Sheppard's Quest
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After a few minutes, they were presented to Prince Kyr, who looked at each of the three officers in turn. Kyr said, “I want to thank you for finding and arranging to have some of my more favorite pets returned.”
Prince Kyr presented all those in the crew who worked on the endeavor with an award for their excellent work. To Sheppard, Natarris, Ares, and Garfield, he gave the equivalent of a meritorious-service medal.
Sheppard said, “Thank you, Prince Kyr,” and looked around for Sharon after he got his award.
Natarris replied with, “Thank you. The Star Knights protect civilization, and we were doing our part.”
Garfield said as Kyr gave him his award, “It was an honor to be involved with the process, your highness.”
After getting back to the Phoenix, Sheppard looked out his office’s virtual portal into space and wondered what journey he would have next. He listened to Beethoven’s 7th for several moments and recollected the beautiful symmetry of the Keeper’s facility.
Then he went out to the bridge and glanced at the view screen for a few moments, watching the crew going about their duties. He looked at Sharon Taylor’s station. Andor was working there now. It was about dinner time, and he looked forward to an evening meal with her.
Glossary of Terms
Alliance of Worlds Naval Officer Ranks (highest to lowest): Grand admiral, fleet admiral, vice admiral, commodore, fleet captain, captain, commander (if an active pilot in starfighter squadron, then wing commander), lieutenant commander, first lieutenant (if active pilot, then wing or squadron lieutenant), lieutenant junior grade (if in squadron, then wing second lieutenant or squadron lieutenant), ensign.
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 Alpha 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. Used also in range determination for beam-type weapons, which are reported in light seconds distance.
Classes of Starships in the Alliance of Worlds: Waterway-class light cruiser, Heroic-class heavy cruiser, Legendary-class battle cruiser, Constellation-class carrier, Galaxy-class dreadnaught. Subclasses of the Legendary-type design include Pegasus and Oceanic classes. The Phoenix is a Pegasus-class design.
Commlink: This is a generic term for a portable 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). They effectively transmit in hyperspace.
Conn: Abbreviation for starship flight controller.
Delta Quadrant: Includes a few of the more advanced spacefaring 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.
Hegemony: The name for the alliance of the four elder, very advanced spacefaring civilizations. The members of the Hegemony include the Estrians, Karratins, Lyramenians, and the Quarran.
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 Earth calendar years).
Light year: Unit of distance equal to the distance light travels in one Earth 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, but the COMNET can be utilized to interlink over vast distances.
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.
Quadrants: The Milky Way galaxy is divided into four quadrants: the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta Quadrants.
Sector: Defined here as an area of space measuring one thousand light years each across x and y directions. Sectors are variable in the z direction from fifty to five hundred light years, depending on how coreward the sector lies. The coreward sector, being near to the center of the galaxy, is larger in the z direction. A typical sector in 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 (e.g., Quellus sector, Rhendal sector, Mercan sector, Omega sector). Subsectors are one hundred 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 Alliance of Worlds space. Several trade routes come through this area. It is also the sector wherein lies the Star One base and the headquarters of the Alliance of Worlds.
Selkecks: Accadian term of distance equivalent to approximately one and a half kilometers.
Sheppard’s Fleet Postings: Robert Sheppard’s first posting as ensign and part of his second lieutenant time was aboard the Waterway-class cruiser Eteran. His remaining second lieutenant time was as wing lieutenant through first lieutenant aboard the Constellation-class dreadnaught Orion. While a lieutenant commander and later starfighter wing commander, Sheppard 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 its Magellanic Cloud journey. When St. John’s science mission left on the long exploratory science mission, Sheppard decided to continue his time as a squadron wing commander and became first officer on the Legendary-class battle cruiser Valiant, which 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 aboard the Endeavor. After his promotion to commodore and upon gaining another star cluster, he chose the Pegasus-class battle cruiser Phoenix as his flagship.
Star Flight Control Area: This is the bridge control section that houses both helm and navigation control stations.
Star Flight Control Officer: 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.
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 component and starship construction facilities. It is located in Alpha sector, approximately three hundred light years from Earth.
Tzura: Accadian term of time equivalent to slightly over one Earth week.
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