Chapter 15

President Saunders sat behind his desk in The Oval Office facing the picture bay window and out to the perfectly manicured lawns and gardens. Behind him sat his Cabinet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The reason for this meeting was for their weekly briefing. He sighed not wanting to hear how his elite special forces were yet again failing operations that weren't complicated on paper.

"Please tell me why the most elite and powerful forces on the planet can not complete these tasks," he asked in a calm voice as he turned to face the most powerful men in the military and his advisors.

"Mr. President, my intelligence says that Shelburne has been giving counter-attack training and If surveillance to our targets," Army General Bruckner Behr announced.

"We've heard that E.R.I.S has gone AWOL, do you think this operative could be working with Shelburne," Air Force General Palmer Smoak inquired.

Saunders and Falcone both glanced at each other and then turned their attention to the General. The hidden meaning going unnoticed by the rest of the commanders in the room. This group of men and women had been gnawing at the bit for Saunders to declare Eris an enemy of the state. No one in the room other than Saunders and Falcone knew exactly who Eris was, so the question was a valid one. If they only knew that the teenage kidnap victim picked up from Italy was Eris, shit would have hit the fan much sooner.

"Eris is on a deep cover op at the moment," Falcone addressed, "They communicate weekly where they are and what they've been doing. They have no inkling of what's been going on for fear of their cover being blown."

"We could triple up the preparation and training," General Behr suggested. "Get the Central Intelligence Agency on board to relay transmissions."

"That went so well the last time we sent them to help on a joint mission," Saunders barked. Remembering the debriefing Saunders had given him about the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, and SEAL Team VI practically coming to blows with each other on Kalani's return flight home from Italy.

"We need to go old school and use the courier method," he growled. "Everyone is using Artificial Intelligence to decipher Morse code and other cryptic codes. Email, text messaging, even so much as typing a document on the computer and printing it via LAN have to stop until Eris has finished their assignment. "

"Find every available typewriter, paper, and pen you can find. We're going back to the communication basics. Once transmissions are read they are burned not shredded. Nothing is to be photocopied or duplicated. It's time we give the age of digital technology a huge migraine on the black market and dark web."

Every other head in the room whipped back at this command. They had a hard time believing they hadn't come up with the idea sooner.

"That also means not short wave radio transmissions," Saunders ordered.

"Mr. President delivery could take days, " the Marine Major General balked. "Missions could be further compromised."

"I didn't say you couldn't use modern transportation. We have planes, trains, boats, buses, helicopters, motorcycles, scooters, and automobiles," Saunders pronounced slowly as if he were talking to elementary school children. He wasn't one to use condescension as a tool. These were grown men who have dedicated all of their adult years to their country's military forces, they had been educated in the country's finest universities, they didn't need to feel belittled for staying inside their comfort zone of combat.

"You'll are stationed at the Pentagon, you all have press secretaries, use them to relay messages between your offices for mission-related topics," he looked at his watch and realized it was almost eleven a.m. He needed to wrap this meeting up so that he and Falcone could talk about his success in getting the specialists Kalani needed down to Coronado.

"Now Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm sorry but I have to wrap this meeting up as I have a video conference with the United Nations President in five minutes."

His Cabinet Secretaries and the Joint Chiefs all nodded their heads, collecting their effects, and started to slowly stride out of the historic office. "Falcone could you stay for a minute," he requested.

Falcone nodded, "Yes Mr. President."

The two men waited until the office was cleared out, "You too agents please give us some privacy as well," Saunders ordered. His two Secret Service agents nodded. They walked out the doors, closed it, and stood sentry at the doors.

The two sat in couches opposite each other, each poured a two-finger glass of scotch and lit a cigar.

"I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Eris is a teenage girl, but I have seen the domino effect her presence or lack thereof has on your special ops teams. All those men and women who just left would be having heart attacks or aneurysms if they knew who she is."

Falcone puffed on his cigar and blew a plume of smoke between his lips, simply nodding in response. "How did your phishing expedition fair by the way?"

Saunders knocked back his glass of scotch and then gave a scoff. "She wasn't lying when she told you and her friends it would take an act of God to get them to drop their lives for a second to help their country."

