Post by Lorpius Prime on Jul 31, 2009 22:51:44 GMT -5
The first Human to touch the surface of Mars was a German astronaut named Ernst Schünemann. In 2055, after spending over 400 days inside a spacecraft the size of a hotel room with the three other members of his crew, Schünemann had stepped out of his landing vehicle, caught his boot on the stepladder, and uttered the now-immortal words "Oh, shit" before smacking the faceplate of his helmet against the rocky ground.
The European Space Agency, which had provided most of the expertise and equipment for the expedition in partnership with NASA, had been quite embarrassed by the whole ordeal for the first year or two afterwards. Now, it was possible to buy commemorative pewter statues from their website which depicted an upside-down Schünemann planting his face into the ground. Schünemann himself was now the successful host of a popular German comedy talk show. The site of his first fall on Mars was marked by a plaque bearing an imprint of his face.
Earth Fleet established the first permanent Human settlement on Mars six years later when it became home base for the newly-organized Third Fleet. Most of the military's infrastructure was still in the form of orbital stations, however. There were a handful of ground installations, mostly small mining operations to provide fuel and basic resources to the ships in orbit, along with a handful of scientific outposts. There was nothing approaching a self-sufficient colony, however. All of Third Fleet's food, equipment, and general supplies had to be shipped from Earth.
Keeping those supplies flowing was arguably the largest logistics project in Human history. Prior to the 2060s, the military's cargo fleet had consisted of less than a dozen shuttle-sized spacecraft. Most of the supplies shipped to Second Fleet on the Moon had been, and still was, carried by privately owned vessels. Building the larger and longer-ranged freighters required to sustain the Mars base had been a massive expansion in the number of operating hulls which required almost doubling the size of the spacer corps in just a few years. The Fleet had managed—barely—and quite a few of its spacers had been unhappy to learn that they were going to be doing the work of civilian merchants, but for less pay.
But despite the success of their logistical efforts, Earth Fleet had not been blind to the inefficiency of shipping such a great quantity of material so far. Which was why the Fleet had been overjoyed when the New Mars Company was formed and announced its intent to found the first self-sustaining colony on the red planet. The whole purpose of creating MarsCOM and Third Fleet had been to claim Mars for eventual Human settlement, of course. But a colony with even a small amount of agricultural and industrial output could relieve a considerable portion of the burden of maintaining the Fleet's station on Mars.
The New Mars Company itself was the brainchild of the American business tycoon and space enthusiast Constantino Toselli. Toselli, as the former President and CEO of the Lockheed Group had been the driving force behind the construction of Earth's first space elevator in Quito as well. It was his vision and iron determination which had ensured the Quito elevator was no minimalist prototype, but an enormous fully-capable spaceport right from its opening. Unfortunately for Toselli, that same forceful personality had also caused his removal from head of the Lockheed Group five years before the elevator's completion. In 2054 Lockheed had been on the verge of total bankruptcy when a shareholder lawsuit finally forced Toselli out of his position despite his own near-controlling stake in the company.
When the elevator finally opened in 2059, however, Toselli was vindicated. Depending on exactly how one valued Bat currency and other rather-murky assets, Toselli was either the very first or the fourteenth richest Human alive. Something around 1% of Earth Fleet's entire annual operating budget went directly into his pocket in the form of usage fees from the Quito elevator.
Even with the success of Quito, however, it had taken Toselli almost another decade before he had gained the trust of enough investors to form the new company. On the whole, the initial capital needed had been less than the total cost of constructing the Quito spaceport (although not less than the initial cost estimate). Unlike Lockheed, however, the New Mars Company would have no additional sources of revenue to use as a lifeline if its flagship project went sour. Toselli had taken meticulous care this time. He'd chartered the company in the United Kingdom instead of the United States to take advantage of somewhat friendlier laws for corporate management as well as a government more willing to sanction the founding of a privately-managed colonial government. The British had also been—according to some of the more cynical observers—cheaper to bribe.
