All That Glitters Ch. 19

"Sounds like a win for me then, sir," Fiona stated. "If we get lucky and sell the three supply vessels for best price, we could end up owing as little as C1.4 billion for eleven ships, seven of them warships. Even at the cost of C2.2 billion credits, I would spend that to get the three supply ships and the Fleet Tender, never mind getting seven warships as well. The navy would normally spend anywhere from C800 to C950 million to refit just one warship with the other companies and we'll get back much better ships through Pallanders."

"JAG?" Ramison asked.

"Normally, when the navy captures a vessel, the funds go back to the navy when the vessel is sold," Hannison replied. "As long as the money goes back to navy coffers after the sale there would be no conflict of interest. Reclaiming the vessels would be ideal, especially if the vessels are refit to new standards. We don't have enough Fleet Tenders. Now that Fiona will have seven ships in her fleet, she could use one of those. Of course, we would need to find crews for those ships."

"We can reduce the need for crew numbers on many of the ships," M. Thibault told the group. "Even if we consider the navy's need for redundancy, we can still substantially reduce the need for the number of ratings by at least a third per ship."

"Who pays for all this initially?" Ramison asked.

"I do, or rather Sector Forty-Two does," Thenton said immediately. "This system is under my control, and Fiona is under my command. I would also be responsible for finding additional crews."

"Sounds like we have a working plan," Ramison said with a smile. "Make it happen, M. Thibault. I want to see a repair plan and final figures from you within the week."

"Do you want all this to take place at once?" Thibault asked.

"Yes, please make use of the economy of scale if you can," Ramison replied.

"Charles, what do we do to defend the system with only one ship remaining?" Ramison asked.

"If we can get those ships back in four months," Thenton replied, "then I can leave the three warships currently in the system. With the Churchill, we should have enough forces in place to protect the system.

"We can replace those three as soon as the other Fairling Class vessels come out of refit. Fiona, you also will get those other two confiscated warships, your fleet will grow to eight ships, nine if you include the Fleet Tender," Thenton told her.

"Don't forget The Valour, sir," Fiona said, with a smile. "She did well defending the platform. That will give me ten vessels in total."

"Yes, I was quite surprised to discover how well The Valour did," Ramison stated. "We will have to look at purchasing a few of those ships. I would suggest that we give one to each of the Fleet Admirals. You, Fiona, will probably be the only Commodore who has one, seeing as how we cannot take it away from you," he said with a smile.

Fiona smiled in return. She was more than grateful to Liea Samson for her initial gift of The Valour, and even more grateful to Pallanders for the upgrade that was done to her little ship.

"My little ship surprised everybody," Fiona said. "Especially the attackers. Which is a good thing as we came so close to losing this battle, sir."

"We are aware, Fiona," Ramison replied. "The President himself is very interested in what happened here. This backwater mining platform has gained the interest of the entire Union. That can be a good thing."

"Having that much attention directed to one is never a good thing," Fiona said, matter-of-factly. "I just want to get back to doing what we do best: mining."

"Speaking of which, how long before you are up and running again?" Thenton asked.

"With the new EVA suits that Liramor Holdings sent us, we can be operational again by the end of this week," Fiona stated. "Most of the serious internal work has now been completed. The rest is mostly cosmetic. We still have some patch work to do on the hull, but that is progressing nicely.

"We will be on reduced capacity until we get the replacement ore processing ovens. Those are scheduled to start arriving in three weeks. Initially, we will replace the damaged ovens. Eventually, we will replace all the ovens. That will take three months. Until then, we will be working at less than full capacity.

"The big issue for the platform is getting the damaged vessels out of the way so that we can begin ore processing again. Preferably, that means getting our ships towed to Pallanders for repairs and upgrades and the other ships into the 'scrap' pile.

"More importantly for me though, is getting the prisoners off Liramor-23. There has already been one attempt at escape and I'm not looking forward to giving them another opportunity to do so," Fiona said.

