Hey, I'm back in this century, anyone miss me? ;)
Usual disclaimers for the Land of Litigation, no rights to any characters portrayed and the real world's back there somewhere.
Dot was a hit with the guys from Operations Command, they loved this little old lady who spent as much time as she could gleefully blasting away with the biggest guns she could find (usually) on the urban combat range, and more than one muttered about her being 'the mother I never had' with a suspicious twinkle in their eye.
Vivian also surprised them with how proficient she was with handguns and assault rifles when she was down there with her grandmother getting her certifications. When Dot asked her about this, a frown passed over her face as she started to say "My fath.." before stopping and saying "It was one of the things I was required to learn as I was growing up." Dot nodded and squeezed her hand gently to comfort her. Vivian squeezed back and smiled her thanks.
Some of the comments of the men from OC led to Dot asking questions about Sarah and Chuck, though, so Mary took her and Vivian up to Dulcinea's Boudoir. Sarah let them in, as she was working in there that day. Dot and Vivian found it hard to accept what they were seeing as they looked at Chuck and Sarah's 'wall', even though they knew it was the truth. Dot was more familiar with the military than Vivian was, so she picked up Sarah's rank immediately in the picture of Chuck and Sarah which was taken at the Order of Australia award ceremony. She pointed at the picture as she turned to Sarah and said "You're, a General?"
Sarah nodded "One star only, though, Chuck still outranks me." That made Dot have another look at the photo and take in the two stars on Chuck's uniform, but she noted something else as well, going down to check in their awards sections of the wall (Dot was no fool) before turning back to say "And you're a Dame Commander of the Order of Bath, while he's a Knight Commander? They're not honorary titles, how did that happen?"
Sarah came forward to tap her Australian citizenship certificate. "There was an incident, which we can't talk about, but a few nations, including the United Kingdom and Australia, were grateful, we were awarded the British, French and German honours, and then a few months later we were called back and awarded the Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia. Then they advised us that we both now held joint United States and Australian citizenship, so the honorary part of that no longer applied, and we were handed new certificates to that effect. We were still trying to get our heads around that when the British ambassador came forward with the new certificates for our KCB and DCB and advised that the honorary portion of the Knight Commander and Dame Commander no longer applied, either, and we had the right to use Sir and Dame. So that's how that happened."
Dot nodded, but she'd noted many more things when she looked at their awards sections of the wall, and she'd gone back for a closer look. She turned to Sarah, as she pointed to this part of the wall and whispered "These, are all real?"
Sarah looked at the wall, but before she could answer, the screen nearby lit up with Aunt D. "Yes Dot, they're all real, and there should be more than that but there were more than a few incidents that we couldn't admit happened, so they were robbed of their due on those."
"By the way Sarah, we've just received word that you and Chuck are being requested to fly to England for more award ceremonies for the two of you, and Ellie and Colonel Casey, in two weeks, it's partly to do with the incidents that your KCB and DCB came from, but more to do with those other incidents that came out of that. They've recognised that your efforts have not only saved the structure of our country, but you've saved their's as well. It looks like you will be picking up new titles."
As Dot had already proven, she was no fool, and her eyes widened "Do you mean?"
Aunt D smiled as she nodded "I always knew she was a real lady. Now I shouldn't need to say this, but I will, I'll be coming with you to those award ceremonies Sarah!" With that she nodded and cut the link.
The others were looking at Dot, waiting for an explanation, though Vivian obviously had an idea of what was going on.
Dot waved at the wall and started "According to this, you're already General and Admiral, both of you are Doctor, Chuck's Sir and you're Dame, so there's really only one way for the United Kingdom to give you more titles, and Diane confirmed it. She also said that there will be ceremonies for the two of you, so you're both getting peerages, which will make you Lady Carmichael, and Chuck, Lord Carmichael. I wish I could know what the hell you two could have done to save the structure of both the United States and the United Kingdom, but I never will, will I?"
Sarah shook her head "Probably not, I'm sorry."
With that, they went back to the living room, because Dot for one needed a good stiff drink!
Sarah signalled to the cameras for Chuck to 'get up here, now!' and she breathed a sigh of relief when the lift was called about thirty seconds later. When Chuck stepped out of the elevator and Dot greeted him with "Oh, hello Admiral Carmichael, how are you M'lord?", he had an idea of what some of this may be about, but was confused by her ending, so he just smiled at her.
Chuck came over to kiss Sarah, and pick up and give Charlie and Sammie a kiss and a hug, then excused himself to go get changed out of his suit. The look that Sarah was giving him was saying 'be quick!', so he kissed her again before he ducked off to the master bedroom, shucking his coat and tie as he went.
