Chapter Nine;
Encrypted

Time since Bomber's kidnapping; 21hrs 4mins

To the ears of everyone on the bridge, Rembrandt's plan had seemed too simple, something your average Seaman could think up. But as she'd listened, the X had known there was more to it than that. More than just steering the Hammersley around to behind one of the smaller nearby islands and hiding from the approaching Kanimbla. Simply because basic radar would spot them a mile away. In fact, this close, they should've spotted them already. They all waited anxiously now for the sound of the Kanimbla's CO blaring over their radio, ordering them to leave Libertile. Whether they'd agree to do so or not was another matter altogether. But, as the Hammersley hid and dawn broke, there was nothing, just the sound of white noise across their radio. They hadn't attempted to send in another search party that night, not after the disaster of losing Caesar, and had a strange feeling this white noise was coming from the island. But as Nav and the CO sat on the bridge, staring at Libertile and sipping piping hot coffee, something else came across. The sound of voices speaking in French. It was faint at first, barely distinguishable over the sound of the ocean splashing on the rocks nearby, but then it got louder. The CO, nearly choking on his coffee when he heard it, stood up and rushed to the radio as Nav called RO. The radio operator, dressed impeccably considering he wasn't due to rise for another 20 minutes, joined the CO five minutes later as the voices rose to a crescendo. They were talking loudly, likely arguing, and it all came across the radio. There were no interruptions, no white noise, just perfect clear sound. Except they couldn't figure out what they were saying. RO, although not trained in French, did manage to recognise a few words. He wrote them down slowly and handed them to the CO. The CO read them aloud as the X, followed by a slightly shaken Spider (who'd finally been let out of the medical room by Swain in the hope the young man would get some exercise to relax the muscles in his leg), joined them on the bridge.

"Girl, moving, shippings, exports, tomorrow." The CO frowned. "What does it mean?"

The X suggested something. "The girl, Bomber, they want to move her tomorrow with the exports?" It made sense. The CO nodded slowly. "But where did this come from sir?" The X continued, looking confused too.

The CO held up a slip and turned up the radio. The men were still arguing in French. They heard them mention the girl again then another few words that made Spider gasp. They all looked at him. He motioned to the radio. "They said they would 'kill that man'. Do you think they mean Caesar?" He looked at Nav who was frowning at him, shocked he knew any French at all. "Bomber, she swears in French under her breath." He revealed.

The CO brushed aside Spider's last comment. "They must mean Caesar because we have Bomber's radio, she dropped it remember?" The others nodded. "He's left it on obviously. So why didn't we hear it last night?"

Buffer appeared at the foot of the stairs. "I think I have someone who might be able to answer that sir. Rembrandt's on the phone."

RO picked up the phone, which hadn't rung at all, and said hello. Shock spread across his face as Rembrandt's voice flowed out of the earpiece. He handed it to the CO who put it on speaker. "Morning Hammersley." Rembrandt's cheery voice came out. "I believe you had an uneventful evening." He chuckled.

The X, who had designated herself as communicator with Rembrandt, spoke up. "What have you done to our ship Rembrandt?" She said with a smile.

Rembrandt chuckled. "Not me luv. My Emma. The girl knows her way around encryption codes and masking devices. She was doing it last night when the Kanimbla came into your area. Close call too. She couldn't get access to your radar until you were on the Kanimbla's screen. Just got you off the radar in time. As for the radios, I believe she was doing them this morning. She hasn't called me yet so I can't stay on the line for long."

The others gaped at the truckload of information they'd just received. Apparently Emma Murphy had somehow managed to mask their ship on the Kanimbla's radar with a masking device. She's also somehow managed to mask their radios with an encryption device. So, how was Rembrandt able to get through to them? The CO asked him that exact question.

"Encryption code. All masking devices have them. Look, sorry folks but this isn't my area of expertise, ask Emma when she gets to you."

Buffer spoke up. "So why did your call go to my personal phone sir?" He gave the others a nod at the recollection of rolling over to pick up the radio and hear Rembrandt asking to speak to the captain.