"I had to threaten Navarro with a Federal Treason charge along with a permanent federal wide medical license revoking, to get her to agree. Apparently, she doesn't deal too kindly with upholding her Patriotic duty, she replied with something along the lines of, 'I'm a doctor for the people without voices, medical insurance and most times no food, shelter, or clothing. If you offer money it will do you no good, why don't you invest it in feeding your hungry, sheltering your homeless, and giving your forgotten veterans a new lease on life.' That had me scratching my head, I have those kinds of programs in place, I can't help those you don't want help. In the end, I told her she would be helping out a military personnel's child with a procedure not covered by the family's health insurance. She finally relented," Saunders shook his head and gave a small chuckle. "I was more afraid of her attitude than that of my own mother's." He shivered at the imagery

"Militsky and Bergman both wanted nothing to do with a Presidential decree either, however, they were less resistant than Navarro. Although they cost the US Taxpayers about 50 million each. On the bright side, two new hospital wards will have my name on them once I finish my upcoming second term.

"All three will be in Coronado by noon next Thursday. Each had very specific requirements for equipment needed. I sent a floating hospital into Pearl Harbor. You have the Naval National Guard, the Air National Guard, and the Army National Guard at your disposal this weekend to set up the equipment needed. You also have my authorization to keep them active until the equipment is set up to the most minute details. This state-of-the-art equipment costs a pretty penny to make sure they are extremely careful in their handling. You need to be onsite to oversee. We need that girl back in action," Saunders grumbled.

"The Senate Finance Committee wasn't too thrilled to see these expenditures however I explained that the expenditures were provisioned in the E.R.I.S. Act and it was above their clearance to judge my authority on this matter. I'm sure there will be steps towards an impeachment trial for this mess if any of this really leaked out. Fortunately for me, both houses are Democratic Majority and all three doctors signed non-disclosure agreements. Just a precaution should they all ignore the HIPPA Act and Doctor/Patient Confidentiality Ethics Code. "

Falcone nodded taking everything being said, "I have to say this process was faster than any one of us predicted. I really thought McGarrett would have to wait almost another month before these specialists would agree to see an anonymous patient. This is incredible," he finished.

Saunders smirked, "Don't thank me, Admiral, get on the horn and tell that antsy girl help is on the way. Her brothers and sisters need her and I don't want to hear any more rumors of her making government agents pissing their pants because she refuses to be sidelined. You know what? On second thought, just keep the Naval National Guard active after the equipment prep until the Hospital isn't needed anymore. Also, I sent word to SEAL IX's CO that they are on babysitting duty with the NNG."

Falcone smothered a chuckle at Saunders' perfect description of Kalani's personality. He nodded at the additional orders, downed the rest of his scotch, snubbed out his cigar, stood up, shook his Commander's hand, and bid him adieu. "I'll get right on it."

Once outside the closed doors of the Oval Office, he pulled his cell phone out of his inner jacket breast pocket and pressed enter. He waited patiently for the other end to pick up.


Meanwhile, Kalani was finally stepping into the halls of Theodore Roosevelt High School for the first time since her abduction. At this point, she had been out of school for almost seven months. The late winter break (not to be confused with the seasonal holidays' break) was just two weeks away. Being surrounded by her peers felt foreign to her.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder she jumped, screamed, and started flailing her arms in defense. "Get away from me," she shouted in Mandarin. "I'm going to kill you!" she seethed, so caught up she hadn't realized, she had reverted back to her primary language yet again.

Security Guards immediately approached the scene to diffuse it, only to be on the receiving end of several offensive punches. When that didn't work, she attempted to knee their kneecaps out.

"Calm down Miss Kalakaua," she heard a vaguely familiar voice address her. Everyone here knew she was a McGarrett but she'd been registered under her biological mother's surname to protect her federal covers.

"I wouldn't be so riled up if you hadn't snuck up on me, the way you have Sir," she countered still speaking Mandarin. "Not to mention you have thuggish mercenaries as Security Guards," she sneered at the offending suited men. Assessing the two men, she noticed they wore holsters with tasers and guns locked in and one of them was holding a syringe with what she could only assume was a tranquilizer of some sort.

"Can anyone tell me what Ms. Kalakaua is saying," the frantic assistant principal pleaded? He had forgotten that Kalani could rewire her brain to speak Mandarin if she felt threatened.

It was at this moment that an Asian student was walking by and agreed to help. "She basically said that she attacked you all because you alarmed her and these two security guards look like mercenary thugs."

