Chapter 3

The Captain lay in his bed as he gradually became aware of his surroundings. The clock on the bedside glowed. It was 0330.

He recalled the last thing he remembered before he had slept. Dr. Scott had pushed him back onto the pillows with her hand on his bare chest. She proceeded to tell him in no uncertain terms that she could order him. He knew of the rule that a Doctor could order a superior officer to do something if it was involving their own health, but it was a rule hardly ever used. He laughed to himself thinking that she had actually called him on it. He couldn't deny the rule. He would give her that. He wondered how she had known about that rule.

He could still remember the feel of her fingers sliding up the length of his body from this waist to his chest, as she pulled up the sheet and blanket to cover him.

He had quipped, " Are you tucking me in, Doctor?"

She had answered in the same laughing tone, " If that's what it takes to keep you in that bed, Captain. Now get some sleep. "

He shook his head, putting the thought out of his mind. He had to get up . His stomach was demanding food now. He needed a trip to the Head. He also needed another shower.

He could not believe it . He had slept for about 18 hours, with the slight interruption of Dr. Scott. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she had been right about the extra sleep he had needed. He felt restored .

He took a quick shower, enjoying the hot water and fresh smell of the soap. He was now fully awake and ready for some food. He just had to find some. He had put on a pair of sweat pants and a T-Shirt. There was nobody up for the most part at this time of night.

He knocked on the door to Mike's quarters, which was across from his own. Mike took a minute or so and then opened the door. He looked startled to see the Captain. He said, " Tom, What is it? Are you alright? "

Tom answered, "Yes, I'm alright. There's nothing wrong. I just slept for 18 hours, which I had never planned to do. I need some answers and to be brought up to speed about a few things going on around here. Mike, meet me in the Wardroom in about 10 minutes. I'll see what I can find in the Galley, even if I have to bring up canned peaches and some Spam. I've never raided the Galley before, but I am hungry enough to try it now."

Mike said he would be there. He was not looking forward to this, but it was better than doing it in front of the other officers.

The Captain reached the Galley and went in. He turned the light on and went to the refrigerator first. He was just pulling out some cheese when the door to the refrigerator was thrown back and he was face to face with the formidable presence of Bacon, the Chief Cook, who was in charge of all of the meals, food prep and food stores on the ship.

He was carrying a meat cleaver in his hand., which was raised in a threatening manner.

Bacon said, "Captain, Sir, I, I …thought I heard one of the crew in here trying to raid the refrigerator." He came to attention.

The Captain said, arching his eyebrow and laughing, " As you were, Bacon. I guess you caught me. Were you going to use that meat cleaver on me?"

Bacon said, "No sir, I would never actually use it on anyone, but it sure keeps them from coming back when I do catch them. I caught more when we had ice cream in here, but there hasn't been any of that for a while, now. Now, they are usually after the Pop Tarts"

Bacon said," Captain, It is sure good to see you back. After all you have been through, you must really be hungry."

The Captain said. " You are right about that, Bacon. I've just slept for about 18 hours, with a slight interruption and I am in need of some real food."

Bacon said grinning from ear to ear, "Yes, Sir, you did have a slight interruption in that sleep, didn't you?"

The Captain looked at Bacon sharply, "What do you mean, Bacon?"

Bacon wiped the grin off his face, realizing that the Captain had no idea the whole ship knew about his little mishap with Dr. Scott.. He said, " Oh, nothing Captain, I was just thinking I could muster up some Ham and hash browns. How about some pancakes along with it? "

The Captain said," Bacon that sounds great. Would you do that for me? I will be in the Wardroom with Commander Slattery. Could you bring it up there with some black coffee? Maybe you better rush the coffee. Commander Slattery isn't use to being up so early ."

Bacon said," Aye, Captain, I've got your back. I'll see what else I can find for you and the XO, maybe some fruit. You won't have to wait long with me in charge, Sir."

Bacon had a very good relationship with the Captain and he always took extra care of him, if he ever wanted anything, special. Bacon, the Captain knew, was not just a great cook, but happened to be one of the most intelligent members of the crew. For one thing, he was a master at the game of Chess. The Captain often wondered if things had gone another way for Bacon, if he'd had the college education, a mind like his could have been used to be involved in many higher level pursuits, such a strategic planning . Anybody that good at playing Chess, would be able to think of all kinds of contingency plans for just about any situation that could come up. He thought that Bacon was pretty good at cooking up some excellent meals without many of the foods they had all taken for granted before.

