A/N: Hello everyone, this is basically a rewrite of one of my favourite episodes 5.01: The Third Man with Kate as the ASIO Agent. The basic premise is similar to the actual episode, but the details, the dialogues and the sequences of the story are mostly different. I hope you'll enjoy my take on this episode and please let me know what you think.
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Disclaimer: Sea Patrol and its characters are property of Channel Nine and McElroys All Media. No infringement is intended by this fanfiction.
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"Oy, Dutchy, did you sleep in, mate?" 2Dads grinned at the rare sight of the bosun running towards the ship as the remaining sailors took the last few boxes of the provision into Hammersley.
Dylan flipped his middle finger towards 2Dads but didn't say anything in retaliation as he was aware of how late he was.
He quickly climbed the gangway, saluted the mascot and was about to escape to the lower deck when he heard the sharp voice of his XO.
"Dutchy, there you are."
He cursed inwardly before turning around to face the music. "Morning, X."
Lieutenant Nikki Caetano looked at her bosun disapprovingly, but they had a more urgent matter, so she let it go for now. "The boss requires meeting of senior sailors right now. We are waiting for you to commence."
Dylan nodded, "sure, let me just stow my bag away."
Nikki shook her head, "there is no time. Just bring it with you. We have a guest in this patrol and the boss is a bit wary that she's been kept waiting for a bit."
Dylan frowned, "a guest?"
"Yep." Nikki tilted her head towards the ship's office, urging Dylan to follow her. "Come on."
"Yes, Ma'am." He murmured quietly before stepping behind his XO and followed her.
"Ah, Dutchy," the boss greeted him a little tersely, albeit with a tinge of relief as he arrived in the ship's office.
"Sir, apologies."
The boss just waved him in, and he closed the door before putting his bag to the floor and stood next to Nikki.
"Alright, now that everyone's here," Mike nodded to his crews in the office, "let me introduce you to our guest in this patrol, Agent Kate McGregor from the ASIO."
As his boss urged the petite woman next to him to move further to the centre, Dylan almost cursed out loud.
He knew that face. He knew those green eyes. In fact, he had just spent the night starring at those eyes while their bodies had been tangled together. Bloody hell.
"Agent McGregor," Mike gestured to his crews, "You've met my 2nd in command before, Lieutenant Nikki Caetano."
Nikki nodded and smiled politely.
"And these are our senior sailors, chief engineer, Chief Petty Officer Andy Thorpe, medic and helmsman, Petty Officer Chris Blake, and bosun and boarding officer, Chief Petty Officer Dylan Mulholland."
"Ma'am." The three sailors nodded towards their guest almost in unison.
"Hello everyone," Kate smiled politely at the cohort in front of her, "please don't call me Ma'am. Agent is fine. Or if that's too weird, you can call me 'Mac', that's my call sign in the field."
Mike nodded, "in that case, meet XO, Charge, Swain and Dutchy." Referring to his crews with their Navy nickname.
Kate looked to each of them for a few seconds at a time, as if committing their call sign to memory. When her eyes got to Dylan, her stare lingered for a few more, allowing her eyes to meet his blue ones.
She honestly didn't think she would see him again after leaving his bed while he had been sleeping. But apparently, the universe had other plans.
She quickly diverted her gaze away from him before addressing the CO once more, "and what do I call you, Commander Flynn?"
"Mighty Mike Flynn?" Charge teased his boss.
Swain sniggered a little before covering it with a cough, "Boss?"
"Oh captain, my captain?" Nikki chimed in too.
"Alright, alright…." Mike shook his head with a small smile, "enough, you three," before turning to his guest once more. "Captain would be alright, I'm not your boss after all."
Kate nodded seriously, "that's fair. Should we get straight to business then?"
"Sure." Mike then cleared his throat before beginning their briefing. "We have been tasked by Navcom to escort and assist Agent McGregor in investigating a series of disturbances in Pleasant Island, which is the 3rd most populated island in Torres Strait."
"What sort of disturbances, Sir? I would have thought this would be local police matter?" Swain frowned.
"It was originally, but the local police noticed a pattern in these disturbances, and they called us." Kate answered, "the targets were all law enforcement and government offices in the area. Always at night, never in broad daylight. And they always leave red paint mark with initial 'JI'."
She handed an enlarged photo of the mark on the inside of one of the buildings that was ransacked to Mike, who then passed it to Nikki after a cursory look.
"What's JI stands for?" Dylan finally spoke in this meeting, having had a few minutes to process his initial shock in seeing Kate.
"We suspected JI stands for Jemaah Islamiyah." Kate responded.
"That's a terrorist organisation." Charge looked at Kate in shock. "They are in Australian territory now?"
Kate raised her eyebrows at Charge, "I'm impressed that you know about them."
"Oh, he knows a lot about conspiracy theory involving secret organisations," Nikki said with teasing glint in her eyes, "you should ask him about who killed JFK."
