The Submariner

by Zarek Dragon

Jake and I didn't get much time to ourselves during the first twelve weeks of our training. We were given about six hours from when our last class let out to when our PT started. It paid off in many ways, though. On the obstacle course, the girls were still our weakest link, but you couldn't tell that except when comparing our times. Amie had the lowest time, and Jake, who had the best time, only beat her by two hundredths of a second. I'm telling you, we worked very well as a team. Gunny tried throwing a wrench into all of our work, though.

"Before we do this contest, we are going to switch things up a bit. Candidate Drage, who shares your quarters with you?" he asked. I responded with telling him that I share quarters with Jake, or rather Candidate Daniels. "Very good, Drage, you're on Kirk's team. Daniels, you're on Montgomery's team." And he went on, separating us from our rack mates, claiming that it would be easier to serve the winning team if you shared quarters with them. The other team did get Amie, but still, we have no idea who the weakest link will be, now.

We all thought this wasn't fair since we had worked this whole time as two groups and now the dynamics were changed. Kirk was the first person to speak up, "Aside from your thinking this will make rewarding the winning team easier, do you have any other reason for the sudden change?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. As you are aware, Captain, crewmembers on ships, boats and subs change all the time. This will test how well they adapt to sudden changes," Gunny stated.

"That is understandable, Gunny, but I think we should run the course with the teams as they trained, then switch and run it again. The team that wins the first race will be served tomorrow and then the team that wins the second race will be served the day after," Commander Montgomery suggested.

Kirk nodded his head, "I believe that is an excellent suggestion, Commander."

"I can agree with that," Gunny stated.

"Captain, you know that Mustang you have in your garage? Would you bet that against my Vette that your team will beat mine?" Commander Montgomery chided.

"Are you nuts?" Kirk replied. "I have no doubt that my team will win, but there is no way I am going to put one of the first Mustangs ever assembled on the line. Although I wouldn't mind taking possession of that '57 Corvette of yours. I am willing to put five grand on the line." We all oohed.

Commander Montgomery looked dumbfounded, "Seriously, five grand?"

"What?" Now Kirk looked surprised, but with reason, "You were willing to risk your Vette but not five grand?"

"No, I knew you wouldn't go for it," Montgomery explained, "Let's make it one grand."

"Are you a chicken?" Kirk egged him on, and then surprised all of us. "Tell you what, here is how sure I am of us winning, I will put five thousand dollars up against your one thousand."

"It's not that I'm chicken," Montgomery started to explain, "It's just that I don't believe in betting money that I can't afford to lose."

Kirk nodded, "I can respect that. So, your one grand against my five?"

Montgomery shook his head, "No, my grand against yours. If you were a bookie or a race track granting odds, it would be one thing, but amongst friends and colleagues, I can't accept more than I bet. It's a matter of principle."

"Again, I can respect that," Kirk's face lit up like he was just hit with a brilliant idea, "What if, instead of money exchanging hands, whoever's team doesn't win picks up the tab for all of us to go out and eat? These candidates have been here for twelve weeks with barely any time to themselves. I'm sure they would appreciate going out."

"Captain," Montgomery held out his hand to shake, "I think we have a deal. Does that include Gunny Travis joining us?"

Kirk grabbed Montgomery's hand and they shook, "Yes, Gunny can join us."

"Excellent, now if both teams will take their places," Gunny called out. We ran the course in the same order that we had been practicing for twelve weeks. Montgomery never put the flag in his mouth since that first time. Lenny King and Eli Rodgers were the two who started for that team. They made Jake and me work to stay ahead of them, but we managed. We placed our flag in the holder and watched as the girls came down the zip line, ready to help them unhook from it.

Mark Hough and Captain Kirk started down just seconds before Montgomery and Ernie Raye. Ernie started to come down the zip line with one hand on the bar and the other holding his flag out. We could hear Montgomery advising him not to do that but Ernie wouldn't listen. As soon as his weight was supported by only the one arm, he quickly grabbed the bar with the other, dropping his flag.

Kirk told us to go on ahead, but he waited for Montgomery to get down to him. We went at a leisurely pace, listening to Kirk talk to the Commander. "When this race is through, send him back north. He can be a crew member, but he will not be an officer aboard my boat," we heard him tell Montgomery. Part of me felt bad for Ernie, but he has been a screw up from the get-go. We shouldn't have done it, but Jessica started calling him Gomer and we all went along with it.

When we got to the wall, we saw Kirk heading for us. Montgomery was waiting for Ernie to grab his flag and rerun from the start. I spoke with Kirk as we went over the wall, "Captain, do you really need to send Ernie back north? I know he's been screwing up left and right, but maybe he's never had anyone really talk to him and give him a chance."

"You sound like you really care about the kid," Kirk suggested.

