All That Glitters Ch. 46

"We are talking about a number of what were, until a few days ago, very lucrative businesses, all of which are now at risk because of fraudulent services," Senator Bastien Woodfield replied. "They followed the law and had their ships serviced as required, only to have been cheated by the company doing the refit. If it was one or even two companies, we could say that it was their risk, but we are talking about a significant number of companies that have had their space worthiness certificates revoked because of fraudulent work, the number of ships, and companies, involved is still increasing.

"This planet only has thirty-six independent shipping companies. Now, a good portion of that number is at risk. What do we do?" Senator Woodfield asked.

"I have asked for François Pallanders to attend this session," the Speaker of the Senate said, indicating the bleachers where M. Pallanders sat.

"M. Pallanders, what can Pallanders Shipyard do for these shipping companies?" the Speaker asked.

"Very little, sir," François replied. "our company is stretched to the max as is. We are working full out on new ships and refits. We have little room to expand to take in new ships for refit. Then there is the cost involved.

"This was not our error. Even if we charged a special rate for these ships, we cannot do the work for charity rates. It will be costly to refit these ships. Who will pay for that? The companies involved have already paid heavily for this fraudulent work. Do they have the reserves of funds necessary for more work?"

"What would your company need to be able to help in this situation?" someone from the floor asked.

"We need extra hands, which we simply do not have. We might be able to construct a few more docking cages to allow us to bring in more ships but without experienced staff to do the work, it would be a moot point," François replied.

"If we could get you that staff, how many would you need?" Senator Bordeaux asked.

"At least one hundred experienced hands per cage, ideally two hundred, but we can do something with one hundred. We have extra hands at the moment; however, they are only just learning to work on the ship types. We simply don't have the experienced staff."

"Are you talking about the engineers from the Greater Community, François?" someone asked.

"I am. They are here for training in order to make their own ships. However, they have only just begun their training and still have a long way to go before I could trust them to work unsupervised on any ships," François explained.

"What if I could get you supervisors?" Senator Bordeaux asked.

"Where?" the Speaker demanded.

"From the Navy of course," Senator Bordeaux replied. "This has become a planetary emergency, sir. If we set it up like that, we could ask for help from the Union. All we would need is some extra engineers and some supervisory staff to help with the undertrained engineers that Pallanders already has.

"Funding would not be an issue. We could float emergency loans to the companies affected by this emergency. Pallanders could then take on the responsibility of refitting these ships.

"The bigger issue is the space worthiness certificates, or rather the lack of them, for the companies involved. Their ships are all at risk of sudden failure because of this fraud. How do we rectify that?" Senator Bordeaux inquired.

"The biggest issue for all of these ships is the replacement of faulty wiring harnesses for power, and command and control. If we can replace some of those, we can issue temporary space worthiness certificates. They should last roughly a year under the current circumstances. We could then look to service those ships that are in the worst shape, those that were serviced first by the bankrupt company.

"That would mean we could reduce the number of ships that need immediate servicing to under ten. With the resources already mentioned, we could refit these ships to the most current standard, which would include Jump-grid technology, new Marilon/Aruna generators, upgraded, comps, et al. They would come out of refit ready for the next twenty-years in space.

"This would help us getting our new engineers up to spec, it would help us to build extra docking cages to increase our capacity, and it would help the companies currently in distress.

"However, this process will take time. From four to six months for each vessel. That cannot be helped. And it will be costly. This work will not come cheap. Even if we are able to reduce cost due to economy of numbers, we are looking at around seven hundred million credits per ship," François stated. With fifty ships so far involved, that means that upwards of thirty-five billion credits of available funds needs to be found, just for the ships themselves. Never mind constructing the extra cages or paying for the extra workforce to accomplish this feat," François finished, setting off another storm of controversy on the floor.

François received a call and used the privacy function on his comp to take it. It was from Raymond. He saw Raymond, Liea, and Fiona Marsh in the view on his comp.

