09-07-2016, 08:34 AM
End of Chapter 4, so will start Chapter 5 right afterward.
Fox Hunt: The Foxy returned to Gibraltar to refit as well as reunite 2nd Watch with the rest of the ship’s company. We had only a few days’ R&R, nothing like the extended liberty at Goldstone. In the meantime the 141st (the 45th and 78th ATG’s, the later being from TF Stacy) made sure Madrid was secure enough for transit to and from Gibraltar. When Foxy returned to the 452nd Lady Marie was happy to see her other cruiser return and take up the slack in the patrol schedule
We didn’t do much patrolling however as the Hoopskirt returned letting us know that Princess Nicole was just three systems away at CRW 341. We had the systems of Direrum and Mango in between us. Hoopskirt also reported that a large, (2 full starfleets worth of Corp ships were pursing and converging on the 39th, their skipper also informed us of the defeat of the 75th Lincoln at Al Jabel.
We were staggered at the losses but not surprised as none of us had much faith in the Lincoln house forces. For that matter since I was in an Imperial Attack Fleet, we had a low opinion of any of the house forces, including Volkberg and Huntsman, although the 4th Huntsman proved themselves and was hammered in that test. So even when the 141st arrives, or what was available we would be hard pressed to tangle with the Corp forces, however no one was willing to let the Corps tear up the 39th especially after being so callously used by the Lincolns.
“Ma’am Lady Janice wants all department heads in the wardroom ASAP.”
“Right, thank you Miss Travis,” I replied, while getting up from the desk in my office/quarters. I grabbed my blouse and hastily threw it on and headed for the wardroom.
I was not the first one there but nor was I the last one. Ms. Wilson arrived in her trademark orange jumpsuit, and was slathered in grease and other grime.
“Heh, well Tina I did say ASAP but you could have at least cleaned up a bit..”
“Sorry Ma’am I was down working on the condenser for number two, that bastard is still sputtering I have Ms. Valentine’s crew working on it now.”
“No problem, at least your blouse isn’t inside out like Ms Parker…”
I looked down and just then noticed that I indeed had my blouse on inside out. With a sheepish grin, I quickly fixed that problem.
“Ok now that minor wardrobe issue with the Exec is taken care of, we got our marching orders. The 452nd is going to jump as a full squadron to Mango and then without waiting for the rest of the TG we are going to proceed full speed to the jump point to Direrum, there we will set up a picket zone and hopefully wait for the rest of the TG or possibly even the 39th. The 78th and other assorted units (meaning the remnants of the other TG’s) have the responsibility of holding Mango, we must get to Direrum as fast as possible, that means any AC we need to launch in Mango will either fend for themselves or must jump on their own to Direrum. Yes Ms. Kemple?”
“Ma’am I am not comfortable transiting without a fighter cover, but the idea of leaving my girls out there is not one I enjoy.”
“Right, well then do a minimal screen with jump capable craft only. The situation is this, ladies the 39th and the Exfleet detachments are heading this way, but are being pursued by no less than 6 Corporate Battle Fleets, that is the equivalent to two of our Starfleets. Our job is to make the transit corridor free from Corporate interference.” Lady Janice pauses and activates the holo display showing the systems in question. She then continues. “Duchess Catherine has two Task Groups, plus several independent squadrons. Mango is the key but we must also secure Direrum long enough for the 39th to make it. Scouts believe that an entire Corporate Battle Fleet is stationed at Mango, the 45th and especially the 452nd has orders not to seek an engagement. In fact we are to press on to Direrum regardless of other considerations. Hoopskirt is already at Direrum while the Sunshine is already in Mango keeping tabs on things. Firebat will lead with Foxy following right behind her; the Lori and Double L will trail and cover our flanks. Do you have questions?” She pauses again seeing we don’t have any questions. “Right ok we jump in 20 minutes, so set the time line accordingly, oh and Ms Parker upon your arrival to the BDC have Miss Travis sound Action Stations.”
“Aye Aye!” I replied. Then along with others hurried to get the ship ready to jump and make a hostile transit in less than half an hour.