"Only in the fact that he is a fellow candidate, sir," I responded. "I believe if given the chance, he could make something of himself. There has to be a reason that you put him in the program."

Kirk smiled, "I believe you will make a great officer and a greater leader. You care about people. The Commander and I will talk with him. We will give him one more chance, but I plan to tell him he owes you a thank you for it."

I shook my head, "He doesn't owe me anything except to prove himself."

Thanks to Ernie, we totally beat the other team. When we did the switch, Kirk surprised me. "Commander, Daniels was our strongest member, to make things interesting, and give you a chance to beat me, we will take Candidate Raye."

"So, my team wins this second race, do we split the bill?" the Commander asked.

"That works for me, but you're not going to win. Candidate Raye is going to prove he deserves to stay. Aren't you, son?" Kirk countered.

"I will do my best, sir," Ernie replied.

Kirk lowered his voice so that only our team could hear what he said, "OK Ernie, think you can keep up with Zarek, and do just like him? He asked me not to send you packing, so I suggest you listen when he gives advice."

I looked at Ernie, "You run beside me, and when it gets hard to breathe, push through it. Your second wind will kick in and you'll surprise yourself. I will run you hard, but I have faith in you."

Ernie looked like he was about to cry, "No one has ever said that to me before. I was surprised when I was chosen to come here." I looked at Kirk and he just smiled and nodded his head.

We started the race and Ernie surprised me, he kept up with me the whole time. Jake was barely beating us, but we were beating his partner, Eli. When we got up the rigging, Ernie grabbed his flag and placed it in his hand between his palm and the bar. I guess he learned something. We zoomed down the zip line and Ernie undid his harness faster than me. He put his flag in the holder and went back to help the girls out of their harness. Kirk yelled for us to go and not wait on him and Mark. I could see that Ernie was hurting, but he kept up with me the whole time.

At the wall, I helped Ernie up and then climbed up. Kirk and Mark were almost caught up to the girls by the time they reached the wall. Once everyone was over the wall, we took off. Ernie didn't slow us down one bit as we completed the course. Jake beat us, but we beat the rest of his team. As we crossed the finish line, Kirk congratulated Ernie on a fine job. Ernie was in tears, so I asked if he was hurting. His response surprised me a little, "No, you were right about the second wind. It's just that this was the first time anyone ever believed in me, and you were right, I did surprise myself."

Commander Montgomery walked over to shake Kirk's hand. Kirk just held his hand and looked him in the eye, "I want to make one slight change in our deal."

"OH, after you've already won?" Montgomery seemed a little suspicious.

Kirk smiled and said, "Yes, you can pay for everyone else's, but I want to buy Candidate Raye's and get him the biggest, best steak they have. He's earned it."

"Yes Captain, he has," Montgomery concurred, "And if that is what he wants, I will pay for it as part of our deal."

From that day forward, Ernie seemed like a different person. Now that he had some self-confidence, he actually quit goofing up. Kirk was surprised in the change he's made and he thanked me for talking him out of sending him north.

Two weeks before we graduate and Franklin called Kirk. The instructor wasn't happy when Kirk's phone started vibrating, but when Kirk said who it was, the instructor didn't say a word about Kirk stepping outside the room. When Kirk came back into the room, he didn't look happy.

The instructor asked if something was wrong. "I'll say there is. The sub is almost ready for launch and now the Navy says we need torpedoes or some other defensive measure other than just countermeasures. Don't get me wrong, I've always thought that it should have something, but the Navy had the specs ever since they agreed to place officers aboard. Why now, after seven months and all the modifications, including removing the torpedo tubes, do they say something?"

Jake looked at Kirk and asked the question I think was on all of our minds, "So what does this mean? What do we need to do?"

Kirk got a serious look on his face, "Franklin asked for my opinion. If we don't add some sort of defense, the Navy has promised to pull their officers off the boat. If we do add defense capabilities, launching the sub will be delayed while engineers figure out what to add and where to add it. I told Franklin that we should have some sort of defenses, so engineers are already at work."

I inquired, "Why can't they just add the torpedo tubes back?"

Kirk just shook his head, "They've already installed lab equipment in its place, removed the bay doors, putting hull plating in their place. For them to do that would take another four months at least, plus they would need to figure out where to put the lab."

Ernie spoke up, "I thought the lab was where the missile silos used to be."

"The main lab is there, but there are other labs aboard," Kirk replied.

"They only supplied officers, correct?" Jake asked. "With us, do we have even enough officers to launch?"

Kirk didn't look happy, "We do, and I was almost ready to go that route, but with no idea what we will come up against, I believe we need some sort of defensive measure. I wasn't sure what the Navy would think about a nonmilitary vessel having torpedoes, so I didn't really think about it prior to the Navy saying something."

