Dire consequences

Mike

This morning I got a phone call from Maxine White. She wanted me at Navcom because there was some news she wanted to share with me. Although she couldn't say it out loud I knew it was going to be the news of Kate's promotion. The Hammersley was going to sail tomorrow and I hoped it would be with Kate as the new CO. Maxine had been a little bit vague but I just blamed that on the fact she had to follow the right procedures. She couldn't tell me about a promotion before the person itself had been informed.

The door to Maxine's office was still closed which I hadn't expected. Kate had been asked to come in about an hour ago and papers for her promotion wouldn't take that long to be signed. Had Kate already got her promotion? Had she been ordered to go straight to work? Or was there a problem and were they still going over some details? I wanted to walk past the office and take a quick glance inside when suddenly the door swung open. "Lieutenant McGregor." "Kate!" Maxine yelled while rushing through the door of her office, trying to keep up with Kate who had stormed out.

Kate didn't stop at Maxine's request and managed to run away towards the door. Maxine did stop chasing Kate though, looking around a bit embarrassed. "Mike," she said when she saw me. "I need you in my office in five minutes. I'm going to—" she said pointing in the direction Kate had fled before she walked away in the same direction as Kate. I wanted to go into Maxine's office but before I could two men walked out. Two guys who weren't in navy uniform and who, more alarmingly, were most likely federal police. Who else could it be? The only civilians entering this building were feds. I couldn't think of a reason why they would be here but it had to do something with Kate and the fact she hadn't received a promotion.

Maxine came back looking concerned. "What happened?" I asked her before she could even sit down. "Well I," she started prior to sitting down. "The brass doesn't think Kate is ready for it yet. They want her to get some more hours in before she's ready to become Hammersley's new CO," Maxine explained. I just shook my head. What did they want from her? She was the best and Maxine had agreed on that matter. I didn't understand it at all. "How long?" I asked. "I didn't get a real time limit to it," Maxine replied. "Could you talk to Kate. She's upset and disappointed and left. I wanted to let her know it wasn't my decision and that she has my vote, but it's not all up to me," she asked me. I nodded. "Of course I'll talk to her. I'll go and talk to her right now," I said but Maxine stopped me. "You can go and talk to her after we discussed a few things," she said, making sure I wouldn't leave her office just yet. "Can't that wait?" I wondered. I really thought talking to Kate was more important right now. "No it can't," Maxine answered. "The Hammersley will sail tomorrow and you're still her CO. You will remain in that position until the Brass think Kate is suitable to replace you," she said. "Wait, stop. I'm going to stay on as CO?" I wondered out loud, not really thinking what Maxine would think about it or if she would suspect anything about the tone I said it in. "Well, yes," she stammered, noticing my reluctance to stay on board. "If I replace you with someone else right now it will be very hard to give the position to Kate whenever the Brass thinks she's ready. That's why you've got to stay," she explained.

It was a reasonable explanation but I didn't have to like it. Kate wouldn't like it, for sure. It was her place I was occupying and besides that, me staying on board would mean our relationship would be on hold even longer. I sighed and looked at Maxine who was looking at me, probably wondering what I was thinking. I wished I could tell her that I didn't want to stay on board of the Hammersley or why, but I couldn't do that, not without exposing my relationship with Kate. As a friend Maxine would understand but as our boss she would have to take actions which would get us both in a lot of trouble.

"Now," Maxine started. "I've got Hammersley's new assignment right here. You're going to patrol south of the Orlan Island. Nothing special just a routine patrol," she said while she gave me a folder. "Who's patrolling the Island itself? I mean, we went there a few months ago. Wouldn't it be logical if we go there again?" I wondered. Maxine gave me a cheeky grin and tipped her head slightly. "And I thought you wouldn't want to go back there after your near death experience. Well, I'm sorry Mike, but the Kingston already got their assignments to patrol there. I'll keep in mind you want to go back there if we ever need another patrol there," she said.

It didn't really matter where we had to patrol, anywhere would be great, as long as we were at sea. I loved the sea but since I was almost killed not too long ago I started to look at things differently. My love for the sea would never die but my love for Kate grew every day. I needed her, I wanted her and that wasn't going to happen soon. I still couldn't understand what had gone wrong earlier this morning. I fell silent in a loss for words and the only thing I could do was look around the office. I saw the two vacant chairs and remembered the two guys who I couldn't place in this whole ordeal. "Who were they?" I wondered out loud. Maxine looked at me before she looked at the empty chairs almost as if she had expected my question. "You don't need to know everything Mike. Sometimes it's best if you don't know," she answered. I let out an irritated gasp. "That is crap and you know it," I said, unable to hide my irritation. "Kate McGregor, someone I thought was more than suitable to replace me, and so did you, is not getting her stripe while two guys are present and you're telling me that it's best for me not to know? I want to understand! Understand why my—" I almost said girlfriend. "—XO is deprived of what she deserves," I said. Maxine gave me a sorrowful look but wasn't going to give me any more information. "Go and talk to her," she said. I stood up, angrily, and walked away. Before I left the office I turned around and said: "I will find out what happened even if you won't talk to me."