The Nathan James
Tex was cleaning his gun. He knew Kathleen was in the helo bay, the helo bay where the lab had once been. He tried not to think too much about that. He tried not to think about how mad he knew Rachel was that she couldn't be here. He kept his eyes on his gun. Thinking wasn't worth it.
They'd had a big fight about the fact that he decided to join the crew again. It wasn't in any official position with the Navy. It was in fact as a consultant and contractor. He had no interest in putting on a uniform or playing by silly weird rules. But he tried his best. It was because he almost died when Shaw shot him. Rachel didn't want him to go. And for the most part he listened. Until it was too late. The world was going to hell and they both knew it. And she knew that she had to be in St. Louis with the best equipment trying to find a cure to the problem they all shared.
Sunshine, Kathleen's helicopter pilot, told him how Kathleen and Ray, who had at first been the snot nosed kid that they picked up, but turned out to be a pretty brave sailor when it came down to it, they were making eyes at each other. He had trepidations. He was her father. He would always have trepidations about the men that Kathleen would like, but he supposed there could be way worse guys for her to be making eyes at.
"Tex," Kara said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
He looked up and smiled, "Right," He told her. He reassembled the clean gun quickly and followed her to the meeting that they were both needed for.
When they reached the room, Slattery smiled, "Commander," to Kara.
"So just how is this party going down?" Tex asked as he got into the room and looked at the screen that they were all supposed to be looking at.
Slattery shook his head and bypassed the remark, "Fletcher," He said.
Tex had a feeling Fletcher was going to tell them exactly how the party was about to go down.
St. Louis
"Oran, Algeria," The president said. "That's where they believe they'll find the seeds. There's some pretty clear evidence to suggest it."
She nodded. "Oran, was, maybe still is, a thriving city with a variety of cultures." She had spent a lot of time in that part of the world as a researcher. The thing about places like that, where the west didn't necessarily care to take them into the fold was that there wasn't the presence of easily accessible medicine. Which meant a lot of disease went rampant. But she was still awed by the fact that so many cultures could live in peace. It was different from the common picture of the warring tribes. There were always squabbles, but not wars.
"You're right. It is a city of cultures, but since the calamities have happened Oran has reorganized itself a little bit," He said as he pulled up the information that he was given. "Here," He pointed at an area on the map. "Is where the informant's people took refuge. It's called El Hamri, they tell me. If everything lines up, that's where the Nathan James is headed next, to find the seeds."
She looked at all the information laid out on the table. There was so much there. This had been pulled together very quickly. She looked over to the door, where Ravit was standing on the outside. She wanted Ravit's insight on this. She wasn't exactly from the region, but she would have some more insight than many Americans would.
"So I'll be allowed to go?" She asked him.
He grimaced. "You are needed here. You provide morale here. You hold a top research position here. Why do you want to go where nothing might pan out?" He asked.
She shoved away from the table and groaned. "Then why even tell me this? My husband and my step-child are out there fighting for what could save humanity and all I am over here is a symbol?" She asked him. "I need to go. Either let me go or stop bringing me into these meetings because I am over it. I'll be the symbol you need, but I won't be happy about it," She said as turned to leave.
"I need symbols," He said frankly, "You don't see it, but they are rioting in the streets again. I am trying to keep the peace, and you are an important part of that. I have no idea why you are so insistent. Being out in the field is what got you almost killed in the first place." He said, with a defeated tone. "Just give me a little more time. And I promise, I'll let you aboard the Nathan James. We just need to make sure we have those seeds first." He said.
She turned to face him again. "They'll want to send the seeds directly here. It doesn't make sense that you want to keep waiting," She told him. She knew those people. She knew that they would want to put the least amount of variables in place with the seeds. That would mean getting them here as quickly as possible. And that meant flight. As much as she loved being aboard the Nathan James, it was not the fastest way to travel. Especially with something so sensitive.
