All That Glitters Ch. 55

Sleep overtook her thoughts and she faded out in the tight warmth of Master Brandt.

>Clot<, Asoc Shall, AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

Unaayel and Tarrest were going over strategies when they heard a commotion in the other room. A young Asocan female came to the door and bowed.

"Martte Unaayel, there has been an attack on your daughter Shugrand," she told her rather breathlessly.

Both were up and moving to the door as the younger female quickly backed out of it. Unaayel saw several security officials waiting on her.

"Martte Unaayel, there has been an attack on Shugrand not less than twenty Larr ago," the senior official indicated.

"How is my daughter?" Unaayel demanded.

"Unharmed, Martte. She killed two of the assailants and her aide killed the third. There were several witnesses who indicated that they had accosted Shugrand even though she was not wearing a >Curlat. She warned them of the breach of custom and law, however, one of them drew her >Curlat and made to use it when Shugrand killed her with her Damate, cutting her throat. Shugrand then turned the weapon on the second assailant and shoved the weapon into her brain through her eye. The third assailant was killed by Shugrand's aide. We do not know what has happened to Shugrand as both have disappeared after the incident making claim to having to inform you of these facts.

"Which we would have if you had not beaten us to my mother," said Shugrand as she entered the room. "The main instigator was Sarl Mutt Semt, who wanted to kill me in your place, mother. She wrongly thought that I would be an easier mark than you. I do not know who the other two were."

"You are unharmed then?" Unaayel demanded.

"I am. Sarl challenged me even though I was not wearing a >Curlat, mother. That is an indication of how much in contempt the populace holds you and Tarrest," Shugrand informed her. "However, you will not need to send out any missives to the populace, mother. The fact that I killed two of the three with a Damate and Gashafen killed the third so readily will discourage many from attempting this again in future."

"Well done, Shugrand. I am pleased that you are victorious and unharmed. I will send out a reminder to all about the rules of etiquette where challenge is made. Being without a >Curlat, you should not have been challenged," Unaayel stated formally.

She looked at the security officer. "I want security around my daughter Shugrand at all times from this point forward. She must never again be accosted as she was."

The official gave Unaayel a low bow and backed out of the room with his small group.

"What has happened?" Unaayel demanded.

"Much," Shugrand replied curtly. "As on ShemetAR, the Gurn are chaffing under your heavy handedness, mother. They were withholding funds and other tributes from the different ministries. I stopped that, however, you must not antagonize the Gurn. You need them on your side, mother. Without them, you cannot hope to rule as Asoc.

"I have appeased them, for now, but I do not know how long I can continue to do so. Tread carefully, mother, or you will wind up like Asoc Minatran and lead us to civil war. You can expect to see small acts of defiance from the Gurn for the next little while. Do not come down hard on them for these little actions," Shugrand finished.

"Thank you, Shugrand. You will continue to deal with the ministries and the Gurn. I expect you to keep the government running as best you can," Unaayel commanded.

"As you wish, mother," Shugrand nodded and left the room.

Unaayel turned to look at the smug face of her daughter, Tarrest. "I told you she could do it, mother. ShemetAR was an excellent indicator of her capabilities. In the space of half a day she has garnered the support of the ministries and of the Gurn of AsocAR."

"So long as she keeps the Callate in line I will be pleased," Unaayel admitted. They turned back to the other room, there was still much for them to plot out.

Warship Burtell, In Orbit of AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

Capt. Charles (Charly) Weltch was sitting in his ready room when the Comms O called. "Sir, we have contact with an Asocan Ambassador who is asking to speak with you."

"Pass it through to me, have the Number One attend me here," Weltch ordered. The Number One showed up not long after and Capt. Weltch had him sit out of line of sight before he opened the link.

"Yes Ambassador?" the captain began.

"Captain Weltch, I am Dragon Ambassador Utan> Mutt Beng. I am calling with an offer of clemency for your ship and crew, sir," Utan> stated. She had found that the direct approach was often the best where humans were concerned.

"Clemency?" Weltch asked, giving a significant look to his Number One.