The jump was uneventful however the reception at Mango was not. Firebat was speeding to the far jump point and was being pursued by a Trig and two Newtons. Neither side had a real advantage; however we were in the perfect place to give the Corps something to think about. Lady Janice ordered Ms. Duquesne to take the heat off the Firebat, and so with four shots from our main batteries one Newton was vaporized and the Trig damaged. The Newton stayed on the Firebat but for some reason the Trig decided he wanted to play. A damaged destroyer versus a light cruiser, not even money odds. Another blast from the main batteries quickly drove that point home, and the Trig listed DIS. However the fight with the Trig did slow us down so that the Corp blocking force decided to do something about us. 2L was the first to see the four Thetas scream towards us. We used the warning and broke contact and headed away from the jump point. Lady Janice told Firebat the news and ordered both the Lori and 2L to remain with the Firebat, we were going to draw the Theta’s away.
“Fire LRAMS tubes 8 to 13, target lead Theta!” shouted Lady Janice.
“Aye Ma’am locking onto target and firing.” Replied the weapons officette. Six LRAMs was not an insurmountable obstacle but it would force the Thetas to separate and break their own weapons’ locks. As it turned out, three of the large missiles did detonate close enough to do damage.
“Ma’am we have impact, the lead Theta is reducing power and seems to be falling behind fast.” This came from Miss Goldenstein. “We have two more Trigs joining the fun though.”
“Roger that thank you Rebecca, Ms. Parker, you best get up to your action station.”
“Aye Aye.” And so I headed up to the VNB. For the next few hours we played cat and mouse dodging sporadic weapons fire, while returning limited fire of our own. We saw the three other ships make the safe jump to Direrum so now all we had to do was play coy until the Cavalry arrived. A few more minutes passed by when the near jump point flared with twelve large signals. Soon after the Voyeur identified the transponders of the Dragoon and Derby and their escorts, the Corps soon lost interest in the light cruiser they were chasing. And they had every right to be concerned between the two battle cruisers, the four other light cruises and six destroyers that jumped in. Nearly 200 LRAMS were launched at the Corporate ships. The contest was over before it really got started, so we gave our thanks to the Dragoon and high tailed it for Direrum.
Upon reaching Direrum we rejoined the rest of the squadron. Once there our aerospace forces were launched and began aggressive patrolling. We knew that both friendly and enemy forces were going to transit this system but it was a coin toss to see which one came first. The winner turned out to be Corporate forces from 821st CAF or Corporate Attack Fleet. Twelve Dolcianis, three Pascals about eighteen Thetas and two Descartes and another 20 smaller ships and vessels jumped in. Several were damaged and the Descartes had minimum aerospace wings. The reason why became obvious as the Sunshine jumped in and broadcasted the results of the fight in Mango.
The 141st hammered the 821st CAF, decimating the screen and aerospace forces. Imperial losses were relatively light as the ships fired only missiles and used long range aerospace. Because of the frustration of the fight in Mango the 821st was eager for revenge, and so 452nd CRURON became a method for the Corps to release some pent up frustration, however the Sunshine jumped out and the two fast cruisers and destroyers made things very difficult for the Corps. Only their Thetas and Newtons had any chance, and with our aerospace deployed we discouraged the bigger Thetas from getting within range. As for the pesky Newtons, the guns on the cruisers made short work of any that strayed too close.
We played with the escorts, while lobbing the occasional LRAM cluster at the big boys for about an hour when, all of a sudden over 50 jump signatures appeared. The 39th had arrived. Those were not fighter signatures either but rather the van of the massive Starfleet, eighteen dreadnoughts and twenty battle-cruisers. Those ships were accompanied by twelve carriers and close to thirty light and medium cruisers. Needless to say the half of dozen light ships were no longer a concern. However we did our best to make the Corps aware of us. Soon after another large group jumped in, and the cycle repeated until the whole Ex Fleet made Direrum their temporary home. We were ordered, along with five other CRURONS to form the rear guard while the rest of the force transited the system. By this time the twelve ships remaining from the 821st had jumped out.
