Fleet Academy

by M. Scott Cottrell

  “Hey doc.” He croaked, as a nurse pricked his arm with an IV needle. “Am I going to live?”

  “That depends on the Captain.” He said with a laugh as he began examining him. “But so far it looks like you will.”

  “Did they get anyone else?” He croaked.

  “The pilots? Yes we got them. They’re doing fine. I don’t know about Commander Haskel yet.”

  “He was hurt pretty bad. There wasn’t much I could do.” Matt said, feeling a bit stronger now that they were pumping some fluids and sugar into his system. “I left him suited up in the airlock, but I don’t think his system lasted that long.”

  “We’ll have to wait and see. For now you need some rest.” He said. Then turning to the young nurse that Matt remembered from the infirmary “Make sure he stays in bed.”

  “Don’t worry doctor. I’ll make sure he stays put.” She said with a smile. She didn’t have to work to keep him in the bed, he was too exhausted to move, and soon fell asleep.

  The bright white walls almost hurt his eyes as he was jostled awake. He looked around and several people were around him, including the young nurse, transferring him from a gurney to a bed. ‘I must be back on Saint Claire.’ He thought as he allowed himself to be covered. Everyone left except the nurse, who stayed long enough to connect a bunch of wires and tubes back to him. Then he fell back asleep.

  Matt woke up slowly. The room was all white, but bathed in a gentle glow. He had a recollection of being brought in, but it seemed like it was days ago. He moved his arm to rub his face and felt the tubes sticking out of it. ‘No, it wasn’t a dream.’ His movements must have triggered something, because a tall redhead nurse showed up, turning the lights up slightly.

  “Well, hello. I see you’re awake finally.” She said soothingly with a distinctly British accent as she raised the head of his bed slightly. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m not sure.” Matt said groggily. “Where am I?”

  “You’re in the infirmary on the Saint Claire.”

  “How long?”

  “How long have you been out? Nearly two days now.”

  “Two days? What happened?”

  “You were in a shuttle crash. Do you remember?”

  Matt sat and thought for a few moments. Bits and pieces started to come together, like waking up after a dream and trying to remember what it was about. The pieces elusive, but slowly coming together. “How are the others?”

  “The pilots are ok, but…” Her face turned sad. “The Commander didn’t make it.”

  Matt felt a deep sadness close over him. Commander Haskel was a good officer and even though he had only known him a couple weeks, he knew it was going to be hard to have him gone. “I tried.” Was all he could say.

  “We know.” She said as she gently stroked his hand.

  “Well I see you’re awake! Good!” the doctor said cheerfully as he strode briskly into the room. He looked at the sad expressions and quickly surmised that the news about the commander was known. “I’m sorry about the Commander. He died from internal bleeding from a ruptured spleen. There was really nothing you could do.” He said quietly. “But on the bright side, you did save both pilots.”

  “That’s good. Sparks is ok?”

  “If you mean Ensign Sparks, then yes, she’s fine. She was released this afternoon with a clean bill of health. Lieutenant Cowens is expected to be released in the morning.”

  “What time is it?” Matt asked.

  “About 0230.” He answered.

  “Looks like I’m a bit of a jinx.” Matt said glumly.

  “Well, I have to admit that trouble does seem to follow you around. But on the bright side, you seem to handle it well,” the doc said. “Why don’t we let you go back to sleep now. I’m sure the Captain is going to want to talk to you in the morning.”

  “Yes sir.” Matt said quietly.

  “I’ll stay with him for a little longer,” the nurse said quietly.

  “Ok. Make sure he gets some sleep.” The doc said before he turned and walked out of the room.

  The nurse walked over and turned the lights back down to a gentle glow, and then returned to hold his hand, gently stroking it. “You try to get some rest now, ok?”

  “I just woke up from two days of sleeping. I don’t feel all that tired.”

  “Then I’ll just sit here and keep you company.” She said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

  Matt read the name plate over her right breast. ‘LT JG Jenny Sloan’.

  “So do I call you Jenny?”

  “That would be fine.”

  “So tell me, what happened? I remember parts of it, but I don’t really remember how I got here.”

  “Well, the short version that I heard was that we had teams looking all over for your shuttle after the mayday. It went down near a cliff and was hard to see. It was Chief Wallace that found you. Something about an intermittent suit locater signal. Anyway, they found you and mounted a rescue mission, and here you are.”

  “I guess that is a short version. But I still don’t know why we went down.”

