All That Glitters Ch. 10

All That Glitters -- Ch 10

New yachts, new pressures, are things really moving forward?

New yachts are delivered, Liramor-23 falls into the sights of a new enemy, will things move in a direction that all want?

Because of the amount of abbreviations in this story, I include a glossary:

Adm. Admiral, naval rank (see Cmdr.) -- above a captain

Capt. Captain, in this series a naval rank -- usually a ship's commander

CCO Chief Communications Officer, corporate position

Cdr. Commander, naval rank -- one grade below captain

CIO Chief Information Officer, corporate position

CIWS Close In Weapons System, close in ship defensive weapons

CP Confederation of Planets, referring to the losing side of the Terran Unification War

Cmdre. Commodore, first of the admiral ranks (one star), it is followed by Rear Admiral (RAdm. Two star), Vice Admiral (VAdm. three star), Fleet Admiral (FAdm. four star, in this story a Sector Commander or equivalent), and Admiral (Adm. five star, usually senior command positions such as Chief of the Navy)

Comp Communication device / personal computer, usually worn on the wrist. Everyone has one, though there are levels of sophistication above the ordinary

Coms O Communications Officer, naval position in charge of comms

CV Cargo Vessel (supply ship)

CPV Corporate Yacht, Corporate Private Vessel (i.e. CPV Liramor One)

CPO Chief Petty Officer, a naval rank, in this story it usually refers to the Boatswain, the senior enlisted rank of a ship, who literally owns the ship, he/she signed for it. The ship's captain commands, the Boatswain makes sure everything gets done

CSec Chief of Security, corporate position

Dir. Director, as in Director of Operations, corporate position

EA/PA Executive / Personal Assistant, corporate position

Exec, Ex O Executive Officer, a ship's principal administrative officer. On small ships the 2^nd in command and Ex O can be one and the same. On large ships, they will be separate positions

FTL Faster Than Light, referring to the multi-light year jump drive, military warships and some private/corporate yachts have a thirty-five light year jump capability, while large supply ships usually vary between fifteen to twenty light year capability

HRRC The Human Resources and Refugee Committee, standing TGA committee dedicated to supporting people in natural disasters and conflicts that are beyond the capabilities of planetary recourses

HR Human Resources, an administrative function

IFF Identify Friend or Foe, electronic identification system used between naval vessels to identify friendly vessels

IPPF Interplanetary Police Force, future parallel to Interpol. Union police force dedicated to interplanetary criminal matters

JAG Judge Advocate General, military legal system of judges and lawyers

Lt. Lieutenant, naval rank, one grade below LtCdr.

LtCdr. Lieutenant Commander, naval rank -- one grade below Cdr.

Maj. Major, a military rank in the Army or Marines, equivalent to navy LtCdr.

Nav O Navigation Officer, responsible for plotting a ship's course

Nav Tech Navigation Technician, responsible for plotting a ship's course, does not have the same responsibilities of a Nav O.

NS Naval Ship (i.e. NS Wimple)

PSec Head of Personal Security, usually the team lead

PV Personal Yacht, Private Vessel

Ops O Operations Officer

SLO Senior Legal Officer, corporate position

SLt. Sub-Lieutenant, a naval rank one grade below Lt. and one grade above Ensign

SPV Passenger Ship, Space Passenger Vessel. Luxury passenger vessels would have cabins available to the passengers and would sometimes be used for interplanetary cruises

SOps Senior Operations Officer

Tac O Tactical Officer, naval position in charge of tactics

TGA Terran Union Governmental Authority

TUSN Terran Union Space Navy

UDC Union Diplomatic Corps, the TGA interplanetary diplomatic corps

VSC Veterans Security Company, a personal security company that Liea uses

There are now a number of navy ships, and others, that are directly involved in this story. It might be difficult to track all of them, so here is a list of ships important to the story in order of their appearance:

RH 149 Rockhound 149, mining vessel. Raymond Clark's mining vessel in which he found his claim, and evidence of aliens. First seen in the prologue.

