Feedback
is a wonderful thing. It’s been brought
to my attention that I messed up pretty good with the hospital section in
Knight-Errant by Dizzy Dolphin
Lee Crane, Captain of the Seaview,
let out a contented sigh as he walked along the corridor. It always felt good to be back aboard Seaview after a refit.
Not that the boat had required much in the way of work, this was more of
a ‘spruce up’ with a tweak here and there.
She was always kept ‘ship-shape and
Normally Lee spent the time during a refit working in his
office at the NIMR, where there was always an unending stream of paperwork
pertaining to Seaview and the running of the
institute. Admiral Nelson had come to rely on Lee for more and more of the
everyday paper pushing and consults on upcoming cruises or projects.
However this time Lee had taken some of the refit time as
personal leave, much to the surprise of the Admiral and Lee’s XO Chip Morton,
and to the complete and utter astonishment of the CMO, Dr. Jamieson, aka Jamie.
Lee was a workaholic and Chip usually had to figuratively
and sometimes literally drag Lee’s six away from the boat or the institute in
order to get him to take some relaxation time.
It wasn’t unusual for the Admiral to make it an order and threaten to
have security placed on alert should Lee try to come back to the office or
board Seaview.
Jamie often weighed in with medical reasons for Lee to take time off. These four had unique and enviable working
and personal relationships with each other.
It gave them great strength as a command team and on more than one
occasion had saved both boat and crew from circumstances that normally would
have resulted in total disaster.
“Well,” Lee had thought, “I certainly got the jump on them
all this time. I’ve managed to get away
without telling them where I’m going or what I’m going to be doing.” Oh they’d asked and Chip had really worked hard
on getting it out of him, but he had just smiled and waved goodbye.
He and Chip had been best friends for many years, gone
through the
*******
It was not one of the better landings Lee had
experienced. Bump, bump, thump, slough
to the left, lurch and stop. Well at
least he was in
Normally he was off charting seafloors or counting seals
when tournament time came around but once in awhile he was able to make
it. Neither Chip nor the Admiral knew
about his involvement with the Society for Creative
Anachronism**
(SCA), and he was fine keeping it that way.
Like any young boy stories about knights and castles had been a
favourite of his and when an ONI friend mentioned that he belonged to a local SCA
and that it was possible to actually live out the fantasy’s of boyhood, Lee had
been intrigued, then hooked. He kept his
involvement ‘undercover’ as he knew it would cause him all sorts of grief from
Chip, who managed to come up with quite enough to harass Lee about all on his
own.
Lee’d
been to
As he deboarded and collected his gear he spotted his ONI pals, Gerry
and Mike with a big Hummer and big grins to match. Agents spent a lot of their time role playing
so this could, in some respects, be viewed as a training exercise if they had
to rationalize it to themselves, but they knew it was mostly just plain fun to
do and informative.
“Hey Sir Lee, glad to
see you made it,” greeted Gerry. Mike
laughed, he knew what was coming, Lee had taken a lot of mocking about “surly”,
he’d eventually had enough and started using his middle name. Lee fake frowned at Gerry, “I thought we had
settled the ‘Sir Lee’ bit, it’s Sir Alexander or Sir Alex to my friends,” the
three chuckled and exchanged back thumps all around.
They loaded ‘Sir Alex’s’
gear into the Hummer beside their stuff and headed for the gate. “How was the
flight” inquired Mike, “the landing looked special.”
“Not sure what that was
about but the flight itself was uneventful, didn’t even get asked about what I
had in my bag.”
“They wouldn’t ask, to
used to ferrying us ONI types around, they know better than to ask questions we
aren’t going to answer, but it might have been fun explaining what you had and
why,” commented Gerry. “Speaking of explaining, how did you cover your absence
from NIMR? I thought Admiral Nelson kept
a pretty close eye on you, you know, just in case the Big Bad ONI tried to
abscond with you again.” Gerry had met
Admiral Nelson awhile back when the Admiral had been in
“Seaview
is in for a refit for 2 months so I was on desk duty,” Gerry and Mike groaned,
“painful Lee, just painful.”
Lee grimaced, “Ya not my favourite type of duty either, but I caught up
the important stuff and then put in for 2 weeks personal leave, got a lot of leave
piled up and everyone is always trying to get me to take time off. The timing was perfect so I’m Sir Alex for
the next week. Then I figured I’d bum
around
“The Admiral and your XO
didn’t want to know where you’d be and what you’d be doing?” asked Mike.
“Oh they wanted to know,
including Jamie, our CMO. I just told
them that security had my contact number in case of an emergency but since
‘certain people’ were always trying to get me to take a complete break from work
I wasn’t going to tell them anything about it,” snickered Lee.
“Ah the old Crane
payback gambit,” joked Gerry, “works every time I bet.”
“To a certain point,
I’ll have to come up with a good cover story by the time I get back otherwise
I’ll have no peace from Chip.”
“Ah yes the joys of
brothers, real or of the heart types,” commented Mike.
“Wouldn’t have it any
other way, besides the Admiral counts on Chip keeping him informed on my
activities, on or off boat.”
“If they ever figure
this out, we really want to be there to see it,” Gerry told Lee, Mike agreed
wholeheartedly.
“What about you guys, I
heard that there was a real dust-up on the last mission you were on. Could have told the Powers that Be that
sending you two off together was not the brightest move.”
“Hey, we got in and got
out, more or less according to plan,” Mike replied. “We’re just not sure whose plan,” said Gerry, “we
both added a few bruises and contusions to our ever expanding med files, but
all in all it worked out.”
Lee smiled, well aware
of how one often ended up in less than pristine shape on ONI missions. “Well I
don’t want to add any injuries to my med file from this tournament, be hard
trying to explain them to Jamie.”
“You know you’re going
to get some, I’m taking you down in the lists this time,” Mike threatened. “You and what army?” Lee smarted back.
The drive deep into the Highlands
of Scotland was breathtaking and the friends continued their good natured
‘threats’ as they drove along.
Lee knew the odds of
acquiring a few bruises were pretty good.
He’d be competing in armoured combat, the Quintain***
and contact jousting. There is where
some amazing bruises could be acquired.
His natural athleticism came in very handy as did his Navy and ONI
training, but he still had some spectacular ‘crashes’ from time to time. He wouldn’t be mounted on his usual steed,
supplied by a friend who was also a member.
That added to the bruise risk as he wasn’t sure how much practise time
he’d have to get to know his mount and that was very important. A horse that was skittish or pulled to the
side could really foul you up. The horse
had to trust that you knew what you were doing, and that trust took time to
build.
*******
“Lee gave you no idea
what he was going to be doing for the next 2 weeks?” the Admiral asked Chip.
“Not a clue Sir, just
kept grinning at me.”
“I haven’t asked
security for Lee’s contact number, that might give us a hint but it seems like
prying. If he wanted us to know he would
have told us. He is entitled to personal
time without giving us all the details.” Chip wasn’t sure which one of them Nelson was
trying to convince.
“Yes Sir, but it does
seem strange, usually he tells one of us what he’s going to be doing. I’ve been trying to think of how I might have
ticked him off.”
“I know you wouldn’t ask
me Chip but as far as I know I haven’t done anything lately. As I said he’s entitled to his privacy so
unless there is an emergency we’ll just have to wait it out.”
“Aye Sir,” but Chip was
thinking, “there’s privacy and then there’s privacy, big brother’s ought to
know what little brother’s are doing, especially accident prone, trouble attracting
little bros.” Chip was only a year
older, but he liked to remind Lee that he was ‘older and therefore wiser’, Lee
usually told him where he could put that.
Of course when on duty everything was quite proper between XO and
Captain, unless they figured no one was looking.
*******
While the scenery was
beautiful a lot of miles and time were passing, and the further they went north
the more isolated Lee felt. Those little
hairs on the back of his neck that often warned him that something wasn’t quite
right were beginning to prickle.
“Have either of you ever
been here before?” Lee asked his companions.
“We’ve both been in
“Nope, if it wasn’t for
the map I’d say we were well and truly lost.
Does it strike either of you as odd that it’s so remote? Usually onlookers are encouraged and it’s at
a location that’s fairly easy to get to, this is a bit of an effort.”
“That’s what I was
thinking,” replied Lee, “something just isn’t sitting right, never really
thought about it when I glanced at the map.
Now that we are here and seeing the area, it doesn’t make a lot of
sense. We haven’t seen another vehicle
since we took that last turnoff.”
Having relied on their
instincts to keep them alive on countless missions they weren’t about to ignore
them now.
Gerry pulled off to the
side and stopped the vehicle. “OK
conference time. We’re all feeling a
little uncomfortable about this right now. We certainly seem to be off the
beaten track, but maybe they do things differently in
The three sat quietly
for a few minutes deep in thought. Lee
broke the silence first, “approach it like a mission, scout the area then
decide.”
“I’ll agree to that,”
Mike said, “let’s see what the setup is and go from there,” Gerry nodded, started the engine and pulled
back onto the road. A few miles further
on he turned onto a small gravel road that lead up and into dense trees. They didn’t see the vehicle that pulled out
of concealment and blocked the entry to the road. The firearms in the vehicle had nothing to do
with creative anachronism.
*******
Nelson fiddled with his
pencil, then he shuffled the papers on his desk, tried to read them again, but
his mind kept wandering to Lee. He
believed what he’d said to Chip, Lee was certainly entitled to his privacy,
wasn’t he? Yes he had strong fatherly
feelings towards Lee and he knew Lee returned the strength of those feelings as
a son would. Still, he reasoned, that
didn’t mean he was owed a constant accounting of everything Lee did. Had Lee been feeling ‘smothered’ by Nelson’s
fatherly attention? Was this some sort
of ‘statement’ from Lee that he needed some space? Pencil fiddle, paper shuffle, try to read the
words.
Hells bells, he would at
least contact ONI just to be sure it wasn’t their doing that Lee left without
telling anyone where or why. Lee had failed
to tell him about being on an ONI assignment before, ONI assignments were often
‘need to know’ and ONI frequently told Lee that Nelson didn’t. At least not until they needed the Admiral
and his resources to rescue Lee because ONI couldn’t seem to keep track of him
or give him correct intel half the time.
“Angie, get me Jones at
ONI on the line please.”
“Yes Sir”
Angie, Nelson’s
executive assistant loved her job and greatly respected her boss, Admiral Nelson. She understood his frequent frustrations with
his Captain and that ONI was often involved in them. Sometimes she wished she had taken Psych 101
or equivalent, it was a source of considerable amusement that while everyone
knew about the father/son feelings between Nelson and Crane, the parties
involved tap danced around it constantly.
Made everyone dizzy sometimes.
“I have Admiral Jones on
the line Sir”
“Thank you Angie put him
through. “Jones, Nelson, what are you up
to with my Captain?” growled Nelson, “I want a straight answer, none of that
‘need to know’ crap!” He’d long since
learned that the best way to break through the walls was to infer that he knew
more than he did.
“Harriman, always almost
nice to hear from you and what in tarnation are you
talking about? Crane isn’t on our radar
right now.”
“Don’t give me that
Frank, he left here and wouldn’t say where he was going or what he was doing,
that stinks of ONI,” Nelson retorted.
“Be that as it may, and
by the way we don’t ‘stink’, Crane is not on assignment with us. As a matter of fact it’s quiet right now and
a number of our agents are on leave. I
thought I’d heard that Crane had taken some personal leave as well.”
“Oh and how would you
know whether MY Captain was taking leave or not?”
“We always keep an eye
on Crane, Harriman, need to know where he is in case a need arises, which is
something you apparently don’t seem to be able to do right now with Crane.”
Nelson let that jibe
slide, he could have pointed out that ONI frequently lost track of Lee when he
was on assignment, “So you’re telling me that you know where he is but he’s not
on an assignment?”
“Well to be truthful, not
exactly,” mumbled Jones, “seems we’ve lost track of him as well, we think he’s
with two or more of our agents that are on leave but they seem to be missing
too, or at least not where they are supposed to be.”
“And ONI isn’t a tad
concerned about missing some agents?”
“We’re looking Harriman,
the contact info they left turned out to be bogus, the phone number was
recently disconnected and the address in
“And you didn’t think to
contact me to warn me that someone could be hunting him?” Nelson asked
quietly. It was never a good sign when
he got quiet.
“Like I said, we’re
looking into it, if we’d found Crane was caught up in whatever it is, we
probably would have contacted you.”
“You probably would have contacted me, why
how nice of you, and when I find Lee and get him out of whatever mess you’ve
landed him in, I’ll probably bring
your boys along too.” with that Nelson slammed down the phone.
*******
When the gravel road
topped the hill they came to what appeared to be the parking area for the
tournament. There were a few other vehicles, Gerry pulled in and parked. Off in the distance they could seen pavilions
and banners and the ruins of an old castle that appeared to be undergoing
restoration. Lee could smell the tang of
salt air, the castle being on a bluff overlooking the
A number of ‘squires’
approached them and as was customary advised that they would take the ‘Sirs’
equipment to the quarters assigned to them.
If Gerald, Lee, and Michael would be so good as to follow Malcolm he
would take them on a short orientation tour and then to their quarters so they
could change before being presented at court.
The squire looked at each of them as he named them.
“Seems a bit remote here
for the tournament,” Lee commented to Malcolm.
“I suppose it might
appear that way, but it is a most excellent site and we anticipate a
most....entertaining tourney.”
There was something in
the way Malcolm hesitated in the last part of his answer that bothered Lee.
“Has this site been used
before?” queried Mike.
“Not to my knowledge,
but I am new here, likely others will be better able to answer your question.” Then speaking to all of them, “As you can see
there is a broad expanse of flat grassland here about the castle. To your right you can see the Lists have been
set up, both Jousting and the Quintain will take
place there. On the middle ground, armoured
combat, your quarters are within the castle walls. I’ll take you there now, your gear should
have been brought up and placed in your rooms by this time. You will have approximately 2 hours to change
and orient yourselves to the grounds. You will then have your official
presentation to the court as visiting competitors.”
“Thank you Malcolm,”
answered Lee for the group.
They were each shown to a
room and advised not to stray into the areas of the castle that were marked off-limits,
as those areas were still unsafe. Lee’s
room and he figured the others also, was typical castle type, small, stone walled
and stone floored, fur carpets covered the floor. The bed was narrow, had a mattress and
adequate blankets, apparently homespun with furs on top. Lee’s gear was there. He quickly changed, pulling on an off-white
linen shirt over which he wore a soft brown leather tunic, then he pulled on snug
boot cut black pants, he refused to wear breeches, and toped it off with a waist
length black cloak and tall black leather boots. He met Mike and Gerry in the corridor as the
exited their rooms, similarly attired.
They each raised an eyebrow and nodded their heads towards the end of
the corridor and the exit to the grounds.
“You noticed?” asked
Mike
Lee replied, “Malcolm
knew our names without asking. Even if
we were the only Americans coming, how would he know which of us was which, but
he did.”
“Did you recognize
anyone we’ve passed?” asked Gerry
“Not a soul,” confirmed
both Lee and Mike.
“Not that there are many
people here, these events usually draw quite a crowd. I would have thought we’d see some familiar
faces,” Lee commented.
The three stood in
silent contemplation.
“Hey, over there by the
Lists, isn’t that Stephen and Daniel?” Mike asked.
Lee and Gerry looked
over just as the two men Mike had pointed towards looked their way. Arms went up, hands waved. They all did a quick jog toward each other.
“Long time no see,
thought you two were still ‘out and about’,” greeted Lee.
“We finished up and were
hanging around
“We were discussing it
before we saw you.” said Lee, “To far away, too few people, and they knew who
we were without an introduction. Have you had your presentation at court
yet? I really want to get a look at who’s
running this.”
“Nope, they told us the
intros wouldn’t be until the last knights arrived,” Daniel said.
“Well I don’t see many knights
around, gonna be a short presentation,” Stephen
opined.
*******
Chip had been talking to
Angie while Nelson was on the phone with ONI.
It was impossible not to overhear most of the Nelson side of the conversation
given the decibel level. What he heard
made Chip uneasy. ONI, Lee, agents were
missing, someone hunting Lee, none of this was good.
Nelson’s voice came over
the intercom, he really didn’t have to use it they could hear him just fine
through the door, “Angie get Chip here now, and I want the contact info on Lee
from security.”
“Right away Sir.”
“How do you do that?”
Angie asked Chip, he always seemed to be there when either Lee or the Admiral
wanted him. “It’s a gift,” Chip grinned
at her, “or maybe a curse.”
Chip knocked and knowing
the mood on the other side didn’t wait for an answer but stepped in pretty much
at attention.
