Universe Diplomat

Copyright © 2014 by Kim Middleton.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013922819

ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4931-5482-1

Softcover 978-1-4931-5481-4

eBook 978-1-4931-5483-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 04/15/2014

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

PART ONE: A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE

Prologue

Chapter One

The First Encounter

Chapter Two

Questions

Chapter Three

Silent Prayer

Chapter Four

Going Home

Chapter Five

Old Friend Old Enemy

Chapter Six

The Adversary

Chapter Seven

Secrets To Reveal

Chapter Eight

The Assignment

Chapter Nine

The Diploforum

Chapter Ten

The Final Blow

Chapter Eleven

The Truth Be Known

Chapter Twelve

Decision Time

Chapter Thirteen

The Wedding

Acknowledgments

I dedicate this novel to my parents for always supporting me when it came to getting and education in both life experiences and expanding my knowledge. They did more than their best to care for and raise me properly. They would open their arms, hearts, and home to everyone they knew, even strangers. They were very caring and loving people.

I wish to thank the professors at my Alma mater whom help me focus my interest in writing where I created this story as a seven page extra credit assignment titled ‘Planet IA4M’ and then expanded it into this manuscript titled Universe Diplomat.

I wish to thank all who have supported me in my endeavors to keep moving forward with my creative ideas and putting them down on paper with ink. I also wish to thank any and all of my future supporters.

PART ONE

A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE

From the past

For the present and future

Creates a need

For the

Universe Diplomat

Prologue

Buried within the downfall of any civilization are the hidden lessons which could have pointed the way to a productive future. Bartering or anything given a specific value was used for trading which helped to create a foundation for any society to prosper into a thriving civilization. But for some individuals, wealth alone wasn’t enough to satisfy their hunger. Greed eventually became their main course. Greed may have begun as an error in judgment, but the practice of being greedy became a normal routine for anyone using his or her wealth mostly for illicit gain. But then, greed wasn’t enough for a few of them. With their outrageous wealth, the greedy individuals took the next step and began to buy the power to take control over the unsuspecting and weaker governed civilizations. And the greed didn’t stop until nothing was left to take.

Wealth, Power, and Greed have been and always will be the catalyst in the decline of a man, a country, even the entire civilization of a planet. In the Twentieth Century, greed became the major driving force for anyone with enough wealth to buy the power eventually causing the destruction of a democratic society by manipulating, then eliminating many of their rights.

An individual with their vote on a single issue or political candidate made a democracy work, especially when everyone was striving for the same things. But then the wealthy wanted to take control and began to force their greed upon everyone by buying politicians and taking a legal foothold. These bought politicians began to change the laws by making changes in the voting process where the individual voter had to define the outcome of multiple issues using one vote, forcing the elimination of some of their rights to choose. But it didn’t stop there.

With the fear of losing their wealth and power, they forced another change by manipulating the individual’s vote for a trustworthy candidate to go to the political candidate in complete support of their wealthy and greedy goals. This final process began to eliminate a peaceful yet thriving democratic society forcing the society to live under the total control of a greedy, wealthy, and powerful, dictatorship. So when the right to choose was eventually eliminated through the process of negative change, the society as a whole became affected causing its inevitable downfall. In some cases, it caused total extinction of the civilization.

Individuals would work hard their whole life to fulfill a dream. But the greedy would destroy the dream and take it away by hiding behind the laws they had their political puppets create just to become wealthier and more powerful. Although legal representation was required for evidential proof and the enforcement of the laws, the ethics of truthful representation were replaced with misleading untruths and misguided selfish values. Therefore, the focus on technicalities instead of the facts helped to perpetuate the downfall of the old style political and judicial systems.

Lawyers and judges were used regularly up to the end of the Twenty-first Century. But the need for them just disappeared with the educational and technical advancements being made. One such advancement was the use of very sophisticated emotion sensors similar to the older voice analyzers and wireless lie detectors. These sensors are used in the judicial systems to eliminate the need for an emotionally biased jury, a greedy lawyer, or an inequitable judge with the power of authority. As civilizations grew, it forced society to make changes on how they functioned as a whole.

