AN: I have altered the previous chapter a bit, if you are interested in re-reading it.

Sean lamented not being able to give his brother the entire story before leaving him to wait it out in the brig. There was just no simple way to explain what he did, and his brother's judgmental looks told Sean exactly what his brother thought: that Sean was a cold-blooded killer.

While not being untrue, it also wasn't true.

He'd been the OIC of SEAL team 2 for quite some time, before that the 2IC. Sean had killed people previously, and he'd likely have to continue to do so as was necessitated, like on the carrier, but he wasn't sent out places purposefully to kill people.

Sean wasn't an assassin.

That's what they had 'specialists' to do.

If they needed someone to sit a duty undercover, he certainly wasn't sending a civilian, which was how he'd ended up 'serving' on the carrier. He went in on operations and while his position allowed some latitude for going in, it was a command position. He spent a good portion of time planning and dictating; when he did go in he was usually flanked by the contracted civilian 'specialists' or by an actual SEAL team (depending upon the scenario).

How did you explain to your brother that you'd jumped designators? It wasn't that often that you went from one area to another, so Sean going from special ops to intelligence was interesting enough. The fact that his position was permanently assigned outside of the Office of Naval Intelligence was the really interesting and hard to explain part.

Hello, Harm, nice to see you. I know I just killed someone and you are supposed to defend me, but I have to go. You see, I work damage control and threat dissipation for the CNO…I need to finish getting my intel so that I can send a bunch of glorified mercenaries after potential terrorists. Have a nice day.

The mere thought of that was enough to bring a slight smile to Sean's face as he exited, without any fuss, with Admiral Chegwidden and Webb.

"Commander. Let's set the record straight here, shall we? I'm not happy about this. You pissed on the wrong leg, no matter who told you to do so. Now, SEAL to SEAL, you'd best get this situation squared away or you won't know what hit you after I target you."

That certainly pulled any traces of a smile off Sean's face.

"Understood, sir." Well it seemed that Harm was right that Chegwidden was at least going to try to eat him alive, but this wasn't anything he didn't hear on any regular basis.

It wasn't like Sean liked the situation either. It was too far gone. As soon as they were in the car, Webb having agreed to drop them at a transport back to the carrier, Sean opened his phone to appraise the rest of his team.

Time for Texas to step up. Not that she wasn't good at pulling together the pieces in his absence. She was plucky and actually did a good job not taking crap from the civilian men. When they worked with Navy personnel he didn't need to worry about that; they wouldn't disrespect her even if she was a woman. There might not be females in special ops but there were female intelligence personnel who dealt with some hairy situations and a superior officer was a superior officer.

At least she mostly had to deal with equals if they worked with SEALS, OICs of SEAL teams were almost all O3, which she was; it had been a bit more of a challenge when she was an O2 if he wasn't around. Ruffled feathers and SEALS and a spunky Texan made for many headaches.

Sean was simply lucky that he came from that command, so he knew quite a few of the OICs as well as the COs, so even though the command decisions came from O5s, they worked together rather well. It had probably been planned that way; it was likely one of the reasons he was chosen. His position was a bit too small scale for a full commander, but definitely required some specialized knowledge.

Most of the ride Sean spent on the phone, which seemed to really annoy Chegwidden.

****

Displeased was fast turning into annoyed as Rabb flipped open his phone AND his laptop and started talking away and typing away. Apparently he was just supposed to bring this guy back onto the carrier, and he didn't deserve any form of briefing. He really was a glorified distraction. Distraction from whatever it was Rabb was going to be doing, and all he'd been told was that Rabb needed to perform a search of the ship.

What he had gathered from the brief conversation with the CNO was that the last communication he'd received from Rabb had indicated that he'd discovered one of the Lieutenants had been planted there with hostile intent. Exactly what intent was what Rabb was supposed to find out. Chegwidden figured that Rabb was trying to force information out of the man when others had come upon them. Why Rabb had felt the need to snap the guy's neck was anyone's guess, but he wanted to know.

The second that Rabb put down the phone, he cleared his throat.

"I am not going to sail into this blind, Rabb. I want to know what happened on that ship that I'm bailing you out."

He eyeballed the Commander, looking for any telltale signs of discomfort. Anything that would give him more information or anything for him to disect.

Rabb did nothing but clear his throat.

"Well, sir, since I am sure that you'll demand an explanation and will get it now or later…I was trying to ascertain the nature of a direct threat. A threat posed by this 'spy', 'terrorist' whatever you'd like to call him. Intel suggested a plant, but not what said plant was doing. I found him, and I was trying to unravel whatever plot he was a part of. That's why I was ramming him into the wall. I wanted to get the information fast, and I'd rather get it than leave it up to whatever the CIA would do which is never pretty and rarely that fast. He was on one of our ships, sir. I was about to declare an arrest and relay the information back to substantiate my authority to pull him off the ship when I was interrupted."

So, Rabb was trying to explain that he wasn't trying to torture and kill the guy. That was what it boiled down to. He was employing a brief scare tactic to try and get the information, likely threatening the guy with whatever would be done to him under the table once the CIA got involved. He hadn't intended on doing any more. That hadn't worked out, obviously. It still didn't explain why he'd killed a man.

"I couldn't leave him on that ship, sir. Once he knew that he was compromised, God knows what he would have done. I hadn't communicated back his name yet and didn't know when I'd have the chance to declare the threat to someone who would do something about it without questioning me."

"So you snapped his neck?" He said, a bit incredulously.

"Yes, sir. I had a choice. Try and explain fast and hope that they didn't let that guy walk away. Or ensure the safety of the people aboard that ship as best as I could, and who knows how many more people. As I said, I hadn't gotten the information which is why I need to go back."

Pursing his lips, the Admiral sat back and crossed his arms over his chest, digesting the information.

"Do you have suspicions of what he was doing?"

The Commander shrugged, "Hunches, sir, but hunches don't often save lives. In this line of work, we can't afford the time to go hunting down the wrong avenues. I thought he was either attempting to steal avionics…or investigating employing a biological agent."

Avionics? Wait a minute. Had he just said a biological agent?

"A biological agent? You've got to be kidding me, Commander. This isn't your sandbox to play around in. You need to inform-."

"Sir, all due respect, I've informed. I don't get to make those decisions. I don't get to decide if everyone needs to know to ensure safety on that ship. I follow orders. I have to substantiate, right now the guy is dead, he can't pose a threat on that ship right now. Operatives are already hunting down known associates. If there is a biological agent, it's contained, or else we would know by now."

"I'm not liking this, Mr. Rabb." He growled.

And he didn't, not one bit.

Nor did he like conducting interviews while Rabb went searching, but one thing was for sure: everyone was buzzing around him, which likely made it easier for Rabb to poke around rather unnoticed and covertly.

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