All That Glitters Ch. 51

"This was pointed out to me by two rather lovely young girls, who reminded me that I was an important person and had to set the example," the Asoc told the media, getting chuckles from the group.

"Humans are not the only members of the Greater Community that have recoiled at the existence of other races. The vast majority of the races have gone through this same process that we see from some groups like Mike Hollister's people," the Asoc deliberately stated for the record.

"Humans will have to deal with this issue moving forward. We need humans. Your way of thinking about problems is unique and very much different from the other races. In the space of only a couple of years, you have modified, for the better, processes and inventions that have been used as is by the Greater Community for hundreds of years. You have dragged the Interspecies Community forward by your very presence, advancing our sciences in leaps and bounds. This has occurred before, most notably when we encountered the Harradi, who advanced our farming and animal husbandry abilities to an amazing level.

"Humans came up with new modifications for the Gara-Hinn shield, everything from using them on much smaller vessels, to using them to cover and protect farms. You invented Marilon Generators then modified them, with the knowledge you derived from the Greater Community, to make improvements on them that have shaken us all to the core.

"You have modified our Grid Based Jump System to use on much smaller ships. They were only found on the very large Djinaëte ships prior to this.

"You also have ships of a size that makes them practical to build and use. Djinaëte ships are immense. They have to be as they are filled with the Djinaëte, who are the largest species in the Interspecies Community.

"Their ships were originally built as generational ships and never downsized after we Asocans provided them with FTL drives. Part of the reason for this is because of the power system that the Djinaëte use, which needs large areas to provide the amount of power needed to power FTL drives. Our smaller ships cannot use FTL drives because our organic power supply does not lend itself to providing enough power for smaller ships to jump. Humans have solved this problem with the Marilon Generators and the new Marilon/Aruna Generators that make smaller ships practical.

"Because of their sheer size, it costs considerably more to build a Djinaëte style ship than it costs to build human ships. While the Djinaëte have been good to the Greater Community, they simply do not have the numbers of ships required to serve us fully. We will now be building our own fleets based on human designed ships.

"The modifications that you have brought to other aspects of our technology have been staggering. You have a lot to be proud of. You have shown us all that you do indeed have a place in the Interspecies Community. Take pride in what you have accomplished so far in the name of the Greater Community," the Asoc finished, getting applause from the crowd.

"Thank-you, Asoc. For my second question. This goes to the President of the Union. Sir, family dances?" the gentleman asked.

"Why not?" the President retorted. "The leadership took the opportunity to bring their families with them to this summit. My daughter, Grace, has been hanging out for most of the summit with the teenage children of a number of different races.

"As she has said, 'the way they think is very different from the way humans think, I have learned a lot from being around them'. I think her non-human friends have learned just as much from her way of thinking as she has from them.

"It was a delight to invite the leadership to something other than state diners. I know they all enjoyed themselves, especially the younger ones," the President stated, getting affirmations from those on the stage.

The second media person, a young woman, turned her question to Grace Holloway, standing at the side of the stage.

"Miss Holloway, you graduated on Friday with the leadership of the Greater Community in attendance and, I believe, your class received a commencement speech from some special guests from the Community.

"How was that received by the other graduates?" she asked.

Grace giggled and came up on the stage to stand at a podium placed there for her.

"It was certainly interesting. When we marched into the gym and saw all the guests there, waving at us, it was a bit of a shock.

"As for the speeches; Martte Garnal of the Asocans, and Shallel Konexi of the Harradi, have both just graduated high school themselves. Like my fellow graduates at Morgan High, they are members of the elite families of the Greater Community, so it just made sense to ask them to speak to us. It gave us a new perspective that we could not have expected from some frumpy retired guest speaker." That got chuckles from the audience.

"Despite the fact that this speech came from non-humans, it was remarkable how similar their circumstances were to our own. It put things in true perspective for us.

"My fellow grads were impressed by the speech. We even got to pose for images with the leadership and I heard that members of business families attempted to make deals after the ceremony." That too got some chuckles.

"Overall, I would say that my fellow graduates were at first a little awed but then more than a little impressed by our guests," Grace told her.

