Thank you for reading, and to the reviewers. Enjoy this.

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Part 38 - Keeping Professional

Before going to breakfast Dutchy returned to his cabin to collect his watch which he'd forgotten when going on duty earlier. He was about to leave again when an idea occurred to him he reached across his bunk and grabbed his phone. Switching it on he was surprised to see a signal although it wasn't much, but he hoped it would be enough for what he had in mind and quickly tapped out a message, before putting his phone in the shelf by his bunk and heading back into the corridor.

He collected his breakfast from Bird and moved into the senior sailor's mess to find it already occupied by Elena. He stopped in the doorway and apologised for the intrusion.

"It should be me apologising. I didn't want to eat on my own in the ward room. Charge has just left."

Her phone was on the table and chose that moment to beep. She picked it up and with one hand expertly scrolled though the message. He watched the smile creep across her face as she read the text.

"Good news ma'am?" he asked keeping the tone light. She didn't immediately answer and he wondered if it had been a bad move to send the message and ask her about it. On the other hand, she didn't ask him to leave and she had smiled when she read it, so he figured he was on safe ground as he tentatively sat down opposite her.

"I know it's a lousy way to apologise, but I wasn't sure I'd see you before we try and board that trawler," he tried to explain.

Elena scrolled through the message again, "you made the effort, that's what counts in my book. You can make it up to me properly when we're off the ship."

"I was an idiot to react the way I did and you were right not to say anything until you were on board," he started slowly, ignoring breakfast and watching her as she focused on her phone.

Eventually she looked up, "I know there will still be stuff going on, what happened was traumatic for all of you, but I don't want us to have secrets, which is why I wanted you to know before anyone else."

He stared at the table for a moment trying to assemble his thoughts, "I'm glad you did."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked and he looked up, she seemed confused.

"Yeah, I am. I'll say it again, I'm an idiot, I'm sorry for what I said, I just don't know what to say to-" he stopped when the door opened.

"Sorry to interrupt, Elena you're wanted in ComCen," Megan announced.

Elena acknowledged the request and stood up collecting her plate and cup then looked at Dutchy. "We'll talk later."

…..

Following receipt of new instructions Elena announced to the crew that they were to allow the trawler to proceed on its way for a while longer and to continue to shadow them, as a result the boarding was postponed and the crew given some additional down time. Elena spent some time on the bridge while she observed the crew. The atmosphere was calm as everyone set about their tasks.

With hardly any paperwork of her own she was left with little to do until they could interrogate the Russian crew, so she sat and scrolled through the messages on her phone, something she had taken to doing quite often over the last few weeks. There weren't a huge number, but he'd managed to send her something nearly every day they had been away, all of them had given her a reason to smile and making her miss him more. She thought back over the last few days and what had been said at breakfast, they really needed some space to talk, but they weren't going to get the chance very soon the way things were going and she needed a way to respond to what he had said before Megan interrupted them.

As her presence on the bridge wasn't essential she pushed her phone into her pocket and headed for the stairs. She found herself in the ship's office scrolling through her emails for a while, but the delay to the boarding and with no other responsibilities she had more thinking time than she wanted. Giving up with the emails she closed everything down and ran over the boarding plan again, not that it was necessary, she already knew their objectives and who was making up the boarding party, so she was soon without anything constructive to do again. She logged out of the computer and trawled the communal areas, having brief conversations with anyone she met, but that didn't take long, so eventually she found herself, with a cup of tea, migrating once again towards the boat deck.

…

Sometime later Dutchy knocked on Kate's door then opened it. "Ma'am you wanted to see me."

"Come in and close the door," her voice seemed quiet and tense as she gave him the instruction while standing up and stepping away from her desk. "I've received word from NAVCOM, … Madeleine Cruse's trial will begin next week." Kate stopped and sniffed. Dutchy could see the tears in her eyes, he knew of all the crew it would affect them the most. It took her several deep breaths before she was able to continue, "the senior crew will be asked to testify and when we get home the prosecutor will meet with everyone to go over their statements. We'll be pulled from full patrols, but only minimal shore leave will be granted until things are concluded."