In an echo of Angie, he
heard Nelson mutter, “wish I knew how he did that.”
“Well Chip, it seems our
Captain may have managed to once again get himself into a tight spot,” Nelson
began.
“Sir?”
“I wanted to know for
sure that ONI hadn’t gotten their hooks into Lee for another assignment so I
called Admiral Jones. Seems they are
missing some agents and there could be a tie-in to Lee.”
Just then Angie brought
in the contact information that Lee had left with security. The Admiral looked at the phone number, if
memory served it was a
“Jones, Nelson. I have the number Lee left for us to contact
him, it’s 011 44 131 1234567. Ring a
bell on your end?” Nelson winced at the unintentional pun.
“Same number we have for
our missing agents, it’s no help. I do
have a bit more information though,” Jones volunteered.
“Well spit it out man,
time probably matters!” an exasperated Nelson responded.
“Keep your stars on
Harriman. Seems our missing ONI agents
have something in common besides the old ONI case. They all belong to a local Society for Creative
Anachronism group.”
“Well as far as I know
Lee doesn’t,” Nelson said.
“Harriman let me clarify,
when I said ‘our’ missing ONI agents I was including Crane.”
Silence from Nelson for
a heartbeat, Chip looked on as the colour began to rise up the Admiral’s neck
and into his face. “Oh boy,” Chip
thought “whatever you’ve done Lee it’s a beaut.”
“How the hell could Lee
be involved with that and keep it secret, it’s not like someone clanking around
in armour wouldn’t get noticed, and stop calling him ‘your’ ONI agent,” Nelson
roared.
“Clanking around in
armour, Lee, what were those two talking about,” went through Chip’s bewildered
head, the war around Lee, between the Admiral and ONI he was well familiar with.
“Crane certainly
wouldn’t be wearing the stuff on your boat and I doubt he’d be broadcasting his
involvement, I know our other agents
certainly weren’t,” lord help him he loved jerking Harriman’s chain, he got his
own jerked often enough by the man. “They
get to have a life outside of ONI, sort of.
We did know about it and encouraged it quietly, good practise for an
agent really.”
“Can I take it that
you’re investigating that end of things?” asked Nelson, choosing to ignore
Frank’s attempt to needle him further.
“Yes, so far they are
clean and I expect will remain so. The
only other interesting bit is that apparently the missing agents received
invites to some sort of tournament, the society here didn’t know anything about
it but confirmed that events do take place.
One of the agents here happened to see an invite that had been left out,
sort of sloppy of the invited agent, it was postmarked
“Not that I’m aware of
but it would explain a couple of things.
It sounds like
“Hope you get the chance
Harriman, we’ll be looking too and keep you in the loop. I’ll email over pictures of our missing
agents,” Jones hung up.
Nelson fixed Chip with
one of his icy blue glares, “Chip, is there by any chance, something you might
like to share with me about Lee’s off boat activities?”
“Ummm
not about armour and Creative Anachronism Sir, I’m at a loss as to what most of
that conversation was about,” Chip was hoping for some clarification.
Nelson obliged, “It
would appear that ONI missions, aliens, deep sea monsters, and such are
insufficient to keep our Captain entertained, he belongs to a Creative
Anachronism group. I don’t imagine he just sits around and watches. I don’t know much about it but I do believe
it can get fairly physical. It would
explain some of the odd bruises and strains he sometimes shows up with at the
end of a weekend when he’s ‘been busy’.
Knowing Lee as we do, I’m sure that whatever activity is most likely to
lead to ‘fold, spindle or mutilate’**** he’s in the middle of it”. Chip could only nod his head in agreement.
*******
Lee and his companions
wandered the grounds, while the event areas were of prime interest they also
wanted to know just how the castle was situated in relation to the bluff and
outlying forested area. Standing atop
the bluff looking out over the ocean they couldn’t see any other land
masses. It was a shear drop down to a
rocky bottom and crashing waves, not a climb any of them would want to make,
not that there would be anywhere to go once you got to the bottom, but still,
know all your options. The forest was
clearly marked as out of bounds and as they approached a couple of squires
appeared.
“Good day, as you can
see this area is marked off, wouldn’t want anyone getting lost in there as
there are wolves and wild boar that could pose a danger,” warned one of them.
Gerry nodded to them and
they moved off. “Do you believe what he
said or do they just want to keep us closed in?” Stephen asked as they
pretended to re-examine the List area.
“I have heard that
wolves and boar were reintroduced to
His friends nodded in
the negative. “Didn’t even think about
it, stupid given our usual lifestyle,”
said Daniel, “Just on vacation like a ‘regular’ guy”.
“I’m not so sure most
people would consider flying off to
“Ya
but it’s a lot of fun,” Gerry quipped.
“More and more I’m not
liking this place, I vote we grab our stuff, get out of here and spend our time exploring
They stood quietly for a
few minutes, eyes roving about, looking for something, they weren’t quite sure
what. Perhaps for familiar faces or an
indication that more people were arriving, but all they saw were the few
‘peasants’ that had been there when they arrived, a handful of other knights that
apparently weren’t interested in meeting them and squires wandering back and
forth. Lee noted that there were always
at least two squires in their vicinity, keeping them under watch it seemed.
Mike suggested an
experiment, “Let’s wander back toward the parking area and see how far we
get. If we get all the way then I vote
we get our gear and take Stephen’s suggestion.”
They were about ¾ of the
way there when several squires approached them, “Sirs, we have to ask you to
please return to the castle, it’s time for you to prepare for your introduction
at court.”
“Don’t worry” said
Daniel, “we’ll just be a minute, want to have a look at one of the tires on my
car, I think it may be losing air.”
“I’m afraid we must
insist you come now,” the burliest of the squires said, “time is short and I’m
sure you don’t wish to offend by causing a delay to the festivities.” The other squires had closed ranks in front
of them, if they wanted through then they’d have to ‘make a hole’ for themselves.
Quick glances between
them and they silently agreed that now was not the time to push things, they
had the answer to their question.
They returned to the castle
and their rooms, Lee was thinking that they probably all wanted to get a look
at their host anyway and it shouldn’t be too hard to get past the squires
later, after all they were ONI agents with many years experience and training,
when they wanted out, they’d get out.
Sounded good in theory.
A quick change of
clothes and once again they met in the corridor, turned out that Stephen and
Daniel’s rooms were close by. “You check
your gear?” Daniel asked.
“Ya,
seems my keys have disappeared,” Gerry noted.
“Same here, Stephen and
I came up together, I left the keys in my room, but they are gone now,” said
Daniel.
“Well gentlemen, seems
our presence is most definitely desired, might as well go see who is going to
all this trouble on our behalf,” Mike stated.
Just then a squire
appeared and instructed that they were to follow him. They looked quite the impressive group, Lee
always turned heads in or out of uniform but his cream shirt, with full
sleeves, deep blue sleeveless doublet, black pants and thigh high boots really
did things for him. The silver
ceremonial sword in brocaded scabbard slung to his left hip didn’t hurt
appearances either. He’d recently let
his hair get a bit longer than customary and it was at the point where it wanted
to start curling. Chip had commented on
it before he left but Lee’d just shrugged and said he
do something about it when he got back.
To finish ‘the look’ he wore a black floor length billowing cape with
silver trim. His friends were dressed
similarly with doublets in their chosen color.
Dark green for Gerald, Mike’s a light blue, orange for Stephen and red
for Daniel.
So, appropriately
attired they followed their guide, not quite sure what to expect.
They went down a
decaying hallway and approached ancient, metal banded wooden double doors,
beyond which they assumed was the audience chamber. The squire knocked three times on one of the
massive doors and they slowly swung open, hinges groaning.
The squire stood aside,
obviously the knights were meant to enter on their own. “OK,” thought Lee, “let the show begin.”
They stepped through the
doorway and fanning out started forward in unison, shoulder to shoulder, they
heard the resounding thump of the doors closing behind them. The hairs on the back of Lee’s neck were
prickling big time. He saw that while
there were people there, it was a very small number.
Directly in front of Lee
and his friends was a line of 5 men standing in front of a purple curtain, each
of the men was wearing a purple doublet with a dragon’s claw stitched in gold on
the left side. Lee and his friends came
to a stop, toe to toe with them, after a moment the ‘purple knights’ stepped to
the side and the curtain fell.
“Bloody hell,” murmured
Mike to Lee’s immediate left, Lee could hear the others take a quick breath in
response to what they now saw.
Lee’s mind raced back
several years to an ONI mission, exploding ordinance, pounding rain reducing
visibility to nil, searing pain from a bullet in his gut. They had all been there, assigned as a unit
to extract a defecting scientist and his young son from a compound deep in
enemy territory. As with many ONI
missions their intel had been incomplete and they’d
found a very well guarded and booby trapped compound. Lee and Mike had carefully manoeuvred past
the land mines and trip wires, gotten into the compound, taken the guards out,
found the scientist and his son and were on the way out when all hell broke
loose.
Seems the boy didn’t
want to leave, thought his father a traitor, although only 12 the boy had a gun
and knew how to use it. Lee never
suspected a thing until he felt the bullet rip into his abdomen as he led the
way to the door. He had just turned
toward Mike who was in the rear when the boy fired, then had turned towards his
father screaming ‘traitor’. Mike reacted
quickly and kicked out at the gun so that it discharged into the ceiling. He then stuck the boy knocking him
unconscious. The father totally lost it
and started yelling that Lee and Mike were animals. Mike bent over Lee to assess the wound, blood
covered Lee’s front, “looks bad my friend.”
“I’m finem” Lee countered, “let’s get out of
here.” Mike did what he could with some
torn strips from the shirts of the unconscious enemy guards, making a pad and
securing it in place over Lee’s wound.
He looked over at the father and told him to pick up his son and follow,
he levered Lee up and supporting him headed out the door.
Mike wasn’t at all sure
the father would follow but he did. They
made it outside, he instructed the father to stay carefully behind him and step
where he did as there were traps all around.
They got about half way when the boy woke up and struggled out of his
father’s arms. Yelling obscenities that no
one that age should know the boy sprinted back towards the compound, not many
steps away he triggered a mine and bits of him rained down. Mike was hit in the leg by shrapnel, the
father caught a piece in the shoulder, both went down, Lee along with
Mike. Stephen, Daniel and Gerry had managed
to get to them and each supporting one of the wounded made their way out and to
the rendezvous. They didn’t see the
scientist again after they got to the pickup boat, he hadn’t spoken at all on
the agonizing trip out.
They all had nightmares
for a long time about that mission, Lee and Mike especially. If the intel had
been better, if they’d thought to search the boy, if Mike had left Lee and
taken the father and boy out first, if if if...
Now, there in front of
them, on a gold draped throne sat the scientist, the father, of the blown to
bits boy.
“Well well well, look what we have here, the ONI knights, rescuers of
the helpless... murderers of children”, came from the man on the throne, the words
were filled with black hatred.
The five stood straight
and silent, they knew there was no point in stating the obvious, they’d wait,
they knew that as often as not silence would lead to an adversary providing
more information that he was intending to give.
“What, nothing to say
for yourselves? No questions, protests,
claims of innocence?,” he rose from the
throne as he spoke.
“I’m sure you are aware
of that famous quote, “Revenge is a dish best served cold”*****. Did you really think that there would be no
consequences to your murder, that I would ‘forgive and forget’ as your
superiors obviously do? NO NO NO
gentlemen, it may have been a long time in coming but vengence
has come, and you will pay.” Dr. Hendel had moved down from the throne and now stood
directly in front of Lee, cold, venomous eyes to Lee’s now dark hazel ones.
Those that knew Lee well
could read a myriad of information from his eyes, they varied in their colour
and intensity according to his emotions.
Flecked sparkling green and gold when feeling mischievous or dark and
muddy when worried or in pain. Some
swore they could see lightning flashing in them if he was angry enough.
“Why the hell do they
always end up in front of me?” Lee couldn’t help but wonder. Hendel stood there
not speaking, his eyes boring into Lee’s.
There was nothing for it, Lee was going to have to say something, an
explanation of their actions would be useless so he spoke the simple truth, “To
a man, Dr. Hendel, we deeply regret your son’s death
and not one of us has forgotten it or ever will.” Pain and sorrow flashed through Lee’s eyes,
he doubted that Hendel would notice, but he did see,
for just a second, a slight softening in his eyes, but then it was gone and
they were once again cold, hard, cruel, eyes looking at him.
“I’m so touched. Well then that makes everything all right
doesn’t it,” Hendel spat, he stepped slightly away
from Lee and then backhanded him across the face. It wasn’t a powerful blow compared to ones
Lee had experienced over the years but it did open the right corner of his
lower lip which dripped blood down his chin.
His companions didn’t move a muscle, they knew that breaking rank and
showing any concern would only feed the violence. Lee remained in place, standing straight, silent,
no emotion showing other than the deeping darkness of
his eyes. He ignored the blood, made no
attempt to wipe it away.
Hendel
surveyed them all for a moment then went back to his throne. He turned, facing them.
“Very well, knights you
consider yourselves, let us see then how well you can play your part. You will compete in the events you’ve seen
prepared, your opponents will be the five you see here to my right. Should more than one of you still be alive at
the end, then you will battle each other, to the death. As you can see I’m being very merciful, there
is an opportunity for one of you to survive.”
“Ya”
thought Stephen, “a veritable philanthropist”.
Although neither he nor his companions had been looking around, well
unless you want to count when Lee got his head rotated for him, he knew that
his buddies were aware, just as he was, that up in the gallery that circled the
chamber some very not authentic types were now clearly visible. At a guess he’d say a dozen or so with nice
shiny M249 machine guns, good weapon actually, providing the firepower of an automatic
machine gun with the accuracy and light weight portability of a rifle. As if reading his mind Hendel
began speaking again.
“As you may have noticed
we’ve been joined by slightly more modern ‘knights’. Wouldn’t want you attempting any foolish
escapes. I would greatly prefer to watch
you die slowly but be assured, if you attempt to escape they will cut you
down. Should you be planning to try and
slip into the forest, you might be interested to know that it’s full of land
mines, just like the one....my boy was killed by. Should one of you survive, that is the way
you’ll be permitted to leave, on foot, through the forest.”
“Figured there’d be a
catch to that somewhere along the way,” Gerry thought.
“This audience is over,
the perimeter of the castle grounds are guarded, you may move about within the
area as you wish. Tomorrow the tournament
will commence, one hour after sunrise,”
with that announcement Hendel strode from the
chamber and exited through a door at the back, his ‘knights’ followed him out.
Lee and his friends were
left standing there as the remaining people also left.
“That was fun,” said
Daniel, “where do you suppose an insane scientist gets the resources to set
something like this up?”
“Oh, probably from
someone who really wants us to have a good time,” Gerry replied while looking
at Lee’s lip.
“Stop fussing,” Lee told
him.
“Ya
ya ya I know, you’re fine.”
Stephen looked around,
“Nobody seems to be watching us, place has emptied out, even the machine gun
types are gone.”
“Likely on perimeter
duty, they must figure we’re pretty well contained here in the middle of
nowhere,” said Daniel.
“More like the end of
nowhere,” commented Lee. “Now seem like as good a time as any to you guys to
try and come up with some sort of a plan?”
“Funny you should say
that, I was just thinking that I wished we had one. I checked my room out pretty thoroughly
earlier. One door, no window, walls
rough stone, same re the floor under the scattered fur mats. Since our rooms are all along the same corridor
I’m guessing same set up?” Daniel asked.
The others all nodded
their heads in the affirmative.
“OK, we need to take a
good look at just how tightly we’re buttoned up in here for the night. I’d just as soon be gone by morning,” declared
Lee.
Falling easily into ONI
mode they exited the hall and immediately set off in different directions. Lee wanted to get a look around from as high
up as he could get so took the first set of stone stairs he came to, figuring
from what he’d observed from the outside that they lead up to one of the
towers. He expected to see guards lurking
about but he neither met nor detected anyone else as he climbed the
stairs. He passed a landing with a door
to the side that probably would have been a guard room ‘in the day’. No one there now, if fact it didn’t look like
it had been opened in years, still covered in dust and webs. There was a silver tabby sitting by the door,
he gave the cat a scratch behind the ears and moved on. As he climbed the walls soon became rounded
and close, obviously in the tower proper now, it was growing colder as well. Finally reaching the top he was rewarded with
the view he had been hoping for...
It had been about an
hour since they split up to reconnoitre the place and they now gathered in
Mike’s room for the debrief. After a
thorough going over of the room they were comfortable that there were no ‘bugs’,
other than the organic kind you’d expect.
