All That Glitters Ch. 53

The Pemipinae was momentarily confused but then she caught on. "Evacuate the buildings NOW!! A large tremor is coming!" she shouted to those in the room with her.

Melda-Hetta transferred the signal from the monitor to her comp and ran from the room. Just as she made the entranceway, the ground exploded in a major upheaval. On Pod-Saar, they watched in horror as the entranceway collapsed on the Pemipinae and the signal was subsequently lost.

The palace's communications specialist attempted to unsuccessfully reconnect with Maha-Oran. Hanalei slapped at her comp, sending an emergency request to Fayad on Liramor-23. He came up within moments.

"Hanalei??" he started but she cut him off.

"Fayad, there has been a major earth tremor at the capital of Maha-Oran. We were speaking with the Pemipinae when we lost the signal. We saw the building collapse around her!" she told her husband. "The palace here is unable to get hold of anyone on Maha-Oran," she pleaded. Fayad understood.

"Comms, contact the ICS site at Maha-Oran immediately and send this signal to the main conference room at the embassy, keep the palace at Pod-Saar in the loop," Fayad snapped, getting an 'aye sir' back. He contacted Fiona on the emergency signal.

"Fiona, we have a probable class-one emergency on Maha-Oran, major earthquake under the capital. The Pemipinae may have been injured or possibly killed. I'm trying to contact the ICS site at the planet. We will re-route this to the embassy," he told her as soon as she came up.

"Right. I'm on my way to the embassy now," Fiona returned. She and her small entourage ran as fast as they could toward the embassy, three decks away and half-way around the station, shouting to people to 'hug the wall' as they rushed through the halls. They arrived at the Main Embassy Conference Room just as the signal from Maha-Oran came through.

"This is Ambassador Shoma-Tern at Liramor-23, what is the situation?" the Maha-Rrin ambassador demanded as soon as she saw someone in the monitor.

"Ambassador, I am Marsh-Tern, Shift Supervisor at Varnala. We have had indications of a class twenty earth tremor over one third of the southeastern portion of the continent. The epicenter is a line that goes from Larrnad City in a direct line to Karrill City. It cuts right through the capital. All six major cities on that line have been heavily damaged.

"Ambassador, there is no one of authority responding from the ground," Marsh Tern ended, a panicked look on her face.

"Ambassador, are you able to speak for your planet?" Fiona asked of her.

"Yes, Director," Shoma-Tern responded.

"Grace, we need a back door on this immediately," she asked of her PA.

Grace nodded and contacted her father. She put him up on one of the monitors as things started happening at the embassy. The President's staff started emergency procedures and informed the Senate of the situation, asking for representatives at the Disaster Command Center.

"Marsh-Tern, are you able to monitor communications on the surface?" she asked of the frightened Supervisor.

"Yes, Director. Most of the comms from this side of the planet are routed through our systems for transfer to other parts of the planet," Marsh-Term responded.

"Right, start monitoring for casualty reports and compile the data. Find out who is the most senior person still able to function in that area. We also need a representative of the government to speak to," Fiona told her, getting a swift nod.

More people from the other embassies came into the makeshift command center of the Main Conference Room, including the Asoc and her entourage. The nearby embassies opened the outer walls of their embassies to provide more room.

New data started coming up and Grace broke that off to another monitor so that the information could be shared. They now had four monitors open with the Palace at Pod-Saar on one, the Union Presidential Command Center on another, Varnala Comms Station on a third and the data they were providing showing on a fourth.

The numbers that started coming through were bad. The scale of the disaster was enormous. They finally managed to get a senior officer of the Emergency Forces to respond to them.

"Ambassador, I am Larrat-Setal, Senior Response Officer on the ground, at least the senior most officer still alive. The scene of devastation is enormous. Of the six cities affected, Larrnad is the least damaged and it suffered approximately forty percent devastation.

"The combined population of these cities number more than eighty million. We are looking at between twenty and fifty percent casualty rate and have no idea of the percentage of injuries. Makeshift hospitals are going up in any field that is open. The people are dragging their emergency kits out of their homes, where possible, and sleeping in tents in any open area. We are in need of everything but most of all, we are in need of people to assist us on the ground.

"Ambassador Shoma-Tern, this is President Holloway of the Union. We have contingencies in place for planetary scale disasters. We need you to make a formal request for assistance before we can act.

"Please understand, Ambassador, we still do not have a formal agreement with the Government on Maha-Rrin, so getting this by the Senate will be a challenge," the President advised.