Dutchy felt his stomach churn, he wasn't looking forward to taking the stand, "it will be good to finally have it over so we can get on with our lives." There was silence for a few minutes as Kate dabbed her eyes and they were both lost in their own thoughts.

Finally he looked up at her, "are you okay ma'am?"

She gave him a sad look, "yeah, I've been expecting this but now it's actually here, to face Jim's parents again-"she paused abruptly. "You're right though, I need this to bring closure to everything that happened in those 6 months," she paused again, giving herself a chance to regain her wavering composure. Silence descended again but she seemed to take the initiative. "Elena's in the ward room, you might want to tell her before she hears it from anyone else."

"This has nothing to do with her, it happened before we met," he answered firmly.

"Think about it Dutchy, you let her job here interfere with your personal relationship. … You were stuck in the middle between Mike and I, you know how that felt. I'm asking you not to do that to anyone else. Everyone on board knows that you're in a relationship, but it's hard to watch the two of you avoiding each other, it doesn't need to be that way … don't you think she will want to support you?" Kate seemed to be picking her words very carefully.

He shook his head and folded his arms over his chest, "she doesn't need to, I go in make my statement and that's the end of it, there's no need for her to know any of it." The last thing he wanted was for her to take pity on him for his bad choices. She was a good person and didn't deserve to be tarnished with his less than stellar history.

"Dutchy you can't protect her from this, it most likely will be all over the press, NAVCOM can only do so much to shield us from the press and with her position at ASIO more details will no doubt come out. She deserves to hear your side of what happened." Kate's words carried some truth, while a lot of the details at the time had not made the press, for an impartial hearing more gory details were going to be revealed.

"If the tables were turned is that what you would do?" he asked, feeling as if he was about to implode with the different emotions coursing through him.

"If I was intending to have a serious relationship with someone I wouldn't want there to be any secrets and if I were in Elena's shoes, I would want you to be honest with me," Kate answered. "I have Mike to support me," she continued carefully, her voice wavering a little. "You need someone to have your back, someone who cares about you. All I'm asking is for you to think about it."

…..

Elena was on her way to her cabin when she passed Dutchy on the stairs. After a brief greeting she stopped and turned back. "You've been avoiding me all afternoon, have you got something on your mind?" she asked, making him stop and turn around.

"I know you've had a few signals from ASIO this afternoon, so you probably know that the court case has been announced." He kept his voice low as he stepped down a few stairs leaving them at eye level.

"There was an announcement sent out to everyone in Cairns warning us off talking to the press. I figured you needed some space to get your head around things."

"What else do you know?"

"Not as much as you seem to think I know." She glanced around, satisfied that they still seemed to be alone she continued, "Your file had an extremely sanitised version of your involvement with the whole terrorist plot, I'll support you through everything, but I'd rather have a head's up before it all comes out next week in court. I can't help if I don't know what I'm helping you with."

"I don't need your support, this is nothing to do with you," he hissed.

"Fine if that's the way you want it," she answered and turned away heading for the crew quarters.

He closed his eyes and took a breath then followed her, "Elena, I'm sorry."

She stopped when he spoke and spun to face him, "I'm not sure you are, you're determined to keep me at arm's length when it comes to your history, I'm not asking you to spill everything, but right now I feel like I hardly know you. … Perhaps it's best we just stick to keeping professional and when I'm back home we steer clear of each other."

She pushed open the door to her cabin and stepped inside then slammed the door. Dutchy stood watching her closed door for a minute then rubbed his face and returned to his previous task.

…..

Having waited all day for word from NAVCOM they were finally given the news they were waiting for. The Russian trawler had docked for a few hours at the island and was now again on its way south. Allowing another hour or two to ensure it was some distance from the port they were finally ready to assemble the boarding party.

