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Chapter 7
"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is flight GX0148 from Vanuatu to Cairns…."
They heard machine gun fire.
"… We are attacked by a Japanese flyboat. Our coordinates are approximately 15° south and 152° east "
"Mayd…" machine gun fire and nothing anymore.
Mike looked at Kate and she looked at him. "What is that for a day? One abnormality after another", he said, frowning.
"Dunno Mike", she answered, forgetting her role.
RO brought them back to reality. "No more communications sir".
"Thanks RO. Harpie, do you think it's that movie shoot again or should it be our lunatic?"
"Pfft, sir, I can't say it, but it sounded real", he answered rubbing the back of his head.
"Hmm, they gave coordinates. X, check if it's around", he ordered.
"Yes sir", she said and walked over to the chart table.
"Harpie, man the two .50 machine guns and the Typhoon. That lunatic could return and then I want to warmly welcome him", Mike ordered.
"Aye sir", he said and went down to gather his gunners.
A few minutes later, Kate came back to Mike, "It's approximately 90 miles from our position".
"Approximately?", he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Without GPS and only with the sextant, it's approximately", Kate replied in a serious tone.
A smile spread across his face, "Knowing you, then you can replace the word approximately by exactly, can't you Princess Perfect?", he said.
"Sir!", she mumbled indignantly, giving him an unseen pat on his arm.
"Right, it's two hours away at full speed. It think it's worth it. There are probably some geezers into the drink. X, set course to that place", he ordered.
Two hours later, they entered the search area. Mike sent sailors off the bridge to search the sea with binoculars. Thirty minutes later, a sailor on the bridge wing saw something, "Sir, a yellow dinghy to starboard, at 2 o'clock!".
"EOD", Mike ordered .
Spider activated the EOD and zoomed in on the object while Mike, Kate, Dutchy and Harpie gathered around him.
"Hmm, four people and that little thing doesn't seem too big. Just a can of sardines", Mike said.
"Okay, steer five degrees to starboard. Dutchy prepare a team to take them aboard and take Bomber with you. Maybe they need medical assistance", he ordered.
"Aye sir", Dutchy replied and he left the bridge.
A few minutes later, the Rhib rushed towards the dinghy. The four men in it were looking at the Rhib and the patrol boat like they had never seen before.
They must have a serious shock. They don't do anything, not even wave!, Dutchy thought.
The Rhib stopped next to the dinghy and they noticed that there was a fifth man in the background with a leg injury. They also saw that two of them were airmen and three were Navies. They all wore old-fashioned uniforms.
"Hi, do you speak English?", Dutchy greeted them.
At the same moment Dutchy realised that one of the Navy men was a vice-admiral and the other one a lieutenant.
"Yes, we do and who are you?", asked the vice-admiral surprised. His eyes suddenly widened when he saw Bomber. "What? A woman aboard?", he exclaimed.
Rebecca frowned indignantly, "What's the matter mate? Have you been at sea for so long that you don't know what a woman looks like anymore?", she answered bluntly.
Dutchy nudged her, "For God's sake Bomb, watch what you are saying! This man is a vice-admiral", he grumbled.
He turned around to the vice-admiral, "We are Australian Navy sir. Was anyone else wounded besides the bloke over there?"
"No, only him, he's the pilot. A brave man. He took a bullet in his leg but he was able to put down his crate nicely on the water", replied the man. The others didn't wait and stepped over the Rhib. Bomber, Lance and Dutchy carefully carried the wounded man in the Rhib.
They also pulled the dinghy aboard and returned to the Hammerley.
"Delta-82 to Charlie-82, Five Australian survivors, including a wounded man and an admiral", Dutchy reported plainly.
"Charlie-82 to Delta-82. An admiral? Okay", Mike replied baffled and looked questioningly at Kate who mouthed "an admiral?".
Meanwhile, the admiral stared in disbelief at their patrol boat.
Mike, Kate and Harpie were waiting for the Rhib at the quarterdeck.
Dutchy went first and he was followed by the admiral.
He climbed aboard and looked around in amazement until he saw Kate. "Another WRANS?", he said surprised. (*)
"I'm in active service!", Kate replied indignantly.
"Welcome aboard sir!", Mike ignored Kate's sharp remark and saluted the man. Kate and Harpie also saluted him.
The wounded man was carried to the sick bay and the other three survivors stood a few steps behind the admiral.
"Who are you?", asked the admiral slightly irritated.
"Australian Navy patrol boat HMAS Hammersley", Mike answered.
"We don't have those kind of ships and since when has the Navy had camouflage suits?", he replied sharply.
"Oh, yes sir, we do. Two divisions in Darwin and one in Cairns and the uniforms have been the dress code for three years", Mike replied.
"What happened, sir?", he continued.
"We were flying from Vanuatu to Cairns when that bastard of Mavis flyboat intercepted us. It came straight out of the sun. We haven't had the slightest chance", the admiral said.
"A flyboat? We were also attacked by a vintage Japanese flyboat. We got one casualty. One of my petty officers took photos of it, so we can easily identify that bastard and accuse him for acts of terrorism", Mike said.
"The admiral screwed up his eyes and looked at Mike suspiciously.
"A vintage flyboat? Acts of terrorism?", he repeated.
"Commander, come any closer", he ordered.
"Sir?", Mike replied baffled and he took a step forward.
"Breath out!"
"Pardon?"
"Breath out and that's an order!", the admiral snapped.
Mike breathed out and the admiral sniffed.
"Hmm, I was persuaded you had been drinking. Nevertheless, your sense of humour is not appreciated and I don't think the Americans in Pearl Harbor will like it too", the irritated man said.
As this heated conversation took place, Harpie gently nudged Kate's arm. She turned to him, "Harpie, what's going on? Looks like you saw a ghost", she said.
