one of the senior commodores in the sixth fleet. As a veteran in fighting the Varlon, she commanded the larger part of the assembled task force under Sheppard that went to directly fight the Varlon starships, distracting them from the planet. Meanwhile, Sheppard led the assault task group, which included a few brigades of space marines, to help QB7’s military defenses.
Onboard the Indefatigable, Commodore St. John of the third fleet was transporting a relatively new friend of his, one of the officers who accompanied him back from a major Talcon colony in the Magellanic Cloud galaxy. St. John had returned from a ten-year exploratory mission several months ago. The Talcon officers of the ship that escorted his two remaining vessels back acted as Talcon representatives. The Talcon officer would serve as a legate or ambassador on the Phoenix and hopefully help with his distant Talcon kin’s arrival in the great Star City.
“Sir, the Indefatigable is contacting us now,” Ares said. “I have established a secure channel, and Commodore St. John wants to speak with Commodore Sheppard.”
“Open the channel on the bridge,” Sheppard directed. The bridge had a communication interface that could create a projected image of the individual, and the interface imager gave the impression of bodily presence. Commodore St. John’s image that appeared on the bridge had a slight glow. St. John had some gray in his curly brown hair, and more regular duty had helped him get back into shape after the long mission he’d completed to the nearby Magellanic Cloud galaxy. As always, he appeared in good spirits. He was one of Sheppard’s former commanding officers.
“Robert, it’s good to see you,” said St. John, smiling. “Our ships are still several minutes from rendezvous point; I wanted to send a hello ahead.”
“Good to talk with you, too, David,” replied Sheppard. “If we were not in a rush to arrive at our objective, I would stay and confer with you; sadly, however, time is of the essence. We need to try to arrive before our enemies.”
St. John nodded and smiled. “I have the Talcon official and acting ambassador, Renjir, who was also a captain in their space navy’s reserve. He is now quite familiar with our common language and is ready to assist with your mission. The Talcon also use a point-to-point transmat chamber, and he is familiar with such transport, although he likes piloting even our small fighter craft for transport.”
“That’s good that he likes to pilot; I guess our starfighters are not as advanced as he might be used to,” Sheppard replied, also smiling.
“Renjir believes our ships make us think more. I have seen their starfighters, and they have an organic interface that is more conducive to piloting, with a fully connected interlink. It allows the pilot to be virtually interactive with their starfighter. It’s as if the starfighter is your body; it was fairly intense even when I got to test it with an adapter and my own interlink. Renjir says they even feel a jolt of pain if the starfighter is damaged.”
“That might be a wee bit too connected for even my taste,” O’Brien interjected. “I don’t think I would want to feel my components melting.” Sheppard looked over and smiled. O’Brien had also worked with St. John in the past.
“Well, maybe we will get the chance to see, someday,” Sheppard said.
“Take care of Renjir,” St. John said. “His crew mates and other Talcons from the Magellanic Clouds helped my exploratory task force out of some dangerous predicaments in the last three years while the remains of my task force returned to our galaxy, and he is fairly open-minded.”
“We will take care of him as though he were one of our own,” Sheppard said, as he looked over at Wilder.
“Aye, Sir,” Wilder said. “And we have his quarters prepared from the specifications you transmitted, Commodore St. John.”
“Well, like you, I have to get on to another mission,” St. John said. “We’re headed toward Rhyn Space to help with a Joint Alliance/Rhyn and Hegemony operation.”
“That’s interesting; the Hegemony is actually doing something other than observe,” Sherman said. He had moved from the Alcove command post.
“Yes, that’s why Vice Admiral Garfield is not with us; he is in Rhyn Space on Hegemony business,” Sheppard said. “In any case, David, I will eventually be joining you in Rhendal sector under Fleet Admiral Peregrine—after we make contact with Talcon while entering the Milky Way. Now, I think I should head down to greet Ambassador Renjir in the transmat chamber.” Sheppard smiled as his friend Commodore St. John gave him an Alliance salute, which he promptly returned before heading to one of the bridge’s lifts to receive the ambassador. Both Fleet Captain Sherman and Lieutenant Commander Ares joined him in the turbo-lift to head to the transmat to formally welcome Ambassador Renjir.
The transmat device was adapted from multiple technologies the Hegemony had passed along some time ago. It was probably one of the most advanced and energy-demanding pieces of equipment used by the Alliance of Worlds. Already waiting in the transmat chamber was the transmat engineer and those assigned to serve as assistants for the ambassador. The transmat actuator was energized, creating a protective barrier for the passengers and equipment, and then the wormhole created a jump pocket to hyperspace, which temporarily connected the two linking transmat locations. The power usage was enormous, but it did allow emergency transfer of supplies and equipment. The transmat had just activated, and some of Ambassador Renjir’s personal effects were sent ahead. The crew assigned by Sherman and Ares to assist him had stepped across the actuator rings encircling the base of the platform to retrieve the ambassador’s personal effects.
Normally, the actuator rings elevated and encircled those to be transported at ten-centimeter intervals between rings from chamber floor to ceiling. These rings formed a multiple-banded semi-cylinder zone around those to be transported. The transmat device set up a temporary wormhole between points. During the transfer process, the energy stream made a connection with a similar device; the receiver was in the other starship, which also had to be activated to allow the short hyperspace conduit to form. Transfer usually took several seconds, and nearby atmosphere tended to go along for the ride.
Sheppard waited in the transmat for a few moments before he found out what had happened. “Commodore Sheppard, this is Wilder; we have received information that Ambassador Renjir has decided to come aboard with his Talcon shuttlecraft. He evidently decided to take it with him at the last minute.”
“All right. I’m headed to fighter bay two,” Sheppard said, as he moved toward the tram that would rapidly take him to bay two. “If I recall correctly, we have some storage room there for his ship.” The group arrived in bay two just in time to see the sleek, advanced Talcon starship arrive. It was about the size of a Scimitar-class, two-man fighter that the Alliance used. The Talcon starcraft glided to a landing and was latched and then secured to a floor section.
Renjir got out, and in the lower gravity of the fighter bay, he flapped his wings and flew up, gliding to the area where Sheppard and the welcoming group were walking toward him. He had small, closely interspaced, grey-blue feathers and avian features with large eyes; instead of a nose, he had a hawk-like beak. Unlike a bird, he had arms and hands below his wings, and he seemed somewhat like a humanoid with wings. His hands were featherless with scales instead of skin; however, he did have four-fingered, mildly talon-like hands.
“Greetings, Commodore Robert Sheppard. I am Renjir Felkestaar,” the Talcon said in a high-pitched voice. “Hopefully, I can help you with contacting the other Talcon onboard the Star City.” To Sheppard, using his Star Knight senses to identify moods in aliens, this Talcon seemed to be almost smiling, so Sheppard smiled too, giving what he recently learned was a Talcon-style salute to a former military officer. Things got off to a good start. St. John’s report on the fellow was accurate; this Talcon was friendly.
Chapter 4
Space Goes Ever On
It had been only a few days of moving several ships to probable intercept coordinates for the Star City, and there seemed to be some occasional course corrections the Star City was undergoing, possibly as it updated stellar information. The Phoenix and