He took a long moment to think about what she had said. She saw something curious that caught her attention so as not to just walk out of the room. He shrugged. "I hate it when you're right. And I want you to be there to testify that the seeds are verifiable and that we can start using them as soon as possible. I want you on the flight with the seeds when they come back," He told her. "We'll need both of you,"
She nodded, "Understood, sir,"
"An escort will take you and Bivas to the depot where you'll get on a helicopter and rendevous with the Nathan James," That seemed to be a very fine plan indeed. She nodded to him again. "Alright, well, you're dismissed," He said as he flicked his hand toward the door.
When she left, she gave a smile to Ravit, who nodded with appreciation. They were going to go back to where they belonged. Back to where their whole family was. The Nathan James. Things would not be easy, but they would be normal.
The Nathan James
While they weren't apprised of who was going to be joining up with them, they were apprised that someone was going to be joining up with them, and quickly. A flight was already in the air, ready for their position. And they were going to be americans. Well, affiliated with America. Which Tex thought was a weird way to put it, but it was what it was.
"Any guesses?" He asked Slattery.
Slattery shrugged. "No clue," He said as he took a sip of his coffee. "The only thing I know is that the order came directly from the president." He told Tex. "So whoever they are, they're important,"
"The president sent these people?" His eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
Slattery nodded and looked out the window. "Yeah, apparently, he had a change of heart on something. Needs these people. Might be nothing," Slattery told his buddy. "There's no reason for such cloak and dagger, but we'll meet them soon enough."
"Right. Right." Tex clicked his tongue. It was a little weird to him that someone else was so important to the mission and that things had apparently changed, in this the eleventh hour, so as to need someone else aboard. "More important things anyway, right?" He chuckled.
Slattery thought that was just right. "Yeah, we got to get to Algeria before Omar." He told Tex. "And that's going to be a hell of a thing."
Tex shrugged. He had seen gangsters like Omar. They were a little more brutal and used more force than necessary, but they were just guys. "We know Omar knows just about as much as we do. And we had to crack that nut after Omar. So we should be prepared for whatever this is going to be. I mean he's already told us, he doesn't care about killing us," He said as he looked around. There were still positions missing.
Slattery didn't want to think about that. "You know," He said. "It's nearly chow time. You got to eat. Why don't you meet your daughter?" He asked.
"Alright, alright." He said as he put his hands up. "Kathleen'll probably want to talk to Rachel anyway,"
He left Slattery's company and went down to the enlisted mess hall and saw Kathleen and Diaz, he rolled his eyes. He still went over to them though. "You both doing good work?" He asked.
It was Kathleen's turn to roll her eyes. "Of course dad. We're Sailors. We always do good work," She said as she elbowed him gently in the ribs.
Kathleen going in was one of the scariest things for him. She was supposed to be his baby girl. And he had kept her from enlisting during the whole thing with China because she was helping Rachel, but now, Rachel was up on her feet, generally being a menace. Well, not a menace, he thought, something close. Mischievous? Maybe. He wasn't quite sure what the right word was. After that it was hard to keep Kathleen back. Especially when he was taking jobs that he probably shouldn't.
He promised to do better with Kathleen, now that her mother was gone, but it was hard. He had slipped back into his old ways of life, quite easily.
"Any word from Rachel or Rav?" Kathleen asked.
He shook his head. "Weird too." He chuckled, "But we'll call 'em after we eat,"
That was a plan that Kathleen could get down with. And while it was weird to have both her father and her potential beau at the same table, this was sometimes how it went. Sometimes these things could not be avoided.
Above the Atlantic Ocean
Her cell phone was going off and she knew who it was. But they were on absolute lockdown until they got aboard the Nathan James. She couldn't turn it off either, because that would be too risky. They'd call again. It was best for it to be out of reach. Let it go to voicemail, so they could think that she was just busy in her lab.
When the phone ceased ringing, she let out a breath she'd been holding. Ravit squeezed her hand. Things would get easier when they were on the Nathan James. They both knew it. They would be together as a family, but they would also have their friends around them. And things wouldn't have to be so cloak and dagger all the time, because well, their friends were connected, just like they were.
Ravit stopped squeezing her hand, and opened her bag to reveal an equally ringing phone. Damn. Rachel looked at her watch and showed the time to Ravit. It was time for their normal calls. Ones where they told each other about their day. Any surprising research they might have found. Anything worth noting that could be told to each other.
