Sheppard's Quest

by Gary Caplan

  Crenwir said, “We sometimes acquired useful specimens of our own during the early part of our travel. These insects, as you call them, are helpful in topsoil mixing for some of our food sources.” They were then taken to a partially aquatic habitat where they gathered from the display terminal that several members of some kind of animal similar to a seal was removed this sheltered area. “This is a more pungent area” said Sharon as she entered the waterier zone.

  “I agree it has a unique smell,” said Sheppard. The corner of his mouth had a smile, but he was holding his sleeve over his nose for a few moments.

  They all spent several hours visiting the locations of missing animals and collecting information and scanning areas and getting particle displacement scans and tachyon scans. As they continued to work, Crenwir brought a portable data crystal prepared with visual records of some local scanners that had recorded some data at the time the animals went missing.

  Crenwir said, “I compiled this from our systems. Since you do not have access to them, I made a collected account to provide to you what information we had.”

  Sheppard said, “Thank you, Director Crenwir; we will examine the information in the data crystal.” He gave the data crystal to Ares.

  A few moments later, Ares and Taylor looked over the information using an interface device, dividing some of the information up for each to peruse, including Dr. Grey. Sharon noticed that some information from the data crystal on missing plants were provided as several habitat plants were also missing. These had a lesser priority than Prince Kyr’s missing animals. Ares and Taylor and O’Brien’s team kept gathering information on the missing animals and plants and consulting with each other or Dr. Grey.

  By the end of the data acquisition, Commander Taylor made an information breakthrough. As she was talking with Dr. Grey, she said, “It seems that there was some planning or information gathering from whoever or whatever removed the specimens so that the creatures would have a sustenance supply wherever they ended up.” She showed him the information connections on her tablet.

  “I agree, Sharon,” said Dr. Grey. “There seems to be some organized purpose to this. Good job figuring out that many of the missing plants were actually food sources for the missing animals.”

  Commander O’Brien had finished arranging several pieces of equipment and looked pleased as he began releasing some probes. “Well, just a few floating probes to go where I can’t reach, and we’ll have a good grid analysis.”

  “We still have to completely analyze more of the data,” said Taylor. “I think I can get Andor to help look over the bulk sensor data; he’s detail oriented and never gets bored—at least I don’t think he does—and this will be both difficult and time consuming.”

  “I have hope for these particular metaparticle and tachyon scanners. They were both retrodeveloped by BradCorp from Hegemony technology,” said O’Brien. “If there was a measurable amount of energy displacement or distortion in the nearby objects, hopefully the scanners were able to detect it.”

  O’Brien also used some small hovering drones that could go to scan sections locally and search a grid around the last known positions of selected animals and a few other specimens. The areas were probed in three vectors in order to make a more complete sensor scan of the potential small energy fluctuation readings that might occur if an alien probe used some form of cloaking device or a time-sequenced distortion like that produced by modulation or blending and sensor reconfiguration effects more like the Varlon’s chameleon field.

  After the data collection and after the others had left with the equipment, Sheppard and Taylor walked hand in hand, looking at a few of the avian species in the zoo. Along the way Sharon contacted Commander Andor to enlist his eventual help with the data analysis. She told Sheppard he agreed to start once Ares brought back the collected data. Then they headed back on a different tram than the rest of the team, one that took a more scenic route. It had been placed into service more recently for the Talcon to enjoy the sections of their immense habitats as the train, as Sheppard called it, moved through several habitat sections the size of large cites. This tram had several stops and even had a restaurant with observation windows where Robert and Sharon shared an evening meal.

  Sharon smiled and said, “Maybe we should take little trips like this more often.”

  Sheppard nodded as he looked out the window and was thankful the Talcon allowed them this shore leave. He finished a bit of the fish he had ordered, then reached over and held her hand and said, “Sharon, you are right; we should. I think this little excursion was relaxing in a way. With all the meeting and tactical planning sessions, I was feeling, well, cooped up.”

