[James Casbolt]

UN Deep Space Fleet

By Captain Mark Richards
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had never heard of a UN Deep Space Fleet until that moment, and as a child I had never added all the meetings with people like Dag Hammarskold ( who had been murdered in 1961 ) and Admiral Louis Mountbatten. Nor did I have any idea about who my father really might be.
That night, my eyes and mind were opened to many facts that I had never considered before. One of those facts revolved around the amazing concept of atomic-bomb-powered spaceships known as the ORIONS, and the UN Deep Space Fleet that they would allow.
Of course, I had overheard tidbits here and there. Long midnight conversations with Theodore Taylor and Freeman Dyson and Edward Teller at our home in Marin throughout most of the 1950's were normally long after my bedtime, but I had managed to overhear a few bits as I tried to sneak from my room to the bathroom or kitchen. At the time, it just seemed like another 'fighter' project of some sort, as father always seemed to be helping with those on so many levels. I knew father had been a world war two figther pilot, and had flown jets in the early days- but it was my understanding that his combat jet flying had been ended by the F-86 crash that had left his with a broken neck.
I also knew he was very smart, and his knowledge and views on subjects like aircraft were deeply respected. I had no real grasp on why so many famous thinkers seemed to be such good friends, or why we seemed to always be around when important events took place. The fact that Theodore Taylor was a relative of my mother, and Father seemed to be related to most of the crowned heads of Europe, never seemed important until that night.
The moment that Mr Smith made the mistake of telling me the truth that July night, everything changed. A million small unrelated bits of information started to rush together, as my mind seemed to start to come alive for the first time. Instantly, I knew that the Orion project was to be a major part of my life.
The need for such as fleet was frighteningly simple: There were now such alien threats that humanity would not survive unless it defended itself- and at that moment I could only guess at how many fronts that defence would come at. This was to be a war the likes that humans had never seen.