reminded herself. Why couldn't he have been just a bit smelly like Captain Ayres or have dirty fingernails or something?
The wardroom filled quickly with the Manasseh's full officer complement while Claire concentrated on keeping her eyes off her CO. Rustin gave a little wave from the corner, giving two thumbs up paired with a giant grin. Not hopping up and down was probably surreptitious for the woman. Claire credited Rustin's Saganami Island training for that.
The Office of Personnel did not have a record of Claire's oath for assuming the rank of ensign back on GNS Ephraim, Commander Greentree informed Claire in a voice meant to carry to the whole wardroom. His wry smile gave away that he was fully aware of all that he wasn't saying. Blackbird Yard Public Affairs had not been able to locate a quality recording to send to Burdette Steading for the local news release. So, if she didn't object to the irregularity, he'd just as soon hold the ceremony again here on Manasseh. He had Rustin provide him with some of her midshipwoman insignia and motioned for Rustin to switch out Claire's collar and shoulder devices for the single silver collar pip of a midshipwoman.
Commander Greentree shooed Rustin back to her corner vantage point and cued up the spacer drafted to capture the proceedings to begin recording. The exec called the assembled officers to attention and read off the official orders from the Grayson Space Navy Office authorizing Midshipwoman Claire Bedlam Lecroix to wear the rank of Ensign and assume all the duties and responsibilities of a commissioned officer of the Grayson Space Navy at the recommendation of Commander Phineas Greentree, Commanding Officer GNS Manasseh.
The Ayres name was notably absent from the orders. Somehow Claire doubted that if Personnel had resent a copy of an old approval they would have gone back and changed the requesting commanding officer's name to the current reporting senior.
Claire pulled her attention back as Commander Greentree administered her oath of office. She swore loyalty once again to Grayson, Protector Benjamin Mayhew IX, and the Office of the Protector. She would do her duty to God and her star nation and ever rise to meet the Tests set before her in the faithful performance of her duty. The words were so familiar that she had to focus to avoid embarrassing herself by switching up phrases with the common prayer for the Protectorate of Grayson or the Burdette Steading pledge of allegiance.
Commander Greentree smiled rather broadly at her. It wasn't fair. A man that lovely should know what he did to women and control himself better. Claire curled her toes inside her ship boots to distract herself from the whiff of aftershave as he leaned over to pin the two silver pips of an ensign to her collar and shoulder boards.
She looked around the room trying not to think about how it would feel if a man were clasping a necklace instead of pinning on rank insignia. She should think herself lucky to be here. Really, she should.
So what if the Burdette Lady Steadholders worried that she was not going to find a man interested in even a third wife who was constantly away in the GSN? This was all a means to an end. She had a degree after all and a really quite amazing education at Saganami Island in the engineering of ship power systems and auxiliaries. Merchants used different systems. But, physics was physics. Claire resolved to continue studying for the technical school certifications in those other merchant systems.
A Grayson in-system shipper might not want to hire her, but there were others who did business in Yeltsin's Star who wouldn't mind hiring a young woman. A life could be built on Blackbird Yard that way. And who knew, she might meet someone who'd want a wife who could travel with him and knock out some of the qualifications required by Grayson Transit Control, thus saving him the cost of hiring extra hands.
It was a cold plan, but Claire thought it might work. The GSN kept providing more and more training. The ship combat simulations were completely useless for any long-term plans, but they'd been easy to avoid on the Ephraim. The Manasseh would not be much different. And even when Claire did have to waste time on them, ship combat sims still beat washing dishes by hand when the restaurant had to wait to clear enough profit to buy the parts for fixing the dishwasher.