Polite questions continued for several hours, with questions coming in from all over the Union and even from media from the other races. It was toward the end of the session when a request from AsocAR came through. However, the image that appeared was not that of a media type.

"To the people of the Union, I am Martte Unaayel Mutt Herrtt. I accuse >Catal Mutt Herrtt of abandoning her position as Asoc, having been off planet, outside of Asocan space on several occasions. As such, I declare her title as being vacant and submit my name for the title of Asoc," Unaayel stated formally.

An Asocan male in the theater at Denders stood. "You are out of order, Martte Unaayel," he declared. "I, >Kestin Mutt Sim, Beerlendl AsocAR, declare that Asoc >Catal Mutt Herrtt is working for the betterment of our people, here on Terra, as she did when she attended the summit on Liramor-23 several months ago."

"You too have abandoned your post, Beerlendl >Kestin. As such you cannot make statements in the name of the Beerlen AsocAR," Unaayel declared.

"An Asoc can be removed from office if there is a demand from two-thirds of the senior Gurn of the Realm. I have the senior Gurn here via link and I will ask them if they would declare Asoc >Catal as derelict in her duties." Unaayel finished.

"You are out of order, Martte Unaayel," another voice spoke from the monitor. The monitor split in two, showing a much older Asocan on the left half.

"Ahh, Gurn Vecarg Mutt Semt. I was wondering when you would show your face," Unaayel snarled. "You declared yourself for >Catal during her ascension, keeping me from my rightful place as Asoc," Unaayel snarled at the older female.

"You were rejected by many of the Gurn, Unaayel, not just myself," Gurn Vecarg stated. "Your penchant for the pursuit of power made you ineligible for the title. You were rejected because we feared that you would follow in Minatran's footsteps.

"The mad Asoc, Minatran, is only six hundred years removed from our time. Her lust for power nearly destroyed the Asocan realm. She killed thousands of Asocans, many by her own hand, and the Beerlen of the time demanded of the next Asoc that the clause you are attempting to use to remove Asoc >Catal be placed on the law books of our people.

"This clause is meant to be used in emergencies only, Unaayel. It is meant to be used to depose an Asoc who has shown contempt for and abused the laws of the realm. It is not meant to be used as a means of deposing one Asoc in favour of another simply because the other wants to ascend to the position of Asoc," Vecarg ended.

"So, you oppose me once again, Vecarg?" Unaayel demanded, rather forcefully.

"I would oppose any who wish to take the title of Asoc to use it for their own purposes and not for the betterment of the people, Unaayel," Vecarg stated.

"Very well then, Vecarg. You will serve as an example for the people." Unaayel turned to her left and ordered gave an order. "Launch the missile!"

"Missile? Are you insane, Unaayel? Do you not realize that the building I am in is not just my home but my office? It is filled with Asocans? You would kill many tens to end my life. Do you think that will sway the others who would oppose you?" Vecarg looked down her snout at Unaayel as she spoke.

"Building? Do you think that I would destroy a building to kill you, Vecarg?" Unaayel sneered. "Oh no, Vecarg. I will make more of an example of you than that.

"The missile I have set on you will destroy the entire Shall you are sitting in, Vecarg," Unaayel gave a predatory smile to her nemesis.

"You are insane, Unaayel, such weapons do not exist!" Vecarg shouted.

"They do not exist in the Asocan arsenals, Vecarg, but they do indeed exist. You, will see firsthand, as your entire Shall disintegrates around you. You and your Shall will never oppose me again, Vecarg! You and your Shall will serve as an example to all others that would oppose me. I have sixty-seven jump vessels filled with such weapons." Unaayel laughed at the look of horror on the face of Vecarg and the watching Gurn.

"Goodbye, Vecarg. Say hello to Asoc Minatran as you meet her in hell!" Unaayel shouted.

"Gurn Vecarg, there is an object falling from space, aimed at Semt Shall!" someone behind Vecarg shouted.

The image of Vecarg suddenly vanished. A second image, showing the Salalta Semt, the most beautiful swamp on AsocAR, came up. Semt Shall sat in a large concave depression with the swamp along the base of the valley at its lowest layer. The city itself rose around the cliff faces above the swamp. The city normally had a population of approximately 1.5 million but, during the late spring and early summer when the swamp was in bloom, the population would double. Such was the time now, with the swamp in bloom.

