All That Glitters

Aftermath, sanctuary, and planning.

Unaayel's attack leaves the Asocans in disarray. Asoc >Catal and her people are provided sanctuary by a friend. Plans are made to take back all from Unaayel.

© bigtddybr August 2022. This story 'All That Glitters - Ch 52' or the series 'All That Glitters' cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com in whole or in part without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and bigtddybr must be credited for this work.

Due to 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 and my other editors, who wish to remain anonymous, for all their help.. With their guidance, I'm making fewer and fewer errors. If you find any errors still left in this chapter, they are mine, as I have ignored sage advise to make a silly point.

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.

Selta Shall, ShemetAR, The Dalagent System, Eighty-Six Light Years from AsocAR, The Asocan Realm

"By the Goddess! What has she done?!" Shugrand Mutt Herrtt demanded of nobody in particular as she watched the images in horror.

"Gashafen, how many of the Gurns are available?" she demanded of her aide, Gashafen Mutt Shemet.

Gashafen shook herself and blinked several times before she could respond.

"Do you mean in person or via link, Martte Shugrand?" her aide demanded.

"It matters not, we need to speak to all immediately," Shugrand snapped.

"I can have eighteen of the thirty-one Gurns of ShemetAR here inside of thirty larr, Martte Shugrand. The remainder will have to use the link," Martte Shugrand.

"Bring those you can and make sure that the others are linked. This needs to be dealt with on a planetary scale," Shugrand ordered.

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

Shugrand walked into the conference room thirty-five larr later as the Gurn present rose and bowed to her. She returned the bow and bade them be seated, noting the images of those attending via the link.

"You have all seen the holo-vid?" Shugrand asked.

"We have, Martte Shugrand," Gurn Shemet replied for all.

"The best estimate is that 3.5 million Asocans died at Semt Shall, all sacrificed for the life of one Gurn. This was meant to be a deliberate warning to all Gurn of the realm not to cross Martte Unaayel," Shugrand told them. Not a word was spoken in return, the Gurn were too shocked by what they had witnessed and now learned

"I did not know that my mother was capable of something of this nature. I have no idea what to tell you or how you should act nor even how I should act. My mother has shown that she will go to any length to remove those who oppose her. However, we cannot allow her to take up the title of Asoc. The Goddess only knows what she would do once she has it.

"All I can say is that, in one action, Unaayel has surpassed the atrocities of Asoc Minatran. Unaayel will forever more be known as Belgedra (the evil one) by the Asocan people," Shugrand stated.

Gurn Shemet rose. "I must confess that I was partly responsible for allowing your mother to rise to the level that she now has. My greed and the greed of my line of Mutt Shemet, demanded that we take over the responsibility of the planet that bears our name. In order to accomplish this, I gave my support and the support of my Mutt to Unaayel. For this, I bear the responsibility of placing Unaayel on the path of treachery to the Asocan people," Gurn Woaden Mutt Shemet stated.

"What can we do, Martte Shugrand?" asked another of the Gurn.

"We need to speak with Asoc >Catal, today, now. We need her guidance. I would open a link to her on Terra. Will you act as witnesses for me?" Shugrand demanded. The Gurn assented. How the Asoc reacted in their presence would go a long way to determine whether the Gurn of ShemetAR would continue to support the Asoc, even though the alternative, that of Martte Unaayel, was not very palatable to them.

Gold Conference Room, Denders Resort, South-West Coast of North America, Terra, The Sol System

The room was packed full of the leaders of the Greater Community, their Senior Ministers, Ambassadors, and advisors all were in various degrees of shock. Most were holding their children, having collected the distraught youngsters from the daycare.

The Asoc's people had been working furiously over the last half hour as they tried to put together information on what had just happened.

"Conservative estimates are that 3.5 million people died in Semt Shall, Asoc," War Dragon Minister Leifram Mutt >Kottane, Interior Minister of >Catal's government told the assembly of leaders. "It is the height of the bloom in Salalta Semt, and almost all of the available rooms were occupied by tourists.

