CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“ALL RIGHT, I THINK that about covers it,” Admiral Miranda Tremayne said. “How are your people settling in, Ash?”
Second Fleet’s commanding officer leaned back and studied the two officers sitting before her desk. Captain Justin Montgomery, her XO, looked tired and she understood. He had just come off-duty, standing bridge watch in her stead while she shuttled back to the surface for a briefing with President Harper and several others. Hopefully, she could let Montgomery find his bed before long.
Ashlyn sat next to Montgomery looking even more exhausted. Not that it surprised Tremayne. In the four days since the Devil Dogs moved onboard the various ships with Second Fleet designated to transport them to their target, Ash had worked almost non-stop to make sure her Marines were settling into their new routine. FlightOps had reported the shuttle assigned to the fleet’s new Marine CO was getting a workout. Each day she had visited different ships in the fleet. Tremayne knew without asking that Ash was checking on not only her Devil Dogs but the other Marines she now found herself in temporary command of.
“Everything is falling into place, Ma’am,” Ashlyn said. “Your Marine CO has kept his people in top form.”
Tremayne waited for her to continue. From the look on Ashlyn’s face, she knew the Marine CO was bothered by something and she had a pretty good idea what.
“Admiral, I have already sent a report back to General Okafor. You should be aware of what it contains.”
A frown creased Tremayne’s brow. That most definitely was not what she expected the younger woman to say. From the way Montgomery sat a bit straighter and looked at Ashlyn in concern, she knew Ashlyn’s words had surprised him as well. Could she have found something that might delay their mission? Worse, had she found a security problem that could scrub the mission altogether?
“I think you’d best explain, Colonel.”
“Ma’am, meaning no disrespect to you or to General Okafor – or to my good mother for that matter – but you are each doing a disservice to Major Laboe. He has done a remarkable job with the Marines assigned to the fleet. They are well-disciplined and extremely well-integrated into the crews of the ships they are assigned to. It is my professional opinion that it will not only disrupt the smooth working of your Marines to put them under my command, especially since I am not nearly as familiar with the workings of the Fleet as they are, but that it also undermines the Major’s authority and position with them. To them, especially since they do not know what our mission is, it looks like you and General Okafor lack confidence in Laboe.”
“I see.”
She did and she cursed herself for not thinking of it. When Okafor had discussed the situation with her, she had been the one to suggest putting Ashlyn in command of all the Marines, those originally assigned to the fleet as well as the Devil Dogs. Her reasoning had been sound, if incomplete – as she now realized. She should have thought about how the Marines under Laboe’s command would feel. More than that, she should have thought about how it might look to Laboe himself. That was an oversight she would correct just as soon as possible. The last thing she wanted was for one of the best Marine COs she had worked with to think she did not have faith in his ability to command.
“And you are right. However, it isn’t my call. Brigadier General Shaw has issued the order and it has been signed off on by General Shaw.”
“True, Ma’am, but if I may be so bold, your recommendation to rescind that order would go a long way to making it happen.”
“Colonel Shaw.” She shook her head, one corner of her mouth quirking up as she remembered Ashlyn using that exact same tone of voice and earnest expression back when she had been Lieutenant Shaw and fresh out of the Academy. Now, as then, Ashlyn had a point.
“Before I do that, I think it prudent that we discuss the matter with Major Laboe.” Before Ashlyn could object, she sent for him. “Anything else to report?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Ashlyn glanced at her datapad and then looked up. “The Devil Dogs have settled in and what repairs needed to be made after the transfer of our equipment have been completed.” She went on to detail how her company commanders were beginning sims and other training exercises. Beginning the next ship’s day, the Devil Dogs would start working with their Navy counterparts in accordance with their specialties. That way, hopefully, they would be ready to step in and assist should the fleet come under fire on the way to their destination.
“Excellent, Colonel.” She held up a finger as her comm beeped softly, signaling an incoming message. “Major Laboe is off-ship at the moment. We will meet with him when he returns at 1800 hours.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Then, unless there is anything else we need to discuss right now, you’re dismissed Colonel, with the order to find your rack and get at least four hours shut eye.”
“Ma’am.” Ashlyn stood, braced momentarily to attention and then left Tremayne’s ready room.
“Now, Justin, you are to do the same. I’ll brief you at 1700 about my meeting dirtside. You are off-duty until then.”
“Aye, Admiral.”
Once alone, Tremayne sighed and called up her e-mail. Near the top of the list of messages waiting for her attention was the report Ashlyn mentioned. Even though it wasn’t an issue yet, she sent a quick note to Okafor and copied it to Elizabeth Shaw, letting them know Ashlyn had spoken with her and they would be meeting with Laboe later. When they had, she would report back to them what her recommendation happened to be.
Once the message was away, she stood and crossed to the view port on the far bulkhead. The vastness of space greeted her. As she adjusted the image, she smiled proudly as the ships under her command came into focus. Second Fleet boasted some of the newer ships in the Fleet, a necessity after the last war and the way the previous Administration had tried to downsize Fleet to a size where it would have been hard pressed to maintain anything more than System security.
