Josiah West 1: Kaleidoscope (8 page)

Admiral Jacks turned his attention back to the group, “Officer of the
Deck.”

“Sir.
”

“Do you have access to any Command Authority Badges?”

“Yes, sir, I have two in the lockbox.”

“Please get them and give them to the Major and Sergeant.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Major Martin.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sergeant Martin.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The two of you will escort Captain
Berlin and Commander Martinez to their quarters where you will allow them five minutes to pack a small travel bag. On the way there you will call the personnel office and have them send a crew to those quarters to complete the packing of all remaining personal items. You will advise them to ship those items to addresses that the Captain and Commander will provide. You will then escort them back to this location and put them on that” he pointed toward the Gardener that Josiah had arrived in, “boat, and the two of you will personally escort them to the area immediately in front of my desk.” The Admiral leaned closer to the pickup, “I cannot stress too strongly how badly I want those two here.” His finger jabbed the desk, “I do not really care what kind of condition they arrive in as long as they are able to sign their retirement requests. Are there any questions?”

The two Martins answered in unison, “No, sir.”

The Admiral sat back and looked at the group, “Alright, Lieutenant West, I place you in command of this situation. Call me when you hit dirt about that other matter if you wish.”

Josiah came to attention and saluted, “Yes, sir.” Admiral Jacks returned the s
alute and broke the connection.

Martinez
turned to Josiah wide-eyed and begging, “Please tell me that wasn’t real.” Berlin had the same stunned look on his face.

“I’m afraid that was as real as it can possibly get. Actually, I thought he
is being very generous: no tribunal, no dishonorable discharge, no prison time, and no firing squad.” He put his arms around their shoulders and started walking them toward Lieutenant Peska who was giving the badges to the Major and Sergeant, “I’ve only been a staff officer for a few hours, but I definitely got the idea that the two of you would have been better off if you had kicked his cat or spit on his shoes rather than insult one of his people.”

He stopped in front of the other three and watched as Major and Sergeant Martin put the chains that held the Division One Command symbol around their necks. “Remember, those badges give you the
Admiral’s Command Authority but only for the specified mission. Here Major, you take the Captain and you, Sergeant, the Commander. Follow the Admiral’s instructions to the letter.”

He watched them head toward the forward officer’s quarters before he turned and headed in the direction of the machine section. He waved at Parente, “Be back quick as I can.”

“No problem, sir, I have an indefinite hold on our departure slot.”

I’m beginning to like her.

Twenty minutes later he had gotten his personal gear organized with the larger stuff headed for the BOQ
and the old uniforms headed for recycling as Liz had ordered. He carried a small bag of things he might need tonight as he worked his way from section to section checking in with old friends. His last stop was the Captain’s quarters where he found Weldon standing in the corridor watching as several crew members swapped Berlin’s stuff for her stuff.

She noticed him when he came up behind her. She immediately turned
, grabbed his arm, and walked him down the corridor, away from other people.
I hope her hands are clean; she still has that rag sticking out of her pocket.
“West, I get the general concept of what just happened but could you fill in a few of the gaps?”

“Ok
, but let’s talk as we walk; I have a boat to catch.”

During their walk back to the cargo deck
, he gave her a rundown of events from the shuttle crash to today.

“Yo
u told Admiral Jacks about the group?”

He stopped walking just as they entered the cargo deck, “That’s why you’re Captain of this ship now. The Admiral and the rest of his staff knew there was something strange going on
, and I just confirmed their growing suspicions.” Josiah looked around to make sure no one was near them then he faced her and spoke quietly, “You’re the Captain of this ship now. When the Admiral said to make any crew change recommendations, he meant it. Get rid of anyone you want even if it means taking this ship out of service until you can train a new crew. Be sure to make recommendations for promotions and give a clear reason for anybody you want to dump; that will make it easy for the Admiral to sign-off on them.” He smiled and stuck out his hand to shake hers, “Congratulations, Captain.” He put his cap on and headed for the Gardener. As he walked away, Weldon called out, “West”; he turned and faced her, “I’ve never seen an Admiral’s Star before.” She came to attention and saluted. He grinned and returned the salute.

Josiah stepped through
the hatch and found four passengers there. Two of them looked unhappy. The other two looked very unhappy. At least they had their belts fastened and a couple of bags stowed. He put his bag into a locker on the command deck where Parente was waiting. He dropped into the right seat, “I believe the phrase is, ‘Home James’.”

