Starchaser Ch. 01: The Beginning

This is an edited rewrite of the first publication of this story by the same title. Readers comments were spot on (thank you to everyone who commented) about the difficulty of following which voice each paragraph was written in that disrupted the flow. This rewrite includes voice clues according to the key that follows this paragraph, and also includes enriched details that expands the backstory and scenes. All comments are welcome.

This key is to clue the voice change that continues until the next voice change:

=N= is for narration voice

o/o is for male character

-/v\- is for female character

A little visual clue perhaps and hope you enjoy your read, please leave a comment.

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=N=

It has been a long time since Barrett Cross was voluntold of his assignment to the Sol System, the mission of conducting Sentry Detail, watching over the remote system and its indigenous sentient beings on planet Earth. His assignment was a necessary replacement for another Ranger who had been on station for more than a couple Earth millennia. Barrett would be only the second Ranger stationed to the patrol as Captain of the starship Starchaser, a Cutlass Class Deep Space Cruiser capable of hyperspace travel with a designed crew compliment of well over 100 people.

The old Ranger, Rick was being transferred to another quadrant in the galaxy because his Earth assignment, being well outside frequently traveled space, had left him mostly unmonitored by the Avalonian Combine Directorate. His request for new challenges was overshadowed by a growing concern it was getting increasingly difficult to keep himself from being discovered. Such was his appearance becoming familiar to Earthers, his notoriety was becoming widely known with the population's use of social media, but as of yet he had not been exposed. This concern alone made a reassignment necessary to avoid an exposure that would cause panic on a planetary scale. The reason for the panic would center on his appearance of maintaining a youthful appearance despite being years and decades older. Rick was Avalonian from the Daphnes Sector and was originally a Starfighter Pilot before his transfer to the DSC Fleet and his ship Starblazer as a DS Cruiser Captain he made regular use of Starblazer's phased transportation, a technology that recreates each cell in the body to the state the body was in when it was originally patterned in the print buffers at Farpoint Station.

Each time a person uses phased transportation technology, their body is again returned to that print buffer datafile. Like all adapted technology, not everything is apparent to those using it for some time at first. The technology was a left over attribute from whatever civilization had created Farpoint Station deep in the void space between the upper and lower eastern arms of the Milky Way Galaxy and for unknown reasons left it abandoned and fully functional in a dormant state. The phenomena of age restoration was not recognized until repeated transports were made on the earliest Avalonian Discovery vessels, when upon returning to Farpoint Station after extended voyages, age differences were noticed between siblings who had been separated for some time. As the crews were regularly phased transporting, they did not notice the phenomenon between themselves.

Ship development for the various types of Avalonian starships from Farpoint shipyards over the first 1000 years was continually improved and refined as engineers unlocked the secrets hidden there. The first ships were single seat Starfighters, similar to antiquated (meaning pre-Farpoint Station) Avalonian Destroyers but with advanced powerplants and propulsion systems that proved them to be effective peacekeeping vessels for short range operations. To extend the Combine's reach to secure a united Avalonia, immense Long Range Survey Ships were constructed at the LRSS Dockyards that provided Starfighters a support vessel that could move in hyperspace with a population large enough to support communities of scientists and warriors. Each of the linear LRS Ships was equipped with an initial defensive compliment of 3000 Starfighters and docking facilities for 10 times that number along the 10,000 km spine of a ship capable of providing planetary elevator operations from surface to orbit. Forward planning provided the LRSS sufficient capacity to be able to provide support capability for projected future fleet of next generation Farpoint design ship, the Cutlass Class Cruiser.

