Chapter 43

Destiny group exited FTL above Celia’s North pole within 0.2 lm (light-minutes) of their intended destination. They were in the process of completing their systems checks when Star said, “Bán and Dearg Task Groups requested a connection to all ships.”

With a smile Aoife said, “That is fine, set it up.”

“Aye, it will be a couple of minutes.”

A few moments later Cathan’s and Christina’s Clans appeared on all the bridge monitors and said, “Good morning. Welcome to Celia system.”

“Good morning,” responded all the Command Staffs.

“Do you know when you will arrive above Ananu?” asked Cathan.

“Well we are currently 43.8 lm above Celia’s pole,” replied Joyce. “We’ve scheduled a 48 hour stay here, so that will put us there in about 74 hours.”

“Any particular reason behind your question?” asked Sarah.

“Only that we want to be here when you arrive. Now we know when that will be we can plan our activities. Once you are secured in orbit here we should meet with all the Command Staffs to go over our status. From our perspective, preparations on Gaillimh are further along than we remember seeing on the schedule. We’ve gone over it a couple of times as we were concerned that something critical had been missed. If it has, we can’t find it.”

“Okay, let’s plan on meeting the second day we are in orbit,” said Tara. “That should give us enough time to take care of the arrival check list.”

“Fine, we’ll plan on that and we’ll contact you tomorrow. Edana’s and Sharon’s teams are really anxious to see you all; well, for that matter, so are we.”

“Anything else?”

“Not that we can think of,” replied both Cathan and Christina.

“Okay. See you soon,” replied the Command Staffs.

“Aye. And you take care.”

Jill said, “When Star advised us of the call, I jumped to the conclusion that there was a problem.”

“I think they called for two reasons,” replied Judy. “They were more concerned about the discrepancy than they were willing to say, besides, it gave them a reason to speak with us. Remember, the role they are filling now is quite different from their previous experience so it’s likely that the discrepancy worried them.”

“But they ... oh I see what you mean,” responded Alena. “It will be interesting to see what caused their concern.”

It was 12 hours before their scheduled departure from J5 when Chester said, “Sarah’s Clan, we were going over the check list for tomorrow and wondered if we should change our cloaking criteria.”

“What do you have in mind?” responded Sally.

“Currently, except for Dóchas and the freighters, we are operating cloaked,” responded Kelly. “How about dropping our cloaking 12 hours after we leave here? We understand why we had it in the operational plan from the beginning, but since then we’ve done a lot more exploration in Celia system so we are not sure it is worth the risk.”

“We are agreeable,” replied Sally. “Out of curiosity, what prompted the risk concern?”

“In Flight Operations today we reviewed the relative vectors used for approach and departure when we are on station,” responded Kelly. “After it was over I heard several of the flight crews telling tales. Some of them were close calls while operating cloaked near our ships when there was a lot of traffic. Hearing them caused me to look at our reasons for cloaking while on station over Ananu. When I went back and looked over our notes I saw that it was in our initial plan, but I didn’t find anything indicating that it’s been reviewed since then.”

“Well,” said Rusty, “the real question is; what do we gain by entering the system cloaked? When we decided on arriving and entering cloaked we didn’t know a lot about this system. We’ve modified our cloaking plan since so that some ships are visible.”

Brittany of Kathryn’s Clan said, “By partially uncloaking our fleet we could be aiding anyone who is trying to understand how it is done. If all the ships are visible when we arrive it is more likely that any observers will react. This could aid us in detecting their presence.”

Molly said, “I take it that some of us are still puzzled by the lack of advanced life on Ananu.”

“Well,” responded Alison, “there are aspects of what we’ve found that prompt those thoughts.”

Calvin said, “While I relish the idea of walking boldly in the front door, we were inclined to proceed as planned. However, Brittany made several good points so we’ve changed our minds. From what was said by the Alliance members in Sol, they find our ships difficult to detect from several light hours away.”

“So is everyone in agreement with entering uncloaked?” asked Sarah.

“Agreed,” replied the Command Staffs.