And so things had gone smoothly, or at least had appeared to do so. Construction costs for the three ships which would form the heart of the new colony's infrastructure had gone over budget, but not by the outrageous percentages of Toselli's previous business venture. And Toselli had made sure that he had sufficient emergency funds in reserve to cover the overruns. Making the ships test beds for various new space technologies had also encouraged various governments—especially the OES—to provide considerable subsidies. When the ships had finally launched in 2072 to begin the 3-year project of laying the colony's groundwork, Constantino Toselli had been hailed as a hero of the Human race. A visionary genius who had overcome the doubts of many to forge mankind's destiny in space through sheer force of will.
Unfortunately, his vision had not extended to foreseeing the arrival of the Tadpoles.
On the monitor in front of him, Pascual could see the enormous, rotating bulk of the NMC Discovery. In another year, the ship would have been called Discovery station, the orbital station of the Mars Colony spaceport. It would have only had two tethers for its space elevator to begin with, but the station itself was bigger than any of the orbital stations which capped Earth's elevators, including Quito. The bulk of the ship was a 5 kilometer-long hollow cylinder, which was designed to eventually support a permanent population of up to 7,000 people. Discovery station would have been the stepping off point for all colonists, and it would serve as the home of the first wave of colonists as the groundside-habitats were being assembled into a livable condition.
Now, however, the NMC Discovery would be leaving Mars orbit in a matter of days, never to return. And another of Constantino Toselli's enormous business ventures would go down in flames. Instead of being mankind's greatest success story, he would be mankind's biggest failure. None of it was his fault, of course, but that wouldn't make much of a difference to his financial backers.
Pascual knew that it was worth it, all the same. He just hoped Toselli did too.
Commodore Lee Xi Feng pulled herself through the shuttle's hatch and then paused to smooth out a few wrinkles from her uniform while Lieutenant Muyskens struggled with the same motion.
"Sorry," the commodore's adjutant said sheepishly after finally getting a firm grip on the handlebars.
Xi Feng nodded understandingly, and then motioned for Muyskens to move forward and clear the way for Commander Donaldson to emerge from the shuttle as well. Xi Feng had been here several times previously, but it was the first time either of her subordinates had set foot on the station, and she allowed them to take their time absorbing the experience.
The Earth Fleet Space Station Enyo served as headquarters for MarsCOM. It was a tiny thing, only about half the size of the Uruguay. But without the need to fill so much of its mass with engines and propellant, it could house twice as many people, and in considerably more comfort. The current permanent garrison was less than one hundred, however, so there was still plenty of space to go around.
Enyo orbited Mars slightly more than 23,000 kilometers above the planet, in exact symmetry with the moon Deimos but on the opposite side of Mars. Earlier plans had intended to place MarsCOM on Deimos itself. Ultimately it had proved easier to simply transport a prefabricated station to Mars than to work out all the engineering issues involved in digging up the irregularly-shaped satellite. Instead, Deimos was currently the site of several unmanned communications and sensor facilities, as well as a few weapons and room for plenty of upgrades.
Lieutenant Commander Donaldson finished securing the shuttle hatch behind him and tapped a comm button to inform the pilot that everyone was onboard. Then the intelligence officer rotated his head, ostentatiously cracking the bones of his upper spine.
"Ahh," he said. Lieutenant Muyskens looked horrified. Donaldson ignored her face and looked at Xi Feng. "We ready?" he asked.
Xi Feng nodded, then turned to the Chief Petty Officer waiting silently at the end of the compartment. "Lead the way, Chief."
The CPO saluted and spun briskly to open the hatch behind him. Xi Feng gave her two crewmembers a final brief glance to be sure they were prepared, before setting her shoulders and face. The CPO pulled his way through the hatch.
"Admiral, I have Commodore Lee, commanding Task Force One," he announced in a clear, resonating voice. Then he pushed himself to one side of the hatch to clear the way for Xi Feng and her entourage.
