All That Glitters Ch. 22

The surprise was someone who she had not expected...

"Heyya!" Aurelie cried out, hugging her tightly. "I'm so surprised to see you here!"

"I couldn't not be here when my best friend graduates from her program," Heyya said.

"May I introduce you to my boss, Fiona Marsh, Director of Operations of Liramor-23 Mining Platform and Commodore commanding the Piscium System Defence," Heyya stated, indicating the woman in uniform sitting beside her.

"And may I introduce Admiral James Hannison, JAG of the Navy," Heyya indicated the other uniformed guest.

Aurelia knew both by reputation, the JAG was considered one of the greatest lawyers in Union space, while Fiona Marsh was known as the hero of the Battle of Liramor-23. Both wore their full accoutrements, which meant they were covered in bling. A shell-shocked Aurelia greeted both on behalf of the hospital and slipped over to the other side of Ayesha to greet the Green's, on the right side of the graduand.

Aurelie stopped suddenly as she recognized none other than Sharon Green, the most influential woman on the planet. She had expected to see Karen Green, and was slightly put off by the presence her mother.

Mrs. Green stood and greeted a suddenly intimidated Aurelie warmly, thanking the woman for her diligence and hard work in making the hospital's programs work. Karen Green spoke to her next, as well as Martin Green.

A suddenly shy Aurelia had had enough and made her way to the stage to start the proceedings.

"Please take your seats," Aurelia began, her image coming up on a large 3D monitor behind her. "For those of you who do not know, I am Dr. Aurelia Pendame, Administrator for the Malihan Regional Hospital.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for coming to this very special commencement ceremony, to the members of our hospital staff, who have taken time out from their very busy schedules to acknowledge a friend and fellow staff member on her success. To our special guests, Sharon Green, Karen Green, and Martin Green III, without who's generous support this hospital could not do half of what it accomplishes every year." As she spoke, a camera captured the image of each of the guests she mentioned, their images briefly flashing on the monitor behind her.

"I would like to acknowledge and greet Liea Samson, and Raymond Clark, special contributors for this program, who have allowed this hospital to advance the Nurse Practitioner's program even more, and who have graciously added to the Green Family's generosity in sponsoring our medical programs. Between these two very special contributors, this hospital can now sponsor an additional ten doctors and Nurse Practitioners per year."

Aurelia paused to let the applause happen.

"Finally, I would like to acknowledge the presence of three very special guests, starting of course with Dr. Heyya, who many of you may know." Once again, she had to wait for the cheering to die down.

"And her immediate superior, Fiona Marsh, Director of Operations for the Liramor-23 Mining Platform, and Commodore commanding the Piscium System, and Admiral James Hannison, Judge Advocate General of the Navy, whose presence here came as a slight surprise." There were gasps from the audience as the images of the two individuals came up on the monitor.

"But we are all here today for a very special reason, the commencement ceremony of Ayesha Seito, our one and only graduate today," she beamed down at Ayesha and waited patiently for the cheering and clapping to end.

"Graduand Ayesha Seito, would you come to the stage please."

Both Ayesha and Sean stood up, and Sean picked her up and gave her a great hug.

"Sean! Put me down," Ayesha squealed, "you're mussing up my robe!"

"Sorry, Ayesha," Sean muttered, gently putting her back on the floor to the laughter and applause of the guests.

Ayesha fixed her graduation robe and mortar board and walked with what dignity she could muster to the steps leading up to the stage. She walked across the stage, beaming with pride to stand in front of Dr. Pendame.

"I call upon Dr. Holdar, head of the program to come forward and present the degree to our graduate." Aurelia stepped back and waved to Dr. Holdar who came forward and took the parchment in question from the table.

"Ayesha Seito, it is with great pleasure that I award you the title of Doctorate Nurse Practitioner," she said, holding the degree bound in a red and black bow.

"Wait! Doctorate?" Ayesha said, somewhat startled.

"Yes, Ms. Seito," Dr. Pendame spoke. "Why do you think your certification process was so difficult?"

Aurelia signaled and two staff members came forward with something black in their hands. They came behind Ayesha and took off the blue graduation gown she was wearing and her mortar board hat. Two members of the teaching staff stepped forward and helped Ayesha to put on a sleeved cape, black with red fur trim edged in white. Dr. Pendame herself stepped forward and placed a velvet black and red cap on her head.

