Ch 91
Early the next morning a lone figure walked onto the top deck to see Spider sleeping. He turned around and took Thor, replacing it with a copy before walking back to the Kingston. He saw as two figures left the Kingston and headed to the Hammersley. He waited until they returned and a cheer was heard coming from the other ship. He grinned and walked to the Kingston to grab their crown and recover Thor.
He managed to get off the Kingston and back onto the Hammersley where he hid the crown and placed Thor back in his place. He grinned seeing all the items they put on Spider and took them out. When he finished, he grabbed a tool out of his pocket and used it. Spider opened his eyes then and looked around finding nothing. The figure smiled and walked off the Hammersley smiling.
The next morning, the Hammersley and the Kingston were leaving at the Same time. The Hammersley's crew was wondering why Kingston's crew was so happy. Until one of them saw what the other boat was bragging.
"It can't be! That's Thor!" Charge yelled.
"It can't be!" Chefo said
"Sir!" Buffer yelled out. "the Kingston got Thor!"
Mike, Nav, Swain, and Kate heard Buffer before they went up top and saw Thor on his spot. Mike picked the radio.
"Mike," the Captain of the Kingston, answered laughing. "I heard you lost your mascot."
"James, you've been misinformed. Our Thor's here," James picked his binoculars and looked to the Hammersley.
"Nice try, Mike! It's a great copy though," James said, at the same time Kate noticed something hiding in the corner.
"Sir," she called when she picked what she found. Mike chuckled.
"James, it seems to me that you got a nice copy and lost your mascot to it."
"Haha, you are funny, Mike."
"I am, but you better check your mascot, James," Mike added.
"Hey!" Nav said leaning towards the place where the guys were. "We still have Thor, but the Kingston lost its mascot," Nav showed them the crown.
"Well, I'll be damned!" Charge said entering the bridge a bit later.
"Hey! Something's happening on the Kingston!" Spider said. The Kingston called them by radio.
"Go ahead Kingston," Mike said chuckling.
"Damn you, Mike and your crew! Give us back our mascot!" James said yelling is making the Hammersley's crew cheered.
"Nice try, James! Take care of fake Thor." James groaned.
"Mike!"
"Don't worry, James. We will look after your mascot. See you in a month! Hammersley's out!" Mike turned to the crowd that appeared at the bridge during the exchange. "Buffer, take care of the crown. The rest of you, back at work!"
"Yes, sir!" they all said at once. They all were grinning after the exchange not knowing that Steve and people at NAVCOM had heard the whole exchange.
During their patrol, they came across Pacific Mariner.
"Pacific mariner, this is HMAS Hammersley. Copy over"
"This is Rick Gallagher, Captain of Pacific Mariner. What can I do for you, Captain?"
"I need your permission to use your barge for a training exercise for my crew."
"Why my barge, Captain?" Mike turned to Kate
"It's part of our training, and your barge is in the area. It would be a great training exercise for the crew."
"Alright. But I can give you only two hours."
"Thank you; we will be reaching you in twenty minutes. Hammersley out."
"Sir? What are you thinking?" Kate asked
"It's a way to get you on board to take a look around."
"I hope you know what you are doing, sir."
"I do, X."
Twenty minutes later, Rick Gallagher was watching from the side of the bridge as the HRIB head towards his barge.
"Mr. Gallagher, I'm Lieutenant McGregor. Thank you for letting us use your barge for our training, sir."
"You are welcomed," He answered before he looked toward some of the crew walking towards the bridge. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
"It's part of the training, sir. You can follow them if you want." As soon as Kate finished her words, he followed ET and Buffer to the bridge. They took the chance to do eight training boards before Spider called Kate over.
"X! The Hammersley's on fire!" Spider said.
They turned to see smoking coming from the Hammersley, so Kate called them and ordered the return to the Hammersley.
"Thank you, sir. Using your barge was excellent training for our crew improvement."
"Sure," Kate ran down to the HRIB, and they returned to the Hammersley.
They returned as quickly as they could and soon they were helping them with the fire. Due to the damage, they had no other choice but to return to Cairns. Once the decisions were made, Kate walked to Mike's cabin.
"X, you should've stayed on the barge, damn it!"
"With all due respect, sir. We saw the smoke and knew that it was far more important than Rick Gallagher."
"X"
"Don't you X me, Mike! We had to return! What if someone was injured and you needed Swain?" Mike ran his hand through his hair as he let his breath out.
"You are right, sorry."
"I know you want to get Rick Gallagher and we will. At least with the training, we have a good layout of the barge. And that must count for something," Mike smiled.
"Yes, it does."
"How bad is the damage to the Hammersley?"
"Charge said the pump and hoses need replacing, approximately an eight-hours job although he's using the backup generator until we reach port."
"Alright, I'll meet you up on the bridge." Kate turned around pulling back the curtain and walked out of his cabin.
Once they reached port, they got the night off, but the following day they were already back sailing. Since then, they managed to attend some maydays, FFVs and boarded different boats, some with drugs on them. By the time they return to Cairns they were happy with what they had accomplished.
On the way back, Nav picked up her binoculars when she spotted one of the patrol boats leaving Cairns when she read the number her eyes widened.
