Natasha shut off her computer and stretched her arms above her head. It had been a long day, she was glad it was over. She stood up, put on her officer's blazer and walked out of her office.
"Will you be going to the gym tonight?" asked Ana, one of her front desk cashiers.
"No, I'm pooped", replied Natasha. "I'll grab a quick bite at the buffet then probably indulge in a long bath. If you need anything I'll be in my cabin."
"Sure thing. See you tomorrow!"
Natasha left the bank desk and started walking along the corridor of the cruise ship. She passed by guests coming out of their cabins on their way to dinner. She greeted them with a warm smile and exchanged pleasantries when necessary. She hated it. Her day had been very exhausting and she was in no mood to engage in small talk with the usual elderly clientele of the luxury cruise ship. But... she was a ship's officer, and it was part of her job to make sure the guests felt like they were the most important people in the world.
She also passed a few crew members, cabin cleaners mostly who greeted her with a very deferential "Good evening, ma'am". To these she only gave a nod of acknowledgement. She might have needed to put on a fake smile for the guests but she wasn't going to waste her energy on the crew. Knowing the crew, they wouldn't expect it anyway. She had quite the reputation for being one of the strictest, most severe officers on board the ship. She knew what the crew, and even the officers, said behind her back. Frigid. Ice bitch. Mistress Terror. She didn't care. She had worked long and hard to rise up through the ranks in this cut-throat industry of the cruise ship world. She had learned to be hard because that was the only way she could get the crew and other officers to treat her with respect, especially when very few women rose to ranks as high as she did.
Natasha was a gorgeous woman. 5 foot 9, long legs, a naturally curvaceous body with lustrous blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, defined cheekbones and an aquiline nose. Most women would have considered it a great gift to have her looks.
She considered it a curse.
In the corporate world, being unusually attractive was deadweight to your rising career as a woman. Half the men would be too busy ogling you to listen to what you're saying, the other half would be too threatened by you to give you a fair chance. Half the women would be enviously hostile towards you while the other half would think that you only reached your rank because you used your looks to get what you wanted.
So she learned to be hard. Show these people an open smile and a warm laugh and they'll trample all over you. Give them a withering stare, a grim visage and a do-not-dare-test-me attitude and just maybe they'll treat you with enough respect to allow you to do your job right.
As she got in the elevator she hesitated on what deck she wanted to go. She had originally planned to go to deck 10 where the buffet was and then go straight to her cabin after dinner. But Natasha prided herself on her discipline and she had promised herself that she'd hit the gym every other day, as she had been for the past year. Today was that other day. So she instead pressed deck 6 to where her cabin was located and where she could change into her gym clothes.
As she got off the elevator she almost collided with an elderly couple.
"Wow, now don't you just make that uniform look smoking hot!"
Natasha looked at the elderly man who had spoken. She had to choke down the urge to slap the man for his comment. "Well, that's very kind of you to say so sir," she forced herself to say instead. Guests always came first.
The man's female companion, Natasha assumed she was the wife, gave a loud harrumph and said, "Alfred dear, that uniform looks so cheap they probably don't laundry it for fear it might tear into pieces."
Natasha forced herself to hold her smile.
Cheap?!
She had on her officer's evening uniform: White blouse, black bowtie and a black blazer with gold buttons and gold stripes along the sleeves denoting her rank. This was accompanied by a black skirt -1 inch above the knee as per regulations-, dark pantyhose and black close-toed, 2-inch pumps. Sure, it wasn't red carpet material but it was good quality clothing and tailor-fitted to her figure. Natasha might not have been pleased by being blessed with supermodel looks but she made sure she always presented a crisp, clean, well-tailored look.
"Ah, well it's certainly quite drab compared to your fine attires this evening," she told the couple, trying to keep her tone jovial. "I do believe your elevator is waiting."
The elevator was indeed waiting, and thankfully the couple entered and said no more. Natasha could feel the eyes of the man following her as the elevator doors closed.
Natasha finally got to cabin 604, tapped her card key and entered. This cabin was pretty big, at least compared to other cabins... but it wasn't her cabin, not really. All officers were accorded single cabins, whereas other crew had to share two, three, sometimes four to a cabin. As head purser - which is fancy ship-speak for head of the finance department - she was a 3-stripe officer and entitled to a single cabin with a queen sized bed, a sofa, a desk, a computer, a closet and a bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink.
This cabin, on the other hand, looked like a small apartment and it belonged to her husband. Her husband was the ship Staff Captain, a 4-stripe officer who's 2
nd
in command to the ship's Captain. It had a separate bedroom from the living area, was about 3 times the size of her cabin on deck 3, had a king bed instead of a queen, a 55" TV, a dining area, a huge couch, and most especially a full bathtub.
Her husband was currently on vacation and wouldn't be back on the ship for 2 more months. She was able to convince HR to allow her to keep staying in her husband's cabin while he was gone.
Natasha had taken off her blazer and was about to take off her shoes when she heard a knock on her door.
"Who is it?" she called.
"Good evening Natasha. It's Tanos", came the reply in a thick Greek accent.
Tanos?
What did he want at this hour?
!
"Metzis, can't you see I'm already off for the evening? Come and see me tomorrow in my office."
"I'm sorry Natasha. It's kind of urgent. I've come across some information that's, ah, of pretty sensitive nature that I need you to look into."
Natasha sighed. Tanos Metzis was the assistant IT manager. A 2-stripe officer. As head of finance Natasha had to deal with the IT department on a regular basis regarding sensitive information... usually in regards to financial transactions.
She put her blazer back on and opened the door a crack. "What is it?" she said in a brisk tone.
