Aryn

By R. L. Keller

Movement at his open office door caught Lee’s attention as he read the report in his hand and he glanced up to see his boss, Admiral Nelson, standing there. He started to rise but Nelson waved him down, walked over, and settled into one of the visitor’s chairs on the other side of Lee’s desk. “Find something amusing?” Nelson asked, referring to the smile that had been on Lee’s face.

The grin came back, this time a bit sheepishly, and Lee held up the report. “Dr. Hardjono’s latest from the Research Station in Indonesia. Rini’s excitement comes easily through the words.*

Nelson nodded. “He’s doing an amazing job. I couldn’t have found a more perfect person to run the Station.”

“Now that his father and cohorts are out of the picture,” came from Lee in a grumble, all traces of humor on his face gone in an instant.

Nelson nodded. “That definitely took a great load off of his shoulders, not having to worry when, or if, Nabiel would try to disrupt what Rini was doing.”

“Or corrupt,” Lee added. “Not that Rini would have actually done anything, but his old man could have made life miserable for him.”

“Agreed. Which,” Nelson’s tone shifted from gruff to mild, “brings me to why I interrupted you.” He sent Lee a smile.

Lee returned it. “Never a problem,” he assured his boss, and flipped a hand toward his ‘In’ box, at least ¾ full. “Appreciate the distraction.”

Nelson chuckled. “I’d thought Chip would be working on supplies for the next cruise but he wasn’t in his office.”

Lee hiccupped, trying to bury an almost giggle. “Dentist appointment at Med Bay. Apparently he’s way overdue for a cleaning. Dr. Lesley caught him in the cafeteria at lunch and had some free time this afternoon.” Nelson nodded as he joined in Lee’s chuckles. “Did you need him, sir?”

Nelson waved a hand. “Just some minor adjustments. I’ll have the revised schedule for you both tomorrow but I know how Chip likes to stay on top of things.”

“Anal,” Lee muttered softly.

Nelson laughed but quickly got serious. “I certainly can’t complain.”

“Me, neither,” Lee agreed with a quick, sheepish grin.

“We’ll be picking up a scientist in Japan and taking her down to work at the Indonesian Station under Rini. She’s studying Leaf Sheep that…” He hesitated at Lee’s expression and grinned broadly. “A new one for you?” he asked his captain with a broad grin.

“Yes, sir,” Lee admitted.

“Not surprised. The species of sea slug wasn’t discovered until 1993, and not a lot is still known about them.”

“Because they live so deep?” Lee guessed.

Nelson shook his head but he was still grinning. Lee may profess to be nothing more than a sub jockey, not interested in the scientific part of NIMR. But his insatiable curiosity came out on occasion and led to him wanting to learn all sorts of intel about Seaview’s cruises. “They’re having gone undiscovered stems from their size – about 5 millimeters, or a quarter inch.”

“An unusual name,” Lee offered. “Sounds more like it should live on land.”

“An unusual species to go with the unusual name,” Nelson agreed. “I’ll find a picture and add it to the revised schedule.”

“So, Japan is where they’re found? May I ask why the scientist is going to Indonesia, sir?”

“Recently they’ve been found on reefs off the coasts of not only Japan, but also the Philippines, Indonesia, and even as far south as northern Australia. Dr. Fisher wants to study them in other locations and our Research Station was mentioned by one of her associates, an old friend of mine.” Nelson grinned. “Kaito, ah, Dr. Eguchi, called me to see if it would be possible for Dr. Fisher to continue her studies at the Station, and since our next cruise puts us in the area of Japan…” He sent Lee a sheepish grin of his own. “Well, sort of, anyway.”

“A couple of the underwater quake sensors we are replacing aren’t that far away,” Lee agreed.

“I thought that, by offering to pick her up…”

“By meeting her first, you’d be more comfortable having her at the Station,” Lee finished his boss’ sentence.

“Exactly. Well, Kaito gave her a glowing recommendation.”

“But you personally have approved all of the other people there.” Nelson nodded. “Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, sir.”

“It will only add about four days to the cruise.”

Lee couldn’t get a grin buried. “Plus several days at the Station going over personally with Rini what’s happening there.”

Nelson shook a finger at Lee but he couldn’t hold the frown he started with, and the pair ended up chuckling. “You know me way too well,” he told his captain.

“Yes, sir,” Lee said softly. To himself, and only to himself, he added, and sometimes I don’t know you at all. But he admitted that that was rare, and the smile stayed on his face as Nelson rose and headed back to his office.

* * * *

The next day, when Lee started in on the seemingly never-ending reports in his ‘In’ basket, the one on top was Nelson’s promised revision to the next cruise’s schedule, complete with the promised picture of the sea slug. Lee had to admit that, photographed head on, it did sort of resemble the head of a sheep. At least, a cartoon one. That part was white, with a protrusion on each side that resembled ears but were in fact scent and taste rhinophores with fine hairs that helped the slug find the algae they lived on, as well as what looked like two tiny eyes. The rest of the green body resembled the layered look of an artichoke. Lee could only smile and shake his head. Attached to the picture was a brief bio of the scientist, Dr. Aryn Fisher. Lee only glanced at that; that was more Admiral Nelson’s department. But he did give half a smile to the small picture of an attractive thirty-something brunette.

Lee was about halfway through the stack of reports, and just about to go grab a sandwich in the cafeteria for lunch, when Chip showed up at his office door. “Yes, Chip,” he muttered, “I know that it’s lunchtime. You didn’t have to come get me.”

“That’s a first,” Chip sniped back. “Sure you’re feeling okay?” The pair glared at each other before they both chuckled. “But that’s not actually why I came.” Lee pointed an eyebrow at him. “Well, yes,” the blond admitted. “But not totally,” and he held up what Lee recognized as Nelson’s revised cruise parameters for the next trip.

“Problems? It didn’t seem that bad…” He stopped as Chip was shaking his head.

“I think I know this Dr. Fisher.”

“Like I said,” Lee now teased. “Problems?”

Chip sent him another glare, said something rude, and they both laughed. “It’s the spelling of her first name.”

“I just assumed that it was pronounced like E-R-I-N,” he spelled out.

Chip nodded. “There was a girl I knew in grade school who spelled her name like that, and the picture sort of looks like what I remember that girl’s mother looked like. Maybe,” he qualified. “They only lived in the area a year or so when I was ten or eleven.”

“Her last name?”

Chip shrugged. “It wasn’t Fisher, I know that. But she could be married.”

“That would put a dent in your dating possibilities,” Lee told him with a broad grin as the pair headed for the cafeteria on the bottom floor of the office building. Chip backhanded Lee’s shoulder, and they chatted about all sorts of NIMR business through their quick meal before both got back to their various duties.

* * * *

The subject was forgotten, at least by Lee, until almost two weeks later. The usual four – Nelson, Lee, Chip, and Seaview’s CMO, Dr. Will Jamison, met for breakfast in Seaview’s Officers’ Wardroom. Nelson ran over the day’s planned activities. “We’ll reach the next sensor about 1100 hours?” he asked Lee.

“Still on schedule,” Lee affirmed.

“I have the sensor prepared, but I’m going to take FS1 to meet with Kaito, ah,” he paused and Lee nodded that he knew the Admiral was talking about his friend, Dr. Kaito Eguchi.

“I thought that was set for tomorrow.” Lee sent his boss a look.

“Changed my mind,” Nelson said ever so softly. Lee and Chip shared a look, and Will buried a snort – unsuccessfully – which earned him a sheepish grin from Nelson, an acknowledgement to all three that he all too frequently threw a monkey wrench in whatever schedule Seaview was trying to keep.

“Yes, sir,” Lee said, trying to keep a neutral expression on his face.

Nelson shook his fork at Lee, at which Lee grinned broadly, and Nelson returned it. “I have several things I find I’d like to talk to Kaito about, so thought that I’d go over and spend the night. I’ll be back as planned tomorrow about 1600 hours with Dr. Fisher.”

“Who would you like as a co-pilot, sir?”

Nelson frowned. He knew that Lee didn’t like anyone out in FS1 by themselves. But this trip he saw no reason to take anyone away from their other duties overnight. “Don’t really need one,” he told Lee. “It’s not that long a trip, and I don’t want to bother Kaito and his wife with a second guest.”

“Understood, sir.” Lee knew better than to argue. “When would you like to leave?”

“No hurry. When we stop for the sensor will be fine.” Lee nodded.

“When I get to the Conn I’ll have COB Sharkey do the pre-flight,” Chip added. “Or if you didn’t want to deal with finding a safe place for FS1 overnight, he could fly you over today and get you tomorrow, sir.”

Nelson carefully controlled a smile. Chip knew perfectly well that Lee wouldn’t like Nelson being off by himself and would find a way to try to keep peace between the two strong-willed men. “I’ve already arranged to park the Flying Sub at Kaito’s marine research facility. She, and I, will be quite safe.”

“Yes, sir,” Chip backed off. There was another not quite buried snort from Will, who knew exactly what was going on. Lee and Chip shared another look but, since they were both done eating, rose and headed for the Conn.

Once they were gone, Will sent his own look at Nelson. “I know, Will,” Nelson admitted with a frown. “I really shouldn’t push either of their buttons like that.” Will nodded. “But I’m not helpless,” came out in a grump.

“They know that,” Will agreed. “But you have to admit, they don’t like you off by yourself.”

“And don’t think I don’t appreciate their concern,” Nelson told Will with a nod. He let a slightly evil expression cross his face. “Just have to keep the young whippersnappers in their place once in a while.” Both men finally laughed.

“Cookie?” Will said a bit louder than he and Nelson had been talking, and Seaview’s premier chef appeared like magic in the doorway between the Wardroom and Galley, silent but with a question on his face. “I think I’ll need a carafe of hot chocolate to take to the CO and XO tonight about 2000 hours.”

Cookie grinned. “With a little something extra added by you?” His comment made it clear that he’d been listening. Will nodded with a grin of his own. “And perhaps a couple ‘Death by Chocolate’ brownies to sweeten the pot, as the saying goes?”

“Perfect,” Will told him.

“I’ll have it ready,” and Cookie headed back to his domain.

“They’re going to know,” Nelson told Will.

“Of course,” the doctor agreed. “All part of the game.” Nelson merely shook his head, smiled, and headed to pack what he wanted to take with him.

When Nelson came down the spiral stairs from Officers’ Country about 1030 hours with his overnight bag, the first person he saw was Will, sitting against the starboard bulkhead by Seaview’s unique front windows, pretending to be reading. He knew that it wasn’t for real because the paperback book in Will’s hand was upside down. “Practicing a new talent?” he asked quietly. When the doctor gave him the expected quizzical look, he nodded to the book. “Reading backward.” Nelson barely got the comment out without laughing, then did crack up when Will realized his mistake and quickly flipped the book. Nelson dropped his bag next to FS1’s upper hatch and walked over to the chart table, where Lee and Chip were quietly sniping at each other while Lt. James, Chip’s second most days in the Conn, had his back turned, apparently focused on one of the computers. But Nelson noticed that he, as well as several other Duty crew in the Conn, were trying desperately to keep a straight face. Both Lee and Chip quieted as Nelson approached. “Problems?” he asked as the other two had somewhat stern expressions on their faces.

“No, sir,” Lee answered immediately, but Nelson noticed James’ shoulder shake with silent laughter.

“Humm,” Nelson mumbled softly.

“We were merely discussing who was going out on this dive,” Chip supplied.

“Ahh,” Nelson smirked with understanding. “I gather each of you has nominated the other.”

“Yes, sir,” Chip answered firmly with a look at Lee, who was frowning.

“Humm,” Nelson repeated. “Well, in that case, I’ll settle it by assigning both of you to the dive. Lt. James?”

“Yes, sir,” the young lieutenant turned and barely stopped himself from saluting, which caused a grin to appear on each of his senior officers’ faces, although it didn’t last long on either Chip’s or Lee’s.

Nelson sent the man a broad grin. “You have the Conn, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir,” came back instantly, but with a quick look at his CO and XO. “I have the Conn,” he repeated.

“Good. Now you two,” he pointed a finger at Lee and Chip, “have no excuse not to get your tails off Seaview and go blow off some steam replacing the sensor Chief Sharkey has ready for you.” He barely got the order out with a straight face.

“Yes, sir,” came back twofold, both younger men standing almost at Attention. It finally undid Nelson completely and he laughed out loud. Other soft snickers could be heard around the Conn, and Lee and Chip relaxed and softly elbowed each other. Nelson shook his head, still grinning broadly, lightly backhanded Lee’s shoulder, and walked forward to watch out Seaview’s windows as the giant submarine started slowing down. When he turned, both Lee and Chip were no longer in the Conn, and he turned to Will.

“Nicely played,” the doctor told him, and they both grinned.

“I gather it was getting a little…” He didn’t finish the softly spoken sentence.

But Will understood. “Neither wanted to be away from the Conn when you left,” he confirmed, also very quietly.

They both glanced into the Conn as Seaview came to a stop. Lt. James was having no issues settling in to the next sensor’s location. “That’s my signal to leave,” Nelson all but snickered, and Will agreed.

“Safe trip,” he told his boss.

Nelson expression sobered. “It had better be, or neither Lee or Chip will ever let me leave again without a co-pilot.” Will nodded before they both smiled. Nelson grabbed his bag and headed down into what Lee usually referred to as Seaview’s bright yellow offspring, and everyone else tended to call Lee’s toy.

* * * *

Lee absolutely loved diving. He didn’t care why, or where – although some places were of course better than others. He just loved the feeling he got from being semi-weightless, free to move any which way he chose. This time he didn’t even have to keep a lookout for unfriendly finny things because he and Chip were accompanied by two ‘watchdog’ divers. They’d felt Seaview’s nose dip as they were exchanging clothes for wetsuits in the Missile Room, signaling Nelson’s departure. They shared a quick look, then sheepish grins and, once finished changing, gathered up what equipment they needed along with the new sensor and entered the dive chamber along with Seamen Kowalski and Lewis. Once the sensor was exchanged Lee decided that, as long as they were ‘outside’ and in no particular hurry, they could use the rest of their air supply enjoying themselves. He called in, got the okay from both Dive Master COB Sharkey and O.D. Lt. James, and the four men spent a perfectly wonderful hour enjoying themselves. Finally Lewis gave a soft ‘sirs’ over their mask communicators, indicated his air supply gauge, and everyone headed back to Seaview.

“That was fun,” Lee told no one in particular as he sat down on a bench and started taking off his gear.

“Now aren’t you glad the Admiral kicked you out?” came from the open hatch door and Will strolled in.

Lee started to smart back a replay, thought better of it, and finally nodded. “Actually, yes, Jamie.” He and Chip were pretty much the only people at NIMR who called the doctor by that nickname. He finished stripping out of the wetsuit and started to towel off, but glanced at Will when the doctor snickered.

“You won’t be changing down here while Dr. Fisher is aboard.” That got chuckles and sheepish nods from everyone else.

Chip turned to Lee. “Will we be diving with her? I thought we were just dropping her off.

Lee shrugged. “You know the Admiral. My guess is he’ll want to spend at least a couple days visiting with Rini Hardjono. And probably want to see what the sea slug Dr. Fisher is studying looks like in person.”

Chip nodded. “Sounds about right,” he agreed. “Maybe we could go back to Bunaken National Marine Park. That place was cool! Well,” he qualified, “now that we aren’t dodging bullets and criminals.”

“Amen,” Lee agreed with feeling. “On the other hand, we haven’t really dived around the Research Station, especially now that it’s in full swing.”

“True,” Chip agreed. Both shrugged, grinned, and finished dressing.

“Lunch,” Will told both firmly.

Lee sent the doctor a glare but Chip elbowed him. “I, for one, worked up an appetite. I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving,” Lee sniped back, but then sent him a sheepish grin. “Actually, so am I.” Will chuckled, and all three headed for the Wardroom. Seaview started moving under their feet and they knew that Lt. James would easily have them back on course.

A couple of medical journals kept Will’s attention all afternoon. Then a seaman needed stitches after slicing open a finger made Will a bit later than usual for supper so he missed Lee and Chip. Cookie indicated that they had eaten but early and returned to the Conn to deal with a tricky bit of navigation. Will filled his plate with tonight’s selections – melt-in-your-mouth beef tips in a rich herb gravy poured over buttered noodles, peas and carrots, green salad, whole wheat rolls, and chocolate cake for dessert. He enjoyed every last bite, although telling himself that he was going to have to hit the exercise room more often if he wasn’t careful. As he finished and stood up, Cookie appeared and told him that he’d have the cocoa and brownies ready to be picked up at 1950 hours, and Will nodded and gave the chef a thumbs up. Unless things aboard were out of whack, and no matter how much time Lee and Chip had spent together during the day, Chip could almost always be found in Lee’s cabin at 2000 hours to go over schedules, handle issues that had come up, and sometimes merely to kick back and kibitz for a few minutes.

As the time neared Will sent one of his corpsmen on a little reconnaissance mission, and when John confirmed that both CO and XO were in Lee’s cabin, Will picked up the tray Cookie had ready and tapped lightly on Lee’s cabin door. He was expecting a reaction of some sort when he entered, and wasn’t disappointed. “What did you spike the hot chocolate with?” Lee demanded.

