Silence descended on the passenger bay as everybody tried to absorb what had just happened. And the stunned former legionnaires most of all, as they considered their unusual promotion to the highest level of the vampire military.
All of them, except Naryan. She had kept her eyes on Lash while the change in command took place. And felt a thrill shiver through her body when she saw him nod and smile in satisfaction when she came formally under his command. Because she knew that, despite their friendship, he would be putting them into the thick of the most intense fighting they'd be facing on this mission. Fighting that she, and many of her legionnaires may not walk away from.
Even knowing that, however, there wasn't a vampire she trusted more with her life than the one she had grown up with. They were eternal friends and had solidified that friendship with a renewal of an intimate and emotional connection that had languished for far too long in a most delicious and delightful way.
After letting his eyes sweep over the stunned and silent passenger bay, Lash stepped to a certain spot that he knew on the floor. One with a connection to a holographic projector.
"Fordricht, are you online?"
"Reading you five by five, boss," the North African Ventru warrior replied.
"You caught our conversation with NachtFeuer?"
"Every word." There was a pause, before: "Galloway has already ordered the Vanguard legionnaires over here to remove their insignia."
"Excellent. Now, we've got a bit of a ceremony to go through next. Go into the passenger bay and find what appears to be a starburst on the floor, a couple steps in from the entry to the flight deck."
Again there was a slight pause. Then:
"Got it, boss."
"Wave your hand over it," Lash said as he followed his own instructions. And he smiled when, with a shimmer of light, a life-sized image of Fordricht appeared at the front of the bay.
"Looks like that worked, boss," Fordricht said with a smile, looking over at Lash.
"So it did. Now, I'm going to open a storage unit close to the flight deck entry. When I tell you, go there, open the panel which I will unlock remotely for you, and take out the two flat, black boxes within."
"Copy that, boss. Just say the word," Fordricht said as he took a parade rest posture.
Lash nodded then walked to a storage unit close to the entry onto the flight deck. A touch brought up a biometrics input suite and, after giving a retinal scan, a palm scan and a DNA scan of a drop of blood, the storage unit opened. Reaching inside, he took out a rectangular box in dark green lacquer.
With that box in hand, he walked back into the heart of the passenger bay where they all waited with bated breath. A thumbprint opened the box and he drew out an insignia, a dragon coiled around a lightning bolt, sitting on a small platform of velvet and polished African blackwood. Looking up at a suddenly wide-eyed Naryan, he smiled before sticking out his hand.
"Welcome to the Qos Viran, Captain Naryan Kingsguard," he said.
Naryan gave a start, then nodded, smiling, as she stepped forward to take his forearm in the traditional vampiric and accept the insignia.
"Thank you, Lash ... uh, I mean, Lord Commander!" she finished with a formal salute.
"At ease, Captain. Parade ground formality isn't important in the Qos Viran. Discipline and effectiveness in battle, is." Then he was stepping back to return the green box to the storage container before taking out two more long boxes, these in lacquered black wood.
"You finished getting shrapnel yanked out of your guts yet, Truk?" he asked as he returned to the passenger bay. Truk sat up and looked down at the small incision that was just using his regenerative capabilities to close.
"I am, Lord Commander," he said, swinging his legs around to begin dropping himself off the medical bay cylinder.
Lash shook his head.
"I told Narcist if I caught her calling me that, I would ash her out on the spot," he said flatly. He let his eyes scan over the rest of the vampires standing and giving him their complete attention in the passenger bay.
"That goes for all of you. And it's not just personal preference. If any of you identify any of your officers on the battlefield by their rank, you might as well paint targets on their backs. If I hear you doing so, I will shoot you myself. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!" the entire passenger bay said with one voice, even a proudly smiling Fiadh, a delighted Meredith, a smugly satisfied Dru, and a blushing Ellie. An affirmative they could hear being echoed on Nighthawk One via Fordricht's image.
"Outstanding," he said, letting a ghost of a satisfied smile touch his lips momentarily. Then it was gone as he stepped back to Naryan.
"Now, this will feel a little disappointing, Narya, but as Qos Viran, as cool as that insignia is to have, you can't wear it," he told her. "No insignia, no markings."
"But our tactical gear we can wear?" she asked even as she nodded her understanding, the dragon and lightning bolt disappearing into a utility pouch.
"If you like." Lash smiled. "I'll be providing upgrades to everybody's gear in the next half hour or so, which I'd rather you wear instead." He smiled. "I don't think you'll be disappointed in the change." He then looked over at Fordricht's image. "You can go and get those two flat boxes now, Ford."
"Copy that, boss," the holographic image said and disappeared for a brief moment. "Got them," he then said as he stepped back into view, holding up the boxes to visually confirm that he had them.
Lash nodded.
"The one marked with the 'F' and 'R' glyphs hand to Captain Kingsguard's squad commander there."
"Galloway," Fordricht supplied, nodding and turning to hand the marked box to somebody out of sight. "Done."
Lash nodded again then handed one of the flat, black lacquered boxes to Naryan.
"These I'll let you give to your legionnaires personally, Narya. So they can hide them somewhere safe."
That made the legionnaires laugh lightly, not a few of them trembling with excitement. To serve, even temporarily with the legendary Qos Viran, was so much more than they could ever dream of, it was mind boggling.
"Now, just a quick explanation before I give my Ventru colleagues their insignia," he said, putting the second box into the small of his back to turn and once again regard the entire passenger bay.
