The Carlson Chronicle Chapter 1
Chapter 18

15-Apr-2352

Alex read and re-read the report he had been handed.

“We’ve barely made an offensive dent in them, and yet here they are going for personal shots. I mean, I admit, I lasered a ‘Commercant’ in the bridge dome during the Ambush, but I was outgunned 5 to 1/2, considering I was in a Cutlass.” He said with a grin. The staff assembled chuckled.

“We’ll seriously need to re-think future battle strategy.” James concluded.

“As to the size of each task force, Lorelei tells me we can add the extra ships as per your recommendations, Alex.” Anderson said.

“Good, adding a pair of ‘Infinite Struggles’ will go a long way with regards to keeping the Andros alive. Also, I want all the Spee’s converted back to base models. Garshans don’t use torpedoes.”

“With regards to homefront defense, what have you decided Son?” Barnard asked.

“I like those defender satellites. Plus, each world gets 300-500 of the new fighter, those ’Cutlass III’s that GSE finalized last month. Wing-mounted Gatling grazers, a spinal reflex gun AND 4 fusion torpedoes per bird, hell, Bad Ass is bitching up a storm trying to get enough pilots for them.” Alex replied with a chuckle.

“Yes, even with Annapolis, Imperial Beach and 29 Palms working at a war footing, we just can’t train pilots fast enough. Taucente and Alphenshore have added pilots to the roster sure, but not enough to make a serious dent.” James finished, as Alex thought about the issue.

“What about the Gideons? They have as much at stake in saving the worlds they live on as any human does. And, it’ll give us some breathing room with regards to replaceing qualified human applicants.” Anderson offered.

“Start testing. Run this across the chain of Imperial Command. Tiberius gave us the Gideons, it’s time we found a use for them besides wall flowers and window dressing.”

“Don’t let Talia hear you call her a wall flower. She might leave you stuck to a wall.” Anderson finished with a huge grin. Alex merely rolled his eyes.

“What else needs addressing?” He asked, sitting back at his place.

Tiberius had made Alex ‘Admiral of the Fleet’ with regards to all things Garshan. But, when the Garshans wiped Ironsides out in a lightning attack, with next to no losses on their part, and neither his Fleet Admiral (Von Tourbach) nor his vice Chair (Viceroy) had ready answers that made sense, plus at the urging of his favorite weapons designer (James), he made it official: Considering his pull with Center (Lorelei), Alex would be elevated in rank to Admiral of the Fleet (O-10), over the standing hierarchy, much to their embarassment and anger, and tasked with defending all of the Empire from the Garshans.

Alex accepted on three conditions:

1) At no time were his orders to be counter-manded by the Court, lest worlds fall to the Garshans.

2) All current flag officers above Commodore were to accept MANDATORY retirement. Since Von Tourbach was assigned to the Out-worlds Alliance, where Ironsides was a member, he was unfit to command their defense. While Tiberius balked at first, James was able to convince him that while Alex looked like a young man, he wasn’t.

Tiberius was the first to learn of the existence of Eternals, and under threat of death from Alex, Anderson, Amythyst and James, he agreed to keep their secret as long as was possible.

That lasted almost 20 years.

In 2348, during a patrol mission through the Deerstalker, and before any of the Andro’s were battle ready, Alex’s ship was attacked by a scout force of Garshans. Nearly crippled in their first firing pass, he surely would have perished there, had it not been for the intervention of Amythyst.

Standing on the hull, dressed in her mage robes and a LSB, she destroyed 4 of the 7 Garshan ships with nothing save her Magic. When rescuers from a TE frigate finally cut their way onto the shattered bridge, they found 3 corpses: Alex, Jett and Ericka.

When each of those corpses suddenly awoke during transport to the waiting Frigate, the secret was a secret no longer.

Humanity learned of the existence of Eternals, and despite their best efforts to put some kind of spin on the story to hide their existence, it was Alex, Barnard and Lorelei that made the announcement.

Re-assured that they weren’t messengers of the Anti-Christ, Lorelei made it public record that her people, the Galhadians, long since dead from an ultra-tech civil war, were indeed responsible for the gene that some (25%) of Humanity possessed.

