the guns that Pennyweight personnel manned.
      It was at those battles that I first analyzed the enemy movements and procedures. I didn't consider myself a genius, not even near it. However, I was a good student and I picked up on things fairly well. One thing I observed was the enemy's apparent consternation at how our ships were fleeing. If we didn't change our tactics soon, we were going to run into a trap fairly quickly and regret the reduction in force of two years ago in spades. Not that I felt over-confident, but I did feel at times that I could have defeated the entire squadron with only the company's three gun ships, before any of them were upgraded, such as the Thurman had been. Against leadership like what we had, it would have been a picnic for me and a slaughterhouse for them and I was nowhere as good as Captain Marsha Marble. I felt that she could have done it with less than three ships.
      Nonetheless, we kept our mouths shut and went about our jobs. Meanwhile, I insulated myself with the regular Navy personnel by knowing about all of them and making sure that some of the things that should have been done by the Captain and First Officer were taken care of. It wasn't long after the third battle that most of the regular Navy personnel began coming to me for information.
***
Our fourth battle was another retreat against only eight enemy vessels. One of our ships was shot up, but managed to stay with us and went back to port for repairs. Our Squadron Commander was allowed the one mistake, so no more command reassignments were made. Meanwhile, our squadron of nine ships was sent back out on another mission.
***
Our fifth battle was the most disastrous of them all to that time. We lost three ships, one of whom was the Squadron Commander's ship. The idiot decided to charge the enemy at the last minute and forgot to inform the rest of us to attack with him. There wasn't enough of him left to pick up. The Captain who took charge saw what happened and gave the order to retreat. That was when we lost two other ships. Of the six that returned to base, only four were deemed capable of going out, one of which was the Thurman. Of all the damned luck, the Captain of our ship was given the position of Commander of the Squadron. I could only rely on our gunners to do their job in case that moron proved to be as inept as our late commander. I refreshed myself as to his class standing, finding he had been right behind the former captain. I really wondered where in hell were our better officers?
***
While in port, I learned from others that other squadrons were having the same problems, some of them even worse than ours. Only the fact that we actually outnumbered the aliens in total warships to begin with was keeping us alive in that war. I could see that if things kept going the way they were, we wouldn't enjoy that advantage much longer.
      I didn't know that there were things happening quietly behind the scenes. Some of which were going to affect me greatly in the future. A few would affect me sooner than others. Most of them were good, because there were people in the higher command structure who were wondering the same as I. They wanted to know why the hell we were losing when we clearly outnumbered the enemy and had weapons and ships just as good, if not better. The war shouldn't have lasted the four months that it already had.
      While the other two ships were being repaired at breakneck speed, I got my first promotion and became a lieutenant junior grade. I was still behind most of my classmates who were already lieutenants. A few were already lieutenant commanders. One, I learned, was actually a commander and under consideration for the rank of Captain. I was still the junior officer on board the ship, but at least I had achieved something. I also knew the ship and its personnel better than any other officer. Because I was
      It was at those battles that I first analyzed the enemy movements and procedures. I didn't consider myself a genius, not even near it. However, I was a good student and I picked up on things fairly well. One thing I observed was the enemy's apparent consternation at how our ships were fleeing. If we didn't change our tactics soon, we were going to run into a trap fairly quickly and regret the reduction in force of two years ago in spades. Not that I felt over-confident, but I did feel at times that I could have defeated the entire squadron with only the company's three gun ships, before any of them were upgraded, such as the Thurman had been. Against leadership like what we had, it would have been a picnic for me and a slaughterhouse for them and I was nowhere as good as Captain Marsha Marble. I felt that she could have done it with less than three ships.
      Nonetheless, we kept our mouths shut and went about our jobs. Meanwhile, I insulated myself with the regular Navy personnel by knowing about all of them and making sure that some of the things that should have been done by the Captain and First Officer were taken care of. It wasn't long after the third battle that most of the regular Navy personnel began coming to me for information.
***
Our fourth battle was another retreat against only eight enemy vessels. One of our ships was shot up, but managed to stay with us and went back to port for repairs. Our Squadron Commander was allowed the one mistake, so no more command reassignments were made. Meanwhile, our squadron of nine ships was sent back out on another mission.
***
Our fifth battle was the most disastrous of them all to that time. We lost three ships, one of whom was the Squadron Commander's ship. The idiot decided to charge the enemy at the last minute and forgot to inform the rest of us to attack with him. There wasn't enough of him left to pick up. The Captain who took charge saw what happened and gave the order to retreat. That was when we lost two other ships. Of the six that returned to base, only four were deemed capable of going out, one of which was the Thurman. Of all the damned luck, the Captain of our ship was given the position of Commander of the Squadron. I could only rely on our gunners to do their job in case that moron proved to be as inept as our late commander. I refreshed myself as to his class standing, finding he had been right behind the former captain. I really wondered where in hell were our better officers?
***
While in port, I learned from others that other squadrons were having the same problems, some of them even worse than ours. Only the fact that we actually outnumbered the aliens in total warships to begin with was keeping us alive in that war. I could see that if things kept going the way they were, we wouldn't enjoy that advantage much longer.
      I didn't know that there were things happening quietly behind the scenes. Some of which were going to affect me greatly in the future. A few would affect me sooner than others. Most of them were good, because there were people in the higher command structure who were wondering the same as I. They wanted to know why the hell we were losing when we clearly outnumbered the enemy and had weapons and ships just as good, if not better. The war shouldn't have lasted the four months that it already had.
      While the other two ships were being repaired at breakneck speed, I got my first promotion and became a lieutenant junior grade. I was still behind most of my classmates who were already lieutenants. A few were already lieutenant commanders. One, I learned, was actually a commander and under consideration for the rank of Captain. I was still the junior officer on board the ship, but at least I had achieved something. I also knew the ship and its personnel better than any other officer. Because I was
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