The last of the main body jumped out when we detected 80 jump signatures. Our aerospace craft were quickly recalled and as one unit all of the cruisers and destroyers of the rearguard fired off their LRAMS, we only had eight left, but with the other ships nearly 300 missiles headed for the Corporate ships. We then headed for the jump point to Mango where we met the rest of the 141st and as a whole unit retired to Gibraltar. Upon our arrival to Gibraltar we were greeted by the sight of the ships of the 78th Lincoln and the 24th Huntsman starfleets Crown Princess Alexandria Metterich, the new regent for the Gibraltar Wormhole junction relived Crown Princess Nicole and the 1st EX Fleet of their duties. The undamaged ships of the Exfleet were reorganized into the 54th Starfleet. However the 452nd was to return to Goldstone and with the elements of the 45th ATG and 85th ATG headed back to Goddard and Avonia for refitting and reassignment.
Command School Daze: The Foxglove was laid up in dry dock for several months; the crew members were either given planetside postings or were transferred to other ships. As for one Madame Kommandette (Brevet) Cynthia Parker, well I went back to school. More specifically the Command and Finishing School followed by The Ship’ Mistress Command Course. The first school was for senior officettes and the occasional Lady from all of the branches of AIDOF, while the second school was for those in SAN that were being groomed for her own command.
The Imperial Finishing and Command Training School for Ladies, located on New Gretchlogos is the main training center for senior ranks. As a Kommandette I was in the middle of the pack, several well born junior officettes were also in attendance. My class had quite a few veterans from the Ex Fleet and supporting operations, so I was not lonely. In fact two of my friends from the 85th were present, Lady Tamara Francis (guess she got the promotion to higher level after all), and Madame Kommandette Nelson, the executive of the Gremlin during the first tour. Someone finally thinks she might make a good commanding officer; she was not upset at seeing two of her former subordinates either above or at her same grade. As I found out life on an escort cruiser is not very adventurous compared to a light cruiser or even the bigger cap ships.
The course work was very hard and demanding, but with sheer determination I managed to pass through with above average marks. The real challenge was the field problems, which put all of us SAN types at a disadvantage, although we smoked the ground pounders in the stellar simulations. I was able to get the second highest score on the fleet battle simulator, and got the highest score on the individual ship simulator. By the time the four month course was over my promotion to Kommandette was permanent which pretty much guaranteed me a future command.
The good news about the school was I was able to have visitors including Wendy, now a Madame Kaptain, and Barbara also a Kaptain, she had a slot as a senior instructor at the Aerospace Pilot School. Terry was assigned to a transition squadron that trained veteran pilots in the Raptor. After graduating from the Finishing School, I spent a couple of days with Barbara on Terri. The 1st Imperial Starfleet was based there, along with the big Aerospace Kommand school, so seeing a Madame Kommandette in the light blue of SAN was not unusual. When her squadron’s training rotation was complete, which happened to be about three weeks before I had to report to the Ship’s Mistress Command Course, we took a holiday to Amazonia.
Being on the capital world during the Festival of Eos was an experience that is hard to describe. Frankly I don’t remember much of it, as we were both living up the high life. On Valentine’s Day Wendy and Terry joined us. That adventure made the time at the liberty camp seem like staying home and watching old vids.
Alas my orders to report to SMCC came and I bided Barbara farewell, as she had to resume training young aerobabes. Upon departing Terri for Avonia I met up with Lady Tamara, she was assigned to the AISS Gopher a brand new Neptune complete with redesigned weapons and huge hanger bay for Raptors. The Gopher was the goal keeper for the AISS Intrepid an older refitted Juno class carrier. They were both in the 651st CARON as part of the 65th CTG. The 65th was part of the 12th Imperial Starfleet and was training up along the Imperial Confederation Border. The 65th was a new unit, even though several of its ships were not, but most of the crews and ship’s mistresses were also new or relatively new. So they were in a quiet area so the new crews could gain some valuable experience without being in too much risk.
I reported to SMCC and was with a class of forty other Kommandettes and even a couple of Ladies who received promotions but had not commanded a ship. This course made Finishing School seem easy. We had to know everything about starships, including the other divisions especially engineering and weapons. This course was very demanding and quite long; however I was able to finish up the first portion with above average grades. As for the second portion, well that was fun. I came in the top five on the ship simulator and impressed my instructors with the decisions made regarding fighting overwhelming odds. My experience with the Golgotha and the Foxglove helped immensely.
