A/N: Happy New Year! Just a friendly reminder that my medical science...well any science or technology I claim to know is wrong and 100% made up. So just roll with it :D and I hope you all have a great start to the year!
The following day,
"How old is this satellite?" Kara asked Jess.
"Cold War, Old" Jess said, she was seated next to Kara while Barker stood behind them, they watched the large screen as the images from the satellite loaded up. It was in live time and moving slowly as it was still in control of its orbit. Not that it was much use given the cloudy weather but their persisted.
"How is it still fully operational?" Barker asked incredulously.
"It's part of an AI pilot program. They repurposed some of the older satellites for the trial. A server farm holding a complex computer system is controlling several satellites. Maintaining their orbits and storing data. The Server farm is run on hydroelectricity. So, theoretically it could run for years without human intervention." Jess explained, she leaned back in her chair trying to find a comfortable position and failing.
She hadn't slept well as she was plagued by nightmares, her body ached, the crook of her arm was severely bruised from the blood draws. She just felt anxious and a little frustrated that she couldn't find her rhythm. But she hid it all under a carefully constructed facade of calm energy with a healthy dose of nonchalance.
"People would have to maintain the server farm." Kara argued, Jess wore a closed lip smile as she liked Kara. She asked a lot of questions which was a good thing in Jess' books. She could see why Danny loved Kara, she was a deadly combination of gorgeous, strong and intelligent.
"Yes, it's not a perfect system yet. But it's a new facility, even if everyone died at the farm, then it would take a while before something breaks down in the facility. I'd argue, it's more likely one of the satellites would malfunction before that." Jess offered.
"What have we got?" Mike asked as he came into CIC to check on their progress.
"Nothing yet, Sir. But the satellites are working and there's four in total. One of the satellites flies directly over the east coast during its orbit." Barker informed him.
"Good, we should be able to see the labs in Mayport and the surrounding areas for future reference." Mike said, he stood behind Jess' chair and watched the screen.
"There." Jess said, she pointed at the screen.
"What?" Mike asked, as all he saw was clouds.
"Go back, there was a small gap in the clouds," Jess told Kara, as the image had shifted. She looked back at Mike, "I think I saw the bow of a ship."
"I'm not seeing anything but cloud cover." Barker said. Jess looked back to the screen and saw what the others had missed.
"Stop." Jess told Kara, she froze the frame on the screen. Jess held out her hand to Barker, "Pen light, please." she said, Barker passed her an infrared light pen and she used it to point out the bow of a ship peeking into the cloud break in the sky. It was hard to spot given the clouds and the metal of the ship blended seamlessly. Kara zoomed in as much as the system would allow which was just enough to identify the class of ship and know it was the Nathan James.
"Well, I'll be damned. That has to be a Kirov class vessel." Mike said.
"Explains the capacity for the Helos and teams that attacked you in the Arctic." Jess said, recalling Mike's conversation with Tom only a couple days ago.
"Where are they in relation to us?" Mike asked Barker.
"We're not sure yet, but we'll figure it out. It's hard to know with the cloud covering any discernible landmarks." Barker said.
"They must have waited for you all to get out of Gitmo so they could stock up on food and god knows what else." Jess speculated.
"The question is, why aren't they gunning for us now?" Mike asked.
"That's easy, if I were them, I'd wait until you all have a vaccine and start telling the world. Come forward, pretend to be contrite and offer assistance even an alliance in production and distribution of the vaccine. Then when your guard is down, take the vaccine, Dr Scott and Tophet. Kill you all and distribute the cure how I see fit. Assuming there is no surviving government that I have to answer to." Jess said, the room was quiet, she looked around her to see that all eyes were on her. "What?" she asked blandly.
"That was too well thought out, one problem with it is how they'd have to be able to track us when they don't know where we're heading." Mike said, breaking the silence. Jess threw a look at Mike who wore an unreadable expression.
"Like I said, they wait until we break EMCOM to distribute the vaccine. Right now, they only need to stay in your blindspot until the perfect opening shows itself. Passive radar would work right? They ping you, move away before you can ping them?" Jess asked, she looked back at the screen.
"We'd be alerted if that happened." Mike told her.
"They do have their own satellites, maybe they are using them to track us. Though their systems would be in worse condition than ours given they haven't updated their networks in a long while." Jess casually speculated.
"We need to keep an eye on them." Mike looked to TAO, "Barker, keep me posted on any changes." he told him.
"Yes, Sir." Barker replied as Mike left CIC.
"The next satellite won't be in range for another ten minutes." Jess said to Kara as the satellite they were tapped into was moving away from their area.
"It's a tight circuit." Kara remarked.
"The satellite system isn't just about monitoring Gitmo." Jess said, Kara gave her an odd look of concern. Jess smiled, " Honestly, what the network is spying on is less concerning than the 4000 odd satellites currently up there that are going to start falling out of the sky in the next two years." she pointed out.
