All That Glitters Ch. 16

The Pollard, Unnamed Star System, Sixty-Two Light Years from Terra

Maxwell Kittering was a self-styled admiral of a pirate fleet. He got the job for two reasons; first, he was a good tactician. Second, he was absolutely ruthless when engaging targets. And Maxwell was making plans to be ruthless.

He had a fleet of seventeen ships, but only eight were warships. His warships were a mix of old and new. The older models were constructed by the CP well before the end of the war and should have been retired long ago. They were falling apart and were in serious need of refit, something that was not likely to happen.

Fortunately, his fleet had been doing well lately, so had lots of funds available when the new ship auction had come up. He had managed to buy all three of the refit Fairling Class warships to add to his fleet. He had to retire two of his older warships, but with the three new ones, he had improved his capabilities somewhat.

His other ships were cargo ships, though one was dedicated as a fleet support vessel. Three of these were holdovers from the CP fleet, but the rest were captured or stolen vessels of much newer vintage.

Maxwell had been given the job of hitting Liramor-23 for the second time. He had smiled when he was told of his job. He would need all his cargo ships to haul loot and captured slaves from the platform. He was practically salivating at the thought of 8,000 people to chose from. He would take the best and space the rest. No sense in leaving witnesses, and High Command wanted Liramor-23 to be made an example of, which was why Maxwell got the job.

His flagship, The Pollard, named after a brother-in-law who had died fighting in The War, was one of the new ships. It had cost two billion credits for each of the three vessels; however, he was not worried. His fleet had plenty of money but, until recently, lacked the ability to buy ships. The Pollard had just come out of refit and was essentially brand new. Unlike the ship's previous namesake, this Pollard was in tip top fighting form.

Maxwell's biggest issue was getting missiles and torpedoes for his ships. All his ships, not just the newest. They had to fabricate their own missiles and torpedoes for two different size lots, from the older CP ammunitions, and now the newer Union sizes. For the moment, he had an imbalance, as he had more ammunition available for the CP sized tubes than the newer Fairling Class, his more capable ships. He had less than one quarter of the basic load for the newer ships.

Fortunately, getting ammo for the guns was not an issue, as they were plasma and pulse cannon. In this case, just getting the guns was an issue. His fleet had managed to bribe a scrap dealer who took in retired turrets from the TUSN. But the TUSN did not scrap weapons that often and one had to be careful that inspectors were not around when they bought the older turrets from his source.

They'd managed to refit several turrets for the newer ships, though they lacked a complete set, with only two of the larger Mk-15 turrets available for the three new ships. He would have preferred MK-12 turrets, but you took what you could get, and the Mk-15s were capable guns.

The Mk-48 turrets were a different issue. It was still legal to sell those for self defence, though new laws coming in would infringe upon that soon enough.

Maxwell would have to figure how to take the platform with eight warships, five of them in poor condition, and three of them with not enough guns or torpedoes. But, from what his intel had told him, he only had to deal with two navy warships at Liramor-23.

This attack was much different from attacking shipping, and yet it had many similar elements. The Platform itself only had Mk-48's as self protection, and his newer ships had decent shields for those.

The key would be to deal with the navy ships first, then attack the platform. Maxwell went over his options until he had a basic plan, then called in his captains. Each would have a specific task, but this attack would be one they could be proud of. And the rewards would be very lucrative...

End of chapter sixteen.

I know what you are all saying, shouldn't it be NS The Valour now? Well, no. The Valour is still a private vessel so is still technically a private yacht, so her technical name is PV The Valour.

Since The Valour is the lead ship and the name of the class, all ships following her will be named differently. The Valour Class are all to be named after people who have been awarded the Cross of Valour. As such, if she was a named navy ship, her name would be NS Fiona Marsh.

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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

ChEng Chief Engineer of a ship

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. One rank below Senior Chief Petty Officer.

CSec Chief of Security, corporate position

CWO Chief Warrant Officer, military rank for the Marines and Army

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.

M/A Gen Marilon/Aruna generator, significantly improved Marilon generator designed by Dr. Aruna and business partner to Clark and Samson.

MCPO Master Chief Petty Officer. Navy enlisted Rank, senior most enlisted rank. Senior enlisted rank positions such as Command Master Chief are drafted from this rank.

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

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

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

NQM Navy Quarter Master. Master Chief in charge of issuing supplies to ships and navy personnel.

NS Naval Ship (i.e. NS Wimple)

PO Petty Officer. Non-commissioned rank in the TUSN, starting at PO3 and working up to PO1. One rank below CPO.

PSec Head of Personal Security, usually the team lead

PV Personal Yacht, Private Vessel

Ops O Operations Officer

SCPO Senior Chief Petty Officer. Navy enlisted rank, one rank below Master Chief Petty 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 and other ships, 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, ore survey vessel. Raymond Clark's mining vessel in which he found his claim and evidence of aliens. Rockhounds can literally push one kilometer of rock. First seen in the prologue.

CPV Liramor One Ex Tung Class Frigate, now a 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 to Liramor-23 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. Is the smallest of the Princess Class, subsequent ships of the class being built to slightly larger dimensions. A gift from Liea Samson. First seen in Chapter Nine.

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.

PV Delilah Princess Class private yacht owned by Liea Samson. She is the second ship of the class and slightly larger than the original and sets the pattern for subsequent ships of the class. The name is derived from the historical story 'Samson and Delilah', wherever Delilah is, Samson will also be. First seen in Chapter Ten.

The Valour Valour Class Armed Fast-ship, naval ship owned by Fiona Marsh. First of her class of armed navy fast-ships, originally a Princess Class Fast-ship. The name drives from Marsh's highest award to date, the Civilian Cross of Valour. A gift from Liea Samson. Technically PV The Valour. The ship was modified and now carries a twin gun fifty millimeter rail gun turret. First seen in Chapter Ten, first seen modified in Chapter Sixteen.

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 Terran Unification War. First seen in Chapter Ten.

SPV The Sprawl Sprawl Class passenger liner built around the Princess Class fast ships, makes low cost commercial spaceflight possible. First seen in chapter fifteen.