Chapter 4

So much had been happening on board the Nathan James which was now a floating White House, temporary home of the Commander and Chief, the President of the United States as well as the hope of the world. The Nathan James had captured also Patient 0, Neil Sorensen, who had subsequently been killed by Dr. Rachel Scott. Through his death, she had discovered another form of the cure, which could become contagious and be spread like a cold virus.

The Captain had been obligated by the Navy code that he had to follow as the Commander of the Nathan James, to find out who had murdered Niels Sorensen. There had to be an investigation and all evidence pointed to Rachel. He had gotten her to admit what she had done in a fiery discourse that he had with her in the wardroom. He could not believe she had actually killed Sorenson in such a brutal way. He had been so angry at her for breaking the trust he had in her that he ended up yelling at her at the top of his lungs, so that some of their heated exchange was heard by certain crew members standing on guard outside the door. It was not long before the whole ship knew of their argument, because she had been sharp in her retort, though what the Captain said was what they could report, as Rachel's voice was not as powerful as his. It was clear they were having a very serious disagreement.

The crew had been aware of when they had spats before, but nothing like this. The crew had begun to think of the two of them as a close nit team with a bond that had become part of the strength of the whole ship. They had always worked together He had let his temper get the best of him and with all the other concerns he had on his plate, he had been very angry and had to think about what his duty required him to do, after her admission.

The crew could not help noticing how the Captain avoided making eye contact with Dr. Scott, how he turned away if he saw her coming his way. This was very unsettling to them in a strange way. In a funny way, it was as if poppa was roaring mad at mamma and that they were ready to split up and it made the whole ship very uneasy. It was not as if they were married, of course. Everyone knew how the loss of his wife had devastated the Captain, but the bond that he and Dr. Scott had on the ship was very strong as well and everyone knew it. All of this avoidance of each other, the investigations, his anger and her hurt was very hard to watch.

Now, even though he knew what he had to do, he could not see how he was going to do it. She was the hero, from the crew's point of view, yet the code was the code and it was set in stone. After he had prepared himself to be in his most official status to convey to her the rules of how she would be treated on the Nathan James from this point forward, it was not easy. He had to remind himself that she had broken the trust that he had in her. He did not see that he had any choice. He must treat her the way a murderer should be treated. He had to keep his crew firm in the knowledge that the Command staff was not going to let them think that they had ordered or condoned her action in taking Sorenson out.

He had summoned her to come, under guard to meet with him. He had attempted to be very formal, but could not keep from addressing her as Rachel, when it slipped out on its own, even though he was speaking with the coldness that the situation required. He explained the Naval Code and how he kept control of his ship by following that code to the letter. That Code is what was the backbone of the Navy and if he was to maintain order on the Nathan James, he had to give the crew the stability of knowing their Captain would always follow it. When he told her that she would not be allowed to go to the wardroom, the CIC or any common area of the ship, but would be only allowed to go to the lab and then back to her stateroom, the look on her face was utter shock and deep hurt that he could do this to her. She had not expected anything like this from him. She cried out his name, in shock, but he interrupted her, saying he had not finished. Then he put the nail in the coffin, by telling her that, because he did not have the authority to proceed in this matter that she would be turned over to the civil authorities at the first safe port they came to and she would pay for her crime.

When he finished this statement, she said to him, with a look of devastation in her eyes, "Tom, if this is what you want."

He looked into her eyes and he could feel the bile building up in his throat. "This has never been about what I wanted, Rachel!"

He straightened his chin to keep himself from weakening. He walked past her to the door, opened it and waited for her to leave the room. Her body was still facing forward and he was sure she was trying to collect herself to turn around. He could not even begin to imagine what she was feeling from this treatment from him. She turned and walked past him out of the room, without even looking at him. He was glad of that, because she might have seen the state he was in.

As soon as she left, he closed the door and stood there for a moment trying to get control of his emotions. He went to the sink. He looked at his face in the mirror, a mask of the pain he was feeling for what he had just done. He looked down at his hands and he was shaking. He put his face in his hands, trying without success to quell the nausea he was feeling. He had to splash his face with cold water.

He knew he had done the right thing, but his anger had been because she had broken his trust, He was disappointed that she was not who he thought her to be. He was also angry at her because he had to say to her what he had said and because he had to watch the pain in her face and eyes. He'd had to hurt her and he hated to hurt her. It was so much worse than he had imagined. He had to maintain the coldness, to be aloof as if he was not affected by it. God Damn it, he was effected, but he could not show it.

