Chapter 24

Bomber followed the figure she'd seen cautiously to the stern
"Bomber, wait!", Charge urged but the young woman did not stop. She ducked under the window of the wheelhouse and staying crouched moved slowly around the structure. Charge saw her disappear around the corner and then heard an infuriated yell. He hurried after her and stopped dead. Bomber stood there panting, pointing her gun at a fisherman kneeling at the side of something he couldn't see from his site. The man slowly raised his clammy hands, red drops dripping down on the deck.
"Bomber, lower you weapon."
Andy moved slowly closer, not wanting to startle her. She didn't seem to take notice of her surrounding. The brown eyes were transfixed on the man, giving him a withering look, her index finger bent around the trigger.
"Bomber. Come on, lower your weapon, mate. Don't do something you would regret later." The engineer reached out after the gun and softly pushed her down. The fisherman stood up, hands still lifted over his head. Andy turned his head. "You! Stay where you are! Bomber, you OK?"
The able seaman shook her head and looked at him like she'd just awaken from a really bad nightmare. "Yes, Charge. I'm fine, thanks.", she answered with some hesitation. "More precisely: I will be so as soon as we leave that ship. It makes me squirm."
"So why don't you leave right now? Better go fast." The other man lowered his hands an inch and pointed accusingly at her. "You know, that woman is crazy. Freaking out with no reason, pointing a gun at me. What's your problem, girl? That's just a junk of meat."
With his last words, he kicked at the thing laying at his feet. Bomber moved so fast Charge had no chance to stop her. Before he could do something, she punched the man right into his face. Her opponent went down with no sound, the nose started bleeding instantly. Charge grabbed Rebecca's vest and pulled her back before she could go after him. "Bomber, that's enough...". He didn't finish his sentence. When he'd stepped forward to stop her he caught a glimpse of what she had seen the whole time. The picture corroborated the theory they had had from the beginning. A gray dolphin lay on the deck, fins already cut off. When she turned around, Charge could see that Bomber had tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat before saying: "He wanted to throw him overboard to cover up their doing. I caught him before he could finish what he was doing." Her voice broke.

"What's happening here?" A sharp voice came from behind them. Turning round the two sailors saw Kate standing at the wheelhouse, Buffer at her heels. Before Bomber or the fisherman could say something, Charge answered: "Bomber and I caught that man in the act of throwing the evidence overboard. He slipped at the blood."
Warily Kate looked at the man holding his bleeding nose. Then she stepped aside and ordered to bring the fisherman back to the others at the bow. "See that he gets something for his nose." And giving Bomber a knowing glance, she added: "And make sure he doesn't slip again."

With furrows in his brow Lieutenant Commander Flynn read the report he had just gotten. Having finished it he looked up at his second in command standing at the door. "That's all what happened?", he asked her.
"Yes, Sir, that's all. Swain is currently looking at the man, the nose seems not to be broken. Rest of the crew is austere, a steaming party left aboard the FFV to sail it back to Cairns."
Kate met his glance without blinking. She knew exactly what he was thinking off. Pushing away from the door where she had leaned before and straightening herself, she said: "I already talked to Bomber and Charge. Next time, they're going to be more careful and take care that nobody's slipping. On the part of the fishing crew I'm pretty sure there will be no charge against the two of them."
Mike shook his head. "Kate, I really do understand the situation but I can't tolerate such he-just-slipped-accidents. You know that."
She gave him a nod of assent. "And I am absolutely with you on that matter. But I'm really sure it won't happen again. I talked to both of them. Bomber's more than embarrassed, I'm certain she already regrets what happened. Well not the bleeding nose but sure her loss of control. Remember when she came aboard? Bomber by name, Bomber by nature, that's what Spider described her once. She has changed a lot since then, hasn't she? We don't know what really happened. I can vividly imagine it but we don't know for sure. To be honest, I don't know how I would have reacted in the situation." She swallowed and rubbed her eyes with her left hand, trying to get the picture out of her mind. "There was so much blood at the deck and fins of at least four or five dolphins." Shaking her head, she continued: "More then enough to throw a curve ball to any one. I'm going to have nightmares on this one."
The Lieutenant Commander laid the report at his desk and stood up. "Well then. We leave it there for now. But Kate, no more slipping accidents, are we clear?" The blonde female nodded and smiled wearily.
"This day started so good and ended with a mess. If you don't need me anymore, I'm going to take a hot shower and to see if Nav has some chocolate left at her secret stash."
Mike smiled back. "If she hasn't spared you something, you can always knock at my door, X. I do have my own secret stash. Sleep well."
"Thanks Sir. You too." Kate turned and left the cabin.
Mike sighed. He had wanted to lay his hands on her shoulders, give her a friendly hug, caress her back and drive away her cares with a gentle stroke over her beautiful hair. But since the evening they had had dinner together, or more precisely the morning after, she was oddly reserved. He couldn't explain it.