Rachel squeezed Ravit's hand and they tried to hold it together because crying on a helicopter, well it wouldn't be the first time it happened, but it would still feel embarrassing, especially to Ravit. They breathed through the loss that was happening and looked out the windows. They were going to be there soon enough. They were ship hopping. With just enough fuel to land and then be refueled.
They weren't even allowed out of their compartment. They just had to wait until the Nathan James. And then none of this would matter. Their cell phones went off again and they breathed through it again, before the ringing stopped altogether. She hoped they wouldn't try again later. She didn't even really know why they brought cell phones. It's not as if they would be much use. But they still brought them. Just in case. It seemed so silly, but there they were. Being tortured by such a small device, that they had brought with them, just in case.
Several hours went by and there were no more phone calls, but the light got dimmer. They must be getting close by now. She peered out of the window and saw something beautiful. One, a ship, but two, the pillars of hercules. She'd seen them before when she was young, but she didn't appreciate the spectacular beauty that they were. Her mother tried to make her find that beauty. And while it was special, she more remembered the good moments with her mother rather than the majesty that held before them. Being the daughter of a traveling minister, she saw much of the developing world for the beauty that it had, but nature still awed her.
The pilot looked back to them, "We're going down now. You're friends, you think they'll be excited to see you?"
Rachel looked to Ravit. "Oh, I think they'll be surprised, for sure."
Ravit looked grateful that she didn't have to say anything. Rachel had said enough for the both of them. She was still shy around people she didn't know, using her voice, and would much rather sign. And that caused stares too. Being cool and quiet served Ravit anyhow. And people generally understood, that between the two of them, she was the muscle and if she was talking, it wasn't good.
The Nathan James
"Helo's touching down," Slattery informed Tex, "Let's go meet our guests."
Tex nodded. It was weird that he would be the escort for this. Normally people coming down on Helos, they weren't really his thing. But everyone else was at chow. And he famously did not eat at normal times. He snuck in there at the end.
It was a thing about living with Rachel while she did work. Sometimes, she would get so involved in work that she forgot to eat. So they ate at later times than usual. That had been true in St. Louis too. Thankfully, he could whip up some fast grub for all of them when she was ready, because when she was ready, she was ready ready. She did not like waiting for them to do something as silly as cook food.
But Rachel had gotten better about eating off a separate plate. When they were on the Nathan James, when the red flu was raging, she never got her own plate. Tex got extras of everything just to make sure that she ate. Sometimes, he went and got her and sat her down in the officer's mess so that she would eat.
"You have any idea who these cats are?" He asked.
Slattery shook his head. "No idea. Just president's orders. That's important enough," Slattery grunted as they came to the door. "They're getting out of decon now," He said as he pushed through one last door.
When she turned around, it wasn't what Tex expected at all. "Rachel?"
She looked at her watch, and smiled. "I thought you'd be in the mess hall, eating about now," Rachel smiled as he ran up and jumped on him. "You don't know how much I've missed you, Tex," She whispered into his shoulder.
He would deny it, but he was damn near openly weeping when he saw her. The separation had been hard on both of them. He didn't know how much a heart could miss another person, until he knew Rachel, but there she was. In his arms. "Baby, I thought you were doing your science from St. Louis."
"We convinced the president that I was better asset here," She said as she got down and blushed. It wasn't exactly normal on the Nathan James to have that much PDA, except at embarks and debarks. This was neither of those things. They were expected to follow much looser rules than the rest of the crew, but they were still supposed to appear as though they were very much a part of this crew. "Mike, good to see you," She said
He hugged her and grinned. "Well, now the gang really is getting back together," He said to Tex. "Why don't you escort Dr. Scott and Ms. Bivas to their rooms. I'll go share the good news with the band," He asked before he left, quietly and diligently.
"Is this why you missed my phone call?" He asked.
She nodded to him. "Couldn't exactly answer it while we were riding on a helicopter," She explained to him. "You can't imagine how beautiful it was from up there. Pillars. The blue water. This ship. It was something,"
"I can't wait to hear all about it," He said as he looked at her. He tore his gaze away briefly to open the door, "Ravit, your room," He said as he gave Ravit a keycard. And then he gave Rachel a keycard. "Right next to our room," He said as he opened the door. He wondered how long this plan had been going on for, because the room next to his had been conspicuously empty for awhile now.
