Chapter 61:

Starfleet was trying to understand star maps from Star Trek canon. Unfortunately, I didn't seem them clearly, or perhaps they weren't presented in video clearly. In either case, there wasn't the raw data in my memories to get useful star charts. The charts also tended to be two dimensional over distances of tens of light years, while the depth of the galaxy in our sector would be closer to 1000 light years, so would need to be three dimensional to be useful.

In the absence of star charts, the next wave of voyages would be towards places mentioned in Star Trek canon. Unlike any Star Trek series, we have not been sending exploring fleets to look around. Instead each fleet goes to one star and stays there, claiming it and defending it.

Our intelligence said that the Vulcans regard our strategy as not only illogical but actually insane. Our response is that if you can travel at warp 7 or whatever Vulcan's top speed actually is, then the number of planets you can reach are considerable, with 100 light years away given 6 million cubic light years of space to discover. If we only go 10 light years, we are limited to 6 thousand cubic light years, which does not contain very many star systems. If we count orbiting multi-star systems as each being one system, then excluding Sol, there are only 8 systems. Going out to 15 light years increases the number of systems to 39, excluding Sol and 61 Cygni which contains Tellar. We also needed to exclude Struve 2398, Ross 154 and Ross 248 due to Tellarite presence at those stars. Barnard's Star was fairly close to Tellar, but was available since they regarded the system as being worthless.

So, sending out 36 colonization fleets is really not that many to try to reach everything within 15 light years, and of those maybe some will already have been settled, or have existing sentient life that would be covered by the non-interference directive.

We also did not have the luxury of just passing through systems and leaving small bases. There were the Orion pirates out there, who would go after soft targets. Starfleet was nowhere close to being able to strike the Orions where they lived, but if we could make attacks on us too dangerous, we assumed, like most predators, they would not bother. They already destroyed one of their own ships when they saw that we could remove their own crew from their ship.

We interrogated the two captured Orions again to ask them about this. One of them said, "With great rewards come great risks", meaning that if the price for selling a spell caster were high enough they would be willing to lose a few ships and their crews. They also thought that Orion traders might try offering great rewards to recruit spell casters voluntarily, if trying to seize them was not working. They cautioned though that after being recruited they would be slaves, even if well treated or even highly paid. After more questioning, it seemed like most Orions would be considered to be slaves to other Orions by the definition of Earth culture. We made sure to publicize this in magical media.

In 2017 we already had 7 systems other than Sol under our control. We were sending out an expedition to Tau Ceti due to its mention in canon. After that, there were 28 other expeditions we wanted to send out. There would be 4 in 2017. The plan was to send out an expedition to all of those by early 2019.

Some strategists were saying that as our area of controlled space expands, we need to have the capability to reliably detect and intercept unknown or enemy fleets at a distance of several light years. That way we could avoid the need of having a garrison of ships at each system. It was understood that we would need much faster ships, in addition to reliable detection in order to be able to rely on regional fleets, instead.

Tau Ceti had two habitable planets, 1 and 5, ideal for humans. It also had a planet, number 3, with a civilization of insects. Their name was Kaferia. The Kaferia had traded with other civilizations. Apparently their equivalent to apples and other fruits and olives were highly prized.

Starfleet followed their so far successful strategy we had with Ions and the Sirneuvians. We arrived and gave endless gifts on a planetary scale. Eventually we arrived at an agreement with them. We would settle planets 1 and 5, and have space stations in the system. We would continue to supply the Kaferians with significant help which they would select and adapt for their needs. We would provide them transport to anywhere they wanted to go within our controlled space. They didn't want to join Starfleet but would cooperate to the extent they wanted to.

Earth colonists started flooding to Tau Ceti 1 and 5, and continued to do so to Alpha 3. Cargo ships were using stasis to carry much larger numbers of colonists than they could otherwise. The millions who wanted to move to other stars wanted a new way of life, an adventure, maybe economic opportunities. With basic needs on Earth taken care of for free, none of them moved due to economic hardship.

Our research efforts were starting to converge on one problem, how to direct power. We wanted faster warp engines, more powerful phasers or maybe Klingon style disrupters, more powerful shields. We could produce more power, what we could not yet do was to channel that power to where it was needed in sufficient quantity. A related area is how to direct that power with precision in subspace.

What we called phasers were actually phase-modulated particle weapons. They weren't that much more advanced than the 1980's US research project. They had more power and could fire continuously or in blasts. True phasers, as used in Star Trek Original Series, used a different type of subatomic particle that involved subspace.

From what we learned from the Vulcans and the Tellarites, there is a whole new set of elements to find and to use. It is analogous to how in the magical world there are all sets of plants, animals, materials unknown to the non-magical world. In the world of warp capable civilizations there is a whole extra set of elements some of which have aspects in sub-space. They are used throughout technology and structures. They will help solve some of the challenges of better power handling to increase warp speed.

