Not Rick

Chapter X: Permission To Go Ashore

PERCY

They pulled in in secret. It was the wee hours of the morning, and they didn't want to risk exposure. They usually weren't as secret, but with all of Bangor's boomers at sea, extra caution had to be taken. They couldn't risk someone attacking the extremely valuable boomers.

Percy knew his Mom didn't know he would be home today. Sure, she knew he was coming home this week, but they couldn't tell their families the exact date; it was too risky.

His contemplative reverie was broken by the Officer of the Deck issuing final orders to pull into the slip. It was time to do his job once more.

Once the ship pulled in, Percy crossed to the conn.

"This is Commander Jackson, I have the conn."

With that, Percy took control of the room. Once the ship was secured, Percy reached up and grabbed the microphone for the 1MC.

"Attention, this is the captain speaking. All hands except for tonight's duty section are hereby released to shore liberty. At 0800 tomorrow, Gold Crew resumes the ship and we resume our normal shore training rotation. Dismissed."

Percy was standing on the top of the sail with his watchstanders. It was now 0500, and he'd been up here for four hours. Reyna was due in an hour and a half so they could go over turn over, but she'd probably arrive early so she could talk to him about Bianca's replacement. They'd all known each other since ROTC. It was still hard to believe she was gone. He'd put too many friends in the ground over the years, brothers and sisters in other branches, JOs who had driven drunk, and damage control casualties of all kinds.

Percy was so consumed with his thoughts and his absent conversation with the watchstanders, he never noticed the sky going from inky blue to red, nor the chill leaving the air. He did, however, notice when the watchstanders beside him stiffened and saluted, greeting someone. He noticed the reply of "Good morning, gentlemen. And good morning to you, commander."

"Good morning, Commander," Percy replied, shaking a little bit of sleep out of himself and returning Reyna's salute.

"Shall we go below, Commander?"

"Of course, my friend."

With that, Percy led the way below decks to the captains' stateroom. The blue plastic rack lay bare in its metal frame.

"Please, sit."

"How was it out there, Percy?" Reyna asked, her dark eyes full of concern and her face grim. This was the first time one of them had ever been shot at.

"Tense. Things are the worst I've ever seen them. Even after the rebellion was put down. They're still on a war footing. Somewhat understandable, but, even so, it's bad. Somehow, even with all the torpedoes and such, they never detected us."

"Great. What a time to go to sea with an untested XO."

"How is the new kid, by the way?"

"Pretty good. Scrappy. He's young, that's for sure. Good heart, maybe a little too good for an XO."

"What's the kid's name?"

"Magnus Chase."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing, just an odd coincidence. Anyways, I leave Kentucky in your capable hands. Permission to go ashore?"

"Of course," Reyna said, laughing at their running joke. When they had both been in ROTC, they had been touring a submarine for an event and had forgotten to ask the COB, who was serving as the Officer of the Deck, permission to go ashore. The following beratement had included an admonishment that "you damn well better always ask permission to go ashore, no exceptions!" Percy and Reyna had made it into something of a joke, especially now that they were captains not entirely subject to the usual rules, since the OOD was their representative.

He arrived at the cafe shortly after eight. His mom wouldn't arrive to open for another thirty minutes, but he could wait. It seemed like the best place to surprise her. He wouldn't admit to himself that maybe he had another reason for choosing to surprise her here over her apartment

Thalia was the first to arrive. She arrived a mere fifteen minutes after he did, a large thing of coffee in her right hand. She didn't notice him until he was practically on top of her.

"Percy! You're home!" Thalia cried, sprinting up and wrapping him in a bear hug.

"Hey cuz. Get off me, will you? I need to breathe."

Thalia let go of Percy, but immediately launched into questioning him about the patrol, to which he merely held up a hand and told her he wanted to wait for his mom, so he could tell them together.

Thalia didn't have to wait long. Hardly five minutes had passed when his mom had gotten there.

"Percy, you're back! How'd it go?" Sally asked as she engulfed him in a hug. When she pulled away, she studied him for a minute before saying, "I swear you've grown."

Percy rolled his eyes.

"Mom, I'm thirty-three, I'm not growing anymore, you're just growing crazier."

"Fine. I want to hear all about this patrol, though!"

As Percy was about to open his mouth to begin his tale, he was cut off by something like a squeal, then suddenly he was being smothered.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're home, Percy, I've missed you so much," Annabeth said, squeezing him on the word missed. As she pulled away, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Percy's heart raced as he felt his cheeks flame. That had not been characteristic of their relationship before he left. Sure, he'd thought she was awesome and wonderful and had an amazing ass, but he didn't ever think for a minute she might return the sentiment. He crushed those thoughts and took a deep breath before speaking.

"I missed you too, Beth. I presume all of you want to hear my tale while we open?"

All three of them nodded, so after his mom unlocked the door to let them in, he began his tale.

"We arrived on station something like thirteen days into the crisis. I had a message telling me to standby for possible launch procedures. We'd been on station for twenty hours and I was considering going to battle stations for a missile launch when they started shooting. They didn't know we were there, they were just shooting. No sense to it. It took hours to get outside of the kill zone they set up without being detected."

Percy's tale took an hour, carefully sidestepping most of the classified issues. The girls interrupted with questions from time to time, some of which he could answer and some of which he couldn't. Fortunately, it was a slow morning, and even after they opened, there were no customers while he told his story. Percy kept glancing at Annabeth during the most harrowing parts, trying to judge her reaction. Her grey eyes were as wide as saucers for the most part, riveted to him, hanging off every word in his tale. The terror as he described in detail the first torpedo attack was plain to see, so once he finished his tale, he pulled them all in to a big group hug.

"Oh, and Annabeth?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you related to someone named Magnus?"

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my brothers and sisters on this observance of Veterans' Day. To the people who stand alongside me on the metaphorical wall between democracy and anarchy, putting their lives on the line for freedom. To those under simple white markers, uniform even in death. Other notes: COB is Chief of the Boat, the head enlisted man. OOD is Officer of the Deck, the captain's representative who acts with their authority. And now review replies (I normally try to do these in PMs, but I'm pressed for time at the moment):

kitkatmack: Thanks, I hope this chapter answers your question. (To be clear, the answer is a solid maybe.)

Fratzy: Not sure what else to say other than thanks.

Didi: Thanks. I really appreciate your feedback. If you could review or PM to explain the specific part you'd like to see explained more, I'd be happy to try to add that.

WildRoverMauradess8: Thanks. That was a delicate balance, I'm glad to know I got it right. I have not considered professional writing, actually, largely because I have what I consider to be an extremely important full-time job that I'm bound to for the next few years, and have few character ideas of my own. (You may have noticed I don't use OCs. There's a reason.

And finally, to all of you:

The worthiness issue. I appreciate what all of you said, but that's not actually how I see myself. What I said was a throw away joke, something my friends and I life about because even though we're officer side, we're the lowest form of officer life and get shit on for that. I should have taken into account my audience when I made the joke, but alas I did not have that kind of foresight.

None of these chapters are pre-written; each is published when I both have reviews and a chapter. This does sometimes mean delays, for which I apologize, but I'm a full time member of the military and have a lot of professional obligations that supersede writing. I'm doing my best. I appreciate all the reviews.

Very respectfully,

Charles Basilone