Less than ten minutes later, he was back, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and his favourite Chucks. He scooped up Charlie again, giving her another kiss as he could never resist this miniature representation of the centre of his world. Sarah shook her head at him, but she was sitting on the couch with Sammie in her lap, so she was no better.
Chuck settled onto the couch beside her with Charlie in his lap, and looking from one to the other, he asked, "So, what's happening?"
Sarah glanced at the others and said "Mary brought Dot and Vivian up to see our wall in the Boudoir, and Dot was a little surprised with the awards we had (Dot snorted at that), so when Aunt D popped up to answer her question about whether they were real, we have to talk to about that by the way, I thought she agreed that she wasn't keeping an eye on us any more?"
She shook her head and continued "Anyway, after she answered Dot's question, Aunt D told me that they just got word through that the British want us over there in two weeks for more award ceremonies, and Dot thinks that that means that they're giving us peerages."
Dot broke in there "I don't think Sarah, I know, that's the only thing that fits what Diane said!" She turned to Vivian "Tell them dear."
Vivian obviously didn't want to be in the middle of this, but she nodded "There didn't seem to be any question that that was what General Beckman was saying, as Grandma said, as far as I can see the only way for the British government to give the two of you more salutations, well she said titles but she meant salutations, is to give you peerages, and she confirmed that Sarah's would be Lady, so the only question is the title. The most obvious titles would be Baron and Baroness, but after what we saw and heard in there (nodding at the Boudoir) I wouldn't be surprised if it was higher, as Lord and Lady can apply to Baron, Viscount, Earl or Marquess. I, for one, will be quite interested in seeing what you are awarded."
Chuck and Sarah looked at each other, this had stopped being funny, as these two women seemed to have no doubt at all in their minds about what would happen. They put Charlie and Sammie down and told them to go to Grandma (Emma was Nana) before heading into Dulcinea's Boudoir to call Aunt D. When the link came up, Chuck launched straight into it "Tell us about these awards in England Aunt D!"
She looked at him "Well hello to you too Chuck." She sighed then "I take it my revealing things the way I did caused problems?" Chuck and Sarah nodded "I'm sorry, as I said, word had just come through, and quite frankly I was excited about it, that was why I initiated the link, to tell you about it, but I got sidetracked answering Dot."
Chuck nodded, but said "They're out there now, speculating whether it's Baronies, or something higher." They could see from her expression that they were something higher "The United Kingdom were very aware of the fact that the plans that you thwarted would have almost certainly destroyed their country. When you exposed their deputy prime minister and their top politicians and intelligence and military people before they could pull off that coup that they were ready to trigger, thwarted their plan to eliminate the royal family, and were instrumental in dismantling the entire thing without the public's knowledge, you saved their nation."
"They informed us that this was the first time their government has ever been united on something like this, and they had the Queen's complete agreement on the fact that they wanted to impress upon you how grateful Great Britain was. So Chuck, you will be the Marquess of Crewe, Viscount Cave and Baron of Barloch and Sarah, you will be the Countess of Avon, Viscountess Eden and Baroness of Ardwick. These are being awarded as hereditary titles under your Australian citizenship and they've included in the letters patent for your titles, Sarah, that the precedence is for them to be inherited by your daughters. Only the Baronies will be made public, well, by that, the other titles will be kept secret."
She smiled at something that had been said "They wanted to stress that they didn't wish to imply that your role was any less important Sarah, but as a woman, the Queen had commented that while it's one level lower, she'd prefer the title of Countess over Marchioness, and they took what she said on as a suggestion as they didn't think that it would offend you, were they correct in that?"
She didn't get any response from Sarah, as she and Chuck were just sitting there, staring at the screen, the idea of being Baron and Baroness was bizarre enough for them, but this was too much to comprehend!
Aunt D had to call her name a couple of times to get her to come back enough to respond, and when she was back, Aunt D repeated the question, this time getting a "No, of course not" from her. While she had their attention, she reminded them that they couldn't repeat this to anyone who wasn't directly involved until after the awards had been granted and they nodded. Aunt D accepted that as the best she was going to get out of them at the moment, but she remembered something else at that point "You are also both being awarded the George Cross for your actions in this, which will add to your medal count, and Ellie and Colonel Casey are being made honorary members of the Order of Merit in the military grouping."
As she was winding things up with them, she sent a text to Mary, Emma and Casey to advise them of the situation and request that they work together to keep a lid on this until after the awards. Mary read this and collected Dot and Vivian to take them downstairs as soon as Chuck and Sarah came out of Dulcinea's Boudoir.