"We should have 5 to 15 years before that happens." Kara said, Jess smiled.
"That time frame is only for satellites that are being controlled from the ground or has a self regulating navigation system on board." Jess reminded her.
"Good point." Kara said.
"Well, as much fun as this has been. May I be excused?" Jess asked them.
"Sure, but we may call you back. If we need you." Barker said.
"By all means." Jess said, she rose from her chair and returned it to where she got it. She headed out of CIC.
"How?" Danny asked Tex, he came into the gym to find Halsey happily running full bolt on the treadmill. Tex was leaning on the railing of the machine as he kept an eye on the speed and Halsey.
"Battle of wills," Tex's eyes not leaving Halsey. "He's a good dog." he added.
"He's the best. Frankie put a lot of hours into him." Danny said, he sucked in a quiet breath as he blinked back tears. He wondered when it would become easier to talk about Frankie without grief kicking him in the guts every time.
"You should be training him, not me or Jess." Tex told him.
"I'm not delegating my responsibility of Halsey because I'm lazy." Danny said defensively.
"I know, you just don't know how to handle a dog that is yours." Tex said without malice.
"He's not mine." Danny said.
"But he is, the moment Frankie died. Halsey became your responsibility. He's your dog until the Navy takes him away." Tex said, Danny knew Tex was right about it all. He never had a pet growing up and he played with Halsey when it was his downtime. But Frankie had been Halsey's owner, the person he looked to for leadership and instructions.
"I don't know how." Danny admitted.
"He's no different from Berchem and Smith. Just looking for a strong leader to give him direction. You can do that." Tex assured him.
"You think you got me all figured out?" Danny asked.
"Mostly." Tex mused with a shrug.
"Oh, you got Halsey on the treadmill." Jess said, she walked into the gym.
"I'll get you on one soon." Tex told her.
"Not today." Jess said as she laid down on the padded floor and gave an exhausted sigh.
"You really don't want to lay down on that floor." Danny told her.
"I've laid down on worse places." Jess said, she adjusted her body so she was laying flat on her back with her knees bent. She closed her eyes and rested her hands on her stomach.
"This isn't the place to be sleeping." Danny informed her.
"I'm doing yoga." Jess sighed.
"Yeah, and what pose is that?" Danny asked.
"It's an adapted version of Shavasana." Jess informed him, she took a deep inhale and slowly exhaled as if to prove it was a form of exercise when they both knew better.
"Yeah ok." Danny scoffed.
"Look, when you reach my age you'll understand. Now, just go do some push ups or whatever." Jess told Danny as she waved a dismissive hand at him. Tex snorted a laugh, he reached over and slowed the treadmill for Halsey.
"What happened to helping me with Halsey?" Danny asked as he couldn't resist agitating her. Jess' eyes open and looked up at him with mild annoyance.
"Rome wasn't built in a day." Jess informed him.
"I was telling Danny he shouldn't delegate Halsey to us unless he wants us to keep him." Tex said with a grin as Danny rolled his eyes. But what did he expect? Tex was Jess' husband of course he'd take her side.
"Tex is right." Jess said in amusement.
"That must be a rare occurrence for you, Tex." Danny said in good humour. Tex chuckled, he turned off the treadmill for Halsey who slowed his run.
"Oh lookout, Player 1 has entered the game." Jess drawled before she laughed. Danny couldn't help but smile at the reference.
"Ms Morley?" Alisha called from the gym doorway.
"Yeah?" Jess asked.
"Comms is ready for you." she said.
"Oh, can I visit after lunch?" Jess asked, Danny could see his sister did not want to move. It made him wonder how bad shape she really was in.
"No, Ma'am." Alisha told her. Jess gave a weary sigh as she turned her head to Tex.
"Tex, could you help me up?" she asked, Tex moved to her side. Jess groaned in obvious pain as he helped her to her feet. She shifted and stretched a little but it didn't seem to help.
"You ok?" he asked her, Jess nodded, but he still felt her forehead and cupped her face. He didn't look convinced but he rubbed her arms as if to warm her up, "I'll get you for lunch."
"Ok, see you boys later." Jess told them before she followed Alisha out of the gym.
"Is she ok?" Danny asked Tex, genuinely concerned. He knew Jess wouldn't give him a straight answer.
"I think she's a little anemic from all the blood she gave the docs for the vaccine. Add in not sleeping well and stressing over you and your sisters. It's a lot." Tex said, he sighed and turned back to his attention back to Halsey.
"I don't know why she stresses over me." Danny said.
"You're her kid brother, she might not show it. But she cares. Now, let's get you running drills with Halsey." Tex told him.