Whereas Starfighters were effective in flights of six, or multiples of six, the Cutlass Class Cruiser was intended to operate autonomously for extended patrols without LRSS support or Starfighter escort. The Cutlass Class was envisioned to patrol the vast reaches of space within the galaxy for maintaining a presence to quell the lawlessness of marauding life form sentients with members who had tendency to behave like scavengers, self appointed guardians and royalty, tending planetary systems while using indigenous populations as indentured servants with no possibility of freedom. The very reason that the Avalonian Combine was created was to provide strength in numbers to enlightened civilizations who understood that life was best when each member regarded each other member as equal in all regards, no greater and no less. Engineering progressed in the development of the Cutlass Class Cruisers that proved the design had extended duration capability such that to the title was added, Deep Space.

The automation of all ships systems continued through the development of the design and during the first years of production. All ships systems except for one essential task became automated, and it quickly became the hallmark of the Cutlass Class Deep Space Cruiser. As they started to emerge from the DSC Dockyards, the crew numbers required to run the ships had decreased to only a few and then to one person though the capacity of stores was never adjusted for fewer crew. Reduced crew made it possible to extend and maintain presence patrols in outlying regions of the Combine, regions where primary tasks were observation and scanning cataloging. Reduced crew aboard each ship meant more DS Cruisers could be operational without the need to find the right people for the job. It also enabled a greater numbers of vessels and a greater presence over a larger area of the galaxy.

The experience of these changes for Barrett, like for most of his fellow Cutlass Class Captains, is commanding an immense state of the art ship with nobody else aboard. It literally is his own ship and once he had taken up his station, he would at times be heading to the only inhabited planet in the Sol System for companionship. The Ranger in such an assignment usually spends a significant portion of his time on planet and Rick had easily blended in on Earth with people who assumed he was also human. Being on planet effectively relieved his boredom and by moving on when his youthful appearance became noticeable by the people he was friends with, especially the women, he would ensure his identity and purpose on the planet was secure by disappearing back to Starblazer. Rick had not found a single person with whom he could trust with his secret identity despite contributing significantly to the sexual experiences of Earth women he encountered. Experiences that also proved his masculinity was not compatible with human femininity. He also proved he posed no threat to any woman by not causing a single pregnancy after tens of thousands of unprotected attempts to populate the world.

Initiating a phased transport to Earth was possible with a DS Cruiser in synchronized orbit beyond the Moon. With the starship essentially parked where Earth could not observe the vessel, it was also at a distance that even distant orbiting satellites of the Earth era could not pick it out of the star filled background. Barrett had taken his time getting all the highest level ship's decision making done that he was needed for by Starchaser. It was at these moments Barrett marveled that with all the centuries of technological discoveries and advances at Farpoint, that the ability to create an autonomous device capable of replicating the intuition of a sentient mind was still yet to be made. In his reflective thinking, he surmised the ancients had probably recognized that intuitive anticipation should never be part of artificial intelligence as once a machine goes rogue its logic will not improve and the device simply becomes one more hazard to be avoided in the vastness of space. Barrett takes it as a great comfort that his presence being the one sentient necessary component of his starship means in fact he is the brain of the ship and together he and the ship are one. And so far he has enjoyed his solitary presence aboard Starchaser, the ship that extends his senses and awareness beyond anyone who is not a DSC Captain.

Barrett has now been on station in the Sol System long enough to be comfortable on the surface of the inhabitable planet Earth with Starchaser nearby. It's time again for Barrett to make new friends beginning with his 26th birthday buffer pattern datafile self. His buffer pattern datafile was updated on his last visit to Farpoint before proceeding to the Sol System. His earlier buffer pattern datafile was made on his 21st birthday before his first assignment. That assignment was completely aboard Starchaser with no need for phased transport off ship. He was caught up with a scientific study of Globular Star Clusters orbiting themselves in the halo of the Milky Way Galaxy, thought to have formed 13 billion years ago and much older than the Open Star Cluster where he was born aboard his parent's starship. Without a phased transport in all those years, his body aged.