BOQ

As Josiah had expected, the return flight was smooth, precise and without error. He noticed the way Parente locked up with the boat. She just sat there with her elbows on the armrests and fingers interlaced. There was no tension, no worry. Exiting Victor 4 and joining local traffic for approach to the base under manual control was flawless and ended with a touchdown that was barely felt. They completed the post-flight checklist and Josiah went to see to their passengers.

Berlin
and Martinez had retrieved their bags, and Josiah opened the outer hatch. He saw three men approaching as he stepped out, two he recognized from earlier as ground crew members. The third was an armed Marine Sergeant with Base Security shoulder marks. He stopped in front of Josiah and saluted, “Sir, we have been sent by Admiral Jacks to transport your passengers to his office.” As Josiah stepped out of the boat and returned his salute he caught sight of the security van and the second Marine parked on the apron by the terminal. He stepped aside and allowed the others to exit, “Here they are Sergeant.” It was obvious the Sergeant had not been briefed on who or what was involved but he quickly determined that the Major with the Command Authority Badge was in charge and he saluted him, “This way, sir.”

Josiah stood there watching them walk away. Looking at
Berlin’s body language caused a small twinge of sympathy to stir, not too big a twinge, but still....

“Lieutenant
!” Parente was standing in the hatch holding his cap and bag.

“Oh, thanks!” He put his cap on, took his bag, and stepped further from the hatch as
she completed the formality of handing the boat over to the ground crew. His attention refocused on Parente; he put his bag down and waited for her to finish. When she had, she walked to where he was standing in the shade of the stub wing. He held out his hand, “Let me have your logbook again.” Without a word she called up the file on her pad and handed it to him. He began to make entries by tapping on the input panel and then switched to the stylus and began writing. He made sure he wrote slowly.

Finally,
she cracked, “Sir, do you approve my second-class rating?”

He
dragged it out a bit more before paying attention to her question without even looking at her, “That will be a big negative Ensign Parente. There will be no second-class rating for you today.” He continued writing on her pad and, occasionally, looked past the side of it to see her reaction. He saw her beautiful hands ball-up into fists.

Uh-oh!

“Lieutenant West, I...would like to know just what you think I did wrong to not deserve that rating. I’ve accumulated far more than the required time in more than the required types and a lot of hours have gone by since any instructor complained, and even you didn’t say a damned word about my performance, and if you’ll look carefully you will SEE THAT WE STILL HAVE ALL THE PAINT WE LEFT WITH.”

Wow, she is really mad!
Then he noticed the tears in her eyes.
That rating really was important to her. Well, I can understand that.
He looked back into her dark, dark eyes for a few seconds;
she is incredibly beautiful!
He held her pad out to her, “I agree; that’s why you now have a first-class rating.”

Confusion slowly replaced anger and confusion. She managed to unclench her hands and looked down at the pad as she took it from him. She began to read the Statement of Award, “In my years in the Navy I have seen pilots of all levels of ability and skill levels. There have been, sadly, almost none that would make me totally comfortable as a passenger on anything they were flying. It is, therefore, with the greatest pleasure that I authorize the rating of Pilot
First-Class be awarded to Ensign Nora Parente in recognition of her outstanding skill as a pilot on this day 7 April 2132 - signed: Lieutenant Josiah West, CI.”

Parente dug a rag out of her pocket and started wiping the tears from her face.
Do women only carry rags when they wear greens?
Without warning she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Then, just as suddenly, she seemed to realize what she was doing and backed away, “Oh, sorry, sir.”

“That’s alright, I’m getting used to it.” She returned to looking at her award entry
; Josiah pulled out his pad and called Molly.

“West, what can I do for you now; do you need an air strike?”

“I’m glad you’re smiling when you say that because I have only a small amount of doubt that you could arrange it. No, there was one other matter that I discussed with the Admiral that I would like to take care of now.”

Molly smiled again and held up a data pad, “Oh, you mean this. Hang on.”

The screen went to hold for a minute. Parente still had her pad open but was smiling at him.
She is really beautiful!

“West?”

He jerked his eyes back to the pad, “Yes, sir.”

“I take it that nothing has developed to change your previous evaluation?”

“No, sir, I think you should sign it.”

“Is she there?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hand her the pad.”

She gave him a questioning look as he handed her his pad. Her eyes went very wide when she saw Admiral Jacks looking back, “Admiral, good afternoon, sir.”