Rachel put her bag down and grinned at him, "Well, it's time to eat," She said, before taking his hand and walking up to the officer's mess.
The next morning, she was working in a makeshift lab in one of the conference rooms. She didn't need much. Only a computer, some small equipment that they had thanks to Fletcher being aboard, and some space. Tex was working Slattery and the Master Chief up in the pilot's house, looking to where they were going next.
The lights went out suddenly and she thought, what a weird thing to happen. She opened the door, and sure enough, the lights were out all around. So it wasn't just her room that she was set up in. This was not the first time she'd been on the ship and she knew that if something like this was happening, it was likely something big.
She ditched her work room. Everything would be safely inside for now and she wasn't working on anything important anyway. Right now, it was just emails from the St. Louis lab, back and forth making sure that she got the newest data.
She went up to the bridge, long loping steps one after another, and got there quickly. "What's happening?" She asked.
Tex brought her to the back, where she was out of the way, "They're currently trying to figure it out." He said. "Nice first day back, huh?" He asked.
Slattery looked to Meylan to get down to the engine room and he sprinted out of their sight, quickly. Sasha and Fletcher came in right after he left. "Did we hit rocks?"
"No way, we're over 800 feet of depth."
Then they got confirmation as to why they were without power. An IED.
"An IED in the middle of the strait?" Fletcher asked.
A missile headed their way and Sasha quickly looked to Slattery. "It's gotta be Omar." She said, before she ducked out.
"Omar?" Rachel asked.
Slattery nodded. "Yeah, this son of a bitch we're trying to outrun for those seeds you need," He told her. "He was the one who initially stole them from the global seed bank. And he's not giving up that easily." He told her before he looked around. "Set general quarters. Man all crew served weapons,"
"You should get down, back to work," Tex said as he looked around. "Nothing you can do up here,"
"What about you?"
"I'll go where they need me," He said, giving her a brief kiss, before shuffling her out of the bridge and down into her makeshift lab again, before going back up to see where the fuck those missiles could have possibly come from.
"Why haven't they fired again?"
Slattery shook his head, "I'm not about to sit around and find out. What do we know about those tunnels?"
In this Fletcher was extremely responsive. "The UK used them to house guns, hangars, even a hospital during the second world war,"
"24 miles of passageways packed into three square miles," Master chief added.
"Yeah, but based upon the flight path of that missile, there are only three entrances capable of housing a launch battery," Danny said as he looked around before he looked to Slattery once again, "We could find it sir,"
Slattery, in commanding the ship, knew what he had to do.
"Alright," He said, "Get out there," To Danny and Sasha, but also to Tex. "Find that weapon, kill it."
The Rock Passageways
As they breached out of the water, they dropped the face masks and other equipment that would make it hard to navigate and drip dried through the caverns as they searched in silence. No one spoke a word, for fear of giving their position away. The enemy didn't realize that they had successfully figured out the missile plan, best not to give it away with an errant peep.
When it seemed like there was no one around, Sasha broke the silence. "All clear. Set Security." She said. And then after a beat, "Derig,"
They took off the rest of their water gear and took out guns and other essentials that would have been compromised by the water. While he thought about Rachel and how she was on the ship now, there was no time to tell her that they were going into the tunnels. And no reason to make her more worried about it than he needed to.
They reported back to the Nathan James and then moved out.
"Talk about creepy, a bat could get lost in here," Miller remarked as he looked around.
Tex smiled. "And they just might. But we're not looking for bats, we're looking for guns," He chimed as they threw glow sticks on the ground, a proverbial bread crumb to make sure that they could make it back out to where they needed to go.
He thought about bringing Ravit along, but she was there to keep Rachel safe. And right now, Rachel was safe. On the boat. So she didn't need to come along. She could stay with Rachel. To make sure that no one got to Rachel and that nothing came of her being back on the Nathan James. They went down the tunnels, looking for their monster in the dark. So far, there had been no sight of it.
