Part 13
When we went to the field of war and tae the weapon shaw,
Wi' true design to tae serve our king and chase our faes awa'
Lords and lairds came there bedeen and wow gin they were sma'
While pipers played fae right to left, fy, furich whigs awa'.
-- traditional, 1788
Dick sat in his cramped office looking down at the paper in front of him. This was one of his favorite times of the day, when he could imagine himself sitting and talking with Barbara. The Chaffee was so far away from Earth, that letters and emails took about the same time to reach their destination, so ever since they had deployed three months ago, Dick had gotten in the habit of writing a little something to his wife most evenings. When the supply ship docked, he would bundle the whole thing together and send it. One was expected to dock in less than an hour, so Dick was putting the finishing touches on his current letter.
I promise you sweetheart, that I had nothing to do with Bruce's hovering. I mean, remember who we're talking about here! Personally, I lean toward the theory that Dinah's presence might have something to do with his constant visits. The man does believe in multi-tasking, after all.
When you asked about the Skipper and the crew, I finally remembered that I'd never told you about them. Sorry about that! Here's a brief description:
As you know, the captain is Commander Honor Harrington10. I really think you'd like her, she reminds me a little of our "wonder-ful" Princess Diana (personality-wise, anyway) -- no-nonsense, a little stern, and a natural leader. She does have a sense of humor, but she doesn't show it much. We've got a lot of what I call, "nuggets and knotheads" on this ship: crew that have either never been in space before or who were not really wanted on their last ships. She and the XO are doing a fantastic job of turning them into a unified team. And since I know you're curious about what she looks like (especially after my comment about Diana
Next, we have the Executive Officer, Lt. Commander Alistair McKeon. He's senior to me (well, just about every LCDR in the Navy is senior to me, after all), but he's a very friendly, very approachable guy -- as long as you do your job and don't make trouble for the captain. He complements the Skipper very well that way. They make a good team. He's also tall, about the same height as Harrington, with dark brown hair and gray eyes. He's a little on the stocky side, or maybe it's just that he's heavily-built.
I think I already told you about Andy, but in case I haven't, my XO is Lt. Andrew LaFollett. He certainly doesn't fit the typical fighter pilot mold since he's tall, black, and has a long knife scar going down the right side of his face. He actually used to be in an LA gang until his mother persuaded him to join the Navy. Once he got in, he ended up going to college and majoring in philosophy, of all things. He then applied for the fighter pilot program and turned out to be a natural pilot. He also has an evil sense of humor.
"Dick?"
Startled, Dick looked up to see his CO standing in the doorway of his office, almost as if his writing had summoned her. He started to stand up. "Hi, Skipper! What can I do for you?"
She waved him to sit down. "It's okay, Dick. The supply ship just got in, and Alistair's handling the loading and unloading. He was passing out some of the mail, and I offered to bring yours by on the way to my quarters." She looked at him impishly as she put a large package on his desk.
Dick grinned back. "Oh, yes, I am so on the way to your office from the boat bay!" Actually, they were in opposite directions. "And I'm sure the fact that this looks like one of my wife's care packages has nothing to do with it!" One thing about Honor that Dick had left out of his description was that she had a monumental sweet tooth. He had courteously offered her one of Barbara's brownies once, and ever since then, Honor had managed to be on hand whenever Dick got a package from Gotham City.
Honor winked at him. "Just wanted you to know who your friends were, Dick! Alistair said the boat should be ready to leave in about thirty minutes." She smiled and walked out the door, back the way she had come.
Dick smiled to himself as he opened the package. Yes, Honor was interested in the brownies, but she also knew that he liked to read any letters from Barbara before he mailed his current one. By bringing him his mail, she had given him a few extra minutes to do so.
He saw that the box contained the usual goodies -- cookies, books, CDs, and the aforementioned brownies. Ah! There they were! Letters! Dick pulled the bundle from the box and quickly flipped through the envelopes. One from Bruce, one from Alfred, two from Tim (one of them on official S.T.A.R. Labs stationery, no less), ... there! A nice, fat letter from Babs!
Dick sat back in his chair and hurriedly opened the envelope. He skimmed over it, looking for anything that needed immediate comment. Later, he would settle in for a nice thorough read. His eyes and his thoughts skittered to a stop as they got near the end.
I went in for a checkup today. They ran some tests -- everything's fine, don't worry -- and did a sonogram. The last two times we've done this, the technician wasn't able to tell whether I'm carrying a girl or a boy. This time, your child cooperated, and she was able to tell. Brace yourself, Dad, we're going to have a girl! I'm enclosing the relevant sonogram picture but don't feel bad if you can't make everything out; I can't either. I just nod and smile as the technician points out this and that feature. The main thing is we're going to have a daughter, and she's healthy!
Dick stopped reading and just sat for a moment. He and Babs were going to have a little girl! Wow.
Suddenly remembering that time was slipping away, he read the rest of the letter. There wasn't much, just that since they now knew it was a girl, Dinah wanted to go ahead and plan for a baby shower next month to which Babs had reluctantly agreed. Dick smiled and returned to his own unfinished letter.
I just got your letter. A girl!! I wish I could tell you just how excited I am by this. I know I've always said the usual, "As long as it's healthy" stuff, but I'll confess that I've been secretly hoping for a little girl. I don't know whether it's because of Roy's daughter, Lian, or what, but I can't wait! I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to be one of those fathers who is completely wrapped around his little girl's finger.
Speaking of wrapping, I need to wrap this up -- the supply ship is going to leave in ten minutes, and I want this letter on board. I know you get tired of hearing this, but please be careful, honey! Do what Doc Leslie tells you to do. I wish I could hold you and tell you how much I love you, but I hope you can read that in this letter.
