Weird Harold wrote:glott wrote:I don't think Ginger had to be formally appointed acting XO. IMHO, she become the acting XO because she was next in the chain of command after Commander FitzGerald.
Actually, I think Naomi Kaplan, the Tac Officer, was next in the chain. I don't recall the full complement of officers on Hexapuma. But, IIRC there is textev that Ginger was tapped as acting XO because she was the senior
healthy officer, not because she was next in the chain of command.
Sorry I didn't reply sooner to this post, real life intrudes at the darnest times.
But I'm afraid, I have to disagree with you. I've been re-reading
tSoS and came across this passage. It's where Captain Terekhov was briefing his senior officers after his first meeting with Admiral Khumalo.
The Shadow of Saganami, Chapter Eleven wrote:
"From the economic, astrographic, and military perspectives, Lynx is the real strategic chokepoint of the cluster, as far as the Star Kingdom is concerned. But from the immediate political perspective, Spindle, where the Constitutional Convention is meeting, is at least equally critical. And, the need to maintain a visible presence in the Cluster's inhabited star systems is yet another magnet drawing our available strength away from Lynx. Under the circumstances, bearing in mind that Lynx can be reinforced on short notice by Home Fleet, Admiral Khumalo's decided his short-term emphasis must be placed on supporting the political process of the Constitutional Convention and assisting the local planetary governments."
But what do you think he should be doing? FitzGerald wondered. Not that he even considered asking the question aloud.
"I can see why you wanted Naomi and Tad sitting in on this, Sir," Lewis said after a moment. "I'm not too clear on why I'm here, though."
"First, because you're my senior officer, after Ansten," Terekhov replied. "And, second, because unless I miss my guess, we're going to be pushing the ship's systems hard, without much in the way of outside support. Admiral Khumalo has three depot ships—four, counting the one stationed here—to support all of his units. At the moment, the others are assigned to Prairie, Montana, and Scarlet, to provide the maximum coverage for his patrol units. There are also ammunition ships at Montana and Prairie. Aside from that, however, we'll be essentially on our own for both maintenance and general logistics.
Italics the author. Bold mine.
So, Ginger was the next highest ranking officer after Ansten (I'd forgotten that was his first name
) FitzGerald and if she's in the chain of command at all—which she'd have to be, since later on she was the acting XO—she must have been the third-in-command at the time.
Now, I'm not trying to say that she would have
fought the ship, so to speak, if command had devolved on her in the middle of a battle. I assume that if, say, both Captain Terekhov and Commander FitzGerald had both been knocked unconscious the senior tactical officer would take
tactical control of the ship. Ginger, who would be at the Chief Engineer's battle stations position or busy with damage control and repairs, would be notified, that she was the senior
conscious officer. But probably, the only tactical question she would have to answer was,
"Do we try to break off or continue the action." And I'm not sure that actually
is a tactical question.
