"No, sir."
"Are you going to do it again?"
"No, sir!"
"You've got two things in your favor. The first is that your chief says you're a good sailor and this isn't typical of you. The second is that you've accepted responsibility for what you did and didn't try to justify it. I can't let you off, because you do owe the rest of your division for causing all that disruption. But given your record and your attitude, I'm going to keep it light. Thirty days restriction to the ship. Don't let it happen again. Dismissed."
Petty Officer Gadell couldn't mask her happy surprise before she left. As Lieutenant Silver began to follow her and Chief Asher out, Captain Hayes beckoned him over. Hayes spoke in a low voice, but Paul could still barely make it out. "Next time you have a sailor up here, Mr. Silver, make sure you familiarize yourself with that sailor's record."
Silver, taken aback, nodded several times. "Yes, sir."
Petty Officer Sharpe waited until Lieutenant Silver had left before calling in the last case. "Seaman Apprentice Alvarez!"
Alvarez entered, her uniform looking good only relative to Alvarez's usual appearance, and stood before the captain. Lieutenant Sindh and Chief Turner took their positions opposite Paul, with Sindh giving Paul a brief eye contact that spoke volumes. Paul fought down a sour grin. Alvarez. She was at the first Captain's Mast I attended on this ship, and she's been pretty much a regular since then. I wonder what she did this time? A third person, Corpsman Second Class Kim, entered and stood near Chief Thomas.
Captain Hayes consulted his charge sheet. "Seaman Alvarez. You are charged with violating Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Wrongful Use of Controlled Substances, and Article 115, Malingering. What's the story, Lieutenant Sindh?"
Sindh nodded toward Alvarez. "Captain, as you know, the urinals on the ship are equipped with automatic drug testing monitors and identify anybody using them who has drugs in their systems. One such system notified us that Seaman Apprentice Alvarez popped positive for a synthetic drug known as Blue Sky which is on the list of controlled substances."
"I see. What about the malingering charge?"
"After she was confronted on the positive drug detection, Seaman Apprentice Alvarez declared herself to be in great pain, claiming someone must have spiked her food with a drug which was now causing severe reactions. She was taken to sick bay, thoroughly tested and placed under observation for twenty-four hours. The duty corpsman reported Seaman Apprentice Alvarez displayed no bodily stress indicators which would have been consistent with pain, nor did she show any other detectable signs of physical stress aside from her own declarations. Moreover, Seaman Apprentice Alvarez' descriptions of her suffering were not consistent. It was the duty corpsman's official assessment that Seaman Apprentice Alvarez had faked being ill."
Hayes bent a stern face toward Alvarez. "What do you have to say to the charges?"
Alvarez licked her lips and put a pleading expression on her face. "Captain, sir, it's not true. I don't know why that thing said I'd been using drugs, 'cause I don't. No, sir. That'd be unprofessional, sir. Those things malfunction, sir. I know that's true."
Hayes looked toward Corpsman Kim. "What's your assessment?"
Kim cleared his throat. "Captain, those automated testers do give false positives every once in a while. But as part of the tests I ran when Seaman Apprentice Alvarez said she was sick, I checked for drugs, of course. I got a clean positive on Blue Sky. There's no doubt it was in her system."
Alvarez shook her head. "Sir, somebody must have put it in something. I don't even know what that Blue stuff is."
Hayes' face stayed hard. "And what about the malingering charge? What do you say about that?"
"Captain, sir, I was terrible sick. I couldn't do nothing but hurt. I don't care what them machines say. I know when I'm hurting. I wouldn't fake that, sir. I know the rest of the sailors in my division are counting on me, sir."
Hayes looked back to Lieutenant Sindh. "What kind of sailor is Seaman Apprentice Alvarez?"
Sindh let her eyes rest on Alvarez. "Captain, she's a frequent source of problems. She requires constant supervision, her work is substandard, and her attitude is usually borderline insubordinate. Alvarez is a detriment to my division."
Hayes looked at Chief Thomas. "Chief?"
Thomas inclined her head toward Lieutenant Sindh. "Captain, I agree with the lieutenant, except I think maybe she could've been a bit harsher in her assessment of Alvarez."
The corners of Hayes' lips twitched upward in a momentary smile. "I see. I also see from Seaman Apprentice Alvarez' record that she's been a frequent visitor to Captain's Masts." He speared Alvarez with a look. "I don't need sailors like you on my ship. The first thing I'm going to do is reduce you in rate to Seaman Recruit, fine you one half of your pay for three months, and order you restricted to the ship for the next ninety days. The second thing I'm going to do is get you off this ship. Senior Chief Kowalski."
Kowalski straightened to attention. "Yes, sir."
"You will work with the executive officer to find a way to get Seaman Recruit Alvarez transferred off of this ship as soon as possible, with a recommendation she be separated from the Navy with an administrative discharge." Hayes pointed a rigid forefinger at Alvarez. "You listen to me. If you pull any other stunts onboard the Michaelson before I get rid of you, you'll be facing a court-martial and a bad conduct discharge. Is that clear?"
Alvarez' mouth worked silently for a moment. "Y-yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
Alvarez turned and left. Lieutenant Sindh, grinning widely, followed. As Chief Turner left, she and Ivan Sharpe exchanged a high five. Sharpe saw Captain Hayes give him a stern look and quickly came back to attention, but still smiled. "That was the last one, Captain," Sharpe announced.
"You saved the best for last, huh? Why is Alvarez still aboard this ship?"
Sharpe looked at Senior Chief Kowalski, who shrugged. "Captain, if we were allowed to kill dirtballs, then Alvarez would've been stuffed into a launch tube a long time ago. But she's been able to convince people she could turn around."
"People?"
"Uh, your predecessors, sir."
"I see. Senior Chief, I hate losing a sailor, even one with a bad reputation, as long as I have reason to believe that sailor can be brought around. Nothing about Alvarez made me believe she'd ever get her act together."
"No, sir. God knows Lieutenant Sindh and Chief Thomas have tried, sir."
"Well, they'll have one less distraction soon. Let me know how we can get rid of her, Senior Chief, and how soon. Dismissed." Hayes nodded again to Paul, then headed for the hatch.
Sharpe yelled, "Attention on deck!" then grinned at Paul after the captain had left. "Oh, it's a beautiful day, sir."
Senior Chief Kowalski smiled, too. "Alvarez hasn't left, yet. You keep an eye on her. I wouldn't mind booting her out with a bad conduct discharge."
"Me, neither, Senior Chief. Ah, Mr. Sinclair, I've been waiting for this day. Begging your pardon, sir, but if you were a woman I'd kiss you."
Paul laughed. "Then I'm glad I'm not." He left as well, heading for the wardroom in search of coffee. He found Mike Bristol and Lieutenant Sindh already there. "Well," Paul noted as he strapped into a chair, "Scott Silver appears to have accomplished the difficult task of looking worse than Randy Diego."
Lieutenant Sindh smiled. "It's nice to see Lieutenant Silver accomplish something."
Mike Bristol frowned in puzzlement, looking from Paul to Sindh. "What's wrong with Scott?"
Sindh took a drink before replying. "He's an ass."
"He seems like a great guy to me."