WoWS3 Chpt 58

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==Weapons of War Saga: The Final March- Chapter 58 - ==
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===Unexpected Assignment===
SLDF Officer School - Dormitory'''
New Lazarus, Star League in Exile
11th April, 3145
The board results were on the Dormitory door when Anh and Fowler came stumbling in to get ready for morning formation.
"Holy ******, Check it out!!" Davis was set to 'recycle' due to disciplinary points, mostly due to his infamous 'potty mouth' and lack of decorum, but Hagman was smiling. "Hey!! Brightman!! Check this!!"
"SLS Tulip?" Brightman looked confused, ******' a…hah! HEY FOWLER!! Come here, check this!!"
Fowler and Anh approached the knot of seniors.
"What is it?"
"Dude, you're gonna need to seriously work on your game, man, your Girlfriend scored a command!" Hagman said with excitement.
"What?" Anh questioned "No I didn't-"
"Uh…yeah, you did, Lieutenant Commander, captain of the Orchid! Wow…"
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===Celebration and Consequences of Promotion===
“A Hazard? They’re giving me a Hazard variant of a Pinto Corvette???” Anh was in shock.
"Probably because you already have experience with Dropship and fighters." Brightman's infectious grin shined "YOU, miss 'I don't want to jump the line to a command', have scored a Corvette as Commanding Officer!" 
"THat's gotta be a mista-" Anh began
"NO, it's a cause for celebration! Hah! Lea Sears, you owe me fifty bucks!! You know what this means right?" Hagman told his friend.
"Uh…" Anh sputtered
"It means, I'm not the only one buying drinks at the Canteen tonight! Hee-haw!!" Hagman announced with a smile.
Fowler grabbed Anh while she was still in shock and kissed her.
"WE ARE!!" Brightman announced, "THE CLASS, WITH THE CLASS!!! HOOOAHHH!"
She kissed Fowler back, while Brightman did the best one-man morale demonstration she'd ever heard of.
The kiss broke and Anh reviewed the list. "Brightman, they gave you Tulip, that's one of the new ones, isn't it?"
“No, a Pinto too. Same formation as yours under McConnel.”
"Huh, wonder what they're saving the imports for…" questioned Anh.
“Probably all the O2s and O3s on the AI Destroyers who don’t even have O-4 billets to move into.” Fowler guessed.
"Yeah, that makes sense." she nodded. "Okay, so, we do Morning formation, PT, clean and dress out for graduation. That's a full day, I need a shower…" she paused, "...your parents are going to be there?"
Fowler nodded.
"Cool… Hey Brightman, your folks coming up from that farm?"
"Dad isn't. Mom will, though." Brightman said, "it's April, that means planting in Hohenfels, dad's got to work, so do the brothers."
“As big of a day as it is, the weather dictates a farmer’s schedule.” Sears joined them.
"Yeah." Brightman said, "Exactly that, and nothing else."
"Nothing?" Sears asked.
Nigel Brightman shook his head, "Dad would come if he didn't have to work the farm." 
Sears looked doubtful, "Okay."
“Come on. If we’re going to get smashed at the Canteen tonight we should do it before it gets too late and we have hangovers to contend with during the ceremony.” Fowler smiled.
Everyone headed for where they needed to be, and Anh hung back, "What's wrong, Lea?"
"His dad doesn't have to work the farm." Sears said to her quietly. 
"What do you know and how do you know it?"
"I saw his mail the other night, while we were…intimate. His old man didn't want him to join the service at all." she said grimly, "Worse than even my mom that way, his mum's coming because the divorce was final."
“Ouch.” Fowler winced.
"Don't let on about it, alright, you didn't hear it from me." Sears urged them.
“Okay. Kibosh the getting smashed thing then. I can’t keep a secret worth a damn if I’m nine sheets to the wind.” Fowler nodded.
"It's okay, I'll keep you reeling so hard you won't get a chance to speak." Anh teased him with a slap on the butt. "Secret's safe with us Lea… you think your mum's going to have a problem with you contracting with Brightman?"
"Mum, will have to learn to deal with the fact she doesn't own me like she owns her factories." Sears said primeally. "She can write me out of her will if she wants, I don't care."
“Good for you, Lea. That kind of relationship is no good. Maybe someday your mom will figure out money doesn’t buy true happiness.” Fowler nodded.
"Ah, but money buys lots of stuff that makes the pain a lot less!" Anh teased, "for buying happiness now, that's spelled out in solid black walnut polished to a mirror finish and worked into a portable desk-and the right drug dealer in the belts…" 
"Reprobate."
"Prig." she kissed him. "Don't worry, I don't buy happiness, the side-effects are a bitch when you buy it."
