Larry Bond - Dangerous Ground

Somehow Jerry knew this was going to happen. Hardy still wanted to pin the blame for this disaster on someone, and he expected Jerry to give him that someone. Again, Jerry nodded his acknowledgment of the XO’s message. Twenty minutes later, hot fresh water was pouring over his cold body.

Jerry was still getting dressed when he heard a knock at the door. “It’s Emily Davis, Jerry.”

“Wait one,” he answered and quickly pulled on his coveralls and zipped them up. Still in his stocking feet, he opened the door. “Please come in.”

He motioned her to a seat, but she shook her head and remained standing. With Hardy waiting, he felt a little rushed, and sat down to put on his shoes.

“Jerry, I want to apologize for the things I said earlier.”

“Emily, you were upset. Nobody’s mad at you. We understand how much those ROVs mean to you. They’re important to us, too.”

“And I knew that too, but I still yelled at you. I guess it was because I was still afraid. The roar of that water coming in, the smoke and fire, and there was no way to get away from it. It was my worst nightmare.” She shivered, holding her shoulders. “I’m still shaking.”

As he listened, Jerry finished dressing and took a moment to check his appearance in his mirror. He had to report to Hardy shortly, but he didn’t want to look like a slob when he did.

Jerry turned to face her and tried to sound as positive as he could. “But you got through it, just like we all did. We were all scared. We all got through it because of our training. And next time, if there is one,” he added reassuringly, “you’ll be better prepared for it.”

Jerry stepped toward the door and Davis moved to one side. “Excuse me, but the Captain’s waiting.”

Followed by Davis, he climbed the ladder to the upper level, heading for Hardy’s stateroom. Dr. Patterson was in control when she saw Jerry climbing up the ladder and stepped out to meet him.

“Lieutenant Mitchell, thank you very much for recovering the ROV. You and Master Chief Reynolds risked your lives for our mission. I won’t ever forget that.”

Patterson spoke so warmly that Jerry fought to keep the surprise from his face and had to pause a moment before answering lamely, “Thank you, ma’am. I’m glad we were successful.”

“I was afraid the whole time you were out there. For you two, of course, and for the mission, and for what almost happened in the torpedo room. I promise never to complain about drills again.”

“Mr. Mitchell!” Hardy’s impatient call interrupted Jerry’s weak reply. Leaving the two women, Jerry took the few steps necessary to reach the Captain’s stateroom.

Out of habit, he knocked on the doorjamb as he answered, “Lieutenant (j.g.) Mitchell reporting as ordered, sir.”

“Get in here and close the door behind you.” Jerry did as he was told and stood, unprompted, silently at attention.

Hardy sat in his chair, outwardly relaxed, but his face showed the strain of the past few hours. “Mr. Mitchell, this entire sorry episode is further evidence of your poor leadership and lax control. A small leak becomes a fire which almost costs us mission-critical equipment, and the only way to save the situation is to risk the lives of two members of my crew.”

“Yes, sir.” Jerry couldn’t think of what else to say, but evidently it wasn’t what Hardy was looking for.

“ ‘Yes, sir?’ Is that the best you can do?” Hardy stood up, as if to pace or somehow burn off nervous energy, but there was little room. “We could have lost this submarine and the lives of everyone aboard. Even after the danger to Memphis was ended, we had to take more risks to get the ROV back.

“You could have failed and left us short an ROV. You and Reynolds could have failed and died, which would have left us short an ROV and two crew.

“And I’m the one who’d have to go back and explain everything to a lot of very disappointed flag officers.” Hardy sat heavily in his chair, looking drained. “It’s easy when you’ve only got yourself or a small group to be responsible for. I’m responsible for this boat, and all the men aboard and everything they do, and the mission on top of that. If anything goes wrong on Memphis , I’m the one who will have to account for it.”

Hardy paused, then continued in a more businesslike tone. “So I want to know exactly who screwed up. I’ll make sure he never makes that mistake again, and everyone else will see what happens to those who do make mistakes.”

Jerry was appalled. Moran had screwed up, but he wasn’t the root cause of the casualty and he certainly didn’t merit the kind of punishment that Hardy seemed to be planning. He quickly answered, “Sir, Petty Officer Moran had been told by Dr. Davis that the fitting would leak a little. In fact, she told that to Senior Chief Foster and me as well. When it started to leak faster, Moran immediately called Senior Chief Foster to come and look at it, since he had observed the fitting during the first trial. Before Foster could do anything but look at the fitting, the gasket failed for reasons still unknown.”

Jerry didn’t mention that these highly trained men each failed to act because they were afraid to make a mistake. Better to do nothing than goof and get punished. Better still to find someone in authority, so it’s not your fault. In the meantime, of course, things went to hell.

“And while everyone’s running around deciding what to do, the sub and the mission and everyone’s life is in jeopardy. Successfully recovering from a casualty is not an acceptable substitute for safe procedures in the first place.”

Jerry screwed up his courage, but he found it easy to say. “Sir, with all due respect, I do not believe Moran’s actions merit any punishment. He acted as soon as he saw a problem.”

“Then why did we almost lose the boat?” Hardy countered angrily. “Don’t think that defending him will reduce your guilt in this business. You are ultimately responsible for everything that happens in your division. Just as I am responsible for everything that happens on Memphis .” He sighed heavily. “Get your division in order, mister. We were lucky this time. There will be no next time.”

“Aye, aye, sir.” Jerry responded dutifully.

“Get out.”

Jerry got out quickly and immediately headed down the two decks to the torpedo room. Almost all of the division was there, working on the space. While it had been dewatered, there was a lot of cleanup left, as well as the repairs to the weapons launching console and the ROV.

Hardy was right. Jerry did have to get the division in line.

Senior Chief Foster was working on the console with FT1 Bearden when Jerry entered the torpedo room, “Senior Chief, I need to talk to the entire division right now for a few minutes. Please call them together. And make sure that door to berthing is closed,” he said, pointing to the opening in the back of the space.

Puzzled, Foster nodded and barked an order to Jobin. “Get Davidson and Willis out of berthing. And Larsen, close that door.”

The rest of the division was curious as well and stopped work to gather around their division officer and senior chief. By the time Larsen had closed the door, isolating them from the passageway and the berthing area, the other enlisted members had arrived.

Jerry waited until they were all present and close by, so he didn’t have to raise his voice. He suddenly realized he should have rehearsed his talk a little, but he knew what he had to say.

“I’ve just come from Captain Hardy.” He could almost see everyone, especially Moran, tense. “There will not be any disciplinary action, and I want to personally commend everyone for the way they acted.”