He had to remain strong and he needed to stay angry. He was angry, he reminded himself. She had put him in this situation and he did not need that with everything else that was happening. He had not realized until now what pain he was causing her and how much that had hurt her. The pain he had seen in her eyes and on her face cut him like a knife and that image of her, he could not get out of his mind. The guilt he felt for what he had just done to her, he could not let go of, but the worst part was that he was the one who had basically forced her to work with Sorensen the first place.

She actually found the presence of mind, even under those circumstances, to think straight enough to come up with this new type of cure, utilizing what she had found out about Niels. The truth was that she was amazing, as amazing as he had ever thought her to be and no matter what she had done, he knew he could not stop himself from caring about her, though today he knew he had done a very good job of convincing her otherwise. He could act cold and he certainly had. His anger had made him that way, as cold as ice, but his insides had rebelled, because his real feelings were totally different. He knew he could never turn her over to some authority and never see her again. He had to think of something, but for now, he just had to deal with what he was going on with the ship, the immunes, the President and the Sub. He could only handle what he had to handle right now.

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The next few hours flew by and were filled with action. They would be meeting the group of civilian ships in New Orleans harbor. The flotilla was gathered and the Nathan James was preparing to bring the president to them to speak, but the sub had come back into play and planted explosives on the ships and then the whole flotilla had exploded into flames.

The sub had fired 4 torpedoes at the Nathan James. The sub was underneath the civilian Flotilla and the Nathan James was not able to fire back at them for fear of hitting the civilians. They were able to avoid 3 of the 4 Torpedoes, but the 4th was a direct hit on the Nathan James. Fortunately it was not a killer blow.

Much to the surprise of the Nathan James, another ploy of the Immunes was unveiled. They released a video superimposing the firing of the Nathan James guns to look like the Nathan James had fired on and destroyed the American Civilian Flotilla. The immunes were using a vast network called Valkyrie to put out fake information that the Navy ship was trying to destroy the civilian population and was helping to spread the virus. They also stated that the Nathan James had kidnapped the President of the United States.

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The next day, early, The Captain went down to see Rachel regarding the cure. He stood in front of her, hands clasped behind his back, because she would not look him in the eyes at first. He asked her more about what she had injected herself with and if she had infected the whole crew with the cure. She told him, her present model would have to be injected as a booster shot to those already vaccinated with the original cure. Then they would be actually contagious for about 5-8 days. She suggested that they wait until they would be near a really populated area. He said "fine".

When he was preparing to leave, she said "Captain?"

He made himself turn back to her, but he was not ready to give up his anger at her and the coldness was still there. She took one look at him and was unable to speak. He saw this and turned and walked away. He could not do anything about the way he felt and he was going to have to keep it under wraps until he could figure someway out of this situation. He had too many other things to think about right now, including the crew of the Nathan James and the President.

With the help of Lt. Green's Cobra Team, who had taken a Rhib to try to help the survivors of the destruction of the flotilla, they were able to triangulate the location of the Valkyrie network. The Captain ordered a drone to fly over the area and discovered the network that was being uses to broadcast their videos, was located on a large oil rig offshore and out of sight of land.

The Captain, with Vulture team, including Burke, Wolf, Lt. Chung, Lt. Granderson and Ravit, boarded the oil rig. They had planned to take over the network and then use it themselves to convey the new video that the President had just done to debunk what the Immunes had already put out.

Once the Vulture Team boarded the oil rig, they were able to capture "Valkyrie", who turned out to be a young, very intelligent girl who had designed the vast worldwide network. The Captain tried to convince her about who they were and what they stood for, but she had been very much brainwashed by Sean. When she would not immediately help them, the Captain ordered the network torn down, so it could not be used by the Immunes any longer. Chung and Lt. Granderson started to do that. A large civilian fishing boat approached the oil rig, however and unexpectedly fired off an RPG, causing the death of 2 crew members and the loss of the Rhib. It also wounded Lt. Granderson and the Captain. Their prisoner, Val, took this opportunity to try to escape from them. The Captain ran after her, while Chung tried to help Lt. Granderson.

