Rust Bucket (6 page)

      He said, "Yes, but that was the only one on that particular assignment. Otherwise, everything you turned in to me will be graded and posted with your other grades from the Academy. That ought to get you a boost when it comes time to hand out commissions to people who deserve them for the work they did."

      I asked, "Why did you call Miss Wayte, Penny? She tells all of us not to dare use it."

      He replied, "That will soon change for you. She's very pleased with how you worked in the past two years. If you stay with the
Thurman,
doubtless the Navy will be impressed with your record as well. You might get that commission to Ensign yet. You'll still be behind your own class in rank, but they don't have what it takes to survive in a real navy, especially a navy at war. If you stick with the Navy, you'll probably pass them in a couple of years. Maybe you'll be able to influence what happens inside it in the future."

      "Is that really possible?" I asked.

      He answered, "It is, if you aim for it. Mind you, you're going to feel discouraged by some of the more senior officers when they see that you didn't finish the Academy. By the way, I have your class ring for you. You paid for it, so it's legally yours. I don't think that anyone can tell you not to wear it. It's not your fault that you didn't graduate with that class."

      I accepted the class ring and slipped the box into my shoulder pack after taking a quick look at the gold ring with the fiery red stone in the center.

      He said, "That's a wise decision, Dave. Don't flaunt it in their faces. They might think you have something to prove. They don't realize that you and a lot of others already proved it at Three Star. That damn bunch of rich kids almost gave the Navy a black eye for their conduct in that battle. Those ships were mostly commanded by members of the class ahead of you. It also had a purge to keep the rich kids in no matter what the cost. They had the other force caught by surprise and ran when they saw that they were outnumbered instead of attacking with fury and decisiveness. Yellow bastards! You and your ship saved their hides and the Navy. The fact that your one welltrained ship took out six of the enemy proves that it's training and guts, not credits that makes a force formidable. By the way, don't listen to any of them if they complain that your ship took a powder after taking out six enemy ships. You weren't in the Navy yet and weren't obligated under any laws to remain there. If anything, they were obligated to protect you, despite your guns, because you were the civilian ship. Remember that if any of them slimy bastards opens his mouth. They should have been doing their job in the first place by attacking instead of running. When you came on their screens, they should have warned you out of the area while there was still time for you to do so."

      I replied, "I'll remember and thanks for the advice, Sarge."

      He said, "I know you'll remember. I'll be seeing you soon before you go anywhere."

      "You will?" I asked not having decided to visit again while on this shore leave.

      "Yes, probably more than once," he said. "Don't worry. It'll be under good circumstances. Of that, I'm sure."

***

Sarge was right about the circumstances being good. Our ship and crew were awarded with medals of bravery from the Navy in partial recognition of us taking part in the action at Three Star. It was also because we didn't make a stink about being the civilian vessel that should have been protected at any cost instead of us saving them. Sarge was present when we were lined up and presented our medals. Mine included two gun blossoms and Sam's had three for the ships we actually took out with our own personal gunfire.

      It was when the third week of repair was complete and the end of repairs was in sight that the Navy publicly announced plans to draft all the large civilian warships. The
Thurman
was going to war. Additional equipment arrived to be installed in her during that last week of repair. Right after I heard that announcement, I was called into the office.

***

I reported immediately, unsure of what I was needed for. Jim motioned me into the boss's office and had a smile on his face when he did. Whatever it was, I knew it was pretty good news. I walked into the office and saw the Sarge for the third time in that shore leave of mine. Rather than acknowledge him first, I paid attention to my boss who was the one who asked for my presence. "Yes ma'am," I answered.

      Penny said, "Sit down, Dave, after you shut the door."

      I turned and closed the door and then took the seat she had indicated.

      "Good," she said. "As you know, we've been conspiring behind your back to help you and you haven't disappointed us a bit. We can only do one more thing for you, but we need to know if you intend to stay with the
Thurman
if it's drafted."

      "Ma'am, I just heard on the news that it is being drafted," I replied.

      "You might have heard it on the news, but it hasn't been announced officially in orders to me that I know of," she said while she held up a sealed envelope from the Navy Department in her hands.

      Sarge spoke up, "I think you should go ahead and let Penny know of your decision, Dave."

      I said, "Well, ma'am, I was thinking it would be nice to get the commission that I worked hard for. After all, when the war is over, I'll probably be able to become inactive and return to work here, a little more knowledgeable and valuable to the company."

      She said, "That's good, Dave. So, am I to take it that you're going to definitely stay with the
Thurman?"

      "Dave," said the Sarge, "Penny needs a definite yes or no answer. That's going to determine what she does next."

      I answered, "Yes, ma'am. I'm not running out on my ship."

      She smiled and seemed relieved at first. Then she opened her desk drawer while she asked, "Let me have your badge, Dave."

      I was shocked. For a moment I thought that I had given her the wrong answer. I unpinned my upgraded badge and handed it over, feeling that I had let her down. When she had the badge, her other hand pulled out an officer's badge and passed it to the Sarge. He reached over and pinned it on my overslicks for me before he took my hand and congratulated me on being the Thurman's newest navigational officer and senior gunner.

      "Now what do you say, Dave?" asked the Sarge, who seemed to sense my shock. "By the way, you can call her Penny now. She'll probably give you the boot if you don't."

      "Thank you, Penny," I managed to stutter out.

