All That Glitters Ch. 19

Serveur Informatique Pierreforme was a server house that provided computer server services for hire. It was a perfect company for a new graduate to cut his teeth on, and Luc was trying to be the perfect candidate for the company. He had seen the advertisement for new personnel online and informed his superiors at VSC of the chance to infiltrate the business directly.

"Your credentials are good, M. Ouellette," Davide Pierreforme said. "You seem to be relatively competent on computers and the net. But why come all the way out here to this side of the world when you live on the main continent?"

"M. Pierreforme, there are many graduates much more capable than I am in the capital," Luc informed his erstwhile future employer. "They will get all the good jobs, and even many of the lesser jobs.

"With my scores and capabilities, I needed to look around elsewhere to find a reasonably good paying job to cover my student loans. I have been living on my own for several years now while attending university. It would be no stretch for me to move here, and I can still be close to my family via the net.

"I was out this way for a private reason, and when I saw the listing for your business, I decided to try for the position while I was here. If I succeed, then I will move here, if not, there is no harm in trying is there, sir?" Luc finished.

"How long for you to transfer here if we select you?" M. Pierreforme asked.

"End of the week," Luc said. "My lease is coming due then, so I can simply leave it lapse, but I would need to know within the next two days that I have the job. I will also need to find lodgings here and I would need a contract to show the bank in order for them to let me permanently leave the capital. They keep close tabs on people who owe large sums on their loans and they would not let me leave the local surroundings without a show of employment.

"Quite frankly, I will enjoy having a single employment that will replace the three jobs I currently do to pay for my rent, pay on my student loan, and give me some money for personal use. I am starting to burn out from the constant working and hope to reduce some of that for a little more me time." Luc finished.

"That is not a problem," Pierreforme advised him. "I can let you know tomorrow if you are hired. I have a friend who has apartments for lease, and the rates here are much cheaper than in the capital. You could rent a very nice apartment here for as little as C500 a month versus C1,500 for a small apartment in the capital."

"Sounds like I will enjoy living here if that is the case," Luc said with a smile. "Would it be possible to meet your friend and look over the choices?"

Luc was given a business card and went off to look at possible apartments, while Pierreforme investigated his background. They found nothing more than what they should, VSC and the IPPF ensuring that a rather modest background was all they saw on 'Marc Ouellette'.

The next day, he was called back and given a contract. By the end of the week, he was at his job and living in a much better apartment than a newly graduated student could have afforded back in the capital. He made sure to show his new employers his dedication for the opportunity they had provided him.

All-in-all, Serveur Informatique Pierreforme was very pleased with the new addition, who showed himself to be a diligent and reasonably competent worker for a new graduate. Luc was pleased as well. He was now inside of the target server installation and would soon begin to look around carefully to see what he could find.

IPPF had been patient with VSC, considering what they had already been given. However, their patience had a limit, and Luc didn't want them to start trying to bull their way into the target server. That would mean he would have to start everything all over again with no expectation of finding the back up server the criminals would be using. The timeline was closing in on him, but Luc was used to pressure.

Conference Room One, Liramor-23

"Unexpected FTL event in the incoming Navy lane," came the voice of the Ops O from Central Ops.

"IFF confirms the NS Dewfall," the disembodied voice informed those in the conference room.

"Advise the Dewfall that we are using the alternate command center. We don't need them going to F-level to meet us," Fiona ordered of the Ops O.

"Liramor Control, this is the Dewfall, Capt. Pickering commanding, be advised that a second ship, the Nal Tan will be joining us shortly. She is a civilian tow ship for your damaged vessels."

"Roger, Dewfall, thank-you for the notification. Control Out."

"New FTL event," the Ops O reported. "Transponder indicates the Nal Tan," the Ops O reported after a few moments.

"Finally," Davis said. "We can begin transferring prisoners as soon as they get into their parking orbit. It will be nice to get that threat off the platform."

Fiona agreed with her. She sent Davis to the airlock to meet Capt. Pickering and whomever was travelling with the Dewfall. She expected FAdm. Thenton, and possibly the JAG for Sector Forty-Two, but she had been surprised before.