Many of my peers were impressed with my Gold Star Cluster, and even more impressed on how and when I received it. I received another MSM for the actions at Direrum and Mango, so my rows of ribbons were quite impressive even for a Madame Kommandette. While in the last phase of the course, I received a hyper comm. gram from Barbara saying that she and Terry were both transferring to the 65th CARON, Terry was posted to the 329th Interceptor Squadron as Squadron Mother, and she was posted to the 34th Interception Group light as its executive officette. The 329th would be based on the Intrepid, while the 34th IG(light) was the aerospace force on the Gopher. Hearing that message I placed a request to DIRPER that I be assigned to the 65th CARON if at all possible.
Upon graduation from SMCC we received our new orders, it seemed that the Gopher and the Intrepid were fully staffed, well at least for Command branch Kommandettes, but the screening squadron the 652nd had a few openings, including two ship Mistress Postings. One was an attack destroyer the other was a light cruiser. The problem with commanding the destroyer was I have never served in anything smaller than a light cruiser. And to be posted as a cruiser skipper I would be very junior.
However fate would go to my favor as the latest round with the Corporates caused a shortage of senior command personnel, and so even though I was still very junior, my actual combat and command experience convinced DIRPER to assign me as the Mistress of the AISS Feline. To go with the new assignment was a new set of uniforms and insignia, as I now was Lady Equetassa Cynthia Parker, Mistress of Her Imperial Majesty’s Starship Feline., FAC 232. The other thing going in my favor was the Feline was just out of the shipyard and had a totally new crew. I requested that Kaptain Travis be assigned to my weapon’s division to find out that she was now Kommandette Travis, so therefore I made her my Weapons Officette. My other seniors and department heads were Ms. Rita Watson, Engineering, Ms. Gloria Steinbaum, the Executive, Ms. Wanda Porter, BDCO, Ms. Harriet Watts, Environmental, Ms. Erica Schnieder, Damage Control Officette, Ms. Melanie Davis, Matriarch of the Aerogroup (as a new ship we carried two squadrons, one a dedicated fighter squadron of Warriors and a composite strike squadron of both Shaman and Tempest D’s. The D version had a jump drive so they could accompany the Shaman Bombers. The last was Miss Ursula Kimber, the matriarch of the NAIL Troop. I was to meet them and my new ship at Dock 52 at Lovely Shipyards, just a couple of jumps away from Avonia.
Fox Hunt: The Foxy returned to Gibraltar to refit as well as reunite 2nd Watch with the rest of the ship’s company. We had only a few days’ R&R, nothing like the extended liberty at Goldstone. In the meantime the 141st (the 45th and 78th ATG’s, the later being from TF Stacy) made sure Madrid was secure enough for transit to and from Gibraltar. When Foxy returned to the 452nd Lady Marie was happy to see her other cruiser return and take up the slack in the patrol schedule
We didn’t do much patrolling however as the Hoopskirt returned letting us know that Princess Nicole was just three systems away at CRW 341. We had the systems of Direrum and Mango in between us. Hoopskirt also reported that a large, (2 full starfleets worth of Corp ships were pursing and converging on the 39th, their skipper also informed us of the defeat of the 75th Lincoln at Al Jabel.
We were staggered at the losses but not surprised as none of us had much faith in the Lincoln house forces. For that matter since I was in an Imperial Attack Fleet, we had a low opinion of any of the house forces, including Volkberg and Huntsman, although the 4th Huntsman proved themselves and was hammered in that test. So even when the 141st arrives, or what was available we would be hard pressed to tangle with the Corp forces, however no one was willing to let the Corps tear up the 39th especially after being so callously used by the Lincolns.
“Ma’am Lady Janice wants all department heads in the wardroom ASAP.”
“Right, thank you Miss Travis,” I replied, while getting up from the desk in my office/quarters. I grabbed my blouse and hastily threw it on and headed for the wardroom.
I was not the first one there but nor was I the last one. Ms. Wilson arrived in her trademark orange jumpsuit, and was slathered in grease and other grime.
“Heh, well Tina I did say ASAP but you could have at least cleaned up a bit..”
“Sorry Ma’am I was down working on the condenser for number two, that bastard is still sputtering I have Ms. Valentine’s crew working on it now.”
“No problem, at least your blouse isn’t inside out like Ms Parker…”
I looked down and just then noticed that I indeed had my blouse on inside out. With a sheepish grin, I quickly fixed that problem.
