Ch 81

"Hey, guys! Do you remember Mike Flynn?"

"Mighty Mike?"

"Yep," Davidson said as he turned to Mike and Kate.

"Gentlemen, Mighty Mike Flynn and his lovely wife, Princess Perfect Kate McGregor."

"Hello, sirs," Kate said as she sat down next to Mike.

"Sirs."

"You guys are not going to believe this, they both are on the Hammersley," Zac said as he sat down.

"You got to be kidding me, both of you? And the fleet command knows that you're married?" One man asked causing Ian and Zac to laugh

"Who do you think sent Kate here Jon? They had no choice; Mike was going through more XO's than we have in our careers."

"Another round, sirs?" Waitress asked when she walk over to the group

"Sure, Mike, Kate?"

"I'll have a red wine thanks."

"Beer for me, thanks." The waitress wrote it down then walk away. Kate leaned over to Mike.

"I'm glad the crew's not here." Mike turned to Kate, frowning.

"Why?"

"They know stories about you," she grinned.

"I'm glad also," he whispered. She turned around smiling brightly.

"So, any good stories about Mike?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, we sure do," Davidson said grinning.

"Kate, did you have to ask?" Mike whined and then her cell phone rang.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." She said before answering her phone. "Kate McGregor. Hi, Nikki. No, we are not at home," then she smiled. "We are at the R.S.L. Have fun... ok, have fun" Then she close her phone while smiling

"What did Nav want?" Kate looked at the others.

"She wanted to know if we want to join crew for drinks. Nikki is the other female on the Hammersley. She does the navigation on the Hammersley." Kate said looking from Mike to the others

"Excuse me, I'll be right back," Mike stood up and walked to the men room.

"How long have you been married?"

"Three years, today."

"Congratulations, and do you have any children?"

"Yes, a two-year-old girl and one-year-old twin boys."

"You two sure didn't waste any time," one commented making another laugh.

"We plan it so they could be close to the same age" Kate type a text message then send it before putting it back in her pocket.

"How did you meet Mike?"

"Watson bay, we were walking around the corner and bumped into each other. He had his arm full of files, and they all ended up on the floor. I helped him to pick them up and introduced ourselves. The next day, I was waiting for my instructor when he showed up."

"You are kidding me; you were his student?"

"Yes, sir. We were more than a little surprised when we saw each other."

"And how is he as an instructor?"

"He's pretty good. Although, we had a couple of debates about some subjects. It turns out I was correct, and he was wrong…. Twice in that course." Kate grinned. "He took it well, once he noticed without a doubt that I was right." The waitress approached with their drinks, and as she was leaving, Mike sat down, all eyes fell on him.

"What?" he asked confused turning towards Kate. "What did they tell you?"

"Nothing, yet. They asked how we meet and I might let out that I corrected you."

"You didn't"

"A debate where you are wrong must have been very interesting in front of a class full of students, Mike," one of them said. Mike turned to him.

"It was. And Kate wouldn't back down; she has never backed down to a challenge. Although, I haven't seen her in action yet."

They talked for a while until loud noises were heard and they all turned towards it.

"Kate, you didn't," Mike whispered to her, and she smiled at him

"I did," she confirmed standing up and waving to the group. Buffer was the first to spot Kate, and soon they were standing by the table.

"Gentlemen, I would like you to meet some of the Hammersley's crew: Nav, Buffer, Spider, Charge, Swain, RO, ET, Chefo, Jaffa. The crew this is the" Kate smiled, "old Hammersley's crew, the one Mike used to serve under when he was midshipmen on Hammersley."

"It nice to meet you, sirs." They all said.

"We will be right back sirs, ma'am," Charge said after each of them had introduced themselves. Kate grabbed Nav's arm and whispered something in her ear before letting her go.

"Kate what did you say to Nav?"

"You will find out," Kate grinned turning to the others. "I'm sure the crew has a few stories to share about Mike." Mike squinted at Kate, and she knew she was in trouble.

"I'm looking forth to hearing some of them," Davidson said smiling

"I know that the crew is looking forth to hearing your stories as well" Kate pick up her drink to take a sip of it. They all talked for a few minutes until the crew returned. They all moved around to fit on the table.

"What is that?" Zac asked

"We call it Guava mojo; it's the Hammersley special drink, sirs. Try it!" Charge said, Zac picked the offered drink and took a sip.

"Wow, pretty good drink," Zac said, and the others too grabbed a glass.

"Sir? You mentioned having a story or two to share?" Charge grinned.

"Yes, we all do." Ian smiled.

The next four hours were spent an hour talking and laughing about the different stories the old crew had to share.

"Mike wouldn't give up even when I told him to stand down. He got back in the dingy just as it was pulling away from the boat. When the guy turned his back towards us, Mike jump back onto the boat and tackled him and saved the hostage!"

"What happened to the hostage?" Spider asked

"She jumped to Mike's arms and kissed him on the cheek. 'My hero!' she exclaimed, and of course, the crew gave him a hard time for months!" They all laughed.

