I do not own The Last Ship
Epilogue part 2: Slattery
I remember the first time we buried Rachel, we couldn't even find a Union Flag to go over her coffin. We had to make one to lie alongside the Stars and Stripes. This time it's different.
Last time, an honor guard of crew from Nathan James accompanied her coffin the short distance from the ship to her grave site. There were a few hundred spectators, mostly families of the crew.
This time an honor guard of soldiers, marines, sailors and airman from all of the US armed forces is present, as well as an honor guard of Royal Marines and sailors from HMS Rachel Scott, moored out in the Mississippi river. There are also military representatives and politicians from all of the US's allies.
Over 50,000 people are here to pay their respects to the woman who is responsible for saving our world. Every inch of the route that her coffin took from its resting place under the arch at St Louis to the Nathan James section of the National Cemetery on the outskirts of the city was six-deep in people.
Now she's here finally and I surreptitiously take a sigh of relief. Kara notices and smiles at me sadly. She is standing with Danny and I today as survivors of the Nathan James, and not as CNO, because the political wrangling associated with this day cost her that job. Even though I was gutted, Kara said that it was more than worth it, and she would do it again any day of the week. Still, the President didn't come out of this very well and probably won't stand for re-election so I'm hopeful she might have a chance at a second term, because our Navy, indeed all of our Armed Forces, needs her.
I've worked with many outstanding men and women over my years with the military but there's no getting away from it that the original Nathan James crew had some of the best and what we achieved makes the rest of it pall into insignificance. And at the heart of that was Rachel Scott.
Sure, Tom gave her a platform to do what she needed to do but I truly believe that nobody else could do what she actually did. To live with the pressure of being the only scientist that could save the world, day after day for months on end…I don't know anyone else who could have functioned under that burden. And then to develop a vaccine and a cure under those conditions; that was truly amazing. And then, realising that the cure could not be distributed by normal means, to invent a contagious cure. From nothing.
There is no doubt in my mind that Rachel Scott was a genius. To know that she was also a great human being with so much compassion for others that she would risk her life for theirs is quite humbling. I told Rachel before she went off to the Vyerni that I was proud to know her. And I have continued to be proud to have known her all throughout my life. When the dust settles, Rachel deserves all the plaudits, the marching bands, the 21-gun salute, the statue, the place in history. And if she would have hated it? So what? We needed her example and we still need it today. I know she would have understood. Not liked it, but understood.
But now she's finally back where she belongs. Amongst her shipmates and I, for one, am pleased. Rachel was just as much a part of our crew as I am and she deserves to be here. That she is to be buried next to Tom is a happy coincidence and had nothing whatsoever to do with me asking poor Gene Buckman's family if it was OK if he was buried on the next row after he died in a car accident five weeks ago. If anyone asks, I will deny everything. When Kara heard she gave a snort and sketched me a salute.
I'm happy that when I die my body will lie here with those of my shipmates who died in this country. Those that went before and were buried at sea or in foreign countries are commemorated here and in other places around our country and around the world. But I know that we will all be together again. I truly believe that. I may need to hide behind Tom for a while so that Rachel doesn't kick my butt for today, but maybe I'll let Kara and Danny take all the flak and I can probably blame it on Michener for making her a martyr in the first place!
But I'm not waiting for that. I'm really happy spending my life with Katie and her grandkids, lecturing at the Academy and hanging out with my friends and the kids of my friends, many of whom, like Ashley, have become friends in their own right.
While I've been daydreaming they've finished the short service and have lowered Rachel's coffin into the ground. Now the flag party is folding up the two flags that were draped on Rachel's coffin and they pass the American one to me as the senior surviving officer of Nathan James, even though Kara is senior to me and is a serving officer. I had said Kara should receive the flag but she insisted on it being me. Said that I'd always be her XO. That doesn't stop her ordering me around of course! But I was very touched. The British flag goes to the British Prime Minister who is here for the occasion. She stands next to us and she doesn't try to stop the tears spilling down her face. I don't know if they are real or fake (she is a politician after all) but she used to be a doctor and went to university at the same time as Rachel.
As we both step back, the PM to be with her diplomats and me to be with my shipmates, Royal Marine buglers step up and play the Last Post and the crowd falls respectfully silent for two minutes. I wasn't sure about having the British marines here, and certainly playing the Last Post rather than Taps but Rachel was British and the British were quite insistent on it and there's no denying that the Last Post is hauntingly beautiful for this situation. I know there's a tear in my eye and many of my former colleagues' eyes also look suspiciously moist. Even Danny, the big and bold former Navy SEAL.
The two minutes silence is perfectly observed. You could hear a pin drop. And then the salute starts from the ships moored in the river. A trained ear can differentiate the 4.5 inch gun of HMS Rachel Scott from the heavier five-inch guns of the destroyers. First to fire is USS Nathan James, the third US Navy ship to bear that name, and rushed into service to make this date. Second is the Scott and third the USS Thomas Chandler. She has been launched since Tom's death. I don't know how Tom would feel about having a destroyer named after him. I don't know how I feel because when we were discussing this Kara let slip that there's one due to be named after me after I kick the bucket. I suppose if they leave it til I'm dead it wouldn't be so bad.
I know what Rachel would say though. She would say we deserved it, both since we're in part responsible for this dog and pony show which she wouldn't have liked, but also because maybe we deserve to have destroyers named after us. Then she would have nailed us with a glare. I miss that glare. At the end of the day I miss Rachel. May she finally rest in peace.