Kate sat at her bunk, arms around her knees, sucking on a piece of milk chocolate. After a soft knock the door opened and Nikki entered. "What a day!", she said and collapsed into a chair. Noticing the sweets, she raised an eyebrow. "That bad?", she asked. Kate nodded. Nav helped herself with some chocolate too and rummaged through the stuff at the table looking for the fish food. She smiled sadly and fed the little clown fish that circled around the treasure chest at his fishbowl, unaware of the trouble around him.
Kate was glad that Nikki didn't asked what had happened. She was pretty sure the other female already knew enough from the others and she wasn't in the mood to talk right now. Relishing the sweet mousse in her mouth, she closed her eyes and leaned back at the wall. It was a mess. Not just the incident at the fishing vessel, the whole situation was. Mike and herself. Both of them at the same boat. She had thought it wouldn't matter, that they both were professionals. But it was getting more of a problem than she had expected. Every time they met, she got unsure of what to do, to say. She found herself thinking over everything she did, second guessing every word. Was that gesture appropriate? Was this OK to say for a second in command or was it already to private? It would take a load off her mind if he was serious about getting a shore posting. It would be perfect. But was it fair to ask for it? Mike was married to patrol boats, that's what he had said himself. Opening her eyes Kate reached for some more chocolate. Her glance fell on Nikki who still had her hands laying on the fishbowl, thoughts far away. At least, I still do have something to dream about.

As promised by the stiff breeze earlier that day, the sea was heavy, big waves pushing hard against the hull as if trying to capsize the defiant ship that resisted to stop in his way and dared to resist them. At the galley, Bomber sat on the floor, leaning her back against a cupboard. Oblivious of the rolling, she stared vacantly into space and absentminded turned a carrot round in her hands. The girl didn't even notice the knocking nor the door being opened and someone coming in. A hand patted her shoulder.
"Want to talk?", a male voice asked with a mixture of concern and compassion. When no answer came, the young sailor sat down beside her and continued, more mockingly now: "Just that you know, I do expect a breakfast in less than four hours so shouldn't you be asleep?"
Not bothering to turn her head, Bomber answered without any emotion: "Don't worry 2Dads, you'll get your breakfast. I won't step out of line again." She felt silent again, the carrot still moving in her restless hands. 2Dads cleared his throat. Now it's coming, she thought.
"So that's what you call it? Stepping out of line? I would call it wrong behavior, misjudgment, insubordination..."
"Stop it, please." Rebecca jumped up, the carrot thrown to the floor with an unnoticed force of anger and started pacing up and down the small galley. "2Dads, I don't know what drove me back there. Really, if I could go back and be there again, I would act differently."
He waited for her to pass by and grabbed her wrist, stopping her in mid-movement. "You stop it, Bomber. We both know that you wouldn't act differently. And it's good as it is. That's you, Bomber. That's who you are. You love every living creature. You hate injustice. You care. Well, maybe to much sometimes. "
Bomber freed herself from his grip and continued her restless pacing. "I thought I've changed. That I have myself under control. Seems I don't. Wanna know what the X said? We do have rules, Seaman, we do have protocols. We follow them, we follow the law. That's what differs us from them. I don't want to be like them, 2Dads. I'm not, am I?" Rebecca made a vague gesture in the direction where the fishing crew was lodged in austere, her last sentence more a plea to disagree than a question.
Leo studied her for some time, letting her blow of steam. Then he reached out for her again and pulled her to the floor next to him. Resting both of his hands on her shoulders, he looked in her beautiful brown eyes that usually had that cheerful sparkle but now were watering again.
"Bomber, I mean it, really. Stop it. What you think why the X or the CO haven't acted? Why do you think aren't there any consequences other than the private talk with the X which I have to admit can be really unpleasant? Because they know that you have changed. That you aren't the fuming Bomber you'd been when you came aboard, throwing apples at your crew mates and exploding at the mention of french fries. But you're still you. That's what we all like about you." He stopped for a second and admitted: "That's what I like about you." Not giving her a chance to enlarge upon that point, he hastily continued: "If ever somebody has deserved it, then that scumbag has. Believe me when I say, there's nobody aboard who wouldn't wish to do what you did. It's not what's in the protocol. But we all do understand why you did it. So if you still want to change who you are, go ahead. But please don't change to much."
Before Bomber could answer, the door opened again and Buffer stood in the passage, looking surprised by the picture that unfolded before his eyes. Leo pulled himself together first and stood up. Cheerily he said in a chatty tone: "Sorry Buff'. That's a midnight junior sailor's galley meeting. You're way to old for participation."
Never being at a loss for an answer, the older seaman paid him out in his own coin: "I'm not here to participate but to put you to bed, 2Dads. It's already late and your mummy said you should be in bed at seven."

Although the heavy sea made it hard to navigate, the small vessel managed the entry into the underwater labyrinth around the group of islands. Slowly it made its way past reefs and rocks, unnoticed or ignored by the natural inhabitants. Only a shoal of fish scattered in all direction when the unfamiliar shape approached them. The ship vanished into a underwater cave. Some times later, two black figures in wetsuits made their way back out, trailing shimmery bubbles behind them. They surfaced and shortly later were picked up by a motorboat. By then, the shoal of fish already had resumed the interrupted evening meal.