The Captain headed for the Wardroom. He could hear Bacon chuckling to himself and whistling in the background. The Captain thought to himself that Bacon looked like he had swallowed a Canary "Well something is making him happy." he thought.

He made his way to the Wardroom. Mike was waiting for him . Tom closed the door behind him. Though they were best friends and had known each other for years, Tom was the Captain and when he gave an order he expected it to be carried out. Mike didn't know quite what to expect. He had an uneasy feeling that there were still some questions the Captain had and since they were having this conversation at 0400, privately in the Wardroom, he expected the questions to be of a serious nature.

Still he was confident of the decisions he had made and he knew that he had made decisions that went against what Tom had told him to do, but he would make the same decisions again, given the circumstances.

Tom noted the tension in the room and tried to lighten it a bit by saying " Mike, I ran into Bacon in the Galley. He will be bringing us breakfast and some black coffee, which I think we both need." He motioned to the table for Mike to sit down and before he could seat himself, Bacon knocked at the Wardroom door. The Captain opened it and let Bacon come in holding a tray with the Coffee, some mugs and two place settings.. The Captain stood while Bacon was setting the table. Before he left, Bacon poured hot coffee into the mugs for the two officers. Bacon said ," I'll be right back with breakfast, Captain." Then he excused himself and the Captain closed the door and seated himself at the table across from Mike.

He said, "Mike, before we discuss anything else, I want you to know that you are to be commended on the planning and execution the rescue mission. It went like clockwork for the most part. I want to know more about that in a few minutes."

The Captain gave Mike a stern look. "One thing I did want to discuss with you. I knew the ship and crew would be in good hands when I called you that last time when Tex and I were in the water. I told you to cease all search and rescue efforts for us and that would be my last contact. That was an order, Mike.! You knew that!"

Mike said " And I chose, as acting Captain of the Nathan James, to ignore that order. I would do it again. Tom, I know if you had been here on the Bridge and it was me or anyone else in the crew, out there in the water, you would never have left us. God Dam it, Tom, do you think I would ever leave you and Tex out there? Not one member of the crew would have wanted me to sail off into the sunset. You are our Captain and as long as you are still breathing, it will remain so !"

Tom felt humbled at the loyalty that Mike had expressed with such passion. He would have someday had a ship of his own had things been different. He almost had it earlier than he thought. Mike was a natural leader and sometimes they didn't see eye to eye because of that, but he knew Mike was right about one thing.. He himself would never have left anyone behind.

At this point, Bacon brought their breakfast. They took a break from their conversation. The Captain breathed in the aroma of all before him and knew he was home. They both enjoyed this early morning breakfast. Tom soon felt his energy level rise and his body was back to normal. Mike, too felt much more at ease. He was confident in the decisions he had made.

They poured themselves more coffee as Mike brought the Captain up to date with what the planning was behind the extraction mission.

Mike began," When we got the call from Ruskov, I tried to stall him long enough to get a bearing on where the Vyreni was, but we failed at that. Ruskov gave us only 10 minutes to figure some kind of strategy. He wanted Dr. Scott and all of her work or he would torture and kill you and Tex. I knew that I would not give up Dr. Scott period, but I had to have time to locate the Vyerni to send an extraction team to get you back. I knew he would start torturing you as soon as I told him that I would not send Dr. Scott to him.. I did not see any way around that."

Mike continued, "I know Ruskov was planning to have your screams echoing all over our Bridge. He thought I would give in . The only thing I could hope for is that we could get a bearing on where those screams were being sent from, the location of the Vyerni. That is all I had at the time. I didn't know what kind of torture he would use on you, but the Russians have been known to be brutal. We were all hoping you could hold out and stay alive long enough for us to get to you out.I would try to play for time, letting him think we were being swayed and that we might send her and in the mean time get an extraction team to you, before you were tortured to death."

Tom said, "Yes, that was what I thought you would do. You knew she was never to be sent, even if you could not save us. I never wanted her risked under any circumstances, Mike, you knew that. Why did you risk her like that? Why did you send her?."

Mike said," The most amazing thing happened 5 minutes after Ruskov called me. We were in the middle of discussions, when we were interrupted on the bridge by Dr. Scott rushing into the room.. I told her we didn't have time to talk now, that we had only 5 minutes to come up with some sort of strategy before the Russians called us back. She said that she had the vaccine. She said the last monkey had survived."

Tom's mouth dropped open. " You mean she actually has a working vaccine? I heard Ruskov come to me and tell me that he now had the vaccine from Dr. Scott, but I thought you had sent her to the Vyerni to bluff her way through. I could not believe she really had it. This all happened while I was gone? Oh my God , Mike."

