Don't own Chuck
John and the man he thought was Morgan set the thermite against the bulkhead. John signaled for Morgan to move back but he lost his footing and went sliding crashing into him. John pushed Morgan back telling him to be more careful or the next time he'd go over the side but with the winds it was useless to speak. Morgan just shook his head and pointed at his ears. John waved him off then turned to finish their job. It got really warm fast when he ignited the thermite with the makeshift laser pointer. The thermite did quick work on the aluminum superstructure cutting out a hole. The waves and rain helped cool down the aluminum so the flames didn't flare up and the metal cooled down quickly. John gave a big kick and the section fell in.
"Come on we need to get this done in hurry," yelled John but Morgan just smile that was when John felt a little dizzy. "What the…" he said as he looked down and saw a tranq dart in his chest.
"Sorry Colonel, looks like this is the end of the road for you. I don't know how that other me puts up with you," said Ettore as he fired two more dart for good measure but he still didn't go down.
"If you're not Morgan than…" said Casey as he started forward to grab Ettore but he moved back and shot him twice more.
"Impressive," said Ettore. "That's right you tranq'd the real Morgan when you came back with those rusty parts. Remember the broken lamp I broke it on his head but you finished him off. Now you're going to be gone and he's fast asleep that just leaves me to comfort Alex. Don't worry I'll be a gentleman…"
"You don't even know what that is," said Casey as he grabbed the hose and began pulling Ettore towards him. However, Ettore pulled a knife and cut it clean which sent John tumbling backwards.
"Goodbye," said Ettore as he went into the hole they made and started carrying out the canisters placing them in a lifeboat.
"Chuck can you hear me," said Casey as he tried to raise his arm closer to him mouth. "Chuck come on I need you to hear me. Morgan isn't Morgan." But just when he started to hear Chuck in his ear the tranquillizer started to kick in then a huge wave came up over the ship and he found himself in a raging storm in the Pacific.
First contact with the cold water jolted him to consciousness. Lucky for him the wave that took him off the ship carried him clear or he would've been sucked under by the ship. As is was he saw one of the vessels mass propellers beat air as the ship came up out of the water riding the crest of a wave. Then it disappeared he knew he was a goner unless something changed quickly.
"Stay afloat," he told himself as he fought hard. The surges brought him to the tops of the waves then he slid down in the trough the place he didn't want to be as the crest came crashing down on top of him pushing him under.
"Surface, get your butt in gear Marine and get to the surface," he told himself as he fought his way back up. Gasping for air when he broke surface only to find he was in another trough with what looked like a white capped Mount Everest about to crash back down on him again. This time getting to the surface wasn't easy. He was losing his strength partly to the tranquillizer and partly due to the hypothermia that was starting to set in.
"Dad is this all my father can do for his little girl," said Alex in his head. "You promised to take care of me and protect me then what do you do? You leave me in bed with Ettore."
"Like hell I will," said Casey. Bubbles came up around him as spoke underwater. The cold water burned his mouth and throat but he fought with everything he could to get back to the surface. This time he had a surprise waiting for him. There was a lifeboat he thought had broken free during the storm but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He swam as hard as he could to get to it before the next wave took it away.
"Move it Casey, Alex is depending on you," he said over and over in his head. Finally he reached it and just in time. He grabbed hold of a line dangling off the side as a wave came from behind and pushed them both forward.
"Geez, can't I catch a break," he said as he held on then he pulled himself up the side and dropped inside through a hatch closing it behind him. He couldn't believe his good luck but he soon realized what was going on because inside the lifeboat were the canisters of gas.
"So this is your plan," said Casey. Ettore put the canisters in one of the covered lifeboats on the Serenity then launched it. This meant he planned on having someone come to recover it and the canisters.
"Boy are you going to be in a world of hurt," said John as he tried to lift one of the canisters to toss it out but he had no strength left. The only thing he could do as exhaustion and the drugs too effect was to grab a Mylar blanket then crash in the boat as he got tossed about.
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Chuck frantically tried to raise the Hampton but it was sailing to far down for standard communication. This required Chuck to establish a link using QKD Quantum Key Distribution but he had to link the main frame in Castle with the Quantum computer in Pasadena. Once the link as up, he tapped into a spy satellite over the Pacific that fired a laser back down to the Hampton to establish the final segment. He couldn't break in on the comms link between the Hampton and USPACFLT so he established his own keys.
"Sarah, have you gotten through to Roan yet?" She shook her head she had her phone to her head yelling at the Watch Officer.
"I don't care if Roan left word not to bother him," said Sarah. "You'd better get him and drag him in. Crap is about to hit the fan and unless you want to deal with an angry Admiral on your own. You can explain to him why you can't reach the acting director. If I were you I'd get a move on it."
"Sarah, I'm not going to wait. Let them sort this out on their own," said Chuck as he started the keying process. "Alice this is Bob can you hear me?"
[On board the Hampton]
The boat was shadowing her target at a safe depth silently trailing just aft staying in her wake. The cruise ship didn't have any way to detect her so she could hang back and track her prey with impunity. The raging storm above battered surface craft but the Hampton was down far enough that they felt only a little turbulence.
