This is just a little part one of a three part filler piece that joins my previous fic (Hard Habit to Break) to Season 1. It's not perfectly canon but it's close. Little fillers sometimes have important consequences though. Remember when Laura Ingall's family spent the winter on the shores of Silver Lake? Tar paper, rags, and pitch stuffed between the logs were all that kept them from freezing to death.
**Another One Bites the Dust, Queen**
September 4, 2014
As soon as the one helo went down and the others sped off, Danny and Dr. Scott turned back toward the pickup site. Ahead of them, Benz and Dr. Trophet pulled to a stop at the top of the hill that lead down to the water. Adrenaline pumped through Danny and he heaved for breath and he heard Dr. Scott gasping behind him. "Are you injured Ma'am?"
She took a minute to reply. "No, No, Lieutenant Green. With great thanks to your dog, I am OK."
They watched as anti missile flares and smoke wreathed the ship and it came about hard toward starboard. From this distance the helo's looked like toys but Danny knew without a doubt that they were lethal and depending how they were armed, capable of seriously crippling the ship. One helo launched a missile but it was intercepted just yards from the starboard flank. Dr. Scott gasped with horror as the Cwieks spewed and brought the bird down.
Here on the ice they were practically defenseless but Danny still felt a moment's relief when it looked like the second helo was turning away from the ship to return to the ice. A few yards away, Frankie readied the RPG just in case. Suddenly, the helo burst into flames, the result of a 5" shell no doubt. Immediately he began wondering where the heck had those guys came from and what did they want?
He tapped his comm. "Tiger team requesting retrieval ASAP."
Mason's voice was a little shaky "Saber Hawk One is readying for launch. ETA 15 minutes. What's your team status Lieutenant Green?"
"We are all fine. I am going to go back and sweep for prisoners as soon as it looks like we're go for pickup. Dr. Scott has her samples. I'd like a team to come on ice to examine the attack site. I'd bet my weight in gold those guys were Spetsnaz. What's your status?"
There was a pause from Mason. As soon as Danny asked it, he realized what a strange question it was for him, as someone outside the command structure of the ship, to even ask. But he had to know if Kara was OK. It could be hours before he got back to ask her himself. In the distance the ship slowed from the speed it was using during evasive maneuvers. "CO concurs. Cobra team will join you on the ice. And we are also all fine Lieutenant."
Forty five minutes later the two teams were done examining the site and the one wounded prisoner was strapped into a stretcher for Chandler to deal with. As far as he could tell, these had been highly trained operatives but there wasn't much else to be gathered from the wreckages. As the gloom of late evening fell it was becoming bitterly cold. The prisoner passed in and out of consciousness and Danny begrudgingly allowed Dr. Scott to treat him after Cruz and Burk gave him a quick once over for weapons. As they neared the ship he caught himself alternately staring at the upper port windows and scanning the horizon. He could see that two extra watch officers were also scanning with field glasses. Where the hell had those helo's come from?
Chandler was waiting on deck when they returned. Seeing Dr. Scott holding her arm Chandler's face clouded. "Lieutenant Green, I thought you said you were all ok."
Danny frowned and was about to reply that she had said she was OK when Dr. Scott cut him off snapping, "I am fine." She had apparently come out of her shock and now addressed the captain with a haughty tone that no one else on the ship, not even Slattery, could dream of getting away with. "I will clean it up in a minute. Right now it is very important that I get these samples to the lab."
Danny watched as Chandler fisted and released his hand by his sides. In four months he'd never seen him more than mildly perturbed but he was incensed now, and it wasn't at the mysterious Russian Commandos. "You need to see Doc Rios. Dr. Trophet can take your case to the lab."
"No, I need to see to my samples. It is more important than a scratch." They faced each other, toe to toe for a moment. Danny wondered who would give in first. The captain directed his frosty glare at him. "Lieutenant Green, would you please see Dr. Scott to her lab and call Doc Rios to attend her?"
The petite doctor huffed her displeasure at being given a babysitter but allowed him to hold the hatch. It wasn't lost on him that Chandler watched them go.
After releasing her into Doc Rios' capable hands, he headed for the upper decks. Using the aft ladder, he passed by the CIC on his way to the wardroom. There was no sign of Kara but no one seemed too upset either. Doc Rios certainly hadn't sounded pressured. She's OK. You'd know if she wasn't, he thought to himself. He made himself continue on to the wardroom despite his desire to pass through and just casually check a little deeper.
Some of his tension left when he entered the wardroom and saw she was there. She was leaning over the table with her back to him discussing some maps with Barker, Gator, Slattery, Jeter, and Granderson but he recognized her form instantly. She looked tense and he wished he could just slide his hands up her back and massage some of the tension away. He did the first thing he came up with to comfort her without raising suspicions and motioned to Halsey to go her.
When Kara felt the dog brush her leg she turned, and her wide eyes frantically searched him. He wanted to take her hand or say something to assure her that he was OK but he knew he couldn't. Slattery looked up from across the table. "Ah, Green, good. We might need some info from you. The CO is trying to get in touch with the Pentagon but in the meantime, let's figure out what we can." The XO motioned him over to the table and he stepped up to the other side of the dog. Seeing he was ok for herself, she took a deep breath and launched into the briefing.