"Yes, Captain. We wish for you and your ship to surrender to Asoc <Catal, the legitimate ruler of the Asocan people. You will be moved to a newly opened planet where you will remain for the remainder of your lives," Utan> explained.

"Forgive me, but why should we accept this offer, Utan>" Weltch demanded.

"You and your crew have no home and no place to go. Even if Unaayel becomes the new Asoc, it will be difficult for you to work under her rule.

"However, we are coming for Unaayel and her supporters. If you remain with the Fleet Grazia, your ship will be hunted down and destroyed, any survivors will face trial and be executed for inaction against the Lannette Protocols.

"You have two options, remain with the Fleet Grazia and die, or surrender and accept an offer of Clemency. That Unaayel becomes Asoc is very long odds for you and your ship meaning you will likely be destroyed or captured.

"If you accept clemency, we will place you on a newly opened planet which will be open to other member races of the Greater Community, including other humans. You will be among the first humans on this planet. You will be able to shape your own future. However, as members of the Grazia Fleet who had not accepted clemency within the Alliance, you will never be allowed to leave that planet for the remainder of your lives.

"You will be given the chance to make a living that could be quite interesting as opposed to continuing the way you now live and accepting the fate that you know is in store for you.

"The choice is yours, Captain. Choose wisely. I am sending you a link for you to send an e-mail to if you wish to surrender. But be warned, the offer has a time limit. Once we bring the fight to the Fleet Grazia, the offer will be rescinded.

"As you humans say, 'Have a nice day, Captain'." Utan> broke the link.

"Comms O, can you tell me where that call originated from?" Weltch demanded.

"Sir, it appears to have originated in Union Space, at Liramor Prime," the Comms O replied after a few moments.

"Your thoughts?" Weltch asked of his Number One.

"That would have been an enticing offer for some of our people," he immediately replied.

"I can see the appeal, which explains our missing ships. So, what should we do, Number One? Shall we accept the offer or let the Admiral know what is going on?"

Interspecies Embassy, Liramor-23 Mining Station, 109 Piscium Star System, 106 Light Years from Terra

"So what do you think?" Utan> asked of Capt. Franz Teal.

"This one is a risky attempt, which is why I rerouted this to the Liramor Prime ICS Antenna rather that send it through ours. I don't want repercussions coming back against Liramor-23.

"I think that we have hit all those that will likely accept the offer of clemency. Any of those we contact in future will likely refuse us. We shall have to be extra careful if they accept this offer," Teal stated, getting a nod of understanding from Utan>.

Warship Astigalin, In Orbit of AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

Admiral Grazia was looking at the face of Capt. Charles Weltch who had contacted him via vid call.

"You are certain of this, Charley?" Grazia demanded.

"Yes, sir. They called me directly. I recorded the call. If this is the option they gave to the other ships, it is no wonder that they accepted it. It gives our people legitimacy outside of the state. They can never leave the planet they are on, but otherwise they can live their lives as they choose. It's a very tempting offer, sir," Capt. Weltch stated.

"Why didn't you choose the offer then, Charley?" Grazia demanded.

"I believe we will win this battle and Unaayel will become the new Asoc, sir," Weltch explained. "As such, it is better for me to stay in the fleet. Most of the ships here around AsocAR will tell you the same thing. We are in it for the duration, sir."

"Thank you, Charley. That is comforting to hear," Grazia admitted. "However, we are now at a disadvantage. We need to hit that clemency fleet, wherever it might be, and still maintain enough forces here to stop an all out assault."

"As to that, sir, I might have a solution. Liramor-23 strapped 80cm rockets to their Rockhounds. That gave them four rounds to shoot at targets with. The Asocan Navy has these Torge Class Small Ships. They are a little more than 80m in length. That's still small enough to be carried in a Handren Class Frigate's shuttle holds and long enough to slap 150cm tubes to them.

"We have plenty of torpedoes and missiles, having taken everything that the 'retiring' Alliance pirate fleets sold us. We can make up some tubes and use the Torge Class as small torpedo boats. The Asocan's have some thirty Torge Class in this system, but they make them everywhere, meaning there are hundreds available. We can pull in as many as we need and modify them to fire torps or missiles," Weltch ended.

