Needle Snippet 3

 Sitrep: So, I got my second Moderna shot, I'm a bit fatigued but otherwise okay so far.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 3

 

Antigua

 

Vice President Jeff Randall smiled to his wife as he stood with the others at the commissioning ceremony. This was a special one, Admiral Irons was there. It had been a tough five years but you couldn't tell that from looking at Admiral Irons.

Meeting him was a different story though. He tried to be affable and approachable in public, but he was cold with many of the members of Congress, especially those who had come into opposition of him. He had never really gotten the concept of not taking it personally. Given some of the attacks in the media, especially the conservative fringe media, Jeff couldn't blame the man for coming off as cold to what all knew were his enemies.

His enemies too. He was a party man and despite the storms the administration had been forced to endure, they were still standing.

He felt his wife tuck her hand into his and squeeze his thumb and then stroke it. He smiled slightly to her and then went back to watching the show.

“And so, without further ado, I am passing the final duty over to Miss Chalice,” Admiral Irons said with a nod to a Neochimp woman in a pretty white and black dress. The woman smiled and even curtsied.

She had snow white gloves on and fluttered her hands as the lieutenant with her explained quietly what to do again. They'd probably rehearsed it, but in the heat of the moment, the woman had forgotten or gotten flustered.

She was there because she had briefly dated Admiral White when he had been in Antigua years ago. She'd tried to get him to join her family group, but he'd gone on the offensive with Second Fleet. He had never returned to Antigua but they had stayed in touch through occasional correspondence.

Their story had come out after the battle of Horath. She had become something of a minor celebrity for some and had been an advocate for the families of the soldiers and sailors who had lost their lives in taking Horath.

She finally caught on and nodded and then touched the big red button. It lit up and then a giant brown and gold bottle of champagne was launched at the bow of the ship on the other side of the glass.

It tumbled as expected and hit a plate on the bow as expected, shattering beautifully. The splash of alcohol spread out as the cheers began.

Horns and klaxons went off, and the mighty Admiral Amadeus White Super Dreadnought began to back out of the slip under the guidance of the tugs around her. The applause continued as they watched robots swoop in to clean up the mess in the vacuum.

He had heard that the glass was tempered glass. That had explained why it had exploded into small pieces upon impact on the neck of the bottle. The robots were doing their best to clean up the mess; one was even working to clean the glass. He turned away and nodded as an aide mentioned the party to come.

They mingled as the reception began. He politely nodded to his boss who nodded back.

Admiral Irons was a good man. He didn't expect or want a yes man. He took responsibility for his actions but refused to back down if he knew he was right. Jeff had initially expected the admiral to resign in the wake of the Horathian disaster but he hadn't. He'd hung in there despite everyone calling for his head.

That was contrary to his normal behavior. But the admiral was a rock that would not budge so the opposition had chosen to nitpick at him instead.

He looked over to some of the reporters in the periphery of the area. His A.I. picked up a few of the feeds and caught some talking about the “whole unnecessary waste of funds” for the ship. He shook his head slightly.

“Don't worry about them. Let's have some fun,” his wife said, giving a playful wiggle like she was dancing.

He smiled indulgently and wrapped one arm around her, tucking her into his side before going back to mingle with her and the other guests.

~~~-^-~~~