The Phoenix Rising Read online

  The Phoenix Rising

  By Gary Caplan

  iUniverse, Inc.

  New York Bloomington

  Copyright © 2009 by Gary Caplan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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  ISBN: 978-0-595-49972-4 (sc) ISBN: 978-0-595-49585-6 (dj) ISBN: 978-0-595-61324-3 (ebook)

  Printed in the United States of America iUniverse rev. date: 06/02/2009

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: A Viridian Incursion ...............................................................1

  Chapter 2: The Accadian Advance ..........................................................11

  Chapter 3: An Unusual Call ...................................................................18

  Chapter 4: An Old Ally’s Arrival ............................................................21

  Chapter 5: The Source of the Problem ...................................................24

  Chapter 6: The Admirals Board ..............................................................28

  Chapter 7: Logistics and Security Division

  Central Security Command Star One ..............................................48

  Chapter 8: Starship Selection .................................................................53

  Chapter 9: At Qualen’s Restaurant .........................................................62

  Chapter 10: Problem on the Magrail ......................................................65

  Chapter 11: The Capture ........................................................................71

  Chapter 12: A Loyal Quarlusian ............................................................78

  Chapter 13: Fleet Captain St. John

  and the Talcons Address the Admirals Board ..................................85 Chapter 14: The Last Andro-Synth .......................................................93

  Chapter 15: Prime Minster Desserix’s Speech ........................................99

  Chapter 16: Sickbay Inspection ............................................................105

  Chapter 17: Crew of the Phoenix .......................................................... 110

  Chapter 18: Gathering Hydrogen and Arranging Tasks .......................114

  Chapter 19: Ambassador Alotar is Sent to the Rhyn............................128

  Chapter 20: Continued Vigilance .........................................................131

  Chapter 21: The Loss of the Karratin Medical and Science Ships ........134

  Chapter 22: The Varlon Senator and the Strike Marshal ......................137

  Chapter 23: Problems in Deep Space ...................................................144

  Chapter 24: The Battle for QB7 ...........................................................150

  Chapter 25: Discoveries on Both Sides .................................................160

  Chapter 26: Silent Running as the Alliance

  of Worlds Counterattacks .............................................................167 Chapter 27: The Battle Continues and a New Ally is Found ................175 Chapter 28: Sheppard Leads Reinforcements

  as Commodore Helmslar Defends QB7 ........................................187 Chapter 29: Commodore Sheppard is Forced to Retreat ......................207

  Chapter 30: The Varlon Withdraw and the Accad Arrive .....................213

  Chapter 31: The Face of the Enemy .....................................................227

  Chapter 32: Renewal and Restoration ..................................................237

  Epilogue ................................................................................................ 245

  Glossary of Terms ................................................................................... 247

  I would like to dedicate this book to all the great authors who wrote in the science fiction genre who inspired my imagination eventually inspiring me to write. I have had these ideas since a young boy watching the Apollo launches as well as watching science fiction programs in the late sixties and early seventies. More recently, I found some time to write. I would also like to dedicate this to my friends and family who helped with some ideas and concepts back when we were younger. To Robert, Brian, Mark, and David for each of their helpful creative contributions to the story. I would like to thank Basil for his helping create several of the main characters and with helping write chapters two and three and reviewing some sections of drafts of the final chapters. Also thanks Basil for the inspiring science fiction artwork on the characters and all the starship drawings. Lastly to my parents Martin and Merri who inspired me to learn.

  C HAP TE R 1

  A VIRIDIAN INCURSION

  Fleet Captain Robert Allen Sheppard sat at his command station, issuing command after command to coordinate the ships in his task force. His executive officer, a capable man, controlled the general actions of his ship, the heavy cruiser Endeavor. Robert Sheppard was a tall, robust man with a light complexion, slightly graying hair, and blue eyes. He was a human with ancestors originating from the planet Earth. Sheppard was dressed in his bridge duty uniform, its imbedded sensors monitoring his health. The silvery star cluster of a fleet captain attached to his uniform’s lapel.

  The duty uniform of the Alliance of Worlds was unisex and designed so that each section’s uniform jacket was designated by a different color scheme. White represented line officers and Command; blue was for the Sciences section; green was designated for the Medical division; red was for the Engineering & Maintenance section, and golden yellow for Operations, the general operation of the starship.

  Sheppard’s duty uniform jacket was the bone white of Command; the duty shirt, like that of all sections, was dark gray. On his left shoulder was the ship’s patch for the Endeavor. On the right shoulder was the section patch for Command. On his right breast, he wore his identification badge and on his left, the insignia symbol of the Alliance of Worlds. The duty shirt showed the rank designation on the

  1 collar, and the jacket sleeves were broken by the section color and rank designation near the sleeves’ end. The jacket even had storage pockets. The ship’s duty trousers were charcoal gray, extending to the calf, and the boots were charcoal black.

