I promise I haven't forgotten about this story - the updates might just be a bit slower from now on! I'm going to try and tie it up soon and start to publish my new story!

"Ma'am I don't know about you but I'm getting pretty soaked here, maybe we should think about heading to drier ground" 20 minutes later, Buffer and Kate were still leaning against the tree trunk.

Not even turning her head to face her prone colleague, Kate kept her eyes closed "Can you put weight on your ankle Buff?"

"Think so, but there's only one way to find out for sure" Buffer reached out, grasped his leg under his knee and slowly placed raised leg onto the ground. Using both hands, he reached behind him to the tree trunk and pushed himself to an upright position.

Kate opened her eyes as he tried to put weight on his foot and watched in a daze as it gave out from under him, only his quick reflexes reaching out for the tree trunk stopped him from falling.

"Alright there Buffer?"

Regulating his breathing through the pain, Buffer nodded his head.

"You're not going anywhere on that ankle, best you sit back down and elevate it again; I'll go get Swain's medical bag and we can strap you up"

"Ma'am I don't think it's a good idea for you to be wondering around this forest alone, not with that head injury and with the drug smugglers out there" If it was possible Buffer believed Kate had gotten even paler, her face was streaked with mud and blood and her hair had changed colour with the same.

"Unless you have a better idea this is the only option we have"

Sizing up the hill they had fallen down "Maybe I could shimmy up the hill"

If she could have Kate would have rolled her eyes "Oh come on, I haven't hit my head that hard! How do you propose you could shimmy? Come to think of it, how do you even know the word shimmy?"

Choosing to ignore the gentle teasing from his colleague Buffer re-focused on the problem at hand "I repeat, I don't think you going out alone is a good idea" For 20 minutes whilst they had sat at the tree, Kate hadn't spoken or moved and Buffer had been worried.

"Buffer we're stuck at the bottom of this hill, you need pain relief and support for that ankle. If I don't get the bag we're stuck here until The Hammersley can send back a rescue party; plus there are two drug runners on the Island, a girl who needs our help, a weather front moving in, no food or water and we're sitting in the open, exposed."

"How can you be so damn logical with that head injury?" Buffer marvelled at the X's rational logic and capacity to see beyond their present situation; his job was to protect his XO, hers was to deal with the bigger picture.

"Buff sit back down, I'll go back to the clearing; you weren't too far out from the beach when you and Swain found the girls, I'll grab whatever they left us and we can work out our plan once your ankle is sorted"

Kate really didn't want to move from where she was, her vision still hadn't cleared properly and with each movement she made, pain shot from her head; plus she was still feeling sick. But this would be her first real test as an Executive Officer, one she didn't intend to fail; her first priority was to her stricken colleague then to the kidnapped girl. How she was going to help her she hadn't worked out but getting Buffer mobile again would certainly open up options for all of them.

'Game face time' Kate thought as she struggled to her feet; she leaned against the tree and quickly surveyed the area for a drier patch for Buffer to remain "over there, the tree coverage is better and you won't get as wet. Do you think you can make it?"

Looking to where Kate was pointing Buffer nodded and attempted to move over by himself, again his ankle gave out but this time Kate hooked his arm over her shoulder and they slowly made it across the short distance, despite his initial resistance to her offer of help.

Helping Buffer had drained some of Kate's energy so she merely watched rather than helped as he lowered himself to the ground and raised his leg, settling his ankle in an elevated position against some rocks.

"Right then, I'm going to go; I shouldn't be too long, straight to the beach and back"

Buffer gave the hill they had tumbled down an appraising look "I reckon if you take the land left of where we fell it might be a lower gradient to the top, it looks fairly stable too and has lots of branches and undergrowth to climb with"

Kate looked to the area he was talking about and visually assessed it as her best possible option for success, giving him one last look to ensure he was settled until she returned Kate set off and slowly but surely climbed the slope. She had a few wobbles and had to stop a few times before she made it to the top, out of sight of Buffer she sat for a while trying to calm her breathing and quell the ever rising sick feeling that movement of any kind brought with it. After a few minutes Kate felt able to focus on her plan, she needed to get through the forest and back to the beach – picking her way through the undergrowth until she made it to the clearing to the beach.

Already unsteady on her feet, Kate struggled against the wind blowing in from the sea – thankfully Swain had left his bag where the jungle and beach met; she grabbed the bag and turned to retrace her steps. Ahead of her she spied movement in the dense forest; ducking behind a tree she waited until the shadowy figures had moved off in the opposite direction.