Neither Chuck or Sarah got much work done that night, and they were distracted as they were bathing the twins, to the point that they got drenched when Charlie splashed them because they weren't paying attention to her. With that, bath time was over and she and Sammie were quickly dried off, in their pyjamas and put to bed in no time. Chuck sang them to sleep, as he usually did, and that turned out to be good for all of them, as it helped calm Chuck and Sarah, too (ever since the first time she caught him singing the twins to sleep over two years ago, Sarah had tried to be there when he did, because she found it as enchanting as their children did).
Once the twins were asleep, Chuck took Sarah back to the master bedroom and they lay on the bed, discussing this latest news and trying to get their heads around it. Getting the KCB and DCB had been enough to pull the rug out from under them, and getting Baronies and the George Crosses would have been more than they'd ever expect, but the other, they just didn't know how to handle that.
The next day, they sat down in Chuck's office in Operations Command and talked about it with Ellie, Casey, Bry, Carina, Zondra, Emma and Mary, but the general consensus was that they were getting honoured appropriately for saving the country. When Chuck argued that the rest of them should be honoured as well, Ellie countered with the fact that only he and Sarah had the Commonwealth citizenship which allowed them to receive most of these honours, and she and Casey were getting the Order of Merit. Chuck ended up accepting defeat, because Ellie, Sarah and Charlie were the only people in the whole world who he couldn't win an argument with.
Ellie managed to inject a note of levity into the conversation, though, when she said "For the love of God, PLEASE don't tell Charlie about this, because she'll insist that we all call her Lady Carmichael all the time!" The laughter was all the louder because they knew that Ellie was right about that.
The discussion helped them come to an acceptance of this, and they got back to work. The only change that the awards made necessary was that they had to move any meetings for that day, and they were going to have to fly out the previous night to deal with the eight hour time difference. Of course they were made to wear their full uniforms and medals for the George Cross and Order of Merit presentations, and discussions between the President and DNI and their equivalents resulted in that requirement being extended to the ceremonies for the peerages as well.
Of course, nothing in their world could be simple, and Aunt D called later that day to advise them that they had to come to Washington next week for more ceremonies, but primarily for the others this time. The American government and military had decided when they were advised of the British honours that were being awarded to Chuck, Sarah, Ellie and Casey that they had to show that they were recognising this remarkable group who'd effectively saved the free world (again) at least as much. To that end, they'd rushed through Ellie, Casey and Bry's promotions to one star flag ranks which had been in the works (as well as bumping Sarah to two stars and Chuck to three stars to maintain the hierarchy) and promoted Emma, Jeff, Anna and Greg to USN Captains, Mary to a USMC Colonel, Vincent to USA Colonel, Mei-Ling to USAF Colonel, Rick to USA Lieutenant Colonel and Vicky to USAF Lieutenant Colonel. As well as this, Chuck, Sarah, Ellie, Emma, Casey, Bry, Carina, Zondra, and Operations Command as a unit, were all being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, along with a few more medals.
Of course, this meant that they had to clear another day's schedule, and as usual, they had to send over uniform jackets for those being promoted to allow them to be prepared for the show, and they had new mini dress whites/dress blues styled outfits made up for Sammie and Charlie.
When the day came, they flew into Washington, and as had become the norm, the ceremonies were in the Oval office with all the usual suspects present, though DCI Hanson was added to the list, as he was all but part of the family now, and there were also a few new appointees who hadn't seen the Operations Command show before.
At the dinner after the promotions and the award ceremonies were done, Aunt D was standing with Bry, Mary, Emma and Ellie, discussing Chuck and Sarah, who were across the room, talking to the President "It's hard to believe that that adorable little boy I held the day he was born now outranks me!" Bry laughed "What are you complaining about Diane? He's been my boss since he was fourteen!"
That led to everyone laughing, which caught the attention of the newcomers, sitting at a table with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others, and they asked "What units have these people came from, they all seem to know each other?"
The old hands laughed and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said "One unit, Operations Command!" He pointed at Chuck, who was holding Charlie on his hip as he talked to the President "Navy Vice Admiral Carmichael is their Commander" then Sarah, beside him with Sammie "Air Force Major General Carmichael is the Deputy Commander, and Commander of their Operations Division, she has Marine Brigadier General Casey, Army Brigadier General Mills, Marine Colonel Barton, Navy Captains Miller, Rizzo and Roberts, Army Colonel Payne, Air Force Colonel Chiang and Army Lieutenant Colonel Noble under her" (pointing to each in turn before pointing to Ellie) "Navy Rear Admiral Lower Half Charlemagne is the Commander of their Information Dominance Division, she has Navy Captains Burdon, Barnes and Wu, and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dunwoody under her."
