One Thousand Worlds in One Thousand Words: The Best Laid Plans: Birth Of The Starclan (J. W. McAllister) on Sci-Fi Saturday

This week on Sci-Fi Saturday, J. W. McAllister shares the Prologue of his novel The Best Laid Plans: Birth Of The Starclan.

Best Laid Plans: Birth Of The Starclan-

In two weeks, when the Fleet arrived at Earth, the man known to a quarter of the galaxy simply as "The Admiral" would officially retire at a great party at the Lunar Grand Ballroom Among The Stars. And then his most important assignment would begin. These were his best laid plans.
But others had very different plans involving Angus MacAlister, his Senator wife, and his assumed second career.
What Admiral MacAlister faced was no where near his plans: Fierce battles in space above the Earth, with the planet's very survival hinging on the outcome. Searching through the wreckage for survivors. Bloody fights for survival with bio-engineered warriors. A mysterious symbiosis revealing telepathic powers.
Assassination attempts. Searching for his wife, stranded on an unknown, lifeless planet. Building a society from the shattered remains of humanity, only to discover that societies can evolve along unforeseen lines. Costly attempts at vengeance. A daring rescue into the last stronghold of the horrific alien menace that ultimately fails, yet brings new friends and new hopes as it reveals terrible possibilities. And a little romance..

The reactions of Angus MacAlister to all of this fuels the birth of something much larger, and much more important, among the few million surviving humans.

About this author-

James Warren McAllister is a Registered Respiratory Therapist living in Central New York State. Currently employed in Healthcare Accreditation, James has extensive experience in the hospital, home care, and management aspects of Respiratory Care.

James grew up in Central New York, where his two brothers, Joel, who passed in 2009, and Jack, along with mother Ellie and father Fred, who passed in 1998, helped foster interests in history, sports, science, and the arts. A graduate of Corcoran High School and Upstate Medical University, James also played football for several years with the Syracuse based Salt City Aces, a semi-pro team in the Empire Football League.

In 1980, James somehow convinced Cynthia Coon to marry him. His exceptional and unexplained good fortune in this area continues to this day. Jim and The Lovely Cindy have two wonderful sons, Michael McAllister, an accountant with a local bank and Scout.com's Syracuse University recruiting analyst, and Kevin McAllister, who is entering the ministry after graduating with a master's degree from the Boston University School of Theology in 2013.

James has been interested in science fiction since a friend in Junior High School lent him the Lensmen Series of books by E. E. "Doc" Smith. This interest was further spiked by Star Trek, and then Star Wars.

James' work takes him all over; he has been to 40 States, along with Bermuda, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

James' other interests include history, computers, photography, Jordan The Wonder Cat, gardening, fishing, and scale model building.

Prologue

Large Survey Vessel USF Sagan,

Star System 44G92216

Standard Earth Date July 21 3803

“Captain, I have an anomaly!” Senior Sensor Officer Ellie Joslyn exclaimed as obnoxious alarms fulfilled their purpose by agitating everyone on the bridge.

The Large Survey Vessel USF Sagan was following standard approach procedure for entering unexplored star systems, running in Stealth Mode Alpha. The four kilometer long exploration vessel emitted no energy, and moved with silent invisibility through the outer reaches of the star system designated 44G92216. The ship was traveling under momentum built up well outside the system. Now fourteen Astronomical Units, or AUs, out from the bright yellow star, the dull charcoal colored Sagan coasted at 0.3 effective light-speed.

The primary exploration vessel class of the USF, the Sagan was a Magellan class vessel based upon the Excalibur Heavy Cruiser design. While the streamlined dumbbell shaped, starship shared all the stealth and defensive capabilities of her military cousin, the Sagan was modestly armed with only four twin heavy rail gun turrets and two GravTorp Tubes as offensive firepower, along with two hangers for the one Wildcat fighter squadron and several transport and utility vessels used for exploration. Military presence was limited to one company of Marines. The extra space and power was used for an increased scientific crew along with an extensive sensor and communications array.

“Let’s have it, Miss Joslyn!” Captain Howard Sloan prodded, successfully hiding his nervous apprehension from his crew. No USF exploration vessel had ever contacted any evidence of an alien life form, let alone an actual live alien.

“Only visual, sir. And that is, well, weird!” The young blonde Sensor Officer could not keep the excitement and nervous tension she felt out of her voice. This could only mean one thing, she thought; Contact!

“On screen.”

“Aye-aye, sir”

The huge viscreen display at the front of the bridge had been displaying a real-scale view of the star system before them. Now it quickly zoomed in to the third planet from the star. The advanced gravity optics bent the available light to give a miraculous view of incredible detail.

“Opinion, Miss Joslyn?”

“It’s twelve AUs away sir. It’s moving towards us, and fast. And, it’s big. REAL big.” Joslyn excitedly reported.

“Crew; this is the Captain: Execute Contact Protocol Alpha” Sloan announced throughout the ship. “How big is it, Johnson?” Immediately wishing he had phrased that differently when he heard Joslyn’s combination giggle/whisper, “Told you that size matters!” directed at Sensor Chief Barry Johnson, seated at the adjacent station. Johnson rolled his eyes and nodded towards the Captain. A slight grin had crept onto the Captain’s face as he relaxed just a little.

“Estimated diameter is……180 Kilometers, sir.” Joslyn’s awed voice nearly a whisper at the thought of those intimidating dimensions.

“ETA?” Before Joslyn could answer, the Captain Sloan added, “Can we get a better picture on it?”

“That is a true rendering, sir; it really does shimmer like that! ETA, is, um, now, sir. It’s here!” she gasped.

The object stopped 200 Km from the Sagan, perfectly matching her speed and vector. A light grey sphere, it shimmered as if seen through very hot air rising off of sun-baked asphalt.

“Part of the ship has come into focus, sir. Like something underwater breaking the surface!”

“Energy emissions; it’s scanning us, sir!” Sensor Officer Passives Johnson exclaimed.

“Capta….” Joslyn’s shout began and died as a very bright, red light flashed from the surface of the object.

The standard procedure for exploring an uncharted system was to drop a Stealth Comm Recon Drone outside the system. And Captain Sloan always followed procedure; the Mk 12 SCRD he had dropped dutifully recorded the huge ship and its 1,200-member crew evaporate into an expanding cloud of glowing plasma.