"We will begin moving prisoners from your makeshift prison first," Thenton said. "Cdr. Davis can coordinate that with Capt. Pickering's Ex O, Cdr. Amanda Halting.

"In the meantime, I would like you to show us around the damage to the platform. I want to see first-hand how things are." Several of the other admirals nodded in agreement and followed Fiona out as she guided people around the damaged sites for the fourth time in a week.

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

"Fiona, I am impressed that your people have managed to make the repairs they have in such a short period of time," Ramison stated, after the grand tour of the damages. I am more certain now, after the latest attack and the current state of your platform, in my decision to allow Charles to bring you in as the Commodore to this system. I'm beginning to appreciate what it was he saw in you those many months ago. He's made a few good decisions in his career but taking you on board was the best one by far.

"We will need to discuss what we will do to protect this platform from future attacks. You can be certain that someone will try something stupid, if not the pirate syndicate then one of the nutcase groups that want to save humanity from an alien invasion," Ramison finished.

"That might not be so far fetched, sir," Fiona began. "Our translation of the Piscium A and B cultures has shown that they are as night and day in how they think.

"The Piscium A society is warlike and would like nothing better than to get into a good fight with competent competition, so long as they could win that fight. Their society is built on defeating their enemies. They rise in rank by combat, challenging those above them that have basically run to cede. There are no old warriors in that society.

"Even their females are martial in nature. Opposite of humans, where the males are thirty percent larger than the females, the Piscium society females are approximately twenty to twenty-five percent larger than the males. They tend to be more intelligent, and far more aggressive than the males and are fiercer fighters.

"However, their biological imperative is to protect the brood, as they refer to their offspring. The females will dedicate themselves exclusively to their young for the first five years of their lives. They will protect the brood with their lives and will kill any threat to them even onto killing their own mates if they think they have become a threat to the brood.

"The Piscium B society is polar opposite to Piscium A. They are generally not warlike, so far as we have been able to tell, though we are still gathering information on both groups.

"Dr. Hitron will be conducting a brief tomorrow for Raymond and the senior staff of The Wanderer on what we have discovered on these two societies. You ware welcome to sit in on the brief, which will be after the regular morning brief." Fiona finished.

"I for one will be taking you up on that opportunity," Thenton said with a smile.

Crew Quarters, Hotel 1517, Liramor-23

Fayad had just gotten off shift and had returned to his quarters which had, miraculously, been spared in the attack. He took several minutes to complete his sonic shower and prepare his uniform for tomorrow, when he received a call from the Comms O.

"I have an e-mail for you from Anuura, Fayad," Nancy Darlene's voice came over his link.

"Thank-you, Nancy," Fayad acknowledged. "It's always nice to get news from home."

His comp beeped and Fayad opened the message to see the face of his mother.

"Hello, Fayad. I hope this e-mail finds you in good form. Our Third Son, has been matched and will soon marry, taking the burden you took on from your shoulders. With Andanii's blessings, you will soon be able to found your own house now that you need no longer send so much of your money home for your siblings.

"Your intended from Terra sends her regards, well wishes and the blessings of Andanii to you, as does this house. We are forever favoured by Andanii for blessing us with our fourth son. Stay well, my son, stay safe, there are many who would not like to see you succeed." The message ended.

The message hinted at other messages within this one, first, that Hanalei had sent the message to him versus his mother, then his mother hinting that he had a threat hanging over his head.

Fayad checked the size of the file and wasn't surprised to find it larger than normal. He applied his code to it and found the original message from Hanalei to her mother, with instructions to send that forward to Fayad's mother.

He quickly opened the inner hidden message and listened to it carefully, wistfully wishing that he could have Hanalei in his arms. As always, he was enthralled by her beauty. After hearing it, he decided that Fiona needed to see the message.

Conference Room One, Liramor-23

Fiona was finishing up her briefings with the senior admirals in session when she received a notice from Fayad Ouihya, requesting an immediate audience. The manner of the request let her know there was an issue. She told him to come to the conference room.

