Wednesday 0100hrs
Cairns
Navcom
Mike and Maxine are in Maxine's office. Everyone who is outside Maxine's office can here the raised voices from her office.
"WHAT"
"Our last transmission with them was at 2100hrs. Nothing since"
"Bloody hell Maxine why wasn't I informed sooner?"
"For a number of reasons Mike, so calm down."
"Calm down. Like hell I can Maxine."
"Look Mike we have a job to do. With both Hammersley and Barren now not responding to calls we have two lost ships. We need to put our own personal feeling aside and do our jobs." Mike sits down on one of the chairs.
"Look Mike I am just as worried as you are about Hammersley. But we need to stay focus and do our job. Canberra has Steve flying up on the next available flight. Now Mike go get yourself a coffee, calm down and I will see you back here in 5mins with a clear head."
The ball pen in Navcom is a hive of activity a number of officers have been called in to help. They plot different courses that the boats could be on. Different Island they could use for shelter. They also have two officers trying to get hold of both boats. But they receive nothing back from either boat.
0700hrs
Maxine and Mike both read the latest weather report things are not looking good. The cyclone is slow moving. And it is heading across the top of Australia preventing them being able to do anything but sit and wait.
0800hrs
Wednesday
Channel Nine
The current kids programme changes to a view of the Channel Nine News Room. Pictures of the Cyclone's damage are playing behind the news reader.
BREAKING NEWS
Cyclone Nancy last night hit the top of Australia. Darwin felt some of the force of Cyclone Nancy as it makes it way towards Cape York and Papua New Guinea. They do not expect it to make its full force known till later today. Anyone that is in the Cyclones path is advised to move inland. We will bring you further updates of Cyclone Nancy as we get them to hand.
A few more pictures of the mess in Darwin are shown then it switches back to the programme that was playing before
0900hrs Steve Marshal arrives.
"Morning Steve" says Maxine. Steve can see both Maxine and Mike are tired
"Morning Mike, Maxine long night I see?"
"Yes" they both reply to Steve. They then head off to Maxine office to talk.
"Right Maxine tell me what has happened so far."
"Ok Steve. Yesterday Hammersley was responding to a mayday call from within the cyclone. They had set up 30min sit reps with us here. Their third sit rep at 2100hrs cut off half way through and we have not heard from them since. Lieutenant Brown informed HMAS Barren of the need to keep an eye out for Hammersley as they are also out there. Though at 2300hrs last night we received our last sit rep from them also. So now we have two boats out there not responding to our calls that are in the middle of a cyclone."
"Ok what was Hammersley last known location?"
"Well from the Intel I have got gathered they left Darwin port at 1600hrs. At about 2100hrs they would have been in the Arafura Sea. They would of hit the storm not long after leaving port." Replies Mike he shakes his head. Maxine can see Mike is not happy about something. Something is bugging him.
"Mike something is bugging you what is it?" asks Maxine
"It just seems odd that Kate would head out into a Cyclone after being docked at Darwin. It would have been better to stay docked and ride it out not go out to sea." Steve notices how Mike uses Kate first name not her rank and surname.
"Mike the Cyclone was not expected to come down this low. When they left port the weather map had the path on the same route but higher up. We here at Navcom only got the warning of it moving further south when it happened. By then Hammersley was already out at sea. They would have been expecting to just ride the edge of it not get landed right in the middle of it." Replies Maxine
"Well from the info RO sent through via the sit reps they would have been about here (Mike points to an area on a map in Maxine officer) when we lost contact with them heading in this direction. Now as long as it was nothing major that went wrong I would say they may head to here for shelter. But if something went wrong they could be hiding around one of the little islands in this area. (Mike points to a couple of small Islands on the map."
"Ok Mike what if they lost power?" Mike goes pale and white. It takes a few moments for him to gather himself. Steve is worried about how quickly Mike went pale. Mike hold yourself together Steve is just thinking of all the possibilities here. Breath Kate will be fine, the crew will be fine. Breath.
"Well if that is the case Steve they could be anywhere, including overboard." Mikes stomach turns over and he feels like being sick. Mike sits down.
"Ok what about HMAS Barren what was their set course."
Mike stands up again.
"Barren was returning from the Gulf having been there for the last 4months on deployment. Their set course is this. Though they were not due to dock here in Cairns till 1400hrs today. And from their last known position before they hit the cyclone. Being a frigate they will just keep going through it all but a tad slower do arrival time is anytime from then onwards. Also neither of the emergency beacons the two crews carry have been activated."