The Captain ended up saving Val's life, when the rig was hit by a second RPG. This one injured Chung who had helped Lt Granderson to safety. The first RPG had caused a gas leak on the main valve and when the second RPG hit, it almost immediately caused more explosions. Everyone had some injuries. Burke was burned and Ravit was very severely injured, as was Chung. The Helicopter took all the survivors from the oil rig back to the Nathan James, as well Tex who was injured in the fight with the civilians on land. Cobra team had come with their Rhib and managed to help get everyone except the 2 crew members Killed in Action, onto the helicopter.

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The helicopter landed. The hanger was being used for emergency triage. All doctors and medical personnel had been called to be at the helo bay to meet them. Dr. Scott also rushed down the P-way to reach the helo bay.

There was utter pandemonium. Rachel looked for the Captain. She sighed in relief as she heard his voice yelling that Burk was burned. She saw him hunched over, helping a young girl, she did not know to a chair. She saw that Chung was being carried in on a stretcher as was Ravit. Burke was also hurt. She ran to Tex who said that he had been shot in the hip, but that it was not serious. Lt Granderson was almost in shock. The Captain yelled that Burke was burned. People were trying to help Burke onto a stretcher but he was screaming for Ravit, who seemed to be severely injured. All three doctors had their hands full. Lt. Granderson, who was practically in shock herself, was at Chung's side with Andrea. He was in very bad shape. The Captain had helped the young girl, Val, to a seat and had lied when some of his crew asked if he was alright. He told them he was fine, but he was not fine and had to sit down. He was watching Andrea with Chung and Lt. Granderson. He watched what was happening with Burke and with Ravit.

The Captain witnessed the last breath of Chung and he saw Andrea and she was beside herself with grief at his loss. He had to go to her, as she stood up, covering her face with her hands. The Captain stood and started walking toward her, to comfort her. His legs were not moving right underneath him. He felt like she was far away and he called to her. He said his nickname for her, "Eng"

She looked up, hearing him call to her. She took one look at him and realized something was very wrong with the Captain.

He said, "Eng…. I'm Sorry." Then he was falling, collapsing to the floor.

Andrea ran to him, screaming, "Dr. Scott….The Captain….Dr. Scott!"

Rachel was with him in a second, along with Dr. Rios. They turned him over onto his back and Rios thrust a pillow under his head. Rios screamed for a board. He yanked his bullet proof covering off and Rachel was ripping his already torn uniform jacket and undershirt, exposing his wounds. His abdomen was covered with blood. She yelled. "It looks like a shrapnel hit. He is bleeding internally."

Her breath caught in her throat, as she quickly assessed what she needed to do next.

Somehow, he had heard her voice and she heard him speak her name. She looked up at his face and her eyes met his for a second. He was barely conscious as she heard him say, softly," "Rachel…...Rachel…...I'm…."

She said breathlessly, "Tom, I am right here with you. I'm not going to leave you. Stay with me Tom."

"Get him on a board, now!" yelled Dr. Rios.

They lifted the Captain onto a board and Rachel reached for her instruments and glanced up at his face and saw that he was now unconscious. She managed to remove several pieces of shrapnel from his abdomen and to stop the bleeding, though she almost lost him, once. She was praying all the time as she knew Dr. Rios was also. He was so stubborn, that he did not tell anyone he was wounded. His wound was serious enough that he should have been one of the first to be treated. But no, he had to make sure every member of his crew was taken care of first or maybe he was in shock and didn't even know how bad it was. She only prayed they were not too late to save her brave Captain.

After she and Rios worked over him, she was able to stabilize him, though she would not know if she got all of the shrapnel until they scanned him with the sonogram. They needed to get him to sick bay. He was still unconscious.

She gave Mike the report on his condition, while he lay on the stretcher a few feet away. Mike

Placed his hand on her forearm and looked into her eyes. He said, "How long will he be unconscious, Rachel?"

Rachel looked back at him, her eyes full of concern. "It is hard to tell, Mike. I need to get him to sickbay, so we can use the sonogram."

Mike said, "Will you go with him, Rachel?"

She looked at Mike and she did not bother to hide the love in her eyes. "I will never leave his side, Mike. You have my word on it."

Unfortunately, Ravit did not make it. Burke and Wolf were devastated.

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After Rachel got him to sick bay and used the sonogram on the Captain, she saw that she would still need to operate. There was another piece of shrapnel behind his liver. After he had regained consciousness, she was putting bandages on his wounds and he was feeling the pain. He groaned, saying "Yes, that is the spot", as if she was doing it on purpose.

