CH 71

Hammersley returned to port after completing their patrol and was granted a few days of shore leave. They would all be part of the ANZAC dawn parade. Even the SAS was in it.

After the parade, Jim found June and walked over to her. "Hey, shall we go home?"

"Sounds good," and they left the group that she was with chatting as they walked away.

Two days later Hammersley left port again for a month's patrol. Their first job was to drop medical supplies onto four islands, and they were very grateful for the help.

At the end of the month, as they returned to Cairns, MacGyver went into the ship's office.

"Hi X. Doing the rosters?"

"Yeah. What can I do for you?"

"Well, could I have Sunday off please?"

"Why?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten."

Kate thought about it, then she remembers. "Your wedding anniversary."

"Right on one!"

"What are you planning?"

"Hire a boat for a day and overnight…one with a berth."

"It's hard to believe it's been a year."

"For you and me both."

"Well, okay, you can do Friday and Tuesday."

"Fine by me, thanks."

"I hope you a wonderful time."

"Yeah, and no interruptions."

Kate chuckled.

"Thanks, X."

Saturday morning Jim and MacGyver hired a boat out and headed north for three days. They stop and anchor in an island cove and spend two days hiking, swimming, sunbathing naked, and making passionate love.

On Monday morning after making love, Jim looked down at her "June this is the best anniversary gift you could have given me, thank you."

"Well, I did mention to you a couple months ago about you and me on a boat."

"Yeah, you did, and we sure did rock the boat."

She laughs then kisses him. "We sure did."

Jim was smiling, then they kissed once more and made passionate love once again.

As they were returning to Cairns, they noticed a patrol boat that was heading towards them. They carried on until they were asked to stop. MacGyver stopped her engines and waited. A RHIB from the patrol boat was lowered into the sea and approached them.

As the boarding team climbed onto the back of the boat, June asked, "Is there a problem, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, there is. Can you explain what you are doing in the no-fishing zone?"

"We're just passing through. We are heading back to Cairns, and if we went around, we would be calling for a tow."

"What were you doing up this way?"

"Spending our wedding anniversary on Turtle Island for three days."

"Have you got any ID on you?"

"Yeah, below deck."

"Go and get it."

"Where're your bloody manners?!" MacGyver said as she turned around and went below deck.

"Does your wife always talk like that?" the Lieutenant asked Jim.

"It depends, Lieutenant, and a piece of advice, don't piss her off. I've seen her pissed off." Jim said.

When she returned, she passed the Lieutenant their driver's licences.

"June Roth and Jim Roth."

"That's us," June replied.

"What's going on over there, Spike?" they heard over the radio.

"Checking the couple's identification, Sir, and the reason why they went through the non-fishing zone."

"Who are they?"

"Jim and June Roth from Cairns, Sir."

"Put Mrs Roth on the radio."

"Captain wants a word, Ma'am," as he handed her the radio.

"Captain's name?" she asked.

"Lieutenant Commander Hawker."

"Not Ben Frank Hawker…"

"Yeah, do you know him?"

Laughing, "Oh yeah, we go way back." Then she talks into the radio. "Hawkeye, is that you, Sir?"

"Who is this, and how do you know my nickname?"

"It's MacGyver, Sir," she responds, laughing.

"No way! It can't be you!"

"Yes, Sir, it's me. I'm married to Captain Jim Roth, SAS."

"Well, Congrats. How long have you been up here?"

"Five years, posted on Hammersley."

"You gotta be joking."

"Nope and Mighty Mike Flynn is the acting captain for now until a replacement can be found, Sir."

"It would be great to catch up."

"Are you returning from your patrol?"

"We are."

June looked at Jim "drinks?"

"Sure."

"Hawkeye, drinks tonight?"

"Sure, what time?"

"Eight, Sir, at the usual Navy hangout."

"Fine by me. See you at the pub then."

"Looking forward to the catch-up, Sir."

"Same here, MacGyver."

"Sir, when your boarding team returns, have a chit chat to your cranky XO about Navy manners."

"Will do." She passed the radio back

"Lieutenant, Sir, you ask Hawkeye about me and what sort of sailor I am."

"I will."

June turned to the boarding team, "See you boys back in Cairns." They got into the RHIB then returned to the ship.

MacGyver went up top to the flying bridge, started the engine, and continued on to port.

"June, how do you know the captain?"

"We served on Darwin together, he was a lieutenant back then and was due for a promotion."

"Okay"

"The XO's going to be crapping himself after Hawkeye tells him what sort of person I am," she said grinning.

That night MacGyver and Jim walk into the pub. After getting themselves a drink, they look around and see him at a table alone, "Hawkeye."

"MacGyver, Captain," he said, standing.

"Call me Jim," he said as they shook hands. Hawkey gave MacGyver a hug.

"I still can't believe it's been over five years. You haven't changed one bit."

"Thank you, Sir. You've changed. So what have you been up to since Darwin?"

"I was promoted three years ago. After my promotion, I did a tour over in Iraq. When I came back, I was posted on New Castle as second in command and then to Childers three months ago."

"How's the family?"

"Teenagers, all four of them. So what about you, your married, any kids?"