The ability for positive change is one of the requirements for the prosperous advancement of any civilization. For any individual or the entire civilization to learn and understand what the future holds for them relates to how well they can adapt to the change by understanding the past. A stagnate civilization does not educate themselves to progressively advance their society into the future; therefore they keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again to the point of causing their own extinction. The civilization with the desire for education learns to advance by adapting to positive change, making their future an open book.

To change from a young violent society to a peaceful civilization is a positive step into the future. Because the day comes, as it does with all civilizations, when the worlds they have been tenants of forces them to take the next step. Like a child forced from their mother’s womb to explore their own world, the children of the worlds are forced to explore the universe for the continuance of their civilizations. For any progressive civilization, change is inevitable.

The universe is full of mysteries requiring the unquestionable ability to change and adapt with the understanding for its need. Upon exploring the universe, the children of one world meet the children of another world, creating foundations for new societies as they learn about each others different cultures and customs. The exchange of scientific knowledge from everyday use to the unknowns of the Universe is always beneficial. As the children continue to explore, new civilizations are born becoming intertwined with the old, creating new species throughout the universe. Eventually, the need for some form of unified services to help adapt to the never ending changes is brought into question. In the times that followed, the demand for these services grew. Then due to the increasing popularity, that demand had created what’s known as the United Universe Service (UUS).

With the determination and sacrifice of many individuals, the UUS has spread its influence across the vastness of space throughout the existing seven quadrants of the explored universe. By the Twenty-six Century, the UUS has evolved into a united conglomerate of services formed by the legal representatives of the planets and their territories with a singular purpose in mind—to promote peace and prosperity throughout the Universe. These services can vary from all types of social aid and education, to the use of diplomatic avenues, and even military support when needed. To say that one entity controlling the universe is disastrous would be an understatement. But the unified efforts of the UUS members extend much farther then just supporting and maintaining peace throughout the universe.

With each addition of a newly discovered planet, star system, or galaxy, the UUS adapts to the challenge of continuous change that helps to keep the universe a peaceful place to live and prosper. Adaptability is the key for the success of the UUS as well as the support for its members. Even with the existing planets and territories, the services of the UUS are requested in some form or another on a regular basis. The UUS is always on the ready to serve, to protect, and to support the peaceful foundation on which all the inhabitants of the universe strive for.

Due to the continuous exploration and expansion into the unknown parts of the universe, the explorers and colonist create their own form of a judicial system based on the principles of the UUS. Always, at first, their designed system would work and together they would build upon it to form a peaceful society.

In some areas of the universe where lawlessness exist, the criminals seem to gain the upper hand by using the means and methods necessary to get around the system. But for the most part, they just simply ignore the system. When that happens, the system doesn’t fail; it gets modified with the support of the UUS.

Presently, each solitary planet or territory of planets has created their own hierarchy in which they can oversee their own judicial system. But no judicial system is perfect. So, when conflicts in the system occur and a settlement seems impossible, Universe Diplomats are called upon to do their job in accordance with the policies and guidelines set forth by the UUS. There are only a handful of these dedicated individuals who have the authority as a Universe Diplomat to oversee any judicial system set in place. And it doesn’t matter how small or large the task is; they have never failed to accomplish their mission with a high degree of success for both disputing sides. Universe Diplomats have proven to be the most honest and trustworthy individuals in the universe. Their lives and a peaceful universe depend on it.

There have been countless times when Special Agents were used throughout the centuries to secretly infiltrate, manipulate, gather information, and in some cases just make things right by helping to put them back into the proper perspective. In the Twenty-six Century, there is very little difference when special agents are sent on missions or long term assignments. The mystique of each assignment and the innate danger of being an agent can only add to the intrigue of each mission.

All Special Agents of the universe are trained at a Military Academy of Special Operations. To attend the Academy is by appointment only, which must be approved by a Universe Diplomat. There is only one academy in each quadrant and during the first year of training every academy uses the same training techniques. That’s where all cadets go through one year of rigorous training in hostile environments on four different planets. Any cadet who can successfully complete their first year of training will have the option to continue their second and final year of training, or begin serving under the President of their quadrant. If the cadet decides to continue their training, they are taught the inherent uniqueness of the quadrant they live in. When the cadet successfully completes their second year and graduates from the academy, avenues of fantastic opportunities begin to open for those Special Agents. Quicker promotions are very common for those remaining in the service of the UUS military and grants to any active agent the classifications required for holding higher offices with very impressive titles. These offices include becoming a Regional Territorial Governor of Planets or holding the office of the President of their quadrant, even the position of a Universe Diplomat lie within their grasp.

