All That Glitters Ch. 04

The smaller segment at the top was obviously the head. It had smallish looking mandibles similar to those found on Terran ants in the lower part and four blackened eyes, two larger ones in front and a smaller one on each side on the upper part of the head.

One surprise was that the bodies were not all similar. On the whole, they were easily identified as one species, but there appeared to be at least four differing body structures among the Insectoids. They also seemed to have various shadings of the predominant blue colour, but it was difficult to tell with the discolouration of 200 years of exposure to space and the greyish pallor of death on all the bodies.

The first specimen noted appeared to be rather large, with more powerful legs and arms.

The second was very similar but somewhat smaller with more refined legs and arms. At first, the scientists surmised that the smaller specimens could be immature members of the Insectoids, but the numbers didn't add up as these two specimens were the most numerous on the station adding up to several thousand each. They speculated that these were the general workers of the station.

Scientists wondered whether the workers were smart enough to run the station, however, they were found around the controls for the mining facilities and in what was assumed to be station control. They, therefore, had to have some meaningful level of intelligence.

It was surmised that the largest specimens were being used for security. But, once again, the numbers didn't add up for that. Some of these specimens appeared to have adornment on their bodies that seemed to set them apart from their brethren. The marines identified this to the scientists and speculated that these were the security/warriors of the station. There were roughly a thousand of these. Most were found outside the queen's chamber. This led the scientists to believe that the larger specimens with the markings were warriors or protectors, while those without were the 'muscle' of the station.

The security members seemed to have tools that were different from all the other bodies, likely weapons. All the tools seemed to use power of some sort, but none of them held a charged after 200 years.

The third specimen was slightly larger than the second but not as large as the first, however, overall this specimen sample was much more delicate in appearance than the other two. There appeared to be only two dozen of these specimens on the station, and they were all in close proximity to the final specimen.

This one was monstrously large. It was clear that it could not fend for itself as its legs were apparently atrophied. The overlarge, and somewhat bloated abdomen was filled with what appeared to be eggs. Several of the eggs had been disgorged behind it, left forlornly on the deck. Speculation was that this was a 'queen' in the sense of an egg-layer for the species, with those near her being her immediate attendants. They had obviously died with their queen.

The queen's quarters were much larger than those of other quarters on station and divided into two basic sections. One section was for the queen and her attendants. The other, much larger section, seemed to be a nursery of sorts, with blackened dead eggs and larvae at various stages of development, all of which had been smashed or damaged in other ways. The crew and scientists of the Wimple, understanding the implication of genocide they had found, were sickened by the sight.

When the surveys were completed, the grunt work began. The bodies of workers and muscle/warrior types were carefully moved and placed in designated bays. All were tagged as to where they had been found in the station.

Those of the attendants were placed separately in a bay of their own. The body of the queen and the eggs and larvae were, for the moment, left in place.

Artifacts were identified roughly by type and placed in separate bays; scientists eager to start analysing them, if they could figure out how to charge them.

The survey identified several sealed rooms that were left intact for the moment. It also identified the power room.

Now, the research could begin.

Liramor-23, Piscium Star System

Things had settled back into a routine the week after New Year's. Mining continued apace, but everyone eagerly anticipated the daily transmission from the Wimple. Each transmission identified new wonders and made new speculations on what was found. Most of the information was transmitted throughout the platform. Most, but not all. What was found in the queen's chambers was, for the time being, withheld from the general populace. Speculation on what the tools might be was also withheld.

The end of the first two weeks of the new year came and went with little alteration to the new routine. But that changed in the middle of the third week.

Alarms began sounding in the control room and Fiona Marsh stepped out of her office.

"FTL wave front event, not in the inbound lane. This is not a scheduled event!" The Ops O snapped.

"Man the 48s!" Fiona shouted. "Recall all workers. Send out our little surprise packages and send an alert to the Wimple immediately. Where is Capt. Clark?"

"I'm here, Ms. Marsh," Raymond said stepping into the control center.

"Take over comms to our mini defence fleet and coordinate their efforts," Fiona ordered.