Mike went on. "Even so, I could not see letting her go, but she brought up some very good points. She said that sending her would provide the only chance we would ever have to destroy the Vyerni and Ruskov, once and for all. She basically said that he would follow us to the ends of the Earth. I could see she was right. We just had to plan the rest of it. 5 minutes later, we agreed to send her when Ruskov called back. That bought us some hours and you were not being tortured. It would take Dr. Scott time to get her things together, we told Ruskov. Our Seal team was on the bridge and Lt. Green decided Cosetti, was the only person who had the knowledge of just how to set the small explosives in the right places on the Vyerni, so that they could do enough damage to sink the ship, without causing an nuclear meltdown or explosion, which would have killed all of you, along with the Russians. It was a brilliant plan, but we had to find you and Tex on the ship. That was something that gave us pause. It would take a very long time to locate you. Then the idea of passing a note and a blade to you was brought up."

Tom said ," Yes and whose idea was the kiss.? "

Mike said, " That was Rachel's idea and what an argument we all gave her. That kind of thing, could blow up in our faces. What if Ruskov suspected she was passing a note and Ruskov found it? What if it was dropped ? What if she wasn't allowed to be close enough to you to kiss you. She had worked on some other alternatives, just in case."

Tom said, intrigued, "Why did she choose me, rather than Tex? "

Mike said, "To have it work the best way, it needed to be you, Captain. Ruskov would be wondering why she was being sent without your even being tortured one time. He would have suspected some sort of trick. We had to make Ruskov think you two were in love and that she had come to his ship so fast to keep him from torturing you. We wanted him to put two and two together himself. He thought up the strategy of capturing you so he would have the torture leverage and we would just give him a little more leverage, at least seemingly. We were taking a chance, but knowing his arrogance, he would be patting himself on the back because now he could see anther advantage for keeping you alive and there on his ship. Now he could use the threat of torturing you to get Dr, Scott to do his bidding."

Mike continued, "By sending Doctor Scott herself with enough of the vaccine and some vials of the virus to convince Ruskov that she had the real vaccine, which he would want to test, we could use her as our living ticking time bomb, using a tracking device on her life vest, which she would wear until they took the vest off of her on the Vyreni, As soon as she was aboard, we could get the location and send the extraction team out right on time. We knew about how far they were from us by time, but not in which direction. The Russian helicopter was picking her up a distance from us. Ruskov would want to make sure the vaccine worked and that Dr. Scot had brought all of her work, before he would chance sinking the Nathan James, so we had to move quickly. We had a bold plan, but if all worked well, we would be free of the Vyerni and have all of our people back. We almost succeeded, if we had not lost Cosetti. Tom, I think you can see there was no other way. We had all the pieces we needed. There would not be a second chance to be rid of Ruskov, once and for all. Dr. Scott was right."

Tom said, " This was even a better plan than I realized. You covered all the bases, with some ample help from the guy upstairs. My hat is off to you., Mike., but I never want her risked again, understood?"

Mike said, "Understood, Captain"

Smiling broadly, Mike said " We were all so worried about how you would react to the kiss. I could not wait to ask you. Now it'd your turn, Tom. Did she really kiss you and pass the note?"

Tom was not ready to answer questions about how she had kissed him and how he had responded. Somehow as public as the planning of this was, it had turned into something that was very private between himself and Dr. Scott. He hadn't even been able to voice any questions to her or even figure out himself what that kiss had revealed. He shifted a little in his seat and looked down. None of this was lost on Mike who now would have loved to have been a fly on the wall. He would have to ask Tex about it The Captain knew he had to say something to Mike.

The Captain cleared his throat and said, "Tex and I were brought up from the brig in handcuffs. I thought that this was it. The torture would start. The last thing I ever thought I would see is that you had disobeyed my orders and sent Dr. Scott to Ruskov. I saw her standing there ,looking at me from across the room, I blurted out ' What the hell are you doing here?' Before I could say another word, she rushed up to me and had thrown herself into the kiss , as if we had been lovers for a long time. She was very good,. Fortunately, it took only seconds to realize that she was trying to pass me something. I went along with it. We both kissed each other as though our lives depended on it. If we hadn't, Ruskov would have immediately figured out what she was doing. He might have wanted to search my mouth. I would have had to swallow the damn thing!"

The Captain continued, "Poor Tex, was at a complete loss. You know how he feels about Dr. Scott. Even he thought we had been having a secret love affaire, after that kiss.. He was berating me all the way down to the brig, until I could get the note out of my mouth, after they had taken off our handcuffs."

