Honor Harrington 1. Chapter 1

A/N: Ok this is my first Foray into the exciting world of Scifi fanfiction and I'm looking forward to it, especially as I'm playing in the genre of Honor Harrington, one of my favourite Scifi stories. This story is set during _'The Short Victorious War'_ although there will be changes to the details of the plotline, I'm expecting the plotline to remain pretty much the same, just with a major OC, a few minor ones and a Ship thrown in for good measure.

Story:

Captain of the List, Lady Dame Honor Stephanie Harrington followed her long time friend Michelle 'Mike' Henke, now Commander Henke, through the corridors of Her Majesties Space Station Hancock.

They were heading to one of the Royal Manticoran Navy's recreational facilities that they provided for their personnel that were serving on Hancock; in short they were going to a bar, in which the two of them were meeting Mike's distant cousin Captain (JG) Paul Tankersley, who was in charge of the repair work being done to Honor's new Battlecruiser command HMS _Nike _(BC-413), and a friend of his, that neither of them had been told the name of.

Nimitz, currently located in his customary position on his person's shoulder, on the other hand thought the situation was actually quite funny, the chirpy treecat found his person's and Mike's predicament of not knowing who Paul's friend was, and them being subsequently annoyed that he wouldn't tell them, really quite funny, which of course only increased Honor's annoyance because she could feel said amusement through the bond that she and Nimitz shared.

Upon entering the establishment, Honor saw that it was packed with both Navy and Marine personnel, including _Nike_'s Marine CO, Major Flanders, enjoying a pint of beer with some of Hancock Station's Marine compliment, she couldn't help but smile slightly to herself, not that anyone that didn't know her well would notice, Marines always stuck together, even when they were on different assignments.

She heard Mike say "There they are", and looking past her friend she noticed the, now, familiar form of Paul Tankersley sitting at a table near a corner of the room, talking to someone who had their back to the two oncoming women, although just because she couldn't see the person's face she was able to make a few observations about them.

Firstly, their shoulders were immense, and from that Honor would guess that it was a man that she was looking at, a very muscular man. He had long black hair that looked like it was the same colour as oil; it even had a similar sheen to the liquid that it resembled. But aside from his obvious physical characteristics, Honor also noted that whoever he was he, like her, was a starship Commanding Officer, as alongside Paul's black beret lay the dazzling white of a Ships Captain.

"Ah finally Mike, I know you like to arrive at things fashionably late, but this is a bit much even for you, what happened? Did you get lost?" Paul's teasing tones resonated out as Honor and Mike arrived at the table, causing the stain of a blush to creep up the pretty Commander's face at her cousin's tone.

Honor however kept her command mask firmly in place; at least until she had met this other person that was sitting with Paul, she regarded Paul as a friend now, not as close as Mike was, but certainly a friend, therefore he was allowed to see past her command persona, whomever was sitting with him hadn't earned that privilege yet.

The two men stood up as the two female officers approached, it was not a courtesy that many officers clung to, but Honor was impressed that these two men complied by it, as her father had always taught her, _"Manners cost you nothing but they can gain you much more."_

She was also shocked at the size of the other officer present as he turned to face herself and Mike, he was huge, he was a full half head taller than she was, so he towered over both Mike and Paul, both of whom had been ribbed on more than one occasion about how short they were.

She was also surprised to note that he had an almost spider-web like pattern of scars that crossed the right side of his face, scars were part of the norm for someone who had signed their lives away in the Queen's service, but the fact that the scars had not been removed meant that they ere either of a particularly nasty nature, or they were kept because of some form of significance they represented to the bearer.

Even though he was 'technically' out of uniform, seeing as his beret was sitting on the table next to his two-thirds full stein of beer, he still managed to snap of a parade ground class salute that impressed Honor, she felt a small smile grace her lips as she returned the salute, the she saw something that made her raise her eyebrows in surprise, and get a soft surprised "bleek" from Nimitz.

It was the ribbon board on his chest; it contained some of the highest medals awarded in the Star Kingdom of Manticore, like Honor's own ribbon board it contained the Manticore Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, an the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. But it differed in that she noted that he had also received the Saganami Cross, named for the founder of the 'modern' Manticoran Navy, Edward Saganami.

But it wasn't this that shocked her the most; it was the fact that his tunic bore the crimson, blue and white ribbon of the Parliamentary Medal of Valor, the Kingdom's _highest_ award for courage and personal dedication to duty at great personal risk in continual service to the Kingdom, and as such he was entitled to a salute from anyone wearing a Manticoran uniform whether they be Navy, Army or Marines.

Honor raised her eyebrow at the unknown officer, indicating that she wanted an explanation as to why he had effectively wavered his right to take an initial salute from her, he also noted that the sleeves of his uniform bore the same four gold cuff rings as her own, but his collar had four gold pips, making him a Captain Junior Grade, as opposed to a Captain of the List.

Smiling the junior Captain said "Forgive me Captain Harrington, but since Her Majesty saw fit to award me the PMV, it has almost become a game to try to get a salute in before any superior officer I meet."

"You always were a smart arse Angus" came Mike's voice from Honor's left, glancing at her friend, who had also saluted even though the expression on her face indicated that she really wasn't prepared to be confronted by a recipient of the PMV, and seeing the smile on her face, she assumed that the three of them knew each other at the least, which left Honor at a disadvantage, that is until Paul spoke up.

