White beret?

I'm new to this forum, so if this has already been addressed, forgive me.
On the cover of my hardbound edition of Mission of Honor, Honor is depicted wearing a white beret. Based on my reading of the previous books in this series, in the Manticoran Mavy only the commanding officers of lightspeed-drive vessels can wear a white beret. In Mission of Honor, Honor is a senior flag officer, and and a flag officer does not command the vessel he or she is riding in; he or she is technically a guest of the commanding officer. She does not, and never will have direct command of a vessel again. How come she is shown wearing a white beret?

Philip Stanley wrote:I'm new to this forum, so if this has already been addressed, forgive me.
On the cover of my hardbound edition of Mission of Honor, Honor is depicted wearing a white beret. Based on my reading of the previous books in this series, in the Manticoran Mavy only the commanding officers of lightspeed-drive vessels can wear a white beret. In Mission of Honor, Honor is a senior flag officer, and and a flag officer does not command the vessel he or she is riding in; he or she is technically a guest of the commanding officer. She does not, and never will have direct command of a vessel again. How come she is shown wearing a white beret?

Honor is also the commanding officer of HMS Unconquered, which was commanded by both Edward Saganami and Ellen D'Orville and is now a museum ship in permanent orbit around Manticore. It has an honorary 'crew' named from the best of the RMN - sort of a special recognition for outstanding members of the Navy. Unconquered's captain is the only flag officer allowed to wear the white beret.

Thank you, Rose. I was trying to remember the ship's name, but didn't even remember which of the almost 30 books I should be looking in!
———————————
How do you get a million dollars day-trading?
Start with two million!

roseandheather wrote:

Philip Stanley wrote:I'm new to this forum, so if this has already been addressed, forgive me.
On the cover of my hardbound edition of Mission of Honor, Honor is depicted wearing a white beret. Based on my reading of the previous books in this series, in the Manticoran Mavy only the commanding officers of lightspeed-drive vessels can wear a white beret. In Mission of Honor, Honor is a senior flag officer, and and a flag officer does not command the vessel he or she is riding in; he or she is technically a guest of the commanding officer. She does not, and never will have direct command of a vessel again. How come she is shown wearing a white beret?

Honor is also the commanding officer of HMS Unconquered, which was commanded by both Edward Saganami and Ellen D'Orville and is now a museum ship in permanent orbit around Manticore. It has an honorary 'crew' named from the best of the RMN - sort of a special recognition for outstanding members of the Navy. Unconquered's captain is the only flag officer allowed to wear the white beret.

The first time this exception to the "only the officers who command hyper-capable ships can wear a white beret" rule is mentioned is when Honor is informed that she was the Unconquered's new captain. I've always suspected that RFC came up with this just so Honor could wear her white beret again. He has written scenes several times where characters being promoted to flag rank regret having to retire their white berets.

roseandheather wrote:

Philip Stanley wrote:I'm new to this forum, so if this has already been addressed, forgive me.
On the cover of my hardbound edition of Mission of Honor, Honor is depicted wearing a white beret. Based on my reading of the previous books in this series, in the Manticoran Mavy only the commanding officers of lightspeed-drive vessels can wear a white beret. In Mission of Honor, Honor is a senior flag officer, and and a flag officer does not command the vessel he or she is riding in; he or she is technically a guest of the commanding officer. She does not, and never will have direct command of a vessel again. How come she is shown wearing a white beret?

Honor is also the commanding officer of HMS Unconquered, which was commanded by both Edward Saganami and Ellen D'Orville and is now a museum ship in permanent orbit around Manticore. It has an honorary 'crew' named from the best of the RMN - sort of a special recognition for outstanding members of the Navy. Unconquered's captain is the only flag officer allowed to wear the white beret.

The first time this exception to the "only the officers who command hyper-capable ships can wear a white beret" rule is mentioned is when Honor is informed that she was the Unconquered's new captain. I've always suspected that RFC came up with this just so Honor could wear her white beret again. He has written scenes several times where characters being promoted to flag rank regret having to retire their white berets.[/quote]

I think the fact that Honor's face looks better on the covers of the books might have had a bit to do with it.

ldwechsler wrote:

glott wrote:The first time this exception to the "only the officers who command hyper-capable ships can wear a white beret" rule is mentioned is when Honor is informed that she was the Unconquered's new captain. I've always suspected that RFC came up with this just so Honor could wear her white beret again. He has written scenes several times where characters being promoted to flag rank regret having to retire their white berets.

I think the fact that Honor's face looks better on the covers of the books might have had a bit to do with it.

[Fixed up the mangled quotes from ldwechsler's post - they made it hard to read]
I think I've heard more examples of that going the other way, the author being shown the cover art, which has at nebulous connection to the story and inserts a small scene to call it out. (I think it was Weber and Flint's novel '1633' where the cover art of the book showed up as an in-universe's artist's fanciful depiction of their ironclads)

It'd be about as likely that HMS Unconquered (and the associated headwear) was shown to us because the next cover art was already done with a white beret as it is that David wanted ongoing covers to keep the white beret. (But I'd put my money on neither - he did it for story reasons and any visual relation to current or future covers is just a side bonus)

Jonathan_S wrote:

glott wrote:The first time this exception to the "only the officers who command hyper-capable ships can wear a white beret" rule is mentioned is when Honor is informed that she was the Unconquered's new captain. I've always suspected that RFC came up with this just so Honor could wear her white beret again. He has written scenes several times where characters being promoted to flag rank regret having to retire their white berets.

ldwechsler wrote:
I think the fact that Honor's face looks better on the covers of the books might have had a bit to do with it.

[Fixed up the mangled quotes from ldwechsler's post - they made it hard to read]
I think I've heard more examples of that going the other way, the author being shown the cover art, which has at nebulous connection to the story and inserts a small scene to call it out. (I think it was Weber and Flint's novel '1633' where the cover art of the book showed up as an in-universe's artist's fanciful depiction of their ironclads)

It'd be about as that HMS Unconquered (and the associated headwear) was shown to us because the next cover art was already done with a white beret as it is because David wanted ongoing covers to keep the white beret. (But I'd put my money on neither - he did it for story reasons and any visual relation to current or future covers is just a side bonus)

True, but I can't pretend it wasn't a nice side bonus.