Will chose not to take the bait. “I only brought two cups, but if you have an extra one I’ll join you,” he told his frowning CO.

“I’m not sharing the brownies,” Chip grumbled, took the tray from Will, and set it on Lee’s desk. That finally softened Lee’s expression, but he did send Will a pointed eyebrow.

Will shrugged. “Have you heard from Admiral Nelson?” he asked.

“Yep,” Chip told him as he busily divided the goodies between himself and Lee.

“He arrived safely,” Lee confirmed. “Said he and Dr. Fisher would rejoin Seaview about 1000 hours tomorrow.” Will nodded, decided not to overstay his welcome, and turned to leave. “Thanks, Jamie,” came softly from behind him. As he pulled the cabin door open he turned to see a slight smile on Lee’s face. He smiled himself, nodded, and left. Of course both men knew what Will was doing. It gave him a warm feeling that they trusted him enough to accept Will’s way of trying to make sure both had a good night’s sleep.

* * * *

Admiral Nelson was enjoying Dr. Aryn Fisher’s excited wonder at the Flying Sub, as well as the enthusiastic conversation they were having about her research into the tiny sea slugs formally known as Costasiella Kuroshimae, but more commonly called Leaf Sheep because of their odd similarity to cartoon land sheep. He was always happy to meet younger marine scientists willing to spend their lives working to improve whatever part of the world’s oceans they’d decided to focus on. It gave him much hope for the future of planet Earth and its inhabitants. He hated when people seemed to take the oceans for granted; that they’d always be there to sustain the human race, when he knew for a fact that if they weren’t protected and sustained there would be no human race left!

Besides the Leaf Sheep, the pair chatted easily about any number of topics. Dr. Fisher was, of course, curious about Dr. Hardjono and the Research Station. But they also discussed NIMR, Seaview, and what ongoing projects Nelson and the Institute were focusing on at present. Nelson was almost sad as he sent his homing beacon to the sub, although he wasn’t sure why. He knew that the pair could continue their conversation aboard Seaview. He chided himself for maybe not wanting to share this person with the rest of the crew, although most of the men aboard Seaview tended to leave any and all visiting scientists to the Admiral, mostly because – they said – they couldn’t understand 90% of what the scientists were saying.

Sparks acknowledged receipt of the beacon and Chip presently called, telling Nelson that Seaview had stopped and was ready for FS1 to approach and dock. At each call Nelson had identified the caller, just to be polite. As he identified Seaview’s XO, Lt. Cdr. Morton, he got a quick look from Dr. Fisher.

“You called him Chip?” she asked.

Nelson smiled. “A nickname given to him by one of his younger sisters, I believe.”

“Humm,” came softly back.

“Do you know him?” Now Nelson was curious.

Fisher shrugged. “I knew a Chip Morton in grade school.” She grinned. “I guess it’s not that uncommon a name.” Nelson nodded, but at that point needed to pay attention to docking procedures. Both Chip, and especially Lee, would tease him about scratching the paint if everything didn’t go exactly right.

Thankfully, this time all went well. He’d barely unbuckled his safety harness when the back hatch cycled and two seamen appeared to take Dr. Fisher’s bags to the guest cabin that had been prepared for her. Nelson helped her with her harness, then dropped the ladder and prepared to exit into Seaview’s Nose, as the upper hatch opened to reveal Lee. Nelson motioned Dr. Fisher up, and quickly followed.

Nelson made introductions as soon as he’d cleared FS1’s hatch. “Dr. Aryn Fisher, Seaview’s captain, Cdr. Lee Crane.” Quick hellos were exchanged. “And XO Lt. Cdr…” Nelson was cut off by Fisher’s quizzical “Chip?” and she started to walk toward the blond who had stayed by the chart table. The blond quickly came forward as Lee all but blocked the woman’s path, getting a frown from her in the process.

“Aryn?” Chip interrupted whatever she was about to snipe at Lee, judging by the expression on her face. “When I saw the briefing, I wondered if it was you.” Chip continued. “How you spell your first name.” He took her arm and the pair gave each other a quick hug before Chip tossed a hand toward the Conn. “Visitors aren’t really allowed in the Control Room proper,” he explained why she’d been stopped.

“But you’re more than welcome here in the Nose,” Lee added, with a broad grin at his XO

“First,” Nelson regained control of the conversation, “let me show Dr. Fisher to her cabin, and give her a quick tour. We’ll meet you both in the Wardroom for lunch.”

“Yes, sir,” and “Aye, sir,” came from CO and XO respectfully, and Nelson guided Dr. Fisher toward the spiral stairs as Lee and Chip returned to the chart table and got Seaview once more moving. They had one more sensor to replace before they headed south toward Indonesia and the NIMR Research Station.

“Apparently you two know each other,” Lee said gleefully to Chip. The blond only nodded as he got Seaview back on course. Lee’s grin spread and he nudged Chip with an elbow.

“That was a long time ago,” Chip muttered between commands to Seaview’s Helmsman.

“From her reaction, she hasn’t forgotten,” Lee continued to tease. Chip ignored him and focused on his duties, and Lee let it drop. He puttered around the Conn for a few minutes, then grabbed up the Duty Roster and headed to run a few quick drills before lunch.

Chip raised an eyebrow at Lee as they both approached the Wardroom door from opposite directions just before 1200 hours. “You have the crew too well trained,” Lee told the blond. “I can’t catch anyone unprepared.”

Chip smirked, but also nodded. “With your help.” Lee waggled a hand, they both grinned, and entered to find Admiral Nelson standing behind Dr. Fisher as they started to fill their trays. Apparently Cookie decided, with a guest aboard, to forego what would be a light lunch of sandwiches and fruit. There was thick minestrone soup, garlic toast, and Caesar salad loaded with chopped chicken.

Lee spotted Cookie standing a few feet back from the passthrough, keeping watch but trying to be unintrusive. “Looks yummy as usual, Cookie.” The chef sent him a quick nod and walked deeper into the Galley.

Once everyone had what they wanted, the three men sat where they usually sat and Dr. Fisher sat next to Nelson, putting her directly across the table from Chip. They were all quiet until Nelson asked quietly, “ETA the last sensor?”

Lee glanced at Chip, waiting for the blond to answer. When he realized that Chip had just taken a huge bite of salad, he grinned. “The last time I looked at the Nav chart, about 1400 hours tomorrow, sir. But I haven’t been in the Conn since you got back.

By that time Chip had chewed and swallowed. “With luck, closer to 1300,” he told his boss. “It’s a pretty straight shot from here.”

Nelson nodded. “I thought, while the sensor is replaced, Dr. Fisher and I would check out the area’s reefs since they are so close.”

“Not a problem, sir,” Lee told him instantly. He turned his gaze on Dr. Fisher. “Do you think you’ll find your Leaf Sheep there?”

She paused, as if not knowing what a captain of a submarine would know about her research, and glanced at Nelson. The Admiral was grinning. “Your research project was discussed when we altered the original cruise parameters to pick you up.”

She finally nodded and looked at Lee. “For a long time it was thought that they were unique to Japan’s southern islands. The Admiral showed me where we’d be stopping, and it wouldn’t be impossible to find them there.” She shrugged. “Or not,” she added. “Hopefully it won’t mess up your schedule too much by checking it out.”

Lee grinned and bumped Chip’s shoulder. “We’re used to Admiral Nelson messing with the schedule.” His grin spread as he looked at his boss.

“Unfortunately,” Nelson told Dr. Fisher, “I resemble that remark.” But he suddenly grinned. “I’m the boss; I can do whatever I want.” His turn for the grin to spread.

“Help,” came not quite silently as Will walked in. Both Lee and Nelson chuckled as Chip struggled not to snort out the swallow of coffee he’d just taken.

“And hello to you, too, Doctor,” Nelson got out. “What’s wrong now?”

“I always get worried when Lee and Chip are smiling,” Will smarted.

“The Admiral started it,” Chip, now recovered, tried to defend himself, and Lee nodded agreement.

“Dr. Aryn Fisher, Dr. Will Jamison, Seaview’s CMO,” Nelson made the introductions. Will acknowledged her with a nod and a grin, filled his plate, and sat down next to her.

“When those two,” Will pointed his fork at Lee and Chip, “start plotting something…” His frown was cut off as both Lee and Chip sent him innocent looks, although they could barely manage it around continued smiles. “I rest my case,” Will told Dr. Fisher confidently.

That totally cracked up Nelson. “I really did start it this time, Will.”

“Even worse,” came out with a grumble before Will, too, grinned broadly. “Welcome to Seaview,” he said to Dr. Fisher. She grinned back.

“We don’t often have the opportunity to be this relaxed,” Nelson told her.

“Amen,” came softly from both Lee and Chip. Will nodded.

“So sometimes it gets a little…” Nelson didn’t know quite how to finish that thought to an outsider.

“We do take our jobs seriously, Dr. Fisher,” Lee assured her.

“I can actually understand,” she told him. “And it’s Aryn, please.” She sent a smile around to all four men. “I’ve been in situations where, sometimes you just have to ‘let go,’ as it were, to relieve the tension.”

“Exactly,” Lee agreed.

“And because this is primarily a civilian boat, the crew serves together longer than in the military,” Nelson added. He sent a sheepish smile around the group. “And I really did start this one yesterday,” he admitted. “You’re getting the aftermath.” He chuckled self-consciously.

“Makes for a more comfortable working environment,” was Aryn’s conclusion.

The four officers shared looks. “Something like that,” Lee said, although his voice held doubt. All five, however, smiled. “How long will you stay at the Research Station?” Lee asked Aryn, changing the subject.

“Not entirely sure,” she admitted. “Dr. Hardjono, who I’m looking forward to meeting…”

“You’ll like him,” Nelson assured her.

She nodded. “Just talking to him by radio, he seems quite pleasant.” The four men sent her nods and small words of agreement. “Anyway, he was open to my staying there as long as I wanted, actually, to search the area for Leaf Sheep. He also suggested the Bunaken National Marine Park near Manado.”

“Gorgeous diving there,” Chip told her.

Lee nodded his agreement. “The place is fantastic!”

“Are you going to take Seaview there again?” Nelson asked Lee.

“You can take Seaview into the park?” Aryn asked.

“Never tried that,” Lee told her with a bit of a sheepish grin. “Parked off Manado while the Admiral was working with Rini, ah, Dr. Hardjono, getting the Station ready to open.” Aryn glanced at the frowns that briefly crossed the other faces. “There were issues that trip,” Lee added. “Nothing to bother you.” He sent her a smile, then looked at Nelson. “Actually, sir, I thought that I’d keep Seaview at the Station and dive that area. From Rini’s reports it’s got its own charm and diversity.”

Nelson nodded. “Another reason to put the Station there,” he agreed. “Give you and Rini time to talk.” He knew that there were a few things about Rini’s father that Lee knew, but had kept from the man so as to not hurt Rini more than he already had been.

“Yes, sir,” Lee agreed, still serious, before an absolutely brilliant smile hit his face and he elbowed Chip lightly. “You can dive with Aryn while we’re there.”

“An excellent idea,” Nelson agreed. “I’d like to be there several days at least. Rini and I have half a dozen reports to go over, and ideas for future projects. You’ll both,” he pointed his fork at Lee and Chip, “have time to relax and enjoy the area.”

“Yes, sir,” came from Chip. Lee’s soft agreement followed after a short pause, and Nelson sent him a raised eyebrow, at which Lee briefly smiled.

“Time to exorcize some memories,” Lee told his boss.

“Definitely a plan,” Nelson answered just as softly. He noticed a curious expression cross Aryn’s face but she remained quiet and focused on her meal, and the men went on to other bits of boat’s business while everyone finished eating. Then they all scattered in different directions, Aryn once more going with Admiral Nelson.

Chip was at the chart table puttering with the Duty Roster partway through the afternoon when Aryn came down the spiral stairs; cautiously, like she wasn’t sure she should be there. Lee was off running drills ‘somewhere.’ The crew was kept on their toes, never knowing quite where their CO would show up at any given time of day. Or night, although he didn’t usually run drills when he couldn’t sleep and instead wandered around on one of his casual ‘walkaboats.’ Chip glanced up, noticed Aryn’s hesitation, quietly gave Lt. Chris James the Conn, and ambled forward. “The Admiral finally bore you to tears?” he asked her as he headed for the coffee carafe Cookie or his assistant tried to keep supplied.

“Never,” she told him firmly. “But he had some calls to make and…” Her voice briefly trailed off. “He said that it was okay to come here…” Again she hesitated.

“Perfectly okay to be in the Nose,” he assured her. He pointed toward the coffee but she shook her head and sat down at the table. Once he had mug in hand he also sat. “So, marine biologist?” he asked with a smile.

She returned it. “I think the last time I saw you I wanted to be a horse trainer.” They both grinned.

“I never expected to find myself on a submarine,” Chip admitted. “Yet, here I am, and loving every minute of it.” He frowned. “Well, maybe not every minute.”

She nodded. “Life. You make all these wonderful, idealistic, plans, and life throws you a curveball.” He nodded agreement. “Started college at UCSD thinking that I’d go into teaching. Math, chemistry, one of the sciences, anyway.”

“As I recall, you were into bugs and plants,” Chip said in a teasing voice.

“Loved biology as much as horses,” she teased back. “The summer between sophomore and junior years at college I took an internship at Scripps, in the biochemistry department. Met my husband there; he was doing postgraduate work studying marine flora for possible medicinal usage.”

Chip nodded. “One of the labs at NIMR works toward finding possible cancer-fighting drugs.”

“Jesse got me turned on to marine studies, although I preferred fauna to flora.” An expression crossed her face that Chip couldn’t read. “Started focusing on that, and was promised a job at Scripps when I graduated,” came out in a voice to match the expression.

“Scripps withdrew the offer?” Chip asked softly.

“Oh, no,” she answered in that strange tone. “Turned out Jesse liked research better than he liked marriage.” Chip sent her what he hoped was a nod of commiseration. “No biggy, as it turned out,” she told him, her tone back to normal. “I worked hard, concentrated on my post-grad studies and research, and got my doctorate and divorce the same month.” That last came out with a broad smile, so Chip sent the smile back. “Kept the last name for two reasons,” she continued in that same bright voice. “Fisher is a whole lot easier than Fitzpatrick, and I still get to keep the initials.” They both nodded. “And I get to be Dr. Fisher while Jesse barely finished his Masters.” Chip raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. “Not sure. There were rumors that he falsified some data, got called on it, and had to start a whole new project because what he was working with just wasn’t feasible.” She shrugged again. “I don’t keep up with the gossip; too busy with my own projects.”

“Good for you,” Chip told her firmly.

“You?”

Chip nodded upward. “Admiral Nelson. Well, when I met him at Annapolis he was Captain Nelson. Entered thinking to just get a good education, and eventually into a nice cushy desk job keeping all of the Navy vessels organized.”

She all but snorted. “You had the messiest desk in the whole school.”

Chip turned red. “Yeah, well…” He sent her a grin. “I like keeping everyone else organized.”

“Admiral Nelson changed that?”

“Sort of. Lee and I were roomies all four years at the Academy. That’s how we met. Lee’s an only child whose dad was killed in action when he was small, and Admiral, well, Captain then, Nelson became a bit of a mentor to Lee. Long story short, he got hooked on subs and it sort of carried over to me. I was still just going to work toward a supply position, but when the Admiral semi-retired and started building NIMR he tracked me down and offered me an opportunity I couldn’t really pass up.” He grinned. “So now I do the best I can to keep Seaview organized.”

“I have to say, from what I’ve seen it’s an amazing ship.”

“Boat,” Chip corrected automatically, then sent her a quick smile. “Subs are always designated boats.”

“Why?”

Chip shrugged. “Again, long story short, ‘boat’ designates a small vessel and ‘ship’ a larger one. The first subs were tiny, one-person vessels. As they grew larger, the designation stuck.” He shrugged again. “A Navy thing, sort of. There’s also a story about ‘ship’ being used for a vessel large enough to carry ‘boats’.” He smiled. “Seaview being the anomaly but then, no one visualized a sub as big as she is.”

“Except Admiral Nelson,” came from behind them, and they turned and found that Lee had walked quietly up behind them.

“Him,” Chip grumbled, “I can’t keep organized.” Lee burst out laughing as Aryn gave them both a strange look.

“Ignore them both,” came down the stairs, and Will meandered down from Officers’ Country. That caused both Chip and Lee to grin, and Will sent Aryn a smile. “I see that you found the best place on the boat to relax.” He finished walking over and also sat at the table.

“Chip and I were catching up,” Aryn said, looking at Lee and trying to explain, feeling that she’d been keeping the blond from what he was supposed to be doing.

Lee waved it off. “Perfectly alright.”

“Why I came forward,” Will added. “Even when there’s not much to see out there,” he waved a hand toward the windows, “it’s still peaceful.”

“Yeah, peaceful,” Chip all but growled. He looked at Aryn. “Until Jamie comes forward to spy on us,” he indicated Lee and himself. Will’s turn to burst out laughing.

But before anyone could say anything else, Admiral Nelson’s voice was heard over the intercom. “Lee, could you and Chip come to my cabin?”