"Skipper," called the comms officer. "I've got an incoming transmission for you. I'm not sure who it is but he's asking for you by name."
"What? How? I'll take this in my cabin. X.O. you're with me," said the Skipper. Once inside the C.O. turned to the X.O. "What do you make of this Toby? I thought Quantum communications was supposed to be secure."
"That's what I was told too. I guess the only thing we can do is put the man on speaker and hear what he wants then file a report with SUBRON then let them run it up the food chain. But how does he know your name?"
"I don't know but I guess you're right the only thing we can do is hear him out. One thing he's already told us is he knows who we are and where we are. Where's that call?" The X.O. nodded then went to the hatch.
"Lieutenant, where's that call," yelled the X.O. "The Skipper is waiting go ahead and patched it through now." There was some static then a voice came through loud and clear.
"Hello Commander Sanchez my name is Agent Charles Carmichael. Listen I have an emergency that I need your assistance with…"
"You know how many laws and orders of protocol you've broken making this call. My Admiral is going to have a fit when I tell him…" Chuck cut him off before the man got wound up.
"I'm sure he will, but listen the ship you're following, the Serenity, is no longer a threat. The VHF virus that was stored onboard has been jettison so you can break off your pursuit...
"How do you know about our mission? And I can't take your word to break off I've got orders to follow and until proper authority tells me otherwise..."
"Listen this is a joint mission and I just got notified by my team onboard. You will be notified when this intel finally gets back to you but I had to contact you directly. One of my agents was swept overboard neutralizing the canisters."
"Even if I believe what you're telling me, and I'm not sure I do, we can't surface in this storm. I'm sorry but there's little hope of finding your man alive."
"You don't know this man like I do. Colonel Casey has fought valiantly for our country in some of the worst stinking hellholes around the world… what I'm saying he's not a quitter. We have to do something for him."
"We could use sonar and search the surface but even if we found him we couldn't surface without doing some serious damage to us. However, the storm front is expected to blow through by early morning. If we get the okay from Pearl by then we could surface and recover him... that is if we find him."
"You can still launch a life raft from where you're at right now," said Chuck. "Please it's the only way I can see that we can save him. Here's my verification code you can use it to verify who I am. Just please hurry he doesn't have much time."
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Onboard the Serenity Alex was going crazy she ran out of the room and started to make her way up to the hatch they'd used to go out on the weather deck. However, before she could get there she ran into Ettore who she thought was Morgan. He grabbed her.
"Where do you think you're going? You can't do him any good now all you'll do is get yourself killed too," said Ettore as he turned her around. "Come on let's go back to the room."
"What happened out there? We lost visual and the audio was scrambled," said Alex as she sniffled. She wanted to cry but just didn't have any tears left. "What am I going to tell my mom?"
"You can tell her he went out the way he wanted to go on mission protecting the nation and the people he cared about."
"Oh Morgan hold me, just hold me for a few seconds, please. I don't care if you're wet I just need to be held," she said as she looked up into his eyes then kissed him. He put his arms around her then they went back to the room together.
"Can you bring the guys up back at the base while if get changed," said Ettore pointing at the television. He went into the bedroom smiling inside this was going better than he expected. He looked through Morgan's cloths not finding much he liked but he put something together then he went into the bathroom and changed.
"Maybe a little musk will do the trick," he said as he started to spray himself that's when he noticed it. He recalled when he swapped out clothes with Morgan he had a scar on his chest that he didn't have.
"Crap," he said as he rubbed where the scar should be. If Alex saw him without his shirt on she'd know who he was instantly and that would unravel everything else with violent repercussions.
[Back in the Common Room]
Alex brought Chuck up on the television slash monitor. He and Sarah saw Alex's face covered with mascara streaks running down and her red bloodshot eyes. Chuck had to look away his heart went out to her but he had little to offer.
"Sarah, can you talk to her I don't know if I can," said Chuck as he got up and Sarah sat down. She had trouble too but she paused took a deep breath then told Alex the situation.
"Alex, we've contacted Langley and there's a spy sat overhead scouring the ocean looking for him but the weather isn't helping. Chuck contacted the submarine that's shadowing you and asked for their assistance. They've launched a life raft but in the storm well it may already be too late."
"I can't accept that… I won't. You've got to come up with something more. Please this is John we're talking about… we're talking about my Dad. I was cheated out of years with him it can't end now. I'm not ready," said Alex as tears started to flow again.
"Believe me," said Chuck as he came back standing behind Sarah. "Believe me when I tell you we're doing everything. I won't stop or let up until we know one way or the other. Has Morgan said what happened? Where's he anyway?"
"I'm here," said Ettore as he came out of the bedroom with a towel drying his hair. "There's not much to say. We'd cut through the bulkhead then John went over kick in the hole. I don't know why but he undid the hose he had us tethered together with then a freak wave hit at the same time and before I could get to him he was gone. It was all my fault if I hadn't insisted on going or if I'd moved faster he might still be with us now."