"He's lucky I didn't dismember him and his two goons," Kalani grumbled. "I'm not just talking about their "little" friends."

The student had the decency to get red in the face hearing Kalani's words but translated anyway. "She said you're lucky she didn't," she coughed in her hand, "dismember all of you."

The Administrator and Security Guards cringed and protectively covered their groins. Kalani laughed at the uncomfortable action. "I would like to get back to my studies sir," she politely finished in Mandarin.

"She would like to get back to her studies sir!"

"I can't let you do that yet Ms. Kalakaua, you need to come to Administration to go over your new daily schedule and locker assignment. Not to mention your family made it implicitly clear you must have a security detail with you at all times, " he pointed to the aggrieved guards.

Kalani's eye narrowed at the blatant lie, one Steven John McGarrett wouldn't stipulate that she needed rent-a-cops as babysitters or bodyguards. Especially since she could hold her own despite still being in recovery from her injuries. Then she panicked. She left half of her personal arsenal in that locker, he just insinuated her reassigned to another student, "No, no, no, no, no I need that locker. I left stuff in there you didn't give it away to anyone! You can't of! I also do not nor want to need these two useless pieces of shit to be my bodyguards. I can take care of myself you pomp ass jerk face."

The other student was taken aback by the adamant words Kalani spoke, "She says she left important stuff in there; you had no right to reassign it. She also used some very colorful words which I don't care to repeat about you and the guards." The student paused, gulped, and summarized, "She also says she can protect herself and doesn't need Officer Marks and Officer Woods to guard her."

Then as her mind was de-cluttering, but not enough to revert back to English, she growled, "What does he mean by schedule change?"

"And what do you mean by schedule change?" Clearly glad she could help, but at this point, both students were already late for class, and she didn't want to keep glossing over Kalani's disrespectful language, "I'm glad I could help but I'm sorry sir, I have an exam in my class that I can't miss."

"No, you're right Ms. Chan. Please explain to your teacher that I held you up in my office to help me translate for a student."

The girl nodded to the assistant principal, then turned to Kalani smiling, "We're really happy you're back Kalani."

"Xiexie ni," Kalani answered back bowing in appreciation for her classmate's assistance.

"Well I know that means thank you," the assistant principal proudly stated. "Ms. McGarrett follow us to my office. I will explain everything once we're there." He calmly requested but seeing his student visibly irritated, "I assure you everything is how you left it in your locker." He placated not normally one who walked on eggshells around his student. He knew he had to change tactics since he's never really interacted with a former kidnap victim before Kalani. He feared that if the situation started to re-escalate then Officer Marks would probably end up having to tranquilize Kalani but not before this girl did some serious damage.

"Fine, I will follow you insipid men to your pathetic office to appease your insignificant egos. I also know for a fact that you insipid men know my father would never imply that these two military rejects are needed to guard me. You also know the schedule has not changed and I'm two months ahead in coursework for all my academics," Kalani blathered on in Mandarin.

She noticed from the corner of her eye her classmate stopped in her tracks for a moment, turned to look at her, and had a gasping face at Kalani's blatant rudeness to their administrator.

The assistant principal looked between the two students, trying to seek answers when Kalani's cell phone went off.

"Ni Hau," Kalani answered.

"Oh shit, this isn't good," the voice on the other end of the phone greeted her. He could hear the perfect Mandarin accent pouring out of her mouth, which meant she had been shocked into Mandarin for quite some time. He couldn't speak it as fluently as Kalani or her father but he understood it to a certain degree. "What happened?"

"The Assistant Principal of my school just accosted me in the middle of the hall like a neanderthal," she glared at the man in general. "Keeps on blathering on about my course schedule being changed and my state of the art annexed locker being changed as well. Then he also has the indecency to try to sic two underqualified security guards to be my daily chaperons at this stupid institution day in and day out," she seethed. She was so angry that she was now speaking rapidly.

"Ok, calm down, take a deep breath," he ordered. "I didn't get everything you said but I got pieces. Keep breathing until you start thinking in English again. Stay where you are until you are under control."

Kalani did as Admiral Falcone instructed, much to the impatience of the three adult men surrounding her. She felt her breathing start to even out and her thoughts switching from Mandarin to English.

