Disclaimer; No views expressed here are echoed by the sites they are on. All characters belong to Di and Hal McElroy.
Chapter Six;
A Help or A Hindrance
Time since Bomber's kidnapping: 13 hours.
The CO and the X sat on the bridge staring out at Libertile. A little off the coast, they were clearly within sight of the hostiles and they knew this, but there was little they could do. With few resources and their small team of men falling quickly, things were going from bad to worse for the Hammersley. And now they faced the threat of a very cold and unforgiving Marshall. The Commander was clear in his feelings about the Hammersley being there; he wanted none of it. And he seemed determined to make their life a misery. Already he had warned the CO that he'd been in contact with his Sydney counterpart, encouraging the men of the Waterhen's ships that the Hammersley was to be sent home to base as soon as found, and now he seemed to be blocking everything that the CO asked of him. Flynn and his team were quickly becoming infuriated with the boss and they'd become used to ignoring his calls. It barely raised a sweat now. They'd face the tribunal when they got home.
Naturally the CO had offered his men the option to jump ship, take no part in what was to come. Be left out of what was to come. None had taken that offer. And since that time they'd all been given a chance to sit up on the bridge during one of ET's many calls and find out exactly what was going on. No more secrecy, no more ranks. They were equals here. The last call had involved ET informing the Hammersley captain of what ships were being sent up to see them. Among them the Kanimbla, Parramatta and Stuart. A Landing Platform Amphibious and two Frigates. This was serious stuff. But ET had nowhere near the authority to explain exactly why they were all heading up. The CO had expected maybe one frigate but likely just another patrol boat. Now he had half of the warships of the Waterhen bearing down on them. It was overwhelming, but the CO knew better than to let it get to him. He'd simply instructed ET to do whatever it took to get some knowledge on why they were coming and what they intended to do to them and Libertile when they got here.
"Do you think he'll manage it?" The X asked as they sat there, lost in their own thoughts.
The CO shrugged. "If anyone can do it, it's ET."
The X nodded, aware that they were very lucky to have one of their most loyal men on the inside. "What about Marshall? Will he be a problem?"
The CO shrugged. "He seems determined to be a problem for some reason." He looked at the X. "He'll know about the five calls ET has made to us so far. I don't think we can count on ET after Friday. He checks the unauthorized calls log on Fridays."
The X frowned. "And what happens after that."
The CO smiled sadly. "Hopefully we won't be here after Friday." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "And if we are, well, we think about that problem when it comes."
ET was in a situation. He wanted nothing more than to help the CO and the Hammersley, but he didn't have the authorization. Still only a Non-Commissioned Junior Officer, he was just too low on the ladder to get the information he needed. And right now, with the warships of Sydney heading up to Libertile, there was no time for speculation. He needed help and he needed it now.
There was one problem. He'd only been at base for a month and didn't know the right people to ask for help. He'd transferred to base only 4 months earlier after deciding he had to leave the Hammersley to pursue a real relationship with Nikki Caetano. But now he was stuck with no one to help him help her. No one except…
A smile spread across ET's face. There was someone.
ET leant over the table in front of the blonde girl. She glanced up at him slowly then, seeing the steely resolve in his eyes, looked down again. "What do you want ET?" She sighed, putting down her sandwich.
ET took a seat. "Jenny, I need your help."
Jenny Hart bit her lip. "I know what you're doing with the Hammersley Josh and I'm not being dragged down with you."
ET sighed. "Jen, please. I wouldn't ask if I didn't really need your help."
Jenny looked like she'd given in but then she posed a challenge. "In 100 words or less, tell me why I should throw my career away to help you."
ET gave a small smile and knew exactly what to tell her. The truth. "Because there's someone on the Hammersley that means the world to me, and if anything goes wrong and I lose her, I will be finished."
Jenny looked at the table, glanced back at him, and then returned to the table. After a minute where ET didn't dare move in case she gave up on him, she finally looked at him with a sigh. "But what can I do to help?"
ET grinned. "Well, I figured you know more people around here. People who might be able to help me. A Petty Officer or someone like that. Someone further up the chain than me."
Jenny nodded. "I think I know just the person."
"Sir, ET." RO called out and the CO picked up the phone quickly, turning it on to loudspeaker so the others on the bridge could hear and reply.
"Did you get what I wanted?" The CO asked.
ET's smile was evident in his tone. "Not yet sir." The CO's smile faltered. ET continued. "But I did even better than that. I found someone to help you. If the X is there she might recognise the name. Lieutenant Brian 'Rembrandt' Murphy."
The X's head did snap up at the name and she smiled. She'd worked alongside Rembrandt on her last posting. He was a reliable man who, like Mike, believed in the truth over the rules any day. "Tell him I do ET. And say hi for me." She called to the loud speaker.
ET chuckled. "I can do better than that ma'am. I can put him on for you." The sound of a phone rustled in hands came across the loudspeaker and the voice of a man, clearly older than ET and more battle weary, was heard on the Hammersley's bridge.
"Katie, was that your lovely voice I heard my girl?" He said loudly. The X remembered the man had two volumes; loud and louder. This was basically whispering to him.
"Yes Brian. ET tells us you're happy to help."
Rembrandt laughed. "More than happy luv. I want to help. Anything for my favourite girl." The X smiled. "My youngest Emma is on the Kanimbla. I've been in contact. They're about 40 nautical miles from your current location. You haven't got long my girl."
Nav glanced back at them. "At that distance we have about 2 hours."
The X frowned. "Does she know what the purpose of the Kanimbla is?"
"Sorry luv, my little girl is only a Seaman. But she's on the deck. They've come fully furbished luv. Choppers and everything. They've got army men in there too. And the SAS. This is big. You need to get out of there."
The X sighed. "We can't Rembrandt. We have two men in there now and we aren't leaving them behind."
Rembrandt chuckled. "That's what I wanted to hear luv. Emma and her boyfriend, he's an army officer, are happy to help. So you have a few more sailors and a small troop of army men at your disposal when the Kanimbla gets to you. But that will be nothing to the number of people who'll want you out of there. But your man on the inside here and I have been working on something." Nav smiled slyly at the mention of ET working from the inside like an undercover operative. X glanced away from her and back at the loudspeaker. "What've you come up with Rembrandt? We're happy for any ideas up here."
Time until the Kanimbla arrives: 2 hours, 4 minutes