The pride of Second Fleet was its flagship, her flagship. Phoenix Rising and its sister ships had been on the drawing board for years. The only reason it had not been scrapped, as plans for the others had been, was because construction had already started at the end of the last war and Congress could not justify throwing the money already spent on it down the proverbial drain. So construction continued, slowed to a crawl, but it continued. Shortly after President Harper took office, he ordered construction to ramp up and the result was she now commanded the first ship to launch under the new Administration.
Not that it was really her ship, Tremayne reminded herself a little regretfully. That pleasure actually fell to her flag captain. But she still took pride in the ship and knew just what it represented. The Phoenix was, in her opinion at least, the best ship in space to date. She looked forward to seeing the ship in action against the enemy. As long as she and her officers didn’t get careless or make too many mistakes, there would be little the Callusians could do to defeat them.
But that didn’t mean they were invincible and Tremayne knew it. The ship was new, barely of the Yard. The one advantage Tremayne had was that the crew from her previous flagship had transferred to the Phoenix from the William Donovan. That meant they not only knew how to work together but the naturalness a good crew had was already present. Tremayne’s only concerns centered on the ship. New as it was, especially with all the new tech, problems were sure to arise. She hoped it happened during the last of their shakedown exercises and not in the middle of battle.
To make sure the latter did not happen, she had better get with her flag captain and make sure he understood what she expected, both long and short term.
* * *
“You wanted to see me, Ma’am?”
Talbot stood in the hatch to her small office, a slight frown touching his lips as he looked around. Looking up, she waved him inside. As she did, she recognized his look and gave a quick shake of her head. They would not have that discussion yet again. Yes, there were other offices in Marine country she cou
ld have taken. Yes, she could have ordered Major Laboe to change offices with her so she had the largest office. But that wasn’t her style. Besides, this office was located the closest to the part of Marine country the Devil Dogs had settled. That was important.
“Shut the hatch, Master Guns.” Once he had, she motioned for him to have a seat. “Before you give me your report, let me brief you on my meeting with the Admiral.”
“Ma’am, is there some other reason than deciding to wait for Delta and Gamma Companies to rejoin us to hold up our departure?” he asked when she finished almost ten minutes later.
“Not that I know of, Loco, and I asked Admiral Tremayne just that. However, I have a feeling there might be something, a suspicion if nothing else. I do know she was called back to the Capital for a briefing and that she is keeping what was said close to her chest. My gut tells me there is more going on than we’ve been told, possibly more than she’s been told yet.”
“Agreed.” He looked as though he liked the situation about as much as she did and that wasn’t much.
“We also discussed the message I sent back to HQ about Major Laboe. While the Admiral isn’t ready to recommend the order be rescinded, she has said she will consider it after we meet with the major.”
“And that will be when, Ma’am?”
“1800 hours.” Before he could protest, she cut him off. “Loco, I know what you are going to say and you don’t have to. The Admiral has already ordered me to take a solid four down. I have enough time to do that and still get some work done before meeting with her and Laboe.”
For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Then he nodded once. “I’ll make sure you aren’t disturbed, after I make sure you do as the Admiral orders.”
She didn’t know whether to laugh or not. Just then he looked and sounded a great deal like her mother when Elizabeth was making a point. In this case, Talbot was letting her know that he would not allow her to nap at her desk or on the decksole. He intended to make sure she not only made it to her quarters but to her bed and she had a feeling he would not hesitate to contact the Admiral if she balked.
“No need. I know I need rest. We all need some. Send word to all Company COs that I’m ordering a halt to all training and sims until 0800. Regular duty shifts are to continue but no extra duty.”
“Understood, Ma’am.” He quickly relayed her orders, adding that any questions were to come to him as the Colonel would be unavailable until after 1900 hours. “Now, Ma’am, I know you have said you haven’t had time to consider replacing either Captain Ortega or Master Sergeant Adamson. However, you are not going to have any better time to do so than now, while we are still in-system. More than that, you can’t keep pushing yourself the way you have been. We need you at your best when we hit the target, not so exhausted you make mistakes.”
She wanted to argue with him but she couldn’t. He was right. The problem was, she wasn’t ready to replace Ortega. As for Adamson, there could be no replacing her. No one was as warped and inventive when it came to training exercises. But she and Talbot came close. Besides, the Company did not need a Master Sergeant as well as a Master Gunnery Sergeant. Not yet, at any rate. She knew she had been lucky to hang onto both of them as long as she had.
She did need an XO, however, like it or not.
“You’re right, Kevin. I’ll even admit I’ve been dragging my feet on it.” A quick laugh escaped her lips at the look of surprise on his face. Clearly, he had not expected her to agree so easily. “Don’t look so hopeful. I’m not going to request a replacement for MJ. I think we can handle her duties between the two of us – three, when I get a new XO – and the other senior non-coms.”
He nodded, not looking quite as pleased.
“So, Master Guns, do you have any recommendations for my XO?”
If he had looked surprised before, he looked stunned now. She smiled slightly. It was a rare occasion when she managed to get something over on the man. His ability to anticipate her orders – and her needs as battalion commander – were two of the things that made him so valuable. It also meant those time she did surprise him were to be savored.
