To all of you who have stuck with my humble tale, thank you! Although my outlines, brainstorms, and flow charts look like someone sneezed on the page, it's so much fun to write. All hail Grammarly!

Chapter 2

When she walked into the officer's mess, Rachel scanned the room and saw at least a dozen Grayson officers, and all of their eyes were on her as she followed Lt. Patino to the serving line. She chose soup and a sandwich and followed Lt. Patino to a table where she was introduced to some engineering officers taking their lunch too.

"Lieutenant Commander Duffey is the Environmental Group leader, you'll meet with her later. This is LT J.G. Herrera, your section leader," Lt. Patino said.

Herrera shook her hand. "You've already achieved your life support system certification, that's mucho bueno. I'm going to do that when we get back home, so I'd like to pick your brain about it, if that's all right."

"Of course," Rachel said.

"And who is this?" Herrera asked of the treecat currently munching on celery and pineapple.

"This is Hipper," she replied. "And the gentleman behind me is Captain Tucker."

"I've never been an OCTO, so I'm going to do it the same way my OCTO did," Lt. Patino said. "I'll transmit all this to your memo pad, but this is the rundown of your cruise. For this month, you'll be on first shift, Sundays through Thursdays, same as me. July; same days, second shift. August; same days, third shift. Lieutenant Commander Duffey thinks it's a good idea for you to see how all the shifts operate. Good so far?"

Rachel nodded.

"The two days you're off-shift are your own. Enjoy the time off; you'll be working hard. No one is ever really off-duty on a ship, I suppose, but for two days you're not on shift. However, be prepared for anything. Someone could get hurt, sick, or we go to battle stations— then it's all hands on deck."

The mess hatch opened and a Grayson Lieutenant Commander walked inside, his armsman behind him. He scanned the area, found the engineers, and acknowledged them. He made his lunch selection and joined them, and his armsman shook hands with Noah. He said a brief prayer over his food and extended his hand to her.

"Miss Mayhew, pleased to meet you. I'm Lieutenant Commander Kimbrell, weapons crew. That's my keeper, Major Workman."

"Pleased to meet you as well, sir," Rachel replied.

"I'd appreciate if you could make some time for me later on this evening, after dinner perhaps, to chat over some things," he requested.

"Of course, sir."

After lunch, Rachel, Lt. Patino, and Lt. Herrera returned to the Engineering bay. Clad in her work-a-day uniform and newly issued tool belt, she stopped in awe of the sight she had walked into. Gravitic detection arrays and sensors, gravity generators, hyper generators, and fusion plants—they were all right there. She took in the blinking and strobing lights, the humming and whirring of equipment, and personnel scurrying about as they repaired and monitored said equipment.

"Fantastic, huh?" Lt. Herrera said.

"Yes sir, it is," she said.

From his office, Commander Wofford, Lt. Commander Duffey, and Lt. Commander Upton saw the three junior officers enter the bay.

"So that's her?" Duffey asked.

"Tall for a Grayson," Upton noted.

They saw the lieutenants point to various locations and begin the tour of the engineering department.

After the duty day had ended, Rachel returned to her berth, the last of the middies to arrive.

"Busy day?" Theresa asked.

"Very much, but a good day," Rachel said and removed her service uniform from her locker. "I need to shower before dinner."

She looked at her male berthing companions. "What about you three? Were you going to use the shower before I arrived?"

Kirschner waved her concern away. "We're going to the gym for a workout, we'll shower there."

In a shower stall, Rachel was humming and washing her hair. Theresa came in and started the shower stall next to hers.

"Was your day as nerve-wracking as mine?" Theresa asked.

"Sorry to hear that, I enjoyed my day," Rachel said.

"What did you do?" Theresa asked.

"Had lunch with my OCTO and section leader, toured the ship, and worked in my section," Rachel shrugged. "You know your job, right?"

"Sure," Theresa said.

"You're a newbie in a high-profile location, that's all. The nerves will pass," Rachel assured her.

"So, what's on for tonight?" Theresa asked.

"Get some mail to Matt and meet with some Graysons," Rachel replied.

They turned their showers off, dressed, and went to dinner. In the officer's mess, they had choices of spaghetti, baked chicken, or the staples of soup, sandwiches, and salad. They sat down, Rachel prayed briefly over her tray, and they dug in. The other middies joined them and they discussed their day.

"Housekeeping and taking vitals for sick call, that's what I did all day," Kirschner said. "I was politely told not to hurt anyone."

"Oh yeah? I did inventory and stared at a troubleshooting computer all day," Castillo said.