As all the members of the teaching staff stood, Dr. Holdar bowed to her in unison with all of the teaching staff. She held her hands out, the degree laying across them and presented the parchment to Ayesha, who took it in trembling hands.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce Ayesha Seito Doctor of Nursing, Doctorate Nurse Practitioner," Aurelia announced to a suddenly boisterous crowd.

Tears generously fled Ayesha's eyes and rushed to her chin, streaking across her cheeks to get there. She took in the crowded room of friends and guests as they cheered her success. The cheering went on for several minutes before Dr. Pendame motioned everyone to sit.

"DNP Seito, would you like to say a few words?" She handed Ayesha several tissues with a soft smile as she stepped back to give Ayesha access to the podium.

Ayesha took a couple of moments to dry her eyes before stepping up to the microphone. She looked down at herself, seeing the new gown she wore, and felt something move on her head. She quickly reached up to stop it from falling, only to have her hand catch something velvety soft, and not hard and flat. She looked at the teaching staff, all wearing their doctorates robes and 'Tudor Bonnet' and realized she was dressed just like them.

"Oh my," Ayesha said through trembling lips. "Now I understand why this certification process was such a bitch," she said with a significant look at Dr. Holdar. The crowd burst into laughter; Ayesha was always known to be feisty.

"I'm also glad that I didn't listen to my fiancé and chose to wear something under my blue gown," she said, giving Sean a significant look. Once more laughter rang out, but this time directed at Sean.

Let him squirm, Ayesha thought as she gave Sean an innocent smile, knowing her claim was false.

"I'm so glad that so many of my friends from the staff here at Malihan Hospital could come out to this ceremony. It is so wonderful to see you again, after I thought I would not be back here for some time, if ever.

"I've been working as a Nurse for seventeen years, and for the last five years towards my Medical Doctorates Degree. It came as a surprise that I am now a Doctor of Nursing. I thought I had at least another year to go before I could get a Doctorates in anything.

"I want to express my deepest appreciation for the faith that Liea Samson and Raymond Clark have shown me in sponsoring me for this program," she said, pointing out her employers in the front row and giving them a bow.

"I also want to thank the teaching staff of the hospital for all they have done for me that allowed me to gain this degree, both in the last few weeks of this certification program and in the last few years of training I have received at their hands. I wish to acknowledge the particular efforts of Dr. Holdar, Chief Surgeon and head of the teaching staff," Ayesha gave Dr. Holdar a small bow. Dr. Holdar returned the bow.

"And finally, I want to thank Dr. Pendame, Administrator of Malihan Regional Hospital, for all the effort she has made to keep this hospital functioning, and the teaching programs viable," and once again she bowed to Dr. Pendame.

"By the Gods, Dr. Heyya! It is to so good to see you again. You came all the way from your newest employment just for me! I don't know what to say, but I am so glad to see you again," she blew a big kiss to Heyya sitting in the front row to the amusement of the crowd.

"Finally, I want to encourage all of you who are working toward a certificate, diploma, or a degree, to never give up. Work in little bits if you need to but work diligently toward your goals. I am living proof that you can achieve what you set out to achieve, even if the steps to get there sometimes become larger and more numerous." Ayesha stepped back from the podium to receive a hug from Dr. Pendame and the members of the teaching staff to the raucous cheers of the crowd.

Then she made her way down to the floor and to her waiting friends. They day was not over just yet, as the party was only beginning.

The Wanderer, Green's World

Ayesha tugged at Heyya's hand as she guided her into her quarters, Sean tagging along behind them. Heyya looked around the room at the rather large bed, and the sitting area. Ayesha's office was at the infirmary, but she did do some online research from her quarters so there was a little bit of a clutter around her makeshift desk. Heyya ignored it. It wasn't much different than her own quarters on LMC-23.

Heyya had given Ayesha a little gift, a copy of her degree and the certification to work as DNP under the regulations of Green's World, on two plaques for her private office wall.

The originals were being placed on a plaque by the Boatswain, to be placed in the infirmary where she worked. Her own 'shingle', so to speak. Someone had brought a dresser's dummy and placed it in their stateroom. Heyya helped Ayesha take off her doctorates robes and placed it on the dummy. Sean took her round cap off and placed it on the dummy's head.

