This chapter is dedicated to firerosedreamer67. One of the readers who has left a review with every new update, which I greatly appreciate. I love hearing from my readers; I've had three people read the entirety of what I've written, and they all three tell me they love the story. However, it is so uplifting and affirming to hear from others that what I've done has brought them pleasure, or that they've learned something. Thank you for all your reviews, firerose!

December 1999

Help was obtained at once for Anapa, and he was soon settled into the medical clinic with Hina at his side. Grollet disembarked shortly after, telling only Kate where he was going. No one else cared, but Kate wrote down the name of his lodging, the Pension Vaiteanui. Kate found a small pension near the clinic, the Chez Yolande, which allowed her to help Hina and Anapa as much as possible.

The crew of the Iriata, meanwhile, fell into an exhausted sleep. They still maintained a duty rotation, caring for the chickens and making some small repairs to the ship that the rough weather had caused. Unfortunately, about twenty four hours after their arrival, Ari'i fell ill with a gastrointestinal bug. It wasn't a surprise to anyone; he'd driven himself unmercifully after Anapa's injury. He became so dehydrated that he required admission to the same clinic that housed Anapa.

Caring for the chickens was not difficult, and the four remaining crew were fortunate to have lots of down time. The islanders and crew alike were relieved that the cyclone had veered east once more, sparing the island most of its wrath. It wasn't a strong storm, but a direct hit would have devastated the island for years.

Rick yawned as he stripped his t shirt off on the afternoon of their second day in port. He was ready for a nap, after having heard good news from Hina earlier in the day. They were hoping Anapa could be released soon. A knock on the door to the bunkroom interrupted his plans, as Tamahere stuck his head in.

"Hopo, just got a message that Anapa wants to talk to us."

Rick sighed and started pulling his t-shirt back on. "Do you know why?"

"Aita, no."

The four men walked the short distance to the clinic in a companionable silence. Tupua'i was very beautiful. With just over two thousand people on the whole island, Mataura was not large. In fact, most of the population was spread out around the circumference of the island. However, Mataura, with its wharf and nearness to the breach in the reef, was the largest village and considered to be the capital. Because Tupua'i housed the administrative seat of the Australs, it was better equipped than the other islands in its chain.

When they arrived, they found Anapa and Hina in the same small room he'd been in from his admission. Ari'i was a few doors down and was sleeping when they walked past. Rick blinked to see Kate there as well. He'd thought this meeting would involve just the crew, but Kate's presence spoke to something more.

Anapa was awake and looking much better. Rick thought it was easily the best he'd been since the unfortunate accident.

"Ia ora na. I hope you are all well, unlike poor Ari'i," their captain teased; the sparkle was back in his eyes and Rick was glad to see it.

"E, Anapa. We four are too tough to get sick," Arenui answered; he was in charge now, with Ari'i down. "You're feeling better, I trust?"

"Day by day, thanks to you and my wonderful wife here. I'd like to thank you all for the incredible job you did. We all came through that storm due to your vigilance."

They accepted his thanks, proud to have earned his praise. He'd taught each of them, save Tane, and the success they had was due to his good training and patience.

"I hate to ask another large favor from you, but I have no choice. Monsieur Grollet, as you recall, was to be delivered to Raivavae. He's insisting that we finish the delivery, immediately, or he'll demand his money back. My understanding is that the storm has moved south and east?"

Arenui agreed; they'd still been keeping track of it.

"Then I'll put it to you. You're independent men and can choose as you wish. However, since Raivavae is but a day's journey and the storm is not a direct threat, would you be willing to take Monsieur Grollet to his destination?"

None of them were keen to do anything Grollet demanded, but they knew it would cause problems for Anapa if they refused. As one they looked at Arenui and nodded their heads.

"When would you have us leave?" Arenui asked.

"On the next ebbing tide, if you can. I know it is a lot to ask after what you've been through, and with Ari'i ill."