Keriann said, “As we approach Ananu, we can begin sending out reconnaissance flights. Once each flight is over 100 km from the formation, they should cloak before turning toward their destination.”

Rebeca of Kathryn’s Clan said, “Each of the flight plans for those runs has a different distance, both outgoing and incoming, for changing cloaking status. 100 km is the minimum.”“Good. For similar reasons, the flights between us and Ananu should be uncloaked as well.”

“Let’s think about that a bit,” responded Sally. “My thought was, can we use cloaking to give observers the impression that we have more ships hidden? However, the issues we’ve already raised regarding cloaking are still a factor.”

Jenessa said, “Joyce, we recalculated your flight plan and came up with a Sub-light factor of 7.53. So we are good with departing at 7.6.”

“Good, that is what I calculated this morning. It will be recalculated right before departure. The plan is still for us to catch up with Ananu and enter the orbital window together.”

“Yes. The difference in our calculations may be due to the precision we used for the arc’s radius. That issue will disappear when we begin to move as we will use your numbers.”

“Okay, you provoked my curiosity,” said Maeve. “What path are we taking to get to Ananu?”“Currently, we are over Celia. From here we will make a descending turn to our port until we are a short distance behind Ananu. After that it is just like we did over Mars.””That makes sense. The way you were describing it was confusing for some reason.”

Joyce said, “Okay. The flight plan with the final numbers will be issued 1 hour before departure. Is that soon enough for everyone?”“It is from our stand point.”

“We agree,” responded the others.

It was 33.24 hours later that Destiny group approached their orbital window for Ananu. As they had drawn closer to Ananu, many of the large monitors on each ship were showing the planet at least part of the time.

“It is beautiful,” said Sarah’s Clan as they watched it grow larger on their display.

Joyce added, “There is a similarity to Earth but the colors aren’t quite the same.”

“Agreed. However, we need to focus on our tasks and not get too distracted by the view,” said Sarah. “Destiny Group, report status.”

“Iolar. All parameters optimum,” replied Maureen. “FLDC-1 indicates all systems optimum.”

“Phoenix. All parameters optimum,” replied Siobhan.

“Iarracht. All parameters optimum,” replied Keriann. “FLDC-2 indicates all systems optimum.”

“Taiséalai. All parameters optimum,” replied Kathryn.

“Marthanóir. All parameters optimum,” replied Molly. “FLDC-3 indicates all systems optimum.”

“Fiontar. All parameters optimum,” replied Jackie.

“Dóchas. All parameters optimum,” replied Jill. “FÓCT-1 indicates all systems optimum.”

“Destiny Group,” said Joyce, “our course is optimum for entering Ananu’s orbital window in 2.88 hours.”

Tara said, “Caitriona in FOC just advised us that all the Badb cruisers and Star Fighters with Bán and Cinniúint task groups have docked. Two cruisers accompanied by two flights of Star Fighters have departed from Dóchas to begin their patrol. The other ships are preparing to launch theirs.”

“The data that the task groups and recon groups obtained on Celia system is now being uploaded to the library,” said Erin. “Redundancy checks are scheduled to start momentarily.”

The next couple of hours went quickly as they prepared the ships for arrival. Much of the activity was in shifting from voyage configuration to an orbital base with defensive functions. As they neared Ananu’s orbital window, they began reducing their velocity until it was balanced with Ananu’s rotational speed at their altitude. Their geosynchronous orbit would be 1,000 km west of Gaillimh Isle.

Once Destiny Group was in their orbital position over Ananu, the six Dóchas Class ships that formed the axis of the defensive array rotated into their positions. The four freighters moved so that they were parallel to their associated Dóchas class command ship, but shifted toward the center of the array. This placed the freighters within the defensive sphere and positioned so that they didn’t interfere with either surveillance operations or possible FCS activity.

Briana’s Clan entered the bridge and said, “Ready to call it a day yet?”

“I think so,” replied Rusty.

“All of you are welcome to man the bridge,” said Sarah, “but since we are in a holding position we don’t really need it staffed at all times.”

