Val scanned the people in the wardroom, it was being used as the debrief room for what had happened earlier that day. There was definitely a more relaxed vibe on the ship now. A couple of people had even smiled at her in the p-way today. Maybe they were starting to realise she wasn't there to sabotage them. It probably also helped that Alisha Granderson had started to warm to her and had been seen chatting to her in the p-way following the action. It was definitely packed, with some people even having to stand at the back. She'd seen the Lt Green standing with the one they called Wolf, they were both attractive. Wolf had that rugged look going for him and Danny, well, he was just nice and she liked assertive men. She hadn't quite worked out who his girlfriend was though, she'd kept looking and couldn't work it out, she hadn't seen him talk differently to any of the women she'd seen him with, not that she'd seen him with many, just mainly at meal times. Not that she was sure she'd want to date him, he was almost a bit too clean cut for her liking but now she was just curious because supposedly they weren't meant to fratenise.
The heads of department all had to talk through their part, they'd been through the engineering department. It hadn't sounded good, as Lt Cdr Garnett spoke, it sounded like the ship had taken her fair share of damage, bringing home the truth of how close it had been to it being them lying on the bottom of the ocean. It outlook didn't sound great either, little fuel with damaged systems spelt a limp into harbour and then a lengthy ship's maintenance period.
Kara had stood up and debriefed on the weapons status, another something that didn't sound good. Apart from the small arms they had on board and a couple of missiles for the helo in the weapons locker, they had nothing.
Rachael Scott had talked through the success of the contagious cure with the civilians they had come across and the spreading of positive news about the Nathan James and the cure. They had taken video footage which Tom Chandler had told Val he needed her to spread over her network. When she saw the footage she knew she couldn't refuse. It was amazing what this woman had achieved.
Mike Slattery stood up to talk through their part in the mission. He was part of the reason that the debrief had been delayed, apparently it had taken him time to go and get patched up by the doctor and he know stood with his arm in a sling. He started out by saying they'd acted on the information given by the civilians that Dr Scott had treated and taken a small team of Lt Green, Tex and himself to ambush the threat. He described what they had seen and the threat level and then their actions. It turned out that Lt Green had been shot in the chest and Val looked at the women in the room, looking for a clue. Val thought if she was his girlfriend she'd have at least had some sort of reaction to this but none of the women moved, none of them reacted to this. She looked at Danny and Wolf, Wolf made a face of mock sympathy at Danny, pretending to wipe away a tear and Danny nudged him in the ribs, shaking his head with a smile on his face.
As Mike continued Val realised how close they had been to oblivion and Mike talked about what that they had done as if it was nothing. Just another days work, though a tiny smile of glee did creep onto his face as he talked about pressing the button and sinking the sub.
Once the debrief had finished those who had places to be, left the wardroom. The CO, XO and Lt Cdr Garnett disappeared with the president. She saw Burke clap Danny on the back, Danny wincing and placed a hand on his chest.
"Sorry Danny," he said and Danny dismissed the apology with a wave.
"Just caught me off-guard, Doc Rios said they're probably cracked from the impact of the bullet." He said, his hand still on his chest. He stepped across to the coffee machine, where Kara was making cup of tea. The two of them had their backs to everyone else but from Val's position she could see their faces. As Danny reached across to pick up a spoon, he briefly touched her stomach, so brief that if Val hadn't been looking directly at them, she'd have missed it. Kara turned her face to Danny's and smiled with pursed lips and a cocked eyebrow, Danny tilted his head to the side and smiled charmingly at her, the smile reaching his eyes. Kara relaxed and just shook her head, still smiling at him. They had said nothing and had stood next to each other for no more than ten seconds before Kara turned and joined the rest of the group.
Val looked round, no one else had seen it but then they probably all knew anyway and now she did too. Kara Foster was Danny Green's girlfriend.