INTERLUDE:
Change of Command
November 12th
Pearl Harbour
15:00 hours
It was a meeting of Captains and Admirals and Ben Krieg felt a little bit out of place, but Robert Bridger and Katherine Hitchcock had insisted. He had been ready to just skip it, but Oliver Hudson had found him before he could get off the docks. Now he sat in a conference room full of Admirals, Captains, Commodores, and other high ranking officers of NorPac. It was a relaxed atmosphere to be sure, but he didn't feel like he belonged there as he was the only Lieutenant Commander.
Finally Oliver Hudson moved over to him and asked, "Aren't you at least going to talk to some of them? It's called networking."
"No sir..." replied Krieg. "What am I doing here anyway?"
Oliver only smiled, a rarity when he was in full dress uniform like the rest of them, and walked over to Hitchcock. Ben was pretty much left to his own devices and was thinking of slipping out of the room when Hitchcock announced, "All right, if everyone would take their seats, we can start the meeting."
Ben found himself hemmed in between Robert and another Captain, while an attractive woman to be sure, and unable to sneak away. A five star admiral that Ben had never seen before moved to the head of the table and he said, "Thank you all for coming. The first order of business... Katie, you have that don't you?"
Hitchcock stood and indicated everyone in the room, "With Captain Montail gone, a position was left vacated in my fleet. I need a captain for the Nezamiah. Commodore Robert Bridger, Captain Oliver Hudson, and I have a likely candidate. You had enough time to go over his qualifications before the meeting."
Nods went around the table and Ben tried not to look to out of the loop, although as the XO of the seaQuest, he now at least understood his purpose here. Katie continued with a smile, "Have you decided?"
"He has proved his credentials," agreed another Captain. "Both as a civilian and military. I vote he gets it."
"I am concerned about his record, despite the changes he has shown," stated an Admiral. "I vote no."
A few more added their comments, but once the votes were in, the majority had voted this new captain in as the commander of the Nezamiah. Ben wondered who this controversial new captain was... then the five-star admiral at the head of the table said, "Let it be on record that Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Krieg, the executive officer of the seaQuest DSV, is now Captain Benjamin Krieg of the Nezamiah, if he chooses to accept this new position..."
Ben knew that his mouth hung slack in shock, even as he saw the grinning faces of Robert, Katie, and Oliver. He cleared his throat and said, "I accept..."
I'm a Captain... he realized. ...I finally did it...