"Mr. President, it's Junelliya Harlen on Pod-Saar. The Kumar-Pair were in conversation with the Pemipinae earlier today in which she confirmed that an agreement had been reached by the Maha-Rrin Council. We were discussing the points of the agreement when the earthquake hit. I believe that the Kumaraie's staff may have recorded the call, in which case, there is extant evidence of an agreement in place. Will that help, sir?"

"By the Gods, Junelliya, you always seem to be in the right place at the right time. If you can send that conversation to me, I would appreciate it. We can use the points of the conversation to provide proof of the intent to implement the agreement. That will help sway the Senate. I promise that private conversations will be redacted to protect those involved," the President indicated.

"That will not be necessary, Mr. President," the Kumaraie entered the conversation. "There was nothing of political value or embarrassment in our private conversations. We will send this to Ambassador Shoma-Tern as part of the emergency request for aide to the Union.

"However, the Pod-Drran would like to lend assistance in this issue. Considering how much of their home world has been damaged, we are open to bringing the injured here for treatment. Our Chiksta-Dai (medical teams) have been working hard to learn the Union methods of treatments. Since we are of the same species, our doctors would be eminently suited to this response team."

"The Kumaraie is correct, Mr. President," said Dr. Kayl-Ur, who had entered the conference room a few minutes earlier. "We are indeed the proper people to monitor and direct the medical staffs that will be required to assist the Maha-Rrin. We do, after all, know intimately the bodies that we will be working on. We are also going to need a lot of equipment which we currently do not have."

"I know where we can get 800 metric tons of medical equipment right now," Dr. Heyya interjected. "We have a contractor on Green's World that has the material earmarked for The House of Ur Trading Company. They bought it lock stock and barrel to sell to the Greater Community. That will go a long way in this emergency, Mr. President."

"At what cost to us?" a Senator asked.

"That I cannot tell you, Senator," Heyya admitted. "However, we can have this material loaded in a ship ready for transport within 24hrs. You just need to tell us where to bring it, Maha-Rrin, or Pod-Saar?" Heyya called Caye-Ur who came at a run.

"Mr. President, Caye-Ur. I understand that you need medical equipment?" she asked.

"We might, depending on the cost," the President stated.

"Mr. President. I can have 720 metric tons of material loaded on the SSP Piscium within 24hrs. It will cost you three hundred million credits, however, that will also give you the Piscium as a transport ship until we transfer the load." She transferred the list of materials to the President and waited.

The President didn't take long to respond. "Very well, Caye-Ur, we will take you up on your offer to buy this package from you at 300 million credits if we become involved. However, we will draft your ship for the duration, which means you will be on the government payroll until this crisis ends."

"Actually, Mr. President, the Pod-Drran will purchase the contents of Caye-Ur's ship. That way, if the Senate declines to assist, we will still have some assets for our peoples," the Kumaraie stated.

"Very well," the President acknowledged. "The Senate is sitting now to review this item, Kumaraie, Ambassador Shoma. We will have an answer for you within four hours. That is a requirement of a planetary emergency request for aide. Ambassador Shoma, please transmit the data that you currently have available, including the conversation on the agreement between the Maha-Rrin and the Union."

"Yes, Mr. President. My staff is compiling the data now. We will have it to you shortly, sir." Shoma-Tern replied.

On the screen from Pod-Saar, Prakeshya came up close and pointed a finger at the Asoc's entourage. "She know where is Ji-Ruhm-Oran," she said.

The Asoc turned to look and saw that Prakeshya was pointing her finger at her aide, Treäk> Mutt Herrtt who suddenly took in a big breath and gave a look of surprise to the Asoc.

"Asoc, of the six planets in our realm that are not suitable for Asocan habitation, all are known by numbers, but one has an unofficial nickname, GiRomorAr (the dry world). I will have to look at the stats but I believe that the Pod-Drran and their sister race would be able to thrive on this world," Treäk> told the Asoc.

"Ambassador Shoma, how frequent are the big earth tremors that you suffer on Maha-Oran?" the Asoc asked.

"Asoc, we have a tremor large enough to damage a major city once every fifty solar cycles or so. This kind of destruction, where more than one city is involved, happens every century. However, this is the first time in recorded history that six major cities have been involved simultaneously." Shoma replied, with a low bow to the Asoc.

Prakeshya smiled at the Asoc. "Now you know where," she said. The Piscium children came up and flanked Prakeshya and threw little kisses to the Asoc. "Thank-you for you hewp, Aunty >Catal," the two human children said in unison.

Giggling, the three children then went back to being, well children...

"The fur lined gauntlet indeed," noted the Kumaroe.

"I now have another major motivation for dealing with Unaayel," the Asoc murmured.

End of chapter fifty-three.

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