"And what happened to her after that?" Nav questioned.

"She was returned to her American family; all patrol boats were searching for her since her kidnapping was reported. She was from a wealthy family and Mike was offered a two billion American dollars reward for his efforts," his crew turned towards Mike with bewildered expressions. "Yeah, and our Mike turned it down saying he was doing his job."

"Wow, sir! It was two billion American dollars! I can't believe you turned it down," Spider almost whispered. Mike chuckled

"Doing a job that you love is far more important than money, Spider."

After a while, the waiters were almost pushing them out of the restaurant and with bills paid, they finally went their separate ways.

Kate and Mike got home and continued their nightly routine, and once they were on the bed, Kate turned towards Mike and kissed him.

"My hero," she grinned before Mike kissed her again. "So, what happened to Kathrine?"

"Well, we still keep contact. She got married and had four kids, and it's currently running her father oil business. She mentioned naming her firstborn son after me."

"Really?"

"Yes"

"Well, my hero," she smiled mischievously moving her hand between them.

"Kate," he warned

"Yes, Mike?"

"I love you," he said against her lips before he flipped them

"

And I you, Mike." He kissed her and made love. Falling asleep in each other's arms with sated smiles.

The next day, they spent it with the kids. Michele and Patrick joined them. They made the most of it since they were leaving on a six-week patrol after that. The following morning, the Hammersley left port.

Lisa Homes was dropped at Bright island for research. A week later, when she was doing more experiments, she started to feel the numbness, she knew exactly what was going on, so she took the hidden syringe out of her cooler bag and injected the contents of it straight on her vein. Taking a deep breath, she left herself drop close to her bag and rummaged it until she found her sat phone.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Lisa Homes. I'm on Bright Island. I need help." She said between breath, and then, she passed out.

Earlier that same day, the Hammersley had stopped on an island for some R and R. Mike and half the crew went on the beach to play touch rugby and prepare a barbecue, while the other half remained on the ship. Kate was smiling as she checked the situation on the beach.

"X!" RO walked onto the bridge. "Coast watch spotted an FFV not far from here," he told her not even waiting for an answer.

"Thanks, RO," she said as she grabbed the radio.

"Charlie eight two. This is X Ray eight two."

"This is Charlie eight two," Spider answered.

"Spider, I need to talk to the Captain," she saw him nod thought the binoculars before she saw him ran towards Mike.

"X ray eight two, what is it?" Mike said frowning as Spider panted beside him.

"Coast watch picked up an FFV. Thirty miles from here, sir. We are the closest assets."

"Copy that. We are on our way back, Charlie two out." Mike frowned before he turned around. "Ok, everybody! Pack up! We have one FFV to catch."

Once aboard, Kate gave the orders to raise the anchor and start the engines. With the coordinates set they started moving, the moment Mike walked onto the bridge she brought him up to speed.

"Good job, X!" He said smiling at her

"Thank you, sir."

An hour later they reached the FFV. Mike grinned as he observed Kate in action for the first time. He was impressed with how she did her first boarding even if he noticed she was a bit seasick.

"Charlie eight two sip-rep over," Mike said, watching Kate and Spider carefully since it was the first boarding for both and he knew how that could affect the body.

"Sir, we've got five men on board. The boat is seaworthy, but it can't return to base. Charge said they are almost out of fuel."

"Ok, prepare it for a tow. Leave ET and Jaffa on board with the crew, copy over."

"Copy that, sir." Ten minutes later, the FFV was towed by the Hammersley and Kate walked back onto the bridge.

"First FFV X, you did an excellent job. How are your sea legs?"

"Well placed, sir. I did feel a bit of seasickness before." Mike nodded.

"Nav, how long before we reach port?"

"Twelve hours with our new cargo, sir."

"Thanks," the bridge was silent when the satellite phone started ringing, Mike frowned.

"Hammersley. Lieutenant Commander Flynn is speaking."

"Mike, it's Steve. You are the closest asset we got, and we need you asap on Bright Island. We received a distressed call from Doctor Lisa homes, a marine biologist. She asked for help before we lost contact."

"A marine biologist?"

"Yes. Get there as quickly as you can. Fair winds." Mike observed the sat phone for a few seconds before he shook himself and turned towards Nav.

"How long until we reach Bright island?" he asked her. Kate and Nav quickly looked at the map and checked.

"Six hours due to our tow, sir. Without it, we could be in two hours." Mike growled.

"Charlie eight two. This is x ray two. ET, we are going to drop the tow. There's an emergency on Bright island. We will return as quickly as we can to tow you back, copy over."

"Copy that, sir. We will be waiting."

ET walked to the front of the boat and detached the rope connecting them to the Hammersley. Then he waved to the crew, the ones in the Hammersley quickly pulled the rope.

Without the weight of the FFV, they reached the Bright island in less than the estimated two hours.