“True,” replied Briana. “But, when no one is here you guys don’t really relax, so we thought we would alternate with you for a while until we are comfortable with our surroundings. Besides, there are several things you need to focus on over the next few days. So if we fill this role it makes it easier for you, and actually easier for all the rest of us.”

“You have a good point. It will certainly help.”

“So go get some rest as it won’t be long until breakfast,” replied Briana’s Clan as Sarah’s Clan left the bridge.

Sarah’s Clan was near their suite when they met Aine and Brigit accompanied by four other women they didn’t recognize.

“We heard the chimes,” said Aine, “telling us that we were on station. How did the last part go?”

“Just like it was supposed to,” replied Joyce with a smile.

“Good. We won’t keep you but we wanted to introduce you to our colleagues Morrigan, Caillech, Niamh and Neala.”

“Welcome,” said Sarah’s Clan as they greeted her colleagues. “We are pleased to have you staying with us. Please let us know if there is anything you need, or how we can improve your stay.”

“It is a pleasure to meet all of you,” said Caillech. “We don’t want to keep you as we understand you’ve been quite busy. We arrived only a short time ago and already feel very comfortable here. We will see you later today. Branwen should be here by then.”

“We will look forward to meeting her.”

As Sarah’s Clan entered their suite Sarah said, “I didn’t notice it until now but I am tired, no, exhausted would be a better description.”

“Me too. Like you I didn’t notice it earlier,” replied Joyce.

“Well I’m going take a quick shower then sleep.”

“In the shower?” said Janet laughing.

“No silly, although I probably could go to sleep there if I stood still long enough.”

As they stepped into the shower Judy said, “One of the reasons we feel so tired is because our trip is over. All the stress of the journey is now past us.”

“Good point. Breakfast is in five hours, maybe we can sleep in a bit.”

“We can,” replied Aoife. “Tomorrow, well actually today, is a relaxed schedule. There is a family meeting after dinner tonight.”

“Yes. Amy’s Clan will lead most of the topics as they relate to activity on Gaillimh,” said Tara.

“Well activity through tomorrow will focus on fleet maintenance,” replied Claudette.

As they were crawling into bed Erin said, “Sleep well my loves.”

“And likewise my loves,” replied everyone.

It was after dinner on their first day orbiting Ananu when Amy’s Clan moved to the front of the dining room on Dóchas. “Good evening.”

“Good evening,” replied the crew. As the crew replied the large wall monitors came on showing the dining areas on the other ships.

Amy’s Clan said, “It looks like our conferencing set up is active now so let’s get started. This meeting shouldn’t last very long although we may have just jinxed it. First on the agenda are James of Sue’s Clan and Finnian of Chloe’s Clan with an announcement.”

“Thank you,” replied James and Finnian who were at the podium on Iarracht. “We are pleased to announce that our constitution for Celia World has been approved.” The whole family cheered on hearing the news.

“No one expressed any objections to it, however there were some concerns regarding the wording in several places. We will be reviewing the wording in those sections and will consult with those raising the issue on any changes. It is on the network, so please look at it again, especially those sections where concerns were raised. If you see a solution let us know. Once this is sorted we will present the changes to the family for discussion and then formal consideration.”

“Frankly,” said James, “I’m glad they made their concerns known as they saw issues that we didn’t see until the question was raised. Even though we have approved it, we urge anyone who still has any concerns to let us know.”

“What time frame do you have in mind?” asked a woman on Fiontar.

Finnian replied, “For addressing the expressed concerns, within the next two months, possibly three, as we will have a lot of activity taking place over the next few weeks. There will be reminders.”

“Thank you.”

James and Finnian said, “The results of our recent ballot to select the first Council of Celia members have been tallied. It gives us great pleasure to announce that Sarah’s, Siobhan’s, Maureen’s, Keriann’s, Kathryn’s, Molly’s, Jackie’s and Amy’s Clans have been selected. The date and location for the swearing in ceremony is tentatively set for four weeks from now. Initial plans have it taking place at sunrise on Tara Ardchlár.”

“Why the uncertainty?” asked a woman on Taiséalai.