"Vulture team, Mother. Be advised. There are two targets." The second the radio turned on, Danny signaled for them to all stop and listen, "I say again, there are two hostile weapons. Sending Bravo Coordinates now," And they were shortly sent.
They split off into two groups then, each taking a fork in the road, or tunnel as it were, with Tex going with Sasha, Danny, and Wolf. The other group consisted of Miller, Azima, and Burke. Hopefully, they could get through this with all of their lives, but who knew? Sometimes things were disastrous in unexpected ways.
They moved quickly and quietly, throwing the glowsticks on the ground again, to make sure that one they didn't retread old passage, but two so they could get back out. It was really important that they make it back out. So far, there was still nothing to find. Every corner they touched was unmanned, but there was an air of danger. Like they were about to step into a bear trap.
"All teams, it was here but it's gone," Burke squawked into the radio.
"No joy here, either," Danny squawked back.
"This is definitely the place," Sasha said as she looked at the rocks. "The rock face is burned by missile fire,"
"Cooper," Tex shouted, "Look at the ground,"
She grinned. "Nathan James, this is vulture," She said into her radio, "I know why it took them twenty-three minutes to fire that second shot," She looked to Tex, Wolf, and Danny, "It's not two weapons, it's one. And it's on the move,"
The Nathan James
Rachel looked at her computer, there was no internet, so there was no use being on the stupid thing, but she promised Tex that she would stay out of danger. Mainly because the last time she put herself in the spotlight, it nearly got her killed and he didn't want to go through with that again. She didn't want to either. The pain and the healing, it took a toll. She still wasn't fully the same person she once was, but she was close enough.
She decided enough was enough and she had to go help. She wouldn't exactly be betraying their discussion about keeping herself out of danger, because she was sure people would move her to safety in time, but she was not going to sit around like she wasn't used to danger. Their whole lives since they met had been danger.
The rest of the ship bustled around her, manning weapons, and demanding sitreps. One that including a lot about the make of a heavy duty truck that was carrying some kind of weapon. They were figuring out how much time they had. Something about ten minutes for missiles to go off again? It was exactly the type of thing that meant being here was the right place to be. If someone was going this far to stop them, the seeds were close and they were valuable. And they could have the world up and running if only they could get to them.
"Nathan James is less than 1.5 nautical miles from the rock sir,"
"And the likelihood it'll miss again?"
"Slim to none,"
Dammit. She held herself together. This was the best place to be. She couldn't very well do her research at a time like this. Hell, Fletcher was here, helping them. Yes, it would be going back on what she said she would do to Tex, but he cared about her safety, more than her complying with every direction that he gave, and she was sure, he would be okay with this one, not going heard.
"A direct hit to port at this range, and we'll all be drinking sea water," Master chief warned.
She chuckled a little. It was inappropriate. It was ill timed. But she couldn't help it. The way they talked, it was just something else. No one seemed to notice, except the master chief who gave her a stern look before looking back to their work.
Slattery had a plan that involved dropping the anchor and letting the spin drift the ship, so it could hit where they hurt the least. And hopefully it worked. She was focused on Tex and the teams. She was here, so she could hear their voices as they came over the radio. She needed to know that they were okay.
Ravit came in with a crazed look in her eye, signing like crazy that they should get to quarters, try to stay out of the way. But Rachel wasn't having it. She couldn't wait to hear that they were going down. She calmed signed back and looked around. It was like they never left. It was like things were right back to where they belonged.
When the next missile crashed, they were both jolted and the look in Ravit's eyes became clear. This was something different. Ravit looked out the window and signed to Rachel, while Rachel signed back telling her exactly what had been going on. And all of the training came back to Ravit, who pushed Rachel behind her, so as to take the first part of any blow that might be coming their way.
Rachel squeezed Ravit's hand, which was behind her, while she stared out the windows. This is what they were here for.
The Rock Passageways
"Gasoline," Sasha said as she smelled the liquid they were following, "They were just here,"
And then they explosion of the missile firing sounded. They were close. They were so close and now they had to find it before another one could go off and surely take out the Nathan James.