"That is actually an excellent idea, Capt. Weltch. I'll have our maintenance people start that immediately. That will give us an edge when >Catal's fleet decides to attack us," Grazia admitted.

"One last thing, sir," Weltch added. "I got the impression that >Catal's fleet will be ready to act sooner than we expect. We need to make this happen fast, sir."

"So noted, Charley. Imbuff tells me that Unaayel needs to be nominated as the next Asoc and that can only occur after she names her own people to the ranks of the Beerlen. That will happen at the end of next month their time, which means they must act before then.

Thank you for all that. We'll start the modifications today. Can I get at least one of your maintenance people from your ship to the Asocan orbital station? The more we have working on this conversion, the faster we will complete it," Grazia stated.

"Not a problem, sir. We can also bring some of these ships from other planets on your order, sir," Weltch let the boss know.

"I would like to have between 150 and 200 of these ships modified before >Catal's fleet gets here and I think we need to act quickly. Thanks, Charley, Grazia out." Weltch watched as the Admiral's image faded. He turned to his Number One.

"Have Nav compute jump requirements to the two closest Asocan planets for us to retrieve Torge Class ships from them. We will be ready to go as soon as the Admiral gives the order." The Number one acknowledged the order and left the Captain's Ready Room.

Asoc Shall, AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

Guro< was walking back to his dormitory after having been seen by the medical staff three days after his injury. His hands hurt. The Medical staff had admonished him for his stupidity in getting so close to an active furnace with no protection on his hands, never mind the rest of his body.

The medical staff had informed him that he had burnt three layers of the skin on his hands. It would take several days for the pain to subside and another couple of days for the burnt skin to slough off. His hands would be raw for several more days afterwards until the skin toughened up in the open air of AsocAR. It was a natural process that was repeated on a miniature scale every day on an Asocan's body. However, a larger portion of his skin was now damaged and needed to be replaced. He would suffer for a week or so, then once again be ready for anything.

While he was contemplating all of this he looked at himself in a window to see his reflections with the bandaged hands. He gave a rueful shake of his head, then noted some movement out of the corner of his left eye. He was being followed and by the same security types that Unaayel had brought along with her the day he had injured himself.

He kept an eye on the various windows as he passed and quickly confirmed that six were following him. With his hands bandaged, he could do very little against them.

Guro< spotted his friend, Mattan Mutt Sin, not far ahead and called out to him. His friend wiggled his hands, essentially laughing at Guro<'s plight. Guro< shrugged it off as he approached.

"It is going to be bandaged for another day or so but I should recover with no ill effects," he informed his friend. "Perhaps you should be magnanimous and offer to buy a poor cripple a drink," he quipped.

That got a laugh from his long-time friend who had been a co-conspirator in many of Guro<'s less proper incidents. They ducked down an alley way to their favourite stomping ground.

The six following Guro< saw the pair go down an intervening alley and swiftly rushed to catch up, turning the corner to receive a large piece of wood in their faces. Two went down immediately, knocked out by the force of the blows. Their quarry struck two more of the team, knocking out one and knocking down the fourth. The remaining pair turned and fled.

Mattan grabbed the still vaguely conscious Asocan.

"What were your orders and who gave them to you?" Guro< growled, snapping his jaws and exposing his teeth for emphasis in the Asocan's face.

Seeing the teeth brought the somewhat groggy, security type back to full consciousness, though her head still hurt. She knew she was in it in a bad way.

"ANSWER!" Guro< snapped while Mattan shook the hapless victim.

"We were to take you into custody and bring you to the palace jail," the confused security type answered, her hand going to her head.

"Just take me into custody?" Guro< demanded.

"We were to do so discreetly. Tarrest did not want a big scene," he admitted.

"Tarrest, not Unaayel?" Guro< asked.

"Our orders came from Tarrest," she confirmed.

"Thank you," Guro< said, and hit her over the head again, knocking her out. He shook his now much more tender hands.

"I am going to have to disappear for awhile," he told his friend. "You should be fine."

"You think?" his friend demanded pointedly. "Have you not been paying attention to the news of late? Those who have opposed Unaayel or Tarrest have been disappearing all over Asoc Shall. No one knows where they go but it isn't to the palace prison.