"Hello, Raymond. I apologize; however, I am rather busy at the moment," he told them.

"We are aware of why you are busy, François, and we have a partial solution for you." Raymond explained what he proposed to the senior Pallanders, who immediately interrupted the debate on the floor.

"Mr. Speaker, I have a communiqué that the Senate needs to be aware of, sir. May I send this to the large monitor?" he asked. Getting assent, he did just that.

"Good day to the Senators of Liramor Prime," Raymond said. "I am Raymond Clark, and this is my partner, Liea Samson. The other person with us you may already know," Raymond indicated Fiona Marsh, who nodded to the Senators. "We are aware of your problems on the issue of the improperly repaired ships and have a potential solution for you.

"First and foremost is the issue of money. It will cost many billions of credits to repair the ships, to build new facilities to do the repairs, to find, move and house even semi-qualified engineers, and to find instructors and supervisors for these semi-qualified engineers to bring them up to standards and supervise their work.

"To this end, the partnership of Clark and Samson is prepared to float a loan to Pallanders Shipyard for 135 billion credits. However, that loan comes with a caveat. Simply put, we do not want to lose our money. That means that someone will have to be the guarantor for the loan." Raymond nodded to Liea.

"We are proposing that the Senate be the guarantor in the event that one or more of the companies involved, defaults on their loan. That will mean that the Senate does not have to immediately find money to service large portions of the loan.

"In addition, the companies involved will not want to be responsible for the interest on the loan until such time as their ships go into refit, while we are making available our funds now. We would like the Senate to cover the interest on our funds until such time as each of the companies takes their respective loan.

"If you requested this money from the banks of Liramor Prime, because of the number of ships involved and the emergency situation, they will force an interest rate of at least fifteen percent, possibly as much as twenty percent. The current rate of interest for an individual ship is ten percent.

"This means the Senate would be required to force the banks to issue a better rate for this emergency, something that would not sit well with the banks, which the government does not want. We will provide you the loan at an eight percent interest rate.

"We can do this for several reasons. We need to invest this money and, due to current tax regulations on Liramor Prime, we are unable to invest such large sums here. However, we are a business and no business is in the habit of issuing money without a promise of a return, thus the eight percent requirement."

That comment got several heads nodding in agreement.

"Finally, Liramor Prime is the adopted home of both myself and Liea," Raymond took over. "One thing that I have learned from the military and from working at Liramor-23, is that, while it is important for the individual to accomplish certain things on their own, we all do much better as a team, working for the whole. We have done well here under the umbrella of Liramor Holdings and we wish to pay it back. This loan is our way of doing so.

"The second issue we have is the number of personnel required to accomplish this task. They simply do not exist at this time in human space. The Greater Community has been sending qualified engineers to Pallanders Shipyard to take instruction on our shipbuilding techniques and actually do work on the construction of Pallanders-6 and the ships that have already been contracted for through Pallanders, principally the Royal/Presidential yachts and ships the respective governments have ordered." Here Raymond turned the floor over to Fiona.

"We have already brought several hundred engineers from the Greater Community to work on their respective ships. As this issue was begun because of a Notice to Spacers originating from HQ Sector Fifty-Nine, we contacted the respective governments of the Greater Community and requested extra engineers to assist us in this issue.

"The governments have agreed to send an addition 200 engineers each, with the exception of the Djinaëte, who build their own FTL ships. We can get the additional workforce, however, there is no place to put them. All available accommodation in the area has already been taken.

"The issue then becomes finding accommodation for them. This is a task that the Senate is better suited to direct than we or Pallanders would be.

"The last issue is instructors and supervisors for this workforce. Here, the Navy can be of assistance. I have already contacted Adm. Ramison at TUSN HQ, Terra, and appraised him of this issue. He has agreed to make available twenty qualified engineering instructors for each group of one hundred extras. That already has the pre-consent of President Holloway, however, the Government of Liramor Prime must make the request to the TGA in order to receive this action.