When he was recalled to Farpoint to prepare for his current assignment, it was Barrett's review of Rick's scanning data in the Datastream, while he was enroute to Farpoint, that he discovered a slightly older print buffer pattern would help him blend into the current Earth social construct better for most of the planet than Rick's print buffer pattern of 19 years old. Men in their early 20's were considered insecure, unfocused, and prone to emotional episodes, whereas men in their late 20's were seen as confident, secure, and mature. He consulted with the Combine Directorate for Indigenous Civilizations and made his decision to maintain his current age and older appearance. Barrett prepared himself to let go of his 21 year old self and docked at the Phased Transport center on Farpoint Station. He had a feeling of joy when they informed him of recently discovered databank vaults as large as a neutron star in a distant portion of Farpoint from the Combine Nexus complex. The databank vaults have a capacity where his 21 year old datafile self could be stored indefinitely as an archive that could make age choice a future possibility. He wasn't aware it was a new concept that would have far-reaching implications for many.

This 26th birthday he is about to celebrate is his 12th one while he has been on Sol System sentry duty over the past 47 Earth years. This time he has chosen a small Caribbean island in the Bahamas island chain, in what Earthers refer to as the northern and western hemispheres, as his place to emerge into the world. The first eleven times to Earth were a series of experiences getting to know the planet and its structure as a scientist, the divisions of nations and diplomacy as an envoy to nations, learning Earthers military history and traditions, tactics, and procedures as a professor. He traveled as a playboy, as a religious leader, as an independently wealthy self made man, as a mystic, and as a penniless beggar. Some of his visits lasted just days and others went on for years.

The last visit he made to Earth was prematurely shortened by a proximity alarm tripped outside Sol's heliosheath, the furthest extent of the sun's influence on celestial matter as distance increases from the star's center. A network of sensor probes placed strategically, in the "Ort Cloud" it's referred to on Earth, allows for early warning of unexpected visitors. Once something is detected, Starchaser's proximity alarm sends priority signal to Barrett via his neural communicator. This time he phased transported as late as safely possible to plausibly leave no trace. He was posing as a hapless rocket test facility ground technician and timed his transport to coincide with a motor test firing. An observer recorded his untimely death as instant vaporization in the direct path of the thrust rocket motor when it ignited, when the test itself was momentarily delayed (it gave him the chance to look like he made a mistake). Barrett transported directly to the bridge as Starchaser accelerated at maximum deck gravity tolerances, as consecutive command actions.

Starchaser was beyond Neptune's orbit moments later. The hyperspace jump was only a fraction of a second this time with the distance traveled less than a lightyear. Forward sensors scanned at full capacity returning images of ordinary galactic matter. Similar previous episodes of this nature were on the Datastream and thought to be evidence of systematic probing to determine where Avalonian Combine activities are located. Acting on a hunch, Barrett continued to close on the tracked point source indicated by the sensor network for the disturbance and indeed found not only a sentry probe but also a tending vessel. The sudden appearance of a Cutlass Class Deep Space Cruiser had its desired effect.

On approach, Starchaser completed a high definition catalog scan of both probe and support vessel before either of the entities responded to indicate detection of his approach. He observed the support vessel increase its energy levels in tachyon wavelengths and activate its propulsion to change course as if previously unaware of his presence until he was in visual range. The course change was to engage Starchaser directly and it proved to be an attack. The vessel firing a low energy particle beam that made a direct strike into Starchaser's left wing shields, the energy diverted into the external matrix micro channels where it flowed to energy collectors on the trailing edges and was used to recharge Starchaser's energy banks. The vessel continued firing multiple low energy particle beams that were each diverted to the shield shells. The harmonics in the shield shells created a reflection surface that reflected the particle beams back in the direction they came from. The alien probe had a clear view of its tender vessel destroying itself with its own weapons and internal explosions rendered it a space wreck.