"Ok I'm calm," she spoke into the phone. While keeping her peripheral vision trained on the three men before her. She noticed the guard with the syringe in his hand getting antsy and started evaluating the severity of the situation. He was absolutely ready to pounce now that he knew she threatened his man parts and degraded his job.

"Go with them to his office, I will call his office directly," Falcone ordered.

"Yes Sir, however, I may be pin-pricked by the time I get there," she whispered. She didn't need to elaborate more on the matter. She knew he would gather they would try to sedate her. He also knew that her self-defense tactics would most likely get her expelled.

"Stay calm and do not aggressively act out anymore on the trip to the office," Falcone demanded

"Who are you talking to? You know cell phones aren't allowed in school," the Assistant Principal seethed, he held out his hand, silently demanding she surrenders her phone. When he saw her silent refusal, he noticed the guards slowly inch closer to her to inject her with a sedative. He quickly negated the would-be action. From what he could see Kalani was calm, but she was also still very much aware of her surroundings.

Always quick with a cover story, Kalani answered, "My Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Therapist. I told him to call me before my first class to remind me of my coping strategies. That didn't turn out so well now did it?" She gave the man a challenging arched eyebrow. He had bruises forming on his face and neck from her flailing arms.

Keeping the phone to her ear, she heard the normally straight-laced Admiral Falcone chuckling at the snappy cover story. "You know since I was kidnapped and nearly killed in all," she reminded in a forced trembling voice. Her eyes would start to water any second now.

"Oh you're good," Falcone rasped out between chuckles. "Now start walking to his office."

The three men standing before Kalani had the decency to wear faces of shame for apparently traumatizing a recently recovering victim of violence. They followed her as she led them to the administrator's office.

The walk literally only took two minutes and by the time they arrived in the doorway, Falcone had ended the call. Perfectly timed, just as Kalani and the Assistant Principal sat in front and in back of the desk, his desktop phone rang.

The administrator found it odd as he only received them if his secretary connected callers to him. It was rare that she didn't inform him prior to receiving a call, "Assistant Principal Andrew Black speaking. How may I help you this morning," he greeted while giving Kalani the one moment please index finger.

Kalani only heard one side of the phone conversation smirking the whole time. The facial expressions Black was giving were comical. "Oh, Aloha Sir!…. I had no idea that the simplest touch would result in this ordeal…Yes I know it was unprofessional of me to lay my hands on her…..Please do not alert the school board…what do you mean you have evidence of this kind of thing occurring before?….. I was only trying to gain her attention…Well, she hadn't responded to my vocal cues."

Kalani quietly scoffed at the line. The man didn't even so much as saying 'Excuse me' she acknowledged, she always had her auditory focus on her surroundings even when her visual was preoccupied. Survival tactics 101-rule one: always use your five senses to be aware of your surroundings.

"I understand…..I will give her a new lock for her locker…..She can't be the only one to have the key it's school regulations…I had no idea that she….what…fine if it will help her not have another triggered episode she will be the only one with the key…..however she can not have her phone on her during the day, that is a zero-tolerance policy…..well I…I mean…" The more Black got flustered the more his face got red and the more he had to control his talking to stop from stuttering.

Kalani schooled her reaction to the Assistant Principal, who had no idea that he was, talking to the most important official in the United States Navy. Black's side of the conversation was comical, turning a sideways glance to the school security guards to see their reactions made the stoic face she was making that much harder.

"Yes, sir, I understand. Yes, farewell. Have a great day. Aloha," Assistant Principal Black returned the receiver to its cradle. Looking up into Kalani's now straight face, "It seems. I'm not as trained in dealing with PTSD Survivors as I thought. Your therapist was very thorough about your stressors."

Kalani stayed silent as she watched the administrator continue to put his foot in his mouth. "I'm sorry Kalani if our actions today seemed uncaring."

She shifted in her seated and glared at the administrator, sarcastic indifference in her voice, "I'm a fifteen-year-old girl, who was held hostage for over a month. I was stripped of my clothes, chained to a wall, beaten, and tortured. They feed me a cup of rice every other day. My only hydration was when they would waterboard me, which of course you know, is a very near close encounter to death every time it happens," she spoke deciding to make these men suffer more than they already were. Yes, it was just a hair over the line on sadistic but she needed to give these men a further lesson.