“Good afternoon Ensign Parente. Apparently you have made a conquest of my Lieutenant West. He spoke highly of you when we last talked. I pulled your record
, and, I too, was impressed. Therefore,” he took the data pad from Molly and signed it “effective immediately you are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Now if you will hand the pad back to West, I believe the Master Chief has one more thing, and I see I have guests arriving.”

Parente had a blank look
as she practically dropped the pad back in Josiah’s hands.

Molly was on the screen, “Yes, Molly?”

She had that smile, “West, tomorrow you are scheduled to spend the day with Commander Phelps. Whenever you decide to break for lunch I want you to give me a call.”

“Ok
, what’s it about?”

“Just
call, nothing official.” She broke the connection.

Today was turning out to involve an ungodly amount of confusion.

Parente was still standing there holding her pad but looking at him, “What just happened?”

He put his pad away, knelt down, and removed a small case from his bag. He opened it and turned to
her, “I have a couple of things that I won’t need anymore. He picked up a first-class pilot’s wings set and placed then over the third-class wings that were auto-stitched on her greens. The cluster of tiny hooks grabbed the threads and held firm, “I wore these for a long time.” He then removed the pair of Lieutenant Junior Grade shoulder boards and replaced her Ensign boards with them, “These have never been worn.”

In spite of the surprising developments in her day, she recovered quickly. She looked at her new rating and rank symbols with obvious pleasure
, and then turned a narrow-eyed look on Josiah, “Knowing you is crazy. What else ya got?”

“Ah...well, I would like you to join me for dinner tonight...providing I’m not stepping on any other relationship you may have that I’m not aware of.”
Crap, I hope I’m not blushing.

That was...unexpected. Her surprised look turned into more narrowed eyes and a smile, “Why Lieutenant West, I believe you’re blushing.”

Oh, crap!

She tilted her head back and pointed an unfriendly look at him along her nose, “There are no relationships to interfere with, but why should I go to dinner with you after that nasty trick you just played on me?”

Josiah got an immediate message from her attitude and body language; their relationship had just gone from superior-officer-and-subordinate to boy-girl.
Going to play coy, huh?
He countered with his own nonchalant attitude, “Well, you did indicate a desire to be briefed about the yellow brick road that led us to this day.” He bent and picked up his bag and started to, slowly, walk toward the terminal building, “A story like that would fit very nicely over dinner, and I’m starving; seems I forgot lunch.”

She dropped into place beside him with her hands behind her back and turned her head toward him, “And you would take a lady to dinner dressed the way I am?”

Still on the coy thing?
He stopped and turned to face her, “You are an officer in the Navy wearing a clean and tidy uniform of that organization, and, if I may be allowed a strictly personal observation, you look very good. I was thinking of keeping it informal anyway. I haven’t checked into the BOQ yet, but I hear they have a nice dining facility.”

She lit up with a big smile, “Ok
, that’s all I wanted to hear. Let me go check out; I’ll meet you at the main entrance.” She started to turn away and then stopped, “Oh, I don’t have a vehicle; we’ll need a ride.”

As she had turned, Josiah was facing the ground vehicle parking area in front of the terminal, “No need, our ride is waiting for us.” He pointed at Bax who was leaning against his van. He waved when he saw Josiah point.

Parente went into the terminal building and Josiah went to meet Bax.
I completely forgot about calling him; good man.

Bax straightened and saluted when he approached. He took Josiah’s bag and asked, “Will the lady be joining us?”

“Yes, you can drop us both at the BOQ. We are going to have dinner there, and she will probably need a ride to her quarters; how long are you on duty?”

“I’m flexible, sir, but not normally past 1800 hours. However, as a staff officer, they will have a ground vehicle assigned to you at the BOQ.” Bax lifted his eyebrows and gave Josiah a slight sideways look, “You could handle that task yourself, sir.”

Have I got a sign painted on me?
“Oh, I didn’t know that; I guess this job has its perks.”

Parente came out of the terminal main entrance and over to the van. Bax saluted and held the rear door open for her.

She favored him with a big smile “Thank you Petty Officer.”

“Just call me ‘Bax’, ma’am, everybody calls me ‘Bax’.”

Josiah entered after her and another realization about her jumped into his mind,
she likes being treated like a lady more than an officer.

She turned toward him, “You should have seen the jaws drop when they saw all of this,” she swept a hand across her shoulders and wings, “it was funny.”

She had a big smile pointed right at him.
God, she’s beautiful! Helen of Troy must have looked like her.