Fayad entered several minutes later and stopped when he saw all present.

"This is a matter for all, Ms. Marsh, however, the method of my receiving this message is rather delicate. I would not like to reveal my source to others," Fayad stated.

"Understood," Fiona admitted. "I would ask all not familiar with Fayad's file to please leave." Only the senior personnel were left, the three admirals, FAdm Thenton, Capt. Davis, Cdr. Hellebore, and Celia Corden. when all the others had departed.

Fayad opened Hanalei's file and flipped it to the main monitor for all to see. They all heard the pretty lady say that Andjuran had fled to Anuura where he believed he was untouchable, and that she did not know why he had fled, only that people were currently not happy with him and he feared for his life, someone had already come to the compound looking for the senator and threatening those within.

"Very pretty young woman," Ramison said, once the message finished.

"My intended," Fayad told him. "Or rather, one of them."

"There are more?" Ramison asked with a smile.

Fayad drew up the image of him, Junelliea and the 'fish' and threw it up on the monitor.

"That looks like an interesting story," Thenton said, getting nods from everyone.

"This is Junelliea, my other intended," Fayad stated. "I saved her from the fish."

"By the Gods!" Heist said, surprised. "That's a Great White Shark!"

"Yes, that is what they told us," Fayad admitted. "It knocked her off her board and I reached in and pulled her from the water before it could eat her," Fayad said, matter-of-factly, making nothing of the risk he had taken.

"We spent two days together just talking and getting to know each other and she told me she wanted me as her intended when I left. She gave me no choice," Fayad admitted, looking a little shy admitting that."

The others were all looking at Fayad now with a new light. He no longer looked the unassuming young man that he initially appeared to be when they had first met him. They were aware that he had stepped up on several occasions during some trying times. This young man would go far.

"We need a way for Hanalei to get information to us without having to go through this long exchange," Fiona said. "This information is probably four days old and we would have like to know of this a lot sooner."

"There can be no threat to her," Fayad insisted.

"She is already at threat, lad," Heist advised. "But we have ways to make contact possible and lesson the direct threat she now faces. You will need to provide us with a message she will listen to and agree with so that we can set her up with the means to protect her while she is providing this information to us."

Fayad thought to a moment, and then nodded in agreement.

Far indeed, thought Heist. The man had evaluated the situation and agreed with the assessment far faster than many trained spies would. Heist was impressed. He wondered if he could recruit the man into his own network. He didn't want to take valuable people from Fiona, but this young man was someone of importance for the future.

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

Not long after the special briefing ended, Fayad approached Adm. Heist with a question.

"We will do our best to protect your lady," Heist answered the question he thought Fayad would ask.

"I expect nothing less of you, sir," Fayad stated. "Especially because she is not a professional and being pulled into something that could potentially threaten her life. I have placed her life in your hands. Do not disappoint me, or her, sir."

"My word. I've never seen anyone told off so elegantly before," Ramison said, with a smile, and getting an answering smile from Heist.

"However, that was not the question on my mind," Fayad interjected before the admirals could take the moment from him.

"Ask your question, young man," Ramison said. "If he doesn't answer, I will answer for him. You deserve that much."

"That is the question, sir," Fayad volunteered. "I have seen the way you are reacting to me, and it is not like when you deal with others. I am at a loss to explain why you are, what is the proper word, deferring to me? For lack of a better phrase."

The admirals thought for a moment before they answered, Ramison getting in before the rest.

"We are all little teeth on the great wheel of the cog of life," he explained. "But the cog of life isn't a single cog, and not all of them are the same size. However, they all interconnect with each other.

"Smaller cogs have bigger teeth and connect to the bigger cogs at points that can make them work differently. We, the senior admirals, are all on smaller cogs, and we connect with the bigger cogs in ways that control their direction, up and down, sideways or at angles, backwards and forwards. It is the way we assert control and direct others.