Elena turned into the tiny corridor where the gear was stowed to find Dutchy alone and unlocking the weapons cabinet, he was already wearing his Kevlar vest. Hearing her footsteps he looked up.

"I hear we got our orders," he greeted. He wasn't sure what to say to her after their earlier exchange so sticking to business seemed to be the best.

"About time I hate sitting around waiting," she answered, her voice and posture giving nothing away.

"Any change to our plan?" he asked, his eyes not leaving her as she reached into the cabinet and began to put on her own protective vest. He wondered what would happen if he were just to come clean with her.

"Only one, I've discussed it with Megan and the CO, we're switching you and Swain." She didn't seem disappointed with the decision.

"Why? Because of earlier?" he snapped causing her to turn and face him while he fixed her with a look that demanded an answer.

"I think you know. It's a good command decision and I can't work with someone who doesn't trust me. If something goes wrong we need to stay impartial and I don't think I can do that. Also I need Swain's police expertise when I question them. … You know it's the right decision, your place is with Meg and to follow her orders, she's leading the boarding, I'm there as translator."

He stepped closer to her and she backed up against the open cupboard and they stared at each other for a moment their bodies only inches apart. He was going to say something, but stopped, his head was spinning, he wanted to argue about the change in partners, he wanted to say a lot of things, but he couldn't form words for any of it. Hearing the call for the boarding party to assemble he reached into the cupboard behind her and took out a radio and helped her fix the wiring so it wouldn't snag. He stepped back as the noise of the gathering sailors approached.

It had been a while since they spoke and he still hadn't said anything to her about the decision. He didn't want them to go ahead without saying anything, but it was her to break the ice first. The look she gave him made it clear it wasn't going to happen. "I am sorry and we need to talk," he said quietly, before turning to face the other sailors as the first turned the corner into the confined space.

…..

The boarding itself was uneventful and they soon had the crew assembled on deck. Elena had watched from the side-lines for most of it and enjoyed seeing first-hand what a well organised team they were.

Megan tried using English to encourage the skipper to show himself, but the crew just sniggered among themselves. After a moment she turned to Elena. "Your turn, see how they react when they hear their own language, although I'm not sure the master is here, I don't see the one who claimed he was the other day."

"Okay, can someone bring the manifest and crew log and make sure we have everyone accounted for."

"2-Dads, wheelhouse, RO go with him," Megan instructed knowing that the sailors had already heard Elena's request.

Dutchy and Swain were standing watching the assembled crew as Elena moved towards them. She exchanged brief glances with the two petty officers then addressed the crew firstly in English. "Who is the master of this vessel?" she asked clearly only for a cackle of laughter to run around the group. "Okay then let's see what reaction we get now," she commented to the Hammersley crew.

"Looks like you've got a tough audience," Swain answered giving her an encouraging smirk.

"From experience the next 30 seconds are going to be a massive wake up call," she replied. She glanced at Dutchy who just raised his eyebrows at her. She turned to the Russian crew and eyeballed them for a moment as they all cackled again and gave her more than a few lecherous looks.

"I don't need to talk their language to have some idea of what they're thinking Ma'am." Dutchy retorted, apparently good-naturedly, which surprised her a little after their earlier exchange.

"Let's see if I can wipe those looks off their faces then," she answered glancing at him briefly before picking on the oldest looking sailor and beckoning him to stand up before addressing him in apparently fluent Russian. "Who is the master of this vessel? We have some questions to ask in accordance with Australian customs law."

Almost all the sailors suddenly stopped cackling and looked stunned. "Looks like it's having some effect," Dutchy acknowledged as the old sailor seemed to consider his position.

"You can chose to answer my questions and possibly go on your way or we will seize this vessel and its cargo and hand it over to the federal and customs authorities for further investigation," she continued, hoping to instil an element of co-operation into the crew.