"When do you start medical school?" Rachel asked Kirschner.

"Last week of September, King's College," he replied.

"Sat there at the comm console all day, told to just watch and listen," Rainey sighed.

After dinner, she went to the officer's rec hall, situated next to the officer's gym. A dozen or so Graysons stood when she, Hipper, Noah, and Robert entered. She shook hands with them among the "welcome aboard, Miss Mayhew" and "m'lady" greetings. Lieutenant Commander Kimbrell gestured her to a chair and when she sat, they took their seats again. Hipper settled on her lap and started on his celery stalk.

"There's more of us, but they're on duty," Kimbrell said. "We wanted to welcome you to the family, as it were."

Midshipman Chatwood trotted into the rec hall and Rachel patted an empty chair. "Gentlemen, this is Josh Chatwood," she said.

"You were the first Grayson kid to get adopted by a treecat, right?" Lt. Rooker asked.

"Yes sir, I was nine," Rachel said.

"Lady Harrington's treecat can shoot a pistol; can he?" Ensign Greer asked.

She signed to Hipper, who looked at the ensign and shook his head.

"Does he understand the words we say?" Lt. Cordell asked.

Hipper rolled his eyes and continued on his celery.

"For the most part, yes. If he can't get the gist of it, I'll sign it," she said, signing as she spoke.

Kimbrell spoke again. "We just wanted to let you know about some things. We don't have chaplains on Manticoran ships, but there are lay readers among us. We have church services on Tuesday mornings, Thursday afternoons, and Saturday evenings to accommodate those of us on different duty days and times. Are you all right with having scripture study with men?"

"Yes sir. Otherwise, I'll be reading the scriptures by myself and then sending any questions and observations to a chaplain by e-mail," she said.

"There's no need for all that if you have a church service available right here with qualified lay readers," Kimbrell said.

"Thank you, sir."

He clapped his hands. "So, if you're comfortable with it, why don't you tell us about yourself? Career goals? Anything, really."

"Well, I'd like to introduce the gentlemen behind me, Captain Tucker and Staff Sergeant McDonald. Captain Tucker has been with me just after my ninth birthday, and Sergeant McDonald joined me last year."

She told them about her family, Matthew, and some of her experiences at the academy. "I'm a middy, so at this point I just want to be the best engineer for the Navy as I can be," she said. "I came close to being called Lady Steadholder Mayhew, so I'm grateful and appreciative of this opportunity."

She rose from her chair and shook hands with Kimbrell. "I have some mail to check and send. Thank you for your time, gentlemen."

She changed into something to sleep in and rested on her bunk with her computer. She called up her communication program, put in her earbud, and clicked on the link for her personal mail. She had mail from Matt, Angela, and her family. Theresa and Kirschner entered the berth and she gave them a wave.

"Is Robert going to stand outside the hatch all night?" Theresa asked.

"Probably," Rachel replied. "I'm not going to tell them any different. They're already disgruntled that I'm sharing berthing with men."

The said men in the berth held up their hands. "We mean no harm."

She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I know that."

"Anyone who's seen you on the mats would have to be nuts to try and lay a hand on you, not to mention him," Josh said, nodding toward Hipper.

She opened Matt's link and smiled at his handsome face.

Evening, sweetheart. Hello from the middy berthing on the Imperator. I've had a full day, and my OCTO promises an even fuller day tomorrow. He's an emergency physician, like I want to be, so I'm eager to learn as much as I can while I'm here.

He nodded at something off camera and continued.

I think that Angela, being a Truman, is under a lot of scrutiny. I can tell that she's a little stressed about it. Speak to her if you can. She misses everyone. The ship's orders have Graysons being off loaded, the Captain's words, at Grayson the second week of August. That is, if everything goes according to schedule. The other Grayson middies and I were invited to an informal briefing with Grayson personnel about church services, and we were encouraged to tell a little about ourselves. Were they ever curious about me being engaged to you! They were under the impression that your dad would choose your husband for you and your sisters.

She pressed the pause button and tried to imagine her dad doing that to Theresa.

"What's making you grin like that?" Theresa asked.

"I'll tell you when I'm done," Rachel said and resumed the video.

I received mail from my moms, and they're meeting regularly with your moms about wedding planning. I appreciate it because we're all the way across the galaxy. They're glad to have a time frame to work with, and I admit, it does make matters easier. So how does October 30th sound for the big day? Let me know. I'm going to go for now, I'm getting up early to go lifting with some other enthusiasts onboard. Tell Hipper and Theresa hello from me. I love you, I miss you, and I can hardly wait to start my life with you.