Chapter 9
Navcom
Mike entered the building in a bad temper. What was to be a cosy evening had ended in complete disaster with an angry Kate. He was racking his brains for a way to calm her down again and put things right before they left for the next patrol. He took a quick look at his clothes. Bermuda shorts and a loose, short sleeved red shirt weren't exactly the perfect outfit for a second in command.
He entered the control room and immediately noticed that there was more activity than normal. He recognised Maxine by her blond hair. Her back was to him behind the row of desks. She was wearing a headset and talking to someone. He walked towards her and she must have seen him out of the corner of her eyes because she turned to him.
A wide smile spread across Mike's face.
I'm not the only one looking ridiculous here! It's priceless!
She wore a white tennis polo shirt, a very short white skirt and a pair of white sneakers reddened by the gravel of the tennis court. He also noticed that some sailors of the control room were ogling at her well formed legs.
She glared at him, "Wipe that grin off your face otherwise I'll cancel your shore leave for the next twelve months!"
"Wow Max! In such a bad mood?", he said light-heartedly.
"No time for jokes Mike! We've a serious situation to deal with. Alert level 2 is now active", she said firmly.
He frowned. "What's going on?"
"The Indonesian Intelligence Service got wind of terrorists in their country. They observed them and they found out that they wanted to enter our country a few months ago", she said.
He looked at her suspiciously, "And they couldn't have said that sooner?"
"They did it, to our secret service, but not to the Navy. They had some information a few days ago that those bastards wanted to come into the country one of these days. This afternoon the secret service received the signal that they were going to cross the border today and an Indonesian coast guard plane noticed increased boats in an area with little traffic. And here we enter the picture. We must block all inlets and creeks where a boat can pass. I know it's impossible to scan our entire border, but when we look at places where there's a road infrastructure or an airstrip, then it becomes a bit easier. But that means there's still a massive amount of possible landing spots. And that's where I need you. You know the coast line pretty well and you can probably make the difference by stopping them. The whole operation is called Operation Advance", she told him.
Mike nodded, "Yeah, I see. Do you have any charts here?"
"Yeah, all of them!", she said, pointing to a huge chart table with a stack of charts on it. They both walked over the table and started unfolding them.
"Max, do you know you look sexy?", he whispered between his teeth.
She looked at him baffled, "Don't you have anything else to do?", she snapped back between her teeth.
"Don't lean over too far on the table!", he advised her quietly.
She looked daggers at him, "Won't you never change? Moreover, it's not because I'm blonde that I'm stupid!", she grumbled.
With a broad grin, Mike began to study the charts.
Thirty minutes later he had compiled a list which he handed to Maxine.
She began reading and nodded slightly. "Yes, yes, that was also my idea, but nevertheless it's still quite a list."
She put the paper on the desk and looked at the big chart against the wall. "Where do we have our units?".
A lieutenant handed her a list with the locations of the Cairns and Darwin base ships.
Mike and Maxine compared the list with Mike's and she shook her hand.
"Nope, we can't cover them all. We'll have to get the Hammerley and the Kingston back to sea. Call your crew and call Curry. If you're short on men, I'll send some from the base. And choose the operation area for you and Curry.", she said.
"I'll take Torres Street and the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula and him the area south of me", Mike said.
Maxine nodded, "Good. Keep them alive, but not at the expense of our own men! When you get Curry on the line, send him to me first for his orders", she said.
"Okay", Mike said, grabbing his mobile.
At the same time a NCO came to put several files with photos of suspicious men on the table and without wanting to, he dropped the paper on the ground.
Maxine saw it and mechanically leaned towards to pick it up, showing her buttocks barely covered in tiny panties to the majority of the men in the control room. Mike saw it too and took a quick look around to see all the smirking faces froze under his glare.
He leaned towards Maxine and whispered in her ear, "Max, you've just written the history of the Navy".
"Huh?"
"You leaned towards to pick up that paper", he said deadpan.
Maxine's eyes widened and she turned bright red then she realised what she had said about being blonde. So she squinted and snapped, forgetting the formalities, "You bastard, get your crew and Spicy, and get the hell out of here! Now!".
With a poker face he walked away and selected Lt Cdr Richard Curry's number and waited.
"Curry speaking!", he heard.
"Ah Dick, it's Mike Flynn here. Sorry for your leave, but you and your crew are crash sailed", he said.
"Sir, is there no one else who can do the job? We never had a shore leave that we could complete", Curry said.
"We now have alert number 2. So you better hurry. Get your crew men back and then come to Navcom to pick up your orders", Mike answered.
"Alert 2? Wow, serious! I'm coming", he answered and ended the call.
Then Mike dialled Kate.
"Yes?", he heard her grumbling.
Ouch, the storm still hasn't passed..
"Kate, we have alert number 2. We're crash sailed. Come to the ship as soon as possible, but could you go to my house? Bring me two DPNU's and some underwear. Thanks", he asked.
"Okay, I'm coming", she answered in her professional mode.
He ended the call, raising his eyebrows.
Not a word too much either!
Then, he typed a text message to the crew to come back to the ship. After receiving a file from Maxine containing details of the operation such as Navy, coast guard, army and federal police coordinates, other operation areas, number and description suspected vessels and a list of suspicious men, he was driven to the Hammersley and headed straight for the control room to survey their operation area. Shortly after, the first crew member showed up. Harpie was the first to peek inside. "Any trouble boss?"
