To Sail a Darkling Sea - eARC (19 page)

“First night we were clearing the
Boadicea
she practically face planted in her plate at dinner,” Pag said, laughing. “Like ‘I’ve got reports to write.
.
.
. Snore
.
.
.’ ”

“She’s thirteen,” Derek said. “She’s still growing. I’m always surprised she hangs as long as she does. And, Pag, you were ten minutes behind her.”

“I get that,” one of the Marines said. “Clearing is fucking hell on your adrenal gland. I thought the Stan was bad.”

“Fuck, I’m a God damned
airframe mechanic
,” Olsen said. “This shit is for Oh-Three-Elevens.”

“We’re all infantry now,” Derek said. “At least, that’s the way Captain Carrion sees it. And he is another Smith I am not going to fuck with. Hooch says her dad is as badass as Faith. And that’s pretty fucking badass for a Navy Captain.”

* * *

Faith trolled the dessert tray but she’d filled up on “regular” food and wasn’t quite ready to pile on pure sugar. The chocolate tray was tempting. Apparently someone had found a stash of Godiva. She ate a couple at the buffet then headed back to the Marine table. She was still tired and dessert could wait.

Half way across the room a hand grabbed her arm.

“Hey, Tootsie,” the man said, holding out an empty high-ball glass. “Get me another Glenlivet.”

Faith just stood there in shock for a moment. The dude, who looked to be in his early fifties, was clearly a “boat” freshy. He had one hell of a tan.

“Uh, sir… ” The table “sponsor” looked like one of the
Money
girls and had a slight Slavic accent. “That’s… ”

“Let go of my arm,” Faith said. “The last person who grabbed me I
literally
cut their fucking hand off at the wrist.”

“Do you know who I am?” the man snapped.

“Somebody who needs to learn some fucking manners,” Faith said, grabbing his thumb and twisting it into a lock.

“Ow!” the man said. “Jesus, let go of me you crazy bitch!”

Faith’s eyes blazed and she threw the man to the ground, putting his head in a lock with his arm twisted behind his back.

“I don’t know who
you
are, but do you know who
I
am?” Faith snarled.

“Lieutenant!” a voice snapped from behind her. “Let go of Mister Zumwald!”

She looked over her shoulder and it was, of course, Captain Wilkes. Great.

She released the man and rolled to her feet.

“Sorry, sir,” Faith said. “But I don’t like being grabbed and I especially didn’t like being called a bitch, sir.”

“Mister Zumwald, I apologize for the lieutenant’s overreaction.”

“
Lieutenant
?” the man gargled. “She’s
insane
! She needs to be locked up!”

“I will, I assure you, counsel the lieutenant on actions becoming of an officer in the United States military, sir,” Wilkes said. “Lieutenant, a moment of your time?”

* * *

Wilkes led Faith out of the main saloon onto the foredeck and turned around, hands on his hips.

“Lieutenant, would you care to explain your actions in there? You don’t put a major Hollywood executive in a headlock!”

“Sir… ” Faith said. She tended to get at a loss for words when she was being scolded and she really didn’t know what to say. “He
grabbed
me, sir!”

“So you put him in a chokehold?” Wilkes said. “There
are
situations that can be resolved without violence, Lieutenant. Has anyone ever explained to you the term ‘conduct unbecoming of an officer’? It means you don’t go brawling with
anyone
, especially major film executives, in public!”

“What was I supposed to do, sir?” Faith asked, angrily. “Bat my fucking eyes at him and go get him his fucking drink?”

“Lieutenant,” Wilkes said, coldly. “You are being officially counseled on what actions are becoming of an officer of the United States Naval Service. In addition, since you don’t know shit from shinola about being an officer, let me add that you don’t get to use a disrespectful tone or disrespectful language to the officer that is counseling you. These are articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Lieutenant. You can be charged with conduct unbecoming for your recent actions. You also can be charged with disrespect to a superior officer for that outburst. Do you understand that, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“Do you understand that an officer of the United States Naval service does not start a brawl because someone asked her to get them a drink?” Wilkes said.

