All That Glitters

Political intrigue abounds, work on a yacht.

A senator plots against Liramor-23, Liea and Raymond get a ship to convert.

Because of the amount of abbreviations in this story, I include a glossary:

Adm. Admiral, naval rank (see Cmdr.) - above a captain

Capt. Captain, in this series a naval rank - usually a ship's commander

CCO Chief Communications Officer, corporate position

Cdr. Commander, naval rank - one grade below captain

CIO Chief Information Officer, corporate position

CIWS Close In Weapons System, close in ship defensive weapons

CP Confederation of Planets, referring to the losing side of the Terran Unification War

Cmdre. Commodore, first of the admiral ranks (one star), it is followed by Rear Admiral (RAdm. Two star), Vice Admiral (VAdm. three star), Fleet Admiral (FAdm. four star, in this story a Sector Commander or equivalent), and Admiral (Adm. five star, usually senior command positions such as Chief of the Navy)

Comp Communication device / personal computer, usually worn on the wrist. Everyone has one, though there are levels of sophistication above the ordinary

Coms O Communications Officer, naval position in charge of comms

CV Cargo Vessel (supply ship)

CPV Corporate Yacht, Corporate Private Vessel (i.e. CPV Liramor One)

CPO Chief Petty Officer, a naval rank, in this story it usually refers to the Boatswain, the senior enlisted rank of a ship, who literally owns the ship, he/she signed for it. The ship's captain commands, the Boatswain makes sure everything gets done

CSec Chief of Security, corporate position

Dir Director, as in Director of Operations, corporate position

EA/PA Executive / Personal Assistant, corporate position

Exec, Ex O Executive Officer, a ship's principal administrative officer. On small ships the 2

nd

in command and Ex O can be one and the same. On large ships, they will be separate positions

FTL Faster Than Light, referring to the multi-light year jump drive, military warships and some private/corporate yachts have a thirty-five light year jump capability, while large supply ships usually vary between fifteen to twenty light year capability

HRRC The Human Resources and Refugee Committee, standing TGA committee dedicated to supporting people in natural disasters and conflicts that are beyond the capabilities of planetary recourses

HR Human Resources, an administrative function

IFF Identify Friend or Foe, electronic identification system used between naval vessels to identify friendly vessels

IPPF Interplanetary Police Force, future parallel to Interpol. Union police force dedicated to interplanetary criminal matters

JAG Judge Advocate General, military legal system of judges and lawyers

Lt. Lieutenant, naval rank, one grade below LtCdr.

LtCdr. Lieutenant Commander, naval rank - one grade below Cdr.

Maj. Major, a military rank in the Army or Marines, equivalent to navy LtCdr.

NS Naval Ship (i.e. NS Wimple)

PSec Head of Personal Security, usually the team lead

PV Personal Yacht, Private Vessel

Ops O Operations Officer

SLO Senior Legal Officer, corporate position

SLt. Sub-Lieutenant, a naval rank one grade below Lt. and one grade above Ensign

SPV Passenger Ship, Space Passenger Vessel. Luxury passenger vessels would have cabins available to the passengers and would sometimes be used for interplanetary cruises

SOps Senior Operations Officer

Tac O Tactical Officer, naval position in charge of tactics

TGA Terran Union Governmental Authority

TUSN Terran Union Space Navy

UDC Union Diplomatic Corps, the TGA interplanetary diplomatic corps

VSC Veterans Security Company, a personal security company that Liea uses

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. As always, her help has made this chapter far more legible to the average reader. After several reviews and re-reads, any errors still left in the story 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.

Malihan Hospital, Green's World, Harn Star System, Twenty Light Years from Terra

Sean and Ayesha had been sad all week. They had not seen nor heard anything from or about their friend Heyya since the day she had been rather abruptly ordered from Sean's room earlier in the week.