They had found that the
castle itself was basically deserted with the exception of themselves. Gerry had located a section that was guarded
and looked to be in better shape than the rest of the castle, likely this was
where Hendel and his goons were camped out. While the area they’d been escorted through
to the meeting gave the impression that the castle was being restored, the fact
of the matter was that it was all recent cosmetic work, the castle was a
crumbling ruin. If they’d had any
thoughts that workmen or tourists might show up that just wasn’t going to
happen.
Stephen and Mike, had
done a pass around the grounds and found that while they could freely range in
the area marked out for the tournament, the armed guards were well placed to
prevent them moving into the forest or back towards where they hoped their
vehicles still were.
One of three things had
to be true about the forest, 1) it was mined, 2) inhabited by wolves and wild
boar, or 3) neither of the first two and it was a safe passage. Given that they hadn’t heard any mines go
off, and surely the wolves or boar would have tripped at least some of them by
now, that left options 1 and 3. They settled on option 1 as the most likely, it
would appeal to Hendel. The cliff was its own guardian, it would be
suicide to attempt a descent and no point in doing so, only rocks and surf
below.
Lee gave his report to
the group, “I got a good overall view from the top of the tower. I spotted several of the guards, not only is
smoking bad for their health but lighting up and puffing gives their position
away quite nicely. Counting the ones I
could locate and factoring in spacing, I’d say that there is a guard about
every 18 feet. I couldn’t see any lights
that would indicate a city or even a village near here. The forest appears quite thick with no
obvious signs of trails. I did spot a
corral with horses.”
“I was wondering about
that, figured they had to be here somewhere.
There were horse trailers in the parking area,” commented Mike.
“Not sure how useful
they might be though, if the forest really is mined then we can’t ride through
it and trying to gallop out the other way past the guards isn’t likely to be
overly successful despite what the movies show,” stated Gerry.
“ONI 101, never discount
an option until you’ve tried it, at least once,” smiled Stephen.
“I think once is about
all the attempts you’d get trying that one here,” said Lee. “We need a
distraction to pull the guards away from the vehicles. We should be able to hotwire one and peel out
of here in short order. It’s dark out
now, but I think we can assume that at least some of the guards are equipped
with night vision goggles.”
“Sounds like you’ve got
something in mind Lee,” Daniel guessed.
Lee outlined his plan
for them. “The horses, not riding them out, but if we could stampede them
hopefully the guards would be sufficiently distracted avoiding getting trampled
and rounding them up that we’d have a chance. We need to head them toward the
guards closest to the parking area to draw them out of position, the horses
movements should mask ours enough to slip by.”
“You know they are going
to be expecting us to try something tonight,” Daniel said.
“Then we really wouldn’t
want to disappoint them, would we,” answered Lee with a grin.
It was agreed that even
if they weren’t successful it would give them an idea of how the guards reacted
and maybe point out a weakness or two that could be exploited later. Lee, Stephen, Gerry and Daniel headed for
their own rooms to catch some sleep before putting the plan in motion.
Three hours later Lee and
the others were crouched low beside the corral, he’d been uneasy ever since
they’d discovered that there were no guards inside other than in the one area,
getting out of the castle was just far too easy, it was like they were being
invited to ‘come out and play’.
*******
The Admiral and Chip had
arrived in
“Well gentlemen I canna tell you of any tournaments, but according to a good friend
of mine up north, there has been some unusual goings on up that way. Now I’m not saying that it is or it isn’t anything
to do with what you’re looking for but he tells me that the old bluff road
northeast of John O’Groats has been seeing some
travel. There’s an old castle up on the
bluff, crumbling back into history, no reason for anyone to be there. Scots people generally mind their own business
but he had occasion to drive past the turnoff a couple of times and he swears
it’s blocked off and that he saw armed men, thought it could be some secret
training for the forces. Although a
mighty peculiar place to be doing it.”
Alastair sat back after pouring himself a ‘wee dram’.
The Admiral and Chip finished
their drinks, thanked Alastair for his help and hospitality and took their
leave after giving Alastair the contact info for NIMR should he hear anything
more.
“I take it we are
heading north Admiral,” Chip inquired.
“It’s the only lead we
have Chip, and it’s not a very encouraging one.” The Admiral looked worried, a look Chip knew
he also wore. An old abandoned castle on
a bluff, far to the north, road blocked and armed men apparently keeping it
that way. Didn’t sound like any sort of
medieval tournament he’d imagined.
“Lee how the hell do you
manage to get into these things,” Chip muttered under his breath, but
apparently not as quietly as he’d thought.
“That is a question I’d
also dearly love the answer to Mr. Morton.
If there were any way to do it I’d have Lee assigned permanent round the
clock keepers,” stated Nelson.
“Probably wouldn’t help
Sir, even contained on Seaview with 125 men trying to
keep him safe he still manages to find trouble.
It’s like he has some sort of secret mark on him, ‘adventure wanted,
pick me, no danger to extreme’,” Chip grumbled, then realized who he was
talking to so familiarly, and about whom.
He cast a quick look over Nelson’s way to see if he’d overstepped the
line too badly but Nelson just nodded grimly.
The Admiral was thinking
back to something that had happened at a benefit gala he attended a number of
months ago. There had been quite a mix
of people there including some who had
at one time or another been contacted by ‘agencies’ for their talents in the ‘other
world’, as it was referred to. He had
been standing quietly apart when an elegantly dressed woman approached him, he
nodded a greeting and she laid her hand on his arm and looked into his
eyes. The Admiral noticed that her eyes
reminded him of Lee’s, a similar unusual mix of colours. He had been brooding a bit over Lee and
trying to figure out what it was about him that seemed to attract the strange
and unusual. The woman spoke quietly to
him, “Do not worry so Admiral, there is nothing you can do. The one you care for so deeply is a most rare
and unusual man. Spirits are drawn to
him, although there are those that seek to harm him, there are also those that
protect him. He lives outside of
himself, caring for others more than for himself. It is good that he has you and others to care
for him, he will not/cannot do it himself and he deserves the very best of
care. He is a Champion, and there are
few like him in the world. I will tell
you this, watch for when a feline joins him, it will be a sign of a great test
coming. He will need you to be there for
him.” She moved away and the Admiral did
not see her again.
As the Admiral got in
the car that he and Chip had been loaned from the base at Faslane
he thought about the woman’s words again, “she called him a Champion, weren’t
the knights also called champions, is that what attracted Lee to join, on a
subconscious level was he acknowledging his place in the world.” Nelson didn’t know, didn’t care, he just wanted
Lee back where he belonged, at his side and in one piece.
Chip wondered at the
contemplative expression that had appeared on Nelson’s face, “You seem deep in
thought Sir.”
“Just wondering about
something someone said once upon a time Chip.
We’ll pick up Jamie at the airport, head get back to Faslane
and take FS1 up north. If there is
anything going on at that old castle we should be able to spot it in a
flyover. It’s all we have at this point,
let’s just hope it’s enough.”
*******
As Lee returned to
consciousness he found he had the headache from hell. He could feel roughness beneath his face, but
wasn’t about to try and open his eyes and find out just what it was. It didn’t feel that hard so if he had to
guess he’d say he was on one of the fur carpets, probably on a bed since it did
feel somewhat soft underneath his body.
Okay, things he could do without opening his eyes or moving his head....what’s
the last thing he remembered? He was
crouched by the corral, along with the others.
They were going to overpower the two sentries and stampede the horses
out and across the compound toward the guards on the south side, where the parking
area was. Theory being that in the
confusion they could slip past the guards and get the hell out of here. So what happened? They got the guards taken care of easily
enough, maybe to easily, 20/20 hindsight was a marvellous thing. Stephen opened the corral gate and they got in
with the horses, he had noticed something a bit odd in the way the horses were
moving but there was no time to investigate, had to get them running. They’d started smacking the horses on their
rumps and waving their arms.......nothing much happened. Yes the horses moved out the gate, sort of
hopping, definitely no stampeding taking place.
Lee recalled why, he’d heard Gerry say, “Oh s--t, they’re hobbled.” Lee sotto voiced back, “who in their right
mind hobbles horses in a corral?” Of
course the answer came to them instantly, “someone who doesn’t want them used
as a diversion.” S--t indeed, deep
double horse hockey pucks! Oh yes, they
had been just brilliant, fell right into it as evidenced by the high powered
lights that suddenly illuminated the corral, horses on the outside, the five of
them nicely lit up on the inside, five figures stepped forward with five
rifles, five soft phttts and five tranq
darts found their targets. Lee
remembered looking down at his thigh and thinking that the thing was big enough
to put out an elephant, or one very stupid ONI agent.
Well that explained the
headache and why he was probably back in his room. “Guess I’d better open my eyes and find out
if it’s worse than I already think it is.”
On the up side, opening his eyes didn’t make his headache that much
worse, the down side was that it was due to the fact that it was pitch black,
he blinked just to be sure he had, in fact, opened his eyes, still pitch
black. A frisson of fear ran down his
spine, “good lord, did the drug cause blindness...ok get a grip Crane, if
you’re in your room it would be like this, there’s no window, solid stone
walls, no way light would get in unless someone lit a lamp or something. The door.....wouldn’t there be light from
around the door, it didn’t fit so closely that light wouldn’t be visible around
it, and the hallway had torches.” He
couldn’t see any indication of the door, “ok, so I could be facing the wall,”
Lee lifted and turned his head, which near took the top of his skull off from
the jackhammer pain, he put his head down with closed eyes, his stomach was
churning from the pain. He used
breathing exercises to get control over the worst of the pain and nausea and
slowly cracked open his eyes. He was
rewarded with razor sharp pain shooting through his eyeballs but it was worth
it, there was the outline of the door, he wasn’t blind. Willpower and breathing will only get you just
so far and he gratefully slid back into blissful unconsciousness.
His next sensation was
one of a bucket of cold water being dumped over his head. The shock brought him sitting up in a flash,
accompanied by the throbbing of this head, but nowhere near the intensity of
before. He hadn’t completely oriented
himself when he felt hands hauling him to his feet by his biceps and pushing
him none to gently towards the earlier blessed door. He stumbled into the corridor to see his
friends being hauled out of their rooms in similar dishevel and from the looks
of them enjoying the same headache. The
bucket of water had added one more torment to Lee’s growing list, and
undoubtedly the others, he was thirsty.
They’d had nothing to drink or eat since arriving, not that he would
trust anything provided by their host, Lee didn’t care about the food but lack
of water could be a problem.
They were shoved
unceremoniously down the hallway and out the gate into the grounds. Where yesterday there had been an attempt at
making things look like a tournament now there were no wandering people in
period dress. The event areas were
ringed by the M249 armed guards. Over by
each of them was a raised viewing platform, the only one currently occupied was
by the Quintain, and there residing upon it was Hendel and his knights.
Lee and the others were herded in front of the platform.
“I’d wish you a good morning but I sincerely
doubt you’ll find it to be so. I’m told
you had a bit of an adventure last night, I do hope that the effects of the tranqs have had a chance to wear off. I believe they tend to result in quite a
headache,” smirked Hendel.
The ONI agents elected
to say nothing in return.
Hendel
continued, “You will each be taken to a tent, inside you will find food and
water as well as the equipment you brought with you. Someone will be there to lend any assistance
you may require in getting ready, and to keep an eye on things to make sure you
don’t ‘get lost’. The first event will
be the Quintain, as it’s knight against apparatus
there will be no need for my knights to exert themselves. You will find that our Quintain
is a bit different from what you are used to, observe.”
Hendel pointed over to the canvas covered apparatus. Two of his knights had gone over to it while
he had been talking, they now pulled the canvas off. The Quintain was
normal in that it consisted of a shield,
arms and dummy which was suspended from a swinging pole so the whole apparatus
would rotate. The task was to charge the Quintain on
your horse, strike the shield with your lance and avoid having the rotating
arms knock you from the saddle. The
arms often had a heavy sandbag attached to them. In this case the sandbags had been augmented
with several 6 inch razor sharp spikes, and Lee was willing to bet there was
something harder than sand in the bags, anchoring the spikes.
As
they surveyed the Quintain five horses were led up,
undoubtedly from the corral of their earlier misadventure. Lee hadn’t really got a good look at them before,
and what he saw now did not inspire confidence.
The horses were already covered by a caparison so it wasn’t possible to
tell what tack was underneath but from the rise in front and back it appeared
to be a standard jousting saddle with high pommel and cantel.
They
were large horses, probably 16 hands or better, looked to have some Friesian or
something similar in their breeding, certainly the black did. Rather than standing quietly they were
snorting and prancing. The odds of
avoiding the ‘sandbags’ on a horse you’d never ridden before were not good.
“You
have one hour, I suggest you make ready,” with that Hendel
moved off the platform and towards a royal purple pavilion.
As
they started towards their tent area they quickly shared a few words. “I don’t think I’d trust the food or water,” said
Stephen.
“Who
knows what could be in the stuff, I’m more worried about dehydration than being
hungry,” Daniel added.
Lee
voiced his thought, “I noticed buckets of water for the horses, maybe not the
most hygienic to drink but I’d sooner share a drink with the horses than drink
what Hendel supplies for us. Let’s see if we can get away with doing that,
the food I’m leaving alone.”
Inside his tent Lee found pretty
much what Hendel had promised, food in the form of
dried meat of unknown origin, bread and an apple, plus a couple of bottles of
water. He ignored it all. In the middle of the tent was the gear he’d
brought with him. While some liked full
plate armour Lee always favoured the lighter chain mail in the form of a
hauberk, with a spaulder on his right shoulder, he
found that being of slim build his best tactic was to be too quick and agile
for his opponent to keep up. A fully
armour plated knight tired quickly. Lee
also preferred the Norman
Helmet which offered a conical top and a nasal bar, a piece of metal extending
down from the front of the helmet to protect the wearer's nose. It allowed for lots of visibility and again
was not too heavy. He used only front
greaves for his legs, and leather gauntlets.
His shield was leather covered wood, sturdy but lightweight.
His ‘helper’ approached to assist him but he waved him away,
he knew how to gear up and wouldn’t trust the guy anyway. Lee made quick work of it and then reached
for his sword.
The helper shook his head, “no, the sword stays here, you won’t
need it for the first event.” When Lee
looked like he was about to protest the man quietly took out a Glock 17 from where it had been concealed in his clothes.
Lee got the message.
He was the first to exit his tent and stood waiting for the
others. He looked over at the horses,
they had settled down for the most part but the big black still foamed and
snorted. “Heaven help whoever ends up on
him,” thought Lee.
The others came out one by one, similarly attired as Lee, none of
them comfortable in full armour, and as a group they were guided back to the Quintain.
As they waited for Hendel to make his
appearance Daniel started towards the horses, no one seemed to be inclined to
stop him so he continued. He examined
the water buckets then cupped his hands and filled them with water from one and
started drinking. Lee and the others
joined him. No reaction other than a
couple of laughs from the guards. When
done they were gestured back into line, Hendel was
approaching. He climbed up to the
platform and took his seat.
“The order in which you will go will be randomly selected, inside
the helmet my knight is holding are 5 papers, one name on each.” Hendel then began
to take out the papers one at a time, “the first to go will be Gerald, second
Michael, the third Stephen, the fourth Lee, the last, Daniel. Take note... if you fail to strike the Quintain, your life is forfeit. Let the event commence.”
Lee almost expected a trumpet fanfare, he hadn’t been at all
surprised by the little ‘extra’ that Haldane had announced. A guard approached Gerry, “this way, your
horse has been chosen for you.” “Another
random draw?” Gerry asked. The guard
didn’t answer, just smiled.
As Gerry approached, a big chestnut was brought toward him, Gerry
checked the stirrup length and talked quietly to his horse. He then took a look at the bridle but when he
went to lift the caparison to check the saddle he was stopped. He looked briefly over at the others and shrugged.
Foot
to stirrup he mounted and walked his horse in a circle, the chestnut began to
prance a bit but seemed willing to carry Gerry and more or less do what was
asked.
Gerry
was brought a lance, he took hold of it and noted that it was not tipped with a
coronal to help prevent shattering. He frowned
as he hefted it, something wasn’t quite right.
Again he looked over to the others and mouthed something but he was
instructed to take his place at the charge line.
Lee
murmured, “did he say ‘hollow’?” “That
was my take on it,” said Daniel. While a
jousting lance these days was often made of soft wood or hollowed so it would
break before piercing armour, the one for use with a Quintain
needed to be strong to withstand the impact with the shield.
They
didn’t have time for more discussion.
Gerry had started his charge.
Reins
in the left hand and lance in the right he charged for the Quintain.
