All That Glitters Ch. 18

"Very well, I'm coming out to the gate. I will surrender to the Navy personnel on this one," Hallon informed him.

Deal with that, you fucker. Hallon thought.

Hallon went to the gate, with his son not far behind, a hollo-unit recording his father's 'arrest'.

"Marcus Hallon," a navy Cdr, with Intel pips on his collar said stepping forward. "You are under arrest for Grand Treason in that you planted a spy, one Katryana Harlona under the false name Loane Ste-Armand, on Liramor-23 to provide local intelligence to a pirate fleet planning an attacking on Liramor-23 which resulted in multiple deaths and injuries.

"Under TGA Grand Jury Law, you are to be interrogated by Navy Intelligence Officers to determine the extent of your complicity in this event. Cooperation will be noted, as will resistance to any questions, which could lead to further charges being laid.

"Because of the multiple deaths and injuries, your case will be reviewed under Capital Punishment Protocols. Do you understand, Mr. Hallon?" the officer asked a now very frightened Hallon.

"Dad! Is this true? Did you do this?" Hallon heard his son ask as he was handcuffed and taken away. Hallon's last thought was how his own arrogance had let him be arrested directly by the people who wanted him the most, Navy Intel.

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

Karla Hallon was desperately trying to call Pan Galactic News to advise them of her husband's arrest, but she could not get any response.

"That will do no good, ma'am," a young female Navy Lieutenant spoke as she walked up to her. "We have a comms blocker activated until such time as we have completed the sweep in the local area.

"You and your family will not be taken into custody unless you had prior knowledge of this event. If so, then those involved will be placed under arrest under TGA Grand Jury Protocols. Do you understand, ma'am?" the young officer asked.

Karla looked at the woman. "Does he not get a lawyer?" she asked, somewhat unsure.

"Of course, ma'am," the Officer confirmed. "Also, his arrest, incarceration procedures, his time in jail, and all of his interrogations will be recorded twenty-four and seven. There can be no reasonable doubt about his guilt or innocence on all charges. That is the requirement of Capital Punishment Protocols."

"If he is found guilty?" Karla asked, afraid of the reply.

"Ma'am. Over six hundred deaths occurred during this attack. If you husband is found guilty of supporting this attack, he will probably be executed," the Lieutenant informed her.

Karla fainted.

IPPF HQ, Tova's Planet

Marcus Hallon sat in the interrogation room; his hands secured with cuffs through a pipe. He was going nowhere soon. He had been processed none too gently when he arrived at IPPF HQ.

Marcus was starting to panic. He had no idea of a pending attack on Liramor-23 when he had sent Harlona to the platform.

The man who had arrested him, a Navy Intel Cdr. came into the room and sat down opposite him in a comfortable chair. He had coffee, a note pad, a hollo-recording device and reams of notes in front of him.

"Mr. Hallon," the man began. "I am Cdr. Marius Cole of TUSN Intelligence, and I will be conducting your initial interrogation starting 17:15 Greenwich time, at IPPF HQ on Tova's Planet.

"Navy Intelligence has been alerted to the fact that an employee of yours, one Katryana Harlona, was sent to Liramor-23 just prior to an attack by a pirate fleet that left over six hundred civilians dead and nearly twelve hundred wounded and additional 400 navy casualties including 125 dead.

"We do not know the full involvement of Ms. Harlona in the gathering of information on Liramor-23. She claims that she was doing this, under your orders, for Pan Galactic News. However, there is no evidence that she was making a news clip or documentary of any kind, nor is there any evidence of the normal equipment that reporters usually carry with them. That makes her presence and purpose on Liramor-23 suspect.

"First question Mr. Hallon. Is Katryana Harlona a member of your news team? Please be aware Mr. Hallon, we have already made inquiries into the names of personnel in your employment."

Hallon had wanted to deny that Harlona worked for him, but could see immediately that doing so would put him further into the hole he was already in.

"Yes. Ms. Harlona worked for Pan Galactic News on this planet," he replied, confirming her presence in his work force by not confirming she worked directly for him.

"Thank-you Mr. Hallon. Next question; Was Ms. Harlona working under your orders? If so, what was her purpose on Liramor-23?"

