All That Glitters - Ch 60
A threat forms. A project is completed. The Resestess is found.
Ikekiya's dreams begin to take shape. Pallanders completes the last of the repairs on Liramor Prime's commercial ships. A dream comes to reality and the Resestess is found.
© bigtddybr August 2023. This story 'All That Glitters - Chapter Sixty' or the series 'All That Glitters', cannot be transferred in whole or in part 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 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 v 13'
. 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 as a new version.
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 my editors, who wish to remain anonymous, for all the help they provide. 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.
Hidden Base, Unnamed Star System, Eighty-two Light Years from Terra
The base had been a secret military base of the Confederation of Planets and as such, was not listed in the open military budget. For this reason, it was one of four that had never been found by the Union after the war.
Until recently, it had been used as a pirate base, however, many of the ships that once used it were now gone, destroyed in a failed attack against Liramor-23. Along with the pirates, the base was one of the operational headquarters of the Orin Sallé, the former Emperor of the Confederation of Planet's personal assassins. The pirates that had been at the base were some of the roughest and deadliest known, yet they stepped wide of any of the Orin Sallé they encountered, such was their justified reputation.
There were perhaps fifty members of the Orin Sallé at the base who were in training as assassins, plus a group of fifteen actual assassins. The remaining three hundred personnel of the Orin Sallé were in support of those fifty. It took many years to train an assassin and not all of those trainees would be successful as the Orin Sallé had extremely high standards. Those that failed were added to the support teams to the actual assassins.
Being as secretive as the Orin Sallé was, no one knew how many actual members there were, or where they all were...
A man silently entered an office. He sat quietly across the desk from his commander waiting patiently for his orders. A woman he judged to be his own age came into the office and sat beside him, at least one arms distance away. Such a distance was too short to stop any of the Orin Sallé from killing someone, however, it was the respect that members showed to each other. The woman, too, waited patiently on the commander. Finally, the commander put his file aside.
"The Orin Sallé had taken you both in when you were orphaned," the commander began. "It has clothed you, fed you, educated you, and trained you. It is now time to return to the Orin Sallé some of what you owe.
"We have a priority target for the both of you. This target is special in many ways, not the least of which is that he is a member of the Black Lightning Combat Engineering Brigade," the commander let that sink in as the two opposite him reacted. The movement was slight but it was the first reaction they had made since entering his office.
The commander called up an image. "This is Raymond Clark, former member of the Lightnings and one of those who helped to destroy Emporium. Before, the Orin Sallé were the right hand of the Emperor himself. Hidden in the shadows, we did the Emperor's bidding as required. Now, we are no more than assassins for hire. Clark is one of the reasons we have fallen so low.
"Of the eight members of the Black Lightnings that came back from Emporium, two ended their own lives and two were killed by Orin Sallé, though in a manner that left the impression of suicide. That leaves four. Clark will be the most difficult to get to and kill. That is why I have chosen you two for this task. You are amongst the best of the Orin Sallé.
"Your cover names will be Gregory Dorman and Satrina Kalenka. You are to go to Liramor Prime and attach yourself to mining platform Liramor-23 in whatever capacity you can.
"Here is your mission profile and target dossier. The funds and equipment available for this mission are listed in section D of the dossier. This dossier will be returned to this office before you leave. Only your memories of it will be permitted to leave this base.
"The reward for your success will be great as the pair of you will be feted as the elite of the Orin Sallé. You will probably be made instructors after your successful return.
"Failure has but one option for you....
"Go forth in the name of the Orin Sallé and bring success to our name," the commander rose and snapped a salute to the pair, who rose and returned it. They left the office as silently as they had entered it...
Semt Shall, The Lost Shall, 1145 Kilometers Northwest of Asoc Shall, Asocar, The Asocan Realm, 364 Light Years from Terra
The shuttle landed gently on its struts and a lone figure stepped out of the side hatch wearing full Combat EVA. The figure reached back and pulled several items out of the shuttle which promptly raised back into the air.