"Cannons manned, ma'am, charged and ready," SOps stated.

"Thank-you, Mr. Fent. Make sure that safeties are on, we don't want or need an accident," Fiona ordered.

"Visual on the FTL," the Ops O stated, bringing the imagery up on the main screen. "My God, what is that?"

"That, is a Burgan Class Battle Cruiser, the second largest ship type in the TUSN fleet," Clark told the control room.

"With your permission, ma'am, I need comms to my station, please," Clark requested, receiving a nod from Fiona.

"TUSN vessel, this is Liramor-23 control, you are an unexpected FTL event and not in expected jump lanes. Identify your ship immediately. The station is armed and ready to fight. Over" Clark sent out.

"Time lag?" Clark asked.

"They are outside the jump lanes but are within immediate space. There should be no time lag." The Ops O reported.

"Liramor control, this is the NS Dewfall, Captain Steven Pickering commanding. We are carrying the judge and legal teams for Court Martial to be conducted in this system over the next three to ten days. Your Mk-48's might be a threat to a lesser vessel, but I would advise not to fire on this ship. Your weapons might damage us, but our weapons would destroy your station with a single broadside. Over."

Alarms screamed again in the control room.

"New FTL event!" SOps sang out.

While the control room watched, a ship appeared on screen perpendicular to the NS Dewfall, coming alongside with speed. Clark recognized the Wimple.

The Wimple's weapons opened immediately and swivelled onto the target vessel as the ship desperately shed its speed. In moments the NS Dewfall was fixed between the platform and the NS Wimple.

When Capt. Whatt received the distress call from station, three minutes light away, he dropped six shuttles and conducted a short FTL jump to place the Wimple in defence of the platform. It took the ship two minutes to drop the shuttles and start the maneuver.

FTL ships have the capacity to jump great distances but doing so is exceedingly wasteful where power is concerned. As such, most FTL ships will attain at least half light speed before jumping in order to retain some residual power on the other side of the jump and allow for faster recharging of the massive generators.

The NS Wimple is powered by nineteen large Marilon self-contained generators capable of producing extremely large power outputs given their size. A small generator, roughly a meter square, was capable of generating enough energy to power a large town, more than enough power to cover all of the ship's needs other than the engines and pulse cannons.

All of the Wimple's Marilon generators were two meters square and three meters tall, one was dedicated to the Wimple's power needs, six -- in three groups of two - were dedicated to the weapons. Two generators were more than capable of providing power to all the ships weapons, but the Navy believed strongly in redundancy.

Six generators were used to power the sub-light engines. It took three of the massive generators to power the sub-light engines at max output, giving the ship the power it required to push it to just shy of light speed. If all six were used, they could boost the ship from a standing start to max sub-light speed of ninety-three percent of light, with a twenty-minute push of its very large sub-light engines.

The FTL engines required six of the Marilon generators to create the jump wave required to send the ship instantaneously to its max jump distance which, for the Wimple, was thirty-two light years. The ship would have to allow the generators to spool back up to max charge before jumping a second time but, in a pinch, they could use the generators from the sub-light engines and weapons to 'string' jumps. The Wimple, in theory, could jump ninety-six light years within minutes, but would end up on the other side depleted of useful power. The wait time for the generators to recharge was such that it would leave the Wimple without weapons or engines from four to six hours, depending on the age of the Marilon generators.

Capt. Whatt had been conducting navigation drills, known as a Nav Ex, designed to take the Wimple back to Liramor-23 in an emergency jump. Every thee hours, the Nav O and his team ran through scenarios that used various power settings to move the ship to speed and jump, or just to jump cold to bring the ship back to Liramor-23 in an emergency. Most of the staff did not see the value in the Nav Ex, other than to make work to relieve boredom on the bridge. They had, however, just completed such a Nav Ex less than an hour prior to the emergency call from the platform.

Whenever a shuttle was out of the ship, there was always a second shuttle on standby for emergency retrieval. When Whatt received the call from Liramor-23, he immediately dropped the stand-by shuttles and pointed the ship at the platform.