"Captain to the bridge, X to the bridge," she called, gaining ET's attention while doing so.
"Is that the Kingston?" He asked.
"Yeah, but they are on a six-week patrol," she frowned.
"I hope that they didn't return with foreign fishermen."
"Who?" Mike asked as he and Kate reached the bridge.
"The Kingston, sir," Nav said offering her binoculars
"Hum," Mike let out lowering the binoculars and picking the mic just then, they got an incoming message.
"Hammersley this is the Kingston, copy."
"This is the Hammersley, go ahead James."
"How was your patrol, Mike? I heard you had a fire on board."
"We are fine, James. We had a fire, but that's old history, it's all taken care of. What brought you to Cairns?"
"We've been on the dry dock for three weeks; we hit a ghost net during the storm. It damaged the engines and pillars; the Childers had to tow us back to port."
"Sounds like you guys had some bad luck," Mike said seriously but couldn't stop smiling.
"Yes, if we had our mascot then we wouldn't have had this bad luck. When are we getting it back?"
"When you return if we are in port that's it."
"I can send one of the HRIBS over for it," James offered, Mike turned to the crew.
"Should we return it?"
"Yes," Kate said taking pity on the Kingston.
"We might as well, sir," Nav said, and the others agreed.
"Ok, James send the HRIB over."
"Thanks, Mike. Kingston out."
On the following minutes, Buffer got the crown and took it to the HRIB, and soon the HRIB returned to the Kingston. And the Hammersley entered the port.
"I heard you somehow got the Kingston mascot, Mike," Steve said as a greeting once Mike opened his office door to let Kate in.
"We did, we gave it back when we saw them leave Cairns. James told me what happened."
"Yes, it made it harder for the other boats to cover the Kingston while they were in dry dock."
"I bet."
After exchanging the reports about their patrol, Mike and Kate decided to join the crew on their regular pub. Swain spotted them by the bar and walked towards them.
"X, sir."
"Swain! How are you? How are Sally and kids doing?"
"Good! Hannah has been a godsend. She helped us so much that we don't know how to thank her."
"Just send her flowers," Mike said making Swain chuckle. "No, really, she loves them."
"Then that will do, sir."
Three hours later they left the noise of the bar and headed home.
The next day, they went shopping for their growing family and visited Mike's parents and presented their kids with the new clothes. Once they were on the bed, the couple remained for a few more hours before getting home to get ready for their following two-weeks patrol.
Once they returned to port, they brought with them several foreign fishers and a family whose boat broke down and needed a tow back to port. After their passengers were all taken care of, the crew took their weekend quickly. Mike and Kate went to see Steve as per usual before enjoying the benefits of being back home.
The day before the Hammersley returned to port, Jack and Sam flew to Australia and towards Mike's house. There was one letter for him. Sam slid the envelope under the door before they returned home. So, the moment the Flynn's entered home, they found the white envelope laying on the floor.
"Mike is for you," Kate said after reading the name. He frowned and they walked towards the living room. "So, what is it?" she asked nervously as she saw him frown as he read the letter.
"It says that I should take the promotion and shore posting that comes with it. Supposedly I won't hate it this time around. 'Family is more important than the Hammersley'" He quoted. "It also says that Ray Walsmen shouldn't be trusted. It gives a warning about some other people and Samaru island." He explained as he was reading it.
"Are you going to take it, Mike?" Kate asked once she too had finished reading the letter.
"It does have advantages."
"The kids."
"Yeah."
"And if you do take it, I'll be looking forth to all those shore leaves," she purred. "And all those surprised that you could have waiting for me when I return," She grinned mischievously. He took a step closer to her and pulled her up close to him.
"Is that so?" he said on her ear undoing the buttons of her shirt slowly.
"Yes," she let out breathily before he kissed her fiercely. He carried her to their bed and made love passionately before they snuggled together.
"I guess I could get used to it," Mike said.
"Used to what?" She asked looking at him.
"To a shore post with you are returning home after missing me," he grinned.
"I guess I too could get used to it."
"Do you think we can do it, Kate? Me, here and you on the Hammersley?"
"Yes, and we both know that the crew will watch my back."
"I know. We make a good team," Kate smiled
"Yes, we do."
"What shall we do tonight since we already did this?" he asked grinning making her roll her eyes.
"As if we couldn't repeat it later," Mike chuckled. "Let's go pick our kids and meet the crew at the pub."
"Sounds like a plan… I like the repeating this part a lot," he grinned.
A few hours later, after picking their kids, they went to the pub. They walked up the step when Emma saw who was there and ran over to him.
"Uncle Pete!" She squeaked, making the whole crew turn around and smile at her.
"Hey, Emma! Have you been a good girl?" Pete asked once she hugged him.
"Yes, I've been good," she said smiling.
"What? No hug for me?" Nav asked making Emma turn around.
"Auntie Nikki!"
Soon Emma, MJ, and David were passed around the table while Mike and Kate went to find their drinks. Swain and Sally showed up a bit later with their kids. Everyone talked and laughed for the next couple of hours before the families took the kids home. Over the week, Mike and Kate used all their time to spend it with their kids.