Fair Winds and Following Seas

The smoke was thick in the air, filling her lungs. She waved her hands in front of her face, trying to get her bearings, but when she looked down, her heart stopped for another reason.

The compartment was filling with water.

Urgency propelling her, she tried to climb over the set of racks and lockers that blocked her from reaching her destination. The lights flickered and then went out altogether. The cries for help descended into terrified screaming.

"Chief! Help!"

Desperately she tried to reach the voice. "Hang on, Lucas! I'm coming!" She tried to figure out where it was coming from using the compartment's emergency lights, but they barely made a dent in the blackness and the smoke was still getting thicker.

"Chief! Get out of there!"

"No! Not until I get Lucas out!"

She slipped from the racks she was trying to climb over, and she felt the sharp pain in her ankle as she went down hard. Frantically, she tried to get up and stretched her arm out to the younger girl, willing her fingers to stretch far enough to reach her.

A figure grabbed her and threw her over their shoulder. "No! No! Let me go! I need to get her out!" She pounded against the figure's shoulder and screamed Lucas' name at the top of her lungs. Whoever had her ignored her cries and threw her unceremoniously out of the escape hatch in the compartment. Pushing themselves out after her, they slammed the hatch shut seconds before the explosion came and everything went black.

Chief Petty Officer Emma Swan sat up in her rack, breathing hard, sweat pouring down her face. She tried to calm her breathing, but her efforts were in vain. Looking around to make sure she hadn't woken up any of the other women in the compartment she slid down and made her way to the head to wash her face.

"Why do they call the bathroom a head, Chief?"

"I don't know Lucas. Maybe you can do some research and let us know what you find out."

Emma chuckled at the memory as she fought back the tears it brought. She had led many Sailors in her 15-year career, but Lucas had a way of asking questions that never failed to keep her guessing. Worse, she had looked at Emma with complete trust in her eyes that she would get her through the deployment that was her first time away from home.

It had been 17 months since the fire had broken out on the USS Storybrooke. A fire whose cause remained unknown despite intensive investigation, but one that had taken the lives of 9 young men and women, including 19-year old Seaman Apprentice Ruby Lucas. The repairs were complete, and the ship was out to sea for the first time since it had happened.

The sound of the toilet flushing pulled Emma out of her thoughts, but she relaxed when she saw it was Senior Chief Mary Margaret Blanchard that exited the stall. Most of the crew of the Storybrooke had turned over during the repair period, but Mary Margaret was one of the few that had been on that fateful deployment. After the fire was finally put out and the ship was tugged to the nearest port for inspection and damage assessment, Emma had sat in her room at the local hospital staring at the wall.

"Are they going to keep you overnight?"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Mary Margaret. I checked onboard last month."

"Not the welcome you were expecting, huh?"

The two women had stared at each other before breaking out into hysterical laughter. As her laughter had turned to tears, Mary Margaret had sat next to her on the bed holding her while she cried for what seemed like an eternity. After that, the two women became inseparable.

It wasn't until a few months later that Emma had learned that Mary Margaret had been the one to pull her out of the junior female berthing that night.

"How could you!"

"Emma, she was already gone. There was no way over those racks. We begged you to come out while you still could."

"No! I could have saved her!"

"No, Emma" she whispered. "You couldn't have. No one could have. You would have died."

"You should have let me."

"Oh Emma." The sympathy in her voice was almost unbearable. "No, sweetie. Never."

Now, standing by the sink, Mary Margaret studied Emma closely. "Another nightmare?"

Emma didn't answer. She didn't have to. She rubbed at her eyes impatiently and went to go turn on the shower.

"Emma, its two in the morning. What are you doing?"

Stubbornly, she grabbed her towel and started to undress. "I'm going back to the shop. I have work to do."

"Emma. Sweetie. You need to sleep. Your Sailors need you to be rested."

Ignoring her, Emma stepped into the shower stall and shut the curtain.

Up on the bridge, Captain Killian Jones was trying to cover up the fact that he had forgotten that today was the day of the USO concert. He waited until Command Master Chief David Nolan stopped speaking.

"Ok, what time does she touch down on the flight deck?"

"1300, sir."

"What is her itinerary?"

"She stays for four days. The Fun Boss has the schedule worked out. I don't know the specifics, but after she tours the ship, she will have dinner with the crew down on the mess decks. The concert is tonight at 2100."

"Right. Meet and Greet?"

"Tomorrow and Wednesday, sir. Like I said, her schedule is pretty busy, Fun Boss has it all worked out."

"How many people is she bringing with her?"

"Two, sir."

That was a surprise. USO concerts onboard ships were typically complicated affairs and while the organization always tried to impress on the celebrities the necessity to keep it small and simple, they usually wanted to bring their entire entourage with them. Sometimes Captain Jones thought they did this more as an ego trip than a service to the crew and he normally tried not to agree to host them.

This deployment was different, though. The crew was struggling, he could sense it, even if his officers tried to shield him from the discontent. He knew that the few that remained part of the crew from the fire were finding it difficult to re-engage in the day to day routine. The new crew members tried to be patient with them, but they were able to roam the ship without seeing the ghosts that lived there and their sympathy was starting to strain.

The captain had not been there during the fire, but he had been part of a crew that had gone through something similar years before. When the call went out for a new Commanding Officer for the maiden voyage of the Storybrooke after her repairs, he had applied at once and was selected for the position. He understood his crew and he knew they needed a break. That was why when his Command Master Chief had suggested a USO visit, he had agreed.

"Who's her tour guide?"

"I don't think she has one, sir. The Fun Boss was going to show her around."

"I'm not going to have a civilian roaming around my ship for four days, Master Chief. Get your chiefs together and find her a tour guide. That's an order."

"Aye aye, sir." He actually didn't need to gather them together. He knew just who he was going to select for the job. She would protest, but Chief Emma Swan needed a break more than anyone he knew.

Captain Jones, or Hook as he was affectionately known to his senior officers because of the hand he had lost in the incident onboard years ago, stood up to return to his cabin.

"This woman, she's a singer, correct?"

"Yes sir, very popular and very talented. The crew will be excited."

"Remind me again what her name is?"

"Mills, sir. Regina Mills."