Eden's POV
We are currently on our way to pick up a pair of submariners. Apparently, they ran into trouble and we happened to be the closest ship. At least it should make for an interesting rescue. As we approach the Submarine we are flagged down by one of the passengers.
"Thank you so much for answering our mayday," the victim is clearly embarrassed by the whole ordeal.
"You reported multiple electrical failures on board. Is the vessel seaworthy?" Kate gets to work on finding out what exactly went wrong as the pilot of the RHIB brings us in close enough.
"Uh…I have no idea," The woman replies. I get the impression that she was not keen on the voyage. After getting confirmation I help the woman and her diving partner climb aboard the RHIB. At least it looks like no injuries were sustained. After a minute we are back on the Hammersley.
"The name's Jack Henty. Thank you for the assistance, Mike. The world can be a lonely place when you are in a submarine," The man seems a little too grateful for someone who has been rescued. I wonder what they were doing in the submarine in the first place.
"You managed to surface," Mike replies.
"Yeah, Jack was amazing. I didn't think we were going to make it. I'm Tracey McQueen," The woman with him praises him for some reason. To be honest it seems to me that she was lucky that was with someone who has experience on submarines.
"And Njord is a research sub? Mike continues his questioning.
"Yes. A two-man Mach Four. It might not be new but it's got a good safety record. I'm sure whatever's wrong is fixable-,"
"Jack we could have died," Tracey interrupts Jack. The thing is the submarine surfaced which means they are not dead.
"Come on, Trace. It was just an electrical short. You, uh…you don't have a sparky on board do you?" He asks. With that, we all glance at Kosov-Meyer who suddenly tenses up.
"No, you're not gonna get me in that thing," Kosov-Meyer protests. After some more protesting Mike finally orders Kosov-Meyer to join Jack in the submarine. I find myself watching the RHIB approach the submarine. As soon as the pair are aboard the submarine disaster strikes. The submarine starts to sink. With some careful manoeuvring, the RHIB moves out of the way.
"Ro I need you to establish contact with the Njord," For some reason I beat Mike to give the order.
"Sorry boss," I apologise realising my mistake.
"Don't worry," Mike responds. I guess I just want to establish if Jack or Kosov-Meyer are injured or worse. Robert quickly jumps on the radio.
"Hammersley to Njord?" Static. After cycling through the various types of radio frequencies Robert shrugs his shoulders. That can only mean one thing. The Njord is too deep to receive communications.
"I tried VHF and UHF. I've gotten no response," Robert announces as he begins pacing around.
"Was the radio buoy deployed?" Mike asks.
"Tracey said it was deployed during the first emergency but nobody recalls seeing it on the surface when we got here," Robert confirms as he flops onto his chair.
"So we don't even know if they can hear us?" Mike is getting more annoyed with each passing second. Robert sighs as he considers his answer.
"If they're alive, if they managed to deploy the radio buoy, it might be too deep to receive. All I know is the fact that I am getting nothing now," Robert snaps as he throws his hands in the air out of frustration. I am going to believe that Kosov-Meyer and Jack are alive until we retrieve their bodies. The Hammersley is soon joined by another vessel.
"Tangaroa three to Navy vessel, we are here if you need any assistance," someone who I assume to be the master of the boat radios in.
"Thank you but that won't be necessary but we do appreciate the offer. Over," I responded before Robert had the chance. The truth is since a Navy officer was involved in the incident we are now in an emergency lockdown situation. That means all non-essential communications are forbidden.
"What have we got?" Mike asks as both Tracey and he enters the bridge.
"A vessel that is responding to the initial Mayday. Tangora three out of Townsville," I reply. Before Mike has the chance to reply, the master of the Tangora is back on the radio.
"Are you sure?" He prompts.
"Yes, I am sure. We do need to keep the area clear for arriving rescue vessels as well. So I would appreciate it if you moved on. Over," I am trying to be polite but due to the nature of the emergency, I am a little thin on patients.
"Roger that. Out," The master of the vessel responds. At least that means he will be departing.
"Sorry, is it possible for me to get a lift on the boat?" Tracey asks, to the annoyance of Mike.
"Well, I have to communicate with the outside world somehow. I mean Jack has relatives. They'll be concerned," Tracey adds.
"Once again I apologise. You will be required to make a formal statement," Mike responds. He seems just as frustrated as I am. I guess the thought of a crewman lying dead at the bottom of the ocean floor is enough to unsettle even the most battle-hardened captains. Still, I choose to believe that Kosov-Meyer is still alive.
"Sir we need to check the echo sounder to locate the exact position of the sub," Robert announces as he joins us.
"Good idea," Mike acknowledges as Robert begins to fiddle with some switches.
"X have we marked the last surface coordinates of the sub?" Mike turns his attention to Kate.
"Yes, sir, we have," Kate confirms. Once we have the required information we begin our sweep of the area. I find myself huddled with the others as we watch the shape of the submarine come into view. After some comments on how deep the submarine is Robert notices something a little alarming.
"What is that?" He points it out.
"I've never seen that before…seismic energy…maybe?" Charge responds. He is just as confused as Robert.
"Wait it looks like someone coming to the surface," I point out as the rest of the image shows up on the screen. With that, I head to the boat deck. I am waiting for the orders to retrieve whoever or whatever is coming to the surface. After a few seconds, I notice a patch of orange in the water.
"Man in the water. Man in the water. Man in the water. Green four-five," Dutchy announces via the ship's PA system. With that, we get to work on recovering the body. After some careful guidance from Dutchy, we made it to an orange submarine survival suit. With a short struggle,e we bring it up into the RHIB. After a tense few seconds, Dutchy opens the survival suit to reveal Jack. Of course, the Hammersley's resistant trouble magnate is the one that got stuck in the submarine.
It has been a few minutes since we brought Jack back aboard the Hammersley and I am cleaning up a wound to his head. Luckily for me, he came around once he was out of the survival suit. At the same time, Mike is questioning him.
"So where is 2 Dads?"
"Look it was mayhem down there. I barely got out myself," Jack is avoiding the question. That means something happened to Kosov-Meyer that he doesn't want us to know. Which means something could have happened as they were trying to escape. Now that his wound is clean enough I turn my attention to packing up my equipment.
"I understand you've been through a traumatic time but the safety of my crew member is paramount to me," The annoyance is slowly building in Mike's voice. The truth is I can't blame him as part of his job as the Captain is to look after his crew. After a brief pause, Jack finally gave us the answer we didn't want.
"He's dead…we were accessing the escape suits," Jack begins his explanation as I glance at Mike.
"I was in the escape hatch when there was an explosion. We were both thrown around. I could see through the port. He was unconscious and bleeding. I couldn't get back in so I surfaced…he was in a bad way. He wasn't going to make it-,"
"So you just left him?" I ask in horror at what he is saying. The way Jack is calm about this situation sets something off in my brain.
"I was already in the escape hatch and I couldn't get back in," The look on Jack's face grew more desperate.
"Was the sub taking on water?" Mike continues the line of questioning.
"No. I think the ballast tanks blew because of an electrical fault," Jack admits.
"You've placed a crew member of mine in a dangerous situation. If I had realised that-,"
"No one could have known. I'm sorry," Jack snaps. His emotions are finally spilling over.
"Well 2 Dads may still be alive and unlike you, I'm not going to leave him," The anger in Mike's voice is like nothing that I have heard before. Before either of us can say anything Mike leaves. I put it down to the fact that Mike doesn't want his anger to get the better of him. What makes matters more interesting is Mike is a man who doesn't normally show his anger. Not like this anyway.