CPV Liramor One Ex Tung Class corporate yacht. Principal corporate yacht of Liramor Holdings. First seen in Chapter One.

NS Wimple Fairling Class Frigate, Capt. Bouyé Whatt commanding. Support ship for the Piscium Scientific Investigation Team. First ship in Cmdre. Marsh's command. First seen in Chapter Two.

NS Dewfall Burgan Class Battle Cruiser, Capt. Steven Pickering commanding. Often used by FAdm. Thenton or the Sector Forty-Two JAG for transport. First seen in Chapter Four.

NS Kindalla Fairling Class Frigate, Capt. Liana Dostier commanding. Second ship in Marsh's command. Dedicated to Piscium system security. First seen in Chapter Five.

NS Kologn Fairling Class Frigate, Capt. Cèleste Dauphine commanding. Third ship in Marsh's command, dedicated to Piscium system security. First seen in Chapter Seven.

NS Claridge Fairling Class Frigate, Capt. Richard Dent commanding. Fourth ship in Marsh's command, dedicated to Piscium system security. First seen in Chapter Seven.

SPV Katran Luxury Passenger Ship. She is sent by the President of the Union to retrieve former slaves. Unfortunately, she also carried Senator Andjuran to Liramor-23. First seen in Chapter Eight.

NS Korman Korman Class Interdiction Ship. A large and formidable interdiction ship designed to lay siege to planetary systems. She was built late in the war and never saw action. She was sold to Raymond and Liea as a private yacht with a difference. First seen in Chapter eight.

PV The Princess Princess Class private yacht owned by Annette Liramor. Small yacht designed around the old diplomat runabout ships. Capable of planetfall and huge bounds. First of her class. A gift from Liea Samson. First seen in Chapter Ten.

PV Delilah Princess Class private yacht owned by Liea Samson. The name is derived from the historical story 'Samson and Delilah', wherever Delilah is, Samson will also be. First seen in Chapter Ten.

PV The Valour Princess Class private yacht owned by Fiona Marsh. The name drives from Marsh's highest award to date, the Civilian Cross of Valour. A gift from Liea Samson. First seen in Chapter Ten.

PV The Valiant Princess Class private yacht owned by Raymond Clark. The name is derived from his actions in combat. Clark is one of the most decorated Navy Officers of the Unification War. First seen in Chapter Ten.

PV The Wanderer Wanderer Class private yacht. Ex Korman Class interdiction ship. Private yacht visibly owned by Raymond Clark and Liea Samson but in reality, partially owned, maintained, and controlled by the TUSN. First seen in Chapter Nine.

There is little attempt to explain the back story, so it is necessary to read previous chapters to fully understand where we are.

As before, I claim sole responsibility for the story line. This story is a fantasy, with no basis in reality. Any similarity that you may perceive to current events, people, or situations real or imaginary is completely unintended. Look no further than the story line for its intent and purpose.

A big shout out to SaddleRidder for all the help she has provided in editing. Her dedication to working with me has made this story flow and work better for the reader. After several reviews and re-reads, any errors still left in the story are mine.

Please rate and comment. But keep your comments respectful. If you rant and rave or are disrespectful in your commentary, it will be deleted.

'Nuff said...enjoy.

Conference Room One, Liramor-23, Piscium System, 106 Light Years from Terra

Fiona Marsh was in Conference Room One with her Officers. For the first time, all four of her ships were at station simultaneously.

With her, she had Capt. Bouyé Whatt, commanding NS Wimple, Capt. Liana Dostier, commanding NS Kindalla, Capt. Cèleste Dauphine, commanding NS Kologn, Capt. Richard Dent, commanding NS Claridge, along with their respective Ex Os.