"What is worse, these two weeks are the time of Shamot Ren, when various schools attend the bloom. Our best estimate is that forty-one different institutions had students in Salalta Semt. Some 50,000 students and their care givers were in the swamp for the bloom."

An obviously distraught Asoc was being tended to by her mate and her daughter, Martte Garnal. She could take no more. She rose to her feet and roared out a challenge.

"I will taste the flesh of that Patlet!" she roared out, her Asost intently trying to calm her down.

"No, my mate," she snarled, shrugging him off. "I will not be calmed down. She killed over three million of my subjects, just to end the life of one person who she believed prevented her from achieving the title of Asoc, a title Unaayel had been denied because of her desire for power! She has shown what she is capable of when she does achieve that power!"

"Asoc. It is time to take your place at the table," the Kumaraie said, placing her arm under that of the Asoc's and guiding her to the head of the table. Initially, the Asoc tried to shrug off the Kumaraie, but the Kumaraie was just as stubborn, pulling her to her place.

Before sitting, the Kumaraie clutched forearms with that of the Asoc, who looked painfully back into the eyes of her friend and fellow ruler, silently pleading with her for all the strength she could give her. She got a single nod of support from the Kumaraie.

"Your vengeance must be swift!" the Kumaraie snarled. The Asoc's smile showed her teeth, telling all that she agreed whole heartedly with the Kumaraie. She sat back on her tail and looked across the table to the President.

"Who is Unaayel?" the President asked.

"My elder cousin (only siblings from the same clutch were referred to as brothers and sisters. Siblings from another clutch by the same mother were referred to as 'elder or younger cousins').

"She, and four others, were contenders with me for the title of Asoc when I was chosen by the Beerlen AsocAR, the governing body of the Asocans.

"Martte Unaayel was the obvious front runner. However, unlike me, she always saw the position of Asoc as a position of power over the people, instead of a position of service to the people. That was why she was ultimately denied the title and I was elevated to Asoc.

"There have been three coup attempts since my elevation, all three were attributed to Unaayel but not enough evidence was ever produced to condemn her for those actions," the Asoc informed those present.

"So, smart enough to hide her activities, daring enough to go against the decision of the Beerlen, and ruthless in her desire to achieve the title of Asoc," the President stated, getting nods from all the Asocans present in the room.

"You said that neither the Union, nor other members of the Greater Community can assist me as this is an internal Asocan matter?" the Asoc stated.

"I did, however, that is not entirely true," the President said with a predatory smile of his own. "It is necessary subterfuge to keep us from becoming targets."

"I do not understand," the Asost responded for the pair.

"First, no other member of the Greater Community uses atomic weapons, Asoc," Raymond stated for the President, "only humans. That means that the ships that Unaayel has hired are human ships.

"Second, she told us the number of ships available to her, sixty-seven. There is only one fleet of sixty-seven warships available to Unaayel, the missing pirate fleet from the Alliance. That makes this a human issue whether or not these ships have been hired by another race.

"Third, the Greater Community Mutual Support Agreement, means that we have the obligation to pursue criminals fleeing justice from Union authority into the space of another member race as, aside from the Djinaëte, we are currently the only other source of FTL ships.

"However, there is a serious political issue here. The Asoc >Catal Mutt Herrtt, must be seen to be the person who liberates the Asocans from this terrible person, in order to legitimize her position and title," Raymond finished.

"How do we do that when we have no ships of our own?" one of the Asocan Senior Ministers asked.

"Who says that you do not have ships of your own?" Raymond asked with a smile.

"Raymond is correct, Asoc," Fiona interjected. "You have seven warships, and the Tarl Asoc at your disposal."

"We do?" the Asost asked, confused.

"There are eight ships in orbit filled with Asocan trainees. Yes, those are seven Union Navy vessels and my own ship but Unaayel does not know that. These ships are being operated by joint crews of Asocans and humans. I suggest that we temporarily rename these vessels by the Asocan names that you had intended for your first seven warships.