Two of the academy’s top graduates in the Alpha Quadrant have been inseparable since teaming up together during their first training assignment. Their missions have taken them to the far ends of the Alpha Quadrant ranging from a simple escort service to infiltrating a team of political assassins and bringing the criminals to justice. As a team, they have a 100% success rate on all their missions. Their success rate along with their rapid promotions has hurled both of them into the top 1% of all agents. It’s an elite group of special agents used throughout the Alpha Quadrant under the guidance and direct control of the Universe Diplomats.

These two agents are very much aware there is no such thing as a routine mission. Even though every mission is different, they labor for the success of a peaceful solution. With their elite ranking, most of the missions are in the high-risk category dealing with the criminal aspect of the hierarchy within a weakened judicial system, where greed and power of the few have overridden the masses desire for a peaceful and prosperous civilization. As Special Agents, they know they need to be able to adapt quickly to any change in the status of their mission without delay. The successful outcome of their mission depends on it, including their own fate. One of their missions resulted in them receiving the highest honor ever bestowed to Special Agents The Presidential Gold Star Burst. That mission brought down not one, but two Regional Territorial Governor of Planets for their unjust behavior and criminal activities.

With their sense of honor and dedication to duty, there was nothing that would prevent them from accepting any high-risk assignment. Their latest mission is as follows:

Year: 2578 AD

Location: Ficus—a mining planet in the Alpha Quadrant.

Mission: Stop the theft of Titanium shipments.

Assignment: Gather vital information on those responsible for the theft of the Titanium shipments.

Classification: Top Secret.

The young captain positions his ship just outside the scanning range of the planet Ficus. The longer his ship can remain undetected, the safer he and his partner are. His partner is down on the surface of Ficus with a list of names gathered from informants. The list reveals who is responsible for the theft of the titanium shipments with an additional bonus containing the names of the rebel leaders. With the miners wanting the violence and thievery to come to an end, his partner had no problem in collecting the information. The only problem confronting his partner is to get to the rendezvous point on time with the information.

The rendezvous point is the surface access point number 3 of the mine, which is a mile away from the underground settlement. There are underground passageways from the settlement to all five mine entrances, which seem to go on for miles in all directions. Anyone could easily discover themselves lost if they didn’t know the way through them. So the captain’s partner and the informant silently traverse their way from the settlement through the tunnels towards the rendezvous point. The pathway isn’t straight or very well lit which increases the possibility of an ambush. With each labored step and being careful enough to avoid contact with anyone else, they get closer to the number 3 surface access point to the mine. All of a sudden they hear heavy footsteps coming up from behind. The informant points to one of the out crossings in the passageway. Both of them scramble to hide behind it as the sound from the heavy footsteps keeps getting closer.

The young captain sitting in the safety of his ship becomes a little concern for his partner whom hasn’t sent the retrieval signal. The signal is fifteen minutes past due now. Minute after minute keeps ticking by, but the young captain refuses to leave. It’s not the first time a retrieval signal hasn’t been sent at a predetermine schedule, as he recalls from some of their previous missions together. Patiently waiting for the signal, the young captain passes the time checking his ships systems.

Thirty minutes have gone by when the signal is finally sent. The young captain responds by pushing the green button on his control panel. His engines come to life as his ship takes aim towards the surface of Ficus below. Within a blink of the eyes, his ship disappears in a flash leaving only its fading ion trail to detect.

A few moments later, he reaches his rendezvous coordinates. Hovering 500 feet above the planet’s surface, he initiates the teleportation system. Seconds later, only his partner’s combadge gets teleported onboard. At that very instant, his ship begins to violently shake. He struggles to maintain control as he soon discovers phaser cannons firing on him from multiple locations on the surface.

