WOO! Summer classes are tough in college! But I am pleased to announce an A in Business Algebra class and a B in Literature class. Yay me! Anywho, techno babble all over this chapter, but the end has a reward if you're patient enough to read it all the way through!

Children of Earth

Celebrations

Captain's Log - July 4, 2022

The Caroline has been in star dock for the last three months undergoing a major upgrade to its systems. This is all thanks to the U.S.S. Enterprise, which has introduced us to the Order of the Phoenix, an entire race of a million firebirds living aboard an advanced ship, migrating from star system to star system. A few weeks of negations saw the Phoenix join the United States and take up residence on Earth, using our sun as a safe incubator for their eggs, and the Sahara and Arizona Deserts as their new homes. Even now, those eggs are starting to hatch and a new generation of Phoenix are raising their wings and heading to their new home on Earth, free of predation from slavers.

Sadly, Oscar, my head engineer, has retired from Starfleet. He was the only section head I had to see leave. The rest of the crew has, to a man, been transferred out to other assignments. I can't blame them. These upgrades have replaced our weapons, engines, power conduits, and warp core. The new technology given to us has allowed for major advances in technology that only needed a more powerful supply of energy than a fusion reactor. The Caroline's full specifications now almost exactly match that of the series upon which it is based. I find myself marveling at how we have taken what once was science fiction and made it into societal and science fact.

End Log

That being done, Davis gets up from his ready room chair and straightens out his uniform. He winces at the captain pips on his neck. Quite the demotion for the incident on Alageasia, and he was lucky to have gotten off so easy. They let him keep his ship at least, due in no small part to a pissed off Queen that would have been on the admiralty's hands had they stripped him of his commission. He heads out onto the main bridge, unable to not smile. It had been worth it just to see the look on Galbatorix' face when he was found guilty, then beheaded, by the Varden, and made even better by the look on Eragon and Saphira's faces when they saw Earth for the first time. Enough to balance out the headache now on Saphyra's lap about what to do with Alageasia, a pre-industrial civilization that has had intimate contact with a warp capable one.

Wedge, now first officer, was standing next to a display, grinning over it. "Report." Davis says, not unkindly. Wedge turns and says, in a bright voice, "Looks like most everything is complete. They just need to tighten up the coverings on deck 10." Davis nods and heads for the turbolift, Wedge walking right on over with him.

"CIC." Davis says. The computer beeps and starts on its way. "What can you tell me about these new weapons now that they are installed?" He asks Wedge, who is all too happy to respond.

"Well, sir, these new phasers are Type 12 phasers, a big leap from our old Mark 4's. These phasers can, with a single shot, put out one million terajoules a second onto a target the size of an oil tanker a hundred thousand kilometers away. That, coupled with the computer, means we're lethal to any starship." Wedge says, hardly taking a breath of air as the turbolift stops and the pair of them exit into the Combat Information Center. "These new torpedoes are something else. They are suited for dealing with modern capital ships, not those dinky guard ships the Elves used during the Battle of Earth. These torpedoes are shaped charges, using a matter/antimatter reaction to deal out anywhere from four megatons to three hundred ninety gigatons. The beautiful thing is the annihilation happens so fast it has the same explosion size as a cruise missile. That means our torpedoes can cut through the hull of any ship we come up against and deal serious damage, and since the stuff used to..."

Davis tunes him out mostly as he looks at a display of the power systems. The new EPS conduits were all in place. That was great. The plasma in those conduits was a much more efficient way to transfer large amounts of energy, exactly what they needed for this, and exactly what was on the Phoenix' ship when they turned it over.

Wedge keeps droning on about how the warhead material is replicated as needed in the torpedo when it's armed. The fact that Davis could never tell Wedge was that he was using Wedge to keep the techs away from him. If Wedge stopped talking, one of them would come over and start throwing a whole shit-ton of numbers at him that he would have no idea what to make of, or throw out techno babble about some system or another that would give him a headache for the rest of the day. As he heads for the turbolift, he interrupts Wedge as he goes into detail about the torpedo speed. "You know what I like, Wedge?" he asks, Wedge raising an eyebrow. "I like that this CIC is just complex enough to get all the data in, and yet simple enough that we don't need a guy with a doctorate in Engineering to operate the shit."

Wedge nods in agreement. "Speaking of which..." He takes a breath, and in a louder, clearer voice for the computer, orders it to go to engineering. Davis smiles, he knew Wedge was a bit of a tech buff ever since they got out of Earth and into space, but this amazed him. He took to it like a fish to water. Good thing in a first officer. The doors open, and Wedge steps out with Davis, letting him take in all the glory of the new and improved warp core. "Check it out, Brent." Wedge says, "Maximum speed is warp 9.99, max cruise speed is warp 9."

