Ch. 45 Salvage
At the same time, thirty miles away.
Nikki was reading her book as a sudden jolt crossed the ship, accompanied by a screeching sound. She widened her eyes, baffled. It ended with a dreadful sound of a scrape of metal. The hull shook then stopped. She threw her book away and swung her legs over the edge of the rack. Almost at once she put on her T-shirt over her head and put on her trousers. She put on her boots, yanked open the cabin door and bumped into Mike coming out of his cabin.
"What was that?", she asked him as they both ran towards the bridge,
"Dunno! But I fear the worst", he said.
When they arrived at the bridge, they noticed a slight panic. All console alarm buttons were red and flashing and the phones were ringing everywhere. The officer of the watch was listening to a voice on the other side of the line as sweat was dripping on his face.
"What the hell is going on?", Mike barked.
"I...I don't know sir", the man stammered.
"Did we hit the reef?", Nikki asked.
"No ma'am, it's still there", he said pointing the horizon.
"The chief stopped both engines sir. I...I spoke to him on the phone sir, ma'am", he said.
At that moment the navigator also appeared o the bridge.
"Navigator, XO! I thought there were no problems ahead?", Mike reprimanded angrily.
"And I want a damage report! Now!", he barked.
"Casualties?", he added.
Nikki and the navigator started investigating the situation while Mike paced around.
Nikki hung up and looked at Mike, "Sir, the Chief reports that we had lost both propellers, that the ship has sprung a leak and there's one wounded man. He lost his balance on the staircase when we hit it. He fell and broke his arm".
"Yeah, ok", he grumbled.
"Navigator! Do you already know what went wrong?", he snapped again.
"Sir, I'm investigating", he reported.
"X! Call the Chief! I want more details", Mike grumbled.
At same time the phone in the engine room rang and Mike grabbed it, "Captain speaking!", he snapped.
"Captain, this is the chief. We lost not only the propellers, but the rudder is also broken.
Next, something has punctured the hull along the entire length of the ship. We spring a leak", he reported plainly.
"Great! What can you do about it?", Mike answered.
"The pumps can hold it, but it's too early to have an idea about the rudder. I'm afraid it's a towing job", the Chief Engineer answered.
"Yeah, okay, do your best", Mike replied ending the call.
Then he glared at the navigator, "Lieutenant, do you have any idea what happened?"
"Sir, it was neither a reef nor a rock, the water is deep enough, but we hit a wreck. We had to literally head straight on it", he said.
"A wreck? And that wasn't on your bloody charts?", Mike spat out in disbelief.
"No sir, it wasn't."
"How come? Did you use recent charts?"
"Uh, yes and no sir", he answered ill-at-ease.
"Lieutenant, that's bullshit. Try again!", he said furiously.
"They are from last year sir..."
"Jeez man, couldn't you get recent ones?", Mike exploded.
Then he glared at Nikki, "You could have checked that!"
Nikki looked daggers at him, "That's what I did! But, there were no recent version and the reason I was given was that the budget was being consumed by the new small jets for the vice-admiral and the rear-admiral, so that they can save time traveling between Canberra, Perth, Cairns and Darwin", she said disapprovingly.
"Oh? Is that so? Well, then they will be very happy to see the restoration bill for this ship!", he ranted.
Meanwhile, a petty officer touched the navigator's arm, "Sir, you must see that. Our position has changed three times since we stopped the engines".
The navigator made his way quickly to the navigator screen. Nikki heard that too and also hurried to the screen.
The petty officer pointed the coordinates of their position.
"Oh God!", the navigator mumbled looking at Nikki.
"We're drifting. The current thrust us straight towards the reef", she explained knowing what the navigator meant.
"How long?", she asked.
He tilted his head and looked at the screen, "Two hours, maybe three".
"Okay", she said coming back to Mike who was calling another busy engineer with the pumps.
"Sir, serious troubles", she said what caught immediately his attention. He looked at her.
"The current is drifting us to the reef, within maximum three hours we'll be on it", she said looking at his reaction.
"Damn!", he simply said. Then he grabbed the phone and called the Chief engineer.
"Chief, this is the captain again. We're drifting to the reef. Can you start at least one engine to get us away from it?", he asked.
"Negative sir. If I do, the propeller shaft will shake so hard that it's going to cause even more damage. I'm even afraid that the engine room will be submerged in a few minutes", he answered.
"Ok, thanks", Mike said ending the phone call.
"Negative X. I hate it, but send a mayday!", he ordered.
"Are there ships in the vicinity?", he then asked.
"A few sir, but too far away or too small, except perhaps one", the navigator replied.
A minute later the senior operation petty officer came back. "Sir, message sent".
He nodded, "Thanks".
On the MV Katherine,RO received the mayday message and rushed to Chris who was the officer of the watch. Chris read the message and looked questioningly at RO, "Are you sure Rob?"
"Yes Chris, no doubt. I've asked for confirmation. Should I bring it to Kate?", he replied.
"No Rob, it's too important. I'll bring it", he said, looking around and found the man he needed. "Harpie! You've the ship".
"Okay mate, I've got it!", the other one replied.
Chris rushed to the restaurant where Kate was giving the best performance of all time. He walked to Dylan and handed him the message. He read it and looked at Chris, "Set immediately course for the Sydney. Full speed and tell them that we're on our way", he answered.
Meanwhile Kate had noticed something odd happening, but finished her song.
Dylan stood up and walked towards her to make her read the message. She nodded, "It's a big hour away".