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“And that an officer of the United States Naval service does not put someone in a chokehold,
especially
a major Hollywood executive?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“In addition, while you have had to, of necessity, spend a good bit of personal time with your Marines, when off-duty, when it is possible as is the case here on the
Alpha
, your place is with the officers,
not
the enlisted. There was an officer’s table in the saloon. Spend your time there.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’ve had a trying few weeks,” Wilkes said. “You really shouldn’t have been sent out on a functionally independent mission given your age and inexperience. I will try to keep this incident from being reflected on your FITREP. But you had better start learning conduct becoming an officer or I will not be able to avoid reflecting that. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“I’ll go smooth things over with Mister Zumwald,” Wilkes said. “You should probably go to your cabin and get some more sleep. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

Faith went back to her cabin, avoiding the saloon, wrapped herself around Trixie and cried herself to sleep.

CHAPTER 13

Me that ’ave been what I’ve been—
Me that ’ave gone where I’ve gone—
Me that ’ave seen what I’ve seen—
‘Ow can I ever take on
With awful old England again,
An’ ’ouses both sides of the street,
And ’edges two sides of the lane,
And the parson an’ gentry between,
An’ touchin’ my ’at when we meet—
Me that ’ave been what I’ve been?

Kipling
“Chant Pagan”

“Get some sleep, LT?” Januscheitis said the next morning.

They were gearing up for clearance. It took some time.

“Some,” Faith said, tonelessly. “I really hate the
Alpha
. Clearing the
Alpha
gave me more nightmares than clearing the
Voyage
. And… ” she shrugged.

“Ghosts?” Bearson said.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Faith replied.

“I don’t know, LT,” Derek said. “Every ship that’s lost people has ghosts. They call ’em ‘phantom watch standers.’ The
Cole
had ghosts. I’ve seen ’em on the
Iwo
, plenty of times.”

“Quit trying to freak your LT out,” Faith said. “It’s not working.”

“I’m not sure if I believe in ’em or not, LT,” Januscheitis said. “But… Pretty much everybody sort of knows about ’em. I don’t think they’re trying to freak you, LT. The ghosts on the
Cole
are just sort of there. Like they call ’em, watch standers. Almost comforting.”

“The ones on the
Alpha
aren’t comforting,” Faith said, tightly.

“How bad was the
Alpha
, ma’am?” pagliaro said. “You can see it got banged up, but… ”

“If you haven’t heard about what happened on the
Alpha
, ask somebody else,” Faith said. “I’m not going to talk about it. It was… bad. It wasn’t the fucking zombies, it was the people that had it before the zombies and what they did. I don’t like the
Alpha
. And if you’re serious then, yes, ghosts. They fucking talk to me when I’m sleeping. The women, anyway. They cry. I can hardly sleep on this fucking boat. Okay? On the other hand, I’ve got my own stateroom and my own shower. That makes up for a lot.”

“I heard you had a little incident last night, ma’am,” Januscheitis said. “Probably not the best change of subject… ”

“I was counseled by Captain Wilkes on conduct unbecoming an officer,” Faith said. “I now understand that one does not overreact and get into a brawl in public. And since it’s an officer thing, I’d like to drop that, too.”

“I heard the dude grabbed you, ma’am,” Kirby said.

“What part of drop it did you not get, PFC?” Januscheitis said.

“Sorry, Staff Sergeant,” Kirby said.

“Hopefully, despite being an ‘officer of the United States Naval service,’ I’ll be allowed to kill some zombies today,” Faith said, racking her Saiga. “Because I seriously need to kill somebody. And that’s all we need to talk about that.”

“Lieutenant?” Gunny Sands said, sticking his head in the compartment. “Captain wants to have a word with you?”

“Captain Wilkes?” Faith said, wincing.

“Captain Smith,” the Gunny said.

“Oh, joy,” Faith said. “I guess I’ll need to derig… ”

* * *

“Faith, there’s a couple of things we need to talk about,” Steve said, waving to a chair.

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“The first bit is about what happened last night.”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“I know you in mulish mode, daughter dear,” Steve said, drily. “When all you do is say ‘yes, sir’ it means you’re not actually communicating. Nothing’s coming out, so nothing’s going in. I’ve spoken to several people about what happened last night. You should not have been grabbed. Not just as a lieutenant but as anyone. Mister Zumwald was totally out of line in ordering you around, as was his language.”

“Tell that to Captain Wilkes,” Faith said, crossing her arms.

