All That Glitters

All That Glitters -- Ch 20

Replace, Repair, Rebuild.

The crews work hard to bring it all back together again.

© bigtddybr August 2020. This story cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and bigtddybr must be credited for this work.

Because of the amount of abbreviations, ship listings, and list of characters, in this story, I include a glossary that is now in a stand-alone chapter called

'All That Glitters: Notes'

. Any and all information that you want or need to know about the series is included in Notes. It will be updated frequently simply by re-issuing the chapter to Literotica.

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. With her guidance, I'm making fewer and fewer errors, but she still finds them. 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.

All Ranks Mess, The Wanderer, Piscium System, 106 Light Years from Terra

Senior Chief Siobhan Riley was listening as a group of women from the ship bitched and complained while they ate in her mess. It was nothing new as navy rates always had something to bitch and complain about. Siobhan listened in at the periphery, never getting too close, and always seeming to be doing something else.

As she listened in, she became aware that there was another issue on the ship and this one could lead to problems. However, the end comments of the women's complaints brought a secret smile to Siobhan's lips.

Well damn if that wasn't the most hilarious bit of bullshit I ever heard.

She thought to herself. Maybe it was time to have another private session with the bosses.

As the women left, she moved back into her kitchen to prepare a private meal for three...

Conference Room, Liramor-23 Mining Platform, Piscium System

The senior admirals, Cmdre. Marsh, the ships captains of her temporary fleet, her remaining ship's captains from her own fleet, and her senior staff were all in the conference room for the morning brief. Also, in the room, were the senior staff of The Wanderer, including the two owners.

Currently, they were receiving the status report of the platform's condition from Marc Thibault from his recent tour as a repair engineer for Pallanders Shipyards.

"Overall, the vessel is in reasonably good shape," M. Thibault began. "However, there are some cracks in the support struts that will have to be repaired or replaced. We have identified thirty-six struts that will have to be replaced and an additional fifty-one that need repair, which can be done on site.

"Priority for us will be the replacement of those struts that cannot be repaired in situ. The outer skin has been successfully patched by your people but could do with some TLC to bring it up to par with the remainder of the platform.

"With your ore ovens out of action, for now, we will have to request replacement struts and new skin from Liramor Prime. This will take several weeks. The priority will be these struts," and here he indicated the struts that needed immediate replacement on the 3D overview of the platform's diagram, zooming in to show where they needed to be placed.

"Right now, I would not advise using the messes, cafeterias, gyms, or personnel quarters in the immediate area of these two decks, that means everything from here to here, and one deck above and one deck below. As well, until we get the new skin in place, I would not advise using anything in the areas were patches to the hull have been made. That, unfortunately, includes the new Malton University extension, which is one level above the most severely damaged area where a number of struts need to be replaced. This means you will not be able to hold classes until the new skin is placed over that area and approved by our people.

We'll put a priority on that, but you are still looking at a timeline of at least a month before you can reopen the university extension," he informed Fiona.

"Until we complete the repairs on the struts and internal structures, we cannot replace the skin, this means that your current living arrangements for many of your personnel will remain as is for about six months. Sorry, but that is the best we can do.

"You were very fortunate that the shock from the explosions did not do more damage to the underlying structure of the platform. You came very close to having to abandon this platform as unusable after the attack, a few more damaged struts and..." he trailed off.

"Thank-you for your insight, M. Thibault," Fiona returned. "Your team that is currently working on NS Churchill will be the same team that will be assisting in the repairs of the platform?"

"Yes, Ms. Marsh," Thibault admitted, "But we will have to ask for additional support from Pallanders. We do not have enough people to conduct rapid repairs at the moment."

"Our miners are currently out of work, as we can do nothing until we clean the space around us of debris and damaged ships. The ships to be repaired will begin transportation to Liramor Prime with the tow ship Nal Tan in the next few days. It will take approximately sixteen to twenty days to move the three warships and the supply ship that need towing.

"Our miners are now receiving the newest EVA suits from LMC and would like to be doing something. We can make those who are idle available to your team as support workers. You can direct them to do what is needed. Most of the miners are good with welding and torch work so can help you remove and replace the damaged struts and skin. You can also use them to repair the struts that do not need to be removed," Fiona indicated.

"That would certainly help," Thibault replied with a nod. "The miners are experienced hands and would require little direction or supervision on our part. That might bring the overall timeline for repairs down considerably. Say as much as two months. You could be back fully functional within four months.

"The downside is, you cannot use the ore ovens below these damaged areas, as the vibrations from the work could exacerbate the conditions in those areas. So, your productivity will be reduced for at least four months."

"The ore ovens on the opposite side of the damaged areas would be alight to use?" Fiona asked.

"Yes, they should be good to use, though I strongly suggest you not use these five ovens," Thibault said, indicating the ovens he meant. "Once we replace the priority struts, we will re-assess the situation and let you know if you can begin using the five restricted ovens."

"How much is it going to cost us, Marc?" Fiona asked.

