The Command

The physical attraction was there. But even more alluring would be having someone he could just fucking hold. A skipper was alone as no one ever was ashore. Add the stark functional bareness of passageways, the comfortless machinery-humming desolation of air-conditioned spaces, and the thought of something warm and for yourself alone became worth risking very much for, indeed. He rubbed his lips, trying to concentrate on what she was saying, not the sway of breasts beneath blue cloth. And what did she mean by that reference to how easy birth control was?

“I told her policy doesn’t require her to identify the father, but she wanted to. She’s sorry she let the ship down.”

“I guess we all wish being sorry made things better. Hurst’s married, isn’t she?”

“Unfortunately, they both are. Also unfortunately, DK1 Konow’s wife is also the mother of his three children. And also the vice president—”

Dan closed his eyes. “Ouch. Vice president of the Military Wives’ Association of Tidewater, Virginia.”

“You see our problem.”

“So what do we do? Take them to mast is my first thought.”

“She came to me in confidence,” Hotchkiss said. “I write her up, that finishes my open-door policy for the other girls.”

“I see that, but it takes two to tango. Unless she’s going to say it’s rape, which is a whole different ball game. So to speak.” He stopped, realizing by her incredulous stare he’d just made the kind of half-unconscious pun a guy might make to another guy, but that was most definitely non grata with Claudia H. Hotchkiss.

“You’d better get serious about this. It’s flagrant fraternization. Not only that, it’s adultery.”

“You’re right, sorry … but if it was consensual, the only way I see to play it fair is to take them both to mast. How far along is she? Is she planning to keep the baby? Did she share that with you?”

Hotchkiss told him, tone icier than it had been before his joke, “She’s three months gone. But there isn’t any choice. Navy medical care is prohibited by federal policy from terminating pregnancies. And she can’t depend on a civilian facility out here.”

“So we’ll lose her regardless of what I decide.”

“Lose her?” Hotchkiss seemed surprised. “Not necessarily. Not for several months yet, anyway.”

“If she’s pregnant, she can’t do her job,” Dan told her. “So I want her off the ship. Same as the first girl.”

“Why? All she has to do is sit at a desk and work the pay program.”

“We made this decision already, Claudia. We’re running a warship, not a maternity ward. If a woman gets pregnant, we scrub her off the manning document pending a permanent relief. That’s what we promised would happen, on the page thirteen entry and the fraternization briefings.”

Hotchkiss said with ominous silkiness, “So let me get this straight: We fire the woman, and keep the guy who knocked her up.”

“No — or at least not for the reason you’re getting at. One, a pregnant woman waddling around can’t do the shipboard damage control and firefighting job, whatever her day-to-day rate is. She can push a desk shoreside, but sea duty’s tough even for a man in good shape. Two, she’s not being ‘fired,’ we’re sending her to a safer environment for an expectant mother. We may punish her for fraternization and adultery, but the pregnancy’s a separate issue. We have a responsibility to both of them, mother and baby. And she’s going to need family support intervention when she goes home, to explain this to her husband.”

His phone went off. The comm messenger was trying to locate him. Dan told him he was in the sea cabin.

The message was from Strong. Horn’s liberty port was canceled, due to emergent operational commitments. They were to proceed north at best speed to a point off Duba. Due to a comms breakdown on the flagship, Horn was to stand by to receive the task group flag.

“What is it?”

“Port visit canceled. The commodore’s coming aboard.” He passed it to her.

“We aren’t staff configured,” Hotchkiss said, fingering the message doubtfully. “We don’t have the space, and we sure don’t have the comm suite.”

Dan wasn’t enthusiastic either, but he didn’t see a way out. “Strong can go in my in-port cabin. Move the junior officers to overflow berthing.”

“It’s going to be crowded.”

“Then maybe they won’t stay long,” Dan said. He caught her look. Yeah, in some ways having a female exec was a lot like being married. “I meant, this is probably just temporary, till another flag-configured ship comes available. Are we all clear now about this other thing?”

“I’m still not convinced Charmine deserves to get hammered. The man’s a first class, she’s a third. There’s got to be an element of intimidation.”

“She should have brought it up when he hit on her, then. I don’t buy that, that the woman’s always the victim.”

“If one partner’s twenty-four, the other’s thirty-two?”

“Old enough to blow the whistle if her supervisor’s coming on to her.”

“If you’re going to throw her off the ship anyway, why take her to mast?”