Photo: Sunset Outerbanks, North Carolina, Guy Heidenreich, November 2013
(Chapter One: Rite of Passage: https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/home/science-fiction/ )
The undeniable appearance of alien technology on earth rocked the existential foundation of mankind 1497 years After the Darkening (A.D.) of its apocalyptic nuclear winter. The armored androids did not cause the earth to stand still in its rotation, but they might as well have. Some fifteen hundred years after mankind crawled out of the darkness of a nuclear winter, disciples of the Apocalypse fell into another ecstasy while the elation of conspiracy theorists took a quantum leap.
In the meantime, an impending war between Earth and its Martian colonies had to be put on hold, as each side feared the other had the androids as their allies. To more optimistic observers, it seemed like this might all be an intentional intervention by an alien race to prevent the war. The aliens behind the appearance of the androids apparently had no directive to not interfere with encountered civilizations’ affairs.
The androids assimilated the surviving languages and over a few decades recruited select humans to act as Emissaries for the aliens. These human Emissaries received training by the aliens who were never seen and were named “The Hidden” by humans. No one, other than the Emissaries, ever met the Hidden. The Emissaries became a secretive order shrouded in mystery.
It was only natural that many hated the Emissaries as traitors to humanity, doing the bidding of the Hidden. The technology available to the Emissaries was vastly superior to anything Earth or Mars had and this fact nurtured fear, despite the peace that this deterrence brought. Initially, war with the Emissaries was avoided. The observation of the Emissaries’ superior martial arts skills transformed into a belief they had supernatural powers. Earth and Mars no longer had the freedom to wage war. They felt subservient to a higher power.
Using the Hidden’s technology, the Emissaries built a ring twenty kilometers in diameter sixty thousand kilometers off Mars. This ring provided gateway ships instantaneous interstellar travel to a single star system the Emissaries named Girassia. The Hidden gifted humanity with travel to a pristine, earth-like exoplanet also named Girassia where they had built another portal. These were the only known portals. Located in the terminus of the Milky Way’s Orion Arm, mankind now had a paradise fifteen thousand light-years away, accessible instantly through the Mars Portal.
The Emissaries protected and operated the Mars Portal. They strictly controlled who and what went through the Portal to Girassia. Favoring Martian expeditions of exploration and colonization over the nations from the United League of Earth, Girassia developed solely into a Martian colony. Otherwise, commercial trade from all three planets flowed freely through the Mars Portal.
The Emissaries prohibited movement of weapons through the Portal, except for small starforce ships that served as escorts. Slowly, a nation modeled after the Martian Federation established itself, developing the resources of Girassia in cautious, measured steps. The Emissaries provided Girassia with starforce ships for their own defense. Because of the Emissaries’ protection, Girassia did not develop their own military-industrial complex. These ships were far superior than anything Earth or Mars had and this technology was not shared with Earth or Mars.
Most people doubted that any alien race would act altruistically in gifting mankind. The hatred of the Emissaries and the fear of the Hidden allowed some political parties to establish themselves, using this animus as the foundation for their party platforms.
An uneasy, resentful peace existed between the United League of Earth and the Emissaries until one of the nine nations of the League, the Confederation of Southern America (CSA), attacked the Emissaries at the Portal in 1607 A.D. The attack severely damaged the Portal and inflicted hundreds of casualties on the Emissaries. It also resulted in complete annihilation of the CSA’s ships. Fortunately for the United League of Earth, the Confederation had acted alone.
The CSA became the pariah to the Emissaries. After the Emissaries repared the Portal, they prohibited all trade between the CSA and Girassia while they allowed trade from the other nations of the United League of Earth. In the hundred years since the attack on the Emissaries, the CSA had become the most influential nation within the United League of Earth’s Star Force. While it could not trade through the Portal, the CSA still sent some of their small starships in the League’s Star Force through the Portal as escorts of Earth commerce. No one missed the irony of prohibiting commericial trade from the CSA while allowing some CSA military ships passage through the Portal.
More than a century after the CSA’s attack on the Portal, in 1713 A.D., the Emissaries completely confused everyone by announcing that it would allow military task forces from both the United League of Earth and the Federation of Mars to move through the Portal and conduct joint exercises with a Girassian Task Force. No one could understand this announcement which seemed so contrary to the demilitarization of Girassian Space. The Emissaries said it would be ideal if humanity’s planets could cooperate with one another in defensive maneuvers. Emissary ships would simulate an attack on Girassia while humanity’s starforce ships were to respond.
Six of the League’s nine Task Force ships were from the Confederation of Southern America, including the Poseidon. The dominance of the CSA in the Task Force generated great pride within the Confederation and the task force was named Renewal. A wave of patriotism gripped the Confederation of Southern America. It exalted in being back.
