The Victorious Meeting

I have no idea what the bloody Americans are doing. I only know that if we head to Ceylon, and now, three hundred years of Royal Navy tradition will be broken by our failure.-Vice Admiral Andrew Cunningham, commander of the Royal Navy Far Eastern Fleet August 1943. It has been one year since Great Britain's monarchy was rent asunder by a broadside of Kriegsmarine shells. For those forces remaining loyal to Queen Elizabeth II, the island of Ceylon is critical to the continued preservation of the British Empire. For with Ceylon, the Allies have a hope of choking off Axis oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. Without it, crude oil will flow unfettered to the Imperial Japanese war machine as it rampages across the Pacific. Lieutenant Commander Martin Baines is familiar with the Imperial Japanese Navy's power. Nearly killed at the Battle of Hawaii a mere four months earlier, Baines is thrust into the role of liaison officer to the Royal Navy. Called to account for his superior's actions, Baines must walk the tight rope of remaining loyal to his own navy while attempting to save another.Aboard the carrier Illustrious, Commander Servius Ellis also strives to do his duty to Her Majesty. As the head of an experimental squadron, Ellis not only has to worry about the Japanese but also the very environment he operates in. For while the Japanese may not be able to hit what they cannot see in the darkness, the ocean never misses against the unwary. Flight Lieutenant Venkata Singh never expected to be at sea. Defying his family's traditional military service in favor of loyalty to the Crown, the RAF pilot finds himself "voluntold" into flying Seafires to the carrier Ark Royal. Arriving in a time of great need, the young Indian officer will find himself questioning not only his life choices, but the very conduct of the war itself. In a battle that the Royal Navy did not foresee, the expectation that 'every man will do his duty' remains. From hardened veteran to neophyte pilot, all hope to survive The Victorious Meeting. The Victorious Meeting is a novella set in the Usurper's War universe. With Hitler dead and the Royal Family forced to flee to North America, Allied and Axis combatants alike are forced to reckon with a global conflict none of them expected. "[Young is]...an author with a genuine flair for originality, imagination, and the kind of narrative storytelling style that simply grips the reader's attention and won't let go."-Midwest Book Review