Even as his ship is violently bounced around, he still manages to lock onto one of the surface cannon’s location with his phaser and fires. It’s a direct hit lighting up the night sky making it seem like daylight for miles around. The other two cannons on the surface continue to take aim and fire at his ship. Quickly he searches for the second cannon and when he locates it he can’t get a positive lock. The impacts from the surface cannons begin to affect his ships systems. So he frantically fires his phaser with the hope his aim is true. It’s another direct hit.

By now his shields are down to 15% power but he continues to struggle with his ship to maintain as much control as he can. With only one more phaser cannon on the surface left to destroy, he takes aim at the third location. Again he fires his phaser. But there is no response. He makes another attempt to fire his phaser with unsuccessful results. His weapon systems seem to have been damaged by one of the blasts from the only remaining cannon. With no time to think about what happened to his partner or trying to bring the ships weapon systems back on line, the young captain engages his engines to escape the surface cannon’s rally. As his ship makes a hasty retreat, the last phaser cannon continues to fire upon his ship knocking out what was left of his shields and causing extensive damage to the ship’s external hull.

Barely escaping the planet’s gravity, the young captain has no time to relax. He quickly begins to analyze the damage to his ship. With the shields down, he knows he is vulnerable to total destruction if he comes under attack again. He manages to maneuver his ship into an asteroid belt and hides amongst the larger chunks of lifeless rocks. Finally feeling safe, he sends off a distress message to his mother ship. He has very little time to be concerned about his partner, and he knows his partner would not willingly give up his combadge. He can only assume his partner was captured and interrogated for information.

Being followed into the asteroid belt was the least of the young captain’s problems, because it didn’t take long before the effects from the cannon’s rally begin an assault on his internal systems. Sparks and smoke begin to appear everywhere throughout the ship. One by one his internal systems seem to be failing. With great skill and determination, the young captain still manages to guide his crippled ship through the asteroid belt and into the darkness of space while continually transmitting his distress message and trying to repair his primary systems. With the extensive damage to his internal systems, he can’t even be sure his distress signal is being sent. It is even possible his emergency transponder has also been damage and not functioning properly. With most of his systems severely damaged, he may never find out.

Struggling to reach the pre arranged rendezvous point with his mother ship, the main drive quits functioning, marooning him in the middle of nowhere. With no power from his main drive, all of his ship’s functions will soon cease to operate. And when the power crystals are completely drained, life support will cease to function. Afterwards, the only breathable air will be the oxygen supplies from the four survival suits onboard.

Time goes by and there is still no response to his distress message. By now the sparks from the malfunctioning systems have dissipated, but the pungent odor and smoke from the fires continue to linger throughout the ship burning his eyes and making it hard for him to see what systems need to be repaired. After considering all of his options, the only way to evacuate the smoke will result in the loss of some of his precious oxygen, but he has no choice in the matter. So he straps himself down by the nearest hatch and cracks it open just long enough to clear out most of the smoke along with some of his life sustaining oxygen. Afterwards, the young Captain spends his time feverishly trying to reroute the circuits and continues to do everything possible to keep his vital systems functioning before life support fails completely. Three hours later, the ships damaged power crystals have completely drained, and his efforts to repair any of the internal systems have fallen in vain.

Still refusing to give in to his situation the young captain is left with one option, which is to get into his survival suit. The survival suits are in the supply locker located in the rear cabin. As he opens the locker door, a tremendous amount of blackened smoke comes rushing out towards him. He closes his eyes and holds his breath then moves off to the side to regain his senses. He takes a breath from the stagnant cabin air as he opens his eyes. The reason for the smoke becomes apparent as it clears.

A power conduit junction behind the locker blew up and caught fire. The debris from the blast damaged all the suits hanging on their hooks by tearing holes through them and damaging their power crystals. The captain soon realized only three of the four suits were hanging. He begins to look for the fourth suit as he notices a lot of debris by his feet, which had fell to the floor when he opened the supply locker door. As he begins to kick the debris around with his boots, he uncovers the fourth suit. He reaches down to pick it up and give it a quick inspection. It’s the only suit which was knocked off its hook and fell onto the floor of the locker, protecting it from the later exploding power conduit damaged during the phaser cannon rally.

