The Attack

Tom Chandler entered the bridge of the USS Nathan James picking up his charts and status reports. Outside rain beat down heavily on the destroyer as the weather took a particularly nasty turn. Off to one side Master Chief Petty Officer Russ Jetter hovered "Morning Master Chief and how are we today"

"It's been a funny morning sir" the man said quietly. When Jetter described something as "funny" Chandler worried.

"Funny" the Commander repeated

"Yes sir, seems some of the crew received emails during the night from friends and loved ones" Jetter said in a low voice so no one but Chandler could hear. "Some good news, some bad news as would be expected" he said "quiet words from a few on why we're heading away from home when there's still trouble with our own people." The senior enlisted man said Chandler nodded his understanding the further they got away from the states the harder it was becoming. Standing up he moved over to the PA microphone keying the switch as he picked it up gaining the crews attention.

"Good Morning Nathan James" he said addressing his crew "we've come a long way. The efforts of this crew has seen Dr Scott's cure brought to dozens of countries. I've heard questions are rising on why us? Why do we have to make this sacrifice when there are still troubles at home? I'll ask you all another question to answer that. If not us then who?" Chandler asked "this ship has not seen the horrors of the Red Flu devastate a city it has not seen a family torn apart by this virus and has not lost its hope or determination. We signed on to defend the innocent from all threats and that is what we are going to do. We are going to find more people that can help us, we are going to find the resources and supplies we need and we are going to get back home. That is all." He said turning to see the faces all around him steadied and confident once more before anyone could speak a call filtered through the speakers.

"CIC, bridge, we have two make that four incoming aircraft on an intercept course."

"Lt Granderson you have the bridge" Chandler said leaving heading to the CIC. Less than a minute later he was there along with Mike Slattery.

"Commander on deck" someone called out as Chandler entered.

"As you were report"

"Sir we have four Argentine A-4AR Fighterhawk aircraft approaching Nathan James airspace they have not acknowledged our calls" TAO Lt Cmdr Baker reported

"Pass to aircraft we are in International Waters and will defend ourselves if threatened" Chandler said barely as he had spoken his final words the Nathan James radar lit up

"We have four incoming missiles, make that eight" Foster reported

"Action stations! Active and passive defences!" Chandler call out "helm evasive manoeuvres, TAO I want firing solutions on those birds for counter attack!" Chandler called out as the room became a hive of activity as the destroyer's crew attempted to track the aircraft and missile.

Deep within the CIC there was no sense of what was going on outside only what was happening on their monitors. Throughout the Nathan James crewmen moved between stations securing the vessel. From aft Tex was leading Dr Scott, Bertrise, Kelly Tophet and her class, including Chandler's two children to a safe area "I wish we could see outside see what's happening" Sam Chandler commented

"Trust me little man you don't Tex whispered sharing a look with Dr Scott as the ship was rocked heavily by a nearby explosion "DOWN DOWN!" Tex shouted dropping his group to the deck.

"Are we hit?" Rachel Scott asked looking at the bearded man.

"No that wasn't a hit" Tex said with false confidence he was a civilian he wasn't navy he had no idea what a hit felt like.

"Near miss first missile, second drawn off by counter-measures, two more incoming!" Kara Foster called out "engaging with point defences" she said. On the rear of the Nathan James the Phalanx Close In Weapon System (CIWS) engaged the incoming missiles filling the air with weapons fire cutting one of the missiles down "three down!" She called out "oh no" she whispered as the last missile made it through the defence fire slamming into the rear of the Nathan James striking the port side hanger bay.

Throughout the CIC screens lit up with damage following the direct hit against the hanger bay moments later the ship was struck by a secondary explosion from inside. Chandler pulled himself back off the deck looking around feeling a warm wet patch from his forehead Chandler realized that he was injured. "REPORT!" He bellowed

"Direct hit port hanger bay, it's been completely destroyed, we're holed just above the waterline and we're losing speed!"