"Arriving, Chief of the Navy," came the voice of Capt. Davis over comms some minutes later. "Arriving, Chief of Naval Intelligence. Arriving, Judge Advocate General of the Navy. Arriving, Sector Forty-Two. Arriving NS Dewfall." Protocol was to announce the command positions, but they might not be the only people in the group.

Fiona opened the camera in the corridor to see who else might be in the group. She recognized Adm. George Ramison, Adm. James Hannison, and Adm. Rallond Heist, already announced. Vice Admiral Judge Mirotomo Hittu, of the JAG office of Sector Forty-Two, and his aide Captain Phillipa Rouse were also there. She saw Capt. Pickering of the Dewfall, and a few captains that Fiona didn't recognize. Possibly aides for the admirals. It wasn't long before they arrived in the conference room.

"Fiona, I am glad to see that you were not hurt in the recent attack," Adm. Ramison began. "Though I am not pleased to see Liramor-23 having taken so much damage. I will want you to walk me around after so that I can see for myself what has been done and what repairs are still needed."

Ramison gave Fiona a fatherly hug, which was followed by all the senior admirals.

"We got lucky during the first Battle of Liramor-23. We had surprise on our side and well thought out tactics. This time, surprise and tactics went to the pirates, but determination and perseverance went to Liramor-23. We basically outlasted them.

"We have a sound defence strategy but against the numbers of ships that came into the system this time, and the speed of the attack, it was a close call. They hit and severely damaged the Kologn and the Kindalla almost as soon as they came into the system. Those two vessels basically had no chance. Even so, they managed to get off torpedoes and missiles in return and damaged several of the pirate vessels.

"That the Churchill was here was just luck. She managed to do a lot of damage to the enemy ships and force them out away from the platform. We also got lucky in having a newly modified fast ship with a rail gun. That heavy rail gun, combined with the manoeuvrability of The Valour, allowed the Churchill and The Valour the opportunity to do some significant damage to the enemy.

"Many of the platform staff who died in this attack did so while defending against a combat assault. Had it not been for the presence of The Wanderer's Marines on the platform, we would have lost this fight. I would like to request a company of Marines be assigned to Liramor-23; we will need them should there be another such attack." Fiona said.

"You will get whatever you ask for, Fiona," Ramison told her. "There is a great deal of sympathy out there for you and Liramor-23 now that Ms. Stewart's clips on the Second Battle of Liramor-23 have hit the news services. The shocking loss of life, the images of the damage done to the platform, and the revelation that the pirates are taking free citizens of the Union as slaves has a lot of people asking some very embarrassing questions of the TGA. People are saying, that the TGA must have known about or at least suspected this level of slavery operations."

"That wasn't my plan," Fiona stated. "I have no interest in embarrassing the government, but they need to start dealing with this issue soon, especially opening a dialogue with the non-Union planets who are conducting slavery.

"The TGA should now begin openly investigating those six planets, searching for free Union citizens who have been made into slaves. Those planets do not call what they do slavery. They say that all who come into the indentured servitude system, will eventually earn their way out of it and into the citizenship of the respective planets, but the people sold into slavery by the pirates will never have the opportunity to pay of their indenture. They will die as slaves as those planets cannot allow their presence their to be discovered by the Union.

"However, being the Dir. of a mining platform and Commodore of this system, it is not my place to tell the government what it should be doing. That's for people well above my pay grade," she finished.

"Yes, the TGA is limited in what they can do," Ramison admitted. "Those planets are not part of the Union, but, when the repercussions of taking free Union citizens as slaves begins to sink into their collective mindset, there will likely be a shake up in the governments on those six planets. They are ill-equipped to go to war against the Union, which is a strong probability should the large numbers of Union Citizens taken as slaves show up on any of those planets."