__________
Lieutenant Commander Song stood at the bridge’s portal looking up at the ULE Poseidon which had just been secured in its bay. The London had already been in port for three and a half hours. The Poseidon dwarfed the London, like a large great white shark with a dangling remora on its side. Six tugs, two more than the usual four for a carrier, took three hours to get the Poseidon secured by the twelve gantries of its bay. The London came in on its own power, without need for an attached tug to guide it, taking twenty minutes to move from the tug rendezvous point to its docking bay. It was secured by a single gantry for movement of all its supplies and personnel.
Song went to her command station behind the captain’s chair. It was time to start the check-out of the status of the ship’s systems. If they were fortunate, it would take less than six hours to run through everything. She was counting on there being few problems that would need further interrogation. The sooner they finished, the sooner leave could start for some of the crew.
She did not want to forget something important to herself. She called up Lieutenant Wu, officer for Logistics.
“I know you’re just starting check-out, but I have a special request to make. We should be getting priority status for provisioning. Can you leverage that for an extra allotment of that premium tea we had on our last run?”
“Commander. Consider it done,” Wu said.
“We ran out of it about halfway through the voyage,” Song said.
“I should be able to do this. I can put aside some for the officers.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Hopefully I will not need to come back to you for more important requests like this one.”
Wu laughed. “Yes, sir.”
Maureau stepped onto the bridge from the Ready Room and started for the captain’s chair.
As he passed Song, she said “Godspeed,” and gave him a thumbs up.
He nodded. “Thanks. I could use a little help,” he said.
__________
Maureau set the captain’s monitor to restricted viewing. Only a narrow field of vision would see the Admiral. The XO’s station was included in the field of vision. This was to be a secure communication for only the Captain and only he would hear Admiral Rankin over his headset. He had chosen to take his call with the Admiral on the bridge to have the consolation of his surrounding crew and be reminded of why he had pulled the maneuvers he was now going to answer for.
When he came on view, Supreme Fleet Admiral Ed Rankin, “the Lion,” surprised Maureau, looking too calm over the monitor. He looked younger than his age of fifty-one years, thirty-three of which were in service of the Star Force. His fierce dedication drove him to the highest rank in Star Force. Rankin’s head looked too big for his wiry body. The Admiral indulged himself by allowing his hair to grow long and maintaining a bushy beard, both of which were well outside of Star Force regulation. They produced the illusion that his head was an elongate balloon fringed with a halo of brushed back hair and a golden blond beard. A broad nose dominated his tan face.
Maureau thought he looked more like a potato-head than a lion. Where’s the fierceness I keep hearing about? he thought. He fought back a smile that would have come out as a smirk.
“Commander Maureau. You did not make any friends today.” Rankin’s voice was surprisingly high-pitched. His gaze looked past Maureau who glanced behind him and realized Rankin was focused on Song working on the check-out. She did not look up from her work.
“My orders called for the effort, Sir.” Maureau spoke with upbeat certainty. “We needed to gain as much time as possible to prepare for the mission we have been assigned to. It is leaving in four earth cycles.”
“All of my Task Force has needs, Commander.”
“Sir, the ships that make up Task Force Renewal all have been in port for at least seven cycles. They have even had the opportunity for joint training runs. London remained in queue until we received the urgent order. I responded promptly and flew within regulation.”
Rankin scowled. Here it comes.
“You presume your needs are greater than the other ships of Star Force?” His voice dropped an octave while increasing in volume.
“I made a decision that the London’s immediate needs for provisioning, check-out, and hopefully, some training, were greater than the other ships in line.”
“You spend time studying the Operations Center logs of companion ships?” Inexplicably, he sounded calm again.
Careful, Anthony. How far do I push it? He is hard to gauge.
“I did, Sir. I wanted to know as much as possible about my companions in the mission.”
“You not only act impulsively, but you are brazenly presumptive, Maureau. You think you are part of Task Force Renewal?”
“I do not presume that, sir. I reviewed the activity of all the ships ahead of us, not just the those in the Task Force. Excepting your Poseidon, of course.”
“You studied the ships after the fact. You skipped line, immediately upon receiving your orders.” Rankin spoke quietly.
“Yes, sir. That’s accurate. I did look into the ships we passed after the fact. My review confirmed my assumption that all these ships were in routine actions, the Task Force ships being here at Alpha One for cycles.”
Rankin bit his lip. Was that a smile trying to escape? Or a grimace?
“Being right does not excuse being rash and presumptuous. You are correct in your presumption that you have been assigned to the Renewal Task Force. You will receive further orders momentarily.”
