All That Glitters

A Warship comes a calling...

This chapter sees the story line progress some and Raymond and Liea are temporarily separated. As well, the Terran Union Space Navy comes a calling.

There is little attempt to explain the back story in this chapter so reading the previous chapters is important to understanding what is happening.

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.

Another big shout out to SaddleRidder for all the help she provided in editing. This story would have been the poorer without her help.

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.

Liramor One Corporate Yacht, Liramor-23, 109 Piscium Star System, 106 Light Years from Terra

Raymond Clark woke between two lovely ladies and took a moment to remember where he was. He was in Annette Liramor's stateroom aboard the luxury corporate yacht, Liramor One. He was currently laying between Annette Liramor, Director of Operations for Liramor Holdings, and Liea Samson, a miner and his silent mining partner.

Both women were equally beautiful but in different ways. And both were sleeping off a little too much alcohol and sex from the previous evening. He smiled at the memory.

He slipped out from between them to find the head. Unlike the day before, this time the first door he tried was the one he needed. The head was a full bath which even boasted a real bathtub! He did his business and slipped back into the room to wonder what he would do next. Unlike the two ladies, he was wide awake.

He looked around the most impressive stateroom. The room, in fact the entire ship, was designed to show the wealth of the owners. It had gold and platinum trim all over. There was a real crystal chandelier, as well as crystal trim throughout the stateroom.

Pieces of art that he knew where quite valuable hung on the walls. Statues made of various crystals and precious metals sat in conspicuous places around the room.

At the foot of the bed, casually thrown on the floor, were two very expensive evening gowns, from each of his bed partners. One, however, was considerably more expensive than the other. Liea's gown was borrowed from Fiona Marsh, the Director of Liramor-23 Mining Platform and while an expensive gown, paled in comparison to the gown that Annette had worn.

With the late night and the alcohol, they ladies showed no sign of waking soon, so he wondered if he could find his way to the gym. He pulled on his underwear from the evening before and looked around for a robe.

One of the doors led to, what else, a walk-in closet. This one was rather full of clothing, mostly feminine. He found a couple of men's jumpsuits with the yacht's logo on them. One of them was a close enough fit for him.

Slipping from the room, he tried to remember where the gym was. Down one level, he thought. He saw an info station on the wall and tapped it. Finding the gym, he asked the computer to show him the way. Lights flickered moving to his right. He followed them to a 'ladder', ship's term for stairs, and moved down one level following the lights to his destination.

There were a few members of the crew in the well-appointed gym when he entered, but he and they ignored each other. Raymond ran through his routine for weights, running, and calisthenics. It took him little more than an hour to complete.

He returned to the stateroom to find his partners still asleep. He moved into the full bath, stripped and stepped into the shower. The shower was large enough to fit five or six people and had several shower heads that could spray him from different directions. Various soaps and shampoos could be found, and he choose matching scents that appealed to him.

While lathering his hair, he felt hands slide over his body. They took over the job of massaging the shampoo into his hair. A moment later, another set of hands began to soap up his body. He was pulled back from the overhead shower and two sets of delightfully feminine bodies squeezed him between them to help spread the soap over him.

He groaned at the feeling of the two familiar bodies.

Now that is a sensation that I could get used to.

He thought.

Damn! That is getting to be a recurring theme.

Since his hands were free, he moved them around the body in front of him. His touch recognized Annette in his arms, which meant that Liea was behind him. The ladies moved him forward and he found himself under the spray of water again. He was soon able to open his eyes and look into the smiling face of Annette.

He leaned forward and kissed her gently. Annette gave him a look of surprise and glanced down. He suddenly became aware that he was hard and that it was trapped between her legs. With a giggle, she stepped back and turned him around, quickly moving to cling to his back, while Liea moved into his embrace. He kissed her in turn, his now hard cock trapped between their stomachs.