“Ok now that minor wardrobe issue with the Exec is taken care of, we got our marching orders. The 452nd is going to jump as a full squadron to Mango and then without waiting for the rest of the TG we are going to proceed full speed to the jump point to Direrum, there we will set up a picket zone and hopefully wait for the rest of the TG or possibly even the 39th. The 78th and other assorted units (meaning the remnants of the other TG’s) have the responsibility of holding Mango, we must get to Direrum as fast as possible, that means any AC we need to launch in Mango will either fend for themselves or must jump on their own to Direrum. Yes Ms. Kemple?”
“Ma’am I am not comfortable transiting without a fighter cover, but the idea of leaving my girls out there is not one I enjoy.”
“Right, well then do a minimal screen with jump capable craft only. The situation is this, ladies the 39th and the Exfleet detachments are heading this way, but are being pursued by no less than 6 Corporate Battle Fleets, that is the equivalent to two of our Starfleets. Our job is to make the transit corridor free from Corporate interference.” Lady Janice pauses and activates the holo display showing the systems in question. She then continues. “Duchess Catherine has two Task Groups, plus several independent squadrons. Mango is the key but we must also secure Direrum long enough for the 39th to make it. Scouts believe that an entire Corporate Battle Fleet is stationed at Mango, the 45th and especially the 452nd has orders not to seek an engagement. In fact we are to press on to Direrum regardless of other considerations. Hoopskirt is already at Direrum while the Sunshine is already in Mango keeping tabs on things. Firebat will lead with Foxy following right behind her; the Lori and Double L will trail and cover our flanks. Do you have questions?” She pauses again seeing we don’t have any questions. “Right ok we jump in 20 minutes, so set the time line accordingly, oh and Ms Parker upon your arrival to the BDC have Miss Travis sound Action Stations.”
“Aye Aye!” I replied. Then along with others hurried to get the ship ready to jump and make a hostile transit in less than half an hour.
The jump was uneventful however the reception at Mango was not. Firebat was speeding to the far jump point and was being pursued by a Trig and two Newtons. Neither side had a real advantage; however we were in the perfect place to give the Corps something to think about. Lady Janice ordered Ms. Duquesne to take the heat off the Firebat, and so with four shots from our main batteries one Newton was vaporized and the Trig damaged. The Newton stayed on the Firebat but for some reason the Trig decided he wanted to play. A damaged destroyer versus a light cruiser, not even money odds. Another blast from the main batteries quickly drove that point home, and the Trig listed DIS. However the fight with the Trig did slow us down so that the Corp blocking force decided to do something about us. 2L was the first to see the four Thetas scream towards us. We used the warning and broke contact and headed away from the jump point. Lady Janice told Firebat the news and ordered both the Lori and 2L to remain with the Firebat, we were going to draw the Theta’s away.
“Fire LRAMS tubes 8 to 13, target lead Theta!” shouted Lady Janice.
“Aye Ma’am locking onto target and firing.” Replied the weapons officette. Six LRAMs was not an insurmountable obstacle but it would force the Thetas to separate and break their own weapons’ locks. As it turned out, three of the large missiles did detonate close enough to do damage.
“Ma’am we have impact, the lead Theta is reducing power and seems to be falling behind fast.” This came from Miss Goldenstein. “We have two more Trigs joining the fun though.”
“Roger that thank you Rebecca, Ms. Parker, you best get up to your action station.”
“Aye Aye.” And so I headed up to the VNB. For the next few hours we played cat and mouse dodging sporadic weapons fire, while returning limited fire of our own. We saw the three other ships make the safe jump to Direrum so now all we had to do was play coy until the Cavalry arrived. A few more minutes passed by when the near jump point flared with twelve large signals. Soon after the Voyeur identified the transponders of the Dragoon and Derby and their escorts, the Corps soon lost interest in the light cruiser they were chasing. And they had every right to be concerned between the two battle cruisers, the four other light cruises and six destroyers that jumped in. Nearly 200 LRAMS were launched at the Corporate ships. The contest was over before it really got started, so we gave our thanks to the Dragoon and high tailed it for Direrum.
