When the CO called the whole crew on deck in the morning, I wondered what had happened. Assemblies weren't really that common unless something had happened. "As you know, earlier this morning, persons unknown boarded this boat and removed our mascot, the mighty Thor," the CO announced. "It's gotta be the Kingston, boss," Chefo reckoned. "The Kingston left port at first light," the CO replied, "Their Commanding Officer-" The CO was interrupted by the crew insulting the guy. "Lieutenant Richard Curran, who I have spoken to by sat phone, denies any knowledge of the events," the CO continued with a warning undertone, "The fact remains: Hammersley was boarded, which is unacceptable under any circumstances" The CO was looking at Spider when he said. It seemed like Spider was a magnet for bad luck.

"We're going after them, right boss?" Chefo asked, "I mean, we gotta get the Hammer God back." "We'll be casting of as scheduled," the CO replied, "Make ready." Getting Thor back was the crew's main concern right now. Apparently, losing your mascot was bad luck. Well, technically we didn't lose it. It was stolen. But still. I wasn't superstitious, so I didn't really believe that. Losing Thor was bad for the ship's morale though.

Even though the CO said we weren't going after the Kingston, we crossed paths with them quite quickly. And they proved the assumptions that they had stolen Thor by waving him around. "They put hot pants on him…" I noticed. "They'll pay," Chefo seethed, "Oh they'll pay big time." I didn't even want to imagine what was going on in his head right now. Especially when we didn't pull alongside them, but changed course instead. Chefo was the angriest about Thor being stolen as it seemed. I got why he was mad, but I just couldn't feel the same way. Maybe I just hadn't been on the Hammersley long enough, but Thor was a mascot. Him being missing didn't threaten anything on board to go wrong. Or at least so I thought.

There was only so much Thor-madness I could take so I went back under deck to resume my usual duties. That was until Buffer called me to the boarding party. Apparently we had caught up with the Pacific Mariner, the ship that Carl Davies, the second and still alive fisherman friend of Spider's and a suspect in the murder of Sam Murray, was supposed to be on. We suited up and then the X came to take over the lead.

Richard Gallagher was his same charming self as he was when we boarded his ship the first time several weeks ago. And he was still flirting with the X. But Carl Davies wasn't part of the crew on deck. "Excuse me, X, there's someone else on the bridge," ET suddenly spoke up. "Okay, let's go!" she ordered. I quickly followed Buffer to the bridge. "Locked door," he said when he couldn't get below. "What's behind that door?" the X asked Gallagher. "My private quarters," he answered, standing in front of the door. The XO ordered Buffer to open the door by force, but Gallagher caved in and called someone. The person who came up was familiar. It was Dr. Ursula Morrell, the marine biologist. Apparently she was a passenger. And Carl Davies wasn't on board anymore, according to Gallagher. But we started to search the ship despite his claims.

There was nothing under deck. But Spider spotted something on deck. One of the containers had air vents. We were about to open it, when ET suddenly yelled, "X! Fire!" There was smoke on Hammersley, quite a lot of smoke. "Let's go!" the XO screamed and we all hurried to the rhib to get back to Hammersley as soon as possible, completely ignoring the container for now. But when we got to Hammersley, the fire had already been dealt with. And the CO was mad at the XO for coming back without Dr. Morrell. I couldn't believe him. The ship was on fire. Were we just supposed to wait on the Pacific Mariner and do nothing? He would have done the same if the positions were switched, I was pretty sure of that. Usually the CO was a pretty nice guy, but this Ursula Morrell had him twisted. Even though I believed the CO secretly had feelings for the XO. And as it seemed, the X returned those feelings.

Dealing with relationships and feelings while being in the Navy seemed pretty complicated. Just this once I was glad that I didn't have a boyfriend anymore. It was probably a good thing that Zack had broken up with me when I told him that I wanted to join the Navy. Of course I had been heartbroken at the time, but now… Now I was glad that we had broken up sooner rather than later.

I went down to the generator room where the fire had raged to help with the clean-up. Until Charge called us all on deck. "All right you scurvy lot, settle down," Charge said, "It's time to remove the cloud of misery and malignance hanging over this ship. In other words, time to give the bad luck the sword, or the club. How… Well may you ask young Spider, well may you ask. We need to appease the God of the Seven Seas himself," Charge raised the golf club above his head momentously, "And who better to sweet talk him than his trouble and strife." The Taifun turned around to reveal Buffer dressed in… I didn't know how to describe it. He was wearing a wig of long curly hair and some blue cloth. The others started wolf-whistling while I contemplated whether I really wanted to stay or not. "So where is the offering?" Buffer asked. "Offering?" "Neptune demands an offering!" Buffer yelled. "Fair enough," Charge said, "Seaman Webb." "Charge?" "Are you prepared to appease the God of the Seven Seas with sacrifice?" Spider hesitated, "I guess so, Charge." "Grab that tray of Chefo," Charge ordered.

At first I thought they were going to throw Spider overboard with whatever that on the tray was, but they didn't. And then Buffer declared Hammersley free of any misfortune. What a show for nothing. There was no more bad luck than usual on board, but if this helped the guys get over their superstitious fear, why not?

The group dispersed quite quickly. I was about to go back under deck as well when someone put a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and faced ET. "Do you have a sec?" he asked me. "Sure, what is it?" I replied. ET seemed rather serious. He hesitated for a moment before he started talking again, "Could you… give me some advice? You're a woman right?" Usually I would be a little offended at his last sentence, but ET seemed kind of distressed and desperate. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I did something stupid. Well, technically it wasn't me… But there is this woman…" "Nav," I said. "How…?" ET looked at me surprised. "I just know. Don't worry, I won't tell. So what happened?" I urged him to continue. "She's mad at me because she overhead Chefo saying that I said I wanted to get in her pants," ET told me, "But it's different now. I never wanted to hurt her." "Then tell her," I said, "It's probably the only thing you can do right now. Tell her how you feel, explain what happened." "I can't do that." "Do you want her to forgive you?" I asked and ET nodded, "Then go talk to her. You'll figure it out when you do." "You think?" ET hesitated and I nodded. ET took a deep breath. "Thanks," he said. I smiled and watched as he left. The Navy way have its non-fraternization rule, but you can't help who you fall for. And ET and Nav had obviously fallen for each other. They'd make a cute couple. Not like the CO and X.

But I shouldn't be thinking about that. I still had some work to do.

When I got back home to Noah's and my apartment, Noah was nowhere to be found. But there was a note on the kitchen table saying he was out with Jenna, his girlfriend. Just when I finished changing into some more comfortable clothes, the phone rang. "Yello?" I answered. "Hey, Rubes," I heard the familiar voice of my brother and my face immediately lit up. "Josh!" I exclaimed gleefully. "I'm happy to hear you voice too," he said, "But I actually wanted to ask you when you'll be in Cairns again." "I'm here now," I joked, "But I'm not staying long and I can't say when I'll be back again yet. Why?" "I wanted to come and visit… with Rhihannon," Josh answered. "Rhihannon? Is she your girlfriend now? Oh my Thor! That's amazing," I yelled grinning. "Yea…" I could practically see Josh blush right now, "Wait. Oh my Thor? What's up with that?" "He's our mascot, doesn't matter. Tell me about Rhihannon!" I demanded.

I wanted to know everything. Josh had always been the shy one. So having a girlfriend was a rare occasion with him. He's only had two relationships before this. I was so happy for him. He sounded really happy. And Josh deserved to be happy. He was the sweetest brother anyone could wish for. Noah as well of course.