"It's not a problem, Anapa. Next high tide is around seven this evening. We can be underway and there by tomorrow evening."

"Thank you all so much. I'll have a message sent to Monsieur Grollet. And you do not need to hurry back; I'm not going anywhere soon, and Ari'i is still laid up as well. Take a few days there after you unload. I do not believe Hopo has ever been there."

"No captain. I've never been." Rick wanted to see Raivavae, and wanted even more to see the last of one Henri Grollet.

"I'd like to go too." Kate spoke up for the first time.

"Are you sure? I'm afraid with all that's happened you'll be cutting it close to get back to Tahiti in time," Hina exclaimed.

"I've thought about it," Kate replied. She nodded, once. "Yes, there should be enough time. I had one more week to deal with. And I hear there's an airport on Raivavae. If it comes to it, I can fly back to Papeete."

Hina smiled at her. "Well, it's a beautiful island. I think you'll really enjoy it."

None of them could know, as they filed out of the clinic on that bright day, that neither Rick or Kate would ever lay eyes on Raivavae.

They nearly missed the ebb. Grollet was late, and became even more agitated than usual when he overheard Tamahere muttering about missing their window due to his actions. Their passenger didn't understand the concern; since the Iriata was a powered ship, he felt they should be able to leave at any point regardless of the tide. He didn't understand the crew's worry that trying to run the narrow opening outside of high tide would be foolhardy and dangerous.

Nonetheless, they did make it. Arenui was a skilled navigator, and had a lot of experience in the Australs from his teenage years. Even though Ari'i was the natural successor to Anapa, Rick was confident after watching Arenui guide their way through that he was a great substitute.

Arenui, though, didn't look too thrilled about their triumph. Rick was picked to take the first shift once they'd passed the reef. As he hopped up to the bridge to relieve him, words of congratulations on a job well done crumbled in his mouth. Arenui was pale and sweating, and gave Rick minimal instructions before heading downstairs to rest. Being in charge of the ship, it fell to Arenui to mollify Grollet during the trip; it was a job Rick was too glad not to have. Thankfully, his friend only had to get through the next twenty four hours, and they'd all be free of that snake.

After checking all the engine lights and satisfying himself that the ship was running well, Rick looked at the nav map. The weather reports he listened to had the cyclone stalled on its projected route south. Anapa had helped them plot a course to Raivavae before they'd left, but it now looked like that would lead them far closer to the storm than they wanted. There was no helping it: they'd have to swing north off their original plan. He replotted; it'd add only a few hours, and would save hours of grief. Satisfied, he sat back in the captain's chair to enjoy his shift.

At one a.m. Arenui relieved him. The older man remained haggard and pale; he gave a wan smile when Rick asked if he were ok. They all needed the down time they'd get once they arrived at the island. Rick showed him the replotted route and the storm predictions. Arenui agreed with everything, then shooed him off the bridge. Shift over, the only thing Rick wanted was his bed. Both Tamahere and Tane were sleeping soundly in their bunks; he joined them in dreamland within moments after lying down.

Kate was up at five thirty am, ready to prepare breakfast for everyone. No one else seemed to be about, not that she expected to see anyone. Grollet was rarely up before nine and the crew needed rest before their shifts.

Making coffee was the first priority. Her first cup was a necessity to get her brain moving. As she sat down with her steaming mug, she glanced out the window. It was still pitch black, and raining. The air felt heavy and wet, as though it were a blanket wrapping the ship in its cumbrous embrace.

The storm had dominated the discussion in the saloon last night. Everyone'd been hopeful that they'd miss most of it, but they still had hours to go and already the waves were growing. Shrugging, she finished her coffee and went back to work. Her job was to feed people, not to worry about the cyclone.

Pancakes and fresh, sliced fruit were the breakfast plan, but she began to second guess the pancakes as six am approached. Heavy rolls with the increasing waves made for a very dicey griddle experience. No one else had appeared, so she turned off the grill and grabbed a cup of coffee to take to Arenui. He'd appreciate the gesture after a long night, and she'd find out what to expect in terms of weather.

