All That Glitters Ch. 01

She took them back a bit further to the conference room. "The ship has five decks, with conference room, guest dining facility, the owner's stateroom, four guest staterooms and the holo-vid communications room for the VIPs and access to the bridge, all on the third level. Some of the crew quarters and the Captain's Ready Room are also located on this level.

"There are six VIP guest staterooms on the next level up, along with a mini gym that is dedicated to the guests. The Captain's quarters are also on that level.

"On level one, is an observation deck that is used when we are not in FTL and a holo-vid theater.

"Below us on level four are additional eight VIP guest staterooms and crew quarters and the crew dining facility. There is also a gym for crew use. There is a total of nineteen VIP suites spread out on the second, third and fourth level.

The ship can be manned with as few as twenty-nine crew, but we have the necessary facilities for seventy-six crew and staff. We currently have a compliment of thirty-nine ship's crew, a VIP chef, four sous-chefs, four personal valets, and eight cleaning staff for a total of fifty-six crew and staff.

Deck five holds most of the 'plumbing' the ship needs to function, equipment maintenance facilities and three well appointed VIP shuttles should the ship not be able to dock on a platform as we have on Liramor-23. The shuttles can hold eight VIPs and three flight crew. There are also three standard shuttles capable of carrying twenty personnel and two flight crew each.

"There are also a number of escape pods available on the outer hull on all decks. Not including the shuttles, we have the capacity to evacuate over 150 personnel, but we max out at ninety-four crew and guests.

"Being an ex navy ship, the vessel has a number of redundant features that hopefully will make the need for evacuation unnecessary," she finished.

They were given a tour of the very impressive engine room were Clark asked questions of the Chief Engineer (C Engr) on the capacity of the ships sub-light and FTL engines. He was suitably impressed.

He was also impressed with the ship's interior as well. Everywhere one looked, there was opulence on display. Gold and platinum fittings shone. Crystal was liberally sprinkled throughout. It all made the interior of the ship sparkle.

They were brought to the large VIP dining room where Annette's senior managers and the ship's captain waited for them. They were joined shortly after by the Ex O and C Engr.

All were in formal attire with the ship's captain showing that he had been a navy man as well. Though he wasn't as impressively decorated as Clark, though few people were. Several other senior members had miniature medals on their formal attire indicating that they had service time with the various forces, Terran Navy, Terran Marines, Planetary Security Forces, or other organizations. Most of them were older than Clark. But then, people seldom got to such senior management levels young.

Drinks before, during, and after dinner meant that Liea was getting a little tipsy by the end of the evening. She was taking in the vessel and the level of service that was being provided by staff and was becoming enamored of it.

"How do I go about buying my own yacht?" She asked in a slightly slurred voice. The staff and guests looked at her with laughter in their eyes until Annette spoke.

"If you would like to return with me to Liramor Prime, I can arrange for you to look over what is available there. I'm sure that you could find something to your liking. Before you do buy though, I would ask the delicious looking Capt. Clark to take a good look at the ship you want. His input would be invaluable.

"The staff at the yacht companies will bend over backwards, sideways, and over any piece of furniture that you want them to in order to facilitate the sale of one of their vessels," Annette quipped with a smile.

The looks Liea suddenly got from staff, crew, and senior managers changed abruptly as the significance of what Annette had just said settled in. This woman, who many of them had only payed token appreciation of during the evening, immediately became something more to all of them.

"How will I buy it though? I mean, I haven't seen any money from our claim yet," she said in a little girl voice.

Annette laughed. "Oh, Liea. We will be cutting checks for you and Raymond by the end of the month. I'm told your first check will likely be somewhere near one billion credits. If what Raymond has said about the other parts of the rock still out there pan out, you will likely see many multi-billion credit checks over the next year. We can confirm with the yacht company that you are a good credit risk and they will be more than happy to set things up for you. You will have a lot to think about when they are fitting the vessel out. Including what kind of exterior and interior fittings you want. But for C500 million, you will have top of the line in anything.

"You and Raymond have made Liramor Holdings that much richer. We will be happy to extend you any help that we can for what you have done for us," Annette finished.

"For instance, it is clearly obvious now that you are quickly reaching a point of being outright drunk. I would be remiss to send you back on platform in this state. We will put you in one of the VIP staterooms and you can decide tomorrow if you wish to accompany us to Liramor Prime.

"I think it is time to wind up our evening ladies and gentlemen. Chief Stewart, if you could make arrangements for Ms. Samson. I will bid you all a good night."

Annette turned to Clark. "Raymond, could I impose upon you to stay the evening? My stateroom is very well appointed," she said with a smile of invitation.

"Liea?" Raymond asked.

"It's OK. I understand. She is a lovely woman," Liea said with a smile.

"In that case, I will accept your invitation, lovely woman," Raymond said formally to Annette.

"Why don't you join us in my stateroom, Liea?" Annette asked. "There are some things I want to discuss with the two of you in private before the evening ends," she said giving both of them a significant look.

The three of them left arm in arm.

End of Chapter One.

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