Ch. 8 The new executive officer
One hour later
Nikki was looking at her mirror image while tucking her hair in a nod. She finished it and used a bit perfume. Finally she turned her head to check if her hair was in a perfect nod. She left the bathroom and picked up a suitcase and a briefcase. In the entrance hall she grabbed her hat and put it on her head. Then she looked again at her mirror image.
"Yes, Lieutenant-Commander Caetano, you're ready for the next chapter of your career, executive officer of the HMAS Sydney. Bye bye flat, see you in two months!", she said and she left, closing the door behind her.
It was three interesting weeks, holidays, training and… yesterday evening! I'm here a day earlier but I need that extra day to get used to the ship, the rules and the crew. Captain Howard will be there too.
Kate's email was pretty strange. Normally they should have already told her where she was going to be posted? Or not?
I didn't dare to talk about my promotion. Image if she was posted on the Sydney. Jeez, I dare not think about it! Kate as my subordinate. No, she is never going to swallow that.
Stop! later for the sorrows for. Now the ship.
She arrived at the guard of the Sydney Navy base.
She showed her ID card and the military police let her in. She parked her car and started to walk to the ship.
She was officially greeted by the guard at the gangplank and the officer of the day instructed a petty officer to guide her to her cabin while a sailor carried her luggage. The sailor put her luggage down and left. Nikki looked around in her cabin and let out a little whistling.
"Wow, what a space here! This is three times bigger than the cabin of the CO of a patrol boat. ", she said faintly.
She noticed the desk, not against the wall but with her chair behind and two in front of it, a rack and even a club chair.
"CO!", she mumbled as she dropped her hat on the desk and left her cabin to head to the cabin of the captain.
'Cpt J. HOWARD', she noticed on the name tag on the door.
She knocked and did not has to wait long for the 'come in' came.
She entered and saw what she had imagined. A silver-grey haired man with a wrinkled face. He looked up and his stern look changed into a broad smile. Suddenly he looked younger. He stood up and reached out. Nikki was surprised to see how tall and lean he was.
"You must be Lieutenant-Commander Nicole Caetano", he said as they shook hands.
"Yes sir, I'm the new XO", she said feeling the hard handshake.
Stop! In a second my hand is mashed!
"Take a seat! How do you want me to call you? Nicole? Would it bother you?", he asked sitting down too.
"Nikki sir, that's fair enough", she said trying to ease her hand but he didn't notice. She sat down at the edge of the chair with a straight back.
"Ok Nikki", he said and he paused as he wanted to test the name. "I've read your file. Interesting, very interesting. I've seen that you've been a navigator heart and soul. God bless our navigator because you'll be a hard taskmaker for him", he said with a chuckle.
"What is also interesting is that you're my first female executive officer", he continued.
Nikki raised one eyebrow, "Is that a problem sir?".
"Ooh, not at all, that's what I said, you're the first. Listen Nikki, I'm not going to tell you a fairy tale. I'm going to do my last voyage. Then I retire and that in three months. But during that last voyage we've to make this ship a first class war machine! We won't have a second chance! That means a double task for you. Master the details of this ship because you'll have to offer it as a working tool to the next commander. And secondly, bring all these men together in one single crew!", he said sternly.
She frowned.
"Hmm, I see that you're not yet aware. The Sydney is in the middle of a rotation cycle. We'll get about 130 new members on board. It's normal that we have rotations, but this has never been so much as now. That's all due to the restrictions of the government. The Navy is trying to keep the right elements and get rid of the bad ones. Each commander is of course busy keeping his good guys and getting more men to prevent the Navy from sending him dummies. If you can read between the lines, then you'll understand why you're here", he said with a wink.
"Yes sir", she said.
He stood up, reached over his desk and with two fingers on her collarbone pushed her deeper into the chair. "Relax Nikki! We're going to work together and I don't bite", he said with a grin as he sat down again.
Nikki sank a little deeper in the chair and leaned against the back.
"That's better. There's another thing. Normally the HR department sends us a list with the new men and their function. But now it's rather chaotic and many commanders are working with their elbows so that we have only a list of new men and their capabilities. On the other hand we've our own list with open functions", he said.
"Ok, I'll have to find out who's the best fit for our functions. Nice job", she replied nodding.