After he'd pointed to Emma, Jeff, Anna and Vicky he looked around, and seeing no-one else significant (well, there was something significant about Josie and Alex, but he wasn't about to share that with these men) said "There's a passel of Army, Marine and Air Force Majors on down to Sergeants and Navy Lieutenant Commanders on down to Petty Officers under them, but these are the senior officers of Operations Command."
"Senior? There's one oh nine, one oh eight, three oh sevens, nine oh sixes and two oh fives from what you just told us, that's five flag officers and eleven senior officers, with nearly all of them at oh six or above, just how big is this command? There's enough brass in there to handle a major multi-service sector of the military!"
"These senior officers make up about one sixth of the Operations Command group."
"WHAT? Why would they have this much brass for something only the size of a company?"
"They aren't a conventional group, their primary role is to manage major multi-service operations, as you said, they 'handle' major multi-service sectors of the military, but those forces aren't part of their group. They plan and manage the operations, then once they've taken the objective, they hand it over to the regular forces and move on. Where do you think the group got its name?"
The General who was talking shook his head "I never really paid any mind to it, but what are those kids doing here anyway?"
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs shook his head "I would have thought it was obvious, their parents and just about their entire family are here! Admiral Carmichael and General Carmichael are their parents, Captain Burdon is General Carmichael's mother and Colonel Barton is Admiral Carmichael's mother, their grandmothers, Admiral Charlemagne is Admiral Carmichael's sister, their aunt, Captains Miller and Rizzo are General Carmichael's sisters, their other aunts, also, General Mills is the Admirals' Godfather, and General Casey is the twins' Godfather, so it's sort of a family affair in Operations Command. General Beckman is also the Admirals' Godmother."
The man was aghast at this "Why is this being allowed? This is against all the rules of military command!"
"What do you mean, 'allowed'? We had to fight to make this happen, but they've proven us right time and again! These people represent the very best of our military and intelligence minds, they'd all proven themselves separately over their careers before we put them together as Operations Command, and in the past few years they've turned over the way we do things in that space and saved our country, and others', more than once, who do you think took down your predecessors to leave those roles open for you? Them, that's who!"
"In case you're thinking of questioning their right to be wearing those uniforms, take a good look at their decorations, every one of them was earned, and more besides, you may have heard the term 'Hero Central' being tossed about over the last year and a half? (they nodded) this is it, it came out of discussions about them at the last ceremony like this!"
The General shook his head "Why haven't we heard more about them before this then? We've heard the name of Operations Command, but nothing about what they do."
"Because in the Special Forces and Intelligence space where they live, you DON'T talk about your best people, that would just paint a target on their backs! Most of these people have been legends in their fields for at least ten to fifteen years or more. Have you heard of Mowgli, Baloo, Akela, Shanti, Agent Smith, Agent Jones, the Ice Queen, Frost, Piranha, Roscoe or the Lotus?" They nodded, of course they'd heard the legends about most of those names! "They're all in this group!"
"But they're just legends!"
"No, they aren't, they're the names that these people have been using for a long time while they do what they do, a third of them are second generation and started when they were teenagers, for that matter most of those who aren't actually family have been working with them since then, so they're as good as family."
"I suggest you make the effort to learn about the group you're going to be working with! Now excuse me, I haven't seen those kids in nearly a year and a half and I'm not about to miss out on catching up with them!" With that, he left and went to Chuck, beaming when Charlie recognised him and taking her off Chuck to talk to her.
The newcomers remained at the table where the Chairman and the others had left them, most of them letting themselves be dragged along as the outspoken one ranted about the fact that, as a military man, he was appalled by how these people were being allowed to flaunt the traditions of the United States military. None of them really believed what they were being told about how those people had earned their ranks and medals, because in their mindsets of promotion through seniority and traditional engagements using the mass forces of the military, there was no place to accept this concept of enlightened planning and direction of small elite forces overcoming those traditional forces. They were still stuck in the 'it was good enough for my father, so there's no reason to change it' mindset that the military traditionally had.
What this group didn't realise was that, on the other side of the room, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the heads of the Army, Navy and Marines, the Secretary of Defense and the President were discussing THEM and whether they'd need to be replaced with Chuck, Sarah and Casey.
Charlie and Sammie weren't behaving as well as they usually did, and when Sarah found out WHY her two year olds were on tearing about the way they were, she decided that their Aunt Carina was going to get a good talking to afterwards, but this was an important discussion, so she sent the twins off to their grandmothers (much to the Chairman and head of the Navy's dismay, as they were holding them at the time).
With that distraction out of the way, they got down to the matter at hand, not noting the fact that the newcomers were looking at the way that Sarah was nestled into Chuck's side with his arm around her and taking it as proof that what they were saying was correct.