"Actually, I sent her to Liramor-23 to work with an associate of mine, Mr. Langois, a senior director of Pan Galactic News Services on Liramor Prime. I have no idea what he had Ms. Harlona doing." Hallon replied.

"According to Ms. Harlona, that statement is not entirely true, Mr. Hallon," Cole told him rather coldly. "She indicated that you were familiar with why she was on Liramor-23, that you were to be the superior she contacted in the event that she wound up in legal trouble. That makes her presence on Liramor-23 your responsibility, Mr. Hallon.

"Do you wish to modify your statement, Mr. Hallon?" Cole asked him.

"I'm not sure what Ms. Harlona means by that statement, sir," Hallon answered as cagily as he could. He didn't want to say anything that would make him the principle suspect in this entire event now that it was linked with that damn pirate attack.

"I see," Cole replied. "I assume then, Mr. Hallon, that you are throwing your subordinate 'under the bus' as they say, abandoning her to her fate. I'm sure she will be interested to hear that, sir."

"NO!" Hallon replied immediately. "That's not exactly what I meant. I mean, she was on Liramor-23 as part of a Pan Galactic undercover operation to delve into the competence of Director Fiona Marsh. Ms. Marsh has done some rather dubious things of late that have come to our attention at Pan Galactic.

"Exactly what Harlona was doing there and who she was working with, if anyone, I am not privy too, as that was directed from our Liramor Prime affiliate," Hallon answered.

"Yes. That would be the response Ms. Marsh sent to the president of Pan Galactic for Pan Galactic's rather brazen attempt at 'legal' blackmail a few months back," Cole replied, unimpressed.

"What Pan Galactic failed to consider, Mr. Hallon," Cole continued rather abruptly, "is that Director Fiona Marsh, is also Commodore Fiona Marsh, responsible for the security and defence of the Piscium system. She is also responsible for overseeing the recent scientific events ongoing in the system, that of the discovery of the alien presence there.

"Pan Galactic's presence on Liramor-23 has nothing to do with finding evidence of incompetence on Fiona Marsh's part, but rather of manufacturing such evidence for the expressed purpose of undermining Ms. Marsh's authority.

"As such, this constitutes an infringement by Pan Galactic News against a legal Navy Operation and directly against the authorized commanding officer of that operation. Coming in concert with the attack on Liramor-23, this becomes highly suspicious.

"Is there anything you want to say on your part, Mr. Hallon. I have recording equipment here to help you make any legal statement you wish to make, sir," Cole finished, rather smugly.

"I think I would like to discuss things with my personal lawyer," Hallon replied, rather shakily.

"Your personal lawyer?" Cole asked.

"Yes, Benjamin Alcott," Hallon answered.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hallon but, while you have indeed used Mr. Alcott for personal matters, as he has been engaged through Pan Galactic News, which is potentially in the center of this affair, he cannot be involved in this interrogation.

"You can engage a lawyer that you privately pay for, or we can make a lawyer available to you. We would suggest a Navy Legal Aide, sir. They would be familiar with the regulations surrounding this case."

"Isn't that a conflict of interest, sir?" Hallon asked.

"Not at all, Mr. Hallon. Navy Legal Aide works in much the same way as civilian legal aide does, with the exception that these people deal not only with local, interplanetary, and Union Law, they also work with Military Law.

"Like civilian legal aide, they work for the client, not the system, even though they are paid by the system. In your case, due to the gravity of your situation, a senior level legal aide would be made available," Cole informed him.

"The gravity of the situation?" Hallon asked.

"Mr. Hallon, 749 people died in the recent attack on Liramor-23. If Pan Galactic News, and in particular you, sir, are found to be involved with the pirates in any way, shape, or form, then you and other senior members of Pan Galactic News are subject to the death penalty.

"Legal aide will be made available to you, Mr. Hallon, but I suspect he will tell you the same thing I will, cooperation on your part will go a long way to mitigating your situation," Cole finished.

The Senate, Terra

Senator Andjuran was sitting down to his evening meal when one of his aides came in with some alarming news.

"We have just received reports that Navy Intelligence is rounding up news directors from Pan Galactic News Services," the aide reported.