"Engineering report!" Chandler called out seeing the Destroyer's damage screens light up with red lights. "TAO take out those birds before we are dead in the water!" Chandler screamed "TAO!" He said glancing around waiting for a reply that would never come moments later he saw Lt Cmdr Baker laying on the deck a piece of shrapnel lodged in his forehead Chandler could tell he was dead. "Lt Foster take them out of my sky, medical team to CIC, Engineering report!" Chandler screamed there would be time to mourn later.

"Engaging air targets with Surface to Air Missiles" Foster called out immediately reaching for the firing triggers flicking the launch switches upwards launching four missiles.

"Engineering, CIC, we've got water on the deck we're evacuating you are down to instruments until we can pump this out." Lt Cmdr Andrea Garnett called out in the background Chandler could hear the Chief Engineer screaming her crew to evacuate.

Elsewhere on the ship crewmen scrambled back to their stations midway down one corridor Tex could see water rushing into the corridor behind them knowing that his group and their children couldn't get away quick enough "In here!" Tex shouted seeing an empty store room

"There's no way out!" Rachel Scott protested

"But there is a watertight door" Tex point out as water rushed over their feet "now in!" He snapped the entire group rushed into the room even as the corridor began to fill with water Tex forced the door closed turning the hatching. "We're going to be alright" Tex whispered despite the water on the floor.

In the CIC the situation was going from bad to worse as suddenly all the lights and screens blinked out moments later they were replaced by duller lighting. "Power outage engineering flooding must have hit our mains" Slattery commented

"Lt Foster do we know if we got those targets?" Chandler asked

"Negative all aircraft took evasive action but we were locked on" Foster said staring at her blank screens.

"No focusing on them then we need to get back on our feet" Chandler said leaving the darkened room with Slattery in tow "we need to get a head count find out who we've lost and where we've been hurt." The Captain said moving along the corridors already there was a slight list to the deck indicating water intake "get an update from Garnett on when we can get power back up, we need to put some distance between our position and where those fighters are coming from."

"We move away from the coast we could be in a lot more trouble" Slattery pointed out without navigation and radar they move towards a worse problem.

"We don't know if our missiles got any of those fighters if they are going back to their base for more missiles we are going to be sitting ducks." Chandler said "let's get moving."

Nearly twenty minutes later and the news wasn't good. "The helo is completely destroyed" Slattery said "both B flight pilots are dead fortunately the maintenance crew got out, the workshop survived as did Dr Scott's lab." Slattery said "Dr Scott, Tex, Ms Tophet and her class are all missing" Slattery said breaking the news to his CO that his children were also missing."

"They weren't in the hanger?" Chandler said quietly

"Negative" Slattery said "we know they made it out they were seen being led by Tex through the ship. We believe they are in B corridor in one of the store rooms unfortunately water is flooding into that section from missile damage." Slattery said he was worried about the Commander's children as well but their ship was at this moment crippled they needed to focus on the damage.

"If Tex is with them hopefully he got them into one of the supply rooms" Chandler said he trusted the man with his life now he had to with his kids. "What is Garnett saying?"

"The missile didn't just take out the hanger and helo it went through the deck punching a hole just above the waterline we're not taking on a lot of water but each wave that hits us adds a little more." Slattery said "because we've taken water into the engine room the systems have dropped into safe mode we don't know the full damage down there only we have no defences and no automatic pump systems. We've got an engineering team with hand carried pumps working on clearing the water but its room by room and slow going."

"We need that engine back online" Chandler said setting aside his thoughts for his children "if we can get to the Falklands maybe we can shelter there and make repairs."

"The Falklands have never been very heavily developed the Brits built up the defences since the 80s invasion but not construction." Slattery said quietly the Nathan James would need a lot of repair work before attempting to go further.

"It's the only safe port nearby" Chandler said "hopefully we can make repairs there otherwise we'll never make it through Drake Passage to the Pacific."

"Agreed we may need to turn around." Slattery pointed out disappointedly he wanted to search for his family who had been reported in the Deer Park area of the US but he'd put that aside following Chandler's quest to spread the cure.

"We can't turn around yet" Chandler said "we need to push on complete this mission make sure there is a future." He said even as he was thinking of the possibility that he'd never see his children, Dr Scott or Kelly Tophet again he had to think there was a future.