"Good luck finding them," Fiona replied. "Union citizens are usually not allowed to wonder freely on those planets. Now we know why. Can you imagine if you were walking along in some backcountry village and suddenly are confronted by a member of your family you thought dead but now find as a slave on one of those worlds? Very embarrassing and the only way of hiding it would be through killing both of those involved to prevent that knowledge from getting out.

"I pity the people who will be going to those worlds looking for proof of enslavement of Union citizens. They will not have an easy job finding that proof," Fiona stated.

"Quite," Ramison agreed. "That is another matter though, but one that is now of interest to all, thanks to your recent 'interview'. However, while you had no intention of embarrassing the government, you did do so. That might have some repercussions for you. Nothing so far has crossed my desk but be aware of the possibility. There are those in the government that will be resentful that you spoke at all, even if it what was said was within the capacity of your position here.

"I will actively work to shut down such repercussions, but I might not get the chance to do much and I cannot actively work against the government, much as I would like to in this instance. We do work for the TGA after all," Ramison told her with a smile.

"Until recently, I was just the Director of Liramor-23 Mining Platform," Fiona reminded them. "While I could easily return to being just the director, I would prefer not to be fired from my position as Commodore, Commanding Piscium System. I've grown attached to the title," she told them with a smile.

The Pallanders representative, Marc Thibault, chose that moment to enter the conference room. Fiona nodded to him and asked for his assessment of the damaged ships.

"Five out of six navy ships were damaged: NS Betelgeuse, NS Churchill, NS Kindalla, NS Kologn, and NS Wimple. Of these, the Kologn and the Kindalla are the most severely damaged," Thibault began. "Their primary FTL drives and their sub-light drives were damaged beyond repair. The ships can be repaired, but the cost might be a bit prohibitive at over C900 million, closer to one billion credits per vessel.

"However, I have recently heard there would be no money for new ships, so repairing them might be your only option if you wish to keep them. While Conversely, at C400 to C600 million apiece, it will cost less for Pallanders to refit those ships and you would get ships refit to the new standards.

"The Betelgeuse has more cosmetic work than other work to consider. She suffered severe shock damage to her principle FTL drive and cannot move on her own without a replacement drive. The cost to repair will be approximately C250 million. You might as well conduct a refit on her as well. It will be more expensive, but once again you will have a ship up to the new standards.

"The damage to the Wimple is not as extensive as it looks, mostly cosmetic. It can be repaired in two weeks for somewhere between C50 and C75 million. We won't know the final price until we start the work. However, refitting will bring the price up. You will lose any ships in refit for close to five months. You will get back ships with the same capabilities as The Wanderer so it might be worthwhile to consider that.

"The Kologn, the Betelgeuse, and the Kindalla, will all have to be towed to Pallanders Orbital Shipyards, providing you decide to keep them, otherwise they can be scraped here.

"The Churchill can easily be repaired and be ready in three weeks, back up to the new standard and again for the price of C20 million. Even though the engineering section was hit, the primary FTL drive did not suffer any shock damage and will simply have to be realigned. Most of the vessel's damage was cosmetic.

"The repairs on the Churchill can even be done here, meaning you will not lose the ship for an extended period. It will take three weeks to do the repairs with the crew helping, if she goes to Pallanders Shipyard, it will cost more time, mostly because of the current load of business we have there, including the anticipated repairs/refit on your ships. Better to repair the Churchill here, where we can send out a small force dedicated to the Churchill. That force can be used to service the repairs to Liramor-23 after the repairs on the Churchill and the Betelgeuse.

"Total cost of repairing the navy ships is between C1.72 to C1.95 billion. Refitting them will cost more. You can refit the navy ships for between C400 to C600 million each, dependant if they are all done together or separately, that works out to between C1.62 to C2.4 billion for all five ships versus the cost of repair and you would have ships refit to the new standard, good for the next twenty years.

"Of the pirate vessels, five warships were destroyed, and twelve ships were captured. They include: three warships, eight supply ships, and one ship that is a dedicated fleet support vessel.

"Of the warships, two of the three Fairling Class ships are repairable. They did a good job of refitting those vessels, which means less work for us to get them back up to the new standard. Scrapping them is your only other option should you chose not to reclaim them as navy ships. Unfortunately, their level of damage means they will have to be towed to Pallanders.