“Get a room, you two.” Lea giggled.
"Did you see YOUR spot, Lea?"
“Yeah. It’s not bad. Should be able to earn my own way from there. If not, there’s always plan B.”
"Well, I know how to finance a stake, but since you'll be my XO…" Anh reminded her, "we can work out something, after all, I might decide to find a nice deep-space rock of my very own…"
"Didn't the Archon like…make you a noble or something?"
"No, that was Trinh Vu Dao…who then bequeathed it to me when she went AI. I own the real-estate as landlord for an SLDF reservation, but it's an empty title. Her Majesty isn't going to be calling me to court to arrange taxes anytime soon….I hope."
“She’ll just send someone from the tax office. There are a couple nice young men in there. If I hadn’t met Brighton I might have fooled around with one of them instead.”
"I, have a nice young man, and he's not in my immediate chain of command, thanks." Anh grinned.
“Just saying if it doesn’t work out there are options and if they do come to see you you just might have something nice to look at to make the taxes sting a little less.”
"By the time we're done, the Admiralty will be begging to give you a Cruiser, or maybe a task force." Anh asserted, 'Or you'll be giving everyone hell as queen of the Dependents and Mrs. Brightman."
“Like I said there’s always plan b.” Lea giggled.
"What about me?" Fowler asked.
"Well, first I have to erode your resistance to changing your name to Cu'ong…"
“And what’s wrong with Fowler?”
"It's not on the land grant yet." Anh said. "Mind that eventually it will be so you can feel safe that I won't hurt you too bad if you insist on keeping your…family name." she giggled again, and winked at him.
Fowler stopped her in a clear area of the city, where the moon was in full view and fished a box out of his pocket and presented it to her on one knee.
"Where am I going to find a lawyer…" she said tearing up, "YES. Soon." and she accepted his proposal, with a passionate kiss that had him on his back with her straddling him. "Yes."
“Aw….” Lea was fighting back a tear as she wandered off to give them privacy.
“I thought about waiting until later, but the way the moon is out, the way the night is going… I had to now.”
"We have now." she agreed, "we'll need witnesses and a magistrate…wait, that's not how they do things here, is it?"
"Priest or Chaplain, and my parents will insist on attending a ceremony." he confessed.
"We've got dress uniforms, there's a post chaplain at the yard then…paperwork." she unstraddled and helped him up, "We need to see a lawyer, I only know how we did it back home and that's a breeding contract and staking partnership."
“Everything in its place and everything has a purpose. And I don’t know about breeding contracts, I just know what I want.”
"Oh, those are for custody." Anh explained, "We set the terms if we're separated, who gets the kids, who has to pay support. It's done ahead of time in the Belts because sometimes families end up separated by astronomical units and sometimes that ends the relationship."
“Yeah. Even with the HPGs back I can see how long distance can be a problem. But that’s something we have time to figure out.”
"Yeah…but we want to get the wedding done before your folks have to go back home."
“Boy will they be surprised that I’m inviting them to graduation and my wedding. Mom’s going to be pissed at me for not bringing you home to meet her first.”
Anh was silent, and looked up at the stars. "My parent's won't have that problem." she said softly, "Dad would be happy I found someone I wanted to keep though."
“That’s the important part, if our parents have any sense they’ll be happy that we’re happy. And I know my mom will get over it after she meets you.”
"Yah." she leaned into him.
"I screwed up, didn't I?" he asked.
"Not bad." she told him. "Sometimes I forget they're gone too."
“My faith teaches us they’re always with us. Even after death.”
She hugged him to her and he held on to her as the night-Jiminies creaked in the darkness.
 
“Come on, let’s go recruit some drunk midshipmen to help us with our wild and crazy wedding.” Fowler smiled.
Somewhere in the darkness beyond the edge of the system, ships were moving and plans were being made and carried out.
Somewhere, war was about to begin.
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===When Families Meet===
Melora Fowler ruled her home. While her husband Leroy 'ruled the roost' it was only by her leave, and at times, she'd made that clear enough when they were younger.
"Leroy, we're going to be Late! Trayvon's Graduation is in two hours!!"
"I'm already ready dear…" Leroy stepped out of the cubicle, his suits, despite being tailored expertly by Graften and Scherzinger, never seemed to fit the man the right way. He was entirely too comfortable in his more traditional work pants, Cermaitoe boots, and that green jumper he wore on the fishing boats.
"Oh dear…" Melora reached out, undid his tie, and re-did it, "Thirty years together and you'd think I'd get you to tie a double windsor knot! You're a Fisherman! You're supposed to be good with knots!!"
