Galactic League Alpha Team Fourteen

The Galactic League Alpha Explorer Teams are responsible for all explorations into the unexplored areas of space. The League learned long ago that large expeditionary forces simply did not work. To minimize damage to newly discovered systems, reduce danger to the explorers themselves, and maximize the quality and quantity of data gathered, nothing could beat a highly trained alpha team.

Each team was made up of the Team Commander, the Team Exec, and six to eight additional members. Each team typically included at least one medical doctor, one science officer, one communications expert, one linguist, one engineer, and one archaeologist. All were trained in the art of survival in hostile environments, and most were cross-trained in multiple disciplines

There are only twenty-seven teams in the entire Galactic League exploratory force, and Jake Tarckman's Team Fourteen is the most successful. They are famous for their work on the Darton System and the discovery of the now extinct Dartonians, who had once had a complex, highly advanced society. They are about to meet the Galaxy Keeper.

Team Members

- Team Commander: Captain Jake Tarckman
- Team Executive Officer/Engineer: Commander Grant Eaton
- Science Officer: Commander Cherice "Cheri" Logan
- Medical Officer: Lt. Commander Themin Jaconia "TJ" Themelsea
- Navigator/Scout: Lt. Kimshee Atatashee (Ventron)
- Navigator/Scout: Lt. Katron Atatashee (Ventron)
- Linguist/Archaeologist: Lt. Jessica Slayton
- Communications: Lt. JG Jeremy Hantron
- Archaeologist: Ensign Amanda Grame
- Celi

Click on the blue bars below for more information on each of the members of Team Fourteen

Amanda Grame - Ensign. Team Fourteen's new recruit.

At the beginning of Crystal Pyramid,Amanda is fresh out of the Academy. She is assigned to Alpha Team Fourteen, the most prestigious explorer team that the League has.

Amanda is an attractive young woman with blond hair, blue eyes and freckles. She has a good figure and is in excellent physical condition thanks to her military training and discipline. She is also very intelligent and a clear and logical thinker. It is her intelligence rather than her good looks or physical strength which will prove to be her biggest asset.

Amanda plays a leading role in Crystal Pyramid. She is part of the team that is captured and taken to Beltaria, escapes her captors with TJ, Janice and Jim, flees across Beltaria on a wild adventure, is eventually recaptured, and persuades the Emperor and the Creator to free her and her friends and spare the human race from extermination. Along the way she falls in love with TJ and becomes a favorite of the Emperor.

Cherice Logan – Commander. Team Fourteen's Science Officer.

Cheri is short, physically fit, and very disciplined. She is a former instructor at the academy, where she had the nickname "killer Logan" for flunking so many young cadets out of school.

Cheri has earned the reputation of being one tough individual. She wears her dirty blond hair very short, and her dark brown eyes could stare anyone down, anytime, anyplace. She is in top physical condition, working out daily. When she walks in a room everyone can feel her presence. It often takes people some time to realize she is only 160 centimeters tall. Often the shortest person in a crowd physically, she is never the shortest in stature.

Grant Eaton – Commander. Team Fourteen's Executive Officer and Chief Engineer.

Grant is 190 centimeters tall, with a tanned, but light complexion, blond curly hair, and blue eyes. He is muscular and in excellent condition from his marshal arts training and regular workouts. He is very creative and exceptionally intelligent.

He was required to retake the intelligence and aptitude test before entering the academy when he scored 199 out of 200. The average was 153, with the highest scores normally running 175. He scored 198 on the retake with a different test, with a different proctor and after spending ten days in isolation. The academy review committee let the 199 score stand, deciding he could not have possibly cheated and probably did poorer the second time due to the stress of the retake isolation.

Grant is the team's Executive Officer, second in command to Jake. Since Jake loves to explore, Grant is often left in charge of the ship and the team when Jake is away. This is a little unfair to Grant, since he loves to explore as well, but he never complains. He, Jake, Celi, and TJ were the charter members of team 14. There had been others, but they had accepted promotions and other assignments and been replaced by new faces over time.

He has personally turned down all offers of promotion that require him to leave the team. His detractors say he is too dependent on Jake, but Grant knows better. He simply enjoys being a part of the most successful Alpha Team in the League. He enjoys TJ's antics and Jake's friendship, but maybe what really keeps him on the team is Celi.

Jake Tarckman – Captain. Team Fourteen's Commanding Officer.

Jake's 205 centimeter height, dark skin, penetrating eyes, and positive manner reeks of authority. He has 50 years of service with the League, and will be required to retire in another 25 years when he reaches 100, unless somehow the rules are changed before then. It may seem ridiculous to retire someone with so many potentially good years left, but those have been the rules for a long time.

Jake Tarckman is famous at the academy for his exploits as an alpha team explorer and team leader. He has received numerous accommodations and medals, and has been offered promotions and high paying positions several times. He does not seem to care about the medals, and never wears more than the minimum required decoration on his dress uniform when he is at formal functions. He has turned down all opportunities that might lead to him being anything but an alpha team explorer.

Jake is in charge of the team that gets captured and taken to Beltaria. There he connects with Alexia, the captain of Team Eleven, and an old flame from his academy days.

Jeremy Hantron – Lieutenant JG. Team fourteen's Communication's Officer.

Jeremy is part of the team captured and taken to Beltaria, but otherwise plays only a minor role in the story.

Jessica Slayton – Lieutenant. Team Fourteen's Linguist and Archeologist.

