"Eric, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call" Rick asked answering the video call
"Need some information, Jess is guiding a disarming of a King's Jubilee device" Eric asked being careful not to give to much information away
"Thought she was of duty because of her cancer diagnosis" Rick said confused
"She is, she's been called in to consult for this however, didn't realise you were aware of her diagnosis, her mate Critter" Eric said equally confused about how the Australian officer knew about Jess's current health situation, but suddenly remembered her friend Critter would have been fully aware of everything that was happening with her over here and no doubt had shared that information with his team CO
"He's been keeping me updated on her progress, hardly the diagnosis she wanted, what do you need" Rick Duncan said confirming Eric's suspicion as to the source of his information
"What's a King's Jubilee device exactly, Jess is going to need to take a break soon, we'll need to find another EOD to step in and take over from her while she rests" Eric said hoping to get as much information as possible
"Good luck with finding one, a King's Jubilee carries multiple layers and has not only the explosive element to disarm but a nuclear and bio chem component as well that needs to be disarmed before you can get to the explosive component" Rick said, this information left Eric a little disheartened, this was no ordinary device Jess was dealing with, they needed someone with specific knowledge and training
"You ever disarmed one" Eric asked hopefully
"No, they require a lot of experience, we would leave them to Jay, let him work his magic, how long has Jess been working at it" Rick asked, the more Eric found out about this device the worse he felt, if Metal wasn't confident in taking over they'd need to let Jess continue till she got it
"3 hours" Eric said
"That means the device isn't active at least, the fact she's going slow means she's trying to avoid triggering it, if she's removed the nuclear and bio chem components, someone should be able to take over if they have her notes on the mechanism and all the rest to finish it off" Rick said suddenly providing Eric with a glimpse of hope
"She has notes on the different mechanisms" Eric asked surprised
"Well they were her old man's originally, he passed them on to her and she's added her own to them naturally, understanding them though is another story, I know Critter has a copy if you really get stuck, but he keeps them under lock and key" Rick said, he'd seen glimpses of them and remembered the sheer level of detail Jay would go into making them
"Would they be on the base" Eric asked
"I don't know, I assume so, you'd need to check her personal belongings" Rick said, he assumed Jess would keep some form of copy in her deployment gear
"Thanks Rick, I'll get someone to make the search" Eric said pulling out his phone and messaging Metal to meet him in Bravo's team room, he figured Metal probably had the best idea of what he was looking for as Jess had a lot of resource material in her cage she used for study
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Metal, what are you doing here" Jason asked surprised to see the Alpha team leader walk straight into Bravo's team room, he'd joined Bravo for a few missions so already had the code to the door
"Blackburn messaged me, asked me to meet him here, sir" Metal said explaining the situation just as Eric arrived in the room
"At ease, I've just found out that Jess has notes detailing different devices she's come across in the field, they were originally her dads" Eric said hoping like he'll Metal knew what he was talking about
"You want the holy grail of explosive devices according to Jay Turner" Metal asked surprised
"You know it, please tell me it's in Jess's cage and you can find it without wrecking her cage" Eric asked confident that Metal knew exactly what he was asking about
"Some of it is, I burrowed some for some night time reading a few weeks ago, what have you got" Metal said smiling as he opened Jess's cage and went straight to her resource material
"A King's Jubilee" Eric said
"Nasty, that's 3 separate components you have to remove and they have trip wires that trigger the device if you take the components apart wrong, even with the notes it's out of my league, you'll need to call Jess in" Metal said giving his opinion
"She's in the ops centre now with Trent, but she needs a break" Eric said to him
"You can't stop once you've started, how long has she been at it" Metal asked looking for the information on the device
"3 hours" Eric said
"She would be close to finishing the second component if she hasn't already, that leaves the explosive as the last part, she's probably got 2 hours of work left" Metal said continuing to look through the folders, Jess regularly allowed him to burrow her notes on different devices, but he knew she would change her mind and revoke that privilege if he messed up her cage looking for them so he always paid extra attention not to leave anything out of place
"With her notes could you do the explosive component, something was mentioned about they're hard to understand" Eric asked curiously
"If she has identified the correct mechanism" Metal said
"Get her notes and head to the ops centre to relieve her" Eric said as he turned to leave the room to inform Trent he'd found someone to relieve her
"Yes sir" Metal said as he found what he needed
"That's it, that's all the notes" Sonny asked surprised at the 6 folders Metal held in his hand, they were the same folders they used for filing reports, Sonny had expected there to be more, Jess would know thousands of mechanisms surely, or between her and Jay they would
"No, but a King's Jubilee only has about 12 potential mechanisms, that's all her notes on the different explosive devices in blue, not including the ones in my cage, history is green, culture is pink and people are in purple and so on" Metal said explaining the coding system Jess used as he turned to leave and report to the ops centre
"Looks like we have some reading to do" Clay said as he walked into Jess's cage and grabbed a pile of folders to start reading
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"How's it going Jess" Metal asked as he walked up behind her
"They send you to relieve me" Jess said thankful to see someone else there to take over as she was struggling to really concentrate
"As soon as you get to the explosive component, what mechanism are we looking at" Metal said booting a young technician from their seat and moving it right next to Jess so he could get up to speed with what was happening, the technician could take Jess's when she vacated it
"Empress mark 2, alright Brady Full Metal's going to take over for me now, he's got all the information on how to handle the mechanism, and will get you through it, promise" Jess said as she waited for Metal to open the file to the right device, once she confirmed he had the right device she was ready to hand the reins over, Metal didn't have her reputation as a EOD and this guy was young, Metal's confidence in her had gone a long way in helping the other operators have confidence in her, so she figured that her vote of confidence in being able to handle talking someone through how to disarm a device wouldn't hurt either
"Okay thanks Jess" came the voice over the radio, Metal could easily sense the concern in the voice, he was dealing with a newbie who probably idolised Jess because of her reputation in this area, they felt safe with her on the other end of the comms and wouldn't dream of second guessing her, question is would they trust him in the same way
"You've got this Metal" Jess said giving the big guy a firm squeeze and smile before she left and followed Trent out
"How are you feeling" Trent asked the moment he got Jess outside and sitting down
"Abdomen feels really full, sore, tired" Jess said knowing there was no point trying to hide how she was feeling
"You put a lot of extra effort in mentally doing that disarm that you weren't prepared for and you are past due for catheterisation, flush your bowels as well so it's done, Luca asked me to take you through to Williamsburg when we go, I'll get the boys to string up your hammock in your cage so you can rest till then" Trent said issuing his orders as he helped her walk to the female head closest to the team room, it had a shower as well so Jess could really freshen up
"Laura wanted to get there early to give Bailey a chance to check out the arena" Jess said knowing full well why they'd headed of early
"I'll be back in about an hour, till then stay put and don't tell Doctor Shah I left you unaccompanied, if you need me" Trent said with a small smile as he handed Jess the bag Luca had dropped off and an emergency button she could press that was linked to one Trent would carry in case she needed his help
"Sure thing" Jess said with a grin as she walked in and shut the door grateful for the peace away from everyone while she freshened up away from prying eyes
