their immense colony ships that has been designated a Star City has probably crossed over the edge of our galaxy, heading to some point within. The Talcon that the Alliance explorer Commodore St. John encountered in the nearby Magellanic galaxy are also colonists from the Talcon home galaxy. The Talcon emissaries that came in two ships with St. John evidently left their home region long before this recent group. The Talcon we have talked with called the ships that are coming here Star Cites.” Sheppard paused and looked around. “I have looked at the information, and they are similar to ‘world ships.’ They are even larger than the Varlon’s space installations but much smaller than the Betellian’s multiworld or ‘Dyson spheres.’
“Headquarters believes the Accad and the Varlon will mobilize to strike the Talcon Star City as it comes out of hyperspace, before their shields and defense fields fully activate and they are most vulnerable. We will be rendezvousing with Commodore St. John onboard the Indefatigable in a few days. One of the Talcon who returned with St. John’s mission to the Magellanic Cloud galaxy will be coming onboard the Phoenix to join us as an officer and a legate or ambassador for his people.” Sheppard paused and looked around the bridge.
“Sir, we will make whoever that officer is feel welcome aboard the Phoenix,” Wilder said.
“Sir, I verified that we have staff working on the hyperspace to coordinate the information that the Star One astrogation section collected,” Sherman added.
“Good, I will be happier once we have a better idea of where to set an intercept course,” Sheppard said. “Oh, later today, establish communication with the Indefatigable to verify the rendezvous time and their translight progress,” Sheppard continued, looking at Wilder.
“Aye, Sir,” Wilder responded, as Sheppard nodded and left the bridge to head back to his fleet-planning duties. Sheppard sighed as he moved into the fleet operations area and toward the task force locator display; he still liked to give orders on the bridge.
Chapter 3
The Crew and the Aftermath of What Happened at Quellus
The Phoenix was about to leave hyperspace near the spatial coordinates for the rendezvous for the transfer of the Talcon representative. Fleet Captain Grey and Commander Zachary were about to leave the bridge their duty shifts completed. Grey occasionally did a command shift to maintain bridge skills, and Zachary, as senior helmsman, would occasionally work as first officer. Zachary was originally from Earth’s Centauri colony. He had blue-green eyes and dark brown hair peppered with some white. Commodore Sheppard had arrived before the end of the duty shift change and was still talking quietly with his friend Doctor Grey, who was finishing his officer log. Grey was a few years older than Sheppard and had silvering dark brown hair. Captain Wilder arrived just after Commander York; the first officer had already taken the Conn from Grey. The Conn was a space navy term referring to the starflight controller’s station.
There were two twelve-hour duty or work shifts and three eight-hour shifts staggered so that the different shifts overlapped. This allowed different crews to overlap and become more familiar working with each other. It was Sheppard’s policy to allow some overlap to allow crew sections to become familiar with one another’s abilities and strengths. Commodore Sheppard tended to work with alternating groups and eventually got to know all of the bridge crew, since even he took a rare occasional turn at the Conn—even though he did not have to do so as the acting admiral. Wilder also worked more often than not in the Captain’s office, since his 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 oversaw eleven ships in addition to the Phoenix.
The chief engineer of the Phoenix, Commander O’Brien, would occasionally come up on the bridge; however, he spent most of his time in the engineering control section. O’Brien was a brawny fellow of Irish descent, with fiery red hair and a moustache. He was an old friend of Sheppard’s and one of the people who originally helped him with his flagship selection tour on Star One. Now Commander O’Brien was finishing a final report on the analysis of the systems upgrade that occurred throughout the ships in the expanded task force that was sent to QB7. He was also on the bridge to check up on his staff members, who were finishing a device link interface evaluation. Since he had an embedded interlink unit in his head, as did many others, O’Brien experienced an augmented reality of what he actually saw in the physical world and the interfaced icons of the virtual one broadcast through his embedded interlink.
The computer device link, or CDL, was used as a primary interface device to view the relevant icons to interface with the ship’s computer or to communicate with another interlink device. CDLs were sometimes used as backup for those with embedded interlinks or were employed during systems diagnostics or security upgrades as direct system access units. O’Brien was temporarily using a CDL unit, which was attached to his head and partly covered his eyes like a visor, to check the completed work before the system was fully reactivated through the interlink. All key command stations had access to CDL units. O’Brien, like many people, normally used one of the other interlink systems interface devices. He used an interlink device embedded under the skin and partly in the bone behind his ear, and the more retro-fashioned used, a commlink hand unit.
Looking at Commodore Sheppard, he said, “Sir, the findings agree with the original evaluation that both the engineering and the science division completed earlier under Mr. Andor. Virtually all systems tested and examined over the past few weeks onboard the Phoenix have been improved or augmented. As far as we can tell, the reports coming over from the other ships involved at that time in QB7 were ‘restored,’ and all indicated similar improvement in starship systems.”
Sheppard nodded. “Seems we really did benefit from the encounter; link the final analysis to Fleet Captain Sherman. That means that not only defensive and maintenance systems but even the weapons have undergone augmentation and improvement.”
“That’s right; my estimate is that the weapons are 50 percent more efficient,” replied O’Brien as Commander Andor moved over to join the conversation. He had exceptional hearing, and as a Class 3000-series android, Andor had an actual personality, although only a modicum of emotion, and a calm nature to encourage rapport with other crew members.
“Sir, if I may add…” Andor said. Sheppard nodded. “It is as if the ship’s systems were optimized, and the only limitation is that of the ship’s original design and materials.”
“Aye, that’s right,” O’Brien said. “The final tests and analysis all indicate improvement in all of the ships in the task group orbiting near QB7 after the planet was… shattered and then restored. He looked around at the others, still not quite believing it himself. “They have definitely been optimized or improved. Why, even some reports from Quellus planeside indicate similar optimization.”
“Sir, due to the optimization, our long-range sensors, and an improved COMNET interface, there will be heightened ability to detect space dust and thus avoid hull damage,” Andor said. “Moreover, during this wartime, we may have a new way to locate Varlon passage, since the improved, enhanced sensors will now be able to detect a wake of sorts in the dust particles.”
“Then, hopefully, we should be able to better detect a Varlon ship’s location, even with its chameleon cloaking fields active,” Wilder added, now moving to the sensor station.
“I like that, too,” Sheppard added. “What about our nova cannon? I read an earlier report that it was also altered.”
“It’s definitely optimized, too,” O’Brien said. “The tests show that, instead of about a minute for the nova Cannon to regenerate and re-fire, it will now be no more than thirty seconds, and power output is also increased to an energy release of about