"Lady Harrington allow me to introduce, His Grace Captain Angus Macleod, Duke of Blackguard, currently serving as Captain onboard HMS _Shadow_." After finishing his introduction he looked at Angus and had a rather smug look on his face, a look that only increased when Angus responded to the rather long winded introduction.

"And people say that I am long winded, why don't I just stay out of this conversation and let you speak for me Captain Tankersley?"

"I'd be happy to Captain Macleod"

Shaking his head Angus Macleod smiled ruefully at Honor and held out his hand, which Honor promptly took "Irritating _little_ Captains aside Milady, it's a pleasure to meet you, as you may have guessed I already know these other two miscreants present", that caused the smug look on Paul's face to widen slightly, despite the _little_ comment.

Honor's eyes, once again, widened in surprise from the next move made by Angus, after he had shaken Honor's hand he held out his hand to Nimitz and said "And a pleasure to meet you to Nimitz, like Lady Harrington, your fame precedes you."

Nimitz shook the offered hand with the dignity of a ruler greeting a supplicant, although the overall effect was ruined when he gave a delighted "Bleek" at being included, too many people, even Manticoran citizens, thought of treecats as just fluffy, semi-intelligent, six limbed pets, anyone who could look past that and greet him as a person was alright in his books, now all he had to do was scrounge some celery from Angus and things would be perfect.

It was when he was shaking Nimitz's hand that Honor noticed something else about Angus Macleod; his eyes were an odd colour, even in a period when people can get almost whatever physical modifications that they wish, for a price of course, gleaming Tawny-Gold eyes were not exactly the norm.

Only Honor's command experience saved her from experiencing a full blown blush, instead of the, faint colouring that she currently experienced, as he not only noticed the way she was, for all intents and purposes, staring at him, but also through her link with Nimitz she was able to see the way that he was eyeing her as well.

"Don't worry milady, you are not the first person to be taken back by the eyes, unfortunately it is a hereditary trait on the paternal side of my family, and if I'm completely truthful I rather enjoy their shock value."

Honor smiled back at this and replied "I can well understand that Your Grace, they do make a rather strong impression."

With that the four of them sat down, and Mike got the waiters attention and put in an order for two fresh steins of Old Tillman. The conversation then switched to that of people getting reacquainted after a long period of time, which Honor was grateful for as the other three officers sitting at the table included her in the conversation.

When they ordered some table snacks to go on the table, snacks which included pretzels, potato chips and a small salad bowl, Nimitz cemented his friendship with Angus, as the Captain quietly kept slipping him celery from the dish, and only looked innocently back when Honor caught him at it.

Honor couldn't help but smile at his antics, although she knew that this was not the completely 'real' Angus Macleod, she could tell through her link with Nimitz, who, after the attempted assassination of Protector Benjamin on Grayson, had been monitoring the thoughts, feelings and emotions of those around him, that Captain Macleod was not as he appeared on the surface.

She could feel two very distinct and almost exact polar opposites, effects about his emotions. Firstly that he had them bound by a will of iron, not letting them near the surface of his consciousness, and secondly that they were like a rolling ocean, powerful and strong, having the capacity for great kindness and joy, along with great wrath and rage, but also unfortunately, from what Honor could feel, great pain.

Pushing these observations to the side for a moment she turned to Angus and said "The one thing that I'm not completely clear on is how the three of you know each other?" her voice resonating slightly with a faint trace of humour.

Angus smiled and took a sip of his beer; letting the pleasant taste linger in his mouth he answered the question. "I've known Mike for quite a few years now, our families move in the same social circles so it was only natural for us to meet when we were much younger. I didn't meet Paul until after my father died; the Henke's were kind enough to invite me to a family Christmas get together, and when the Henke's invite family over, they invite _all _the family over."

Honor felt Angus' emotional pain when he mentioned the loss of his father, and realised that it must have affected him deeply when it happened, but couldn't stop a small smile gracing her features at the thought of Mike Henke, obviously as a little girl, causing terror and mayhem amongst the cream of Manticoran society. She could also feel Nimitz's shared amusement at the thought about her current XO; he didn't "bleek" his amusement this time as he was munching on a bit of smuggled celery, this time procured by Honor herself.

Their friendly and peaceful conversation was interrupted by the ringing chime of a com unit, on reflex all the officers seated at the table, and indeed tables that were nearby reached for their own communicators, only to find that the device itself belonged to Captain Paul Tankersley, who smiled apologetically at the people around him.

"Tankersley here…I see do you need me to come right away…very well I shall be there shortly" deactivating the com he turned to the others seated at the table and said "I'm sorry about that but one of the engineers I've got working over on _Nike _has encountered a problem that he needs my help with, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to dash off and make sure he hasn't blown up anything vitally important."

His last sentence was said with humour, but it was well documented that new ship classes were often subjected to damage, because the facilities and personnel that were tending to them were not completely aware of all the capabilities, systems and other technical workings of the vessels that were under their care.

Honor started to stand too, anything that concerned her ship, especially a ship that was as dear to the heats and minds of the Royal Manticoran Navy as HMS _Nike_, was something that _greatly_ concerned her Captain.