"Sorry dear."
"Stephanie! Douglass!!" she barked, and her two younger children came out of the bedroom of their suite, each dressed in their Church clothes, pressed, and neat.
The way their mother insisted they be most of the time, to be honest.
"Did everyone get to the bathroom?" she demanded.
"Yes mother." Stephanie, her oldest said.
"Yes mother." Douglass asserted, his tight, curly hair cut in a flat-top that held its shape almost without combing.
She peered carefully at each of their faces, giving them a harsh inspection any drill sergeant would kill to imitate, before huffing in satisfaction. "Good. very good. Your brother Trayvon is going to be an officer in her Majesty's Navy!"
"First officer in the family." Leroy asserted.
"So we must make a good impression…gum?"
Douglass spit it out into the proffered hanky.
They proceeded out of the hotel suite after she assured herself that Leroy had the key to both the suite, and the rental car.
Melora Fowler was queen of her home…no, Empress of the home, and she managed the family business and finances with an iron hand. Her Husband managed the men at the Warf, and their ships.
Leroy quietly grumbled at having to drive in the city when there was perfectly good mass transit they could take instead.
The rental car was simple, cheap, and reliable…and an almost unheard of extravagance, because their son was graduating from the Naval Academy.
Despite his grumbling there was only one close call-a City Police Rotunda armored car moving from a precinct to the maintenance center on the far side of town had a flat tyre, and it slowed traffic on K-street for nearly a kilometer while maintenance vehicles from the Armory hoisted the heavy vehicle onto a recovery flatbed.
They arrived in plenty of time, and Melora presented the family's passes to the gate guards, obtained directions to parking, and settled things down enough…
"Did Trayvon mention his surprise, Leroy?" She asked.
"No dear. He only said it was a surprise." Leroy told her. "We could have taken the train."
"No." she asserted, "not today, they only clean those once a day."
“You’re right of course. It is worth it so we can show up looking our best for our boy.” Leroy admitted.
In the car-park, they found a spot next to a battered Farm truck, the sort that rarely comes into town, and beyond that, she saw several luxury cars, and near the far entrance, a Limousine with the crest of JDW Sears Manufactures.
“I sometimes forget how many important families have kids in this class.” Leroy noted the collection of vehicles.
"I didn't." Melora said assertively, "Kari Patterson's son is also graduating, She's one of your biggest clients."
“Her I knew would be here.”
"Daddy, who's drove up the big beater?" Douglass asked, pointing to the farm vehicle. 
“Not sure, it’s a farm vehicle. I deal more with aquatics.” Leroy said thoughtfully.
"It's not a 'beater', Dougie." Stephanie scolded, "Not in public anyway, you don't try shamin' someone for not being as successful as Daddy is!"
“Really though farming is hard work and hard on vehicles. So even brand new ones can look pretty worn down fairly quickly.” Leroy added.
They walked the concourse, passing newer, and older cars, another farm truck, and a Utilibuggy like some of the couriers who worked the inland side used to get to the more remote settlements.
"That's a huntin' truck!" Douglass announced as they passed a second utilibuggy, this one with a pintle for a heavy weapon and rust-stained bed. "There's hunters here too?"
"It's not a critical job anymore. Animal attacks are tapering off in the outer settlements." Stephanie asserted ignorantly.
“All sorts send their kids to the academies. We’re likely to see all sorts of folk we’ve never seen before. But It's still a vital job, Stephanie." Leroy told his daughter. "People still run across alpha predators that don't fear man, they've even caught a Coatl in the city last year. Down the coast, near Biggun point."
"But I thought nobody got hurt-"
"People got hurt, people even got killed." Leroy corrected her, "Coatls are Dangerous animals and this one was wild, and big."
"How big?"
"Big enough the Hunters had to call in backup from the 'mech base to bring it down."
“Wow… That’s a big one alright. I didn’t think they could get that size…” Douglas said.
"I saw it, the Schooner Rosalee had to carry the meat to the processor." Leroy told them, "we made…how much?"
"Twenty thousand off that job." Melora agreed, "it was that week your father didn't come home right away, they called in the boats to help keep it contained until the Hunters and the 'mech could bring it down."
“And that’s post expenses too.” Leroy remembered. “That was a lot of meat.”
They left the parking structure and followed the signs to McKenna Hall.
An area for parents to meet and spend time with their children pre and post ceremony was clearly marked outside the hall.
A pair of Hunters sat at the side of the fence, slouch hats, bush jackets, and polished boots, conversing with Kari Patterson.
A bit further away, Mrs. Sears sat, looking disapprovingly at the whole world through her pink veil and pantsuit, a servant on each side.
