Rachel Mayhew

pappilon wrote:

Silverwall wrote:She will be placed on a capital ship, you just don't put princesses of the blood on tin cans. ----> Points at the future George the 6th serving on HMS Collingwood a St Vincent class Dreadnought.

But ...but wait! Abigail didn't serve on an SD for her snotty cruise. She's not much less the daughter of a head of state. And our (and their) Duchess Steadholder Alexander-Harrington is also a head of state. (Dang those Graysons, they'll hang a steading around anyone's neck)

I wouldn't be surprised over a plot twist that puts her on a Havenite ship. GA and all that. Possibly a brand spanking new one fresh out of refitting in Beowulf from Bolthole.

Silverwall wrote:She will be placed on a capital ship, you just don't put princesses of the blood on tin cans. ----> Points at the future George the 6th serving on HMS Collingwood a St Vincent class Dreadnought.

pappilon wrote:
But ...but wait! Abigail didn't serve on an SD for her snotty cruise. She's not much less the daughter of a head of state. And our (and their) Duchess Steadholder Alexander-Harrington is also a head of state. (Dang those Graysons, they'll hang a steading around anyone's neck)

I wouldn't be surprised over a plot twist that puts her on a Havenite ship. GA and all that. Possibly a brand spanking new one fresh out of refitting in Beowulf from Bolthole.

Silverwall wrote:To be blunt Abigail is in WW1 terms a princess of Denmark or luxemborg. Rachel is Literally in the same position as the future KG VI. Second or third in line for the throne of a great power.

Ashes of Victory, Chapter 14 wrote:For once in her life, however, not even Allison Chou Harrington's intransigence had been enough. The fact that the Conclave of Steadholders had accepted Faith as Honor's heir, formally named Howard Clinkscales her regent, determined the composition of her Regency Council (which had not, as originally structured, included the Steadholder Mother), and transferred the Harrington Key to her as the second Steadholder Harrington had represented an enormous concession on the Conservatives' part. Of course, all those arrangements had come tumbling down when Honor turned out to be alive after all, but Faith remained her legally designated heir, and Allison was well aware that most of the steadholders, even those who belonged to what passed for the Keys' liberal wing, would really have preferred for her to be clever enough to have made sure James was born first. Since she'd been so inconsiderate as to produce a girl child first, however, and since Protector Benjamin had insisted, they had grudgingly agreed that it was time to allow female children to inherit their fathers' keys. They'd insisted on grandfathering in a stipulation to guarantee the succession of the sons of those among them who'd already produced male heirs, even if, as most Grayson men did, those sons had older sisters, and they'd specifically exempted the protectorship itself, despite Benjamin's best efforts, but they'd accepted yet another of his reforms.

Silverwall wrote:
To be blunt Abigail is in WW1 terms a princess of Denmark or luxemborg. Rachel is Literally in the same position as the future KG VI. Second or third in line for the throne of a great power.

Eagleeye wrote:

Silverwall wrote:
To be blunt Abigail is in WW1 terms a princess of Denmark or luxemborg. Rachel is Literally in the same position as the future KG VI. Second or third in line for the throne of a great power.

There's a shortstory (by Jane Lindskold, if I'm right) about Elizabeth's brother, who was her heir at the time, and his snottie cruise. He went aboard a CL (iIrc) to Masada - where he found his later wife.

Vince wrote:While Abigail is in line for her father's Steadholdership, Rachel is not in line for the Protectorship of Grayson:

Ashes of Victory, Chapter 14 wrote:For once in her life, however, not even Allison Chou Harrington's intransigence had been enough. The fact that the Conclave of Steadholders had accepted Faith as Honor's heir, formally named Howard Clinkscales her regent, determined the composition of her Regency Council (which had not, as originally structured, included the Steadholder Mother), and transferred the Harrington Key to her as the second Steadholder Harrington had represented an enormous concession on the Conservatives' part. Of course, all those arrangements had come tumbling down when Honor turned out to be alive after all, but Faith remained her legally designated heir, and Allison was well aware that most of the steadholders, even those who belonged to what passed for the Keys' liberal wing, would really have preferred for her to be clever enough to have made sure James was born first. Since she'd been so inconsiderate as to produce a girl child first, however, and since Protector Benjamin had insisted, they had grudgingly agreed that it was time to allow female children to inherit their fathers' keys. They'd insisted on grandfathering in a stipulation to guarantee the succession of the sons of those among them who'd already produced male heirs, even if, as most Grayson men did, those sons had older sisters, and they'd specifically exempted the protectorship itself, despite Benjamin's best efforts, but they'd accepted yet another of his reforms.

Italics are the author's, boldface and underlined text is my emphasis.

So Rachel's midshipman's cruise may have much in common to Abigail's in the choice of what ship she would be assigned to (it should be noted that High Admiral Matthews was directly involved in that decision, as well as directly meeting with Abigail to inform her of the details--primarily political--of her midshipman's cruise). The fact that she is not in line of succession for the Protectorship of Grayson makes it more likely she would make her cruise on a non-capital ship similar to HMS Gauntlet. The fact that she is the Protector's eldest daughter, even while not in line of succession, would tend to push back on that choice, however. I suspect that Benjamin's input would play a very large part on what ship she would end up on.

ldwechsler wrote:Abigail won't be her commander. Abigail is too junior for the job. She was a very early promotion to lieutenant and then early to be Tac officer. She is only a few years out of the Academy. I recall vaguely that she was four years older than Helen Zilwicki.

Five years in, no matter who you are, you don't command.

However, I could see Rachel Mayhew on the same ship as Abigail. That way she could have a "big sister" who might understand problems.

Dauntless wrote:intresting question.

I have to agree with most of what was said. Rachel is important but she is not the the heir to the protercship so a SD is way too much ship, even if SD deployments are likely to be more interesting then the standard due to possibly being used in small detachments to swat any BF punishment fleets that try to hammer core worlds or at least shell worlds that decide to secede.

still she is the Benjamin's daughter and both honor and elizabeth would hate for something to happen, more for the inevitable fallout among the keys and the pain it would cause Benjamin rather then worries of problems from Benjamin, so they are not going to use anything smaller then a CA, and probably a SAG-c at that or a BC.

maybe a flight 4 reliant deployed to selisa? should be enough interesting things happening there to keep her and hipper busy without their being exposed to undue risk. and nearly a 1m tons of starship should keep the keys from bleating too much compared to if they used a roland or avalon.