Chief Radarman to report on the sighting of the UFO.
“Sir, we don’t have anything on our scopes at this … Wait, there it is, I think he just turned on a blip enhancer so that we could see him. The Stealth Capabilities are quite amazing. With this new Bi-Phase Radar System not even an F-35N is invisible to our Radar systems, let alone a F-22.”
“Tell the Captain, the UFO is now on our screens, it does appear that they turned on a blip enhancer so that we could see them though.”
The message was dutifully passed on by the Sound Powered phone Operators.
The Captain turned to LTCDR Thomas, a very experienced woman and also his Operations Officer, and said, “Commander Thomas you have the Con, I am going to the Quarterdeck now.”
As he made his way down to the Quarterdeck reception area that had been set up next to the superstructure that rose on the Starboard side of the Flight Deck he passed his men and women in the corridors as they stood aside so that he could make his way through. Soon enough he reached the Quarterdeck and saw the Admiral and some of his staff waiting at one end of a reception line of Sailors and Marines.
“Good Afternoon, Sir.” He said to Admiral Crane as he assumed his place at the side of his Admiral.
Then there was nothing more than a waiting silence from all personnel on the Flight Deck. Suddenly there was a shadow that covered over a quarter of the Flight Deck. The Flying Saucer from the Terran Space Navy was overhead. It was so large that it couldn’t conceivably land on the George H.W. Bush’s Flight Deck. As the crew watched a small opening in the side of the bottom bulge opened up and a Blinding Beam of Yellowish Gold Light connected the two ships together. In the Beam were two Humanoid figures drifting down, down and then the Beam of Light was gone and there standing before the men and women of the USN George H.W. Bush were two Humans in black one piece uniforms with gold piping on the legs and gold colored rank bands on their left forearms.
They stood there a moment and then in perfect unison saluted the Flag of the United States and then the Male said.
“Permission to come Aboard?”
Captain Welles stepped forward of his place and replied. “Permission granted Admiral Webster.”
At which point the two Terran Space Navy officers passed down the aisle of Sailors and Marines and strode up to Admiral Crane and Captain Welles.
“It’s good to finally meet you in person Admiral Webster.” Said Admiral Crane.
“It’s good to be here Admiral Crane. It’s taken a lot of very hard work and many years to arrange this. But now we can finally meet.” Admiral Webster replied. “So what do you want to do first? Meet and Greet your officers and men and women or get to work on what we both have to say?”
Admiral Crane was still a little bemused that he was talking to a human being instead of a Little Green Man from Mars or whatever. He then turned to the protocol officer and asked. “Ok, what do the protocols say about this? At which point the Lieutenant in charge of protocol, swallowed and went with his gut instinct.
“Admiral Crane, there are no protocols for this type of meeting but I think a Reception Line of your Officers and Chief Petty Officers would be appropriate before you start your conference with Fleet Admiral Webster.”
“Very well then set it up in the Wardroom and we’ll be there in a half an hour.”
Admiral Crane then turned to Admiral Webster. “Will that be satisfactory with you, Admiral Webster?”
“Certainly Admiral, Heaven knows we’ve already inconvenienced you enough. And I do think that a Reception Line is a good idea so that your people can see that we are not Cylons or Klingons or whatever is the rage in the entertainment world these days. Also I would like to introduce my aide to you and Captain Welles.”
He then turned to his red haired companion and motioned her forward. Gentlemen I would like you to meet Commander McAndrews. She has been with us for many years and is extremely knowledgeable in nearly all things.”
Admiral Webster smiled a little crooked smile as he thought of how ancient and knowledgeable the guiding intelligence of McAndrews body really was. Well they would find out eventually, wouldn’t they.
Commander McAndrews smiled and shook the hands of Admiral Crane and Captain Welles. “I am pleased to be here today,” she said with her Scottish brogue, “ I do have a small request of my own though. Would you mind detailing one of your people to take this briefcase to the conference room we will be using?”