"Just Pan Galactic?" Andjuran asked. "Not the others?"

"Yes, sir. None of the other news agencies have been implicated."

Andjuran wasn't sure what was going on there. He had not heard of anything Pan Galactic was doing that would bring them into contention with Navy Intelligence. It was not the first time that he had heard of things after the fact, but his intelligence net was now getting rather well connected and he didn't like being surprised.

Speaking of which, he picked up his daily read file, not the one from the Senate, but his own personal net.

He quickly scanned through the list of interests until he saw two items from Liramor-23. He opened those immediately.

The first was from his newest recruit, Fayad Ouihya. The image of Fayad came up on his comp with an innocuous message, until he opened his encryption suite, then the real message showed.

*Honored Elder, I must report that there has been an attack on Liramor-23 one week ago. The news of this attack is only now getting out because of restrictions by LMC to prevent families discovering their loved ones were dead in news clips before they could be formally notified. Nothing was allowed off the platform until all the families had been notified. *

*This attack did not go as well for the platform as the first. The platform has been severely damaged, and it will be months until it is repaired. The death toll is 624 with almost 1,200 wounded. *

*Of the TUSN ships in the system, five have been damaged, three will require extensive repairs and may even be decommissioned because of their damage. There were 400 casualties including 127 dead. *

*The attackers came with eight warships. Five of those ships were destroyed and three badly damaged and captured. The enemy then came in with nine cargo ships. all of which were captured, with two being damaged, one will not be able to be repaired. Most of the cargo ship's personnel were captured and are now being held by TUSN Intelligence. *

*Rumours abound on the platform about the competence of Fiona Marsh and her staff during the attack. TUSN and Liramor authorities are likely to forgive them because they beat back the attack and saved the platform. *

*However, the rumours among the workers are becoming more and more vicious as they are beginning to demand answers from Fiona Marsh and her staff for the high number of injured and loss of life. The Director may soon have a mutiny on her hands. *

Andjuran opened the next message, from the IPPF agent in place. It was much the same information, though the level of detail was considerably higher, especially referencing the potential mutiny.

Andjuran knew he could take advantage of this against Fiona Marsh but, for now, his hands were tied. The information on the attack would soon get out, and the pirates would want answers.

He picked up the brochure on his desk describing the opening of a new inexpensive fast passenger service to Anuura. He knew where he had to go to stay safe until he could get things under control.

Interplanetary News Services HQ, Terra

James Pwrel was getting ready to leave when he was informed of disturbing news in relation to news services Union wide.

"You're sure of this?" he asked of the person on his comp.

"Yes, only Pan Galactic News is being targeted," came the immediate reply. "The reasons why are not being released, but upper management is being taken down rather briskly and without due process as far as we can see," the woman returned. The woman was a new reporter who filed on issues in the courts, a low level task suitable for new reporters that sometimes brought in interesting tidbits.

This issue was something that Pwrel was leery of. No news services wanted to here of another service being ravaged by the government without apparent provocation. Despite the fact that this government had been relatively good to the news services as a whole, all news services lived in fear of retaliation for their work outing corruption and dubious activity by government officials.

"I'll get back to you soon. The boss has just left, and I need to get in touch with him before I can advise you what to do. For now, keep on eye on things and let us know who has been taken into custody."

James opened his contact list and called Mannen.

"James, this had better be good," Mannen advised. "I have a date scheduled with my wife tonight that I cannot miss if I want to have a wife later this week."

James ignored him. Jack's marriage was as solid as they came, probably because of those 'date nights' which rumour heralded as nothing short of phenomenal.

"I've just received a court report that senior members of Pan Galactic News are being arrested by TUSN Intelligence," James told him. "Charges, for the moment, are sealed. We have no idea what is going on and no one is talking to our court reporter either because they themselves don't know, or they have been ordered to remain tight-lipped."

"Shit," Jack replied. "Right, we need to find out what is going on and fast. Is this restricted solely to Pan Galactic, or are other news services next to be targeted? Have our reporter push her contacts, cautiously, we don't need her being arrested as well," Mannen advised. "Let me know what comes out of this, tomorrow. I have a date with my wife tonight and don't want to be disturbed unless they are coming after Interplanetary," Mannen finished.

