Waiting. That is what we have been doing for the past three hours. Apparently, we are waiting to rendezvous with some of Madeline's crew. I say apparently because Madeline is not being forthcoming with answers. I understand that she legally can't tell us much but I think we would appreciate some more info about what is going on. Right now I am watching the EOD as Mike tries to get more information on what we are waiting for.
"It's been three hours since the designated rendezvous," Mike speaks up. It sounds a little weird hearing Mike complain about a mission.
"They will be here Commander," Madeline snaps.
"It might help if I knew what your team was doing here," Mike counters.
"Help in what way?" Madeline retorts.
"For a start, I could tell my team why they've been sitting in a RHIB for three hours," Mike responds. I can't blame him for getting frustrated.
"It relates to our ongoing investigation into a terrorist network. That is all I can say," Madeline all but clams up. Mike soon turns his attention to getting an update on the landing party.
"X this is Captain. How are you holding up?" Mike asks via the radio.
"Bord, cold, tired and lacking in humour and not necessarily in that order," Kate confirms.
"Ok. There is no word from the agents continue to sit tight," Mike gives Kate a situation report. As soon as the words leave his mouth I notice something moving on the EOD.
"Sir, I've got something," I announce. The screen shows a man frantically tapping his head. That can only mean one thing. Something has gone wrong.
"That will be Smith," Madeline confirms as Mike moves in for a closer look.
"Robert anything on the secure frequency?" He asks getting to work on getting the situation under control.
"Not yet," Robert responds.
"There is only one heat shape. Aren't there four people on your team?" I ask as I glance at Madeline. After getting the RHIB crew into position disaster strikes.
"Sir there is an incoming signal," Robert announces. The radio crackles to life.
"This is Smith. I am the only one left," the panic in his voice can be heard from a mile away. Soon after I notice a firefight on the EOD. Mike is quick to give the order to leave.
"Sir we need cover fire. I repeat we need cover fire," Kate responds.
"Charge Typhoon now," Mike orders. Charge and I soon trade places. With a few swift movements, Charge has the gun armed and aimed. I notice Smith making a run for it however he is knocked off his feet by a mortar shot that came from one of the terrorists. Swain is quick to leave the RHIB. I soon realised that his actions were either going to be one of the most heroic or the stupidest of things that I have seen.
"Sir, Swain is on the beach," Kate warns.
"Copy that. Charge hold your fire," Mike is quick to order. After a tense minute, Swain has made it back to the RHIB with Smith. As soon as he is aboard Mike gives Charge the order for Charge to provide cover fire. With the cover fire, the RHIB crew is able to make their escape. With that,t I head down to the wardroom. Something tells me that Smith may still be alive. Thankfully it doesn't take long for Dutchy and Swain to bring a conscious Smith to the wardroom. After informing me of the nature of his injuries I get to work and they leave. The first thing I check is his pulse. Thankfully it is steady. Now for the next part. I grab my penlight from my pocket.
"Can you look to the left?" I ask as I flash the penlight in his eyes. He does as I said.
"To the right," I continue. Like his pulse the basic neurological exam is clear.
"What the hell happened over there?" Madeline asks as she bursts into the wardroom. As soon as she does I notice Smith tense up.
"Not now Ma'am. Smith needs time to relax," I snap as Smith begins to struggle.
"I'm fine. I just got knocked off my feet," Smith remarks as he tries to get up. Unfortunately, his attempt doesn't get him anywhere.
"What about the others?...Smith?" Madeline snaps.
"They're all dead," Smith responds as he finally sits up.
"How?" I am starting to dislike Madeline even more. A part of me wants to shove her out of the door but I know she needs answers. As he sits up I check his chest for any signs of internal bleeding
"We were ambushed on our way to the beach…they were waiting for us then they took us out. I said I was fine," Smith snaps as he shoves me out of the way.
"Just give me some room to breathe," He adds. Smith is definitely not fine. Once Madeline has the information that she needs she leaves.
"Look I'm sorry-,"
"You don't have to apologise. You must have gone through hell and to top it all off you got the worst boss imaginable," I stop him. He is not the one to blame for all of this. I catch myself sighing as there is not much that I can do with the stuff we have on board the Hammersley. I just have to watch and wait.
