All That Glitters Ch. 56

Knowing how uncomfortable those slaves on the floor were, he brought the shuttle's speed up and moved on the heading provided. As he approached the enemy fleet, he opened a line-of-sight comms to the ship in front of him.

"Unknown ship, this is Shuttle Four, I repeat Shuttle Four. Shuttle Three had been set up with a bomb onboard designed to take out as much of your fleet as possible. I left the actual Shuttle Three on the Astigalin.

"As soon as you take this shuttle onboard, you and your fleet should jump to safety if possible," Brandt suggested.

Almost immediately, the face of a woman with coppery coloured skin showed up on his comms unit. The woman was wearing captain's bars.

"This is Captain Noor of the Dewfall, who am I speaking with?" she demanded.

"Ma'am, I am Petty Officer One Mathew Brandt. I was given this task as I have been kind to the slaves and they will listen to me. Beside me is Hilda, the head slave from the Astigalin. She can confirm things about me, Ma'am," Brandt replied.

"Hilda? What can you tell me of this man?" Noor asked.

"He is a good man, sir. He should not have been on the Astigalin and would not have been if the ship had not left port suddenly. His anger at the senior officers meant he was reduced in rank from Chief Petty Officer One to Petty Officer One. We slaves trust him, captain," Hilda replied.

"Brandt, can you show me the rear of your shuttle?" Noor ordered.

"I could ma'am, but wouldn't it be better to do that over broadband comms instead of line-of-sight ma'am? I'm sure the Astigalin is listening in for that,"

Noor smiled at that. "Comms, initiate a comms link to 'Shuttle Three' on channel one six," Noor said to her Comms O.

"Shuttle Three, this is the Dewfall. Show us the cargo area of your vessel, over," Noor snapped as soon as the link was made.

"Aye, ma'am," Brandt replied and made the switch to show all the slaves in the rear.

"Very well, Shuttle Three, move to the port side of this ship. You will see an open shuttle bay door. That is your destination," the Dewfall ordered. Brandt followed the script and guided the small vessel to the shuttle bay.

In the meantime, Noor was sending out instructions to the fleet via the Tactical Link telling all to put distance between the Astigalin and themselves as they were anticipating the use of a nuclear device. Ships moved, fast.

The Astigalin noted the movement of ships. Grazia smiled. While they were moving away from his ship, they were still clumped together tightly enough that an explosion on the Dewfall would cause them sever damage. He had just won this battle.

"Give me the Dewfall," he snarled to his Comms O.

"Dewfall, this is the Astigalin, Admiral Grazia speaking. You have fought an exemplary battle but you have now lost. Your ships will be destroyed by my fleet," he snarled into his Comms unit.

"Astigalin, this is Admiral Raymond Clark. You are the one person that we want. I don't care if we take you alive or not. You will pay for your crimes against humanity, especially your crimes against the non-aligned planets during the Union War. Your time has come, Grazia," Raymond told him over the air.

"I think not, Admiral Clark," Grazia leered at his foe on the monitor. He reached up and toggled a switch on his monitor, sending the signal out to the warhead.

"Sir, the enemy fleet is jumping!" his Tac O called out.

"Too late!" Grazia shouted with glee.

An instant later, the Astigalin became a bright star. Grazia did not even have time to realize his mistake before he and his crew simply ceased to exist.

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

The Asoc's Fleet rode out a powerful nuclear blast much closer to the epicenter then they would have liked. However, Navy ships were built for travel in the extremes of space and they managed to survive the radiation and blast effects relatively intact, with only a few ships receiving damage as a result.

The Grazia Fleet, in much closer proximity to the Astigalin, did not fare as well as most of their warships took severe damage.

The Dewfall was moving to intercept the 'neutral' Grazia ships that had parked near to the Matrar Orbital Station, on the other side of the planet from the combat. They were to take all of the crew into custody and bring the slaves on board as special guests.

The Wanderer sent its compliment of healthcare workers to the Dewfall and took control of the surrender of the damaged ships of the Grazia Fleet. Five of the ships refused to surrender and destroyed themselves. Fortunately, only two ships kept their compliment of slaves on board, the Astigalin being one and the Warship Maple, a Handren Class Frigate, being the other. Fortunately, the Maple survived and surrendered. All other ships had sent their slave compliment for safekeeping to the fleet's supply ships during the combat.

The special guests from the Astigalin got a wonderful surprise when the compliment of healthcare workers boarded the Dewfall as they recognized one of their own.

