ALIMOO1971 Thank-you for suggesting I amend the relationship between Kate and Steve, not knowing enough about the backgrounds of either character I have decided to change to uncle/niece rather than a foster family connection.
BEAUTIFUL TRAUMA – CHAPTER 2
Mike Flynn wasn't having the greatest couple of days, his relatively new Executive Officer Ian Barnaby, dubbed Barney by his crew, had landed them with a NAVCOM review over their most recent FFV boarding. Barney had taken a crew and attempted to board an illegal fishing boat, but misinterpreted orders and uncertainty had left one member of the boarding party with a nasty injury from a porcupine and damage to the tinny that needed more extensive repair than Charge and his engineers could muster while at sea. The Hammersley crew had been two days into their latest patrol and were now docked back at the wharf where Mike had confined himself to his cabin completing the ship's paperwork and incident reports.
He, via sat phone, made his feelings about Barney known to Commander Marshall and expressed the concerns that other members of the Boarding Party felt. Barney was too much of a liability for the situations Hammersley was regularly encountering; Buffer was coming to the end of his patience with Barney's ineptitude and even Swain was losing any compassion he may have had for the man. Had this been a one-off, Mike could have excused what happened as lack of situational awareness but this was a continuing pattern that Barney had displayed, where Mike gave him very specific orders that Barney chose to follow or ignore at his own discretion.
Commander Marshall had ordered Hammersley back to port with the promise he would sort something but assured Mike that Lt Barnaby would be posted off his boat with immediate effect.
Mike had planned to visit his injured crew member once finished with his paperwork but had been summoned to NAVCOM instead; presuming he was in for the usual rollocking for needing yet another Executive Officer assigned to his boat, Mike hadn't rushed himself to make his 11am appointment.
His mind on other things, Mike knocked at Steve Marshall's door and walked through the threshold when prompted, making his way to the seat beside the female Lieutenant seated in front of him.
"Lt Cmdr Michael Flynn can I introduce you to Hammersley's new Executive Officer, Lt Katelyn McGregor"
Kate and Mike locked eyes, both too stunned about seeing the other to trust their voices to speak. Mike dumped himself unceremoniously into the vacant chair beside Kate, who turned back to facing Steve, eyes focussing on a poster on the wall behind him while willing the ground to swallow her up whole.
Not picking up on the change of dynamic in his office, Steve plundered on "As you are both now aware, Hammersley needs to be operational within the next few hours which fortunately means that Mike, you are temporarily excused from explaining why I needed to divert the Kingston's new XO before she even started" Steve held out the folder he had searched his desk for to Mike, who was distracted by the woman sitting beside him, "Ah Mike, Lt McGregor's personnel file" thrusting the folder into Mike's outstretched hand "I trust that you will not come looking for another Executive Officer before Hammersley is decommissioned. Now, if you will excuse us Mike, Lt McGregor and I have a few bits of paperwork to get through and I believe you have a crew to rustle up, ask Lt Smith to help you expedite your departure. I expect the Hammersley to be underway by no later than 15.00hrs. Dismissed." Still dazed and confusedMike stood, saluted smartly and left the office.
Kate who had been sitting silent throughout the entire exchange, chanced a glance at Mike as he left Steve's office before refocussing her attention on the paper's she needed to review and sign.
35 minutes later Kate was leaving NAVCOM, unsettled by the turn of events – Mike Flynn of all people, how could they possibly work together? 5 years ago Kate had foolishly allowed herself to believe they could have had a future, she had considered giving up her career aspirations and following him back to Cairns but fate had intervened and Mike had been recalled sooner than expected, Kate's fantasy had been quashed and she threw herself into her next posting once her course was complete. Neither person had the courage to admit that they had stepped dangerously beyond 'affair' status and had begun a real relationship; Mike stole away to Cairns after they politely shook hands and wished each other the best in their respective naval careers.
Kate walked through the doors out of the building and was putting on her cover when she came across the pacing form of her new Commanding Officer, she turned to walk in the other direction but was quickly halted by Mike running up beside her.
"Kate…how?...why?" despite his previously rehearsed speech, Mike was now at a loss for words when faced with Kate in person.
Not being able to face a conversation with the man she had never been able to replace, Kate chose to run "Sir, I need to go" and turned to leave.
Mike reached out and grabbed her wrist, once contact was made both pulled away from the other as if afraid where simple physical contact would lead. "Kate we need to talk, this posting could be problematic for both of us"
"We can't talk here" Kate muttered, and if to emphasise her point, both stood to attention and saluted a fully ranked Commander making to enter NAVCOM.
