Raven's Flag by Glynn Stewart

Author:Glynn Stewart [Stewart, Glynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781989674413
Publisher: Faolan's Pen Publishing
Published: 2023-10-16T16:00:00+00:00

25

Normally, Henry would instruct a pair of officers joining him to “take a seat.” Given that Captain Campbell brought his own seat, that would probably have just sounded bad, and he caught the words before they even left his mouth.

“Make yourselves comfortable, Colonels,” he instructed O’Flannagain and Campbell, then paused as a third Colonel made a happy barking noise, appeared to teleport out of nowhere and promptly lay down under his desk.

“Not you,” Henry told Colonel Zebedee. “How did Colonel Zeb even get in here?”

“I think he followed me in,” Campbell said with a chuckle. “I can…”

“I’ve got him,” Quaid replied swiftly, the steward swooping in with some kind of sausage to lure the corgi out from underneath Henry’s desk. Zebedee—whose collar did have the steel oak leaf of a full Colonel and was on the table of organization as that, even if he looked like an oversized furry loaf of bread—allowed himself to be lured and then scooped up by Quaid.

Once Renown’s corgi Colonel had been removed from Henry’s office, the Rear Admiral turned his gaze back on his two Captains.

O’Flannagain was in an interesting position. As the Captain of a fleet carrier, she was arguably either the senior or second-most-senior Captain in Task Group One. By actual date of rank and experience as a starship captain—versus flight group commander—she was junior to Colonel Sierra Vishnu, Turquoise’s commanding officer and the most junior of the full Colonel starship captains.

By virtue of being an old subordinate of the Rear Admiral, she ended up acting as the second-senior Captain of the task group, though Henry would probably have included Vishnu in the meeting if she and her ship had been in the same star system as the rest of TG One.

Turquoise was still playing support for the destroyer scouting operation, though, which left him with only two Colonel-level captains. Colonel Ivanova, his fourth non-staff Colonel, was busy leading the scouting operation from the front, something Henry wasn’t hypocritical enough to argue with.

Too many of his actions as commanding officer of a destroyer squadron had ended up with capital letters after the fact. The Osiris Run. The Stand of the Cataphracts. The Rescue of Convoy Blue Green Orange…

“I’m not sure what required me to come all the way over to the flagship, ser,” O’Flannagain said bluntly. If the woman had a filter, she’d never exercised it around Henry. “But it’s you, so I’m figuring it’s a big deal.”

“It may be,” he conceded. “It might not be, but I suspect it’s going to be a giant pain in everyone’s day.”

Henry might be demisexual and blind to people’s feelings with regards to him, but he was well trained in reading people’s mannerisms in general. He did not miss the way the redheaded carrier CO was eyeing his flag captain.

“I know it’s been a weird trip so far,” Henry continued. “Sharma tells me that the two of you have been in quite a bit of communication?”

Until he’d seen the pair in a room together, he had assumed that had been work.

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