All That Glitters Ch. 13

James knew Claus was right. The trend had been noted, but they had not seen any indication of manipulation by an outside source. He would have to send that one on to his superiors to confirm things.

"What else, Claus?" James demanded.

Claus did something on his comp. James heard a beep and saw Claus place a memory chip on the table.

"Its my insurance," Claus told them. "If he did anything against me, it would be sent to the police."

"What is it, Claus?" James asked, cautiously.

"The people I know that he has bribed or blackmailed," Claus told them. "It includes the rank and file of the Senate, senior functionaries and bureaucrats, members of the Senate itself, members of the IPPF, members of the press.

"Some names include times and dates of things I witnessed. Other names are just hints, but they are very strong hints, like suddenly changing their minds on points of law that he opposed," Claus finished.

"Name him, Claus," James said. "Name him. Hinting around does us no good."

"Andjuran, the senator from Anuura."

Main Conference Room, Interplanetary News Services, Terra

The daily directors brief was just beginning when Pwrel and Lirrick entered the room. All of the directors and their seconds and the four principle producers who controlled the news and entertainment channels of Interplanetary News Services on Terra were in the room.

Under the producer's directions, the days activities were given to the directors to implement. Once completed, they opened the floor for new items. Several directors asked to be allowed to work certain stories or entertainment activities and were quickly granted permission.

Then James asked to seal the room. He indicated to Mr. Lirrick to address the group.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have been appraised of an unusual event with significant legal ramifications that cannot be ignored," he began without preamble.

"A significant person has given us indication that someone or group has been manipulating the news and entertainment channels to their benefit," he told them, the phrase 'significant person' telling everyone present that he was referring to Claus Shultz.

"How do you mean manipulating us?" Jack Mannen, the station's lead producer asked.

"You have already seen the trends," Lirrick told them. "We are currently exploring new holo-vid shows that are depicting aliens as blood thirsty to humans because of those trends.

"What we didn't know until now, was that those trends were being manipulated by the religious and extreme right groups. They WANT aliens to appear to be seeking to conquer the Union," he finished.

"What is this?" Jack asked, frustration showing on his face. "An LGM story on the entertainment channels? Why should we be worried about that?" He demanded; aliens usually being depicted as Little Grey Men.

"Jack," James started, "anytime that someone actively manipulates the free news services, whether its news or entertainment, there is an issue. That they are doing this to serve one person's agenda is significant and cannot be ignored."

"What's this agenda?" Jack asked.

"To discredit the Director of Operations of Liramor-23," James told them.

"What the hell is Liramor-23?" asked one of the directors.

"Mining platform out in the Piscium system, 106 light years from here," James told them.

"Never heard of it." Someone said, and James saw many heads nodding in agreement.

"And you haven't heard of the Battle of Liramor-23 either," James told them. The few comments that were heard confirmed this.

"Pirate battle where the mining platform successfully defended itself against and captured or destroyed fourteen pirate ships, including six warships, with no loss of life on the platform," James told them.

He called up the view out of the Liramor-23 conference room that showed the group of destroyed vessels hanging in space and sent it to the large holo-monitor.

"Where did that image come from?" Someone asked.

James called up another image showing the face of a female reporter.

"That's Cynthia Stewart," said the woman who James knew ran the science channels for Terra. "She just did an exposé on a new fast ship class," she confirmed. James could see many people nodding. The exposé had been seen by many around the table, including James.

"She's on the platform," James told them. "She has Press Accreditation Status on Liramor-23. Basically, she has exclusive rights to stories in the system."

"Clips?" someone asked.

"She has indicated that there are more than sixteen hours of personal interviews, news clips, and documentary style stories with those who fought the pirates, including with people who were awarded various medals for bravery.

"They also rescued over 800 free Union Citizens who had been taken as slaves by the pirates," James stopped for the moment as pandemonium broke out in the room. Slaves were always a touchy subject with Interplanetary News. The uproar continued until it was shouted down by Jack Mannen.

"Ms. Stewart also has an interview with none other than Adm. James Hannison, the Navy JAG," James continued. "She is trying to arrange interviews with the pirates themselves, after they have been through trial." James told them.

"Wait," someone asked. "Why would the trials be at Liramor-23? Shouldn't they go to a civilian court?"

"Most of the pirates are ex CP Navy. They would be tried under a Court Martial, which under navy law must be conducted at the closest navy command to the infraction. Since the TUSN is currently at Liramor-23, it would conduct the Court Martial there," James told them what he knew.

