Thanks, Tigerssman for editing this story.
*****
It had been two years that Kathy had been studying at the Academy. She missed 'The Firebrand'. It was time for her graduation to her 'XO', executive officer, position. Lee and Captain Lesly were already on campus. As Kathy was polishing her silver star she broke down, Lee was called to comfort her.
"Lee, do you know what this piece of metal means?"
"It means gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States."
"No, it means death. Many were already dead; Captain Lesly lay dying. I, a young Ensign, the last officer left standing on the bridge, and I gave the order to have all ships to shoot down all those planes. Hundreds of people died that day, many of them my friends, and I get a hunk of metal. I know I have to wear it, but I HATE IT!!"
"Kathy, if you did not give that order, all six thousand on 'The Firebrand' would have been lost when it sunk, it almost sank anyway. You saved lives. I know I would have given the same order, but long after you did. You may have been a young Ensign, but you were still an officer of the U.S. Navy, and you gave blood to Captain Lesly that saved her life."
"I was proud of you, it showed your character; you must get confidence in your decisions when you are a supermodel. You didn't back down from something you never had experience with before, combat. When you gave that order, everyone responded, they even scrambled the fighters from the other carrier."
"They did not blow you off because you were just an Ensign. They followed your order because you said you were the ranking officer on board their flagship. I could not assess the situation like you could, and Captain Lesly was near death, not to mention the dead."
" With our engines damaged, we could not even launch a helicopter, it would have been blown out of the sky. You had to respond to a surprise attack, you had to protect yourself. The enemy knew their losses would be high, you minimized the death total."
Everyone in Kathy's class was so excited that Lee was handing out their commissions; In most cases, just your commander gave out commissions. She was so easy to get along with. It is not often in your career you meet someone of her rank. Lee was responsible for the whole fleet, so she wanted to give out commissions. Lee had a knack to assign the officers to the best fit for each ship.
After graduation, Captain Lesly gave Kathy a gift-wrapped box; inside the box was an orange vest with a large 'XO' on the backside. Kathy almost didn't see the white piece of paper on the bottom of the box. After she started reading the document she broke down in tears and hugged Lee; she had orders to report to 'The Firebrand'.
The 'XO' on 'The Firebrand' knew it was a temporary assignment, after eighteen months he would be transferred to another carrier. On two carriers two junior officers shared the duties of an 'XO'.
Because tensions around the world were still high, Lee had base commanders of all mothballed ships to see which ones were in the best shape and could be modernized if needed. Lee was going to bulk up her Navy, even if it meant using older ships. Lee had a lot of new ports to fill. If she could have two or three nearby ports she could have the older ships patrol their own waters or combine to make a huge flotilla with ease. Each ship may be weaker, but the larger number made it harder to fight against.
Lee thought it long past time to do a national broadcast. All had the utmost respect for Lee. "As you, all know tensions around the world are still very high; this next time will be far worse. I am asking for some of you to join one of the military bases. You will have training then go home so there will not be much disruption in your life."
"All the males in my family have decorated Naval Officers. My Mom and a grandmother were WAVES and Grandma Rae was with the ambulance service. She was called 'A Rae of Sunshine'. You can see why I picked the Navy to serve my country. I am glad God gave me my abilities so I could serve all of you at this time."
"Yes, we all serve our countries. As you know, I want to be known as Lee; I feel very uncomfortable with titles. As I was gaining my ranks, I was doing so just to serve my country to the best of my abilities; being a Fleet Admiral was an unattainable goal."
"Rank is not what it is all cracked up to be. Recently, 'The Firebrand' went under fire and the bridge was cut off from the rest of the ship. My best friend was bleeding out, there were many dead; my second-best friend was in hell, experiencing combat for the first time. She was the standing officer on the bridge. She had to give the order that is most abhorrent to us, the order to kill at will."
"She saved Captain Lesly with a direct transfusion of AB- blood, the rarest of blood types. Both could have easily died."
"Ordinary people, doing extraordinary things, during extraordinary times is what this country is all about."
"In closing, I pray that all of you hearing this broadcast will remain safe during the dark days ahead."
Whole towns closed for the day so everyone could sign up. The juniors and seniors had a meeting and they divided up where to go. The big jocks tended to go to the Marines, some wanted to be air jockeys, many who enlisted wanted to join the Navy as the turnover was faster. Some even joined the Coast Guard. Officers and enlisted people were chosen according to their GPA.
Lee and Kathy watched Captain Lesly welcome 1,000 new crew members to duty. It was a high number, but people could leave at the end of their tours.
In that number, was a hidden 'Diamond in the Rough'.
Captain Lesly was surprised when she got the order for 'The Firebrand' was to return to port. Everyone was to have a month leave but could not go home. They had to be on their best behavior. Everything was under a veil of secrecy; Lee had no idea what was happening.
When all the crew left, an army of tech's set up 'The Firebrand' for real situation simulations.
Lee got orders to report to General headquarters for the duration of 'The Firebrands' tasks.
Captain Lesly opened a thin envelope she had about her tasks.
"Attention all hands, here are our orders; they are somewhat cryptic."
"You are not to alter anything that may look out of place. Over the next two months, you will face several scenarios, but you will not know what type or when they will happen."
The first scenario was easy, a monitor blew out, but it 'killed' a crewman.
The idea was to have most of the several scenarios happen during the third and sixth weeks, others had different ideas.
At the two-week mark, the sonarman said, "I have some readings I can't decipher Captain."
Captain Lesly walked over to look, "Sound General Alarm, get ten handhelds in the air, I need to see what is out there. Go into evasive maneuver Charlie, set depth charges to twenty meters. This is real people, these are not ours. How long until they are in torpedo range?"
"Forty-five seconds Captain."
"Remember how that ping bounces off the subs. Evasive maneuver Edward. Time?"