Lee, still standing, grabbed the nearest mic. “On our way, sir.” With a glance at Lt. James, who gave them a thumbs up from the chart table, the pair headed up the stairs.

Aryn looked at Will as the doctor once more chuckled. “They are two of the finest men it has ever been my privilege to work with,” he said ever so softly. “And if you repeat that, I’ll deny every word,” he added firmly. They both laughed again as Aryn caught the joke.

“Why ‘Jamie’?”

“Not long after Cdr. Crane took over the captaincy of Seaview and I joined NIMR, he heard an old friend call me that and both he and Chip picked it up.” He smiled again. “It helps to keep things casual between us.” His voice turned more serious. “Because it’s my job to keep everyone aboard healthy I sometimes have to get in their faces a bit, slow them down from ignoring issues in favor of thinking more of boat and crew.” He frowned. “Life on board isn’t always this quiet. We take what opportunities we can to enjoy it.” They both nodded.

* * * *

Lee tapped lightly on Admiral Nelson’s cabin door, and he and Chip entered at the call to do so. Nelson waved a hand at the two visitor’s chairs with a smile. “Hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” he said to Chip, letting the blond know that he was aware of where Chip had been. Lee grinned broadly.

“Not at all, sir,” Chip told Nelson as he softly smacked Lee’s shoulder. All three ended up smiling. “Just catching up,” Chip added.

Nelson nodded. “Just got off the phone with Rini; he’s anxious to have Dr. Fisher at the Station, but a couple questions…” He paused as both younger men frowned. “Down, both of you,” Nelson ordered, then returned to a soft smile. “Someone at Scripps sent Rini a somewhat disparaging post about her, although it stopped short of outright demeaning.”

“Aryn’s ex-husband apparently still works there,” Chip told him. “I gather he’s still working on his doctorate, even though he’s two years older. Might be jealous that Aryn already has hers, although I didn’t get that indication from her. May I ask who the message was from?” He shrugged. “If not him, someone else who’s jealous?”

“We’ve all met scientists who try to put down others,” Lee added.

“Unfortunately,” Nelson agreed. “And Rini wasn’t clear about who sent the post. It was on a Scripps letterhead but the signature was illegible.”

“Lovely,” Chip muttered.

“Exactly,” Nelson agreed. “I just wanted you both to be aware of it. You, especially, Chip, since you’re the closest to her.” He sent Chip a look which caused the blond to turn several shades of red.

Lee smirked. “I’ve wondered if I should take Mr. Morton off duty so that he can spend more time with her.” Chip smacked him again, but they all ended up smiling.

“I’ve got a call into Scripps’ Director, to see if I can get some clarification. I expect it all to be, as you say, a disgruntled employee; maybe someone the ex talked into sending it. But it needs to be stopped,” was added firmly.

“Yes, sir,” came back twofold.

Lee held up the clipboard he’d continued to carry. “I’ll be logging drill results and working in my cabin for a couple hours,” he told Chip as the two younger men rose.

“And I’d better get back to the Conn,” Chip told him. “No telling what lies Jamie is telling Aryn.” Nelson burst out laughing.

* * * *

At Lee’s request, Cookie had lunch ready the next day a little early so that everyone would have sufficient time after eating to be ready to dive when Seaview settled by the last sensor that needed replacing. Nelson had said nothing more about the letter Rini had received about Dr. Fisher except a quick comment at breakfast to Lee that he was having trouble catching up with Scripps’ Director. “Not like he doesn’t keep busy, too,” Nelson had said with a shrug and a smile, and Lee had nodded an agreement.

With a woman aboard all changing would be done in their cabins, and with having to settle Seaview in place, Lee and Chip were the last to arrive in the Missile Room. Lee quickly realized that Nelson was explaining why there were so many extra divers suited up; that no one went out without watchdog divers. Lee and Chip both watched Aryn’s reaction to that news; they’d had issues in the past with people not liking so many divers in the water at one time. But Aryn gave him a smile and a nod, easily accepting Seaview’s safety regulations, and Lee and Chip shared a quick look and a nod as they started getting into the rest of their diving gear.

As with the previous dive, once the sensor was replaced everyone stayed out until their tanks were getting low, just having a good look around. Lee, while not being obvious, stayed fairly close to Nelson, and grinned inside his mask at how Chip tended to stay close to Aryn. Apparently Lee was more obvious than he thought when, at one point, Nelson stopped and sent him a look. Caught dead to rights, as it were, Lee merely shrugged. Lee caught his boss’ amusement even through the masks, and Nelson promptly went back to what he was doing. As did Lee!

While no Leaf Sheep were spotted, Aryn still took a bunch of pictures with her underwater camera, and she and Nelson carried on a constant conversation over what they were finding in the area. And it didn’t stop once air tanks were almost empty, forcing everyone back inside. Chip and Lee shared a grin as they took off their gear and watched Nelson and Aryn quickly divest themselves of theirs and head out the hatch headed for their cabins to change, still talking excitedly. Lee teased Chip, once they were both back in uniform and meeting in the Conn. “There go your chances of getting better acquainted,” he told the blond. “The Admiral is going to monopolize all of her time.” The words were no sooner out of his mouth when Aryn came down the stairs alone and settled into a chair in the Nose. “Now’s your chance,” Lee continued to tease, and nudged Chip’s shoulder with his own. Chip’s glare back, toned down because he’d also turned several shades redder, was interrupted by Nelson on the intercom calling both he and Lee to his cabin. They both sent a quick look toward Lt. James, who technically still had the Conn because Lee’s crack had stopped Chip from taking back command. Chris sent them both a nod, and a grin because he'd heard Lee’s quiet comments, and the pair headed up the spiral stairs, also giving Aryn a grin and a nod as they passed.

When the pair entered their boss’ cabin/office, Lee was instantly on alert from the expression on Nelson’s face as he glared at the paper he held in his hand. “Problems, sir?” Lee asked cautiously as Chip almost silently closed the door.

It took Nelson a couple seconds to notice Lee’s hesitation, and realized that it was caused by his own expression. He snorted softly and waved a hand at the two visitors’ chairs. “Not for us,” he got out in a fairly normal tone. “Scripps’ Assistant Director finally got back to me. Apparently she got assigned the duty of trying to identify the source of the letter sent to Rini. And she’s not happy.” Both Lee and Chip raised eyebrows. “According to this,” and he indicated the paper he still held, “she has nothing but good things to say about Aryn, ah, Dr. Fisher.” Both younger men had to bury grins at Nelson’s use of the first name. “She goes on to say that she will do her best to discover who sent it, and when she does…” Nelson had his own grin to bury. “Well, I’m glad that I won’t be anywhere nearby.”

“Maybe she’s related to Angie?” Lee said not quite under his breath. Nelson’s PA, when sufficiently ticked, took no prisoners.

“Humm,” Nelson agreed. Angie had been known to take the occasional potshot at even him on occasion.

“Rini will be relieved,” Lee continued in a more normal tone.

“As am I,” Nelson agreed. “We all know this kind of backbiting goes on, but unfortunately it can ruin a good person’s reputation all too quickly because idiots believe the first thing they’re told.” That last came out in one of Nelson’s better snarls.

“Yes, sir,” he got back in stereo, and it caused his glare to soften. “Have you mentioned the letter to Dr. Fisher?” Lee used her official title.

“No.” Nelson paused. “But I think that I’d better. She needs to know before we get to the Research Station and someone there makes an offhand remark.”

“Yes, sir,” came back, again in stereo, causing Nelson to smile fondly at his two officers.

“Do either of you know where she is at the moment?” While the question was meant for both men, Nelson focused on Chip, which made Lee snicker softly.

Chip backhanded his CO at the same time he answered. “Sitting in the Nose, sir, when we came up here.”

Nelson chuckled at his officers’ antics. “Then when you go back down would you send her up, please.” He continued to focus on his XO.

“Yes, sir,” Chip answered, sent a snide look at Lee, and left. Lee shrugged his shoulders at Nelson, they both grinned, and Lee left as well but headed out on one of his ‘walkaboats’.

He got sidetracked down in Engineering and didn’t see either Chip or the Admiral until entering the Wardroom for supper. And only then because COB Sharkey caught him still there at 1800 hours and rather pointedly pointed him in that direction. Lee decided that he didn’t want to know who had sent the COB on that bit of errand and made no fuss about ending the conversation he’d been having with a couple of the crew about extended learning opportunities NIMR encouraged.

The Admiral and Aryn were already sitting down and Will was just dishing up his meal, Chip standing behind him. The blond turned and mouthed, “Don’t ask.” Lee sent him a nod. From what he could hear of Nelson’s and Aryn’s conversation their voices were fairly normal, although Lee couldn’t detect any of the usual enthusiasm that had almost constantly been present as they discussed their favorite topics – anything to do with the world’s oceans and sea life. Will sat down next to Aryn, and once Lee and Chip had filled their plates with tonight’s selections they took their usual places across the table. Like Will, they merely listened to the ongoing discussion, this evening something to do with changing patterns in certain ocean currents and how it was affecting populations of various aquatic life forms. Nelson had established his Research Station in a very active current area that shifted waters coming from the Indian Ocean, through Indonesian waters and into the Pacific Ocean partially for that very reason, as well as keeping track of how more and more sport diving was, or was not, affecting the area’s flora and fauna.

Eventually Nelson seemed to realize that he was monopolizing the conversation and turned to Lee. “Engineering safe?” came out with a soft grin that caused Chip to choke on the bite of whole wheat roll he’d just taken.

Lee ignored him. “Yes, sir. Got into a discussion about some of the extended learning classes available,” he sent Nelson a bit of a shy look, “and lost track of time.”

Nelson turned to Aryn. “Navy vessels usually have one JO, ah, Junior Officer,” he qualified just in case, “designated as Educational Services Officer. Something I never worry about when Lee’s around.” His grin spread as he looked at Lee. “Cory,” he referenced the XO aboard the Nautilus, where Lee had first served under Nelson, “was less than amused.”*** He knew that the other men knew who he was talking about, and didn’t bother explaining to Aryn.

“No, sir,” Lee agreed with a lowered head, looking at Nelson practically through his lashes. Chip snorted, and Lee sent him a quick glare.

Nelson chuckled. “He was afraid that you were working your way through the JO’s, aiming for his job.”

“No, sir,” Lee popped his head back up and answered adamantly.

Nelson raised his hand and laughed. “Relax. I assured him that wasn’t the case at all.” He paused. “I told him that you were after mine,” he barely got out around more chuckles. Lee’s head went back down.

“Got it, too,” Will deadpanned, which caused everyone, even Aryn, to smile broadly. Lee sent Nelson another shy look, which was answered with a nod, and the conversation switched to other topics.

As Lee accompanied Chip back to the Conn, he raised an eyebrow. The two longtime friends could often carry on whole conversations without saying a single word, so in tune were they with each other. Chip easily understand Lee’s question. “Royally ticked, and instantly blamed the ex-husband. Said that the letter sounded just like something he’d do.”

Lee nodded with a shrug. “Hopefully it will get sorted out.”

Chip grinned without humor. “It will if the Admiral has anything to do with it.”

“Amen,” Lee agreed softly, and they entered the Conn discussing the next bit of navigation.

* * * *

Lee barely hit the Conn the following morning, getting a quick verbal report of Seaview’s night from Lt. Keeter before heading to the Wardroom, when he heard Sparks send an incoming call to Admiral Nelson.

“That’s the third one this morning,” Keeter told Lee softly.

Lee sighed. “Going to be one of those days,” he muttered just as softly, then grinned. “Weather topside?”

“Clear and calm,” was the instant reply.

“Let’s hope it stays that way.” He paused. “Including down here!”

“Yes, sir,” the ‘D’ watch officer replied with feeling.

“What are you harassing Lt. Keeter for?” came from behind them as Chip scurried down the spiral stairs.

Before Lee could come up with a suitable snarky reply to his insolent XO, Nelson called over the intercom. “CO and XO to my cabin,” came out in what Lee was sure the whole boat knew was Nelson’s ‘ticked off’ command.

Lee turned back to Keeter. “So much for that thought.” Keeter nodded, and Lee explained to Chip as they made their way quickly back up the stairs.

“Come,” Nelson growled at Lee’s not quite hesitant knock, and waved a hand at the two chairs in front of his desk. “Scripps is absolutely sure, so they claim, that no letter to Rini was mailed from there.”

“So it was mailed off base,” was Lee’s instant reply.

“And after what was described as a thorough questioning of the ex, that he had nothing to do with it. He claims to not even know where she is or what she’s doing.”

“Or he’s a good actor,” Lee added his thought.

“Possible,” Nelson agreed. “Dr. Fisher is still convinced he’s somehow behind it. However, just talked to Rini and he’s not sure the letter was ever mailed.”

“Excuse me?” Chip blurted before he could stop himself.

Nelson nodded. “My immediate reaction as well, Chip.” Nelson’s voice had noticeably softened. “Seems the letter appeared on his desk with the rest of that day’s mail. Rini was busy, and by the time he got around to going through everything…ah…apparently it was on the bottom of the stack. Anyway, the envelope had been tossed and the trash burned. Rini just assumed that it had been mailed.”

“He’s thinking that someone at the Station had access to Scripps stationery and just slipped it in?” Lee asked.

Nelson shrugged. “The person who delivered the mail to his office is a local hired to facilitate secretarial duties.” Both younger men nodded; they knew that the Station wasn’t all staffed with scientists. Locals did many everyday chores, appreciating the employment opportunity. “Now he’s not sure where the letter came from.”

“And there’s enough people there who have passed through Scripps at one time or another that anyone could have grabbed a few sheets of letterhead,” Chip acknowledged.

“Exactly,” Nelson admitted.

“Maybe Aryn, when she gets there,” Chip added, “will recognize someone as being a friend of her ex.”

Both Nelson and Lee nodded. But Nelson sighed. “Did I interrupt your breakfast?” he asked.

“No, sir,” Lee told him. “Hadn’t made it that far yet. I was just getting a quick verbal report from Lt. Keeter.” He sent Chip a grin. Nelson raised an eyebrow, but when neither younger man replied he gave his head a small shake. No telling what he’d apparently interrupted between the two long-time friends.

“Then we’d better go eat before Cookie sends out a search party.” He figured that he’d join in, whatever the pair was in the middle of, even though he had no idea what that was.

“Yes, sir,” Lee agreed with a grin. Chip nodded and the trio headed for the Wardroom.

“Trouble this early in the morning?” Will greeted them as they entered, having easily heard Nelson’s tone when he’d called the other two to his cabin.

Nelson shrugged. “More puzzles,” he muttered. Lee realized that the Doctor might not know about the letter Dr. Hardjono had received.

“Help,” Will did his own bit of muttering. “You and your puzzles,” came out with a frown.

As he’d intended with the comment, Nelson grinned. The whole boat, as well as everyone at NIMR, knew that their boss absolutely hated questions that he couldn’t find an easy answer to. The mood instantly lightened and the four men sat down to their meal.

They were mostly done when Aryn finally walked in, bashfully, trying to stifle a yawn. “Overslept,” she told them softly.

“I’d just been telling Lt. Keeter this morning before coming down here how nice and peaceful it was.” Lee left out the quick meeting in Nelson’s cabin. “Seems it doesn’t happen often enough, so enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Here, here,” Will agreed in his dry voice, and everyone smiled.

“Chip, ETA the Research Station?” Nelson asked. The other men knew that he no doubt already knew but it was an easy way to get Aryn involved in the conversation. So far she’d been pretty quiet.

“Roughly 1700 hours tomorrow, sir.” Chip replied.

“Depending on how many stops you want to make between now and then,” Will once more interjected dryly, “to go outside and just have a look around,” he used one of Nelson’s favorite reasons for interrupting already laid in plans. Again, as he’d intended, everyone else grinned broadly.

“We don’t get to this area all that often,” Nelson defended himself. “And as Lee pointed out, it’s quiet.” Lee saw Aryn frown ever so slightly and realized that Chip had caught it as well. “Can’t I ‘play’ a little?” Nelson continued. He was pretty sure that he knew why Will was baiting him this morning; the whole boat would have gone on alert at the tone he’d used to call Lee and Chip earlier. “After all,” he added with a smirk, “they’re my toys.” Neither Lee nor Chip could smother soft snorts, and even Will finally smiled.

“Any place in particular?” Lee got out fairly normally.

“Need to look at the charts,” Nelson admitted. “I’ll wander forward as soon as I check a project in my lab.”

“Yes, sir.” With that, Lee and Chip headed to the Conn, and Will, also done, headed to Sick Bay.

“Why do I get the feeling that the diving is as much for my benefit as yours, Admiral,” Aryn commented when it was just the two of them at the table.

Nelson shrugged but also smiled. “My crew is very used to my sudden decisions to stop and check out new areas. I know that you’re anxious to get to the Station, but…” He shrugged again.

She returned it. “Another chance to look for Leaf Sheep.”

“Exactly!”

