All That Glitters

Little conspiracies, all pointing the same way.

Life plods along, but things are starting to turn on Senator Andjuran.

Because of the amount of abbreviations in this story, I include a glossary. By popular request, this has been moved to the end of the chapter.

There is little attempt to explain the back story, so it is necessary to read previous chapters to fully understand where we are.

As before, I claim sole responsibility for the story line. This story is a fantasy, with no basis in reality. Any similarity that you may perceive to current events, people, or situations real or imaginary is completely unintended. Look no further than the story line for its intent and purpose.

A big shout out to SaddleRidder for all the help she has provided in editing. She has helped immensely. If you find any errors still left in this chapter, they are mine.

Please rate and comment. But keep your comments respectful. If you rant and rave or are disrespectful in your commentary, it will be deleted.

'Nuff said...enjoy.

Conference room One, Liramor-23 Mining Platform, Piscium System, 106 Light Years from Terra

The Valour had returned from Liramor Prime, and along with it, The Princess and Delilah. Fiona had met her friends in the construction bay now designated as a ship port and received a big surprise and an early birthday gift.

The Valour had been to Liramor Prime to help in bringing criminals to the justice system there, specifically those involved in the PV Scarlet Woman incident earlier in the week.

But The Valour had come back with some new and unexpected equipment, new M/A generators, sub-light engines, and FTL drives for the 150cm FTL probes. Both holds were filled with the modified parts, as were the holds of her friend's ships. She now had enough parts to provide significantly upgraded capabilities for over 100 probes.

But it was seeing her friends, Liea and Annette, that made the day for Fiona. She was happy to be in their company once again, now seated in conference room one as they eagerly discussed Fiona's upcoming vacation.

"By the Gods, Fiona," Liea started, "it will be good to get you back on Liramor Prime for a few days of partying! You'll finally get the chance to wear those new clubbing outfits we got you," she finished with a wicked grin.

"Clubbing outfits?" Capt. Noor asked, suddenly interested in the conversation. "Fiona! You never told us you had clubbing outfits in your closet," she chided her boss.

"Never you mind what is or is not in my closet," Fiona replied. "Besides, Beverly would be a closer fit than you would," she reminded the smaller woman.

"Oh, yes, I could see myself in a clubbing outfit," Cdr. Beverly Davis replied, straight faced, causing everyone to laugh.

"Besides," Fiona interjected, "you'd have to stay here to help Capt. Dostier run the show," she reminded Noor, to the laughter of the others at the table.

"When are you going to come to Liramor Prime?" Annette asked of her friend. "Getting there used to be half the fun, but now, with the new ships, we can easily be there is few hours," she said matter of factly.

"What's this about new capabilities for the probes?" asked Noor.

"Dr. Aruna has been a godsend for Liramor Holdings," Annette told them all. "Not only did she develop the new and very much improved Marilon/Aruna generators, she has used the knowledge she gained looking at the alien electrical systems to greatly improve the efficiency of many of the electrical devises that use the M/A gens' power.

"She has significantly improved the leap capacity of just about every kind of FTL drive going, as well as sub-light engines and improved weapons power. The new power units and FTL drives we brought you for the probes, will jump their leap capacity from twelve to thirty-six light years, and with the one hour recharge capacity, they could easily make a return trip to Terra in eight hours! And they can short-jump and still retain power, much like our ships."

"By the way, Fiona, our ships are going to receive a free upgrade from Pallanders Shipyard," Liea let her friend know. "They will be putting new sub-light engines and making improvements on the FTL drive to increase our leap capacity to sixty lights years!"

"Why?" Fiona asked, "I mean, why for free? That must be a costly modification."

"Our four ships were built for us for the expressed purpose of showing them off as demonstrators," Liea explained. "And we've been highly successful at doing it. Pallanders has received more than sixty orders for The Princess Class as a private or corporate yacht in the last month alone, and consequently been able to bump the price.

"The Valour's trip to Liramor Prime, Terra, Planet Hanover, and return to Liramor-23 in the same day got everybody's interest, especially the navy. The navy is looking for a new and improved model. Privately, I don't think they like the name of the current class," she said with a smirk and a wink.