Ayesha came to Sean's room every day with reddened tear-streaked eyes showing that she had not seen her friend and fellow nurse since that day. Dr. Holdar refused to say anything about what had happened to Heyya, much to the despair of the two friends.

Ayesha came into Sean's room at the start of the day as his breakfast was being wheeled in. She was still required to feed him as he was always attempting to scratch the annoying itching of his regenerating lower limbs.

Ayesha had fed him and bathed him, but Sean could see her heart was not in her work. They had no idea what had happened to Heyya and Sean could see it was hurting Ayesha to no end. He wished his hands were free so that he could take her into his arms and give her the hug that she sorely needed.

Ayesha had just re-opened the door to his room after his sponge bath and was fluffing his pillow for him when the first inkling that something had changed sounded in the hallway. They heard a sudden burst of cheers and clapping from outside. Ayesha looked at Sean but before she could go to the door, Dr. Holdar walked in followed immediately by Heyya. The two smiled at their long-lost friend only to suddenly be taken aback by the changes to Heyya.

She still wore her blue scrubs, but now, instead of the traditional senior nurses' smock over her scrubs, she wore the traditional white coat of a doctor. Printed over the pocket on her right breast was 'Dr. Heyya - Intern' above the name of the hospital. The three friends came together in a tight, very emotional hug, burrowing Sean on his bed.

"I do apologize about keeping this information from you," Dr. Holdar began, "but it is the tradition of this hospital to test new Intern supplicants without them being aware of the testing time and place. Dr. Heyya was assessed at a sister facility, which is why she has been absent for the last few days.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Murphy, that means Heyya will not longer be able to work as your private nurse. Those duties will fall immediately to Nurse Seito.

"Dr. Heyya will have a residency as an Intern here for the next six months, her time spent as a senior nurse while studying for her degree reducing the amount of time she needs in residency as an intern.

"She will be following me around the surgical ward for the next month, so you will see her frequently. After that, she will spend a month on each of the obstetrics ward, the trauma ward, the geriatrics ward, internal medicine and diagnostics, and family medicine, though not necessarily in that order. When she is finished her internship, she will return to Liramor Prime as a full doctor," Dr. Holdar finished.

The two doctors conferred over Sean's condition, which they were extremely happy with. Dr. Holdar gave Sean a wink as they left the room. Sean realized that Dr. Holdar had many patients on this floor, she could have started with any one of them.

He looked at Ayesha, who was crying again, but now they were happy tears. Sean felt something warm on his cheek, and realized he too, was just as happy.

Conference Room One, Liramor-23, Piscium System, 106 Light Years from Terra

Adm. Rallond Heist, Chief of Naval Intelligence, TUSN, Adm. James Hannison, JAG of the Navy, FAdm. Charles Thenton, Commander Sector Forty-Two, Fiona Marsh, Director of Operations Liramor-23, and Commodore, Naval Commander Piscium system, were again taking briefing notes together in the conference room the day after the SPV Katran had left.

Included in the briefings were Capt. Raymond Clark, Capt. Bouyé Watt, commanding NS Wimple, the respective aide-de-camps, and Runner Fayad Ouihya, who was being debriefed on what he had presented to the recently departed Senator Wasim Andjuran.

"I can understand why the senator was interested in information on the aliens in this system, but would still like to know why Andjuran was so interested in the information on the locations of the Pirate bases," Fiona stated after Fayad finished his brief. "I do believe you mentioned that he has no business with that knowledge Adm. Heist."

"That is correct," Heist agreed. "He is not part of the Intelligence Oversight Committee, nor part of the any of the other Military Committees. There is no reason for him having nor wanting this information, unless he is using it in some way to manage his political affairs in the Senate.

"Andjuran has grown remarkably strong in the Senate over a rather short period of time. There are only two ways to accomplish this, both of which mean managing influence over fellow senators and civilian functionaries in the government. For a person so new to the Senate, and from what is considered a relatively minor planet, he should not have this kind of influence at this stage in his career.

