Fandom: Honor Harrington
Summary: Just before Shannon leaves for the Havenite Naval Académie, she preps her cover story with Commodore Lockley. Set in the One More Time Universe.
Characters: Shannon Foraker
Rated: G
Author's Notes: If you've read One More Time, you'll know that her family's names and jobs are not the ones that Shannon calls them here. This is intentional, to try to make it easier to hide her past.
I have to cut my past out and paste in a new one, like a young child gluing pieces of paper together. Farewell to the Grand Duchess, although I haven’t fully been her since I was little, before the takeover. Farewell to the upper-class female Elvanian officer who didn’t mind being called “Milady” by subordinates, when no spies or informers were watching. Farewell to my family of Elvana’s royals, including Cousin (and Duchess) Eimear, who’s made Ensign, and is assigned to the battleship Tirana, flagship of that system’s defense fleet, and Cousin (and Duchess) Orla, at the Academy. Farewell, Elvana, and its SDF, where I was poised for a promising career. I’ll miss you, even if I can’t afford to think too much about you.
Summary: Just before Shannon leaves for the Havenite Naval Académie, she preps her cover story with Commodore Lockley. Set in the One More Time Universe.
Characters: Shannon Foraker
Rated: G
Author's Notes: If you've read One More Time, you'll know that her family's names and jobs are not the ones that Shannon calls them here. This is intentional, to try to make it easier to hide her past.
I have to cut my past out and paste in a new one, like a young child gluing pieces of paper together. Farewell to the Grand Duchess, although I haven’t fully been her since I was little, before the takeover. Farewell to the upper-class female Elvanian officer who didn’t mind being called “Milady” by subordinates, when no spies or informers were watching. Farewell to my family of Elvana’s royals, including Cousin (and Duchess) Eimear, who’s made Ensign, and is assigned to the battleship Tirana, flagship of that system’s defense fleet, and Cousin (and Duchess) Orla, at the Academy. Farewell, Elvana, and its SDF, where I was poised for a promising career. I’ll miss you, even if I can’t afford to think too much about you.
My new past goes like this. I’m Shannon Foraker, not born to any titles or a wealthy family, and only very distantly related somehow to the Grand Duchess who shares my name (it was kind of a common one, alright?), and the rest of the royals. We were just off the Dole. I’m still an only child. I grew up in Selenice, the same city as Blarney Castle, where I I mean the Grand Duchess really did grow up with my her parents. I spent my vacations from school (while the Grand Duchess may have been tutored some of the time, by private tutors, I definitely wasn’t), with my family, and occasionally got to go to Maja see family, with my parents.
I still went to the Elvanian Naval Academy, and graduated high in my class, just behind that Grand Duchess that I just happen to look kinda like. The Grand Duchess, though, has longer hair, and speaks English with an upper-class accent, leaning towards received pronunciation, though obviously not the more conservative received pronunciation favored by those Mantie aristocrats. My English has a bit of a cross between a Elvanian Dolist and middle class accent, instead. I sound nothing like the Grand Duchess, except when I’m very tired, and I let some traces of that received pronunciation that I picked up from those sci-fi holoshows slip through.
I happened to be posted to all the same posts in the ESDF, but in a slightly different order, although always under the same commanding officers as the Grand Duchess. The Grand Duchess’s service record goes something like this. Midshipwoman on the battleship Elvana, Ensign on the destroyer Iliria, serving briefly as assistant tactical officer, later as lead tactical officer. She then makes Lieutenant and gets transferred to the cruiser Niamh for a couple of months, as assistant tactical officer, and a few more months as a staff officer for Commodore Lockley before getting Nemesis along with her promotion to Lieutenant senior grade.
My ESDF record goes like this: Midshipwoman on Nemesis, under Lieutenant Commander Kadare, Ensign on the battleship Elvana, as assistant tracking officer, before getting transferred to the cruiser Niamh, as an assistant gunnery officer, before ending up making Lieutenant, and being the XO of the destroyer Iliria. All in all, a much more normal career path. The only reason the Grand Duchess got Nemesis was because she was very good at tactics and very very well connected.
“Quiz time, Shannon. Where were you posted as an Ensign?” Commodore Lockley quizzes me.
I begin to respond in Elvanian, “Ma’am, I was posted to–”
She cuts me off, shaking her head, “Don’t speak Elvanian! Speak French! That’s the language of the People’s Republic, and other stolen officers have said you get in trouble if you speak your local language, or if you speak French with the wrong accent. Try again.”
I remind myself to think more before I speak, and try again in French, “Madame, en tant qu'Enseigne, j'ai été affectée sur le cuirassé Elvana, en tant qu'assistante officier de suivi, avant d'être transférée sur le croiseur Niamh, en tant qu'assistante officier d'artillerie.”
“Better, but you won’t have that kind of second chances at the Académie. Next question. Who is your mother, and what is her job?”
I reply in French, trying to hide my upper class accent with a more middle to lower class one, “My mother is Gráinne Foraker, and she’s a secretary for Princess Cruises.”
“Your aunts?”
I reply in French, “Caoimhe is an entertainer for Princess Cruises, and helped my mom get the job there. Sharmaine is a dancer, also for Princess Cruises, and her husband, Lliam, is a filmmaker. Ashlyn and Rose are opera singers.”
“Good. Your father?” she quizzes me.
I remember to think before I end up speaking Elvanian accidentally, and blowing my cover story, “My father is Sean Foraker, and he’s a Dolist.”
“Better.”
Author’s notes: I used Google Translate on the French. Shannon’s first response to Commodore Lockley is: Ma'am, as an Ensign, I was posted to the battleship Elvana, as the assistant tracking officer, before getting transferred to the cruiser Niamh, as an assistant gunnery officer.
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