By her side was Capt. Raymond Clark, Civilian Liaison Officer to Liramor-23 and Liramor Prime, and Cdr. Henadi Noor, her aide-de-camp.

They were slowly going over the sundries of setting up a supply and chain-of-command structure for the Piscium system. Clark and Noor had set up a Navy Supply system aboard Liramor-23, dedicated to the support of the four ships now under Cmdre. Marsh's command.

While the ship's captains were nominally responsible for their ships and what they did, their control fell under the command structure of the Piscium system with Cmdre. Fiona Marsh commanding. To emphasis this, all of the ship's crews wore the Liramor-23 patch on their right shoulder, their ships patches on their right breasts. The crews wore the badges with pride as all four ships had been involved in the Battle of Liramor-23, for which they achieved the Presidential Unit Citation indicated by the blue square under the respective ship's patches. Of all those at the table, only Noor was not wearing the patch, having arrived at Liramor-23 long after the battle had ended.

No one at the table disrespected her though, as the Division Commanders Citation pin was evident above her ribbons of achievement, which indicated that she had been awarded Officer Military Merit and the Medal of Bravery.

Only two other officers at the table could say the same, and only Capt. Clark and Cmdre. Marsh could claim higher achievements. Noor privately pitied the next person in her position though, if they did not have the kind of achievements that these officers had. Maybe she should have Fiona send a note to FAdm. Thenton on that issue.

By mid-morning, they had shuffled through most of the itinerary when alarms started blaring.

"Unexpected FTL event in the civilian inbound lane," the voice of Richard Dent, SOps of Liramor-23 called out.

"I have a second, no third event in the inbound lane!" Dent informed them through the intercom.

With all four ship's captains on Liramor-23, the ships were not prepared. The two 'ready' ships, those listed to respond immediately in the event of an incident were the Kindalla and the Claridge. Their respective captains slapped at their comps to contact their ships but before either of them could say anything, the number twos of both ships indicating that they were spooling up and getting ready to move to act against the potential threat.

Simultaneously, Central Control was receiving confirmation of the Mk-48s being manned and readied. The specialized Rockhounds were indicating that they were being prepared to move to the inbound lane.

"We have a fourth event in the inbound lane!" SOps screamed over the noise.

"Liramor-23, this is the Private Yacht The Princess, Annette Liramor speaking. We are a special flight from Liramor Prime. Along with me is Liea Samson, over." They heard over comms.

"Hello Fiona," Fiona recognized the voice of Liea Samson, "please excuse the breach in protocol, but we had to get here sooner rather than later. We are requesting berthing onboard Liramor-23 for our four ships, but two of those will be leaving in the next two days. The other two will be staying for a bit. We'll explain once we are aboard, over," Samson finished.

A visual came up on screen showing four small ships, identical except for their colour schemes, forming up together as they slowed to make their approach to station. The ship's oversized FTL vanes were still folding along their sides.

The ships had a needle-like appearance with stubby 'wings' and a vertical 'tail' aft near the engines. Wings on a space craft were decidedly unusual, as even planetfall capable ships did not have them.

"Stand-down from red alert." Fiona ordered to control. "PV Princess, you and your group are authorized to use Construction Bays eleven and twelve. Break your ships up accordingly. We will see you shortly, Liramor-23 out."

Thirty minutes later, Fiona and all of her senior officers, both military and civilian, were waiting outside of the two construction bays, watching as The Princess and Delilah slowly made their way into the bay. The doors closed behind them as the ships settled onto their landing struts and the bay began the process of pressurizing.

The ship named The Princess, was in Liramor colours of green and gold but with a lot of purple included. Fiona knew that purple was Annette's favorite colour, so she suspected that this might be her personal ship.

The other ship, the Delilah, was in a blue, yellow, and red livery. Something niggled at the back of her mind as she thought of a half-remembered story line of Samson and Delilah. She suspected that this might be Liea's private yacht, but she couldn't fully remember the reference so wasn't certain.

