TSN: Epiphany (Terran Space Navy)

by Paul Phipps

  Admiral Caparelli looked at General Owens and Secretary Watkins and waited for them to speak.

  “There’s a lot more you haven’t told us isn’t there?”, General Elam the Army Chief of Staff said into the silence.

  “Yes General Elam, there is a lot more to go over, but you have the salient points now.”

  “Right!”, Secretary of the Army Barnes said through pursed Lips. And then he said, “You have obviously had more time to think about this. What do you propose we do?”

  “I suggest that you bring Secretary Anderson up to speed. Have him contact the President and request an immediate meeting with all of the Secretaries and the Joint Chiefs. If he refuses to believe us or refuses to contact the President, then we go over his head.

  Oh yes, here’s one of those things we haven’t told you yet…. Admiral Webster and Commander McAndrews are available for a meeting with President Richardson. One of their Scout Ships will bring them to Camp David if the President indicates he would like to speak with them.”

  Secretary Watkins stood up and got a shocked look on his face. “Are you saying that you are in direct contact with them right now?”

  “Mr. Secretary, the Epiphany is an Auxiliary of the TSN. It has a TSN A.I. in control of all the automation on-board. The TSN also has an Officer on Board serving as temporary Captain until the Navy can appoint one of our own captains to command her. Once we have supplied an acceptable Officer to be Captain of the Epiphany the TSN officer will remain to serve as a Liaison with the Terran Space Navy.

  So yes, we are in contact right now with the Terran Space Navy.”

  Secretary Watkins continued to stand as he got his racing mind under control. Then he looked at the rest of the Chiefs of Staff and then his fellow Under-Secretaries. “Normally I don’t have any problem making decisions. This time I want your ideas or advice. We’ll start off with the Rest of the Joint Chiefs and then the other Under-Secretaries.”

  “Admiral Caparelli, when will the Chinese be within Observation distance of your task force?”, General Owens asked.

  Admiral Caparelli looked at Captain Eagleton. “Do you have that information?”

  “Yes Sir, I have some approximations. Their submarine, the Guangzhou will be able to resume a stealthy profile on Late Monday and then continue their observations of Task Force 14. Their Battle Group #1 will be within Observation Range on Wednesday and able to move to a strike range on Thursday. They will be within range of a counter strike from Pearl Harbor as of tomorrow. Their other two battle groups will be within Strike Range in approximately 7 days.” Captain Eagleton replied.

  “I see, then we have some time to deliberate in don’t we.”, Secretary Watkins said with relief in his voice.

  “Yes sir we do have a window to do some deliberations. With that being said, What if the Chinese release Satellite photography showing an “Unknown” super-sized Aircraft Carrier sailing with an American Carrier Task Force to their contacts in the media? They could do that right now. Do you want the President to be blind-sided by the Sunday Morning Washington Post Headlines?” Secretary Dunbar put in.

  “Well yes, there is that. Ok, now you put the pressure on again.” Secretary Watkins said repressively.

  “General Cappielo, you haven’t said a thing. What are your thoughts.” General Owens asked.

  The Marine Commandant looked surprised that he was being asked to give his opinion or thoughts on this matter. But he did have some and the General did ask.

  “Mr. Secretary”, He said looking at the Secretary of the Air Force, “If it had been me, as soon as I heard of Extra-Terrestrials I would have sent my Marines to ‘ask’ Secretary Anderson to come to the Pentagon for this meeting. And you didn’t know it but Captain Edgewood the Marine that was sent to this TSN Carrier Lucky… He was a shavetail lieutenant that worked for me on the Tarawa. So I knew who he was and I don’t think that it was all acting and Special Effects.

  I believe that we are now entering into a new age. And if we want to be in at the beginning I suggest that we call the President Right Damn Now and get him up to speed. That’s what I’m thinking, Sir.”

  “Blunt as always, I see.”, General Elam said with a chuckle. He then turned to Secretary Owens. “I second General Cappielo’s suggestion.”

  “What do you think of asking Admiral Webster and Commander McAndrews of the TSN to come here and speak with us? And should we make that invitation before or after the President has a chance to be Briefed?” Secretary of the Army Barnes said.

  “Yes, definitely!”, “Of course.”, the voices of all of the people in the room said. And then one stood out.

  “Since I and Secretary Dunbar have already made arrangements to Fly out to Pearl harbor on Monday with a stopover at Task Force 14, why don’t you all come along. Or should I just ask the TSN to provide transportation for all of us?” Admiral Caparelli threw out the idea onto the table as he would a poker chip.

  There was a moment of silence and then Secretary of the Air Force Owens picked up the Secure Telephone. He waited for the operator to come on. “Please connect me with the Secretary of Defense. There was a pause and then, “Thank you I’ll wait here for you to ring me back.”

  There was quiet as each man in the room thought their own private thoughts. Then the secure phone rang.

  “John this is Bob. I’m at the pentagon with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the other Under-Secretaries. You need to come in and get briefed on this before we go and talk to the President.” Secretary Owens said to the Secretary of Defense. He sat there listening to the phone.