"Yeah, sort of, but the fact is that I'm waiting for the majority of new men already this afternoon", he said deadpan.
Nikki raised her eyebrows and looked at him with big eyes.
"Yep, I know, I'm afraid you'll have to do it on the fly. No worries, if some of them don't fit the function you've assigned them, you just switch them", he said looking at her.
Nikki nodded, "yes sir".
"That was the bad news, now the good one. We're not going to sail an operational mission. The coming weeks will be 100% focussed on the training. After that, when I'll leave, you and the crew and the ship will be ready!", he said.
"Yes sir, do you know already who's going to replace you?", she asked.
He laughed. "You should know to know the Brass. Of course not. They will probably find out that after a few weeks. A sailor who has to type the new organigram will discover that the top cell is empty. He'll ask his superior 'sir who's the commander of the Sydney?' question to which the officer should answer 'Good lord, completely forgotten. Ok, find me a new commander for yesterday!'", he said with a grin.
Nikki smiled. "Have you already plans what you're going to do after your retirement?", she asked.
"Aha! Sure. I'm going to start a B&B with my wife in the Blue Mountains. Something completely different. If you like hiking or skiing, then that's the place to be! I'll let you know", he replied with a radiant smile and a wink.
Nikki smiled back. "Sure, I like the idea".
The perfect trip with Pete. He's keen on adventure!
"Oh by the way, sir, you've said that the Brass is keeping the best men. Have you heard something about Commander Mike Flynn and Lieutenant Kate McGregor from the patrol boat division in Cairns", she asked and she leaned forward.
"The patrol boats! Sad story. We may count ourselves lucky that we're on a frigate. And especially you! You left in time. Those people? Hmm, who doesn't know Mighty Mike Flynn? I guess they really didn't dare to give him a frigate. No. I saw a lot of names last weeks, but no Flynn. And McGregor? Nope, not seen either. I don't remember having met her or having seen her name in official reports. But that name does ring a bell to me. Isn't she that wonder woman who came out of the ADFA with almost a maximum?", he mused rubbing his chin.
"Yes sir, that's her", Nikki said hopefully.
He shook his head. "Well that's the only thing I know about her. Patrol boats, you said?"
"Uh-hu".
"Hmm what the hell is she looking for on these ships? Such an officer is needed here!"
He shrugged, "Meh, that's not our problem! Our problem is to make sure that this barge is operational again, isn't XO?", he said all of a sudden extremely vivid.
"Yes sir!", Nikki said as she stood up.
He grabbed two files from his desk and handed her them. "One with new people and one with our open seats. Good luck Nikki! I'll be here the rest of the day, uh… somewhere".
"Thanks sir", she said and left his office.
Not a bad guy, on the contrary. But no info about Mike and Kate?! Should they stay? Or shouldn't they?
She browsed through the open seats file as well as that of the new men's name and raised her eyebrows.
Pfft, it will not be easy to find the right people to fullfill these functions! Behind each guy's name hides a capability, but I'm afraid I'll have to use my gut feeling to accomplish this!
She felt her stomach gurgling.
Lunch!
After lunch Nikki had organised the reception of future new crew members. She had written 'new crew members' and an arrow on paper sheets and had stuck them on the walls towards the senior NCO's mess. She had decided to stay in her white uniform to receive the new men. It was going to give her a certain imposing presence. Next to her sat the buffer, the bosun of the ship, Warrant Officer Dennis Freeman. The man looked like he had run away from one of Nelson's ships and Nikki discovered that he wasn't that far either from his retirement. Despites of his appearance he was rather pleased to have a woman for executive officer and very talkative.
Quickly after lunch time the new sailors boardered the ship and soon a queue formed. Nikki and Freeman were struggling to match the new men's qualification. With their open positions. She was irritated because it had not been as easy as she hoped for.
A sailor came out and with a sullen 'Next!', she called the next while browsing through the open seats list.
"Chief-Petty Officer Pete Tomasewski ma'am", did she hear.
Suddenly Nikki lifted her head up and stared at her boyfriend in front of her open-mouthed.
"Wha… what are… you doing here!", she asked baffled.
"I'm posted here ma'am. I'm on that list", he said deadpan.
Nikki scanned nervously through the list until she found Pete's name. She nodded.