As they walked down the tunnel, it was clear they could hear voices. They were headed in the right direction. They all snuck quietly, so as not to give their position and tactical advantage away.
Danny ran point, giving Cobra and the Nathan James their coordinates without alerting the bad guys, while shepherding Sasha to the other side while the driver's head was turned. It became clearer and clearer that they needed to move to stop the weapon from getting the Nathan James again. And Sasha was always ready for the fight.
Danny got the explosives ready while Wolf went in for the close ups with the two on the truck, readying the weapons. Sasha and Tex were on the driver and Sasha had no problem with that one. And then they were being shot at from behind them.
And the shooting just kept happening. Tex moved his back toward the weapon and shot as many people as he could to get out of the way and into some cover. "Wow weee, this is what I missed," He said, twisting his hat backward and moving around to keep it going.
"Green's hit," Sasha said, and it went from fun to serious. "We are under fire,"
He saw the guy who got Danny and killed him. It was easy. Hell, it was kind of fun in a sick way. Tex knew that if he thought about it too much, it would take him down a rabbit hole that he didn't like very much. But for now, he kept his mind sharp and dodged undercover when he needed to reload.
He saw the explosives. They were out in the middle of the field, by Danny's feet. "Come on, we can't have them exploding us, Danny," Tex told him, keeping his head down.
Danny moved as fast as he could with everyone else providing him cover to do that movement. Tex moved after him. But he couldn't waste time in the field which meant that he couldn't try and get the explosives.
And the bullets seemed to keep coming. There were just so many of them. "Where's Cobra?" Tex asked.
"Good question," Danny shouted out.
"I'm running out of ammo," Sasha called.
"Cobra, we're taking heavy fire from multiple angles," Danny shouted into his radio, hoping to make them realize that they needed to get their asses in gear. "What's your whiskey?!"
"About sixty seconds out," Came Burke's voice. "Make that ninety,"
Tex rolled his eyes and looked at Danny. "Well, come on, we're not getting out of this whiskey pit without rolling a few heads," He said as they continued with battle.
As they continued Sasha saw the missile move. "They're targeting the James." He looked over his shoulder. They would be dead in the water now. Somehow they needed to find whoever was operating it and stop him before there would be no ship to go back to. Rachel was on that ship now. So he had more of a reason to do it than ever before.
He kept fire as best he could, while the team tried to figure out how to get the Nathan James to help them with this. They didn't know that she still didn't have targeting systems. They didn't know how long she would just be out there. But they had to try.
"We're gonna need some help here…"
And to that the Nathan James, put it plainly. "Negative, Vulture team. Fire control is still down. Unable to provide overwatch support at this time."
The Nathan James
When the lights came back on, she saw the whole bridge turn back into a flurry of activity. "You're authorized to fire when the ship is in position,"
Rachel looked at Ravit and they moved out of the bridge. They didn't have to be here, because it safe. They were going to be safe. They had Slattery and Granderson and Diaz and everyone. Hell, she heard that Kathleen was there to help the ship get its power back.
The ship moved a little and she knew that was the five inch. The five inch was out. And the team was still on the rocks. "Tex?" She asked.
Ravit signed that he was still on the rocks, but pushed Rachel farther down. They couldn't wait. "He'll be back," Ravit signed once they got to the bottom. Rachel didn't know if this was to calm her down or if it was something Ravit really believed, because they had both been through hell and back.
Slattery came down and nodded to them. He took them to the helo bay where the whole team was sitting in the bay, debriefing. Kara moved out of the CIC and went with them too. When they moved in to it, Danny looked up and smiled.
"Hell of a first day back," He said to Kara and Rachel. They both nodded and looked up to Slattery who was all business, asking about the shooters and the mission. They were Omar's guys and it wasn't hard to prove it. What they didn't know was how he came into so much and such distinct firepower. It was odd.
"Someone's got to be backing Omar," Rachel said to them.
Sasha agreed. "Right. Someone with a lot of resources."
"Whenever we're in range of Oran, you have to be ready to go," Slattery told them. "You," He said to Rachel. "You need to be ready to do your work with the seeds as soon as we get them."