At just the right moment he angled his lance down to hit the shield dead
centre...........the lance shattered on impact, Gerry appeared to have expected
this and dropped the remaining piece and threw himself to the right, down along
the side of his horses neck so that when the first spiked arm swung around it
missed his back but did graze his upper left arm. He was out of range when the second arm
passed by. Straightening in the saddle he brought his mount to a stop.
Haldane
did not looked pleased, Lee’s guess, Haldane expected the shattered lance to
throw Gerry off balance causing him to reign in his horse and lean back, right
into the spiked arm as it came around. “One
for our side,” Lee chalked up.
Gerry
dismounted and leaned into his horse for a minute, giving him a pat and a thank
you. The others noticed that he was
favouring his left arm.
As
Mike passed Gerry on the way to his horse Gerry whispered, “watch out for the
lance, mine has tampered with.” Mike
nodded to let Gerry know he’d heard him.
Gerry was taken to stand slightly to the left of the others. Lee raised an eyebrow in inquiry. “Just bruised, didn’t get through the
chainmail,” Gerry reassured.
Mike’s
horse was a dark Bay, Mike did the same checks as Gerry and as with his friend
was not allowed to check the saddle itself.
He mounted, took the offered lance and hefted it, the weight seemed
right but something was off.
He
rode his circle, as satisfied as it was possible to be with his horse’s
responses, he lined up and began his charge, as he hit the shield his lance
snapped off close to the vamplate. The natural reaction again would be to lean
back to compensate but Mike knew what was coming up behind him so he tried
Gerry’s move and bent low to the right and along his horse’s neck. He was more successful, and was not grazed as
the spiked bag swung by.
“Copy
cat,” Lee heard Gerry mutter.
Steve
was next, another big Chestnut was brought forward, unlike the other two this
one did not like having a rider and Steve was having a hard time keeping
control of him. To gallop the horse
straight and hit the Quintain would be next to
impossible.
Once
set at the charge, however, the Chestnut stayed true to the line, albeit totally
out of Steve’s control and going at a full gallop but at least going
straight. That is what saved Steve, his
lance hit the target and slid off without breaking, Steve efforts were concentrated
on staying mounted and with so with no slowing of his horse’s headlong gallop
he was clear of the arms when they swung round.
He dropped the lance and managed to slow and finally stop the
horse. It was more luck than skill that
had saved his hide, had he missed the shield he’d no doubt he’d have a bullet
in his head shortly. He gave his horse a
pat and told him what a good boy he was, after all it was the horse that went
straight enough for the hit, Steve had just been along for the ride.
Lee’s
turn. There were two horses left, the
big prancy black and a large relatively quiet
grey. “Don’t know why I’m wondering
about it, it’s going to be the black, but sure would be nice to be wrong.”
Of
course he wasn’t wrong, it was the black that they brought forward to him. He checked the stirrups, then the bridle and
took a minute to look deep into the black’s eyes, gently stroking the horse’s left
cheek. Dark liquid eyes gazed back at
him, honest eyes, not mean ones, Lee decided the horse was just spirited, not a
‘bad’ horse. They’d get along just fine,
with a final pat and a whisper into an ear, Lee prepared to mount. He noticed that on the other side the stirrup
was being held, that hadn’t happened with the others. Warning bells went off, the girth, there was
going to be a problem with the girth.
Lee
did a circle and then another trying to feel how well the girth was cinched. There
were a lot of ways to sabotage a girth. It seemed he was going to find out what
had been done the hard way. Up came his
lance, felt good, not hollow or off balance.
Blackjack (Lee had named him) had settled down and didn’t fuss when Lee
moved the lance back and forth over his head as Lee did a couple of standard
exercises, still feeling for a fault with the girth.
“Odd
they didn’t let any of us do more than a couple of circles, sort of like they
want Lee moving around more,” noted Mike, “now’s probably not the time to ask
but any of you know what on earth Lee whispers in his horses ear? I’ve noticed he always does that when he
rides.”
“Not
a clue, I asked him once, he said he was just saying hello. Seems Lee’s trying to check something but I’m
not sure what,” Stephen tried to catch Lee’s eye.
“I
didn’t see any of you get any help when you mounted,” stated Daniel, “I noticed
that when Lee mounted someone was on the other side holding the stirrup.”
“His
girth, if they’ve cut it or something....” worried Mike. Just then one of the guards told them to keep
quiet.
Lee
lined up for this charge, he’d just have to deal with whatever happened as it
happened.
Lee
held the reins gently but firmly in his left hand, positioned the lance with
his right. He sighted down the line,
repeating to himself, “always look where you want your horse to go, impulsion,
lots of impulsion.” With that Lee
signalled Blackjack with his legs to begin the charge and Blackjack willingly
responded and surged forward. Halfway to
the target Lee felt something give under him, Blackjack hesitated half a stride
but Lee urged him on. He could feel the
instability of his seat, when his lance hit the target there would be no
support from the saddle at all, most likely it would slip backwards with the
impact, sending Lee into the spikes. Missing the shield wasn’t an option.
Lee’s
friends could tell something had happened, they glanced up at Hendel and saw the satisfied expression on his face, Hendel figured he had this one in the bag for sure.
Gleefully
Hendel anticipated what was going to happen, “No way
Crane could avoid death, if he choose to miss the target then it was a bullet
to the head, if he hit the target the saddle would slide back and take Crane into
the spikes, with any luck he would slide right off the horse’s back and the
spikes would catch him in midair. O
delightful, simply delightful.” He practically
capered.
Time
seemed to slow for Lee, Blackjack galloped in slow motion, Lee’s body moving
with the rhythm. He leaned forward as he
approached the shield, the lance struck solidly. Lee felt himself moving backwards as the
saddle slid, he released the lance and it fell away, but then Blackjack did
something unexpected. He turned himself slightly
to the right and high bucked into an almost vertical line, sliding Lee and
saddle forward, at the same time the spiked bag flew under Blackjack’s raised hind quarters, barely missing his
belly. Unfortunately, the Quantain had two arms.
As Blackjack came back down he was turned mostly back the way they had
come, Lee’s position was such that the second spiked arm ran across his ribs on
his right side. It had enough force that
some of the chainmail was torn apart and Lee’s side gashed. It could, however, have been much worse, a
hit to the abdomen would have gutted him.
Pain
flared red hot and intense, Lee felt his blood flowing from the gaping wound. Blackjack had moved away from the swinging
arms and now stood still as Lee folded forward, wrapping his left arm across
his stomach and over his right holding it against his side. Lee curled the fingers of his right hand into
Blackjack’s mane and gently nudged him with his heels. Thus, his rider doubled over and bleeding,
Blackjack walked carefully back the way they had come.
Lee’s
companions could only watch in horror as the events unfolded. They could tell when the girth gave way and
didn’t expect that Lee would survive the results. Not a one of them could believe their eyes
when Lee’s horse seemed to consciously attempt to save Lee’s life. Or did he? Maybe the buck was just a reaction to the
broken girth and slipping saddle. None
of them noticed the silver tabby cat watching attentively from under the
platform.
Hendel had jumped about shouting “NO NO NO,” as Lee miraculously avoided death. He’d been so sure that there was no way Crane
could survive, either the faulty saddle would cause him to miss the shield or
he’d be ripped to shreds by the razor sharp spikes. He watched as Crane attempted to dismount
after the slow walk back. His guards had
prevented the others from going to Crane to help him down.
As
Lee dismounted, sliding down a trail of his own blood, Hendel
tried to look at the bright side. Lots
of blood, Crane did get caught by the second spiked bag, perhaps a slow,
painful, bleed-out death would be better.
One thing was for sure, Crane would never survive the next event.
Lee
made it about two steps away from Blackjack before he collapsed to his
knees. The jarring sent fresh spikes of
pain through his body and more blood flowed out over his arm. Stephen, Gerry and Mike pushed past the
guards and kneeled beside Lee. The eased
him down on the ground and pushed up the torn chainmail.
“OK
Lee, good news is only one spike made it through, bad news is it opened you up
about 6 inches on an angle and likely scored your ribs. Lots of blood,” Mike informed Lee.
“Love
your bedside manner Mike,” gasped Lee.
“Need
a medkit over here,” yelled Stephen, hell it was
worth a try he thought. To his surprise
one was thrown his way. Between the
three of them they got Lee bandaged up as best they could, at least the wound
was now taped closed and covered with a pressure dressing. Basic field first aid being drilled into all
ONI agents, for good reason. They wanted
to carry Lee but he insisted on getting up and walking, so with Gerry on one
side and Mike on the other they managed to get him over to the side and settled,
leaning against a post.
Daniel
had been forced to stay where he was and could only worry and watch. Lee gave him a thumbs up as Gerry and Mike
seated themselves on the ground one on each side, mostly to keep him from
toppling over. Stephen kept the med kit
and stood slightly behind Lee. Lee
started to say something, “I’m ...”, “You say ‘fine’ and I’ll belt you,” growled Gerry.
Lee decided not to finish his sentence.
“Wonder
what the odds are that we all live through this one” mused Daniel, “guess I’m
about to find out”.
He
went through the drill, stirrups, bridle, mount, circle, lance, take the
line. Everything felt good, the big grey
was well behaved, leapt nicely forward to the charge, things felt good, coming
down the line nice and straight, angle lance over a bit more.........suddenly
several shots were fired and his grey reared then swerved right, he was going
to miss! Daniel dropped his reins from
his left hand and grabbed the lance in front of the vamplate,
he leaned well out and pushed the lance with both hands towards the
shield. In connected by the barest of
hits, he dropped the lance and made a grab for the pommel catching it on the
side, he tried to heave himself up but it just wasn’t going to happen. As he fell he tried to kick his left foot
loose from the stirrup but it twisted and held him while he ‘trolled for
stones’ before the stirrup finally gave way.
He
picked himself up, collected his horse, which had stopped just a few feet away,
and started back to his friends.
One
of the guards came over to where the others were, “up on your feet” he
ordered. Gerry and Mike once again took
hold of Lee and eased him up, they and Stephen followed the guard.
They
met up with Daniel in front of the viewing platform.
Haldane
did not look happy. “I’m not sure that the last charge should be called a
strike,” said Haldane.
“It
was a damn fine strike,” snarled Lee, “he didn’t hit the ground until after the
lance hit the shield.”
Haldane
looked down at them, “I had thought that at least 2 of you would be dead by
now, although it would appear that Crane is headed that way.”
“I’m
fine,” Lee snapped.
“So
glad to hear it.” Haldane responded, “Two hours and the single armed combat
will take place.” With that Haldane
turned and once again left for his purple pavilion.
“You
ok Daniel?” Lee wanted to know.
“Ask
me again in 2 ½ hours. I think I may
have pulled a muscle, otherwise just bruised and battered,” he replied.
They
all went into Lee’s tent. The guards had initially looked like they weren’t
going to allow it but backed down when the five glared daggers at them. Mike had grabbed a water bucket along the way.
They
got Lee down and pulled up his chainmail.
Mike looked things over, “Seems like the bleeding has stopped, I’m not
going to take the bandaging off in case that starts it again. Stephen hand me what’s left of the medkit. Anyone got
any injuries that we can do something about?”
“Only
bumps, bruises and pulled something or others for the rest of us,” answered Daniel.
“Lee,
as usual you win in the injury department, do you always have to be such an
overachiever?” kidded Mike. He took
another pressure dressing from the kit, placed it on top of the one already
over the wound and wrapped it in place, pulling the chainmail back down when he
was done. Daniel came over with some
water and gave it to Lee, the others helped themselves from the bucket.
Stephen,
Mike and Gerry were talking quietly in a corner, Daniel was sitting beside Lee.
“I’d
like to tie his right arm over the area for support and protection but that’s
his fighting arm,” said Stephen.
“Definitely
would have been better if it was his left side, but either way I don’t see Lee
lasting long in combat ,” worried Mike.
“We
need to cover him somehow,” said Gerry, “he’s fast, if he can keep out of reach
of his opponent until one of us can finish off ours and step in....”
“He’s
fast when his side isn’t split open and he’s down a couple of pints or more of
blood, and you’re assuming we’ll all fight at the same time,” Mike pointed out.
“Care
to speak up or move your sixes over here so Daniel and I can be in on whatever
you’re planning.”
Lee
started to try and sit up but Daniel pressed him down, “rest while you can Lee,
you’ll need all the strength you can muster soon enough.”
For
once Lee didn’t argue, he knew the odds of him surviving much longer were
pretty slim.
After
the two hours the guards came for them.
They had each gone to their tents to retrieve their swords and shields
and then back to Lee’s tent. Lee was up
and his friends had padded him under his chainmail as best they could.
This time they were taken to the middle field, again lined up in front of a viewing platform. Hendel made his entrance. As expected Hendel announced that it would be a fight to the death, but their luck held in two ways, they would fight at the same time, and, glory-be, their opponents were wearing full-plate armour. This provided a lot of protection but they would be slower, have reduced visibility and tire a lot quicker. Full-plate was impressive, but there were ways to get a killing strike. Thrusts into the un-plated areas, armpits, slits in the helm, the groin, through the top behind the clavicle, and through the bottom of the cuirass, would all get the job done.
Hendel’s knights saluted him and moved out into the
field, Lee and his friends saluted each other and in a moment of sheer
insanity, simultaneously gave Hendel the one-digit
salute. The look on his face was worth
it.
As
they went to their respective opponents, Mike looked over at Lee, “stay out of
his strike range pal, that’s all you need to do,” Lee nodded back.
Lee’s was the largest of the
opposing knights. One good hit with that
two-handed cross hilt Claymore and it would be all over. Lee’s sword, while lighter in weight was also double-edged, with the
standard crossguard, hilt, and pommel. He had chosen the sword for its perfect
balance of power and agility, it moved effortlessly from ward to attack, and
back again. It was capable of piercing
armour but Lee didn’t currently have the strength to make that sort of
strike. Didn’t matter, all he had to do
was keep clear, of course if an opening appeared, or he tired his opponent out
sufficiently. Lee hated to take a life,
but if there was no other option available, he’d do what needed to be done. He didn’t want one of the other’s to take on
added risk if he could do it himself.
Lee’s opponent started towards him, “Guess somebody said ready,
set, go,” thought Lee, although he hadn’t heard anything. “Better start focusing better than that.”
Lee watched ‘Tincan’, as he’d nicknamed
the guy, approach, he was analysing Tincan’s
movements, how comfortable was he moving in the armour, did he angle his head
to indicate a blind spot in the visor.
While still well out of reach Lee took a couple of steps back and
circled to his right. Tincan easily followed the
movement. A quick glance around
confirmed to Lee that his buddies were also moving around so that their
opponent’s had to track them, and hopefully reveal any issues with the armour.
“Hey, Tincan, getting hot in there?” Lee
taunted.
“Just my luck, not only do I get the one that’s already half dead,
he’s got a mouth on him as well. Stand
still and I promise to make it quick boy,” he answered back.
“Half dead is better than all dead, which is what you’re going to
be,” as he spoke Lee feinted left and was unpleasantly surprised by how fast Tincan reacted, stepping forward quickly into Lee’s line of
travel and swinging the large sword in an arc toward Lee. Lee hadn’t quite stayed outside the strike
zone, he took the blow on his shield and it almost brought him to his knees. Pain spiked up his arm into his shoulder, not
to mention the flare of agony from his wounded right side. Luckily the strike had also flung him back
away from his opponent. Tincan continued to pivot to keep Lee in view as Lee, fighting
past the pain, once again began circling.
Lee could hear the clash of swords elsewhere so knew things had
started in earnest around him. His injured
side and left arm were throbbing and sweat was pouring off of him as he kept
moving round and round. Then Tincan obviously bored and deciding that enough was enough,
rushed Lee.
If you can’t stay outside your opponents reach then the next
safest place is well inside it, to make it difficult for him to bring his sword
to bear. Rather than try to scramble out
of Tincan’s way Lee moved forward as if to accept the
challenge, then as Tincan swept his sword down, Lee
dodged left avoiding the blow and passing close to Tincan’s
right side. Tincan
couldn’t get his sword back into play but he did score a solid hit to Lee’s
right side with his elbow. The elbow was
bent so the plates at the joint were separated and the blow dug the armour
edges into Lee’s injured side.
Lee went down, the pain was blinding, searing, curling him into a
tight ball of agony, he wrapped both arms around himself trying to control his
shudders, his sword laying loose beside him.
He vaguely heard someone yell his name.
Tincan had turned and was leaning casually on
his sword looking down at him, “Well you didn’t get far did you hotshot.” He swung out an armoured foot to give Lee a
kick. It hurt like hell but Lee grabbed
the foot, twisted it up and pushed with everything he had left. The resulting crash would have been more
satisfying if Lee’s vision hadn’t been swimming with dark blobs floating around
in front of him.