"For a new senator to become this powerful this quickly usually means that he/she is out pressing the flesh, which Andjuran does not do, or he/she has money to throw around. From what I have been told, Anuura is a prosperous world, but not

that

rich.

"Andjuran has money from a different source and I want to know what that source is," Heist concluded.

"What about slaves?" Fiona asked. "there are only a few planets left that still allow 'Indentured Service', but the pirates could make a lot of money from marketing captured citizens," she finished.

The group quietly thought about that for some time.

"Do you know why I joined the TUSN?" Watt asked those in the room.

Fiona saw something in his look that she didn't like. She was about to speak when she felt Henadi's hand on her arm. She had learned to trust her aide's instincts so said nothing and waited.

"I had just finished my first year at university on my home planet." Watt continued. "I had selected Engineering as my major, intending to use my knowledge to help better the lot of the farmers of my home world.

"Then there was an opportunity to go to a prestigious university on a Union world. My world of 'Uusi Suomi' - New Lapland - was not part of the Union at that time, so such opportunities were very rare then, in fact, virtually none-existent for all but the extremely wealthy.

"The representatives wanted the best and the brightest, so those of us with good marks and who were in good physical shape were being selected. I, and my younger sister, who had just completed her first year with good results as well, were selected, along with 583 others," he told them taking a sip of his tea.

"We eventually boarded a transport for the two-day trip to the Union world. But things started going wrong right off. First, I was one of only a handful of my fellow Suomi who spoke Standard, and I was much better at it than some.

"The way the crew spoke about us made me uneasy. They seemed to refer to us in the same manner that auctioneers did with prized animals. I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to let on that I could understand them.

"Things were good, until the first meal aboard the transport. The lot of us started to fade out almost immediately after the meal. We had been drugged and were kept so for the next two days as the ship arrived at its destination. No surprise that it

was not

a Union world.

"I have a high tolerance to medications and revived fairly soon after we had made planetfall and had been brought to a processing center. I kept my eyes closed and listened as they made decisions on me and my fellow students. They were deciding which of the females were going to go for domestic work, which were going to go for 'pleasure' work, who among the men would be dedicated as general workers, and who would go to heavy labour.

"That was significant, as heavy labourers were generally condemned criminals. They were worked hard, and if they died, well they were condemned criminals.

"They placed a mark on my forehead, picked me up and brought me to a holding room. As soon as they left, I got up and checked the others in the cell. All of us were naked, our comps removed. All of us had the same sigil on our foreheads, the mark of condemned slaves. The others were still unconscious, my unique biology having woken me well before the slavers could have expected.

"I stood behind the closed door and waited. It wasn't long before another of my fellow travellers was brought in and I simply stepped into the hall and wandered in the opposite direction from which I had originally arrived. I found a door marked 'emergency exit' in Standard and walked through it. Fortunately, it was not alarmed.

"I found myself in a warehouse district, but I could see people walking around a kilometer away, so I headed there. Of course, it caused a stir for a naked man, marked as a condemned slave, to walk out into a public square, and the police soon picked me up.

"I can still remember the interview. It was actually quite funny looking back on it:

"What's your name boy?" asked the interviewer.

"Yes," I responded immediately.

"What!?" he demanded.

"Correct again, sir," I told him.

"Are you trying to be funny, boy?" he asked me.

"Are you laughing, sir?"

"NO!!" he screamed.

"Then I cannot be making funny, sir," I told him sincerely.

That brought a chuckle from those around the table.

"That was when a man entered the room laughing and told the interviewer to stand down.

"Mr. What, why are you here in my jail, and why is there no record of you as a condemned criminal?" he asked me.

"I explained what happened to my friends and I and asked him to intervene for their safety."

"We cannot help them if we do not know where they are." He told me sadly.

"But I knew where my sister was. My mother had a tracking device imbedded in her arm, in case anything happened to her. My mother expected me, her older brother, to find and help her, so I was able to show them how to track her.