Xi Feng took one more moment to be sure that the expression on her face was exactly right—pleasant, but unsmiling—and then she too pulled her way through the hatch.
The opening on the other side was just a hallway, but that was still enough space to allow a half dozen people to hover comfortably against the far wall. Three Admirals—with a staff assistant for each standing on the wings—were waiting. Xi Feng kept her eyes on the one in the center; she paused on the other side of the hatch and saluted stiffly.
It was a returned in a somewhat more relaxed fashion, and the full Admiral smiled brightly at Xi Feng as he made the gesture. Xi Feng did not have a problem with commanders who adopted a more cheerful demeanor while doing their duty; it was just not her own style. Besides, she didn't look nearly so impressive when grinning like a fool.
"Welcome aboard the Enyo, Commodore Lee," the Admiral said after finishing his salute.
Admiral Joaquin McDermid was the commander of 3rd Fleet, and commander-in-chief of MarsCOM. He was also the only person in the immediate vicinity who was visibly older than Xi Feng. He had transferred from the Chilean Air Force in 2050 as part of the very first batch of Earth Fleet officers. He also had the dubious honor of being the weapons officer aboard the EFS Amistad in 2051. He had personally targeted and triggered two of the kinetic interdiction strikes which wrecked Russia's petroleum infrastructure during the Caspian War of that year. There were still some murmurs within the ranks that the promotion he had been given when Admiral Kozlov was appointed to command of Earth, had been simply been the most expedient way to get McDermid away from Earth without stepping on too many political toes.
If that was the case, however, the Admiral was taking his exile very well. His hair was graying, but it just made him look rugged, not worn down. And if his grin was fabricated, he was a superb actor.
"Thank you, Admiral," Xi Feng replied. She half-turned towards the hatch to introduce her crewmates as they stepped through. "Allow me to present Lieutenant Junior Grade Colleen Muyskens, my adjutant, and Lieutenant Commander Mitchell Donaldson, Task Force One's Chief of Operations and Intelligence."
Muyskens and Donaldson both saluted smartly, then fanned out to hover next to Xi Feng facing the other officers.
"Welcome," Admiral McDermid said, saluting each of them in turn. With that out of the way, he returned to face Xi Feng, "And allow me to introduce Vice Admiral Lilian Poythress, Enyo's station commander," he nodded towards the stocky woman on his right. Admiral Poythress looked even sterner than Xi Feng, and they both exchanged a curt but respectful nod.
McDermid turned to the blond-haired man on his left side. "And I believe you already know Rear Admiral Alvah Goldhirsch, my chief of operations."
Xi Feng had been avoiding Admiral Goldhirsch's eyes. A part of her had been dreading this moment, although she couldn't have said why. Or perhaps she was just unwilling to admit the reason, even to herself.
Like Joaquin McDermid, Alvah Goldhirsch was smiling when Xi Feng met his eyes. But unlike the one McDermid had worn, Xi Feng knew this smile. It was the one he showed to everyone, an almost constant mask upon his face. Cheerful, friendly, and utterly disarming, it was hard not to feel at ease when one saw that face. Unless one really knew the man who owned it. Xi Feng fought to keep down a rising feeling of disgust. It was especially difficult because the feeling was an irrational one. Xi Feng did not hate this man. The professional part of her mind even respected him. Personally, however…
Alvah Goldhirsch had been in Xi Feng's year at Earth Fleet Academy. He had graduated top of his class, and by a wide margin. Some of the other students had bitterly claimed that this was only because he had slept with most of the professors, but those accusations were based on little except jealousy. Alvah was the only cadet who'd been able to maintain a winning record against Xi Feng in the combat simulations. Nor was there any doubting his raw intelligence. He'd earned his ranking within the graduating class.
