Shannon_Foraker wrote:Or Theisman, but I'd love a pair of Shannon and Lester stories.
I thought about him, but I don't think he's that interesting a character. He's probably got your fair share of outstanding achievements, enough to have caught Alfredo Yu's eye to get him as a mentor, way back in the Legislaturalist days. If Theisman wasn't a member of such a family (and all indications is that he wasn't), then his ascent would have been difficult and only possible because of his own skills.
But I think Lester and Shannon would have far more interesting backstories.
Maybe Mr.Cowboy dealing with pirates as a junior officer, getting most of them, then they come back and Shannon's sent to deal with the rest and gets them all (at least for longer than Lester did, via innovative tactics, like the spinning-the-cruiser trick from HAE)? Neither of them knows about the other's role in it until Shannon's assigned to Lester's staff, and they chat about it, after Lester tries to talk to her about the events of HAE, and the subject changes gradually to this.
Shannon was too junior before the wars for this to have happened. Lester was a bit older so we may see him as a Lt or LtCmdr, maybe between OBS and HotQ. For example, the PN might have sent him (under a more senior captain or commodore) somewhere at the same time they were trying to court Masada into their camp.
But I suspect both of their stories before joining the PN and possibly how they got to their positions could have a few surprises.