When I was called to the general of the fort’s offices my first thought was of what I had done wrong, but I couldn’t think of anything. I had been a very well behaved prisoner to the best of my knowledge, and other then Engel’s drunken antics I had kept my crew under fair discipline as well. It hadn’t been part of my duty anymore but I felt it reflected poorly on
“You and your men are to be set free, you are being traded for,” said the officer in the general’s office, translating for his superior.
“My sailors included?” I asked, it was rare for common sailors to be traded for.
“Including your sailors, in one week’s time,” the officer assured me.
It was two weeks after my release, after a court of inquiry over my lost ship, that I stood in front of Admiral Jervis. The court had been extremely forgiving about everything that had happened; it had hardly been an inquiry at all. A few questions, and then the gathered captains had practically clapped me on the back and called me a brave man. It was all very confusing and not at all what I had been given to expect from the stories. Now that I was standing in front of Admiral Jervis however it looked like the world had righted itself again. Admiral Jervis was looking at me with the same look of distaste I remembered of old.
“Dammed foolish of you, you lost a lot of men. I want you to know that I don’t approve of this kind of attitude at all,” Jervis lectured me. “We need sailors and ships, not glorious deaths.”
“Yes, sir,” I agreed. I wasn’t about to deny how foolish the whole thing had been. I had honestly asked the advice of my sailors in an important decision that should have only been made by the captain. Of course I couldn’t tell Admiral Jervis that I had done something like that, he would probably drop me to a man before the mast faster then I could blink if I told him that, if that wasn’t his intention already. It had been my reckless behavior that had gotten me on his bad side to begin with and this affair was me at my most reckless yet.
“We don’t need brave, reckless, heroes in this service Commander, what we need are men who know when the odds are against them, for the good of the Navy and the country.”
“Yes, sir,” I agreed again, meekly. Admiral Jervis looked slightly mollified by my total agreement and tone because his voice lowered.
“I just wanted to make my feelings on the matter clear; I feel that you were extremely foolish. Be that as it may,” here the Admiral sounded down right resigned, “the public like self sacrificing scenes like the one you put on. You have become a glorious hero to people who know nothing about the navy, and as such you have the navy’s thanks. We are a service that is immensely unpopular with the public, what with the press and all, we are grateful for any good will we can scrounge up.” I caught my breath, it sounded like I wasn’t going to get screamed at, which is all I had expected from this man. I wasn’t about to say anything, anything that said might break whatever spell had changed the world so much in my favor. I didn’t have to say anything because Admiral Jervis continued.
“As a hero,” his voice was dripping with scorn as he said that, “you will be given an active commission on a twenty-four gun frigate, don’t sink her.”
“You have my word, sir,” I said as sincerely as I could have said anything. I decided that I was fine with the world turning upside down, it meant that people who were on the bottom came out on top, and that was fine by me.
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