"When I dared to utter a word or question about why they kidnapped me, I was kicked in the stomach area and punched in the I was there I learned to expect that kind of treatment and to this day I have no idea why they took me." Being far too amused over making these men squeamish, she decided to continue on in vivid detail what happened during her recovery.

"When I came home I had to have my jaw wired shut in order to heal, I had most of my large intestines removed, doctors had to stitch my womb, a lung, and several other lacerations to my other internal organs back together. I had to move around with a Granny walker for three months." She paused for an even more dramatic effect, "I didn't expect the adults in my school to behave just as bad as a terrorist group," she finished as her fake "real" tears slipped down her cheeks.

The men in the room all now had very pale white faces, Black not used to hearing gruesome facts like these was trying not to vomit. Kalani just wiped the tears away straightened her back and sneered, "So please forgive me if I don't accept your apologies. You can be sure I will tell my Dad about this. You can expect my Dad to be here tomorrow to demand why I was so mistreated at a place, I should feel safe at."

Wordlessly, Black placed her new lock on the desktop and passed her new class schedule. With a little more attitude than needed, Kalani gathered those materials and stormed out of the office.

Black looked at the two security guards in fear and confusion, "How does a PTSD Specialist get a direct connection to my phone? How many laws did we violate with her?"

The two guards shrugged, "You did keep a spare key to that lock anyway right," one of them asked.

"I didn't."

"That was stupid," the other one stated.

"Invasion of privacy is one of her triggers," Black supplied, before raising a hand to quell the protest "And before you ask, she has to have her phone on her at all times in case she has another episode like in the hallway. It has immediate access to all of her medical specialists and emergency contacts." He sighed, "Her therapist said that an episode could escalate out of control if we went through our emergency contact phone tree." He squeezed the bridge of his nose with his right thumb and forefinger attempting to keep at bay a growing headache. "Also according to the specialist you can not follow her around, it'll take her mind back to her torture chamber."

"What does Paige think about this," the first guard asked. Knowing firsthand that the two administrators didn't have the best communication with each other. They also had different philosophical approaches to guiding the staff and students within the walls of the school.

Black sighed as he looked into the eyes of his security team. His superior was not in attendance yet today, so the welcome party fell onto his shoulders. His conversation with Kalani's "therapist" just proved how uninformed about Kalani's situation he really was. There were certain files that Principal Amanda Paige had access to, which he didn't. It seemed like Kalani's records were a part of those files, "Paige set up Ms. Kalakaua's re-entry program. She's not going to be pleased with us when she gets back this afternoon." He sighed again and rolled his neck to try to relieve the stress he now had in his neck, "Lt. Commander McGarrett could very well sue us for mistreating his daughter and disobeying the re-entry program. We're figuratively screwed!"

Silence filled the office as the anxiousness filled each man. Each already was on thin ice with Amanda Paige. All of them knew of Steven J McGarrett's reputation, there was no way out of the mess they had all just made for themselves.


Kalani immediately threw the lock given to her by Assistant Principal Black into the nearest trash can and pulled out one from her backpack. This one was a biometric lock. She had spent the past month planning and creating it waiting for this day to come. She wasn't about to subject her teachers and fellow peers to a possible school raid and have her secret cache of weapons inside her locker found by wondering untrained eyes and hands.

She strutted down the hallway to her locker when her phone's text alert pinged. It was sent from a blocked number and read: A white lady will be stationed at Pearl. Supplies and equipment are in shipment now. Your requested specialists will touch down at Coronado next Thursday. - AGRF, USN/SN

Happy for this little victory Kalani immediately deleted the text. With a little spring in her step, she finished her journey to her locker and sighed. Someone on the staff and zip-tied the lock hole with a very heavy-duty zip tie.

Her good mood turned quickly back into a sour one, getting in tune to her surroundings she sense the excited energy of the first class transition of the day was seconds away. She had to act fast and cut it with her utility knife before a staff member or one of her peers noticed she had a weapon on her.

Grumbling she stuffed her right hand into her left thigh cargo pocket of her pants and pulled out her knife. She made a small enough slit to jeopardize the integrity of the zip tie and slid the knife back into her pocket just as the second period bell rang.

Letting out a sigh of relief just as students started filling out of their classrooms. She started twisting the zip tie with her hands trying to finish what she started but grew frustrated when she realized she hadn't made the slit longer.