Lee staggered up, regained his sword and this time he was the one
looking down, “the bigger they are the harder they fall”, he wheezed out. Tincan was getting
back up and Lee backed off, he couldn’t see well enough and didn’t have the
strength to attack while Tincan was down.
He heard someone yell, “Lee, what part of ‘stay away from him’
didn’t you understand?”
“You know Lee, I was
willing to make this quick but now you’ve p-d me off, so it’s going to be long
and slow and very very painful.”
Lee had no idea how his friends were fairing, all his
concentration was taken up just staying on his feet and out of Tincan’s reach. True
to his word Tincan was taking his time, going to
Lee’s left, then his right or straight in so Lee had to turn and twist and move
as quickly as he could to avoid the sword coming at him in cutting or slashing
strokes. Breathing was agony, moving was
agony, bloody hell everything was. He managed
to stay just out of reach but every movement tore at his side and sent shivers
of pain up and down his body, his right side was soaked in blood, the rest of
him in sweat. He’d tossed off his helmet,
even that small weight being too much to bear if he didn’t have to.
Lee continued to study Tincan’s
movements as best he could, looking for a weakness in his enemy’s attack
pattern that might allow him a strike. “Who are you kidding Crane,” he thought to himself, “you couldn’t cut
butter right now.” So round and round,
back and forth they went accompanied by the ‘music’ of the battles being waged
around them.
Lee’s mind was starting to wander, “Didn’t this guy ever get
tired?” Lee was bone weary, his limbs
felt like lead, he was yawning frequently, sure sign that he was becoming
oxygen deprived, just plain didn’t have
enough blood still inside him to efficiently circulate the needed O2
around. “Jamie’s going to have a fit,
sure hope I’m there to see it.”
*******
The good Dr Jamieson was already none too happy. He’d been on leave like the rest of Seaview’s crew, and visiting his sister and her family in
Germany. That’s where he was when he
received Nelson’s brief message, “Lee missing, heading for Scotland with Chip
on FS1. Open ticket to Scotland waiting
for you at Frankfurt airport.” Clearing
customs in Glasgow he saw Nelson and Chip waiting for him.
“What’s he done to himself this time?”
“We don’t know that he’s injured, but............”, Nelson filled
Jamie in on missing agents, blocked communications, the meeting with Alastair
and Lee’s involvement with the Society for Creative Anachronism, the little he
knew. He would be learning a lot more when he brought his errant Captain to
heel, for all of the 30 seconds that usually lasted.
“Oh wonderful, you mean someone is letting Lee run around with
sharp, pointy things”, Jamie tried to ease the tension that Nelson and Chip
were displaying. They all knew there
wasn’t a more capable man on the planet but he always seemed to be throwing
himself in the line of fire, he’d protect anyone and everything but himself.
So it was that the three of them found themselves airborne in FS1
approaching the northern most point in Scotland.
*******
Hendel watched the
proceedings ravenously, hungry for the blood of the ONI agents. There was blood, but not enough. One of them had a cut to his thigh, another
to his arm, two seemed unscathed for the moment, and then there was Crane. Already seriously injured Hendel
had thought he would be ‘easy meat’, but the man kept matching his knight’s
moves and keeping out of reach, except for that one time, Hendel
thought he had his first one then, but damn if Crane hadn’t managed to topple
his opponent and regain his feet. Soon though, soon, Crane was slowing and
stumbling. Why didn’t his knight move in
for the kill?
“Haven’t heard any smart-ass comments out of you lately Lee,” goaded Tincan.
“Pearls before swine and all that,” hissed Lee as he stumbled yet
again and pain lanced through his abused body, his vision mostly shades of
grey.
“Ya well this isn’t much fun for me
anymore, think I’ll finish it up and go help my friends make mincemeat out of
yours.” Tincan
stopped circling and came straight in, at least that’s what Lee thought, the
bigger grey blob seemed to be moving towards him.
Lee stood waiting, no energy left to move back or dodge
sideways. As Tincan
swung his sword up Lee tried the inside move he’d made before, disasterously. It
didn’t work any better this time, Lee moved forward to pass close to Tincan’s left side this time and while he again avoided the
sword stroke Tincan swung his shield back and struck
Lee solidly across his back, sending him sprawling to the ground.
“Slow learner aren’t you,” laughed the knight.
Just then a strange whine overhead was heard.
“There,”
pointed Chip, “that looks like the old castle Alastair told us about.”
“Hmmmmm, could be and there does seem to be something going
on down there, I’m going to make a pass a bit lower, see if we can get a better
look. I suppose that if he’s down there
it would be too much to hope for that he’d be in the middle of the field
waving.”
“I
believe it would be Sir,” Chip and Jamie said in unison.
Lee
recognized the sound instantly, his ‘baby’ the FS1 was up there, which could
only mean that the Admiral and very likely Chip were too. “I’m sorry Admiral, Chip” Lee whispered, “but
I don’t think the cavalry is going to get here in time.” For some odd reason part of a T.S. Elliot
poem ran through Lee’s head:
This is
the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
FS1
came into sight, the guards melted into the forest fringe to keep out of
sight. Hendel
stood up screaming at his knights to finish the agents off NOW.
“Happy
to oblige,” muttered Tincan. Lee had rolled onto his back, Tincan now stood straddling Lee’s thighs, he reached up and
shoved his helmet off, “want to get a good look when I pin you to the ground.” Tincan raised his
sword up vertically with both hands, point down, the grip and pommel above his
head. “Right through your gut, should
take awhile before you die.”
“Admiral,
over there, looks like the guy in the metal suit is about to skewer someone,”
shouted Chip, “I don’t know who it is but odds are...” Nelson levered the laser sighting mount down,
not much time to aim so he simply strafed it through the field.
Several
things happened at once, Tincan looked up
momentarily, Lee saw a possible strike point, the cuirass had lifted when Tincan had raised his sword, maybe enough to run his sword
in and Tincan was looking away, it would be a long shot
at best. Even as the thought went
through Lee’s mind Tincan was lowering his head, at
the same moment a silver ball of fur landed front and centre on Tincan’s face, claws digging deep into his scalp. The sword fell from his hands and he leaned
back grabbing for whatever was on his face. Lee had rolled sideways, the sword impaled the
ground but not him. With the strength
borne from an adrenaline surge Lee came up on his knees and drove his sword vertically
up into the now wider breech in the cuirass, he didn’t stop until the hilt
rested against Tincan’s belly. It travelled straight to the heart. And just like that it was over. Tincan’s hands
dropped, he fell to his knees, then all the way to the ground in a death
shudder.
Lee
collapsed as well, the adrenaline gone along with the strength it had lent
him. The ‘silver ball’ had resolved
itself into a rather attractive silver tabby, which walked sedately over to the
fallen Lee and reached out a sheathed paw, gently tapping Lee on the cheek. Getting no response it curled up beside Lee
to wait.
Chaos
reigned on the field, the other knights had also paused, confused by the sudden
exploding line ripping through the field.
Machine gun fire could now be heard as well and it didn’t appear to be
coming from their side, they started to run.
ONI agents being rather better trained for this sort of occurrence
followed that training and became better friends with the planet, they dropped
and hugged the earth until the barrage stopped.
The last thing you wanted to be in the middle of an open field with
bullets flying, was upright and running, which the knights quickly learned.
From
the south came a line of well armed, uniformed men. Some of the guards surrendered, some made a
run for it but there was really nowhere for them to go but the mined
forest. Mike and the others rose to
their knees in the universal gesture of surrender, hands behind their heads. This would keep them relatively safe until
introductions could be made.
FS1
had made one of her infrequent ground landings.
Three very anxious men exited and looked worriedly around. Gerry recognized the Admiral and called over
to him, “Lee’s hurt bad, he’s over there,” and jerked his head in Lee’s
direction. As the Admiral, Chip and
Jamie started at a run in the direction indicated Nelson bellowed over to one
of the military officers, “those four are with us.” The officer nodded that he understood and
Gerry, Stephen, Daniel and Mike also started for Lee. Stephen giving Daniel a hand as his thigh
wound slowed him. Mike detoured briefly
to the officer and warned him that the forest might be mined and to keep his
men from following any of the fleeing guards in, as if to emphasize this an
explosion from the forest echoed over the field.
Chip
reached Lee first, and dropped to his knees beside him, as he took in the sight
of his friend’s bloody and battered body his stomach clenched. Nelson and Jamie arrived a heartbeat later,
Nelson’s face paled at the sight of Lee, Jamie went straight to work. “He’s breathing, lost a lot of blood from the
looks of things. What the hell is he
wearing, I can’t get it off?”
“Hold
on, let us deal with it,” Gerry advised as he and the others arrived. Stephen and Mike gently unbuckled the shoulder
armour and lifted it away, then moved Lee’s arms straight above his head, took
hold of the chainmail at the lower edge and peeled it off. The bandaging done earlier was a sodden mass
of bright red, with more seeping out around it.
Jamie
muttered a few words that neither the Admiral nor Chip would have thought Jamie
knew, much less used.
“Can
anyone tell me what’s under this mess?”
Stephen
took a deep breath, “For starters, about a 6 inch angled laceration, we think
at least two ribs were scraped. It bleed
heavily, the best we could do was apply several strips of med tape to close it,
over that a pressure dressing and wrapping.
Prior to coming out onto the field we applied a second pressure dressing
over top and more wrapping.”
Jamie
nodded, given the circumstances that was pretty good field medicine. “How’d he get it?”
“Don’t
suppose you’d know what a Quintain is?” at the
negative shake Mike continued, “to keep it short and sweet, imagine a really
heavy bag with 6 inch spikes sticking out being swung with force across your
side.”
“%$^_(&%^_”
was Jamie’s reply.
Gerry
added some intel, “During the combat Lee apparently misunderstood our
instructions to ‘stay away’ from his opponent, he tried a close pass but got
caught in the injured side with the guys armoured elbow.”
“To
be fair Gerry, Lee didn’t really have much of a choice if he wanted to avoid
the sword,” Mike defended Lee.
Chip
couldn’t believe these guys were calmly discussing Lee’s fighting strategies
while Lee laid there, possibly dying.
During
this short discourse Jamie had merely been observing the seeping blood and at
this point Nelson cut in. “Gentlemen now
is not the time to discuss the finer points of Lee’s moves, Jamie what needs to
be done?”
“Right
now Admiral I’m inclined to leave the dressings on and apply a larger one on
top. The bleeding is slowing and I don’t
want to risk disturbing any clotting that has occurred until we have him in a
medical facility. I’ll start an IV to
help fluid volume then we can wrap him and get him out of here.”
Medics
had arrived and had the supplies Jamie required, they also started to tend to
the wounds of the others.
Lee
was starting to come around as Jamie was finishing applying his own dressing
and wrap. He could hear voices, and felt someone putting
something around him, there seemed to be something over his face, funny, he was
pretty sure he didn’t still have his helmet on, and anyway, it didn’t cover his
mouth. Eyes still closed he reached a
hand up towards his face. “Stop that,”
said a very familiar voice, and a hand gently took his and put it back at his
side. “I’ve got you on oxygen Captain,
leave the mask alone. Can you open your
eyes for me?”
Nelson
and Chip who had remained kneeling by Lee’s head so as not to be in Jamie’s way
while he bandaged Lee, now moved down to be in Lee’s line of sight.
“Rather
leave them shut, you probably plan to shine a light in them......head already
hurts,” they heard mumbled through the mask.
Lee
felt a hand on his shoulder and a firm but gentle squeeze, then it moved to
ruffle through his hair and brush it gently from his forehead. A different hand took his in it.
As
the first hand settled again on his shoulder a voice commanded, “open your eyes
for the Doctor, Lee.” As Lee knew it
would be, it was Nelson’s voice, so the hand holding his would be Chip’s. Very few people had his trust to the extent
that he allowed them inside his personal space, much less touching him with the
familiarity granted these men.
“Yes
Sir.”
Things
were a little blurry at first, not helped by the correctly anticipated light
being shone in his eyes. “Don’t have a concussion Jamie, didn’t get
hit on the head.”
“Not
yet that is,” stated Chip, “just wait until you’ve recovered a bit and we
‘discuss’ this.”
“Hi
Chip. What... are you doing..... in
Scotland?” Lee got out, accompanied by his best ‘innocence personified’
look. Well as innocent looking as he
could get swathed in bloody bandages, flat on his back in a field of carnage.
Chip
and the Admiral were about to say a few choice words to Lee when Jamie
interrupted. “I’m sure we’d all like to comment
on and hear his explanations regarding his current state but it’s going to have
to wait. He needs to stay as calm and
quiet as possible.”
Lee
wasn’t really paying attention, his mind was starting to focus on other matters.
He removed the mask and started to try and get up, “Where’s Hendel,
did anyone see what happened to him?”
Six very loud voices commanded “Down,” and three pairs of hands
restrained him.
“I
think he went into the forest Lee, I caught a brief glimpse of him headed that
way,” Daniel told him. As Lee looked
like he was about to try again to get up the hands still resting on him applied
further pressure.
“Not
in a million years buddy,” from Chip.
“As you were, Captain,” from Nelson.
“I have a hypo with your name permanently engraved on it,” from Jamie.
The
four ONI agents shared a smile and Mike acted as spokesman, “And if they can’t
keep you down, we will.”
“I’m
fi......” started Lee, but it faded away as he
observed the many faces looking down at him with raised eyebrows. “Well I suppose this once, someone else could
go looking for the bad guy.”
“That’s
a good Captain,” joked Jamie, as he pushed the contents of the hypo into the IV
line.
“Hey,”
Lee protested, “I’m being good.”
“Yes,
and you’re going to stay that way. Trust
me, you don’t want to be awake for the trip,” soothed Jamie.
Lee
had closed his eyes, he felt Nelson massaging his shoulders and neck, “relax
son, we’ll take care of things from here,” Nelson told him, gratefully watching
the rise and fall of Lee’s chest. Lee
felt himself slipping under the effects of the hypo and Nelson’s touch. He forced his eyes open and looked up at Chip
and Nelson, who had moved to be where Lee could see him, his left hand still
resting on Lee’s shoulder, both men’s eyes locked on Lee’s, full of concern and
brotherly/fatherly love for him. “Didn’t
know....wasn’t supposed to be like this......” he whispered. “We know Lee, we’ll talk about it later,”
reassured Chip.
Lee’s
eyes drifted closed. “He’s under,
finally. Never known anyone that can
buck sedation the way he can,” an exasperated Jamie proclaimed.
The
troops were mopping up and would be there for some time to come, there was
still the thorny issue of what to do about the men that had entered the forest
to get away. Occasionally there was
still the boom of a mine going off.
Admiral Nelson had informed the military of the unusual activity
Alastair’s friend had mentioned, Admiral Jones had been in contact and the
decision had been made to check it out, in force. It was pure good luck, that they arrived at
almost the same time as FS1, like the good luck of Blackjack bucking when he
did.....
Nelson
had his own problems to worry about. Lee
needed to be in a hospital asap, Jamie decided that Raigmore in Inverness would be best. FS1 could certainly get there but it wouldn’t
be possible to land at the hospital.
They could put down in Moray Firth but then they’d have to transfer Lee
from FS1 to an ambulance for the ride to the hospital. Jamie wanted as little travelling as
possible. The best choice seemed to be
for Jamie and Lee to be loaded into one of the choppers that had arrived, it
could go directly to the hospital. The
downside was that neither Nelson nor Chip would be able to go with Lee, room
was at a premium as the 4 ONI agents were being taken to the hospital too. FS1 really couldn’t be left where it was
anyway. There wasn’t any other choice
but to send Jamie and Lee off and get to the hospital as fast as they could.
Chip
was sure that a lot of people in Scotland were wondering what on earth the
yellow blur was that passed over them, the Admiral really had the ‘pedal to the
metal’. Not that Chip was complaining,
he’d be doing the same thing himself if he was in the pilot seat. They were so focused on getting to where they
wanted to be that they failed to notice their passenger, curled in one of the
corners of the bunk.
*******
Raigmore staff were ready and waiting when the chopper
touched down, triage was quickly done and Lee was already being prepped for
surgery. His friends were sorted into
treatment rooms and being examined and stitched as required. While Jamie didn’t have privileges at the
hospital he did have a good friend there and was allowed in the operating room
as an observer. He knew the Admiral and
Chip would have liked to have had a word with Lee, or at least seen him before
surgery but there was no time to wait, although Lee had been lucid on the field
he had lost way to much blood and was in deep shock. Adrenalin and sheer cussedness had kept him
going, but he was crashing now.