It has been a few hours since then and I am supervising the resupply of the ship. To my surprise, it is going relatively smoothly. Well, that is until a disgruntled-looking man approaches the ship. Before I can say anything Kosov-Meyer intercepts the man who quickly flashes what I assume to be some kind of ID. After a few minutes, the same man comes storming out.
"What happened 2 Dads?" I ask.
"All I know is that he wanted us out of here as soon as possible," Kosov-Meyer replies as he turns his attention to rounding up the members of the crew. With that, I head back aboard the Hammersley. Since I am not on watch I decided to check on Smith. He seemed a little rattled when Madeline interrogated him. As I enter his quarters I notice that he is not really in the mood so I decide to leave it. There is no point in adding to his stress.
It has been a few hours since then and I am lining up for dinner with the others. Before I have the chance to grab something to eat my attention is grabbed by yelling.
"MY MEN ARE DEAD. YOU SENT US OUT THERE WITH NO SUPPORT!" It's Smith. He must be confronting Madeline.
"Keep your voice down," Madeline tries to get him under control.
"WE WERE COLLATERAL DAMAGE. ALL YOU CARED ABOUT WAS YOUR DAMN AGENDA," Smith snaps before barging out. As he passes me I notice a look on his face that suggests that he is struggling to cope with the onslaught of emotions that comes with losing a team member. I am assuming that they were all good friends otherwise I wouldn't be able to explain this level of a reaction. I fight back the urge to help him as I know I could do more damage by forcing help onto him.
"Are you ok Hoppo?" Bird asks as she gets to work on dishing up some food for me.
"Yeah…I'm just worried about Smith. Something is going on and I want to help but sometimes helping with mental health can be a little complicated," I respond.
"At least you want to help," Bird counters. She is right. After some back and forth I take my food to the junior officer's mess as Madeline is in the middle of talking to Dutchy in private.
It has been a couple of hours since then and I am about to go on watch but before I do I am going to give Smith a mild sedative to help him sleep. I tentatively knock on the door to his quarters.
"What do you want?" Smith asks.
"I thought you might need something to help you sleep," I say as I offer him the sleeping tablets.
"Did Madeline send you down with those?" He asks as he gets up.
"No. You've been through something traumatic…I thought since you are having trouble-,"
"So you want to pump me full of drugs?" He snaps as he gets up.
"Look you don't have to take any-,"
"Just stop being such a do-gooder and get out of my face. You have no idea what's going on here," He says getting in my face. I wish he was right but unfortunately, I know exactly how he feels. That's why I am on the Hammersley in the first palace. Before I can say anything Smith leaves. As I follow him out he barges past Charge.
"What's his problem?" Charge asks as he throws a death glare in Smith's general direction.
"Trauma," I respond. Honestly, Smith is lucky that I am supposed to be on watch now. As I head to the bridge I notice a slight pitching movement. That can only mean one thing. The weather is turning sour. After a few minutes of almost staggering, I made it to the bridge. I swap places with Swain at the helm.
It has been thirty minutes since then and the ship is being battered by the weather. A part of me is having a little too much fun. I put it down to the fact that being on a ship during bad weather is similar to being on a rollercoaster. My attention is soon grabbed by an alarm from the engineering station.
"What is it, Robert?" Dutchy asks as Robert staggers to the engineering station.
"It's just the forward hatch rattling," He confirms.
"Ok," Dutchy responds as he turns his attention to what is going on outside.
"I wonder where all this rain came from," I remark. I know for a fact that there was nothing like this on the NAVCOM weather report.
"It came from the sky. It's called precipitation. It's a well-known atmospheric phenomenon," Robert gives me the most Robert answer possible causing me to grin like an idiot.
"Thank you, Robert. No one likes a smartass," I joke.
"Well I don't know. 2 Dads is seems fairly popular," Robert counters getting a chuckle from both Dutchy and I. Unfortunately, the reprieve from the usual drama doesn't last long.
"Did you manage to sedate Agent Smith?" Dutchy asks.
"Unfortunately not. I'm also starting to consider that he is showing signs of post-traumatic stress," I respond.
"It must be because of the fact he's working with Madeline," Dutchy says.
"Well the sooner we get him back to port the better because I am out of my depth," I reply. The thing is I may be good at treating physical wounds but mental wounds are a completely different ball game. After a moment of silence, my attention was caught by the ding of the PA system.
