Celebration
by Diane Kachmar
Admiral Harriman Nelson
keyed his command code into Seaview’s conning tower. He didn’t have to
check the computer to know who’s code had preceded
his. Lee had locked the hatch behind himself for a reason.
Harry smiled to himself
as he closed the hatch and keyed it back to the locked position. Security
needed to be observed, even if Nelson was sure he wouldn’t be staying all that
long. Only long enough to pry Crane out of here.
Nelson took the down
ladder into the control room and swiftly passed through to the spiral staircase
that went up into officer country. Lee would be at his
cabin desk, working, totally ignoring the fact that he had been missed or that
his friends wanted his company this evening.
Harry wasn’t
particularly in the mood for a party, either, but it was New Year’s Eve. When
the clock did strike midnight, there was no better place to be than with the
people he loved the most. Even if one of them had silently disappeared without
even replying to the invitation and effectively put himself
out of reach of the telephone.
Lee would not escape by
coming here. Nelson was prepared to apply whatever leverage he needed to get
his Captain over to his house for the party. There was no way he was going to
host the plank owners alone.
Nelson had a feeling
that was most of the problem. As much as Lee had become one with the boat,
there would always be other members of the crew that had been there from day
one. Sharkey wasn’t a plank owner, either, but his place as bartender of choice
was assured and the owners would no more exclude the COB from this anniversary
gathering than they would Crane.
If only Lee would see
that. He was part of them, even if he hadn’t been there when the keel was laid.
Harry had wanted Crane to be there and he had never quite forgiven Henry King
for not giving him Lee until John Phillips was killed. John had been a good man
and was an integral part of what they were honoring this night – lest old
acquaintance be forgot... Nelson stopped in front of
Lee’s closed cabin door and debated knocking, then found himself pushing the
door open and going in.
Crane looked up in
irritation and was about to let him have it for disturbing him, when Lee
realized who it was he was about to yell at. The anger in Lee’s eyes died,
turning to chagrin and then resignation as his features relaxed. Crane muttered
very softly about it “being inevitable” and dropped his eyes back to the stack
of papers in neat piles all over his desk.
“What are you working on?”
Nelson hitched up onto the edge of the desk as Crane was seated in the only
chair. “We don’t sail again for three weeks,” he added pointedly.
“I’m trying to get
ahead, while it’s quiet,” Crane answered, as pointedly. “Tonight, with the crew
on liberty, everyone else has something else to do so there won’t be any
interruptions or matters that need attending to. I should get quite a bit
done.”
“Only you would work on
New Year’s Eve. Have you forgotten you have something else to do?”
Crane glanced up at him.
“I don’t belong there. I’m not a plank owner.”
“Neither is Sharkey or
Riley, but they didn’t refuse to come when they were invited.”
“To help host,” Crane
replied.
Nelson looked over at
his Captain. “If you think you are supercargo, you’d better think again,
mister. The men want their Skipper there, no matter where he came in their
history. They want you, as their Captain, to do the honors.”
“That’s your place, as
ranking officer, as builder, as plank owner....”
“Takes a commissioned
officer. I’m retired.”
Crane laughed, without
humor. “Only when you want to be.”
“True,” Nelson granted.
“Chip, then, he’s a
plank owner.”
“Why don’t you want to
do it, son?” Nelson asked quietly, raising a hand. “And don’t tell me that you
aren’t out here so we couldn’t find you to make you go.”
Nelson lowered his hand
as he watched Lee struggle through denial to acceptance.
“I’m not a plank owner,”
Crane said at last, lowering his gaze to the desk.
“No, you aren’t,” Harry
agreed. “You are more than that. You are Captain of the Seaview. The
Captain she was always supposed to have.”
Lee looked up at that,
surprised. “John Phillips...”
“Was not my first
choice... he ended up being the one the Navy would transfer to me.”
“Who did you ask for
then?” Lee’s curiosity was aroused.
“You,” Nelson admitted.
“ONI said they needed you, that any competent Academy grad could command my
sub. The Atlantic Fleet Commander sided with ONI. Had he backed me, you would
have been a plank owner. You should have been.”
Crane continued to look
at him. “Why are you telling me this now?”
Nelson smiled. “I
thought you knew how it was, with me and the crew, but if you did, we wouldn’t
be having this talk and I wouldn’t be all the way down here trying to persuade
you to go to a party you don’t think you belong at.”
Lee smiled sheepishly.
“Am I being ordered to go, sir?”
“I don’t think that’s
necessary, son. Up until now, the Captain of the Seaview always knew
what his duties are. He would never let something like fate stop him from doing
it.” Harry grinned at the younger man to take the sting out of his words.
Crane glanced at his
watch. “They will be arriving within the hour. I’m not dressed appropriately to
do the ceremony...”
“Then you’d best go home
and change, hadn’t you? I trust you to make it on time.”
Lee stood up. “There’s
no anchor watch. I gave them the night off, since I planned to be here. I don’t
want them called back.”
Nelson smiled. “I’ve
notified Institute security to assign someone who is already scheduled to keep
an eye on the boat. I figured you would dismiss the men to go celebrate.” Harry
raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?”
Crane met his gaze.
“Something tells me there better not be.”
“Splendid. I’ll lock
up.”
Lee paused in the
doorway. “You asked for me?”
“Yes, son, I did. You’ve
had Admirals fighting over you since you graduated the Academy. Don’t tell me
you were not aware that they were.”
Crane shrugged. “I went
where the orders sent me. I never really wanted to know what maneuvers were
behind them. I wanted to be here, too, but the orders never came, until...”
“Not for lack of trying,
son. King still won’t let
you go completely.”
“I won’t reconnect my
phone until after the party, sir,” Lee offered, with a smirk. “So you are stuck
with me until at least tomorrow.”
“I’ll take it,” Nelson
replied. “Now get going.”
“Aye, sir.” Crane ducked out the door and a few moments later Harry heard him
going down the spiral stair to exit the submarine.
Nelson closed the cabin door
behind him and walked slowly down the corridor to the staircase. It had been a
long, frustrating five years getting her built and launched, but now he had the
crew he had always hoped for, he would fight anyone to hang onto them. Honor
the ones who were no longer with them, and cherish the ones who were.
The End