War Dragon Vice Admiral Raymond Clark Sai-Rai was conducting a survey of Semt Shall which had been destroyed by a thermo-nuclear blast. He had forty-five minutes to complete his survey and return to his present location.
Most of this kind of work would have been completed by roving drones, however, the ever-present radiation had knocked out four such drones over the course of the week, of which two had been recovered. So, Raymond went in himself.
He knew the approximate locations for the first of the failed drones and moved in its general direction, taking quick samples every ten meters. He found the first drone in a small depression some three hundred meters from his start point. The depression acted as a reservoir for radiation, which was what had knocked out the drone. Raymond put it in neutral and rolled it back to the pickup point then continued his task.
Everything he was doing was being recorded via his enhanced suit systems, which were tied to several very high-end sensors temporarily pinned to the outside of his EVA suit. The information was being broadcast back to the home base for this expedition, a cement fort just North of Semt Shall that had been Belgedra's former hidey hole.
He found the second rover another two hundred meters from where the first was found. It had fallen into a slightly deeper depression which his sensors indicated was showing very high radiation levels. Raymond threw a rope over it and pulled it out of the depression then scanned the device to see if it was salvageable. Just barely...
He put it in neutral and pulled it along back to the start point using the rope to do it. This one he would not touch directly and said so into his comms unit. His timer went off indicating it was time for his extraction.
"That's all, sir, your time is up," the person monitoring his actions stated firmly over the radio link. These were Combat EVA suit radios, well suited for the hard radiation and rigors of space, so they would work in a heavily irradiated environment.
"We are bringing slings in for the rovers so leave them where they are now. Place your samples in the box and make ready to be evacuated," the order came.
A few seconds later, the shuttle returned. Raymond stepped back as an Asocan in Combat EVA slipped out of the shuttle with a camera and sample kit. He nodded to Raymond and immediately began his visual sweep of the area.
Raymond stepped into the shuttle and was quickly brought to the expedition's base camp. He was directed to the special shower unit where his entire suit was washed with specialized soap designed to capture radiation and break it down. The soaps were a product of Feeyan science. Because of their home world's proximity to its star, the Feeyan knew all about radiation.
Two techs in radiation suits were scrubbing the outside of his EVA suit with what was effectively small brooms normally used to sweep concrete. They washed him twice before a full sensor scan allowed him to move to the specialized EVA chamber where he was helped out of his suit, again by people in radiation suits. This particular EVA suit would eventually be scrapped due to radiation but it still had some uses left in it.
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"I'm glad we found the rovers. Maybe we can replace their electronics with something more hardened," Raymond commented.
"We are already looking at that but we won't know how much of a change we will need before we get them back here," Umatran (Scientist of the First Order) Tanakram Mutt Beng informed him. "We had not anticipated the pockets of heavier radiation that the rovers encountered which effectively shut them down. If they cannot be successfully washed, we will have to write off these toys. "Maybe we should ask the Feeyans about what they use?"
"Good idea. I would prefer to salvage the rovers if possible. They are expensive models," Raymond noted, getting a nod of understanding from Tanakram.
"We will do what we can, but I will always err on the side of caution when dealing with the recovery of Semt Shall," Tanakram stated formally for the record.
"How is the mixing of the sand coming?" Raymond asked.
"Good, we currently have more than one hundred tons of the new material, which we are desperately trying to keep dry," Tanakram told him rather tongue in cheek.
AsocAR was very much a wet and swampy world so keeping such large amounts of sand from getting damp before it was applied was become a problem. The material that was mixed with the sand had been provided by the Feeyan, who understood radiation at a level that most peoples did not, their home world orbiting much closer to their star than most other worlds did letting it be bombarded by hard radiation every day. Most other species would have died because of the radiation but the Feeyan had thrived and now were helping with the situation in the Lost Shall.
"We may have to think about making it in whatever batch amount lets us do our best at keeping it dry," Raymond suggested.
"Wouldn't that make it a longer process at recovery?" Tanakram asked, a worried look on his face.
"We are looking at eight to ten years to bring the radiation levels down to acceptable levels, Tanakram. A few extra months will not be a big deal in the long run," Raymond remarked.