"No Honor, you have been on your feet working yourself stupid since you took over as _Nike_'s Captain, I'll go with Paul and make sure that the Yard Dogs don't blow up your shiny new ship, besides I want to talk to Paul as to why the family is only hearing about this woman Cindy now. So you sit here and keep Angus occupied, otherwise something _will_ blow up."

Honor put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle, that wasn't really helped by the indignant expression that had filtered onto Angus' face, she was really struggling as through Nimitz she could _feel_ that there was a story behind what Mike had said, a story that was both humorous and embarrassing, at least where Angus was concerned.

As Paul and Mike headed off to the nearest passageway that would take them to where _Nike_ was berthed, Angus smiled at Honor and said "They may be a pair of miscreants, but I'd trust them with my life, and more importantly my ship."

That simple statement indicated to Honor that the other Captain was a man after her own heart, putting the lives of his crew ahead of his own life; Honor had the feeling that they were going to become firm friends.

"So tell me a bit more about your ship Your Grace, I believe you said her name was the _Shadow_?"

Angus held up a hand with a small grimace, and Honor's first thought was that he was going to excuse himself, only having spoken to her because of her connection to Mike and Paul, and the familiar ache of dismissal because she wasn't a 'beauty' echoed in her thoughts, even though she long thought that she had gotten over it, and it was only Nimitz's admonishing 'bleek' and loving mental caress that alerted her to the fact that Angus had continued speaking, not noticing the brief pain filled grimace that flashed over her face.

"Lady Harrington I will gladly tell you about the _Shadow_ on one condition, that we please move past ranks and titles while we are not on duty. Mike calls you by your name, as she does myself along with Paul, and I would like to think that in the, relatively, brief time that we have spent talking to each other we have become friends. As such I believe that friends should call each other by their names, and I personally find that my _title_ gets in the way of that, rather like a bucket tied to a dogs tail, immensely noisy and completely impractical."

At that Honor let out a truly happy laugh, which she was immensely glad wasn't anything like the annoying 'schoolgirl giggle' she had inherited from someone in her family.

"I think I should like that Angus, as long as you extend me the same courtesy I think we shall get along fine, now go on please tell me a bit about your ship."

Angus grinned and said "Well Honor, when you put it that way I guess I have no choice, the _Shadow_ is a _Star-Knight _Class Heavy Cruiser, with a few modifications that I'm not really allowed to talk about until Admiral Sarnow 'officially' approves of my appointment out here. But I can safely say both on, and off the record that I couldn't be prouder of the _Shadow_ and her crew, although I think all Captain's think that."

Honor smiled and replied "What do you mean modifications? I have not been made aware of any specific modifications made to the _Star-_Knight class, and why would Admiral Sarnow need to confirm you and your ships posting out here? But I think I must agree with you on that point, I have met very few Captains that are not proud of their crews. I know, even from the short time that I have been in command of _Nike_, I have been very proud in which my crew had conducted themselves."

Angus's smile could only be classified as mischievous; funnily enough it reminded Honor of Nimitz when the cheeky little devil surprised someone with one of his devastating Frisbee attacks.

"I would have thought that Mike and Paul's hints throughout this afternoon would have given it away Honor" his grin causing Honor to raise her eyebrow and 'mock' glare at the other officer, letting him know that she wanted him to hurry up and get to the point.

Holding up both hands Angus said "Alright I'll stop teasing, I'm 'technically' not a front-line naval officer, well not yet I will be when Admiral Sarnow ratifies my appointment out here, you won't believe the look on Admiral Parks' face when he heard that I had to be appointed by Sarnow, his face looked like a tomato, not that I could tell him this, not matter how concerned for his blood pressure I might be. But I digress I am, currently, and have been for a great deal of my career with ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence."

Honor was surprised, although now that she went over what Paul and Mike had said to Angus, and what they had told her about him it was easy to see that they had been dropping subtle hints about his placement in the Service the whole afternoon. She was about to open her mouth to say something else when _her_ own com went off.

Smiling apologetically at Angus she answered the communications device "Sorry to interrupt you break milady" came the voice of Senior Chief Steward's Mate James MacGuiness "but you asked me to remind you that you have a conference with Admiral Sarnow this evening."

Honor sighed, since becoming Sarnow's Flag Captain she had found herself at more conferences than she cared to count, whether they be with the Admiral himself, or with the other Captains of Battlecruiser Squadron 5.

"Sorry Angus but our conversation will have to be postponed, no one wants to keep an Admiral waiting, especially one with Admiral Sarnow's reputation."

Angus nodded his head and said "Completely understandable Honor, you don't need to apologise, when you get some free time, and after the Admiral has read me in, I would like to invite you over to _Shadow _to have a look at the modifications that we have garnished her with, I think some of them you might like."

Honor was both surprised and delighted, it was a rare honour, even among friendly Captains, for one to invite the other over to tour their ship, it was a sign of great respect, and was considered a grave insult to refuse.

"I would be delighted to, and allow me to extend to you the same courtesy to visit _Nike_" she paused for a moment, some of her old insecurities resurfacing, before continuing "actually, there is a formal dinner aboard _Nike _tomorrow evening its to 'officially' welcome her to Battlecruiser Squadron 5, and I would like to invite you to come as well, but be prepared it's a mess-dress dinner, it will also give you a chance to meet some of my friends and crew that you'll be working with out here on Hancock."