"Because we have been so successful for Pallanders, they are more than happy to increase our capabilities to show off to other prospective clients. Pallanders has made a fortune with the partnership of Aruna's lab," Liea finished.

"That's not all she tinkered with," Annette continued. "She's working on the weapons systems. Mk-48 pulse cannon now have the disruptive power of the current Mk-20 cannon. That's a marked improvement! I'd hate to see what she can do with an improved Mk-10!

"She also improved ship's defensive shields boosting them significantly. Now, the shield generators for a Fairling Class can withstand many impacts of a Mk-15 Pulse Cannon. Where previously, they could only take a few such hits, the improved version can now take ten to fifteen. They'd still be vulnerable to physical weapons, but the effects of pulse weapons are much reduced," she finished.

"The navy is looking seriously at The Wanderer to see how well the improved offensive and defensive packages work. If they like it, and I think they will, they will likely ask Pallanders to do much of the work on ships coming in for refit," Annette explained.

"Pallanders is more than grateful for the exposure that we have provided and the opportunity our partnership has given them," Annette finished.

The ladies went back to their current issue, when would Fiona come on vacation?

Liramor Spaceport, Liramor Prime, Liramor System, Thirty Light Years from Terra

The sold out inaugural voyage of the Liramor-Terra passenger run was ready to board passengers. François Pallanders was at the door to the First Class deck, waiting patiently for the first passengers to board. The entire upper floor had been converted to First Class, while the Commercial Class had been converted totally for Business Class, though the cost per seat meant that this first flight would more than pay for the remaining scheduled runs of the day for the paired ships.

The Sprawl was cleaned to a rodent's whisker, buffed to an amazing shine, and spritzed with the latest flavour of air freshener to hide the residual smell of machinery from the construction of the vessel.

The best food had been brought aboard, the most expensive champagne was available, and Pallanders Shipyard had created souvenir keepsakes already in each seat for the flight.

The daughter of the President of Liramor Prime, Lillianne Lapierre was representing the planet's elite and would be the first to board the vessel, François was ready for almost anything.

And then people began to board. Lillianne Lapierre stepped aboard The Sprawl, smiling for the media who were on hand to record the event, as she took the hand of François Pallanders and made a few comments about how this flight would usher in a new era of low cost space travel for everyone, to the amusement of the media as the cost of seats on this inaugural flight was anything but low cost.

Everything was going to plan until a sniffer device detected something that should not be aboard the ship. The senior Pallanders were notified immediately as security triangulated the source of the substance.

They quickly pinpointed the source and a man was quietly removed from the vessel, his place on the inaugural flight given to another now incredibly happy last minute customer.

Despite the incident, The Sprawl left on time, making one jump, and landing a little over an hour later on Terra, while her sister ship, The Eclipse, landed on Liramor Prime right on schedule. She disgorged the elite of Terra to be met by Martine Pallanders and the President of Liramor Prime, Marcel Lapierre, to much fanfare.

Everyone was happy, except for Pallanders Security and the IPPF.

IPPF HQ, Liramor Prime, Liramor System

Maria Sanger, Director of Operations IPPF on Liramor Prime, was watching the man in the interview room. He did not appear to look like a potential mass murderer. Her chief investigator entered the observation room.

"Phillip, what do we know?" she asked of him.

"He is M. Peter Fontaine," Phillip began. "A widower with stage four of a rare form or cancer that, because of his DNA and allergies to certain medicines, is incurable for him. He has a little over four months to live."

"Shit, he won't even get to trial," Maria stated.

"Correct," Phillip continued. "But we did a little digging. Despite the low cost of these flights being toted by Pallanders, at the prices of the inaugural flight, he could not afford a first class fare, not with his personal wealth having gone into his medical bills. He has been going to every quack doctor on the planet to find a cure and has been bilked outrageously by them.

"So, we looked into his finances and found his passage was purchased through a third source. However, the booking agent indicated the funds came through a legitimate numbered transfer.

"We looked at the number and discovered that it

was

being used by a member of the New Liaoning Embassy."