“Basically because there are some logistical issues that could cause it to be delayed for a short time. Also, since these clans are the first members of the Council of Celia World we asked Aine and her associates to administer the oath. They are waiting for the ‘Old Ones’ approval. While they don’t see their participation as a problem, they thought it was wise to check with their coordinator.”

“I suspect we are pushing the bounds of their interaction with us.”

“We understand that it is a unique request. We expect to know well before the site is ready, which is one reason we set the initial date as four weeks out. Our goal is to complete their installation before we have representatives visiting from other worlds.”

“Amy’s Clan, that’s all we have so we will turn it back to you.”

“Thanks. On behalf of all eight clans, we feel very honored by the trust you have placed in us by selecting us to be the first members of the Council of Celia World.”

Several clans on Iolar stood and said, “Now everybody all together. Hip, hip, hurray.”

“Again. Hip, hip, hurray.”

The eight clans responded in unison, “Thank you. We will do our best but it will take all of us working together to make life here and on Celia World a success.”

Amy’s Clan patiently waited for everyone to quiet down before continuing with, “Now we have a couple of very important announcements.

“Please remember that we will switch to Ananu time and calendar at 24:00 Ó time Lundi, which is two clock cycles from tonight.”

“Tomorrow at 07:00 ships time, a group will finish outfitting the two habitats on Tara Ardchlár as medical facilities.

“Even better, the medical group has determined that no one needs to wear environmental suits on Ananu. They do however strongly suggest that you wear coveralls while working. For the time being there are designated shuttles to operate between Tara Ardchlár and our ships. When you return, you will exit them through a decontamination shower.

“The reason we are suggesting that everyone wear coveralls on Ananu is that they provide some protection from abrasions. All of our testing shows that our immune system can handle this environment. However, if you notice any change in your health and body, or experience symptoms such as a rash, fever, congestion, shortness of breath, you need to inform the medical staff immediately. Any questions?”

Several people stood on different ships indicating that they had a question. Betsy said, “It looks like we have a couple of questions. Let’s start with the person on Marthanóir.”

“We thought that there was a lot of concern about our immune system overreacting to the environment on Ananu, so we are very surprised by this announcement.”

Betsy said, “We’ve approached this issue from a very conservative position. So yes, if you compare what we said when we first decided to move here versus this evenings announcement it is a dramatic change, although if you think back over our comments since then, during our voyage we have given hints that this might be the case. Around a year ago we started boosting our immunity so that it could handle being on Ananu. It has only been within the last week that we’ve been able to verify that we would not overreact to Ananu’s antigens. Again, we were, and we believe that we are still, being conservative in our approach.

“However, you may still get rashes when you contact some items. You may have sinus congestion. You may have other symptoms of your body reacting and adapting to its new environment. However, with your boosted immunity, these should be minor occurrences. Let us know if you have a severe episode or one that lasts for more than a day. Okay, that is the easy stuff.

“Insect bites are an unknown. If you have a strong reaction to a bite, seek attention immediately. This is why each work group will have at least 2 EMTs with them. For now, overreacting is good. Also, for insect bites try to remember what the insect looked like.”

“Does that answer your question?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Next question is from the lady on Iarracht.”

“What’s the point of using the decontamination units?”

“Basically to see what is picked up on Ananu, and we will be utilizing more than just the decontamination units for this. We will also be monitoring what the shuttle air filters collect and the dirt that is tracked into them. We are looking for anomalies. If we don’t find anything significant then we will discontinue the effort.”

“Thank you.”

Next question is from the lady on Fiontar.”

“You seem to be focusing on issues with the Órarduine. How will this affect the other breeds?”

“Actually our announcement and subsequent comments apply to everyone here.”

“Thank you.”

The topics of the questions shifted to more general questions about the activities over the next several days.

“It looks like we’ve reached a dry spell in questions so a couple more announcements. Tomorrow, we will begin moving the items on the FÓCT to Tara on Gaillimh. This includes the equipment for the clinics as well as the site preparation equipment. Once there is a covered area on the island we will begin moving more the items for the settlement. Emptying the freighters also frees up more space for manufacturing.