Both Lee and Chip noticed most of the Duty crew’s shoulders stiffen when Nelson entered the Conn about half an hour later. It’s why Lee had remained there instead of an early ‘walkaboat’. He also noticed, and caught Chip silently acknowledge the moment, when Nelson made a point of casually stopping to have a few openly pleasant words with Chief Sharley at his usual station just inside the aft hatch before giving the COB a quick, light, backhand on the shoulder and ambled lazily up to the Chart Table. Lee was unable to keep a quick grin from appearing as he watched his crew relax.

“Everything under control here, I see,” Nelson said as he came to a stop next to Lee.

“It is now,” came softly from Lee’s other side and he reached out and smacked his XO, albeit softly.

It caused Nelson to openly chuckle, but when he spoke it was also kept very low so that Lee and Chip were the only ones to hear. “I really do need to apologize for this morning,” he told them almost bashfully.

Lee waggled a hand. “You have a very fine-tuned crew, Admiral.” He kept a straight face but Nelson still noticed the bit of smirk coupled with brightly sparkling eyes and again chuckled as it was Chip’s turn to lightly smack Lee.

Nelson’s grin broadened and he slowly shook his head. But back to the business at hand. “Charts?” he got out fairly evenly, although there was still a hint of humor in his voice. Chip moved a couple of clipboards, revealing Seaview’s path on the current chart, and Nelson spent a bit of time tracing the line and observing what lay on either side. “I think about…here.” He had his finger on a spot only a couple of nautical miles off Seaview’s path.

But he suddenly snorted as an old memory hit his brain.**** When he looked at Lee, there was a moment of puzzlement before Lee also realized what had caused the reaction and he hung his head.

“What did you do?” Chip demanded, catching Nelson’s glee and Lee’s embarrassment.

“His job,” Nelson immediately jumped in.

“Wasn’t my job at the time, sir,” came out bashfully.

Nelson’s turn to waggle a hand. “You have always looked out for your crew even when ‘crew’ meant only other Middies.” Chip crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Lee. “I gather,” Nelson continued smiling at Lee, “that you’ve never told Chip that story.”

“No, sir.” Lee still had his head down, barely maintaining eye contact with his boss. When he didn’t continue, Nelson turned to Chip.

“Just reminding his superior officer where his priorities lie, Chip, while we served on Nautilus.”

“Help,” Chip muttered softly and dropped his arms.

Nelson laughed. “No, Chip, not what you’re no doubt thinking. But as usual, he was dead on target.” He sent Lee a fond smile.

Anything else that might have been said was interrupted by Lt. James’ arrival on duty, and Lee changed the subject by pointing to where the Admiral wanted to stop and dive. “Since XO Morton will be diving again, you have the Conn, Lieutenant. I expect your usual accuracy at getting us to the spot the Admiral has marked.” Lee chanced a quick look at Nelson and almost lowered his head again at the expression on the older man’s face. “ETA?” he continued to Chris as the Lieutenant had instantly started plotting the course.

There was only a slight delay in the answer. “Approximately 1030 hours, sir, at present speed.”

“Perfect,” Nelson answered before Lee could. “We’d probably better warn Cookie. We will only be a bit late for lunch, but…” He shrugged. They all understood that the chef liked to be kept abreast of anything that might affect the normal schedule.

“I’ll take care of it, sir,” Chip’s turn to jump in.

Nelson nodded. “I’ll go notify Dr. Fisher,” and he left up the spiral stairs, still walking casually.

Once he was gone, Chip once more glared at Lee. The brunet grinned but didn’t explain his and Nelson’s quick remembered moment, grabbed up the Duty Roster, and headed for a very quick ‘walkaboat’ before it would be time to get ready for the dive.

* * * *

It turned into one of those infrequent, almost magical moments, in Lee’s diving experience. He always had fun on pleasure dives such as this, but every so often the stars seemed to align and creatures not often seen came out to ‘play’, as it were. And Indonesian waters held a vast variety of species – some fairly usual but so many that were far from what Lee usually saw. Nelson, who Lee kept a fairly close eye on, was immediately fascinated. And Dr. Fisher, who Chip stayed close to, was ecstatic! No Leaf Sheep, but somehow that didn’t seem to matter so much with everything else that they saw.

Aryn all but giggled when she accidentally disturbed what Nelson had to identify as a Wonderpus, a smallish member of the octopus family even more able to camouflage itself than regular octopus could. Then everyone gave wide berth to a Blue Ringed Octopus, a poisonous member of that family, small but deadly. A couple sea snakes were also carefully kept at a distance but they were still fascinating to watch.

At one point Rodgers, one of four watchdog divers, called out. “Topside, Skipper.” Lee looked up and a huge Whale Shark swam lazily through the area.

“Friend of yours, Lee?” Nelson teased, after a cruise where the largest fish in the oceans played an integral part.+

“No tags, sir,” Lee sent back, his voice also light, before they both got sidetracked by a passing school of bright blue and orange Mandarin fish and Aryn discovered several Pygmy Seahorses amongst the corals.

“Now you’ve seen the biggest and the smallest varieties, Lee,” Nelson called out, and Chip gave Aryn a very short, highly edited version of Seaview’s encounter with Leafy Sea Dragons.++

Numerous varieties of Nudibranchs were noted, as well as the rather ugly by still fascinating Frog Fish. Cuttlefish, squids, rays, the carefully kept an eye on several kinds of sharks were captured on Aryn’s camera along with giant clams, jellyfish, starfish, and green turtles. It felt like they’d only been in the water for minutes, so busy were they enjoying all the sights seemingly there for their pleasure and wonder, when Kowalski, also one of the watchdogs, called out that it was time to head back inside. When Lee checked his dive meter he couldn’t believe that a whole seventy minutes had passed. But being only visitors to the underwater splendor, and limited by needing air tanks, everyone reluctantly headed in.

“Wow,” was Lee’s reaction once everyone was back inside.

“It was like when we dived and snorkeled at Bunaken National Marine Park,” Chip agreed, referring to one of Seaview’s previous cruises to the Research Station.* “Everywhere you looked, something amazing.”

“No bus trips!” came from the hatch into the Missile Room, and Will wandered in.

“No chance, Jamie,” Lee answered, still a smile on his face even with the old memories. He glanced at Aryn. “Minor moment of mayhem on the way back to Seaview from the Park.”

Will snorted, Chip frowned, and Nelson looked at Aryn. “That trip definitely had its moments.” He looked at Lee. “But all behind us,” came out firmly.

“Yes, sir,” and “Aye, sir,” Lee and Chip respectfully answered.

“Harrumph,” Will muttered, in almost exact imitation of Nelson’s standard response and everyone, even Nelson, ended up chuckling. “Lunch,” Will added.

“Wondered why he showed up here,” Chip muttered to the others.

“Certainly not for your sake,” Will took up the challenge. “You have to be three-fourths dead to miss a meal.” At that everyone in the room laughed, although Lee saw most of the crewmen turn their backs; they knew better than to laugh openly at their XO. It merely made Lee laugh that much harder.

He did notice that Aryn gave Chip a strange look. “You’ve never heard Chip referred to as The Bottomless Pit?” he asked her, barely controlling his snickers.

“Not until now,” she answered.

“You have a lot to learn.” Lee meant the statement for Aryn but he looked at Chip when he said it. The glare he got back had all the officers laughing, and crewmen trying to find a place to hide at that bold statement that Chip and Aryn would somehow become more than mere friends. Lee decided that it might be a good time to exit and headed for his cabin. He knew that he’d pay dearly for that crack but it had just been too good an opportunity to pass up.

He spent an extra minute or so in his cabin changing, then headed straight for the Wardroom. He knew that Chip would hit the Conn to make sure all was well and get Seaview back on course before heading for his own lunch, expecting Lee to do the same. This way Lee was hoping to put off any comebacks a little bit longer.

His plan worked. He was just sitting down with Admiral Nelson, Will, and Aryn, after feeling Seaview once more in motion, when Chip walked in. He stopped dead when he saw Lee calmly putting a bite of food in his mouth.

“Problems, Chip?” Nelson asked, having noticed the byplay.

“No, sir,” Chip dropped the glare and answered calmly. “Just didn’t expect Lee to be here instead of checking the Conn.”

“What? Now you think I don’t trust you with a simple thing like getting us back on course?” Lee knew that he shouldn’t continue to bait Chip but he just couldn’t resist.

Nelson, as much as he was enjoying the all too infrequent horseplay, decided that he’d better step in before it deteriorated any further. “Children,” he muttered softly. It had the desired effect – Will cracked up, and Lee and Chip sent each other a quick grin before Chip loaded his plate and sat down next to his friend. He did manage to smack Lee’s back in the process of sitting down, to more chuckles that even included Aryn.

Lee decided to change the subject and asked Aryn, “Are you discouraged that you’re not finding any Leaf Sheep?”

She shook her head, finished chewing and swallowing the bite she’d taken, and finally answered. “Not really. We don’t have a firm grip on their territory.” She shrugged. “And even though we all looked, at least part of the time,” and she sent a grin to the others, “they are so small that they could have been in the area and we all just missed them.”

“Frustrating to do research on something you have such a hard time finding,” Lee told her.

“Yep,” she agreed. “But so exciting when you do.”

“I kept looking for any glimpse of white.” Lee sent her one of his shy looks. “But I kept getting sidetracked.”

She laughed. “Yep. Occupational hazard, I’m afraid. Even though I’m supposed to be focused on them, there’s just so much to enjoy down there.”

“Amen,” Nelson said softly, and everyone grinned except Will.

Aryn noticed. “You don’t think so, Doctor?” It caused both Lee and Chip to snicker.

Will pointed his fork at the pair. “Those two,” he told Aryn, “keep trying to get me to dive more.” He frowned. “I have to know how, of course, to serve aboard Seaview.” She nodded. “That one,” he singled out Lee, “even went so far as to make me dive down to a cave to rescue him.”++

“Hey, Jamie,” Lee defended himself. “Wasn’t exactly my fault.”

“Harrumph,” Will muttered, then gave himself a shake and turned back to Aryn. “But I’m perfectly happy getting my underwater views from Seaview’s front windows and her cameras.”

She shrugged. “I guess diving isn’t for everyone,” she admitted. “Me, you could never get skydiving or rock climbing.”

Lee started to open his mouth and got an elbow in his ribs. “What?” he demanded, glaring at the blond who’d delivered the jab.

But Chip looked at Aryn. “Lee likes skydiving,” he growled. Lee realized that the comment was more about Lee using the talent occasionally on ONI missions, something that Chip hated. He acknowledged the jab with a quick nod and went back to eating.

Will noticed Aryn’s puzzled look. “Sometimes it’s best just to ignore the both of them.” He knew exactly what had been going through Chip’s mind and was pretty sure Nelson did as well. But it wasn’t something that was talked about openly, and especially with strangers.

“Friends,” Aryn summed up the episode as she saw it, got back nods all around, and changed the subject to apparently an ongoing conversation she’d been having with Nelson about NIMR’s varied projects.

As Lee and Chip headed back to the Conn, now to release Lt. James finally for his lunch, the pair did give each other a couple snide glances, but both ended up grinning broadly as they entered the aft hatch. Word must have spread through the crew about the hijinks in the Missile Room because their smiles were returned by most of the Duty crew, and Lee’s grin grew. Normally everyone knew that Lee didn’t approve of scuttlebutt, but this kind he would usually turn a blind eye to. Seaview’s missions all too often deteriorated into chaos and occasionally outright terror. A little silliness on occasion, kept under control, went a long way to releasing the stress they all too often had to deal with. Lee made a casual meander through the Conn once Chip took command and found their place on the Navigation chart. Then he grabbed up one of the clipboards – he didn’t particularly care which one – and pondered which department he was about to invade and run some snap drills.

* * * *

When Lee finally wandered back down the spiral stairs about 1730 hours, after running several drills and then entering the results in the computer in his cabin, he found both Admiral Nelson and Dr. Fisher in the Nose. He wasn’t entirely sure what they were discussing, and didn’t particularly care. He poured himself a cup of coffee and settled in the corner, where Jamie usually sat where he could observe both into the Conn and out Seaview’s windows, although right at the moment there wasn’t much to see except the water the giant submarine was displacing as she glided easily through relatively calm waters. Both Nelson and Aryn sent him smiles but continued to chat; Lee finally realized that they were discussing, in general terms, how NIMR came to be and how the Institute was primarily structured. Nelson went on to describe a few of the projects each department was currently working on. Aryn asked the occasional question, but mostly seemed fascinated by all of the ongoing research being conducted.

He wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention, just enjoying the peace of the afternoon, when he became aware of a hesitation in the Admiral’s speech before asking Aryn quietly, “Would you be at all interested in joining NIMR’s staff? Oh,” he quickly added, “once you leave the Research Station. You’re welcome there as long as you like.”

“As long as my grant money holds out,” she said, then added cautiously, “there would be a place for me at the Institute?”

“Absolutely,” Nelson assured her. “We’re constantly on the lookout for good people, dedicated people, willing to focus on protecting the world’s oceans and everything in them.”

Aryn took a deep breath and didn’t answer for a bit. Nelson, too, was silent. “I sort of haven’t thought that far ahead,” she finally admitted. “Oh,” she sent Nelson a small smile, “I have, a little. But I’ve kind of been taking things one step at a time. The Leaf Sheep study sort of came up accidentally at the conference where I met Dr. Eguchi.”

“Please do give it some thought.”

“Absolutely.” Another short pause. “And thank you so much.”

“My plea…” He was interrupted by an intercom call from Sparks.

“Admiral, Dr. Hardjono calling for you, sir.”

Nelson stood and grabbed the nearest mic. “Give me a minute and then send it to my cabin.”

“Aye, aye, sir.” Nelson clipped the mic and scurried up the stairs toward Officers’ Country and his office/cabin.

Aryn turned toward Lee. “Probably notified we’d stopped,” he said with a grin, “and Rini’s checking in to make sure we’re still coming. The Admiral does tend to get sidetracked.”

She returned the smile. “I had gathered that,” she admitted. There was a bit of a nervous pause. “I gather something happened between you and Dr. Hardjono.” She held up a hand. “None of my business.”

Lee sent her what he hoped was an easy smile. “Not so much Rini but his father, Dr. Nabiel Hardjono. But the elder has passed away, so all’s well.” She might eventually hear the whole story from someone at the Station* but Lee didn’t feel the need to explain anything further at this point.

“Oh.”

“Rini’s been doing an amazing job at the Station,” Lee added. “The Admiral is extremely pleased. Both with his work, and his management.”

“What lies is Lee telling you now?” Chip asked as he walked forward. Lee burst out laughing.

Aryn smiled broadly. She was starting to get used to the pair. Well, sort of, anyway, she told only herself. “He was just telling me a few things about Dr. Hardjono.” She had no idea why Chip frowned and stared at Lee.

“Just that the issues we’ve had in the past were with Rini’s father, not him,” Lee told the suddenly irate blond. “That he’s no longer in the picture, and how much the Admiral appreciates how Rini is running the Station.”

As Lee talked, Chip visibly relaxed. He sent a quick glance into the Conn, but Lt. James had things well in hand so Chip poured his own cup of coffee and sat down in the chair Nelson had just left. “You’ll like it there,” Chip now assured Aryn. “Rini’s a cool dude,” he added with a quick grin at Lee.

Aryn sent a look back and forth between the guys. “I get the distinct impression that you’re both leaving a lot out.”

This time the men shared a look before Lee spoke. “Actually, yes, we are. But it had nothing to do with marine biology and research.” He sent Chip a shy look as the blond frowned slightly. “You may hear the whole story at some point but it really has no relevance to anything you’re doing. Just know that you can depend on Rini for anything you need.”

“Amen,” Chip added softly. “And,” he added as he stood up, “it’s suppertime.”

Lee laughed. “Like I told you,” he looked at Aryn but nodded toward Chip, “the bottomless pit.” They all grinned, even Chip, and headed for the Wardroom.

The three plus Will were already seated, eating, having left Nelson’s place open, when he came in. Lee was quick to note the benign expression on Nelson’s face and the thought went swiftly through his mind if Nelson, after the previous experience with the intercom call, had relaxed his persona on purpose.

Apparently Nelson read ‘something’ in Lee’s look toward him because he instantly smiled. “All’s well at the Station,” he assured his captain. “Rini just had a couple of quick questions.”

Lee nodded and went back to listening to Aryn explaining to Will some of what she wanted to accomplish with her Leaf Sheep research. Nelson filled his plate, poured coffee, and settled opposite Lee but didn’t interrupt Aryn; mostly she was saying that, since the species was so relatively newly discovered, she was basically starting from scratch and trying to learn everything she could about them and documenting everything she learned. She was comparing them to other, more well-known varieties of sacoglossan sea slugs; how they differed and how they were similar. She was actually hoping, once she was established at the Station, to find a viable colony of the little critters and be able to bring a few into tanks so that she could more readily watch them. “But that’s only if I find a good colony,” she assured Will, and sent a nod Nelson’s way. “No way do I want to wipe out what might be just a few specimens if they don’t do well in aquariums.”

“It’s always a balancing act,” Nelson agreed. “You need to know how to best protect a species but you don’t want to hurt them in the process.”

“Exactly. I was able to study a few in Japan. But they were actually another researcher’s project so I could only observe from a distance.”

