Read The Clones of Mawcett for Free Online Page B

mirror as she finished dressing. She disliked wearing the peaked cap that was a required part of the officer's official dress uniform. She would normally carry it under her arm or in her hand until she absolutely had to put it on. She also disliked wearing her medals. They seemed a bit too ostentatious to suit her, especially the Medal of Honor. She would have much preferred just to wear the medal ribbons, but the regs required her to wear the medals on this occasion.
The Captain, looking resplendent in his dress uniform, was already at the bay when she arrived. The handsome, almost six-foot tall, officer had a fit body that showed he was dedicated to a strong regimen of exercise. His hair was still a dark brown, with just a touch of grey at the temples, and his dark-grey eyes were clear and strong. Now in his early sixties, Gavin was approaching the mandatory retirement age for space duty. In a few years he would either have to accept a posting on shore or retire from the service, as Jenetta's father had done two years earlier.
They talked as they waited, with most of the discussion centering on Jenetta's experiences as captain of the Song. But they also talked about the launching ceremony and keeping the Galactic Alliance delegation occupied and entertained while they were on board, a chore that Jenetta wished with all her heart she could avoid. Politics and diplomacy were subjects that she preferred to keep firmly at arm's length.
LaSalle arrived after Gavin had engaged Jenetta in conversation so she couldn't accuse Jenetta of seeking the captain's ear, and she couldn't think of a valid excuse for interrupting the discussion.
At 0950, Jenetta disembarked with the captain and most of the senior officers, to attend a ceremony that would take place in the docking ring between the two adjacent docking piers where the Prometheus and Chiron were currently moored. A red ribbon was stretched across the entrance to the pier that led out to each ship's forward airlock once the ship's command officers had passed through.
For an hour, Galactic Alliance politicians and Space Command Admirals made speeches about the two new ships and how important they were to the safety and security of the citizenry. Jenetta was praised repeatedly in the speeches for having brought them back after they had been stolen from the Mars shipyard by Raiders just hours before the first Space Command personnel were to report aboard. Jenetta saw LaSalle grimace each time Jenetta's name was mentioned. It was with great relief that Jenetta watched Admiral Moore's wife finally cut the wide red ribbon at the Prometheus' docking pier entrance, while the wife of Dennis Santora, the new Galactic Alliance Council chairman, simultaneously cut the ribbon at the entrance to Chiron's docking pier.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Space Command officers moved back inside their respective ships. While most of the officers immediately left to pursue whatever interests or duties awaited them, Jenetta stood by at the airlock entrance with Gavin and LaSalle, ready to greet the Galactic Alliance delegation that would travel aboard the Prometheus to Nordakia. Senators Oliver Krott, Justine Gordal, Alan Phalle, Regina Nieto, and Cari Rawald would represent their planets and the Galactic Alliance Council at the unprecedented awards ceremony. The GA was still more than three-quarters composed of member planets with Terran ancestry, and the delegation had been selected from the most senior members, so all the delegates were human.
With their large retinue of reporters trailing, the committee officials finally boarded. In the forward cargo bay, Jenetta was posed for pictures with the Captain and the delegates. Reporters were then permitted to ask Jenetta questions for fifteen minutes before being herded gently from the ship by an SC PR person, ably assisted by a squad of Space Marines. As Gavin and LaSalle escorted the delegates to their assigned quarters on the VIP deck, Jenetta