They finished their coffee and they both men felt refreshed . The Captain felt he had a good handle on what had gone into the planning for mission and he was pleased with Mike on that front.

He had questions for Dr. Scott about the kiss, though he didn't know what he was going to say to her. He did want to understand what had happened to them and he wanted to make sure she was alright after what had happened last night.

He said, " I just have one other bone to pick with you, Mike and I presume you know what that is. Why in hell didn't you warn Dr. Scott about waking me up the way she did? You do know that I could have killed her? We bring her back from the Vyreni , not a scratch on her and she walks into my quarters and walks out with a black eye."

Mike looked down at the table, shaking his head. " Tom, I've been kicking myself ever since I found out about what happened. Do you know that she told me that she had walked into the steal door to your quarters. She was trying to protect you . Of course I didn't believe her. I figured it out myself, after seeing the condition she was in when she came up to the bridge. "

Mike said, "Well Tom, at least you didn't use the full kill tactic that we both had drilled into us at the Academy." He was looking directly into Tom's eyes as he said this. Mike saw the Captain's jaw clench and how he averting his eyes for a second before looking back up at his friend.

Mike said, " Tom, You… you didn't.. you didn't actually….Oh my God…You didn't flip her…. onto ….onto…your.. your

Tom finished the sentence for him , " Onto my bed, God Dam it!."

Mike said, " Oh no, Tom, You didn't roll on top of her, on your .. your knees ….. Please don't tell me you… "

Tom exploded in pent up anger, " Yes, you Son of a Bitch and it is no thanks to you for not warning her!. Thank God, she screamed and that brought me to my senses. I just barely averted the killing blow! God, Mike, I'll never forgive myself. I deflected it, but she turned her face to the side and I caught her on the cheekbone just under her eye. "

Mike suddenly understood, saying, " No wonder she looked like she'd just been mauled by a lion. Her hair was partially out of the clip in back and much of it was hanging loose. She had come directly up to the bridge after she left your quarters. She obviously had not looked into a mirror. She knew we were all concerned about your condition. She was so happy to tell me you would be fine after you got about 8 hours more sleep. She told me it wasn't important what had happened to her. I felt terrible that I hadn't warned her, but I had no idea that she'd experienced that much. I just thought you'd just flung your arm out, when she tried to take your pulse."

Mike saw the pain in Tom's eyes as he had to face what he had actually done last night.

The Captain ran his hand though his hair saying "Not only that , but after I got her out of my bed, I yelled at her, dressing her down for walking into my quarters without knocking. I made her explain what she was doing in my quarters. I was so angry and stunned at what I had done and the fact that I'd almost killed her. Mike, she is the most important person on this ship. I would have given my life to keep her away from Ruskov or any other danger and I end up being the worst danger, myself . I am a God damn lethal weapon!"

Mike looked at his friend and realized he was really hurting. He said " Tom, listen to me. You did not kill her. She is a doctor. She knows you were not yourself and you have never failed to wake up on your own, when someone calls you or knocks. This was a very unusual circumstance. It will never happen again, Tom."

" As far as you being a 'lethal weapon', that is what we are trained to be. It helped save her life the night before, on the Vyerni, remember? Now. she knows the rule. I'm sure she will never forget it. There is no way she blames you for what happened. It was very obvious that she cares for you and was relieved that you just needed some sleep, rather than it being something more serious. The bottom line is she has a slight discoloration under her eye. It isn't even a full black eye", he lied.

Mike continued, "Do you remember, back when we were all in our 4th year at the Academy. Remember how we all laughed, when we heard about how Christian accidentally gave his girlfriend a black eye, when she sat up in bed, when he was having a nightmare after he went through Seal Training? We laughed because it is so out of character for someone like you or like Christian to ever give a woman a black eye. It just would never happen, under normal circumstances. Her eye will be fine in another week. You will both laugh about this one of these days. It will be a story to tell your grandchildren."

Tom started to calm down. He remembered he always had warned Darien about the rule and she had never been hurt, nor his children. Under normal circumstances, he would always wake up, if a pin dropped. He was over reacting a bit, but he still felt such guilt for what had happened. At least Mike didn't know the other part of the story and hopefully he never would, certainly not from him.

The two men left the Wardroom and Tom went back to his quarters to change into his BDUs. It was still early, but late enough that he might get a chance to speak with Dr. Scott.

There was also something he thought he had heard Mike say about everyone on the Bridge waiting to hear about his condition from Dr. Scott. No, he couldn't have heard that right. At least he hoped not.

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