“Lieutenant,” Steve said. “I am not speaking to you as my daughter, here, I’m speaking to you as a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, one of my junior officers. And I will not have you say anything disrespectful of your superiors. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“Faith,” Steve said. “Eye contact. What I tell Captain Wilkes, what I discuss with him about the incident, is none of your concern. Do you truly understand that?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “It’s just… ”

“There is no ‘just,’ Lieutenant,” Steve said, calmly. “If, and I said
if
, Captain Wilkes
may
have done something wrong in handling the situation, that is between Captain Wilkes and myself. This is the tough part about being in the military. You do not show, by word, action or deed, disrespect to a superior. Ever. Even, or especially, when you think he’s a cowardly fucktard that’s got his head up some Hollywood executive’s ass.”

“Oh, you
have
met him,” Faith said.

“Lieutenant, that is exactly what I was warning you about,” Steve said. “You may think those things, true or not, but you do not
ever
express them. Ever. You need to seriously learn that, or we might as well drop this experiment and you can go do something other than being a Marine officer.”

“I’ll try,” Faith said.

“Okay, first of all, that would be ‘sir’ and second, you cannot ‘try’ at something like this,” Steve said. “This is one of the most important aspects of military discipline. Even if you think someone is an awful superior in the military, and Wilkes is not by any means as awful as you think, you simply do
not
express it. Not in any professional environment. You
can’t
go questioning a superior’s competence. Not to a subordinate, especially. Just as if you have, say, an NCO you think is not competent, you cannot express that to his or her subordinates. When the shit hits the fan, the men have to know that they can trust the orders they’re getting. If you, who is looked upon as more competent than you actually are as an officer, express resentment or lack of trust in Captain Wilkes, even by
body language
at which you are a past mistress, that will spread. Then people will start to second-guess the Captain. Which we absolutely cannot afford.

“Seriously, Faith, we’re still in a cleft stick, here. If you cannot support Captain Wilkes, one of the two of you have to go. And he’s the office with the rank and the position. You’re just a newbie officer who happens to be a wild-child at killing zombies. There is, in fact, more to being an officer than that. One of the things is discipline. Enough discipline to work with a superior, or a subordinate, you do not like and the feeling is mutual. To train the subordinate where possible, to learn the good things—and Wilkes has real positives—even from superiors you don’t like. This is part of being a Marine. It really and truly is.”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“Again with the robotic ‘yes, sir,’ ” Steve said. “I need more.”

“It’s… ” Faith said then waved her hands. “Da, can we just… talk?”

“Sure,” Steve said, leaning. “I’m good with that.”

“Actually it’s more like ‘Captain, can we just talk?’ ” Faith said. “I’m not the one talking Captain Wilkes down, sir. I mean, I didn’t really stomp on it when people were ragging on him. Maybe I should have. But he’s not real popular.”

“Okay, couple of things,” Steve said, leaning back. “First, troops grouse. They’re used to grousing around you so they do it without thinking of you as an officer. Which has some good points and some bad points. It’s good if they feel comfortable enough to discuss their issues with you. Bad if they just talk around you without thinking of you as an officer. Because, they can’t obey your orders because they like you or they’re humoring you. We’ll get to the subject of your combat shopping spree in a minute… ”

“Oh,” Faith said. “Ouch.”

“Yes, ouch,” Steve said. “But we’re talking about the situation with you and Captain Wilkes right now. First of all, if a troop comes to you and brings up something like his questions about the competence or courage of a superior, you can counsel them on it in private, listen to their concerns, but you
cannot
support their position. You can’t say ‘Yeah, he’s a fucking coward’ or ‘He’s a fucktard.’ You’re not a troop. You’re their boss. You say ‘I hear your concerns.’ I have not stated that I agree with you, Lieutenant. I have said those things as examples. Be clear about that. I neither agree nor disagree. I hear your concerns regarding Captain Wilkes’ approach to managing the boarding. However, I’m counseling you on
your
actions and reactions. You with me, Faith?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “Sort of. So… Is he a cowardly fucktard or not?”

“I just said that as his superior and yours I can neither agree nor disagree,” Steve said. “And I’ll repeat that language like that about a superior is a major offense of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This is a counseling session so I can hear it or not. You don’t use it outside of this compartment. Need to be really clear on that one. Are we?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “No calling superiors names?”

“People got hanged for it in the old days,” Steve said. “You do not speak disrespectfully of a superior. Then there’s ‘the troops are ragging on him.’ Yes, you stomp on that. Just as I’m stomping on it with you. If subordinates start to say something disrespectful of a superior, you point out that that’s not acceptable. I won’t make this official but… Was the Staff Sergeant present?”

