All That Glitters Ch. 33

"You completed a language matrix in that short a time?" the Sister asked.

"Well, no. It is still not complete; it is still a work in progress. We are getting more and more detailed language translations each day though," Hitron replied. "The support of one or more of your linguists would help in the more detailed translation, especially scientific notations. Then we can put the matrix on our comps," she told them, showing them her wrist.

"Comps?" Science asked.

Rikki showed his own wrist comp. "It is a micro-computer held on the wrist. It can also act as a communications tool, scanner, translator, and many other devices. They are amazing devices and much smaller than our personal computers, at least those of my time," Rikki said activating his wrist comp and showing them some of the things it was capable of.

"Our systems have not changed much since 'your time', Rikki," Science admitted, showing the device on her arm. "These 'comps' are incredibly small. This technology would also be something that we would consider trading for."

"There are other technologies that we have, newer, still experimental, however, we now have a means of producing a modifiable force screen that can block the escape of gasses into space and yet allow ships to pass through into a shuttle bay, thus preventing the need to constantly depressurize and repressurize a shuttle bay," Aruna stated.

"That would indeed be useful. Your ships jump sixty-five light years, this is your maximum?" the other Sister asked.

"It is near our maximum yes," Fiona admitted.

"Our great ship can jump over one hundred light years. We may trade that level of technology with you. Would that be of interest to you?" she asked.

"Very much," Fiona admitted. "You do not seem to be worried about us?" Fiona asked.

"Yes, we are still worried about you. Less so with Rikki's experience. Rikki has spent time with you," the other Sister said. "He has judged you already and has told us that you are worthy of being considered as a member species. The technology your bring is sufficient to interest us."

"Rikki says your people show compassion. Unlike the people who damaged this station so long ago. That says much to us," the senior Sister replied.

"You should be aware that we are in contact with the people who damaged this station," Fiona told them. "They call themselves the Pod-Drran, the strong ones. They regularly come back on pilgrimage to their former Home World, the world that once existed here and was destroyed when the gas giant wandered into the planets plane of rotation and caused the planet to break up by gravimetric shear.

"They return every so often to lay their revered dead together with those of their ancestors. They found that your kind were making use of the bodies of the revered dead and they attacked you for that. They could not understand you, could not talk to you, and you did not stop taking their dead.

"Rikki has explained to us that to you, the dead are simply resources. However, to many other species, the dead are revered. This was an unfortunate and preventable misunderstanding between your peoples. Not that the Pod-Drran needed much of an excuse to attack your station. They are a warlike people.

"The Pod-Drran do not have FTL capability, and we have no plans to allow them to have it for now. Their leaders still show the primitive mind-set of the warrior. Until they learn otherwise, we will leave them isolated on the planets they now have and not invite them into the greater community of species.

"They will be given access to the multi-species embassy on the other station. In the fullness of time, the Pod-Drran may earn their way into the greater community, but for now, we intend to keep them isolated," Fiona finished.

"From what Rikki, and others who had survived the attack, have told us, this is a wise decision on your part," the senior Sister stated.

She turned to those who stood behind her, the representatives of other species. There appeared to be four other species waiting there. She called them forward.

"The matrix indicates six languages," Fiona stated. "There are five species here. Which is missing?"

"There are now ten species in our greater community. With you humans, that is eleven. With the Pod-Drran, that is twelve," Science stated.

"The Pod-Drran have a sister species, which we have not yet met," Fiona told them. "They call themselves, the Maha-Rrin, the wise ones. It was our intention to meet them in the near future."

"So, a total of twelve species with one of the species a split species?" the Sister asked, getting a nod from Science.

"The universe is an amazing place," the Sister stated simply.

Fiona couldn't agree more.

NS Julia Thenton, Senior Officer's Shuttle Port, Clarren Naval Base, Planet Layette, Crestor System, 163 Light Years from Terra

Because FAdm. Thenton was coming into the command area of Sector Twenty-Three, it was incumbent on him to pay a courtesy call on FAdm. Wilhelmina Holstern, commanding Sector Twenty-three. That was why he was at Clarren Naval Base.

"Good morning Wilhelmina, I would like you to meet my choice for Captain of the NS Dewfall, currently at the Punarjanm System for refit. This is Captain Henadi Noor," Charles said to Wilhelmina.

