All That Glitters -- Ch 27
Confrontations. A sleeper awakes.
Confrontation with the Emperor's Fleet Shem. An empath awakes, as does an Insectoid.
© bigtddybr February 2021. This story 'All That Glitters-Ch27' 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.
Due of the number 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 SaddleRider 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.
Conference Room One, Liramor-23, Piscium System, 106 Light Years from Terra
The morning brief was well attended. Nobody wanted to miss the very first reply from the Piscium A society.
On the main monitor, two of the Piscium A Society's aliens sat on short, backless, folding stools, reminiscent of old Roman sella curulis. They looked out into the camera's eye and spoke to humanity for the first time.
"I am Sa-Het Sai-Rai and this is my mate Kur-Han Kai-Ro," the image spoke in their language and the translator system keyed to each separate wrist comp translated for the person wearing it into their discrete earpieces. "We are the Jurte Pair of his Imperial Majesty's Fleet Shem. This means that we are in control of the Fleet, and the people who live on it.
"We have seen your images and heard your message and we are curious about your people and what you may be doing at The Home Star. We will soon be back at The Home Star, and if you cannot justify your presence, you will be expelled.
"We are interested in further dialogue and, yes, we are interested in a face-to-face meeting, if you can arrange such.
"We look forward to hearing your explanations and what you have to say to us." The image froze, with the pair looking out at the viewers.
"Comments?" Fiona stated, unknowingly copying the previous actions of the Jurte Pair.
"I note that they said, 'In Control' instead of 'In Command' of their fleet," Capt. Dostier commented, getting assent from those around the table. "Otherwise they say very little about themselves and have not given out any points of discussion other than 'what the fuck are we (humans) doing here'." The comment was followed by a burst of heated discussion around the table.
"So noted," Fiona said, taking the floor back after a few moments of fruitless comments. "I do note that they say we must 'justify our presence here' or we will be expelled. With everything we know of their fighting styles, they do not intend to expel us, but rather to make us Kirlen, or to wipe us out as they did with the last inhabitants of this system.
"We need to craft a return message asking for points of discussion vis-Ã -vis future relations between our two peoples. We need to let them know we want more of substance from them than just veiled threats."
"Veiled threats?" Gillaya asked, once again in the room because Raymond was there.
"They are coming here to deal with the new infestation of The Home Star," Fiona replied. "That's us. They have not asked us about us but about what we are doing here. That tells me they are probably not open to discussion. We need to get them to start taking this seriously and not as a combat exercise. If they are coming here with death and destruction in mind, then they need to understand they are in for more than just ritual combat."
"Maybe we should arrange a small demonstration, to coincide with our message?" Capt. Dostier said.
"What do you suggest?" Fiona asked.
"We could launch a nuclear device at a small planetoid that we could put in their path, letting them see what kind of weaponry we may posses," Dostier answered. "You did say we need to demonstrate some of our military capabilities early."
"That is part of the contingency planning we had with Adm. Ramison and President Holloway before they left. We would need Ramison's permission to initiate nuclear use, which I'm sure he will give if our target is something like an asteroid. Is there anything within range?"
"They are coming to an area with a few small planetoids, roughly twenty km in diameter. We could move one along their line of travel and destroy it at a point safe for them but also viewable to them," Dostier stated.
"How long before we could set that up?" Fiona asked.
"Four days minimum. The Fleet Shem will be in range of the planetoids in sixteen days," Dostier told them.
"Set it up. I'll send a message to Ramison and ask him to track down the President on this issue. We are intending to deploy nuclear weapons as a deterrent. That will be within the points of the contingency plan that we have. However, we will want to get a few more messages to the Fleet Shem before that.
"What do you expect them to do next?" Fiona asked of her captains.
"If I were leading a fleet of ships," Capt. Gisselle Florine of the NS Kennedy replied. "I would want to have flanking ships out to protect the Flag Ship from potential hostile attack, which is what these people should be thinking that the probe is.
