The Gaze of Silent Witnesses
This too shall pass.
Lieutenant Commander Morell watched twelve specks of white light streak away from the carrier. She tracked their departure, but was distracted for a moment by the captain's pacing. Her gaze drifted, the view detected the subject of her attention, and zoomed in on Gray Two-Two. Angry at herself for such a momentary lapse in her judgement, she closed the box and spoke up over the quiet bustle of the bridge.
"Squadrons away, captain. Clean launch. Nothing on the threat boards."
The newly-minted commanding officer turned to her, but finished humming the last bar before opening his eyes.
"Very good, Morell. Uh... carry on."
She crossed her legs beneath the flight operations officer's console to avoid tapping her own feet to the slow rise of the second movement.
It wasn't that great a dance, she told herself as she tried not to think about him flying away from her. He probably barely remembers it at all.
Comments (2 so far!)
Average reader rating 5.00/5
slapdashmonuments
I chose this story from among the links on the homepage, and I am now curious to read more! :D
- #3305 Posted 7 years ago
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0
- 5 out of 5
Inspired by (sequel to):
"... happy hunting, boys!"
I looked down in time to see the LAUNCHCON light flick from red to green…
The Salute of Silent Men- Published 7 years ago and featured 7 years ago.
- Story viewed 8 times and rated 1 times.
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HSAR
My best guess (according to the vengeful thoughts in #40632) is that the captain has authorised some kind of airstrike or bombing run. The fact that they are all callsign Gray seems to point to the fact that they are all the same model of spacecraft; this would indicate that they are multi-role craft something like the F/A-18E Super Hornets in service with the US Navy, which can be a fighter or a bomber depending on what missiles you put on them. So my guess is that there's a mix of loadouts in Gray One, Two and Three to allow some to carry out the bombing run and some to protect the bombers.
LCDR Morell is performing the role more commonly known as "Air Officer" or "Air Boss" on board a US Navy carrier, which is usually performed by someone of CDR rank - so she's a little bit junior for it, just like the captain over there. I wonder why?