Stumbling sideways with a heavy wave on the stairs made her pause. Now that she was wide awake, she could feel the difference from the bad weather they experienced before Tupua'i: they were rolling from side to side with each wave. Clutching the railing, she started climbing again, eager to get out of the rain and the wild pitching as each wave struck the Iriata.

Darkness met her when she reached the bridge. She'd learned they almost never turned on lights during the night shift to preserve their vision. Knocking, she peered in, trying to let her eyes adjust.

"Arenui, I brought you some coffee."

He made no response, though she could see his dark outline seated in the chair.

"Arenui. It's Kate, with coffee," she said louder, stepping inside and promptly losing her balance when a strong wave pushed her back into the door jamb. Portside if she remembered the nautical term correctly. "Why are we rolling so much? Has the storm changed track again?"

He didn't respond and she moved closer. She could make out more details in the dark room, and suddenly saw that his head was slumped to the right side. Surely he wasn't sleeping on the job! She touched his shoulder, but he didn't respond.

"Arenui. Arenui!" she cried, shaking him. That's when she noticed his eyes were open, lifeless. "Oh, my God! Arenui!" she choked, one hand covering her mouth. His body was cold, arms stiff when she tried to move them. Checking fruitlessly for a pulse in his neck, she ran for the intercom by the door that connected to the bunkroom.

"Hello? Hello? If anyone can hear me, I need help on the bridge right now!"

Running back to the center, she grabbed the wheel, which was rolling to and fro without direction. Hina had taught her that it connected to the rudder, and she hoped to turn the ship into the waves instead of being shoved by them. The engine was still running, but she had no idea how to throttle it back. However, when she tried to turn the ship into the next wave, the roll that resulted knocked her off her feet. The ship violently shuddered as the rudder became directionless once again.

"What the hell, Arenui? What the hell are you doing?" Rick's voice shouting from below, as he struggled to climb the bucking.

"Rick, help!"

He stormed into the bridge, almost tripping over her where she lay in the floor. "What's going on? What on earth are you doing?"

"It's Arenui. He's—he's dead."

"What?!" He jumped over her and grabbed the wheel, no time to see to his friend as he tried to get the boat under control. They were in the troughs, and in real danger of broaching. Powering back, he began tacking to broad the bow at a 45 degree angle, just as Anapa had taught him. Slowly, things corrected and the ship smoothed out, no longer taking such a pounding.

Panic threatened to overwhelm him. He knew there was no way to get a fix on their location. It was still dark as night out; the cloud cover obliterated any hope of fixing on the moon or stars. Nothing more could be done but to heave to and wait—and pray they were far from any rocks. He looked over at Kate, who'd regained her feet and was rubbing her hip. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, just a little bruised. What happens now?"

Before he could answer, Tamahere and Tane arrived on the bridge. As they took in the tragedy of what had occurred, Rick saw Tamahere look up at the compass and then over at the now useless navigational charts. He shared a look of horror; they both knew the danger they were in.

"My God! How long has he been dead?" Tane gasped.

"I don't know, but his body is stiff. I think it's been a while," Kate answered, arms hugging herself as she shivered.

"Why are we in the storm? I thought it was far enough away we wouldn't run into it." Tane hadn't realized how far off course they were. Rick had no desire for a panic, but there was no way to hide the information.

"Radio last night reported that it'd stalled, so Arenui and I re-plotted a course northward to avoid it. We should have been fine," Rick frowned, wiping a hand across his brow. Everything had been on track when he'd left the bridge. But how long had the ship been underway without anyone steering it?

"I don't think the storm has moved much. I think we have." Tamahere was now the most experienced sailor on board. He spoke up, assuming command as was necessary.

"What does that mean?" Kate cried out.

"If I had to guess, I think Arenui died hours ago, and we swung south. We went to the storm essentially."