Rembrandt chuckled. "Give the girl a break son, she's on a completely different ship." He directed his next sentence to Kate. "Luv, I need you to pick up my girl and her men. I'm not sure when they'll be with you, but expect a call from me soon. Man your Buffer's phone." He teased.

The X smiled. "Thanks Rembrandt. Speak to you soon." She shook her head slowly as RO hung up. The CO ignored her smile of memories and went back to the task at hand.

"So we agreed this transmission…" He turned up the radio again to make a point and the angry French words ran over the bridge again. He turned it down and continued. "… has mentioned killing Caesar and moving Bomber tomorrow, right?" Everyone nodded. "So then we have a few more hours to find them. But where do we start? The shipping ports or what? And what shipping port?" They looked up as Swain joined them. "What are their exports?"

To their surprise a grinning Spider spoke up. "I read this, in the Atlas Nav showed me." He beamed at Nav appreciatively; clearly pleased he was finally helping. "Their main exports are coconuts and wheat."

Swain nodded. "He's right. And we're in luck. On this side of the island, facing away from Australia, we have two wheat shipping ports. The biggest is Arguya, but I can't see them taking Bomber there. It's more likely they'll go to Yurnijak, a now mostly disused shipping port. It's quieter but still has a steady intake of ships there."

The CO nodded. "Good. They'll likely be nearby. Any villages in the surrounding area?" No one moved. No one knew that. The land was unplotted. The CO continued. "No, so we do it the old way. We start at Yurnijak and fan out."

The X spoke up. "Sir, we don't have the man power."

Spider stepped up. "I'm going." He insisted. The CO looked at Swain who nodded that it was fine.

The CO then looked at the X. "We will have enough men, when your Rembrandt comes through."

They heard back from Rembrandt an hour later with the news that his Emma and a group of people keen to help the Hammersley were heading out on what would soon become a search party gone wrong for the Kanimbla. No one had asked what he'd meant by that, they now knew better than to question to the old Lieutenant, and just listened as he gave them instructions on where to meet the group. As he hung up they realised he hadn't mentioned how many were joining them, but guessed only a handful. It wasn't often people went against their government's instructions, especially if they'd managed to get posted to a ship as hard to get onto as the Kanimbla. So, preparing only one RHIB, they set out to the agreed meeting point. It was on their side of the island, a small beach inlet they called 'Arrivee Etroite', the French words for narrow inlet. It was narrow, only a stretch of beach 60 metres wide, but enough room for them. As they landed they guessed why the Kanimbla dissenters had chosen this spot. It was bound by bush, trees as far as the eye could see. And, as the RHIB stopped, one of the bushes moved. Then, dressed head to toe in khaki, out stepped a soldier. Barely older than 22, the young Corporal looked at them with his gun held high.

"Lieutenant McGregor?" He called.

The X, who had insisted on going to meet them, sat up higher and then gingerly stood. "Yes. You're from the Kanimbla?"

The young man nodded. Then smiled. "Good to see you ma'am. Give us 5 minutes. And please, stay seated, we know of your injury." With that he dashed back into the bushes as Buffer and Swain stepped out of the RHIB onto dry land, holding their own guns out in front of them just in case. They were rightly wary. The docks they'd spoken of earlier, Yurnijak, were only 4 kilometres to their south. Anywhere around here they could find Bomber and Caesar. But they could also find the insurgents.

The X, ignoring the young Corporal's suggestions to stay still, followed the men from the RHIB. She stood, resting most of her weight on her good foot, and looked towards where the soldier had just disappeared. Then out stepped a group of people. About 13 in total.

Emma 'Scruffy' Murphy was a thin, brunette girl, but her nose was the exact mirror of her father's and the X realised who she was straightaway. With her, out of the scrub, came a small group of army men and a few sailors. Emma gave the X a smile and strode towards her. "Ma'am." She said, shaking the X's hand. She motioned to the others. "We're at your disposal, compliments of my father." She looked proud at the mention of her old man, clearly having entered the armed forces to please him. The X instantly warmed to the girl and looked at the others. Two sailors, one who looked much further up the ladder than Seaman Murphy, and 10 army men. The clear leader of the group, a slightly balding 20-something man stepped forward next to Kate. "Warrant Officer Phillip Riley ma'am. Call me Black Box." He gave a smile. X shook his hand too. "My lot hope we can help too." Emma gave him a smile and the X guessed he was the boyfriend Rembrandt had referred to.

