Chapter Eight;
Personnel…

Tonkins entered the room, waving a piece of paper in front of him. The man behind the desk looked up as Tonkins handed him the paper. "Mister Hunter, the list has arrived." He said with an air of achievement. "Printed it off just a second ago."

Mister Hunter looked down at the list in his hand. Thirteen names in total, a small list for a patrol boat but Hunter knew why. He knew everything about the Defence Force's staff shortages. In fact, it was why he could get away with murder.

HMAS HAMMERSLEY, ACPB 82
BASE: HMAS Cairns
CREW: 13

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER HOLIDAY, Nikki; Commanding Officer/Head Navigator
LIEUTENANT BLAKE, Christopher; Executive Officer/Naval Police Coxswain
WARRANT OFFICER TOMASZEWSKI, Peter; Boatswain
CHIEF PETTY OFFICER HOLIDAY, Joshua; Marine Technician/Head Electrical Technician
PETTY OFFICER BROWN, Rebecca; Cook
PETTY OFFICER COLLINS, Michael; Assistant Navigator
PETTY OFFICER DIXON, Robert; Principal Warfare Officer
PETTY OFFICER WILLIAMS, Nicholas; Driver
LEADING SEAMAN MURPHY, Emma; Communication and Information Systems Sailor
LEADING SEAMAN WALLIS, Xavier; Assistant Electrical Technician/Driver
LEADING SEAMAN WEBB, William; Boatswain's Mate
ABLE SEAMAN DRAKE, Corey; Combat Systems Operator
ABLE SEAMAN KENT, Paul; General Entry Sailor

Hunter smiled and nodded. "Excellent." He put the list down on the desk and gave it a tap. "Now what I need is personal information. Something I can use against them."

Tonkins smiled softly. "I took the liberty of getting some of that myself sir. Only what I could find, but, well…" he said, handing the boss another sheet of paper. This one had only a little bit of information, less than the last one. It was basic personal information from the Defence Force database.

The most interesting information lay under the CO's name.

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER HOLIDAY, Nikki

. Nee Caetano
. NEXT OF KIN: Chief Petty Officer Joshua Holiday, Cassandra Monique Holiday

23rd February 2013: Has asked clearance for the following civilians to join HMAS Hammersley crew – PENDINGBLAKE, Sally
BLAKE, Chloe
CARLISLE, Alexander
CARLISLE, Jessica
CARLISLE, Thomas
DRAKE, Oscar
GREEN, Kasey
HAYNES, Lucas
HOLIDAY, Cassandra
WEBB, Julie

Hunter smiled. "She's got civilians on board a Navy vessel?" He chuckled and put down the piece of paper. "Now, this is an interesting revelation."

***

"Ma'am." Swain appeared beside Nav as she stood on the bridge just preparing to leave dock again.

Nav glanced up at him. "How many have we got Swain?"

"Ten," he answered. He raised his hand and counted them off. "My Sally and Chloe, your Cassandra, Scruffy's boyfriend Luke, RO's wife Kasey, Bomber's sister and brother-in-law and nephew, Seagull's brother and Spider's mum.

Nav nodded. "Okay. Is Bomber prepared for the extra guests?" Swain nodded back. "Good, then I guess we sail." Swain gave her a small smile and walked away.

Nav frowned at the empty docks then glanced at Radar. "Prepare to sail."

***

"There isn't exactly a lot for a kid to do on a patrol boat." ET said, shifting the weight of his baby daughter to his other arm. She didn't notice and just kept playing with the lapel on his shoulder, except this time the right instead of the left. "I get the feeling that I'll be playing babysitter all day long."

"Do you really mind?" Buffer asked, glancing up at ET as he made his rack up again. He'd just found Cassie jumping on his perfectly made sleeping area and had had to call ET in to fetch her. "If it gets you out of chores."

"I don't think it does. I think the general idea is that when I'm needed I pawn her off to someone else, and then grab her back when I'm done."

Buffer shook his head and turned to ET. "Come on mate, look at it this way; this is time to spend with Cassie before she grows up, hates you and just wants your car and money."

ET lifted his daughter off his arm and assessed her. "You will never hate daddy, will you Cass?" The child didn't answer, but in her desperate bid for her father's lapels she accidently hit him in the jaw. ET put her down and she ran back for the bed before Buffer stood in front of her, blocking her way. She turned back to her father with imploring eyes, but ET just shook his head. "It isn't your bed little madam. Now, come here and stop annoying uncle Buffer."

"And no more hitting and hating daddy." Buffer added with a laugh.

ET frowned as he picked up Cassie again. "Thanks for the help Buff."

Buffer shook his head. "Stop being so damn dramatic ET. You'll still be doing your job, just both of them at the same time. Cassie will be fine. The Hammersley is probably the safest place for her right now. Everyone here thinks she's absolutely gorgeous and wants to help look out for her. Except, maybe, don't give her to Seagull. He's a bit… well, he'll probably lose her overboard." He laughed.

"Yeah. I guess she can always make friends with Chloe Blake." He looked to his daughter, the child now once again engrossed by his lapels, and kissed her forehead softly. She squirmed but didn't move away. He brushed a wisp of hair off her head and smiled. He loved his daughter more than anything in the whole world, and in his heart knew that looking after her more often would be a blessing rather than a chore, but he still couldn't help feel that everyone was wrong and the Hammersley was not the safest place to be. But as he looked at Cassie he knew that it didn't really matter what was out there – they weren't touching his little girl.