Chapter 50

December 21, 1924 P.D.

Harrington House, breakfast

Rachel stood next to the children's table with an attentive audience of Lawrence and Arabella, their forks and knives at the ready. Alexandra and Bernard, 11 and 9, merely continued their breakfast.

"Okay, now try it with the sausage," Rachel said to Arabella and held her utensils as an example.

The seven-year-old girl was the picture of concentration and determination as she held her sausage with her fork and cut it with the knife. Not to be outdone, Lawrence was doing the same and Arabella held up a bite, victorious.

"Very good, now it'll be as easy as pie!" Rachel said and continued with her own breakfast.

"She does it so fast," Arabella murmured to Lawrence.

As the adults chatted, Matt entered the dining room. He saw everyone eating and his cheeks took on a blush.

"M'lady, Your Grace, Admiral, my apologies for my late arrival," he said and gave off a short bow.

"You haven't done anything wrong, you were ill," Katherine said. "I believe Rachel saved you a seat."

He sat and placed some eggs on his plate.

"Not that hungry?" Rachel asked.

He shook his head and bit into a piece of plain toast.

"Hamish didn't have much of an appetite either," Honor said and patted her husband's hand.

"So, what are your plans while you're here?" Rachel asked her mom.

"We're visiting with Elizabeth tomorrow, but mostly to see you two," she replied, pointing her fork at Rachel and Matthew. "We also brought some wedding dresses for you to see."

"Huh?" Rachel asked.

Honor and Katherine both laughed.

"You sent us back a few photos of dresses that you were interested, so we brought them for you to see how they look on you," Katherine said.

Honor Mayhew nudged her sister. "The dressmakers are tripping over themselves trying to get dresses to you."

"They are?" Rachel asked.

"Sweetheart, you don't realize it, but you're somewhat of a celebrity on Grayson," Katherine said. "And to her lament, so is Jeanette. Anyway, when I put out feelers about a wedding dress for you, let's just say that there's been a small war among the dressmakers of Grayson."

Babbling was heard beyond the dining room doorway and baby Elizabeth's nanny came into the room with her.

"Gosh, look at how much she's grown!" Rachel exclaimed of the one-year-old baby.

"Well, babies tend to do that," Hamish chuckled and held his arms out for the baby. "And looking more like Emily every day."

Honor squeezed his hand and gave the baby a chunk of melon. She took it in both hands and went to work on the sweet, juicy chunk, giving her parents a messy grin of approval.

#

After breakfast, Rachel carried Elizabeth and followed her mother, sisters, and Honor to a room where three covered mannequins were situated.

"You brought 3 mannequins and dresses all the way from Grayson?" Rachel asked.

"Well, yes. It's the best to see them with your own eyes, isn't it?" Katherine asked.

Rachel's lips twitched. "Yes, I suppose it is, thank you," she said and kissed her mom on the cheek.

Her sisters removed the coverings on the mannequins and three gorgeous dresses were revealed.

"Oh my," Rachel whispered and stepped closer. Little Elizabeth pointed to the mannequin with a puzzled, "Bah?"

"Oh, they're not real, pumpkin," Rachel explained and thumped one on the forehead.

Honor chuckled. "Let me take her, you need your hands," she said and settled her daughter in her arms.

Katherine opened her mini-comp and started pressing buttons. "All right, this dress…" she said and indicated one, "has a twelve-foot train, and is an exclusive by-design contract."

"And what's in the contract?" Rachel asked and fingered the delicate lace at the wrist hems.

"If you decide on this dress, the designer gets a photo of you wearing it," Katherine replied.

"Is this lace optional?" Rachel asked.

"Uh…" more pressing buttons, "no."

Rachel moved to the next mannequin, walked around it, and paused. She admired the no-frills elegance of the off-the-shoulder neckline, A-line silhouette, natural waist style, floor length skirt, satin bodice, and chiffon (she thought) cummerbund and skirt.

"Is this chiffon?" she asked, feeling the skirt at the hip.