"Indeed".
"Okay, prepare the towing operation. Meanwhile I finish this. Oh, and send a message to Dad. He needs to know what we are going to do and that we will be delayed", she said.
Then she looked at the passengers. "Ladies and gentlemen, we just received a mayday message from one of our frigates. The rules of the sea oblige us to help them. Within a big hour we will be there, but that means our arrival in Sydney will be delayed. Please accept my apologies. But before we get there, I'll continue with my programme", she said looking at the audience who nodded in agreement.
Dylan looked at the crew members who were also watching the show and beckoned them over with his head, "Come on guys, we have a job to do, everyone to the bridge".
They all left.
On the HMAS Sydney the acknowledgement of the MV Katherine was received and the NCO radio operator brought the message to Mike and Nikki.
"Sir, ma'am, the MV Katherine informs us they're coming", he said handing the paper to Mike.
"Thanks", he grumbled and read the message.
"The MV Katherine? That's Kate's ship!", Nikki said.
"Indeed. Refuse!", Mike said bluntly.
Nikki's eyes were popping with amazement, "What!", she said grabbing his arm and pulling him to the bridge wing outside.
"What dare you say! Refuse? Mike, have you gone mad or what? You're playing with the lives of two hundred people and risking a million dollars ship. Do you know I can relieve you of your command for this? And don't come up with mutiny!", she said angrily.
He glared at her, "How do you think it feels? I screwed up my ship and I beg for help. Now she can laugh in my face", he said bitterly.
"No, she won't do it. Kate is too professional for that. If someone can get us out, then she can. She has a Navy crew, our former crew!", Nikki replied.
"I guess I have no choice", he said dejected.
"No!"
"Okay, let's do it. But, you heard nothing, huh!", he said.
"It's the best thing to do!", she said sternly and both walked back inside.
One hour later on the MV Katherine. Dylan had sent Synthia to find Kate. She apologized to the passengers and rushed to the bridge. The crew had a smile on their face when they saw her arrive in her yellow silk dress. She grabbed binoculars and passed them around her neck. "Sitrep!", she ordered.
"The Sydney is straight ahead as you can see. All her lights are on. The towing cable is ready and I have a team at the stern. Chris has the lead with Harpie", Dylan said.
"Ok, nice. Did the Sydney report something yet?", she asked focussing binoculars on the frigate.
Dylan looked at her from head to toes and smiled, "Don't you want to change?"
Kate lowered the binoculars and looked at him, "No darling. No time for that. Every minute counts and I don't want to screw up this job just because I wanted to change this dress for a uniform".
"You're wonderful honey. How strong you are now compared to when I found you in that café", he whispered.
"Darling, could you repeat that compliment to me after we successfully completed this rescue operation?", she replied with a smile.
The phone rang and she picked up, "Captain speaking".
"Kate it's Becca, the passengers are asking if they can watch the operation".
"That's fine, but keep them at a safe distance", she answered before ending the call.
She manoeuvred the ship to bring her in front of the frigate. "Backwards, very slowly", she ordered.
The bow of the other ship approached in a disturbing way until Harpie's voice rang clearly in the intercom, "Stop!".
"Stop engines!", Kate ordered.
She saw him shoot a thin line to the bow of the frigate where it was caught rapidly by a few sailors. They took it in and grabbed at the same time the thicker rope that was attached to it. They attached that rope to a capstan and started to turn. On that rope, the final thick towing cable was attached. The men fixed the cable and they passed the message to the bridge.
"Towing cable attached sir", Nikki reported to Mike.
"Very well X", Mike replied.
"X, send a message to the MV Katherine that she can make a test to see if the cable holds", he said.
"Yes sir", she reported.
She got the message across to the signals NCO and came back to Mike.
"Amazing isn't it? This is the first attempt and it's already a success!", she said.
"They are former Navy. I didn't expect anything else", Mike replied stiffly which earned him a suspicious look from Nikki.
RO brought the message to Kate. She read it and looked at Dylan, "Very, very slowly ahead. I don't want that the tow breaks. We have only two you know", she said.
He got the message across to Charge and they felt a slight shaking in the ship when the propeller started to turn again. The towing cable tightened, but didn't break and they saw a rippling of foam around the bow of the frigate indicating that they had moved forward.
"Okay, slow ahead now", she ordered.
They all looked suspiciously at the towing cable, but it didn't break.
A broad smile appeared on her face, "Send a message to Dad to tell him we have the frigate in tow and we're heading to Sydney".
A few minutes later, RO was patting on Kate's shoulder, "Phone call for you boss".
"McGregor speaking", she said, looking at the tow cable outside.
"Hey Kate, it's Dad! It's wonderful news! You have no idea what this brings us! A big bill for the rescue and a lot of publicity because I'll call all the newspapers! They'll swallow this operation and we'll hit the headlines of the newspapers with our ship and our company. You've built us the reputation of a strong and competent company!", he said enthusiastically.
"Dad, calm down! We just started towing. There's still a way to go to Sydney", Kate said.
"Oh don't be so negative. You've always been so suspicious, already when you were a little girl. It's the best thing that can happen to us!", he said brushing her doubts aside.
"If you say so", she replied.
"Thanks Kate and now I'm going to call the press!", he said ending the call.
She gave the phone back to RO and looked at her husband.
"Arthur?", Dylan simply asked.
"Indeed, he's over the moon".
"It was to be expected".
"Captain! A message from the Sydney. Their captain comes over!", RO said surprised.
To be continued