      Penny said, "No, the thanks is all yours, Dave. You got us two ships, even if it was the same one twice and you kept our other ship whole or nearly so. You put forth the effort when others didn't and you didn't buckle under to minor setbacks such as having to walk around naked for two days. You're the kind of person we can trust to take care of our property while it's in the hands of the Navy. Being an officer of ours will give you a little more weight and authority. It'll also give you a chance to get a real commission from the Navy and not just a temporary one based on your civilian rank. After that, it's your decision and your life. Meanwhile, you're still on board one of our ships and helping to protect our assets, so you'll continue to receive a partial pay from us until the
Thurman
is returned." She then opened the envelope and remarked, "Oh my, oh my! Isn't this something! The
Thurman
has been drafted by the Navy and is to report in two weeks for duty. Isn't it lucky that you were promoted before the official orders arrived?"

      Sarge and Penny both laughed. I finally understood how they had just helped me beat the system partially. Now it was up to me.

***

As a newly commissioned company officer, I also got to take them to dinner, along with Marsha and Jim. I was now on a first name basis with the company officers and managed to pick up a little more information about the Sarge which only made me more curious about why he wasn't in space. Evidently, he had been in space before and done a number of things for a number of people. But it didn't answer why he wasn't in space now. Before the dinner was over, Sarge whispered to me that I should also take Sarah out as my date and some of the other crew members for a dinner tomorrow. I promised him that I would, especially since I had to report the day after to the naval base for additional orders and instruction on the Navy way to do things while the
Thurman
was being finished.

      I did take Sarah as my date along with other members of the crew to a dinner the following evening and found myself awarded the Pennyweight Best Buns award by my friends before the dinner was over. Someone had thoughtfully taken an image of me during the time that I was naked for two days and put the image on an engraved plaque.

      I learned that night that a lot of the crew were switching over to the other gun ships along with, to my surprise, all of the other officers including the Captain. In Sarah's case, I could understand her reasoning for not wanting to be involved in more bloodshed. The Captain and some of the officers, I learned, weren't going because the company didn't want to give up its most experienced officers. The company was hoping that I would stay on board because I would represent their interests and the Navy transfer would be to my benefit as well.

      So, technically, I was going to be the Captain of the
Thurman
for the last two weeks of repair until a Navy captain took over from me. Between the reports that I had to do at night and the training I attended during the day, my last two weeks were full. There was no longer any time for me to see anyone other than waving at them as we passed while going about our tasks.

***

I received my temporary commission as an ensign in the Navy the day the
Thurman
was drafted. Only already assigned officers could receive a commission, so the subterfuge that Penny and the Sarge went through was well appreciated by me. I was a half-year behind my classmates, most of whom were now lieutenants of one degree or another. Only a few of them were still ensigns.

      Two weeks later, I turned over the command of the ship to a captain who had only been a year ahead of me in the Academy, but about three hundred positions below me in grades. I felt fortunate that he didn't realize that I knew about him, having taken the time to research each person assigned to the ship. He didn't bother looking up my background or he might have felt suspicious of my date of rank. He might have even taken steps to block me. As it was, regular naval personnel took over almost all the bridge functions. I went back to being in charge of the ship's weapons systems as well as being the best gunner on board.

      The only difference was that I was then an ensign and had to do things the Navy way. The single most important thing about the Navy way was that "battle stations" didn't mean that I could start firing as soon as I saw the enemy. I then had to wait for the Captain to order fire before my gun or any of the other guns could open up. Fortunately, most of the time, they announced it as "man your battle stations," so I didn't forget myself and start firing as I had been in the habit of doing.

      Of the forty men and women who used to man the
Thurman
for Pennyweight, only ten of us were still with her. About the only thing we had in common with the regular naval personnel was that both groups called the
Thurman
a rust bucket because of the outer coating of rust. I think that we would have had to go out and scrape the rust off and paint the ship had there been time. However, the public was screaming to have combat ships on the line in space. Rust was apparently a minor inconvenience that the higher ups weren't going to wait on for removal. Also, the captain didn't get both groups to mix well, leaving the showering schedule as his first officer planned it which meant that all of us from Pennyweight were sharing our showers together.

      Because the captain put his own regular people onto the bridge, I went back to hydroponics instead of being an alternate navigator. Frank was our only group member still on the bridge, but he wasn't an officer. That meant that everyone of the other nine Pennyweight personnel looked up to me to keep them informed as to what was happening. I relied on Frank to fill me in on things that weren't covered in the daily staff meeting that I attended. I, in turn, used the shower schedule to pass the word on to two others of our group. They passed the information on to the others. At least, our group usually knew what was going on, despite the captain's usual inept performance in keeping his crew informed so that they could still perform the mission in case of an emergency. At any rate, we didn't ever let our ship down.

One week out of Beulah, we went into our first action. It was almost as bad as Three Star started to become. Actually, it was worse than Three Star because our squadron did retreat when we had equal odds against the aliens. I wasn't ashamed of my ship, but I was ashamed of my Navy for allowing such ineptitude to exist within itself. We only lost one ship and didn't destroy, let alone damage, any enemy ships. But the worst part of the shame was that the ship we lost, we lost while running with our tails tucked between our legs. I wondered why I wanted to become a part of the Navy in the first place. Regardless, I continued to refer to my textdisks to keep myself fresh on current naval doctrine, some of which was outdated compared to what could be done with a few ships in the right place at the right time, no matter how much it sickened me. About the only thing that was good to come out of that lost battle was that the Commander in charge of our ships was forced to resign. Another of the inept captains from the eleven remaining ships became the new squadron commander. It wasn't an improvement.