“He wasn’t jealous of you going to the Research Station?” Lee asked as casually as he could.

“She,” Aryn corrected with a smile. “And not at all. The more we learn about them, the better we can all help protect them.”

“For sure,” Nelson agreed, and sent Lee a quick nod for having thought of the possible connection to the nasty letter. Lee shrugged with a sheepish grin in acknowledgement, causing Nelson to grin.

Apparently Will saw at least part of the exchange. “What’s he done now?” he challenged Nelson.

“His job,” Nelson snapped back. But both Will and Nelson ended up smiling as Lee lowered his head and concentrated on his meal.

Lee ended up having to explain to Chip as the pair headed for a quick check of the Conn. “Hadn’t even given that a thought,” the blond admitted.

“Me, neither, until she mentioned it,” Lee agreed. They both shrugged. The Conn under control, Chip went off to work on his reports and Lee headed out for his usual strolling evening ‘walkaboat’.

* * * *

Seaview was settled in a spot not far from the Research Station about 1900 hours the following evening, but far enough away that her size didn’t interfere with any close-by projects that the Station might be monitoring. Nelson took Aryn over in FS1 with the first load of supplies. He’d sent Lee a raised eyebrow, but Lee merely smiled and shook his head. “I’ll be over tomorrow, for sure,” he told his boss. The smile turned into a bit of a smirk. “I want to get Rini’s ideas on the best places to dive around here.”

Nelson nodded with his own grin. “I’ll tell him to expect you first thing in the morning.”

“Yes, sir,” Lee agreed.

Chip appeared at his elbow, having been coordinating the supply deliveries. “I’ll make sure to kick him off Seaview right after breakfast, sir,” the blond deadpanned.

Lee sent him a glare before his expression turned positively evil. “And who spent all morning postulating on all the dives you wanted to do with Dr. Fisher?”

Nelson laughed out loud, but they all settled down as Aryn almost bounced down the spiral stairs. At least, they tried. Nelson and Lee still kept bright smiles on their faces while Chip managed a fairly benign expression, albeit a couple shades redder than normal.

Aryn’s smile was brilliant but she hesitated just a moment. “I’m packed but one of your crew showed up and said that he’d see to getting everything over on the next trip?”

Nelson nodded but Lee answered. “I assigned Seaman Lawrence that duty, Doctor. Figured that you had enough to deal with just meeting everyone over there.”

“Aryn,” she corrected him firmly, but her smile came back. “Thanks.”

“Unless you need something immediately, your bags will be in whatever cabin you’re assigned to in about an hour,” Lee continued.

“Perfect,” she told him, and prepared to follow Nelson down the upper hatch into FS1. Noises attested to other crew loading supplies through the smaller machine’s aft hatch. Lee and Chip knew that Seaman Kowalski was already aboard – he’d be piloting FS1 back and forth until all the supplies had been delivered to the Station.

Even after Lt. O’Brien came on Duty at 2000 hours, Lee and Chip stayed in the Conn. The lieutenant didn’t think a thing about it – that’s just how business was handled aboard Seaview. CO and XO would head for their beds only after Seaview was ready for bed. They did give Will a momentarily hard look when he wandered down to the Nose about 2030 hours.

The Doctor sent the look right back. “With the Admiral off boat, someone has to keep an eye on you two.” His targets couldn’t get miffed, not with most of the Duty crew trying to bury chuckles. Lee and Chip finally sent the older man a nod, and continued to monitor activities until all transfers had been made and Kowalski shut down FS1 and climbed out her upper hatch. Lee did make one more quick ‘walkaboat’, but both he and Chip hit their bunks by 2330 hours.

* * * *

0700 found the pair just about to sit down to breakfast when a call came in from Admiral Nelson. “Yes, sir?” Lee took the call in the Wardroom.

“Rini thinks that he’s spotted Leaf Sheep just northwest of the Station. Bring FS1 over about 0900 with all your and my equipment and we’ll help he and Aryn check it out.”

“Chip, too,” Will talked loud enough to be heard over the mic, having walked in just as Lee answered the call.

Nelson chuckled. “By all means,” he agreed.

“Do we need to bring watchdogs?” Lee asked.

“Ahh…” and there was a pause. “Rini says one or two might be a good idea. He says that it’s usually fairly peaceful, that section of the reef, so perhaps one watchdog, with a backup to stay on the Station.”

“Done, sir. Anything else?” He figured that Nelson wouldn’t be able to talk openly about anything concerning the letter over the mic, but he himself was curious if anything had come to light once Nelson and Aryn were on the Station. And the suggestion of one ‘watchdog’ on the Station somewhat confirmed added intel on the subject.

“Not at the moment,” Nelson finally answered.

“Consider it done, sir. See you at 0900.” Both men broke the connection.

Chip hadn’t missed the byplay. “There’s been news,” he told Lee dryly.

“So it would seem,” Lee agreed. “Kowalski with us, and Jackson left on the Station?” he asked Chip’s opinion of the division of duty.

Chip nodded. “Jackson is easy going enough that he tends to go unnoticed a lot of the time.”

“But eyes and ears like a hawk.”

“Exactly,” and they both nodded. Lee called Chief Sharkey to get the equipment loaded and alert the two requested crewmen, and finally sat down to eat what little he normally took for breakfast.

He and Chip were just pouring a last mug of coffee when Chief Hauck, Seaview’s MAA, poked his nose in the Wardroom door. “Jackson armed, sir?” he asked Lee.

Lee looked at Chip. “Something concealed?” he questioned, looking back at Hauck.

“Got it covered,” Hauck told him.

“Did the Admiral…” Chip wasn’t quite sure why Hauck had asked, unless he’d been told at least some of what was going on behind the scenes, as it were.

Hauck nodded. “Got the gist of the intel before he left last night, sirs,” he included Lee. “And I’ll inform Jackson.”

“Perfect,” Lee told him, and the MAA’s head disappeared.

Lee sent Chip a quick head shake. “The Admiral – always one step ahead of us.”

Before Chip could answer there was an “Amen” from Will’s direction. Lee and Chip both sent him nods, and headed forward to get everything in order on the boat before they left. Not that they were worried. Lt. James was perfectly capable of dealing with most anything that came up, and Lt.’s O’Brien and Keeter were an intercom call away. Plus, Lee, Chip, and Admiral Nelson weren’t that far away on FS1, and could easily be contacted through the dive channel if necessary.

By 0800 Lee could hear noises coming from FS1’s open upper hatch and knew that Chief Sharkey was getting the required gear, and anything extra the COB thought anyone would need, stowed aboard using the aft hatch. When both Seamen Kowalski and Jackson wandered into the Conn, Lee sent Chip a quick grin. “Somehow I think we’re ready to go.”

“All under control here, sirs,” Lt. James responded smartly. Chip sent him a quick glare followed even quicker by a smile and a nod. Lee grinned at them both and he and Chip followed the seamen down FS1’s ladder.

There was a moment of hesitation before Lee assigned ‘Ski the pilot’s chair and Jackson the other front seat. Once FS1 had dropped out of her berth, Lee and Chip quickly changed into their wetsuits as Kowalski kept a slow, steady ride to the Research Station’s upper dock. There was also an airlock on the lower level, and a way for divers to go directly underwater. Nelson had wanted the Station built to handle as many contingencies as possible, but also be comfortable for the personnel who didn’t necessarily need to remain underwater, as was the case with Logan Sealab.+++ Once ‘Ski had reached the dock, Lee slipped up the ladder with Chip and they had the small craft secured in moments.

“Humm,” a voice was heard behind them, and they turned to find Nelson approaching. “Only 45 minutes early.” He sent them both a broad grin. “About right.”

“Yes, sir,” Lee told him with a sheepish grin, and Nelson chuckled. “Your suit’s aboard. Shall I bring it up, sir?” He turned and Jackson’s head was just poking out the upper hatch.

“No, I’ll change aboard while Aryn and Rini are getting ready.” He nodded toward the Security Seaman. “Want to have a quick word with Jackson.”

“Yes, sir,” Lee repeated, this time with a quick nod. Both he and Chip sent their boss a raised eyebrow, but he gave his head a quick shake. Mouthing a ‘not now’, he quickly followed as Jackson backed down into the small yellow machine.

“Gonna be one of those days,” Lee muttered softly, “when we don’t have the total picture until the you-know-what hits the fan.”

“You should be used to that by now,” Chip snapped right back, “with all the screwy intel you get on an ONI mission.” The two sent each other a quick glare. Lee backed down first, acknowledging Chip’s dead-on observation.

“You actually let him get away with that?” came from their right, and Aryn walked toward them, wetsuit on and carrying double air tanks plus some other equipment. Chip immediately made a grab for the tanks.

“Only when he knows I’m right,” the blond answered before Lee could.

Lee nodded, still with a bit of a sheepish expression. “He has a nasty little habit of being right.” But his look turned a little evil when he continued. “It’s a smart captain who lets their XO have an occasional win.” He had no idea what Chip’s comeback would have been because Dr. Rini Hardjono chose that moment to walk into view. “Good morning, Rini,” Lee said loud enough to drown out whatever Chip was beginning to mutter. Apparently Aryn finally caught on that Lee and Chip were merely bantering because she smiled broadly at Chip and he finally smiled shyly back.

“So good to see you, my friend,” Rini greeted Lee. “And you, too, Chip,” he added, still shaking Lee’s hand.

“How’s everything going?” Lee asked just to make conversation until Admiral Nelson had the morning organized to his liking.

“Grand,” Rini told him, still smiling brightly. “Not only do I get to welcome favored guests, but you bring me such a beautiful new researcher.” He sent his smile toward Aryn.

“Careful, Rini, Chip has dibs from a previous meeting.” Chip turned red as Aryn giggled.

“It turns out we knew each other as children,” Aryn explained. “He was as much a surprise to me as I was to him.”

“Fate,” Rini nodded. “It has a way of settling its debts.”

“Amen,” Lee agreed softly, as he and Rini shared a private nod.

Rini noticed Aryn’s curious expression. “One day we will talk of past lives,” he told her enigmatically. “But today we focus on the present and look forward to the future.”

“Works for me,” Aryn agreed, and sent a smile at the other three. They started discussing a bit about the area Rini wanted to study this morning until Jackson climbed out of FS1. Rini sent a quick radio call from the dive mask he carried and a young Indonesian man appeared instantly, as if he’d been waiting just around the corner of the first building.

“This is Suga,” Rini introduced the man to Jackson, who Rini already knew from his first encounter with Seaview. “He will be asking you a hundred questions,” he sent the man a broad grin.

“Let’s hope that I have the answers, as well as you,” he looked at Suga, “having the answers to my two hundred questions.” At everyone’s chuckles the pair disappeared.

Nelson’s head poked out of FS1’s upper hatch. “Everyone ready?” came out casually. More smiles, and everyone piled into the small craft. Last in, Lee cast off the mooring lines before quickly stepping aboard and closing the hatch once he’d started down the ladder.

Again, Kowalski hesitated before Nelson waved a casual hand and sat down in the other front seat. Aryn and Rini took the back seats and Chip and Lee sat down on the floor on either side of the back hatch. Apparently Nelson had already discussed locations with Kowalski because once everyone was settled, Seaview’s Senior Rating backed away from the dock and took a direct line to a specific section of reef twenty minutes away and settled the small craft about ten feet off the bottom, hitting several switches that the Seaview men knew would hold the small craft stable in the water so that the divers could easily get out the bottom hatch. All the others started getting into their gear, ‘Ski helping where he could.

Lee almost asked why the seaman wasn’t suited up to act as a watchdog diver, but a glance at Nelson stopped him. The Admiral seemed to read the question in Lee’s expression and gave his head a quick shake. Lee shrugged, but made sure both he and Chip grabbed spear guns.

Aryn gave a look around before dropping out the hatch Kowalski opened. “Amazing craft.”

“I keep hoping Admiral Nelson will build one for me,” Rini said with a shy look.

“Harrumph,” Nelson muttered, but the stern effect he was trying to convey was spoiled by the sparkle in his eyes and the smile he couldn’t hide. One at a time the divers dropped out the hatch, and Kowalski settled back into the pilot’s chair to monitor the dive channel as well as keep contact with Seaview.

The divers were instantly surrounded by some of the prettiest coral reef habitat that Lee had ever seen. Everywhere he looked the water was full of colorful marine life, starting with the corals themselves. Fish were plentiful, some varieties Lee knew, recognized from previous dives. Some, while looking familiar, he couldn’t put a name to. He was careful to stay on the lookout for sea snakes, eels, and lionfish, but other than that thoroughly enjoyed the chance to look around. He stayed close to Nelson, and saw Chip once more remain close to Aryn, who was staying close to Rini as all three scientists kept the dive channel busy talking about what they were seeing. Nelson took great delight in pointing out to Lee another tiny Pygmy Seahorse, similar to what they’d seen on their previous dive. The small creature was distinguished not only by their diminutive size, but also a body that, while resembling a regular variety, had lumps and bumps here and there.

Suddenly there was a squeal, and everyone swam to where Aryn was pointing. A tiny flash of white, plus Aryn’s excitement, told Lee that she’d found a Leaf Sheep. Lee had to admit that he probably would have swum right past it, preferring to watch all the colorful fishes that seemed to be everywhere. He shared a quick look with Chip, then the pair backed off a couple yards and let the other three enjoy the unusual little animal.

He was keeping an eye on a rather large Ribbon Eel, making sure that it didn’t head in the direction of the other divers, when he heard a choke over the dive channel. “What’s wrong?” came in Nelson’s voice and Lee saw Aryn reach for her air tank gauge.

“I must have gotten too excited,” Aryn barely got out. Chip was by her side instantly and handed her his mask as it was obvious that she’d run out of oxygen. It could happen even to an experienced diver – you breathe faster than normal and use up your air supply too quickly.

“Back to FS1,” Nelson ordered. Lee could tell by the tone that his boss was more angry than worried, but the small craft wasn’t that far away and everyone made it back aboard safely.

Once everyone was back aboard, Lee checked all five gauges. Chip’s, because he’d been buddy-breathing with Aryn, was the lowest, but still read nearly half full. Aryn’s showed just over half, and the other three were all in the middle.

“Who has access to your tanks and gear?” Nelson demanded of Rini once Lee reported his findings.

“Unfortunately,” Rini replied in a mixture of worry and anger, “almost everyone at the Station.”

“Someone altered the gauge to show full when it wasn’t,” Chip muttered the obvious darkly as he kneeled next to the chair Aryn was sitting in. “Who gave you the tanks?” his voice now a little softer as he asked her.

She shrugged. “No one, really.” She looked at Rini.

He nodded. “We both picked up our tanks from the rack at the same time. There wasn’t really any way to predict who would take which set.”

“Except,” Lee postulated, “Rini being the gentleman,” he sent the man a quick grin, “he would have let Aryn go first.”

“Damn,” slipped out before Chip could stop it. Both Lee and Nelson sent him a look – Chip almost never swore.

“We say nothing on the Station,” Nelson ordered, sending a look at each person. “No one there had access to our Dive channel.” Again Lee and Chip gave each other a look – Nelson one step ahead as always. “As far as the Station knows, nothing unusual happened on the dive. Kowalski, that set goes back to Chief Hauck and his team.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” came the instant reply. The Seaview men easily heard the angry tone in the rating’s voice, and Lee sent him a quick nod.

“Whoever tampered with it will know a set didn’t come back,” Chip pointed out.

“Mine are identical,” Nelson countered. “Aryn will take mine back to the Station.” Everyone nodded.

“You didn’t recognize anyone when you got there?” Chip now asked Aryn.

She shook her head. “And Rini showed me a list of everyone working there at this time. Nothing sounded familiar.” There was another mutter from Chip, but kept low enough not to be heard clearly. “I just don’t understand,” she continued. “Why would anyone not want me here at the Station?”

“When we find the ‘who’,” Lee told her in his best Captain voice, “we’ll know the ‘why’.”

“One way or another,” Chip added with one of his best glares. Kowalski ducked, then tried to cover it when he realized that the other men had noticed.

“Got that right,” Lee told Chip but sent a nod to Kowalski.

Nelson almost smiled at Rini, who looked at Aryn. “Seaview’s crew is rather adept at taking care of their own,” he told her.

Nelson snorted softly, Lee and ‘Ski nodded, and Chip added quietly, “Got that right!”

It was decided that, if FS1 returned to the Station early, people would know that ‘something’ had happened. So, Rini, Nelson and Aryn went back out, she using Lee’s tanks as he stayed aboard and Chip went out as watchdog – with a suitably sly grin on Lee’s part that the blond chose to ignore. Having seen a Leaf Sheep, the four went right back to that spot for the remainder of their air supply, and returned elated that they’d found a second one nearby.

As Kowalski piloted FS1 back to the Station, Lee asked Nelson the question he was sure was on Chip’s mind. “Admiral, do you think that it’s safe for Aryn to stay on the Station?”

“Been pondering that one,” Nelson admitted.

“I’m not leaving!” Aryn said firmly.

Lee nodded. “And if she’s not there the perp will just go back into hiding.”

“Bait,” Chip practically spit out.

“Well protected bait,” Nelson told him. “Lee, think you can get along without your XO for a few days?”