None of those in the discussion was surprised when Chuck argued that these new ones should be given a chance to fit into the new order, after all, it was Chuck, but the consensus was that what the Chairman told them needed to be addressed before it festered, so the Secretary of Defense went to the newcomers' table and curtly told them to follow him, while others collected people required for the upcoming discussion.
When they walked into the Oval Office with the Secretary of Defense, the newcomers found the President, as expected, but they also found the Vice Admiral and two of the Generals from Operations Command, the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Combatant Commanders of CENTCOM, SOCOM and USSTRATCOM, the Commander of US Cyber Command and Major General Diane Beckman. The President waved them to the seats in front of his desk and began.
"I am given to understand that you don't believe that Operations Command and its officers are a legitimate command in the United States Military?"
The General who had been speaking up before answered him "With all due respect Mr President, no. They aren't military and they have no right to be wearing those uniforms or giving orders to the military!"
Casey leant forward to respond but Chuck stilled him with a slight shake of the head.
The President hit a few buttons to bring a projector and screen down, but when he tried to switch to the projector screen, he couldn't manage. "Oh hell, Chuck, you're the expert at this, can you do this please?"
Chuck said "Not a problem, Mr President" as he stood up, and within thirty seconds had the screen showing the files that he knew the President was after. He pushed the keyboard and mouse back to the President and went back to his seat.
The President said "I hate how easy you make that look when I can't do it." and then turned back to the newcomers saying "Let's see about what you said, shall we?" and started scrolling from the start, showing the dates and locations of Chuck's engagements and operations, with notes on what units they were with, how he'd performed and the promotions and decorations that he'd been recommended for and won in those engagements.
When he'd finished Chuck's, he started on Casey's, then Bry's, Ellie's, Mary's, Sarah's, Carina's, Zondra's, Vincent's and then Greg's, Rick's and Vicky's, finishing with Mei-Ling's, Anna's and Jeff's smaller lists.
The General with the mouth was quiet now, but one of the other Generals asked "I don't understand sir, why were there different names in different services listed for most of these people?"
Aunt D answered that "Because Admiral Carmichael, Admiral Charlemagne, General Casey, General Mills and Captain Barnes have been operating across multiple services and intelligence groups for the past fifteen years or more where required, in intelligence, combat, planning and command functions, with Captain Wu doing the same for over ten years, and General Carmichael, Captains Miller and Rizzo and Colonels Barton, Payne and Chiang have been doing similar functions for at least ten years, a few times that for Colonel Barton, but they mainly started in the intelligence community. Operations Command has come out of a group that's been operating for over seventeen years now, have you heard of the group that used to be known as Alias Smith and Jones?"
Most of the newcomers nodded "The Admirals are Smith and Jones, and Generals Casey and Mills and Captains Barnes and Wu worked with them most of the way back."
The outspoken General piped up again "That's ridiculous, they couldn't have been more than children then!"
She nodded "Admiral Carmichael was thirteen, Admiral Charlemagne was sixteen."
He started to say that that was impossible when the President hit a key to bring up a page of images that he often looked at, a collection of pictures of a fifteen year old Chuck and seventeen year old Ellie on Special Forces training and missions, many with Casey and/or Bry in the background. The SOCOM Commander asked for the laser pointer and highlighted himself in a number of the pictures before turning to the newcomers.
"If you have been in serious action, you would have heard the name Mowgli, and what he's done?"
Again, most of them nodded (not the outspoken one though).
He waved at Chuck "Admiral Carmichael is Mowgli, and John Smith, so before anyone tries to say that he's not military, let's see what you've done to earn your rank, we won't argue medals, as most of you don't have combat medals, but for your information, I was there when he and his sister, and his wife, for that matter, earned some of theirs and I can assure you, they DID earn them."
The outspoken General sniffed at that, and the SOCOM Commander shot an irritated look at the President. A few keystrokes later, the General's record came up on the screen, and as expected, it was a list of administrative commands that went nowhere near actual combat, and his long string of medals were nothing but service awards for doing administrative functions or sitting in a role. The Commander snorted and said "Forgive me Mr President, but why is he here?" The President shook his head, saying "I'm beginning to wonder about that myself" as he looked at the Secretary of Defense, who frowned at the man in question before saying.
"I'm sorry Mr President, I invited the new Combatant Commanders, believing that they should all meet Admiral Carmichael and his team as they'd be working with Operations Command at some stage, I should have considered the fact that Transportation Command may not be relevant to anything to do with Operations Command. This (waving at the screen) appears to show my error, with your leave?"
The President nodded, and the Secretary turned to the man, reminded him of the ramifications of ever discussing anything he'd heard today and dismissed him. The man looked ready to argue, but just said "Yes, sir" and stood to leave, but Casey jumped in to ask for leave to speak. The President nodded and he addressed the man.