Love,
Dick
He quickly folded the papers and tucked them inside a pre-addressed envelope. Dashing out the doorway, he ran full-tilt to the boat bay. Lt. Commander McKeon, a bachelor, laughed at him, but he good-naturedly helped Dick get his letter included in the outgoing mail bag.
"Whew! That was cutting it close! Thanks, Al," Dick said gratefully, as they watched the supply ship being tractored to the bow airlock for launching.
"You're welcome, Richard. But it was really just enlightened self-interest," the older man replied.
"Oh, really?"
"Sure! If your wife got mad at you, she might stop sending the brownies. If she stopped sending brownies, the Skipper would be impossible to live with, especially since the supply ship was my responsibility. Thus, her wrath would fall on me. So, it's in my best interest to make sure your wife stays happy!"
Dick, who was laughing delightedly by this point, managed to sputter out, "Oh, I see! I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I'm passing out brownies, then."
As the two men walked together down the passageway, Dick managed to get his laughter under control. When they stopped in front of the elevator, he turned to McKeon. "The reason I was late was because Barbara found out something about the baby. We're going to have a girl!" he beamed.
McKeon shook Dick's hand. "Congratulations, man! That's certainly great news to hear!"
The elevator doors opened, and McKeon stepped inside. Dick walked back to his office. He planned to put his feet up on his desk, eat some of Alfred's chocolate chip cookies, and thoroughly read the letter from his wife. After delivering some brownies to the Skipper's steward, of course.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Attention on deck!" McKeon called out as Honor entered the briefing room.
"As you were, people," Honor replied and waited for them to be seated around the table. She looked at the officers assembled there, and a fierce smile broke out on her face. "Well, according to our new orders, ladies and gentlemen, the stalemate is over!"
As the dozen or so officers in the room sat in stunned amazement, she instructed the table to display a holographic representation of their section of space. The vast Ch'ton minefield was lit up in yellow, and small red icons denoted known Ch'ton colony worlds and bases that it protected.
"We've been recalled from patrol duties to rejoin Admiral Cortez's task force." A small blob of blue icons appeared on the projection. "Once we're all assembled, we will go through the mine field and launch an attack on Ophidia, one of the Ch'ton's oldest colony worlds." Her smile dissolved into a look of grim determination.
"To be more precise, we will launch an attack at the military forces based near Ophidia. We are not, repeat not to attack the planet directly. To put it bluntly, people, we are going to be bait."
"For whom, ma'am?" Dick asked.
A large, red blob, representing the Ch'ton fleet, appeared on the holo projection. "For that, Mr. Grayson. We have to present a threat serious enough for the Ophidian base to call in for reinforcements from the Ch'ton Home Fleet, which is their closest source of aid."
"And once they do?" McKeon asked in turn.
A large, blue blob appeared on the other side of the mine field. As they watched, it split into two pieces: one section moved to join up with the existing blue icons at Ophidia; the other, larger piece moved "behind" the Ch'ton force. "Our job is to keep the main fleet occupied while the bulk of our force works to catch them in a pincer maneuver."
She looked directly at each person seated around the table and continued, "I want to repeat again, just so everyone understands: we will not launch any attacks directly against Ophidia itself. In fact, my orders are clear -- should the base be more lightly guarded than we think, we are to scrub the mission."
"If it's more lightly guarded, ma'am?" asked Lt. Stromboli in confusion.
"CAG, you were there when we captured Boondock, correct?" Honor asked Dick.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied solemnly. "Midway, too."
"Would you explain the reasoning behind our orders to Lt. Stromboli, please?"
"Yes, ma'am," Dick said in resignation. He turned to face the lieutenant. "Max, perhaps you're aware that when we attacked Boondock, the queen Ch'ton was killed?"
"I thought it was an accident?" Stromboli replied.
"It was. What we discovered later was that the entire population committed suicide after she died. When it was time to attack Midway, we were told to be really careful about attacking the government buildings. We were being so careful, the queen and her ... council, advisors, what-have-you, were able to escape in a fast ship. Their leaving somehow triggered another mass suicide."
"But isn't it our job to destroy the enemy?" asked Lt. Commander Santos, the Chaffee's engineer.
"Dom, I didn't sign up to load children into mass graves, no matter whose children they were. That's what we all ended up doing on Midway, and I hope to God I never have to do something like that again." Dick looked around the table. "Last I heard, the psych guys thought it was some sort of cultural conditioning, but they didn't know how to stop it. From these orders, I'd say they still don't know."
McKeon turned to Honor. "So as I understand it, Skipper, we have to be strong enough to cause them to holler for help, but not so strong that they just give up and run. Then we have to hang on once their cavalry gets there until our guys show up."
"That's it in a nutshell, XO." She gave them another of her fierce smiles. "We're going to be in the hotseat, people, I won't deny it. But I have every faith that you and the rest of our crew will do your jobs to the best of your ability and beyond. Now let's be about it."
** End Part 13 **
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10 Confession time: Except for four characters, every non-DC character name in my story has come from David Weber's wonderful Honor Harrington novels. In most cases, I only used the name; the rank and description (and sometimes the gender) were quite different. Here, though, I decided to pull Honor and McKeon pretty much straight out of On Basilisk Station since I thought Dick deserved an extra-special CO. Thus, the additional disclaimer: Honor Harrington and related characters belong to David Weber, not me.
Also, I know it can be confusing, but it's naval tradition to refer to the officer in charge of the ship as the "Captain" even though the officer in question may not actually hold that rank.