All That Glitters Ch. 01

"Capt. Clark," Fiona smiled and extended her hand.

"Sorry for the lack of uniform," Raymond quipped, "mine seems to have been lost somewhere." He intoned gravely, softening the tone with a smile.

"I'm sure the TUSN ship that they send out can be requested to bring along some spare sets," Fiona replied.

"Legal likes the idea of giving space on the platform to TUSN for their scientific teams. That would indeed allow us to monitor the situation so long as the Union Diplomatic Corp (UDC) keeps its head out of it. I'm not sure how to control that."

"Simple," Clark supplied, "we are already aware, as are our respective headquarters of the situation here. As long as we can control the spread of that information and allow UDC to determine the best time to release this information to humankind as a whole, you have a great deal of control over the situation. You must emphasize the need for that control to your headquarters.

"Having said that, we would be correct to inform UDC that this kind of information cannot be controlled for an extended period of time. The best that we can do is to control where we found the aliens by keeping this information to within the respective headquarters. But information on the find itself would need to be released sooner rather than later. That's your edge; your cooperation keeping the lid on as long as possible," Clark told her.

"Best to send this information directly to the CEO LMC along with a copy of my brief. He can then determine who needs to see it, using that to control the flow of information," he finished.

Fiona pulled up the memo referring to Clark's promotion on her personal comp unit and sent a copy to Raymond's.

"Other than the promotion, these are standard orders for Combat Engineers," Raymond informed her, quickly skimming through the memo. "Combat Engineers are given a great deal of leeway to act as they see fit, which begs the question of what we are going to do about securing and protecting this platform."

Fiona gave him a smile and called up the platform schematics which hung in the air in 3D graphics. The platform was built like a fat top. Each half was a mirror of the other in the event that one half was severally damaged. Since the gravity plates determined orientation, once you got through the central portion of the platform, you were flipped so that down always faced the ore processing section in the central portion of the platform.

The lowest and largest portion of the top had the ore processing platforms. Above that were the large maintenance bays. Above that were the mostly unused construction bays somewhat smaller than the maintenance bays. Then came crew quarters, gyms, cafeterias, messes, entertainment sections, operations centers for the cages and 'guest' facilities. Above this was Central Operations and the VIP sections. Atop of it all was a turret that held two cannons. The entire upper portion of the top was duplicated with the exception the processing section which was common to both. Only one Central Operations was manned at a time, the other carrying a manning crew in the lower half of the top.

"This platform was built during the Terran Unification War." Fiona started. "As such, it was built with some powerful pulse cannons at the top and bottom of the platform." She showed the weapons points on the schematics. Each weapon platform had two pairs of twin-gun Mk-48 pulse cannon; more than sufficient to repel a significant attack.

"They have not been used for some time, so they will need to be checked out to ensure their functionality," she said looking at Raymond.

"Anyone on the maintenance team that was around when these were being used?" he asked.

"Yes. We have two remaining from that time. They keep cycling through the platform but are scheduled to retire within the next two years. We can bring in other staff from Liramor Prime if necessary," She replied.

"We'll need them. I doubt these will be operational if they haven't been used since the War. In addition, I want you to open up some of your unused construction bays to make Limpet mines on site." He said.

"What are Limpet mines?" Liea asked.

"Unlike regular mines that explode on contact, Limpet mines attach themselves to ships. They can be used to control the actions of the ships through threat of destruction. They can also be designed to attach themselves to specific parts of ships to knock out certain ship capabilities such as weapons and engines. Very useful things when you want to control your enemy." Raymond told her with a smile.

"I'm not sure how that would work, but don't you seed mines over large areas? Wouldn't it be kind of expensive to make that many specialized mines?" Liea asked.

"If we were to use Limpet mines as a blockade, yes, it would be expensive. But we will place these mines where they will be most likely to be needed. We'll still require a certain number of mines to be effective, but that number will be somewhat limited.

"We really don't know how long we will have before we are likely attacked by the original Pisciums, or even if we will be. But we will want to be prepared before that happens. There are things we can do to ensure that we are ready when and if they appear," Raymond said.