  Sharon smiled and tightened her grasp on his hand. “Well, we only have a short time before our duties recall us, so let’s make the most of it. There are other crew members still on leave, and the next stop has one of those leisure centers in habitat.”

  Sheppard replied, “So we can visit and relax some together. I think we can make a little time before getting back.” The both smiled again as the tram slowed.

  Chapter 5

  Enemies

  The Talcon had been working with the Alliance of Worlds, for the most part, but they had now sent out a large fleet of their own starships, even larger than the ships the Alliance of Worlds had in this region. They had begun to engage and hold off and even defeat the starships of the Varlon and the Accads farther away from the Starcity. The positive effect to the Alliance of Worlds was that now, fewer Alliance systems in the neighboring sectors were presently endangered, allowing the Alliance forces to start to recuperate from the recent defeats due to the Varlon expansion and the relatively recent arrival of the Accads into this conflict. Recently, however, in their own efforts to expand into more suitable colonies, the Talcon crossed another one of the elder spacefaring races here in the Milky Way. They were not allied to the Accad, but the Ceyloom did have a trading and nonaggression arrangement with the Varlon.

  Recently the Talcon angered the Ceyloom by moving scouts and other starships across a section of their scattered territories. The Alliance of Worlds was given the locations of the Ceyloom territories they were aware of by the Hegemony. So the Alliance of Worlds did not get into trouble with them. The Talcon, however, had taken some short cuts across some Ceyloom-claimed systems. The result was a skirmish of starships.

  Sheppard sighed as he read the reports. He worried that the Talcon, though very powerful, were taking on a lot of potential enemies. Sheppard knew, having encountered a Ceyloom cruiser, that they were every bit as dangerous as a Varlon or one of the Hegemony’s cruisers. It usually took three Alliance starships of cruiser class to challenge a single Varlon ship, and it was similar with the Ceyloom.

  Sheppard continued to view the reports displayed on his personal workstation terminal. The briefing for the results of the scans and sensor probes was going to be presented by the crew later in the day. Sheppard had invited Fleet Captain Natarris to the briefing.

  Sheppard wasn’t responsible for fleet operations this month. The Sixth, which had become one of the most differentiated fleets in terms of crews, was alternating senior commanders with the several non-Alliance members who provided ships. Fleet Admiral Peregrine and Fleet Admiral Braddock were among the few Alliance of Worlds fleet officers involved with this new structure.

  Sheppard accessed his console and pulled up the command alternation schedule and saw that Vice Admiral Wiesse was the present commanding officer of the Sixth Fleet. He would be working with Fleet Admiral Peregrine. Peregrine would work with Wiesse for a period of time to coordinate starship actions, and right now Sheppard would be in a supportive role to both officers. Back when he was a squadron starfighter wing commander, Sheppard had enjoyed serving under Peregrine on the Constellation-class battlecarrier H’jum’pta and was already familiar with his command style.

  Sheppard’s duties had changed since he had to take command of the Sixth due to the assassination of the admirals a
nd other senior officers at Star One, some who had yet to be replaced. Sheppard’s rank was brevetted upward, but as the Alliance consolidated more fleets because of starship attrition, he knew there would come a time when he would be back to his usual commodore-rank duties—at least until he was actually officially promoted to vice admiral. For now he would serve as needed, but Sheppard felt that he would prefer a commodore’s task force command over an admiral’s entire fleet command. Sheppard preferred to be near the battle line to try to make a difference as opposed to planning moves ahead in hopes that the enemy will fall for a strategy that may or may not work.

  A notification beacon chimed, and a message was sent to Sheppard’s station. Before he could read the message, Commodore Sherman entered, saying, “Sir, the Talcon are requesting our aid. Evidently they have met resistance on a new front against the Varlon.”

  “I was just starting to read that message.”

