THIS WAS THE MOMENT she had dreaded. It was frigid in the captain’s room, the result of a typical military snafu at work: mid-winter and the air conditioning was at full blast. But she was still sweating under her uniform. Rowe had shook her hand and wished her good luck before disappearing back into the bureaucracy the day before. Captain Hall had revoked her command, effectively accusing her of misconduct, of panicking, and of sabotaging any chance at the career she longed for. The board reinstated her, against the wishes of her boss. And now to get back her ship, she had to report back to him. She hoped he took orders as well as she did.
More than her career was at stake. Since childhood, she had been laser-focused on not becoming one of “those” girls. She would not be dependent on someone else for her identity. She wasn’t just someone’s blonde from Montreal, a francophone in an anglophone’s world. Sitting in the captain’s chair of the Kingston for the first time, she had finally understood what she wanted to be, instead of what not to be. While stripped of her command, she hadn’t known who she was.
Hall burst into the room, swinging the door wide open. She sprang to attention. The door slammed shut. He plonked a stack of reports on the only table in the cramped room and dropped into the chair behind it.
“At ease, Lieutenant Commander.” His growl remained frozen on his face. “You are reassigned to the Kingston,” he seemed to slow down for effect, “as captain.” Another pause. “Congratulations.”
She tried to read his face, to see any emotion: anger, frustration, anything. But he knew how to hide his feelings well. Maybe that was another skill she would have to develop.
“Sir?”
He shot her a look full of — well, she wasn’t sure what it was. It seemed perfectly balanced between rage and relief. “Isn’t that enough?”
“Permission to speak freely.”
He glanced behind her at the closed door. “What’s on your mind?”
“I’m not sure that I have your trust, sir. Now that I’m the captain again, you’ve made me responsible for the Kingston’s crew; I feel I need to know where I stand with you.”
He stood up, startling her. He folded his hands behind his back. “Lieutenant Commander, I have my orders, too.”
“Did you want to replace me as captain? I know that I’m young and inexperienced, and that the situation was not one that either of us expected. But I did my best. And, if confronted again, I would do the same thing.”
She saw a smile start to form on her boss’s mouth. Maybe not much of a smile, but a perceptible rising of the right side of his face. Or perhaps he was holding in his frustration.
“I appreciate that. You need to know where you stand? All right. You’re not just young. You’re much, much younger than the other captains in my squadron. You’re not just inexperienced, you have no experience. You are also the only female captain under my command. So, you see, you stand out quite a bit. You need to understand that.”
She gulped. Of course she knew that.
“The review was a necessary step. To protect you. To show my impartiality toward you. You don’t know what’s going on. And I hoped to shield you from it for a while longer. But circumstances have changed.”
He’s glad? “Sir?”
“I have received orders from the commodore to implement a surprise readiness exercise for the entire Atlantic Fleet.”
Claire restrained a smile. Another chance to prove myself. “Where to this time, sir?”
“Grand Banks. I have ordered the Charlottetown and the Montréal to rendezvous with the Ville de Québec there.”
“And what about the Kingston?”
“I have a special assignment for you, Lieutenant Commander. It’s low profile, but important. I hope I can count on you.”