"If they do you, being a senior executive, will likely know before me as they will come for you first," James advised before cutting the line.

James wanted answers that he was not getting from the courts. So, he would go right to the source. He would call all his people he knew had contacts within the TUSN. He would see if they could find those answers outside of the court system.

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

James got his answers later the next morning. He barged into Mannen's office after a rather prompt knock on the door.

"There's been a second attack on Liramor-23," he told his boss. "This one wasn't as one-sided as the last affair. Over 600 dead and almost 1,200 injured on the platform. Five TUSN vessels damaged, three could be decommissioned. There are over 100 dead and almost 300 injured on the navy ships," James finished.

"Shit! Why haven't we heard about this?" Mannen wanted to know.

"Liramor-23 was on comms lock-down until the next of kin could be notified," James replied. "That finished yesterday, so news is just getting out to the public. I would advise getting hold of Frank Cassie on Hanover's World. Cynthia Stewart is the reporter out of Liramor-23 and, if she has the story, would be working through Cassie's office.

"From the reaction we received about the first battle, this one will get a lot more interest, especially considering the number of dead and injured," James finished.

"Give it twenty-four hours," Mannen advised him. "He is probably just getting that information now."

Folden Naval Base, Planet Hanover, Seventy Light Years from Terra

Annette alighted from The Princess at the Senior Officer's Shuttle Port of Folden Naval Base. She was here to see FAdm. Thenton, who was quickly approaching the large landing pad.

"Ms. Liramor," Thenton simpered. "To what do I owe the magnificent pleasure of your lovely company?" he asked.

"Why, Charles!" Annette replied. "You are beginning to sound like the politicians of my home world the way you are favoring me!"

Thenton laughed at the joke. Of all the admirals in the system, he was known to be the least political of the bunch.

"Honestly though, I need to see you in private," Annette said. "We can either go aboard my ship or to your office. It will take some time as I have some incredible news clips to show you."

"Your ship is closer," Thenton advised. "May I bring my aide with me?"

"But of course, mon cher admiral. While I like strong older men, the younger ones closer to my age are the ones that really interest me," she told him with a wink, causing his aide to blush.

Once they were seated in the VIP multi-purpose room, she began outright to make her pitch.

"As you are aware, Cynthia Stewart has made some news items of the latest event on Liramor-23, mostly to quell a potential mutiny on the platform. It worked. But what you might not know is that we have identified the source of the rumours that placed Fiona in this position. It was two members of Pan Galactic News," Annette told him.

"Those two have been arrested and interrogated and we found that Pan Galactic is directing the rumour mill with the intent to undermine Fiona's authority, with the hope of eventually having her replaced. This is retaliation for a recent incident that Pan Galactic started reference Interplanetary News being the sole source of news on what has now become a very important news location."

"I remember being informed of that incident. If you ask me, I think Fiona handled that rather brilliantly," Thenton informed her.

"Yes, but what you may not know is that she has invoked the statute on news services interference with military operations because they forgot that Director Marsh, is also Commodore Marsh.

"Fiona confirmed with Adm. Heist and he is rounding up senior members of Pan Galactic seeking out who started this trend. They are basing this attack on her authority, as part of the recent incident at Liramor-23," Annette told him.

"Even I can see that's a stretch," Thenton advised. "You're playing with fire on that one. You go after one news service and the others will start getting worried, perhaps enough to start the types of inquiries that you do not want to get started."

"That's why I am here," Annette returned. "I have seen the news clips and the documentary made by Cynthia Stewart and I think it would go a long way to calming things down. We need to release this for general consumption along with the unveiling of the arrest warrants against Pan Galactic. When the population sees what Pan Galactic has done, they will have questions they will want answered by Pan Galactic.

"Pan Galactic has become the news service boogie man recently from the manner it handles itself with news items against politicians and senior officials of all stripes it has taken a dislike to. Never mind that those politicians are not corrupt, nor have they done anything criminal. If Pan Galactic doesn't like you, you have a problem.

"It's time to let the pendulum swing back away from too much freedom of press. The press has its place, but that place is not starting rumours and bringing down people who's only fault is attacking Pan Galactic for its own stupidity."