by Paul Phipps
Lt. Colonel Alvarez was the first of the four senior officers to reclaim her poise at the sudden, (to them), news. “All Services?” She choked, “How many people are you expecting?”
“That’s an interesting question. So far only one point six million have made reservations. That includes a little over Nine Hundred and ninety thousand children. But I expect to get more reservations this week.” Evana said with an impish smile.
Colonel Hernwell shook his head slowly and said, “Count me in, it’ll be my wife our four children and myself. I have GOT to see how you pull this one off.”
The others in the room had similar sentiments but all wanted to be there. Evana in turn just smiled and nodded her head as each person spoke up.
“Very good then!, we’re at our destination, Fort Detrick. Please go round up your troops. It’s time for you to go home.”
TSN Companion, Admiral’s Staff Meeting, Tuesday, December 22, 2026
“Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, I understand you had another great week last week. So let’s hear all about it.” Admiral Webster started off with a broad smile. “Commander Webster, please lead off.”
“I have a number of points this week. I’ll start off with an overview of the Gaming System we have brought out. First, the roll-out was mostly successful, the U.S. Post Office was a bit swamped with our delivery to them. However they did rally around and all of the game systems have now been delivered.
The overwhelmingly positive response of the users was expected by us but in turn is facing major shock from the various Game Design companies throughout the world. We’ve already been approached by four of the Massive Multi-Player On-Line gaming companies asking if there would be a way to use our technology in their own systems.
We have told all of them that once we see how this all works out we might be able to assist them or lease the technology. I don’t want to burn any bridges behind us, so I’m leaving this option open.
Next, Ariadne and I did some media analysis and we found that at least in the United States there is a syndicated Radio Show that goes by the name of ‘Inside the Vault’. It is not on my list of programs that I would find interesting. But be that as it may, this syndicated program has by far the greatest concentration of ‘Conspiracy Theorists’ you will ever find.
And the Terran Space Navy is their current number one target for theories. Most of them are quite entertaining, however some are very, very close to the truth. And considering that the amount of real data on us is very small in comparison indicates some first rate thinkers are in this programs’ listener base.
I have asked them if it would be possible to come on their show and talk to the listener base for a while. They are quite enthusiastic about it and we have the entire Saturday block of time of six hours. I plan on putting in a pitch to have the best ones come work for us. In any case it will be interesting and exhausting too.
Now for some very good news, Ariadne and I are in total awe by the fact that eighty-two percent of all of the people who inquired about the TSN through our website are on the training track. Eighty-two percent, it’s amazing! I was only expecting in the high thirties. At this rate we may see over seven hundred thousand recruits in the next two months.
We also now have actual recruits, We have enlisted the four pilots from the Epiphany. We probably will only be seeing former officers directly from the Navy for a while as the enlisted ranks contracts are a bit more rigid when it comes to being released from the service.
Also we have enlisted ten of the GameTestors people into the TSN Space Marines and twenty-one of them into the TSN Navy and that number includes the three who were showing amazing spatial sensitivity. GameTestors was a bit miffed over that occurring; we mollified them with a bonus of two million dollars.
I’m not sure how long it’s going to be before they are available for deployment. I imagine that it will be at least thirty days and it could be as long as forty-five days. All training is being done on an individual basis with Implant surgeries and physical training interspersed. There are also several who have other medical problems as well as the need to be rejuvenated.
Commander Fuller, you will be receiving at least half of all graduates until you are at a complement of Fifteen Hundred. That will bring the Companion up to one hundred percent manning and you get to have all of the fun of integrating them into your command.” Ansel finished up with a nod in her direction.
“Thank you Commander, they will be greeted warmly!” She said with a grin.
“My congratulations too Ansel, You and Ariadne have done miracles. Your results are far, far more impressive than I had hoped for. Captain Thomas, your turn.” Admiral Webster said.
“First off, the team from Fort Detrick has finished their investigation and sterilization of the Developmental Laboratory hidden at Ramsheh IUR. The area that was sealed off when the Donkey Seller Faisal committed suicide has also been investigated and precautionary sterilization of any possible live ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ Spores is complete.
Unfortunately no real new information has been acquired. The Deep Interrogation of the Medical Scientist’s that the IUR had assigned to the ‘Shaitan’s breath’ project was quite disappointing. They turned out to be quite second rate as researchers. If the President-for-Life hadn’t given them the Bio-War weapon as-is they would still be floundering around.
On a final positive note we learned an amazing amount from the USAMRIID people and we probably can do it all ourselves the next time we run into a Bio-War Weapon.
Next, The All-Services Christmas Party we hosted at Asimov City was an outstanding success. We ended up with nearly two and a half million people. Almost three quarters of that were minors 18 years of age and younger.
Every one of them received a low-observable Wrist-Com as welcoming gift. It was explained that it would allow the family members to keep in contact with each other and with Isaac the Asimov City’s Command AI.
