Sunday Snippet: XO on the Warpath

Kind of a weird week in flux. I keep getting a lot of stuff done but more things get added to the plate. Not complaining, the timing is just odd.

Had a solid week of viewing. I'm kind of jammed schedule-wise this upcoming week so I'm hoping to stay on my semi-normal schedule by watching ahead a little.

Got to watch two episodes of The Snoopy Show. This season seems a little less seasonal and I'm okay with that.

Started the new season of The Brokenwood Mysteries. As usual, an excellent premiere episode. Familiar faces with the secondary characters, which I completely love.

Finished up the second half of a two-part Silent Witness and started a new episode. This season is off to a roaring start with good episodes.

Watched the final episode of a Classic Who arc and should be starting a new multipart one this week. Hoping the daleks are gone for a bit.

Caught another episode of Most Terrifying Places in America. This one focused on cursed towns and ended up being more interesting than I anticipated.

I started Moon Knight and thoroughly enjoyed the first episode. My brother highly recommended the series and I'm excited to talk about it with him.

Watched an episode of The Hardy Boys and the danger is amping up. My one complaint for this season would be how the Fenton storyline is playing out. I'm also very iffy on the whole Joe plot points. I'm hoping there's a good explanation for why he's being a little butt.

Enjoyed an episode of Peak Practice. I have a feeling the next episode might have a lingering issue left over from this one.

Caught another MasterClass lesson with Roxane Gay. She talked about her writing tools and I got several good ideas from her.

Got the first episode The Babysitter's Club season two in and enjoyed it. This is a charming show and I'm sorry there's not going to be another season after this one.

Watched an episode of The Ready Room. The interview with Sonequa Martin-Green ended up being so terrific.

Enjoyed an episode of Chicago Med. I'm kind of wondering what's going on with April. I think the writers sell her short and that makes me sad because I love her character.

Finished up Tangled, a Passionflix original. I'll be starting season three of Driven this week and I'm looking forward to it.

I've started a rewatch of Batman: the Animated Series. I'll probably be doing a bunch of DC Comics shows, specifically Titans and Doom Patrol, in the near future. Again, my brother highly recommended so I'm giving them a whirl. But I have to start with my all-time fave, which is Batman: TAS.

Started a new-to-me series with the Agatha Christie Hour. The first episode ended up being enjoyable so I'll continue on. Looking forward to another episode.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from XO on the Warpath, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Garrick Mellark, executive officer of the Methone, is on the warpath. His crew is bucking orders and he's not going to deal with it anymore. Shay Vamper gets elected to soothe the snarly XO into his usual jovial self, which shouldn't be hard considering she's his current flame.

And a sneaky peek…

Shay rolled her eyes at the riotous explosion of disbelief. "Way to go, Garrick. Drop a bomb and don't stick around for the fallout." Not that she blamed him.

He'd been on a short fuse with good reason. Being down an executive officer, followed by everything that could go wrong doing so, created nothing but a massive shit show. And Garrick didn't have an extra buffer to head off the nonsense and inconsequential stuff.

She got to her feet and propped her butt on the back of a seat. The huddle of pilots started spreading out but no one looked ready to leave. She had so many better things to do … yet she also needed to keep her ears open.

Mark Hender got up on the dais. "We need to do something. This is bullshit."

Another pilot, Analise Tor, zeroed in on Shay. "Check that. Shay should do something." She planted her hands on her hips. "She's got the inside track with the XO."

Shay arched her brows. "You did not just suggest I use my relationship with the XO to curry favor for you guys." She straightened and walked to the edge of the center row. "You'll notice he didn't say anything about giving me a free pass." Why the hell would he?

Mark made a rude noise. "You can't sit the fence on this one. Not if you're not getting special treatment." He paced back and forth. "You gotta pick a side, Shay."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "First, I don't take orders from you. Second, take a step back and make an effort to see with the XO is coming from." She pinned Mark with a hard glare. "Stupid mistakes have been made. And the CAG isn't here to cover your ass."

Analise waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah. We're still calling you up and out. You're the only one who might hold a chance in hell of getting him to back off."

Shay narrowed her eyes. "What about holding ourselves accountable? Can any of you say you're under the same kind of stress and pressure the XO is under right now?" No one answered … because they weren't. "It's not gonna get better until the new CAG arrives. Maybe we need to slow down and make sure we're checking off all the boxes instead of bitching about shit all the time. We're grown-ups not toddlers." She shot Mark a nasty look. "Not that anyone would know by your behavior sometimes."

His cheeks turned red. "Fine, but no one can ever be completely on top of everything. Can't you do something to get the XO off the warpath?"

A murmur of agreement rippled through the room.

Shay heaved a sigh. "I'll think about it." She started for the exit but turned around. "Do any of you remember what it's like to get zero sleep for days?" Her gaze scanned each individual one by one. "Because I haven't had a good night's rest in a full month." No one had. "And the XO? Hasn't had more than an hour or two in the last three days. Think about why that is before you start making demands for intervention."

Several heads bowed in shame and more than a few feet shuffled back and forth to escape her scrutiny. Good. Exactly what she'd hoped for.

Leaving the briefing room, she headed for quarters to figure out how to approach Garrick. Because the squadrons weren't wrong. A zero tolerance policy sounded great on paper but throwing anyone who screwed up in the brig would wreak more havoc than descending to the inner circle of hell.

I love this story! Shay and Garrick are a lot of fun to write and putting them on kind of opposite sides is a great way to challenge my skills.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye