The Regroup

Nelson was back to duty. Morton wanted to discuss getting Crane home for convalescence. The Admiral opposed this adamantly. He explained to Morton that as acting captain he now had clearance to hear certain classified details of the mission. Nelson said that the hijackers were working under false information or interpretation. Their information was that the top officer of the Seaview was the delegate to the missile complex commissioning.

"They assumed I was the 'top officer' and going to the installation commissioning as one of the delegates. That's why they didn't hurt me. They needed me to give them the mission details so they could infiltrate the commissioning and then use me as their way in. If they visibly injured me questions might be asked when I arrived."

Morton nodded, "I understand."

"When I realized that's what they thought, it actually made it much easier for both the Captain and I during the questioning."

Morton grimaced and interjected, "How so?"

"What they didn't seem to know was that the 'top officer' of the Seaview is, of course the Commanding Officer, Captain Crane. He is the delegate. Lee has his own orders for this mission and I don't know the classified details yet as those orders are still sealed until the day we arrive at the coordinates."

"I see, but how did that make it easier?"

"Well, no matter what they did to get me to talk, all I had to do was say, I can't, or I won't, give you that information. I didn't have to try to be silent or try to keep track of a cover story. As long as I never gave any indication that Lee was the delegate they focused all the questioning on me. They never asked Lee for any information, so he didn't give anything away."

They both knew now that Lee had something the captors wanted but never gave them.

Morton queried, "Except they nearly killed him. How did he not tell them what they wanted to know just to stop that?"

"Mm hmm … I don't know how he did it." Nelson paused with a grimace of his own at the memory. After a couple of moments he shook it off and continued, "But the important thing is that for some reason they completely disregarded him as being of any importance to the mission. They only wanted him as leverage against me. That's why they failed to get any information. And that is exactly our advantage now; they have disregarded him."

"But if Lee is the delegate the mission will have to be aborted. He's on the sick list and will be for quite some time. He's in no shape to fulfill his duties right now."

"We'll see."

"You mean you want him to complete the mission in his state?"

"Yes, exactly."

"But that isn't fair to him. He isn't fit for duty."

"No, not full duties certainly, but perhaps modified duties … just for a day or two for the commissioning. It's pretty much just ceremonial activity."

"But, Admiral, … if there's some plot to disrupt the commissioning ceremonies it could change into some else quite quickly. We can't put Lee at risk in his state."

"Chip, right now we are at an advantage. We know now that they are trying to sabotage or infiltrate the commissioning. The hijackers were not working independently. They were just a team for one job. We can be sure whoever is behind this has more cards to play. Crane is part of our hand in this game. They haven't considered him before, and they still don't know he is in the game. This can give us an edge."

The Skipper's meal trays always seemed to come back as full as when they left the galley. This concerned both the Doctor and the Steward. The Steward visited sick bay to talk to Doc and then the Skipper. After some discussion the Steward found that the Skipper felt ill at the sight of food. They decided to try just soup, juice, and tea. That's all they sent up to sick bay the next day to see if the Skipper could manage that.

Admiral Nelson, the Doctor, Mr. Morton and the Chief were discussing how to care for the Skipper while the Seaview was enroute to the commissioning.

The Doctor stated, "I can't agree with any of this, Admiral, the whole idea is against my better judgement. He needs to go home."

"Doctor, I acknowledge that you normally have the final say on the men's medical wellbeing, however you do understand the strategic advantage we have right now."

"I understand that Captain Crane is not fit for any duty."

Nelson was unmovable. "He certainly isn't right now. But there are several days yet before the commissioning."

"Admiral, to be perfectly clear, injuries such as his do not heal in a few days not even in a couple of weeks. Not to mention other repercussions of the incident. Also, he's not eating well so he isn't gaining as quickly as I would like."

"Well, what he theoretically does or doesn't do later this week doesn't really matter yet. Until we head for home we need to keep him comfortable and recovering. How do we do that?"

Morton replied, "When he is awake, if he is feeling not too badly, he might not like being in sick bay or alone in his cabin."

"Mm hmm," agreed Nelson.

"But he will need plenty of rest as he's recuperating." Added the doctor.

The Chief asked, "Would it be possible to set him up in the Nose when he isn't doing whatever it is … sleeping … therapy … ? It's not regulation but could we make an exception for a few days? You know like a chair that's more comfortable then the usual ones? Maybe some books or such?"

Nelson looked at the Doc, "We did something like that for him for a couple of days after the U2 crashes incident.* How about it, Doctor? Once you clear him to leave sick bay and until we can get him to Santa Barbara can he recover in his cabin with access to the Nose and wardroom when he feels up to it?"

The Doctor replied, "I am perfectly happy for him to recover uneventfully. That's all I can say at the moment. I don't think he is ready to move around yet, but when he is I insist on having a corpsman assigned to him when he isn't in sick bay or his cabin for the next while. I don't want him tripping over hatches or falling down ladders." The Doc paused, then went on, "And no uniform. I want to protect him from assuming duties just because he is on hand in the Nose. So I don't want him to look like he is on duty."

Nelson replied, "All right, Doctor, we'll have a corpsman with the Skipper, and the Skipper in his civvies."

Nelson looked over at Morton, "Chip, you're acting captain at the moment, will you be okay with this plan? We did have the Skipper hang out in the Nose once before but only for a couple of days and it was before the refit so the Nose wasn't visible from the control room back then. This will be for a longer time. Will having him underfoot inconvenience you?"

"I think he will do better if he can be near others when he feels able to be. Chief, set things up."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

* The Magnus Beam