Davis is impressed. "That blows the warp 4 core we had before out of the water." He says, grinning, walking over to it. "How much power does it put out in watts?" He asks, emphasizing the 'in watts' part.

Wedge grins. "First, let me introduce you to our new chief engineer." He says, and steps back. "Captain Brent Davis, this is Commander Lisa." He holds out a hand to indicate a Phoenix who just came over. Davis is a bit surprised to see one put into Starfleet so soon, and in a Starfleet uniform at all, but that was to be expected, since the ship they were living on until four months ago had needed many engineers to keep running. "You were an engineer on the Life weren't you?" Davis asks her, holding out his hand. Lisa shakes the offered hand. "Pleasure to meet you, sir." She says, with an accent close to Australian. "And yes, the ship was held together by, as your people say it, duct tape and super glue." She grins at the saying. "It was all the hundred or so engineers we had could do to keep her going. We were glad to be able to hand her over and have a planet under our feet. Even so, I volunteered when we put down on Earth and they posted me up here. I just can't stay away from a starship." She says. "What do you want to know about the warp core?" She asks with a grin on her beak.

Davis looks at it. "How much power does it put out in watts?" He asks, and braces himself for a tech answer.

Lisa, however, doesn't do exactly what Davis predicts. She takes a look at the core, thinks for a minute, then looks at him. "The core puts out four thousand teradynes per second, sir, which roughly equals thirteen billion gigawatts."

Davis whistles. An engineer who knows her work and can simplify it. He was going to like working with her. "Wow, that'll keep the oven running for a while." He says as he walks around the core, watching as the reaction inside the core swirls around, putting out that signature blue glow. "How often do we need to refuel?"

Wedge is standing back from the core, arms behind his back. "Well, we restock our deuterium and anti-deuterium once every five years." He says. Lisa is standing right there next to him, not worried at all about how close Davis is to the core. He could punch it and it wouldn't do anything. "Should I explain how it works, sir?" She asks.

Davis looks up and shakes his head, holding up his hands. "No, don't. Wedge has already given me enough numbers to think about by telling me how our weapons work." He says. Lisa blinks, and then looks at Wedge, intrigued. Davis catches on this and grins. "I'm heading to the hangar deck, you two...have fun." He says, winking, leaving Wedge there with a Phoenix who was curious to know just how much Wedge knew about the weapons, and in what detail. Davis thinks that an engineer and a spec nerd would be able to keep each other amused for a good long time.

"Main hangar." Davis says as he comes into the turbolift. He enjoys riding silently to the main deck, where he sees Cynder standing with McLintock, looking over the unloading of the new ground equipment. Davis comes over and joins them as a new M1A4 Abrams is unloaded from the freighter that brought it up. "Seven more in there." McLintock says to Cynder. That'll replace our old A2's with A4's. We'll be ready...Oh, damn!" He jumps a little. "Jesus Brent, don't scare me like that!" Cynder is holding back laughter, she knew Davis was behind him but kept quiet. "What can I do ya for?" McLintock finally asks in a snippy tone.

Davis points at the equipment. "All the new stuff in place?"

McLintock nods. "Yup. With Wedge's flyboying, your watching over us, and Cynder and her dragons dealing with the close air, we can handle anything thrown at us."

Davis smiles. "Good to hear. I'll see you two on the ground tonight. Don't be late." He says, turning and walking away. He heads to the turbolift once more. "Bridge." He orders. That finalized his tour of the important parts of the ship. Once at the bridge, he goes into his ready room and makes his report to command. The Caroline was ready to fly.

Ten minutes later, Davis sighs, leans back from his monitor, and looks out the window. He had just finished his report, detailing the successful completion of their upgrades, so now his attention was on the Earth as it slowly rotates below, North America passing into view. It was twilight down there. The US was just about to enter into night. Already, at other parts of the globe, lights were shining. He could easily imagine the celebrations going on around the world, and a twinkle enters his eye at the thought of how this celebration, in Washington DC, will be.

"Hey, honey. Come on, or we'll be late." Saphyra says from the door. She was dressed in her Starfleet uniform and smiling, their son standing next to her. He was excited as could be. Davis nods and stands, heading for the door. "Everything ready?" He asks. Saphyra nods, letting their son into the turbolift first. "Yup, the shuttle's waiting for us." She says, smiling. "Time for the celebration!" John calls out happily, pumping an arm into the air.

