LIBCENTCOM - Planet Manhattan
It wasn't long after Jones had just shortly arrived from his inspection in Bretonia. The expditonary fleet was constantly occupied in New London not only by the gallics, but also by the many threats that roamed that space, giving them consistent skrimishes. None of it being good news. Either way now he had finaly made it back, only to be greeted by the command duties, further supplemented by the logistics corps. Yet the first thing to come to his mind was the recent tragedy that struck the LNS Harmony.
Shortly after landing, Jones put his sunglasses on and went on the pickup vessel. "Sir! Welcome to Manhattan." Commander Henderson, who had been chosen as his escort, salutes him upon seeing him. Henderson could notice that things were rather tense just by looking at the Admiral's Face. "At ease, Henderson. Thanks. They chose you this time, huh?" Jones was good at looking casual, even though his mood or outside could betray him a bit. "Yes sir. Following the attack on the Harmony the headquarters are increasing security for ranking officers. That means you too." Jones smiled and let out a little chuckle. "Right, Anything the command says." Stepping in the vehicle as Jones closed the door, Henderson started the car towards Fort Bragg. "So you heard about the attack too?" Henderson took his eyes off the road for a second. " Yeah, I read the report. Real disaster. We're trying not to make it big news for the media or so." Jones nodded. "And it stroke us in the wrong moment as well. Morale is bad as it is."
The vehicle finally passed the Fort Bragg's blockade and were now going past . The Warrant officer halted the vehicle as per the routine checks. Henderson hastily replied. "Commander Andy Henderson escorting Admiral Vice Alan Jones." The warrant officer saluted the two and checked with the list and gave them permission to pass. Jones told Henderson to hold up and put went closer to the window, talking to the officer. "I'm expecting a rather important visit today. Rear Admiral Victoria Knight. I don't expect her to be delayed." The officer acknowledged right away noticing the rather strict tone of the Admiral. "Y-Yes sir!" Jones nodded and saluted the officer before telling Henderson to drive further.
Finally at his office now, Jones would take off his navy blue dress uniform jacket and hang it somewhere next to the door, put his case next to the desk drawers, and then put his glasses on his table then taking off the hat and put it over a stack of papers that were from matters of lesser importance. just as he makes himself comfortable there was a call from the operator on the hall. He sighs as he picks it up. "Sir Rear Admiral Knight is here to see you." Jones quickly responds. "Yeah, don't let her wait any longer. Let her in." Jones took a deep breath and leaned back on his chair.
Shortly after there was a knock on the door. Jones stands up to open the door to meet Knight rather than the average usual meeting where other officers would greet him and such. "Good to see you Knight. Please take a seat." Jones shakes her hand and lead her to the chair in front of his desk as he moves to the other side. "I'm sorry to have heard about your losses on the attack and the men that never made it." He sighs. "I'm glad to see that you and your officers are fine..."
LIBCENTCOM - Planet Manhattan
The whole operation was creating more paperwork than expected and Knight and some of her higher ranking staff were managing the Battlegroup from LIBCENTCOM. Harmony had just set Captain Alexander Vance in command of the spacebound fleet and was taking care of everything from Manhattan. The group was now led by the LNS Chicago, a heavy cruiser. The knowledge of traitors inside the highest Navy ranks wasn't giving her any peace of mind either and she looked tired but she would only allow herself some rest when the biggest immediate problems would be dealt with.
Knight took one of the trains towards the hub and was then taken towards Vice Admiral Jones office. Clad in her blue navy uniform she was striding quickly towards his office. The anticipation to get back into the fight visible on her expression. She quickly dismissed the salutes and then knocked at Jones' office door.
She was a bit surprised about the unusual behaviour of the Vice Admiral but quickly realised he was so forthcomming because of the recent occurences. "Sir! Welcome to Manhattan." she said and followe him inside the office and took her seat on his offer. "I believe their families are grateful for the quick handling of the situation. And I believe it is also for that reason that we need to take the fight to them as quick as possible." She handed him a tablet that was showing the repair status of the Harmony. Sitting in drydock at Norfolk with an impressive hole in its starboard side.
