Chief of the Boat Francis Sharkey stared at the admiral in shocked surprise. Okay… There were a lot of times when he didn't understand what Admiral Nelson was saying. The man had a Ph.D in Marine Biology and another in Chemistry, and he had four stars on his collar to boot. But this tale of death and time travel was so totally out of left field that Sharkey wasn't even sure how to take it…

It was a given that the admiral was telling the truth; he always told the truth unless there were a compelling reason not to. But time travel? First the skipper dead, then Mr. Morton? But Sharkey had seen the both of them in the control room not ten minutes earlier. How was it possible that one or the other of them would be dead in just a few days? "Uh, sir…"

"Just listen, Francis." The admiral gave him that sharp look that told Sharkey he'd better pay attention. "I've got Lee covered. Either Kowalski or I will be with him at all times. When Nash enters the control room in three days time, one of us will make sure that the captain is safe."

Sharkey sensed a but and leaned in, listening intently.

"But…" The admiral's voice trailed off, and for a moment there was an enormous grief in his eyes. "If Mr. Morton runs true to form…"

And he would, no doubt of that. Sharkey was convinced that a man could set his moral compass by Mr. Morton, and he had a hunch the admiral felt the same way. If anyone were going to do something to save the skipper, it would be Mr. Morton.

"He will take the bullet to save Lee." The admiral frowned at that, but Sharkey had no doubt it was true. Whatever his personal feelings, Mr. Morton would do what needed to be done to save the boat. A dead captain wouldn't benefit the boat at all; when that captain was also his friend, there was little doubt that Mr. Morton would willingly take a bullet… Hell, he'd probably do it eagerly.

Sharkey shook his head and focused on the admiral's words. "It will be up to you to prevent that. I don't care how you do it." Those blue eyes blazed as they targeted the COB. "But make sure that Nash doesn't shoot anyone."

Sharkey could do that. He would shadow Mr. Morton everywhere he went, so he'd be Johnny-on-the-spot when the time came. It would earn him that lung-freezing glare, but as long as he had orders from the admiral, he was immune to that. At least, mostly immune. He could ignore it with impunity, which amounted to the same thing. Sometimes you just had to be firm with the admiral's officers. They were a stunningly martyrish group. Not one of them would hesitate to sacrifice themselves for the good of the boat, or the men, or some higher cause. Where Admiral Nelson had found them all, Sharkey couldn't begin to figure; in his experience, officers just weren't all that great. Most of them were intelligent enough – though he was compelled to admit that some of them were dumb as dirt – but they didn't have the courage of a mouse. Oh, sure, they'd fight when cornered. But most of them spent years avoiding confrontation. But this group? Meritorious, everyone of them, enough so, that Sharkey sometimes felt compelled to snatch himself bald. The least he could do to show his respect was to honor the admiral's request to the best of his ability. "You got it, sir." He rose from his chair, determined to get to work when a question occurred to him. "Why not just throw Nash in the brig?"

Nelson spread his fingers against the desktop, a sure sign that he had wondered the same thing himself… and hadn't liked the answer. "No proof, COB. Not one shred of evidence that he will go berserk and shoot the captain." He paused, and sighed. "And Will thinks he's sick, that it's not his fault… We should honor that, and try to help him."

Oh, sure… Help a guy who was crazy… He tries to shoot the captain… Shoots the XO instead… It was definitely a convoluted tale, but no one was going to die this time, not even Nash. Sharkey contemplated that with a frown. "But where does he get the gun?"

"We don't know." But Sharkey could tell that the admiral had a few thoughts about that. Maybe something to do with the time travel that had apparently been running rampant around here? It didn't matter. Sharkey would just confiscate the keys to the armory, and to all the arms lockers, and make sure that Nash couldn't get access to any weapons. If he got it somewhere else, well there wasn't much they could do about that, except stay vigilant and hope they could catch him at it.

But it was weird that the admiral remembered the events that had happened before, when Sharkey had no memory of them at all. "Sir… Why don't I remember all this stuff happening?"

The admiral smiled at that, though really it was a pale shadow of a smile, and the anger that had been obvious since Sharkey had entered burned through it quickly enough. "Because you haven't lived through it yet, Francis. With luck, you'll only have to live through it once."

But if the admiral were right, he'd already lived through it twice… Only maybe he hadn't, because he hadn't gone back in time; the admiral had traveled back three days, and Sharkey hadn't even known what was going to happen, until the admiral had called him to his cabin… Man, this time travel stuff was giving him the world's worst headache. But he could still reassure the admiral. "It won't be luck, sir," Sharkey promised grimly. "I promise you, we'll all live through this, but there'll be no luck involved."