Valor At Vauzlee by Thomas DePrima Read Free Book Online Page A

synthesizer chemicals in the storage locker where the emergency medical stores are supposed to be stockpiled. Another knucklehead, unable to store the medical stuff properly, just dumped it in the common area. Then stuff got piled on top of it and it was buried. The XO spotted the screwup right off. When she asked where the medical stores were, the Lieutenant couldn't answer. I expected her to cut into him like a plasma torch through aluminum, but all she did was make a sad comment about how she'd hate to be waiting for medical treatment in sickbay while they searched the entire hold for the supplies needed to treat her injuries. Then she got this sort of strange expression on her face as she looked at him. It was like the look my mother would always give me when I'd done something that really disappointed her. I hated that look. It made me feel about two centimeters tall. I always wished she would just smack me upside my head instead. I really felt for the LT. Anyway, after she left, he ripped into us for making him look bad in front of the XO. He swore that if anything like that ever happened again, we'd all regret the day we were posted to the Prometheus."
    "So you got chewed out and wound up with extra duty because of the XO; the officer that you keep defending."
    "Hey, she was absolutely right, Eddie. How'd you like to be waiting for medical treatment while they hunted through an entire hold looking for the supplies they needed to treat you ? The extra duty was because of the two knuckleheads, and I'll make damn sure they pull so many extra details for screwing up that they never do it again. I know you don't care for the XO, but she's first-rate in my book."
    "It isn't that I don't like her, Flip, it's just that I don't subscribe to all the hero worship she receives. In spite of what some people think, Jenetta Carver doesn't walk on water ."
    "We were both on the Thor during her court-martial, and I remember you always making a point of being in the vid theatre or near a monitor when the live broadcasts were on. I also remember you cheering like a madman when the verdict of not guilty was announced."
    "So, I don't like to see anyone being dumped on unfairly by the brass, even officers. She done good by destroying that Raider base."
    "And by recovering these two battleships?"
    "And by recovering these two battleships," Lindsey admitted.
    "And in saving all those people that the Raiders intended as slaves?"
    "And in saving all those people that the Raiders intended as slaves," Lindsey admitted also.
    "But?" CPO Byrne asked.
    "But— I still don't think that entitles her to become the XO onboard the Prometheus. She's far too young and inexperienced."
    "She's not the XO, Eddie. She's only acting as XO until we reach Earth."
    "Acting or not, she's the XO. Our lives are in her hands; her very young hands."
    "What about the Captain. Gavin's one of the most respected officers in the fleet?"
    "He's the only reason I haven't requested a transfer back off this ship."
    "Are you serious? You'd give up one of the choicest postings in the fleet because a young officer is occupying a temporary position?"
    "Only if she'd been made captain, temporarily. There's no way I'd serve under a captain that looks like she's fresh out of the academy. There's just something— unnatural — about it."
    "Since the minute she arrived you've been searching for something to hold against her. Name one mistake she's made as XO; just one."
    "That's not the point."
    "That's exactly the point, Eddie. You're upset because she's doing the job as good as anyone with thirty years experience." Glancing around at the faces of the other three chief petty officers, all of whom had been sitting quietly but listening intently to the conversation, Byrne said, "Oh hell, just deal the damn cards will you, Eddie?"
    * * *
    By the end of the week, Jenetta's workload had been pared by ninety percent and normal shipboard routines had begun to develop. Most of the expected