But sleeping with the professors certainly hadn't hurt his grades, and Xi Feng knew for a fact that he had. But she also knew that he hadn't done it for any reason but the fun of it. It had all been a game to him, a way to prove his own greatness. By the time their class graduated from the Academy, Alvah Goldhirsch had absolutely everyone of any import within the school wrapped around his finger. And that included Xi Feng for just over two years of their time.
Which was probably the true reason that she was disgusted to see that smile again. She hadn't seen Alvah since the Academy, and over that time her assessment of his true nature had changed. He was a brilliant tactician and strategist, to be sure, and one of the most stunningly handsome men Xi Feng had ever seen. But he was too aware of his own gifts, and too confident in the power they gave him. He enjoyed manipulating people, and while he wasn't a sadist seeking to hurt people that way; the realization of the way he'd used Xi Feng had left her feeling quite dirtied whenever she thought about him and their years together.
"It's good to see you again, Commodore," her old classmate said in his rich, laughing voice, "and congratulations on the promotion! You were overdue for it."
"Thank you, Admiral," Xi Feng said as sincerely as she could, and she surprised herself at how honestly she managed to craft those words. She gave him a gracious nod. "And congratulations on your own, how long have you been an Admiral?"
His promotion had come six months ago, and Alvah almost certainly knew that Xi Feng already knew that herself. But they kept up the act anyway.
"Since December," came the easy reply. "Good to see old classmates again, isn't it? I noticed you brought Tony along with the Cyprus, too."
They would have already met, Xi Feng was the last of Task Force One's ship captains to come aboard the Enyo for this little event.
"Shall we get to it then, Commodore?" Admiral McDermid turned and gestured for Xi Feng to accompany him as the party walked down the hallway. Xi Feng fell into step beside him, with Admirals Poythress and Goldhirsch behind, Commander Donaldson and Lieutenant Muyskens following after, and the Admirals' assistants bringing up the rear.
"Now I know this isn't your first time to MarsCOM, Commodore," McDermid said merrily as they walked. "But I hope you'll forgive me if I take you on a brief tour of some of our newer systems. I'm especially eager to show you the new nuclear mines we're deploying. They were originally pitched as cluster munitions for the Moscow project, and we're getting to test them out before anyone else…"
The European Space Agency, which had provided most of the expertise and equipment for the expedition in partnership with NASA, had been quite embarrassed by the whole ordeal for the first year or two afterwards. Now, it was possible to buy commemorative pewter statues from their website which depicted an upside-down Schünemann planting his face into the ground. Schünemann himself was now the successful host of a popular German comedy talk show. The site of his first fall on Mars was marked by a plaque bearing an imprint of his face.
Earth Fleet established the first permanent Human settlement on Mars six years later when it became home base for the newly-organized Third Fleet. Most of the military's infrastructure was still in the form of orbital stations, however. There were a handful of ground installations, mostly small mining operations to provide fuel and basic resources to the ships in orbit, along with a handful of scientific outposts. There was nothing approaching a self-sufficient colony, however. All of Third Fleet's food, equipment, and general supplies had to be shipped from Earth.
Keeping those supplies flowing was arguably the largest logistics project in Human history. Prior to the 2060s, the military's cargo fleet had consisted of less than a dozen shuttle-sized spacecraft. Most of the supplies shipped to Second Fleet on the Moon had been, and still was, carried by privately owned vessels. Building the larger and longer-ranged freighters required to sustain the Mars base had been a massive expansion in the number of operating hulls which required almost doubling the size of the spacer corps in just a few years. The Fleet had managed—barely—and quite a few of its spacers had been unhappy to learn that they were going to be doing the work of civilian merchants, but for less pay.
But despite the success of their logistical efforts, Earth Fleet had not been blind to the inefficiency of shipping such a great quantity of material so far. Which was why the Fleet had been overjoyed when the New Mars Company was formed and announced its intent to found the first self-sustaining colony on the red planet. The whole purpose of creating MarsCOM and Third Fleet had been to claim Mars for eventual Human settlement, of course. But a colony with even a small amount of agricultural and industrial output could relieve a considerable portion of the burden of maintaining the Fleet's station on Mars.