"But that is all we are, smaller cogs. Other wheels send us data, and we shift the data and send it down the line to direct even more wheels. We are often referred to as the shakers and makers. But in truth, we are in fact directors, not shakers or makers.

"Fiona is a true shaker, as is Raymond, Heyya, and Annette Liramor. There are not many of them around and we, the experienced more senior hands, know them when we see them. If we are wise, we direct their careers and their lives to better us all. And they do better the lives of others around them.

"You recognize a true shaker in different ways, caring for their subordinates, strength of character, honesty, a willingness to help, however, one of the ways they can be noted early on is the speed with which they make invariably correct decisions.

"Charles saw that in Fiona and wanted to bring her aboard as the local Commodore, a position that is normally political. But not in Fiona's case. He convinced me that she should be more than just a political figurehead. I have not regretted giving in to his desire on that issue. In Fiona, we are seeing a figure that could reach as far as she wants to go. Nothing is beyond her, not even the presidency of the Union." Ramison gave Fiona a significant look, and a fatherly smile.

"Fiona recognized something in you, she noticed a shaker in the making. We, the senior admirals, noted the same thing just now. You were given a decision to make. We could tell you were analyzing the options, but you came to the right conclusion and did so with remarkable speed. Then, you made a comment of total commitment to the process by insisting that Adm. Heist do the right thing, not something to please you, but the right thing by your lady.

"You did not insult him. You did not threaten him. You did not go back in anyway on your commitment, but you imposed that same commitment on him by reminding him that someone precious to you, a human life, was at stake. Something that we, the senior staff, often forget. We are aware of the lives we place in danger, but more as pieces on a chess board rather than real human lives.

"For the next few years, your life is going to be directed. First by Fiona, and then by a succession of people who will want many things from you. Hopefully, those who are directing you will think not only of the present, but also of your future. You can be assured of that with Fiona, others will make you wonder of their intentions.

"There will be a lot of stumbling blocks placed in your future path, boy. But one thing is certain, they will not stop you if you recognize them for what they are: steps in your education.

"The key is recognizing a particular stumbling block and that is often quite difficult. If you don't recognize them, they will not only cause you to stumble, but they can and will stop your forward momentum. If it stops it long enough, you might never progress again.

"Listen to everything that is happening in Liramor Control. Follow the decision-making train and learn how it is done. More importantly, learn WHY it is done. There is always a reason for what we do. Inevitably the reason is the past experiences of others. There is an old saying, 'A smart man learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others'.

"It's important to know when to be smart, and when to be wise. That can make or break your career.

"Do what you have been doing: ask questions, listen to others, identify the problems and seek solutions, don't be afraid to ask for help, but don't let that become a crutch to lean on, learn your duties and the duties of others around you, support your co-workers and your comrades.

"You have already displayed many of these qualities, even before you are going to executive school. We, the senior staff, have no doubts that Fiona has chosen the right man. Now show her that she was right to choose you." Ramison finished.

Fayad took in all that Adm. Ramison told him, not saying anything for a few moments. They could see the thoughts flitting behind his eyes. Eventually, he looked around the table, noting all the eyes on him.

Fayad stood and bowed to the assembled seniors. He gave a simple hand sign that they had seen before. "May the blessing of Andanii be on you. May he lend you strength, give you good fortune, teach you wisdom that you can in turn, pass on to this lowly man.

"You have opened my eyes, so that I may see, my ears so that I may hear, and my mind that I may learn. It is my hope that I become a pupil worthy of your wisdom." Fayad finished, bowing to the table. "It is time for me to sleep. I have a busy schedule tomorrow.

"Thank-you for your time, sirs."

They watched the young man turn and leave, his mind in obvious turmoil.

"Shock and awe, George?" James asked.

"He did take Rolland to task in such a delightful way," George said, with a smile that brought a chuckle from the rest of the table.

They all looked to Fiona, seeing the glint in her eyes.

"Keep your thoughts in the here and now, Fiona," Charles told her. "You're thirty years away from making a run for the presidency," he finished with a smile.