“Also, an Iridien Spec Ops ship is scheduled to arrive tomorrow at 14:00. It is coming to pick up those who are returning to Tigsu. It is scheduled for departure at 22:00 hours. Transfers to it will be from Dóchas. Current plans are for the departing passengers to board at 21:00 hours in hangar C4. Announcements will be made several times to ensure that all the passengers are on Dóchas and available for boarding prior to departure.

“Is there anything else that we need to cover?” asked Amy’s Clan.

“Seeing none, good night and sleep well.”

“Congratulations, moms and dad,” said Keri and Marnia.

“Thanks,” replied Sarah’s Clan.

“So what are you all doing tomorrow?” asked Alison.

“Well in the morning we have our classes in engineering, which is followed by a flight simulator session then martial arts. We’re scheduled to begin training flights next week.”

Kennith and Moya said, “We have pretty much the same thing except engineering and flight simulator times are switched.”

“I thought you had all completed flight training,” said Janet.

“We did Mom. First it was so we could use the shuttles; this was followed by Star Fighter training. Right now we are studying Star Fighter combat tactics and after that we move to cruisers.”

“The Star Fighters are fun to fly,” said Sarah.

“Yes, they are,” added Alena.

“We’re really looking forward to practicing tactics in them,” replied their children.

“Don’t you need to be taller?” asked Maeve.

“Most of the tactics are taught on simulators, but some are done in the trainers. But yes, we need to be taller before we can actually pilot the Star Fighters. Probably 4 years or more, but doing what we can now helps us with other course work.”

“So where are you in your engineering studies?” asked Claudette.

“I think we’re about half way through Level 2 of mechanical engineering,” said Deirdre. “It is a lot more interesting than Level 1 was.”

“It’s more interesting,” added Moya, “because the exercises relate to building activity at the settlement.”

“How is that?” asked Rusty.

“Well, in the latest exercise we looked at how to transfer the force exerted by the roof onto the walls so it doesn’t spread the walls. Now we are evaluating ways to alter the roof structure so that a section failure doesn’t cascade into a complete failure.”

“So your exercises have you looking at the details as well as the whole structure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you guys still planning to go through Level 2 courses for all engineering specialties?”

“Yes,” answered the children.

Deirdre added, “We think we need Level 2 knowledge before we can make the best choice on a specialty. Besides, having Level 2 knowledge in all specialties makes it easier for us to understand integration issues between our creations and the rest of a project.”

“Good point,” replied Rusty. “We’ve seen a few excellent ideas with excellent design execution, but incapable of reliable interaction with other units.”

“There are some of those in our exercises.”

Deidre added, “We’ve focused on our engineering and science subjects as they give us the skills to help out. We still have quite a few courses to take relating to language and history.”

“We need to head for our suite,” said Jill.

“How is exercising your psionic skills coming?” asked Joyce.

“We’ve gone as far as we can in developing them on board the ship,” replied Moya. “Briana told us that there was going to be an exercise area set up on Ananu. Do you know when that will be?”

Sally said, “There is an area on a nearby island that Cathan’s and Nicola’s Teams were considering. So I don’t think it will be very long before a site is designated.”

“Star Fighter and Badb Cruiser pilots need practice areas as well,” said Tara, “both on the planet and in space.”

“We’ll talk to them to see what their plans are,” replied Moya.

“I’m ready for some sleep,” said Jill. “It has been a long day.”

“We’ll see you all at breakfast,” said the children of Sarah’s Clan as they went to their area of the suite.

When the morning chimes sounded Tara said grumpily, “You mean it’s time to get up already.”

“Sounds that way,” replied Joyce with a cheerful voice.

“Well you may be cheerful, but I would like a few more hours sleep.”

“I would too, but there is too much going on today to sleep late.”

“Oh, that’s right. We begin moving stuff to Gaillimh.”

“You forgot.”

“No. It’s just taking a bit to get my thoughts organized. I was really sound asleep when the chimes sounded.”

As Joyce and Tara were talking, their spouses had given each other hugs before getting out of bed. While they were showering and getting ready for breakfast, their children joined them.