"They asked me several questions, including if I knew who the slavers were. I had heard one name mentioned often, and it turned out to be the name of a very much wanted man.

"He was a Union Citizen and not from their world, but he was suspected of being involved in interplanetary criminal activity. They could never catch him with anything so could never charge him.

"Well as soon as that name came out, things changed considerably. They contacted the Union Embassy who sent a naval captain, the Military Attaché, to be involved in capturing the criminal.

"The police tracked my sister, broke into the warehouse, and caught the slavers and the person of interest with 584 free citizens that they intended to sell as slaves. When the Attaché discovered how we had been duped, he arranged for all of us to receive scholarships to various universities around Union space.

"That man helped rescue us physically and figuratively. He was the reason I eventually decided on a career in the TUSN not long after my planet joined the Union.

"By the way, that man is George Ramison, now Chief of the Navy," Watt concluded.

The room was silent for a bit, as they individually dwelled on what might have happened but for a little bit of luck.

"Nothing on the pirate ships about the senator?" Watt asked, to move things along.

"Nothing that points directly to him," Heist said. "There are references to a 'White Raven' that seems to be calling the shots. The references seem to indicate that the Raven gives the pirates intelligence on worthwhile cargo ships and private vessels to plunder. Space is too large for the pirates to find ships out there by accident. They have to have a source that tells them where and when to strike."

Both Cdr. Noor and Runner Ouihya had reacted when Heist mentioned the White Raven. Fayad looked to Henadi who nodded to him to continue.

"Sir, in our religious beliefs, the White Raven is a messenger from our God Andanii," Fayad began. "He is an angel who uses the form of a Raven to bring Andanii's messages. To show that he is not just any raven, he has been depicted as being of 'bright white plumage that rivals the new fallen snow'."

"Now that is interesting," Heist admitted. "But it is circumstantial evidence at best. We need something to tie Andjuran to the pirates other than just a nom-de-plume, forgive the jest," he said with a smile. "You can be assured, however, that Naval Intelligence and other intelligence assets will have our joint eyes on Senator Andjuran for the next little while."

"What committees is our favorite senator actually on?" Fiona asked.

"The Human Resources and Refugee Committee, for one." Hannison confirmed.

"By necessity, that committee would have many billions of credits available to it. Do you think that he is misappropriating funds?" Fiona asked. "He would only have to turn a very small portion of what would be available to that committee for it to work in an advantageous manner for him," Fiona mused.

"It's possible, but he must have had other sources as well. He had started making inroads in the Senate within three months of arriving there. He did not fall into the HRRC until he had been in the Senate for a year," Heist told them.

Fiona turned to Fayad. "How is your French?" she asked him.

"Sorry?" Fayad replied with a rather curious look. "Why would I need to speak French?" he asked.

Heist laughed, and with a nod and a grin from Fiona, fielded the question.

"You assessed the situation and acted quickly in regard to Senator Andjuran. While I'm not sure of your original intent on speaking to him, you immediately understood that something was wrong when he asked you for the information that he did.

"I know for a fact that he had his watchdog, Anduura, asking questions on the station looking for the same information he had you searching for. That tells me he was assessing you and if the information didn't tally, he wouldn't have used what you provided.

"Fortunately, the station staff had only heard rumors about what was found on the pirate ships, and we were able to plant information with a few of the gossip mongers on station. That gave Anduura some of the information we wanted him to have, and we gave you similar and more detailed information to pass along. That means he now trusts you," Heist concluded.

"Unfortunately for you, I no longer need you on this platform," Fiona stated rather abruptly. "For this reason, I am sending you to Liramor Prime to personally pass this brief on to Antoine and Annette Liramor, the President and the Director of Operations respectively for Liramor Holdings.

"I am also giving you a private note from me, stating the facts on this issue and recommending you to be fast-tracked into our admin manager program, provided you want to participate in the program," Fiona told him with a smile.