Fair warning - new character introduced in this chapter. I don't really like giving original characters a huge role, but with Mike off the ship and Kate promoted, I had to find a new XO. A suitable XO. And an interesting XO. I hope that I've done that, and I hope that his history leaves you guessing.

Enjoy and please review.

Chapter Two

Four weeks in this cabin and she still couldn't get used to it. Four weeks in the CO's chair on the bridge and she still felt like something was missing. Mike had told her that it would take some getting used to. She was starting to think that it would take a hell of a lot more than some. There was something so very different about her life now. Not only did she have a heightened responsibility in taking over the command of a patrol boat, but she felt that parts of that boat belonged to some alternate reality. To a place where her spy thrillers replaced Mike's philosophical texts and inspiring classics. The desk felt the same. There was paperwork, stationary and a Macbook Pro, but there was something missing. Mike's coffee? His copy of Homer's Odyssey? Him?

A knock at the cabin door interrupted her thoughts. She flung at the handle and tore it open.

"Yes?"

A tall, beige-skinned young man was standing in her doorway. A Lieutenant, she gathered from his uniform, but his imposing posture coupled with a genuine smile gave off an ambiguous impression.

"You'd be my new XO?"

"Yes, ma'am." And he held his hand out for her to shake.

She did so cautiously. "Kate McGregor."

"Rafael Jordão Rodrigues da Marcos," he said quickly.

Kate stared at him. "Seriously?"

He laughed with another wide smile. "Raffy Rodrigues. Shortened." He signalled so with his hands.

"I was told you'd be arriving today, but Commander White failed to mention anything more. I haven't even received your file yet," Kate announced, sifting through the unnatural mess on her desk.

"Don't expect to," he advised her. "Not yet anyway."

"Really?" she asked curiously. "Why's that?"

He shrugged. "Administrative screw-up, ma'am?"

Who would believe that garbage? Kate certainly didn't. Unquestionably, there was something off about her new XO. She only hoped that it didn't cost her or her crew anything.

"How you going, mate?" Raffy was talking to someone else now. Kate looked up to see the Swain standing beside the new officer, who stood just a little taller but unmistakably lankier.

"Chris Blake, mate. Swaino," he introduced, shaking hands with the new guy.

"Raffy Rodrigues."

"Ready to set sail, ma'am." Dutchy had joined the assembly in her doorway. "You must be the new XO."

"Introductions will have to wait, Dutchy," Kate instructed him. She pushed past the group and shepherded them to the bridge. "We have a patrol start."

"Aye, ma'am," Dutchy answered as Swain took over at the helm.

She took her place in the CO's chair, breathing the fresh and triumphant air of command. Raffy took his place beside her and watched intently as the crew mustered to bring the ship out of port. He spent the first few hours of their journey meeting the crew and familiarising himself with the equipment. Mike had said that her new XO would be a fast learner, and he was definitely showing the initiative that she valued in a good officer. But there were issues, the most pressing of all that he had not been posted on to a patrol boat before today.

"Coffee," Dutchy said distractingly beside her, about three hours into their patrol. He was holding her steaming travel mug in one hand, the one she'd stolen from Mike when he left the ship, and the weather report in the other. She didn't need the report to tell her that they were in for some bad weather—the storm clouds were already circling and the distinct sound of thunder crackling in the distance was ever-present.

"Ma'am!" Raffy called out from the other side of the ship.

"What is it?"

"Something in the water," he replied dutifully, his binoculars still covering his vision. "Green, four-five."

She brought up her own pair. "Anything on the EOD?"

"I've got something, ma'am," Bird answered. The focus in front of her was zooming in and as Dutchy loomed over her shoulder, waiting impatiently for the 'something' to appear on the screen. "Clothing?"

"A body," Raffy clarified in a dead tone.

Kate just nodded. "Let's get it out."

She watched from her high position, Raffy standing off just to her right, as Charge and Dutchy organised the removal of the body from the water via the recovery line. 2Dads, soaked to the core in his stinger suit, was pulled out just after the body.

Making her way down to the boat deck, she had a slightly sinking feeling about the situation. Every time they pulled a body from the water, an unusually hairy encounter ensued. And she couldn't rid her mind of the images of their mission the last time this happened. It had been her final assignment as Executive Officer.