He leaned back and his expression turned thoughtful. A moment later he opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. Instead of saying whatever had been on his mind, he consulted his datapad. Ashlyn waited, wondering who or what he was investigating. She had a feeling it was a who and she would wager her next month’s pay that he was attempting to check on someone’s current assignment and how long it would take for them to join up with the battalion.
“Ma’am, in the hope that you might ask for my input, I took the liberty of preparing a list of three recommendations.”
Of course he had. She might have surprised him by asking for those recommendations when she did but he had known she would give in sooner or later.
“Let me guess. You also pulled their records and current assignments.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Then send them on. I will review them after I follow the Admiral’s orders and get some sleep.” By then she would have her own list as well. It might prove interesting to see how closely his recommendations followed her own.
“It will be waiting for you when you get up,” he assured her and she shook her head. He really did know her too well. If he sent the list now, she would review it instead of getting rest.
“Then let’s finish up here so I can follow orders.”
For the next hour they discussed what sort of training she and Tremayne had planned for not only the Devil Dogs but the entire fleet. Most of it was pretty standard. She planned to put their own spin on it but every exercise was aimed at trying to anticipate possible scenarios they might encounter during the transit to their target. Once they were on their way, she would start running sims for what they might find once they hit the target. In the meantime, she planned on making sure her Marines could fill almost any role needed to keep the fleet from falling in battle.
“Ma’am, you do realize that these last several exercises could end up with you assuming command of at least the ship, if not the fleet?”
If Talbot sounded uncertain, it was nothing compared to what Ashlyn felt. The thought of having to take command of anything larger than a shuttle turned her stomach. She had argued with Tremayne that the most junior Naval officer would still be better suited to command in that situation than she. She was a Marine. She wasn’t trained for space command. Just because she had specialized in Tactics, it didn’t mean she was competent to step in for a seasoned – or unseasoned – ship’s commander.
Dear God, please don’t let this be a portent of what’s to come.
“I know but I also understand the Admiral’s reasoning.” Understanding and liking being two very different matters. Of course, she wouldn’t say so, not even to Talbot. “Word of those sims is not to leave this office. The Admiral wants them to be a surprise. So if you will let the Company commanders know we will run the planned sims tomorrow at 0900, I’d appreciate it. You have the schedule. The only change on it I have is I want all Companies involved in the first sim. Let them know they are competing against one another.”
“Understood, Ma’am.”
“Then I will leave the battalion in your hands, Master Guns, and find my bed. Once my meeting with the Admiral and Laboe is concluded, you are off-duty until morning.”
“Thank you, Ma’am. Rest well.”
She nodded and stood. It didn’t surprise her when Talbot fell in behind her as she left the office. She knew from experience, he would escort her to her quarters and then make sure a guard was set. It wasn’t necessary but the regs required it. Only then would he leave. He had done so at the end of each work day since their arrival onboard the Phoenix Rising and she knew he would continue doing so until they were groundside once more.
* * *
“All right, Justin, I think that about covers everything. Send word to the fleet that we have a scheduled sim tomorrow at 1030 hours. We’ll split them into the same divisi
ons we’ll use as we near the Drakkana System.” Admiral Tremayne lifted her arms over her head and stretched until her back popped.
“I’ll let them know, Ma’am.”
“What they won’t know, nor are we going to tell Colonel Shaw and her Marines, is that we’re going to throw them a little surprise. The sim will actually begin at 0600. Let’s see how they react to the change.”
“You’re an evil woman, Ma’am,” her chief of staff said with an appreciative chuckle.
“I most certainly am,” Tremayne agreed with a grin. “And to prove it, I’m going to change the parameters of the sim as well, something else we aren’t going to tell the rest of the fleet until we spring it on them. Our division will be the attackers. I’ll lay out our strategy after dinner tonight. I want Baker and Charlie Divisions to be the main defensive force. Let’s see how they can work together. They’ve done a good job trying to batter each other’s brains out in the other sims, so now it’s time to make them work in cooperation. The other divisions will be either support or with us. Give it some thought and we’ll hammer out the final tonight.”
“I think we can come up with something appropriate to wake everyone up, Ma’am,” Montgomery said as the comm beeped softly.
“Colonel Shaw is here. Give us a few minutes. Let me know when Major Laboe arrives,” Tremayne said as she stood.
He nodded and left the office. Tremayne watched closely, gauging the interaction of her chief of staff with Ashlyn as they greeted one another. It relieved her to see no tension in their greetings or in the way they shook hands. Good. Not that she had expected anything else.
“Have a seat, Ash,” she said as she returned to her desk. “You’re looking better.”
The dark smudges she had noticed under the younger woman’s eyes earlier no longer looked like bruises. That meant she had slept some. Obviously, it hadn’t been enough but it was a start. All she could hope was there would be time between now and their arrival at the Drakkana System for all of them to get as much rest as possible. Once in-system, she had a feeling rest would be a commodity they would have to little of. That was the way of war, something she had learned long ago.
Honor from Ashes (Honor and Duty Book 3) Page 14