The absolutely evil look that hit Lee’s face had Chip muttering, “Watch it, Crane.”

Lee burst out laughing, before they all got serious. “I like that idea, sir. Once we drop you four at the Station,” he indicated Nelson, Aryn, Rini, and Chip, “I’ll go back, give the tanks to Chief Hauck, pack a bag for Chip, and come back for dinner. Not sure what the Chief could find,” he admitted, “now that the tanks have been in the water.”

“If there’s something to find, he will,” Chip assured, and both Lee and Nelson nodded.

“With FS1 immediately leaving, no one will have any idea that those,” he pointed to Nelson’s equipment, “aren’t the ones Aryn took out.”

“Exactly,” Nelson agreed. “Oh, and pack a few things for me, please. Jackson will go back with you after dinner.”

“Making the perp think he – or she – is safe.” Lee nodded his agreement to Nelson’s plan. He sent a glance at Chip. “Hopefully they don’t know how devious our XO is.” He grinned at the blond. “Sir,” he added before Chip could give voice to the smart-aleck reply Lee read all too easily on his face, “should I make a point at dinner that Seaview will be moving, perhaps down to the Park as before so the crew can take Shore Leave, but only go out of sonar range?”

“Another excellent idea,” Nelson agreed. “I wish that there was a way to leave FS1 here.”

“Piece of cake,” Lee assured him. “After dinner Seaview can come very slowly up to the dock and pick Jackson and I up in preparation for leaving, now that we’ve verified with Rini that we won’t be interrupting any experiments his people have close by.”

“Perfect.” Nelson agreed. He looked at Chip, who nodded.

Lee also looked at Chip. “I’ll make sure to pack a few ‘toys’ for you.”

“For me as well,” Nelson ordered.

“That was already a given,” Lee half-smirked, and Nelson gave his shoulder a light backhand.

* * * *

The plan was working beautifully. Lee piloted FS1 back to the Station about 1700 hours after spending most of the afternoon in quiet consultation with Chief Hauck and Lt. Chris James, who also served as Seaview’s Weapons Officer. Lee had his own variety of ‘toys’ because of his ONI service, and the MAA had a few of his own to add. One of the Chief’s men carefully examined the tampered-with equipment. As expected there wasn’t anything to find on the exterior. But once he took the gauge apart he came up with several partial fingerprints. No way to know, of course, if they belonged to the perp or were put there by the totally innocent person who had originally put the gauge together. There wasn’t even enough to run through AFIS, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, but they might help with identification once they – hopefully – had a suspect.

At the dinner, attended by many of the Station’s staff, Lee made a point of teasing Chip about getting to stay at the Station to spend more time with Aryn, and Chip suitably harassed him right back to not damage Seaview since Chip wouldn’t be there to keep that from happening. Nelson went right along with the subterfuge, although he wasn’t entirely sure that all of the banter was of a teasing nature, such was the friendship the two men shared. Lee had had a few minutes alone with Chip when he returned from Seaview to go over what he’d brought, most of which the blond was familiar with, and nodded his approval of Lee’s choices.

Just before 2000 hours Lt. O’Brien, now on duty in the Conn, carefully nudged Seaview’s nose up to the Station’s dock and Lee and Jackson jumped nimbly aboard her forward deck and over to the boarding hatch in the Conning Tower. Lee flashed a quick salute to Admiral Nelson, who had walked outside with him before going inside. Seaview backed off and gradually submerged, to all intents and purposes headed for Sulawesi and Bunaken National Marine Park.

* * * *

Chip had casually but carefully watched the faces of Station personnel as he and the others came back from the dive, covered quite nicely as Aryn, Nelson, and Rini excitedly chattered about finding the Leaf Sheep on the reef. As far as he could tell, no one reacted to everyone’s ignorance of the equipment malfunction, and the switch to Nelson’s tanks went unnoticed. Not totally disappointed as he was pretty sure the investigation couldn’t be that easy, he tagged along with Aryn as she proceeded to document her find while Rini and Nelson headed to another part of the Station. Rini had arranged for Nelson and Chip to share a cabin as close to Aryn’s as possible, on the same stretch of corridor but a couple doors away.

Neither he nor Lee, when they spoke before dinner, could imagine an open attack on Aryn, but any number of ‘accidents’ could be arranged when activities were coupled with diving – unfortunately. One of the toys Lee had brought over was a small pen camera that the pair managed to train on the area where the diving equipment was stored, sending its images to Chip’s cell phone. He was able to check periodically under the guise of texting with Seaview as many of the Station’s staff gathered after dinner, and after Lee and Jackson left, to hear Nelson give an informal lecture on how pleased he was with how everything was going there, and how pleased he, as well as others in the scientific community, were at the information being gathered through the Station’s various research projects. Nelson, wise to the surveillance, openly teased Chip in front of others about keeping such close tabs on his boat.

“You know how easily Lee can get into trouble,” Chip mumbled back, adding a slightly sheepish “sir.” It caused Nelson to laugh out loud, but he also managed to send Chip a quick nod.

Later, as they prepared for bed in their shared quarters, Nelson did send him a raised eyebrow. “All quiet,” Chip answered very quietly, being as sure as possible not to be overheard. “So far,” he added, and Nelson nodded. “It’s going to be difficult, not having any idea of who to keep a watch on.”

Nelson nodded again. “So, we keep an eye on Dr. Fisher and hope that we’re in the right spot at the right time.” Chip’s turn to nod. “Lee?” Nelson asked.

“Settled Seaview just out of the Station’s sonar range. We will have to be careful who we let aboard FS1,” Chip added. “There are any number of people here who could decipher her sonar enough to detect Seaview, depending on which direction we head.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. I hope,” Nelson added. “I seriously doubt that anyone here could get past her security codes without either you or I, and while there were hints from several people today about possibly using her while we’re here, I just grunted and put them off.” He smiled. “FS1 is my toy.”

“When you can get her away from Lee,” came out before Chip could stop it. He started to apologize but Nelson merely laughed and agreed. On that note, they turned out the lights. Chip did, still, occasionally check his phone, but as far as they could tell, all stayed quiet.

FS1’s use came up for discussion at breakfast the next morning. A couple of the resident scientists wondered if perhaps Nelson or Chip could take them a bit further afield, as it were, to collect samples for their separate studies. “Not today,” Nelson told them, firmly but with a small smile. “I’m taking Dr. Fisher back to where we found the Leaf Sheep. If we find that there’s a viable colony, she can bring two or three back here to study more closely. I thought from talking to you yesterday that you both were finding everything you needed close by, or within range of the Station’s zodiacs.”

“Well, yes,” one of the two men agreed, however reluctantly he sounded to have to admit. “It’s just…”

Nelson held up a hand to stop whatever whine was about to come out. “You have been doing wonderfully with your research,” he tried to encourage. And in fact, was very pleased, as he’d told everyone the night before, with how the Station was functioning. “If there’s something specific you need, that you can’t get to with what’s available to you here, perhaps I can arrange for you to spend time at another facility.” Chip had to very carefully keep a benign expression on his face at that barely covered threat by Nelson to remove the man from the Station.

“Oh, no,” the man backpedaled, his face turning a bit pale at the thought of being relieved of his position. “You’ve been most generous with what you’ve provided for us.”

Chip saw Nelson not quite cover a smirk. It didn’t go unnoticed by others at the table, and that was the end of anyone trying to get use of the Flying Sub!

There was a surprise awaiting Chip and Nelson as they, along with Rini and Aryn, boarded FS1 an hour later for another trip to look for Leaf Sheep – laying securely on the bunk were four sets of double scuba tanks. They were covered with a large blanket, so weren’t obvious to anyone who happened to glance through the front windows. Although, that issue had also been addressed by parking the craft’s rear hatch to the dock so the windows were pointed out to sea. Nelson chuckled as Chip just shook his head. “Didn’t even consider that,” the blond admitted.

“Me, neither,” Nelson told him, still smiling. “Back up, just in case.” The spear guns both Lee and Chip had used had stayed aboard the small craft.

“Yep.” The four secured the tanks they’d brought aboard on the deck against the base of the bunk, and headed for the reef where they’d been the day before.

There was a raised eyebrow from Aryn as they got to where they wanted to dive. Chip figured it out first, and grinned. “We don’t need to leave anyone aboard, Aryn. FS1 can look after herself while we all dive.”

“Well,” Nelson added a bit sheepishly, “now that I have the bugs worked out of the stationary parking system.” Chip tried, and failed, to keep from frowning. That program had caused issues on a previous cruise.++++

Today there were no issues. Chip grabbed one of the spear guns, just because. Rini and Aryn both grabbed collection containers, in hopes of being able to gather a Leaf Sheep or two. Or three, if they were incredibly lucky. Nelson considered carrying the second spear gun but in the end didn’t.

And then wished he had, although merely as a way to push away the couple of sea snakes who insisted on getting in their way as they searched the reef for tiny while spots. Eventually the snakes went hunting elsewhere, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Shortly after, the four were breathing almost shouts of elation as first Rini spotted a Leaf Sheep, followed shortly by Aryn finding two more, and Nelson discovering another one. As those three continued to search, Chip swam just above them playing watchdog. While he was excited at the discovery, meaning Aryn could gather several, plus enough of the algae they lived on to keep them happy in the tank she’d been assigned to on the Station, he never lost sight of his duty to keep the others safe. It was at least a little easier once the snakes left, but Chip was only too aware of the multitude of dangers involved in working in an unfriendly-to-humans environment. He’d listened to Lee many times complain that Nelson could get so sidetracked that he’d wander off without paying attention to where he was going, so tried to especially keep an eye on him. But it seemed that, at least this dive, Nelson was being carefully watchful of his own actions, as well as those of the others, for which Chip was especially grateful.

All four returned to FS1 excited at their success. In one carefully carried container were three Leaf Sheep sitting on a couple of small rocks covered with the algae they lived on, and surrounded by sea water. A second container held, besides more water, as many small algae-covered rocks as could be easily collected without damaging the surrounding reef, and a third container held more water. Between the three containers there was enough natural materials to keep the tiny creatures quite contented in their aquarium at the Station, and fresh water could be easily circulated on a regular basis.

Once back, Chip lost sight of the three scientists as they headed to settle the Leaf Sheep into their new home and Chip shut down FS1, this time nose pointed in as neither Chip nor Nelson thought that what was on the bunk could be identified, and this way very little of the instrumentation was visible. He then engaged her locks and headed to the cabin to change. On the way he was hit with a thought, and made a small detour to collect the pen camera. An easy way to discredit Aryn would be to do something to kill the small sea slugs and blame her for improper handling of the specimens. Chip, once he’d changed, this time into civvies he’d brought instead of a uniform, tracked the three to the area of the labs Aryn had been assigned. They hadn’t yet bothered to change out of their wetsuits, so anxious were they to get the Leaf Sheep settled. Chip’s arrival coincided with the three standing back and just watching for a bit to see the creatures’ reactions. When all seemed good, they finally headed to change, giving Chip, who stated that it was now his turn to see the little critters, a quiet moment to set up the small camera and make sure that it was working properly.

He wondered for a bit if he’d been spotted hiding the camera as this scientist and that, then another, wandered in to see the new additions. Chip made note of each one, but all showed nothing but open curiosity over the small sea slugs. A couple were still there when Aryn got back. She sent Chip the same bright smile that had pretty much remained on her face from the instant she’d spotted the creatures on the reef but immediately sat down where she could see the aquarium, pulled out a large notebook, and started taking notes. Since Chip figured that for the next bunch of hours Aryn would be totally focused, and both she and the Leaf Sheep safe, he went in search of Admiral Nelson. And lunch.

He found them both in the same place, as well as Rini. Grabbing food and coffee, he sat down next to his boss. Nelson nodded at his plate. “When you’re finished, you might want to take something to Dr. Fisher.”

“I rather suspect,” Rini added, “If she is anything like the rest of us here,” he sent Nelson a slightly sheepish grin, “that with a new specimen to study, all else will be totally forgotten. Including eating.” He smiled as Nelson chuckled and Chip nodded.

Chip decided that he would try a bit of teasing he’d watched Lee get away with, when Nelson was this relaxed. “Chief Sharkey,” he told Rini with a straight face, “is constantly having to pry the Admiral out of his lab at mealtimes.” For half a second he wasn’t sure if he’d overstepped, but Nelson almost immediately laughed and nodded, and gave his XO’s shoulder a quick light backhand.

“My staff knows me only too well,” Nelson told Rini.

“They take good care of you because they want to keep you around for a very long time. As do so many others in the scientific community.”

“Good paychecks,” Chip smarted off before he could stop it, got totally embarrassed, but finally laughed with the other two.

“You might be a bit bored,” Rini told him once he’d stopped chuckling, although he’d also nodded at Chip’s smart-aleck response. “The Admiral and I are going to be locked away for the afternoon with Station matters, and I do not think Aryn will be much company, either.”

Chip wondered about that comment, then realized that Rini was talking loudly enough that the few other people in the room eating could easily overhear, so he casually shrugged. “I haven’t spent any time here on the Station. Thought that I’d just wander around.” He got quick nods from both the others. “I’ll try not to get in anyone’s way,” he added.

“You are welcome to wander anywhere you like,” Rini told him with a quick wink. Chip acknowledged Rini’s message to prowl for answers to the main puzzle of who had it in for Aryn with a small nod, and all three finished the meal chatting about bits of anything that came to mind.

Chip did fill a tray with what he thought Aryn might like to eat and take it to her, receiving a grateful smile. But she only picked at the food, totally focused on the specimen tank, and he quickly left.

Burying a slightly evil smile, Chip spent the next couple of hours ‘doing a Lee’. While Lee used his ‘walkaboats’ to both keep tabs on his boat and crew, and to release tension, Chip created a ‘walkastation’ to see if he could cause tension in someone else – hopefully their guilty party. He stuck his hands in his pockets and ambled anywhere and everywhere. Well, except for private living quarters. But he had a good memory for pretty much everyone who worked at the Station, with the exception of local hires who did day-work. And even some of them, who he’d already come in contact with. He didn’t get in the way of anyone, merely walked around, stopping wherever he chose and finding a quiet spot to casually observe the activity around him. If someone spoke to him he was openly social. At a couple of raised eyebrows, he’d send a smile and a “bored.” It rarely failed to earn him a grin or chuckle. He made quiet note of the couple of times it didn’t. But one was a researcher seeming to be totally focused on whatever he was studying in his microscope, and the other was a dayworker in the kitchen, busy with helping prepare the next meal. He did earn a grin from the head chef when he swiped a cookie before leaving that area, and sent a slightly sheepish one back as he took the first bite.

He hadn’t mentioned anything to Aryn about changing the position of the pen camera. The couple of times he’d checked his cell phone, ostensibly to text Lee but in fact checking the specimen tank, all had been pretty much as he’d left her. He was giving it another check, standing just inside the door to the dining room, when Nelson and Rini walked in.

“Lee still in one piece?” his boss joked, loud enough to be heard by the others in the room.

Chip kept up the subterfuge and frowned. “He better be,” he grumbled. “Chris says he’s out diving. Barely got the boat settled before heading out.”

Nelson nodded. “Sounds about right.”

Rini played along. “Surely not by himself.”

Chip’s grin turned into a smirk, both in expression and voice, as he replied. “Not a chance. Jamie would have his hide.” That caused both Rini and Nelson to chuckle.

“Aryn?” Rini did ask, with a double meaning only Nelson and Chip understood.

“Glued to the specimen tank the last I saw,” Chip told him, with a barely perceptible glance at his phone. He assumed that Nelson had told Rini about switching the camera, and had it confirmed as the other two nodded. “Suppose I should go try to drag her out for supper. Although,” he added with a quirky glance, “if she’s anything like the Admiral…” He waggled a hand and Rini laughed. Nelson started to shake a finger at him, but was interrupted as Aryn came through the door. “Just about to come looking for you,” Chip told her.

She sent him a sheepish grin. “Figured I’d better come up for air. Well, you all know what I mean.”

“Only too well,” Nelson agreed.

“It is so easy,” Rini added, “to get focused on something and ignore everything else.” Everyone nodded. “How are the little creatures adapting?”

“So far, they don’t seem to notice that they aren’t still in the ocean,” Aryn told him. “I was sort of expecting at least something.” She shrugged. “But I really don’t know that much about them. Yet,” she added with a bright smile.

“The woman in Japan you mentioned,” Chip asked as he got everyone pointed toward where the food was laid out buffet-style, like on board Seaview, “did she keep some in tanks?”

Aryn nodded. “Yes, a couple.” She stopped to put salad on her plate. “We have no idea of the life span of this species,” she continued, “since we have no idea of the age of the ones that have been brought in. So far, no one has seen any reproduction activity among the few studied.”

“And some varieties of sea slugs,” Nelson added, “live much longer in captivity than on open reefs.” Chip had tried to get Nelson to follow Aryn, but the older man gave Chip a light shove and the blond sent his boss a shy grin as he complied, quickly followed by Rini and then Nelson.

“The best guess so far,” Aryn continued as she put a few more items on her tray, “has been by comparing them to other small varieties of sea slugs. The current thought is, they live between six months to a year, are hermaphrodites, meaning that they have both male and female reproductive parts, but do need to mate with another Leaf Sheep before they will produce a viable egg cluster.”