"Morgan, don't beat yourself up and don't second guess what you could've or should've done. It won't bring him back. Things like this happen and it's no one's fault," said Sarah. "We've been very lucky so far that we haven't lost anyone considering the number of missions we've been on. I know this is going to sound cold but you guys need to get your head back in the game. As soon as they open that compartment they're going to find their canisters are missing along with a hole in the bulkhead. The first thing they'll do is a ship wide search so you're going to have to explain why Ettore and Paolo have been tanq'd and Casey's missing.
"I've been thinking about that," said Ettore. "We can blame Casey's disappearance on Ettore so we tranq'd him until we get back to port to deal with him."
"I don't know if that's going to fly but you both have to adamant and stick to the story. Alex, you're in charge of the team now. Chuck's sent anonymous messages to each of your fellow bidders warning them that Hamid is working out under the table deals with rivals to cut them out of the picture."
"Oh that's going to tick off a lot of very nasty people," said Ettore. He smiled thinking the plan was diabolically smart. He was a little jealous he hadn't thought of it.
"Morgan, little buddy," said Chuck. "Do you feel okay? You seem to be taking this incident with Casey awfully calmly. I can understand if you're in shock but you've got to hold it together.
"Yes, shock that's what it is. Don't worry I can… we can get through this together," said Ettore as he reached over and took Alex's hand. "Right Amo?"
"Oh Morgan you can drop the cover now. I need my Morgan now more than ever."
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Hamid was down on the main deck looking over the auction room making sure everything was in its place. The replicas that were to be sold fared the roll the night before well with only slight damage but the truth was he could've cared less about them what was important was the items they represented. His system was simple each item represented a canister so he's plan was to sell them off individually maximizing his profit margin.
"Mr. Hamid," said Jacque, the Corsican terrorist. "You preached to me about how this auction of yours was supposed to be fair and equal when you refused my money on the side. Now I find out you've been dealing with those Basque dogs behind everyone's back. I won't stand to be made fun of by anyone."
"I don't know what you're taking about. Who's doing what to whom behind their backs? Can't you see I'm getting ready to start the bidding?"
"Hold up there Pepé Le Pew," said a voice behind them. Turning around Jacque found Enrico one of the Basque terrorists. "I knew you'd try something underhanded like that. If you don't mind and even if you do I need a word with our host."
"Why do you need to talk to him? My understand is you've got what you wanted and now the rest of us are out in the cold. I, for one, am not going to just roll over and just play dead."
"Keep it up and you might not be playing. What are you talking about? You need to clean that pâté out of your ears. I've got nothing. First I get a message saying the fix is in then I get another one saying you've made a new deal with the German Red Army Faction. I want to know what gives and you'd better have a good answer."
"Will both of you calm down, I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't made any deals with anyone. Jacque, it's like I told you I don't know where the Captain and the First Mate hid the canisters on board. After the Auction they will go and retrieve them then the people who purchase canisters will be able to pick them up. There's nothing else going on."
"You'd better be on the up and up with us or you're going to need to a very good flak jacket and an army you can rely on to get out of here in one piece."
"Like I said the auction will begin in a little while so if you two don't mind I need to make sure everything is set," said Hamid as he tried to walk out but instead he bumped into the Chinese Triad representatives on their way to see him.
"We need a word with you," said the one as they gave Jacque and Enrico the once over wondering why they were standing there with him.
"I know you got an anonymous message too. I can reassure everyone in four hours the auction begins. Bring your banking router information with and access to funds that I can hold in escrow. You can consider the 250 grand as a registration fee. If you want I can give you a receipt for tax purposes. Now I really have to go," said Hamid before leaving.
Hamid got away from the crowd as fast as he could making a beeline up to the Captain's cabin. On the way he turned in his head what was going on and why someone would do something like this. When he got to the cabin he knocked on the door then was invited in. Captain Bligh was sitting on the other side of his desk looking at his computer screen. Hamid shook his head wondering if Bligh had gotten this anonymous message too.
"Before you say anything, I don't know anything and I'm certainly not in cahoots with anyone so with that being said I need those canisters now. Maybe if I put them out so these people can see them they'll understand someone is lying to them."
"What are you babbling about? Cahoots? You put those canisters out and you're inviting someone to try and grab them. What do you think will follow? I can tell you war. No, I wasn't going to accuse you but if you're protesting so much maybe there's something you want to confess?" Hamid shook his head. "Maybe you're right we need to get those canister but first I need a word with my First Mate."
What had set the Captain off was he had received a message warning him that the crew was about to mutiny and the First Mate was behind it.
"Well if you're going to get them I'd hurry because our guests are getting restless," said Hamid. The Captain just waved him off. He stood there as Bligh called up to the bridge then put the call on speaker.
"Third Mate, I want you and the First Mate in my cabin as soon as possible. What's the weather like outside now? The forecast called for clear skies."
"Yes Sir, the front is starting to move away and the seas are still choppy but nothing like what we had before."
"Good announce that the weather decks are no longer secured but people need to use caution when moving about. Then have a repair party go out and check for damage. I want them to investigate how that lifeboat broke free. Once all that is underway I want you two in my cabin."
"Roger that Sir." The Captain he hung up then turned back to Hamid.
"Okay Hamid, now explain to me what's going on and why are the natives restless?"