A few hours later, Jess blew out a tired breath and scrubbed a hand down her face. She was done for the day and it wasn't even lunch yet. It seemed her body had decided since they were safe, it was time to unravel for some much needed R&R. Something Jess wasn't ready for, but the exhaustion and pain she was in was doing her in. She nearly dozed off a couple of times while listening to the white noise of empty comm channels.
She looked around the empty room and wondered if it was time to call it quits. The was currently a shift change and the comms department was outside doing the handover in the hallway. It seemed like comms was a low priority given they were at EMCON as the crew rotated in four hour shifts.
"Just one more." Jess murmured to herself, she leaned forward and tapped in another encryption key into the console. But in her exhaustion she miss typed the last number. She inwardly cursed her mistake and was about to correct it when she heard voices on the other end speaking in Russian.
"I am growing impatient." A man drawled, he sounded like a man who was not used to the word 'no' given the confidence that exuded over the line. Jess sat back, curious as to what she inadvertently stumbled upon.
"They're working as fast as we can. The ship will be heading to Costa Rica to pick up monkeys and then human trials." another man said. Jess perked up as she didn't recognise his voice but knew he had to be on the ship given what he'd just said.
She looked at the encryption key and frequency, she picked up a pen and the closest pad of paper. She pulled the page off and quickly wrote down the encryption key, the channel she was on and the conversation in shorthand.
"Dr Sorenson says that will take months, he can make it happen in weeks if he had the primordial strain and Dr Scott. I would think you need to put more pressure on the good doctors before my hand is forced." The other threatened.
"I will relay the message but you should know they found someone who is immune, her blood is key for the vaccine and treatment. They believe it will take a month tops to make a vaccine and that includes time for the human trials which invariably always have fatalities. Isn't it better to kill the crewmembers of the Nathan James over our own people?" he asked.
"What kind of fatalities?"
"Most vaccine trials have an 80% failure rate. The doctors believe it's in our best interests to perfect this vaccine using the Nathan James crew. Please just give us the month."
"We'll keep our distance for now, but remember, we're always in your shadow."
"Yes Admiral." the subordinate said, the line went dead as the conversation was over. Jess finished writing and folded the piece of paper before stuffing it in the top pocket of her BDU jacket.
She quickly shifted the radio frequency and typed in a new encryption key at random as the door to the room opened, and Alisha walked in.
"Tex is waiting outside for you." Lt Alisha Granderson said as she came into the room with two other crewmen. She took up the seat next to her and Jess didn't miss the way Alisha eyed Jess' station.
"Thanks." Jess said, her lips quirked into a faint smile as the Nathan James crew were very nosy. She didn't mind as she chalked it up to them being bored and a little crazy from being cooped up on the ship for too long.
"Any luck?" She asked.
"No, nothing but static which is why I'm going to give up for today." Jess said, she took off the headset and set it carefully on the desk.
"Is there anyone in particular are you hoping to hear from? Maybe if you give us some descriptors, we can listen out for them." Alisha offered, Jess pursed her lips as she considered the offer. It was a incredibly slim chance her friends would use open radio channels.
"Do you record the transmissions you hear?" Jess asked her.
"We do, we also log their frequencies and any descriptors so we can see who is still hanging in there." Alisha said, as she flipped open a large logbook on the desk.
"Any females speaking in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean or Russian, maybe Japanese?" Jess asked as there was a slim chance her friend would use an open channel but it was worth checking.
"Those are very broad search parameters." Alisha told her.
"Well, my friend is a polyglot like me. It's hard to know what language she would be speaking as she'd only speak in the local dialect of wherever she is. And last we spoke she was somewhere in Asia. She wouldn't say where." Jess said, she felt like it was truly a lost cause now she said it out loud. If Simone was alive and with her friend, how likely would it be that they'd be trying to contact her? Let alone doing it on an open channel.
"We have heard as far as Okinawa and Seoul. I can get someone to compile the recordings of female speakers in those languages. But I'll have to clear it with XO first as it will take a lot of time." Alisha told her.
"That would be good." Jess said sincerely, feeling a little emotional about her offer.
"Don't thank me yet, he might say 'no'." Alisha told her.
"I still appreciate the offer." Jess told her, she was about to leave comms when she turned back to Alisha. "What about Jackson?"
"Jackson?" Alisha asked.
"Have you heard any radio calls from Jackson, Florida?" Jess asked out of curiosity.
"I haven't personally, but I can add it to the list." Alisha said.
"Thank you." Jess said, she left comms and stepped out to find Tex in the hallway.
"You look like you need three months off in Hawaii." He said, she smiled as he knew he overheard her asking about Jackson. She was annoyed she hadn't thought of it earlier but Comms would let them know if Kat or Claire was calling for them. It was highly unlikely, but Jess had to ask for her and Tex's sake.
"Oh, that would be great. I could use some Mai Tais and steak right about now." Jess said as she leaned on his shoulder and gave a bone weary sigh.