"Painting over the Union names will be good training for the Asocan engineers on the ships," Fiona finished.

"Seven warships will not be enough to go against sixty-seven warships," another Asocan Minister interjected.

"True, but they can be the face of the assault force that we can send against this pirate fleet, an assault force acting under the Asoc's orders," Raymond told them. "Besides, the pirates have to break up their fleet in order to cover all of the eighty-one major planets of the Asocan race. They will have to prioritize which planets to cover with their fleet. That will be our ace up the sleeve.

"We will send in small ships to look over the various planets and determine how many ships are allocated to each. Not all of the ships in question will have atomic weapons onboard. There are only fourteen ships on the list of ship names and types given to us by the Alliance which might carry atomics, as atomic missiles need tubes of a minimum of 280cm in diameter.

"Unaayel will prioritize her fleet to the most important Asocan planets, from her point of view. That will mean we will likely only have to deal with a few ships at a time instead of dealing with the entire fleet.

"As well, these ships have older Marilon generators and, because of their age, are restricted to a lengthy recovery time after each jump. That gives us a major advantage over them," Raymond finished.

"You would do this for us?" the Asost blinked in surprise.

"We would," the President stated firmly. "In fact, we must. According to the Greater Community Mutual Support Agreement, we cannot have a government of any race overthrown by an outside force without justification, such as an act of war. While Unaayel is Asocan, and this appears to be a solely Asocan problem, the fleet she has hired is a human pirate fleet, one that the Union is required by law to deal with.

"So, while we are saying that this is a wholly Asocan problem, we will support you in this. This was a necessary subterfuge to keep Unaayel's fleet in Asocan space," the President finished.

"But we saw the reports on our trainees. They are not yet ready for this kind of action," the Asost responded.

"True," Fiona agreed. "But I did say they would be the face of these ships. Those ships will still have their human crew onboard to assist the trainees in taking back AsocAR from Unaayel and firmly re-establishing your government. We will, of course, allow the Asocan crew to do as much as they can, with the human crew in tight support when necessary.

"This will show the Asocan people three things: First, that their Asoc was right in purchasing these ships from the Union.

"Second, that Asocans can indeed crew their own vessels in a fight against other races. And finally, that the Asoc >Catal Mutt Herrtt is the rightful supreme ruler of her people," Fiona ended, standing and bowing to the Asoc, all the Asocans in the room rose and did the same, confirming their alliance to the Asoc >Catal, Mutt Herrtt.

The Asoc gave a grateful look to Fiona and the President.

"Mr. President, I have been told that I will have a fleet of over one hundred ships available to me. So far, I have slightly over thirty. I will need those other ships sooner rather than later, sir." Fiona stated.

"You will have them," the President assured her. "I will instruct the Navy to prioritize your fleet. You will need those other ships as soon as possible. Also, the first four Asocan ships will soon be completed at Pallanders-4. We need to get those ships to you soonest. Those ships too, should be crewed by joint crews until the foreseeable future."

"We have to figure out what our timings are going to be," Raymond said. "We need to know her priorities. Beerlendl >Kestin, you said that Unaayel does not have a quorum on AsocAR?"

"That is correct, sir," >Kestin replied. "There are twenty-eight of the fifty members of the Beerlen AsocAr here at the Summit. In order to depose or name an Asoc, their needs by a quorum of seventy percent of the Beerlen."

"Can Unaayel not name new members?" Grace wanted to know.

"Yes, however, new members can only be emplaced in the Beerlen at certain times of the year. The next available time to do so is seventy-four Asocan days from now," >Kestin stated. "Until then, Unaayel cannot officially be named the Asoc nor Atas Asoc (Asoc in waiting). There are enough people in and around AsocAR and on the other Asocan planets that understand this that Unaayel cannot push this requirement aside."

"So, we have our timeline," the President confirmed.

"James, we will have to make this attack as quickly as possible to stop Unaayel." The President ordered Adm. Ramison. "If she manages to get herself named as the next Asoc by a newly formed Beerlen AsocAR of her people, she can start a propaganda war against Asoc >Catal. I would like to have AsocAR back in Asoc >Catal's hands well before that event.

