The damage to the outer ring was not as extensive as first thought. The
GELFs had been instrumental in its repair. Dr. Westphalen was delighted to
have them stay especially during the completion of all the construction.
It seemed there was no task they could not master. Alexander was appointed
to paint more murals. He had been so hard at work on the one in the hub's
lobby that he had not even noticed the quake.
There had been a memorial service for Rupert Channing who had given his
life for New Atlantis. Dr. Westphalen also had to grudgingly admit that it
was probably the military presence that had kept Rupert jr. and his deltas
at bay. With this in mind she had agreed to a permanent UEO/Navy installation
at New Atlantis. It would be called Project Recovery and would be headed
by the newly appointed Admiral Hudson.
It was three weeks since the quake and a big party was planned at the Nautilus
to celebrate.
That afternoon Katie stopped by at the office Hudson had picked out for himself.
There was a lot of confusion as the operation was being set up. CC was putting
the computer and monitoring systems in place. Workmen were installing vidscreens
and communications set ups. It was a hub of activity and Hudson was in the
thick of it. He didn't even notice her at first.
"Oh, Katie, come on in to my inner office. You can't even hear yourself complain
out here." Hudson led her to his private office.
"I didn't come to complain, sir. I know you have been very busy but I was
just wondering if you had heard anything about the Navy's decision regarding
my re-enlistment."
"Oh yeah, sure." Hudson picked up an apple from a congratulatory fruit basket
and bit into it. "You're in." He offered her some fruit but she respectfully
declined. She felt a great weight lifted off her shoulders.
"You can't possibly have thought they'd turn you down -not with Bridger,
Ford and me all singing your praises."
"Well, uh , thank you, sir." She felt charged with emotion but it never showed.
"I was also wondering about the X O position on the Recovery"
"Oh that. They gave it to Lt. Shan with an appropriate rise in rank. I guess
they appreciate his going undercover like that."
"And uh, well they should. It was a very dangerous thing to do. Lt. Shan
is a good man. I'm sure you'll be very pleased with him." She hoped she hid
the fact that she was bitterly disappointed that she did not get the XO position.
She had decided that rescue was a very noble calling and anything else would
probably pale in comparison. Still, she'd give her all to whatever she was
assigned. "Some of your GELFs have applied to Operation Recovery. I have
no problems with a partially civilian crew providing they are a good crew."
"Oh, they are sir. I'd stake my reputation or my life on any one of them."
"I think their superior strength and other genetic improvements would be
a real asset in rescue work," Hudson told her.
"I believe so." Katie knew she had to get out of there or she'd lose it.
"Well, thank you again, for all your help."
"Your orders should be coming through in the next few days," he told her.
"Aye, sir," she smiled then turned and left.
That night things were really hopping at the Nautilus. Ben Kreig had hired
almost all the off duty shopgirls as temporary waitresses for the private
party but still they could barely keep up with the demands of the nearly
all Navy clientele.
Tony, Lucas, Ortiz, Dagwood, Penelope, O'Neill and Henderson occupied one
of the more boisterous tables. Ortiz picked up one of the two pitchers of
beer at the table and emptied it into his glass.
"Maybe you should
be careful of that," Lucas teased.
"Hey, I'm not on any medication any more. Besides I don't believe I was as
drunk as you say."
"Not much. You told Hitchcock that under a woman captain it wasn't seaQuest
DSV. It was seaQuest PMS," Lucas laughed.
"I did not," Ortiz blanched.
"Miguel," Henderson swatted his arm hard.
"Ow! I never said that," Miguel declared his innocence.
"Yes, you did, Miguel," Dagwood said. "We all heard you. Lt. Brody took your
wine away after that."
"What do you know about PMS anyway?" Tony asked him.
"Hey, I grew up smack in the middle of four sisters. I was lucky to survive
childhood. Believe me I know all about PMS."
"What is PMS?" Dagwood asked.
"It stands for Putting up with Male Stupidity," Lonnie told him.
"What else did he do?" Tony wanted to know.
"He fell asleep and dreamed he was a baked potato," Dagwood reported.
"It was the medicine," Ortiz complained as they all had a good laugh at his
expense. He drained the other pitcher of beer into his glass and finished
it.
Tony gathered both pitchers up and handed them to him. "You emptied them
you go fill them up."
"Where's the waitress?"
"There's the bar."
Ortiz got up and headed for the bar with the two empty pitchers.
