<strong>Joseph Harden</strong><br/><br/>Harden wasn’t going to lie to himself, he was surprised that Macheath managed to get some control over the situation in the mess hall. For a moment, he believed that the crew was already too far gone to be brought back. But the sight of Skip Jones groaning on the metal floor as he rubbed his pained and swollen jaw combined with the Commanders threatening tone managed to at least get the majority of the men in line. He wasn’t sure if all of them would have vacated the mess hall by the time they returned, but the majority would. Still, this was only the first act of insubordination. It would get much worse as time progressed. Already the notion that the officers would keep the women to themselves had spread through the ship like a virus, it was a recipe that would eventually come to a boiling point, no matter what they did.<br/><br/>He shrugged at the suggestion of promoting those that behaved.<strong>“With respect commander, I doubt that a promotion will be enough to keep even the most well-behaved men in check. It wasn’t wise to put one of the girls on full display… Just the idea of having women on board would have been enough to cause unrest, but to put one on display for them has only made their blood boil even more. I’m afraid the genie is out of the bottle now… The only way this thing ends well at this point if we cut our losses and abort the mission… But we both know the Hawk will never, ever do that.”</strong>Indeed, Harden could see the hate and anger in the looks of some of the men as they departed the mess hall. They might have won this round, but the men in attendance would not forget about this. Not about how he and Macheath had intervened, but also not about the two redheads they had ogled and pawed at.<br/>