"Raymond, I am calling you back up," the President said.

"Mr. President, by law, you cannot call up a member of the Navy that has been retired three times," Raymond told the President.

"That is true, Raymond," Admiral Ramison admitted. "But the law refers to being called up at the same rank. If you will recall how we reactivated you the first time?"

"Shit. You promoted me Captain, brevet," Raymond acknowledged.

"Congratulations, Commodore Clark, although I would rather that it be Commodore substantive rather than a brevet promotion seeing as you will likely retire again once this task is completed," the President said with a smile.

"We can assume that Terra, the Presidential Compound, and Navy Headquarters here will eventually become targets of Unaayel and the pirate fleet if they figure out this ruse," the President mused, giving a specific look to Admiral Ramison.

"Commodore Whatt, though I believe that Unaayel needs the Interspecies embassy at Liramor-23 for legitimacy, we may still become a target," Fiona said. "We will need to ensure that everyone believes that the Asoc is not on Liramor-23."

"I will officially give shelter to my good friend the Asoc >Catal Mutt Herrtt, in front of the media now in the theater," the Kumaraie stated.

"Na-Maj, are you sure? This will paint a target on your planet and on your people," the Asoc stated.

">Catal, you were there for me and my mate in our time of trial. You sang for my unnamed daughter, helping to send her to the Goddess with the hearts and thoughts of four peoples, the Pod-Drran, the Maha-Rrin, the Asocan, and humans. You stood with us as we named our surviving children.

"I can and will do this thing for you. Besides, I doubt that the Alliance pirate fleet knows where Pod-Saar is. And if they do find us, they will have to jump into our system to attack us and we have our own fleets of armed ships. Yes, they are not jump ships but they can and will attack outsiders and defend our system.

"I will make a statement to the media telling them that sanctuary, for Asoc >Catal and her people, is now a fact. That will place you, my friend, other than on Liramor-23 or Terra giving you, Director Marsh, the ability to make decisions on our behalf," the Kumaraie stated, looking at and getting a nod of agreement from her mate, from the Asoc, and from the President.

"That will keep suspicion from the station and allow us to make full use of our planning and staging capabilities there," Fiona agreed. "However, we will need a robust defence plan if the pirates decide to make a run at the station anyway.

"Commodore Whatt, your ships are yours and will remain yours. I will not draft them, with the exception of those two vessels currently hosting Asocan trainees, as your ships are needed for system defence. I will also give you additional resources to aid you in this endeavour as I get them," and here Fiona looked pointedly at Admiral Ramison.

"Admiral Ramison, I will need that Rear Admiral Supply now instead of next year. He/she can sleep rough on the station until the station is finished, though I really don't think our station VIP rooms are sleeping rough. Regardless, he/she needs to be there now. Supply is going to get busy fast," Fiona said.

"No problem. I was wondering what to do with her. Now, I can send her to you and let her do her job from your end," Adm. Ramison replied.

"Kumaraie, I will need you to send some images from the palace on Pod-Saar that we can make use of. We can have the Asoc making statements in front of a green screen that incorporates those images when she is not on Pod-Saar. They will make it look as if she is anywhere else but on Liramor-23," Fiona said, getting a nod from the Kumaraie.

"What of money," Adm. Ramison, ever the practical person, demanded.

"We have three trillion Roppar earmarked for this summit," Leifram stated. "We have only pledged a little over one trillion so far here at the summit. We can move an additional three trillion now, before Unaayel places a stop of the movement of treasury assets by those responsible to the rightful Asoc. That will give us an active treasury of a little over five and a half trillion Roppar."

"That will be sufficient for a time," the Asoc admitted.

"We need one more thing though, to complete the subterfuge" Grace suggested. "We need someone to push our agenda here on Terra. Someone who is vehemently opposed to anything non-human," she told her father. "Father, I have someone in mind. This person would be the perfect patsy for this situation and he owes us big time."