"X." Mike warned disapprovingly.
"Sorry…." Nikki made a gesture zipping her mouth and throwing away the key.
"It's hard not knowing about them." Charge replied, a bit indignantly, "their members were responsible for 2002 Bali bombing which killed 88 Australians."
Kate nodded, "you are correct Charge, and it's worth noting that the 10-year anniversary of the Bali bombing is coming up soon. That's why this has caught our interest."
"That's a bit bold though." Swain stated, "shouldn't they lay low if they were planning an attack soon? Not painting their initial all over town?"
"Or it could be a distraction." Dylan countered. "It forces us to look one way, while the real suspects are free to continue their crime."
So, you're not just a pretty face, huh?
Kate cleared her throat to force herself to focus, "that's a possibility, Dutchy." She nodded at him, "but we need to rule out JI connection first. We can't have a known terrorist organisation operating in our soil."
"Fair enough." Dylan nodded back.
Mike resumed the briefing once more, "so the plan would be to steam to Pleasant Island today. We'll reach there at around 4 pm, have a bit of R & R for the night and some of you will accompany Agent McGregor bright and early the next day to meet with local police."
"What are we telling the rest of the crews, Sir?" Nikki asked.
"Officially, supply drops to the island and couple of visits to the local high school's career fest to promote ADF and the Navy."
"Do you have any ideas as to who our representative for the career fest would be?" Nikki tilted her head curiously.
Mike smiled, "I think you'll be a good candidate for that. If a couple of guys in their 40s like Charge and I went, there'd probably be a good chance those kids would give our booth a wide berth."
Nikki smirked, "in other words, you want me to dazzle them with my wit and womanly charm."
"For the record, I didn't say that." Mike looked at Nikki pointedly, "maybe take Bird with you, she could promote our gap-year program to the students. And maybe 2Dads?"
"Maybe not, Sir." Nikki almost rolled her eyes at the thought of 2Dads promoting the Navy while it's a common knowledge that he only joined the Navy in exchange of purging his juvie record.
"I think I'll take Bomber and Bird with me. After all, as Beyonce said, Girls run the world these days." Nikki said smartly, which earned a small smile from everyone.
"Alright X, if you can let Bomber and Bird know, and you three can prepare presentation materials for the fest?"
"Of course, Sir." Nikki nodded.
Mike then looked at the three senior sailors. "Dutchy and Swain, you two can accompany Agent McGregor to meet with the local police tomorrow. And Charge, you can organise the supply drops to the local council depots. Take 2Dads and pick a couple of other sailors to help you."
He waited for the agreement from his crews before addressing Kate once more. "Anything else that you would like to discuss right now, Agent?"
"No." Kate shook her head, "I think we've covered everything for now. May I also remind everyone to keep this between ourselves for now. We don't want to unnecessarily alarm people with the unproven 'JI' connection."
"Of course," Mike replied while the rest of the room simply nodded at the request.
"Alright then. Let's start this patrol."
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"Oh, hello." Dylan greeted the newcomer to the galley. "Are you looking for coffee?"
Kate smiled briefly at him but kept her distance, "yes, Jessica, I mean 'Bird', told me that there is a new batch of prepared coffee in here."
Dylan grimaced at the mention of Bird's coffee. He looked out through the galley's window towards the hallway to make sure Bird was not around before speaking at low voice, "can I let you in on a secret?"
Curious, Kate tilted her head at his whispered voice. "Sure."
"Bird is not very good in making coffee. So, I'd suggest that you make your own." He gestured to the still boiling kettle, and the jars of ground coffee and sugar on the corner of the bench.
Kate raised her eyebrows, "surely it couldn't be that bad?"
"Hey," Dylan raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just letting you know. You are welcome to try it yourself if you want." Indicating with his head towards the large black thermos on the bench.
"Challenge accepted. Can you pass me a mug?"
He smirked, "sure," before turning around and handed one to her from the overhead cabinet.
Kate, wary but intrigued at the same time, poured a little bit of the black liquid to the mug and sipped it carefully.
She instantly spat it out again to the sink, before throwing the rest of it out from the mug.
Dylan laughed at her expression. "You believe me now?"
She scowled. "How can it be that bad?"
"Come on," he gestured for her to give him the mug, "I'm making one, so I'll make yours at the same time."
She teased him after handing him the mug, "what if yours were worse than hers?"
"Ah," he winked at her, "you just have to take that chance hey. In my defence, I've never had any complaint."
"I should have known that you're pretty cocky."
Dylan raised his eyebrows at her. "Really?"
She blushed at little bit as she realised how her comment had sounded but shook her head and met his eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't stay this morning."
He stared at her apologetic face. "I would have loved to take you out for breakfast."
"I have an early meeting…." she shrugged. "And we just met last night anyway, so…. I mean," she then cleared her throat, "I'm not expecting anything from you."