Commander Ford was standing at the bar waiting for Katie. Jamie walked
up to him. "Hello. Jonathan," she greeted.
"Oh, hello. Can I get you anything?" he indicated the bar.
"I don't drink.
If you want to do something for me introduce me to the hunk that is heading
this way."
Ford was confused until she pointed to Ortiz who was approaching the bar
carrying two empty pitchers.
Kreig was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
"Oh, waitress," Ortiz teased him. "We need some more beer."
Kreig looked like he wanted to kill him. "Tell it to the bartender. You ever
get that electric shaver, kid?"
Ortiz just laughed and continued on to the bar.
"Miguel," Ford called him over after he'd handed the bartender the two pitchers
to refill. "I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. Jamie Leyton. Jamie this
is our Sensor Chief, Miguel Ortiz."
"Hello." Ortiz' face lit up. "Pleased to meet you."
"Sure is packed in here," she commented over the din.
"I'm sure we could find room for you at our table, if your not with anyone."
He looked at Ford.
"No, I just ran into Jonathan. He's waiting for someone."
The bartender handed Ortiz back his two pitchers. "We're over here," Miguel
told her as they walked away.
Ford wondered if he should have warned Ortiz that Jamie could read minds.
No, if he gets his face slapped, he gets it slapped, Ford decided. And the
way he was putting away that beer, that was a distinct possibility. He picked
up a swizzle stick and tried to reach the part that itched under his cast.
"So where did you meet Jonathan, uh Commander Ford?" Ortiz asked Jamie as
they made there way back to their table.
"I picked him up at a coffee shop," she said off handedly
"You did?" he yelped with surprise. He'd never thought of Ford as someone
that could be picked up.
"Uh huh," she said. "He was easy."
This girl got more interesting all the time. She was cute too. Lucas and
Tony's dates were working as waitresses at the moment. He knew that wouldn't
stop them from coming onto Jamie but he had decided she was with him.
Finally the main event of the evening came to pass. Both Bridger and Westphalen
made short speeches then the floor was turned over to Admiral Hudson. He
stepped up to the microphone. Before he spoke he looked around the room.
His eyes seemed to pierce everyone in it.
"As you all know," he began, "the purpose for this celebration is twofold.
First it is to honor the members of the Recovery's crew that are retiring.
What can I say about them? Besides the fact, that they are old and it's about
time they stepped aside in favor of a younger crew?"
The room sat in shocked silence for a minute then the laughter was lead by
the Recovery's crew who knew what Hudson's sick sense of humor was
like. When the laughter died down Hudson continued.
"Secondly, and more importantly, we are here to celebrate the fact that I
made Admiral before Bridger. It was a contest and I won. What can I say?"
"I'm sure you'll think of something," Bridger piped up.
"As a matter of fact I already have," Hudson was undaunted. "If we were back
at UEO Headquarters this dais would be full of guys making speeches saying
how deserving I am of this promotion but, hell -- we all know that."
More laughter.
"As it is, we are here not at HQ, so let's talk about this place for awhile.
Even though things have been a little shook up of late I think we'll all
agree that New Atlantis came through pretty good. I think Dr. Westphalen's
diligence and devotion to this ideal deserves a round of applause. Clap,
ya gobs." He took a drink of something that bore no resemblance to water
during the applause.
"It just proves that hard work can pay off. There has been some question
as to whether science and the military can work side by side in harmony.
It's been tried in the past on seaQuest and, by Dr. Westphalen's own
admission, it failed miserably. I think given Nathan Bridger's well known
reputation as a hard ass, we can all understand that."
"I never said that!" Dr. Westphalen shrilled over the laughter that echoed
from every corner of the room.
"Well, that was then, on the seaQuest. This is here, now. We are ready
to try to work hand in hand again. With a charming guy like myself in charge
this time, I'm sure things will be different."
Again he had to wait for the laughter to die away.
"On a more serious note, let me say that this place, this dream of Dr.
Westphalen's is really something remarkable. The things that it stands for
are things worth defending and I'm both proud and happy that the UEO has
put me here to do it. But the UEO has another purpose in assigning us here.
Something that is every bit as noble and important as the science and learning
that will go on here. That is - get ready to cheer -- my pet project -- Operation
Recovery."
There was appropriate cheering.
"Okay, that's enough. As you know, many of you first hand, when somebody
gets into trouble in the ocean it can be big trouble because it's a big ocean.