"Was being used?" Sanger asked suspiciously.

"Yes, you guessed it, the embassy staff member discovered that his account had been hacked and he closed it out later in the day after the draw was made for the trip. However, he did not ask for a return of funds.

"We looked around for other suspicious draws to the embassy and came up with two suspicious accounts, we'll call them A and B. Account A, sent C300,000 to a numbered account, we'll refer to as account B, that was set to draw automatically to other specific accounts later today.

"We passed M. Fontaine's image to the bank manager of account B, and she recognized him, remembered that he didn't seem well and actually had to sit down a couple of times during the process of opening account B.

"M. Fontaine made arrangements to draw from account B at a certain time later today, the instructions indicated that the funds would be parcelled and dropped into accounts for his three children.

"But here's the kicker. Any embassy official who opens an account on Liramor Prime automatically gets his particulars placed into a watch list by IPPF in case the embassy is involved in money laundering.

"C300,000 had been moved from the embassy account, our account A, but C400,000 had originally been placed into it. We scanned for that and discovered that it had originated from the Embassy of Anuura. Specifically, from an account dedicated to the Church of Andanii.

"Shit, that man gets around," Sanger spat out. She looked like she had just eaten sour grapes.

"There's a short list of people and companies associated with the two embassies that would not like to see a successful inaugural flight of the new Liramor-Terra Commercial Liner," Phillips continued, "that includes Senator Andjuran from Anuura and the owners of the Sowdong Shipyards from New Liaoning."

"What makes you think Andjuran is involved?" Sanger asked. "I don't remember him being interested in Pallanders Shipbuilding."

"Liramor Holdings has many of the patents on the new equipment making these fast ships possible. Liramor Holdings is the parent company of LMC and Liramor-23. Besides, Annette Liramor, Lia Samson, and Raymond Clark are personal friends of Fiona Marsh and we know that Andjuran hates Fiona Marsh." Phillip finished.

"If Pallanders hadn't placed the sniffer device on board, we may be conducting a very different investigation right now," Phillip stated.

"The bomb would have done that much damage?" Maria asked.

"Detonated in space on a specific spot on the inner hull, yes," Phillip continued. "It would have created enough damage to seriously weaken the ship and probably cause a total failure in the structure. If it had been exploded at high sub-light speeds, gathering all the evidence would have been next to impossible.

"It's a good thing they didn't try to blow up both ships," Phillip stated.

"No," Maria said immediately, "if both ships had been destroyed, that would have been suspicious. That one was lost would have led the inspectors to believe in the possibility of severe structural failure, especially if all the pieces couldn't be corralled. That, paradoxically, would have led suspicion to Pallanders.

"But, if both ships had been destroyed, it would have instantly made it a very suspicious event. IPPF would have continued to search for evidence until they found something. Meaning we would have gone after every little piece no matter how far they had drifted."

"What are we going to do with him?" Phillip asked looking at Fontaine.

"Let's go ask him," Sanger said, stepping out of the observation booth. A moment latter the pair walked into the interrogation room.

"Mr. Fontaine," Sanger began, "we'd like to ask you a few questions to determine your motive for this potential event. What made you decide to damage this particular vessel?"

"It was suggested to me," he replied. "They said that the damage would have been limited but would have been enough to cancel the license for the new passenger service.

"Now, I have been told that the device would have been powerful enough to severally damage the ship, probably with the loss of all onboard. I am truly sorry that I got involved in this. The destruction of the ship was not my intent," he finished.

Sanger sent several images to the holo-monitor in the room.

"Do you recognize anyone from these images?" she asked.

"Yes, top row, last image on the right. The second man from the left in front," Phillip confirmed. "He came to me with the idea. Said they would pay me enough to leave something in my will to my children.

"Last man on the right, middle image on the bottom. He helped me set up my account and showed me how to draw from it on a timeline," he finished.

One of the men was Sowdong Li, representative of Sowdong Industries at the Liaoning Embassy to Liramor Prime.

The other was unknown to them but the image was of the Embassy of Anuura Staff.

