A Woman Warrior
Copyright© 2018 by Allan Joyal
Chapter 36: Discipline in Action
I moved to the chair I had used during my previous meetings in the dayroom, and noticed it had become slightly larger and the armrests now included several buttons and controls.
“AI?” I said as I paused next to the chair.
“It was previously determined that the captain required a means of keeping current with the actions of the ship even while conducting meetings in the dayroom. The chair you have shown a preference for has been upgraded,” the AI informed me.
“Would have been nice to hear that before,” I said. “I had not really looked over which chair might work best, but I guess this one works well. Its close to my bunk, and has a commanding view of the two doors through which others will enter.”
I sat down and began to experiment with the controls that had been added. Within a minute I had pulled up a log of all the gunballs and their current status. The system noted the problems with Thane four and the damage it had suffered due to the overload. Thane five’s issues showed as fixed. A pair of Vanir gunballs were flagged for an inspection due to complaints from the pilots, but right now thirty-nine of the forty gunballs were capable of responding to the sortie order I would once we were closer to the Sa’arm constructions around Leo four.
“So many numbers,” I muttered just as there was a light tap on the door to the passageway.
“AI?” I asked.
“Lieutenant Philip is here with his two crew who were arguing during the last battle,” the AI told me.
“Let them in,” I said firmly. I placed my hands on the table in front of me as I commanded the screens I had been viewing to move to my right. Philip walked in leading two women who obviously wanted to be seen as fabulous.
I looked over both women. They had clearly asked that their uniforms be form fitting and colored to give the impression that they were well endowed in the breast department. One had brunette hair that somehow was streaked with oranges and yellows that made her head seem on fire. The other was clearly a true blond, but added purple and blue streaks that nearly had me rolling my eyes. Neither woman gave of a professional air as they stalked into the room and took seats with Philip between them.
Philip looked at me with a harried look on his face. I could tell that they must have been shouting at each other and him, but both women were sitting quietly for the moment.
“Well,” I said giving the single word as much significance as I could. “It appears that we have a serious problem in the tracking department. Now your names are Janet and Karen correct?”
The two women both tried to look away from me. I just stared at a spot on the wall just above Philip’s head and waited. The silence in the room seemed to make the room smaller and smaller until finally the one with the flame-colored hair spoke.
“I’m Janet. The bitch over there pretending to be some ice-maiden is Karen,” the woman said in a snarky voice.
“That’s enough of that,” I snapped before Karen could begin to rise from her seat. “I don’t need you to resume the same old and obviously tired fight. Are you members of my crew or are you a pair of stupid high-school sluts who need to be thrown to the football team?”
“What?” Karen shrieked. “You can’t do that!”
“And you can’t have another argument during a battle. I really don’t understand why you two are acting like children. Worse, you act like this is some high school drama and we’re all supposed to tolerate your unacceptable behavior.”
“How is it unacceptable?” Karen shrieked. “We were getting the required information to the gunners.”
I looked over at Philip. The man shook his head slightly and then looked down. I reached over and activated one of the communications controls.
“Einherjar One to the captain’s dayroom. Einherjar One, I need you in the captain’s dayroom,” I called out.
“What? Why do you need her?” Janet asked.
“Because I’m positive that your little argument was causing disturbances within the gunner crew and I want her here to confirm that,” I said firmly. “You do realize that you are part of a crew where your little fight has no place. This is real. We have enemies we’re fighting and if someone doesn’t hear something, or misunderstands it because you’re more interested in arguing with each other, someone might die. Or all of us might die.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” Karen said in a snarl.
“There is no manager for you to appeal to,” I said. “Karen, this is a military vessel and its wartime. I am at the top of this pile, you don’t get to just make decisions and use your poisonous personality to make sure that others kowtow to you. You aren’t an officer and probably never will be.”
“Thank god,” Philip said quietly. Both women jerked upon hearing this, but I refused to allow them time to speak up.
“We do have officers on this ship. They are the men and women I’ve placed my trust in. They know what I want to have happen on this ship and are my voice to the crew. I heard Philip trying to referee your little tiff earlier. I have no idea what you were fighting about and don’t have time or energy to care about it. It wasn’t about the good running of this ship, and it sure as hell isn’t part of your assigned duties to have an argument while we’re fighting a battle,” I said.
“But,” Janet sputtered.
“You sit on that and never talk back to me with that word,” I said firmly. “Now do you both acknowledge that I am the captain of Freya?”
“I do,” Janet said. She had a sour look on her face and was glaring at Karen.
Karen had a bewildered look on her face. She looked around the room, obviously trying to figure out why she had not been able to take over the conversation. It was clear she was thinking of a response other than a simple affirmative when the door opened and Este walked in. She looked at Philip and the two women bracketing her and sighed.
“Are these the two idiots who were more interested in arguing than giving good targeting solutions to Vanir and Aesir teams?” Este asked with her own angry snarl. “Do they realize that Vanir two and Aesir seven nearly demonstrated what will happen if two gunballs run into each other on the grid?”
Both women sat back in shock. “What?” Karen asked. “How is that my responsibility?”
Este scowled at Karen. “Do you know how many different displays that my gunners are trying to watch simultaneously? I know you are set up as broadcast only and have specific channels that you are supposed to be heard on, which means you don’t know just how wild the comms for my gunners get.”
“Understatement much?” I said as Este took a breath.