HMAS Hammersley on route to the Solomon Islands.
Kate McGregor -Flynn appeared on the bridge.
"Good morning," she said, accepting a coffee from AB Lyn "Cookie" Harvey.
"Good morning, Ma'am, 'tis a fine morning, so it is," answered the XO, Lt David "Murphy", Miles. He'd earned his nickname because of his Irish background, and his accent which would never diminish, in spite of the twenty years he'd been in Australia.
PO Coxswain Tony Brierley had the conn. "Quiet night, Ma'am," he said. "We'll be in Honiara in two hours."
"Very good," said Kate. She sipped her coffee then took her seat at the captain's chair. "Captain has the ship," she said. "X, go get some breakfast. You must be hungry after watch. I hear Cookie's made a great scran."
The RO came to the bridge. "Signals from NAVCOM, Ma'am," he said, then clattered back down the stairs for his breakfast.
"Thanks," said Kate. She leafed through them, then smiled. Among them was an email from Mike, thoughtfully printed out by the RO.
She read, "Hey sweetheart, how is it going? I hope you won't have any issues on the Solomons. Shouldn't be a drama as it's a goodwill visit anyway. Jess is doing well; she loves going to pre-school. Yesterday Mum took her for her first swimming lesson. She didn't like it at all. She said she wasn't going again until I told her that if she wants to join the Navy when she's a big girl she has to learn to swim.
Nikki has asked for an extended shore posting; I think the twins are becoming a handful! I'll see what I can do for her. Ryan and Jess (Bird) have set their wedding date, it's eight months from now. Bird is still onboard Choules, returning from the Gulf. She's making a fantastic medic, by the way.
Jess and I miss you honey; we so look forward to when our favourite Patrol boat and CO are back in port. Well, look after yourself and the old girl. Fair winds,
Love you, Mike.
PS. Kisses from Jessica.
Kate smiled, then read the other signals. Nothing was there requiring her immediate attention, so she thought ahead to their assignment to the Solomon Islands. She had been there many a time, in conflict and disaster, so this would be an entirely different visit altogether. As Mike said, a goodwill visit, taking dental supplies and a pre-fab building for use as a clinic. The government at Honiara wanted to establish dental facilities on the smaller islands. Recently a group of recently-graduated dentists had returned from Australia and accompanied by Australian dental nurses, would set up practice in these clinics, giving the residents access to treatment known only in the capital. Kate felt sure that this would be a straightforward operation; however, she was taking no chances and was making sure that crew would be armed and assigned in teams. She was also restricting shore leave to daytime only, knowing only too well the dangers that lurked at night. She piped her officers and senior sailors to muster in the ship's office, and prepared to brief them on the evolution they would undertake once alongside.
Cairns, Public Wharves.
It was 6:30AM and a warm day promised. Buffer and 2Dads had arrived at the office and shed where their thriving charter boat fishing and diving business was operated. All three boats were booked; Swaino was taking a diving party to the reef, Chloe Bee had a fishing party to go toward Bright Island, and Katie Mac was also conducting a fishing party. No alcohol was permitted when a diving party was onboard, and it was strictly limited to two beers per person with a fishing party. None of the crew was allowed to drink while in control of the boat. Buffer had to enforce that rule when one of his employees, Mad Dog, fell overboard during a fishing trip for the local Business Chamber. It was discovered that he had drunk most of the beer onboard and was well and truly intoxicated when they fished him out of the water. As a result, Buffer had complaints from some of the clients about Mad Dog's behaviour.
Buffer had taken Mad Dog aside and given him a stern warning; one more drunken episode and he'd be dismissed. Instantly.
2Dads went into the shed to collect the tanks and other diving equipment. He had filled the tanks the night before and was bringing them out to put on Swaino, when he noticed the cool room door, where they kept water and perishable food, ajar. Putting the tanks down, he went to close the door properly, when he saw that something was not right with the drink supply. The slabs of Coca-Cola were lying around, instead of being neatly stacked. The other soft drinks and water seemed in order; then he saw that half the beer slabs weren't where they should be. 2Dads left everything as it was, then closed the door of the cool room. He picked up the diving tanks and headed for Swaino. He put the diving tanks on the boat and turned to Buffer who was already onboard, checking fuel and preparing the boat for departure.
"Buff, you need to come with me. When I picked up these tanks, I saw the cool room door left partly open. The Coke slabs are all over the place and half the beer is missing."
"So? The other blokes might have taken some down to the boats. What's your problem?"
"They'd never leave the cool room door open, that's my problem."
Buffer sighed. "Ok, let's sort it."
The crew of Chloe Bee were already at work loading food, drink and bait for the day's trip. Buffer checked with them and saw that so far, they had put on two slabs of Coke, but no beer. He moved to the Katie Mac. The usual crew of Mad Dog and Bill had not yet arrived. Katie Mac rode at anchor, clean and ready to receive supplies. Buffer checked the cold stores – nothing on board as yet.
Buffer said to 2Dads, "Looks like a break-in. I'll check with Bill when they get there. They're not due to leave until 9AM. We'd better get moving, our group is starting to arrive."
They continued taking the diving equipment to Swaino. Russ and Gaz, the crew of Chloe Bee had gone back to get more supplies, when the group booked for the early fishing started to arrive. Buff called over to Gaz, "Only two slabs of beer mate, remember? Only two beers per person."
"Righto, Boss," smiled Gaz. He'd been a Border Security agent in his time, before deciding on a change of pace and signing on with Buffer. Buffer trusted him and knew he would enforce the rules.