Upon reaching Direrum we rejoined the rest of the squadron. Once there our aerospace forces were launched and began aggressive patrolling. We knew that both friendly and enemy forces were going to transit this system but it was a coin toss to see which one came first. The winner turned out to be Corporate forces from 821st CAF or Corporate Attack Fleet. Twelve Dolcianis, three Pascals about eighteen Thetas and two Descartes and another 20 smaller ships and vessels jumped in. Several were damaged and the Descartes had minimum aerospace wings. The reason why became obvious as the Sunshine jumped in and broadcasted the results of the fight in Mango.
The 141st hammered the 821st CAF, decimating the screen and aerospace forces. Imperial losses were relatively light as the ships fired only missiles and used long range aerospace. Because of the frustration of the fight in Mango the 821st was eager for revenge, and so 452nd CRURON became a method for the Corps to release some pent up frustration, however the Sunshine jumped out and the two fast cruisers and destroyers made things very difficult for the Corps. Only their Thetas and Newtons had any chance, and with our aerospace deployed we discouraged the bigger Thetas from getting within range. As for the pesky Newtons, the guns on the cruisers made short work of any that strayed too close.
We played with the escorts, while lobbing the occasional LRAM cluster at the big boys for about an hour when, all of a sudden over 50 jump signatures appeared. The 39th had arrived. Those were not fighter signatures either but rather the van of the massive Starfleet, eighteen dreadnoughts and twenty battle-cruisers. Those ships were accompanied by twelve carriers and close to thirty light and medium cruisers. Needless to say the half of dozen light ships were no longer a concern. However we did our best to make the Corps aware of us. Soon after another large group jumped in, and the cycle repeated until the whole Ex Fleet made Direrum their temporary home. We were ordered, along with five other CRURONS to form the rear guard while the rest of the force transited the system. By this time the twelve ships remaining from the 821st had jumped out.
The last of the main body jumped out when we detected 80 jump signatures. Our aerospace craft were quickly recalled and as one unit all of the cruisers and destroyers of the rearguard fired off their LRAMS, we only had eight left, but with the other ships nearly 300 missiles headed for the Corporate ships. We then headed for the jump point to Mango where we met the rest of the 141st and as a whole unit retired to Gibraltar. Upon our arrival to Gibraltar we were greeted by the sight of the ships of the 78th Lincoln and the 24th Huntsman starfleets Crown Princess Alexandria Metterich, the new regent for the Gibraltar Wormhole junction relived Crown Princess Nicole and the 1st EX Fleet of their duties. The undamaged ships of the Exfleet were reorganized into the 54th Starfleet. However the 452nd was to return to Goldstone and with the elements of the 45th ATG and 85th ATG headed back to Goddard and Avonia for refitting and reassignment.
Command School Daze: The Foxglove was laid up in dry dock for several months; the crew members were either given planetside postings or were transferred to other ships. As for one Madame Kommandette (Brevet) Cynthia Parker, well I went back to school. More specifically the Command and Finishing School followed by The Ship’ Mistress Command Course. The first school was for senior officettes and the occasional Lady from all of the branches of AIDOF, while the second school was for those in SAN that were being groomed for her own command.
The Imperial Finishing and Command Training School for Ladies, located on New Gretchlogos is the main training center for senior ranks. As a Kommandette I was in the middle of the pack, several well born junior officettes were also in attendance. My class had quite a few veterans from the Ex Fleet and supporting operations, so I was not lonely. In fact two of my friends from the 85th were present, Lady Tamara Francis (guess she got the promotion to higher level after all), and Madame Kommandette Nelson, the executive of the Gremlin during the first tour. Someone finally thinks she might make a good commanding officer; she was not upset at seeing two of her former subordinates either above or at her same grade. As I found out life on an escort cruiser is not very adventurous compared to a light cruiser or even the bigger cap ships.
The course work was very hard and demanding, but with sheer determination I managed to pass through with above average marks. The real challenge was the field problems, which put all of us SAN types at a disadvantage, although we smoked the ground pounders in the stellar simulations. I was able to get the second highest score on the fleet battle simulator, and got the highest score on the individual ship simulator. By the time the four month course was over my promotion to Kommandette was permanent which pretty much guaranteed me a future command.