"You owe the Admiral and the General an apology! Your precise words were 'They aren't military and they have no right to be wearing those uniforms or giving orders to the military!' Well you've seen the proof that they've earned their right to their uniforms, ranks and medals by shedding blood, sweat and tears for this country and achieving great things through their sacrifice. This country's finest warriors follow their orders without question and the utmost confidence" he looked at the SOCOM Commander and said "I even remember you doing that more than once sir" which got a nod as he said "And I'd do it again if I was in combat and Mowgli gave me an order, because obeying his orders is usually the best way to succeed and come back alive!"
Casey turned back to Northern Command's Commander "You were quick to tell the President that the Admiral and the rest of us have no right to our uniforms or command, you've seen and heard the proof that they DO, and now I'm waiting for you to apologise to them!"
The man bristled and went to respond, not about to be spoken to this way by a new one star General, but the President barked "Quiet!" and brought up the performance records for Transportation Command under this man. The figures were solid, but not inspiring, and the man's performance here had ensured that no-one present had any confidence in him.
The President looked at the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force, getting a subtle nod from each in turn. With agreement from all, he turned to the man in question "Do you have anything further you wish to say General?"
"No more than I already have Mr President."
"Very well, General, you are relieved of your command, you have proven that you will hold to your opinions over proven evidence and the testimony of your peers, and we cannot entrust responsibility for a role such as your's to someone who does that."
He turned to the Secretary of Defense "Mr Secretary, would you initiate proceedings to place the Deputy Commander of Transportation Command in the Commander's role, please?"
When the Secretary of Defense replied with "Yes, Mr President" he turned to the Secretary of the Air Force "Mr Secretary, I believe that the question of whether the General is fit to hold a command in the United States Air Force is a matter which requires proper investigation and determination, would you initiate the relevant proceedings, please?"
The Secretary of the Air Force nodded and said "Yes, Mr President."
At that the General spat out "You won't get away with this! I have my rights! I'll get this overturned, see what the people say when they hear that you're trying to dismiss a four star general just because I won't pander to your pets!"
The president looked at Aunt D, and she nodded, pulling out her phone. He pressed a button on the desk and two secret Service Agents entered the Oval Office. The President pointed to the General and said "Take this man away and lock him up until the NSA arrive with the proper paperwork to remove him to a suitable site."
When he said that, the General turned to head for the door, but the Secret Service Agent behind him tasered him, so he crumpled to the floor. The President frowned at that and went on "Unfortunate, but probably better, under no circumstances is anyone to see or speak to him until the NSA take him away."
One Agent said "Yes, Mr President" while the other went to the door to request that they bring one of the trolleys used for transporting detainees into the Oval Office. Once the General had been removed, the Secretary of Defense looked at the other commanders.
"Well the General's behaviour leads us to a question that I will require you to answer. Do YOU understand the ramifications if you breach security and repeat or discuss anything that you have heard here today?"
The Commanders were quick to respond with "Yes, Sir!"s
He nodded "Now, with that understood, are there any clarifications or further information that you would like in regard to Operations Command and its officers? As I said earlier, I invited you here today to meet their officers and get an understanding of how they operate, as you will invariably be working with them in the future" He paused and looked at the door "Except possibly Transportation, I didn't think that through."
Chuck responded "No, Mr Secretary, we do work with them, as they transport supplies and personnel to and from operations." The Secretary nodded and gave him a smile of thanks before he turned back to the Commanders.
When none of them said anything, he went on "The Admiral and Generals won't mind valid questions, in my experience they're happy to answer questions to ensure that people understand what's going on and can work better together. General Casey took objection to the unfounded accusations made regarding his fellow officers, and demanded an apology on behalf of them once the General's accusations had been proven to be false. If you don't see General Casey's position on that as being valid, perhaps your best move would be to tender your resignation from your role, as I do."
The General who'd earlier asked about the different names piped up again, asking Aunt D "General, you said that General Carmichael and the others came from Intelligence, could you explain that, please?"
Sarah looked at Aunt D and asked "May I, General?" Aunt D was happy to hand over the gavel, and Sarah turned to the man.
"For a start, General, only Generals Casey and Mills, Colonel Payne, Captain Roberts and Lieutenant Colonels Noble and Dunwoody actually started out in traditional military roles, General Casey in the Marines, General Mills, Colonel Payne and Lieutenant Colonel Noble in the Army, Commander Roberts in the Navy and Lieutenant Colonel Dunwoody in the Air Force."