"Radar indicated the five helo's coming down on your team about 15 seconds before you saw them. This is consistent with their direction of approach with the mountains to the west shielding them. Debris and the uniform of the prisoner we recovered are also consistent with your earlier assessment that they were Spetsnaz operatives." He saw her shudder at the idea. "They were flying Mi-28's which have a 230 mile range." She slid a laptop across the table showing the range overlaid on the map. Except for Greenland to the West, most of the area was open water.
Barker jumped in before Slattery had a chance to ask. "I've already asked my team to assess probable origin points Sir." Danny gripped the edge of the table. Here Kara was doing a good job leading the briefing and Barker just had to grab some of the credit for himself.
Granderson and Gator exchanged a loaded look. Apparently this was normal behavior for Barker. "Indeed Sir." Gator answered. "In fact there isn't a base or airstrip or any fuel source that we know of within range so they probably came from a ship."
Kara pulled a piece of paper to the top of the pile on the table. "These are the types of ships that could carry five or more Mi-28's." Clearly she had anticipated this line of questions.
Danny noted the list included some Chinese and Japanese ships as well. "Those guys were definitely Russian. So I think we could narrow down the list further."
"Agreed." Kara circled three ships with a red pen. "If we break silence to ask the Pentagon for help, we should ask for a review of satellite images over.." She typed something on the laptop and the range circle expanded. "..this area to account for ship movement."
Slattery was tapping a finger on the table. "Barker, how wide an area could we sweep to the East if we activated passive sonar only."
Barker scrunched up his brow. "With the temperature and water density up here, maybe about 150 miles. Somehow they already knew our position though so there's nothing to be gained by keeping silent. We might as well go active and sweep the whole range. The only other option is to use our own helo or the UAV to do an aerial survey."
Slattery nodded but he didn't make any orders. "I don't like being blind to the west either but our orders are to remain silent. Foster, what do you think about the helo or UAV?"
"I agree that we shouldn't deliberately give away our position. If we set a course east-south east to get ourselves away from being trapped against the coast it will increase our maneuverability and improve our ability to monitor anything incoming from the west."
Slattery's lips were set in a grim line as he looked between Barker and Foster. Both were excellent officers but he liked Foster's thinking better.
"Sir, if I can add something." Danny leaned over the table and pointed to the ship list. "All of these ships carry more than five birds. I think regardless of what we do for communication we need to move immediately. Unless it's this one.." he tapped the picture of a helo carrier "..it's nuclear powered so we're not going to outrun them if it comes to that. But if they are truly west of us, we can get out of their helo range by getting away from the coast."
Slattery looked to Granderson and Gator who were now bent muttering over the map. "Assuming it's a Vyerni class and they are close to shore, I'd guess they are around here." Granderson nodded in agreement with Gator. "We could be out of range in about two hours Sir."
Slattery looked around the room. Everyone was nodding. "Alright. We're going to stay silent for now but I want us ready if and when Chandler decides to go offensive. Barker, you're on in the CIC now anyway so get the UAV ready but keep it grounded. Foster, get some preliminary missile points cued up for the intersection location." Barker acknowledged the order, satisfied that his suggestions hadn't been ignored. Kara nodded as well before glancing Danny's way. For the most part, Danny hadn't really seen Slattery in command before. During the few crisis that had occurred, Danny had been out on the ice. He liked the way the XO had taken input without allowing Barker to turn it into a competition. Plus, he not only made a decision, but prepared for the next possible step as well.
Slattery turned to the rest of them. "Granderson and Gator, head back up to the bridge and get us going on a course out of here.
Aye Sir." Granderson turned on her heel and hurried off.
He turned his intense gaze on Danny. "Who's on for the teams right now?"
"Before I came up here I sent Smith down to the armory with a couple ensigns to ready some RPGs, just in case we need them in a hurry. Bercham is helping Burk, topside with Cruz and O'Connor, assigning them stations on the mounted guns. Burk has the rest of his team in racks Sir and we'll rotate out with Benz and Miller next."
Slattery tapped a finger on his forehead. "Good thinking Lieutenant. I know I haven't mentioned this before, but it has not been overlooked, how well you and Burk coordinate. We've already got some official notes in the works for both your files commending the way you have integrated your teams. When things settle down I want to go over them with you, make sure we're pointing the brass in the right direction, career wise. Good job out there today."
Danny was surprised. He hadn't felt like he'd done anything special. In fact, today was only the third time he'd felt he did anything that used his unique skills on this entire cruise. "Ah, thank you sir. This mission is quite unusual for me and I'm trying to learn as much as I can while I'm here." He tried not to sound like Barker, but feared he came off as just as much of an eager beaver as the TAO had a while earlier.
"Ah, well I've seen your record and you're ripe for advancement so I suspect that's why you landed here, to get a little more breadth on your resume. Anyhow, keep it up and we should talk sometime about how you guys can both work on showing you're ready to take on larger commands."
Ordinarily, Danny would have felt elated. No matter what he did he always wondered if being the son of an admiral had given him an unfair advantage. But over time on the Nathan James he'd come to trust that Chandler was a straight shooter. And now he could see that Slattery was as well. A little embarrassed to be feeling so inordinately proud of himself in front of Kara he made his escape. "Thank you Sir. I'll go brief Burk now."