“The light over the tank?” Chip asked, merely to keep the conversation going. He heard a light snort behind him that he thought came from Admiral Nelson. His boss might get a kick out of Lee’s curiosity over marine life, but it wasn’t anything Chip ever did.

“While they ‘graze’, as it were, on algae, they also have the capacity to photosynthesize from the sun. The lights replicate sunlight, feed the algae as well as the critters, and are timed, twelve hours on, twelve off.”

“They weren’t very bright,” Chip questioned, and turned red as Aryn sent him a look.

“A balance of what sunlight would reach them if they were still on the reef.”

“Should have figured that out,” Chip mumbled as the other three sent him grins.

“Not information you need to run your ship…ah, boat,” Aryn corrected herself, but in a teasing tone.

“Very true,” Chip agreed. Trays filled with what they wanted, they sat down on one side of a table, quickly joined on the other side by Nelson and Rini. Conversation through the meal was a variety of topics, mostly related to the Station. Chip did turn red again when the chef personally delivered a small plate of cookies to the foursome and Chip guiltily explained, to more chuckles, especially from Admiral Nelson.

Chip accompanied Aryn back to the area of lab she’d been assigned, and ended up spending several minutes quietly observing the tiny sea slugs before the tank light went off automatically at 1900 hours. “Bed time for them means note-transcribing for me,” Aryn told him.

“Way too early for bed for me,” Chip grinned. “Guess I’ll go see how many more personnel I can bother by wandering around.” They both chuckled, and Chip did exactly that. Although, by this time he was pretty much ignored unless he actually asked someone a question. That only happened a couple of times, mostly of maintenance personnel and not any of the scientists. He periodically checked his phone, and noted that mostly Aryn was left alone as well. There had been a few instances of other researchers coming over to see the Leaf Sheep and say a few words. Chip noted that Aryn always had a smile for everyone, so nothing that Chip could interpret as getting a bad vibe from anyone else. Once she headed out, presumably to her bed, Chip headed for his.

But he was still restless. Nelson wasn’t in their shared room, either, and Chip figured that he was holed up somewhere with Rini. Chip sent Lee a call just as an update and the pair, speaking softly, went over Chip’s lack of intel. Lee did commend Chip for moving the camera, and wished that he’d thought to bring over a couple more. They were both thinking that the focus would either be on Aryn herself, or the newly captured Leaf Sheep. Chip did get a chance to razz Lee a bit when he discovered that Lee had, indeed, gone out diving that afternoon. Where he’d found to park Seaview was another section of reef, and with everything quiet he’d arranged for any of the crew who enjoyed pleasure diving to go out. “Reef Leave,” he’d told Chip, a play on Shore Leave, and they’d both chuckled. Chip laughed out loud when Lee grumbled that Jamie had then demanded that Lee assign himself to Reef Leave. But Lee admitted that it had been fun.

“And used up enough energy that you’ll sleep tonight.” Chip made it a statement rather than question.

“Eh,” Lee told him, and they both understood. Neither would rest well until they had solved the puzzle of the letter. “More diving for you tomorrow?” Lee asked.

“Have no idea,” Chip admitted. “Nothing’s been said.”

“Typical,” Lee told him. “Go with the flow, as usual.”

“Yep,” Chip agreed. He told Lee that he’d keep in touch and they both signed off.

Briefly considering laying down, then instantly rejecting that idea, knowing that he’d just toss and turn, as wired as he still was even after the calming effect his call to Lee had been, Chip headed out for another ‘walkastation’. This hour of the night, while actually not that late, most of the Station was quiet. Many of the labs were deserted, although Chip knew that in some the researchers tended to rest during the day and work through the night, studying creatures more active during the dark, and using special lights to allow them to see but not disturb the sea creatures. To that end some diving was done during the night on the Station. But apparently not this night, as everything was quiet when Chip wandered through the equipment storage area.

Where there was some activity, it turned out, was in the lab Aryn was assigned to, but at the other end of the room from Aryn’s desk and aquarium. A woman Chip hadn’t yet met – probably because she worked nights – was sitting quietly, her eyes on an aquarium of her own. About his age, he sent her a quick grin as he apparently startled her when he walked in the door. “Oops,” he apologized. “Didn’t mean to bother you,” he added as she openly stared at him.

“Who are you?” came in a tone Chip deciphered as half-alarm, half-angry.

“Chip Morton,” he answered, startled himself that she didn’t already know. “XO aboard Seaview. Here with Admiral Nelson for a few days.”

“Oh,” came out very unfriendly and the woman turned her back, returning to whatever was on the desk in front of her. Chip gave her back a wry smile and walked over to Aryn’s area. “What are you doing?” came in a loud demand.

Chip stiffened but sent her a broad smile, just to be perverse. “Watching Aryn’s, ah, Dr. Fisher’s, Leaf Sheep.” His grin broadened as the woman’s frown deepened. “They are actually quite fascinating.”

“Just stay away from me. In fact, stay out, period,” the woman demanded.

Chip shrugged. “I have permission from Rini, Dr. Hardjono, as well as Admiral Nelson, to go anywhere I please on the Station.” Chip’s voice carried a bit of an edge this time, although he maintained at least part of his smile. The woman growled something that sounded like ‘we’ll see about that’, but must have been something else because anyone working at the Station knew that they were there with both the Admiral’s and Rini’s permission. She turned once more away from Chip. “Eesh,” he growled a bit himself, and spent several minutes watching what he could see in Aryn’s tank, which wasn’t much at this hour of night. He finally ambled back out, purposely walking slowly. He’d almost walked over to see what was in the woman’s aquarium, just because he could, but decided that he wasn’t quite that mean despite how she’d treated him, and sent her back a broad smile as he left.

He did, once around another corner, carefully check the camera with his phone. Just because, not that he was worried about the encounter. It wasn’t pointed where it could see the woman’s area. But Aryn’s desk and tank remained undisturbed and Chip continued to wander around until well after 0100 hours. He did make one more swing into Aryn’s area of the lab but there was no one else there that time, and Chip finally headed to his and the Admiral’s cabin.

“Wondered if you were ever coming to bed,” greeted Chip as he quietly entered, not turning on any lights.

“Sorry, sir,” Chip immediately apologized. In the subdued light coming from the corridor through the not yet closed door, Chip saw Nelson laying in his bunk to the left.

Nelson waved a hand. “I understand. All quiet?”

“Yes, sir. Well, except for some…ah…” he’d started to say ‘broad’, “woman whose area is across the room from Aryn’s. Apparently works nights because I’ve never seen her, and she didn’t seem to know me.” He finally shut the door when Nelson turned on a small desk lamp between the two bunks.

“Dr. Beverly Ephron,” Nelson identified.

“I’m surprised that you’d let anyone with her attitude work here,” Chip admitted.

Nelson sent him a nod. “Brilliant mind, doing some important work with ocean currents.” He shrugged. “Works nights so she doesn’t have to put up with others. I should have warned you.”

Chip’s turn to shrug. “I just let her spout off, then ignored her.” Nelson chuckled. Chip changed, and the light went back out as he crawled into his bunk

* * * *

Even as late as he’d been getting to bed, Chip still beat Nelson up. He dressed and made a quick tour through Aryn’s area before heading to the dining room. Rini gave him an especially bright smile as he entered, already sitting down. Admiral Nelson was just dishing up what he wanted for breakfast. “I understand you met our Dr. Ephron,” Rini added to the smile. Chip looked at Nelson. “No, the Admiral did not say anything,” Rini interpreted the look. “Dr. Ephron woke me up to complain…”

“You have got to be kidding,” Chip cut Rini off. It made the man grin even brighter.

“I explained, and not for the first time,” was added with a shrug, “that she was just going to have to get used to how things were done here on the Station; that the Admiral, and anyone he so designated, could come and go as they pleased.” He looked at Nelson. “I am not sure how much longer she will be here,” he told the older man apologetically.

Nelson waved it off. “Her loss,” he said emphatically. “She’s already been asked to leave at least two facilities that I know of because she can’t get along with others.”

“Scripps?” Chip asked carefully.

Nelson stared at him a moment. “No,” finally came out. “The two I know about, one was in England and the other a small facility on the east coast run by Woods Hole.”

“Just a thought,” Chip admitted. He turned to get what he wanted for the meal and sat down with the other two. “Forgot to tell you,” he added to his boss. “Lee gave Shore Leave,” there were others in the room so he used the normal term instead of the one Lee had come up with, so no one would suspect that Seaview was still in the area, “to anyone who wanted it, except himself, apparently.” Chip snickered. “Jamie threw him off the boat.”

Nelson snorted. “Good!” He did send Chip a slightly raised eyebrow.

“All quiet there,” the blond correctly interpreted the look. Anything else that might have been said was interrupted as Aryn walked in. “Forgot to ask,” Chip greeted her, “if there was more diving today.”

“Was just thinking about that,” she told him. She got what she wanted for breakfast and sat down next to him. “I was sort of hoping,” she glanced at Admiral Nelson, “that while you’re here I could, maybe, dive here and there around the area. Maybe get an idea of how big a population of Leaf Sheep are around here.”

“Actually,” Nelson sent her a smile, with a little sideways glance at Chip, “with her front windows you might be able to do a fairly good scan from inside. If you have, that is,” and the smile he sent Chip was brilliant, “an especially good pilot.”

Chip choked on a swallow of food. “I’m not nearly as good as Lee,” he finally got out.

“Lee’s not here,” Nelson’s voice was full of humor, and Chip knew that he turned red.

“Yes, sir. Ah, I mean no, sir, he isn’t,” came out somewhat strangled.

Nelson grinned as he looked at Aryn. “Chip is an excellent pilot,” he told her. “While the sea slugs are small, Chip can hover quite close to the reefs without doing any damage. But you might want to take tanks, just in case.” The smirk on his face as they all realized that Chip and Aryn would have to change into wetsuits aboard the craft did not go unnoticed, and he finally burst out laughing at the expressions pointed at him.

“We managed just fine with Mother C. aboard,” Chip mumbled.^

Nelson sent him a nod, still smiling. “Never a doubt in my mind,” he told his XO.

“Mother C.?” Aryn asked Chip

“Tell you later,” Chip continued to mumble, and stuck a forkful of food in his mouth. Nelson chuckled but started a conversation with Rini, something about a report they both read and wanted to discuss further, and Chip and Aryn finished eating mostly in silence.

They agreed to meet on the dock where FS1 was tied up at 0900 hours. Aryn wanted to check the ones she’d already collected. Chip didn’t specify what he needed to do and she didn’t ask. They both carried their wet suits, and picked up scuba tanks to keep anyone from knowing about the tanks already aboard the small craft. Nelson wandered out just as Chip was trying to decide the best way to leave the dock since it was just him who knew how. Nelson waved a hand and waited until Chip and Aryn were aboard, Chip had closed the hatch, secured the boarding ladder and had FS1 started before he released the line holding her against the dock. Chip eased away, sent Nelson a quick salute, and turned to leave.

“Mother C.?” Aryn all but demanded, although there was a smile on her face.

Chip finished his turn and headed in the direction of the previous day’s dive. “Lee’s mom is my Mother C, and my mom is Lee’s Mother M. It started when I began dragging Lee home with me from Annapolis and it stuck.”

“He couldn’t go to his own home?” Aryn’s voice held puzzlement, and Chip thought a bit of anger.

He grinned at the thought that she would take umbrage against Lee’s family, probably because she knew how close everyone was in Chip’s. “Chill,” he told her. “Mother C. adores Lee, and it’s mutual. But she’s a freelance writer who travels a lot. She wasn’t often home when we had vacation from the Academy.”

“Oh,” Aryn relaxed.

“Maybe you’ve heard of her. Helen Graham Lee,” Chip said with a bit of pride for his brother-in-all-ways-except-blood.

“That’s Lee’s mom?” Aryn all but shouted, and Chip burst out laughing.

“Yep. She worked on a story about one of our Ph.D.’s…”

“Dr. Merle Evans,” she interrupted him. “I read it; it was amazing.” Chip nodded. “But I don’t remember any indication that she was related to Cdr. Crane.”

“And she worked very hard to keep it that way.” He saw her start to frown again. “It has absolutely nothing to do with not acknowledging the relationship,” he assured her. “But she keeps her work persona separate from her private one.” He grinned. “It was really run having her aboard.” He chuckled. “In more ways than one. She’s a neat lady.”

“And something about changing into wet suits here on whatever you call this thing.”

Chip burst out laughing, to keep from embarrassment over the incident. “The Flying Sub, or just FS1,” he told her, then grinned. “We usually call her ‘Lee’s Toy’. He can get her to do things…” He just shook his head.

“You can’t.” There was just a hint of doubt in her voice, and Chip laughed again.

“Have no fear, my lady,” he said in a fake British accent, “you are perfectly safe with me.” She slugged him and they both laughed. “I’m good,” Chip returned to his normal voice, “but I’ll never be as good as Lee.”

“So, it’s a competition?”

Chip grinned. “Am I jealous of him? Nope. He has his specialties, I have mine. We’re a good pair and work extremely well with each other. I love having him as my superior officer. Of course,” he sent her a look, “if you repeat that to him I’ll deny every word.” He couldn’t get it out without chuckling. She slugged him again, and they finally concentrated on what they came out here to do.

Starting from the spot where they collected the three sea slugs now living, apparently happily, in Aryn’s aquarium, Chip slightly tipped FS1 forward and, hugging the edge of the reef, slowly moved south. Almost immediately Aryn spotted a white speck that they identified as a Leaf Sheep. Aryn had brought a chart of the area Rini had given her, marked with where the original three were found. She now marked this new find and Chip moved a little further. Using this system, they spent the next two hours checking the reef, thrilled that they found several apparently thriving colonies of the small sea slugs. Aryn identified at least half a dozen other species of sea slugs also on the reef. Chip asked if they could be harmful to each other, but Aryn reminded him that most of them were herbivores. She explained that many varieties carried toxins on their outer body parts so weren’t very tasteful to the area’s other residents.

“Why haven’t they taken over the world?” Chip smarted.

“They don’t live long enough,” Aryn smarted right back. They both laughed, and went back to their search.

Chip had no idea how long they’d been gone, so focused were both on their search, until there was an incoming call from Admiral Nelson. “You two going to stay out all day? I wasn’t aware that you’d taken lunch with you.”

Chip glanced at his watch and realized that it was almost 1400 hours. “Oops,” he muttered, not realizing that the mic was still open until he heard Nelson chuckle.

“Having fun?” his boss asked.

“Actually, yes, sir,” Chip admitted. “But we’ll head back now. Sorry, sir.”

“Not a problem. Just wanted to make sure you hadn’t encountered a problem.”

“Double oops, sir,” Chip mumbled, still loud enough to be heard. Of course Nelson would be worried when Chip hadn’t checked in, with everything else that was going on.

“Been there,” came back with a bit of chagrin in Nelson’s voice and the line went dead.

“Suddenly realized that I am kinda hungry,” Chip said as he turned FS1 away from the reef and back toward the Station.

“Tunnel vision,” Aryn nodded. “Getting so focused on one thing that your brain doesn’t register anything else.” She shrugged. “Kinda common for us scientific types.”

“Really lousy if you run a submarine,” Chip came back with.

“Ah, hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted.

“Lee will never let me live it down.” Aryn laughed at the expression on Chip’s face, he finally relaxed, and they chatted easily all the way back to the Station.

Nelson met them at the dock, securing the little craft when Chip nudged her gently close. He talked Aryn through lowering the access ladder while he finished shutting FS1 down, and Nelson hopped aboard and opened the hatch, joining them inside.

“Sorry, sir,” Chip again apologized.

Nelson waved it off. “Figured that you’d have called in the cavalry at the first sign of trouble.”

Chip understood that Nelson meant Lee and Seaview. “Still should have kept in touch. Lousy XO behavior.”

Nelson shrugged. “No one has to tell Lee,” he teased.

Chip didn’t often see this side of his boss. Apparently all was going well with Rini and the Station, putting Nelson in an extremely good mood. “Works for me,” he smarted right back, enjoying the moment. Nelson laughed and backhanded Chip’s shoulder, Chip finished shutting down the craft, and all three headed up the ladder, Aryn and Nelson now talking about what they’d found on the reef. Chip took the extra time needed to make sure that all of FS1’s security locks were in place, and followed the pair to the dining room.

Aryn was apologizing to the Station’s kitchen staff when Chip walked in for being late to lunch. “Scientists,” the head chef smiled and shrugged. “One of the first things I had to get used to – always have something available at other than normal meal times because no one here bothers to look at a clock.” But he smiled when he said it and produced two trays with a couple different kinds of salads, what turned out to be zucchini bread as a side, and a couple cookies for dessert. Chip didn’t dare say a word when portions were a bit smaller than he would have taken himself but he caught Nelson, who stayed to have coffee while the pair ate, glance at the tray, then at Chip, and grin broadly.