  “No John, this cannot wait until the morning or even Monday.” He continued.

  “Yes, we will be here. I’ll expect to see you around 0400 then.”

  He then put down the phone and looked around at the others. “He’ll be here in about an hour. Go freshen up and do what you need to. It’s going to be a long, long day I have a feeling.”

  * * *

  Pentagon – 0730L Sunday, November 8, 2026

  Secretary of Defense Anderson looked more wide awake than everyone else in the Secure Conference room. He stood up from his place at the conference table and stretched his arms above his head. He then looked at Under Secretary of Defense for the Navy Dunbar and Admiral Caparelli and started to speak.

  “When you first started to brief me I was furious at you, then as I heard more I came to understand your motives in not telling us here upfront what you knew. You’re right in that I would have had you removed from your positions and had psychological exams scheduled. I also understand your desire to protect Secretary Dunbar and myself if this turned out to be an elaborate hoax Admiral Caparelli.

  Now it is time for me to earn my pay and get the President up-to-speed.”

  He then looked closely at all of his Generals and Admirals and their minimal staff they had with them. “Gentlemen, Go get a few hours rest. I am pretty sure that the President will want to come here to look at these videos and talk to us in person. And I need you to be ready to answer all questions and give advice as needed.”

  Camp David – 0810L, November 8, 2026

  “Mr. President?” a Navy Senior Chief Steward asked.

  President Richardson was presiding over an intimate breakfast with his wife and their three young children. He looked up and said, “Yes, Chief?”

  “Sir, the Secretary of Defense is on the Secure phone in your office.”

  “Thank you Chief, I’ll be there shortly.” He looked at his wife and said, “There goes our quiet day together, unless John wants to schedule up a round of golf. That would be nice.”

  He then left the table and headed for his office. As he entered he saw that the red call waiting light was lit on the otherwise blank face of the secure phone. He looked down and thought to himself, “Nope, I don’t think it’s an invitation to a round of Golf.” He then picked it up.

  “Good Morning John, What’s up?”

  “Good Morning Mr. President, I think you need to come to
the Pentagon. There is a situation that has popped up in the Pacific that the Chinese are trying to get involved in.” Secretary of Defense Anderson started off.

  “How serious is it and can you give me some more information than that?” The president asked.

  “Mr. President as good as the encryption is on these phones, this is something I don’t want to talk about outside of a secure room. I wouldn’t ask you here unless it was something out-of-this-world important.”

  “One of those is it. Will I read about in the Washington Post?” The President said with a smile.

  “Yes sir, I can guarantee that.” Secretary Anderson told him as seriously as possible.

  “Ok, I’ll be there as fast as my helicopter can get me.”

  The President set down the phone and told his personal Secret Service Agent. “Get me my helicopter, we need to get to the Pentagon ASAP.”

  He then left the office to tell his wife that he had to be gone for the day.

  TSN/USN Epiphany – Sunday, 0700L November 8, 2026

  Commander Ansel Webster is having breakfast and discussing some ideas for the SHOOTEX.

  “Ari before I go off halfcocked I want to confirm what I got from your briefing and the documentation of the Rail Guns and the terminal Guidance package that we can put on the munitions.”

  Ariadne was speaking to him via a hologram projection of herself that she had developed.

  “Ok, shoot.” She said with a sly grin.

  Ansel just smiled and continued, “As I understand it each package can be programmed for a specific target or a generalized set of targets, correct?”

  “Yes, for example let us assume that the rail gun in question is shooting a single projectile at an area on the surface of the ocean. And there are multiple potential targets in that area. Some of them are friendly and some are hostile.

  Using either specific targeting information from one of the friendlies you can target one particular hostile. Or you can set up a generalized targeting of any hostile in the target zone. In either case units pre-designated as friendly will not be acceptable targets.

  If there are no hostile targets available when the munition reaches the targeted area then the munition will self-destruct.”

  Ansel thought for a moment, “So, if in this exercise I place say two ‘hostile’ targets and have …. Say twelve friendlies. And we shoot off fourteen munitions targeted on the two hostiles. How positive are we that none of our friendlies will be hit. Especially if all of them are in motion.”

  “I’m very sure that only the targeted hostiles will be hit. But since we have never done it with the Epiphany’s rail guns or the F-47N’s I believe that we need to have all of the potential targets be unmanned drones.”

  “Good, now do we have the drones on hand or do we need to fabricate some?” Ansel asked.

  “We’ll need to fabricate them. Do you want surface as well as air drones?” Ariadne replied.

  “Yes, both types, how long to fabricate them?”

  I’ll need to set up the design parameters and hand it off to the fabricator AI’s to come up with a design. Maybe two hours for that. Once we have the Design in memory we can pump them out in about 15 minutes each.”

  Ansel stared at the ceiling and thought back to some of the bull sessions that he had been a participant on the Cape St. George. He suddenly recalled an idea of GM1 Rogers. Hmmm, maybe he could ask Captain Steele to bring him and Chief Morales over with him.