So
it was that when the Admiral and Chip arrived Lee was already ‘under the knife’
and for all the speed of FS1, all they could do now was wait it out. The Admiral took care
of the required paperwork with the ward receptionist and arranged for Lee to
have one of the available private rooms off of the ICU ward when he came of the
recovery room. The Admiral couldn't contemplate Lee not surviving the
surgery.
The
first hour went by fairly uneventfully, they both paced a little, sat a little,
had some coffee, paced some more.
They
heard footsteps approaching and looked up hopefully, but it was three of the
four ONI agents joining them. “They
won’t let Daniel out of bed yet, want him to stay off his leg,” Gerry informed the Admiral, “the rest of us
are just a little banged up.” Bit of an
understatement thought Chip, he could see bandaging under clothes and Gerry’s
arm was in a sling. They sat along the
opposite wall from Chip and Nelson, and everyone waited. No one seemed inclined to talk. After about half an hour there was a
commotion in the hall, Daniel was zooming towards them in a wheelchair, one leg
up. A nurse was hurrying behind him,
“you’re not to be out of bed,” she scolded.
Daniel answered back, “wrong, I’m not supposed to be on my leg, I am not
on my leg, and I’m staying right here with these men until our friend is out of
surgery.”
Chip
looked over at the Admiral, “all this time I thought it was a ‘Lee’ thing,
looks like they are all anti-hospital.”
Nelson snorted and spoke to the nurse, “We’ll keep an eye on him, I
suspect you’d no sooner get him back in the ward then he’d be out again. I’ve, ah, had some experience with this
behaviour pattern.”
“Highly
unorthodox but I’m willing to go along with it, as long as he stays off his leg,
I’ll have someone check every so often to make sure everything is ok.” Daniel blew her a kiss as she left and
wheeled himself over to the ONI side of the room.
Chip
looked at the agents, they looked at him, Nelson seemed to be lost in thought
and unaware of the added tension in the room.
Chip did not like ONI or things associated with ONI, hence he did not
like the four men across from him.
Rather than just sit here and brood though, he thought he’d try and find
some things out.
“You
guys known Lee long?” he asked.
“Long
enough,” replied one of them.
“I
suppose you’ve been on missions together?”
“Maybe.”
“What
happened at the castle, what was it all about?”
“This
and that.”
“Not
much in the oral communications department are you?” snapped Chip.
“Anyone
ever tell you that you ask to many questions?” retorted the agent.
Chip
rose out of his seat and took a step toward the agent, his movements mirrored
by the agent.
“Gentlemen
that is quite enough, STAND DOWN”, commanded the Admiral, both Chip and the
agent took their seats, when the Admiral gave a command with that degree of
authority, you didn’t think about it, you did it.
“Our
nerves are all a little raw here. Chip
I’m sure Lee wouldn’t appreciate you starting a brawl with these men while he’s
in surgery.”
“No
Sir, likely not.”
“Let’s
all cut each other a little slack here, we have common ground in Lee Crane, we
are all concerned about him. I’m sure
you gentlemen can understand our wanting to know just how you fit into his life
and how he ended up so grievously injured when he was supposed to be on leave
enjoying some R&R,” Nelson’s voice was rough with concern for Lee.
“Yes
Sir, we do understand, we just can’t talk about it right now, not until we
report in and are debriefed. It’s a high
level security matter, Sir.” replied Mike.
Chip
got up again, “Security!!!!! Admiral Nelson has more security clearance than
the four of you put together!”
“Chip,
I said ‘stand down’. These men have
protocols they have to follow. The story
can wait until Lee is out of surgery and on the mend.”
“Aye
Sir,” Chip sat back down, grinding his teeth and glaring across the room.
Nelson
looked at his watch, over 2 ½ hours since they’d arrived, and Lee’s surgery had
started before they got there. “Would
have liked to have had a word with the lad,” thought Nelson, “let him know I
was here.”
They
waited in silence. A nurse came by to
check on them but she didn’t have any news about Lee, other than that he was
still in the operating room.
Finally,
the next set of steps brought Jamie. He
looked exhausted and collapsed into the remaining unoccupied chair. “He’s out of surgery, it went well, all
things considered. It would have been
nice to have stabilized him a bit more before having to go in and clean things
up.”
“So
he’s going to be alright?” Nelson wanted the bottom line.
Jamie
didn’t answer right away.
“Jamie,
you said it went well...”
Jamie
looked at Nelson, “A lot of time was spent cleaning the wound, there was gross
contamination. There’s a high risk of
infection, they are pumping antibiotics into his IV. It’s a large, gaping soft tissue wound so it
can’t be closed yet. It’s going to
require irrigation and aseptic care over the next 3-7 days. Closing a wound after several days is a more
complex procedure. Two ribs were scraped
pretty badly, there’s concern that they could become infected. He’s already very weak from blood loss and
exhaustion, he doesn’t have a lot of resources left to fight an infection.”
The
room was quiet for a couple of minutes while the men there absorbed the
news. Then Nelson asked, as Jamie knew
he would, “Can I see him?”
“Me
too Jamie, even if it’s only for a moment,” Chip requested.
The
other men started to speak as well but Jamie brought up his hand. “I’m afraid none of you can see him right
now, he’s still in recovery and after that he’ll be in the Intensive Therapy Unit
(ITU). Admiral, Chip, this isn’t like
back home, we’re visitor’s here and will have to abide by what the Consultant
and the Nurse-in-Charge determines to be in Lee’s best interests. They make every effort to allow visitors
during normal visiting hours and in special circumstances times outside those
hours. It’s usually no more than two at
a time and limited to half an hour. I was very fortunate in being allowed to
observe the surgery and I can tell you that Lee had excellent surgeons and the
staff here are taking every possible care of him. Beyond that we have to wait.”
Jamie
looked at the ONI agents, “Shouldn’t at least two of you be in your own
hospital beds in one of the wards?”
“So
they tell us,” Daniel looked over at Gerry with a thoughtful expression. “I guess, seeing that we can’t see Lee, we
should go back to our ward Gerry. I
think we’re here for at least a couple of days.”
“Ummmm ya, suppose we should, no
need to worry the nurses any longer than necessary.” Stephen and Mike exchanges glances,
excellent, they had men ‘inside’, they’d find a way to get to Lee and report back.
While
the Admiral had been speaking with Jamie, Chip had not missed the byplay
between the other men.
The
Admiral walked over to Chip, “Jamie is going to talk to the Consultant and
Nurse-in-Charge and ask if we can see Lee but he doesn’t think it will be until
at least tomorrow.”
Chip
had been watching Daniel wheel back to his ward accompanied by Gerry.
“They
are up to something Admiral, they suddenly turned into model patients.”
“I
dare say they are Chip. Two highly
trained ONI agents admitted to the same hospital as their wounded comrade. Security won’t stand a chance.”
“Unless
they happen to get tipped off,” thought Chip, “no way they get to see Lee
before we do.”
Turned
out Jamie was way ahead of the game, he’d already ‘suggested’ to the house
doctor that any ONI operatives being kept overnight would greatly benefit from
a good stiff sedative.
Mike
and Stephen said perfunctory goodbyes to the Admiral and Chip, they had
contacted a ‘friend’ in Inverness and would report in from there, as well as
stay as long as they liked. Officially
they were still on leave.
Jamie’s
friend at the hospital had offered to put him up, the Admiral and Chip knew the
base at Faslane would provide them quarters but that
was more than a 3 hour drive away, no way were they going to be that distant
from where Lee was. There was always
FS1, although one of them would have to sleep in one of the seats, Chip knew
who that would be. They needn’t have
worried about it, a very pretty nurse approached them, she was going off duty
and had heard from one of the staff that the two visitors might require a bit
of looking after. Nelson and Chip had
the good grace to blush a bit, and started to say they were just fine but she
just continued, “Me mom has lots of room since me
brothers went off to university in Edinburgh, we’d both love a wee bit of
company and it’s close to the hospital, I’ll bring ye back with me
tomorrow. Though I greatly doubt ye’ll be allowed in to see your friend yet.”
Chip
and the Admiral accepted the invitation with thanks, they asked if they could
have a moment to talk once more with Jamie, whom they saw was again out in the
corridor standing beside his friend who was talking to the Nurse-in-Charge.
“Of
course, I’ll meet ye at the entrance.”
Jamie
introduced Nelson and Chip to Mr. Mackenzie, Lee’s Consultant. They were assured that Lee was resting
comfortably, aided by painkillers and sedatives. Dr. Jamieson would be consulting on the case
and had just been granted hospital privileges.
Jamie gave Nelson and Chip a wink, which Nelson took to mean that Jamie
would be discussing possible exceptions to the half-hour rule for visitors.
With
that they headed to the entrance and were taken ‘home’.
It
was a lovely house, their hostess quite as charming as her daughter. They enjoyed a late dinner of Chicken Bonnie
Prince Charlie, in which the Drambuie had been
generously applied, Clapshot, which turned out to be
boiled potato and turnips beaten together with butter and chives and for the sweet, Jam Roly
Poly with hot custard. The night ended
with a fine old Scotch.
They
had been given a choice of sharing a room or each having their own. As neither one of them wanted to be alone
they elected to share, of course neither of them would admit the reason so
assured each other that it was to lessen the work for their hostess.
Thinking
it likely they’d be spending at least one night at the hospital they’d grabbed
their kits when they left FS1, so had the necessities for overnight. Spare clothes and other items were always
stowed in FS1 for emergencies.
Chip
looked over at the Admiral, he looked drawn, pale and exhausted, the adrenaline
that had been keeping him going was long gone.
Now, with just Chip there Nelson finally gave in to the stress. His eyes filled with unshed tears, “I don’t
know how much longer I can keep doing this Chip, finding him ripped apart,
teetering on death’s doorstep, over and over again. How many times can this happen before he
steps over that doorstep, so far over we can’t bring him back.”
Chip
found he couldn’t respond for a moment, his throat had constricted and he was
having his own issues with excess eye moisture.
Chip knew that the relationship between the Admiral and Lee had long ago
moved from mentor and friend to father and son, and he felt very honoured that
Nelson felt he could be this candid with him.
He cleared his throat, Nelson’s back was to him he seemed to be wiping
at something on his face.
When
Chip spoke his voice was gravelly, “Admiral I wish I could say that it would
never happen again, but we know Lee to well.
He will risk himself no matter the cost if he believes he can make a
difference. He will protect those he
loves with his life, hell sometimes it seems he’ll protect anything, do
anything, with no regard whatsoever for the consequences to himself. In many ways he is a knight upon the field of
honour, Seaview his silver charger, you his liege
lord and me his squire, the crew the people he’s pledged to protect, along with
the entire planet it seems.”
Nelson
turned towards Chip, his eyes were red and swollen but tears no longer ran down
his face. “Earlier today I was thinking
much along those lines. That in many
ways Lee does indeed fit the description of a knight, a Champion. I just wish there were a few less broken
bones and a lot less spilled blood involved.”
“You,
me and the entire crew, Sir,” was Chips heartfelt reply.
They
finished getting ready for bed and said their goodnights and heartfelt prayers
that Lee would have a peaceful night and be on the mend, neither thought they’d
get much sleep but the emotional exhaustion and stress soon took them under.
*******
At
the hospital things were not the wished for ‘peaceful’. Lee had begun to run a post-op fever, not an
unusual event in and of itself but this one was rather high, and climbing, more
indicative of a growing infection. This
is what the Consultant had hoped to avoid by the lengthy cleaning and flushing
of the wound as well as the ‘high-test’ antibiotics that Lee was being
given. Measures were taken to control
the fever’s rise but the wound site was swollen, hot and discoloured. At approximate 0300 Mr. Mackenzie was called
back to the hospital, Jamie right by his side.
The two agreed that the wound needed to be treated again so back into
the OR Lee went.
*******
After
a hearty breakfast of oatmeal and eggs, which neither the Admiral nor Chip
really wanted but had to eat anyway, they headed to the hospital. When they arrived, Nancy, for that was their
rescuing nurse’s name, looked puzzled when she saw Mr. Mackenzie at the nurse’s
station. Nelson caught the look, “What
is it Nancy?” “I’m sure it’s nothing but
I didn’t think Mr. Mackenzie was due back for another couple of hours,” she
answered.
Nelson
and Chip were immediately concerned, for one thing where was Jamie, if Mr. Mackenzie
was here Jamie would be. At that moment he
came out of one of the doors down the hall and approached the station, but on
catching site of the Admiral and Chip he continued past.
As
both the Admiral and Chip started to speak Jamie held up his hand, “I know what
you want to know, you don’t need to ask.
There’s good news and there’s not so good news.” Again the other two men tried to speak only
to be cut off by Jamie, “Good news is he’s out of OR and recovery and in ITU.”
Nelson finally managed to get a question in,
“Jamie that was last night, what about now?”
“I
was coming to that, and it wasn’t last night, I’m speaking about his second
trip to the OR around 0330 this morning.
Lee began running a high fever and we needed to go back in and flush the
wound again. He’s still running a high
fever, we’re hopeful that with the second flushing and increasing the
antibiotics that we can get things under control.”
“We
want to see him Jamie, we don’t care what the Nurse-in-Charge says! He needs us in there with him, you know he
does better if the Admiral is there,”
Chip pleaded.
“Yes,
I know that both you and the Admiral make a marked difference in how he
responds to treatment and in the speed of his recovery. I’ve talked at length with Mr. Mackenzie and
the Nurse-in-Charge, assured them that you both know how to behave yourselves
in an ITU room and will NOT get in the way of the staff, agreed?”
Two
heads nodded in affirmation, and so Jamie led them to Lee’s room.
Lee
had looked better, he was flushed, his eyes were closed but he was moving his
head back and forth obviously restless and uncomfortable. Numerous wires ran from an ECG monitor to
pads attached to his exposed chest, an IV line in his right hand was feeding
him fluids and medication. A nurse was
just finishing checking Lee’s vital signs.
She hesitated when she saw that Dr. Jamieson had two visitors with
him.
It’s
alright nurse, these men will be staying with our patient for awhile, how are
the vital signs?
“Still
running a fever, 104. Breathing is rapid
and shallow, pulse weak and rapid, blood pressure is dropping. I was about to page Mr. Mackenzie.”
Jamie
had been frowning through her report and softly swore at the end, “Yes, get Mr. Mackenzie
here stat.”
Nelson
and Chip had moved to Lee’s side, the Admiral slipped his hand onto Lee’s
shoulder, Chip had placed his hand on Lee’s leg, just above the knee. Both hoping to let Lee know they were there. They could feel the heat emanating from Lee’s
body, not a good sign at all.
“I’m
sorry Admiral, Chip but I’m going to have to ask you both to leave.”
“What’s
happening Doc? I don’t know much about it
but that report didn’t sound good,” worried Nelson.
“I’m afraid Lee may be developing STSS, streptococcal toxic shock. Most often STSS appears after streptococcus bacteria have invaded areas of injured skin, such as cuts and scrapes, or surgical wounds. I’m hoping that we started treatment in time but Mr. Mackenzie and I need to re-examine him. I’ll let you know how things stand as soon as I can.”
Nelson gave Lee’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and he bent down, “I’m here son, I know you can lick this,” his throat tightened as emotion overwhelmed him. Chip have Lee’s leg a pat, “You’re a fighter Lee, get this beat soon, we need you back.” For a moment Lee stilled and opened his fever bright eyes, normally cool green and gold flecked they now appeared molten and vivid as if the colours had melted together, they couldn’t tell if he recognized them. The Admiral gave Lee’s shoulder a final squeeze and slid his hand down Lee’s arm then away. Chip rubbed Lee’s leg and with that the two of them left the room.
As they went back to the waiting area they met the ONI agents coming down the hall. Daniel was on crutches now and in regular clothes, Gerry still sporting a sling and also in street clothes.
They stopped for a moment, “don’t suppose either of you would know anything about the Doctor’s here deciding to sedate us last night?” Gerry looked at Chip as he asked his question.
“Not a thing. Get a good night’s rest?” Chip smirked back.
“No, ONI agents don’t need to sleep, it was very inconvenient,” retorted Daniel, “we had ‘plans’.”
Chip was about to tell them where they could stick their plans when Nelson intervened, “I’m sure you did gentlemen, our CMO is quite familiar with ONI agent sleep patterns or lack thereof, perhaps he shared his experiences with your attending physicians. He would want you to get the rest you need to heal.”