"Not, The Henadi Noor, Charles?" she asked.

"Yes, the same," Charles admitted.

"I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, Capt. Noor. It is a pleasure to meet someone who has accomplished as much as you have over the last few years," Wilhelmina shook Henadi's hand.

"So, you are here as a courtesy call on me because you are bringing her to her ship, Charles?" she asked.

"That is correct. I am taking Capt. Noor to her ship and a hull rigger from Liramor-23 to Liramor-30 as a favour to a friend of mine," Charles said.

"Good. I find myself in need of transport as my Commodore has just made her first capture and is claiming a prize ship," Wilhelmina smiled.

"What, Beverley captured a pirate vessel?" Charles guessed.

"If you mean Capt. Davis, yes, she and Lt. Nyalla of the Dixon teamed up to capture the Madera's Reach, a pirate frigate owned by the Alnitah Pirate Syndicate. Just got the notice from their daily comms probe.

"Dostier is claiming the vessel to be part of her command, on top of the three vessels that she has been promised," Wilhelmina groused.

Charles laughed. "Blame Cmdre. Fiona Marsh for setting that precedent," he told her.

"Very well. If you would care to travel with me, we can set out at once for Liramor-30 and Pallanders-4," Charles said, extending his arm to her.

Lt. Palid, Capt. Noor, FAdm. Holstern, FAdm. Thenton, and their respective aide-de-camps climbed aboard NS Julia Thenton and shortly launched on their journey.

NS Julia Thenton, Liramor-30, HD-115153 (Punarjanm) System

"Good luck to you son," Charles Thenton said, shaking Sean Murphy's hand.

Sean nodded to the Adm. then closed the helmet on his EVA mining suit. He stepped into the airlock, his ready pack already in it, and closed the inner hatch.

"Cycling outer hatch," came the report from the bridge. Sean felt the air being sucked out of the airlock and the reaction of his EVA suit as vacuum filled the space.

Sean checked his suit and found all was good. The outer hatch opened. Sean grabbed his ready pack and fired his suit's rockets, propelling him toward the transport ship immediately in front of him. He saw a hatch open and steered himself toward it.

The hatch closed behind him and he felt air entering the airlock he was in. He waited for the inner hatch to open and stepped through into the interior of the transport ship.

"Welcome to the SPV Allacia," said a woman's voice to his right. He turned to look and saw a woman dressed in an EES who was pointing to a spot beside her. Sean stepped onto it and she hooked up his suit to the 'hold all's' that supported empty suits.

Sean tapped his ready pack and the woman opened it, finding suit parts and other items for necessary maintenance. She placed those in the rack immediately behind Sean's EVA suit along with the ready pack.

Together, they swiftly got Sean out of the suit.

"Oh, my! You're a big bugger!" the woman blurted when Sean finally emerged.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," he told her with a smile. "The name's Sean Murphy, miner and hull rigger, originally from Eire Nua."

"That's good on both counts. I'm Anna Breathnach, also from Erie Nua," she replied with a smile. "You have your papers?"

"He pulled a satchel and a jump bag from the ready pack, tapping the satchel in response to her question.

"Right, through the hatch, turn right. Go down five cross corridors and turn left at the sixth. You'll find a door marked 'foreman', though it should say 'Forewoman'." She quipped.

"I thought Pascal Dejeu was the foreman?" Sean asked.

"He's the project manager. Each of the two senior foremen who work for him work are on one the two transport vessels, the Allacia and the Trichord. Each ship holds 784 EVA workers plus support crew. You will be billeted here on the Allacia. Go report to the foreman, she is expecting you," Anna told him.

Sean followed Anna's directions and swiftly found the foreman's office.

"You Sean Murphy? I'm Diana West, engineer and mining foreman, or forewoman dependent on how much you want to stay on my good side," she quipped, getting a smile from Sean.

"Not a problem, Ms. West. I'm used to working with strong willed women," Sean told her. "My wife is at Malihan Regional Hospital on Green's World for the next six months, finishing her medical doctorates. Trust me, she may be tiny but she is one formidable lady," he finished with a smile.

"Sound like my kind of woman," Diana replied. "Right, let's see your papers."

Sean handed her his certificates of training and the references from his former bosses, which she quickly went through.