"As a special operations unit, the Qos Viran no longer considers you soldiers. You are now operators, utilizing your complete skill sets to see your operation done. And as operators, you will be given specialties that you will focus on as part of a team that will enable a high level of operational efficiency and effectiveness."
He pointed at the box Naryan was holding.
"Starting with your Vanguard legionnaires, Narya. They are now Qos Viran Force Recon operators, as signified by the flames wreathing the heads of their dragon insignia. I'll give you your full set of responsibilities and required skill sets in a brief after we're done with all the formalities. Just know, in any battle we will engage in, Force Recon is the tip of the spear, first boots on the ground, first fangs in the enemy. You will set the tone for how we will fight. Strength and Honor to Force Recon!"
"Force Recon!" the legionnaires cried, many of them laughing in disbelief.
Lash nodded at that, then turned to the Ventru.
"As for you, my loyal friends and comrades, you are now Special Operations operators." His thumbprint opened the second black box. Taking out an insignia of a dragon with stars wreathing it, he handed it to Narcist.
"Operator Narcist, Tech and Intel/Counterintel Specialist," he said, taking her forearm and giving it a firm shake, which she returned with bright eyes and a proud smile.
"Operator Truk, Tactics and Logistics." He got a dragon with a shooting star, the veteran nestari slowly shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the insignia sitting on its block of wood and black velvet.
"Operator Ballan, Tactics and Heavy Weapons." And the French nestari accepted with a formal bow of his head and a proud smile a dragon with a flame as a backdrop.
"Operator Fordricht, Tactics and Sniper Overwatch." As Fordricht opened the box Lash had remotely unlocked, Lash went on. "It's the dragon with the diamond in the background."
"Ah. Thank you, boss," the North African said as he carefully drew the described insignia from inside the box, emotion thickening his voice. "A great honor, boss. Thank you."
Lash smiled.
"Of course, my friend."
From there he quickly handed out insignia to the rest of the astonished and amazed Ventru, going back and forth between the two Nighthawks, giving each an insignia befitting their skill set as he had seen in battle. And then he was standing in front of Ellie.
"Operator Ellisondra, Logistics and Medicine," he said without hesitation, handing her a dragon with the vampire glyph for medicine as a backdrop, reaching out to take her forearm firmly. Fighting to keep her tears at bay, Ellie mouthed 'thank you, thank you' as she took his arm and returned the firm shake.
By this point Dru and Meredith had joined Fiadh as interested observers, the three liliths standing close to the galley's entrance. Letting Ellie's arm go, he turned to them.
"And finally, to the queens that have shown the bravery, determination, and skill under fire befitting an operator of the Qos Viran." He drew out three final dragons.
"Operator Druzha, Tactical Specialist." And he handed her a dragon wreathed in olive leaves. As she accepted it and took his forearm in congratulations, the fiery Nosferatu had to fight both the proud tears that appeared in her eyes, and the impulse to throw herself into Lash's arms and kiss him soundly, her desire for him a volcano inside.
"Operator Meredith, Unarmed Combat Specialist." And the blonde lilith trembled with her effort to not throw herself onto Lash, her emotions still high after their recent intimacy. But she couldn't stop the tears as she took his forearm and shook it firmly, accepting a dragon curled around a long-bladed dagger.
"Operator Fiadh, Psy-warfare and Intel Specialist." Fiadh, eyes wide in pleased surprise, silently mouthed 'Wow!' as she accepted her dragon with three small lightning bolts around its head. She too had to fight not to throw her arms around the vampire that had come to be the center of her world, saving her life multiple times and keeping her safe against a malevolent force intent on destroying all of Vampiredom.
That done, Lash returned to the passenger bay. Where, he held out his hands and smiled.
"Welcome to the Qos Viran!" And the vampires filling the bay clapped and cheered as the energy of the moment swept over them.
"Yes, yes, very exciting," he said, his voice enough to start calming the other down. "But, as the formalities end, the work begins. Yes, I recognized your skill sets and many of you are extremely well trained and capable. But you are only Qos Viran in name. We will spend the length of this operation to retrieve Mistress Amylia adding to your skill sets and training to give you additional capabilities in the field. I will give everybody a half hour to absorb what has transpired. Then I will be handing out briefs to outline my expectations and requirements of your specialty."
He then turned to the still open medical bay.
"But, before we do any of that. Two, do you have the piece of shrapnel retrieved from Specialist Truk's torso?"
"Affirmative, Lord Commander."
"Package it in a plastic core and prep a long range, high speed drone."
With a soft 'hiss' of pneumatics, a plastic pill was extruded from the side of the medical bay cylinder. Taking it, Lash looked at the shard of metal with a raised brow for a moment. Then he handed it to a curious Truk.
"So much trouble caused by something so small," the big vampire dryly noted. Looking at the piece of metal, Truk could only nod in agreement.
"I'll be more than happy to say goodbye to the sliver of doom, that's for certain," he said, handing it back to Lash.
"Lord Commander, a pursuit drone with extended range, has been prepped," the AI announced a few seconds later.
Lash nodded.
"Time to send those filthy White Flames on a chase they can't finish," he said with a grim expression. "Open your utility logistical system." And a small door opened in a nearby wall.
Stepping to it, Lash put the plastic pill into it and nodded in satisfaction when it dropped out of sight on an invisible platform before the door slid closed.
"Load that into the drone's cargo compartment and immediately launch the drone towards Seville, Spain, maximum velocity. Acknowledge."
"Acknowledged, Lord Commander. Payload is onboard. Drone launched.
Lash's smile was tight.
"Most excellent!"
****