Fiona glanced at the other window to see The Valour settling down. The ship was in Fiona's favorite colours of magenta, burnt orange, and lilac, the colours of the sunset on her home world. She was looking at the name when she spotted a white cross very reminiscent of the Cross of Valour under its name.

Makes sense with that name. Fiona thought.

From where she was standing, she couldn't see the other ship behind The Valour.

Fiona waited patiently as the two bays slowly pressurized.

"Pressure parity achieved in bay eleven." Construction Bay Control indicated.

Fiona immediately opened the airlock and stepped through into bay eleven. The doors to both ships opened and Liea and Annette stepped down and moved to greet Fiona.

Liea gave her a sloppy salute. "Congratulations, Commodore," she quipped with a goofy grin then jumped into Fiona's arms to give her a big hug. "By the Gods, Fiona, it is so good to see you again," Liea chirped.

Surprised, Fiona returned the hug, only to find Annette joining in to make it a three-way, completely stunning Fiona.

"And I'm glad to see your as well," Annette added, once again surprising Fiona. "You have made quite an impression at Liramor Holdings. I want pics of you in your full uniform before I leave," she told her.

"In the meantime, Liea has something very special for you," she finished.

"Come, let's take a look at Fiona's new ship," Liea said, pulling her forward.

The group made their way onto The Princess and was broken up by the ship's crew. Fiona, Henadi, Raymond, Cèleste, and Richard Fent, Liramor-23's SOps, followed Annette and Liea around the small ship, the remainder of Fiona's party being broken up and escorted around by the crew.

They came back to the VIP comms room/theatre and waited patiently for the other members of the tour to finish. The room they were in saw multiple duty as a VIP comms room/theatre/dining facility/briefing room large enough to seat twenty. As soon as everyone was together, Annette took center floor and began a small presentation.

"The Princess Class, private yacht is classed as a fast ship," she began. "The ship is built around the lines of the old diplomatic runabouts, but with some upgrades to fit and finish to make it a private yacht.

"The ships are capable of planetfall and at twenty meters, are small enough to use any shuttle port. She can leave directly from a planet's surface and return to another planet's surface almost anywhere a shuttle port is situated.

"They have a forty-five light year bound and, with the new Marilon/Aruna generators, can jump every hour. These four ships left Liramor Prime just over two hours ago. That two hours includes lifting from planet, getting out of the gravity well, two bounds, and berthing aboard at Liramor-23, plus your little tour," she let that statement sink in for a moment before continuing.

"The ship can theoretically cross the 300 light years from one side of Union space to the other in roughly seven hours." She had to pause again as Fiona and her group reacted to that information.

A naval ship with new Marilon generators and a thirty-two light year leap capacity would take more than forty hours to make that same trip, if nothing went wrong. Most ships, however, would have to 'rest' the systems for at least twelve hours after six or seven bounds. That would make the entire trip at least fifty-two hours in duration.

If military ships had the new generators, they could make the trip in a little over ten hours. The military minds immediately understood the strategic implications of the new generators.

"She carries no weapons but, because of her speed, she can escape almost anything out there. There are not enough of the new generators yet to make a significant change in status to the makeup of potential threats to these ships.

"As the navy, and the TGA are the recipients of many of the new generators, we don't anticipate much of a threat to these ships for at least ten years. But even then, there are currently no ships in any other class that have the leap capacity that these ships do.

"There are currently four of them. The Princess was the first of the line, so the ships now have the class name of 'Princess Class Private Yacht', much to the chagrin of Pallanders Shipyards.

"She is also the smallest of the four at twenty meters in length and seven and a half meters abeam, while the follow-on ships are twenty-two meters in length and eight and a half meters abeam, still small enough to use shuttle ports for planetfall.

"Liea had The Princess made for me. The name is rather tongue-in-cheek," she told them looking at Fiona, amusedly watching as she blushed. Here she passed the control over to Liea.