"I think so, because I know this man. This is Vice Admiral John Gregory Crace (**). He commanded the Australian-American support fleet in the Pacific. He died in 1968", he whispered.
Kate frowned, "So he's really alive and kicking for a man who died forty-three years ago, isn't it?".
"Would it be possible that we travelled through time in that electrical storm? It was more than abnormal, no?", he whispered.
A shiver ran through Kate's body.
A time travel? My goodness! Ridiculous! However… the storm, the radio interference, the GPS and browser failures, the Japanese flyboat and the sounds of air combat.
How can we know if this man is not putting on an act?
Hmmm…
"Sir, what day is it today?", she asked innocently.
Admiral Crace looked at her dumbly, "15th May 1942, why?", he replied.
Suddenly everything lit up in Kate's mind.
Oh gosh, this is real! I never thought that such an event could happen and it has happened to us.
"Oh, nothing sir. It's just to know", she replied plainly and she made eye contact with Mike who then realised what had happened.
"Uhm, sir, I think I can explain it…", Mike said hesitantly.
The admiral glared at him, "I hope you can!"
"May I speak you in private sir? X, are you coming too?", Mike asked and started to walk away from the others on the quarterdeck. The admiral and Kate followed him until they were on the starboard side.
"Sir, we sailed through a strange electrical storm…", he started.
"Storms are not abnormal, commander", Crace grumbled.
Mike continued, "Indeed, but I think we ended up in some sort of time slot. I mean, it looks like we've gone back n time, because we're from 2011", he said and was waiting for the other man to react.
The admiral looked at him in disbelief, "Bullshit man! Are you pulling my leg or what?", he exploded.
"No sir, look", Mike said and grabbed his wallet to show him his ID card.
"This is my birth date, the 3rd of June 1966".
"And here's mine, on the 10th of October 1974", Kate said showing him hers.
"Crap! It's just a date on a card. Everyone can print it nowadays", the admiral said angrily.
"In this material?", Mike said showing his ID card.
The admiral scowled.
For an instant, Mike looked at the admiral and then said, "Come sir".
He opened the door of the ship's main corridor, entered it, and stopped at the plate of the wharf that showed the ship's name and the date she was built.
HMAS Hammersley, Sydney, 2007
"It's just a plate with a date. It can be anything!", the admiral said irritably.
"Well, sir, then I'll show you our electronic equipment. This is neither false or fantasy. Would you follow me, please?", he said heading for the bridge. The admiral followed him and so did Kate.
When he arrived on the bridge his eyes widened when he saw all the electronic devices.
"What the hell….", he mumbled.
But, then, he noticed the Typhoon on the foredeck and turned to Mike, "Commander, you'd better man your gun. We're at war, you know".
"It is, sir. It's remote controlled", Mike replied.
"Remote what?", the admiral asked.
Mike turned at Spider who sat behind the console of the Typhoon. "Spider, give the admiral a demonstration, but without firing. I want to spare the shells for the real things", Mike ordered.
"Aye sir", Spider replied and started to turn and raise the gun in all directions.
"This is our main armament. It's a Rafael Typhoon stabilised 25-millimetre gun mount fitted with a M242 Bushmaster autocannon. It has a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute, a maximum range of 6800 metres and an effective range of 3000 metres . You see, sir, it's activated from the bridge and it's faster than any hand gun. Moreover we fire explosive grenades instead of bullets", Mike explained to a baffled admiral.
Then he pointed to the EOD, "This is our Electrical Optical Device with which we can zoom in on the target".
Mike turned to the radars, "These are our radars, a Bridgemaster E surface search and navigational radar, a Toplite electro-optical detection system, and a Warrlock direction-finding system.
Next he showed the browser, "This is our browser. All the charts are in it and we can see our position on the screen based on the GPS. Unfortunately we don't have satellites", he said.
The admiral frowned, "Satellites, GPS?", he asked.
"GPS stands for Global Positioning System and determines our position by satellites that revolve around the earth. These are brought into outer space by rockets", Mike explained.
"Man, I have to believe you, but it's so surrealistic, it's sheer madness. I can barely believe this is possible. From 2011, you say, Jeez, it's been sixty-nine years! But, then you know for sure how this war ended? Commander, have we won the war?", he asked Mike eagerly.
"Yes sir, we won it. It stopped in Europe on the 8th of May 1945 and here on the 6th of August 1945", Mike answered.
"Oh no! Still three long years to go!", the admiral grumbled.
Mike continued, "It's our radio, but we can't reach our base anymore. They don't respond".
"It's not abnormal. Our radios don't have that range. When I hear you, then the range must be greatly increased. You can only transmit a message", Crace said.
"But I know the frequency and we have to mention your ship to the admiralty", he said, looking around for other new objects.
"What's this?", he asked, pointing to Charge's console.
"This is the engine room checkpoint sir. Our engines are controlled by a computer", Charge replied.
"What do you mean by … a computer?", asked the admiral.
"Uh...it's a machine that calculates for you, controls and so much more", Charge replied a bit surprised.
"Hmm, okay, I'll come back to that later. But now, get away from this area and set course for Sydney. When we are in safer areas, I want to see the whole ship and every room, commander", Crace said.
"Okay sir…", Mike started but was interrupted by a warning from one of the lookouts on the bridge wing.
"Plane at 2 o'clock!"
(*) WRANS. Women's Royal Australian Naval Service
(**) Vice Admiral Sir John Gregory Crace KBE, CB (6 February 1887 – 11 May 1968), also known as Jack Crace, was an Australian who came to prominence as an officer of the Royal Navy (RN). He commanded the Australian-United States Support Force, Task Force 44, at the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Crace narrowly escaped a Japanese air raid while patrolling south of New Guinea.
To be continued