"In the meantime, I want to prepare some surprises for the TUSN, as they will likely try to manipulate you with fear of attack by appearing in specific areas, such as the ionosphere of the nearby gas giant Piscium-8, in order to sneak up on the platform. We should be able to build a few limpet mines to seed into the likely places that they would jump into around Piscium-8. We wouldn't need to do anything specific, just to show them that we really don't need their 'protection'; but we will be 'very pleased with their support' in the current crisis," Raymond said with a smile.

Fiona's eyes brightened at the possibilities. "We would only get one shot at surprising them, but I would like to take some of their thunder away from them. When would you expect them to appear in system?" She asked.

"Not sure. I would expect them to be here within two weeks. This is a rather significant event. But there is a lot going on within the Terran sphere that requires Navy intervention. It all depends on how soon they can break a vessel free, and what level of importance they give to this.

"While the scientific community will be screaming for immediate response, these are not 'live' aliens. Well, at least not aliens that are awake. And, if it waited for 200 years, this one can wait for a few more months," Raymond finished.

It took the senior staff and Capt. Clark the remainder of the day to finish up appropriate legal statements and dispatches for their respective headquarters, including the imagery from Clark's debriefing of the previous day for LMC HQ. They went out with the daily FTL comms probe.

"This is really going to fling smelly stuff at the fan when those dispatches arrive at Liramor Prime," Raymond told Fiona with a grin.

She gave a short bark of a laugh, trying to think how much of a bombshell it would be. She had only to think back on yesterday's entertaining brief to understand just how much of an explosion it would create.

She called her senior staff into the conference room to hear the suggestions that Clark would provide vis-à-vis the protection of the system.

Central Ops, Liramor-23

Fiona sat in her office working on the latest info packet from the FTL comms probe. It had been over a week since the communiqué on the situation had been sent to Liramor Prime. Fiona was irked at the lack of follow-up instructions. The only return memo on the situation had been to commend her and her staff and advise her that LMC HQ would keep as much control over the spread of information as possible given the circumstances.

Raymond had taken over several of the construction bays and had begun to build limpet and other mines. They currently had several hundred general purpose mines and roughly thirty limpet mines. He planned to start placing the Limpet mines in specific areas around Piscium-8 within the next few days. He would use his own Rockhound to do the emplacement.

Her reverie was cut short when the general alarm sounded in Central Ops.

"FTL energy wave forming in the inbound lane. This is an unplanned FTL jump." SOps called out.

"Are the weapons ready?" Fiona asked.

"We only have one pulse Cannon operational. We can bring it on-line if required." He replied.

"Make sure it is powered up now, I want it ready to use instantly if required." Fiona ordered.

"Visual on the FTL ship." The Ops O said, bringing up imagery on the main view screen.

Fiona's heart leapt into her mouth when she saw the ship.

"Shit!" she cried out. "That's 'Liramor One' the principle corporate yacht of Liramor Holdings. That ship is the personal domain of the Liramor family." Fiona explained.

"Mr. Fent, I want senior personnel called up and I don't give a shit if they are asleep. Make sure they look presentable. This is a close to royalty as many of you are going to get." She snapped.

She looked over at Raymond Clark. "They will likely want to meet our local TUSN Liaison Officer."

Clark just gave her an enigmatic smile. "I'll be in the gym one floor down if they want to meet me," he said after a moment of reflection. "Sometimes, we have to use a little shock and awe to put people in their place."

Fiona wanted to argue with him, but she had to get herself ready. They would be on the platform shortly and she had to prepare herself for that introduction.

Thirty minutes later, a very nervous Fiona Marsh was waiting at the airlock as she watched Liramor One land within Maintenance Bay One, taking up most of the bay's interior. The bay's massive outer doors closed, and she heard the air being cycled back in. Due to the its size, it would take fifteen minutes to bring the air pressure up to an acceptable level.