"Can't we just turn around then? Go back north?" Kate had no desire to be in the middle of a cyclone. The outer bands had been bad enough.

Tamahere sighed, turned and looked at the compass. It was pointing south east, as Rick kept them headed into the waves. "Unfortunately, it's not that easy. There's no way to know the exact path we took."

"Why does that matter? We'll just head north and escape the weather." Kate thought it was an obvious solution, but she didn't miss the grimace Rick made as she spoke. "What? Why can't we?"

He sighed, eyes somber. She trembled; she wasn't going to like what he said.

"We have absolutely no idea where we are. There's no way to take a measurement without being able to see the sky. With the heavy cloud cover we may not be able to see anything for days."

"But if we sailed north and got out of the storm, we could figure it out. Right?"

"Kate, if we move without knowing where we are, we're likely to hit something. I know this part of the ocean looks empty, but in reality there are thousands of volcanic rocks out there, just waiting to rip us open. We're roughly south of the Australs, assuming the storm didn't move. We just need to ride it out. The best plan is to power down so far to just maintain our position, then once the storm moves on we can get a fix and get back to Tupua'i or get to Raivavae."

"Is that right, Tamahere?" Kate quavered. She needed to hear it from both of them. She couldn't believe there was nothing else they could do.

"Yes. We're going to have to ride it out, best we can." Tamahere looked as scared as she felt, though his voice was calm. "We should have enough fuel, right?" he turned to Rick, who nodded.

"Yeah, got a full load at Tupua'i , thank goodness." Rick gestured at the unfortunate Arenui, "We need to move his body. We have to be able to use the bridge. Kate, come take the wheel from me. Try to keep the bow of the ship pointed into the wave like this," demonstrating as the next wave broke.

Once he was satisfied she wasn't going to capsize them, he, Tane, and Tamahere carefully lifted the body.

"Where are we taking him?" Tane asked.

"We can't leave him on the bridge. Let's see if we can get him down the stairs. We'll put him in the captain's cabin for now." Rick wasn't sure why he was making the decisions other than the fact that he was older than the other two.

As they laboriously moved down the stairs with their burden, both physical and mental, a door was scraped open.

"What is all this racket? What's going on?" demanded Grollet.

Rick groaned. Ignoring him, they reached the second level and were able to move more quickly. They place the body in Anapa's cabin. It was an unpleasant task, to say the least, made infinitely worse when they turned around and found Grollet's angry visage glowering at them.

"I demand an accounting. What happened?"

Rick held up his fingers and ticked off each event. "Kate found Arenui dead this morning. It looks like he's been dead for a while. We're way off course, in the middle of the cyclone and have no way of figuring out where we are. Does that answer all your questions?"

Without waiting for Grollet to say anything he walked off, brushing past the little worm. He had too many problems to contend with right now, most importantly taking the wheel back from Kate. Tamahere and Tane joined him to start planning what to do. Rick missed the look of impotent rage that Grollet sent him as he climbed back to the bridge.

The next two days were a blur. The three remaining crewmen did their best, but it was impossible to hold their position completely. Unlike the northern Pacific, there was no radio navigation network. Clear weather would've allowed them to get sextant readings to determine their latitude, though the chronometer would still be useless. However, the heavy clouds persisted. They were blind, and that fact preyed heavily on all of their minds.

Static was the only sound they raised on VHF radio. They were far from any shipping lanes, and it was everyone with any sense had sailed as far as possible from the looming cyclone. They were alone, with only their knowledge and Anapa's lessons to rely on.

The storm's intensity was incredibly grating: fighting the ship's wheel, jolted continuously when they didn't hit the waves right, exhausted by doing the work of many.

They had rigged jack lines in order to move about without being swept overboard. Grollet was enraged that no one had checked the chickens. The third time he screeched that no one cared Rick handed him a poncho and told him he was more than welcome to do it himself. That finally shut him up.

