CH 53

An hour later Bendigo left port with MacGyver at the helm as she took the boat out and headed out to sea and headed north for the next two weeks. The day Bendigo was returning back to homeport they saw another patrol boat in front of them. MacGyver who was at the helm.

"Cupid who is in front of us, Sir?" MacGyver asked.

He looks at the radar, "it's Hammersley." This news made her smile.

"Sir, permission to contact Hammersley" she looks at the Captain.

"Granted."

She picks up the microphone, "Rabbit, put the call on speaker with the CO's permission."

"Granted."

"On speaker, MacGyver."

"Hammersley this is Bendigo..."

"Bendigo, Hammersley go ahead."

"Captain Baxter, Sir, is there something wrong with your engines?" The bridge crew all waited for the response.

"No, everything is fine, there is nothing wrong with our engines. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're doing thirty-three in a forty zone and we're coming up your backside."

"Who is this?"

"MacGyver, Sir."

"MacGyver! What the…. Charge said according to his monitor we're doing forty."

"Something must be wrong with your speed gauge, get Two Dads to check it out when you dock."

"Will do. Charge wants to know if you are going to join us for drinks tonight."

she smiled, "Tell the crew sorry not tonight, I've plans tonight."

"MacGyver, it's the X here, what plans?"

MacGyver laughed, "S.W.T.C and a romantic dinner."

"Good for you, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Text me X, I better get both hands on the wheel I'm driving today so tell Swain to watch out."

"I will... Hammersley out."

"MacGyver what is S.W.T.C?" the CO asked.

"You don't want to know, Sir."

"Yes, I do."

MacGyver got her out her phone, opened 'notepad' and typed what it meant and passed it to him.

"Petty Officer! How dare you say things like that! Do you want to go to the Captain's Table?" He said passing the phone back to her.

"No, Sir, but before you get any funny ideas in your head, I was talking about my husband, who is a Captain. Sir that is why I didn't say it out loud here."

"I didn't know. How old is your husband?"

"Thirty-two and he's in the SAS, Sir, he's not Navy."

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"I understand, Sir..., what the…." then she grabbed up the microphone.

"Hammersley! it's Bendigo! You've got a fire on board! It appears to be coming from the austere.

They noticed that Hammersley hadcometo a stop.

"MacGyver! Stop all engines!" the Captain ordered.

"Stopping all engines, Sir," MacGyver repeated.

"Hammersley, this isBendigo, do you copy? Over" MacGyver called over the radio.

"This is Hammersley." They could hear the fire alarms going off in the background.

"RO! What's going on?"

"We don't know, Charge has gone down to find out. We have four men in austere."

"Where's the Captain and XO?"

"They followed Charge down to find out what's going on."

"Let us know if you need any assistance."

"Copy that, Hammersley out."

She turned to the captain, "Sir, permission to go over and help with the medical side."

"There are two trained medics on Hammersley," he answered.

"Sir, there's only one, Cookie, and he only knows basic first aid."

"Alright, head on over."

"I'll take the medic bag with me."

She stood up and ran quickly down to the wardroom. She grabbed the supplies that she would need including some from the storage room, then out and onto the RHIB then it was lowered into the sea. Everyone on Bendigo watched as the RHIB reached the back steps of Hammersley.

MacGyver climbed out of the RHIB and ran up the stairs, jumped over the rails and then ran towards the hatch then she ran to austere. The fire had been put out but then she saw Charge, Swain and two others are wounded.

"MacGyver! I'm so relieved to see you!" Kate exclaimed.

"Let's get you all to the wardroom, X, let Baxter know that I'm on board."

"Sure."

MacGyver gave out orders as they headed to the wardroom where she started taking care of the wounds. She started Charge and another crew member on oxygen. That done, that she went to find out what was happening.

"MacGyver," Baxter said shocked when she walked onto the bridge.

"Can you start the engines or not, Sir."

"Too risky."

"Are the bow thrusters ok?"

"Don't know," She walked over to what would be Charges workstation and looked over the monitors.

"Sir, you need to get both RHIBs in the water and have them tow Hammersley to port then we can use the bow thrusters to get her in close to the wharf, I'll drive her with your permission."

"Granted."

"Can you let Bendigo know what's happening and ask them if they can tow the boat to the docks and have ambulances on the wharf once we dock? We will be needing two of them for the wounded."