Captain Welles was a bit surprised at the request but quickly motioned to one of his own officers.
“Commander McAndrews, this is my security officer, LtCdr Smith. He has my fullest confidence and will keep your briefcase safe until returned to you at the c
onference room.”
“Commander Smith, thank you for this favor.” she said as she passed the briefcase over to him.
As he took the briefcase from her hand he suddenly had to use both hands. The thing must have weighed around 125 pounds. The commanders looked at each other and then Commander Smith just smiled and said. “I really need to get back into my exercise routine.” Then they both just chuckled as they shared the joke between them. He also vowed not to take her lightly either. She was a very strong woman, almost too strong. In the back of his mind he wondered if she was sending a message of sorts. Well, he would just have to think on that.
Admiral Crane invited the two TSN officers to come up to the Flag Bridge while the Wardroom was being arranged for their impromptu reception.
Admiral Crane motioned for Admiral Webster to come join him by the windows on the Flag Bridge. He was looking at the hovering TSN Scout Ship that just happened to look like a classic Flying Saucer. He then glanced at Admiral Webster and said.
“You know I keep wondering when the guy with the camera is going to jump out and say” At which point Admiral Webster joined him, “Surprise you’re on Candid Camera!”
They both started laughing and then started to roar with laughter as the tension drained away.
“ Seriously though, Are you a human being and why is that ship a Flying Saucer?”
“Yes, I’m Human”, Said Admiral Webster with a small smile, “I was born in Maryland quite close to Washington D.C. As for why Roland up there is a Flying Saucer, that’s a little more complicated. In the main part it’s a joke, it’s a bit of juvenile humor so as to get you to relax and see the humor as well as the seriousness of the situation. Life is a serious business; therefore we should seek out and enjoy the humor and good things in life too.
Although in all seriousness, the disk shape is very efficient in a spacecraft, so there is that to consider too.”
“Hmmm, so you are human and the Fleet Admiral of the Terran Space Navy, Are there many other humans in this Navy? How many ships do you have? And why are you here now?”
“I’ll be glad to answer those questions later. Many things need to be revealed, some need to be kept close for now.”
An interesting answer to his question, thought Admiral Crane. Curiouser and curiouser as Alice would have said. They continued to look out the window for a few minutes and then Admiral Webster spoke.
“I see that you have no ships that are younger than fifteen years. Is that because of the troubles that the United States has gone through for the last fifteen years or something else?”
“If you have been following events here on the Earth I expect you know of our Civil War II that we are still recovering from.”
“Yes, we did follow your Civil War; you do know it was necessary don’t you? Too many parasites were sucking on the lifeblood of the country. It would have ended up a Marxist/Socialist Hellhole and probably a massive pogrom of your people would have been the final result.” he paused for a few seconds and then added, “You don’t know it, but we, the TSN that is, stopped two different attempts by foreign powers to intervene when it appeared that the President-for-Life was going to lose to the New Constitution Forces.”
Admiral Crane turned to look at Admiral Webster with a stunned look in his eyes, “You did!? As far as I know no other country tried to interfere with our ‘self-destruction’ as they put it.”
Admiral Webster shook his head, “Well they did try, but strangely enough, their ships never could leave port to deliver weapons and troops. And when they tried to use aircraft, they always seemed to have mechanical problems occur. Amazing coincidences don’t you think?”
Admiral Crane took a quick look around to see who was listening in on his conversation with Admiral Webster. With a quick analysis it appeared that his officers and staff were keeping a distance from them.
“On my own behalf I thank you. The country didn’t need to have a foreign presence in our conflict.” Admiral Crane said softly.
“The TSN looked very favorably on the United States Military forces staying out of the conflict as much as they could. We also think that withdrawing your forces from around the world was a good move too. “
“So does the top brass at the Pentagon, if only because so many of our people could have been held as hostages or our materiel used against us.”
