Fighting Despair

Month 14 Day 26 (day of wedding)

1118 Hours

Smythe

 "Smitty."

He looked up at whoever had entered his office and hastily stood up. "Captain!"

"Sit down," she said, waving him back into his chair as she stepped forward and took a seat in one of the chairs facing his desk. She studied his face for a time before she spoke again. "It looks like you've got 2 problems in the way of there being a marriage ceremony, today or in the future."

His eyebrows rose at the news. "2 problems?"

"Those are the ones I've figured out. There may be more," she told him bluntly. "The first one is that she complains you don't listen to her. She tried to tell you something last night, and you wouldn't let her say it. That can be frustrating, and in this case, it appears to have frustrated her so much, she's decided to cancel the wedding."

But I already knew what she was going to say. "Postpone," he stated, and sighed. "It's postponed, not cancelled."

"As far as she's concerned, it's cancelled," Jane said firmly. "So I suggest you have a long talk with her and be sure you listen to what she has to say. I would guess that would be the very first step you need to take if you want to change her mind. And when I say 'talk', I don't mean a long session of making out!"

"Yes, captain." What could I have said last night that made Colleen so upset she actually wants to call off the wedding? I know she's pregnant. She didn't need to actually say it.

Jane pursed her lips thoughtfully and added, "On the other hand, you might want to forego that endeavor until we've gotten an answer from HQ concerning your request to get married."

"Then, I guess that hasn't arrived yet." And that left him frustrated. I thought my name had more respect than that.

"No, it hasn't. Like you, I was hoping it would have arrived by now, so we could get this settled and you two could start the next stage of your lives. But it hasn't. It's possible HQ is taking an extra long look at the request. Obviously, there wouldn't be any question about letting you get married, but unfortunately, MacDowell's record... is more complex than yours."

"How so?"

Jane looked up. "Some youthful indiscretions. A few nights in the brig for drunken brawling."

She could almost be describing my record.

The captain went on. "Some complaints she filed against previous superiors that, when coupled with what can only be retaliatory assignments, tell another story entirely. If they are looking at her record hard, I hope they look hard enough to see the entire picture. It isn't easy to find."

"One only needs to know the reputation of her previous supervisors—" Smitty started, but Jane interrupted.

"That's part of the problem. The higher rank you are, the less the brass is likely to pay attention to gossip and innuendoes. Well." She stood up, preparing to go. "I'll give it another week, and then if we still haven't gotten an answer, I'll make discreet inquiries."

Smitty stood up before she had a chance to leave. "Were you able to talk any sense into Colleen?"

"I don't know. She was so upset when I saw her, I decided to try a little tough love and told her I agreed with her decision. Sometimes, that makes them realize that the decision they made isn't the one they actually want. But she didn't immediately change her mind, so if she's making that realization, she's doing it slower than you and I would want her to. It might take her a couple days."

"Oh." He couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice. Even just the one word revealed his deep despair.

Jane gave him another look. "Give her a couple days to calm down, Smitty. She's on bed rest for her weekend, anyway. Although, from the sounds of it, she isn't sleeping well. Her injuries are bothering her, apparently. Anyway, once she calms down, you can try to talk to her. Preferably someplace that isn't private, so that you two do actually talk, and not... what you've been doing".

"Thank you, captain. I'll plan accordingly." A couple days without seeing Colleen? I don't think I'll be sleeping, either. Not until we get this... misunderstanding sorted out. I told her my plans for the future. Surely she realizes she can't do physical engineering once she's past the first trimester of her pregnancy! Not in any official capacity!

The captain left, and Smitty sat down again. Sometime later, the doorbell rang, and he looked up, realized he'd only been staring at his computer screen, that he hadn't actually accomplished anything all morning. "Come in," he directed.

Oakhurst entered, looking uncertain. "I'm afraid I've got some bad news, sir."

Oakhurst was there during the argument between Colleen and Bugalu last night, Smitty realized. Has he come to tell me that my fiancée is pregnant? "I'm not sure I want to hear it," he stated.

"It's about the out-going mail," Oakhurst said, looking uncomfortable.

Nothing about my fiancée, then. This is about communications. What can he possibly have to report? "What kind of problem with the outgoing mail?"

"Not all of it has been sent out."

"What do you mean?"

The computer specialist sighed. "I discovered a hidden file associated with the 'ready to go out' line-up that the A shift uses to send out mail."

Smitty's brow furrowed. "There's no hidden file in that line-up."

"Not in the standard set-up," Oakhurst agreed. "As far as I can tell, this one was created a couple weeks ago. It's mostly private pieces of mail. Including some of yours. Specifically, your request to marry Lt MacDowell never got sent."

Adams! Having his revenge on me for assigning him to communications, is he? I'll deal with him later. Right now, I've got 2 people to talk to. "I'll let Lt Abdulla know so she can get them sent out. If she has trouble finding that file, I'll have her contact you. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll see that it's set straight. But keep an eye on things, in case this sort of thing is repeated."

"Yes, sir," he agreed, and left.

Smitty opened an intercom channel to the captain's office. "Ensign Blossom, I need to speak to the captain. In private, please." Jane can't make any discreet inquiries until after the blasted request has been sent! At least now maybe we can get things underway.