Ch 113
An hour later, the ship stopped to leave Saka on land and Kate joined Mike on the bridge smiling, she waited until he acknowledged her.
"Hang on, Steve;" he said to the sat phone. "Kate is doing her grinning. Something to share, X?"
"Yes, sir! This will make your day. I've found through my contacts that if Massita Balanbaan becomes President; he will give Ray Walsmen permission to mine on the island."
"Ah, they know each other"
"Yes, I also found out why Ray Walsmen is so interested in mining there."
"Really, why?"
"Uranium," everyone was surprised by Kate's word.
"Uranium? Are you sure?"
"Yes, one of my contacts e-mailed me this. Commander Marshal, I forwarded a copy."
"I bring up my e-mail now." He said on the phone; Mike passed her the phone.
"Sir, it's Lieutenant McGregor. Check the fourth picture."
"Okay. What am I seeing?"
"The yellow area is the uranium."
"My, that will be worth billions of dollars on the black market," Steve said.
"Yes, sir. And from what's been happening in the past few months and this; well, everything points to something big happening soon, sir."
"Lieutenant, I think you and Mike are onto something, I'll let the Fleet Command know about this, fair winds, again."
"Good work, Kate!" Mike said smiling at her.
The next morning, the Hammersley was back in port. Army and Navy worked together to carry the crates out of the Hammersley. Steve and an army general were on the wharf talking while watching the boxes being unloaded and taken on the back of an Army truck.
"Steve," Mike greeted.
"Mike. General Thomas, this is the Captain of the Hammersley, Commander Mike Flynn."
"Sir," Mike said as they exchanged a salute.
"Commander, Commander Marshal filled me on your doing on getting these back to us."
"It was teamwork, sir."
"Spider! ET!" They heard coming from the Hammersley. "Stop clowning around with those boxes! I can happily assign you to toothbrush duties for the rest of the year!" Steve chuckled as he recognized Kate's voice.
"Sorry, ma'am! No fooling around, ma'am!" They yelled back.
"Who is the woman, Commander?" The General asked.
"Lieutenant Kate McGregor. My XO, she knows exactly how to make sure the crew doesn't step out of line." Mike grinned.
Mike returned to the Hammersley when the Army truck, Steve, and the General left and went straight to the mic.
"This is the Captain speaking since we returned three days earlier and with such success, Commander Marshal has granted everyone extra three days shore leave. X will have new rosters up on the board in..." he looked at Kate
"Half an hour," she said
"Half an hour. Enjoy your shore leave that is all."
"I'll go and start working on the roster," she said walking away.
Soon, the Flynn's where out of NAVCOM after presenting their reports and out to their home. They took the rest of the day to spend it on the bed. When they were thoroughly sated, they showered and picked their kids before they head to the bar. They were surprised when Chefo and his wife showed up.
"Chefo, mate! You've been a busy boy, why didn't you tell us?" ET said patting Chefo on the back as the guys laugh.
"I just wanted to see the looks on your faces," he said caressing his wife very pregnant stomach.
"Well, congrats! Have you been to see Buffer?" Charge asked
"Yeah, we did last week. He warned me off, apparently now Jen is under his protection too," they all laughed.
"Pete said that I should call him if he misbehaves. And then went on trying to find out if we are having boy or girl." Jen said making them laugh once more.
"So, do you?" Spider asked
"It's going to be a surprise." Chefo grinned.
"Uncle Pete!" Emma yelled, getting out of her chair and running into the bar.
The whole group turned to see Pete picking Emma for a hug and kiss before he grabbed his drink with one hand and Emma's hand on the other one.
"Buffer, mate! When did you get out of the hospital?" Swain wondered
"Yesterday," he answered lowering his drink and sitting with Emma on his lap.
"And when are you returning?" Charge asked
"Do you miss me that much, Charge?" He joked.
"We all do, mate!" ET said
"Hopefully I'll get the all clear from the doctors when you return from your next patrol."
"That's great, mate," Swain said.
They were all distracted talking when Emma jumped out of Buffer's lap and followed Spider and Charge to the bar.
"Guava mojo!" Emma yelled out when they came out of the bar holding a tray each. Everyone jumped on their seats and chuckled when they saw Charge shook his head.
"You beat me to it!" Charge grinned at her. They exchanged a look, and Emma nodded and counted with her fingers.
"Guava mojo!" they both said when her third finger went up, and everyone cheered. The trays were lowered, and everyone got a drink. After a while, all the families took their kids home.
Eight glorious days of leave later, they left for a three-week patrol.
"It's not funny, Bomber!" They heard Spider's whine a few days into their patrol when Bomber exploded in a laugh.
"Kitt's revenge?" she asked. "Oh my gosh, where is ET?" Bomber asked as ET walked the steps. Nav laughed when she saw ET with red hair.
"It serves you both right after what you did," Nav pointed.
"We know."
Bomber got her phone out and took a photo of Spider and ET and sent a copy to all the crew and Buffer. Kate turned to Mike and found him grinning. She shook her head before turning to look out to sea. Charge walked up by then and laughed when he saw Spider and ET with red hair.
"Kitt got you two back?" They rolled their eyes at Charge.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is the Red Velvet," everyone laughed, except for Spider and ET. RO answered the mayday barely containing his laugh.
Buffer got a notification on his email and frowned. He opened the mail from Bomber trying to figure out what did she meant with 'bad hair day.' He opened the image and saw a picture of Spider and Buffer and laughed.
"That should teach them a lesson," he said smiling.
Weeks later, Buffer was on the pier when he saw the Hammersley come into port. The crew walked to great him.
"Pete, mate! It's good to see you," Kitt said to Buffer.
"You too, Kirk. I saw your handy work," he grinned before they exchanged a hug.
"You two know each other?" Swain asked when he saw the exchange.
"Since joining the Navy, Swain," Buffer said.
"Pete told me a bit about the crew; he warned me about ET and Spider. After he heard what happened, he told me that revenge could be sweet. And you saw the result," Kitt grinned.
"At least it only lasted for a week," Spider muttered.
"It serves you right, Spider. Now, when we leave for our next patrol both you and ET will have exercises drills with me for twelve hours for six days. I'm pretty sure I'll get permission for the Captain and X," Buffer said as he looked at ET and Spider.
"Pete, are you going to the pub? The crew wants to shout me drinks," Kitt said.
"Sure, I'll be there."
Leave this time was short, and barely three days after touching port, they were back to the sea. This time, they welcomed Buffer aboard. While on patrol, Buffer got the junior crew on training exercises, in groups that worked for three hours each. ET and Spider found in dismay that he had placed them in all four groups. Buffer got away with two days of that before they were busy with work.
Back in Colorado Springs, Sam picked up a letter from the pile and put the others back in the hiding spot. She walked to find Jack who was seating in the living room.
"Hey, what have you got there?"
"I think we should do it tonight," she said giving him the letter.
"Alright, I'll do it."
"Jack," she said in a warning tone.
"It's ok," he stood up and kissed her.
"I'll wait up for you , so don't be late." He nodded and winked at her.
Soon, he was landing the ship on a safe spot, and since it was nighttime, it was reasonably easy to find one. He walked the distance that separated him from the building and went up to the third floor. With a crack of his knee, he slid the envelope under the door and walked towards the stairwell.
'Good timing' he thought as he heard the sound of the elevator stopping on that floor.