"The new struts will be C10,000 each for thirty-six struts. They must be custom made to each location, otherwise it would be cheaper. Minor repairs on those struts that do not need to be replaced, your people can do that, and we will check after to see if they have done the job right so that is mostly manpower you have already paid for. You will be required to make or purchase hull plating for the new skin at C100 per square meter, and you will have to cover roughly 5,000 square meters, so your looking at a minimum C500,000 to repair the outer hull.

"Then there are the cosmetic repairs inside once we are properly sealed back up. That includes inner walls and bulkheads, airlocks, replacement parts for the kitchens and cafeterias, gyms, the outer hospital wards, and of course the personal quarters. The final bill will exceed one billion credits," Thibault finished.

Fiona winced at the figures; however, she had been told by Annette Liramor herself that she had a priority budget to get the place back up and running.

"There's something else you should think about, Fiona," Adm Ramison interjected. "What will happen when we open this system up to other science people, where will they stay? Your platform currently only has room for what, 12,000 roughly? We could get that many people coming to this system for scientific study alone."

"I'll have to take that up with LMC and Liramor Holdings," Fiona admitted. "How long do you think we can keep them out, sir?"

"That would depend on how well we deal with this alien fleet," Ramison said. "If we end up in a protracted war, then it will be navy personnel here on the platform. If we deal with them quickly, then we will see civilian researchers probably within the year."

"Speaking of which," Fiona said with a smile, "I think it is time to hear from Dr. Hitron."

Dr. Hitron stood with a smile and called up a local star map.

"The Piscium A home world is approximately twelve light years from our location," Dr. Hitron began. "It will take the fleet we identified a little over three and a half years to arrive in our location at their current rate of speed.

"We were looking at why they are moving at a slight tangent to this system, when we spotted this anomaly. It's a stellar nebula that stretches out between us and the Piscium A and B home worlds. We couldn't figure out why they were taking this route until we realized that they were heading for this particular opening in the nebula, the only one between us and their respective home worlds.

"To us, this nebula is not a threat. But there was all that hoopla recently about the fast ships being able to jump through the Norane Nebula between Liramor Prime and Planet Hanover. We can't go into that nebula because we can't form a jump point inside the nebula.

"So, we thought, what if there was something about this nebula that affected their systems? We know that the insectoid electronics is considerably different from our systems, but we don't know yet what about this nebula disrupts what systems of the Piscium A ships. Is it their electronics or something else that is affected by the nebula? What would be the reason to avoid it and come through at this location, this hole. We are looking to confirm this with information from their science education channels, but we don't know enough about their language yet to make a big enough guess on this. However, you would like to know that at their current speed, they will arrive at this hole in roughly one year.

"The hole is only a couple of AU's across, twice the distance of Terra to Sol. That's a fairly small space in relative terms. I don't know if you could block this hole and prevent them from going through it to this side, but it is something you should know about," Hitron finished.

"Absolutely!" Adm. Ramison blurted out. "We will need to send one of the ships or several FTL probes to this hole to measure it and define it to see if we could possibly place mines to prevent them from coming through for the time being.

"We need you to confirm as soon as possible about your speculation on the nebula, Dr. Hitron. The more you can tell us about their anomalous reaction to this nebula the better for us. If you could tell us how this disrupts them, that could give us an edge over them that we might be able to exploit," Ramison stated.

"Raymond, your thoughts," Fiona asked of Raymond Clark.

"Two AU is a lot of area to cover with mines, that's roughly equivalent to 300 million kilometers across or roughly 70 billion square kilometers of area to cover." Raymond said. "One mine can typically cover a ten cubic kilometer area in space. We don't have enough inventory to cover that kind of distance even if we made a minefield that blocked forward momentum. They might not recognize mines until they impact them, then that mine will no longer be of use to us and there would be a potential hole in the minefield unless we have backups.

"Conversely, we could easily set up a moving double wall 300km across and ten kms between each wall and simply place it in their way. They would have issues going around it, especially if we placed ships around the perimeter. That was the original purpose of The Wanderer, as a Korman Class interdiction vessel, to block ships making an end-run around a minefield.

"We would need to close down some of the free space to effectively mine it. We could do that by drawing nebula tendrils with high-speed runs, say at slightly above C. But that will take time to set up and we may not have enough time. The moveable wall is the likely best bet.

"Science will have to take a much closer look at this hole, the nebula, and how it affects the ships coming our way before we can say if we can block them effectively." Raymond finished.

"Your math is spot on, young man," Ramison said. "I agree that mining the entire gap is impossible. Your double wall makes sense, especially if they keep their current configuration of nine ships in a rough six kilometer square with the command ship centered behind their own wall."

"Right," Fiona said, taking back control of the brief, "science has it's job cut out for it. You still need to complete the original tasks given to you: complete the translation of their language, identify and classify their weaponry and capabilities, identify the number of ships in each fleet, and identify whether there is contact between the A and B societies. Now, you will also be required to identify the issues with the nebula, how it affects their systems, and how we can benefit from that, if at all.