I had to throw in my two cents, "Perhaps neither did they, whoever handled the specs, until someone higher asked about our defensive measures."

"You might be right, so I guess I shouldn't really be mad at SecNav," Kirk admitted.

Mark Hough had a funny look on his face, "Who?"

Kirk had to laugh, "SecNav, that's short for Secretary of the Navy."

"Yeah, Mark. Don't you ever watch 'NCIS'?" Patty Fischer chided.

Mark must not watch much TV. "Is that the show with Sam Malone as the head of the crime lab?"

Lisa nodded her head, "His real name is Ted Danson and that is 'CSI'."

"No, the guy that owned the bar in 'Cheers'," Mark insisted.

"Mark, Sam Malone was his character. The actor who played him was Ted Danson, and I would so do him," Lisa admitted.

"TMI," Mark laughed. "So 'NCIS' is the show with Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs? And Ducky from 'Pretty in Pink'?"

"Ducky also played Alan Harper in 'Two and a Half Men'," Ernie informed Mark.

"And there is a character nicknamed Ducky on NCIS," Lisa added.

"I think we got off track with this conversation. We really need to finish this class assignment and then we can discuss the situation with the sub," Kirk chided us. And like that, we got back to the classwork.

After we passed the final exams, we held a graduation ceremony. None of Jake's family attended, and neither did mine. Jake said his father was on a business trip and couldn't make it. My family didn't come because they didn't accept me being gay. My dad's exact words when I admitted I was gay, "You are a big disappointment to this family. I will see to your needs until you graduate, but after that, you will not be allowed in this house so long as you claim to be gay." Their loss, not mine.

Kirk drove us back to the facilities and we had a massive meeting with both crews, explaining why the delay to launch. Some of the crewmembers were upset, but Captain Kirk explained the necessity of needing defensive capability and that we should have planned for it all along. "I totally understand your disappointment. When I first heard about it, I was greatly upset that the Navy waited until we were almost ready to launch before saying something, but I also agreed that we need it. I know some of you are curious what we will be doing until the sub is ready."

One of the crewmembers yelled, "If it ever gets ready."

"I know it seems that way, but I assure you, we will get the boat going eventually. Until then, we continue practicing. Everyone should be generally trained, I wish to meet with my officers after I dismiss the crewmembers and we will determine where to post everyone. Look for it to be posted over the next two days. Other than my officers, everyone is dismissed, we'll see you in two days on Monday. Expect to practice your station for eight hours each day."

After all the crewmembers filed out, the officers gathered around the table. Before doing anything else, the Captain introduced us graduates to the older officers. He assigned each one of us to our counterpart from the gold team in order to enhance our training. I was surprised when he said I would be working with Commander Hooker. "Sir," Commander Hooker started, "Are you planning on having a new ensign as your XO for the blue team?"

Kirk looked at the XO as if to ask, "Are you seriously asking me that?" and then replied, "Not at this moment, but he may have the conn during a watch and I would like to start training him to be an XO." I thought that it was nice knowing that he thought that much of me.

After the meeting, we received our first paycheck. Considering that during training, we didn't have need for anything, Franklin held off giving them out so that we wouldn't lose them. With it being seven months since we started, it was a fairly large check. Would have been larger if so much wouldn't have been taken out for taxes, but what can you do? Government needs something to run on. Jake and I went together and bought a house for when we are not on board the sub. It was a nice three bedroom house, so Jake suggested that we lease out two of the bedrooms to some officers on the Gold Team. It turned out that Lenny King and Mark Hough were going to transfer to the Gold Team, so we asked them. Jake and I took the master bedroom since a) we bought the house and b) we were sharing a room.

"I had my suspicions about the two of you, but now I know," Mark said.

I gave him a funny look, "Suspicions?"

"Don't give me that," Mark chuckled, "I had a feeling the two of you were gay with how you're always with each other."

"Yes, we are gay," I confessed, "but couldn't it have been we are really close friends?"

Mark explained, "I thought I saw you holding hands a few times and the two of you look at each other like my parents do every night. That's not close friends' love."

"And you're still wanting to move in with us?" Jake asked.

Mark nodded, "This way, I won't have to worry about my stuff here while I'm on the boat. And we won't see each other too much other than maybe a month between voyages. Besides, it's not like being gay is contagious. As long as you respect me and allow me to love whomever I choose, I will do the same."

We agreed, Mark could love whomever and Lenny asked if we should invite Mike from the bar.

I hope you enjoy the story and that it draws you in, wanting more. If you have any suggestions or concerns, don’t hesitate to email me.  Thoughts and suggestions are always welcomed and may or may not be implemented. Concerns will be considered and addressed as much as possible, please contact me at Zarek A Dragon.  Please let me know that you read it on The Story Lovers' Website.