"This is what Norfolk is lacking right now. The ongoing wars are putting a strain on the logistics and to hurry it up we would need to be granted priority. I already checked and I believe we can call for outside help to hurry it up." she explained rather quickly but controlled.
LIBCENTCOM - Jones' Office
"I see." Jones takes a quick brief look at the tablet, looking at the big missing chunk on the starboard side. "So this is the final report I suppose." Squinting a little he would take a throughout look a the long list, but what bothered him most were the multipliers before each commodity. Jones raises his head in a sort of a nodding motion. "You know, this is quite similar to what Overlords that received direct hits from the Valor's main gun during Royal Flush would look like.." He puts the tablet on the desk in front of Victoria. "That's quite a lot of material that might run a bit high.." Alan stands up restlessly is walking turns near his desk "Usually in these cases we'd be better off scrapping the damaged part of the ship and salvaging the rest of it. That'd mean it wouldn't be "the Harmony" anymore but just another industrial abomination." Alan stops and puts his immediately puts his hand on the desk looking at Knight straight in the eyes. "But if these coup-ers, saboteurs or whoever they are, think they can break us, break our honor, or our pride- hell even the pride of that ship- They are wrong. We will never surrender, no matter the cost."
After ranting Alan now sits back on his chair and sighs. "We'll repair the Harmony and we'll bring it back to it's former glory. Just as if it was commissioned yesterday." He then quickly leans to his side reaching for his case. He puts it on the table opening it and looking for something inside. "I'm sorry I don't have anything to treat you with for now but uh.. take these." He puts on the desk three packs of tea he'd brought from Bretonia and gently pushes them towards Knight. "Just some souvenirs from Bretonia."
Putting the case down and being slightly calmer now Alan continued. "So, I'll have one of the logistics executive officers go into details of the supplies we're in need of and I'd say your overlord should be up and running within the next week. I hope that is not too long." Jones now leans back on his chair as he slightly moves the topic of the meeting. "So moving on a bit from the logistics and more to the "High Command" aspect; I haven't had the chance to see how the investigations are progressing. Do you have any news on that? I don't plan on leaving whoever is responsible for this to simply walk away." Jones finishes this to be as supportive of Knight as possible. He had seen many before her who as a result of such losses had started showing atypical behavior over time that would've led to much larger problems in the future.
LIBCENTCOM - Jones' Office
Knight listened carefully to what Jones said although she was tired and her mind was constantly trying to drift of to the events that happened earlier. She had seen the detonation from afar and heard the short screams of the crew that was still on board and connected via comm. When Jones agreed to repairing the Harmony though her spirits lifted and she could focus on the task at hand more. It was important that this ship would fly again.
"Thank you Vice Admiral. We will see to it that it will be worth it." she said and hoped they would get to work soon.
Him then offering her souvenirs from Bretonia hit her somewhat off guard. She didn't expect to be gifted anything but what she had asked for and she wondered if this was his way of giving her his condolences or politeness. Or something else entirely. She decided to think about it later. "I believe tea is a good idea later. Thank you again." she then replied politely.
The topic of responsibles got her to more attention again though as she wasn't so sure what she wanted to share or shouldn't share yet. She was used to keeping secrets from former cooperations with the LSF and as a Rear Admiral one got more than enough of other things to keep safe. "Sadly I cannot provide much in that regard since I myself don't even know what exactly happened. I hope that the LSF has more information about the topic but I didn't get to requesting intel from either them or the ESRD yet." she then replied after thinking of an answer for a moment.
LIBCENTCOM - Jones' Office
Looking at Victoria's concerned expressions Alan was finding it harder to cope with the disastrous situation that that dreadful moment created. "It was so discrete and subtle and with no warning..." Jones takes a quick break and looks at his desk. "I will personally observe these investigations and gather any and everything the ESRD reports or whatever I can find, I will send you a message with the concluded report." Looking back at Vicotria's face. "I'll do my best to find who's behind this. And Knight the First Fleet is with you on this one. You will receive full support from our side."
