Chapter 13: Salina

The Salina's world was not all that remarkable. It was basically a hunk of rock orbiting 2nd out from the system's sun. The silicon-based life form that lived on it, was peaceful in the extreme. They had no weapons of any kind. In fact other than the fact that they lived on it; they had no other use for the planet other than for food. The Salinans consumed rocks, any rocks. Their digestive system was such that it converted the rock to a high-density waste product called trillium141. To the Salinans, their waste was just that. Excrement. They could care less what happened to it.

The only reason for the Grays to want the planet, was those same high concentrations of trillium 141 on the planet's surface. It was the power metal that the Gray's ship's power system was based on. Normally, trillium is not found in a natural state. It has to be manufactured. However on Salina, it was just lying around everywhere, in vast quantities.

So why take Salina by conquest? The Grays were well aware that the native life forms made the metal. The answer was simple; the silicon life form was the bane of the Grays. Worse than that, the Salinans saw the Grays as food. They needed to be removed from the planet, before harvesting of the power metal could begin. Up until fairly recently, the Gray's did not have an effective weapon with which to kill the natives.

If they used hand held rail guns, it was like they were feeding the Salinans. Lasers required too long of a time-on-target to do any good. The Salina would just rush the Grays, and gorge themselves on the soft delicacy of the Gray's silver based life form. The Gray's X-ray technology had only a similar effect. The Salinans also enjoyed consuming the missiles and torpedoes the Grays tried using on them.

Up until recently, the only way to kill the Salinans, was by nuclear vaporization or anti-matter annihilations. The weapons experts of the Grays came up with a way of making an anti-matter 'bullet'. It was fired at high speed, and only contained a few atoms of anti-matter, suspended in stasis. When the bullet struck an object, the stasis field would collapse. The anti-matter would then annihilate an area roughly the size of a basketball. Of course more anti-matter could be used for a bigger explosion; however no Gray soldier wanted to use that at the close ranges where they would need to be used.

The Salinan War was not much of a war. The new anti-matter weapon made quick work of the hungry planetary occupants. However, the Salinans just went underground when they realized they could not overcome the Grays.

The resulting occupation of the planet was very beneficial to the Grays. Gathering the trillium 141 was then simply a matter of having crews go pick it up off the ground. Under the watchful protection of guards, of course.

This stalemate would last for years. In the end, the Grays got what they wanted. A limitless power supply for their fleet.

One month after Jim had assumed the presidency of the Centauri Federation, a meeting of the council was conducted. Even though Jim was uneasy with the ceremonial aspects of being introduced to the council, he had gone along with the full treatment. It was necessary. He needed the council to back the building projects. More than that, the Centauri also needed new ships. In the end, however, it proved to be just a ceremony.

All of the council, as well as most of the Federation, had already watched all the episodes of Star Trek. They approved Jim's plan for building the military ships. There were plans for one Carrier class vessel for each planet in the federation. They would carry fifty fighters per ship, plus 100 fighters would be stationed on each planet. There would be built a total of twelve Battleships with a crew of eight hundred each, twenty-four Cruisers, and two hundred fifty other support ships. With the exception of the fighters, which were too small, all would be equipped with the new warp/jump drive system. This system promised to be the most advanced of all. Warp speeds of up to a factor of 9 were promised. In addition, all ships would be fitted with both the disrupters and the phasers his children had labored to perfect, much to the dismay of the asteroid belt!

Terri announced that she was opening a new research branch. Its purpose was to investigate other applications and answers to Jim's theories. In addition, a department of war technologies was created.

One problem that arose that Jim failed to foresee, was the number of volunteers. The Centauris had caught the bug from the holo shows. They were clamoring in record numbers to join the fleet. The idea of military service was so glamorized, that the sheer numbers were overwhelming the training facilities. The acceptance standards were immediately raised to such a high level, that simply to get into the training program was a guarantee of future civilian success, even if the candidate never made it through the entire program.

To Jim's utter shock, the council voted to rename the war department: Star Fleet.

Annette and Jennifer were pleased with the honor being done to their grandfather's vision. Terri was amused at Jim's discomfort. Rainer was appointed Admiral of the fleet.

In the next two months that followed, AI produced and revamped the Star Trek movies, the Next Generation movies, and both series'. AI had done a very good job of 3-D conversion. The result was a ground swell from the people of the Centauri Federation to rename themselves the United Federation of Planets.

Aphina even introduced legislation to create 'the prime directive'. The Flowsman family was most amused at this. Jim himself had to admit that it was the best idea he had ever considered. The fact that the Centauri's were mimicking Gene's ideas so closely was encouraging to Jim. He hoped it wasn't a mistake.

The first battleship was completed and ready for its shakedown flight, 6 months after construction had begun. The monster ship was twenty five hundred feet in length, and four hundred feet in height, and in width. And looked like something out of Babylon 5, rather than Star Trek. It had already undergone 2 retrofits of the shields and beam weapons systems. It was armed with four 120mm sub-light disrupter banks, and six 155mm phaser banks for FTL use. A greatly improved shielding system, based around the powerful warp core/anti-gravatic propulsion system had been installed. Its crew of eight hundred would live comfortably, as the inside looked like something from the holo projection shows.

The Flowsman family, the Rainer Family, and Lisa stood on the bridge of the new ship. Its dedication was about to commence. The new ship was designated UFP-1. It had been given the name, of course, of 'Enterprise'.