  On the other side of the boundary zone was a small fleet of Viridian ships consisting of over twenty mostly cruiser or battle cruiser–type ships that appeared to be mobilizing for an assault on the Alliance’s starbase. Starbase 301 was one of the main starbases in the sector and was involved with trade and supply routes for more distant alliance members and colonies. Only a few months ago, Commodore Pilat had been injured and had passed the command of her four
task forces to Fleet Captain Sheppard, as he had as much experience as she did in space battles, if not more. Almost a year ago, there had been another territorial dispute with the Viridians. Sheppard—aboard the United Galactic Alliance Starship Endeavor and commanding that along with other ships in his task force and those of another fleet captain—was able to salvage the situation when a strategic Alliance of Worlds asteroid mining station, along with valuable cargo transports near an area of the boundary zone were attacked by a Viridian fleet.

  Fleet Captain Sheppard, the ranking fleet captain by seniority for this sector, had recently been awarded a medal for valorous service for his actions but had yet to return to Star One for the ceremony.

  While Commodore Pilat was undergoing some regenerative surgery at the starbase, the Viridian spaceships had assumed hostile postures on their side of the boundary zone. One of the newer crew members on the bridge asked in a near whisper what the Viridian were like.

  Sheppard heard the passing ensign and decided to respond while the ship continued on its course. “The Viridians are a reptile-type race. Being from Earth, I think of them as snakelike, with arms, and a supportive tail they use to move into a standing posture. Unlike snakes, they seem to have an ability to alter their colors of their scales, so if they got angry, for instance, some orange would flare into their faces. You can get additional information from the computer data files.”

  Sheppard looked toward his first officer, Commander J. J. Adams, as he joined the conversation. Adams was dressed in the Command section duty uniform, his brown hair was cut short, and his blue eyes scanned the bridge as he spoke.

  “Unfortunately, the Viridian never considered the Alliance of Worlds a friend, even after the initial friendship envoys,” stated Adams, raising his eyebrow. “Viridians are somewhat territorial, and even though they are a space-faring race with faster-than-light travel, some of their political methods were not as forward thinking as most of the members of our Alliance.” Most of the crew knew the history for this section of the galaxy; there had been conflicts and skirmishes with the Viridians for many years after the first nonaggression treaty’s failure.

  “One of the problems was that the Viridians never seemed to make clear claims to any intervening space or dust cloud zones. Leaving their territory set in several scattered clusters of stars,” stated Sheppard.

  Adams spoke up. “Whereas the Alliance has a habit of claiming intervening areas of space. Evidently, over the years, the expansion of the Alliance and the gaining of new members cut off some of the Viridian trade or mining routes,” he said.

  “With the Viridian’s unwillingness to agree to a trade or affiliation treaty,” Sheppard continued, “they limited their own expansion, except in the direction of the galactic edge and across the space between the galactic spiral arms.” Sheppard paused for a moment.

  “The only political achievement with them was a type of loose nonaggression pact, and that with only a portion of their warlord-like leadership council,” finished Sheppard.

  “A more secure nonaggression, trade or affiliation treaty has yet to be arranged. The basic nonaggression pact resulted in the creation of this boundary zone we are approaching,” added Adams.

  Sheppard and his task force of ships had previously participated in neutralizing the threat at asteroid mining station M304, which over the course of a few years had drifted into an area of the boundary zone. Even though there were valuable minerals in the asteroids that M304 was involved in mining, strangely, the Viridians had yielded part of the region after losing that battle. Now Alliance ships were coming to the aid of the local starbase. This particular starbase, designated 301, was an older facility, and its defense systems and starfighter complement were several years overdue for a refit.

  Somehow, Starbase 301’s attitudinal thrusters had fired, seemingly by accident. As a result, the station was now headed toward and likely going to cross, the boundary zone. Unfortunately, the attitude controls were overloaded afterward, and repairs to the section were proceeding slowly, since most of the engineers were at a conference at another station. Starbase 301’s current commanding officer, Fleet Captain Lauren, thought the situation should be under control by now, but things had progressed to the point that reinforcements were requested by the starbase commaning officer. Additonally The Viridian personel who had previously visited the station in the past were not responding to information sent concerning the problem and seemed to be ready with deadly force for any breach of their border.

  Fleet Captain Sheppard’s task force, designated Task Force Four, had been sent there as reinforcement for the starbase. The task force was made up of twelve different cruiser types of vessels: four Waterway-class light cruisers, five Heroic-class heavy cruisers, and two Legendary-class battle cruisers. The final member of the task force was one standard assault carrier with eight starfighter wings, and a space marine brigade of ground support forces. Normally, each wing consisted of twenty starfighters. The starfighters present had been constructed by several sources, including member worlds and some corporate construction facilities, like BradCorp. However, many had been constructed at any number of Alliance of Worlds shipyards, including the yards at Star One. Each of the Waterway cruisers had one wing or squadron of starfighters; the Heroic class usually had three squadron wings and the Legendary-class up to five wings, depending on size and design configuration.