"Lindsey!" Hilda shouted as soon as she saw her. "We thought you had died."

"I had technically died. One of the Asocan medical staff kept my body functioning until I arrived at Liramor-23 and proper human medical treatment. Nothing against Surgeon >Gorlat, but she didn't know enough about human physiology at the time to do more then than to barely keep me alive but it was enough.

"Now, I am part of the medical team at Lirmaor-23 as I start making up for lost time and gain my medical degree," Lindsey informed her friends.

With Lindsey as part of the medical team, the former slaves were able to relax and allow the team to do what was needed. They had been poked and prodded much too often by the Grazia Fleet medical staff to be comfortable around such but with Lindsey's presence keeping them calm, they fared much better on the Dewfall.

Lindsey was able to gain their cooperation and started to inform them of all that would happen to them, including the money the would receive as reparation from their long terms as slaves. The former slaves all appreciated that...

Unaayel's Detention Center, AsocAR

It took time for the Asoc and her forces to move the injured, the prisoners, and the dead back to Unaayel's prison compound, the Asoc not wanting to leave the dead behind for the animals of the swamps to get to them. On their trek to the compound, they saw a huge explosion in space. For a moment, a bright light that briefly rivalled the light of the system's star spread across the sky then faded.

"How do things fare here, >Gorlat?" the Asoc asked as her team finally came to the compound some time later.

"We have set up an effective triage system in the compound, Asoc," >Gorlat reported. "With the resources available to us from Asoc Shall, we have now begun moving those most in need of immediate care to the hospitals there and to other shalls. We are distributing the pills that help against radiation poisoning to all the others in the compound and are working to provide them with safe water and food."

"Good work, >Gorlat," the Asoc responded. "Do we know what has happened in orbit?"

"Yes, Asoc," Mbibo responded immediately. "I have just received a report from the Dewfall. The Astigalin detonated a nuclear device intended to take out your fleet, using the slaves from the ship as bait. However, the designated pilot found the device on the shuttle and simply switched shuttles. That bright flare we saw earlier was the demise of the Astigalin.

"The Fleet is proceeding to take the remainder of the Grazia Mercenary Fleet into custody. Some of those are choosing to destroy their ships rather than surrender, knowing that they will face the death penalty," Mbibo ended.

"Good. With Unaayel in custody, and her fleet now captured, the threat she posses to the realm is at an end," the Asoc said.

"Can you connect me to the planet's news net?" the Asoc demanded.

"Yes, Asoc." Mbibo set up a channel for the Asoc and it was quickly connected to the planetary net using Cynthia Stewart's much more sophisticated recording systems.

"This is the Asoc, >Catal Mutt Herrtt, the legitimate ruler of the Asocan realm. I am pleased to report that Unaayel Mutt Herrtt and her minions have been captured or killed. She no longer posses a threat to the realm.

"Over the next few days, we will show the Asocan people the depth of the depravity that Unaayel has sunk to. She will face Asocan justice.

"The families of the people that she killed, maimed, or injured, the families that she destroyed, those that she maligned and disparaged will be compensated where possible. For some, there is no compensation that can be made. However, the government will provide whatever help we can.

"Unaayel, her Mutt line, and her minions, will face the people in trial before the Beerlen AsocAR and answer for the crimes they have committed across the realm.

"Her daughter Tarrest has already paid for her crimes. She was killed in one-on-one combat against me.

"The realm has been through an event that we could never have anticipated. A most terrible event. Now, we must work to return our realm to some semblance of the order that we had before this began. This will be easier to do for some than for others.

"The >Clot< will work hard to assist the people but this will be a large task. For some, it will be an impossible task. As there are so many Asocans who need assistance, I ask for your understanding and cooperation as the government slowly works through the list of aggrieved. For now, the realm may rest the easier knowing that Unaayel is now in custody and no longer a threat.

"I will shortly be returning to Asoc Shall and the >Clot< where I will guide the realm forward from the atrocities that Unaayel has inflicted on us. For those who have been impacted by Unaayel and her cronies, no matter how trivially, the ministers of my government will be ready to assist you where possible.

"Take heart in knowing that the legitimate ruler has returned and that justice will prevail," the Asoc bowed to the camera and Cynthia faded to black.

Within minutes, the short speech was repeated over every net in the realm. The news spread fast...the Asoc had returned and had captured Belgedra...

End of chapter fifty-six.

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