To Sail a Darkling Sea

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“Faith,” Steve said. “Eye contact. What I tell Captain Wilkes, what I discuss with him about the incident, is none of your concern. Do you truly understand that?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “It’s just… ”

“There is no ‘just,’ Lieutenant,” Steve said, calmly. “If, and I said if, Captain Wilkes may have done something wrong in handling the situation, that is between Captain Wilkes and myself. This is the tough part about being in the military. You do not show, by word, action or deed, disrespect to a superior. Ever. Even, or especially, when you think he’s a cowardly fucktard that’s got his head up some Hollywood executive’s ass.”

“Oh, you have met him,” Faith said.

“Lieutenant, that is exactly what I was warning you about,” Steve said. “You may think those things, true or not, but you do not ever express them. Ever. You need to seriously learn that, or we might as well drop this experiment and you can go do something other than being a Marine officer.”

“I’ll try,” Faith said.

“Okay, first of all, that would be ‘sir’ and second, you cannot ‘try’ at something like this,” Steve said. “This is one of the most important aspects of military discipline. Even if you think someone is an awful superior in the military, and Wilkes is not by any means as awful as you think, you simply do not express it. Not in any professional environment. You can’t go questioning a superior’s competence. Not to a subordinate, especially. Just as if you have, say, an NCO you think is not competent, you cannot express that to his or her subordinates. When the shit hits the fan, the men have to know that they can trust the orders they’re getting. If you, who is looked upon as more competent than you actually are as an officer, express resentment or lack of trust in Captain Wilkes, even by body language at which you are a past mistress, that will spread. Then people will start to second-guess the Captain. Which we absolutely cannot afford.

“Seriously, Faith, we’re still in a cleft stick, here. If you cannot support Captain Wilkes, one of the two of you have to go. And he’s the office with the rank and the position. You’re just a newbie officer who happens to be a wild-child at killing zombies. There is, in fact, more to being an officer than that. One of the things is discipline. Enough discipline to work with a superior, or a subordinate, you do not like and the feeling is mutual. To train the subordinate where possible, to learn the good things-and Wilkes has real positives-even from superiors you don’t like. This is part of being a Marine. It really and truly is.”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“Again with the robotic ‘yes, sir,’ ” Steve said. “I need more.”

“It’s… ” Faith said then waved her hands. “Da, can we just… talk?”

“Sure,” Steve said, leaning. “I’m good with that.”

“Actually it’s more like ‘Captain, can we just talk?’ ” Faith said. “I’m not the one talking Captain Wilkes down, sir. I mean, I didn’t really stomp on it when people were ragging on him. Maybe I should have. But he’s not real popular.”

“Okay, couple of things,” Steve said, leaning back. “First, troops grouse. They’re used to grousing around you so they do it without thinking of you as an officer. Which has some good points and some bad points. It’s good if they feel comfortable enough to discuss their issues with you. Bad if they just talk around you without thinking of you as an officer. Because, they can’t obey your orders because they like you or they’re humoring you. We’ll get to the subject of your combat shopping spree in a minute… ”

“Oh,” Faith said. “Ouch.”

“Yes, ouch,” Steve said. “But we’re talking about the situation with you and Captain Wilkes right now. First of all, if a troop comes to you and brings up something like his questions about the competence or courage of a superior, you can counsel them on it in private, listen to their concerns, but you cannot support their position. You can’t say ‘Yeah, he’s a fucking coward’ or ‘He’s a fucktard.’ You’re not a troop. You’re their boss. You say ‘I hear your concerns.’ I have not stated that I agree with you, Lieutenant. I have said those things as examples. Be clear about that. I neither agree nor disagree. I hear your concerns regarding Captain Wilkes’ approach to managing the boarding. However, I’m counseling you on your actions and reactions. You with me, Faith?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “Sort of. So… Is he a cowardly fucktard or not?”

“I just said that as his superior and yours I can neither agree nor disagree,” Steve said. “And I’ll repeat that language like that about a superior is a major offense of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This is a counseling session so I can hear it or not. You don’t use it outside of this compartment. Need to be really clear on that one. Are we?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “No calling superiors names?”

“People got hanged for it in the old days,” Steve said. “You do not speak disrespectfully of a superior. Then there’s ‘the troops are ragging on him.’ Yes, you stomp on that. Just as I’m stomping on it with you. If subordinates start to say something disrespectful of a superior, you point out that that’s not acceptable. I won’t make this official but… Was the Staff Sergeant present?”

“No,” Faith said. “There was one NCO. But not Staff Sergeant Januscheitis.”

“Did the NCO say anything about speaking ill of a superior?” Steve asked.

“It was just before the thing with the dude and the drink,” Faith said. “So I’m trying to remember… They were bitching about having to clear the bodies out of the embarkation area. And Wilkes not leaving that area and whether they were going to have to clear the bodies from the whole ship… ”

“The embarkation area was going to be used as an operations center,” Steve said, frowning. “Clearing that made a certain amount of sense. Putting all the bodies in body bags instead of in the harbor… Eh, possible sense. But, no, we’re not going to clear the bodies from the whole ship.”

“Sergeant… The NCO present said something like, ‘if we’re told to clear the ship, we clear the ship.’ ”

“Okay,” Steve said, leaning forward. “That, right there. Did you get it?”

“No,” Faith said. “Sir.”

“The NCO perhaps should have stomped on the questions of Captain Wilkes’ lack of initiative in moving forward,” Steve said. “Wasn’t there, can’t really comment. But he reaffirmed the point that if given an order, they obey it. Can you see that?”

“Sort of,” Faith said.

“Then pay attention to it and look for it,” Steve said. “And emulate it. Discipline is what makes a military an effective tool compared to a mob. And one of the things that enhances discipline is the actions and deportment of an officer. It can be carried too far. There are officers who think that actions and deportment are the only thing that’s really necessary. At this point you’re mentally inserting ‘Captain Wilkes’ into that sentence, correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “Was that disrespectful?”

“If one of your subordinates said it and you blurted ‘You mean Wilkes’ then it would be an issue,” Steve said. “So don’t. But appearances have a point. Officers have not just the right but the duty to tell their subordinates to do something insane and suicidal. Your troops would probably kill themselves to keep you alive. Or, say, to get you a dress… ”

“We were never in any real danger, sir,” Faith said. “Honest.”

“But the point is that they have to think of you as an officer,” Steve said. “Not their wild-child kid sister. Which in part is acting like an officer. Carrying yourself like one, requiring that you be saluted and called ‘ma’am,’ snapping orders in a firm voice. Because when it really drops in the shit, they have to know who is in charge. Even if it’s Captain Wilkes. And part of that is, yes, not putting a guy in a chokehold because he called you a bitch.”

“So am I the only one getting dressed down, sir?” Faith asked.

“Again, does not matter,” Steve said. “How I handle the rest is up to me. That’s on my plate, not yours. I’ll give you this much. I’m not handling Zumwald. I told Isham if I saw the fucker I was going to toss him into the bay. I mean, seriously, toss him into the bay with the sharks. Was not joking.”

“Thanks, Da,” Faith said. “Sorry, thank you, Oh, Captain My Captain. That really pissed me off. I mean, not that it was… You know, ‘Shewolf, Zombie Hunter’ but that he felt like he could grab just any girl and… order her around. Da, this is the Alpha, okay? You know what happened