"The remaining captured warship is an older CP model and not suitable for refit. None of the other five warships are salvageable except perhaps for parts. All six will need to be scraped. That can be done here by the local crew. They have some experience at salvaging damaged ships," Thibault quipped with a smile, bringing some laughter from the listeners.

"Of the pirate supply ships, there are four navy supply ships and four civilian supply ships. Three of navy types are Cormorant Class Navy Supply ships. They were among eight that had been sent for mothball and apparently stolen on route. We can refit them as navy supply vessels for less than C250 million each. Yes, even the one with the bow blown off. Believe it or not, that is mostly cosmetic.

"There is not much in the bow but the sensor arrays and the 150cm tubes. We will have to fabricate bow parts so that we can move that ship to the Pallanders shipyard but that is not difficult to do, or it can be towed. The fourth vessel is a much older model CP navy supply ship and unsuitable for refit. She will need to be scrapped.

"The other civilian ships are between eight and eleven years old, the same age as the Cormorants. For approximately C150 million each, we can refit those vessels to a newer civilian standard and sell them.

"The navy would make a profit on them as they would probably sell for between C500 to C750 million each or C1.5 to C2.25 billion for a cost of refit of C450 million a profit of between C1.05 to C1.8 billion.

"Should you chose to refit the navy vessels to civilian supply ships, that will still cost C150 million each but will bring down the overall price at auction because of the number of vessels for sale at one time, we estimate that you could make between C450 and C650 per vessel again dependant who is present at auction selling six at once.

"One of the captured ships is a dedicated fleet support vessel, a Fleet Tender. She is of a newer design and can probably be claimed by the navy for the same purpose. She cannot be refit for supply purposes as the type modifications are too extensive. She would have to be refit but the cost of refit for the tender and all six vessels as civilian vessels and the tender would be C1 billion, civilian supply ships being much simpler vessels than other specialized vessels to refit.

"If you refit three as navy supply vessels the cost will be C750 million plus C450 million for the civilian ships and C100 million for the tender. A total of C1.3 billion. The sale of the three civilian vessels will net you between C1.5 to C2.25 billion or all six could sell between C2.7 and C3.9 billion, again dependant on who shows up for the auction.

"Total cost of refit for all thirteen vessels would be C3.7 billion. Dependant which variant of refit on the supply ships you chose, you could get back C1.5 to C3.9 billion. Paying up to C2.2 billion credits to get back ten ships is a pretty good deal, considering that supply ships cost one billion plus new and a new warship can cost up to two billion credits." said M. Thibault, with a smile.

"You gave us a figure of between C400-C600 million to refit the navy vessels, why such a big difference?" Fiona asked.

"Economies of scale," the rep replied. "If we do each of the vessels separately, it will cost you the higher. If we do all at once, we can gain for the number of vessels being completed at the same time. It will also take a shorter time to do them, perhaps as short as three months versus five months, but I think nearer to four months.

"Remember, most of the damage is cosmetic, but all of the vessels will have their guts removed in refit. Refits currently cost the navy between C700 and C850 million per ship, with frequent cost overruns sometimes exceeding C1.2 billion per refit. We can do it for far less because we don't charge exorbitant administrative fees, nor do we inflate our costs as other companies seem to do." M. Thibault said, with a smile.

"What if we choose to make six supply ships and split the sale, three vessels between two separate months. Would that allow us to get a higher resale on them?" Fiona asked.

"It could, but you can't hide something as large as a supply ship and the buyers will note more are coming. I would plan on losing some money on the exchange for six vessels." M. Thibault advised. "One advantage you might have with the Cormorants is their current level of refit. It will mean less to deal with for us during our refit and should bring the price down overall for those three unless you choose to make them civilian ships. then the cost will be the same as the other civilian ships."

"What about the cost of the tows?" Fiona asked.

"There is a navy fund set aside for that," Thenton advised, "so that cost is covered."