The New Mars Company itself was the brainchild of the American business tycoon and space enthusiast Constantino Toselli. Toselli, as the former President and CEO of the Lockheed Group had been the driving force behind the construction of Earth's first space elevator in Quito as well. It was his vision and iron determination which had ensured the Quito elevator was no minimalist prototype, but an enormous fully-capable spaceport right from its opening. Unfortunately for Toselli, that same forceful personality had also caused his removal from head of the Lockheed Group five years before the elevator's completion. In 2054 Lockheed had been on the verge of total bankruptcy when a shareholder lawsuit finally forced Toselli out of his position despite his own near-controlling stake in the company.
When the elevator finally opened in 2059, however, Toselli was vindicated. Depending on exactly how one valued Bat currency and other rather-murky assets, Toselli was either the very first or the fourteenth richest Human alive. Something around 1% of Earth Fleet's entire annual operating budget went directly into his pocket in the form of usage fees from the Quito elevator.
Even with the success of Quito, however, it had taken Toselli almost another decade before he had gained the trust of enough investors to form the new company. On the whole, the initial capital needed had been less than the total cost of constructing the Quito spaceport (although not less than the initial cost estimate). Unlike Lockheed, however, the New Mars Company would have no additional sources of revenue to use as a lifeline if its flagship project went sour. Toselli had taken meticulous care this time. He'd chartered the company in the United Kingdom instead of the United States to take advantage of somewhat friendlier laws for corporate management as well as a government more willing to sanction the founding of a privately-managed colonial government. The British had also been—according to some of the more cynical observers—cheaper to bribe.
And so things had gone smoothly, or at least had appeared to do so. Construction costs for the three ships which would form the heart of the new colony's infrastructure had gone over budget, but not by the outrageous percentages of Toselli's previous business venture. And Toselli had made sure that he had sufficient emergency funds in reserve to cover the overruns. Making the ships test beds for various new space technologies had also encouraged various governments—especially the OES—to provide considerable subsidies. When the ships had finally launched in 2072 to begin the 3-year project of laying the colony's groundwork, Constantino Toselli had been hailed as a hero of the Human race. A visionary genius who had overcome the doubts of many to forge mankind's destiny in space through sheer force of will.
Unfortunately, his vision had not extended to foreseeing the arrival of the Tadpoles.
On the monitor in front of him, Pascual could see the enormous, rotating bulk of the NMC Discovery. In another year, the ship would have been called Discovery station, the orbital station of the Mars Colony spaceport. It would have only had two tethers for its space elevator to begin with, but the station itself was bigger than any of the orbital stations which capped Earth's elevators, including Quito. The bulk of the ship was a 5 kilometer-long hollow cylinder, which was designed to eventually support a permanent population of up to 7,000 people. Discovery station would have been the stepping off point for all colonists, and it would serve as the home of the first wave of colonists as the groundside-habitats were being assembled into a livable condition.
Now, however, the NMC Discovery would be leaving Mars orbit in a matter of days, never to return. And another of Constantino Toselli's enormous business ventures would go down in flames. Instead of being mankind's greatest success story, he would be mankind's biggest failure. None of it was his fault, of course, but that wouldn't make much of a difference to his financial backers.
Pascual knew that it was worth it, all the same. He just hoped Toselli did too.
* * *
Commodore Lee Xi Feng pulled herself through the shuttle's hatch and then paused to smooth out a few wrinkles from her uniform while Lieutenant Muyskens struggled with the same motion.
"Sorry," the commodore's adjutant said sheepishly after finally getting a firm grip on the handlebars.
