All That Glitters Ch. 17

"Cynthia 'Harlot' Harlow, Good job, Marine!"

"MARINE!"

Next came Dr. Heyya and her staff, guiding the anti-grave beds with the severely wounded. Two of those were unconscious, but the remainder reached out to friends in the ranks as they were slowly moved down the corridor to the medical shuttle.

Their names were called out with the honorific "Good job, Marine!" by the CWO and the answering roar of "MARINE!" by those attending.

Heyya gave final instructions to the medical staff on the shuttle, formally handing over her patients, then turned to leave, only to find the Marines still in place. As she stepped form the shuttle, its hatch closed behind her.

The CWO stepped up to her side and asked her to follow him down the corridor. At the end of the line, Major Thom stepped forward to bar her way. He gave her a formal salute and pulled something from his pocket.

"Dr. Heyya, twenty-one of our people were rendered into your care, most of them seriously wounded. Two were lost, but I have been told that the five who just left this platform would have died if it had not been for you, as might have the seven other Marines in your care."

Thom handed her something she did not expect. It was a Marine name tag. The typical Marine name tag with the muted symbol for medical staff on it, above the name, Dr. Heyya.

"Doctor, you will be considered out of uniform if you are not wearing that name tag. Good job, Marine!"

"MARINE!" came the resounding roar. Without being dismissed, the Marines broke apart and came to personally thank Dr. Heyya for what she and her team had done.

Rockhound 471, Piscium System

RH 471 was wandering through the debris field looking for the two missing people from Liramor-23. They knew this was a recovery mission and not a rescue mission. The two had been presumed blown into space when the exterior doors of Maintenance Bay Fourteen had been opened, as that was where they were last reported working.

Most of the debris field consisted of pieces of metal from ships and from the platform.

The two pilots were monitoring the mini-ship's sensor array, looking for the telltales of human bodies. They suddenly found themselves looking at a large container, obviously dumped into space.

"Liramor Control, this is Romeo Hotel 471, we have what appears to be a vacuum container floating in the debris field. Can you identify container number SVT-17738? Over."

"471, Control, roger that container number is positive. It is one of ours. We are not certain if it has been emptied or not. Can you retrieve it? Over."

"Control, 471, roger that. We can bring it back to the barn. Out."

"OK, Sarah, let's latch onto this thing and scoot back with it," the senior pilot Helene said of her partner.

They spun the ship and put themselves behind the container, gently bringing the ship into contact with it and locking the magnetics once they did.

"I've got a signal from the container!" Sarah told Helene.

"What do you mean a signal?" Helene asked.

"It's a comp unit!"

"Hello, can anyone hear me?"

"Yes, yes, this is Rockhound 471, we are in contact with a vacuum container. Are you in the container?" Sarah asked, excited.

"Yes, there are two of us. We are running out of air, and it is so cold," came the week reply.

"Can you do a med scan to tell us how you are doing?" Helene asked of the two people on board.

They got a response a few seconds later. It did not look good. CO2 levels were way up, and breathable air was down severely. It was also minus ten onboard and indications were that the temperature was going down.

"Shit, the container is too big to take on board," Sarah stated.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. Liramor control this is RH 471; we have two people inside the container. We cannot bring it aboard; it is too large. Oxygen levels onboard the container are down significantly, CO2 levels up to extreme levels, temperature inside the container is below zero and decreasing. They may have only five minutes of viable air left. We cannot bring the container back in time to rescue them. We need assistance, NOW! Over."

"Control, roger, standby."

"471, Control, we've got a cargo shuttle moving to you now, can you push the container back toward the station? Any little bit will help. Over."

"471, already doing that. We can only push so much. The container cannot move at any rate of speed without falling apart, Over."

"Control, roger, shuttle 1562 is on an intercept course with you. They should be to you inside of two minutes. Out"

"Romeo Hotel 471, Charlie Sierra 1562, we have you on our sensors, anticipate intercept inside of one minute. Over."

"471, roger. Open your hatch and take them directly inside. You'll have to crack the seal to get air to them. The med scan did not look good. Over."

"1562, roger. We have you visual, stop pushing the container, we will try to snag it. Over."

Helene unlocked the magnets and slowed the ship. The container floated ahead of the Rockhound. They saw the cargo shuttle as it turned broadside to the container. The main hatch opened, and the container slowly slid into the shuttle. Too slowly. They needed to get air into it like two minutes ago. Helen pushed the data stream from inside the container to the shuttle.

They watched as the hatch closed, and the shuttle put a burst of speed on headed toward the platform. The Rockhound followed. Its part done.

Inside the shuttle, two members of the crew were looking at the shuttles comp and decided there was no time to pressurize the deck. The brought air hoses and attached them to the container. Fortunately, it was often necessary to keep pressure up in containers and the shuttle was equipped to do just that.

Inside the container, two very cold ladies were huddled together for warmth. The seal on the container failed and the air inside whistled out. It was getting harder to breathe, and the two held each other a little tighter, knowing that they would not survive much longer.

Suddenly, air flooded the container! They could breathe!

"Hello, in the container. Can you hear me?" came over the comp.

"Yes! Yes! We hear you!" they shouted.

"Your container is in a cargo shuttle. We could not pressurize the deck, so we fed you oxygen through the ports. I know it's cold in there, please bear with us. We are headed back to the barn and will be there inside of three minutes," came the voice.

The two began to cry. They had been rescued.

"Control, CS 1562, we have the container and are feeding oxygen through the ports. The two are alive but very cold. Advise where you want us to come aboard. We will need medical assistance as soon as we open the container. Those two have been in there for more than two days. Over."

*******************

A runner broke into the conference room in breach of protocol with the lights indicated briefings in progress. Fiona was getting the morning brief on the condition of Liramor-23 and her fleet and had shut off the feed from Ops, as it had been nothing but depressing in the last few days.

The smile on the runner's face meant good news, and it was...

End of chapter seventeen.

For those of you who mentioned that the spelling of The Valour was wrong, please note that it is the proper Oxford English spelling for what American's call valor. Many of you pointed out that the spelling meant a form of cloth/textile. This is incorrect. You mean velour, a plush fabric, versus valour, courage in the face of danger.

Please rate and comment but remember to keep your comments respectful.

Thanks, bigtddybr

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. One rank below Senior Chief Petty Officer.

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.

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 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 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.

NS Betelgeuse Fairling Class Frigate, Capt. Lorain Tuffet commanding. Fifth ship in Marsh's command, dedicated to Piscium system security. First seen in Chapter fifteen.

NS Churchill Whippet Class Escort Ship, Cdr. John Seldon commanding. Sixth ship in Marsh's command, dedicated to Piscium system security. First seen in Chapter fifteen.

The Pollard Fairling Class Frigate. Command ship of Admiral Maxwell Kittering, commander of a pirate fleet. Refit Fairling Class sold as a frigate to pirates. First seen in Chapter sixteen.