While donning the survival suit, he pauses just for a moment before slipping his head into the helmet to remove a chain from around his neck. Attached to the chain is a narrow one-inch diameter disc. He quickly looks at it as if taking a trip down memory lane before squeezing the disc tightly in his palm. He then places the chain with the disc in the sleeve pocket of his survival suit. Once again, his thoughts focus on the mission as he places his helmet over his head and seals it for an airtight fit. But he can’t stop thinking about the combadge, wondering if his partner is alive or dead.

He returns to the forward cabin to occupy the empty pilot’s chair. At this point, the ship can only resemble a lifeless airtight metal coffin. The temperature in the cabin keeps dropping as he feels the cold permeating through his suit. In his despair, there is nothing more the young captain can do to his ship to bring any life back into it. With nothing but time on his hands now, the young captain gets as comfortable as possible in his chair and looks out the cockpits window at the beauty and vastness of space taking in all of its grandeur. He finally succumbs to the realization that it’s time for peaceful reflection as he remembers the more pleasant and happier times of his life.

A few minutes later, warning indicators begin to flash on the helmet faceplate as the oxygen in the survival suit begins to run low. He begins to notice ice crystals forming on the inside of his of his helmet, which is never a very good sign. The reality of an in-time rescue seems to be diminishing just like the oxygen in his suit. Even though the survival suit is equipped with a small re-breather unit, it still needs a power crystal to recharge the chemical filters every hour. Sadly, the falling debris landing on top of the suit when it was knocked down onto the floor of the supply locker fractured the power crystal.

It’s not long afterwards when delirium begins to set in. His mind is being bombarded with many unfocused thoughts. As the steady beat of time begins to fluctuate in his mind, he struggles for one last coherent thought. He reaches for the small one-inch diameter disc he always keeps with him and activates it by pushing the chain support latch to the side. His eyes begin to focus solely on the holographic image in front of him. As the young captain looks at the image illuminating from the disc, he is aware of one last absolute thought—death is soon to follow. His body continues to fight for his survival but his mindset is to accept a peaceful and gallant death? Slowly fading in and out of reality, he finally succumbs to total unconsciousness from the frigid cold of space and the lack of oxygen as death came knocking at his door.

Chapter One

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

It’s early January in the year 2603 AD, and having returned from a secret military mission is a privately owned and very unique ship called the Monarch. It is docked at the space station called Hi-Orb II, which is a sphere measuring seven miles in diameter and orbits one hundred thirteen thousand miles above the planet Earth. Perched on an external platform, the ship poised in all of its reflective beauty silently waits for its next mission to bring back to life all of its grandeur. It is a ship with its own personality due mostly in part to the captain and its crew. Sadly to say, the Monarch had just completed its last mission as a military vessel. It is to be decommissioned from active military service after ten years of exemplary performance and reassigned its original classification as a Diplomatic Courier.

The Monarch is an extraordinary ship suitably designed for deep space travel. It’s equipped with technology and features not known to everyone, unless they are a Universe Diplomat or have traveled outside of their quadrant illegally. It’s a sleek, streamlined Delta-shaped configuration of a highly reflective mirror skin making it almost invisible to the naked eye against any background. It’s 200 feet wide at the forward section, 800 feet wide at the tail and 1,300 feet long. Looking almost flat on the underside, the Monarch’s symmetrical oval shaped main structure starts off narrow at the forward section as it gradually increases to a height of 200 feet just before the mid section. It continues at that height until it reaches the aft section where it slowly curves upward to a height of 400 feet as the tail wraps itself around the 100 foot length drive section. The leading edges are narrow, as they curve around the flattened forward section before joining the protrusion of the main body 300 feet behind the nose of the ship. It’s at this point where the body of the ship starts to extend outward from the lower main structure in a swept back manner towards the aft section looking like wings. All the leading edges and tips of the wings are narrow as they seamlessly attach themselves to the main structure in a smooth flowing manner slowly increasing to 200 feet in height towards the rear drive section. Most military ships are bulky looking, but not the Monarch with its smooth sleek curves, elegant lines, and its twenty-eight decks. Even docked in port, it almost looks invisible as it reflects its surroundings off its highly reflective mirror skin.

The Monarchs home base of operations is on the Ambrose Space Station which orbits seventy six thousand miles above a resort planet named Utopia in the Alpha quadrant. The Ambrose station was built to be used as a major transportation hub and the Port of Entry granting access