Standing as she did Angus replied "I would be honoured to accept, I just hope I packed my mess-dress uniform."

Shaking hands one final time Captain Dame Honor Harrington, Countess and Steadholder Harrington, walked out of the bar, after paying for her drinks, Nimitz perched on her shoulder, not thinking about her upcoming conference with Rear Admiral Sarnow, but looking forward to tomorrow's dinner, wondering what more surprises Captain Angus Macleod would bring.

A/N: Ok that's Chapter One, its more of an introduction to the story than a full size chapter, so expect them to get bigger as I go along, it might take me a while to post up Chapter Two as Uni is coming to an end, and I have exams (crap). Please no flames, but constructive criticism is welcomes, as well as people who just love the story *hint hint*

Cheers Read and Review TBK


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you to bemeka for reviewing the story, its nice to see someone giving some positive feedback. Oh and seeing as I didn't say this initially, I don't own this universe I just play in it, and the only character I own is Macleod and any of his crew who may make an appearance.

Oh and while the basic storyline will be set during _The Short Victorious War _ I will probably be mucking around with some of the events that will be encounter within the story, but the basic plotline will be cannon.

Story:

_Nike_'s ward room was filled with men and women wearing the black and gold of the Royal Manticoran Navy. Amongst this sea of gold braid and scarlet shoulder flashes were the occasional bright patches of white signifying the berets of starship commanders as the assembled CO's, each of them a Flag Captain of one of Vice Admiral Sir Yancey Parks Task Force Flag Officers, whom had gathered in HMS _Nike _immenseward room to officially welcome the powerful Battlecruiser to the Task Force.

Captain Lady Dame Honor Harrington was mingling with her peers and, much to her surprise, enjoying herself. She had spent some of her time talking to Rear Admiral Sarnow, who much to her pleasure had introduced her personally to Rear Admiral Konstanzakis CO of Superdreadnought Squadron 8, and Rear Admiral Kostmeyer CO of Battle Squadron 9. She had enjoyed speaking to the two senior officers, especially as they, like her, had been through the horrifying gauntlet of space combat, and had spoken nothing but praise over her actions at Yetsin and Basilisk.

But there was only one blight on the evening so far, Captain Angus Macleod had yet to arrive, and Honor was scared that she had been snubbed by the Heavy Cruiser Captain. It was only Nimitz's admonishing little 'bleeks' and purrs that stopped her from feeling sorry for herself.

Pulling herself out of her self imposed depression she realised that the dinner wasn't due to actually start for another fifteen minutes, so he wasn't _technically _late, so she wasn't sure why she was so concerned. Then she heard Mac's voice from beside her say.

"Excuse me ma'am but flight control report that _Shadow_'s actual, is approaching the docking bay, and you did ask me to remind you when they were making their final approach."

"Thank you Mac, please tell Commander Henke to hold the fort here while I go and meet in Captain Macleod."

"Of course ma'am, I have already signalled the Bosun to get a greeting party ready."

Smiling in thanks to her faithful steward Honor, with the ever present Nimitz again on her shoulder, moved out of the wardroom to the nearest elevator to head to _Nike_'s large docking bay where the shuttles that had brought TF Hancock's Flag Officer's and Flag Captains to the party were kept while their passengers were aboard _Nike_.

As she was standing in the elevator, two things occurred to Honor, firstly that the small smile that she was wearing that evening had gotten ever so _slightly_ larger as she heard that Captain Macleod was arriving, and secondly, she was extremely glad that she had gone to Mike and asked for help to make herself look good, she had absolutely no experience when it came to makeup and other 'girly' things, so she went to the one person that would be able to help her, and not make her feel like an ass at the same time.

It had nothing to do with the dashing young Captain that was landing in _Nike_'s docking bay; it was that she had to look her best as Admiral Sarnow's Flag Captain. With that thought she subconsciously checked her dress uniform for any flaws, touched her dress sword and tired to ignore Nimitz's amused "bleeks"; sometimes the little devil was far too perceptive.

--

Captain (Junior Grade) Lord Angus Macleod, Duke Blackguard, sat in his seat next to his Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander George Trent, a heavy featured man from Gryphon, and gave a half grimace half smile at the upcoming dinner.

"Something on your mind Skipper?" asked George, noting the strange expression on his Captain's face, but having served with him for several years; he had a pretty good idea what was bothering the man.

Snorting Angus turned to his friend and said "I am I really that obvious? Wait don't you answer that" he continued noticing the smile starting to form on George's face "I suppose its…this" he indicated the shining medals glinting on the breast of his dress uniform tunic. "The people here are just going to see these and not what lies behind them, they weren't at Basilisk, and some of them won't even have the clearance to access my after action report. They won't understand what happened out there, out of all the people at this dinner only you, and perhaps Lady Harrington, will understand."

George nodded his head and in a rare display of public contact between a junior officer to a senior one, he squeezed his Captain's shoulder, but soon true to his nature a smile flickered across his face and he said, "So this nervousness and other strange feelings are all to do with those medals on your chest and have nothing to do with the rather lovely Lady Harrington?"

The glare that Angus sent his way caused the Commander to burst into raucous laughter, the noise probably had the pilots wondering if the Captain and the Exec had gotten the party started early.