Liea purred and slid her hand down to grab hold of him. She stroked him gently leaning in for additional kisses. Annette slid her hands around his waist, seeking out what Liea had in her hands. One of Annette's hands slid down to his balls, while the other helped Liea on his shaft. Raymond moaned into Liea's mouth.

Liea grinned, turned around and stepped back into him, while Annette pushed his rigid member between her legs. Raymond slid his hands up to cup Liea's breasts. He gently squeezed and pulled on her breasts and nipples much to their mutual pleasure.

Behind him, Annette began to move her hips, forcing Raymond to move in turn. He was thrusting Between Liea's legs in time with Annette. Raymond felt the tip of his manhood sliding along Liea's furrow. The heat of the moment was driving both of them to distraction.

Liea suddenly turned and spun Raymond around to face Annette, who in turn placed her back to Raymond. Liea returned the favour to her friend by lining him up between Annette's legs. Raymond was soon moaning and groaning again, but this time with a new voice added to his.

"My God, how can you be so hard? How can you do this again so soon after last night?" Annette asked.

"Two beautiful, naked, willing women in my arms and you wonder why I am responding?" He asked, surprised.

Liea giggled behind him. "Just be glad there is someone to share him with. Believe me when I tell you, he is almost too much for one woman."

"Almost?" Annette questioned with a groan as his cock found and then slipped into her slit. Annette froze in place, savouring the sweet feeling of penetration, then slowly began moving again. Their movements quickly accelerated going from dead stop to full speed in less than four thrusts.

Annette was sore from the evening before, but not so sore that she wanted to stop what was happening. Her body was responding to Raymond's onslaught. Tingling heat coursed through her sending delightful shivers from her core to the top of her head. He knees were beginning to buckle.

Raymond grabbed her around the waist to hold her up, while Liea grabbed her hips to help her move back and forth. It didn't take long for Annette to reach her peak. She let out a wail of satisfaction as her orgasm overwhelmed her.

Raymond kept pumping into her until he too found his release. Annette felt him pulsing within her, but there were only a couple of weak pulses. Not surprising after last night.

The three of them held on to each other in post-coital bliss, slowly allowing the water to cleanse them. Eventually, they had to leave the shower. They had, after all, a long day ahead of them...

Infirmary, Liramor-23

Sean Murphy slowly came back to consciousness in the dim lights of the ICU room he was tethered in. He looked around to see an unfamiliar woman in scrubs. Sean noted the exaggerated feathery eyebrows and hair, and oddly coloured café au lait skin that marked her for one of the people of Hollander's World. A remote world 60 light-years on the other side of Terra from the Liramor-23.

He wanted to speak but his throat was dry. She helped him take some water.

"Good-morning Sean. How are we feeling today?" She asked in an oddly accented voice.

"Well, if you're feeling good, then I guess WE are both OK," he returned with a smile.

"I like that you are in good humour," she said. "I'm Nurse Heyya. I have been assigned to your case for awhile, but I will not be the only nurse attending you.

"We will be removing you from ICU today and you will remain awake now for most of the time. Liramor Holdings has a vessel on station that will be returning to Liramor Prime today. We will be boarding it and going to Liramor Prime and possibly further inwards dependent on what is available for your medical needs.

"HR will see you later this morning to talk about your compensation and medical needs package before we load you on the vessel. But for now, we are moving you to a temporary room."

Two orderlies came into the room and under Heyya's direction, picked up everything that would be needed and placed it onto the anti-grav bed. The door was opened, and he was swiftly moved down several corridors to his temporary room where the bed was lowered and fixed to the deck.

Heyya fussed over him for a few moments then left him alone in the room.

The room had a view through a plasteel window. He noted, sadly, that there was no holo-vid monitor. He wondered what he could do to get a hold of one, then realized that he was being moved today.

Heyya returned with a covered cafeteria tray with his breakfast. Eggs, toast, coffee, some porridge, fruit, and beans were on the tray.

"I wasn't sure what you would like." She told him.

"This is good, I'll eat it all." He told her with a grin and proceeded to do just that.