"Their ships are too large for that kind of contingency. They must have smaller ships for their actual combat delivery?" she enquired of Dr. Hitron.
"Yes," Hitron said. "They have ships a little larger than our Fairling Class ships, somewhere between the Fairling Class and the Wanderer in size, for combat use. Their purpose is to deliver combatants to the enemy, like we would use Combat Shuttles to do."
"Makes sense considering the size of their main vessels," Dostier declared.
"Would they drop some of those to look for the probe?" Fiona asked.
"No, I don't think so," Hitron pronounced. "Their smaller ships use a kind of ion drive. Efficient, however, with only two engines per vessel with the size of the vessel the engines are pushing they could not keep up with the larger ships of the fleet. There is also the question of fuel. Their ion drives need something to convert to ions, similar to their plasma drives the larger ships use.
"Where our pulse engines use electrons to form the engine exhaust, they need something to burn for their ion and plasma drives.
"Their larger ships have nuclear power waste create plasma for the engines. The smaller vessels don't have that capability. Their range would be limited, which is why they are being carried by the larger vessels.
"We have a considerable advantage due to our Marilon Generators, which give us near unlimited power within only minor limitations," Hitron finished.
"So, if they drop ships back to support the Flag Ship, it will likely be the larger capital ships as opposed to the ships they use for support?" Fiona asked.
"That would be likely," Hitron admitted. "They would need to know approximately when the probe would appear in order for them to use the smaller ships as they could only use them for a very limited time frame."
"Right, I want a message sent back sooner rather than later and I want a stealthier probe to watch them, something they are not going to see that readily. We do have an idea of the capabilities of their sensors?" Fiona asked.
"Yes," Hitron answered. "They use a great deal of energy for their active sensors, which means we can see them from some distance away from our ships or probes. They do not seem to use passive sensors that much, though they do have them. That will help us should we get into combat with them as we will be able to track the energy back to their ships."
"OK, sounds like there are aspects of their capabilities that you have not passed on to the Navy people. I want you to book conference room two and sit down with our Navy captains and techs and go over everything you know about the ships of Fleet Shem," Fiona ordered.
"From this point on, whenever you get something of technical or military value that could be exploited by our Navy people, I want you to pass it along to them. The earlier we know about their capabilities the better we will be able to defend against them.
"Any other points?" Fiona asked.
"I was reading through the previous briefs and noted that you had originally intended to contact the Piscium B Society first. I assume this went out the window due to the threat posed by the Fleet Shem?" asked Ambs. Millenia Lapotnikov.
"That is correct," Fiona admitted. "We had planned on contacting those that we believe would be more peaceful until such time as we found the threat of the Fleet Shem heading our way. They then became the priority.
"That being said, once the immediate threat of the Fleet Shem is taken care of, I will entertain ideas for contact the Piscium B Society. It is my fervent hope that they will prove to be more amicable to the idea of contact between us.
"Incidentally, Dr. Hitron, I need a name for the two society's current home worlds, calling them Piscium A and B Society is a mouthful and confusing considering we are referring to this system as the Piscium system to the Fleet Shem.
"You have your assignments. Let's get a message back today and a stealth probe following the Fleet Shem. We can put it into the system in tandem with the comms probe to disguise its entry.
"The stealth probe should be looking for modifications to their current travel pattern that would indicate they are out to trap or destroy the comms probe as well as recording communications between the fleet ships. Dismissed," Fiona said, standing and leaving the conference room.
The Wanderer, Parking Orbit, Liramor-23, Piscium System
"What's happening," Gillaya asked later in the day as she saw several of the ladies coming out of the VIP quarters.
"We got a new copy of our favorite holo-vid series!" Kim replied, excited.
"Do I know it?" asked Gillaya.
"It's called 'The Prime Directive'," Mbibo told her. "It's a space fiction series where the captain of the ship is constantly contacting new species. He has to follow the prime directive of the organization he works for, hence the name. However, there is always something that is interfering with or challenging how he interprets the directives."