Finally the old man spoke. Elena had several exchanges with him before RO and 2-Dads returned with the documents she had requested. She quickly flicked through them, then asked a few more questions and conducted a head count while checking their identities against their passports. She finished the last check and walked across the deck to Megan who was observing what was going on.

"Anything?" she asked hopefully.

"There's barely anything among the paper work in English, even their logs are mostly Russian, which in itself is suspicious, all shipping is supposed to have their logs in English or at least both languages. The crew all claim to know no other languages but I recognise a few of them from the bar the other night when I heard them speak a few words, one of them even had the nerve to try and chat me up and show off his skills, he obviously doesn't recognise me."

"I thought it was fishy when I saw all the Russian documents the other day. So what do we have?"

"A lot more questions and I'd like time to go through the rest of their paperwork," Elena responded.

"Steaming party?" Megan questioned.

"I don't see much option, but maybe a search of the ship first," Elena suggested as she looked over the ships manifest again. "Check that they are carrying what these say they are."

"Which is?"

"Oil, I don't think I'll ever understand why we export the stuff only to import more from somewhere else. Have you looked at the DFAT website lately? Maybe we need to lobby the politicians why we have these ridiculous trade dealings."

"Alright, off the hobby horse," Megan answered and looked around the gathered crew. "What do we do with the crew?"

"Keep them here for now, until you've finished the search then take them to Hammersley."

"Swain, stay with Sky, watch the crew. RO, 2-Dads, port side, we're looking for oil. Dutchy come with me." Elena got the sense that he was about to argue and clearly Megan thought the same. "Now Petty Officer," she commanded as she turned away.

….

The search revealed nothing and Swain watched as the main boarding party returned to Hammersley for the last time ferrying the remaining Russian crew. He looked at 2-Dads who had also remained behind, "let's go home."

Several hours into the journey with Hammersley steaming just over the horizon, Elena appeared on the bridge. Swain was watching over the controls, monitoring their course. "Hi, how's it going?"

"We should be in Cairns tomorrow morning," he answered her greeting and she handed over a mug of coffee.

"Here, I managed to find something that was relatively clean to make up some coffee. 2-Dads is taking a snooze in the mess, he'll relieve you in a couple of hours. It'll be good to get some rest before the storm hits." Swain took a mouthful of the coffee.

"It's not the worst I've had, you should have tasted the stuff Bird used to make when she first became Chefo," he chuckled.

"I heard, I gather Becca has been giving her cooking lessons during her shore leaves," Elena confirmed as she leant against the console and cast her eyes over the gauges.

"I think everyone will be eternally grateful for that. … How are you getting on with their documentation?"

"So far it all seems pretty routine paperwork, all supports the manifest, but I still think there's something bigger going on here, I just can't pinpoint what it is," she sighed heavily and rubbed her eyes.

"Why don't you take a couple of hours break yourself, I can manage here and if I need you we've got the radios."

"No, I should get back, I've left my coffee with the papers, I'll let you know if I find anything." She moved to the door then stopped and looked back, "we're due for a check in with Hammersley, can you take care of it?"

"No problem Ma'am, I'll also get RO to give us an update on that predicted storm," Swain acknowledged and turned his attention back to the expanse of sea visible in the moonlit night.

…..

It was after midnight when RO banged on Megan's door waking her up. She propped herself up in the bunk and switched on the light as the door opened.

"I'm sorry to wake you ma'am but Charge asked me to tell you that the steaming party are overdue on their last check-in." RO announced as he used the door for support. It was then that Megan noticed the heavy roll of the ship, the storm threatened earlier must have started after she fell asleep and it wasn't unknown for her to sleep through some pretty rough conditions.

"How long?" she asked, pulling her hair into a makeshift pony tail and climbing out of bed.

"40 minutes, we've been trying every 5 minutes but there's nothing and their signal on radar just disappeared."

Things heat up a fair bit after this, reveiw and I'll post more. For those interested in the other site, it is seapatrol (dot) com. To access the fanfiction area you'll need to sign up and log in.