More furious button-pushing from her mom. "Yes… also, this designer only has gowns in two shops on the entire planet. She prefers chiffon as the secondary fabric in her designs but will accommodate the buyer's choice. The train for this gown is fifteen feet long, Watteau style, chiffon to match the cummerbund."

"This one it is," Rachel stated.

"Huh?" Theresa asked.

"That was quick," Honor Mayhew added.

"Are you certain? What about this one?" Katherine asked, gesturing to the third dress that hadn't been examined.

"The photo looked nice, but now that I see it, there's too much lace for my taste," Rachel explained.

"If you're sure," Katherine pressed.

Rachel nodded to the gown she liked. "This one is amazing, and I want to look amazing on my wedding day, don't you agree?"

Katherine looked as if she would burst into happy tears and nodded.

#

The women joined Hamish and Matt in the family room, where Hamish was telling Matt stories from his snotty cruise.

"Are you telling him the spilled coffee story?" Honor asked and sat down next to him. Elizabeth reached for him, so Honor shifted her to her dad's lap.

"No, the one where my captain overheard me saying something wildly inappropriate," Hamish chuckled.

"We've only got five months left, so we're trying to get in as many middy cruise stories as we can," Rachel said.

"That's all well and good, but the best and only way is to learn abut your middy cruises will be to actually go on them," Honor advised. "Now that I think about it, your cruises will be different, but no less rigorous."

"How do you figure, m'lady?" Matt asked.

"For one, neither of you will be on the bridge under the keen and ever watchful eyes of your captain, XO, and OCTO. However, you will be under the keen and ever watchful eyes of experienced officers and enlisted techs of your fields. Take advantage of that, and learn from them," Honor explained.

"Also, we tac officers are kind of choosy about the ships we're given orders for," Hamish said. "When I got my orders for my middy cruise, I got a destroyer. Lord, was I put out, even more so when my chief rival back then, Tom Caparelli, got a dreadnought. I wanted a cruiser, but when you're a middy, you have no choice."

"Do you have a preference?" Katherine asked.

Rachel pursed her lips, somewhat hesitant to answer. Would her mom report to her dad about what she said?

"Sweetheart, I know you're concerned about your father's influence, but he's never going to approach the high admiral and request an assignment for you. He respects you and the navy too much for that, and you've worked too hard for that," Katherine assured her.

"All right then, a CLAC," Rachel replied.

"Why?" Hamish and Honor chorused.

"I suppose because it has a lot of moving parts," she replied with a shrug.

April 1st, 1925

Casey Dining Hall

After the holidays, time sped by in a busy blur for the fourth years. Their classes were now primarily in their career tracks, and although exhausted, Rachel thoroughly enjoyed immersing herself in her chosen field. After breakfast, she, Staff Sergeant McDonald, and 23 other cadets were making a day trip to Thorston to sit for their Life Support Systems Specialist certifications. It wasn't a mandatory requirement for graduation but would look good on their records, and life support systems were a genuine interest to her. Working to become a subject matter expert in a field would be a career enhancement opportunity as well. So, 24 cadets and their keeper, Lieutenant Bandara, boarded their assigned shuttle with Cadet Acosta at the helm. They stopped off at the Navy OCS to pick up three who would also be testing and left the planet for Thorston.

At lunchtime, after all the practical testing had been done, they picked their rations from a warming bin and sat at tables to eat. Rachel opened hers and saw an odd beef, rice, and beans mixture and took a cautious bite. It wasn't the best, but she was starved after two hours of hands-on practical application testing. She was chatting with Acosta and Eaton when someone from the OCS sat next to her. He sat closer than necessary, but she shrugged it off and continued her lunch.

"So, princess…" the man next to her leaned even closer and asked, "enjoying your time at the academy? You get weekend furlough, right?"

Eaton and Acosta sighed. They knew her well and how she hated being called princess. She put her fork in the meal packet, wiped her mouth, and set the packet down.

"Sir, I don't know you, and I've not given you leave to be so familiar with me. I'd appreciate it if you'd let me continue my lunch in peace."

He leaned back and held up his hands. "Hey, just friendly conversation. No need to be unfriendly."