Moving on back to logistics, the tense situations that were engulfing the Navy had left the Logistics Service somewhat scattered, and it was going to take some time before they would be reorganized again. As such they had to look for help from the outside. Of course the private sector was mostly a chore, but what choice did they have. The Harmony needed to be back and running as fast as possible. "So Knight, the thing is that the LLS will provide the base materials, however it would take too long until we would be receiving the extra materials needed. Lately we've been in somewhat of a disarray following the recent events in California, Magellan and so on." Alan took a short pause, showing at the current movements of the LLS on the large projector in the wall, before continuing. "So I am going to need you to reach most of our contractors regarding these supplies... I know the private sector is a chore, but this is our fastest option for now. I'm sure you'll be able to handle it perfectly just in time."
Alan then would lean back on his chair looking back at Victoria again. "Think you can do it?"
LIBCENTCOM - Jones' Office
She looked at him, her face showing her gratefulness, and sighed once. Her sitting slightly more straight and her determined expression returning was supporting that.
"I will take all the help you offer. We-... I will make it worth the effort. I am in your debt Vice Admiral, I know this is nothing normal." she said and relaxed a bit now that she could be sure everything will be alright.
In her mind she was already trying to find a way out of this situation or fix it finally, Agent Young's words were still fresh in her mind and she wondered how much she should involve the First Fleet's investigators. Some of them might be the enemy after all. Luckily the task at hand would require her full attention for now and she could wait for Young to find out more.
"Totally. Since I am not having to command my ship I can take care of administration and logistics from here. And with your help I am certain we have the Harmony back in space in no time. And I hope we can take the fight to the enemy then." she replied and looked more confident that they would get out of this already.
LIBCENTCOM - Jones' Office
"Very well then. See to it that the deliveries are handled and I will make sure that it gets done without any delay afterwards. I'll inspect the end results myself." Jones puts his hands together supporting his elbows on the desk. "Say Victoria, one more thing." Jones puts his hands back on the table and looking concerned continues. "There's been some instances where following traumatic events.. officers have displayed irregular behavior as result of their stressful experiences.. There's plenty of examples out there." He he takes a deep breath and looks at Victoria. "It's nothing good, so Victoria I'm going to ask you to not let whatever happened get to you. Okay?" Pausing and looking at her in the eyes for a second or two, Alan continues. "If you're in need of supervision, support, or anything do let me know." Relaxing his sight Alan decides to finally dismiss the already tired Victoria. "Other than that, I believe we are finished here. Any thing else?"
LIBCENTCOM - Jones' Office
"Yes Sir. I will handle it right away." she confirmed and was preparing to get up and leave.
When he then stopped her by calling her firstname of all things she sat down properly again and looked at him. Some confusion and worry mixed into her expression. She couldn't remember the last time someone had called her by her first name. Her life had always been too busy for family and so this was catching her off guard.
After taking a deep breath she replied: "It won't happen to me uhm... Sir. I am grateful for your support but I believe- no. I have it handled." she replied and got up to not make this awkward. She already had enough to worry about and wanted to get to it as quick as possible. "I didn't make it this far so fast if I gave in with every sign of a problem." she said to reassure him.
"I will be leaving then. I have much to do and the sooner we start the better." She looked at him with a somewhat puzzled look, feeling uncomfortable with following the protocol after he called her by her firstname. Still she saluted and went to leave.
LIBCENTCOM - Jones' Office
"Glad to hear you're got yourself consolidated. It simply get those bad feelings sometimes." Alan stood up from his chair and moves on to give the Rear Admiral the salute. "Alright then. Good luck on your assignment Knight. We'll see to getting through with it as soon as possible. Dismissed." As he lowers his salute he proceeds to follow her to the door of the office and closes the door just a couple of seconds after Victoria would be outside. He takes a deep breath as he hangs his hat somewhere next to the door, before going back to his desk, wondering for a bit before slowly starting work on the growing stack of reports again. Looking at the coffee pot, it strangely wasn't appealing this day.