"Sure."

"How are the men that were in austere?"

"We got them out by the top hatch and brought them to the dining room. There are two Sailors guarding them."

"Are any of them wounded?"

"No, they were lucky."

"I would say that they are."

Bendigo too over the towing of the boat and passed Hammersley as soon as Baxter spoke to Dave. Half an hour later Hammersley docked and MacGyver went to check on the four wounded. Then she called for the paramedics and they brought the two gurneys aboard with oxygen tanks.

They put Charge and another crew member onto the two gurneys and took them out one by one, then Swain and the other sailor followed behind until they were all in the ambulance. Lastly, she returns to the wardroom to check that everything was sorted out before leaving with Bendigo's medical bag.

Leaving Hammersley, she headed down the wharf to where Bendigo was berthed and walked up onto the ship. As she put everything away, she wrote down a list of things that needed replacing and gave it to the captain before going to get her bags and leaving for home.

When Dave Davidson walked into Steve's office, Mike was there, and they talked about what happened to Hammersley and what MacGyver did.

"How did MacGyver do while onboard?" Mike asked.

"She's stubborn, set in her own ways, but she is amazing with the boardings. She took down four men by herself from the FFV. She handled herself well with the mayday calls."

"I warned you what she was like."

"You did. And the kitchen, she scrubbed that clean when she noticed how dirty it was."

"She's fussy like that. And what about the crew, how did she interact with them?"

"She was amazing with the crew. She got on well with them, but when it came to jokes that went too far, and if she was the target, she had three guys doing what she called 'the wall torcher'. I was amazed by what she can do and three guys had to struggle to do them."

"She did the same thing on Hammersley," Mike said.

"Now I understand what you mean, Mike, with the way she finds balance." They go on talking for another five minutes before Dave is dismissed and walks out of Steve's office.

"MacGyver did well from these reports, Mike."

"I've read them, Steve. It seems she'd rather be out there than in here, but now she's married. I guess it will take time for her to adjust."

"Agreed."

At home, MacGyver went about her usual routine and then went into town for some groceries. She sent a text to Jim to let him know that she was home.

A couple of hours later, Jim walked into the kitchen to find MacGyver cooking. He could smell it as soon as he walked in the door. Walking over to her he stood behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck.

"Missed you," he whispered in her ear. She manages to turn around and wraps her arms around his neck and she kisses him passionately.

"I missed you too."

"How was your patrol?"

"Busy."

"June? What's wrong?"

"It's Hammersley. We were following them when we were in the channel and there was a fire on board. I went over to help. Swain and Cookie got second-degree burns on their hands. Charge and a new crew member got second-degree burns on their hands and smoke inhalation, they're both in hospital."

"What happened?"

"Don't know, but there will be an investigation."

"Ok... and are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I'm going to go to the hospital tomorrow after work to see how they are doing."

"Why not tonight?"

" The crew and families will be there."

"Alright, how about when I return home we go in to see them together? Then we can go and get some dinner in town."

"I would like that."

"Great!" and they kiss once more.

"Now, why don't you go and get changed while I'll finish sorting out dinner."

"Ok." They kiss once more before he leaves the kitchen.

The next morning, while at work, MacGyver types up her report about what happened on Hammersley and sends it to Steve and Mike. When the report is finished she returns back to her normal work.

That night she and Jim went to see Swain and Charge and find out what happened.

"I don't know what happened, MacGyver. I went down to check out a noise that I heard, then there was a big bang, and then a fire. The alarms immediately went off and I tried to put it out. My hands were burning but I had to try. Then Cookie and Swain arrived with the fire crew. The X came down just as I lost consciousness. When I came to, I thought I saw you there."

"I was there, Charge."

"Thank you."

"No problems. Had there been any recent maintenance done on the engines?"

"Yeah, when we were last in port. When we left everything appeared fine till I noticed the rise in temperature. Then the alarms went off. I had to stop the engines to cool them down and to find out what was going on. When it happened a third time, I told the captain we should return cause something was not right. He gave the order and we turned back towards base. Then the engine started overheating again and you called. All of a sudden there was a strange sound, like a net wrapped itself around the propellers. That's when we stopped and I went down to find out what was going on."

"Well hopefully the investigators can find the cause, but there wasn't any net, so it has to be the engines."

"I agree," Charge said.