Deep within the Nathan James locked in a darkened store room Tex and his group huddled together in an attempt to stay warm. They had been able to create dry spaces using the supplies in the room but each of them was a little wet from the initial flooding with no light and no heat Tex guessed that the ship was in more than a little trouble and that a rescue party would take longer than they'd hoped. For now the best thing they could do was stay warm which meant having them all huddled together he had to admit he'd have liked to be huddled together with Rachel Scott he'd kissed her once, and she'd kissed him back, he sometimes wondered why he hadn't pushed further since then. Tex was brought out of his thoughts as the room was lit up by a blue aura coming from Andrew Cameron's pocket.

"Andy" Tex whispered trying to move the boy "Andy!" He snapped a little louder waking him "what is that?" After a moment the young man leapt to his feet whooping in joy splashing into the water which was slightly deeper than Tex remembered when they fell asleep. Andy's movement woke the others "you mind explaining what you look so happy about?"

"My drones survived!" Andy said "at least one of them has and its been moved outside the sun must have been shining on its solar panels because I have full power." He said looking over the small display.

"Can you control it from there? Communicate with the others?" Rachel asked

"No communication" Andy confirmed seeing their disappointed looks "but we have flight capabilities if we can get someone's attention then they will know to look for us!" He said triumphantly activating the Drone's engines after a few moments it lifted off the Nathan James' flight deck to show the sky behind the ship "we're not moving very fast" Andy commented "it's taking virtually no thrust to keep up with the ship" he said moving the drone to the left then right "no-one on the flight deck but it looks intact" he said turning the drone one hundred and eighty degrees to the left first they saw Alpha hanger where their class room, the drones and Dr Scott's lab was fortunately it looked intact. Moving further around however they saw the damage to Beta bay it was completely destroyed the shattered remains of the destroyer's helicopter clear to see.

"Oh god" Kelly Tophet whispered seeing the image

"Bring us out over the side head for the bridge" Tex suggested Andy nodded and commanded the drone to move as it did it showed the extent of the damage "look there that damage that's just down the corridor that's why we're stuck in here." Tex said

"Is it critical could the ship sink?" Rachel Scott asked damning herself as soon as she had completely forgetting the children with them.

"I'm not a sailor by trade Doc but I've been on this ship long enough to know its got a damned good crew and they won't let that happen." Tex said confidently putting on his best face for the children.

Lt Kara Foster needed to get out of the CIC with virtually no power and only emergency lights there was little she could actually do. The smell of death that remained in the room following Lt Cmdr Baker's death had turned her stomach. As she leaned on the guide rail looking over the water Kara tried to stop being sick as Lt Danny Green moved up along side Kara. "How you doing?" He asked

"Managing" she said looking at him "I just needed some air" she said "you?"

"Ok" he admitted "we cleared the hanger of the pilots bodies now we're helping pump out the water but its slow work." He said glancing around hearing a noise.

"Any sign of anyone of the missing?" She asked everyone knew the Commander's family, Tex and Dr Scott were missing but there were also four other crewmen unaccounted for since the attack.

"We found Anna Beckett and Ben Davis both stuck between engineering and crew quarters" Danny said "both soaked head to toe but still alive."

"So Beckett and Davis?" Kara said mischievously

"Stuck in a flooding room together could be an interesting place to start a relationship even if it was a bit cold..." he said his voice drifting off to Kara he seemed distracted. She stepped a little closer to him.

"We started in the Arctic" she whispered linking her hand with his "you don't get much colder." She said smirking but seeing that Danny was still distracted "what's wrong?"

"I don't know its almost like... we are being watched" he said spinning around drawing his side arm pointing the weapon at the hovering drone.

"Wow hold your fire it's the kid's drone" she said as the drone shifted slightly before moving on towards the bridge with both Danny and Kara following. The drone hovered up in front of the bridge seeing the drone immediately brightened Chandler's mood.

"If that drone is here then Andrew is alive and if Andrew is alive then the others are as well" he said looking at the hovering drone "we have to get them out."