"If we are to make any headway on some of these other issues, we need to fully translate the language or languages they use. I'm sure the linguists will make that their priority for the next few months.

"Raymond, you will need to be ready to act in six months time. However, for now, you need to do the party circuit." Fiona finished.

"Come again?" Raymond responded.

"Raymond, you are a billionaire with a new toy," Fiona explained, "people are expecting to see you running around Union space, and other places, showing off your new ship. You mustn't disappoint them."

"Fiona is correct, Raymond," Ramison picked up. "The rich and famous expect to be able to see you and to bend your ear on various subjects, from making money to politics, to partying, to making money."

"You said making money twice, sir," Raymond said, with a smile.

"The super-rich enjoy money, Raymond," Ramison returned with his own smile. "Money is their super-power, and they don't want you to disappoint them."

"We need to talk to Annette," Liea stated. "She knows all the who's who in human space. She can probably even make up an itinerary for us to follow."

This time, Raymond deferred to Liea, she had, after all, been living this lifestyle for well over a year now.

SRV(T) Nal Tal, Parking Zone, Liramor-23, Piscium System

The Ship Recovery Vessel (Tow) Nal Tal, moved alongside the NS Kologn and attached its magnetic grapples, pulling the stricken ship in close. Slowly, it applied just enough power to its engines to move the pair into the outbound jump lane. The captain gently inched the two vessels up in speed. When the combined vessels achieved thirty percent light, the Nal Tal extended its massive FTL vanes, just barely clearing the Kologn, which was snuggled into its lower starboard quarter. The Nal Tal's captain sent a tight beam signal to the Kologn advising them that they were about to jump.

The crew of the NS Kologn were strapped into their respective jump seats in preparation. Captain Dauphine was on tender hooks as she worried about the jump, this much ship attached to the tow vessel was pushing the limits of the Nal Tal's capabilities and both ship's captains new it. The Kologn only had a token crew on board, the remainder of her ship's compliment was in the Nal Tal's passenger compartment.

The pilot of the Nal Tal opened the switches to provide power to the vanes and watched carefully as the jump field gradually extended to cover both vessels. Once he was certain of the coverage, he shunted full power over the system. The two vessels winked out of existence and came back over 1000km from their predicted re-entry point, but still in open space, and twelve light years from the Piscium system. The maintained the current speed of just over fifty percent light. It would be four hours before they could repeat the procedures. Time enough for the messes on both ships to provide breakfast to the crews.

Thirty-two hours later, the Nal Tal entered the Liramor system, about six hours flight time as they slowly bled off speed to Pallanders Orbital Shipyard. While tense, it was a textbook mission for the tow ship. The crew would rest one day, then return to the Piscium system for the next ship, and the process would be repeated until all of the damaged ships had been brought to Pallanders.

Pallanders Orbital Shipyard, Liramor Prime, Liramor System

As the Nal Tal brought the NS Kologn alongside the repair cage she would be placed in, those in the station watched as the large ship was ponderously moved into place. They included several news teams who were watching transfixed by the severity of the battle damage the ship had taken. None of the cages were too far from the station, so all who had view ports or windows were able to get a good look at the damage.

There had been some question as to just how bad the Second Battle of Liramor-23 had been, most people questioning the damage reported by Cynthia Stewart, until they saw the Kologn.

The ship showed the impact of at least six torpedoes. That she was still intact was beyond belief, as the vessel had suffered greatly. Her sub-light engines were completely ruined. There was still a large hole looking into the engineering section, showing the extensive damage to the FTL drive.

Reports had stated that many of the internal bulkheads had been damaged and the ship was leaking air into space. The reporters could see no evidence of air leaks, but the crew had three weeks to make internal repairs and seemed to have done a good job of it.

Thirty-four had died aboard the ship, seventy-five had been wounded, some so severe that they would be retired from the Navy. The ship showed the scars of her battle, but there were other wounds that she would never show to the public. The ship's crew still suffered the humility of having been caught napping at the platform. But the ship had given as well as she had taken. She had made a difference in the battle, having damaged at least two of the attacking vessels.

Images of the damaged vessel being parked in her repair cage flashed around the Union. The Second Battle of Liramor-23 was real. The dead and the wounded were real. Proof was provided by the images of the NS Kologn.

People all over the Union began to ask questions and the truth about slavery was one of those questions.

Captain's Ready Room, The Wanderer, Piscium System

Capt. Noor and Raymond Clark were once again in her Ready Room when they heard the nock on the hatch.

Henadi smiled. There was only one person on her ship who pounded on the hatch instead of using the buzzer. "Enter!" she shouted.

The hatch sprung open to show Senior Chief Riley holding three covered food trays. She smiled at the other two as she delicately balanced her load while closing the hatch and sauntered into the Ready Room.

"Ah, Siobhan," Henadi purred. "What have you brought to bribe us with this time?"