The central location of New Atlantis will cut down on response time to distress
calls both on and under the sea. I designed my boat, the Recovery,
with rescue in mind. This place will be the completion of that plan. Because
I've been booted upstairs, so to speak, to run this operation and because
so many of the guys that started this journey with me are moving on, the
Recovery is going to have to break in an almost completely new crew.
She or He is a good boat, there should be no trouble. I'd like to take this
opportunity to introduce some of the new officers, at this time. First, the
X O Lt. Commander Shan."
There was applause. Shan nervously stood up and shyly nodded to the crowd.
He was still shocked about the raise in rank. He had been chosen from the
enlisted ranks to do what the Navy called fast track. He had been a Chief
when he was assigned to seaQuest. He was as high as he could go in
the enlisted ranks. Bridger himself had been the one who convinced him to
get into the fast track program while the new seaQuest was being built.
He had had several assignments in the interim and he was really looking forward
to having a long term tour again. He felt he still had a lot to learn about
command and he knew he could from Hitchcock. He forced his mind to stop wandering
an pay attention to Hudson who would still be his commanding officer.
"See the UEO does appreciate the fact that you stuck your neck out for them,"
Hudson said.
"I thought it was Ortiz' neck that got stuck," Tony said for just their table.
They all laughed earning a glare from Hudson.
"Also, because I'm now going to be riding a desk, the Recovery is
going to be needing a new captain. I'm throwing the torch to Captain Katie
Hitchcock."
The room erupted in thunderous applause and Katie's jaw dropped in shock.
She looked at Ford who was valiantly trying to applaud with one hand.
"You won't pull rank on me, will you?" he asked kindly.
"You never pulled rank on me." She fought to get her brain to process this
information. Why didn't he look surprised? "You knew!" she gasped. His grin
told her she was right. She looked around the table at Bridger, Westphalen,
Wendy, Dr. Levin, Crocker, Brody and Fredricks.
Ben came up behind her. "We all knew," he laughed. He pulled her to her feet
and kissed her. "Congratulations!"
She didn't care, for once, that tears were flowing down her cheeks. The whole
room stood. She looked around. Her eyes fell on Ortiz who was standing behind
her. He came to full attention and saluted her.
"Congratulations, Captain," he said honestly. "You are the most qualified
person I know for this position."
"Thank you," she tried to say but couldn't quite pull it off.
"That about wraps up my announcements," Hudson took over again, "but Dr.
Westphalen has indicated to me that she would like to make a few closing
remarks before the real serious drinking begins."
"Thank you, Admiral Hudson, for those truly uplifting remarks," Kristin began.
Hudson had retaken his seat and raised a glass to her in salute. "You are
right. Science and military have certainly locked horns in the past, have
they not, Commander Ford?"
Ford just nodded.
"But I think that the Admiral is correct. This time, I think science and
the military will 
be
able to work together. In fact, I think I can say in all honesty that the
Admiral's presence here will add something to New Atlantis that was lacking
before."
"Oh yeah," Hudson asked fishing for compliments. "What's that?"
"Butterflies, Admiral," she said with a sardonic smile. "Or at least one."
Hudson's mouth dropped opened in shock. For once he was completely speechless.
"Oliver, you've met your match!" Bridger laughed.
Crocker and much of Hudson's retiring crew were nearly hysterical.
The party raged on till the wee hours. No one saw anything of Ortiz for
the next three days. In fact, he barely made it to his station as the
seaQuest was about to leave New Atlantis for its next assignment.
"That's a lovely shade of lipstick you're wearing," Lonnie teased him.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "At least, I don't make out
in shelter pods," he teased back.
"Don't knock it until you try it," she smiled completely undaunted.
"Mister Ortiz," Bridger said from his chair.
"Yes sir," Ortiz
said tentatively, fearing he was in Dutch for almost being late for his watch.
"May we have an aft WSKRS view please."
"Aye sir!" Ortiz obeyed enthusiastically. His luck was still with him. Neither
Ford or Bridger had noticed his near tardiness.
New Atlantis appeared on the screen looking once more like a jewel. It was
a great dream and a great place. Nathan Bridger knew they would all be returning
to this place time and again. Atlantis had a second chance here. This time
they would get it right.
Screen captures courtesy Patt. Be sure to check out her great website seaQuest screen captures & sound files