But he couldn't hold the glare for long, and soon a smile graced Angus's face too, with an Exec like George there was no way not to smile when he started to laugh, it was just infections. But anyone who took him for a fool soon found themselves in a _very_ dangerous situation; the man could kill you with just about anything close to hand, a result of the Naval Intelligence Training that had been literally beaten into him, the same training that one then Lieutenant Junior Grade Angus Macleod had undergone as well.

Hearing the tone that indicated they were coming in to dock both officers with the ease of long practice checked their uniforms and stood in one fluid motion. Sending one final half grin half glare at his Exec's still smiling face Captain Lord Angus Macleod settled the white beret of a starship commander on his head and assumed his command mask, he had to make an impression after all.

--

Honor was standing in _Nike_'s large docking bay fighting the urge to fidget, the only time she had been this nervous was when Admiral Sarnow had transferred his Flag to her vessel, but that time hadn't included the butterflies that were trying to engage each other in LAC combat in her stomach, and she decided to put off analysing that situation for when there would be no witnesses.

The sharp trill of the Bosun's side party brought her out of her internal musings as she saw Angus, and a man who could only be his Executive Officer, 'swim' through to _Nike_'s internal gravity. He saluted the smartly turned out Lieutenant and Honor heard his deep, melodious and cultured voice say "Permission to come aboard?"

The response of "Permission granted Sir" echoed in the cavernous docking bay, as the Marine attendants snapped to attention and brought their pulsar rifles smartly to their shoulders.

Honor stepped forward after returning Angus's salute, and held out her hand with a smile, and said "Welcome aboard _Nike_ your Grace, not to sound vain at all, but what do you think of her?"

Angus smiled at Honor while taking her hand and replied by saying "Fishing for compliments already Dame Honor? Very well, in all seriousness, I am very impressed with _Nike_, certainly from the little I saw when I was coming in she appears to be a truly magnificent warship."

Honor couldn't help but preen, ever so slightly of course, under the praise that was being given out about her latest command. She looked across at the man standing at Angus's shoulder and quirked her eyebrow, indicating that she was wondering who he was, and why Angus had not introduced him.

"Oh him, well if I _have_ to introduce him as well" said Angus, his face completely serious but his tawny gold eyes dancing with mirth, glanced at the Lieutenant Commander standing at his side.

"It's always such a pleasure to go places with you Captain Macleod; you are always so eloquent and polite." George's tone was dry but with an edge of clear humour in its edge.

Angus snorted in response, and Honor's eyebrow rose towards her hairline, here were obviously two officers that had served with each other long enough that they were comfortable in each other's company, no matter their difference in rank.

"I see" came her response, in her usual soft soprano, but Honor's eyes glinted slightly with suppressed mirth, she could see that she would immediately switch her conversation to these two officers if the conversation around the table this evening turned out to be as boring as she thought that it could be.

Angus openly laughed at this, further darkening the expression on his XO's face, taking pity on his friend he decided to introduce him properly, lest he find that 'someone' had spat in his morning coffee.

"All joking aside, Dame Honor please allow me to introduce Lieutenant Commander George Trent, my Executive Officer. Not only is he my XO, he is also one of my closest friends. George I believe that you already know the name of our host?"

George smiled, his pretend irritation with his CO long forgotten, he offered a smart salute to the senior Captain and took her offered hand, giving a polite greeting to the one he received he stepped back and let the two Captains talk amongst themselves, when they got to the dining room he would let them talk to the other CO's and he would socialise with the other executive officers and staff officers that would be in attendance.

George then did what all good XO's were able to do, pretend that they could neither see or hear anything that was said between their Captain and a senior officer that was speaking to them. So he took up position behind the two Captains and entered the lift to take them to _Nike_'s dining hall.

"So is there anyone attending tonight that I will need to watch what I say around Honor? I would hate to tarnish your welcome party with some ill considered remark that would ruin one of the higher powers supper." The last part was said in such a way that it left everyone understanding that a superior had to earn Captain Macleod's respect, it was not given freely.

"Well that would ruin the surprise Angus; I wouldn't want to make this experience too easy on you now would I?" Glancing at the other Captain out of the corner of her eye she smiled as his eyes narrowed slightly in mock annoyance, but the small smile tucking at his lips let her know that he found the situation as humorous as she did.

--

The trio entered the large, for a warship, dining hall to the sight of Mike doing two things, Mike conducting the proceedings, introducing officers to each other that hadn't met each other yet, and also doing the incredibly important service of keeping every officer's glass full of whatever they were drinking at the time.

George immediately moved away to talk to some of the junior officers that were in attendance, most of them staff officers to the various Admirals that had gathered to welcome _Nike_ to the Task Force.

Honor, however, introduced Angus to Rear Admiral Konstanzakis and the three of them had a very pleasing conversation, reminiscing about their academy days, and at how little it had changed between in the years. But all too soon, the conversation had to come to the end because, true to his efficient nature, Chief MacGuiness came into the room and announced the "Ladies and Gentlemen, Sir's and Ma'am's I am pleased to announce that dinner is served."

The assembled Flag Captains, Executive Officers, Staff Officers and Flag Officers themselves moved almost as one towards the dining hall, the delicious smells having teased their nostrils for some time had allowed them to work up quite an appetite.

There was, of course, a definite seating arrangement at this table, and to any uneducated observer it would have appeared to make no sense whatsoever, but to the men and women of the Royal Manticoran Navy, it made perfect sense.