  “I don’t know the details, but the pilots did an amazing job of getting it down in one piece. I heard that you were lucky to not all be killed on impact.”

  “Yeah, real lucky,” he said sourly.

  “Yes, you are. Now doctors’ orders, you need to rest.” She said as she walked across the room and closed the door to darken the room even farther.

  “If you insist.” Matt said, lying back against the pillow. “But I’m really not tired.”

  “Well, then I’ll just sit here and keep you company.” Jenny said ever so quietly, sliding a stool close to the head of the bed and gently stroking his short cropped hair.

  Matt woke up to a gentle shaking. He opened his eyes and smiled when he recognized Jenny’s face.

  “Good morning.” She said quietly.

  “Morning. What time is it?”

  “0800.” She answered quietly.

  “Did you stay here all night?”

  “Yes.” She answered simply

  “Why?” Matt questioned. Before she could answer Doctor Clark strode into the room.

  “Well Mister Molter. It looks like you’re going to be getting out of here.” He said as he stepped over and took a last look at the vital signs on the bed monitor. “The Captain wants to see you in her quarters as soon as you’re able.”

  “Yes sir.” Matt said trying to sit up in the bed.

  “Slow down son. We still have to undo a little plumbing.” He said to Matt, then turning to the nurse, “Jenny, will you see to Mister Molter?”

  “Certainly Doctor.” She said with a smile as she got up and walked around to begin removing tubes and disconnecting the wires that seemed to be taped to his chest and arm.

  “Pay attention to your nurse and she’ll have you out of here in no time.” Dr Clark said as he headed toward the door. “And Mister Molter, do try not to give me any more business any time soon, ok?”

  “Aye sir.” Matt responded as Jenny continued pulling the sticky wires from his chest.

  “Now let’s get you cleaned up. Come on, I’ll help you to the shower.” Jenny said, pulling the covers back. She picked up a robe and held it open as Matt got out of the bed, and wrapped it around him. She wrapped her arm around him and helped him walk toward the bathroom, even though he didn’t think he needed it.

  “I can walk myself.” Matt said.

  “You’re not released yet, so you’re my responsibility.” She said with a half laugh.

  “Yes ma’am.” Matt said quietly as she led him to the bathroom just down the hall from the room he had been in.

  She closed the door behind them and took the robe off of Matt, leaving him in just the backless gown, which she promptly removed as well. She opened the door of the shower tube and helped him step in, but didn’t close the door. He watched in surprise as she unzipped her jump suit and shrugged it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the deck around h
er ankles. She stepped out of it, kicking off her white deck shoes in the process and stepped into the shower tube with Matt. She closed the door behind them and pressed the button, allowing the mist to wet them both. She used some of the liquid soap in her hands to wash Matt all over, not leaving anyplace un-soaped. She pressed the water button again, rubbing his body all over to rinse the soap from him.

  “Do you treat all your patients this way?” Matt asked with a smile.

  “Only the really special ones.” She replied, one side of her mouth lifting into a crooked smile.

  “So how did I make the special list?”

  “Not that you had to try, but saving the life of one of my good friends helps.”

  “Oh? Who was that?”

  “Cynthia.” She replied simply.

  “The shuttle pilot?”

  “Uh huh.” She answered as she slid the door open and pulled him out of the shower tube by the hand. She began to pat him down with a small towel, bending over to make sure she had him dried off all over.

  “So she is a good friend?” Matt asked as he rubbed his hand across her back.

  “Yes.” She said standing and quickly running the towel over her own body.

  “I can do that.”

  “You don’t have time for that. Your due in the Captains quarters, remember?”

  “Damn!” Matt swore. “I don’t even have any clothes.”

  “I took the liberty of getting your jump suit and a new pair of deck shoes from laundry.

  “Oh you are a life saver!” He said reaching around her and giving her a huge hug.

  “Thank you. Now, how about we get you dressed?” She said handing him his jump suit. While he dressed she stepped into her jump suit and pulled it up, stepping into her deck shoes as she zipped up the front. When Matt had dressed she leaned into him, holding his arms, and kissed him gently on the lips. “Thank you.” She said whispered to him before she opened the door and let them both out into the passageway.

  “Thank you too.” He said with a smile before he turned to hurry away. “I’ll try to talk to you later.”

  Matt stopped at the Captains quarters door at 0820 hours. He had never been there before, and to say he was nervous was an understatement. He pressed the door announce button. Seconds later the door slid open and Matt stepped through, stepping in front of the desk and standing at attention. “Lieutenant JG Molter, reporting as ordered!” he snapped crisply.