"Let me help you with that," a familiar voice asked. She smiled when looking into her boyfriend's eyes but the smile fell when she saw the seriousness in them.

Damon was happy to see Kalani was finally back at school. He had left his class early to go to the bathroom and he frowned when he spotted her using her utility knife. Seeing Kalani step out of the way, he easily tore the zip tie off her locker. He turned to her dropped the piece of plastic in her right hand and bent down to her right ear. "You thought no one would see you with your knife," he whispered.

Kalani went rigid, then shoved him in the shoulders, her gratitude turning sour. She immediately wanted to punch him in the face but she didn't want to spend any more time in Black's office.

"Relax, you know I won't tell anyone," he chuckled. "Just put the lock you think I didn't know you were making for the past month into the lock hole and let's get to class," he requested with his hands up in mock surrender.

Kalani continued to glare at her boyfriend before opening her locker door and making sure the false door inside hadn't been compromised. She used a key that she had been holding in her pocket, inserted it into a barely visible lock, and started slowly opening the said door. She turned to look to see if Damon was blocking what she was doing from the view of others and wasn't disappointed.

She opened the door more to reveal, a couple of firearms, ammo, a couple of grenades, smoke bombs, a taser, rope, knives, a disassembled compound bow with arrows, and a quiver were in the still in their assigned place and sighed with relief. She closed the door and locked it, then closed the outer locker door and put her biometric lock through its slot.

"Ready to go, Sailor," Damon asked with a smile while reaching for her hand. He received a nod and the reward of feeling her hand in his.

"Absolutely Soldier," she countered only to receive a playful eye roll.

"You know that Paige and Black are going to have a conniption if they have to do a locker inspection and you're nowhere to be found," Damon laughed. "Paige will let it go but Black is by the books. He'll try to use bolt cutters on that thing. They really don't know what kind of evil mastermind you are," he shivers, remembering one year in summer boot camp they had to assemble and disassemble booby traps. They were supposed to be non-lethal simulations of very lethal I.E.D.s. however, they both knew that she had gotten overzealous and disobeyed the directive.

"Hopefully, it won't come to that because they probably wouldn't be as fortunate as Rogers," she whispered seriously, as Damon escorted her down the hall to the next class, which they had together.

Damon's face was skeptical, "you still don't get how serious Roger's situation was," he whispered back, "if you had tampered with the megahertz one more level, she could have died."

Kalani shook her head and gave him an eye roll, "Well, I didn't and she's still alive. That's all that matters. I can't say the same for the person who tampers with my lock though."

"She has to wear a frigging pacemaker for the rest of her life and you disqualified her from any future military service," he scoffed.

Not wanting to continue to have this conversation anymore Damon changed the topic to football.


"Today's exercise is to assemble this IED replica," the staff Sargent held a disc-like object in his hand, "in your online training modules, you have seen what something this small can lethally do. I want you to use the materials before you to make a very low-grade taser IED," he instructed. "Remember, the charge can only be strong enough to knock someone out for a couple of minutes," he reminded the excited and rowdy teenagers in his unit. He kept his eyes on Kalani.

"Lt. Commander McGarrett," he voiced, "that means you," he dressed down.

Kalani's cheeks turned red at the admonishment and from her fellow unit mates snickering. She was already having to dumb herself down with all the hands-on tactics the camp counselors taught the campers and at times she gets so caught in the moment she forgets that she's not in the actual field but a goddamned children's camp.

Although Kalani outranked the staff Sargent like a million, she stood up straight, and saluted the adult, "Yes, Sir, Staff Sargent, Sir," she barked as she returned and saluted him, bring him right hand down to her hip. The adult gave a gruff head nod and then continued on how to assemble and then disassemble the taser IED.

"You will be working in teams of two, each of you will make your own IED and test it out on the other. Remember this is a low shock taser, just in case your partner forgets the process of disassembling your IED, " he reiterated more for Kalani's sake than everyone else.

The Staff Sargent paired them off and all the campers went to work making their IED simulations. Kalani mentally went through all the instructions given to the campers and not once did the Staff Sargent say anything about keeping the color of the wires coded the same. So she had decided to make it hard for her partner to disassemble her IED by keeping the wires the same color, and she added just a couple more megahertz to the force of her tazing mechanism. A couple of megahertz wouldn't kill someone during a low-grade training exercise.

