Gentle readers, thank you for sticking with my humble tale! Through illness, work changes, moving, winter storms, I'm still here! Also, I feel the need to thank each one of you for your thoughtful, and some hilarious reviews… I'm looking at you, polarbear20000! Please continue to enjoy the ups and downs of Rachel's snotty cruise. Let's be about it.

Chapter 8

July 9, 1925 P.D. 2120 hours

After meeting with the captain, Lt. Patino headed straight for engineering and berated himself the entire way. His first time as an OCTO and the captain called him to the carpet! He entered the engineering bay and saw Mayhew, Lt. Herrera, Commander Wofford (in sweats), and two others at Mayhew's station, where they were watched a video on her minicomp. She narrated for the viewers.

"…and after the second hit, I moved to the right a second too slow, we-" she saw him and paused. "Evening, lieutenant."

He nodded and looked at the bruises on her face as she continued the video narration. She didn't look or sound to be in any pain.

"Is that from the latest match?" he asked.

"Yes sir," she replied.

"You don't wear gear?" he asked.

"For practice and sparring, yes. For competition, no."

"Have you been to sick bay to have that bruising looked at?" he asked.

"No sir."

"Because it doesn't hurt?"

"Yes sir."

He glanced at her armsman, whose long-suffering glance upward appeared to ask for divine assistance.

"Would you mind accompanying me to sick bay to have it looked at? Just to be on the safe side?"

She shrugged. "Not at all, sir."

She closed her minicomp and Hipper hopped onto her shoulder from the workstation top.

"I've got your watch until you get back," Lt. Herrera said.

"Thank you sir."

She chatted with Lt. Patino as they made their way to sick bay. LT. J.G. Cahill, the duty doctor, sighed when he saw her walk in. "Another customer from the latest round of mutually assured destruction?"

"'Fraid so," Lt. Patino replied.

"Are you her training officer?" the doctor asked.

"I am."

"Never a dull moment, I imagine?" the doctor asked.

Rachel blushed, Hipper's tail flicked, and both Sergeant McDonald's and Lt. Patino's lips twitched. The doctor pointed to a bed and she sat. He looked into her eyes with a light and had her look up, down, left and right.

"Follow the light?"

She did so and he nodded.

"Does it hurt?" he asked and gently palpated around the bruising.

"When there's direct pressure applied, so I don't rest on that side," she answered.

"Any dizziness? Double vision? Tiredness? Loss of balance? Problems speaking?"

"No sir, none of that."

"Why didn't you come in after the match?" he asked.

"It didn't hurt and coming here for bruises seemed like a waste of time," she replied. "I've been in coup since I was nine. Bruises are a part of it, sir."

The doctor nodded, brought a scanner to her face, and bid her to stay still. "On just my watch, I've treated two concussions, a hyperextended knee, three sprained wrists, and a rib fracture just from that match."

He finished the scan and looked again at her face. "The bruising there above your eye will go away on its own. However, the hematoma under your eye does need attention."

He had her lay on the bed and relax. "I'm going to drain it. You won't feel a thing."

She swallowed and licked her lips. "D-drain it?"

The doctor nodded. He sprayed the bruised area with a numbing and antiseptic spray and an SBA rolled a tray bedside.

"The procedure will only take a few minutes, and then half an hour for observation after," the doctor reported to Lt. Patino.

Rachel stared at a spot on the overhead while the doctor drained the hematoma. When he finished, he dabbed a spot of quick heal to the area.

"You can sit over there for the next half hour," the doctor said.

The SBA gave her a cup of water to sip and a cooling pad to place over the bruising and she took a seat in the triage area.

Bravo DC and Life Support Two Station

After sick bay, she returned to her watch and told Lt. Herrera what happened.

"We wondered if you were going to resist the lieutenant's sick bay suggestion," he said.

"He's just looking out for my well-being, and he was right. It does feel better. Aside from that, he's my superior officer. From this snotty's view, it wasn't really a suggestion, was it?" she replied.

The lieutenant left for other tasks and she continued her watch. Her minicomp signaled that a message arrived, so she answered it. Matt's face appeared on the screen, and she saw his berth in the background.

"Good evening, love. I just got off watch. Sick bay got kinda busy today. There was an accident in the shuttle bay, and the commander let me triage and do some first aid. Angie just left for third watch, and she said to tell you hi. My moms met with your moms this week, and it looks like October thirty-first for the big day is a go!

We should be getting our marriage counseling appointment notifications with Reverend Sullivan's office soon. That's all I've got for now. Take care, I love you."

She started a video of her own when the damage control sensors on her panel alerted and all the lighting in the entire engineering bay flickered.

"That's weird," she mumbled and Hipper flicked his tail in agreement from atop the counter.

She closed her minicomp and started troubleshooting. She glanced up and saw Ensign Jeffers from the Alpha Damage Control frowning at his panel as well. She went to his station and saw the panels alerting as well.

"It seems we have the same problem," she said.

"I'd like to say it's impossible, but…" he said, pressing buttons and swiping sensors to troubleshoot.

"I'll start my secondary diagnostics," she said and returned to her station.

After a few minutes, she was alarmed to discover that seven out of thirty control relays for Bravo Damage Control were no longer connected to her control panel. Scratch that, eight. How was this happening? She pressed the comm for Lt. Herrera's station.

"Sir—"

"Your relays?" he asked.

"Yes sir."

"Alpha relays are going out too," he said. "Stand by and do what you can, I'm getting Commander Duffey on the horn."

"Roger, sir."

Ten minutes later, she, Lt. Herrera, and Ensign Jeffers were standing in front of Lt. Commander Duffey's desk.

"So all of the damage control relays at your stations are going out sequentially?" she asked and tapped on her tablet.