"Hoppo to the boarding party room. Hoppo to the boarding party room at the rush," It's Charge. After passing the helm to Dutchy I head to the boarding party room. What I arrive to find chills me to the core. Charge is with Smith who is lying on the ground with his arms and legs at odd angles. To my surprise, Swain and Kate are here as well.
"What is it Charge?" I ask as I carefully approach.
"He's dead," Charge announces as I join him. The first thing I notice is a broken bottle by his head.
"I didn't touch him," Charge adds. I would assume so as Charge wouldn't hurt anyone unless his life is in danger. With that, I get to work on finding a possible cause of death. Of course, we won't know what actually happened until an autopsy has been done. As I work I notice that we have been joined by Mike and Madeline.
"What do you think Hoppo?" Mike asks.
"Well, the body is still warm which means he has been dead less than an hour. All of the broken glass is from a couple of stubbies," I give my situation report.
"That explains the missing beers," Kate responds. What it doesn't explain is how someone died from a fall from such a short distance. That is when I noticed a small blood splatter on one of the corners.
"He must have fallen then hit his head on the corner here. He may have broken his neck as well," I point out the evidence to the others. After some comments from the others, Mike finally speaks up.
"So he was drunk, lost his balance in rough seas then fell down the hatch," He voices his theory. There is one problem with that.
"Maybe…the thing is it takes a surprising amount of force to break someone's neck. Anyway, that is not my call to make," I respond as Charge passes me a camera and a body bag. After documenting the crime scene Charge helps me get his body to the freezer. As we place the body on the shelf I am struck by a realisation.
"Are you alright?" Charge asks.
"Yeah. The chain guard around the area, was it latched or unlatched?" I ask as Charge is the one person that could answer the nagging thought at the back of my mind.
"Unlatched," Charge answers. He is clearly confused. A part of me wishes that I had Swain's skills as a former police officer.
"Why would he be heading to the engine room?" I voice my concern out loud.
"I don't know. If he was pissed maybe he lost his bearings. I've done it before," Charge offers a valid theory. Anyway, I am going to let it bother me as there is not much that I can do outside of completing my watch. Luckily for me, it is close to the end of my watch. I am about to return to the bridge but I am stopped by Bird. She seems worried.
"What is it Bird?' I ask as she catches up to me.
"He was in the galley a few hours ago, looking for beer," Bird gets to work on telling me what is on her mind.
"Agent Smith?" I ask to make sure we are thinking about the same person. Bird nods before continuing.
"He seemed a bit agro. A bit on edge," Bird explains. That all but confirms the idea that Smith was suffering from post-traumatic stress. I am a little surprised that she didn't tell anyone. Usually, she is the first to speak up.
"Did you report it to anyone?" I respond.
"No. I mean I was going to however but Ryan stopped me. Smith came into the galley and gave him a hard time. He shoved him up against a wall. I think Ryan was too embarrassed," Bird fills me on.
"Ok. Well…get some sleep. There is nothing that we can do right now," I reply.
It is the morning after and I am getting a small meal to eat. Unfortunately, I am a little preoccupied with everything that has been going on. After checking on Ryan I head to the bridge for the morning watch. After relatively quiet fifteen minutes I find myself thinking about what I could have done differently to help Smith.
"Hoppo…Hoppo. Contact red five," Kate brings me back to reality.
"Yes Ma'am," I acknowledge as I scramble to bring a pair of binoculars to my face. I soon sight the ship
"It is a container ship. It looks like it is heading due north," I respond.
"Ok. Come starboard ten degrees," Kate orders.
"Starbord ten degrees," I confirm as I input the orders into the computer. Kate glances at me. The concern is written on her face.
"Sorry Ma'am I was distracted. I'm just thinking about Agent Smith and what I could have done better," I explain.
"You are not the only one but we still need you to keep your eyes forward," Kate responds. She is right. All I can do is keep going. The first sign of a good doctor is the fact that I can learn from my mistakes.
"I should have confined him to quarters. All of the signs of post-traumatic stress were there," I continue to beat myself up.
"You can't have known that,' Kate counters.
"Yeah well I know he was doing it tough," I counter.
"You can't blame yourself Hoppo. It was an accident," Kate responds in an effort to reassure me. I release a sigh. Kate is right. Even though I missed the signs I wasn't the one that killed Smith. If anyone is to blame it would be Madeline as she sent Smith and his team into the dangerous area to begin with.