Rankin paused to let Maureau await further instruction. “You are joining the best ships of Earth. We are to join a Task Force from Mars and go through the Portal into Girassian space where we will join a Girassian Task Force under Emissary supervision and conduct some joint exercises. This is a first. It’s been over a hundred years since CSA has sent anything larger than an escort through the Portal. ”
“Thank you, Sir. This honor will help make our short twenty-four hour shore leave more acceptable to my crew.”
Rankin’s voice dropped into a throaty growl, his face flushed, and he ran a hand through his hair which had the effect of fluffing it up. “You pass eight ships, including my Poseidon, and go into a late retro-burn. All to gain a few hours for shore leave?”
Rankin’s hair radiated out like the mane of a lion. For an instant, he looked like one about to pounce as he rocked forward, leaning towards his camera.
Does he know he does that with his hair? Has anyone told him? Pretty dramatic gesture! Ah, here’s the Lion!
“We have not been given the requisite time to prepare for redeployment,” Maureau said. “Not even close. So, the mental health, and morale of my crew, is all the more critical to meet our obligations. I anticipate that a lot will be expected of us.”
Keep turning this request back on him, while pledging dedication to the mission.
“As will all in my command. God damn it!” Rankin punctuated his expletive with a subtle fist pump. “This is a damn surprise for me too. I did not seek out your command for Renewal. And we cannot reschedule our departure for Mars to accomodate your late addition.
“Apparently some in Central Command are impressed with your actions against pirates. I won’t bring your father into this, but maybe this is all political? You think?”
Rankin pointed at Maureau. “I don’t need to deal with shit like this. A few in my command are upset with your maneuvers, including docking without a tug. That’s just showing off, even if the Operations Center know you and approves it.”
A few in your command? But what do you think of our flying?
Rankin continued his rant. “I hope your officers are in a good place. They won’t be getting your twenty-four hour leave, because they will need to integrate one of the new biodroids into your systems. We need your system compliant with the rest of the Task Force.”
“That takes cycles to do!” Maureau said. “Sometimes more. And a lot of time out of port!” He had never been in a position where he had to suppress rage before a commanding officer. He knew his jaw was clenched and his face flushed as he struggled to stay on an even keel.
Rankin’s eyes narrowed. He looked like he was squinting. “This droid is the newest model. It’s extremely advanced and will take a fraction of the time to integrate into your systems.” He laughed. “Your officers will be fascinated to work with it. You will even have time to take a test run before we leave. That is, if your crew is not too hung over after their leave.”
Maureau had heard very little about the new model of biodroid. Its substrate was cloned from human neuro tissue with sensational DNA-computing power. But he had doubts that it could integrate with his systems and his officers during one short training run. Integration with a biodroid took experience in many random, live situations, not just scripted simulations.
He knew he was going to need his XO to get everything done. Her special skill in motivating people was going to be necessary to placate the officers who would not be able to get off the ship due to the integration. He turned around to see Kristina returning the stare of Admiral Rankin. Rankin looked away from her, back to Maureau. Yes, it will be stressful for all of us.
“I request we have full priority on all requisitions and provisioning, Sir” Maureau said.
“Of course you have that. I need you to be battle ready,” Rankin said.
“The London is always battle ready,” Maureau said, immediately regretting it. Rankin said nothing but fixed his stare on him. He looked like a parent appraising a petulant child who was not going to get their way.
After an uncomfortable pause, Rankin said, “We are counting on that. Given all this turmoil, I’ll take note of your check-out. You have been given quite a challenge to meet.”
Wonder why an Admiral of a Task Force would concern himself with the specs of a corvette’s check-out. Don’t challenge him. I’ve already convinced him I’m a rogue. Just fall in line.
“Thank you, Sir. We will be ready.”
“That’s all. Take up any questions you have with my Staff Operations and Logistics officers.” The Admiral nodded a dismissal and his image blinked off.
Maureau turned around to see Lieutenant Commander Song looking at him with a bemused smile. “You survived, Captain. Congratulations for taking on the Lion.”
“Yeah, I guess. As I expected, we have been a late addition to Task Force Renewal. And we have to integrate a new biodroid!”
“What the hell! That’s unbelievable. It’s like someone wants us to fail,” she said.
“Maybe. Rankin definitely is not happy about the London being added to his Task Force. Despite our challenges, we will get special scrutiny.”
“He already has given special scrutiny to us,” Song said.
“What do you mean?” he said.
“He has a reputation, but never mind. Let’s get going. I prepared some notes I’ll send to you. Anticipated our assignment to Renewal and included ideas for how to address the crew.”
“Excellent. First, let’s review these new orders that have come in while we were speaking,” Maureau said. “I think there are surprises. Rankin made the point we are to be battle ready. This mission is more than just a diplomatic gesture.”
( On to Chapter 3 “And So It Is”: https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2022/08/26/fiction-the-girassian-debacle/ )
On the Beach At Night Alone 