When the doors open, Davis is surprised to see Draco and Dracona standing there waiting for them. Dracona happily takes John's hand and rushes off with him to the edge of the hangar bay, right next to the force field keeping their atmosphere in, and watches the planet below, and the ship settling into low orbit. As they chatter, Davis passes the time with Draco, discussing how his family life was going, and the growing friendship between his son and Draco's sister. "Like flies to honey." Draco says in his gruff way, looking at the pair of them. "I know I've said it before, but we'll need to keep an eye on them now that they're starting to view boys and girls as different and delightful." Davis nods in agreement and calls them over. The five of them load onto the shuttle and strap in as it takes off and heads for the capital.

On the ground, Davis greets his friends happily, as well as the President, who was present for this display and hosting the captains of the starships undergoing refit. They chit chat a bit, mostly talking about down to earth things like family and friends, and the joy of feeling a breeze. A few minutes later, it all starts, their attention drawn as the band starts up, playing the 1812 Overture. The whole thing was being covered by the news and it would be commercial free. They watch as the band plays loudly and proudly, the cannons cracking off at just the right times, echoing in the night. Howitzers had that effect. Next, everyone is asked to stand, which they do, and stand silent for the national anthem. A singer from Europe, one of the survivors of the war, who had been pulled from the rubble to see an American flag waving proudly in the air, sings the Star Spangled Banner. She sings with her eyes closed, remembering that moment, tears streaming from her eyes towards the end of the song, as she sings about the star spangled banner yet waving.

Davis' attention goes from the singer on the screen to the sky as she draws out the final note. He notices something, a bright blue dot growing larger. It grows and grows, the crowd behind them starting to cheer as three F22s fly overhead in formation, followed immediately by an Intrepid class starship, the flyby going directly over the crowd before pulling up at a shallow angle to go back into orbit. A few minutes are given for the audience to collect itself, enough time for Davis to get the lump in his throat swallowed back down, then the band starts up again, playing its customary songs, and adding a new one to the end. After the customary military songs are played, the band starts up playing the Starfleet Hymn, a fully glorified version of the Next Generation opening theme. As they do, fireworks start shooting up over the Potomac River, detonating in time with the beat of the hymn. When it is done, loudspeakers start playing other music, themes to hit movies that have endured, Independence Day, Battle Los Angeles, Pirates of the Caribbean, even Star Wars. All these songs are played, fireworks streaming into the air, awing the crowd as every man, woman, and child watches the explosions fill the sky with light and glory.

After all is said and done, Davis is amazed by the amount of resources that went into this year's celebration. It's not every day you get a starship doing a flyby. The President gets up and straightens himself out. "My fellow Americans," He says at the booth, "today we celebrate this great nation's 246th birthday." The crowd claps and cheers enthusiastically. That, however, does not explain the grandeur of the night. "We all know there will be parades tomorrow, proud showings of our military and civilian creations that have put our society into the galactic community and helped to advance us as quickly as we have. Let us not forget how close we came to destruction as we moved up the ladder and left the cradle of Earth." He looks around. "Many of you here tonight have lost loved ones. Many of you have lost your nation of birth." He looks down. "We have given so much of this generation during the night, but finally, the day has come, and the future is as bright as the rising sun! I am confident that this generation will be remembered among the greatest generation of Americans! We have endured wars that have threatened to extinguish humanity entirely. Yet, through those wars, we were able to stay true to our core values in the face of every possible reason to stray. First humans and dragons set aside hatred and worked together. Then, humans put aside xenophobia and embraced other cultures and other races. E Pluribus Unum, our national motto, has never been truer than in our nation now. Humans, Dragons, and now, Phoenix, all call the United States of America their home. Our allies are races we had never even thought existed a mere twenty years ago. During today, our nation's 246th birthday, pat yourselves on the back, and when you toast, raise a glass to the future!"

At the end of the President's speech, the audience in attendance stands and applauds him, many people whistling. It was a well thought out speech, delivered in such a way as to instill pride in the accomplishments listed and in the nation itself. Davis can very easily feel the pride in his own heart. Saphyra, who only knew of the nation's history AFTER the Great War, was proud too. Her people had done the same, and were recognized. Humanity's journey to date had been rocky, but had shown the true metal of humankind. Davis smiles and looks up, past the fireworks still being shot off, and out at the stars. In his heart, he could not wait to get out there and show the galaxy what the Children of Earth were made of.

Alright people, with every ending a new beginning is born. Children of Earth is done. A refitted ship, anew sense of purpose, new allies, and new challenges await. The next series will be named Birthright. Since I'm off for another week, I'll probably have the first chapter written before the 19th.