"Oh, I see you had to have your legs regrown. Suit was too small. Is that corrected now? You have something that fits?" she asked.

"I have a matched set of EVA equipment, currently in the EVA suit-up area under Anna Breathnach," Sean explained.

"Ha! You even say her name right! She must be happy about that. Oh, I see, you are both from Eire Nua. This you wife?" she asked while looking at a picture of the couple.

"Yes, ma'am. Seito Ayesha. Met her while I was convalescing from the loss of my legs, married her less than a month ago. We both worked for the same ship, she as the ship's 'doctor', I as security and hull rigger.

"Right. Says here you have experience as a hull rigger and that you worked on the exterior of Liramor-23 during it's rebuild. That's good as that will be the same kind of work you will be doing here.

"Your experience as a miner will help you out as well if we get ahead of schedule. We will be able to make use of you in the rock cages rather than have you sit idle waiting for other hull work," Diana told him.

She called up a floor plan of the Allacia and provided him a schedule to go around the ship getting himself booked in. She touched her comp to his to transfer the data and told him to finish his orientation.

"You start second shift tomorrow, IF, you have finished your orientation," Diana said. "Welcome aboard, Sean," she finished with a handshake.

Sean nodded, looked at his schedule and headed to the first point on it. Four hours later, he was booked onto the ship, had completed the medical, finished his safety brief, his orientation brief, and his work brief. He went to his rather sparse cabin. It seamed small, but then again, he was a big man.

Sean put his stuff away, what he had, and cleaned up. It would be a busy first day for him tomorrow.

NS Julia Thenton, Pallanders-4, HD-115153 (Punarjanm) System

NS Julia Thenton slipped into the indicated bay and waited for the commercial gangway to settle over the hatch before everyone marched up the gangway into the reception area, where they were met by Cmdre. Dostier.

"Good morning, ma'am, sir," Liana greeted them. She led them to a conference room with a view. In the conference room were David Sprawl, Capt. Beverley Davis, commanding NS Pegasus, and Lt. Joyce Nyalla, commanding NS Styles Dixon.

"So what is going on, Liana?" FAdm. Holstern demanded.

"Ma'am, two days ago, we spotted a lurker in an area of high magnetic interference between a binary planet pair," Dostier began. "We had sent a probe their just because of that interference. The probe spotted the Madera's Reach, a known pirate vessel.

"I sent my two ships to capture it and they did, with no loss of life or injury on either the pirate vessel or the Navy vessels. I've got 182 pirate crew and 60 of their Marines, now sitting in the NS Dewfall's brig as there is no other place for them. The ship, is in a refit cage," Liana explained to them, pointing out the Madera's Reach through the plasteel window.

"We damaged the port vane, five of its six sub-light engines, and all of the guns during the capture. They had no choice in that, as the pirates did fire torpedoes at our ships and did attempt to engage them with guns. We also blew the bow of the vessel to take out the bow tubes. Otherwise, the vessel is relatively intact.

"David," Liana turned the brief over to David Sprawl.

"Nice to see you again, sir," David said to his former boss, Charles Thenton. "There are currently four cages ready for use, but only two vessels in those cages; NS Dewfall, which has a priority, and the captured ship.

"However, we have all the parts necessary to refit a Fairling Class Frigate. In fact, enough parts for three Fairling Class refits. I've got a lot of idle people sitting here on this station. I would prefer to be paying them to work and not to sit idle.

"There are currently no plans to do Fairling Class refits for at least three months. Right now, I have ships being built on the station, Whippet Class and Valour Class, plus combat shuttles and combat drop shuttles. But I have no Fairling Class work being conducted, even though I have the parts and the necessary workforce.

"I want people working in the cages. I can assign an additional 200 workers to NS Dewfall. She could be out in another month, ready for trials.

"I want to put 400 workers on the prize ship. I can have her ready for trails in under three months. The parts are here, the workers are already paid for. Why not put them to use?" David asked.

"Incidentally, I have six Whippet Class ships under construction, they will be ready for trials this month. Four of them have been claimed by the Navy. Two have not. I suggest, Adm. Holstern, that you claim them as temporary vessels for the Punarjanm Defence Force. That will give you four ships, five when the prize vessel is finished her refit," Sprawl finished.

"Did you guys plan this brief together?" Charles asked, smiling.

