Chapter 15
That evening, Matt, Honor, Raoul, and Katherine stared at Rachel as she inhaled her dinner.
"Are you even tasting that?" Matt teased.
"Huh?" Rachel looked up and asked, and comically, a noodle was hanging from her bottom lip. "I'm hungry!"
"I'll bet," Matt said.
She had told them about her day and Matt was dumbfounded at what he heard.
"I know it sounds like a lot, but that's because they told me all at once. And let me tell you about dome watch training!"
Which sounded insane. Attached to the dome frame with only a cable? As if!
"We'll have our counter-grav units on, no worries!"
"Sounds like fun," Honor added.
—
After supper, Matt sat on the side of the tub and watched her fondly as she bathed. He took the soapy cloth from her and washed her back.
"Too bad I have ER duty tonight," he said.
"Duty here, duty there, duty everywhere," she stated.
He chortled. "Where did you hear that?"
"Commander Kimbrell."
"Steadholder's kid?" he asked.
"He's 42, I wouldn't say kid, but yes. The oldest son is the heir; he and his younger brother are serving in the Navy," she answered. "Word around the shop is that he doesn't get along with the heir apparent very well."
"The Navy could use gossip as reactor mass," he noted.
She nodded and swirled her hands around the fragrant bubbles.
"Okay love, what else is bothering you?"
"It's nothing."
He lifted her chin so that she could look at her.
"I can't get anything by you, can I?" she asked.
"Nope. I'm here to be a partner to you, to help you."
"There's nothing you can do anything about it. It's something I expected but hoped wouldn't happen."
"Okay, so what is this something?" he pressed.
She pursed her lips to gather her thoughts. He bent over and kissed her, and she gave him a playful nip before he sat back up.
"There is a subtle difference in the interpersonal communication between me, our academy grads, and the MacKenzie grads," she said. "It's not anything discourteous or even done on purpose. It's just…lacking."
"That's because the Saganami grads know you, and the MacKenzie grads don't. It's only been one day. Give them time," he advised. "You're not doing anything wrong; they are. Those sad sacks being aloof because you're a pretty girl and a Mayhew—"
"Be serious!"
"—is one thing, but when they see how the Saganami grads treat you, I'll wager that they'll start to feel dumb. You're just as competent as all the other ensigns. I definitely know that you're smarter."
"Flatterer."
"All part of the job description, love."
September 2, 1925 P.D.
That evening, Rachel would experience a disappointment that she half expected but would propel her to become more skilled in the art of coup de vitesse.
The Alvarez Field Navy coup de vitesse team met in the gym for their weekly practice and sparring session. Rachel exited the women's locker in her room in her gi, stretching and talking with Matt and Robert. She stopped at the mats and greeted the group. The group stretched and performed their katas, but when it came time to practice and spar, no one would engage her. It wasn't done meanly. They were courteous and gave her apologetic looks, but she got the message. She took up her gear bag and left with her head held high, but she was humiliated, angry, and disappointed. Robert gave the group a dark look before he followed her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, whispered, and nodded toward the 85 kilo (larger than most Graysons) sparring dummy.
She dropped her gear and sprinted to the dummy. She hit the dummy's chest with both feet and rode it to the ground. With a knee on the stomach, the other on the dummy's neck, she gave it a hard backhanded punch and vicious strike to the nose with the heel of her hand. She stood, gave it final kick to the head, and took her gear from Robert.
On the mats, the team was silent, and training continued in a subdued manner. Twenty minutes into sparring, the Alvarez Field Marine coup team appeared. Corporal Chestnutt, the Marine's coup champ three years running, greeted the Navy team.
"I thought Ensign Mayhew would be here," he said.
"She left," Lt. Hardin said and looked to his teammates.
"We declined to…that is, um, it wouldn't be right," PO2 Schmidt added.
"I won't hit a woman," Lt. Hardin stated.
Sergeant Major Ledger joined them, shaking his head. He was a Marine, and although they were good Grayson men, Marines respected anyone who was willing to get on a mat and mix things up. "Assuming that you'd be able to get a hit in, she's a black belt with over a decade of experience, but it wouldn't be right?" he drawled. "Your loss, gentlemen."
