CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Mike was sitting in his chair on the bridge. Chandler was standing, watching upriver through binoculars. The Nathan James was approaching St. Louis and they still hadn't heard a peep from the government. Tom had been taking every precaution as they approached an unknown environment.

Mike watched as the city of St. Louis came into view. Nothing had happened yet, but they were all on high alert. Tom lowered the binoculars and picked up the ship wide phone.

"This is the captain speaking. Set general quarters. All hands man your battle stations. Transit up and forward starboard side, down portside. This is not a drill," Chandler spoke loud and clearly. He repeated the ordered then put the receiver down and turned back towards the bridge window. Tom glanced at Mike, so Mike gave him a gentle nod, letting him know…they were ready.

Mike felt the tension in the air as everyone stared at the quiet city on the edge of the river. The ship slowly made its way forward.

"O.O.D bring us down to ten knots," Tom said.

"Aye, Captain," Lt. Granderson replied and then turned to the helmsman. "Helm, reduce speed to ten knots."

"Aye, aye, reducing speed to ten knots."

Mike felt the ship slow down as they dropped to ten knots. Mike could tell Tom was stressing over not having intel, as the captain blew out a slow breath and scanned the horizon with the binoculars again. Mike brought a pair up to his own eyes and scanned. The city was still a ways off and it was hard to tell what could be waiting for them when they arrived.

He stood and set the binoculars down. He then turned and headed towards the p-way, deciding to head to CIC to check in. Once he was in CIC he looked around.

"XO," Lt. Foster greeted him, and he nodded.

"Lt. Foster, anything?"

"Nothing yet, Sir. All is quiet on the monitors."

"No news is good news," Mike mumbled, and Lt. Foster shrugged. They both looked over as Tom's voice floated over the open channel.

"CIC, bridge. Anything yet?" Tom asked.

"Nothing yet, Sir," Lt. Foster replied as she adjusted her headset on her ears. No one made a sound in CIC as they all concentrated on their jobs. Mike felt his stomach twist as the nerves started to get to him. This, he thought, was the worst part of all of it. The waiting, not knowing, hoping nothing bad happens. Then it was all shattered.

"Bridge, CIC. Contact, bearing zero-five-nine."

"Identification?" Tom barked back over the line. Mike leaned in over Lt. Foster's shoulder.

"Ship, commercial, moving approximately five knots. Appears to be a barge, Sir."

"Weapons on the ready. Harpoons on ready, five-inch, CWIS," Tom said. Mike looked around as the crew responded instantly.

"Contact, contact, contact!" Blared over the speakers. Mike leaned back and looked over at the screen. "Three harpoon missiles in the air heading straight towards us! Fourth contact in the air."

"CIC fire harpoons, engage CWIS! Launch chaff!"

Mike watched as the orders were repeated and then the weapons came to life. The crew worked flawlessly in CIC to neutralize all the threats. They felt the ship jerk and shift as the helmsman initiated evasive maneuvers.

Mike's eyes were glued to the screen as they watched the different blips move towards each other. Three of the blips were neutralized as they heard the muffled booms echo.

"Three contacts destroyed!" was yelled as Mike watched the fourth one move on the screen.

"Still one more! CWIS!" Mike yelled. They heard the CWIS roar to life.

"Fourth contact destroyed! All contacts destroyed."

"Where did they come from?!" Tom barked over the line. Mike looked at Lt. Foster.

"The commercial ship, Sir," Foster answered the captain. Everyone was looking at her now in CIC.

"Are we in range with the five-inch?" Tom asked. Mike knew then that Tom only wanted to disable their weapons and not destroy the ship. He hoped it was the right idea.

"Yes, Sir!" Foster answered him.

"Lock onto the weapons, fire when ready. Disable them," Tom ordered. Mike nodded his agreement.

"Aye, Sir," Foster replied. Mike felt the ship return to the original course. He watched as Foster manipulated her controls on the five-inch gun.

"Picking up radar locking onto the ship, Sir," someone shouted into the open line. Mike looked over and frowned. They weren't expecting the civilians to be so heavily armed.

"Deploy countermeasures, when necessary," Tom's order echoed over the line. Foster was finally locked a target with the five-inch and was firing.

"Contact in the air! They got one off before we hit them!" Mike leaned down and looked at the blip on the screen again, his teeth gritting together.

"Shoot it down," Tom ordered coolly over the open line. Mike watched as the crew deployed countermeasures and the incoming missile was destroyed. "Stay vigilant. They may have more weapons out there," Tom's voice sounded again.

Mike looked around as everyone was glued to their screens. "Good work, crew," Mike said with a little bit of pride.

"CIC, bridge," Tom's voice came again. Mike reached over and picked up the receiver making it a private call.