“No,” Faith said. “There was one NCO. But not Staff Sergeant Januscheitis.”

“Did the NCO say anything about speaking ill of a superior?” Steve asked.

“It was just before the thing with the dude and the drink,” Faith said. “So I’m trying to remember… They were bitching about having to clear the bodies out of the embarkation area. And Wilkes not leaving that area and whether they were going to have to clear the bodies from the whole ship… ”

“The embarkation area was going to be used as an operations center,” Steve said, frowning. “Clearing that made a certain amount of sense. Putting all the bodies in body bags instead of in the harbor… Eh, possible sense. But, no, we’re not going to clear the bodies from the whole ship.”

“Sergeant… The NCO present said something like, ‘if we’re told to clear the ship, we clear the ship.’ ”

“Okay,” Steve said, leaning forward. “That, right there. Did you get it?”

“No,” Faith said. “Sir.”

“The NCO perhaps should have stomped on the questions of Captain Wilkes’ lack of initiative in moving forward,” Steve said. “Wasn’t there, can’t really comment. But he reaffirmed the point that if given an order, they obey it. Can you see that?”

“Sort of,” Faith said.

“Then pay attention to it and look for it,” Steve said. “And emulate it. Discipline is what makes a military an effective tool compared to a mob. And one of the things that enhances discipline is the actions and deportment of an officer. It can be carried too far. There are officers who think that actions and deportment are the only thing that’s really necessary. At this point you’re mentally inserting ‘Captain Wilkes’ into that sentence, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “Was that disrespectful?”

“If one of your subordinates said it and you blurted ‘You mean Wilkes’ then it would be an issue,” Steve said. “So don’t. But appearances have a point. Officers have not just the right but the duty to tell their subordinates to do something insane and suicidal. Your troops would probably kill themselves to keep you alive. Or, say, to get you a dress… ”

“We were never in any real danger, sir,” Faith said. “Honest.”

“But the point is that they have to think of you as an
officer
,” Steve said. “Not their wild-child kid sister. Which in part is
acting
like an officer. Carrying yourself like one, requiring that you be saluted and called ‘ma’am,’ snapping orders in a firm voice. Because when it really drops in the shit, they have to know who is in charge. Even if it’s Captain Wilkes. And part of that is, yes, not putting a guy in a chokehold because he called you a bitch.”

“So am I the only one getting dressed down, sir?” Faith asked.

“Again, does not matter,” Steve said. “How I handle the rest is up to me. That’s on
my
plate, not yours. I’ll give you this much. I’m not handling Zumwald. I told Isham if I saw the fucker I was going to toss him into the bay. I mean, seriously, toss him into the bay with the sharks. Was not joking.”

“Thanks, Da,” Faith said. “Sorry, thank you, Oh, Captain My Captain. That really pissed me off. I mean, not that it was… You know, ‘Shewolf, Zombie Hunter’ but that he felt like he could grab just any girl and… order her around. Da, this is the
Alpha
, okay?
You
know what happened here. That was what went through my mind. Sort of. Mostly I was just pissed but… ”

“I hadn’t considered that,” Steve said, nodding. “It’s… If this was official and if there were charges, which there wouldn’t be under most circumstances, it would certainly be a mitigating factor and it explains why… I wondered why even you, Faith, would have gone off so… ”

“Yeah,” Faith said. “I was just out of… Da… Captain this boat gives me fucking nightmares, okay? I mean… I’m okay on the
Senorita
but this boat just flips me out. But this is where the team’s based and, hell, I’ve got my own room and head.”

“How are you with the
Boadicea
?” Steve asked.

“I’m great with the
Bo
,” Faith said. “The
Bo
is the first bright spot in a long time.”

“We’re getting it cleared out and prepped,” Steve said, making a note. “This isn’t personal, it’s professional. And, okay, personal. But I’ll see about getting the Marines moved over to the
Boadicea
. It’s not a good idea to mix them with the civilians. There have been other incidents. Okay… So… That is not permission for you to go off in public, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “Sorry about… No excuse, sir.”

“Mister Zumwald will be counseled as well,” Steve said. “At a certain point, possibly I’ll have the two of you sit down and you can give him your story of clearing the
Alpha
and why, particularly on this boat, automatic male dominance for the purposes of personal service triggers rather unpleasant memories.”