general location, why would he have decided to make a dash inside our sovereign claimed area?'
'You said the SASALs have been aggressive lately. Maybe knowing we're here is why that ship decided to come in. The timing's about right, anyway.'
'But, why…?' That's what a Q-ship would do, wouldn't it? If it was looking for a victim to come running up to it. But it's also what any other ship trying to challenge our sovereign claim would do. If we didn't react to the incursion when we had a ship nearby, it would make a stronger case that we hadn't enforced our claim. 'I really don't like this. I hope we handle this intercept real carefully.'
'Why don't you let the Captain know that?' She smiled briefly to rob the words of offense, then rushed to change the subject. 'You ready for the zone inspection?'
'The zone inspection?' Paul rubbed his eyes. 'I've hardly thought about it. With everything going on…' His voice trailed off as he caught the look on Jan's face. 'The XO's just going to check our spaces, right? She's going to walk through and see how clean and well-maintained they are. I'm sure Chief Imari-'
'Have you talked to Chief Imari about it?'
'Uh… I think I did.'
'Paul, the XO is death on zone inspections. You better make sure the spaces you have responsibility for look good.' She checked the time. 'Not that you'll have much chance to fix them if they're not. The inspection is half an hour after we get off watch. Maybe you ought to give Chief Imari a call?'
'Yeah. Maybe.' But I've been doing so much extra work for Herdez on this legal stuff, and that's one of the reasons I didn't remember to do more preparations for this inspection. Surely the XO will take that into account. Still, I guess I better check with Chief Imari anyway. Paul was reaching for the comm pad when their watch reliefs arrived. It wasn't until he was leaving the bridge that he remembered the aborted call to Chief Imari.
As it turned out, Paul wasn't able to locate Chief Imari before having to join Commander Garcia and Commander Herdez, who were ready to begin the inspection. 'Where's Lieutenant Tweed?' Garcia barked, a question which now tended to instantly generate a headache in Paul. Fortunately, Jan Tweed rushed up a moment later, apologizing for being last in a swift, low voice and looking away rather than face Garcia and the XO directly. Breathing a silent prayer, Paul followed the others as the inspection party trooped through the Operations Department spaces assigned to the Operations Specialist Division.
For the most part, Herdez remained silent as they went through Tweed's spaces, occasionally checking a detail up close or nodding in brief approval over some well-maintained equipment. A gleaming knife-edge on an emergency hatch actually drew a few words of praise.
'Mr. Sinclair.' Paul winced inside at the XO's tone as she pointed at a similar but tarnished edge in one of his spaces. 'Unacceptable.' His guts got tighter as they proceeded and Herdez issued head-shakes and frowns over discrepancies in cleanliness and maintenance.
At the end of the excursion, Herdez faced the others. 'Good job, Lieutenant Tweed. Ensign Sinclair, your spaces need considerable work. I will conduct another inspection of them at fourteen hundred tomorrow. I expect them to meet standards by then.' With a nod to Commander Garcia, she turned and headed away.
Garcia, his face darkening more with each passing second, waited until the XO turned a corner before rounding on Paul. 'What the hell excuse do you have for not properly preparing for that inspection?'
A million possible answers flooded through Paul's mind, even though he knew only one answer would not only keep him from being verbally ripped apart but also be true. 'I have no excuse, sir.'
Garcia glowered, raising both hands in a threatening gesture he converted to a single finger not far from Paul's nose. 'You will make sure your spaces are ready for the XO's reinspection tomorrow. There will be no discrepancies. Is that understood?'
'Yes, sir.'
'If you ever fail a zone inspection in my department again, I will make sure you wish you'd never been born. Is that understood?'
'Yes, sir.'
Garcia seemed to be on the verge of saying more, but choked off whatever it might have been then left, somehow managing to stomp even in zero g.
Paul took a deep breath, shuddering slightly. 'Damn.'
Jan Tweed, her head slightly lowered, was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. 'You made Garcia look bad, Paul.'
'I know. The cardinal sin. Dammit, I thought Chief Imari would take care of the spaces!'
'Paul, Chief Imari isn't your servant. She's got plenty of her own responsibilities. If you never indicated to her that you placed a priority on making sure your spaces were ready, why should she worry about it?'
'But-'
'But nothing. You can't put any of your jobs on automatic and expect Chief Imari, or any other enlisted, to do them for you. You have to show an interest and be involved.' Tweed shook her head, her face reflecting past miseries. 'Believe me.'
'I do.'
'This hurts worse, you know.'
'What hurts worse?'
'The times you get chewed out and you really deserve it. They hurt a lot more than a chewing out you don't deserve.'
'I won't argue with that. Thanks, Jan.' It's funny. Most people on the ship think of Jan Tweed as a failed officer, just putting in her time until she gets out of the Navy and can find a place to hide forever from the Commander Garcias of the world. But she just gave me a constructive leadership lesson, and chewed me out in way I didn't even recognize as being chewed out until this instant. She could be ten times the leader Garcia is. Or I guess she could've been that someday, if she hadn't screwed up too much too early and been ridden too hard as a result.
Chief Imari, when eventually found, expressed contrition for the state of the spaces and walked through them with Paul, noting specific items to be corrected no later than noon tomorrow. 'Chief, I'll do another walk- through with you at noon, and if we spot anything that's been missed we'll have some time left to correct it.'
'Good idea, Mr. Sinclair. Sorry again. We should have done this walk-through before the inspection.'
'Right. Next time I'll make sure we do.' He headed back towards officer's country, praying he wouldn't encounter Sam Yarrow, who surely had already heard of the inspection's disastrous outcome and would just as surely express mock sympathy while prying for any word or action he could use to dig Paul's hole a little deeper. Instead, he almost collided with Jen Shen.
She took one look at his face, then grabbed his arm. 'This looks bad. Come and talk.'
'Jen, I don't really-'
'Yes, you do. Whatever happened, we've all been there, Paul.' A few moments later he was sitting in the port ensign locker, Jen hovering nearby and Kris Denaldo handling e-paperwork while keeping one ear tuned to the conversation. 'What happened?'
Paul described the inspection, his lack of preparation, and its outcome. 'Herdez went over those spaces like a Marine drill sergeant. She didn't cut me any slack at all.'
'What'd you expect?'
'Well, hell, Jen. I've been busting my butt on stuff she assigned me to do. I thought, well…'
'You expected Herdez to give you some special treatment because you'd been doing extra work for her.'
Paul flinched. 'I guess that's right. Pretty dumb, huh?'
'Very dumb, even for an ensign.'
'Thanks. But doesn't Herdez, well, owe me something for all that extra work? She must think I'm doing a decent job of it.'
Jen laughed. 'Oh, I remember when I was as young and innocent as you are now.'
Kris Denaldo's eyebrows shot up. 'Innocent? You?'
'I don't need any comments from you, Saint Denaldo. Okay, think carefully, Paul. We're talking about Commander Herdez here. If she likes the work you're doing, what does she do?'
Paul took a moment to think through the question, then grimaced. 'She gives you more work.'
'And harder work. Because that's how the XO thinks. She thinks that's a cool reward system. The more