The missile took several minutes to fall from orbit, watched the entire time by planetary control, who could do nothing to stop it. The missile detonated several hundred meters above the city.

The device was a standard Confederation Atomic Weapon with variable yield built into it. It could explode with the force of twenty to one hundred megatons. At the moment, the yield was set at its lowest, twenty megatons. This was deemed more than sufficient to destroy the city.

However, it was an old missile, poorly maintained and the device didn't function properly. Instead of detonating with a twenty megaton yield, it only detonated with the force of slightly less than four megatons.

But the blast was held within the concave depression of the mountainous bowl that was Semt Shall. The effects of the blast within this depression reflected it back and forth.

An atomic blast is absolute, destroying all before it in rather dramatic fashion and very much instantly...provided it functioned properly. In this instance, the blast was not up to yield and did not destroy all instantly.

Those on the face of the upper walls of the city died the quickest, their homes flashed into non-existence in the blink of an eye, Vecarg Gurn Mutt Semt dying as her home disappeared around her.

The flash of the blast reached down to the most beautiful swamp on AsocAR. It did not touch the ground, thus did not destroy the swamp instantly. The Asocans that were in the swamp had time to realize that they were dying as the intense heat took them.

Then the blast effect arrived. The damage that it caused was directed mostly at the lower walls of the city, the upper walls having been severely damaged by the heat flash. The blast rumbled through the city, shaking apart the very walls of the mountains. All that was not destroyed by the flash, crumbled under the brute force of the blast as the inner face of the mountains shook apart.

From thirty kilometers away the initial blast was so bright that many who looked at it lost their sight, some permanently. They heard the blast and felt the rumble under their feet.

Then, those that could, saw the immense mushroom cloud as it rose up over where Semt Shall once was. The Salalta Semt, the most beautiful swamps on AsocAR, were no more. Semt Shall was no more. The seat of Mutt Semt was no more.

Asocans around the resort began to scream in shock and surprise as they watched the images of the destruction of an entire Shall. For many, it took more than a few minutes for them to realize what had happened. For others, their understanding was quicker, if more consequential. They were the members of Mutt Semt, and they had now lost their ancestral home.

Raymond was sat in the back row of the theater and watched in horror as Semt Shall died. He had not been on New Anglia when his home city, New Layton was destroyed. Now, he watched as a nuclear blast destroyed a living city.

He heard a sound of fright from beside him and quickly reacted to pull Alya into his chest. He burrowed his face into the back of her neck and held her tight, not sure if her PTSD had been triggered again, or his own.

In the daycare, a young Asocan watched the images on the screen. She wasn't sure what was happening, but she was sure of one thing...fire had destroyed her home. It was gone. All of it.

It took several moments for Shamot Varren Mutt Semt to realize the consequences of fire on this scale in her home. She suddenly became aware that she had no friends, no family, no home. It was all gone.

Varren opened her mouth to roar her defiance at the images on the monitor, at the fate of her Mutt, but the sound that came out was not a roar of defiance. It was, for all intents and purposes, the sound of despair that any child would make when they realized that their world had just ended, that the way of life they knew, was gone. The wail she let out was heart wrenching.

Ikekiya, Zarreniya, and Prakeshya heard her cry of pain and instantly moved to their friend. They came together in a group hug and opened their power to their friend, pushing calm, peace, and a soothing feeling to their friend. But the force of Varren's pain was too great for the three little females. They were overwhelmed by it. They too began to cry out from the shared pain of their friend.

The other children were not sure what was happening. The adults were all suddenly very quiet, very unhappy, very unhelpful. Then they heard the pain of their friend. Asocans didn't shed tears, but they knew pain. The children felt that pain, even more so now that the three little ones were with their friend and pushing their power.

The children didn't understand the ongoing situation, but they knew one thing for certain, one of their own was hurting. They all came together in the middle of the daycare, a large mob of children crying with their friends, who needed their help...

End of chapter fifty-one.

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