Chapter 43:

Tellar sent an email to every spell caster with a known email address who wasn't in Starfleet, "Tellar is recruiting for spell casting on Tellar. Short and long term contracts available. Excellent pay and benefits."

Starfleet spell casters were sent a message asking if they would like to transfer to the Tellarite Space Force. They were offered better pay and also interesting assignments.

The joint research team finally got the photon torpedoes to work at warp.

A new combined effort was being made to perfect phase cannons. The project was based in the Asteroid Belt. The Tellarites liked the Manor houses placed there. We started the project with a giant watch party of Star Trek Canon, selected to be relevant to the research effort. Some scenes were censored due to the limitations of their level of access.

The Tellarite way of doing a watch party was different than Human customs. There were scattered comfortable chairs, but they tended to jump up a lot to argue. The screens were placed high in the room so everyone could see. Everyone could pause the playback and then back it up a little. It was half watching, half debating.

First episode in the party was Enterprise, Silent Enemy.

A Tellarite paused and yelled, "A sensor dampening field! We must see if we learn more about how it is done."

When the Enterprise song started, all the Tellarites sang along in a spirited way, "It's been a long road getting from there to here ...", in a purely sarcastic manner.

The Enterprise crew was discussing why the alien ship wouldn't respond. A Tellarite shouted out, "The Vulcan aboard is more sensible than anyone else there. Maybe you should let the Vulcans decide things for you."

When the unknown ship scans the Enterprise causing an unpleasant sound, one of the humans said, "Don't worry about this. Our fleet has a standard protocol of shields up all the time. That could have been destruction, not just a scan."

As soon as the video resumed, the unknown ship actually fires on the Enterprise. The Tellarites laugh and one yells out, "They would need good armor if they allow everyone one free shot at them."

Later there is a scene where it was said that the Enterprise didn't install their phase cannons yet. A Tellarite yelled out, "Your species needs checklists before leaving space dock. Fuel, check. All weapons installed properly, check." The rest of the Tellarites laughed loudly.

A Human quoted a scene, "Phase modulated energy weapon. 500 gigajoules. Enterprise was designed to carry three of them."

There was a scene showing the dining hall, a Tellarite paused it and asked, "Why are those two shaker dispensers on each table?"

A Human answered, "Probably salt and black pepper. That is fairly standard for Human dining."

The Tellarite asked, "Why? Are those essential nutrients for your species?"

The video resumed, the Enterprise polarized its hull plating after being fired upon. A Tellarite yelled out, "That is not a bad idea. In case shields are down, or the captain is foolish enough to leave them down, it looks like a fair bit of damage can be absorbed that way. We should add this to our design."

After there were suspected boarders, the Enterprise crew was wandering around with a hand-held beam weapon in one hand, and a flashlight in another. A Human called out, "What idiocy. No drones. One hand taken up holding a flashlight instead of headlamps or weapon mounted lights."

After the next scene, a Human said, "That unknown species had effective shields around their spacesuits. We should start a research project to invent that."

At another scene, a Human said, "Finally we see the shape of the phase cannon nozzle. That should help in designing. Also, it can be pushed out of the shields when fired, retracted when not."

After an alien device is found connected to Enterprise systems, a Tellarite yelled, "There needs to be security protocols for all interconnected systems."

A Human called out, "You can refill your plates and cups and visit facilities. We will start the episode Fallen Hero in 10 minutes."

A group of Tellarites and Humans were debating the energy flow rates of the Canon phase cannons. "Look at the way the nozzle flares inward. Guess the metal. That gives the answer."

During the episode viewing a Tellarite called out, "That Vulcan is entirely too intrusive. Is there any topic for which they won't tell Humans what to do." Another Tellarite answered, "Absolutely nothing, not even topics that Humans do not like discussing in public."

When the Mazarite ship fires on the Enterprise a Human called out, "They wait until a nearby ship charges their beam weapons and then they polarize their hull plating. If other species follow the same protocol, then stealth torpedoes would catch them with shields down."

After the explanation of phase cannons at warp, a Tellarite was lecturing, "The phase cannon's interference at warp is solvable. The long charging time is too much of a tactical disadvantage, even with having it pre-charged. Beam weapons are being used by Starfleet for anti-drone and torpedo today. Phase cannons cannot replace that function. Perhaps they can be added as an anti-ship weapon, but we will need to also keep the plasma cannons for use against drones and torpedoes."

Another Tellarite answered, "But what is the limit of pre-charging? Maybe enough for anti-drone and torpedo use?"

A Human added, "Wouldn't need full charge shots against those targets."

A Tellarite argued, "You cannot keep plasma around indefinitely. There is no effective long term storage to prepare phase canons for a full battle."

A Human answered, "Instead of separate plasma cannons, maybe the same nozzles can be used for both."

A Tellarite argued, "Its a completely different kind of energy. Why not just phase at a lower power? It only has to be as good as today's plasma cannons to be worth replacing them."

Later a Human asked, "What about the ring shaped warp coils the Vulcan ship had?"

A Tellarite answered "Slightly more efficient, but too delicate. It suits the controlled life of the Vulcans but not for a fleet that has frequent combat."

Another Tellarite argued, "But more efficient is better. Faster travel, faster combat speed."

The Tellarite argued back, "Try to lose a pursuing ship in a nebula with those engines. There is a reason that Canon always shows two warp nacelles a little offset from the ship, even centuries later."

