Nav was on the bridge, she had the ship as Mike was talking to Kate in the ships office. Her head was still a little fuzzy but she was feeling better than she was when she woke up. More human and less like the undead, especially after her second navigator brew.

In the galley Bomber was still feeling rotten. The aspirin had helped with the pounding headache but she was feeling queasy and being on the ship in the middle of the seas wasn't helping matters. She was setting about to prepare lunch. Deciding she couldn't manage much she began to make toasties. The crew would have to lump it. She would serve a soup she had in the cold stores and some chips. It was simple but would have to do. She wasn't about to try anything extravagant.

Back on the bridge Nav was looking over her charts making sure that the search area she had plotted was water tight as if she was just one degree out it could be a whole 70 miles out and that could be the difference of finding these students or not. She was so focused on the charts she failed to see ET come on to the bridge. Happy that she had her calculations right she moved to look out the windows binoculars scanning the sea in front of her looking out for the missing yacht or bodies in the water.

"looking for icebergs ma'am" he grinned

"Leader are you forgetting we are in the middle of the coral sea and that any icebergs are in the Atlantic ocean that's about 9,000 miles away." She turned to face him, he collapsed in a fit of laughter

"sorry Ma'am jokes" he grinned

"ET" she hit him on the arm "what are you doing. Why on earth would you bring up icebergs" she was annoyed with why would he joke about that. He just made her feel like she was a rubbish navigator

"sorry Ma'am it was a joke"

"a bad one"

"sorry ma'am" he hung his head

Out of the window Nab could see Kate talking to Mike. Kate looked so sad, Nav couldn't make out what they were saying but it looked heated. She was sad for her friend and was determined to find out what was wrong.

"Ma'am something in the water" ET pointed to the port side of the ship.

"stop both engines" Nav called to Swain who was steering the ship. Looking through her binoculars she could see it was the missing yacht. Picking up the radio for the ships internal speakers

"CO and XO to the bridge!" she announced

It was a matter of minuets before Mike and Kate entered the bridge.

"what is it Nav?" Mike asked.

"Sir its the missing yacht. No sign of life on deck and no answer on radio". Nav relayed the information to him handing him the binoculars she was holding.

Looking through them he could see himself that the Nav was right "Nav Get Buffer up here"

Nav once again called over the ships speakers for Buffer to come to the bridge

Buffer arrived in a matter of minutes.

"Buffer I want you to take a boarding party over, take ET and Swain see what's going on"

"Eye Sir" Buffer nodded and made his way off the bridge

Kate stepped forward "Sir" she hinted she wanted to go on the boarding party.

"Sorry X your still on light duties" he turned to continue looking out at the yacht for any sign of life.

" But Sir Please I need this" she pleaded just wanting to be off the ship even if it was only for a hour or two. "I feel fine"

"X my decision is final" he looked at her

Sighing she pushed her way off the bridge it was getting crowded up there and she needed space. Heading towards her cabin she decided now was as good a time as any to compose the email to NAVCOM about a transfer request, and her cabin was quiet and private.

The hangover and lack of sleep was finally catching up on her. Letting out a yawn she rubbed her eyes stretching to try and fight off sleep as she wouldn't be awake in time for her watch later. Staring at the screen wasn't helping but she had to do this.

Nav appeared moments later with 2 coffees and a plate with a slice of chocolate cake on.

"want some company?" Nav smiled handing her friend a coffee

"sure. Better than paperwork" Kate smiled sipping her coffee. She shut the lid on the computer, she didn't want anyone to see her transfer letter. "are they on the boat?" she asked

"yeah. CO's not happy they are all drunk as anything. The radio got smashed some how and they ran out of petrol. We are towing back to base"

"Oh good." She smiled "how's your head" she grinned

"not so bad now I have had several coffees. I'm feeling more human now and less like the undead. What about you how you feeling"

"I don't know. I feel fine but I also don't and I cant figure out why"

"what's happened" Nav looked concerned for her friend it was unlike Kate to be feeling off.

"I kind of drunk dialled the CO last night. And sang I will always love you" Kate hid her face

"what!" Nav gasped "Kate McGregor you dark horse" she grinned

"don't" Kate managed a slight smile

"So what happened, does he know, what did he say" Nav shot a million questions to her friend

" I don't know I guess I annoyed he stood me up and he does know and he was really nice about it which makes it worse. I have to get off this ship"

"do you really love him"

Kate nodded sadly a tear rolling down her cheek

"Oh Kate" Nav slid off her rack and hugged her friend

"you cant tell anyone especially this lot they will take the piss for all eternity"

Nav drew a cross over her heart promising she would never tell

" we met at Watsons Bay. He ran a course I was on and we sort of started going out. He then just left with out saying goodbye and broke my heart. The last few years have been hell being on Hammersley, especially watching him with Ursula. Then he always seems to put the navy first..."

Kate spilled everything to Nav who listened with out judgment

"well Kate you definitely are a dark horse and I thought I was bad with ET"

"oh yeah how's that going"

"he asked me about icebergs this morning asking if I had seen any in the middle of the coral sea"

Kate smiled that had cheered her up and made her day

They were interrupted by a notification on there phones. A message had pinged through on the group chat the ship had so they all could send stuff if they were on shore leave. It was a video from Buffer.

Opening it both Nav and Kate erupted in laughter at Bomber dancing round the ship to invisible music. This was followed by Bomber shouting for buffer.

Nav poked her head round the door

"he is on the yacht part of the steaming party

"I'll kill him I shall bloody kill him."

Later

Kate sat looking at the email she had composed. She didn't want to leave Hammersley despite hating being on patrol boats at first she had grown to love the role she had. The crew were more like family and she loved them all. The only thing she didn't like was the fact she was working so close to Mike everyday and knowing she could never be with him whilst they were on the same boat or he kept on putting the Navy or Knocker first. Hovering the mouse over the send Button she just couldn't click send. Saving the email she shut the computer down. Sliding in to her rack she would send it tomorrow.

okay so this is chapter 3 it has taken me a while to get this right and many many pages in my notebook but finally this is it. I will be writing a chapter on Kate and Mikes conversation on deck and also 1 more on bombers reaction and how nav finds out about ET's recording. hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think