Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War (31 page)

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Naero
slipped into her dress uniform and thought about what it meant to command people in battle. To lead a ship, an entire fleet, during wartime.

One of the highest honors she had ever experienced
.

Their duty was
to fight, and fight they did, any time, any where.

But
the admirals had been right. There was so much more involved in command than simply fighting on the front lines. So many greater and lesser issues, and much more in between. Maintaining a fighting force took a great deal more to keep their people ready to fight. To keep them well-trained, well-informed, well-supplied, and fit for service–both physically, mentally, and emotionally.

In effect, a good leader was not only a good planner, but also a good steward. You took care of your people
and primed and groomed them for battle.

Naero pweaked up a mirror wall on the nanosurface of her quarters
.

Everything in place, just the way she liked it. She looked fine, pretty good even
.

So why
, in the midst of all of this chaos did she still sleep alone at night? Perhaps Saemar had it right after all.

As usual, it was
all her fault really.

She purposely kept herself too busy with the war to take up matters of the heart. And that was jus
t her own excuse. More than anyone else in her private fantasies, she thought about Prince Ellis quite a lot, from time to time.

If only things had been different, but they weren’t
.

She left her quarters
for the ceremony, and her Marine escort of four slipped effortlessly around her, one pair in front of her, one pair in back. Two female Marines, two males.

They
guarded and protected Naero in rotating shifts, but she knew all of their names. Naero was on a friendly basis with all of her guard shifts. They were in full, shining battle dress, tonight–as if for a parade.

The
y all proceeded quickly to the assembly hall, and Naero entered into a sea of crew, and representatives from every ship in Strike Fleet Six. Thousands cheered when they saw her enter and approach the podium.

Admiral Sleak Maeris and m
any officers had waited for her and others to arrive. More officers from the entire Alliance continued to pour in and queue up in their appointed places.

Name after name was read, and Spacers from all Forty-
Nine Clans came forward to receive the promotions they had earned thus far, during the course of the war.

Naero clapped and cheered until her hands were sore and her voice grew hoarse and cracked
.

She shot to her feet when her people came through, and programmed their new ranks in on a special pad given to her for that exact purpose. Then she embraced them,
and thanked and honored them for their valor–for their comradery, service, and sacrifice.

Four
of them blazed especially bright in her heart.

“Tyber Maeris, hereby promoted to the rank of Tek Leftenant Commander
.”

Naero felt like a cry-baby sometimes, when it came to her closest mates. She struggled not to let any tears show
.

Ty
grinned. They hugged each other for a long moment.

“
Doctor Zhentisa Maeris, hereby promoted to the rank of Medical Service Commander.”

Naero
could not help tearing up a little when they embraced.

“You work so hard,
Z. All of your research, your work with Intel, our wounded. You really deserve this. Congratulations, my dearest sister.”

Zhen wept openly and almost sobbed. “I love you so much,
N. And did you see my Ty? He looks so handsome. I’m so proud of all of us.”

Then from her bridge crew
.

“Enel Maeris, hereby promoted to the rank of 2
nd
Leftenant, strike fleet flagship pilot and helmsman.”

Naero embrace
d yet another comrade who had become a good friend, like so many.

“Great work, Enel. I am always proud and honored to have you at my helm. Fight well,
abani
.”

Enel pulled away, grinned, and winked at her. “Thank you, sir.
N, I’m just glad I haven’t given you any further reasons to shoot me in the goddam head!”

They share
d a good laugh together and embraced once more.

Enel had
also been wounded three times on their bridge.

Each time he came back to her within a week
.

“Surina Marshal
l, hereby promoted to the rank of Leftenant Commander, Flagship Communications Specialist.”

Naero had come to trust and rely on Surina and her knowledge and expertise.
Rina was also an excellent pilot and leader in her own right, who read people well and always had Naero’s back.

“Surina, you’re going to make a formidabl
e captain yourself, one day.”

They hugged each other. “I’m honored to
serve at your discretion, my captain. N, you are the finest, bravest leader–and the most astonishing battle tactician–that I have ever had the pleasure to witness in action. You need to know, just how much your people love you, respect you, and are willing to follow you into combat.”

“T
hanks, Rina. Coming from a go-getter like you, that means more to me than I can ever put into words. I hope I never let you down.”

For the first time ever since they had know
n one another, Surina’s eyes reddened and swelled up with tears.

Rina
smiled and shook her head slightly. “Not possible, sir.”

Once the
ceremony ended, and they were all back on board their various ships and off duty, Naero ordered rousing parties to commence for all of her people throughout Six, in honor of all of those who had earned promotions.

And anyone who wanted to celebrate that
.

*

A day later, Naero slipped over to the heavy cruiser,
The
Minstrel
as general tek Pharrah Barrett. She used nanofilm, programmable contacts to change her violet eyes to blue, and set her nanowig to a short black bob, curled in on the sides and edges. She saw a new make-up style with painted eyes in some vids on one of the webnets, that seemed popular, and gave them a whirl.

She made Pharrah
-Naero Barrett somewhat shy, and introverted. Quiet and aloof–someone who read a lot on her pad, stayed in her quarters, and kept to herself. She didn’t attract a lot of attention.