The IPPF had their links.

"What do we do with you, M. Fontaine?" Sanger asked.

"I am completely exhausted," Fontaine admitted. "Going to the event, standing there, and walking to the vessel took almost everything that I had physically. There is nothing more I am capable of. I am no longer a threat to you, or anyone else."

"M. Fontaine, there is a terminal care hospice that we use for those who are dying while still undergoing prison terms," Sanger said quietly. "We will place you in the hospice under 'protective care'. That will be the case, as you are a material witness to a possible mass murder investigation.

"Your family will be told you are in protective custody and will be allowed to see you in the hospice. We still need statements from you, that may or may not be used in criminal cases against the two men you have identified.

"You will be allowed to die with dignity, but your dignity may not survive your death. Considering the information you have just given us, that is the best we can do for you, M. Fontaine." Sanger finished.

"Thank-you, for this mercy," Fontaine stated, tears in his eyes.

Fontaine was taken away to a holding cell until arrangements could be made to place him in the hospice.

"Are we going to be able to make a case against these two embassy officials?" Phillip asked his boss.

"Not likely," Sanger admitted. "They didn't kill anyone, so the most we could do would be to charge them for conspiracy to damage the ship and conspiracy to commit murder. Since they have diplomatic immunity, they will both walk, though a mass murder charge might have forced their governments hand.

"Fortunately, there are other things we can do to hurt them. For instance, we can declare them persona non grata to get them out of the embassy and back to their home worlds. We can ensure that they never get their C300,000 back and that it goes to Fontaine's children on his death as he originally planned," Sanger said with an evil grin.

"Wouldn't it be seized by the state as criminal gain?" Phillip asked.

"Not without a conviction," Sanger explained. "But we can let the two officials know that right now they are only under suspicion, a suspicion that will only increase dramatically if they try to take back that money, that it will definitely prove their link to a conspiracy. They will probably leave the money and, by law, once it goes to the children it can not be recovered by them."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer pair," Phillips commented.

Pallanders Orbital Shipyard, Liramor Prime, Liramor System

Raymond Clark finally got to see his new ship. He was looking out of the conference room window to see The Wanderer for the first time. The ship was less than one kilometer distant and easily viewable from where he stood.

The representative from Pallanders had informing him of all the modifications that Pallanders had made to the vessel. Raymond was impressed. Pallanders had gone above and beyond, but then again, he was sure that would be reflected in the final tally.

Master Chief David Sprawl entered the room and gave Raymond a salute.

"Captain," he said, nodding to Raymond.

"Only until the end of the month, Master Chief," Raymond told him ruefully. "She looks to be a fine ship, but she is a ship that will go in harm's way."

"Aye, sir, so Adm. Thenton informed me," the Master Chief admitted. "I have a list of what will be provided here through the NQM at the base, and from Pallanders by way of basic and 'refined' provisioning," he said with a laugh.

"First time I ever had to worry about how delicate the towels are," he chuckled.

"I don't know, Master Chief, it all depends on who's holding the towel for you," Raymond told him with a smile.

"The things that the NQM won't provide here?" Raymond asked.

"We have a special drop being provided to the NQM at Liramor-23," Sprawl told him. "You'll get your Combat Drop Shuttles, mines, torpedoes, missiles, and special combat kits that we don't want people here seeing going onto the ship.

"You'll also get your Marines there as well. Full compliment of a Marine Special Forces Operations Company. Some of the best in the service. They might be surprised at how well they will be treated on The Wanderer," Sprawl chuckled.

"The quarters are huge in comparison to other navy vessels. A ship designed to house 1500, is going to provide lots of space for just under 300, even with two entire decks given up to VIP quarters," Sprawl finished.

"Wish I could go aboard, Master Chief," Raymond lamented.

"Aye, sir. I feel the same way, but the final preparations are underway now and that means we would just be underfoot. Pallanders has over 400 people aboard her daily, working to finish her inside and out, primping and priming the VIP areas and common areas. She should be finished in about a month, in time for the naming ceremony. Then she will be going through space worthiness trials for her certifications, that might take another month, probably two.