Xi Feng nodded understandingly, and then motioned for Muyskens to move forward and clear the way for Commander Donaldson to emerge from the shuttle as well. Xi Feng had been here several times previously, but it was the first time either of her subordinates had set foot on the station, and she allowed them to take their time absorbing the experience.
The Earth Fleet Space Station Enyo served as headquarters for MarsCOM. It was a tiny thing, only about half the size of the Uruguay. But without the need to fill so much of its mass with engines and propellant, it could house twice as many people, and in considerably more comfort. The current permanent garrison was less than one hundred, however, so there was still plenty of space to go around.
Enyo orbited Mars slightly more than 23,000 kilometers above the planet, in exact symmetry with the moon Deimos but on the opposite side of Mars. Earlier plans had intended to place MarsCOM on Deimos itself. Ultimately it had proved easier to simply transport a prefabricated station to Mars than to work out all the engineering issues involved in digging up the irregularly-shaped satellite. Instead, Deimos was currently the site of several unmanned communications and sensor facilities, as well as a few weapons and room for plenty of upgrades.
Lieutenant Commander Donaldson finished securing the shuttle hatch behind him and tapped a comm button to inform the pilot that everyone was onboard. Then the intelligence officer rotated his head, ostentatiously cracking the bones of his upper spine.
"Ahh," he said. Lieutenant Muyskens looked horrified. Donaldson ignored her face and looked at Xi Feng. "We ready?" he asked.
Xi Feng nodded, then turned to the Chief Petty Officer waiting silently at the end of the compartment. "Lead the way, Chief."
The CPO saluted and spun briskly to open the hatch behind him. Xi Feng gave her two crewmembers a final brief glance to be sure they were prepared, before setting her shoulders and face. The CPO pulled his way through the hatch.
"Admiral, I have Commodore Lee, commanding Task Force One," he announced in a clear, resonating voice. Then he pushed himself to one side of the hatch to clear the way for Xi Feng and her entourage.
Xi Feng took one more moment to be sure that the expression on her face was exactly right—pleasant, but unsmiling—and then she too pulled her way through the hatch.
The opening on the other side was just a hallway, but that was still enough space to allow a half dozen people to hover comfortably against the far wall. Three Admirals—with a staff assistant for each standing on the wings—were waiting. Xi Feng kept her eyes on the one in the center; she paused on the other side of the hatch and saluted stiffly.
It was a returned in a somewhat more relaxed fashion, and the full Admiral smiled brightly at Xi Feng as he made the gesture. Xi Feng did not have a problem with commanders who adopted a more cheerful demeanor while doing their duty; it was just not her own style. Besides, she didn't look nearly so impressive when grinning like a fool.
"Welcome aboard the Enyo, Commodore Lee," the Admiral said after finishing his salute.
Admiral Joaquin McDermid was the commander of 3rd Fleet, and commander-in-chief of MarsCOM. He was also the only person in the immediate vicinity who was visibly older than Xi Feng. He had transferred from the Chilean Air Force in 2050 as part of the very first batch of Earth Fleet officers. He also had the dubious honor of being the weapons officer aboard the EFS Amistad in 2051. He had personally targeted and triggered two of the kinetic interdiction strikes which wrecked Russia's petroleum infrastructure during the Caspian War of that year. There were still some murmurs within the ranks that the promotion he had been given when Admiral Kozlov was appointed to command of Earth, had been simply been the most expedient way to get McDermid away from Earth without stepping on too many political toes.
If that was the case, however, the Admiral was taking his exile very well. His hair was graying, but it just made him look rugged, not worn down. And if his grin was fabricated, he was a superb actor.
"Thank you, Admiral," Xi Feng replied. She half-turned towards the hatch to introduce her crewmates as they stepped through. "Allow me to present Lieutenant Junior Grade Colleen Muyskens, my adjutant, and Lieutenant Commander Mitchell Donaldson, Task Force One's Chief of Operations and Intelligence."
Muyskens and Donaldson both saluted smartly, then fanned out to hover next to Xi Feng facing the other officers.
