Military Democracy

[Petitioner]

Communications Officer Joyce Stirner
SIGINT, Special Access Oversight

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At the conclusion of the underappreciated Ellis's speech, the most awkward silence yet befell the entire mess. For whatever reason, the eyes of the largest portion of yet-unspoken-for junior and middle officers made their way to Joyce.

Comms Officer Stirner, a no-nonsense woman, was originally assigned to the Klaxon as a junior NCO while in her early thirties, was granted an incredibly rare mid-tour advancement to a commissioned officer, and was now forty-going-on-fifty. The only things she kept neater than her uniform were her charges—the special equipment that made the Klaxon so precious, which QM Schlesinger had earlier discussed at length.

Sensing that the momentane zeitgeist had laid the metaphorical talking stick firmly at her feet, she raised one hand, and at Howe's callout addressed the assembled crew.

"I vote nay."

You could hear a pin drop. Stirner wanted to scream, to tear her hair out, to go absolutely apeshit on everyone for dragging this out longer than it needed to be, but not so much as a sigh escaped her lips. She was the senior CO, goddammit, and someone had to live up to the crew's expectations while also maintaining decorum. Howe couldn't be the only professional on this fucking boat.

"The commander raised a point I believe to be critical. Omicron Nu is most certainly an insecure location. Even if we were to reach it swiftly and safely via the hyperspace drive, the entire system is under constant SECFOR sweeps. How effective their surveillance is is an unknown factor, but the entire Navy being busy with us in Vespucci and the Zoners in Erie certainly frees up SECFOR to divert more assets to the Republic's further-reaching interests such as the vicinity of the supergate's terminus.

"In that same vein, the Omegas are an equally unspecified quantity. Gran Canaria still hosts a meaningful contingent of Bretonian refugees who are loyal to the Crown, with full civilian evac to Sprague likely to take another year at least to complete. Best intel assesses the upper-eastern Omega cluster as crawling with enemies of Crete, meaning that both proposed RV locs are likely to be untenable."

She looked around, seeing that somehow there were still some curious faces.

"...also, I don't really feel like learning Greek."

With that, the COMMO finally turned her gaze squarely back to Howe. Her 'nay' tally had long since been marked.