The assembling was allotted an hour and you had you give your partner two minutes to disassemble your explosive. Once all the campers had completed their task, they hand their explosives to their partner and started the detonation timer.

Having a photographic memory, Kalani disassembled her partner's IED in under thirty seconds.

Her partner on the other hand, was a mass of grumbles and groans. Trying to figure out which red wire Kalani had hidden the charge wire in. In the end her partner ended up getting tasered and in the infirmary for the rest of camp and finally having to undergo open heart surgery to install a pacemaker at the nearest pediatric hospital.

"McGarrett to the Commandant's office now," the Staff Sargent had roared. Kalani wallowed in pity all the way into the Commandant's office. She hadn't meant to nearly kill any one of her fellow campers. She really had hoped one day they would all fight alongside her once they all joined the military


The rest of the day was comparatively less problematic than the start of Kalani's first morning back to school. She had received ecstatic welcome greetings from her friends, peers, and teachers. Everyone was also mindful of keeping a fair distance away from her personal space so she wouldn't have another trigger moment like that morning.

Kalani was grateful for their understanding and support. However, she was a little paranoid at first about being in such a crowded building for the first time in five months. Even though she was feeling the paranoia, it didn't deter her from easily falling back into the pattern of her classes throughout the day.

It actually didn't hurt to have a little help from her boyfriend and Gracie. The two were very instrumental in keeping her sane throughout the whole day. She really was excited about going to the Five-0 HQ to tell her parents and company the news Admiral Falcone gave her.

When the last bell rang and no further problems arose, Kalani walked out to the student pick-up lot to see her Aunt Kono and Uncle Adam waiting to pick her and Gracie up. She kissed Damon, who had been escorting her and Gracie out of school, on the cheek, bid farewell, and approached her family with a megawatt smile.

"Well, now that's not something we've been seeing lately. What gives," Adam asked as all four bounded into Kono's car, strapped in, and waited for the queue of cars to start moving.

"It's no use, I've been trying to coax it out of her all day," Gracie grumbled. She started silently counting back from three to one on her left hand and pointed to Kalani.

"You have to wait and see. Nothing is going to spoil this for me and everyone has to be around to hear it," Kalani singsonged.

Kono and Adam both looked at each other quizzically but smothered the chuckles that were threatening to burst out of their mouths. Seeing that the queue was finally moving Kono started maneuvering the car onto the street and driving to the Governor's Palace, quietly anticipating what her niece could possibly want to announce.

Kalani and Gracie were greeted by hugs and pecks on the cheeks by their Ohana as they walked into Five-0 HQ. It was a rare moment for Five-0 as they were in between cases and nothing pressing had come upon their RADAR in a day and a half, so no one was gathered around the projection table.

"She's in a good mood," Danny suspiciously pointed out. "Why are you in a good mood? Did you blow up the school cafeteria again?" He panicked.

The scene before the rest of Five-0 was awkward because just before the girls and Kono walked in with Adam trailing behind her, Steve had just gotten off the phone with Principal Paige regarding Kalani's first day back to school.

Kalani being in a good mood wouldn't let her worry-wort of an uncle sour her good mood. "What … no Danno. Gee, you start one little fire…" She grumbled before returning back to her good mood, "Let me get God-pa on the video chat, and then you'll find out."

"Steve you have any idea what that girl of yours is talking about," Lou asked trying to support Danny in his suspicion.

Steve just smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and crossed his arms over his chest enjoying the scene before him. He would talk to Kalani in private about her day but not until after she announced what she was so happy about.

Before Kalani could pull Sam Hanna up on face time, the news broke out on the screen to show a floating hospital being escorted into Pearl Harbor by three destroyers and a battleship.

"This just in for the second time in nearly twenty years Pearl Harbor is going to harbor an active floating hospital. There has been no statement issued by the Department of Defense as to why the USNS Nightingale was deployed to Pearl Harbor or why scores of national guards from every branch of the military are due to arrive by tomorrow evening. Let's just hope it doesn't get too close to the USS Arizona Memorial. For NBC Hawaii I'm Jessica Dalai."

Kalani grumbled at the breaking news because she was surrounded by several of the smartest people on the Islands in this room. She slowly turned to see the members of her ohana crossing their arms and raising their eyebrows in amazement.

