Shelby 9 Snippet 1

 Okay here we go!

FYI: I am doing away with the intro and going with a "Where we Left Off" instead.

Chapter 1

 

In Hyperspace

 

UFN-54P continued its journey to Confederation space without incident. The Poltergeist II class was a recent arrival in the sector. It had taken the opening of the gate to allow the small ship to get to the sector quickly and efficiently.

Most of the prowlers had been assigned to Pi and Sigma fleet. First Lieutenant Herod Higgins, aka HH was her ship captain. He had initially been put out over being passed over for Sigma. Sigma was where the action was, most of the prowlers had been assigned there to try to find the damn pirate base.

He had to admit, they hadn’t had much luck. According to the community they had been trying for decades but couldn’t stick to the tail of a ship when they latched onto her long enough to divine out where they were going. The bastards were aware of the trick and if they so much as smelled the hint of a tail they changed course at random intervals.

Apparently enough data had been compiled… and some other intel to give them a clue. Word was Batmobile had turned up after going AWOL in an unauthorized mission to the neighboring sector. The prowler had been sent to verify where the battle moon was lurking.

Then there was Pi sector. Over a half a dozen prowlers had been sent there. Word was that something was coming to the north in Upsilon and ships were being sent there. He knew that the prowler The Bus had been sent into Upsilon well over 2 years ago to scout. He wished them the best of luck.

None of that mattered as far as his mission was concerned though. The crew… and captain for that matter might have been... dismayed at being sent to Tau, but they’d been sent with a purpose. His lips twitched ever so slightly at the thought. Sure, it had been after the Confederation had fallen, but they had been sent to scout the Confederation and verify that they were playing ball with the Federation and sticking to their side of the agreement.

Which was good considering that the Taurens were not playing ball and had reportedly broken out into a civil war. He shook his head gently. It looked like his ship was sailing into a combat zone after all. Lovely.

Well, they were going to have company. Admiral Hunter’s Ninth Fleet was trailing behind them. His mission was to pop into enemy controlled space, have a look-see, and see if they can find their missing people, then get out and get the intel to Ninth Fleet ASAP.

That was the plan at any rate, he thought as his practiced eye checked the status of the ship in a casual scan of the systems. All nominal.

“Care for a game captain?” Sparkles, the ship AI asked.

“Sure,” he said with a shrug as he turned to the AI’s avatar. “It beats doing paperwork.”

“Yes it does sir,” the AI replied as the 3D chessboard materialized.

>>>~<<<

TauR15-1 Purple Nights

 

Secretary of State Moira Sema sat on the shuttle and idly looked out the window without really seeing the view. She had decided to remain in Confederation space with Undersecretary Fred Muggs to continue the confederation talks. Given the insurrection and potential for civil war on their side, she had decided it was imperative to remain and not be unavailable in hyperspace for periods of time.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Fred, quite the contrary. He wouldn’t be where he was if she didn’t trust him implicitly. But having her on hand as well gave them double oomph to try to salvage the peace treaty with the Confederation and build a lasting peace in the region. Neither of them wanted it to come apart with the potential civil war in Confederation space… that could and probably would easily spill over into Federation space.

The delay was delaying their return to the sector capital as well as the Secretary’s delay on her return to Antigua. But they were making some headway. It was glacially slow, but she felt like they were building up trust with their Tauren counterparts.

They needed something more though. Minor acts or exchanges to thaw things further and help bridge the gap that was there. Those acts could be orchestrated but would be better if they were natural.

Until something broke they just needed to keep at it. As long as the two sides were talking they weren’t shooting, she reminded herself. That was one of the primary axioms of State Department and she held to it firmly.

>>>~<<<

Fred Muggs nodded in approval at the site of the proposed embassy. It worked out well. It was not an ideal site, it was far from the capital city and spaceport, and it was away from the towns. But it was on land that was cheap; they had bought ten hectares of land that could not be used for farming because the soil was too rocky, heavy clay like, with too much heavy metals and salts for the favored crops of the planet.

They were paying a premium price for the land, but again, that was fine. They would make it work.

>>>~<<<