Mike's phone rang, staring at Kate he answered "Mike Flynn…yes Lt Smith…thank-you for letting me know…Hammersley will depart as ordered." Hanging up and pocketing his phone "Hammersley is setting sail at 15.00hrs, I need to make preparations and check on the restocking but we really need to talk"
"Sir, I was expecting to have 2 weeks before setting sail with The Kingston not crash sailed in 3 hours; I need to go home and organise a sea-bag, cancel plans, organise other things. I will report to The Hammersley as soon as I can to help with whatever it takes so we can set sail." Kate stood to attention, saluted and all but run away from Mike and the tense atmosphere they seemed to have created between themselves. Kate knew she was delaying an inevitable conversation but she was still reeling from the shock of how her morning had played out and needed to process so much.
Mike returned to The Hammersley, dumped the folder and changed into his overalls when he reached his cabin before sitting at his desk and mulling over the events of the morning. Kate McGregor of all people, how close he had come to giving everything up for her – he had never felt need as strongly as he had when with her. After they parted he had tried to convinced himself it was lust; he was older than her, she was young, petite and blonde; he saw how the other sailors on her course had looked at her, saw how they had tried to crack on to her at every possible opportunity, was jealous when one of them touched her however innocently. Mike made himself believe he was just reliving his glory days when he was that age, he was proving to himself to be the alpha male on campus but the little voice in his head kept shouting LIAR to him. He knew what they had was more than a fling, he had wanted so much more but he didn't dare hope she would want the same things from life as him and he left, returned to The Hammersley as ordered and pretended nothing had happened.
Mike reached for a well-worn book and opened it to where his picture of Kate was safely hidden; he remembered taking the picture during the early hours of the morning. He and Kate had spent the weekend in his rented apartment playing board games, drinking wine and making love; both would have been content never to leave his apartment again. Whilst Kate was sleeping Mike grabbed his phone, his small movement had led to Kate sighing and then smiling in her sleep, Mike took a picture of her swathed in early morning sunlight streaming through the curtains, lying on her stomach with her back exposed. He had loved this time of the morning with her, he would wake early and clichéd as it was, he would simply watch her sleep.
Mike carefully secured the picture when he was called to the Bridge; he arrived to find an animated conversation taking place between ET, Cheffo and Nikki; the boys were re-enacting some of Barney's more disastrous boarding efforts for their Navigator.
Spotting the Captain, they immediately stopped their conversation and Cheffo blustered off the Bridge muttering about galley stocks and sharp knives.
"Sir am I to presume that Lieutenant Barnaby will be sailing with us again?" Lieutenant Caetano turned to Mike.
"No Nav, Lt Barnaby had decided to apply for a transfer from The Hammersley effective immediately"
"But Sir, if Barney isn't sailing who is? We've been ordered out by 15.00hrs and no XO is a ship stopper…are we getting ANOTHER XO?" Nikki looked to Josh, who shrugged his shoulders in reply to her question.
Sighing and running his hands through his hair Mike replied, "Yes Nav, we have a new XO"
"Who? Anybody we know?" Nikki could already forsee Cheffo restarting the pool on how long this Executive Officer would last under the command of Mike Flynn.
"Gather all senior sailors in the Wardroom in an hour and I will tell you everything I know then." Mike walked through the door and made his way back to his cabin.
"Boss doesn't look too happy Nik, maybe we should go easy on the new X, make his life a bit easier; he looks like Commander Marshall has ripped him a new one." ET was genuinely concerned that their CO had copped a mouthful at NAVCOM; the sailors in the boarding parties hadn't done anything wrong to Barney but his last disastrous boarding had led to some strong words and threats of bodily harm if Dove, the sailor who was injured, suffered any serious lasting harm.
Mulling over ET's words "Yeah, maybe we should try to play nice with the next one" while reaching for the ship intercom to announce that the presence of all senior sailors was requested by the Captain in the Wardroom in an hours' time "but they better have sent us somebody competent this time."
Mike reached his cabin, threw some water on his face and sat at his desk, reaching for Kate's personnel folder. Kate had quite an impressive service history, due to the nature of her intelligence work some of her history was redacted including, more interestingly, her last task-force posting prior to joining The Patrol Boat Service. Kate had been injured (Mike chose to ignore the brief skip of his heart), the medical report redacted again, but had been declared physically fit for duty over a week previously.
She had a number of citations from various commanding officers and letters of recommendation from various task force leaders. Mike was suitably impressed with her credentials (he allowed himself to indulge in a small smile to acknowledge that she had exceeded the promise he had seen in her so long ago), confident that she had the experience to lead his boarding parties safely and the discipline to listen to and enact his orders but would the personal fallout for both himself and Kate be disastrous?