During the projects that followed, shields and inertial dampers were quickly improved by combining Tellarite technology with magic.

All ships in both fleets were being quickly upgraded. The Tellarites planned to start building NX design ships in the future, with both civilizations improving the efficiency of building them and sharing components. Tellar had access to some better materials which magic was helping to duplicate.

[June 2021 planning meeting]

We invited the Tellarite leader Mirggond, Ambassador Grashnish, and Technology Envoy Rannerg to our planning meeting. We watched four Enterprise episodes, The Andorian Incident, Cease Fire, Babel One, and United.

During the Andorian Incident, Mirggond yelled out, "The Andorians are insane. They attack just at the hint that Humans might be allied with Vulcans."

Grashnish added, "Your approach of give everyone a few free shots at you might actually have worked in this episode."

Khan said, "A very different timeline. They are not us."

I added, "Besides the Andorian volatility, what was their motivation? I think it was more than a territorial dispute. They believed that the Vulcans would conquer their homeworld."

Draco asked, "Do you think the Vulcan listening post is at P'Jem now?"

I answered, "We can guess but Canon doesn't say when it was built. If we use that as a diplomatic opening and there is no listening post, it would not help our credibility."

Watching Cease Fire, Khan called out, "The Vulcans and Andorians only start fighting over Weytahn in 2097, and settled by the Andorians a century before 2154. We cannot use this in diplomacy now.

Watching Babel One, Grashnish said, "The Romulans really want Tellar and Andoria to fight each other. If we could prove this to the Andorians maybe they could see that there are worse enemies out there than us or even the Vulcans."

Juan said, "What is so frustrating is that in Canon the Alliance got started due to proving that the Romulans were trying to get everyone to fight each other. Now we only have Canon, and from what we've seen I do not see how to convince the Andorians that there is any truth to it."

Daphne said, "Let us think about that. How to convince the Andorians that Canon was true."

Hermione asked Grashnish, "How many espressos is that for you?"

Grashnish smiled and replied, "This is my tenth."

Rannerg added, "We have some coffee trees growing on Tellar Prime. There are a narrow range of conditions it needs, but with only a little shelter from weather outside of its conditions it can grow naturally. It will be another year before it yields fruit in quantity. Why does your society throw away the fruit and only keep the bean?"

Hermione answered, "I think it is due to the plants being far away from the consumers and the historical lack of an ability to preserve the fruit for transport. That maybe it just wasn't popular. Bananas have been shipped fresh to most of the planet for a long time with minimal technology."

After more discussion, Hermione said, "So, in conclusion we agree that the Sirius system must be secured before approaching Andoria. That is the only territory that Solar had in Canon that is close to the Andorians.

We also agree in a show of force, not a lightly armed visit."

[August 2021 at Jupiter Orbit Station]

In Canon there was Jupiter Station, in orbit around Jupiter, which was a repair and cargo station for the Solar System. We thought we could make a small change to Canon and call it Jupiter Orbit Station. It was a little beyond the orbit of Jupiter. This way external vessels wouldn't get too close to Io and also could use warp travel without worrying about the gravity of Jupiter.

It was a major complex of stations. It had facilities for maintenance and repair for Starfleet vessels, and a nearby station with the same for civilian warp vessels. It was intended also to be the main trade station for the Solar System, that way eventually trade would not need to go too far into the Solar System, but could be transferred there.

A combined Solar and Tellarite fleet assembled there to visit the Andorians. Yes, it was going to be a show of force, while also attempting peaceful contact. Four United Solar starships and four Tellarite ships set out to visit Andoria.

The other four starships were still at Centauri, with two of them sent to Sirius. Another smaller colony was started at Centauri Alpha 3. To not leave Centauri Beta unoccupied, a small station was left at Centauri Beta 4 with a mostly automated mining facility on the planet.

Meanwhile four more were under construction but waiting for the latest research before being completed. Tellar was similarly in the middle of building four NX ships. They could be completed quickly with current technology in case of need.

[January 2022 at Sirius]

First the fleet arrived at Alpha Canis Majoris, 8.7 light years away from Earth and also called Sirius. They setup a Solar colony at Sirius Alpha 3 there, with proper defenses. Some Tellarites joined the colony. It had the ruins of an extinct civilization. We determined that it was likely radiation of some sort that caused the extinction. We setup radiation shielding and deep underground shelters in case the hazard ever were to return.

Sirius Beta 9 had a technological civilization that was an offshoot of a now extinct star empire. They had lost the ability of interstellar travel. We introduced ourselves and notified them that we would be colonizing other parts of the Sirius system. We offered technical assistance if they wanted it, and agreed to tying them into our internet and providing help with food and industrial production on their planet.

The fleet then headed towards Andoria. They all watched every episode that showed the Andorians in Enterprise. Later series wouldn't be as relevant to the Andorians that they would soon meet.

A Tellarite said, "So we would fight them in the future. They and the Vulcans are almost fighting now. Somehow all four of us start a Federation?" Then he started singing "It will be a long road, getting from here to there."

[March 2022 near Andoria]

The fleet halted 1 light year from Andoria in a spot that was neither in Andorian nor Vulcan space. It sent a subspace message, "A combined fleet from Tellar and the Solar System wishes to conduct talks with the Andorian Empire. Our coordinates are at..."