(Another in my continuing
bits of Capt. Nelson/Lt. Crane during their time aboard Nautilus)
Capt. Harriman Nelson, in command of the submarine Nautilus, watched as his XO, Lt. Cdr. Cory Mains, walked into the tiny Wardroom and heave a huge sigh as he poured himself a mug full of coffee. Struggling – and failing miserably – to contain a grin, Nelson asked as casually as he could manage, “Okay, Cory. What’s our newest junior officer done this time?” Mains turned to face his CO, a blank expression on his face. “Won’t work,” Nelson told him amiably. “I’m becoming only too familiar with that particular sigh.”
Mains
finally grinned, although it was almost more grimace, and walked over and sat
down opposite Nelson. “He’s after my
job,” Mains grumbled. “I just know that
he is.”
Nelson
grinned openly. “Now Cory, don’t be
giving that another thought.” He tapped
the top page on the clipboard Mains had carried into the Wardroom and laid on
the table next to him.
Mains
sighed again before explaining. “Three
days ago Lt. Worth caught him in the aft stores locker. On his time off,” Mains admitted. “But apparently it wasn’t the first time he’d
been caught wandering through the storage areas.”
“His
excuse?”
“At
the time he told Worth that he was just looking around to see where things
were.”
Nelson
pondered that for a moment, “Nothing
really wrong with that,” he told his XO.
“You can’t knock his initiative in wanting to learn where and how
equipment and supplies are stored.”
“That’s
fine,” Mains admitted. “If that’s what
he was doing,” he added with a growl.
Nelson
raised an eyebrow. He also raised his
coffee mug to hide the grin that was threatening to appear. Cory was one of the most levelheaded men
Nelson had ever served with. He was also
an exceptional XO, fair with his men, but also expecting them to give him their
best and exacting due punishment when they didn’t. It was pretty obvious that, whatever young
Crane had been up to it had at least temporarily miffed him, but it wasn’t
anything with which Cory could find official fault. “I gather that you’ve now discovered Crane’s
motives?”
Mains
nodded. “This morning, very respectfully
mind you,” he admitted, “Crane handed me a proposed revision to the stowage
lists, complete with reasons for his revisions.” He frowned.
“Sir, I thought that I had a pretty good system. It’s been working just fine.” Nelson nodded his agreement. “Darned if that twerp didn’t come up with a
slightly better system.”
Nelson
chuckled at both Mains’ term for the young lieutenant and his tone of
voice. He’d first met Lee Crane as a
Plebe at
Mains
grimaced slightly again. “You know that
Lt. Lockridge is our Educational Services Officer.”
Nelson
nodded. “And not overly happy about it,
if scuttlebutt is correct.” It wasn’t
said with acrimony. ESO wasn’t popular
duty with some JOs. Nelson, himself, had
hated it.
“I
got a request from him yesterday; he asked if I could give the duty to
Crane.” Nelson raised an eyebrow
again. “I know, sir. I reminded him that Crane was too junior;
that he hadn’t served long enough for that duty. Lockridge told me that that didn’t seem to be
stopping Crane. He wasn’t complaining,”
he quickly assured Nelson, as Nelson briefly frowned. He expected his JOs to accept whatever duty
assignments they were given – period! A
fact that Cory – not to mention the whole boat – was familiar with. “Lockridge said that Crane seems to have a
knack for putting the crew at ease, lead them into conversations about what
they’d like to accomplish with their military service, and offer suggestions on
how to most effectively accomplish those goals.”
“Sounds
like a good ESO to me,” Nelson told him.
“He
doesn’t have enough experience,” Mains reminded him.
“Is
he giving bad advice?”
“Not
according to Bull.” Master Chief Andrew
Bullock was Nautilus’ COB
“Have
you asked Crane about it?”
“I’m
not exactly in the habit of asking JOs what assignments they want,” Mains
muttered, backing up Nelson’s own thoughts on the subject.
“Nooooo,”
Nelson drawled. “But you also do a good
job of maintaining a smooth-running boat.”
“Thank
you, sir. Still…” Mains remained unconvinced.
Nelson
sent him a small grin. “If it helps,
Crane spent all four years at the Academy ‘helping out’ his classmates. He rarely did anything overtly.” He thought back on the ceremonies surrounding
Crane’s graduation from Plebe to Third-Year Middie,* but chose not to explain
the broadening smile those memories elicited.
“Just seemed to be there to offer a helping hand if one of his class
needed a little extra.”
“Humm. I suppose, if it comes that naturally…” Mains continued to ponder that as he worked
on his mug of coffee. He didn’t realize
that his expression hardened until he discovered that Nelson was once again
looking amused.
“What
else?” his CO asked him almost gently.
Mains merely shook his head.
“Cory?” Nelson’s voice was firm,
but the order was softened by the sparkle in his eyes.
Mains
half-grinned. “Just something that Bull
mentioned the other day. I don’t think
it was meant to get back to me.” Both of
Nelson’s eyebrows went up and Mains sent him a small, self-conscious grin. “Apparently several of the off-duty JOs were
sitting around, kibitzing. Nothing
earth-shattering,” Mains admitted, and Nelson sent him a grin. “Bull said that he didn’t mean to
eavesdrop.” Nelson’s grin spread. “But they were offering up their own versions
of sub service…”
“Oh,
oh,” Nelson told him, barely controlling a chuckle. “JOs are notorious for coming up with their
own ways to run the Navy.”
Even
Mains grinned. “Oh, yeah,” he
agreed. “I remember a few of my suggestions…” He cut himself off, giving Nelson an
embarrassed look.
Nelson
chuckled openly. “Can’t be much worse
than a few of mine,” he admitted. Mains’
expression morphed only slightly toward a grin.
“So,” Nelson chose to get back to the original conversation, “I gather
our current JOs were following tradition?”
Mains
nodded. “Bull said that it was pretty
much the usual.” He sighed. “Until he heard Crane’s suggestions.”
“Should
I be afraid to ask?” Actually, Nelson
was extremely interested in what young Lt. Crane had to say. He’d learned early on at
Mains
hesitated but, having opened his mouth, continued on with what he’d been
told. “Bull said that instead of the
usual complaints, Crane made suggestions about cross-training more of the
crew.” He nodded as Nelson gave him a
grunt. “Yes, sir, we already do a lot of
that. But Crane mentioned several places
where we could, actually, do better.” He
looked at Nelson, a slightly incredulous look on his face.
“Feeling
a little incompetent?” Nelson asked his XO.
The two had served together long enough that he knew he could get away
with the bit of teasing.
He
got his expected reaction. Mains sat up
straight. “No, sir,” he assured his CO
firmly, before a quick grin lightened his expression. “But I definitely have to keep a better eye
on that kid.” He finally relaxed enough
to chuckle along with Nelson, before his expression changed back to a slightly
harassed one. It caused Nelson to
chuckle a bit harder.
“Relax,
Cory. Lt. Crane isn’t after your job,”
he told his XO again. He paused before
adding, “He’s after mine.” Mains’ head
bounced up and he stared at his CO, before they both burst out laughing.
*see
“Cobwebs” posted to Seaview Stories