rest of the penalty if he keeps his nose clean.
Hayes shook his head and glanced at Senior Chief Kowalski. 'Let's hope that got Haggerty's attention. Next case.'
Sharpe called out the next name. 'Petty Officer Second Class Gadell.'
Gadell came in, standing at attention before Captain Hayes, as Lieutenant Silver and Chief Asher followed.
Hayes looked at his charge sheet. 'Petty Officer Gadell. You are charge with violating Article 134, Disorderly conduct, Drunkenness. Lieutenant Silver, what does this charge concern?'
Instead of answering, Silver indicated Chief Asher. 'The chief knows the details, Captain.'
Hayes frowned slightly and looked toward Chief Asher. 'Well, Chief?'
'Sir, Petty Officer Gadell, she came back from liberty three sheets to the wind, if you know what I mean. Came into the berthing compartment after taps, raising hell and making noise. Everybody told her to shut up, but she just kept it up. So's I had to get involved. But she wouldn't listen to me, either. We had to tie her in her bunk. It was real bad, and everybody in the division was real unhappy. If we let Gadell get away with that kind of thing, others would think they could, too. So we had to do something, sir.'
'Thank you, Chief. Petty Officer Gadell, what do you have to say?'
Petty Officer Gadell bit her lip before replying. 'Captain, the charge is true. I drank too much. Lost control, and did some stupid stuff.'
'You're not denying the charge at all? You aren't claiming any mitigating circumstances?'
'No, Captain. No, sir. I did it. I'm real sorry I did, but that's no excuse.'
Hayes nodded, his expression thoughtful now. 'Lieutenant Silver, what's Petty Officer Gadell's record like?'
Once again, Silver indicated Chief Asher instead of replying himself. Captain Hayes frowned a bit deeper this time.
Chief Asher looked unhappy. 'Captain, Petty Officer Gadell's a real good performer. This isn't like her. I wouldn't have brought charges except she did this in front of the whole division. I count on sailors like her to be real good examples.'
'And usually she's a good example?'
'Yes, sir. Normally, Gadell's a real fine sailor.'
Hayes looked back at Gadell. 'Alright, Petty Officer Gadell. Getting so drunk you couldn't control what you were doing wasn't very smart, was it?'
'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