  “Ari, I remember an idea that we might be able to do. Can we make these Drones look like full sized Navy Ships. Maybe inflatable or some sort of Memory Plastic? What I am thinking is to produce some copies of Arleigh Burke class and Ticonderoga class like the Cape St. George. Can we do it in a small enough package so that we can store a number of them and deploy them at need? And for Targets we could make them Speed boat/Gunboats or a small generic frigate.”

  “It sounds like a good thing to have. But I don’t know if it can be done in a small package. How big is a small package?” Ari Asked.

  “Why don’t we let the fabricator’s tell us how big the stowed away package will be. Why put restrictions on them, just tell them to make it as compact as possible and that deployment from a stored state needs to be quickly. They just might surprise us.”

  “I’ve passed the basic data request on. They are pleased to have some fresh work to do. They also suggested that we acquire some Standard Missiles and Torpedoes and other standard Navy Ordinance so they can have Originals to copy off of.”

  “Excellent Idea, please forward that to Admiral Crane’s staff. Also get some ideas about what sort of quantities they would like us to hold in reserve for them or if they want them fabricated on an as-needed basis.”

  “Done, with a copy to Commander Thomas and YN2 Chang for their records.” Ariadne replied.

  “Please make a request to Captain Steele that he have Gunners Mate Chief Morales and GM1 Rogers come along with him. I think we are going to need their insights.” Ansel directed.

  “Message Sent, with copies to Admiral Crane and Commander Thomas and your staff.” Ariadne said.

  “Good, good then. Did you get that preliminary brief done with Captain Johansson and the eight pilots that volunteered to fly our version of the F-47N?”

  “Yes, while you were away yesterday evening. Today they are scheduled for Cockpit familiarization and if they think they are ready we will do some launch and recoveries. Of course there is the on-board AI’s to assist as necessary. But they know enough to stay in the background until the pilots are more comfortable with the concept of intelligent aircraft.

  Chief Harnes also has tested the Linear Induction Catapults with dead weights. He pronounced himself satisfied enough to do live launches.”

  ‘Excellent, When are they scheduled to begin?”, Ansel said as he got up from the table and prepared himself to head to the Bridge.

  “They are scheduled for their Pre-Flight briefing in 15 Minutes and Aircraft Checkouts at 0800. I estimate the first CAT launches around 0900L.”

  “How did they handle seeing the tugs moving the planes around on the hanger and flight decks with no one driving them?” Ansel said mischievously.

  “I don’t think they noticed until Chief Harnes pointed it out to them.”, Ariadne replied, “I think they were to enthralled with the new toys that they get to play with.”

  Ansel/ Private Com Mode: “Did Lt. Harrison and his Hawkeye crew transfer over yet? I want to get at least one Hawkeye up.” Ansel said as he walked down the passageway toward the Bridge.

  Ariadne/ Private Com Mode: “They are due to come over this morning; I gather that Lt. Commander Flores wasn’t too keen on letting a trained crew go. But Admiral Crane approved the transfer. So far none of our new transfers have failed the TSN Screening and I know that Lt. Harrison is good because the Lucky passed him. So we will see how his crew does.” Ariadne commented to Ansel.

  Ansel walked through the doorway onto the Epiphany’s Bridge and one of the Seamen Spotted him.

  “Captain on the Bridge!”

  “As you were.” Ansel said. He spotted Chief Duncan and walked over to talk with him by the Chart table. He glanced down and saw that it was in the Holographic mode instead of the Voyage Management System.

  “Good Morning Chief, getting used to the Holographic Display?” Ansel inquired.

  “Good Morning Sir. I thought I would try using them today. It’s quite a bit different but I do like some of the functions.”

  Chief Duncan looked out the corner of his eye at the former Electronic Technician second class that was now the Epiphany’s Captain in all but name. He thought that the young man beside him suddenly looked much more mature and assured than when he first met him. Perhaps he was just one of those fortunate people who blossom under command pressures instead of breaking down.

  He had had a private chat with the A.I. that ran the Epiphany’s automation. It had been interesting and he did understand now why she had chosen Webster in the fi
rst place. But damn it still ticked him off to lose such a qualified man from his already tiny OPS group even if it was to become the Captain.

  “Anything for me this morning Chief?” Ansel asked.

  “We’re waiting for Captain Johansson to inform us of his intention to start doing Launch and recovery Operations. Everything else is shaking down, thank goodness for Epiphany’s AI, we couldn’t do it without her.”

  “That’s the way it is in the TSN too, chief. The A.I.’s run everything, but they still want us there to contribute. They need us in ways that are soul deep you know. I’ll let you in on a secret, just compliment Epiphany now and then just like you would any other member of your department when they’ve done a good job. And if you think she needs some guidance to do a better job tell her that too. She’ll listen to you and do her utmost best.” Ansel told Chief Duncan looking him right in the eyes.