Jesse Slayton had joined the team right after graduation from the Academy eleven before Amanda. She, like Amanda had done well in school, but was not at the top of the class. She also had cross training in archaeology. Jessica does not play a major role in the story.

Katron Atatashee (Ventron) – Lieutenant – Navigator Scout

Kimshee and Katron are a Ventron bonded pair. Bonded pairs are something very special that go beyond the mating found in other species. Ventrons court much as humans do, but once they become bonded, they literally can not survive alone. The separation of a bonded pair for more than ten standard days is fatal to both parties, and if one member should die while the pair was separated, the other will experience the death and die as well. The bonding is so close that one member of the pair can share the experiences of the other, including all senses, over great distances. This sharing occurs in real time, and defies all the known laws of science regarding energy travel through space.

Katron is about one-hundred and seventy five centimeters tall, slightly taller than his mate. He has soft, golden fur, and a bushy gold tail with white fur on the end of it. He looks similar to a very large cat, except he lacks the pointed teeth and fierce claws of that carnivorous animal, and his ears are on the side of his head, more like a human than a cat. His hands have two opposing thumbs and three fingers, and are covered with white fur so that it looks as though he has white gloves on.

Katron is captured by the Beltarians and goes through the Crystal Pyramid as he is transported to Beltaria. This causes him to lose contact with Kimshee, and he passes out. She is likewise affected, but manages to reach out to him and make contact over the vast distance of space, establishing a long distance real-time contract that proves to be vital to the team.

Kimshee Atatashee (Ventron) – Lieutenant – Navigator Scout

Kimshee and Katron are a Ventron bonded pair. (See Katron, above.)

Kimshee is about one-hundred and seventy centimeters tall. Other than the slight difference in height she looks almost exactly like Katron.

Kimshee remains behind on Celi when the explorer team is captured and transported to Beltaria. The initial transfer nearly kills her when she loses contact with her mate. Using all her strength she manages to contact him across the vast distance of space, providing the team left on Celi with vital intelligence concerning the happenings on Beltaria.

Themin Jaconia "TJ" Themelsea - Lieutenant Commander. Team Fourteen's doctor.

TJ is a street wise, card playing tough guy, who loves action. Crystal Pyramid opens with TJ getting into a life and death bar fight. In spite of his tough external demeanor, he has a gentle and caring bedside manner as a doctor.

TJ is an impressive looking individual. He stands slightly over 195 centimeters tall, and not an ounce of extra fat anywhere. His weathered face, dark hair, and the scar on his left cheek make him look like a street fighter, which to some extent he is. Modern medicine could easily remove the scar, but TJ wears it like a badge. He claims it helps him in card games by distracting his opponent. He also claims it keeps him out of street fights by making him look meaner than he is. This was somewhat questionable, on both counts. There is no question that TJ likes action, both on the street and as an Alpha Team member.

At the same time, TJ has a well-earned reputation as being a top-notch medical doctor. Not only is he qualified in most areas of modern medicine, but he also seems to have a gift for healing that goes beyond what science has to offer. In addition he has a bedside manner that makes patients feel better without dwelling on their problems.

He is also a survival expert. He has taken every survival course that the league offers including the ultimate challenge where the student is dropped into the jungle of Ratron Seven's second moon with nothing more than a knife and the clothes on their back. The objective is to reach the rendezvous point within five standard days. This test is strictly voluntary. About 25% of those attempting this test do not live to tell about it. Another 70% must be rescued by the monitoring team. TJ is among the 5% of those few who have taken the challenge that have met it successfully. The only thing he has to show for it is a special gold pin he can wear on his lapel, and the satisfaction of having done what few have dared. The pin he keeps buried in his belongings someplace in his quarters, and he never talks about the experience.

TJ is attracted to Amanda during their first encounter, where he makes a pass at her. Even though she does not respond, he is smitten, and becomes her protector when they are captured and taken to Beltaria. When the team learns that Amanda is to be taken off planet and separated from the rest of the explorers, he takes great risks to escape with her. Together with Janice and Jim they race across Beltaria trying to keep one step ahead of the Beltarians. When their capture becomes inevitable, TJ still fights hard to the end and is severely injured by doing so. He is so badly injured that Amanda is certain nothing can save him.

The Celestial Eagle – Celi. The Artificial Intelligence that controls Team Fourteen's ship.

She is not the ship itself although the team often treats her as though she is. She is actually physically distributed into numerous thinking elements in various parts of the ship so that if any portion of the ship sustains damage she will not be hurt. She also has elements in each of the shuttlecraft so that the team can effectively take her when they land on a planet. She also has smaller portable nodes the team members carry wherever they go. She can be removed from the physical ship and installed on a newer model, and in fact that has occurred twice before Amanda joins the team. The ship the team uses in Crystal Pyramid is the third Celestial Eagle, but is controlled by the original, one and only Celi.

What few people not on an alpha team know, is the special relationship that Alpha Teams have with their ship's intelligence. Each team member has a special implant behind their ear connected directly to their brain. It allows team members to be in constant communication with Celi as long as they are within range. There are even special relay units, which are really nodes in her intelligence that they can take with them when leaving the ship.

A team member who has an implant, has much more than a communications channel, they have Celi, and all her capabilities inside them. She is generally non-intrusive, but she is always there when they need her. In addition she can open a direct channel between members of the crew at anytime, and will do so on request, as long as the others agree.

Celi is a vital part of Alpha Team life. She is a constant companion, confidant, advisor, and source of information. She is perhaps the most important member of Team Fourteen