“Morning,” they said as the children entered the shower.

“Good morning,” replied the children cheerfully with a smile as they all glanced at Tara.

Tara stuck her tongue out at them resulting in them laughing. “I’m not really grumpy. For some reason the chimes really startled me.”

“I woke up a little before them,” said Aoife, “and I noticed how deeply you were all sleeping.”

“Well even though I would’ve liked to sleep longer, I do feel really rested.”

“Good,” replied her spouses. “We think we all are.”

As they left their suite Sarah’s Clan said to the other Command Staffs, “Let’s not say anything this morning about the group we are sending to Sol system.”

“We weren’t planning on saying anything,” replied Keriann.“Good. We don’t think that those leaving today need to know those details.”

“Agreed,” replied all the Command Staffs.

Later Sarah’s Clan had just entered Dóchas’ bridge when Clarence paged them. Sally said, “Go ahead Clarence.”

“Three ships have just exited FTL and at current velocity they are a tad over 100 light seconds out.”

“Have you identified them?”

“Preliminary scan indicates two Iridien Spec Ops ships along with another ship.”

Maeve said, “Clarence, Communications just received a message from the lead ship requesting a communication link.”

“Okay. We are still going to verify their identity though.”

“Agreed,” replied Sally.

“Attention on bridge,” said Maeve, “going live with link to arriving ships.” With Maeve’s announcement, one monitor changed showing the bridge of one of the incoming ships.

“Greetings Dóchas, this is Iridien Commander Demerti advising of our approach.”

“Greetings, Commander Demerti. It is good to see you again. Welcome to Celia system. How was your trip?”

“Interesting. We should be there in 4 hours. Our orders are to turn around as quickly as we can, however we need to check over our ships before we depart.”

“You are always welcome to stay. Is there something we can do to assist during your approach? What kind of issues are you having?”

“An exterior integrity check on all three ships should answer some questions. The crew on the transporter has had some power issues and doesn’t seem to know how to fix them. There were weapons malfunctions on both Spec Ops ships. Two weapons malfunctioned, but we were able to work around the issue temporarily. It would be nice to have them fully functional before we depart.”

“We will alert our crew.”

“Good. By the way, we are only detecting three of you, and four freighters along with numerous small ships.”

“Be that as it may, we are all here.”

“Well we’ve always had difficulty seeing your ships this far away.”

Claudette said, “Commander, it will be easier to do the exterior scan of your ships if you drop your cloaking.”

“Oops. Forgot about that.”

“Several ships will be coming alongside in about 30 minutes. They will advise when they begin their approach.”

“Great. Our AI is indicating that it has the coordinates for our approach and bay assignments.”

“Security is telling us that the transport ship’s identity doesn’t match any Iridien ship in our database.”

“Ah ... it won’t. It is a Tigsu ship. We were asked to escort it here and back. The Tigsu have it designated as a diplomatic ship, and we understand that it is used exclusively for transporting diplomats.”

“So how are the systems checks on the Tigsu ship going to be handled? Won’t its classification cause a problem?”

“No. The crew operating the ship has minimal contact with the diplomats. From what we’ve been told it is like two ships in one. The diplomats and their special crew are in one part of the ship separated from the rest of the crew.”

“We need to establish communications with its AI in order to guide it into the hangar bay.”

“I’ll advise them. You do know that there are several Tigsu diplomats on the ship?”

“Sort of figured that from your comments. Even so, that doesn’t change the communication requirement. You might remind them that it is for their safety.”

“Good point.”

“If we can get diagnostics on their power units before you get here it would make it a bit easier to service.”

“Yes it would. However, I can only ask.”

“Okay. Going back to the AI link issue, if we can’t establish a link with them then we will position them alongside. Passengers will be ferried back and forth using our shuttles and boarding tubes.”

“That will work and I’ll let them know.”

“Anything else.”

“No. We’ll contact you again at 30 minutes out.”

“Engineering will advise you of the surface scan results. Security has found a match in the Tigsu database for the ship. According to the specifications, it is a modified cruiser.”