  “I thought you might take a little longer. Commander Morell’s implant gave him a somewhat earlier update, and he summarized the problem for me. To complicate matters it also seems the Talcon decided to send some forces across Ceyloom space, and the Ceyloom decided to intercept them.”

  “They are our allies, so it’s time to leave dock. Notify the rest of our section of the Sixth to be ready. I’m sure we’ll get some instructions soon from Fleet Admiral Peregrine or from the Betellian Admiral Wiesse, who is on command rotation now.”

  The office doors whooshed open, and Captain Wilder walked in and said, “I heard, sir.”

  Sherman said, “From the coordinates they initially sent, even though Phoenix, with the upgrade, can cross a hundred thousand light years in six months, it’s over a thousand light years. So after we exit the stardock, it’ll be about eleven days before we get there at emergency speed. But more than half of our starships will take twice that long to get there.

  “The Talcon and the Hegemony can move over ten times our effective jump velocity,” Sheppard continued, “so it’s probably around one day for them to arrive.”

  “And the Betellians can get there even faster,” Wilder added, “probably in a few hours or less. We’ve never seen them travel to their full ability.”

  Sheppard said, “In any case I want to get the analysis briefing of the missing specimens started while we wait for our official orders.”

  Over time Commodore Sheppard was able to work with alternating groups and eventually got to know all the bridge operations crew as even he took a rare occasional turn at the conn. Even though he didn’t have to take a bridge duty shift on the Phoenix’s, as the acting admiral he enjoyed the singular command nonetheless. Wilder also worked more often than not, as his task force operations duty occasionally had him working remotely with a few other less senior captains in his task group. Technically he was the fleet captain for Task Force One and had oversight for eleven other ships besides the Phoenix. Wilder too still enjoyed the duties of an active singular ship command.

  Commanders Andor, Taylor, and O’Brien, along with Dr. Grey and Lieutenant Commander Ares, were readying to present their findings and analysis of the search to acting Admiral Sheppard. Also in attendance were Admiral Garfield and Fleet Captain Torlin Natarris. Natarris had just arrived, as he was delayed due to all the starcraft traffic moving around in preparation for several ships leaving the Starcity’s various starship docks.

  Natarris had been working late, and his blue-tinted skin was a bit paler today, giving his vaguely birdlike visage a slightly more reptilian appearance. Sheppard recognized this appearance, as when he had worked on improving his Star Knight skills he also had a paler, more tired visage. Sheppard knew Natarris had focused on developing his Star Knight skills, enhancing his psi ranking, and had progressed to master level—surely a skill level he was proud to have attained.

  Once everyone was seated, O’Brien began his report. “Let me start by saying that this was challenging from an engineering standpoint. I worked with our investigation team, and I consulted some people, including Nooril, chief engineer from the Betellian cruiser Yalmot, whom I worked with on occasion. Well…more under these past several months.” O’Brien looked over at Garfield and continued, “I also consulted Admiral Garfield, who once taught me a few engineering skills back during my academy days.” O’Brien displayed some information on the central briefing display unit’s data imager. “From what I can determine, the animals and other samples were converted to energy and transmitted to some likely pattern storage device for later reconstitution. The scans were able to pick up traces of the conversion. I will let Commander Andor continue.”

  Andor rose from his seat and moved to the display terminal. “Because of the very short time for this project, I was asked by Commander Taylor to help her and the others to review the entire data series from the probes independently,” said Andor. “After reviewing particle data, interference patterns, actual before-and-after images, and cell samples of similar objects, I was able to determine that this occurred during a specific time interval, and that we in the Alliance of Worlds presently don’t have a technology that would be capable of effecting such results.”

  Sheppard nodded and asked, “How did they get in past the Talcon sensors?”

  Ares said, “Sir, they had an advanced cloaking system far more advanced and adaptive than our stealth system, and they probably had the necessary passive sensors sensitive enough to see the Talcon scans directed near them. During the early phase, I think the Talcon sensors detected something, and some Talcon went to investigate. The security reports showed that sensor glitches in recently activated surveillance areas were the reason for the problems. They even reported some sensor malfunctions and took an array offline to do a diagnostic. It’s likely then that these cloaked probes took advantage and moved into the areas to take samples.”