"Ad.. My husband, sister-in-law and Captains Barnes and Wu started out in our Defense Clandestine Services Special Projects team, which Generals Mills and Casey were also part of. As you saw, General Mills had over twenty five and General Casey eighteen years of combat and command experience when the Special Projects group was started. My husband and sister-in-law started with the intelligence and planning functions in ninety four, and they trained and operated with special forces teams across the four primary services from around ninety five or ninety six for the Admirals, Generals and Captain Barnes, and from two thousand and one for Captain Wu, as General Beckman noted, their roles have been primarily across intelligence, combat, planning and command functions."
"Now, as General Beckman alluded to, Captains Miller, Rizzo and Burdon, Colonel Barton and myself started out in the CIA, about ten years ago for myself, a few years more for my sisters, about seventeen years more for my mother and about twenty five years more for my mother in law. Captains Miller and Rizzo, Colonel Barton and myself all trained with the CIA's SAD and NSA's Black Ops groups and have operated with them and other special forces groups since we started with the CIA. Since we joined the Special Projects team, which was in oh seven for Captain Miller and myself, oh eight for Captain Rizzo and oh nine for Colonel Barton, we adopted most of the same roles that my husband and his original team did, by which I mean everything except the cyber security functions that he and Captains Barnes and Wu do. Captain Burdon joined in oh eight and is primarily doing intelligence and planning functions."
"Colonels Payne and Chiang, Commander Roberts and Lieutenant Colonels Noble and Dunwoody came through different paths, Colonel Payne and Lieutenant Colonels Noble and Dunwoody moved into the intelligence field around two thousand from the military, the Lieutenant Colonels joined our team in oh eight, Colonel Payne in oh nine. Colonel Chiang came from another intelligence background, she joined our team in oh seven. The four of them have been doing the same intelligence, combat, planning and command functions as the rest of us since they joined. While Commander Roberts never left the Navy, he joined the team in oh eight and he's primarily doing planning and command functions."
"Sorry General, did I answer your question, or did I only muddy the waters more?"
"No, you've given me a good idea where the team came from and what functions you deliver, thank you General, though I must admit that I'd be having a hard time believing what I've heard if we weren't sitting here with the President."
Sarah smiled at that, and looked at the other commanders "Any other questions gentlemen?"
They shook their heads "No, thank you General, I think we have a reasonable idea of the team's function now."
With that, the President got Chuck to put things back to the way they'd been on his computer and they returned to the dining room. Charlie and Sammie came barrelling up to them as soon as they walked in, and Sarah was reminded that she had to have words with her sister about plying her children with sugary treats.
Luckily the sugar rush had worn off by the time they reached the Valkyrie, and they were back to the adorable little cherubs she knew and loved before they fell asleep. With that, they were free to discuss what had happened in the Oval Office, and the fact that the Commander, Transportation Command was on his way to a black site after he threatened to go to the press, so that command would be getting a new commanding officer. There would be fallout from that, to be sure.
They got back in early enough to head straight into the office, so that's what they did, putting Charlie and Sammie down in Chuck's office as Sarah had more people to talk to. Jeff brought back a memory stick with the pictures from the ceremonies, so he selected the nicest ones for each and printed them, giving them to Josie and Alex (as Chuck and Sarah's, and Ellie, Casey and Bry's aide-de-camps) to get the earlier pictures in the frames around the office replaced.
As they walked in as a group, the boys couldn't pass this up, so it was "Admiral, General, Admiral, General, General, Captain, Captain, Captain, Colonel, Colonel, Captain, Captain, Colonel, Colonel, Captain, Colonel" as they streamed past, and there was a 'FLAG STREET' sign pointing down the row of offices that Ellie, Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Bry (as the initial five senior officers of Operations Command) had. Other than that, they'd controlled themselves this time, which was probably a good thing, given that they weren't in the best mood after what happened at the White House.
The service representatives who came in for meetings over the next week did a double take when they saw the new ranks that most of Operations Command's senior officers had, but with this command out of band promotions were the norm, so it didn't change their operations much.
They ploughed though as much work as they could between the Washington promotions etc, and the London, then packed up everything and piled into the Valkyrie at 22:00 the night before to fly to London.
They had a cavalcade of cars waiting for them in London. It was a difficult for them to remove all their weapons and lock them away on the Valkyrie, but they were going to see the Queen of England, less than six months after they'd stopped a plan to eliminate her and her entire family, so they were expecting serious security measures!
Of course, their uniform jackets, covered with medals and badges as they were, would have set off all the detectors, so they just handed them over to be examined before they did so. Chuck still didn't like being required to put on a dog and pony show like this every time they did this, or for that matter, he didn't like wasting time on these things at all. As far as he was concerned, it was just political gesturing and he could have done without it!