"Could I have your number then?" He closed their distance and trying his luck, "I don't know how long you're staying in Cairns for, but it'll be great to catch-up again on shore."
She stared back at him. "I don't think that's a great idea." She gestured to their surroundings, "It looks like we'll be working together fairly often and I just don't want any complication."
The 'click' sound from the kettle interrupted their conversation and Dylan turned around to pour the boiling water into the waiting thermos and mug.
"Sugar?"
"One please."
"Here you go." He handed her the mug before gesturing to the fridge, "milk is in there."
"Thanks." She murmured quietly before grabbing skim milk from the fridge and pouring a splash of it into her mug.
She was about to rummage the top drawer for a little spoon when it appeared next to her mug, and she looked up to see him standing next to her.
"For the record," Dylan stated quietly, "I don't regret last night."
The intensity of his eyes took her back to their time together and she could only manage a whisper, "Neither do I."
He smiled at her softly before moving back a step and turning towards the galley door, "have a good day, Agent McGregor."
"You too, Dutchy." She nodded curtly, but her eyes couldn't help lingering at his broad shoulder as he made his way out of the galley.
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"What are we toasting to?" Nikki had to raise her voice to be heard by the boys amongst the rowdy crowd in Torres Pub later that night.
"What about your upcoming wedding?" Swain suggested.
Nikki scowled, "I need a lot of alcohol for all the wedding planning I'm about to do."
Swain laughed, "ethnic family hey?"
Nikki groaned, "my mum is trying to convince me to wear her old wedding dress…. From the 70's."
"The more reason to drink then." Charge teased her and raised his glass up, "To the soon-to-be Mrs Holiday!"
"Hear, Hear!" The boys raised their glasses towards their XO and drank the fiery cocktails.
It loosened them up even more and their conversations and laughter were getting louder. But Swain noticed that the man sitting next to him didn't seem to engage too much.
"Mate, you alright?"
Dylan looked up from his empty cocktail glass to the curious eyes of his bunkmate. "Yeah. I'm good."
"You want more?" Swain gestured to their glasses.
"Na…." Dylan paused, "I had a big one last night. Probably shouldn't do couple of nights in a row."
"Is that why you're late this morning?" 2Dads piped in from the side.
Dylan glared at him, 'like you haven't done it before 2Dads."
"Touchy…." 2Dads shrugged, "you need to get laid, Dutchy. Maybe your mood would improve. Hey, you can be my wingman tonight. Lots of lovely ladies here."
"No thanks." Dylan shook his head. "I'm going to take a walk. Clear my head."
"You need company?" Swain frowned.
"Na," Dylan patted Swain's shoulder, "you stay here, have fun." He then threw a $50 towards the table, "to cover mine," before leaving the crowded bar.
The rest of the crews could only look at him in confusion.
"What's up with him tonight?" 2Dads was genuinely confused. "So many gorgeous ladies here and he just left."
"I think he has someone else on his sight." Nikki smiled coyly.
"Care to share, X?" Charge couldn't resist the possibility of juicy gossip.
"I might have overheard him offering Agent McGregor to show her some pressure points to help easing her seasickness."
"No way…." 2Dads laughed out loud. "Jesus, he is slick."
"Or he could've just tried to help." Swain looked at the rest of them pointedly, "he wasn't wrong about pressure points either."
"Oh, come on, Swain…." Nikki rolled her eyes, "he's not exactly discreet about his escapades."
Swain shook his head, "you know, I think he has more depth than that. We haven't seen him arriving to port with a bunch of girls in a convertible since that patrol to Karumba 6 months ago."
Nikki frowned, realising that Swain was right. She then sighed, "I guess I'm just stuck with those images in my head. He's not exactly a chatterbox with me either. So, it's hard to know him beyond work."
"He's close to Bird though." Charge shared his observation. "He always spares some time to teach her all kinds of things."
"You don't think…." 2Dads interrupted Charge.
"No." Charge whacked 2Dads' head. "Not that way. He just seems to enjoy mentoring her."
Their conversation was interrupted when a large group of backpackers in the pub started to holler amongst themselves to prime them for tequila shots. Their shout got louder and louder as the shots arrived at their table and several of them took it.
Nikki made a face at the sight of barely legal young adults started licking salts from each other's bodies. "I think we need to find a more mature crowds."
Swain hummed in agreement. "I think there is another pub around the corner. The Grand or something."
"Let's go." Nikki stood up from her stool. "Are you coming with us, Charge, 2Dads?"
"Yeah, too many backpackers here." Charge stood up as well.
2Dads didn't move. He was fixated with the sight of some girls licking salt all over each other. "I think I'm staying. Maybe I can join them."
Charge shook his head, "suit yourself. Just call us if you need us to come and get you."
"Trust me, Charge." 2Dads patted Charge's back, "this is my idea of heaven, I'll be fine."
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To be continued….