"Welcome," Admiral McDermid said, saluting each of them in turn. With that out of the way, he returned to face Xi Feng, "And allow me to introduce Vice Admiral Lilian Poythress, Enyo's station commander," he nodded towards the stocky woman on his right. Admiral Poythress looked even sterner than Xi Feng, and they both exchanged a curt but respectful nod.
McDermid turned to the blond-haired man on his left side. "And I believe you already know Rear Admiral Alvah Goldhirsch, my chief of operations."
Xi Feng had been avoiding Admiral Goldhirsch's eyes. A part of her had been dreading this moment, although she couldn't have said why. Or perhaps she was just unwilling to admit the reason, even to herself.
Like Joaquin McDermid, Alvah Goldhirsch was smiling when Xi Feng met his eyes. But unlike the one McDermid had worn, Xi Feng knew this smile. It was the one he showed to everyone, an almost constant mask upon his face. Cheerful, friendly, and utterly disarming, it was hard not to feel at ease when one saw that face. Unless one really knew the man who owned it. Xi Feng fought to keep down a rising feeling of disgust. It was especially difficult because the feeling was an irrational one. Xi Feng did not hate this man. The professional part of her mind even respected him. Personally, however…
Alvah Goldhirsch had been in Xi Feng's year at Earth Fleet Academy. He had graduated top of his class, and by a wide margin. Some of the other students had bitterly claimed that this was only because he had slept with most of the professors, but those accusations were based on little except jealousy. Alvah was the only cadet who'd been able to maintain a winning record against Xi Feng in the combat simulations. Nor was there any doubting his raw intelligence. He'd earned his ranking within the graduating class.
But sleeping with the professors certainly hadn't hurt his grades, and Xi Feng knew for a fact that he had. But she also knew that he hadn't done it for any reason but the fun of it. It had all been a game to him, a way to prove his own greatness. By the time their class graduated from the Academy, Alvah Goldhirsch had absolutely everyone of any import within the school wrapped around his finger. And that included Xi Feng for just over two years of their time.
Which was probably the true reason that she was disgusted to see that smile again. She hadn't seen Alvah since the Academy, and over that time her assessment of his true nature had changed. He was a brilliant tactician and strategist, to be sure, and one of the most stunningly handsome men Xi Feng had ever seen. But he was too aware of his own gifts, and too confident in the power they gave him. He enjoyed manipulating people, and while he wasn't a sadist seeking to hurt people that way; the realization of the way he'd used Xi Feng had left her feeling quite dirtied whenever she thought about him and their years together.
"It's good to see you again, Commodore," her old classmate said in his rich, laughing voice, "and congratulations on the promotion! You were overdue for it."
"Thank you, Admiral," Xi Feng said as sincerely as she could, and she surprised herself at how honestly she managed to craft those words. She gave him a gracious nod. "And congratulations on your own, how long have you been an Admiral?"
His promotion had come six months ago, and Alvah almost certainly knew that Xi Feng already knew that herself. But they kept up the act anyway.
"Since December," came the easy reply. "Good to see old classmates again, isn't it? I noticed you brought Tony along with the Cyprus, too."
They would have already met, Xi Feng was the last of Task Force One's ship captains to come aboard the Enyo for this little event.
"Shall we get to it then, Commodore?" Admiral McDermid turned and gestured for Xi Feng to accompany him as the party walked down the hallway. Xi Feng fell into step beside him, with Admirals Poythress and Goldhirsch behind, Commander Donaldson and Lieutenant Muyskens following after, and the Admirals' assistants bringing up the rear.
"Now I know this isn't your first time to MarsCOM, Commodore," McDermid said merrily as they walked. "But I hope you'll forgive me if I take you on a brief tour of some of our newer systems. I'm especially eager to show you the new nuclear mines we're deploying. They were originally pitched as cluster munitions for the Moscow project, and we're getting to test them out before anyone else…"