The dripping body was clothed in a messy red t-shirt and dark indigo jeans. He wasn't wearing shoes, which Kate discerned to be a little strange, but perhaps he lost them in the water.

"Turn him over," she said to Dutchy.

He complied and revealed the face of an average height, average weight, tan-skinned man of Asian appearance. Raffy, who had followed her down from the bridge, had his phone out and Kate guessed that he was taking a photo of the man's face. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. NAVCOM would chase down this man's identity. They'd need to return to port or rendezvous with the Feds to hand over the body.

"Get photos to NAVCOM ASAP, RO," she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Any idea how long he's been in the water, Swain?"

"Not long, ma'am." He was checking the body for any distinguishing features or tags. "Perhaps only a few hours, but I'd be guessing."

"This close to land," Raffy began, "whoever tossed that body overboard would be long gone by now. Could've made for Cairns or Port Douglas or Cooktown by now. Maybe further south."

"Make for home port," Kate announced. Raffy was right about that. They were not going to find this needle in the very large haystack.

It took them about five minutes to prepare for their homebound trip and they were underway again. The sickening feeling was still there, but at least her former CO would be waiting for her in port, fresh with an abundance of advice on how to pursue this case. It would be the Feds' jurisdiction technically, but, somehow, she just knew it would fall back into her lap. It always did.

A loud beep distracted her. She looked around and saw Raffy remove his iPhone from his right pocket. Did it have something to do with the photo of the body he took just twenty minutes ago?

"I've got an ID on the body," he broadcasted.

Yes. Yes, it did.

"What?" Kate was confused. How on Earth did he manage that so fast? And alone? Who did he contact?

"Name's Muhammad Surapanta," Raffy continued. "Person of interest."

"What do you mean by that?" Swain put in.

"He's on a list. He departed from Denpasar three days ago on the Australian-flagged pleasure cruise, Water Demon, as a deckhand."

"He must be on some list for you to know all of that," Kate added, with an expression of concern and distrust.

He didn't answer and was probably grateful when the distraction came immediately.

"Ma'am, Commander Flynn is on the phone," RO told her.

"I'll take it in my cabin." She wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to saying that.

Her desk was as messy as when she left it, but she managed to find the phone. "Yes, Commander Flynn?"

"Kate, I've got an ID on the body. The name's Muhammad Surapanta. He's an Indonesian national and our intelligence reports have him on an Australian cruise that left Denpasar three days ago called The Water Demon. It lists him as a person of interest but anymore than that appears to be above my pay grade."

"Not above Lieutenant Rodrigues' though," Kate put in.

"What?"

"My new XO took a photo of the body and sent it to someone. I already know everything you just told me."

"Right, who did he send it to?"

"I haven't got around to that yet."

"Well," Mike continued, "I've tracked down his file and sent it to you."

"Okay..." she droned as she pulled the Macbook out from under a bunch of files and opened it. "I'm bringing it up now." She scrolled through the information quickly. It was a quick read.

"Rafael Jordão Rodrigues da Marcos; born June 18, 1983," she dictated from the screen. "He's only 27?"

"I did say that he was young."

"Well, this file doesn't say anything. It has his sea record for the first three years from the Anzac to the Ballarat, but there is precious little on the last two years."

"I know," Mike recited. "Egypt; March 2008 to September 2008. Canberra; September 2008 to July 2009. Jakarta; July 2009 to July 2010. Got an IQ somewhere in the stratosphere."

"Mm, 158. It's quite high."

"And he's fluent in Portuguese, Tetum and Indonesian, and speaks a great deal of Arabic, too, as well as a good level of Hebrew, Farsi and Pashto. We have fifty year old diplomats who aren't half as valuable as this kid."

Kate was biting the inside of her lip. It was all well and fine that he was an exceptional asset to the Navy and the Defence Force in general, but that didn't ease her mind at all. "The last two suggest time spent in Afghanistan."

"Yes, they do, but that's all that's recorded."

Kate was running her a hand through her hair exasperatedly. "Why?"

"I don't know. But I've got a good guess."