"Well, I can't give you Mai Tais or steak, but I hear chicken schnitzel sandwiches are on the menu for lunch." Tex informed her as he wrapped her arm around his.
"Sounds great, by the way, there's something I want to run by you." Jess said.
"I'm all ears." Tex said.
"After lunch." She told him as they made their way to the wardroom.
Late afternoon,
"So, I have your results." Rachel drawled in a careful manner.
"And?" Danny asked, he'd spent the last 12 hours tossing and turning over what the results would be and what it would mean to him. He knew either way, he'd have no peace of mind.
"You're immune, just like your sister. I am actually quite surprised as you might share genes but as I explained yesterday how they express themselves is very different. But it appears you and your sister have very strong and healthy immune systems." Rachel said, she looked elated at the news. Danny felt like he was given a crushing blow to the gut. He thought of Frankie, how a simple blood test could've saved him from killing himself. If only Danny had tripped down those damn stairs and lost his mask. He would've been fine and Frankie would still be with them.
"If I'm immune and so is Jess, does that mean my other sisters and my parents are?" Danny asked, he blocked his darker thoughts of Frankie as he knew his friend wouldn't want him being eaten alive with guilt. He couldn't get angry at Dr Scott for something she didn't know at the time of Frankie's death.
"I can't say with absolute certainty as I still don't entirely understand why you're both immune to the virus. I wish I had the time to truly dive into it but the vaccine is more pressing." Rachel said.
"Of course." Danny said deflated, he honestly felt like crying and not in relief.
"I can say that it is highly likely that your other siblings could be immune. As there does seem to be a hereditary aspect to this immunity." Rachel offered as she misread his reaction. They slipped into a quasi-companionable silence as Rachel allowed him the time to digest the information.
"Ah listen Doc, I don't want this to leave the room." Danny said awkwardly, he knew she was supposed to report to the Captain and XO about this. But he didn't want anyone to know this not until he came to terms with it.
"Why? This is good news, it could help give the crew hope. With yours and Jess' blood, I'm much closer to a vaccine and treatment for this virus." Rachel said she was baffled by his reaction. He didn't let it rankle him as Dr Scott only thought of herself and her career. It was just a bonus that her work helped others, making her appear like she cared.
"Being immune on a ship with people who assume they are not...it's going to create a rift and I am already an odd man out. I don't need to be ostracised anymore than I am. So, could you please, just keep it to yourself." Danny said as he didn't know how to explain that being in the military was about working as a team, being a part of something bigger than yourself. One could shine but it had to be for the right reasons. This was not something he wanted to be known for.
"I will, but you should know that it will come out eventually." Rachel said.
"I'll take as much time as I can get." Danny said, he rose from his seat.
"Danny, this is a good thing." Rachel told him.
"Not to me. But thank you for doing the tests." Danny said, he left the lab and stepped into the other helo bay.
"Hey, how did it go in there?" Smith asked, he and Berchem were restacking their equipment. They were all bored as there was nothing to do in their downtime between ops.
"I'm not immune." Danny lied.
"Damn, that sucks." Smith said. Danny frowned as he didn't think so. He didn't want to be an outsider or be a punching bag for grieving crew who lost people to the virus. It felt wrong to high five being immune given how many people had died.
"Yeah, I was hoping you'd be immune as it'd mean your sisters are too. I know Simone is into chicks but Keeley, woof." Berchem said with a grin. Danny pulled a face as he really hated it when his friends got the hots for his sisters.
"Berchem, Keeley will never give you the time of day." Danny told him, he knew Berchem had a thing for his little sister. Most of his friends did after she turned 16. If they weren't thirsting after Keeley, it was Jess or Simone.
Luckily for the sake of his team, Keeley was so hyper-focussed on her career that she never had time for guys and romantic relationships. Something Danny now saw as blessing as he only had to have suffer with Tex as a brother in law and not add Berchem to the mix any more than he was. Berchem knew it which was why he kept bringing it up.
"That is not true. I once asked her what the time was. She told me it was 12:22pm." Berchem argued. Smith and Danny laughed.
"Oh my god." Danny said as he tried to calm down. But it did feel good to laugh with his team mates after the loss of Frankie.
"Seriously, if she's alive... I'm single, she's single, we're both good looking people, Danny. I think you need to get on board with this potentially happening." Berchem said, Danny laughed even more. He shook his head as he couldn't take anymore of Berchem's flights of fantasy.
"Berchem, all I can say is Godspeed, Brother." Smith deadpanned as he tried not to laugh.
"See, Smith is supportive of our relationship. I could be the future Mr Keeley Green." Berchem said with dreamy expression, it did Danny and Berchem in as they doubled over in laughter. Berchem mockingly pretended to be upset at their reaction.
"Please stop, you're killing me." Danny told him as he struggled to breath.