"Indeed, you're on the list chief petty officer", she said plainly.
Then she looked frowning at the open seats list. "Artillery! Assistant of the artillery officer", she said resolutely.
"Thanks ma'am", he said like he has never seen her before.
"Join the club mate", Freeman said happily seeing another senior NCO. He gestured to a sailor next to them. "Willy bring the chief to his quarters", he ordered.
"Aye sir!", the young man answered and he looked following at Pete. "Ahum, do you want to follow me Gunny?", the sailor asked.
"Sure, but Gunny?", Pete asked.
"We call our artillery NCO Gunny", the man said.
Pete glanced at Nikki who was still looking daggers at him. Her normally light grey eyes seemed to be dark grey now.
Ouch, I was expecting something completely different.
At dusk, around supper time, Pete found her at the outer bridge. She was watching people on the quay leaning with her hands on the railing.
"Good evening ma'am", he greeted her as he went to stand next to her.
"Good evening", she replied solemnly looking quickly around.
"Pete, be honest. Did you already know last night about your posting?", she asked softly.
"Uh, yes, I did, I wanted it to be a surprise", he replied as softly as she.
"Oh yeah! And what a surprise! Did you ask for this posting?", she asked bitterly.
"No, I didn't. I swear!", he replied.
Nikki grumbled something. "Are you aware about the fraternisation rules? I've to maintain them and you as senior NCO have to make sure that the sailors don't break them. And now we're in such a situation that we're breaking them!", she replied angrily and annoyed.
"Ah... uh...", he mumbled.
"Ah... uh, that's not exactly an answer that will bring us an inch forward!", she snapped.
They didn't realise that the volume of their conversation was slowly increasing.
"Can I help it?! I thought that you were going to be happy?", he said disappointed.
"I don't know how I feel now", she replied dryly.
"Would it have made a difference if I had told you last night? Would you have dropped what we wanted to start?", he said.
Nikki clenched her jaws and stared to the lights on the quay.
Then she shrugged, "No, it would not have made any difference", she said with a sigh.
"I can and shall ask for another posting", he said convinced.
She turned her head towards him. "That would be the stupidest thing you could do! The Brass does not wait for Chief Petty Officer Tomasewski who asks for another posting. For sure you'll be detached from the Navy and someone on the black list will be very happy to take your place!", she replied sarcastically.
"Hmm, you are probably right!", he grumbled.
She looked at him intensively. "Pete do you realise that we've become a second Mike and Kate now?"
He frowned and made a face at his girlfriend.
Unfortunately someone else overheard their discussion. He padded to the couple.
"Young people, what do you mean with a second Mike and Kate?", Captain Howard asked.
Nikki squeezed her eyes and bit her lip.
Damn, it's over now!
Caught out, Pete looked at their commander, "Ah sir, uh... I...", he stammered.
Captain Howard nodded, "You don't have to teach old dogs new tricks. You both have relation, that's quite obvious. Listen, within three months I'm away, thus I don't give a damn anymore. What you do behind closed doors and far from the base, that's your business, but here you've to use your damn brains and that's an order. Don't make shark food from your careers!", he said quietly.
Nikki swallowed. "Yes sir, we will", she replied.
"Aye sir", Pete replied.
"And what do you mean with a second Mike and Kate? You've mentioned them before X", he asked.
Nikki blushed but as it was already quite dark nobody could see that. "Commander Flynn and Lieutenant McGregor wanted to start a relation as well sir", she said softly.
He chuckled, "Flynn!? Exactly something for that cowboy!".
"Listen, this conversation has never taken place, ok?", he said and turned to walk away.
All of a sudden he stopped and turned towards them again.
"And if you want a break, there'll be a B&B in the Blue Mountains!", he said with a wink.
"Yes sir", Nikki replied.
Pete gestured with his head to Nikki, "What does he mean?", he asked.
Nikki produced a faint smile, "I'll tell you one of these days", she said.
He nodded. "Ok, I think that I'll go there. What are you going to do now?", he asked.
She sighed. "I'm going to the officer's mess. I need a drink to think about our situation".
"Yeah, I'll see if I can catch something in our mess", he said.
"Good night Nik", he said.
"Good night Pete", she replied.
To be continued