Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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Brushing past Nav with a little more force than intended, Mike Flynn rushed out of the bridge to be greeted with a sight that filled him with horror. He looks at the Iluka across to the short distance of the ocean, as Nav quickly updates him on the situation. 'Sir, Buffer and Spider found drugs in the hold. The master's produced a gun, is holding X hostage and he's threatening to shoot the asylum seekers if we don't let him go.'
'He's going nowhere,' declared Mike in a hard tone. 'Hand me the radio Nav.'
Unable to get through to his XO's radio, he manages to get through to Swain, who is on the other end of the boat. 'What is going on Swain?'
'Boss, the master of the boat is demanding that we get off, or he'll sink the ship and all on it. He's bringing down the X now ...'
Conversation is terminated as Mike sees his team ordered to de-weapon and -communicate themselves, the master's gun aimed at the asylum seekers as he holds Kate hostage back against his chest. The Iluka's three crew members remove Buffer, 2 Dads, Spider and Swaino's weapons.
The radio crackles to life once again as Mike heard a voice he hoped to hear a lot more of in the future. 'Sir, the Master is requesting that we all back off and let him leave. He says the gunshot you heard before was only a warning.' Relieved to hear Kate's voice, he knows he needs to remain focused on the situation at hand. He needed her safe and sound on the Hammersley as soon as possible. 'X, put him on.'
Ordering Nav to send Charge, Bomber and a driver out on the second RHIB, his blood chills when the Iluka's master comes online. 'You go away, or people die.'
'Now sir, I can't do that. If you come with us, I'll see what we can do,' reasoned Mike.
'No deal,' was the response as the radio went dead.
Heading down to the deck, Mike swears as he sees the master throw Kate toward her fellow sailors, before picking up a young child. Walking toward the Hammersley side of his boat, the master holds the child over the water, threatening to drop it overboard.
Mike can see his team huddled together at one end of the boat, guns trained on them by the Iluka three man crew, asylum seekers huddled in the middle of the deck, as Charge and Bomber maintain a safe distance in the RHIB, ready to offer assistance when possible.
He can see his XO stepping forward, hand raised, and damns her independence and desire to help. On this occasion, he really wished that she would just back down and let Buffer control negotiations. But, all attempts at negotiation are thrown out the window when a fire suddenly starts in the bridge. Realising that his ship was now going down regardless, the Iluka master dropped the child over the side.
As chaos descended upon the Iluka, 2 Dads jumped over board to rescue the child as the asylum seekers panicked. Taking advantage of this moment of madness, Buffer stepped forward and jumped the master, quick to relieve him of his gun, as Spider, Swaino and Kate each apprehended a crew member.
By now the fire is smoking profusely and it's only a matter of time before it spreads and the boat sinks. The tied up RHIB is quickly filled with asylum seekers as Charge and Bomber bring the second RHIB around.
Grabbing binoculars, Mike sees Kate directing the seekers off the slowly burning Iluka into the RHIBs as Spider and Swain have control of the three subdued crewmen. Buffer is struggling to hold the master as 2 Dads and the child are plucked from the water by the first RHIB on it's way back to the Hammersley.
He is there with Nav and RO to assist pulling up the passengers as quickly as they can. With the RHIB now empty, but people still clinging to the ladder, it heads back to the slowly sinking Iluka. Sending their new arrivals to the back of the ship under the command of Nav, Mike turns his attention from the approaching second RHIB to the Iluka.
Buffer was still struggling to control the master in his arms, but the three other Iluka crew members were stepping onto the returned RHIB peacefully under the watchful eyes of with Spider and Swaino.
The second RHIB now empty, Mike orders Bomber out to assist Nav with calming their passengers, tells 2 Dads to be prepared to assist Spider and Swaino in taking the three crew men into custody when the other RHIB returned, and sends Charge back out.
When Swaino and Spider pulled up alongside the Hammersley with the three crew, 2 Dads and Spider pulled them to the opposite end of the deck, whilst Swaino remained standing next to Mike and RO as they watched the scene playing out before them on the Iluka.