We also gave as Christmas Presents various educational Toys, Remote Controlled Spaceships, and Walking-Talking Dolls for both sexes. And interesting enough, several of the younger children, mostly First and Second graders asked for ‘real spacesuits’. We gave them a version of the Standard Shipsuit. It will be interesting to see how that works out.
I am also very pleased at the reaction of the families as a whole to the living conditions on board a TSN Space City. Henri, Isaac and I have talked it over and we think that we might find a lot of Husband and Wife teams requesting enlistment together after this.
And lastly some very bad news, Quarn parasitation appears to be permanent and irreversible. Removal of the ‘Gland’ or as I call it Bio-Control Module will result in death, even with additional life support it takes longer but it is inevitable. Parasitation appears to function much like a fungal infection with Quarn fibers spread completely throughout the host body like a secondary nerve network that eventually supplants the original human nerve network that in turn was completely disrupted during the parasitation process. This means there is no ‘cure’. All original memories are available to the Quarn parasite but its real life actually begins at parasitation. The ‘old’ memories can be likened to a file cabinet of data.
This means that we should consider all humans parasitized by the Quarn as terminal casualties instead of walking wounded that we might be able save. It’s just not going to happen. I’m sorry to have to report that piece of information.” She finished up sadly.
“Did you detect any Quarn Exudates with the attendees to the party?” Lt. Commander Fuller inquired.
“No we didn’t. I think that’s a big point in our favor right now. The Quarn invasion hasn’t progressed to far yet. We might be able to stop it before it does. Right?” Evana said hopefully.
“There’s no guarantee there Captain Thomas, but yes we will do our very best to stop this invasion.” Fleet Admiral Webster said with conviction. “Lt. Commander Johansson, you’re up.”
“Thank you Sir. All of our Oil and Garbage
recycling vessels are working at sixty to sixty-five percent capacity. The price of crude oil on the spot market has decreased from $153.45 per barrel down to $111.00 per barrel. This means less income obviously but in the grand scheme of the economy a cheaper energy supply means more jobs and prosperity in the long run.” Gunnar said with pride.
“Excellent news!” Fleet Admiral Webster said in approval.
“Next, I’m pleased to report that all of our current active TSN human complement has been taking Flight lessons and everyone has soloed at least once.
And along those lines I am very pleased to announce that I have taken on an apprentice. His name is Robert Allred, his father was my flight instructor at Pensacola. Bob was also one of the men who had a bomb capsule set implanted in him and was detected and isolated by the Epiphany.
I have had the chance to talk with him a number of times and was very impressed and once I found out who his father was I wanted to return the favor to Bob that his father did for me back in Flight school.”
“Do Lucky and Johnny Reb find him acceptable?” asked Ansel.
“Yes we do, Commander.” Johnny Reb answered for himself.
“Great! Let me know how your apprenticeship program works out, please.” Ansel told Gunnar.
“No Problem, Ansel. I think I’m going to be learning as much as he will be.
Now, on to some interesting stuff with Indonesia and the Quarn, I have been flying over most of the Islands and off-shore waters searching for the ‘Mother Quarn’, Shoshone has not experienced any blackouts like the Gho L’Gamesh did on its fly-by.
I’m taking that as a good sign. Yes, there are some Quarn Exudates in the atmosphere and waters but we are only seeing them in the parts per billion ranges right now. Taking the exudates produced by the Quarn subjects on the Louis Pasteur and extrapolating that back to what we found in Indonesia we think there may only be one hundred and fifty to three hundred and seventy-five humans that are parasitized and twenty-five to thirty-five sea mammals like Dolphin and Whales.”
“That few! That’s wonderful news. Are they concentrated in any particular area?” Seeker inquired.
“The Humans are all on the Main Island near the City of Jakarta and the town of Barat and Weh Island, the sea mammals are spread over a much wider area.” Gunnar told her.
“Do you have the ‘Mother’ pin-pointed yet?” asked Fleet Admiral Webster
“No , not yet, according to the President-for-life’s book he was at Medan which over a thousand miles away from Barat. So either the ‘Mother’ moved or he was lying again. He always did have an obsession for covering up his tracks if you remember. Hell!, you couldn’t even find a reference to a speech of his if it was over a couple of month’s old near the end.” Gunnar said with a grimace.
“Anything else, Lt. Commander?” Fleet Admiral Webster asked. Gunnar shook his head negatively. “Well then, this is a good place to announce this. Johnny Reb has requested that you be assigned permanently as his Captain, Lt. Commander. Are you up to it?” The Admiral asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Gunnar in turn produced a huge smile and replied. “Yes Sir I am!”
‘Very then Captain Johansson, after the staff meeting we will just have to have a New Command Ceremony and a bit of a celebration. Seeker and I are very happy for you and proud also. Congratulations on your new command.”