Which made some others take note of her
.

Pharrah
quietly performed her assigned duties. She sulked when she had to go to PT and combat training in the mornings. Naero even made her alias rather clumsy and awkward, and not very good at fighting.

The other teks
attempted to take her under their wing and did their best to try to help her.

A male tek from another deck–
ten or twelve years older than her, in fact–took a shine to her alias and pressured her to go out with him.

The guy
just wouldn’t let up. He even started to get abrasive about it–as if he could force her to spend time with him.

Several of the other female teks banded together and
finally stepped in. They asked Pharrah-Naero, in public, if she was at all interested in the guy or not–right in front of him.

Pharrah blushed blood-
red and quietly squeaked, “No,” with her head down.

Her mates strongly
proceeded to advise the pushy, older guy to hunt elsewhere–if he was lonely.

T
aking their not-so-subtle hint as the threat it was–the pushy jerk stopped coming around. The guy was clearly too old for Pharrah-Naero any way–over thirty. Very creepy.

Her friends took her out with them, trying to
get her to loosen up a bit and come out of her shell.

Tawny Maeris, a tall brunette tek with brown eyes tried to counsel her
.

“Honey, you need to understand.
That pouty, helpless-little-kitten routine you put out is like a magnet to every predator and control freak out there—male or female. People who like to bully or dominate someone quieter and weaker than them will just home in on you like a seeker missile.”

Pharrah-Naero pursed her lips together in angry frustration, with a hint of humiliation
.

“I’m not helpless, and I’m of age
. I do my work. I do my duty and everything expected of me. I know what I like and what I don’t like. I don’t…care for a lot of people. And usually, I just want to be left alone. Why is that so hard for some people to accept?”

Tawny looked at her friend, tek Yasha Keller, a short curvy
blond with amber eyes.

Both of them rolled their eyes
at the young newb.

“Pharrah, you don’t want to hear this, but Tawny’s right. You need to cowgirl up a little
–if nothing else–to protect yourself.
Haisha
, kid–have you even slept with someone yet? Do you even understand what these type of people want from you?”

Pharrah-
Naero blushed again, and looked down.

Yasha sighed. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“I’m not a baby. I know what sex is…even if I haven’t done it yet. I’ve seen some vids; like anyone, I was curious. And honestly, it looks…” She made a face. “…really gross.”

Tawny and Yasha shook their heads and waved their hands adamantly
.

“You can’t go by porn
. All porn is stupid fantasy. That’s never real.”

“
Sweetie, when you are ready for it, love and sex can be really great–especially with someone you really care about, and who cares about you. Spectacular even.”

Pharrah-Naero shook her hands before her
self in frustration. “But I’m not looking for sex. I–I’m not looking for anything right now. Honestly, guys. I’m happy alone. I just want to be by myself.”

Tawny put her hand on her arm. “Pharrah, that’s perfectly fine. Forget sex. You want to be by yourself? Be by yourself. But Yasha and I are just trying to warn you about how
some other people might see you. Be a little stronger and more forceful. Believe in yourself. Show a little Spacer pride and confidence.”

“T is right, honey. You got victim written all over you. Some people see that, and its like puttin’ blood in the water to attract sharks. There are always jerks who want someone weaker than them to push around. And you got a big holographic flashing blurt board hanging over you, that says:

Quiet and meek. Ready to be bullied and taken advantage of.

“By the Powers, Pharrah
–we’re at war,” Tawny said. “You need to toughen up a little. Take a look at our fleet captain, Captain Maeris. Now that’s tough!”

“Yeah,
” Yasha added, “she’s smaller than you, and she’s tigress, a fighter if there ever was one. So one day, this huge, loudmouth mook comes over from one of the other fleets, shootin’ his yap off. Saying how her parents where a bunch of phonies–the fight circuit was rigged and all fake–bragging how he was tougher than her and her whole family put together.”

“Well…h
e was three times her size,” Tawny added.

Pharrah-Naero blinked and let her mouth fall open a little
, lifting her fingers to her teeth. “
Haisha
…what did she do?”

Tawny’s eyes glistened. “
You shoulda seen it, kid. I’ll tell you exactly what she did. She challenged that gigantic mook to a sparring match, right then and there, for the honor of her parents, her Clan, and herself.”

Yasha jumped in. “She took that mook down like a falling rock. Kicks flashing, her
spinning and whirling around–just like her mom,
The Invincible Cyclone
. Same exact fighting style. We all saw it happen.

“It was a thing of beauty. But the point is, she stood up for herself, and didn’t take a lot of crap. You need to back yourself up a little more
…kinda like that.”

Phar
rah-Naero rubbed her arms “I…I don’t know, guys. I’m not much of a fighter.”

“Yeah,” Tawny said. “
Yeah, we’ve noticed that too.”

Yasha leaned in slightly. “Along with everyone else. That’s our point. You’re very cute, honey. If you didn’t paint your eyes like some punk teen…
”

“Yasha’
s right. That look’s just too young for people of age…”

“…you could even be pretty–when the time comes, and you’re ready for some
real romance.”