"Yes, Sir," Mike replied.

"Report to the bridge, Commander Slattery, we need to deploy Vulture and Cobra teams."

"Aye, Sir," Mike replied, then hung up the receiver. He clapped a gentle hand on Foster's shoulder. "Nice work, Lt. Foster."

"Thank you, Sir," she whispered before he turned and walked out of CIC and headed back towards the bridge. Mike was in the p-way when he heard the tones of a ship wide message.

"Nathan James this is your captain speaking. Vulture team and Cobra team report for shore deployment."

Shortly after that Mike was coming onto the bridge. He walked up to Tom, the captain turned towards the table that Gator was hunched over. Mike joined them. Mike noticed Gator was studying a map of the river they were currently in.

"How are we on depth here?" Tom asked.

"So far, we are good. We can sit here," Gator said plopping a finger down on the map, "or we can try to dock over here," he continued moving his finger to a new spot. Mike noticed the second spot of the St. Louis port.

"Let's stay mobile for now," Chandler replied.

"I agree. We need to know what the hell is going on," Mike ground out, letting the frustration of it all slip out. "Have we heard from the president?"

"No. I'm trying to make contact now. No luck so far," Tom replied. "For now, we deploy Vulture and Cobra teams on shore. Lt. Green leads Vulture and I'll take Cobra."

"You take all the fun," Mike said sarcastically, and saw Chandler glance at him. Mike knew he needed to reel in his snarkiness.

"Privilege of being captain," Tom quipped. Mike nodded.

"You should stay on the ship," Mike said in a low voice. Mejia turned and walked away. Tom glared at Mike, and he knew he wasn't happy with his boldness.

"Not the time. We'll go ashore, here and here," Tom said pointing to two spots along the shoreline. Mike studied the two points and agreed they were the best strategic spots. "Vulture will work this way and approach the president's hotel from the north. Cobra will work this way, and approach from the south. Nathan James can give weapons support if we need it."

"I agree," Mike said with a shake of his head.

"Good. You'll have the bridge."

"Aye, Captain," Mike replied with a sigh. Tom gave him another look and Mike shook his head slightly and shrugged. He was tired of all of it, but he wasn't going to get into it with Chandler right now. He knew he needed to reel in his emotions, so he worked on doing just that.

Tom stared at him for a long moment and Mike locked himself down. Finally, Tom turned away from Mike and looked at Lt. Granderson. Mike closed his eyes briefly then turned so he could listen to their conversation.

"Anything from the president yet?" Tom asked. She shook her head quickly and Mike watched the dread cross Tom's face. Mike felt it too. This was not a good thing. They had no idea what had happened. And whatever had happened? It was partially their fault as they couldn't get the ship there when it was needed. He turned back to Mike as he spoke. "Keep trying to reach the president."

"Yes, Sir," Mike replied and nodded at Granderson. "I have the bridge."

With that Granderson hurried off to continue trying to reach the president's office and Tom walked off to prepare for deployment. Mike blew out a ragged breath and collapsed into his chair, propping his feet up and leaning his head back. The two teams deployed and then it became a waiting game on the ship.

Granderson kept him updated on her failed attempts to raise anyone on shore, and CIC continued to report no new contacts. Mike felt the drag of time as they waited for something to happen.

He glanced over and saw Rachel come onto the bridge a little later and he gave her smile and motioned she could join him. She walked up to his chair, and he could see the worry and fear in her face.

"Any news?" she asked quietly. Mike pursed his lips and shook his head. They hadn't heard from either team since they checked in when they reached dry land.

"Not yet," he said. She stood silently next to him as he put the binoculars to his eyes again and scanned the shoreline. The radio crackled in that moment and Tom's voice came over the speaker. Mike reached out and grabbed the mic.

"Nathan James, this is Cobra One, do you copy?"

"Copy, Cobra One, this is Nathan James," Mike answered.

"Update on attempting to contact the president?" Tom's voice crackled back.

"Negative, Cobra One, no word from the president," Mike sighed. There was a long pause before they heard Tom again.

"Nathan James, Cobra one moving forward into town and proceeding to hotel as originally planned."

"Copy, Cobra One," Mike responded and saw the look of concern on Rachel's features. The radio went slack, and Mike hung the mic back on the rack. Mike didn't have time to dwell on the Cobra team as the bridge was suddenly alive.

"Contact! Contact! Contact! Sonar contact, commercial grade shipper coming at us at fifteen knots!"

"Weapons hot on the shipper!"

"Evasive maneuvers and deploy countermeasures!" Mike yelled as he grabbed the binoculars and scanned out the front window.