Honor was seated at the head of the table, for no matter the rank of anyone else aboard _Nike_, Honor Harrington was still her Captain, which meant that _Nike_ was _her_ ship. Vice Admiral Sir Yancey Parks was seated at her right hand side, as Task Force CO that was both his right and his privilege, next to him, much to his chagrin, was Rear Admiral Mark Sarnow, who appeared to have no problem with the seating plan, which only annoyed the Vice Admiral further.

However seated on Honor's _left_ was Captain Junior Grade Angus Macleod, who though at the moment was not an _official_ part of the Naval forces guarding Hancock, was an invited guest of the ships CO, and as such was seated accordingly. From there on it was a relatively simple seating plan, consisting of people being seated according to rank, with Flag Captains seated near their Flag Officers.

The conversation flowed and, Honor thought, people seemed to be sincerely enjoying themselves, well everyone that wasn't Sir Yancey Parks. He had the unfortunate honour to be squeezed between the two officers that he liked the least that served under his command, but he was conversing, albeit reluctantly with Rear Admiral Sarnow, as he had deemed him the lesser of the two evils.

Which left Honor, and by extension Nimitz, who was perched in his own high chair directly to Honor's left, sharing her table space, to converse with Angus, who appeared to be as interesting dining companion as he had been a drinking one.

Their conversation covered many topics, all of them interesting to the pair of them, as they quickly covered most of the background information that would move them from acquaintances, to friends, a stage the pair of them thought they were at already, to eventual firm friends.

Currently they were discussing their homeworlds; Honor had been delighted to discover that Angus had spent a considerable amount of time on her own home planet of Sphinx, sadly she could not say the same for his, in fact knowing the basics of the planet was about as much as she knew of the place, forcing Angus to regale her with descriptions of his beloved planet, a planet she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she would like to visit at some stage.

"Titan is a strong world Honor, a world that has bred strong people, many of whom enter the Queen's service. Sadly though my home is not to everyone's tastes, certain people who prefer the hedonistic pleasures and soft comforts of Manticore are, unfortunately, often out of sorts on Titan. Titan's geography is similar to your own home in the Copper Walls on Sphinx, except instead of it being in one section it is spread all over the planet. Soaring mountains capped with snow and deep valleys with rivers running through them are the norm for us."

He took a small sip of his wine, a truly excellent merlot picked out for the occasion by Chief MacGuiness; he savoured the rich, smooth flavour before continuing.

"The people of Titan are almost exclusively from the Old Earth cultures of Scotland and Germany, making them a blend of Celt and Saxon that made them exceptionally hardy and perfectly formed for the weather of Titan, whose winters can sometimes make those of Gryphon seem rather mild."

Honor winced at that statement, although still smiling, it was well known that Gryphon's winters were some of the harshest to be found in the whole Star Kingdom, as such Titan's must be truly devastating if one was unprepared for them. Honor quickly brought her attention back to the man sitting on her left, as she realised that he was still speaking.

"That being said Honor, if you get the chance to go on one ski trip in your lifetime, there is no other place I would be able to recommend that would be better than Titan, and the view from the top of the mountains is simply breathtaking."

Honor smiled, something that she was doing a lot of when Angus was around, here was someone she could definitely identify with, someone who liked doing things, who didn't just like sitting in a resort or a hotel but actually liked going out and experiencing the world, defiantly her type of man. Her eyes widened in surprise, where had that thought come from, she was certainly glad that Angus was responding to a question from his left, so he wasn't looking at her when she had that little revelation.

Unfortunately, even though Angus himself had missed Honor's revelation Nimitz hadn't, his small furry head had whipped round to look at his person and Honor had met his forest green gaze with no small amount of nervousness, nervousness she had never really felt around the cat before.

The furry head moved between her and the object of her thoughts and she felt him, through their link, thinking for lack of a better work. Then Honor felt, once again, Angus Macleod's emotions only this time it wasn't Nimitz sensing someone's feelings he was most likely literally searching through Angus's head, it was just that Honor didn't know exactly _how _he was doing it.

Her attention was drawn back to Nimitz as he turned to face her, and his emotions bubbled across her own and she identified three specific ones that overruled all the others, firstly there was approval of Angus, and Honor was surprised at how relived she was at discovering that, secondly there was acceptance of the attraction, that for all intents and purposes was mutual. Thirdly however was the amusement that came with the understanding that even though Honor had a decent idea of both her _and_ Angus's feelings she was still nervous about the whole thing.

It was just after desert had been cleared away when Admiral Sarnow turned to Sir Yancey Parks and asked a question, the other Admiral waited for a moment and then resignedly nodded his head, the junior officer then stood up and began speaking in his usual deep voice.

"Ladies and Gentlemen may I have your attention. Now that we have been indulged by the excellent supplies provided by _Nike_'s kitchens I would like to say a few words. Firstly can you put your hands together and as we officially welcome HMS_ Nike_ to the Fifth Battle Cruiser Squadron, and to our Task Force here at Hancock Station, welcome _Nike_."

The assembled officers gave, the slightly embarrassed Honor, who was still smiling, a great round of applause, letting her know that she, and her command, was well and truly welcomed amongst them. Glancing to her left she caught sight of Angus's smile, combined with the slight nod of his head _and_ the emotions provided by Nimitz, Honor felt her flush intensify just a little, and this time it had nothing to do with embarrassment, but a deeper more personal emotion.