"Surprise," she stated in an unusual meek voice with her shoulders up to her chin and a weak grimace. She just blamed herself for not having the foresight that the news would catch wind of several naval vessels anchoring in Pearl Harbor.

"So a White Lady was sent here to evaluate you," Danny queried. "Well, isn't it wonderful to misappropriate federal funds and military personal," he grumbled.

Raising her arms and hands in the air, Kalani protested, "I didn't request a White Lady, this has Saunders written all over it. I would have been excited to have them evaluate me at the Military Treatment Facility on Coronado."

Steve rubbed the back of his neck, smirking at his best friend admonishing his daughter. The rest of his team were too dumbstruck to react to the situation properly and had Catherine been here she would be trying to calm Danny down.

Before Steve could intervene, his cell phone rang, pressing the call button, "Commander McGarrett," he greeted.

The room went silent as Steve continued his conversation on the phone. "Yes, Sir, I'll be on a transport deck at 0700 hrs," he affirmed. He paused listening to more instructions, "Yes, Sir, I have my go bag ready. Yes, Sir, good-bye Sir." He watched as his daughter and his team waited with bated breath.

"It seems Team IX and its reservists are deployed to patrol the USNS Nightingale's perimeter starting tomorrow morning at 0700," he stated quirking an eyebrow at his daughter.

"For how long," Kalani questioned with her eyebrows raised in shock. It wasn't his weekend for the reservists since he had it this past weekend.

"Until the Nightingale leaves her berth in Pearl Harbor," he gave a pointed look, "Looks like this week will be your last week of school again until you are given a medical clearance by these doctors you requested."

Kalani groaned at hearing her life would be disrupted again, more so because once she was on the Nightingale, she wouldn't be able to see anyone but her parents, Uncle Chin Ho, Aunt Kono, and Uncle Adam since they were the only blood relatives she had in the state. Both her parents were reservists, so they would be on patrol. She mentally thanked Saunders for screwing up her life with this unofficial state of emergency he declared.

"Don't you dare start acting like a teenager now," Steve ordered. "Remember this is all in place because you don't want to be declared disabled and medically discharged," he growled.

He pointed to his office, "March to my office now," he ordered in Mandarin. Kalani slouched her shoulders without protest and marched to her father's office.

Once inside the confines of his office, Steve closed the door and closed the blinds, "I got a call from Principal Paige this afternoon about your first day back," he stated still speaking Mandarin.

Kalani cringed. Her father was pissed off. Before she could utter a word, he shook his head negating her future excuses. "You were almost tranquilized and expelled for attacking Vice-Principal Black," he seethed. "Lila Chan had to translate and sugarcoat the colorful words you said to three authority figures. You're very that she was offended by Black's actions too.," he finished.

"He accosted me first," she countered in Mandarin. "I was amped up and in defensive mode."

"Principal Paige said that Black talked to your psychologist? Who the hell was that?" He knew full well that Kalani wasn't seeing a therapist of any kind.

She grimaced, "It was Admiral Falcone. He had called to tell me about the specialists and the Nightingale coming to Pearl Harbor. I don't see what the big deal is, I didn't hurt anyone," she finished.

"Wait, Black, accosted you in the hallway," now he was pissed and his Mandarin was rapid.

Kalani just nodded, "He claims it was just a tap on the shoulder but it was a grab and shake. It was enough to kick my defense mechanisms into action." She then proceeded to show him how the administrator, clasped her shoulder, shook the shoulder, and spun her around to face him. "I left scratches and bruises on him but that was instinct," she sighed.

"Well since I'm apparently shipping out tomorrow to babysit your doctors, I can't go to the school and file a proper complaint now can I?"

Kalani gulped. "All I asked was for three specialists. I didn't think the President was going to be overkill and have Hawaii declared a military state of emergency for just me," she reasoned emotionally.

"Switch to English," Steve sighed. "Let's worry about one thing at a time."

Kalani nodded, "Ok, One thing at a time."

"I'm sending Aunt Kono and Mom into school with you until you are safely tucked into the Nightingale," he stated.

Kalani knew better than to argue with him in his current state. She knew he was still angry and she was just happy she wasn't grounded for her actions in school today. This week was going to be rough.