"Ah Harpie, yes and no. We have to make sure there are no trouble. I'll brief the senior NCOs when they arrive. Meanwhile, check everything so we can leave as soon as possible", he said.
"All right!", he said and left.
Half an hour later, Kate appeared at the bridge. She was already wearing her DPNU uniform.
"Ah X!", Mike greeted her.
"Sir, I just put your bag in your cabin", she said.
"Thanks X", Mike said looking at her. He noticed that her eyes were red and puffy.
"X, are you okay? Are you still angry?", he asked.
She glared at him, "No sir, just disappointed, terribly disappointed", she replied sadly
"Did we already take orders from Navcom?", she added immediately.
Ouch, I have to think of something to make up with her, again!
"Yes X, we did. Can you check who of the crew and senior NCOs is already aboard? Then I'll brief you", he said.
Five minutes later she was back, "All senior NCOs are aboard and we have ninety percent strength", she said.
"Okay X, briefing!", Mike said confidently.
Mike stood in the control room and waited for the last man to enter. He looked around, Kate as his XO, Charge as chief engineer, Jerry as bosun, Harpie as swain, RO as radioman and Bomber as medic.
"Okay, we have a serious situation. Alert number 2. This means that the security of our country is threatened. Our intelligence service and that of Indonesia have been busy for months exploring a terrorist cell. These bastards wanted to sneak into our country to disappear and to pop up in our cities at major events with crowds of people. The cross-over is expected in the coming days. We assume this is going to happen with a few boats, the boats that we recognise as fishing boats. Our task is to stop them. Each ship is loaded and has a small region to lock. We have Torres Street and the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula. The Kingston will be south of us. So, each FFV must be inspected or better said be turned upside down. And, keep in mind that those bastards are pretty dangerous! So, full Kevlar! Finally, it will take us twenty three hours to reach our patrol area. And last, but not least, the action is called Operation Advance. Any question?", Mike said.
Harpie raised his hand, "What can we expect sir?"
"Everything! Handguns, machine guns, explosives, even heavy weapons that can be carried around like RPGs", Mike said.
"Hmm, jolly good!", he mumbled.
"How much?", Kate asked.
Mike shrugged, "The secret service didn't come up with numbers, but I'm guessing it's not just one man, looking at the setup of the operation.
She grimaced, "So, we'll never know if we caught them all?"
"They will do it afterwards, when they compare the catches with the list of suspicious people. It's the trickiest. They know when they are going to cross the border, but not how many and who", Mike added.
"More questions?"
The men in the room shook their heads.
"Okay then, carry on", he replied.
The men left the control room and Kate was the last. When she wanted to leave he pulled her by the sleeve. "Kate, are you feeling a little better?", he whispered.
She looked at him, rolled her eyes and sighed, "I have to, haven't I? We do it for our country and our personal life doesn't matter now. I just had a dream that we could have…", she whispered but didn't finish her sentence.
"I can't help it either", he replied.
She shrugged, "I know. I don't know how it happened, but I'm a bit touchy lately".
He gave her a wink and a gentle pat on the back, "We'll do better and bigger the next time, okay?"
Kate smiled faintly, "Yeah, we will", she said before both headed off towards the bridge.
The next day, they sailed to their operation area. Mike sat in the captain's chair and Kate beside him watching the radar screen. It was almost noon and lunch was almost ready. The flavours of prepared meals filled the bridge, as usual.
Kate sniffed and looked around, frowning. "Don't you smell that? There's definitely something wrong with the ventilation".
The men around them also sniffed too and shook their heads.
"It doesn't smell weird. It's like everyday", Charge said.
Kate looked irritated, "Charge, I would like you to ask 2Dads to look at the ventilation. It stinks here!", she said and headed out to the outer bridge for some fresh air.
Mike and the others looked at each other with questioning faces.
During the afternoon, a discussion took place between Charge, 2Dads and Swain about one of Charge's conspiracy theories.
Mike had already noticed how Kate's mood had deteriorated by a number of small grumblings.
At one point, she stood up and looked at the men, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
Mike seemed surprised by his girlfriend's outburst.
"X, take a break and go have a brew", he said kindly.
She glared at him, then her face softened and she mumbled, "Yeah, okay".
She left the bridge and headed for the galley where Bomber was making muffins for tea. The radio was on. She saw Kate entering the galley, "Hey X", she greeted her.
"Hi", Kate said with a sigh.
"Trouble?"
Kate replied with a shrug, picked up a mug and filled it with coffee.
Bomber watched her and waited. She knew Kate was going to say something. She just had to wait a bit and continued with the muffins.
Meanwhile, a song started on the radio.
Rebecca heard a sniffle, looked up and saw tears rolling down Kate's face.
"X, Kate, are you okay?", she asked, worried.
Kate came back to reality, set the mug on de counter and angrily wiped her eyes, "Fuck, Becca, I don't know what's wrong with me. A minute ago I bit some guys head off for something really ridiculous and now I'm crying like school girl over a stupid song. It happened yesterday too when I drove to the base. The radio was playing and I was crying. I never cry over songs and I don't bite people's heads off for ridiculous things!", she said annoyed.
Rebecca leaned next to Kate against the counter, "Maybe, it's just stress or you're overtired. It has been tough with Jerry, you know. Try to relax during the next shore leave. A bath, lots of foam, doing nothing, enjoying the sun, if you know what I mean".
Kate smiled weakly and nodded, "Overtired. Yeah, probably. I can't deny it. Your advice is tempting".
Rebecca smiled, "Trust me, it will work!"
To be continued