But her feelings were put to the back of her mind as the Admiral began to talk again "Ladies and Gentlemen we also have the opportunity to welcome another comrade to our midst, Captain Macleod and the _Shadow_ fresh from service with O.N.I. have decided to do some real Naval work, welcome Captain, and consider yourself read in, report to Commodore Van Slyke by oh nine hundred to receive your tasking orders."

Angus nodded his head to the murmured welcome from the other officers and the polite applause that followed before adding an "Aye aye Admiral."

It was then that Honor noticed that an immaculately dressed man wearing the uniform of a Commander, sitting next to Commodore Van Slyke appeared to take an interest in Angus, weighing him up with a calculating eye, and Honor recognised it as someone who was going to try to curry favour with the person they were looking at. The strange thing was that there was a sense of familiarity about him that Honor could not place, yet at the same time she was sure that she hadn't met him before in her life, and not having the opportunity to talk to him this evening she wasn't even sure what his name was.

Soon after this the dinner began to end, with individual officers reporting back to their vessels, some of them staying longer for a stiff brandy before returning to the harsh reality of Naval duty.

Once she was alone Honor was allowed to fully examine her thoughts, and feelings, for the evening. She was beyond pleased that the dinner had gone so well no tempers had frayed and, thankfully, politics had remained out of the majority of conversation.

Which left her to think about Angus, something that she was doing quite a bit lately, she wasn't sure why but he had easily bypassed the defences that she had put in place after Pavel Young's attempted rape while she had been a Midshipwoman on Saganami Island.

Sighing Honor came to the conclusion that she _didn't_ know what to do in this situation unsealing her mess dress uniform tunic she draped it on the back of the nearest chair and flopped down onto her couch. After some lengthy consideration she came to the final conclusion that she would leave things as they are and let everything progress naturally.

Then from across her emotional link with Nimitz she felt his amusement at her situation "Yes it's all well and good for you to sit there snickering Stinker but we mere mortals don't immediately know whether we are compatible with someone, not being empathic like you 'cats."

Nimitz padded into her field of view, although padded was the wrong word, it was the most aristocratic walk anyone could manage while moving on four legs, it was his way of letting Honor know that yes tree cats were superior to humans.

This lead to only one course of action in Honor's mind, it was the most mature, tactically available and immediately ready offensive that was ready to her, she threw a pillow at the fuzzy devil.

--

Honor accepted friendly handshake in the spirit that it was offered and grinned at the figure of Lieutenant Commander George Trent who had met her in the neatly ordered area of HMS _Shadow_'s docking bay, this was not Honor's first visit to the _Star-Knight_ class Heavy Cruiser, nor was it her tenth, she had been aboard on an off for the last two months after having acquired Angus as a sparring partner, which was the reason that she had her uniform on but her _gi_ in a hanger over her arm.

Honor's beloved _Coup de vitesse_ was not among Angus Macleod's array of skills, although he understood the basics he was no master, he was however a master in another form of martial art that of _kali_, an extremely brutal form of combat that had been brought from Old Earth when the first of the colony ships had left. Today was an exciting day for Honor, in all their previous sparring sessions they had concentrated on the _coup_, which pleased Honor no end as she was able to throw around her much larger and densely muscled opponent, but today they were going to match her mastery of _coup de vitesse _against Angus's mastery of _kali_.

"Well George where is he? Hiding from getting another pasting?" teased Honor, bringing up the memory of actually having to go and find Angus for their second sparring session, as he had conveniently decided that he was going to assist in Engineering that day, and just happen to forget the meeting time, and to tell anyone where he was. It had nothing to do with the bruises that must have covered him after the first session, although it had taken Honor five minutes to realise that he was actually teasing her a little bit, trying to get a rise out of her, and as such she had gotten her first look at the _real_ Angus Macleod.

"Actually milady he isn't, he's already in the gym warming up I believe. Although I'm not sure the Marines that were seconded into helping him do so are considering it a warm up. I'd recommend going down now and watching it might save you some bruises later, and it's a hell of a good show, if you don't mind me saying."

Honor's interest was raised at what the chirpy Lieutenant Commander said, and so with a polite nod and a motion of her hand, Captain of the List and Lieutenant Commander made their way to the elevator that would take them to the appropriate deck which housed _Shadow_'s gym, and her Captain.

--

Walking through the long corridors of HMS _Shadow_ Honor had a sense of déjà vu in regards to her first visit to the powerful Heavy Cruiser, the memory brought a smile to her face.

Honor had come aboard the _Shadow_ at twelve thirty hours to meet Angus for lunch, and to say that she was a little nervous would be an understatement, this would be the first time that she had been truly out of her comfort zone around the junior Captain, they'd had lunch together several times, but always with at least one other officer present, they had even been joined by Admiral Sarnow, twice. But this would be the first time that Honor had shared a meal with Angus Macleod, and it be only the two of them, it didn't help that Honor was coming to lunch aboard the _Shadow_ combine lunch with her first visit, not a good idea in hindsight, she thought to herself.