The three lovers looked at each other and smiled. They only had the one night, with Fiona Marsh leaving in the morning to return to LMC-23, but they would make good use of this night.

The diminutive Ayesha looked up into Heyya's eyes. She reached up and pulled her down to kiss her, a soft, gentle kiss that was none-the-less hungry. When the ladies finished, Ayesha turned Heyya around to face Sean.

As Ayesha had to look up into Heyya's eyes, so too did Heyya now have to look up into Sean's eyes. At two meters in height, the man towered over most people. He bent over and gave Heyya a gentle kiss, but Heyya was having none of that. She wrapped her arms around Sean's neck and pulled him into a fierce kiss. She heard Ayesha giggling beside her.

She broke the kiss and looked into Ayesha's blushing face noting that she had trapped her lower lip between her teeth. Heyya remembered the shy and awkward woman that she had initially met only a few months ago and remarked at the change that had occurred with the diminutive woman.

They only had one night together, and they would make the most of it, but Heyya was comforted by the fact that her friends were on this ship as it was based at Liramor-23. She would get more nights with her lovers, though they would not be as frequent as she would have liked.

VIP Conference Room, The Wanderer, Green's World

Fiona met with Noor the next morning in the VIP conference room, which was being used for shift briefs due to its smaller size. Liea and Raymond were involved in a discussion as to the next place to go, they had some options, but there would be a two week delay until the next important event regardless of where they went. Their time at Green's World over, Raymond and Liea decided to return to Liramor-23, so they offered to keep The Valiant onboard and ferry Heyya, Fiona, her ship, and crew, to the platform. Fiona gratefully accepted.

Green's World was twenty light years on the opposite side of Terra from LMC-23. With the tangent, it would be a distance of almost 116 light years. It would take three jumps with two one-hour layovers between them to get the ship to Liramor-23. The ship would be at the platform in roughly two and a half hours, including the time it took for the ship to rise out of Green's World's gravity well.

Once the decision was made, and the Boatswain confirmed that all ships personnel were accounted for and that all of the guests from Green's World had departed, they began the process of moving up out of the well. Ten minutes later, The Wanderer winked out of existence and disappeared from Green's World's space.

The Wanderer, Liramor-23 Mining Platform, 109 Piscium System, 106 Light Years from Terra

The Wanderer winked into existence in the platform's commercial incoming lane and immediately began to shed speed.

"Comms O, open a channel for me to the platform," Noor ordered.

"Aye, sir. Channel open, you have comms at your station, sir," the Comms O responded a few moments later.

"Liramor-23 Central Ops, this is The Wanderer, Capt. Noor commanding, requesting a parking orbit. We have Dir. Marsh, her guests, and her ship and crew with us. Over," she sent off to the platform.

"Ops, roger," Ops came back immediately. "Welcome back, Wanderer, we confirm you in the same parking orbit you had last time you were here; plot being sent now. As per normal, remain in your parking orbit in order to avoid potential collisions with rocks.

"Advise Dir. Marsh that her usual parking spot in Bay eleven right is available when she is ready. Ops, Out."

Noor turned her chair around and looked at Fiona sitting in the 'Fishbowl' the VIP seating area on the bridge.

"Did you ever get that commercial gantry installed in Bay eleven?" Noor asked, with a grin.

"As a matter of fact," Fiona began, with a grin of her own. "It's on the plans for the new platform."

"Wait. What new platform?" Noor asked.

Raymond turned in his chair on the right of Capt. Noor to look at Heyya, Liea and Fiona in the fishbowl, curiosity showing on his face.

"Liramor Holdings has decided to increase the overall size of the platform by 100m," Fiona explained. "This is in anticipation of the expected arrival of scientists and other specialists sometime in the next year now that the truth of aliens is out.

"With the expansion, we will be able to bring the number of residences up to somewhere around 25,000. We are planning for an occupancy of 18,000 but will have the redundancy of the extra residences. Most of those will be for the platform's workers, so will be at the standard ten square meter cubicles. We will, of course, have a selection of larger quarters available.