"Makes sense," someone blurted out. "Liramor Prime does not have the death penalty. These pirates would be held without bail for the remainder of their lives if found guilty. The Liramor courts would be happy to oblige the Navy and give them jurisdiction in order to forgo that expense."

"Who's the Dir. Liramor-23?" someone asked.

"Fiona Marsh," James replied. "She directed the defence of the platform. Received a medal for it apparently."

"So, we're going to run the story?" someone asked the obvious question after a brief silence. James said nothing. Lirrick took over.

"There is a suppression order on the story," James told them. Jack once again had to exhort his authority to quell the comments.

"One senator has imposed a suppression order on Liramor-23 for 'having dealings with pirates'," he informed the room.

"Oh, that's clever," someone remarked. "that could keep things out of the public mind for many months."

"Here's the kicker though," Lirrick stated, "the news services have not been informed of this suppression order."

Jack saw the trap immediately. If the news services ran a teaser clip on the story, they could be closed down by the senate services acting under the law. There was always some heavy-handed bureaucrat that felt the news services needed to be under their control. Then something clicked at the back of his mind.

"Liramor Prime run this story?" he asked. James smiled.

"Everyone on Liramor Prime knows the story. The news services there shared it with the French news services, possibly with the local French services as well." James confirmed.

"Anne, check with Le Devoir to see if they know anything on the battle or have published it in French here on Terra," Jack ordered. "Be discrete though, we want to keep this quiet until we can decide what to do." Jack saw as Anne got up and left.

"Why is this coming from you, James," Jack asked.

"The spider in the center of the web, is none other than Senator Wasim Andjuran from Anuura," James informed them.

That name brought several comments from around the room, especially from the women.

"That man has a backwards attitude to women," someone noted.

"It's his religion," another person said. "He feels that all people should be following his religion, and by extension himself, as he is the senior cleric."

"He is a new senator, and he seems to have a lot of undue power for someone with only two years in the senate." Someone noted.

"We have information, so far only hints and innuendo, that he is blackmailing or bribing his fellow senators," James mentioned. "We will have to check out what we know, but it will have to be done discretely. We can't let it get back to The Spider that we know what he is doing."

Anne returned and let them know that Le Devoir had run the story, mostly in French Europe.

"Who's managing Stewart?" Jack asked.

"The ship story came from Frank Cassie on planet Hanover." Someone said.

"Perfect, get a message to him that the suppression order is a bogus order. Let him run the battle story, and we will pick it up as a feed story to be shown here on Terra.

"You'll be ready?" Jack asked of Lirrick. Lirrick gave him a lawyer's smile, which made some in the room shudder.

"Get me the exact wording on the restrictions. I want to know if there are any legal loopholes." Jack ordered of Lirrick, once again getting that smile.

"From here on we refer to this person in all our correspondence as 'The Spider'," Jack told them. "We will begin to look at what he is doing in and around the senate. We get confirmation on his manipulation of senate workers and senators. We get confirmation that he is manipulating the entertainment and news channels."

"Before we go too far," James spoke up, "we should all be aware that The Spider is bribing or blackmailing reporters."

"Shit," Jack said.

E-ring VIP Suite, Liramor-23, Piscium System

Two day later, Cynthia Stewart received notice to send all she had ready on the Battle of Liramor-23, including the order in which she thought best to present it.

There was a personal e-mail with the request from Peter Broaden. She opened the item and watched as his image came up.

"Cynthia," he started, "your story on the new ship type was very well received and is still making the circuit on the science channels, the technology channels, and even the news channels. The Terran office has indicated that they received confirmation of a ship of the Princess Class circumnavigating human space in just under sixteen hours from the builder, Pallanders Shipyards. Good scoop getting that out before Pallanders did.

"We sent your request to the Terran office on the suppression order and it is their opinion that it is a bogus order, probably to discredit Fiona Marsh and her aide Henadi Noor. That could be another lead for you.

"Once the battle story hits the airways, you are likely to become a target of this person, who we are referring to as The Spider.

"One last thing. The knife, the rifle, and the pulse cannon. I know you're holding back another story, likely a big one. Whatever it is, don't wait too long on getting it out. The Spider will likely be coming to close you down if he can.

"For you own safety, I would erase this e-mail after you view it."

Cynthia sat thinking for a moment, then abruptly got up and went to Conference Room One.

Fiona and her immediate entourage where there, as was the JAG. Perfect.

"Fiona," she began. "I have something that you should be aware of. You will need to include the 'guest' you brought to my suite the other night," she told them.

She quietly cued up Peter's e-mail and waited patiently for the IPPF agent to arrive.

End of chapter thirteen.

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