"Yes ma'am," the three chorused.

"In all my 12 years, I've never seen this happen," the commander said. "However, it is happening, so let's get to work on a solution."

July 10, 1925 P.D. 0730 hours

Captain's Briefing Room

Captain Wozniak, his XO, and Commander Wofford sat around a table with breakfast and discussed the problems with ship's damage control systems. Commander Wofford was in a work-a-day uniform, so what was happening was serious enough that he was getting hands-on as well. Commander Wofford gave his report.

"As of now, Alpha has five out of thirty relays up and running. Bravo has seven, Charlie has nine, and Delta has five. I've got all engineering personnel working on the relays."

"Remind me, how many relays are in each station?" the captain asked and tapped his forehead.

"Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie have thirty each; Delta has ten, sir," Commander Wofford reported.

"Why less in Delta?" the captain asked.

"Delta damage control is connected to non-mission critical components," Commander Wofford replied.

"Any idea what caused the outages?" the captain asked.

"Yes sir. The power generator in the Alpha damage control station overheated and caused a surge. The surge hit the control runs before the panels could compensate for the difference. It's one of those freak things that no one could predict. Before we left Manticore, the Bravo, Charlie, and Delta generators were refitted. I should have insisted that the Alpha one be refitted as well," Commander Wofford stated.

The captain scrolled through the refit information on his tablet and held up a hand.

"Then that one's on me, commander. The yard dogs confirmed that it was mission capable, and as you said, there was no way to predict that this would happen," the captain said. "When everything is repaired, I'd like to get together and write up a paper about it. It's an interesting problem."

"That it is, sir."

The captain set his coffee cup aside. "Did you get enough to eat? Want anything else?"

The XO and commander shook their heads.

"All right, I'll let you get back to work. Keep me posted, commander."

"Aye sir."

August 3, 1925 P.D.

Two months into her cruise, Commander Newberry and Lt. Patino met for Rachel's performance review.

"Before I submit your review to the Admiralty, I'm required to go over it with you. You can comment if you feel that something is incorrect," the commander stated. "This is your first time as an OCTO?"

"Yes sir."

"What did you think when you were assigned? You can speak freely."

"I questioned the wisdom of a Manticoran officer mentoring a Grayson, and the Grayson in question is unique even in her own Navy. I thought someone more experienced would act as OCTO. I've only been out of the academy for four years."

"We did consider someone with more experience, but she and you had the same class ranking, did you know that?"

"Among engineering grads, yes. But overall, no. I was somewhere in the middle."

The commander nodded and started the review.

"When Midshipwoman Mayhew reported aboard, you established the required performance standards. The standards were to be specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant. I see her acknowledgment of that. I see that you have marked in the affirmative for meeting or exceeding those standards thus far."

"Yes sir."

"As you are not rated as a small craft pilot, but I am, you indicated that it is appropriate for me to rate that standard."

"Yes sir."

"I'll give her full marks on that, seeing as I've flown with her. She tends to fly more by sight than instruments, but that's a natural or personal preference. As long as flight procedures are followed, and that the flight is accomplished safely is what matters."

"As you said, sir, I'm not a pilot. You know more about that than I."

"High Admiral McDonnel and Admiral Terekhov were satisfied with her performance on that front as well. She flew them to Sidemore and back safely with no incident. Additionally, Commander Duffey reported that she flew that shuttle back from Essen Station while wounded, with no issue."

The commander swiped the screen, pressed a thumbprint to acknowledge, and continued.

"Customs and courtesies exceed standards. Explain?" the commander asked.

"She's well-spoken and the sincere respect for those around her is top notch. Largely because of who she is, she accompanied two admirals on a diplomatic mission, where she had dinner with the President of Sidemore. Would Midshipwoman Meadows or Midshipman Kirschner been asked to do that?"

"Admittedly, no. Good point. Your additional remarks were well thought out as well…"

"Midshipwoman Mayhew is a natural teacher, especially regarding enlisted personnel."

"Midshipwoman Mayhew takes criticism and instruction well."

"Although it is not required, nor was it asked of her, Midshipwoman Mayhew skipped some of her off-duty activities to start a review of the Starship Life Support Systems Certification test for those interested. I had to ask Commander Wofford about that one, because I didn't know what it was. He only knew of three people aboard that have that certification."

"Midshipwoman Mayhew is skilled in the area of life support and utilities and will be an asset in any Environmental Group. I recommend increased challenge and development in this career aspect."

Lt. Patino nodded. "That's not going to be an issue, if the Grayson Navy gets it right. When she's not throwing people around a mat-"

They both chuckled at that.

"Or the weekly middy berth poker games-"

"We all did that, didn't we?" the commander asked.

"-she studies a lot. More than the other middies, from what I've seen. Even while she eats."

"Now we come to the hard part for any middy to hear, room for improvement."

"Yes sir."

"Midshipwoman Mayhew's self-criticism can lead to indecision."

The commander nodded. "That's something she needs to hear. I suspect her confidence will improve with time and experience."

"Midshipwoman Mayhew's off-duty activities at times affected her on-duty time."

The commander nodded. "Again, I agree it's something she needs to hear."

"Midshipwoman Mayhew needs to further develop focus to the task at-hand. I think I know what you mean, but can you expand upon it?"

Lt. Patino took a breath before he continued. This was a performance review for Mayhew, but it was just as much a review of his performance as an OCTO as well.

"When she's given a task, she tends to drift off to different tangents when it's not required or asked. That can be a waste of time and resources."

"I see. Thank you"

The commander pressed his thumb on the tablet screen and jotted his signature with a stylus. "Good review, lieutenant. I've signed off on it; it needs your signature as well," the commander said and passed the tablet across the desk.

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