They didn’t bother pursuing the topic, “We’ve heard that Lee isn’t doing so well, we don’t like leaving one of ours behind, especially one we, ummm, care about quite a lot. He’s a good agent, a good man and a good friend.” Gerry had locked eyes with the Admiral as he spoke and he was now handing the Admiral a folded piece of paper, “on here are my and Mike’s private cell numbers, if you can’t reach one of us you should be able to get the other, if not you can leave a message. We’d appreciate it if you’d keep us informed of how Lee is doing, we’ll let the others know. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that the numbers are given only to a rare few and are to be kept confidential.”
The Admiral took the paper and put it in his inside jacket pocket, eyes still locked with Gerry, “and if Lee is on an ONI mission and I want to know how he’s doing or where he is?”
“We’ll tell you what we can Admiral but we won’t break confidentiality. Unless we’re working as a unit we don’t usually know what anyone else is doing on an assignment or necessarily if someone is even out on an assignment.”
“Fair enough”, Nelson reached out and picked up a hospital note pad and wrote a number on it, “this is my private number, if there’s ever something you think I should know about Lee...”, Nelson didn’t need to finish the sentence, Daniel and Gerry understood, if Lee needed help and ONI wasn’t providing it, this man and all his resources would.
Chip had stood off to the side while the discussion took place, he recognized the importance of what had just happened, even if he wasn’t a part of it. An understanding now existed between these men, whatever information could be shared to keep Lee safe would be. Although he hadn’t been actively included in the discussion he noted that the agents had stayed within his earshot, implying that he was a part of the ‘understanding’. He wondered briefly what Lee would think if he knew that there was a ‘protect Lee Crane’ alliance. “Probably have a fit,” he thought, “well no reason Lee should ever know about it.”
The agents shook hands with the Admiral and turned toward Chip, who found he no longer felt quite as antagonistic towards them as he had. Daniel was grinning and put out his hand to shake Chip’s, “Hey Morton, don’t worry, you don’t have to like us or anything, we figure if Lee puts up with you we can make an effort, as painful as it may be.” “Don’t go exerting yourselves on my account, I can live without it,” but Chip was smiling as he shook their hands.
Time seemed to drag on forever but it was only an hour after the ONI agents had departed that Jamie once more came to talk to the Admiral and Chip.
“The wound isn’t looking any worse than when we cleaned it the second time, we think the infection is slowly responding to the antibiotic therapy. Lee is continuing to run a fever but it isn’t rising beyond 104, that’s still higher than we’d like and we’re watching him very closely. His blood pressure has stabilized. For now we are taking ‘comfort’ measures and letting his body and the meds do their work.”
“So you’re saying that he’s going to be all right?” asked Chip.
“I guess you’d say Mr. Mackenzie and I are cautiously optimistic at this point.”
“Can we see him, stay with him awhile?” it was almost a plea from the Admiral.
“Yes, you can, as a matter of fact
Mr. Mackenzie and the Nurse-in-Charge have agreed that you and Chip can be part
of the ‘comfort’ measures. The psyche
plays a huge role in sickness. If a person feels comfort and touch as often as
possible, they will feel loved and secure. This creates a restfulness that the
body needs to help fight infection more quickly. As we all know, Lee responds quite
dramatically to the presence of each of you. Let’s get you in there, but I want you taking
breaks, I don’t need either of you collapsing from exhaustion, that won’t help
anyone.”
For the next
several hours the Admiral and Chip took turns talking to Lee, sponging his
face, neck, and shoulders with cool water.
The Admiral frequently ran his hand over Lee’s head, ruffling his hair
then straightening it out again. They
told Lee how much he was missed and how vital he was both in their lives, to Seaview and NIMR.
Chip suspected that when he was out of the room on a break, that the
Admiral’s comments to Lee were considerably more personal, he knew his were
when Nelson was out.
With the
combination of the antibiotics and the comfort therapy Lee started to improve. When his fever broke Chip and the Admiral were
shooed from the room while the nurses removed the ECG monitor, gave Lee a quick
sponge bath, a change of hospital garb, changed the bedding and the Mr. Mackenzie,
a Staff Grade Doctor and Jamie examined Lee.
Jamie and Mr.
Mackenzie were still in the room when Chip and the Admiral were allowed back
in. Lee was looking better, no longer
restless or flushed, he was pale and quiet, at least the two men hoped that was
better.
Mr. Mackenzie
gave them a friendly smile, “I’m pleased to say that Commander Crane appears to
have passed through the crisis point.
I’m told by the Nurse-in-Charge that when the two of you participated in
his care he calmed down significantly and seemed to start fighting the
infection more vigorously. I must admit
I was a little sceptical when Will, Mr.
Jamieson, explained the unusual bond that seems to exist between the three of
you but it’s hard to argue with results.”
“It’s not just
the three of us Mr. Mackenzie, Lee also does much better when, umm, Mr.
Jamieson is in the picture, despite all Lee’s protests and attempts to get out
of Sick Bay whenever he’s in there,” said Nelson.
Jamie looked
extremely pleased by the comment, he often had to fight hard and sometimes
underhandedly with the Captain over his medical needs but he knew that
underneath it there was respect, friendship and trust, things Lee gave
sparingly.
“Ya ya, I love you all, don’t
suppose you could pipe down so I could get some sleep.”
Four heads
turned to look at the bed, Lee smiled at the group and tried to shift a bit,
which caused a groan as his side protested.
Four pairs of arms reached out to help him.
Mr. Mackenzie
chuckled, “I think Commander Crane has all the helping hands he needs right
now, I believe I’ll go check on my other patients,” he gave Will a wink and a clap on the back as he turned to go.
True to form
Lee’s first comment was followed by a couple of questions, “How are the
others? Is everyone all right?”
Will gave him
a rundown, Gerry and Daniel’s injuries being the worst of the group and
relatively minor compared to Lee. The
Admiral told him that they had been recalled by Admiral Jones but were being
kept updated on his condition. Chip
noted that Nelson did not mention the exchange of phone numbers. He would be willing to bet that Lee’s ONI
buddies wouldn’t be mentioning it to him either.
Lee looked
over at Chip and received the tried and true infamous XO glare.
“Hi Chip”, Lee
tried his innocent as a newborn babe act.
“Hi Chip, that’s all you have to say for
yourself?” XO glare still firmly in place.
“Nice to see
you,” Lee gave Chip one of his ‘bashful’ smiles.
Chip couldn’t
hold the act any longer, he leaned over from Lee’s left side and threw right his
arm around Lee’s neck pulling him close, “Damn it Lee, you’ve got to stop
getting yourself into these things.”
The Admiral
and Jamie grinned at the show of brotherly angst and affection.
Chip’s arm
still around his neck, his head resting against Chip’s neck Lee looked over at
the Admiral. He saw the signs of worry
and exhaustion on Nelson’s face and felt guilty that he’d once again put them
there. He also saw what constantly
amazed him, the love of a father for his son, and the relief that the son would
recover.
Lee cleared
his throat, and tried to stifle a yawn, “I suppose you’d like an explanation,
Sir”.
“Explanations
will have to wait Captain,” Jamie had caught the slight flinch when Chip had
pulled Lee towards him, and the yawn Lee had tried to hide. “What you need now is sleep and lots of it.”
“Will’s right
Lee, and so are you. I, we, all would
dearly love to hear your explanation of this one but you’re only just beginning
to recover and you need to rest.” Nelson
had closed the gap between them while speaking and now stood at Lee’s right
side. Chip had finally released his grip
on Lee and Lee’s head was once again resting on the pillow. Nelson reached his left hand out and as he’d
done so many times the last few hours, gently stroked it through Lee’s hair a couple
of times, eventually letting it slid down Lee’s neck to come to rest on his
shoulder where he gently massaged. Lee’s
eyes had drifted shut, taking comfort in the presence of his friends, in the
Admirals touch. Lee’s breathing shifted
to the deep regular rhythm of sleep. The
Admiral stilled his hand but left it resting on Lee’s shoulder, he stood looking
down at Lee as he slept, the man that meant so much to him in so many ways.
Neither Jamie
nor Chip spoke, they didn’t want to interrupt what was obviously a heartfelt
moment for the Admiral as emotions passed freely across his face and his eyes
again filled with tears, but this time of relief. Jamie and Chip found their own weren’t all
that dry either.
Finally the
Admiral gave himself a little shake and stepped back from the bed.
“He’ll sleep
now for several hours Admiral, you and Chip should go get a decent meal and
some sleep yourselves. Actually we all
should, I’ll come with you, the Nurse-in-Charge will contact me if there’s any
change or if he wakes up.” Will held up
a hospital issued pager.
Over the next
three days Lee continued to improve and it was decided that since Jamie would
be with him there was no reason why Lee couldn’t return to Santa Barbara aboard
the FS1 and continue his recovery in the NIMR medical unit. Of course Lee couldn’t see any reason why he
couldn’t just go home. Technically he
was still on vacation.
Lee heard a
loud voice out in the hospital hallway, “Can you believe the unmitigated gall
of the man. Lee isn’t even out of the
hospital and he’s trying to get his claws in him.” Only one voice that could be, and only one
person he’d be referring to in that way.
Obviously Admiral Nelson and Admiral Jones had had words recently. Probably there had been quite a few words
exchanged when he went missing. Neither
Nelson nor Chip had pressed Lee yet for the story, Lee knew he’d have to be
debriefed by ONI first and then he’d have to explain what he could to his
friends. Until he was debriefed he
wouldn’t know how much he was allowed to reveal.
The door to
his room burst open and the Admiral stalked through. He saw Lee sitting on the edge of his bed and
he tried to get himself under control.
His voice still a little gruff, “you all ready to go Lee.” Lee didn’t want to open the ONI can of worms
so he merely nodded yes and scooted off the bed.
Jamie was
finishing his discharge papers at the desk, Chip was waiting in the hallway.
The obligatory
wheelchair was waiting for him, the Admiral helped him into it, Lee wasn’t
about to protest the assist, given the Admiral’s current mood. He thanked Dr. Mackenzie and the hospital
staff. Even in the short time he’d been
there he’d become a bit of a favourite with the nurses of that station, and
they were there to bid him farewell and a speedy recovery.
The Admiral
got in the back of the car with Lee, Chip was driving and Jamie was up front
with him. It wasn’t a long drive to
where FS1 was and Lee was glad to see the Admiral begin to relax, usually quite
proper when others were around Nelson put his arm around Lee’s shoulders and
gave him a hug.
“Glad to be
headed home son?”
“Yes Sir, very
glad.”
They managed
to get Lee aboard FS1 without mishap and settled into the bunk. Lee wondered a bit about the silver tabby
that had followed them through the hatch, looked an awful lot like the one he’d
seen around the castle, not to mention glued to Tincan’s
face. Since no one mentioned the cat he
decided not to either. The tabby in
question simply curled up in the far corner of the bunk, a cat that does not
wish to be noticed won’t be, especially this particular cat.
Jamie fussed a
bit with Lee on the way back, Lee insisted, “I’m fine.” To which the other men just snorted.
An easy flight
and landing followed by a quick transfer to the NIMR medical unit and everyone
breathed a sigh of relief. Lee, while
not quite back where everyone wanted him, was none the less back. He wouldn’t admit it but he was feeling the
wound and very tired even though he had slept for a lot of the trip, likely
courtesy of something Jamie slipped into his IV at the hospital before it was
removed. He wondered where the tabby had
gotten to, didn’t want the poor thing going hungry. No one seemed to know what he was talking
about so he didn’t push it. Maybe he
just thought there was a cat on FS1 with him, who knows what the meds might
do. He once saw a 6 foot Santa made of
chocolate walking down the medical unit corridor when he was on Demerol.
He quickly
fell asleep, once settled in his bed and Jamie finally stopped poking him.
When he awoke
it was dark, the room was lit only by the usual orange night light. As his eyes adjusted he noticed that there
was someone in the chair beside his bed, the Admiral? No, the outline didn’t quite match.
“About time you
woke up Crane.” Ah, an Admiral yes, just
not his Admiral.
“Yes Sir,
Admiral Jones. To what do I owe the honor?” Lee asked, it was very unusual for Admiral Jones to
pay an agent a personal visit, let alone be at the bedside.
“Happened to
be in the neighbourhood, nurse said you’d be awake soon so thought I’d get the
debrief over with,” rumbled Jones.
Lee thought it
all very unlikely. Santa Barbara wasn’t
in the ‘neighbourhood’ of Washington D.C. no matter how you held the map. Something else was going on, Admiral Jones
didn’t debrief agents, he had underlings for that task.
Lee’s
misgivings must have shown in his face, “All right, not exactly in the
neighbourhood, figured anyone I sent to do the debrief would be eaten alive by
Nelson and I want your report asap. Nice bit of luck that we can do this in the
middle of the night without Nelson around.”
Nelson stepped
into Lee’s room, “You think so do you Jones?
How dare you come onto NIMR grounds without notifying me. Not to mention planting yourself in Lee’s
room. Did you really think that you’d
get away with flashing your stars and no one would alert me?” The Admiral was furious and not his usual
pressed self, Lee suspected that he had been close by in one of the courtesy
sleeping rooms.
“This is none of
your business Harriman, Crane needs to be debriefed and I need to hear it,
personally.”
“I don’t care
what you need Jones, Lee needs to rest and I won’t have him interrogated in the
middle of the night.”
Jamie strode
in, “and I, Admirals, don’t care what either of you want, you will not conduct
a bellowing match in the Medical Unit at this hour or any other for that
matter. No one, least of all Lee, needs
that. Out, now, both of you!”
“You let your doctor talk to you that way
Nelson?”
“Dr.
Jamieson’s word is law in here Jones, I suggest you follow his orders, he will
have no compunction about having security escort you out,” Nelson informed him.
As if on cue,
two burly security guards appeared in the doorway, “Are you in need of
assistance Dr. Jamieson?” one of them asked.
Jamie raised
his eyebrows towards the Admirals, Admiral Nelson motioned for Admiral Jones to
precede him through the door and followed him out.
Jamie came
over to Lee, “I’m ordering you a pain pill and a sedative,” when Lee started to
object Jamie held up his hand in his usual hushing gesture, “I don’t want to
hear it, you will take them, understand?”
Lee nodded.
“That’s better, I’m also leaving one of the security guards outside your door,
Admirals or not, they aren’t coming back in until I say so.”
“The visit
wasn’t my idea Jamie. Surprised the heck
out of me finding Admiral Jones sitting here.”
This Jamie well believed, he was sure Admiral Jones was the last person
Lee would have expected to pay him a bedside visit.
“You feel up
to doing the debrief tomorrow, I can forbid it if you’d rather wait?” Jamie
offered.
“I’d like get
it over with, won’t take long anyway, I’m sure the others have already told him
everything, and it’s really a pretty short story anyway.” Lee yawned, he still tired
easily. The nurse had arrived with the
medication so under Jamie’s watchful eye he was a good Captain and downed the
pills.
Jamie smiled,
“Good night Lee, try not to wake up to soon.”
“Night Jamie,
I’ll try not to.” Lee grinned and relaxed, he was asleep before Jamie finished
closing the door.
When Jamie
turned to go down the corridor to his office he wasn’t the least bit surprised
to find Admiral Nelson lurking a couple of doors down.
“He ok Jamie?”
“Yes Admiral,
no damage done. I did have another round
of pain meds and a sedative brought in, which he took, both a little stronger
than I’ve been giving him. He’ll likely
sleep for several hours, so neither you nor Admiral Jones have any reason to be
here until at least noon. Before you
ask, I asked Lee about the debrief, he wants to do it and I don’t see any
medical reason why he can’t.”
“OK Jamie, the
quicker it’s over the sooner Lee can put it behind him. You, ummm, seem to
have left a security guard behind.”
“Like I said
Admiral, he’s is going to sleep, undisturbed by anyone, for several hours.”
..........
Chip arrived
at Med Bay bright and early and came to a sudden halt when he saw the guard
outside Lee’s door. Instantly concerned
about what could have happened that would require a guard being placed on Lee
he approached the room.
“I’m sorry Mr.
Morton, no one is allowed in Captain Crane’s room,” the guard informed him.
“On whose
orders and why?” questioned Chip in his best XO voice.
“Doctor’s
orders Sir, only know I’m not to allow anyone in other than hospital staff.”
Really worried
now, Chip wondered if Lee had developed another infection, or did something
else go wrong, had they moved him to soon?
One of the
nurse’s noticed him standing in front of the guard, “Oh, Mr. Morton, sorry, I
didn’t see you arrive, Dr. Jamieson said you might show up and wonder what was
going on.”
“He got that
right, can you tell me anything?”