"How you do that we will leave up to you but all is in readiness to put into action as soon as we receive direction from the TGA," Fiona finished.

"There you have our proposed solution: finances, a workforce that we will need accommodation for, and instructors/supervisors for that workforce for up to a year. All is ready to go as soon as the government of Liramor Prime can make it happen," Raymond ended.

The Senators looked around at each other, somewhat surprised that they now had a way out of their dilemma. One, then another, then groups of Senators began to clap and cheer, until the entire Senate was giving a standing ovation to the three on the screen. Eventually the Speaker called the house back under his control.

"Thank-you, M. Clark. Mme. Samson, Dir. Marsh. You have provided us a way out of a rather serious situation, for which the Senate, and the government of Liramor Prime will be very thankful. The loss of this many transport/supply ships would mean that transportation companies outside of Liramor Prime's control, would be providing for the needs of this planet, something the government would prefer to avoid.

"Annual interest of eight percent on 135 billion is well within the means of the government to provide. Guaranteeing loans that might be defaulted on is also an acceptable option in this emergency.

"I believe that we can arrange for the accommodation of the workforce. Which only means that the government of Liramor Prime must declare an emergency for this situation.

"We will be in touch." The Speaker then rose and bowed to the people on the screen who promptly returned the bow as the Senate once again showed its pleasure. François Pallanders finally closed the link.

Central Control, Liramor-23, The Piscium System

The arrival of the NSP Trichord and NSP Allacia could not have come at a better time. The two ships flashed into being ready for duty two days later, just as Fiona got the orders to begin moving the Greater Community engineers to the base at Liramor Prime.

She immediately went to the Interspecies Embassy Main Conference Room and addressed the assembled Ambassadors.

"We have received the formal request from the TGA to implement the very first action in the Mutual Support Pact. As you are all aware, this action is in response to a planetary civil emergency on Liramor Prime.

"The two passenger ships, and ten Navy ships from my command, will assist in moving the selected engineers to Liramor Prime. There, they will receive instruction on the construction of commercial vessels which is not too much different from the construction of orbital stations and military vessels.

"As soon as your governments can identify the engineers and indicate where they are to be picked up, we will commence the operation. I leave it you, the Ambassadors and your offices, to send the information for the retrieval of your engineers to my aide-de-camp, Capt. Pétillante, who will coordinate with Navy Command to send the ships where required," Fiona informed them, pointing to Capt. Pétillante. "Once we have the names and locations for pick-up, we will begin to do so."

The Ambassadors quickly got to work and had the names in their hands later that day.

OP Sandcastle Fleet, Numbered Star System HD-137982, Fifty Light Years from Terra

Cmdre. Liana Dostier was meeting with the group leaders of the OP Sandcastle Fleet on board the NS Dewfall. Her fifty-six person team of senior personnel was in the large briefing room behind the Battle Bridge of the NS Dewfall.

"OK. We know that the Alliance and the Union have signed an agreement, though we don't know what exactly is in the agreement, only the basics.

"The Alliance has agreed to end slavery in Alliance space and to return all Union citizens. That will take a little time; however, I don't think the Navy will wait to implement the agreement before dispersing our ships. We have held this group of five hundred ships together for long enough. We can expect that our ships will shortly be returned to their original Sectors or to be assigned to new sectors within the week.

"Overall, we've done very well. The direct results of the raid left no doubt in the minds of the Alliance as to who has the dominant fleet in human space." Liana had to pause while her team cheered around her.

"I would like to personally thank all of you for your support, your efforts, and your patience since the raid. I know all of you would like to get back to your sectors and some necessary R&R." That, too, got some comments.

"Right. Let's get down to business. Anyone with any major issues with their ships?" she asked. A couple of the group leaders indicated that some of their ships were reaching a point where they needed to be replenished but otherwise all was well. The ship's captains had taken the time their ships were idle in their hidden system to catch up on maintenance for their vessels, all of which were now in good order.