Kate was assisting the last of the asylum seekers into Charge's RHIB at the moment the Iluka's master escaped Buffer's grip. She turned at Buffer's warning, and moved to block his path. Kate saw the raised fist, but was not able to move quickly enough as the master struck her upper cheek and pushed by her as she stumbled back.
Seeing him dashing below deck, Kate finds herself watching in horror as the fire envelopes where the master had just been. She's pulled back to earth by Buffer as he grabs her arm and pulls her in the direction of the RHIB. The boat was burning and sinking too quickly. There was nothing they could do for Iluka's doomed master.
Stepping in, she and Buffer hold on as Charge gives orders for the RHIB to move – fast. And it's not a moment too soon.
Seconds later the fire hits the petrol tank and the Iluka explodes.
The RHIB had been moving away from the boat and the Hammersley, and so for a moment, Mike had the dreaded thought that Kate had gotten off too late.
When the RHIB came round the smoking wreck long seconds later, the crew let up an impromptu cheer to see all aboard, alive and unharmed, and Mike remembered to breathe once again.
Coming alongside the Hammersley, Charge assisted his passengers to climb up the ladder, before climbing up himself. Mike leaned down and pulled Kate up personally as she followed Charge, before Buffer finally disembarked. As Kate stands next to him, Mike looks at her rapidly bruising eye and cheek. 'X. We need to ta...'
Raising her hand, Kate brushed him off. 'Whatever it is, we can't talk now. We need to get this situation stabilised first. If you handle NAVCOM, I'll see what I can do down front.'
Mike realises that she is right. He needs to get onto NAVCOM to update them on this situation and they needed to get their passengers settled. Ordering Swain to check out their 20-odd passengers, Mike advised Kate to order Bomber to muck up some scran.
Advising Buffer that he would be responsible for the Iluka crewmen until they arrive back at port, Mike sends 2 Dads and Spider down below to organise something in the form of bedding, as night was swiftly falling. Finally, he sends RO up with him to the bridge.
It isn't until three hours later that Mike finally had an opportunity to speak with Kate. The women and children were in austere, whilst the men had agreed to sleep on deck. They were two hours into their four hours trip back to port. Finding her in the small dining room, ice pack raised to her face, Mike dismisses Swaino with his request. 'X. A word?'
After Swain leaves, Mike takes a seat opposite her. As Kate removes the ice pack from her eye, she leans her head back against the cushioning. Her eyes and posture are deadly tired as she looks at Mike across the table from her.
'Are you okay?' asks Mike softly.
'I will be. The bruises will go in time. The adrenaline rush from that boarding is fading fast and now I'm just bone-tired,' responded Kate. 'And hungry,' she added as an afterthought.
'You did good today,' said Mike.
'We all did,' corrected Kate. 'It could have been a lot worse.'
Mike didn't want to think about just what could have gone wrong. He didn't even want to think about what would have happened if Kate hadn't come back. 'Kate...' Surprised to hear him calling by her first name, Kate raises the ice to her cheek once again as she looks at him.
'Kate...' he says again, not quite sure how to go about this. 'Kate. I need to ...' Before he can continue, RO knocks on the doorframe and enters the dining room. 'Sir, NAVCOM on the line for you.'
'Thank you RO. I will be there in a moment.' RO nods, before turning his attention to Kate. 'Ma'am, if you need to use the phone to make a follow up call, it will be free at 2100 hours tonight.'
'A follow up call for what?' asked Kate bewildered.
'Sir?' asked RO, turning to his boss, unsure of what do.
'I'll handle this RO,' said Mike.
'Sir,' responded RO as he departed.
'Mike. What call? Is there something I need to be aware of?' Seeing her quickly becoming stressed, and knowing that it couldn't be good for her or their child, Mike stood from his seat to approach her.
Kneeling down in front of her, he removed the ice from her cheek, gripped her arms firmly, and took a deep breath as he looked her in the eye.
'You're pregnant.'