She 'swam' aboard _Shadow_'s gravity and came to attention as the immaculately turned out side party came to attention, complete with Marine honour guard, as the twittering of the bosun's pipes met her ears. Her nervousness abated a little bit as Paul's voice came back to her _"Don't worry Honor, Angus likes you well enough that he isn't going to shaft or nub you the minute you get to is ship that's not his style. But a little trick that we've picked up, that is me and Mike, when dealing with our dear Captain Macleod, if you have a full side party plus Marines to greet you then you'll be fine, if not he's going to be a right bastard and I'd run if I encountered that."_

She saluted the young Lieutenant that had the duty of welcoming her to the ship "Permission to come aboard Lieutenant?"

"Permission granted Ma'am"

Angus had stepped forward to meet her then returning her salute and shook her hand "Welcome aboard _Shadow_ Dame Honor hopefully we'll be able to impress you with her as you impressed me with _Nike_."

Honor grinned at that and said "If you do that then we'll both be happy Captains, something that both our crews can aspire too" they both had a small chuckle at that, and from there the day had gone very well indeed.

Although not a Captain of the List, and therefore not senior enough to warrant a steward of his own, Angus had a brilliant mess staff, that had turned out a desert that had filled even Honor's prodigious metabolism, but it was the tour that came after word that was the real treat.

Honor had been privileged to see some of the 'improvements' that O.N.I. had added to the _Stark-Knight_ design to make them more deadly, and for once the egg heads in the padded rooms had done their job well.

As Honor examined several of the modifications she whistled lowly, imagining the havoc anyone could wield with this particular arsenal at their disposal. There was 'Pigmented Camouflage': Which was an electrified camouflage that dampened the impeller signature of the vessel it was attached to, allowing it to appear as nothing more than a micron sized distortion on any sensor web. It also had the side effect of changing the colour of the vessel from whit, in the RMN's case, to midnight black, colour change was easy to do, all you had to do was use pigmented paint and an eclectic charge, but _why_ it happened in this case was something else entirely. 

The Second modification that caught her eye was something called 'Magnetic Thermonuclear Drive': A drive that had been nicknamed _'The Silent Drive'_, both as a reference to the actual specs of the drive and out of an almost religious cult following that a popular Old Earth had among techies in the RMN. This drive allowed the use of one hundred percent impeller drive, unfortunately without defensive sidewalls, without appearing on sensor webs.

Some other modifications including the addition of two new missiles to _Shadow_'s armament the _Night Hammer_, and the _Strike Ferret_. The Night Hammer was an impeller driven missile that ran at over two hundred percent more power than a regular missile, making it hellishly fast, far faster than any point defence was 'supposed' to be able to track. Unfortunately seeing as they were untested they were only available in limited quantity, mostly onboard O.N.I. ships and former ships like _Shadow_.

The Strike Ferret however is a personalised 'ship killer' it carries one and a half times the payload of a normal missile, but has the option of having a programmed flight plan laid into the firing solution, or can even be controlled by the ships Tac officer.

All in all Honor thought that _Shadow_ may only be a heavy cruiser, but she could pack on hell of a punch, something that would shock the hell out of any ship unlucky enough to come up against her in combat.

--

Honor entered the now familiar place of _Shadow_'s gym and stopped her eyed widening in surprise as she saw Angus Macleod. But this was Angus Macleod as she had never seen him before, instead of the plain black _gi _that he usual wore during their sessions, he was wearing a black tank top with loos black combat pants, and he looked gorgeous.

He was kicking men around as though they were soccer balls, throwing in devastating kicks, punches, twists and a variety of strikes that made Honor's head spin, suddenly he held up a hand and they all stood up, some more gingerly than others and bowed to their Captain, and Honor realised that these were the Marines that George had told her about, suddenly the idea of having _kali_ face off against the _coup_ didn't seem like a good idea.

"Ah Dame Honor, ready for our match I see" Angus deep powerful voice cut through her musings like a treecat through a celery patch, he made his way over and she shook his hand, feeling the steely rock hard power in his grip and she felt her pulse quicken and her face flush.

Pulling herself together, and praying that Angus didn't notice, and ignoring Nimitz who was shaking Angus's hand now Honor said "Very impressive Your Grace, but I hope you're not too tired, I'd hate to have an unfair advantage over you."

Angus smiled, and Honor felt her knees weaken slightly, what was wrong with her, "I wouldn't worry Milady, I was just warming up. I hope George hasn't let the cat, sorry Nimitz, out of the bag by spoiling my challenge for you?"

At her raised eyebrow he continued "I propose a wager Dame Honor, should you agree we shall have ourselves a little challenge. If you throw me at least ten times you can ask me one question of any nature and i will answer, even if it is one about my slightly grey O.N.I. past" Honor's eyebrow rose rather here was a rare opportunity to find out more about the elusive Captain.

"But if I knock you down at least ten times, I get to ask you for one boon to be redeemed at any time. Agreed?"

Honor smiled brightly and said "You're on Angus, hope you have your answer ready as I'm not loosing this fight."

Angus just smiled in return and his golden eyes danced like the devil as he said "In your own words Honor Harrington, less talk, and lets be about it."

AN: Thank you to bemeka for reviewing, so far you are the only one please continue to do so as i enjoy feedback. Sorry for the late update though RL has been tough what with Uni, travelling and other commitments it's been hard finding the time to right, any way here is CH2, hope you enjoy. Everyone else please read and review. Cheers TBK


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