Mike planted his weight as the ship surged and moved with his commands. The guns on the deck purred to life as they locked onto the missiles heading towards the ship.

"Where the hell did they get so armed," Mike muttered as he watched the chaos ensue out the front window.

"CWIS locked and firing!"

"Five-inch locked and firing!"

Both guns came to life on the deck taking out two missiles that were a little closer to the ship than Mike was comfortable with. The ship rocked with the explosions. The CWIS moved and then fired another volley of shots into the air. A third missile exploded, the concussion reaching the ship again. The bridge crew shielded their eyes from the brightness of the explosion. Mike noticed that Rachel stumbled slightly on that last explosion.

"Lock onto their weapons and disable that shipper!" Mike yelled, anger surging inside him.

"Harpoon missile ready to fire, locked on target. Firing!"

A harpoon missile then launched from the deck and shot into the air before heading out towards the shipper that was coming towards them still. It hit its target with a loud explosion and plume of thick black smoke.

"Direct hit, weapons disabled."

"Good work," Mike yelled to his crew. "Stay frosty," he barked. He settled back into his seat and let out a shaky breath. He noticed Rachel looked very frazzled, so he reached out a hand and gently gripped her arm. She looked at him with wild eyes. "A little excitement," he said with a smile.

"Too much for me," Rachel replied as her hand patted gently over her heart. Mike grinned at her.

"Nathan James, this is Vulture One, do you copy?" Lt. Green's voice crackled over the speaker.

"Copy, Vulture One, this is Nathan James," Mike replied.

"We have reached the objective," Green continued. "No resistance to this point. Most people are holed up in their homes."

"Copy that, Vulture One," Mike replied feeling a slight amount of relief. It didn't last long as the sound of gunfire erupted over the comms channel. Mike sat forward in his chair and whipped the binoculars to his eyes scanning to see if he could see what was happening.

"We're taking fire! Engaging the enemy!" Green yelled and then the comm line went dead.

"Shit," Mike mumbled. He couldn't see anything, and he felt his stomach twist. He glanced at Rachel and hoped she got the clue that she should leave the bridge now.

"I'll get out of the way," she said softly then made a quick exit. Mike was grateful for that. He looked around the bridge and saw the nerves on everyone's face.

"Can we get them back?"

"I think it's on Green's side, Sir," Granderson replied with a shrug. Mike nodded.

"Keep trying to reach the president's office," Mike sighed out. Granderson gave him a sad smile but nodded and moved away. Tension was high on the bridge as they waited for news. Finally, the radio crackled with life.

"Nathan James, this is Cobra One, do you copy?" Tom's voice crackled.

"Copy, Cobra One, this is Nathan James," Mike replied.

"President is secure, I repeat president is secure. We have taken back the hotel."

"Copy, Cobra One. Any injuries?"

"Affirmative, no life threatening. Injuries have been battle dressed and will be reassessed when teams return to the ship."

"Aye, Captain. Further orders?"

"The militia mentioned several ships, be on the lookout."

"Aye, Captain. Already had a run in with one. Will stay vigilant."

"Damage report?"

"No hits, Sir. Saw it with plenty of time."

"Copy that," Tom replied, and Mike could hear the relief in his voice. "I'll be returning to the ship soon."

"Copy that, Cobra One."

Mike took the portable and made his way to the helo bay. He wanted to be there when the injured came in. He was almost there when he saw Andrea in the p-way.

"Commander Slattery," Andrea greeted him.

"Commander Garnett," Mike replied. "The land team wounded are coming back and so is Captain Chandler. He didn't say he was injured but I can only assume something happened since he is coming back."

"Does that mean you're heading ashore?"

"Yes, I'm going to get a team together to replace the injured and head on shore to work with the president. That means you'll have command until Tom or I are back to take over."

"Aye, Commander," Andrea replied. Her fingers brushed his quickly. "Stay safe out there."

"I plan to," he replied with a grin and a nod. He wanted to kiss her but knew he couldn't right now. Andrea nodded then headed towards the bridge. Once Mike had a team assembled, he found Rios.

"Hey, Doc, how's the captain?" Mike asked.

"He took three rounds. One in the chest, the vest took, one in the hip, through and through, just muscular damage. And one in the shoulder, a glancing blow just broke the skin. I'd say you could see him yourself, but he seems to have succumbed to fatigue."

"I've got a team ready, and we are deploying to help the president. I left Commander Garnett in charge until myself or Captain Chandler can resume leadership."

"I'll make sure he knows when he wakes up."

"Thank you, Doc."

Mike gathered the troops, and they took a RHIB back to shore and then the short ride back to the hotel. Once there he sought out Green and Burk. He told them to put the third team to good use then he went to get a meeting with President Michener.

To Be Continued…