Azizi looked at him for a moment. "I see."

Cal smiled. "And that, Commander, was the good news."

Azizi digested this in silence for a moment. "What's the bad news, sir?"

"I'm the boss."

Azizi looked delighted. "Really, sir? Well, then, let's get started."

It turned out that Azizi had an almost preternatural ability to hotwire anything on wheels; fork lifts, pickup trucks, even a motorized shopping cart liberated from a nearby supermarket. After a day of watching him in action Cal said, "So, you can hotwire anything, can you?"

Azizi shrugged, grinning.

"Does that mean you can un-hotwire anything, too? Make them impossible to steal?"

Azizi considered. "Well, sir, like I told you. I'm from New Jersey."

Cal had no further trouble hanging on to the tanker trucks.

Azizi also proved to be a first-rate scrounger, which as anyone who has ever served on a battlefield will attest is a skill to be cherished. The food on the three cruise ships improved markedly almost from the day of Azizi's arrival, and CWO Parker, who liked his grub, was moved to say that Lieutenant Commander Azizi ought to be put up for a medal.

The four of them did not long remain the only Coasties on the scene but Cal was indisputably the one with the most stroke, including the direct line to the old man, which he tried not to over-exploit but which proved to be a significant asset.