The good news about the school was I was able to have visitors including Wendy, now a Madame Kaptain, and Barbara also a Kaptain, she had a slot as a senior instructor at the Aerospace Pilot School. Terry was assigned to a transition squadron that trained veteran pilots in the Raptor. After graduating from the Finishing School, I spent a couple of days with Barbara on Terri. The 1st Imperial Starfleet was based there, along with the big Aerospace Kommand school, so seeing a Madame Kommandette in the light blue of SAN was not unusual. When her squadron’s training rotation was complete, which happened to be about three weeks before I had to report to the Ship’s Mistress Command Course, we took a holiday to Amazonia.
Being on the capital world during the Festival of Eos was an experience that is hard to describe. Frankly I don’t remember much of it, as we were both living up the high life. On Valentine’s Day Wendy and Terry joined us. That adventure made the time at the liberty camp seem like staying home and watching old vids.
Alas my orders to report to SMCC came and I bided Barbara farewell, as she had to resume training young aerobabes. Upon departing Terri for Avonia I met up with Lady Tamara, she was assigned to the AISS Gopher a brand new Neptune complete with redesigned weapons and huge hanger bay for Raptors. The Gopher was the goal keeper for the AISS Intrepid an older refitted Juno class carrier. They were both in the 651st CARON as part of the 65th CTG. The 65th was part of the 12th Imperial Starfleet and was training up along the Imperial Confederation Border. The 65th was a new unit, even though several of its ships were not, but most of the crews and ship’s mistresses were also new or relatively new. So they were in a quiet area so the new crews could gain some valuable experience without being in too much risk.
I reported to SMCC and was with a class of forty other Kommandettes and even a couple of Ladies who received promotions but had not commanded a ship. This course made Finishing School seem easy. We had to know everything about starships, including the other divisions especially engineering and weapons. This course was very demanding and quite long; however I was able to finish up the first portion with above average grades. As for the second portion, well that was fun. I came in the top five on the ship simulator and impressed my instructors with the decisions made regarding fighting overwhelming odds. My experience with the Golgotha and the Foxglove helped immensely.
Many of my peers were impressed with my Gold Star Cluster, and even more impressed on how and when I received it. I received another MSM for the actions at Direrum and Mango, so my rows of ribbons were quite impressive even for a Madame Kommandette. While in the last phase of the course, I received a hyper comm. gram from Barbara saying that she and Terry were both transferring to the 65th CARON, Terry was posted to the 329th Interceptor Squadron as Squadron Mother, and she was posted to the 34th Interception Group light as its executive officette. The 329th would be based on the Intrepid, while the 34th IG(light) was the aerospace force on the Gopher. Hearing that message I placed a request to DIRPER that I be assigned to the 65th CARON if at all possible.
Upon graduation from SMCC we received our new orders, it seemed that the Gopher and the Intrepid were fully staffed, well at least for Command branch Kommandettes, but the screening squadron the 652nd had a few openings, including two ship Mistress Postings. One was an attack destroyer the other was a light cruiser. The problem with commanding the destroyer was I have never served in anything smaller than a light cruiser. And to be posted as a cruiser skipper I would be very junior.
However fate would go to my favor as the latest round with the Corporates caused a shortage of senior command personnel, and so even though I was still very junior, my actual combat and command experience convinced DIRPER to assign me as the Mistress of the AISS Feline. To go with the new assignment was a new set of uniforms and insignia, as I now was Lady Equetassa Cynthia Parker, Mistress of Her Imperial Majesty’s Starship Feline., FAC 232. The other thing going in my favor was the Feline was just out of the shipyard and had a totally new crew. I requested that Kaptain Travis be assigned to my weapon’s division to find out that she was now Kommandette Travis, so therefore I made her my Weapons Officette. My other seniors and department heads were Ms. Rita Watson, Engineering, Ms. Gloria Steinbaum, the Executive, Ms. Wanda Porter, BDCO, Ms. Harriet Watts, Environmental, Ms. Erica Schnieder, Damage Control Officette, Ms. Melanie Davis, Matriarch of the Aerogroup (as a new ship we carried two squadrons, one a dedicated fighter squadron of Warriors and a composite strike squadron of both Shaman and Tempest D’s. The D version had a jump drive so they could accompany the Shaman Bombers. The last was Miss Ursula Kimber, the matriarch of the NAIL Troop. I was to meet them and my new ship at Dock 52 at Lovely Shipyards, just a couple of jumps away from Avonia.