As they were talking quietly the phone rang and Lt. Phelps answered it , she nodded once and said, “We’ll be down shortly.” She then hung up the phone and walked over to Captain Welles and told him that everything was set up in the Wardroom for a reception line for Fleet Admiral Webster and Commander McAndrews. The Captain thanked her and then passed the information onto the Admirals.
Admiral Crane then said, “Well, let’s be about it now. Time to go get a sore hand.”
Admiral Webster nodded seriously and said, “I am looking forward to meeting your officers and Chief Petty Officers, Admiral Crane.”
--- Wardroom George H.W. Bush
Nearly an hour later after the last Chief Petty Officer had gone down the reception line and had shaken hands and small talked with the two Admirals. All of the officers and some of the Chiefs were still in the Wardroom area although some of the CPO’s had gone back to their own Mess. And to an outside observer it would have been apparent that there were some cliques as well as some firm friendships among these men and women.
Admiral Webster turned to Admiral Crane and told him, “I am impressed by your men and women. They are very knowledgeable and a credit to you and the U.S. Navy.”
At which point Admiral Crane said, ”Thank you for your kind words. Yes I am proud of them. At least I had the luxury of a week or so to get used to the idea of a Terran Space Navy. They on the other hand just got handed a shock to their world view. I am concerned for them when the shock is over and they have a chance to think on ramifications on what was revealed today by your arrival.”
“In my experience shocks like this one are best assimilated by having enough data to work with and not a lot of suppositions. So to that end, with your concurrence I would like to invite MCPO Hartman , MCPO Butler ,MCP0 Calabrese and SCPO Handelman to our first sit-down meeting.”
“Really?”, Admiral Crane asked, “, Why those men?”
“Because they include your most senior enlisted men, they are knowledgeable and they will be able to tell the rest of your people what is going on and tell them with authority and the accuracy of having been there themselves.”
“Ok, I see your reasoning. I also have a few Officers I want present too. I propose Captain Welles, Captain Johansson, LtCdr Harris, Major Atwood, and Lt. Harrison.”
Admiral Webster nodded and agreed that they would be welcome at the meeting. He then said, “When would you like to start then, now or later?”
“Now is good, we can use Video Conference Room #1. It’s large enough and has the recording equipment readily available. I know Admiral Caparelli is going to want to see this for himself.”
---- Video Conferencing Room #1
The room was shaped like a small Auditorium with most of the participants sitting in theatre style seats with a U-Shaped Conference table at the front of the room where the chief participants will sit and be in full view of the rest.
Vice Admiral Crane sits at the Head of the Table with Fleet Admiral Webster at his right side. Commander McAndrews sat next to Admiral Webster and is across from Captain Welles and Captain Johansson. Admiral Crane is completing his opening remarks.
“And in conclusion we, the United States Navy are appreciative of the honor of being the first official group to meet and welcome The Terran Space Navy to Earth.”
A round of applause went through the conference room and Fleet Admiral Webster arose and walked to the Lectern.
“Thank you all for coming to this remote part of Planet Earth. It has a special place in my life to be here once again.” He smiled broadly, “But that’s a story for another day.”
There were som
e strange looks and a few chuckles, but everyone kept their eyes on him.
Admiral Webster turned to Commander McAndrews, “Commander please set up the projector and the verifier.”
She opened her briefcase and took out a small hemispherical globe and set it down in the middle of the table. A brief haze appeared over the table and then it was like they were looking at a small star in the distance. Next came a small three sided crystalline pyramid approximately three inches on side.
Admiral Crane continued, “First off the pyramid is a Verifier, this device will pulse a reddish color when a falsehood is told in its presence. Otherwise it will pulse a bluish color in the presence of truth.”
He paused and then said, let me demonstrate for you. “I was born in 1955 in the United States of America in the state of Maryland.” The Pyramid pulsed a bright blue color as each word was spoken.
