The supply sergeant’s smile vanished like a mouse at a cat show, and he licked his lips nervously while his eyes darted from the commander to the door.
“That … won’t be necessary, Captain,” he said carefully. “I’m willing to admit, just between the two of us, of course, that there might be a few items that have been, shall we say, misplaced over the last few months. If you want, I can see if the missing equipment can be found again in the next couple of weeks.”
“That wasn’t what I had in mind, C.H.” Phule smiled.
“Okay, then.” Harry hunched forward conspiratorially in his chair. “I suppose you and I can work out some kind of profit-sharing agreement …”
The commander gave a short bark of laughter, cutting the sergeant short.
“Excuse me, Harry, but you’re getting the wrong message here. I’m not trying to shut you down … or shake you down, for that matter. If anything, what I want is the exact opposite. I want you to expand your operation, and I think I can help you do that. You can start by clearing out most of the stock you’ve got in the warehouse right now.”
The supply sergeant scowled. “How do you figure that, Captain? I mean, I sure do like your style, but it occurs to me that if we clean this outfit out, someone’s bound to notice. You got some plan to hide the fact I’ll be sittin’ on an empty warehouse?”
“First of all, we’re not going to try to hide it. “ Phule grinned. “We’ll be doing this strictly by the book … specifically Section 954, paragraph 27, which states: ‘The supply sergeant may dispose of any surplus or outdated equipment by destroying or selling such equipment’; and Section 987, paragraph 8: ‘The commanding officer shall determine if any item of the company’s equipment is suitable for repair or upgrade, or if it is to be deemed scrap and disposed of.’ Now, to my eye the bulk of our equipment is more suitable for a museum than a fighting force, so I figure your work is going to be cut out for you.”