The Danger I Faced

All abroad

Sam's POV

"And our last graduate but certainly not the least will be making history happen today for this naval academy. This outgoing, intelligent, but most of all brave young woman is graduating at just 21. Samantha Jane James congratulations you are not only a graduate you are the youngest female to graduate from any college, university especially a naval academy in the last 50 years. So once again congratulations Samantha. I and the rest of us here hope you make our country proud.”  The commandant finished.

****** 6 months later*******

“Mom I’ll be fine” I protested. “I know I know but your father….. Me….. Your brother….. I-I just d-don’t want th-that t-t-to happen to you.” She choked out through her tears. “I’ll be fine “I started as I pulled my bag from the car “I’ll look out for myself and besides it’s my first year I don’t think I’ll be leaving the ship much.” I finished. “Ok I guess that makes me feel a little bit better, I love you.” She said as she hugged me. “I love you too mom goodbye.””Goodbye I love you she shouted as I walked away.   

I walked down the ramp to my new home for the next couple of days. As soon as I stepped on boarded I noticed one thing EveryOne was staring at me when a man walked up to me and stuck out his hand. “Hello I’m lieutenant commander Dan Crows. You may call me C.O. you must be Samantha. Am I right?” C.O. Crows introduced himself. “Yes Sir Samantha Jane James at your service.” I said as I shook his hand with a slight chuckle he called out “Willy” “yes sir” a tall handsome brunet replied. “This is Samantha James. Samantha this is petty officer Eric Wills he is the buffer on my ship and is also the officer you will check in to. He will explain when and why later, but right now we need to get these boxes into storage.” “Yes sir. Right away.” Officer wills replied then he left to get to work. “Ah would you like me to help as well?” I asked nervously. “If you would like and of course if they need the help.” C.O. Crows said with a smile. So far he was being much nicer than I thought; maybe the whole crew won’t hate me. So I walked over to the pile of boxes. “Ah officer Wills can I help you with those” I asked nervously. “She Belongs In A Kitchen Not Carrying Boxes” a brunet man shouted with laughter. “NICANO! She has just the same rights as we do.” Officer Wills yelled before turning to me.” He said with a smile. I did as I was told and followed Officer Wills. As we got to the storage room Officer Wills began to speak “ah I’m sorry about him. He’s just always been against women working in a place where they can get hurt. He really just wants to keep you and every other woman safe.” He sounded almost nervous. “Oh and you what do you think of women working?” I questioned. “Ah ummm ah” now he really did sound nervous “oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.” I stated “oh no I… I’ve just never worked with a woman before; I guess if they can pull their own wait then I guess it alright.” He replied extremely nervously. “Oh if you’ve never worked with a woman before then why is he so worried about protecting us?” I asked “who? Nicano?” he replied I just simply nodded my head yes in reply.” ah I don’t think I’m the one to tell you it’s kind of a personal story.” Officer Wills replied “I’m sorry Officer Wills I was sticking my nose where it shouldn’t be. I’m sorry.” I apologized “it’s alright your just a curious character. And please call me Willy I fee old when people call me Officer or Petty Officer.” He said with a bit of a laugh at the end. “Well I don’t me to be rude but I would suspect you to be a certain age to be ranked petty officer… NOT that you look old” I said “no I admit I am pretty young to be at this rank.” He said with a smile. “If you don’t mind me asking how old are you?” I asked hesitantly. “Nope only if u mind me asking how old you are.” He paused for my reply which was a nod of the head. “I’m 24 I’ve only been here 4 years.” He sounded nervous again I wonder why.

As we carried the last two boxes Willy asked “after this do you want to see if Rich has lunch ready yet?” “Sure but whose Rich?” I asked as we walked to the galley. “This is Petty Officer Charlie Richards aka rich he is also the one you should probably go to if you… ah need anything.” I looked at Rich with a questioning look he must have known why because he replied “I have two daughters of my own.” That explained so much “you must be Samantha some of the crew have been talking about you.” Rich explained. “I bet! She’s already had her first run in with nav.” Willy stated “Nav”… oh he must be Nicano right?” they both nodded their heads yes as they started to laugh. They were laughing I wonder why? I guess I forgot a lot more than I thought in 6 months. But no one told me that Nicano was the navigator. As their laughter died down Rich spoke up “Nicano is our navigator so we call him Nav instead of Nicano.” “Oh” I simply said because I had already figured it out on my own. “What fine food do you have for us today Richards?” Willy asked “I’ve got chips and salad” Rich said with a proud smile from the complement. “Mmm that sounds good” I said as he made Willy and me a plate.

In the board room Willy informed me when and why I needed to check in with him. Well more like report to every couple of hours so they know I haven’t gone missing or anything. After he finished explaining we both stayed silent but it wasn’t awkward it was just that there was nothing to say.

Only seconds after we finished eating the captain spoke on the P.A system “all personal not on duty report on deck a sap.” Willy and I stood up simultaneously and walked out.