#
From the living room, Honor heard the side door open and close, and then Rachel passed the living room, mumbling something unintelligible under her breath. Robert appeared in the doorway, saw her, and bowed.
"Good evening, m'lady."
"Is something that matter?" Honor asked.
"She's angry. The Navy coup team wouldn't train with her this evening," he answered.
She closed her eyes, sighed, and rose from the couch. In her room, Rachel twirled her autographed Mayhew Protectors baseball bat and did her best to calm herself. Honor appeared at her door.
"I know you're disappointed and angry, but I hope you'll use those feelings," Honor said.
"When does the steading coup team practice?" Rachel asked.
Honor replied, "Tuesdays, seven to nine p.m. Will we see you there?"
"Absolutely," Rachel replied and took up her uni-link to call Matt.
#
The next day, she was no longer angry, but still disappointed. Everyone in her division now knew what had happened. They did their best to engage with her at work by including her in project discussions, asking about her time on Manticore, her pending wedding, and talking about baseball. She knew they were trying to make things right, but her exclusion from the Navy team stung. But that's all right, they'll get an object lesson soon enough.The next coup competition, the Planetary South Matches, was slated for next Wednesday. The Navy, Marine, Army, four steadings, and six university teams would compete- one of them being Harrington Steading.
She met Matt and Lew for lunch and they talked about the controversial baseball game the previous night between Redmon and Sutherland. In a surprising coincidence, none other than Ensign Richard Sutherland paused when he saw her, nodded, and continued to his table.
"Who was that?" Matt asked and looked askance at the tables to where Sutherland sat.
"Do you remember me telling you about Rick Sutherland?" she asked.
He thought for a moment. "That was him? Well, that idiot's loss is my gain."
—
After lunch, she and the other new arrivals were shown the dome watch station, given an orientation, and manuals to study. They spent the rest of the afternoon three kilometers away at the base of the dome, learning about the dome's construction and sensor placement.
At the end of the duty day, Lt. Hardin told the division's other two coup team members the gossip he has picked up on. "I don't know if it's true or not, I didn't ask her, but I heard the Ensign Mayhew joined the Harrington team."
They fell silent and Ensign Cordell made his conversation contribution. "It's true, she did," he confirmed and gave them a mocking smile. "And guess who leads thatteam? Good luck, gentlemen."
Commander Kimbrell overheard the conversation from his office and his lips twitched. He wasn't one to get involved in his people's off-duty activities unless it affected their work, but he was somewhat embarrassed with his division. We're supposed to be a modern, progressive Navy, right? He wasn't keen on women in contact sports (or contact sports, period) but they didn't even give her a chance? She was an experienced practitioner with a black belt, and those weren't given out like candy. He had a feeling that the Navy coup team would be learning a hard lesson.
September 4, 1925 P.D. 1000 hours
Her own cable and harness attached to a beam cable, Rachel hung from a beam and looked down at Alvarez Field below. Her chrono indicated that she was 300 meters up. Her comm unit sounded and she tapped her ear bud.
"All right down there?" Lt. MacLeod asked. "Having fun yet?"
"Yes and yes," she replied and waved to the lieutenant, 100 meters up from her, attached to his own beam.
The others dangled from beams below her, as they hadn't caught up to her. She knew she had the advantage in this. After the accident with Javelin, she had no issue with heights. It wasn't the case with her team members. None of them were cowards, but it seemed unnatural to be so high, connected to the looming structure with only a cable.
"Trust your equipment, take your time, and follow the instructions you're given," Commander Kimbrell had said when training began.
Lt. Commander Purcell looked up at Mayhew, 50 meters up, and was determined to catch up to her. He was as anxious as the others, and he tried not to let it show, but how far ahead she was demonstrated her confidence. How is she doing this?He took a breath, swallowed his pride, and called her comms.
"Sir?" she answered and looked down at him.
"Would you mind staying put for me to catch up?" he asked.
"Not a problem, sir," she replied.
"Thank you," he answered and activated his cable winch for another uneasy ascent.
When he finally reached her, he looked down and saw the others furiously gesturing toward him, talking to each other through their comms. Mayhew, of all things, munched on a chocolate chip cookie. His anxiety gave way to amused exasperation.
"Want one, sir?" she asked.
"No thank you, when we're done perhaps," he replied. "I know I speak for the others when I ask how you're doing this."