Senior members of her staff appeared around her as the system counted down to the moment she could open the airlock. She heard the pressurization come to a stop and Ops intone that pressure was at platform standard. Fiona opened the lock and stepped through into the chilled bay followed by her staff.

Liramor One was a beautiful ship, as befitting the principle corporate yacht of the Liramor family. The ship was as large as a TUSN Frigate, but the classical lines of a personal yacht were very apparent, as was the opulence that went with it.

The ship was just shy of 100m in length and half again in width. Four large sub-light pulse engines surrounded the aft end of the ship, while some of the largest FTL vanes that Fiona had ever seen were neatly folded back from the center of the ship almost to the exhaust of the sub-light engines. The vanes were only extended when in use. Their size meant that the ship could skip tens of light years in a single jump allowing for extremely fast flights.

Fiona shivered in the cold of the bay as she waited for the ship's access hatch to open. It usually took some time for the heaters to make the bay comfortable after it had been opened to space. She hoped they wouldn't have to wait long.

Less than half a minute later, the hatch cycled, and Fiona stared stunned as Annette Liramor herself strode from the ship. Annette Liramor was Director of Operations for Liramor Holdings and, as such, Liramor Mining Corporation was one of her personal play toys.

Annette Liramor was a 'princess' of the Liramor family, and it showed. She was slightly taller than Fiona, a brunet with a coif that was a little too precise, as if she had just had it done. She probably just had Fiona reflected.

She was dressed immaculately in a shimmery designer gown that must have cost tens of thousands of credits. She wore deck shoes that looked like they might have been designer made. Everything about her screamed money, and power.

Fiona stepped forward and bowed to the Director. "Fiona Marsh, Director Liramor-23, Ms. Liramor."

"Pleased to meet you," Annette replied as she took Fiona's hand. "We were quite surprised by the information that you had rendered for us, as well as your answer to maintaining Local Authority. That was a stroke of genius. I just had to personally meet the one who came up with that," she simpered to Fiona.

Fiona wasn't fooled. She knew that much was going on in the background over this, and while LMC and, by extension, Liramor Holdings was loath to do anything that might result in loss of control by LMC in the Piscium system, they knew they had to tread carefully until such time as a stronger case for Liramor could be made. The very presence of Annette was proof of just how seriously the Liramor family was taking all of this.

"My staff," Fiona said turning to introduce them to Ms. Liramor. Annette, in turn, introduced her own staff of very senior managers to Fiona and staff.

Fiona brought them up to Conference Room One where she had a special surprise waiting.

Supported by specially rigged blocks, a large diamond hung over both edges of the six-meter-long table. Placed around it were several smaller diamonds, if diamonds twice a big as a human fist could be called 'small'.

Annette and her staff stopped dead on entering the room. "Is that real?" she asked.

"Yes. Very real. We've counted over three hundred of the large diamonds, some over 10m in length and, so far, over 800 of the 'smaller' diamonds. This one," she said pointing to the large diamond, "is just over eight meters in length."

Fiona lifted a diamond that needed both her hands to hold. Annette took it from Fiona, staring slack-jawed at what she held. She was starring at a crystal clear, flawless diamond of a size that was unprecedented. Except that there was a much larger diamond on the table.

Fiona knew that she had just scored substantially on the senior members.

A few minutes later, Fiona, Annette and Annette's senior staff were seated in Conference Room One and ready to spar.

"What gives you the right to place these kinds of restrictions on Liramor Holdings or to make such deals with TUSN without contacting LMC HQ?" Annette snapped.

Fiona pulled up the memo referring to the activation of Raymond Clark by the TUSN.

"As I indicated in my report, Rockhound Raymond Clark found the rock that those diamonds came from. The rock so far is going to top out at well over C500 billion. Yes, Billion, with a B. It's a piece of the core and extremely dense with ferrous rock liberally sprinkled with heavy exotic minerals. It also has seams of heavy metals such as gold, platinum and other such minerals. As well as at least one hollow filled with gems," she indicated the diamonds on the table.