She quipped, "I am sorry I am hurting you, Tom, but I am just trying to keep you from bleeding to death."

She did not want to hurt him but it could not be helped. He asked about Ravit and was very upset when Rachel shook her head. He said "Rachel, I lost 4 sailors."

She said, "You could have been the 5th, Captain. It was touch and go, there for a while."

He looked into her eyes and saw the truth of what she just said to him. He suddenly realized that she had just saved his life.

She said, "And I am not finished yet, I still have to operate to get that souvenir I found hidden behind your liver."

He said "not now, it will have to wait. I am not going under."

She said, "This cannot wait, Tom. The piece can move and cut you."

He said, "Not now, Rachel."

She said, "As stubborn as ever."

"Said the kettle to the pot", he quipped back.

She turned away, putting her bandages away, He said, "Rachel?"

She turned back to him, looking deep into his cerulean blue eyes. "Thank you", he said.

She smiled, "You see, I can still use my powers for good."

She reached out and touched his strong jaw, lightly brushing her hand, along its curve. She could not help herself.

He took the hand which was caressing his jaw. She thought he was going to toss it away from him, but instead he took it gently and pressed it tenderly to his lips. He held his lips to her hand for a while. "Rachel. I have to tell you, that even after all that has happened, I care for you greatly. I have not been able to stop caring for you."

Rachel said, "I care about you also Tom. I would never knowingly disrespect you. I am so sorry that I did manage to do just that."

He said, "Rachel, I am sorry that I asked you to work with him. It was too much to ask anyone, who has lost as much as you."

"Tom, you do not know what I had to do to get him to agree to give me the sequence." she said almost hesitantly, unsure she should say anything.

Tom frowned suddenly almost losing his concentration. "God Rachel, what are you trying to tell me? What did he want from you?" he said.

"What do you think he wanted, Tom?" she said with emphasis.

He said, "Oh no, Rachel, you didn't?"

"No I didn't but I had to make him think I might, "

He said, "Oh, my God, Rachel, How?"

She said, "Tom, I can only tell you it I hated every moment of pretending to flirt with him. I hated it! Do you hear me, Tom? I hated it. I did, however, get the answer from him because I would not actually do anything with him. I could never have done that. You do not know how much I hated doing any of it, to be with him even a second. It was so vile, even being in the same room. I would have killed myself before I would have been with him that way. That is how much I hated him. I had to have the secret from him, however. The whole world will be better off, but, God forgive me, he had to die. God, Tom, I am only human. To think of what he wanted me to do for it and what he thought I would be willing to do, after he gave it to me."

She could not go on.

Suddenly, Tom realized why she did not think and use her rational thought about killing a human being, because to her, he was like killing a poisonous snake or spider, something that had threatened to take part of her for himself. She wasn't exactly reasonable. He would have killed the SOB himself, if he had known what he had wanted to force her to do for giving her the sequence she needed. Now that he knew the whole story or most of it, He thought he could get her pardoned by the president. After all she had done today. He has seen her with each injured person, He knew now that he probably would not have survived without her.

He said, "Rachel, I am sorry. Why did you not tell me this before?"

She said," Tom, you were not into hearing more about it at first. You were really only thinking of your ship and just how you could handle it. You had enough on your plate. Let's just let go of this tonight. You wanted to go to the memorial service. Be careful and come right back after- ward. I need to get that shrapnel out of you. I am not kidding. Please, Tom, I don't want to lose you."

He said, "You will not lose me, Rachel, not this time. I am going to have another talk with the President. There may be a way."

Rachel helped him up and called a crew member to go with him and to bring him back, though she knew he might not obey her in this. God, he was so stubborn. She wanted to go with him herself, but she knew she was not strong enough to catch him, if he fell.

She remembered exactly how his lips had felt pressing against her hand, how it felt to have him holding her hand as if it was something precious to him, as if she was precious to him. She also remembered his coldness to her, even this morning. He seemed like two different people. She was almost afraid to hope that perhaps they could be close again. If only, she prayed. If only, she had not really lost him. This morning, when he was with her and was so cold, she felt like nothing would ever be the same with them and that she would never be able to regain his trust. The only thing she had now was hope and the memory of his touch.

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Hope you liked the way this is going and let us hope the real show brings them back together again, now. We have waited the whole season for one ray of hope. Perhaps we have it now.

Please drop me a line to let me know your thoughts on the subject and if you liked this chapter.