The rest of the staff both A.I. and Human also gave their congratulations and best wishes. Once that was done they settled down to get back to work.
“Commander Fuller, Anything of note this week?”
“Yes Sir there is. The Supreme council has directed that the Revolutionary Guards begin preparations for an overwhelming attack on the ‘Vessel of the Infidels who dare to hold the Iranian Unified Republic Hostage’. This appears to be the result of the Grand Imam himself directing the council to vote this way.
So far we have seen very quiet movements in dismantling of shore based Surface to Ship missiles. And the transport in our direction of those systems. The missile fields in the Iran and Pakistan Provinces have gone to alert several times this week in apparent practice drills.
Our analysis indicates that if they continue this slow redistribution of their heavy weapon assets it will probably be Late February before they are in a position to attack us in force. In the meantime we have cut back our flights over the IUR to one obvious one a week and we plan on setting up a rigorous schedule so that they gain confidence in their movement of forces being undetected by us.”
“Interesting…” The Admiral said musingly. Lt. Commander Fuller, do you have anything to add?”
“Yes Admiral, I do. First off the Ayatollah Al-Quds had his staff completely clean-out his office and replace all of his furniture. Our Communiqué was one of the items removed and placed into the archives. This means we have lost our ears there for the moment.
Henry our fabricator is designing and building a series of Audio and Video bugs that literally resemble common insects like flies. We should have both the Presidential Palace and the Supreme Council’s building completely infested by them in a few days.
We do have in addition several Satellite phone intercepts between the President-for-life and his followers. In particular one was from Secretary of Defense Anderson yesterday. He informed the ‘Great Leader’ that the TSN with cooperation from USAMRIID now had a one hundred percent method of killing the ‘Shaitan’s Breath’ Bio-weapon in its spore form.
As you can imagine the ‘Great Leader’ was not at all amused. He did ask the Secretary how many Q-MOTs were still available. The answer was two. The Secretary was directed to use them on the Captain and Executive Officer of the Epiphany. I have taken the action to notify Seeker and Jane the Command A.I. of the Epiphany about what was ordered. She said that protective measures would be put in place.” He paused for a moment.
“Seeker, what sort of protective measures is Jane contemplating?” Ansel Asked her.
“I believe that Jane has introduced Captain Keppler and Captain Harris to their Telefactors. I believe her directions to them were succinct and to the point. That they will be used whenever they are meeting with anyone who is not in the authorized crew of the Epiphany.
“Thank you for the information.” Ansel told her politely.
“Onward then, we are still plowing through the massive pile of data that Seeker brought with her from the Gho L’Gamesh. One of the things I find fascinating is that there has been next to no attempts to translate any of the languages of the humans on the dead Earth’s even when there were comprehensive libraries of written materials provided.
Just the technological devices were examined and put to use where applicable. In any case I can see many lifetimes of research for aspiring archaeologists and anthropologists in the future.
Also while going through the data we have identified one thousand one hundred and eight versions of Earth that were ‘eaten’ by the Quarn. They all were quite similar in their final stages so that made identification easier. The Quarn forms a world-wide creature similar to a Coral only it exists both in and out of the sea. It doesn’t like the cold either; any place that experiences more than eighty two days of below freezing temperatures on average was not colonized. We also have found that the Gho L’Gamesh has also had more than the two previously identified brushes with the Quarn. There is a message to the Gho L’Gamesh from one of the Quarn ‘Mothers’, we can’t read it and we have no idea at this time what the encryption scheme is. We can state that the Gho L’Gamesh never came any further in-system than Neptune orbit and left immediately after receiving the message.
So Seeker, do you remember any of that?” Asked Lt. Commander Fuller.
“No I don’t, if I was still inactivated I obviously wouldn’t have any of those memories in my personal files either. But I might have been activated, I usually was when we were doing our initial surveys. If I was activated I don’t remember this incident either. It does appear that I may have to take some time away from the TSN t
o examining my own memory files.” She said apologetically to her mind-mate Admiral Webster.
“Just do what you have to do dear, we will muddle along somehow.” He told her sympathetically, “How long do you think it might take?”
“It might take a couple of months or it could take a few years. Most of my memories are tightly compacted and I have never before had the need to examine them on an intense basis.” She told him.
There was a period of silence as everyone kept quiet and thought their own private thoughts. Eventually Fleet Admiral Webster asked, “Anything else to bring up Lt. Commander?”
“Yes there is. Commander Webster?” Lt. Commander Fuller said.
“Yes?” Ansel replied as he looked at the Former Admiral who was growing younger every week.
“I could really use some more people to assist me in the Intelligence shop. The AI’s are wonderful but this business also needs intuition and sometimes inspiration to accomplish the impossible.” He told Ansel drolly.
