Dealing with a problem

Month 10 Day 26

0803 Hours

Captain Jane Burke

Jane took her seat behind her desk, indicated the facing chair for Smitty. “Well, what is this about?” This had better be good, to explain why he ‘forgot’ his day off. Again.

“As soon as I learned that I had been wrong in my assumption about who built those mistletoe units, I came to the bridge to apologize and inform Co-MacDowell that her punishment was cancelled. Before I could get a word in, before I could even step off the lift, I heard some of the worst sexual harassment I’ve ever heard.”

Jane’s mood fell. Sounds like Evans is at it again. Some people never take a hint. “Evans?”

“Not just him. Adams was there instead of in engineering, and he was just as involved as Evans. I’ve come to file a complaint against both of them.”

“On her behalf,” Jane ended for him. “Good. I’ve wondered when she’d get fed up enough to do that.”

Smitty frowned. “She hasn’t. Or rather, she’s afraid that if she files charges, either she won’t be believed, or they’ll twist it around to seem that she’s having an affair with whomever she consults to file those charges.”

“I don’t understand. You just said she filed charges.”

“No, sir. I tried my best to convince her to, especially after I debriefed Firoz on the situation, but she utterly refused. I’m here to file charges myself, on her behalf, but without her approval.”

That’s unusual. But if anybody did it, I would expect it was Smitty. Still, it’s entirely possible he’d be named by the perpetrators as not a disinterested party. I don’t want her to think she isn’t believed, but we have to be careful with ‘this situation’. “I‘m not surprised, but you’re putting me in a bit of a spot.”

Smitty looked surprised. “What do you mean?” And then he got a little angry. “Captain, if you had any idea what she has to put up, night after night—”

“But I don’t,” she pointed out. “Not really, although I have a clue or two. That’s why Evans is now on D shift. It only gives him 2 nights a week to pester her. If he hasn’t taken the hint and is still up to his old behavior, I’m willing to take further action. But if she isn’t willing to file charges--or at the very least to back up your filing of charges--then he can easily twist that into you having some... interest in her yourself.”

“Captain!”

He’s appalled by the insinuation, and yet those red spots on his cheeks say something else. She motioned him into silence. “So we have to go about this carefully. Make sure we have plenty of evidence to back up the charges. Did you record Firoz’s debriefing?”

Smitty’s demeanor deflated. “No, I never thought to. I certainly never expected a woman who endures that kind of treatment to refuse to file charges!”

“So, we need to gather proof before we file charges. If she won’t, can’t or doesn’t want to cooperate, we have to gather that proof despite her. I can ‘debrief’ other members of the midnight bridge and make sure I record what they say. But there’s a chance one of them might tell someone, and before you know it, the pair of miscreants would hear about it and be warned. So before I do that, we should try to record what happens on the midnight shift on the bridge.”

Smitty nodded. “Right. Record the nights he’s on duty. But I don’t think she’d agree to doing that.”

“No, I meant every night she’s on duty, not just the nights Evans is on duty. We don’t want him claiming that his duty shifts are no different from the rest of them.”

Smitty’s brow furrowed. “True, he would be the type to make that claim. Still, I don’t think she’d do it. She seems pretty determined not to take any action against them. She’s afraid of the rumors they would spread if she did do something.”

“We’ll consult with Abdulla, make sure the recordings are without MacDowell’s knowledge. We certainly don’t want the victim to spill the beans about what we’re doing. If she had knowledge like that, it might slip out in a moment of unthinking anger.”

He looked thoughtful. “That... seems like a good idea,” he agreed.

“We should also take a look at how well they’ve been doing their jobs while they’ve been harassing her, compare it to nights when they haven’t been harassing her. That will open stricter forms of discipline, if their job performance has suffered from their intrapersonal pursuits.”

“That sounds good. There’s no way Adams can be doing his job properly when he isn’t even in engineering.”

Jane reached forward and pushed a button. “Lt Abdulla, would you come to my office, please?”

It only took a moment for Abdulla to make her appearance. “Yes, captain?”

“We want to audio record what happens on A shift every night that MacDowell is on duty, but not have her realize it’s happening. I assume you can arrange that.”

There was a hint of a smile on Abdulla’s face. “I’ve tried to get her to file charges, but she’s a stubborn girl, with some strange ideas in her head. As for recording, yes, I can set it up, but if I do it, I can’t guarantee she won’t notice. I suggest asking Rags—um, Lt Oakhurst to set it up. He can do it and cut out the telltale ‘recording’ light from the system so that she doesn’t realize it’s being done. Would you like me to talk to him?”

“Mr Smythe will,” Jane decided. “Thank you, Abdulla. Needless to say, if we don’t want MacDowell to know things are being recorded, we don’t want anyone else to know, either.” When the young woman nodded, Jane told her, “Dismissed.” After she had left, Jane turned to her Chief Engineer. “Do you understand all the recordings and reports we need Oakhurst to gather for us? Is there anything we’ve forgotten?”

“I remember,” he stated. “I’ve got another report I’ll have one of my people put together. Will you be informing Nichols?”

“Not until we’re ready to file charges. I don’t want any hint of what we’re doing to get back to Evans and Adams. Make sure your people understand that. And don’t tell anybody anything about this that you don’t have to. If they don’t know anything, they can’t let it slip.” She turned her head. “Is that understood, Blossum?”

“Yes, sir. I haven’t heard a word.”

“Good. Okay, Smitty, go consult with your people. I don’t know what shift Oakhurst is on today, but track him down at your earliest opportunity. I’ll send him a message that you are acting on my behalf, and if he has any questions about that, he can contact me directly. Consult with whoever you assign your report to. And then... get out of uniform and enjoy the rest of your day off!”

Smitty sighed at her final instruction. “Yes, sir.”