Valor At Vauzlee by Thomas DePrima Read Free Book Online

the animated picture of her family, taken at the Academy on the day that her eldest brother graduated, went immediately onto her dresser. In the image that morphed to the beginning every thirty-seconds, Jenetta and her mother were the only ones not in uniform. Although her brothers were all cadets at the Academy, Jenetta had still been in high school at the time. Her father, a captain in Space Command, had recently turned over command of his destroyer and was preparing to take command of the Cromwell, GSC-F839, a new frigate nearing completion at the Mars shipyard. For the picture, Quinton Carver and his wife Annette sat on a stone bench in a small park-like setting on the Academy grounds, with their children arrayed behind them. The four boys stood together, with their arms on each other's back, while the bushes behind them swayed ever so gently from a slight breeze. Jenetta had been shuffled off to the right of the image. Because of her clothing and detached position, it almost appeared as if she wasn't a part of the group. Halfway through the image playback, Richie raised his enormous left hand and placed it on her small shoulder, finally making it seem like she might be a part of the family after all.
    The animated picture of Zane Spence and herself, taken recently at Gregory's, went next to the family portrait on her dresser.
    Still making it to the officer's mess by 0745, she had time for a quick bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee before the start of the first watch at 0800. She took several pieces of fruit to eat while she worked, hoping that they would quell the hunger pangs she was already feeling as she returned to her office.
    If she'd had any hopes that the new day might be easier, they were dashed as her duty list scrolled up on the computer. It appeared that every officer aboard ship had left several new messages since she'd gone off duty late last evening.
    Jenetta intuitively knew of the difficulties involved in an entirely new command structure, where routines and procedures have yet to be established. Subordinates will feel their way along uncertainly as they try to learn what's expected of them and what authority they have to make decisions. Until they know, they tend to be too quick to pass on problems to their senior officer. It's doubly difficult where both supervising officer and subordinates haven't previously been posted together. The situation represents a potential logistical nightmare for an executive officer in a new command.
    She knew that her main job now was to make each officer understand what she expected of him or her, or she would be plagued with minor problems all the way to Earth. Instead of handling every problem that came her way on the second day, she passed many of them back to the originating officer and told him or her to resolve it and inform her of their solution.
    * * *
    Chief Petty Officer Filip ‘Flip' Byrne entered the crowded quarters of CPO Edward Lindsey and dropped his six-foot two-inch frame tiredly into the only unoccupied chair of the five arranged around the table.
    "You're late," CPO Lindsey said.
    "Yeah, tell me about it," Flip said with disgust.
    "The watch ended an hour ago."
    "Just deal me in and don't give me any crap, Eddie." Flip sighed loudly. "We had to completely empty and reload cargo hold C-24. We just finished. The LT said that it would be done before we quit for the day, if we had to work until third watch."
    Holding his hand up to cover his eyes in pretense of a seer having an omnipotent vision, the stocky five-foot seven-inch CPO Lindsey said in an eerie voice, "I see the hand of our child XO in this."
    "I told you not to call her that!" CPO Byrne said angrily. "She graduated from NHSA in ‘56, so she's only ten years younger than you." Calming, he added, "But you're right about her being involved. She came down to inspect C-24 just after we finished stacking and securing everything. One of the new knuckleheaded loader operators in my group put food