About an hour later, the door chime signaled and Heyya opened it to admit Diane Ancien, head of Liramor-23 HR.

"Good morning Mr. Murphy. I'm truly happy to see you awake." She said with a smile.

"I'm sorry to say that we do not have a lot of time and many documents to go over and sign. This may be taxing on you and I will try to make it as brief as possible for you while still being thorough. We do not know where you will end up for your medical needs for the next little while." She called up several documents on her personal comp unit.

"You received grievous wounds in the performance of your duties and Liramor Mining Corporation is going to ensure that you fully recover from this. If, after your recovery, you wish to re-up with us, you will return here and take up on station with your current seniority level as a Level One Miner vice losing that seniority after having returned planet side for any length of time.

"Normally, you will lose seniority if you spend more than three months off station. But that will be waved in your case so long as you return here to Liramor-23. Do you understand?" She asked.

Sean looked over the document and was happy to sign it. His only real issue had been the lack of amenities for sale on the platform and the suits that he was forced to wear, and he had already been made aware of the policy modifications that had resulted from his accident.

"Next. You will be receiving C45,000 in direct compensation for the loss of each limb for a total of C90,000. That does not include incidental medical coverage which will be covered directly by LMC. In addition, your pay will continue at its current rate of seniority so long as you are under medical care or in rehab. We expect that could take upwards of 18 months, which is beyond your current contract. Your pay will continue until the end of your current contract or until you are deemed medically fit whichever is the latter, at which point your contract will end. Your pay will continue to be placed in your bank account under current banking arrangements unless you make changes.

"In accordance with new station policies, you will be compensated for a portion of the cost of your newly purchased modified suit arms. Since you have paid for them yourself, they will be going with you. They will be integrated in an appropriately sized suit for you should you return to station. Otherwise, they are yours to deal with as you see fit."

Diane showed him the relevant documents and got his electronic signature on them before continuing.

"Lastly, Annette Liramor, Director of Operations for Liramor Holdings, is currently on station on the corporate yacht, Liramor One. We have asked and she has agreed to take you and your assigned nurse Heyya to the medical facilities at Liramor Prime, where it will be determined if you can be regenerated there or if you will have to be moved to a facility elsewhere.

"Whichever choice is made for you; your medical bills will be covered by Liramor Holding. Nurse Heyya will remain with you until you arrive in your final medical destination, if not on Liramor Prime, from where she will return to Liramor Prime. She will be the conduit to Liramor Holdings for the contract at your final medical facility should it not be on Liramor Prime.

"Whatever happens, we want this to go as smoothly as possible for you. Liramor-23 hopes to see you back here in some eighteen months or so. Good luck Mr. Murphy," Diane finished.

She transferred completed certified electronic copies of all the relevant documents to his comms unit, answered a few more questions then quickly left.

Two hour later, the same two orderlies entered the room and transferred him to the medical bay on Liramor One. The ship's doctor checked him carefully before assigning quarters for Heyya and giving both of them ships comms badges cued to each other and to him. Not long afterwards, Sean felt the ship beginning to move as Liramor One began its journey to the inner worlds of the Terran Union. At least here he had a holo-vid monitor. Exhausted, he fell asleep in the middle of his favorite crime drama. The holo-vid dutifully shut off, making note of the place in the vid that he fell asleep.

Conference Room One, Liramor-23

Fiona, Annette, Annette's secretary, Liea and Raymond sat together in the conference room discussing issues with regard to the disposition of funds between Liramor Holdings, and the mining team of Clark and Samson.

"Liramor Mining Corporation has already processed over eight billion credits worth of minerals from your claim and we've only been processing it for a little over a week. That is a record," Annette stated.

"Liramor Holdings will concede that the rock is worth C500 billion from the survey data already conducted and proved by what has already been mined."