By Imperial Decree, Tiberius passed the Eternal Act, stipulating that Eternals would only work for the benefit of the Empire, and any acts otherwise would result in the traitors being declared ‘Outlaws of Humanity’, and thus hunted down and killed the only way an Eternal can be: By severing the head from the body.

Alex’s third and final request/demand: He and he alone would fire the opening shot on the first Garshan colony world.

He made this demand for simplicity and to preserve the Empire. When asked how this was relevant by both Imperial High Command and by Tiberius himself, Alex explained it thus:

“If I’m the one to pull the trigger, and identify myself as the son of Barnard and Claudia, all retaliation from the Garshans focuses on myself and by default, Center. Garshans are very single-minded with regards to their needs for revenge and vengeance. If they focus that vendetta on me and me alone, and they know where to replace me, on Center, it saves Imperial worlds from needless suffering and wanton destruction. Also, since all warship construction comes from Center, it only makes sense for them to try to target and destroy Center. As Lorelei assures me that they cannot, it only makes sense to let them try.”

Despite objections from High Command, Tiberius agreed, and that was that.

“Well, now that you mention it, since the number of those pocket battleships has grown to the point where naming them is a matter for their crew to decide, since all we keep track of is their hull number, have you decided on a naming schedule for the Andros?” James asked. Alex nodded.

“Famous and infamous ships of the line from history. Every battleship, dreadnought, battle cruiser and such from the days of sail to space, mine them all. We have enough of them, Andros that is, we should be able to replace names for each.” Alex said with a smile. James looked at him crossly.

“Infamous?”

“Come on Pop, think about it. ‘Graf Spee’ and ‘Terpitz’ were hardly historical darlings, unless you were a fan of Nazi Germany. Same goes for the ‘Yamato’.” James nodded begrudgingly.

“Besides, we have all of history to look through. All the way back to the thirteen colonies wresting control of now America from the British Empire.”

“What about fictional ships? There must be tons of names out there in popular fiction, both science fiction as well as semi-historical fiction.” Anderson offered. Alex was thoughtful for a few moments.

“Ok, but I don’t want to read reports that crewmen are begging to serve on board the ‘Enterprise’ or the ‘Arcadia’ just because of the name.” He said, as James looked confused by the second ship.

" ‘Arcadia’ ?” He asked, not getting the reference. Alex chuckled.

" A comic book and anime ship, from the late 20th I believe.” Anderson offered. Alex nodded.

“Captain Harlock.” He said with a smile. “I have the entire series buried at the house somewhere.”

“Well, if you do, Klaus has it all stored in the attic. After that little incident revolving around Karen, I almost threw everything you owned out. Only Klaus and the fact that as Eternals, we tend to hang onto memorabilia, is the reason I didn’t.”

“Good, might be useful for something.”

“So, any thoughts on where to go from here?” Anderson asked.

“Well, you, back to engineering. As for me, Amy keeps wanting me to spend more time with her, and she’s been exceptionally needy these last few days. Besides, I’ve been so focused on taking the fight to the Garshans, I’ve been neglecting my duties as a husband. So, until the next major crisis rears it’s ugly head, Dismissed!”

And with that, everyone left.

Walking into his quarters, he nearly ran into the massive bubble she’d been inflating the last few hours. It nearly filled their whole cabin.

“Damn Amythyst! One piece right?” He asked as he shed his clothes, and started to climb up the massive, pink sphere, spotting her nearly pinned to the ceiling. She coo’ed as he caressed her bare behind, laying himself atop her, kissing the nape of her neck, her spreading her legs invitingly, and he wasting no time.

“Ahh!” She gasped upon his penetration. Turning her head, he realized she wasn’t the one blowing up this monster sphere. She pointed down at the bed, where Jett lay tied spread eagle to the bed, two different size sex toys sticking out from her front and back doors, her writhing and huffing in response to that writhing.

“Ok, so, just being with the bubble makes it indestructible?” He asked.

“Yeeeesssss!” She said, as he re-positioned himself, so he could get better traction, as it were, and gently stroked his wife in time with Jett’s gasps.

Nuzzling her ears while he enjoyed her tightness, he asked her the only question worth asking.

“Did Jett lose a bet?”