“Captain Crane
is fine, I wasn’t on duty at the time but I gather there was some sort of commotion
in his room early this morning between two Admirals. Dr. Jamieson gave the Captain a sedative and
didn’t want him disturbed for several hours.”
“Must have
been quite the event if Dr. Jamieson put a guard on the door.”
“Yes, well
Admirals can be a little tricky to handle,” the nurse replied.
“Indeed we can
be.”
Having worked
for a long time at Medical Unit the nurse was not flustered by Admiral Nelson’s
comment from behind her and gave him a smile.
“Come along
Chip, we’ll have breakfast and I’ll fill you in on the ‘event’ as you called it. Dr. Jamieson isn’t going to let us in for
awhile yet,” with that the Admiral clapped Chip on the back and the two of them
headed for the cafeteria.
“Lee must have
practically had a coronary finding Admiral Jones at his bedside,” Chip winced
for his friend’s earlier predicament.
“I don’t think
he saw it coming, that’s for sure. I
didn’t help matters any I suppose, but the nerve of the man, waltzing in here
like he owned the place,” grumbled Nelson.
Chip was
pretty sure that what the Admiral really meant was ‘waltzing in like he owned
Lee’.
“So Lee is
doing the debrief today Sir?”
“Jamie said
there was no medical reason for Lee not to and Lee wants to get it over
with. Maybe then we can get a few
answers.”
“Unless
Admiral Jones slaps a gag order on Lee.”
“There is that
possibility,” the Admiral admitted.
As it turned
out they needn’t have worried. The
debrief went quickly and no gag order was issued. Admiral Jones departed as soon as it was
over. Lee was glad to see him go, but
now the more difficult part, explaining to his friends.
Jamie had come
in when Lee began to recount the events to the Admiral and Chip and then
started to leave, thinking it might be classified but both the Admiral and Lee
indicated that he could stay if he wanted to, so he settled in. Lee filled them in on the original mission
and what he’d learned from Admiral Jones about what had happened afterwards.
Dr. Hendel had worked for awhile with other
scientists on projects but then became mentally unstable. He was treated in a psychiatric hospital and
released. ONI tracked him for awhile but
he went overseas and they lost contact.
There was never any evidence that he rejoined the other side and as he didn’t
present a security danger they stopped looking.
ONI’s best guess was that someone saw him as an opportunity to go after
ONI agents so provided him with the ways and means. If he could take out 5 top agents, so much
the better, if not there would be nothing to tie him to his backers. As things stood now, no one was sure if Hendel had died in the mined forest or not, no conclusive
evidence had been found.
“That explains
why he was after the five of you and how he was able to orchestrate his attack,
but I believe Chip is waiting for your explanation about being a..... knight,”
the Admiral wasn’t totally successful in keeping the smirk off his face.
Of course Lee
knew the Admiral was just as curious, maybe even more so. He wasn’t about to let the Admiral know that
Admiral Jones had mentioned something about a possible future assignment that
would require those very skills. Admiral
Jones hadn’t elaborated, just that it would be something ‘local’, in the USA,
but undercover. Jones wanted Lee and the
others to continue their involvement with the SCA, and practice.
“Waiting Lee,”
Chip’s voice brought Lee’s attention back to the matter at hand.
“Started when
I was a kid, you know, stories about King Arthur, Ivanhoe etc.,” ventured Lee.
“I believe I
can speak for Chip and Jamie when I say that we are familiar with the tales,”
the Admiral wasn’t going to let him off the hook.
Lee knew that his
friends had met and talked with the ONI agents, obviously they hadn’t covered
how they all became involved with the SCA, leaving that bit for Lee to work his
way around.
“After a
mission debrief Mike and I were sitting around having a couple of beers. He’s a bit of a history buff and is
especially fascinated by Medieval times.
He’d heard about the SCA and looked into it, he really liked what he saw
and decided to join. He offered to take
me as his guest. To make a long story
short, I got hooked on it, we discovered that Gerry, Daniel and Stephen were
also interested so we brought them along with us a couple of times and they
joined as well. It’s really good
practice for an ONI agent, role playing and developing and honing skill sets. There’s lots to learn about how people lived
back then too.”
“Uh huh,” Chip
said sceptically, “how long have you been involved in it?”
Lee had been
afraid he was going to be asked that. “ummmm around 2 years.”
The Admiral
and Jamie sat back, this was going to be interesting.
Chip paced
back and forth in front of Lee’s bed, “2 years, you’ve kept this from me for 2
years, your best friend, your ‘older brother’, your XO. You didn’t think maybe I’d like to be part of
it with you, that maybe as your XO I should know about something that could
leave you injured and hamper you ability to perform your duties.”
That last part
hit one of Lee’s buttons, “It has never interfered with my ability to perform
my duties. I would never let that
happen. I always gave myself recovery
time.”
“Ooops probably should have left that last part out,”
thought Lee a second too late.
“Gave yourself
recovery time, so you have been injured playing knight-errant,” exploded Chip,
“I suppose you saw a doctor.”
“I was fine,”
Lee defended.
“Lee I’ve seen
you with bullets in you and bleeding a river claiming you were ‘fine’, you have
no concept of .....”
At this point
the Admiral and Jamie decided they’d better step in, Lee was trying to get up to
face off with Chip toe to toe and that did not bode well for the fine stitch
work that was now holding his side together.
They were, unfortunately, a little slow off the mark. Lee managed to lurch up off the bed, tried to
get his balance by grabbing the rolling table, which did just that. He would have gone sprawling onto the floor
but Chip lunged forward and caught him under his arms, being careful to avoid
his injured side. The Admiral and Jamie
helped Chip get Lee back into bed.
“Shit Lee,
what did you think you were doing?” an exasperated Chip sighed.
Jamie didn’t
give Lee time to answer, he pulled up the hospital shirt and began to examine
Lee’s side, Lee started to tell him he was just fine but thought better of it
seeing the stormy look that crossed both Chip and the Admiral’s faces.
“Doesn’t
appear to be any damage done,” was Jamie’s verdict, “but I don’t recommend you
try that again Skipper.”
The Admiral
and Jamie stepped back once more, but not quite as far back, this was something
Chip and Lee had to work out between them.
The Admiral would have his talk with Lee later, and in private.
Chip perched
on the side of Lee’s bed, Lee carefully examined the hem on the sheet. He spoke first, “I would never endanger Seaview or her crew.”
“I know that
buddy, the problem is you don’t seem to know your limits, and you do have
limits, you’re only human. I really need
to know for myself and for my duties, what shape you’re in and why.” Lee could hear the deep concern and caring in
Chip’s voice, that was something he couldn’t argue with, something he valued. He knew if the positions were reversed he’d
be saying the same thing to Chip or the Admiral for that matter.
“I understand
your concern Chip, and I appreciate it, on all its levels.”
Chip flushed
at Lee’s acknowledgement of their many layered relationship.
Lee continued,
“I know how you feel about my taking ONI assignments and since I was doing this
with ONI agents I didn’t think you’d want any part of it.”
“Can’t argue
with you about the ONI part, although they didn’t seem to be too bad, for agent
types. I’m thinking there’s probably
another reason besides that,” Chip waited for Lee to respond.
“Well......I
did figure I’d probably be hearing a whole lot of ‘knight complex’ comments,”
Lee confirmed Chip’s suspicion.
“O absolutely
Sir Galahad, or I guess it would be Sir Lee....” Chip hesitated only a
heartbeat, “hmmm Sir Lee, sounds a lot like ......”
“Mr. Morton”,
Lee tried his CO voice.
“Nah uh Lee,
we’re not onboard Seaview and we’re both on leave,
sort of. Can’t pull rank Sir Lancelot.”
Lee had a
feeling he was going to find out how many knight’s names Chip knew.
The Admiral moved
forward, “OK gentlemen I think the air is sufficiently cleared for now, and Lee
could definitely use some more sleep, right Dr. Jamieson?”
Lee was still looking
pale and tired.
“Yes he
certainly could, not to mention a meal or two.”
Jamie was also glad the two had worked through most of their issues over
this event. There would undoubtedly be
more discussion between them, but the worst was over.
When Lee woke
up he found a pewter knight on his table, apparently Chip had checked in on
him. He closed his eyes and moaned to
himself, “great, apparently I’m about to acquire a knight collection.”
And so it was
that after 3 more days and 3 more knights, Lee was finally released. The Admiral, who found he always worried less
and rested better when Lee was under lock and key, insisted that Lee stay with
him for a least the first couple of days, “just to be sure you can handle yourself
Lad.” This came as no surprise to Lee so
he didn’t fight it, it had become almost standard procedure now. If he had spent time in the Medical Unit there
was always a couple of days that needed to be spent under the Admiral’s
personal supervision. Mostly Lee didn’t
mind, the Admiral was also a workaholic and it enforced a break from the office
for him too. They spent the time talking
cars, going over sailboat designs as they were planning on building one
together, and just generally shooting the breeze. Jamie and Chip could be counted on to drop by
with beer and steaks for a BBQ. Jamie
would work in a ‘poke and prod’ just to be sure all was well.
Two days
turned into 4 before the Admiral finally had to admit that Lee was well able to
look after himself, at least to the extent he usually did. Things returned to normal, while they all
would have liked to see Lee take another week off work there was really no
medical reason why he couldn’t be on light office duty. Lee knew that a lot of paperwork would have
stacked up while they’d been away, and while it wasn’t his favourite activity
it was a necessary one. Hopefully he’d
be able to give the Admiral a hand with some of his as well.
The remaining
time before Seaview’s refit was finished passed quickly. Another checkup
with Jamie and he was declared fit for sub duty, although it would be awhile
yet before he was cleared for the more strenuous activity of diving.
So it was that
today found Lee once more striding down the corridor of his beloved Seaview, headed to his cabin. After stowing his gear, he’d do a walk
through just to be sure things were as they should be.
He stepped
into his cabin and hit the lights, not unexpectedly he spotted a pewter knight
on his desk with a ‘Welcome Back Skipper’ note from Chip next to it. Lee wondered just how long Chip was planning
to keep this up and how many pewter knights Chip had brought on board with him. There had to be a limit on the number of
designs, so far each one had been different.
At least they weren’t arriving daily anymore, just to mark special
events, his return to Seaview and the one that he’d
found on his NIMR desk his first day back.
The entire
crew wasn’t due onboard until tomorrow so the boat was fairly quiet as Lee
checked her out. The last of the stores
were being lowered through the cargo hatch as he passed through that area. COB Sharkey greeted his Captain profusely, of
course he knew that something had gone on and that his Skipper had been
injured, “Good to see you back, heard you spent some time in the Medical Unit,
feeling better Sir?”
“Yes Chief,
feeling fine, thank you. Everything in
good order here?”
“Aye Skipper,
this is the last of it. Everything will
be stored and ready for our departure in lots of time.”
“Excellent,
carry on Chief.”
“Aye aye
Skipper,” Sharkey looked a little disappointed, Lee knew the Chief liked to
know everything that went on, especially with the officers, but as far as he
was concerned the Chief knew as much as he needed to about this particular adventure.
Neither of
them noticed the ‘extra’ cargo that arrived with the last load and had silently
slipped down the corridor.
Lee’s last
stop was the control room, as expected Chip was at the chart table, only a
couple of crew were present, checking panels.
Rather than coming down the forward companionway Lee had entered through
the aft hatch, Chip would have instantly recognized his particular cadence on
the ladder.
“Report Mr.
Morton,” barked Lee from right behind Chip.
Chip jerked upright, obviously taken totally by surprise. It wasn’t often he managed to catch Chip like
this and he couldn’t keep the grin off his face. Chip automatically responded, “All systems
green, Sir”, then lowered his voice so only Lee would catch what he said, “your
grey charger is all set to go Sir Gawain.”
Lee replied in
a similarly lowered voice, “you know Squire
Morton, my shoes could use a good polish, we may not have any stables to clean
but I’m sure the bilges qualify. I don’t
believe I’ve seen you sleeping on the floor by my bed lately, I might want a
glass of water or something in the middle of the night.”
Chip snorted,
“your shoes look just fine, bilges were cleaned during the refit, and do you
really want me in your cabin while you’re sleeping.......”
Given the
sparkle in Chip’s eyes Lee decided that he most definitely did not.
“Carry on Mr.
Morton, I’ll be in my cabin if you need me.”
“Aye aye Sir”
came the reply. Lee caught the mouthed
“Percival”. Lee wondered how Chip felt
about washing dishes or peeling potatoes, he was pretty sure that squire’s did
KP, it could be arranged.
The rest of
the day was spent completing the paperwork required when they were preparing to
leave port. Lee greeted the Admiral when
he came on board and they went over the plans for the shakedown cruise.
The Admiral,
Lee and Chip had dinner together in the wardroom, Jamie hadn’t boarded
yet. Chip asked Cookie if he knew any
Medieval type dishes, Lee gave Chip a dirty look, then during the meal Lee
casually asked Cookie if he needed any extra help during the cruise, say with
dishes, peeling spuds or generally cleaning up.
Chip choked on his coffee, not missing Lee’s subtext. Cookie looked a little confused by it all,
“Well extra hands are always appreciated Skipper”.
“I’ll keep
that in mind Cookie,” Lee responded, looking pointedly over at Chip.
Nelson smiled
into his coffee mug, seems his ‘boys’ were having at it, should be an
interesting cruise.
Lee did
another walkabout, then headed for his cabin.
He reviewed and signed off reports that had arrived on his desk,
completed his nightly routine and crawled into his bunk. He was about to turn off the light when he
felt something land near his feet.
Instantly alert he sat up, not sure what he was expecting to find. There, sitting sedately was the silver tabby.
It wasn’t the
first time a cat had found its way aboard but Lee was sure this was the same
cat he’d been seeing on and off from the castle.
“Well you’ve
travelled a long way,” Lee said to the cat.
“You’ve no
idea,” thought the tabby, to himself for the moment.
Lee didn’t
much feel like getting up, he couldn’t see any harm in letting the cat stay for
the night so he settled back down, laying on his back with his right arm up,
bent at the elbow with his hand under his head.
The tabby got
up and walked to Lee’s left side then moved up to sprawl across Lee’s stomach,
taking care to avoid Lee’s right side.
“Thoughtful
little thing aren’t you,” Lee commented to the cat.
The cat began to
purr, Lee’s left hand moved to caress the soft, warm body. It felt good, the rumbling purr increased, he
could feel the vibration, it all served to relax him, soon he drifted off to
sleep.
The cat gently
moved out from under his hand and over to the bulkhead at Lee’s head, he
reached a paw up and slapped the light switch.
That taken care of he moved back to sprawl across Lee again, Lee’s hand
unconsciously moved to rest on the cat’s body.
The bond now firmly in place the cat also slept.
The End
*The phrase has been
around for about 200 years and means 'in good working shape' and relates to
Bristol as one of the key shipping ports in the 1800s.
**An organization
dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of
pre-17th-century Europe. Members, dressed in clothing of the Middle Ages and
Renaissance, attend events which feature tournaments, royal courts, feasts,
dancing, various classes & workshops, and more.
***The
Quintain is a rotating target that helps the
equestrian practice hitting a solid target with a lance. The more forceful the
strike, the more rotations the Quintain makes, but
beware, it has counterweighted arms that will come around and strike you if you
are not quick enough!
****Early
computers used ‘punch cards’ for data input.
If you folded or creased the card it would jam the computer. Spindling is an old filing system; a clerk would
have a spindle, an upright spike, on his or her desk, and would impale each piece
of paper on it as he or she finished with it.
Not a good idea to put extra holes in a punch card. Mutilate is self explanatory, people taking
out their frustrations on the computer card.
*****Dorothy Parker is
credited with the English wording "Revenge is a dish best served
cold", but roughly the same proverb or saying can be found in a number of
languages, so the ultimate origin is unknown. The oldest version of this
proverb in a printed source is "La vengeance est
un plat qui se mange froid" from the 1782 french book Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
The
Hospital Team
Medical
Staff
The senior physicians
and surgeons are known as Consultants, one of whom will be responsible for your
care. The consultant will usually be assisted by a Registrar, Staff Grade
Doctor or a junior doctor in training.
Ward
Layout
Most wards contain both large rooms - with five or six beds - and also a
number of single rooms.
Visiting
Visiting
times in all adult wards are 3pm-5pm, and 6pm-8pm. Visiting outwith
these times is at the discretion of the Nurse-in-Charge who will endeavour to
accommodate your request.
To
avoid overtiring patients we ask everybody to co-operate by limiting the number
of visitors at any one time to two, and the duration of any visit to half
an hour.
While not mentioned in
the guide, the Surgeons and Consultants are not addressed as Doctor, but as Mr.