about the chopper. It’s an Agusta Bell 412, marinized of course, and will be here tomorrow morning. Joseba knows the technical data better than I, but I think you will see that it more than meets our needs. What do you think Pablo?”
“Well, Mr. Reyes,” Pablo managed to answer, “perhaps recalling that it was you who gave me this job in the first place, I should have guessed something like this. Today has demonstrated that you are my fairy godmother. And now, if it’s all right with you, we will introduce the new members of the crew,” with that he turned to Gabi. “Everyone to the hangar.”
Gabi nodded and walked away. A few minutes later, Pablo introduced the newcomers to the rest of the crew. When everyone had left, some to settle down and the others to finish up some of their work before leaving, it was only Gabi and Pablo.
Pablo said, “Gabi, would you like to join me for dinner to celebrate today?”
Pablo didn’t know what it was, but he was having trouble enjoying being in charge. Although he had been a captain in the Merchant Navy, he had never had such an important project or one in which so much depended on him. In Albatros most of the defining parts of the project hinged on his decisions. He needed to clear his mind.
#
“Well, Captain, I must say, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten such a good meal.”
“Gabi, I’ve told you already that when we’re not on the ship you can call me Pablo,” he said for the seventeenth time.
“Okay, okay, Pablo, then.”
They had gone to El Faro, a very famous restaurant in Cadiz located right in the La Viña neighborhood. It was frequented by high-profile customers such as the members of the National Basketball Team.
They took advantage of this dinner time to get to know each other better since the last few days had not given either one a chance to relax. They didn’t talk about Albatros. They both knew they needed to forget about work for a while.
Still, as sailors and as passionate as they were about their work, most of their conversation had revolved around past experiences at sea. Of course, they had also touched on some personal and family topics, but what really interested one about the other was their seafaring adventures. Pablo listened intently to Gabi’s stories of his missions in the Indian Ocean and Gabi discovered through Pablo a facet of the Merchant Navy he didn’t know.
After three hours and a hearty dinner, the two seamen were as tight as if they’d known each other their whole lives. In the past, Pablo had become that close to some of his subordinates, and that type of familiarity had resulted in some uncomfortable situations in the course of his work. But he knew that Gabi was different. Their dealings with each other when they were in front of the rest of the crew would continue to be professional. But while they were in private this newly acquired comfortableness would allow Gabi to advise Pablo more freely.
That is the ideal situation. A good boss would never want his subordinates to tell him what he wants to hear. A good boss wants people who will advise him in spite of the consequences. It takes someone who sees what the boss cannot. As long as, once the captain makes the final decision the subordinate supports it unconditionally.
After they had finished their desserts, Pablo decided to take advantage of the relaxed setting to ask Gabi a question that he had wanted to know the answer to for a long time.
“Well, what do you think of all this? As a colleague, not as the XO of Albatros.”
Gabi smiled and took a sip of his drink giving himself time to think. When he answered he did so sincerely and carefully evaluating the facts.
He began by saying they were indeed lucky since they had an almost unlimited budget, an ideal ship for the mission, and a boss who seemed to have things clear in mind and be very competent.
Then Pablo asked him to evaluate the crew and Gabi began by proposing a toast to its magnificent commanding officer and executive officer. After the two laughed a bit Gabi became serious again and started talking about the officers.
First, he expressed his gratitude for the relative ease with which they worked and said he would not miss the endless paperwork at the Navy.
“If we worked the same as in the Navy, there’s no way I could be the executive officer and at the same time be the operations officer. But here, I know I won’t be pestered with personnel issues, and since we’re a private enterprise we won’t have to constantly submit reports which, after all, is what the operations officer mainly does.
He congratulated Pablo for his choice of Grease as chief engineer because he had an intuitive understanding of engines and the vast number of auxiliary equipment on a ship. In addition, the people he had brought along also seemed totally competent and Manuel, from Damage Control, had fit in with them perfectly forming the tight engineering department that characterizes good crews.
Gabi pointed out that all his evaluations had been based on his brief but intense dealings with the crew in the previous days and that the voyage to the Indian Ocean would be the ideal time to get to know them better.
After Gabi had finished speaking, Pablo took advantage of what he had said about reaching the Indian Ocean to bring up his idea to develop a plan of intensive training while they headed towards the zone of operations. That was his next priority once the crew was complete and the ship was equipped. Pablo knew that Gabi’s ideas regarding training would be fundamental in bringing the crew up to the level of preparedness they needed.
The executive officer of Albatros couldn’t agree more with his captain and admitted to having already thought about the matter. They needed to train a relatively large group of people to do a very specific job and that some had not done before. And, more importantly, they needed that group of people who, for the most part, didn’t know each other to forge a team. That’s the only way to get a crew to become efficient and turn a ship into a war machine.
Going back to the subject of personnel, they both agreed that their most important shortcoming was the lack of an officer to take charge of the navigation section and that could also stand watch on the bridge. Also, an additional bridge officer would be advisable.
As for Reyes’ recruits, Pablo and Gabi had only shared a few minutes with them, but they all had given them a good impression. Ana, the accountant quickly had asked to be brought up to date on the ship’s situation and aided by Carlos the cook and Agustin the secretary, she seemed to have gotten a handle on things and had even already made a couple of recommendations.
As for Esther, the doctor, the first thing she had done was ask if she would have an assistant. When she found out they hadn’t thought of it, she proposed that one of the new recruits still left to complete the crew would at least have some type of nursing knowledge. This way, even though he would be assigned to work in another department, he could still help when necessary. Gabi’s first reaction, as head of personnel, was to point out the difficulty of finding someone with those characteristics in such a short time, but Esther had offered to find someone herself.
She had also handed Pablo a list of the instruments and medications that she thought would be advisable to carry on board and drafted out several plans of action in case of emergency, from man overboard to possible evacuation. Pablo had looked at Gabi to see if this was a joke, only to find him completely speechless. Once he recovered, he had admitted his ignorance of the subject and the only restriction he had stipulated was that of space. Then, he had asked Esther if she had experience at sea and she had replied that, after she had been recruited, she had contacted several colleagues who had worked