Sarah knew her man and pulled him down for a kiss to calm him as they were waiting for the uniform jackets, something that Charlie got into as well, as Sarah was holding her. This had the desired effect, and Chuck simmered down, politely thanking the soldier who handed him his uniform jacket once it had been examined, and putting it on. When they'd all been processed through security and were escorted into the Queen's presence, Chuck and Sarah handed the twins off to their grandmothers and straightened their uniforms.
The proceedings took longer than expected, because as well as what they believed that they were there for (the titles, George Cross and Order of Merit), Chuck and Sarah were being elevated from Commander to Grand Cross for both the Order of Bath and Legion of Honour (they'd wondered why the French Ambassador was there).
With that done, however, the affair became rather more casual, as the Queen wanted to get to know these extraordinary young people who seemed to be saving the world on a regular basis, from what her people were telling her. She didn't miss how quickly Chuck removed his medal covered uniform jacket when she insisted that they make themselves comfortable as they sat down to chat. Obviously this young hero wasn't much for pomp and ceremony.
She'd also wanted to meet their adorable children (Sarah had made sure that Carina knew what she'd do to her if there was any repeat of Washington today, so Charlie and Sammie were their normal sweet selves and on their best behaviour). The Queen was delighted when she asked Charlie "And who might you be young lady?" and she replied "Charlene Emma Carmichael, your Majesty" with a cute little curtsy, she acknowledged her curtsey with a regal nod and greeted her with due ceremony before she turned to face Sammie and asked "And who are you young man?" and Sammie replied with "Samuel Stephen Carmichael, your Majesty", and gave an adorably serious little bow to the Queen, which she acknowledged as she greeted him.
The Queen had caught the horrified expressions on Chuck and Sarah's faces when she went to address Charlie as 'Lady Carmichael' and amended that to 'Miss Carmichael', but when the twins were out of earshot she asked them about it.
Chuck was extremely embarrassed as he explained "I'm sorry Ma'am, but when we were discussing this after we were advised of the honours being bestowed upon us, my sister, Admiral Charlemagne (waving to Ellie), pointed out that if Charlie, that is, Charlene, found out about the fact that her proper form of address was 'Lady Carmichael', she'd insist that we call her that all the time. Unfortunately Ellie's right about that, so when we heard you begin to address her as 'Lady Carmichael', that flashed through our heads. My apologies ma'am."
That got a genuine laugh from the Queen, and she shook her head "No, I believe that I should apologise to you, as I do know what it is like when children refuse to answer to anything but their formal titles, and how trying that can be. I am sorry, that had not occurred to me."
They settled down to a nice chat after that, and the Queen found the modesty and ardour of these young people quite charming. She also found it amazing that many of the people here were immediate family, both their mothers, their three sisters, as well as Admiral Carmichael and Charlemagne's godmother and godfather, astounding!
All in all, their time with the Queen was a delightful interlude for all three of them, and Charlie and Sammie were just as adorable when they said their goodbyes to the Queen as they were when they greeted her.
The twins were asleep by the time they reached the Valkyrie, so they just put them down and settled in for the flight home, aside from the occasional 'M'lord' or 'M'lady', the others didn't push the issue.
A/N: OK, I realise that this is rather fluffy and stretchy, but I'm having trouble getting back to the idea of writing in the 21st Century.
I'm quite aware that many will complain that the American and British honours given are unrealistic, but you know what, tough! The scenario here is that in the aftermath of them taking down the Ring and saving the heads of the world's intelligence services who weren't in the Ring's pocket, their investigations unearthed widespread plots around the world including (for those who can't read) a plot in England which included the Deputy Prime Minister and a plethora of senior politicians, military and intelligence figures who were planning on wiping out the Royal Family and staging a coup to take over the government.
In my world, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the United Kingdom's government and the Royal Family would be EXTREMELY grateful to the people who stopped those things happening, and also helped them clean up the whole mess without the people of the UK finding out about it, and would be inclined to do something to show their gratitude.
Similarly, the American government and military would want to show that they were rewarding their heroes for doing the same type of thing in America, especially after they heard the lengths that the British were going to, because that's what politicians do, CYA.
If anyone is offended by my portrayal of the Queen, sorry, but in appearances I've seen over the past fifty years or so I've seen glimpses of a woman with common sense and a sense of humour, so I could well see her laughing about the idea of a two year old demanding to be called 'Lady Carmichael', because I'd wager that she's been irked more than once with her children and grandchildren doing the same type of thing.
NB: If anyone wondered why I deleted my other stories, there were only a handful of people here who were bothering to read them, but I quite enjoyed writing about a steampunk world, so I took them down to use them as the basis for some steampunk novels that I'm trying to get published.