"But because of its density, we've only been able to penetrate a little over 300 meters into the rock, so the current estimate of this rock is based on that rock survey. We have no idea what is further into the rock, or what the ultimate value of the rock will be. But 300 meters is a surface scan of a rock that is three kilometers thick."

Fiona let that sink in as she pointed over her shoulder at cage three and the rock in question.

"For now, we estimate it will take us over four months to process it, probably closer to five months. By then, we may have doubled or more likely tripled the current estimates of the rock.

"Clark told us that he cut it from an even larger rock, that would possibly triple the end value of the find," Fiona let that sink in with Annette and her staff.

"Wait! There is more to this rock out there?" Annette asked staggered.

"Rockhound Clark never exaggerates. He showed us images of this rock as he cut it from the larger piece and moved it to this platform. Unfortunately, he pulled his ship's navigation comp, so we have no idea where the rock or anything else in his report is.

"TUSN made a mistake by activating Raymond Clark at this time," Fiona said casually. "After all, Clark, and his silent partner had just brought in a multi-billion credit rock. Unfortunately, he also brought in evidence of not just one, but two alien species now found within the Piscium system. He believes one is the original population of the Piscium system, while the second was doing the same thing that we were. Mining the large asteroid belt found here.

"Clark is not interested in being called up again but realized the necessity of it considering the situation. He was more interest in making sure that he doesn't lose his very valuable claim.

"To that end, he was able to make some very interesting suggestions to help us keep Local Authority over the ongoing situation," Fiona Finished.

"So, the aliens are real?" Annette asked.

"You've seen the imagery, and he has some artifacts as well."

"Wait! Artifacts?" Annette snapped almost standing up from her chair.

"Yes. We have no idea what it is or how it is powered. It is currently under lock and key with a double lock that requires keys and input from both Mr. Clark and I to open." Fiona stated.

"I would like to meet with this Mr. Clark. Why is he not here?" Annette asked.

"He's in the VIP gym, one floor down. It's hard to get gym time and he was loath to give it up," Fiona said.

"One floor down?" Annette said, anger showing on her features at being snubbed by a Rockhound. "Let's go."

Fiona guided Annette to a 'ladder' rather than the elevator. It would prove to be faster getting to the gym by using it.

As they entered the gym several people looked up to see who was in the doorway and immediately got up and left. Eventually, only one person was still using the machines.

Annette looked over to see a fit man doing weights. If he was aware of them, he was studiously ignoring them. It looked like he was bench pressing 100 kilos doing three reps of five lifts before stopping the machine. Sitting up, he grabbed a towel to wipe sweat from his body.

To Annette's eye, the man was very well formed, with well defined muscles, something that you didn't see on many Rockhounds because of their long stints in the very cramped cabins of their vessels. He was wearing red shorts and comfortable looking shoes but was otherwise bare.

Anger filled her mind at the impudence of this man, making her wait on him! She marched up to the machine he was sitting on, ready to vent her ire.

As he turned his body to them, Annette got another shock stopping her halfway across the room. Shit!! He's from the Black Lightning!! She thought eyeing the tattoo over his left breast.

And then it hit her. Her cousin Stephan had been a member of the Lightning when he was in the War. He had talked about a man under his command that had eventually come to LMC looking for a quiet place to disappear. The man had saved Stephan's life on at least three occasions that he had told them about. There were other stories that hinted at things they had done together that Stephan was not able to share because it was still classified. This man was a decorated war hero! And in the Piscium system. No wonder TUSN had called him up.

The man stood up and came to stand before them. He moved with all the grace of a large cat. When he took a step, he was aware of the consequences of taking that step, spacer's awareness.

When you were in space for an extended period of time, a person had to be aware constantly of the shifting movements small that ships can make. Miners who piloted these vessels were constantly ready to move to protect themselves and their ships. They were aware of everything around him. The longer you were in space, the more you adapted to that situation.

Yes, Clark moved with spacer's awareness, but there was something else there too. You could sense that this man was not someone that you wanted to face as an enemy.

At 186cm, Annette was tall for a planet-bound woman, but she had to look up into this man's eyes.