Steve has not long arrived and set himself up in what was Maxine's office when he switches on the computer and opens up his emails. He is surprised to see one from Mike, sent the previous night. The subject matter not giving away much information on to what it is, the only thing that makes him read it first is that it has come in as important. He clicks the mouse on it and opens it up and starts to read through it.
As he is reading the email from Mike he becomes concerned about what Maxine has been doing. He types a reply back to Mike informing him of what has been happening. He doesn't provide any of the information he has, but just that he is still looking into it all. He also asks if its ok for him to do a search of his emails. Even though Steve has already applied to do this, he is hoping that Mike will agree to allowing them free access.
Once he has typed the email, he goes over it a few more times just to make sure he has covered everything but not provided him with anything that he shouldn't be informed about yet. After the third time through he is happy with it and clicks the send button.
Back in Sydney, everyone is meeting on the track in their designated areas. Kate and Nikki arrive together, Brad notices how friendly the two of them are together, this surprises him. The Kate McGregor he remembers is not friendly, more of a loner and easy target. Before he can thinking about it a whistle goes off and Mike address the group before starting their run; Bill at the front and Mike at the back. Thirty minutes later they return to the starting spot, they are dismissed and are informed to be in class and ready to go at 0900 hours.
Class starts and Brad decides he is going to sit not too far from Kate. He has a plan in his head and he wants it to work this time, he wants to make sure she suffers more than last time.
The day goes by quickly and Mike is busy checking his emails when he notices a reply from Steve. He is interested in knowing what Steve has emailed back to him. After a minute of different things going through his head he clicks it open. As he starts to read through it he begins to relax to a point. He quickly texts Kate to ask her if Steve can have access to her email account, she replies that he can access to anything he might need.
Mike then types a reply back to Steve informing him that he is allowed access to everything and anything he needs from both himself and Kate, and that he has asked Kate before informing him.
The next few days go by quickly for Kate and the rest of the group, before they know it, it is Friday and they are having a mini test on what they have been taught over the week. Mike and Kate can't wait for the evening as they decided that during the week they would not spend too much time together. This allows Kate time to study and read her course work, which she did with the help of Nikki. They would eat dinner together but that was all.
As the week went on, the group started to gossip about her and Nikki, and how at breakfast and dinner they sat with Mike and another officer; which Mike, Kate and Nikki knew as Phil. At lunchtime Nikki and Kate would normally get something then head outside to sit in the sun and test each other or gossip about other things. For Brad, he was loving the fact she was so easily giving him some ammunition to use against her.
At lunchtime Mike, and Bill got a quick lunch before heading back to the classroom to eat and mark papers. As they were going through, Mike was not surprised to find that Nikki had aced her test. Once he had finished marking the papers he noticed that none of the Lieutenants were below 80% on the test, which he was pleased about. Mike gets sidetracked by Bill laughing and asks him what's he laughing about.
"Here read through this?" he asks as he passes Mike the paper.
"I told you Bill, her nickname is so fitting."
"Yeah, but for some of these questions she has gone further than she needed too. How did she manage it in the time she had?" Mike smiles and shakes his head.
"Once you get to know her more, you'll figure it out. But I say this afternoon we test them on a case study; one that might get them thinking and working as pairs what do you say?"
"As long as you run it and I watch, because this will be fun."
The lecturers are busy talking with Mike explaining what he is going to do, and as the class start to enter they wonder what the two of them are laughing about. As Nikki and Kate enter, they can tell Mike is up to something.
"Sir, care to share?" Kate asks. Mike looks up at her and grins.
"Be patient, you'll find out soon enough."
"Sir you should know by now that I am not patient." And don't I know it, he says under his breath. Bill hears this and starts to laugh and Mike looks at him as if to say stop. But Nikki is already laughing. Mike looks at her and she can't stop.
"I'm pleased I am so funny Nikki, but can we please get back on topic. Your tests have been marked and Bill will hand them out while I plan the afternoon's activity," he says to the group. Bill starts to hand out the papers while Mike sits at the desk and writes notes. Kate is pleased with her result, of course, for her nothing is better than full marks on a test.
They spend the afternoon running through the scenario that Mike has planned out. He is hoping to test the group and as the scenario plays out, it comes to the attention of both tutors that they need to work more on doing these. A number of students are unable to give answers when asked on the spot, or miss simple things that they may have gotten right on paper. They don't have time to go through it all again when they're in the middle of a situation at sea, they need to be able to react under pressure.
At the end of class the students decide to meet for drinks after dinner at a local club. Kate and Nikki decline saying they already have plans for the evening, which Brad decides he might use to his advantage.
After dinner, Mike, Phil, Kate and Nikki all head out to the local pub to enjoy the evening and relax. The students also head off and they all end up at the same place. Brad is pleased about this as he can then spy on Kate. He wonders why they would come to a bar like this, but then he remembers they worked together so being seen together is not a bad thing.
Brad notices when he looks over every so often that Kate's hand is on Mike's thigh, or his arm is around her. He also notices they seem to sit very close to each other. There is something going on with those two, I just have to figure out what it is. She not going to get away with sleeping around to get full marks in our class, he thinks to himself.
Over with the group, the four are enjoying relaxing, Kate has her hand on Mike's thigh, every so often Mike whispers something in her ear and Nikki catches her out when she blushes. As the evening rolls on, Bill and Lucy join them. Kate watches as Nikki doesn't seem to have any issue about being close to Phil. She stores this for later when Nikki asks for more info. Mike places his hand on the one that is on his thigh, she turns her hand over and they interlock their fingers. They spend another hour or so talking before the ladies decide that they should go dancing, and the men have no choice in the matter. Lucy gets the owner of the pub to put on some music and he clears the area that is used for dancing.
Before long they are on the dance floor as a group. Brad watches on and likes the way Kate moves on the dance floor. He has never seen her dancing before. As a slow song comes on all three couples pair up. Bill and Lucy are as close as they can be to each other, the same as Mike and Kate, while the guy with Nikki is close but giving her space as well. As he watches Mike and Kate change holds; both his arms slide around her waist, her arms around his neck and her face buried into his chest. They are both enjoying dancing like this as they not been able to have such close contact like this over the week. The music changes again and so does the way they dance.
Midnight comes around and they all decide to call it for the night and head back to base to go to bed.
Brad watches as they leave the pub, hand in hand. There is something between those two, they're having a relationship and that is not on. How dare she sleep her way to the top. I am going to have some fun with this, I can see. Princess Perfect is sleeping with her instructor and CO. Man, what a career-ender this is going to be for her. Time to put my plan in to action. I'll need some proof. Photos would be a good start. And I should suggest to a few of the other students that there might be something between them.