Fiona took up the conversation. "We will also concede that the rock will be worth considerably more but that will have to be confirmed once we have skimmed off a layer or two. To your benefit, when we salvaged some of the diamonds from the hollow, we were able to look further into the rock from inside the hollow, and it appears to be of the same quality as from the exterior.

"As with all rocks, we will not know the full value until it has been completely processed, but we are looking at easily doubling or more likely tripling the value of this rock from the current estimate in ferrous material alone. If this rock continues with surprises like gold, platinum, cadmium, or diamonds, the value will only increase," Fiona finished.

Annette took over. "In about two months time, we'll have a better understanding of the true value of your claim. You will be receiving royalty checks at fifteen percent royalty rate vice the current five percent rate. Royalties are normally issued on a quarterly basis, but with the size of your claim, there could be interim royalties.

"What this means is that you Raymond, will eventually receive forty-five billion credits and you Liea, will receive thirty billion credits based on the current known face value of the rock. Then there is the larger portion of the claim still out there which we will need to figure out how to bring here for processing.

"As an act of good faith, we will be depositing one billion credits into each of your bank accounts at the end of this month, in a little over two weeks time, as an interim royalty. Unless you want your funds to go elsewhere?"

Liea and Raymond looked at each other and at the two Directors and each shook their heads.

"I'm fine with the current bank account but will need to advise my bank of the expected windfall that I'm about to receive," Liea advised.

"My bank has already seen million credit checks, but they too will have to be advised of the bonanza that I am about to receive. By the end of the year, we will be very rich individuals." He said with a smile to Liea.

Annette produced some electronic documents that they read over and signed and everyone shook hands.

"Have you decided to hitch a ride with us back to Liramor Prime, Liea?" Annette asked her.

"Yes. I would like to look into getting a private yacht and what might be available. Raymond has said that he will have to liaise between the Piscium and Liramor systems and will be able to give me his advice once I have decided on a vessel.

"We don't know yet when his first trip will be and won't know until the TUSN comes into this system. I will likely be there a month before hearing about that so will have time to do some personal shopping," she finished.

Annette perked up immediately. "Oh! I can help you there!" she said with a smile. "I know all the shops and best places to go on Liramor, and probably on most of the other inner system worlds as well. It will be fun!"

"Would you mind terribly if I kept the dress you loaned me, Fiona?" Liea asked. "I can find something to replace it while I'm on Liramor Prime. I really don't have anything that nice and won't have until Annette takes me on that shopping spree after I start receiving royalty checks." She said.

Once all the documents were signed, Liea returned to the VIP suite to pick up her jump bag. She gave Raymond and hug and told him that she was looking forward to seeing him soon on Liramor Prime.

Raymond, Fiona and some of her senior staff followed them to the hatch of Liramor One to say their goodbyes. They hustled back to the airlock and watched through the window as the vessel prepped for launch. The air was sucked out after which the large bay doors of Maintenance Bay One ponderously opened and the vessel slowly cleared the bay.

An hour later, they watched from Central Ops as Liramor One lined up in the departure grid for inner system travel and the FTL vanes opened. The vessel started to speed up and, with a powerful electro-magnetic burst, jumped into FTL flight and disappeared from view.

Fiona and Raymond went back to their respective tasks, knowing that they had perhaps a week before the TUSN came calling in system.

Liramor Holdings Headquarters, Liramor Prime, Liramor system, Thirty Light Years from Terra

Liramor One had set down on its private landing pad five kilometers from the LH HQ building after an uneventful trip from the Piscium system. A luxury ground vehicle had picked Annette and Liea up as they exited the yacht as aerial vehicles were not permitted within ten kilometers of a space port.

Liea was impressed with the interior of vehicle. She had never been in anything this luxurious. Noting the five-point harness she was buckled into, she wondered if the vehicle doubled as an aerial vehicle. Usually, ground and aerial vehicles were constructed slightly differently, with aerial vehicles not designed for long distance use on the ground. She didn't doubt that the vehicle could jump into the air, or that anything of this nature was beyond the capability of the Liramor family.