The Dewfall's Senior Comms O entered and whispered to the Cmdre's aid-de-camp, Cdr. Mariella Schell. He gave her a tablet and left.

"New orders for the fleet," Schell told her boss, passing the tablet to her. Liana swiftly read the orders.

"OP Sandcastle will standdown at first bell tomorrow morning," Liana advised her group. There are orders here for each of the ships. Most of us are returning to our previous sectors, however, some of us are being sent to a new sector, Sector Fifty-Nine, including this ship, Henadi."

"Where is Sector Fifty-Nine?" someone asked.

"Huh. It's headquartered out of the Piscium system. It's commanded by newly promoted VAdm. Fiona Marsh," Liana said, smiling at Henadi. "Well, shit! It will serve the space around the entire Interspecies Community!"

The group reacted to that news.

"That is quite the area. We're looking at what, 480 light years across and over 500 light years deep?" someone stated.

"Yep, something like that. The Djinaëte and the Asocans are the closest to Union space and the edge of their spaces are 188 light years from the Piscium System. That means whichever ships go there will need to have legs. Sector Fifty-Nine will likely receive ships with Jump-grid technology meaning those of you that already have the refit can expect to be part of the move to Sector Fifty-Nine.

"According to this, Sector Fifty-Nine will receive a fleet of 133 ships whose task it will be to protect Interspecies Space until the members of the Greater Community can develop their own Navy, which is expected to happen over ten years.

"There is a Mutual Support Agreement between the members of the Greater Community to assist each other in the event of an attack from within or without and to assist whenever a planetary emergency is called.

"Over the next three years, Sector Fifty-Nine will receive every second ship being built or refit at Pallanders-4 and all the Navy vessels built at Pallanders-6, until they have a total of 233 ships, a full one hundred of which will go to the Interspecies Community. By that point, it is expected that the individual member races of the Greater Community will be able to build their own vessels.

"Right. I suggest we end this brief and return to our respective ships as orders are probably waiting for you. Ladies and Gentlemen, thank-you for your support to OP Sandcastle and to me." Liana rose and fired a salute to the group, which was eagerly returned. A few minutes later, only the officers of the Dewfall were left.

"Looks like you are going back to Liramor-23, Henadi. As of first bell tomorrow, you are your own captain again and no longer my flagship. Thank-you, your officers, and crew, for all they have done to support me over the last few months," Liana and Henadi sat down and began to look through the orders as the ship's Comms O came back in with a tablet for Capt. Noor...

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

Fifteen minutes before first bell, Cmdre. Dostier requested an all ships comms from the Comms O.

"Attention OP Sandcastle fleet, this is Cmdre. Liana Dostier speaking. I personally wish to send my sincerest appreciation of the work you have done over the last few months. It has been difficult, sitting in this hidden, out-of-the-way star system, waiting for anything to happen which, fortunately, it didn't.

"OP Sandcastle has closed out in the best possible ways, with the Alliance agreeing to our demands to repatriate the very citizens we had first tried to save. While we got many out, many were left behind. The Alliance has now agreed to repatriate all those that were left behind.

"Commander of the Navy, Adm. George Ramison has sent his personal thanks in a communiqué to the members of OP Sandcastle, past and present. In it, he indicates that OP Sandcastle will receive its own Battle Star, which will be presented to all participants involved in the planning and implementation of the operation.

"The President of the Union has also sent a communiqué of his personal thanks to all members who participated in OP Sandcastle. In it he says he has spoken to many of the rescued citizens that OP Sandcastle retrieved from the Alliance. These people refer to those of us in OP Sandcastle as heroes.

"I don't think of myself as a hero. We did what was necessary to secure the safety of citizens of the Union. That is our job.

"But some of us, people that we knew, did not return from the raid on the Alliance. Their names will be written into history, forever remembered as the heroes of this operation. I knew some of those people personally. They will always have a place in my heart and, I hope, in yours.