Using the data from the recent Nav Ex, Whatt ordered a cold jump back to the platform. His FTL generators would be depleted, but he would be at station within seconds.

As the Wimple came back into space, it had to quickly shed speed or risk overshooting the threat vessel, or potentially impacting it. The Wimple's sub-light engines screamed in complaint at their torturous use as the ship bled speed, forcing itself down to a more manageable velocity. The Wimple unmasked its weapons and turned them onto the threat while simultaneously sending the Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) security signal to the new vessel.

Computers on both vessels talked to each other to verify the daily IFF code and came to the conclusion that both vessels were friendly and belonged to the same navy. The Captains of each ship were simultaneously informed of the name of the ship opposite and that said ship was friendly.

As a last-ditch effort, looking out the 'window', or in this case at the images on the holo-vid monitors, clearly showed the names of the vessels emblazoned on the bow of each ship along with its navy number: F10735 NS Wimple, and B114 NS Dewfall.

"Liramor control, this is the NS Wimple, IFF code positive, vessel identity confirmed as Battle Cruiser NS Dewfall. Over," Whatt sent to the platform.

Fiona took over comms. "NS Wimple, thank-you for the confirmation. Liramor-23 is standing down from red alert and recalling defence systems to platform. Out to you.

"NS Dewfall, this is Liramor Control, you are authorized approach to the platform. Your parking zone is three kilometers from the platform, information being sent now," she nodded to her Ops O who added the information to the link.

"Ensure you remain within your zone for your safety and so you do not interfere with work around the platform. Rocks being expelled from the working cages can damage ships in the wrong location," Fiona advised. "Liramor control, out"

They watched as the monstrous ship moved slowly into its designated position. The Burgan Class Battle Cruisers were the second largest ship in the fleet, smaller in size only to the ultra-massive Dreadnaught Class Battleships. The Dewfall was 700 meters in length and 400 meters in beam. Half as long as the platform's one-and-a-half-kilometer length and just over a third of it's one-kilometer width.

The vessel bristled with extremely large pulse cannon, many times the size of the Mk-48's the platform used. The bow of the ship contained six large 360cm, twelve medium 280cm and twenty-two regular 150cm sized missile/torpedo doors. It could fire a barrage of missiles/torpedoes that could annihilate a medium sized space armada or overwhelm a planet's defensive systems.

The ship carried a brigade of marines and their equipment and had the means to shuttle that force to another vessel or to a planet's surface.

Unlike the NS Wimple, whose purpose was to defend against attack, this ship's purpose was to bring the war to the enemy and bring said enemy to its knees. When it appeared in system, local authorities took notice.

An hour after the vessel settled into its approved parking zone, a large shuttle detached and headed to the platform. Capt. Raymond Clark appropriately dressed in the full regalia of a captain of the TUSN Civilian Liaison Authority, now with the Liramor-23 logo on his right breast, waited patiently at the airlock as the shuttle locked itself to the platform. The airlock cycled and several high-ranking officers, one of them a four-star admiral, stepped aboard Liramor-23. Clark gave a smart salute to the admiral.

"Permission to come aboard, sir?" The admiral requested returning the salute.

"Welcome, gentlemen, permission granted on behalf of the Local Authority of the Liramor-23 Mining Platform. Sir, I am Capt. Raymond Clark of the Civilian Liaison Authority attached to assist the Local Authority in dealing with TUSN matters while the scientific investigation is conducted," he reported.

"Fleet Admiral Charles Thenton, commanding Sector Forty-Two, which now includes the Piscium system. It used to belong to sector Forty-Three, but they do not have the appropriate level of Judge Advocate General (JAG) staff to conduct this Court Martial and TUSN HQ didn't want to send anything out from there for security reasons. Thus, the reason for the shift in territory."

The admiral was a fit 180cm in height, broad of shoulder and chest. He was an older man, probably in his mid-sixties - in the prime of his working life and still several years from retirement - with graying hair that once had been black. Brown eyes stared fixedly into Clark's.