  Sheppard was just as good at tactical planning for starfighters as he was for the large capital ships. He had been squadron officer and eventually a highly decorated commander of twenty starfighter wings on the Constellation-class battlecarrier H’jum’pta. Sheppard plotted course and speed for the starfighter attack and ordered launch of all tactical wings. Sheppard could have had a junior officer do the task, but he thought he might need to be on top of this particular situation. After about ten minutes, all starfighters from the task force were headed to defend Starbase 301 and intercept any long-range missiles or torpedoes launched by the Viridian fleet.

  Sheppard’s helm officer was a light blue–skinned, white-haired humanoid from Azura. Sheppard instructed him, “Move Endeavor into position to strike any Viridians who might clearly cross over the sixty light-second boundary zone into Alliance of Worlds space, and launch our antimissile countermeasures.” His tactical display indicated that a salvo of missiles had fired toward the starbase.

  The Endeavor’s bridge was oval in general shape and consisted of several stations, including astrogation and helm, each of which had two officers who could operate the station. The other stations included communications and engineering, as well as two science stations, one for physical and the other for life sciences. The first officer’s station was adjacent to the helm, and the captain’s station was situated centrally. Both the first officer and the captain’s station allowed them to interface and to work with the other officers. Manual actions sometimes became necessary; during battle or if there was shield failure, interlinks and other computer interface devices sometimes would not function properly. Like all Alliance of Worlds spaceships over one thousand meters in length, the Endeavour was a rhomboid shaped spacecraft composed of a reinforced trans-titanium alloy with multiple enclosed decks. There were comfortable crew quarters, a main bridge and a secondary bridge, science and research decks, primary and secondary engineering control areas, and hangar bays for the starfighters. There were even multipurpose areas for storage of the supplies, and recreation areas for a prolonged journey.

  Sheppard issued orders to the communication coordination officer. “Arrange for the other capital ships to move into defensive positions near the starbase,” he said, “although not within or across the boundary.” He knew that many of the Alliance’s weapon systems had longer effective ranges than the Viridian’s capital ships, and could strike sooner if they entered the boundary zone to strike Starbase 301, which was now approaching the edge of the sixty-light-second boundary zone. It was now too late to try to use a coordinated effort of starships to pul
l or tractor the starbase.

  Sheppard asked, “What’s the situation on the repairs to the starbase attitude controls?”

  “Sir, they still have to finish fabricating a few of the parts for Starbase 301’s attitude adjustment system,” replied Commander Adams. “The damage they incurred was more substantial than previously thought. Fortunately, they will finish within the hour, but not before the starbase moves across the boundary zone.”

  “Freg!” cursed Sheppard. “This is going to be a breach, and, right or wrong, the Viridians will look on it as an Alliance of Worlds breach of territory.”

  His crew watched him with anticipation.

  “All ahead. Engines to full sublight,” he commanded.

  “Aye, sir,” piped Lieutenant Commander Rel’kesh, the helm officer. “Accelerating from ten thousand to one-hundred fifty thousand kilometers a second.” Then he checked his instruments and reported, “Acceleration process will end in three hundred seconds.”

  Sheppard noticed a few small tugs on his body as the gravitic compensators and inertial dampeners activated to neutralize the effects of acceleration.

  “I want to be in range to repel any attack on Starbase 301. Notify the other ships, and send this positional configuration to each of their captains,” Sheppard said as he sent course coordinates from his computer interface station that he and his tactical coordinating officer had just worked out. “From here on, each ship’s captain will have to make active decisions on how to engage the Viridian.”

  He continued. “Open a channel to all the ships in the task force,” said Sheppard to Kira Benton, the communications officer.

  As Sheppard waited a few seconds for the multiple contacts to the other ships to all activate, he looked at the silver star cluster on his uniform, which signified his rank as a fleet captain.

  “Ready to transmit sir,” replied Lieutenant Benton.

  Sheppard began speaking. “Endeavor to all Task Force Four vessels. This is Fleet Captain Robert Sheppard. I want us all to be ready for what will likely come to pass. Starbase 301 will not have full maneuvering control until it is well into the boundary zone, or even beyond that; therefore we will have to protect the base. Even now, the starbase is about to cross into the boundary zone. We need to have the cruisers support the starfighters as they surround the starbase to intercept any missiles and torpedoes. As you may be aware, the starbase’s primary defense systems are outdated compared to many of our starship weapons systems. Some of our starfighters will be used for augmenting the starbases point-defense weaponry against incoming long-range missile or torpedo attacks. As the starbase has a more predictable course, it may also become a target of particle cannons or energy disruptors used by the Viridian capital ships. I will send updates for specific starship support when we arrive at the destination. Fleet Captain Sheppard out.”