Jonathan stood too. No one sat when an Admiral stood however imperfectly.
“Jonathan Pavel by the recommendation of the Fleet, the Senate has confirmed upon you the rank of Lieutenant Captain effective this day January 25 th in the 841 Year After Man Left Earth. Congratulations son.” At Keys beckoning, Jonathan took the velvet case. Inside were the two full circles and two hollow circles of Lt. Captain- the Solarian Navies most junior command rank. Jonathan did his best not to collapse. For thirteen years, he’d dreamed and worked toward this day, but after the Valiant he was sure he wouldn’t make captaincy for another decade, if at all. Getting a hold of himself, Jonathan snapped to attention, and saluted “Thank you sir.”
Keys returned the salute after a fashion and smiled again. “Don’t thank me too much, boy, it was Rear Admiral Hopper who recommended you.”
Jonathan was stunned. Rear Admiral Harry Hopper popularly known as Hatchet Hopper had been the Commanding officer of TF-BB032, the man who had confined Jonathan to quarters after the Valiant incident.
“Don’t act so surprised, lad. Old Hatchet can spot a good officer the way a hound can sniff out a grounder, and it seems your former CO Captain Dalvier has tendered his resignation thus removing any controversy in promoting you. If you’ve seen the papers lately, you’ll know you're no longer the Navy’s black eye. All things considered compared to this recent scandal, you were actually a pleasant scandal. Which brings us to our next issue.”
Keys gestured to the parchment, as he sat down.
“That Lt. Captain is your official orders instructing you to take command of RSNS Titan within the next week, and proceed within the next two weeks to the New Helsinki system.”
Jonathan heart gave a lurch. Titan was one of the ships caught up in the Hydra scandal. His face must have shown his thoughts because Keys nodded.
“Aye boy, the Admiralty wants to get the ships involved in the Hydra debacle out of dock as soon as possible, and although I’m among the minority of Officers that wants to pin a medal on your chest for Valiant you still have some detractors in the Senate and the Admiralty. “
“Two birds with one stone then sir,” Jonathan replied “Give the new Captain under a cloud one of the ships under a cloud and send them someplace out of the public eye.”
“Basically” Keys agreed “but as you’re probably aware Admiral of the Fleet Ho does not waste resources. Tell me what do you know about New Helsinki?”
Jonathan searched his mind; he’d always had a good head for figures and stellar cartography.
“It’s one of the systems in the Dominion concession isn’t it sir?”
“Aye it is but it isn’t” Keys answered “When we finished trouncing the Dominion ten years ago New Helsinki was a Dominion ally, and it’s dictator Yohaun Swerjick was a particularly brutal chap. During the war, we occupied New Helsinki, and deposed Yohaun. After the peace accords were signed, we strung the bastard up for his assorted war crimes. Swerjick had maintained a good relationship with the Dominion Diktat by loaning him several divisions of his elite ground troops for the Dominion’s ‘peacekeeping operations’.”
Jonathan shuddered internally. The Taos Dominos idea of peacekeeping usually involved Napalm, and Sarin Gas as a means of effective crowd control.
“At any rate, New Helsinki is one jump from Chaucer’s Gap, and the most direct route under Solarian control into the Kelvin Sector. Making it extremely important for trade.”
“I’m sensing a but sir.”
Keys nodded
“Aye. New Helsinki has six wormways. Three lead to independent systems the Republic has been trying to entice into Client state status since the end of the war. One leads to the Agora system- a sparsely populated place but Dominion territory. The other leads to Novi Toulouse a Confederate system. Due to our treaty with Dominion and in the interest of
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