Behind her the X felt the other two members of her boarding crew shift and he glanced back at them. The relief at help on their side was across their faces. "Good to have you on board Riley, Murphy." She turned back to the others. "Buffer, call the RHIB, we'll need both." She smiled at Emma. "I didn't expect so many."

Back on the Hammersley Emma, who insisted they call her Scruffy from now on, radioed her father to tell him they'd made it to the Hammersley. At the same time the sailor the X had noticed earlier, a Leading Seaman named Timothy 'Colonel' Holdsworth, enforced the rest of the plan. Standing on the deck he and the army men fired into the sky as the Colonel screamed into his radio. His men were down, the islanders were everywhere. And then suddenly the radios fell silent. The three sailors and a whole group of army men were suddenly dead. Their radios now redundant, they all pulled them off and put them in a pile. The plan was to dump them on the island next shore search. Then, hungry, the 'dead' men headed inside. On the bridge Scruffy and Black Box were chatting animatedly to the X and CO. On the radio were ET and Rembrandt, listening in and providing some input every so often.

"This is getting messy." ET put in as the sky outside the ship started to darken. There was a storm coming, enveloping the island and costing them their afternoon of searching. It meant there would be no movement until the morning, cutting fine their chance to save their men.

Scruffy nodded though ET couldn't see it. "No offence sir, but you do seem to find yourselves in some bizarre situations." The CO looked up and she smiled. "Your history precedes you sir." The CO nodded silently. That he knew, and that he feared.

Black Box glanced at him seriously. "Sir, we did encounter some islander men on the way to the beach. We thought they might've been the ones you were looking for, but they seemed more scared of us than we did of them. Ran off before we had a chance to communicate."

The CO looked up. "Communicate? One of your men speaks French?"

Black Box nodded. "Yes sir. Corporal Haynes, the one you met first ma'am." He said, directing his comment to the X. She nodded and he continued. "He called them but they didn't answer. I don't think they speak French. They must be from the local village."

"What village is this?" The CO asked, clearly happy they'd managed to find some information on the land around Yurnijak.

"I don't think it has a name sir, but we're calling it 'Ville Morte'. Haynes idea sir, it's French for 'the dead city'. Apt I think. There were bodies everywhere. Someone had come through there recently. It's no wonder those men were scared."

"And it's right near the beach?" Black Box nodded to the CO's question. "Near the docks of Yurnijak." Black Box nodded again. "Can you lead us to this village? I have a feeling our men might be there."

Black Box smiled. "My pleasure sir. My men will be ready to go as soon as you want them to." The CO smiled at the officer and waved them away. He and Scruffy left the bridge with Buffer. The CO went to the X. "I say we leave it till the morning. We're no good in fading light. They'll have the wood on us in there."

The X nodded. Somewhere nearby ET's voice came across again. "I agree sir." He said with a chuckle. Clearly they'd forgotten he and Rembrandt were still on the line. The CO leant over and hung up on them abruptly. "We'll need a plan. I'll talk to Buffer tonight."

The X frowned. "And Black Box and his men?"

The CO shrugged. "Maybe." He saw the X's face. "I'm sorry X, but I don't quite understand why they've deserted the Kanimbla to help us. Straight out, I don't trust them. It's unfortunate, but we must be wary of why they've risked their jobs to do this." The X nodded slowly, realising it had occurred to her too. No one in their right mind went against their government for no gain or reason. The CO was doing it to save his men, but why was Rembrandt helping? The X didn't want to distrust her old friend or ET, but the question had crossed her mind. "We call on them when we need them. Back up, not leading. I'll lead the men out tomorrow morning, early so we don't miss the move from the village to the docks." He glanced up at the islands. "There's definitely more to this than meets the eye, and I don't want to find out half-way through trouble that Rembrandt's men were betraying us all along."