  Andor added, “Upon detailed review of the released Talcon sensor data from the data crystal they provided, I noticed a few areas that could be considered to begin an investigation. And that might be what initiated the Talcon to move a sensor system offline while it was being repaired or upgraded. Such weakened status would allow cloaked devices or mobile probes time to gather samples. There also seems to be remnants of what I might consider tampering of the sensor data similar to what the Varlon’s nanoprobes from their specialized torpedoes do. This does not seem to be extensive or pervasive like a Varlon nanoprobe’s effects. After review of that information with Lieutenant Commander Ares, we found only three probable instances where such interference is likely to have occurred and altered the sensor data.”

  Ares said, “And those areas of interference coincided closely with likely entry times, the Talcon security investigation, and lastly the cloaked probes’ likely exit time frames.”

  Sheppard said, “Good work. That at least ties some evidence to this occurrence. We were shown that several different samples were taken. Is there any information on why?”

  Taylor and Grey moved to the data display unit to access their report. Taylor looked over at Sheppard as Grey took a drink of some tea.

  “With some help from Dr. Grey, I prepared a life science report on the various specimens taken,” she said. She showed several images of the types of specimens that had been removed. The images and names that flashed along with the images showed various animals, plants, and some mineral types.

  “The plants and soil samples we believe were taken as support organisms in some cases for the animals as examples of food. There were only a few that had no clear connection we can determine.” She continued to show a few more images. From the scans and analysis, we could determine that there were more animals taken than mineral and soil samples.”

  Dr. Grey said, “They may have taken some of the creatures to partially obtain some animals and plants from representative class, order, and genus of specimens that were associated with Talcons, for all we really know.”

  Natarris made a sound of clearing his throat and then said, “Sir, that is not far off. If I may, I recen
tly have received additional information from my order of Star Knights, and it appears that in some cases conclusions like you have made here were drawn, in that samples were taken to represent a particular world biosphere.

  Dr. Grey replied, “That makes sense in a way to me, but where were they taken to?”

  Sheppard said, “That would be one of my next questions.”

  Taylor said, “I wasn’t specifically asked, but Andor and I briefly looked at stellar news network and other news feeds we can get out here. It seems that there is information from some other star systems that have had mysterious disappearances of animals over the past several months.”

  Natarris said, “Yes, that is correct, Commander Taylor. I previously mentioned that to acting Vice Admiral Sheppard. I want to affirm that the Talcon have not been the only people to have experienced animal and plant disappearances.”

  Taylor said, “Sir, the samples removed from the Talcon here are part of more than one biosystem, since the Talcon collected them from more worlds than their recent home world.”

  Natarris nodded in the affirmative.

  Garfield said, “Robert, as you asked me earlier, I inquired if there was anyone from the Lyramenian, Karratin, Estrian, and Quarran ships that had knowledge of this specimen loss from the Starcity, and none of our Hegemony captains knew. I even inquired of my associate Ambassador Kalst of the Cynz Confederation, who later informed me after checking that the Cynz ships aiding the Sixth Fleet were not involved. I even inquired of Admiral Wiesse, who indicated the he had not given any sample acquisition orders while here, and he also inquired of his science directorate and found out that no Talcon specimens had been officially requested or removed by the Betellians.”

  Sheppard thought for a few moments, thinking back to when he first met Kalst, a crystalline silicon-based life form, in an unofficial meeting arranged by Garfield after the Cynz Confederation had also been attacked by the Accads. Now there was a contingent of Cynz starships working with the Sixth Fleet and the First and Second Fleets. Sheppard said, “So no official requests, but any hint of unofficial ones? I was informed by Admiral Wiesse in the past that the Betellians have collected some specimens for their preserves on the Dyson sphere they finished constructing.”