He wore the Sector Forty-Two patch over his name on his right breast, with no other patches on his shoulders. Around his neck was the Terran Union Medal of Honour along with the gold bordered eight-pointed blue coloured Commander Military Cross of Merit. High on his left breast was the Star of Command. Below that was a gold V for a person who had volunteered at least ten times. He sported two Commendation pins: one Division Commander's Commendation, and one Sector Commander's Commendation. He had a series of ten medals, including three Combat Stars. These were pined above several rows of ribbons showing where he had been during his service. While he wasn't as decorated as Capt. Clark, he wasn't too far behind.

"This is Vice Admiral Judge Mirotomo Hittu, of the JAG office of Sector Forty-Two, and his aid Captain Phillipa Rouse," Adm Thenton continued, identifying each as he introduced them.

"The rather somber looking Captain in the rear is Capt. Steven Pickering, commanding NS Dewfall, along with his Ex O, Cdr Amanda Halting." Clark shook hands all around then clicked the wall mounted comms unit.

"Arriving, Commander Sector Forty-Two. Arriving, NS Dewfall," he spoke curtly into the unit, identifying the two command dignitaries at the airlock to the control deck of the platform.

He guided the officers to conference room one to meet the staff of Liramor-23. Once introductions were concluded, Ms. Marsh got down to business.

"Welcome, gentlemen, to this little mess of ours. Your assistance was requested because, under Navy Law, we did not have the authority to impose sufficient punishment for the charges against the accused. I don't know how much of the situation you are aware of, so we'll have Capt. Clark brief you on the events leading up to the charges. I will leave it up to you when you wish, and how you wish to be briefed on the incident that actually brought you here," Fiona concluded.

Clark ran through his now very familiar brief for the senior guests. They expressed shock and surprise at all the appropriate locations in the brief, much to Fiona's amusement.

"You are now aware of the situation leading up to the incident. The accused broke local orders, navy law, and procedural protocols that directly endangered the crew of NS Wimple. I will give no further information on that until such time as we begin Court Martial proceedings in order to maintain your impartiality before the hearings commence." Clark concluded.

While FAdm. Thenton was aware of the situation, he had not had the full brief that Clark provided. He, along with the other officers, was stunned at the full impact of the situation.

"My God, you are sitting on a powder keg here, Ms. Marsh," the admiral proclaimed. "I'm surprised that half of the known galaxy is not here trying to get peeks at these aliens."

"So far," Fiona began, "we have been able to keep a lid on information being sent out of the Piscium system. We have imposed Martial Law to a limited degree and are reading all the mail that goes out via the daily FTL comms probe via computers which look for specific words.

The staff and workers of Liramor-23 are fully aware of the seriousness of letting information out, but it is only a matter of time until word gets around to the rest of Union space. Best we can do is keep the name of this system quiet.

"Now that the science investigation is progressing with some speed, it shouldn't be long before the curious find us. We will need more TUSN ships to maintain control in system once that happens. In that regard, your Court Martial must be conducted as quickly but as fairly as possible.

"The Dewfall is too large a ship to be used for defensive purposes. Another Fairling Class Frigate, or smaller ship should suffice.

"I do not want to impose a general Martial Law on us as that will create problems for mining, which is the principle reason we exist. The Piscium system has always been restricted from general access for safety reasons. Mining is a dangerous business at the best of times without having unruly civilians running around the system.

"Ships entering this system are supposed to announce themselves at least one day in advance but lately, we've had two TUSN vessels that have skirted that requirement which has resulted in disruption of the platform's routine. Unknown FTL events are treated as a threat with the appropriate level of defensive red alert being imposed, bringing mining operations to a temporary halt.

"In this incident, the NS Wimple left the investigation team at the alien station in order to return here and provide support to the platform. Fortunately, we have been able to allay the scientists fears of being abandoned. However, we cannot continue being disturbed by TUSN ships jumping unannounced into this system, even if they have good intentions," Fiona finished with a hard edge to her voice.

"So noted, Ms. Marsh." FAdm. Thenton stated. "Access to any TUSN vessel coming to this system will now be through me at Folden Naval Base, in the Karen system. We will establish additional jump lanes for military use in the Piscium system. Anything not coming in on those lanes will be considered a threat.