We knew that tuning the frequencies and alignments of warp components precisely are important. That is how we got to warp 2.9. We had no tuning ability to make that faster. One research area was using a magnetic constrictor in the plasma conduits. They would constrict down to the particle level, directing particles to exactly where they need to go. This could provide an alignment ability not possible with our current technology. It could align precisely with the dilithium crystal structure. All of these would only be on the positron side of the warp core. A whole other set of technologies would be needed for the antimatter side.

December 18th 2017 the Tau Ceti system was thriving. We had hundreds of thousands of humans, mostly non-magical, Goblins, a group of Centaurs, Ions, a few Sirnuevians, an isolated colony of werewolves on a planet without a moon. There were six starships assigned to the system, and at the time there were 3 convoys arriving or leaving from Tau Ceti, each with three starships. The escorting starships still use whatever extra space they have to carry cargo, generally equipment for Starfleet installation.

At 0.6 light years away from Tau Ceti we detected one starship sized ship approaching. We vectored three starships to shadow it, while placing 3 starships at each of our planets, including Kaferia, with the remaining three starships as a mobile reserve.

The ship dropped out of warp and headed to Kaferia. We broadcast in a few of the languages we knew, "Greetings unknown ship. Please identify yourself." Our ships had their shields up.

"This is Shral Th'tehreq, Captain of the Kurehar of the Andorian Empire. We have business on the third planet."

"Greetings, I am Admiral Marshall commanding Starfleet forces in the Tau Ceti system. What is your business on the third planet?"

"Trade. Is it normal to greet neighbors with raised shields?"

"We will verify that the Kaferians agree to your visit. While we wait, we invite you to a conference to on our ship."

The Kaferians answered the call from us, that they had a regular trading visit from the Andorians, who bought their prized fruits, which they traded for their own native berries and some machinery.

We said to the Andorians, "The Kaferians agree to your trading visit. You may proceed."

Captain Th'tehreq said, "I will shuttle over to your ship with 5 others, while trade is conducted with the Kaferians."

Six Andorians came through the airlock. We noted that they each had particle beam sidearms, and some knives, but made no issue of it. To match their gesture we made sure that the next group they would meet would be similarly visibly armed.

We brought them to what we called the impress the aliens room. It was a conference room with comfortable seating, a roaring fire in the corner, and a full sphere view of Tau Ceti system. The floor and walls and table were visible, but also see-through. The full sphere viewscreen had a section with magnified views of each planet and multiple angled views of the Andorian ship. They were offered a variety of foods and beverages, with their ingredients labeled. We communicated to them in Vulcan, since we both could speak it, even though they didn't like the Vulcans. We tried to talk in Tellar, but they weren't as fluent in that language.

After light introductory conversation, Captain Th'tehreq asked, "Are you allies of the Vulcans?"

Admiral Marshall answered, "We are friends of the Vulcans, allies of the Tellar, and protectors of the Kaferians. We are headquartered in the Sol system, and control several other systems, including this one. To answer your actual question, we are not obliged to take Vulcan's side if you and the Vulcans had a conflict."

Captain Th'tehreq asked, "If I may ask, what is Starfleet's position about the territorial disputes between Vulcan and the Andorian Empire?"

Admiral Marshall answered, "Starfleet hopes to maintain friendly relations to both sides. We offer our services to mediate disputes. We look to a future time when Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar, and Earth are all allies with each other.

At this time, we invite the Andorian Empire to send an embassy to Earth, who would be in a better location to make decisions instead of just stating our existing positions."

Captain Th'tehreq said, "Consider it done. We'll send a subspace message preceding our arrival. Meanwhile, let us assist each other in learning each other's primary language."

On Earth we had a Starfleet leadership meeting to go over the contact with Andorians and to decide how to proceed when their ambassador arrives.

Quahog said, "Admiral Marshall did the correct approach. He never gave them the chance to dispute Starfleet ownership of Tau Ceti, or the need to ask our permission before trading with Kaferia."

Harry Potter said, "The tough guy approach seemed to be the correct one. We kept the shields up to prevent surprise attacks, but in the etiquette of our region of space it is a fairly aggressive gesture. If we had instead been visiting their star system it would almost be a declaration of hostility."

Admiral Marshall speaking over subspace said, "I had seen the seer's vision of the Andorians raiding Earth. I thought that an intimidating greeting would serve us best in the long run. You might negotiate friendly relations with them, but they'll see we are ready to fight if need be. At the same time I made it clear that we were not planning to fight them on Vulcan's behalf, only if they made a mistake in how they approached us."