"Not yet, we've been married for a year. With Jim's SAS schedule and our patrol schedules, it's been hard, but we spend every chance we can together."

"So, how did you two meet?"

Jim and June look at each other and smile then turn back to Hawkeye.

"Hammersley, we were the taxi service for the SAS during a couple of missions."

"You're joking, when was this?"

"Couple of years ago, during Samaru Island conflict."

"Ah, I heard about that. So was it love at first sight?" he said with a chuckle.

"No, but there was a challenge involved."

"A challenge, huh? What kind of challenge?"

June went on to tell the story. He was laughing by the end of the story.

"Since I lost, I asked her out on a date."

"I said yes, but every time we tried to date, we would get interrupted with either a crash sail or rain checks due to SAS missions, rebels and such."

"It must've been hard for you both."

"Yes, it was," Jim said.

"We both been through a lot in the first year, including both of us being wounded."

"I heard about what happened to the both of you and Commander Flynn, you three sure were lucky."

"Jim was the luckiest one out of the three of us. He only had a concussion, whereas Commander Flynn had a serious head wound, broken collarbone and dislocated shoulder and was in a coma."

"I didn't realise it was that bad, and what about you?"

"Concussion, bruising and shrapnel in the back of my leg. There was a nick artery the surgeon was concerned about. Also, a concern that there may have been nerve and tendon damage in my leg. I was lucky."

"It wasn't the first time June injured her legs," Jim said.

He saw the looks on their faces, "what happened?"

"The first time was just after we started dating," she said telling him about what had happened with Campbell Fulton and how long she was in hospital.

"Where is he now?"

"Prison, he and the Robsons are in prison for life. They tried to murder eight divers to cover up their stealing oil from a Red Reef oil pipeline."

"Sounds like Thor's been watching over you all."

June chuckled. "Yeah, And then there was the year before last when we attended Ben's wedding…"

"That's my brother, I was the best man," Jim said.

"Okay"

"The day after the wedding, we were both run over in a hit and run accident, the driver was Jim's ex-girlfriend. She was upset and had been obsessed with Jim since high school." Hawkeye was shocked and horrified as MacGyver told the story.

"We used to go together in high school," Jim said. "Then we broke up, well, I broke up with her."

"So, she found out about you two…"

"Yeah, and she didn't like it, so she tried to kill us. We were both in hospital for ten weeks; over Christmas and New Year."

"Both of us in a coma at first," Jim said.

June continued, "We both had head injuries, multiple fractures, in our back, arms, legs and a skull fracture. We had multiple broken ribs, punctured lungs and internal bleeding. We were a mess."

"Bloody hell, you've both have been through a lot!"

"We have," June said.

"I purposed to June on New Year's eve from my hospital bed."

"I said yes on New Year's day right at the stroke of midnight," June said smiling.

"We got married nine months later," Jim continued.

"You two are like cats with nine lives."

MacGyver laughed. "We know. We're fortunate that we have a family, crew, teammates and friends for support. Plus the love we have for each other helped with the recovery."

"That makes all of the difference." Hawkeye agreed.

They talked for an hour more before saying good night and going their separate ways.

The following day while Jim was on base with the SAS, MacGyver had her duty shift work on Hammersley with another crew member.

A few days later Hammersley left port for their routine patrol. While out on patrol Swain was on the forward deck giving a refresher course on CPR to Bird, Two Dads, Charge, and other crew members. Kate had been watching what was happening before returning to the bridge.

"Everything alright, X?" MacGyver asked when she saw the look on her face.

"Swain's got Two Dads giving CPR to Charge." They all stood and looked down on the deck, laughing.

MacGyver thought that she saw something in the water and picked up her binoculars.

"Hard to starboard!" MacGyver yelled, then grabbed up the microphone, "Brace, Brace, Brace!"

"Stop engines!" Mike said as Kate walks outside to the side deck.

"X?"

"It looks like a freezer, Sir."

"Let's get it out of the water."

"It must've come off a boat after that storm a few days ago," Dutchy said.

"Could be," Mike agreed.

They went down to the back of the ship and watched as the freezer was wenched up and loaded onto the boat deck. MacGyver stepped forward. There was a horrific odour coming from inside, and then she bloody fluid leaking from it and onto the deck.

"Cover your noises, there's something rotten in here," MacGyver instructs.

Opening it, the contents spilled onto the boat deck, making everyone look green around the gills. MacGyver crouched down and took looked at the mess then look looked up at Mike.

"You better call NAVCOM, Sir. It's not meat, Sir, it's human body parts. Hearts, lungs, liver, kidneys, looks like the black market, Sir."

"Are you sure it's human?"

"Yeah, the course I did in Melbourne for two weeks, they showed us body parts. These are human."

"Can you tell how many?" Kate asked, clearly disgusted.

"My guess is at least ten plus people."

"I'll get into it with NAVCOM, X, get a cleaning crew onto this."

"Yes, Sir."

" Sir, we need Photos of this for evidence," MacGyver pointed out.

"Right, good idea, MacGyver."

A few hours later Hammersley returns to port. The feds take the freezer and its contents away to be tested to determine if the contents are human or not while Mike and Kate went to see Maxine about the findings. When they return, Hammersley returns to patrol.