“That’s what the XO is for,” Herzer pointed out. “Actually, that’s what the leading PO is for. Which is why I’m going to have a Talk with PO Riebech after this. I’ve been concentrating so much on the riders that I haven’t had time to make sure everything on the ground crew side was functional.”
“Not quite correct,” Joanna said. “You’ve been focusing on the riders. What you needed to do was ensure that everything else was functional at the same time. If that meant the riders had to do some training on their own, that meant they had to do some training on their own.”
“Too controlling?” Herzer asked.
“Maybe,” Joanna admitted. “What do you think?”
Herzer considered it for a moment and shrugged.
“I’m being chewed out for micromanaging, aren’t I?”
“By me?” Joanna replied. “Everyone knows that when I chew someone out you can hear it in the next fleet.”
“Unless you think there’s a better way,” Herzer said. “Okay, take a light brush with the whole crew for a while? I really want to land with both heels on the ground side.”
“No, I’d say that ground side needs a shaking up,” Joanna admitted. “My weyr has been a pigsty. I was just waiting for you to notice it.”
“Because that’s my job,” Herzer said. “Sorry.”
“Just don’t let it happen again,” Joanna replied, mildly.
“You’re good at this,” Herzer chuckled.
“Son, you got any idea how old I am?” Joanna said with a snort. “Everybody is always aghast at how old your girlfriend is. Nobody bothers to ask how old I am.”
“How old are you?” Herzer asked.
“None of your business, sonny,” Joanna replied with a chuckle. “How are we otherwise, for the inspection I mean?”
“Pretty shipshape,” Herzer said. “We’ve got three more hours. Should be up to snuff by then.”
“Do another round,” Joanna said. “Go do the evil XO thing. I’ll just take another snooze.”
It was Saturday and damned if Edmund was going to kill his ass on paperwork on a Saturday. So after getting up and making sure everyone knew he was awake, he lay back down for a light snooze.
Which was broken by a tap on the door.
Edmund considered acting like he’d been at his desk and then decided to just blow it off. Admirals were supposed to have their perks. He rolled onto the side of the bed and said: “Come.”
“Mer message, sir,” the signal midshipman said. Usually a runner brought the information so it had to be something special.
Edmund took the parchment and looked at it and then nodded. He consulted his calendar and frowned.
“Pass the word to Admiral Shar,” Edmund said, lying back down. “Initiate Operation Front Royal.”
“Front Royal, sir?” the midshipman squeaked.
“Front Royal.”
“Major Herrick,” the skipper said as she walked down Broadway. She opened up one of the wyvern stalls and stepped in, tapping the wyvern on the nose when it nuzzled at her and checked in the corners.
“Clean as a whistle,” she said, walking down to where Joanna was curled. “Commander.”
“Skipper,” Joanna said, nodding her head and lifting one claw in what might be considered a salute.
The skipper walked around the dragon and looked at her area, then spoke to Major Sassan who wrote something in his notebook.
“Not bad,” she said, stepping to the aft corridor hatch. “But either Commander Gramlich is going to have to stop shedding so much or you’re going to have to get on your leading PO.”
“We’ll take care of it, ma’am,” Joanna growled.
“Make signal to all units of the Fleet,” Shar said, coming on deck. “Immediately open sealed packet marked ‘Stonewall.’ Open sealed packet marked ‘Front Royal.’ Open no other packets. Report when all captains have completed their first reading.”
“Yes, sir,” the officer of the deck said.
“Where’s the skipper?”
“Conducting the Saturday inspection, sir.”
“I’m sure the crew will be delighted that it’s now cancelled. Go get him.”
“Skipper,” the signal messenger said, skidding to a halt and pausing to catch his breath. The skipper had made it as far as the kitchens and had just informed the mess officer that he was a disgrace to the uniform. “Ma’am, mer message. Open packet Stonewall. Open packet Front Royal.”
“Well, XO,” Skipper Karcher said. “Looks like we’re done.”
An hour later the skipper came on deck and looked at the telltale on the mast and then at the compass.
“Officer of the deck,” she said. “Prepare to come about, heading one-three-five. Call all hands.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” the lieutenant called as the bosun pipes shrilled.
“Can I ask what’s happening?” Major Sassan said.
“You can ask,” the skipper replied with a growl. “But it doesn’t mean I know the answer.”
“Do you know what is happening?” Destrang asked Van Krief as the ship heeled over and headed south.
“Yes,” she answered, shortly. Since boarding the ships they hadn’t had much to do and she had had too much time to think about the messages she had written for the fleet.
“So tell,” Destrang said.
“Can’t,” she said. “I will say this; if anything goes wrong we’re all screwed.”
Chapter Twenty-one
“This is so screwed.”
The trip to Balmoran had been, if anything, more uncomfortable than the trip from Raven’s Mill, and that was no picnic. And as she rattled through the evening streets of Balmoran Old Town and watched the crowds moving among the shops and taverns Rachel had a hard time envisioning her upcoming duties. She knew that her mother had pounded in some medical training over the last few years. Being honest, she admitted that, for the period, she was a fair doctor. But this was something different, what used to be called “medical administration.” The reports that she had received on the way up indicated that the planners of the base had included only a small infirmary. Given the purpose of the base, to support combat fleets in the northern Atlantis, that made no sense at all. She knew that her first job was going to be straightening out that little logic flaw.
She reached down and petted Azure, stroking him on his head until he rolled over on the floor of the coach and purred. House lions were a very old genetic mod, a house cat the size of a puma with a personality more like that of a dog. She had had Azure, a particularly long-bodied house lion with bright blue eyes and white fur and orange highlights, for longer than she could recall. The house lion had traveled with them to Newfell Base and now he came with her to Balmoran. She had considered leaving him to keep Charles company, but in the end Azure had looked so crestfallen at her packing that she had taken him with her. Now she was glad she had; she wasn’t going to know anyone at the new posting and the house lion was at least a friend.
She looked out the window again as they passed out of the main part of town and beyond the range of street lamps. The buildings in this area were apparently warehouses and she saw fewer figures among them, these much more furtive than the boisterous crowds downtown. She laid her hand on Azure’s shoulder as one of a group of figures started to step out of shadow, then relaxed as they decided, apparently, that the coach, with its heavily armed driver and assistant driver, was more trouble than it might be worth. She sincerely hoped she wouldn’t be forced to travel through this area as part of her job.