Chapter Twenty-Nine;
Beaten Black and Blue

"THE STARBOARD DOOR HAS BEEN BREACHED!" Kasey's voice came from the starboard bridge doorway as she slammed it behind her, leaning back on it. "I don't know what they're throwing in ma'am, but it made a nasty noise down there."

Nav had heard it too, the heavy thud of something large battering the bulkheads of her precious vessel. She turned on RO and Scruffy, the Comms. sailor already looking worried. "Get down there and find out what's going on." They nodded and rushed off. Nav turned on Clark. "What've they got?"

"Bloody hell ma'am, I can tell you that." Seagull, who had been standing just beyond the controls with night vision binoculars pressed to his eyes, lowered them in shock. "Ma'am, they've got a rocket launcher!"

"Buff…" But Nav didn't finish her sentence as the Typhoon on the front of the Hammersley turned menacingly towards The Reginald.

"Just give me the word ma'am." Buffer said, standing over Clark as he aimed the Typhoon on the bridge of The Reginald.

"Five yards ahead of the bow Buffer, we not here to blow them out of the water."

"Maybe we should be ma'am." RO appeared at the top of the stairs and Nav turned quickly on her heel, barely taking in what RO was holding. "They've got fragmentation charges."

Buffer's jaw dropped and Kasey gave a hiss of shock. "What?" It was all Nav could muster.

"The fireworks breached the starboard door, as Kase said, then they somehow managed to get this inside." After motioning to his wife, RO held aloft a thick shard of metal. "Both Haynes and a civilian were in the line of fire at the tim…" A loud explosion from below sounded and everyone on the bridge looked up. Something had hit the stern of the ship.

"How bad?" Nav finally managed.

"Haynes is fine, but the civilian, he's…" RO shook his head. "Ma'am, it was Bomber's brother-in-law Thomas Carlisle."

Spider, who had been standing at the port side door watching the Arctic Princess (who still hadn't fired anything but just seemed to be watching on now), gave a small 'no'. He looked to Nav. "Ma'am, I…"

Nav nodded and Spider rushed from the room. At almost the exact same time Nav looked at Buffer. "Buffer, one yard ahead of the bow. She has one chance to stop and then we're taking her down."

***

Spider found Bomber in the galley, packing away things that had fallen out of the cupboards, right where he'd left her only half an hour before after bolting all the doors. But now it seemed they'd missed one.

Ducking inside at the sound of bullets once again coming through the doors and into the ship, he caught her eye and she gave him a weak smile. "Hey, come to the party capital?" Spider went to her, still looking serious, and her smile fell. "What is it? What's happened?"

"You heard the explosion?" Bomber nodded slowly, silently. "Someone's been hurt."

It didn't take much for Bomber to assume the worst. "Not the crew is it?" Spider shook his head. She gave a half-sob/half-cough. "Jessie? Please don't say Alex." Spider pulled her to him and stroked her hair off her head.

"It was Thomas."

"Oh no." She pulled away. "I better go talk to Jess." She tried to stay tough but her voice shook, cracking in several places.

"I'll come with you." He took her hand, raising it to his lips. She tried to give him a smile but failed, her bottom lip just quivering. "Come on." Then, brushing a tear off her cheek, he led her from the room.

***

The Typhoon's fire hit the sea with a tremendous splash, sloshing water over the bow of The Reginald. But the little boat carried on firing, the rocket launcher remaining quiet for a moment as the last of the fireworks and the rest of the fragmentation charges were fired upon the Hammersley. One charge soared towards the bridge, bouncing off the bulletproof windows and exploding in mid-air. Shards of metal thudded into the doors with a sicking clunk. Nav grabbed the pipe and turned her attention to The Reginald.

"Vessel on my starboard beam, you are officially breaking international laws. If you cease immediately you will be given a chance, but one more onslaught on this Australian warship and we will fire to disable you."

The authority in Nav's voice was there, despite not following correct protocols and warnings. So her words may be wrong, she didn't care, because she was about one more fragmentation charge away from blowing them out of the water, rules of engagement be damned. For a moment the threat seemed to be working, then the ominous whistle of the rocket launcher was heard. Nav looked up in shock as the rocket flew towards them, a little high but enough to take out something important. A second later something exploded above them and a few pieces of cabling and metal rained down onto the bridge deck. RO swore. "They've damaged the comms. tower." As if to illustrate his point he tapped the radio on the desk. A shrill whistle came out. It was gone.

"Can you fix it?" Nav yelled back to him.

"Well not in this I can't, but maybe, we'll see." RO growled at the system as Nav looked back at Buffer.

"Okay, that it's it, no more nice-captain. He wants less heart and more captain, I'll give him less heart and more captain… Buffer, aim for The Reginald's stern, we're taking her out of this for good."

"Yes ma'am. Aim at target." Clark moved the controls around for a second then responded.

"Target acquired Buff."

Buffer looked at Nav. "Target acquired ma'am."

Nav took a deep breath, staring down The Reginald. "Fire."

***

The Typhoon's round hit the stern of The Reginald, causing her to lift off the surface of the water a little, but no one on the Hammersley were watching. Just after Nav had yelled 'fire', Radar had spoken up from the navigation system.

"She's gone!"

"What?" Nav turned on him. "Who?"

"The Arctic Princess ma'am." He stuttered. "I didn't… we totally forgot about her… I was watching the…"

Nav spoke over him, or rather, swore over him. "Shit. Why didn't anyone notice?"

"Spider was watching her ma'am. He went downstairs and no one replaced him." Kasey spoke up.

Nav swore again then looked at Radar. "Where is she?"

Radar pointed to the screen. "Ten nautical miles due east. We go now we can still catch her."

Nav looked to Swain, who was seated at the driver's controls, then to The Reginald. She forced the next line out. "Leave her." She hung her head then turned on Swain. "Lead a boarding party to The Reginald. We'll drag her back to base."

"And the Arctic Princess ma'am?"

Nav glanced up at the pre-dawn sky. It was a little after 5am, so close to morning she could almost breathe it in. "She's gone."