"Adm. Ramison believes that it is the intent of the Union Government to make Liramor-23 the contact point for aliens. This is to keep aliens out of Terran space until humanity can catch up to the fact of the alien presence. This means that the UDC will set up their office on the platform and make the platform the defacto embassy and contact point for the aliens.

"Over the next few years, Liramor-23 is going to become a very important place for humans and aliens alike," Fiona finished.

"How long have you been given to finish the build?" Raymond asked.

"No timeline has been set, but I believe we need to be mostly ready by the end of next year. It took four years to build the platform from scratch and will take us something like four to six months to repair the damage done by the last attack. It will likely take us the better part of eight months to expand the shell and another four to six months to put in the amenities. If we can do that while we are making the repairs, it will mean we will be mostly ready by the end of the next year."

"Might I make a suggestion?" Liea asked.

"Of course, Liea," Fiona encouraged. "After seeing this ship, anything you suggest I will take a hard look at," she finished with a smile.

Liea returned the smile. "I suggest that you have a mezzanine of shops and such. With 18,000+ possible in residence, and potential ambassador level VIP's, you will have merchants all over the Union screaming for shop space on the platform. Actually, the sooner you put that in, the better platform morale will be." Liea said.

"That is an amazingly good idea. We never had enough supply ships coming to the platform to justify having shops on the platform before. I don't doubt that we will have all kinds of ships coming from all over Union space. Shops will be a necessary feature of the new platform," Fiona said.

"We are in the parking orbit," the Nav O informed Noor.

"Roger, Nav. Pilot, activate station-keeping thrusters. All posts to be manned at ready levels. This platform has already been attacked twice, I do not want to be caught flat-footed while we are here," Noor ordered to a chorus of Aye, Sir's.

"May we hitch a ride with you, Fiona," Raymond asked. "I believe that our Nurse Practitioner must sign in with the local medical authority, which means your hospital, so I would like to invite her to attend as well."

"You better bring Sean with you then," Fiona laughed. "He will enjoy seeing his fellow miners again."

Fiona was right. No sooner had Sean stepped from The Valour than he was surrounded by miners who remembered him. They were surprised and impressed by his diminutive fiancée. A party atmosphere soon developed that Fiona did not discourage. The platform needed some positive news which it didn't have enough of as yet.

Ayesha made her way with Heyya to the hospital, where she presented her credentials and was informed of what she could and could not do. Since it was The Wanderer she would be working for, they decided that she needed to do some time with the Navy Corpsmen stationed at the hospital.

The local navy doctor, a new acquisition because of the number of military personnel now posted to the platform, decided to run her through the navy medical course. With her experience, he thought she would do well with it. She would justify his faith in her.

Ayesha was shown around the hospital and truly appreciated the new trauma ward. She especially liked the way in which the trauma triage center was set up to get people out of damaged EVA suits in a hurry. She took note and decided to add these items to The Wanderer's infirmary. She also decided that both she and Sgt. Wiccan should spend time in the trauma ward to learn how to use the equipment. It would turn out to be one of the best decisions she would ever make.

The Wanderer, Terra

Several months later, The Wanderer was sitting in a parking orbit above Terra. They were there for the presentation of the Nobel Awards, in particular that of Dr. Ohiraha Aruna. The investment ceremony was always held on 10 December, the date of the death of Albert Nobel, the originator of the prize.

Ohiraha brought with her as special guests Liea Samson, Annette Liramor, Raymond Clark, and Fiona Marsh. In attendance, were Cynthia Stewart, Kim Oshiiru, Analisa Talbot, Lissette Blanchette, and Lynne Ducharme. The pomp and pageant of the investiture was legendary and did not disappoint, starting with the presentation to media of the Nobel Laureates the day before.

The party after the ceremony was equally legendary. The ladies were all decked out in stunning formal wear from the best shops on Liramor Prime, and Raymond looked good in a formal suit from the same. With his miniature medals on his left breast, he cut a ruggedly handsome figure that garnered as much attention as the Nobel Laureates.

Ohi was one of the younger Laureates at this year's investiture. She and her group partied hard and thoroughly enjoyed themselves on her night.

It was late, or perhaps early the next day and closure to sunrise, that the party began to break up. The group moved somewhat shakily after two days of excitement and a night of alcohol and dancing. They left the banquet hall and moved out onto the terrace in front of the large door, taking in the night air and waiting for their transportation.