And a harried looking middle aged woman in flannel and denim dress was dickering with the barman. To Melora, this was that most oppressed of species, a farm-wife, outside her native habitat. Aged beyond her years, poor thing.
“Probably can’t even afford a good surgeon…” Melora found herself muttering out loud.
The middle aged woman was joined by two children Stephanie's age, both boys, both dressed in suits that were fashionable two, maybe three years ago.
Suits, on top of work-boots.
It was to this group, not the Hunters and Kari Patterson or Mrs. Sears, that Leroy drifted almost immediately.
“Leroy what are you doing?” Melora demanded.
He moved with the same authority she rarely saw these days at home, "excuse me, barman!" he boomed, "What seems to be the problem here?"
"Look sir, there's no problem we're just having a disagreement on-"
"Prices. Am I right?" Leroy Fowler has, when he chooses to use it, an epic scowl. "Do you know who this woman is?" he asked rhetorically.
Melora felt a surge of pride in her husband. THIS was the man she'd married, the Lion, who held himself meek until called upon.
"S-sir?"
"I asked a simple question, barman, do you know who this woman is?" Leroy kept the 'boom' in his voice, like some armored lord, "Well, do you?"
"N-no sir…"
"THen, why are you causing her grief? Do you know how important this woman is?"
“Sir, I’m sure there’s some misunderstanding here…”
"Clearly. Make it right." Leroy scowled magnificently.
The contractor stammered an apology immediately and promised that 'the next one is free'.
"Y'all din' have ta do thet…but ah Thankee."
"I would appreciate a name?" Leroy urged.
"Bettina Brightman…well, until ah change et back. Mah son's…"
"So is ours, come, join my family." Leroy invited. "Your other sons?"
Melora pushed her prejudices down, this is him at the docks, so I will allow it. 
"Je'my an' Tulkas." she said, "ah don' know ef et's-"
"It's fine." he said, "Melora, please assure we have sufficient seats, dear?"
"Of course, Dear."
As they made their way to their seats Melora saw a pair of tall spindly dark skinned people that looked incredibly uncomfortable, dressed in well fitting jumpsuits of some sort sitting next to the area large enough to accommodate the group.
“Oh my… I hope we’re not bothering you…”
“It’s fine. Just a little outside our usual comfort zone, all these people…The sky…” The man turned to her, Wewewala was displayed on his suit.
"It's a special day for all of us." the freakishly tall woman added, "but my partner…" She could see that it was the woman, not the man, who clutched a helmet with a terrified grip.
His own was still close at hand but by comparison he was at ease. But even putting it that way seemed wrong.
"Son or daughter?" she inquired.
"Our son, and our daughters…and one outside the family." the man said, "Whose kin are beyond the veil now."
"Oh? I didn't imagine! I had heard that the Golden Hind had kin in the academy but-"
“We were hesitant to allow them to attend a surface school instead of the burrows, especially since they carry the legacy of a Chief Pathfinder of Golden Hind. But it is a good school And we have come to support them. Because that is our way.”
"Oh my!"
"Jacob, you know there's also a Pathfinder here." the woman insisted, "not Golden Hind."
“Yes. That is how I know it is a good school. A Pathfinder would not allow a bad one on their watch.”
"I…but isn't 'Pathfinder' a Golden Hind title??" Melora asked.
The man laughed..."Heavens and stars no!! Oh…we keep the tradition, but we're not the only Fa'chon does…and we're here for all de spacers for this. Pathfinder is something that binds almost all spacer factions together, it is that powerful of a title."
"Oh?" Stephanie had joined her mother, "but if they're not Golden HInd, who are they?" she asked innocently.
"Free stahs, Almost Extinct, last of a great line fro' thet Fa'chon." the man said, "Rarest, even."
“What does it take to be a Pathfinder?” Douglass asked suddenly curious.
“You must be crazy good at math for one. Another is you must be brave. Perhaps beyond reason. A Pathfinder knows how to manipulate a jump computer to hit as small as a six second transient point.” The woman answered. “To say hitting that small of a window is risky is a vast understatement. Even with the help of a jump computer that is a fast way to rip a Jumpship in half.”
"Stories say," the man continued, "Pathfinders have a special relationship with Hyperspace, they hear the Choir, and it leads them down paths no one else can go."
Douglass was mesmerized by the idea. Stephanie, by their exotic presence.
"I can find a few more seats if you'd care to join my table, we have another guest, of course…and her family." Melora offered.
“Thank you. We have our own party, but it is good to be speaking with you, perhaps after the ceremony and we go inside…"
Everyone found their seating, as the PA system announced with a flourish of music that the ceremony was about to begin.
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