"I have family out in the country, I shall go there," Mattan informed Guro<. "Wherever you go, make sure that it is somewhere that those two cannot get to."

Guro< nodded to his friend. "Shit, and I was looking forward to a free drink..."

Mattan gave out a bark of a laugh and slapped his friend on the back. "Next time it is on you," he told Guro< getting a nod back from his friend.

Matrer Orbital Station, AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

Admiral Grazia used his authority to take space on the orbital station. A few at a time, he called in all the Torge Class Armed Small Ships for their modifications. It looked odd to see these small ships with 150cm tubes attached to them, especially since the landing struts had to be extended to make room for the tubes. Some of the vessels got two tubes each, while others received four. Those with four were given two torpedoes and two missiles, while those with two only received torpedoes.

It only took a few days to modify all of the Torge Class in the Home System of the Asocan. Admiral Grazia requested more be brought.

The Handren Class Frigates went to nearby systems and returned with more ships that were soon modified. Eventually, the modified Torge Class numbered 150 ships. Two weeks later, Grazia called his captains together.

"We have an issue with the Asocans trying to subvert our forces. We need to stop that. I think that I will ask Capt. Weltch to accept the offer of clemency in order to find out where are people went and to take out the Asocan fleet that is conducting this clemency offer. We need to inform our people that we are looking for them and intend to bring them back into the fold.

"Capt. Weltch, you will take the Burtell, the Byron, Teagan's Dream, the Wolfe and the Carillon, each ship taking five modified Torge Class on board and then take on that fleet once we find it. I doubt that they will have a substantial force with them as the >Catal does not have a large enough fleet to send in substantial numbers. We are probably looking at less than a dozen ships. So you should be alright with those five heavy ships and the twenty-five Mod Torges they will carry.

"You are to enter the system, give them enough time to send out an emergency call and then suppress any ICS comms going out. I want an email out to attract support for this fleet but not enough to give them substantial information. So you will have to time this right," Admiral Grazia ordered.

"I get it, we sucker them into an attack there so that they think we have sent a substantial part of our remaining forces, drawing them into attacking us here at AsocAR. Then hit them with substantial numbers of modified Torge Class plus the remainder of the fleet. That should be a big surprise to >Catal's forces," Weltch said with an evil smile on his face.

"You have your orders. Make contact with the clemency group and prepare to jump as required. Let me know when you do as we can then expect the Asoc's forces to jump into this system and I want to be prepared," Grazia indicated, then closed the link.

Weltch looked to his Number One and smiled...

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

Unaayel was on Matrar Orbital Station. She was there to talk with her space navy, not her Asocan navy, but her human one.

Grazia was explaining what he had done to the Torge Class Small Armed Ships of the Asocan Navy. Unaayel was impressed. Grazia had taken a small ship that was more or less a liability in modern space warfare and turned it into a major asset.

"We need more than just these types of surprises against >Catal and her minions," Unaayel told Grazia. "What do you humans do when you have such a force arrayed against you?"

"Well, if we have access to them, we take family members as hostages in order to have some control over the opposition," Grazia remarked.

"That would be something that Asocans would never do," Tarrest commented.

"Then we would seize those who would oppose us and put them away someplace secure."

"It is an option," Unaayel stated, then turned the conversations to other things.

Warship Burtell, In Orbit of AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

Capt. Charles Weltch received the request for an email chat from an unknown source. When he opened it, he was not surprised to see the Asocan Ambassador.

"Ambassador Utan>," he said with a short bow.

"Sostoc Weltch. You have indicated that you want to accept our clemency?" Utan> asked without pre-amble.

"Yes. We are rather curious as to the procedure, if I may?" Weltch stated more than asked.

"Yes. We will bring you to an unnamed star system not far from AsocAR. You will be able to reach it in a single jump. There, we will conduct the surrender of your ship and crew.

"Once you have surrendered, your crew will be considered non-combatants. We will bring them aboard one of our ships where they will receive the indoctrination and training needed for their final trip to the planet. Your crew will be required to purchase a specific set of materials needed to survive for one solar cycle on the planet.