Staff Sergeant McDonald stepped closer, and she opened her mouth to speak but Lieutenant Bandara was heard.

"Miss Mayhew, is there a problem?"

"No sir."

The lieutenant nodded and returned to his viewer. Her unwelcome lunch guest scooted away from her, scowling. Lieutenant Bandara kept an eye on things over the top of his viewer to see Rachel chatting with Eaton and Acosta, while the OCS candidate continued to shoot disgruntled looks at her between bites of food.

#

The written testing portion of the testing commenced, and an hour later a welcome break was called. Rachel went to the latrine and a few minutes later, loud voices were heard from the corridor. Lieutenant Bandara and Rachel's classmates hurried that way.

"—and when I said no the first time, I meant it!" Rachel declared to the man blocking her path. "Now let me pass!"

Hipper was crouched behind him, ears back and tail twitching, ready to teach this person a lesson in manners. Eaton and Acosta stepped closer to have her back if necessary. Staff Sergeant McDonald was standing next to her, arms crossed, staring hard at the man.

"Attention!" Lieutenant Bandara barked when he entered the corridor.

Everyone immediately did so, but the OCS candidate didn't and started to walk away. Lieutenant Bandara stepped in his path.

"Candidate—" he paused and looked at the nametag, "Norton, I said stand at attention."

Norton paused and reluctantly did so.

"I am an officer; you are an officer candidate. When I give an order, it's not a suggestion. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

Lieutenant Bandara continued, his voice sharp. "This cadet has already made it clear to you that she does not want to converse with you, and here you are, catching her alone coming out of a latrine and blocking her path. Between her, her treecat, and Staff Sergeant McDonald, you're lucky to still be standing here."

"Furthermore, this is not conduct becoming of an officer in Her Majesty's Navy. What are they doing over at the OCS? Rest assured, Candidate Norton, that I will be filing a report before the day is out to your commanding officer for such lapse in judgment and unseemly behavior."

"Yes sir."

"For the remainder of the day, wherever Cadet Mayhew is, you will be on the other side of the room. On the shuttle trip back, she will be sitting in front, and you will be on the back row. Is that understood?"

#

Back at the academy, Rachel was summoned to Commander Wofford's office before supper. She arrived at his office and stood in the corridor.

"Come in, Miss Mayhew."

She stepped inside and he indicated the chairs in front of his desk.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Yes sir, thank you."

He added her customary two cubes of sugar and gave it to her before taking a seat.

"What happened today was unfortunate. I signed off on both your and Lieutenant Bandara's report about the incident. Under the circumstances, you handled it as well as can be expected."

She nodded and took a sip of coffee.

"Unfortunately, people like that Norton character occasionally slip through the cracks," he said. "I heard the commandant had some pointed words for the OCS commanding officer. This is embarrassing for them, so I'm certain this Norton fellow won't be an OCS candidate much longer."

"What happens when someone is dismissed from OCS?" she asked.

"They're given the option of a discharge or returning to the fleet at the rank they held before," he answered.

"He's no longer my concern, sir, and I really do have more pressing concerns than some jerk," she stated, thinking of all the upcoming exams the fourth forms were facing.

"Exams?" he pressed.

She nodded and he waved the concern away. "I know the testing is rigorous, but I'm confident that you know your stuff. Out of 492 fourth form engineering students, you rank sixth, although I'm sure Eaton never lets you forget that tidbit."

She smiled and chuckled. Eaton was the top engineering student, and they shared a friendly rivalry.

"Anything else on your mind?" he asked.

"Not really, sir. I've enjoyed my time here, but I'm eager to move on."

"I feel the same. As your time here ends, so does mine," he said.

"Do you have orders yet, sir?" she asked and took another sip.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm bound for the David Taylor as the engineering chief," he replied. "It's in system for some major refits before it heads out again, so I'll have my work cut out for me."

He glanced at his chrono and glanced at another cadet that had arrived. "I see that Mr. Goodson has arrived to escort you to dinner. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

"Aye sir and thank you."