Without a support vessel, the probe had to be tended at this depth in unregulated space, unregulated meaning outside of a controlling star's influence. The only reason a tender vessel would be needed was to provide a link and signal to its primary entity. Without it there would be no signal to the entity that sent probe and vessel into Sol's helioshield region. Barrett phase transported one of his own probes as a companion and formed it attached to the alien probe structure to ensure the probe kept broadcasting to its sender. He also reassembled parts of the destroyed vessel as a long tether to attach the dead vessel to the probe to keep it from drifting away. Starchaser returned to continue the mission knowing something happened, something was destroyed, something is still out there, and at some point in time something else was going to happen. It was from this happenstance that Barret returned back to Earth and his 12th 26th birthday on a serene Caribbean tropical island.

Barrett has intimate knowledge of Starchaser. Every corridor, every contained space, and every connecting tube that enables movement between higher and lower decks on the ship. Everything is exactly where it had been on his parent's DS Cruiser Recalcitrant. Before leaving Starchaser, he does as he always does and makes a thorough review of everything so on returning he would know if anything had changed while he was away. He had done his last lap of running every corridor on every deck level of Starchaser before transport. Barrett prefers the decks to pull with stronger gravity than Earth has so that doing everything on Earth is easier with the perceived reduced gravity on the planet. He made a last inspection on the outside of the hull before getting himself ready and to the phased transport room.

He is thorough in making sure to his own satisfaction that he would be transporting Point to Point and not become a victim of a Point to Oblivion error. Starchaser can actually recover the mistake and reconstitute her Captain but the Fleet would know of the error and he would join the ranks of Captains with a tarnished career and become one of "those guys". Rick was one of "those guys" for many more than a few Point to Oblivions but he had other things attributed to him as well, somethings for discussion at another time.

Barrett reviews the clothing that would form with him on the surface to make sure nothing out-worldly might be discovered. He makes a belt buckle change to ensure the scintillating effects of metallic element Aa are not seen on a planet unaware that planet Aa exists, even if astronomers know about Capella and its alternating red blue flashing in the night sky constellation Auriga the Charioteer. Then, with a single thought as a command to proceed (his choice to not call it a command of execution), he blinked once aboard Starchaser and then he was standing with his toes on the cool sand of Eleuthera just before local midnight.

o/o

I blink again clearing my vision and look seeing the establishment I had decided would be a good place for my next 26th birthday a little distance down the beach. Internet in the last couple decades has really helped with scoping out places to visit. Views from Starchaser can be difficult to use to see what is actually on the ground as most scan's frequency and wavelength tend to look straight through solid objects. I find my way toward the buildings and arrive at a small beachside club that has festive light strings swaying and glowing in the tropical air. The place looks ready for a crowd but there is only a bartender behind the bar and, alongside the far railing overlooking the beach further along, one attractive young woman.

She has beautifully long hair and unblemished skin wearing nothing more than a bikini with a gauzy linen wrap around her waist to mid thighs and sandals. She hasn't see me approaching as she looks off in the distance at the star filled night sky. I find this situation to be remarkable having just arrived back on Earth, a nightclub on the beach looking absent of its crowd and one very attractive woman not taken by anyone except for the heavens above. I step onto the elevated floor of the open club and acknowledge the bartender with a smile.

The bartender smiles and returns the silent hand wave giving me no doubt he is paying attention to me suggesting my behavior is being noted, in a kind and welcoming way. He noticed my direction was toward the woman by the far railing and it's apparent to me she is under his watchful care. But as a good bartender he doesn't interfere with someone behaving in an orderly manner. I'm able to move in quite close to her and yet she has still not noticed me.

I move to where she should have noticed me had her attention been in my direction and not somewhere far away with her glazed eyes, the glazing that is seen whenever anyone is thinking thoughts far away from the present. "Hello, I'm Barrett!" I said breaking her trance. Her eyes are on mine instantly and a smile accompanies her eyes going instantly clear with the distant thoughts gone like a wave rushing up a beach. Her eyes on mine is like she somehow hit me with a sudden realization about something. What something I do not know but she has a look in her eyes, the likes of which I can't remember when I have seen something like it before. A look in her eyes I know I must have seen somewhere before.