"This?" she asked. "Um, well, I move up the cables with the winch?"
She wasn't sure what he was asking. They had all received the same training and were doing the same task. As far as she knew, she wasn't doing anything different or wrong. He looked around, as if to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. "How is this not bothering you?"
"Oh, you mean the height," she answered. "I've been way higher than this, sir. Cloud level in fact, with only a parachute."
"Were you on the parachute demonstration team?" he asked, unbelieving.
"No, it was unintentional that day," she said. "When we're done here today, I can show you the footage?"
"I look forward to seeing it," he answered.
She stopped eating her cookie and a blank look appeared on her face.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I just had an idea about the Katana project," she stated.
She's eating a cookie and thinking about a blueprint at a time like this?!
When she and Lt. Commander Purcell reached the assigned height, she got on her comm with Lt. MacLeod and he summoned the ready pinnace for them. The pinnace hovered adjacent to them, and she followed the instructions from Lt. Commander VanMeter at the hatch.
"Like we talked about, attach your secondary carabiner to the hold just inside the hatch here," he said.
She unhooked her secondary hook from the attached beam and reached inside the hatch to attach it. She next activated her counter-grav unit while the ramp for the pinnace extended. She looked down, tapped the ramp with her toes, and stood on it. She unhooked her primary carabiner from the beam and secured it to her harness. Lt. Commander VanMeter held out his hand for her to take and she stepped inside the pinnace.
"Outstanding!" he said and patted her shoulder.
She held out her hand for Lt. Commander Purcell when he set foot on the ramp. He stepped inside and let out a deep breath of relief.
"I'll have that cookie now," he said to her.
#
Matt stood outside of AF-400 and watched the division's personnel leave for the day. Rachel walked out with Lt. MacLeod, told him good night, and walked to him.
"So, I was with an ambulance crew today, looking up at some people crawling up the dome girders," he said as they walked toward the parking lots.
She nodded. "It was fun!"
Just as Lt. Commander Purcell felt, he closed his eyes in amused exasperation at his fearless lady love. "You and I have different ideas of what constitutes fun. What if you had fallen?"
She thought for a moment and shrugged. "The last person that died doing that was twelve years ago. We rigorously inspect our harnesses, cables, winches, and counter-grav units before use. We do test runs on all the equipment before use. We examine each beam and girder cable before we ascend it. At no time are we unattached to the frame and/or pinnace. If I happen to plummet to my death, I'll be terrified for only a few seconds, right?"
September 7, 1925 P.D. 0915 hours
Commander Kimbrell entered the division auditorium and greeted everyone a good morning.
"Before you climb back on the dome today, Ensign Mayhew had a thought about the Katana scrubber issue that was brought up last week. She's already presented it to me, but I want to hear your thoughts," he explained. "And with that you have the floor, Ensign Mayhew."
"Thank you, sir," she said and started up the holo-cad computer in the center of the auditorium floor and took a deep breath. Get this right!
A spinning hologram image of a Katana was seen. She paused the spin and expanded the view of the life support scrubber assembly. She tapped some buttons on the control panel and another Katana appeared next to it.
"You're all aware of the dimensions of the scrubbers. However, that's not the issue. The issue, I thought, is the framefor the things," she said and they saw the highlighted scrubber frame and its measurements. "If the frame was removed, and the scrubbers moved elsewhere, there would be more space available on the flight deck. Additionally, moving the scrubber assembly will result in less noise in the flight deck. There would also be a reduction of the temperature in the flight deck, putting less stress on the craft's generators. Finally, there will be less weight on the craft without the frame."
"While all that is true, what do you propose?" Lt. MacLeod asked.
She used a digi-stylus to erase the scrubber frame and dragged the scrubbers to the other Katana image. Instead of the scrubber frame sitting vertically in the rear of the flight deck, the scrubbers were situated horizontally under the flight deck, in the empty hull space.
Murmurs were heard around the auditorium and Ensign Cordell leaned forward and looked at the new scrubber location. "So what could be used instead of a frame?"
"A bracket or mount made of the same material, or something just as strong but lighter," she said and held up a piece of crystoplast. "I have to look at the specs for all the LACs, but I think this can work for them too."
The auditorium was stunned into silence at the clever simplicity of the idea.
#