  “At ease Mister Molter,” the Captain said without standing. “Have a seat.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” Matt said, sitting in the chair at semi attention like they had in the academy.

  “This isn’t the academy, relax Lieutenant.” The Captain said as she sat back from the papers she was looking at and looked up at him.

  “Yes ma’am.” Matt said trying somewhat unsuccessfully to relax into the chair.

  “I get the idea you think you’re in trouble with me Mister Molter.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Relax. You’re here because I want your report in person. You and the flight crew have been cleared of any fault in the incident while you were unconscious. The Board of Inquiry determined that the incident was caused by a blown power coupling, the cause of which is still under review. The crash was unavoidable. The unfortunate death of Commander Haskel was also ruled accidental. Without medical attention he succumbed to his injuries within an hour after the accident. There was nothing you could have done to save him.”

  “Yes ma’am.” Matt said glumly

  “I get the feeling you feel responsible in some way for the Commander’s death.”

  “Yes ma’am. I feel like I should have done something more.”

  “Lieutenant, one thing you will need to learn is that people die. And that is life in the Navy. It isn’t pleasant, but it’s a fact. Your job is to do the most you can to save those you can save. Do you understand?”

  “Yes ma’am.” Matt replied.

  “Now. I have a lot of reports on this whole incident. What I would like is your report, verbally. Tell me what happened.”

  “Yes ma’am. The Commander and I were standing in the hold as we transited between sites. The Commander felt that it was a lot more time effective to stay suited instead of riding in the cabin.”

  “Go ahead.” The Captain encouraged.

  “We felt the deck tilt, and heard the mayday on the radio. We only had time to grab hold of handles near the air lock. When the impact happened, the Commanders handle broke off, and he ended up in the front of the cargo pod with a bunch of cargo on top of him. I dug him out and checked his suit. Everything looked ok, but his vitals were bad, low heart rate, irregular respiration. I moved him to the air lock to check him out, but without taking his suit off I couldn’t check anything but his head. I decided that I needed to leave him in his suit so I could go try to help the pilots. I buttoned him back up after bandaging his head, and left the airlock. I used its last emergency pressurization to pump up the pressure in case he had a leak in the suit. I called the cockpit crew and they were in trouble, so I cut out of the pod and tried to find the leak. I did find it, but not right away. I found it when I was looking for a way to get oxygen into the cabin. The pressure hose for the cargo pod had pulled out, apparently breaking the cutoff valve. I used some tubing I found and a bottle of liquid O2 to flow back into the ruptured hose to try to pressurize the cabin. I guessed I was too late because I never got a radio response. I sat down to wait, until my suit started to fail. I cobbled some power packs from some rifles and a bottle of O2 to try to stay alive. Even with that I was losing power too fast, so I shut my suit down except for life support, and that I turned down to the bare minimums. The next thing I remember is being carried to the medical bay on the shuttle.”

  “Is there anything else you want to add?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “Very well Lieutenant. I’m worried that trouble seems to follow you. While this accident was no fault of yours, and your quick thinking and ingenious efforts saved three of the four crew members on board, I wonder how you’re going to survive your six month tour. I looked at your records, and they are spotless. No accidents or incidents at the academy. I really don’t know what to think.”

  “No ma’am.” Matt said glumly, convinced that he was about to be washed out of the program.

  “Is there a problem Lieutenant?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “So why the hang dog look?”

  “I’m about to be washed out ma’am.”

  “Washed out? Are you joking? You are the first trainee I have ever had that managed to get promoted and decorated three times in less than two weeks. Why would I wash you out?”

  Matt looked at her confused.

  “Yes you heard me correctly. Decorated three times. The Master Chief was so impressed with your jury rig to save the command crew and yourself that he demanded, that’s right demanded, that I recommend you for the Bronze Star. I was only too happy to forward that recommendation.”

  Matt brightened, not at the thought of being decorated, but at the thought of not getting washed out. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Don’t thank me yet, your department is without an officer. As the default ranking officer you will take command of the section until we get back to Earth and obtain a replacement. In the mean time I will transfer another Ensign to your section to help take some of the manpower load. Any questions?”

  “Um. No ma’am. I mean, I’m sure I will, but at the moment I’m not sure.” Matt said, surprise still on his face.

  “Very well. You have a lot of work to do. I will update your onboard security clearance so you have access to all of the Commander’s files with the exception of his personal logs. That’s all Lieutenant.”