Weighing up her options, Kate decided to follow the figures into the forest; she kept a safe distance behind them – following for a good 30 minutes until she came to a clearing where a small makeshift campsite had been set up. Kate took her time surveying the area, focusing on one tent in particular where a young woman sat bound and gagged at the porch area, tears streaming down her face.

-.-.-.-.-

In the meantime, Buffer was getting increasingly worried about his missing XO, she had been gone for too long; it should have been a quick trip there and back. Picturing the worst case scenarios and fearing that The Hammersley's Captain would again have to ask for a new Executive Officer, Buffer looked round the area and spied the sturdy looking branch that Kate had used to lever the boulder off of his leg. Shuffling over to it, protective of his ankle, Buffer reached out and grasped the branch; he used it to stand himself up and slowly tested his weight on his ankle. Without an audience he allowed himself to groan out loud and eased the weight off of his ankle; he looked to the hill he had tumbled down and the area he had watched Kate scramble back up.

Deciding he had no option, Buffer painstakingly made his way over to the same area and planned his ascent; he had no option but to sit down and pull himself up the hill. Buffer rested his sore ankle over his other leg and sat with his back to the hill; slowly he reached his hands out behind him and pulled his body up to where they were anchored in the ground. Repeating this motion, Buffer stopped when he made it a fifth of the way up the hill; his arms were on fire and the constant jarring has sending shooting pains through his injured ankle. Ensuring he was securely tucked up in the hill, Buffer laid back and caught his breath enjoying the feeling of the rain water washing down and cooling his heated face. He continued this routine of pulling himself up the hill and relaxing his arms and soon found himself three-quarters of the way to the top, where the ground unfortunately gave way easier due to the torrent of rain falling, Buffer had to gradually angle himself to a slightly steeper gradient but one which brought him towards a tree that he planned on resting his weary body against.

-.-.-.-.-

On The Hammersley Mike was sitting in his cabin, he had been writing up his reports when Cmdr Marshall had phoned through from NAVCOM. Mike gave a rendition of everything that had happened to date and reported that two of the three girls were currently receiving medical treatment in the Wardroom compliments of Swain. "Good result all round Mike, the FEDS can take over the search for the third girl when the weather clears, when will Hammersley be docked in Cairns?"

Forcing out a breath Mike started, "about that Sir"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Cmdr Marshall knew there was bad news about to be shared "Why do I feel you haven't told me the whole story Mike?"

Preparing himself for what was to come Mike began the second half of his report "Well Sir…"

When he was finished Mike wasn't prepared for the silence on the other end of the phone, "Sir…are you still there?"

Slightly muffed, Steve's voice came through the phone "Do you think your sailors are more seriously injured than Lt McGregor led you to believe?"

Baffled he hadn't had a rollocking or even an onslaught of questions, Mike silently thanked whatever deity was watching over him before replying. "I suspect Buffer has more than a slight sprain and as for Lt McGregor, something sounded off about her voice"

"What do you mean she sounded off?" Steve was willing himself not to ask too many questions specifically about his niece.

"She didn't sound quite like herself, her voice was a little shaky; I could have imagined it, the radio static was pretty bad. She made excuses about why they couldn't get back to the RHIB and used Buffer's injury as their excuse" Mike thought back to the conversation he had had with his XO, he had been distracted by the disagreement they had been having and was now beginning to suspect that was exactly Kate's intention after all.

"Did you specifically ask her about injuries to herself?"

"No Sir"

"Dammit Mike she, they, could be seriously injured and you've left them on that island in the middle of a storm" Steve quickly rectified his mistake about singling out his niece.

"Sir, we had no option had the RHIB waited any longer the entire landing party and the two girls would still be there with them. I agreed with Lt McGregor that the best course of action would be to collect her and Buffer as soon as the RHIB can safely make it back. She assured me that she and Buffer would make their way to the landing point for collection as soon as the weather cleared" Mike had already been questioning his decisions about letting Kate and Buffer remain on Moffett Island during the storm, now his guilt was reaching new levels – what was going on over there?

"I expect regular updates Mike, I'll be at NAVCOM until this situation is resolved" Steve hung up the phone and prepared himself for a long night at the office, there was no way he was going home until he got the word his niece and The Hammersley's Buffer was safely back on the ship. "Dammit Katie" Steve picked up his phone again, punched in his home number and explained to his wife that he would be staying in the office for the night; not wanting to worry Liz, he merely told her a situation with a ship had developed requiring his attention.

After completing his reports, Mike made his way to the Bridge preparing himself for a long night on watch.