"Ya, it was a rather convenient spiel," Holstern admitted.

"What are you going to do with the pirate crew?" Charles asked.

"We will have to bring the Sector Twenty-Three JAG in to conduct trials on them as the ship was predominantly composed of ex CP ratings," Dostier told them.

"Did we get any useful intelligence off the ship?" Holstern asked.

"Yes, we did get to some of their computers before they were wiped. They did have more than ample time to destroy some records before we got on board, ma'am, however, we still managed to get to the computers before they were destroyed. We do not have anyone with the skills to dig out what was wiped though," Davis admitted.

"I can help you there," Charles said. "I have resources through Liramor Holdings of a savant computer specialist. If anyone can, he can dig out the missing files. Just keep those computers away from any electrical systems until we get back with him."

"I'll send a probe to Terra and ask for what records we have on the Maderan's Reach from Adm. Heist. That should help us as well," Holstern stated.

"We will have to get them off the Dewfall soon. She is a ship in refit. Can you imagine what would happen if the brig suddenly lost its integrity and the pirates escaped? Or worse yet, they lost environmental integrity and they all died," Sprawl added to their thoughts.

"Shit. I'll have two Fairling Class come to act as prison ships," Holstern stated. "One of them will bring the JAG.

"Alright, Liana. You have your new ship," Holstern told her commodore. "Mr. Sprawl, I am claiming those two Whippet Class, they too, will be given to the Commodore for the defence of this system. That will give you five ships in a couple of months, Liana. That will have to do for now."

"Good. I do have one good piece of news for you, Adm. Holstern," Sprawl said. "I did say we are constructing Valour Class Armed Fast Ships on Pallanders-4. The next ship off the line, is assigned to you as your personal transport. It should be ready for trials later today."

That made Holstern feel a lot better. She actually smiled when she heard that.

"Charles. Much as I like your company, I do want my own Valour Class," Holstern said as she slid her finger down Charles' arm.

That brough laughter from those in attendance.

Piscium Family Quarters, Liramor-23, Piscium System

"We're home! And we brought guests," said a familiar voice.

Hanalei smiled and picked up the baby, turning into the living room and stopped short when she saw who, or what, was at the door.

Fayad and Junelliya were there, but so were Fiona, Raymond, Liea, and a dozen strange looking blue coloured beings. Junelliya lifted Hanalei's chin up while kissing her cheek.

"You'll catch flies," she told her, getting to like the saying that was going around.

"Hanalei, may I introduce to you, Porra, Ambassador at large for the Byandi, Nolra, her aide, and Mottu, Chargé d'affaires, for the Byandi," Junelliya said as she introduced three of the blue beings.

The Byandi were around 180cm tall with long, pointed ears, that were highly mobile, webbed hands with six slender fingers that had round fingertips, large dark eyes, smallish noses, and large lipped mouths. Their heads were not as long as human heads and seemed squashed in comparison. Otherwise their proportions were similar to humans, with two legs, two arms, and two breasts, which were conspicuously on display.

The Byandi wore no shirts or other coverings over their torso. All of the dozen or so members did seem to have something similar to scaly looking leggings on their legs and boots that went up to their knees. The three that were introduced were wearing something similar to a Pol-Mar on their hips, thought the script was unfamiliar to her.

Hanaya landed on Hanalei's shoulder and called to the baby, who gurgled her pleasure. That brought a smile to Hanalei.

"This is new human?" Hanalei heard in her earpiece. Porra had approached and extended a finger to the child, giving Hanalei a view of a round fingertip and webbing between the fingers. Hanaya jumped from Hanalei's shoulder to Porra's and ran down her arm to her hand to look closer at the baby, cooing at Ikekia. That, conversely, made Hanalei feel less worried about Porra's close proximity to her and the baby. Porra made a chortling sound that Hanalei realized might be laughter at the antics of Hanaya. The Cat jumped back to Hanalei's shoulder and rumbled her purr into her ear.

"She like? you," Porra said, straining for new words.

"Likes," Junelliya corrected. "The translator matrix is still working on their language," Junelliya told Hanalei by way of explanation.

"Sorry, Hanalei," Junelliya explained. "I promised them a peek at Ikekia if they came to the Lirmaor-23. They were curious to see a human baby."

"I thought you were meeting Insectoids?" Hanalei asked.