On the third day, Rick began to hear new creaks and groans from the ship as the waves continued to pound them. The Iriata was a good ship, but she wasn't made for weather like this. The strain was tearing her apart. He and Tamahere began discussing throwing caution to the wind and trying to head out of the storm.

They asked everyone to the bridge mid-morning. The only way they knew the time was by the clocks and watches; little distinguished day from night. Torrents of rain hammered continuously, adding to their misery.

After everyone was present, even the odious Grollet, Tamahere and Rick shared their concerns and the dangers of staying, versus trying to make a run from the storm. Rick had one more matter to discuss as well.

"We need to discuss the evacuation protocol in case something happens to the ship. It's better to talk about it and hope we don't need it rather than run into trouble and not know what to do."

Tamahere and Tane nodded; they'd known this was coming. Kate was aghast. The storm was bad enough in the Iriata; surely in the tiny lifeboat it'd be a thousand times worse.

"We'll need to be orderly and calm. Take nothing but essentials. It's already stocked with a few survival rations and water, but grab as many non-perishables from the galley as you can. And some more bottles of water. Tamahere, you'll go out first."

Henri immediately interrupted, "Why him? Why shouldn't I go first?"

Rick rounded on him, snapping, "Of course you can go first. I was only sending him first so he can get the lines deployed to launch it, but since you're volunteering that's fine."

Grollet rocked back on his feet, "No, no, no. That's all right. I was just... Never mind."

"Fine. Now, I'll start again," Rick glared at Grollet. "Like I was saying, Tamahere'll go first and get the boat ready to launch. Kate, you'll go second with the water and whatever rations you can carry. Tane, third with the same. Grollet fourth. I'll come last; Tamahere and I will launch with everyone in the boat." He looked around, seeing fear in all of their eyes. "Take only as much food and water as you can safely carry. Find some bags to put it in, so you can walk securely along the decks. Make sure you have a jack line hooked up to be safe."

Surveying the little group again, he saw nods of understanding. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs that he was a fraud; he didn't know why they were listening to him. He was terrified, but someone had to take charge and Tamahere wanted to follow, not lead. It was on his shoulders. Sighing, he added: "We're not likely to be rescued for some time, and with five people to feed it's gonna get tight. Bring high calorie items if you have a choice."

Grollet gave him a speculative glance that Rick couldn't read. He had no time to spare for superfluous complaints and imagined slights, so he ignored the man.

"Is everyone clear on the order? Ok, Tamahere, check below decks again and make sure the bilge pumps are keeping up. Tane, you'll take the next shift."

Rick relinquished the wheel, such as it was, and started down the stairs.

"Rick there's coffee in the saloon if you want." Kate thought he looked awful; they all did. No one could sleep, no one could eat. It was as if the storm was trying to kill them slowly; exhaust them before sending them to slumber forever in the bottomless depths.

"Thanks Kate. Don't mind if I do." He followed her down and poured a small cup.
"Sorry about all this."

"How is all this your fault?"

"I don't know. I'm just sorry you're here, away from everything you know and there's nothing I can do to make it better."

"So you don't have any family?"

"No, I do. My mother."

"Won't she worry?"

"Ha, she's been worrying for the last twelve months, since I left New York. Fine, I see your point. But I took this job knowing there were dangers. You were supposed to be a passenger on the vacation of a lifetime."

"Is that what you think I was doing here?"

"It's not? Why else would you be here?"

Kate shook her head. "There's not time to go into it all. You need to rest; so do I. I'll see you later."

As Rick lay down a few minutes later, he wondered yet again why he seemed to always say the wrong thing around Kate Beckett. It was a talent, that's for sure. No other explanation.

Tamahere joined him, reporting the bilge pumps were keeping up. He and Rick both slept leaving Tane in charge so they could get a few hours of precious shuteye. Rick was dreaming he was on a roller coaster at Coney Island, when a horrific grinding noise and the sensation of flying through the air woke him. He just had time to think 'what the hell now?' when his head struck the wall and he fell unconscious.