After eating, Aryn went off to her lab. Chip had no idea where Nelson went but he returned to FS1, removed the unused scuba tanks and Aryn’s wetsuit, and locked everything up again. He also called Seaview from there, knowing that the Station’s radio equipment couldn’t hear the secure NIMR band that FS1 used. When Sparks answered and told him that Lee wasn’t in the Conn, Chip asked to speak to Lt. James, who had the Duty. “Lee bored?” Chip asked the young lieutenant.

“Sort of,” Chris admitted. “But better bored than otherwise, sir.”

“I hear that one,” came out strongly, and both men sighed. Chaos all too often reigned on the submarine.

“Maybe we’ll all get lucky and now that Dr. Fisher is at the Station, whoever was behind the problem will back off and shut up.”

Chip knew that part of what was going on would have gotten out – Lee would have explained why Seaview had stayed close but out of sensor range. “Still like to know who,” Chip told him, “so they could be called out and kept an eye on.”

“Understood, sir,” Chris agreed.

Chip’s curiosity got the better of him. “And just where is your…” he choked off what he was about to call Lee, “captain?” he said, although when Chris had to cut off a small snort he knew that the man had understood Chip’s change.

“Not entirely sure,” Chris admitted. “Engineering, the last I heard, but that was at least fifteen minutes ago.”

Chip laughed. Lee could be all over the boat faster than anyone could follow. “Understood,” he said with a chuckle. “When he shows up, tell him all’s well here, and I’ll call later this evening.”

“Will do, sir.” There was a pause. “Enjoy your stay at the Station.” Chip’s relationship with Aryn was also, apparently, common knowledge aboard the sub.

“Twenty scientists all studying and discussing their work. Yeah, lots of fun,” Chip tried to growl back. But he knew that he’d failed when there was another soft snort from Chris. Chip surrendered and ended the call. He replaced the scuba tanks where they belonged and walked down to Aryn’s cabin. When there was no response to his knock he opened the door, intending to put her wetsuit on her bunk. Instead, he stopped dead when he discovered that the cabin wasn’t empty. “What the hell are you doing in here?” came out in his best XO voice when he caught Dr. Ephron standing at Aryn’s closet door, apparently snooping.

She snarled right back, totally unintimidated. “Teacher’s pet – gets to walk in and take over, using FS1 like it was her own.”

“So that gives you the right to walk in and what, tear her clothes apart?”

Something came out of the woman’s mouth, but too low for Chip to hear clearly. She stormed past him, giving him a shove out of her way, and left. Chip, tempted to shove right back and take her to Rini, instead dropped the wetsuit and headed for Aryn’s lab. She found Nelson and Rini there as well, studying the chart Aryn had marked, and reported the incident. Chip almost cringed at the expression that hit Nelson’s face.

“That does it,” the Admiral growled, and turned to Rini. “She’s out of here, I don’t care how important the work she’s doing is.”

“I totally agree, Admiral.” Rini’s voice was also hard. “I will not have that behavior on my Station.” He paused. “Your Station,” he amended.

Nelson waved off the change and turned to Aryn. “You’d better go check your cabin. Carefully, please.”

“Understood,” she answered. Nelson looked at Chip, who nodded and followed Aryn.

It was obvious that the cabin had been uncarefully searched. Clothes in drawers were shuffled and a couple things in the closet had been knocked off their hangers. The bathroom cabinet had been gone through but as far as Aryn could tell, nothing had been tampered with. Chip showed concern but Aryn shook her head. “Haven’t been here long enough. I used up most things while in Japan and bought new. The safety seals are still intact on everything I’d be worried about.” Chip was still bothered, but accepted the explanation.

When they headed back to Aryn’s lab there was banging in one of the cabins a few doors down from Aryn’s. One of the Station’s deckhands was standing outside the door leaning on the wall, a broad smirk on his face. “Good riddance,” came out just barely loud enough for Chip and Aryn to hear, and the smirk never left. Aryn only shrugged but Chip sent the man a nod. Once at Aryn’s lab, Chip continued on to Rini’s office, finding both he and Nelson there.

“Didn’t waste any time, sir,” he observed, albeit with a careful tone, given the expression on his boss’ face.

“Harrumph,” Nelson growled.

“There is no place here for that kind of attitude,” Rini agreed. “And why waste time. Alberto will take her and all of her gear to the main island where she can catch the bus to Manado. From there she is on her own.”

“What about her research?” Chip asked, still carefully.

“She used Station equipment to gather her data. She can take her notes, of course, but everything else stays here.” Nelson snorted. “And I’ve already started sending out notifications to those people she might contact for work and reported her totally unacceptable actions. She already had a bad reputation before I accepted her.”

“We both felt,” Rini added, “that because of our relative isolation she might settle down.” He shrugged. “We were wrong.”

“However,” Nelson’s voice noticeably lowered in volume, “she doesn’t have the expertise to have tampered with the air tank gauge.”

“For sure? Sir,” was a definite afterthought, and Chip gave his boss one of Lee’s rather patented through-the-lashes shy looks.

Nelson snorted again, but this time with a slight grin and a nod. “For pretty sure, Chip.”

“While her mental and computer skills are quite good,” Rini continued, “her mechanical abilities are not. She has constantly had to have help when equipment needs servicing.”

“Or pretends to?” Chip challenged. He glanced at Nelson, both thinking about Seaview’s encounter with Admiral Kiester.^^

But Rini was shaking his head. “I wondered, when she first got here. But she has ticked off every maintenance person who has had to work with her.” He suddenly grinned. “Alberto happily volunteered to take her off the Station.” But then he shook his head. “I do not understand people like her.”

“Be glad that you don’t, Rini,” Chip advised. “Means you’re sane.” It caused the other two to chuckle. A thought hit Chip. “Do you know where on the Station I’d find Suga this afternoon?” He referenced the man who had been Jackson’s host when they’d first arrived. At Nelson’s raised eyebrow he added, “I want to pick his brain about Station personnel. Call me curious,” he added, as Rini started to look concerned.

Rini immediately brightened. “Try the lower level, or I could just page him. I think he could run the Station by himself, at least mechanically.”

“I’m actually more interested in staffing,” Chip admitted.

“Chip, the original organizer,” Nelson told Rini.

Chip drew himself up straight. “Yes, sir,” he said firmly, before all three grinned. Chip left the two scientists to whatever they were involved in and headed down to a part of the Station he’d only casually visited as he’d wandered around previously.

He found who he was looking for almost instantly. There was a bit of hesitation on the man’s part; he knew quite well who Chip was, and Chip figured that Jackson had no doubt left the man with at least some idea of what was going on. But they quickly settled into an easy level of friendship as Chip casually inquired about how different jobs were handled on the Station, as maybe opposed to how the same issues were dealt with both at NIMR and on Seaview. Chip knew that Nelson and Rini screened all scientists but he was curious about the rest of the staffing, and Suga was more than happy to give Chip any and all intel he could. Once again he lost track of time, and was totally embarrassed when Nelson had him paged at 1830 hours to please come to the dining room. Suga merely laughed when Chip apologized for keeping him from his own meal, and the pair entered the area together. Suga joined other members of the staff while Chip grabbed what he wanted and sat down next to Aryn, with Nelson and Rini across the table.

“Another one Lee won’t let me live down,” he mumbled as he sat down. The others chuckled.

“Learn anything?” Nelson asked softly.

Chip shrugged. “Lots, actually,” he told his boss. “Just not sure how much was helpful to the current situation.”

“Suga has been here almost from the beginning and is most knowledgeable,” Rini told him. “It is why I had him be with your man Jackson.” Both Nelson and Chip nodded.

“And I’m sure that he would report to you anything he found…ah…troubling.” Nelson said.

“Yes,” Rini agreed, then suddenly smiled. “He was most vocal about Dr. Ephron.”

“I’m surprised, then, that he didn’t offer to take her off the Station,” Aryn observed.

“Alberto beat him to it,” Rini smirked. But then he got thoughtful. “That is funny,” he admitted. “Alberto has been the one person to most deal with her. He seems to have the ability to tolerate her.”

“Or he’s really good at hiding his true feelings,” Aryn told him.

“He seemed happy enough to be getting rid of her,” Chip added.

Rini grinned. “That has made many of us happy,” he admitted. He glanced at Nelson. “There was never a good enough reason until today.”

“You’re sure everything is safe in your cabin,” Nelson questioned Aryn.

She nodded, having just taken a bite of food. “I double-checked,” she told him after she’d swallowed, “before coming here for dinner.” She sent Chip a quick grin that she’d been on time, and he ducked his head. “If she was trying to be stealthy, her searching skills leave a lot to be desired. But nothing has been tampered with. And nothing at my desk in the lab looks like it’s been touched.”

“Good,” Nelson’s voice was firm, and the others nodded.

As they all finished eating they heard the sound of a guitar coming from the deck area that was just outside the dining room, and Rini’s face broke into a broad smile. “Ah, it is a music and singing night,” he announced. At the others’ looks, he laughed. “Migori, ah, Dr. Kawashi, and Dr. Andy Southwick, both play guitars. When they are especially relaxed they entertain us with their music.” All four headed outside and found places to sit. Well, Nelson and Rini did. Chip and Aryn sat on the deck close to Nelson’s feet and enjoyed the impromptu concert. It was a mix of styles. Dr. Kawashi appeared to have a fondness for American Country and Western while Dr. Southwick preferred sea shanties and Irish music. At one point Chip caught himself singing quietly along, but stopped when others noticed. Nelson laughed. “Chip sang with the Men’s Glee Club at Annapolis,” he told the assembled staff.

“Do you know all of ‘Fiddler’s Green’?” Southwick asked. That’s what Chip had been basically mouthing. When Chip embarrassingly nodded, the scientist started over with Dr. Kawaski, who obviously knew the old seafaring song.

As I walked by the dockside one evening so fair
To view the salt waters and take in the salt air
I heard an old fisherman singing a song
Oh, take me away boys me time is not long

(Chorus)

Wrap me up in me oilskin and Jumper
No more on the docks I'll be seen
Just tell me old shipmates, I'm taking a trip mates
And I'll see you someday on Fiddlers Green

Now Fiddler's Green is a place I've heard tell
Where old sailors go if they don't go to hell

Chip heard several chortles at that line, one of the loudest from Nelson. His own grin broadened as did others around him.

Where the sky is all clear and the dolphins do play
And the cold coast of Greenland is far, far away

(Chorus)

Where the skies are all clear and there's never a gale
And the fish jump on board with one swish of their tail
Where you lie at your leisure, there's no work to do
And the skipper's below making tea for the crew

(Chorus)

When you get back on dock and the long trip is through
There's pubs and there's clubs and there's lassies there too
Oh where the girls are all pretty and the beer is all free
And there's bottles of rum growing on every tree

(Chorus)

Now I don't want a harp nor a halo, not me
Just give me a breeze and a good rolling sea
I'll play me old squeeze-box as we sail along
With the wind in the riggin to sing me a song

(Chorus)

Chip wasn’t sure later how he got through the whole thing without forgetting at least a few lines. But he made it, with Southwick and a few others joining in on each chorus. Everyone clapped, Aryn the loudest. “I’d totally forgotten. You always had the best voice at church,” she gushed. Others complimented him as well, which he accepted with lowered head. He very carefully kept quiet as the music continued, to teasing off and on from Aryn. Chip refused to look at Nelson but he suspected that his boss was smirking, from the expressions on other faces Chip saw glance that way.

Eventually he decided that he needed to be elsewhere, and stood up. “You’re worse than Lee,” Nelson continued to tease him. “Can’t sit still for very long.”

“How to you manage long hours in the Control Room?” Aryn asked him seriously.

Not knowing quite how to answer, he shrugged and left. He heard Nelson say something, apparently to Aryn because it was too low for him to hear. “Lee better never hear about this,” he muttered to himself and kept walking.

He ended up on the quiet stretch of dock where FS1 was tied up but kind of off to the side, almost out of sight of anyone walking around, wanting this bit of private time. He wasn’t sure why he’d gotten so embarrassed at Nelson’s urging him to sing. At the occasional beach party NIMR staff enjoyed he’d relax enough, although usually after a beer or three, to join in when songs broke out.

He was deciding that it was Aryn’s presence that put him off this time, and then couldn’t quite figure out why, when movement out on the water caught his eye and he stiffened as he watched something approaching. He finally realized that it was Alberto returning in the launch, and relaxed. Then once more stiffened when, after the man tied up the launch, he walked over to stand in front of FS1. Chip stayed quiet, observing. She was, after all, a rather unique vehicle. Alberto didn’t move for several minutes, seeming to seriously study the yellow craft, but Chip started to relax as the man made no attempt to get any closer than the edge of the dock. But the longer he stood there, Chip started getting tense again. He was just about to step out of the shadows and say something when the man abruptly turned and walked away. Chip shrugged, chuckled softly to, and at, himself for Alberto’s obvious curiosity, and decided that it was time to wander back to his cabin.

He did smile when, as he walked in, Nelson started to apologize for the earlier instance. Chip waved him off. “Actually,” he admitted, now that he’d had time to think about it, “it was kind of fun.” He sent his boss a sheepish grin. “I just don’t do it anymore in front of strangers.” Nelson nodded and they both got ready for bed.

But for some reason Chip couldn’t put his finger on, he was restless. He managed to lay quietly until he knew that Nelson had fallen asleep, and ended up falling asleep as well. But he woke up at 0350 hours and knew that would be the end of any more sleep he got that night. As quietly as he could he dressed and left the cabin. If he got out without waking Nelson, at least his boss didn’t say anything. Chip had already learned that, like on Seaview, the coffee pot was always hot in the dining room. After his third cup, he poured his fourth and carried it with him as he ‘did a Lee’ and went ‘Walkastation’. Half a dozen steps out of the dining room he realized that he hadn’t yet checked the pen camera in Aryn’s area, but he was only a couple minutes away and decided to check in person.

The door to that lab was open, but it didn’t immediately signal a problem. What did was finding someone standing, mostly in darkness, right in front of Aryn’s assigned specimen tank. Whoever it was wasn’t moving, and didn’t notice Chip’s entrance. Chip realized that the canvas deck shoes he wore with his civvies were quite silent. Neither he nor the other person moved for several seconds, until Chip reached over and turned on the room lights.

The other person, who turned out to be Alberto, nearly jumped out of his skin and spun around. Chip very carefully maintained his neutral, XO on Duty, expression. “Geeze, man,” Alberto stumbled to get out. And get himself back in control. “You liked to give me a heart attack.”

“What are you doing here?” Chip got out fairly normally, although he realized that he was, actually, a bit angry and wasn’t totally sure why. The man hadn’t been doing anything wrong, even if it was in mostly the dark.

“Was told to clean up Dr. Ephron’s area; get it ready for whoever has it next,” came out in a steadier voice.

“At this hour, in the dark?” Chip knew that a bit of his anger had slipped into his tone.

Alberto shrugged. “Time is pretty fluid around here. Woke up and decided to do something productive before I woke up anyone else in my bunkroom.” He sent Chip a quick grin. “And get to the shower before all the hot water is gone,” he added. Chip could see that his hair was still wet. “Stopped to see what the new lady was researching before I turned on a desk light there,” he swiped a hand toward Dr. Ephron’s previous area, “and just work with that.”

“Then I won’t keep you,” Chip told him, managing half a smile and taking a sip of coffee. But he didn’t move, and neither did Alberto for a moment. Finally the man sent Chip a smile and a shrug, and headed for the other side of the room. Chip waited until Alberto did, indeed, turn on a light there, then he switched off the overhead he’d turned on and casually settled into Aryn’s desk chair, sipping coffee and watching little white dots move ever so slowly in the aquarium the desk sat next to. His back to Alberto, he still kept a surreptitious eye on the man. But Alberto seemed to be doing nothing more than what he said – going through drawers, removing anything personal that Ephron might have left but leaving stationery, pens, tablets, other office supplies, etc., in place for use by the desk’s next occupant. It didn’t take him long, but he seemed to hesitate when he finished. Chip continued to sit quietly, slowly sipping the last of his coffee, seemingly ignoring Alberto.

Finally, “Would you like me to leave this light on?” came from the man.

Chip reached forward and switched on Aryn’s small desk lamp, never turning around. Waving a hand lackadaisically, continuing to watch in the direction of Aryn’s tank and sip on his by now empty coffee mug. There was another short pause before Alberto turned off the light, picked up his box, and left. Chip waited half a minute or so, then reached over and turned off Aryn’s light. Alberto had left the door open and enough soft light entered from the corridor that Chip could see just fine. He did wonder why Alberto was suddenly bothering him. Neither last night, when he’d stood staring at FS1, or now, looking into Aryn’s aquarium, had there been the least indication of anything other than curiosity. Chip remembered being briefly introduced to him during the time he’d spent with Suga and there had been the instant smile like when he and Aryn had bumped into him standing outside Dr. Ephron’s cabin the day before. Still, something about these two incidents was triggering ‘something’ that Chip just couldn’t identify.

He was still puzzling over that when “Guarding my Leaf Sheep?” entered his brain and he found Aryn standing in the doorway. A quick glance at his watch showed almost 0630 hours.

“Couldn’t sleep and decided sitting here was better than disturbing anyone walking around.” They both grinned. She nodded toward the aquarium. “Munching along happily. Well, I assume happily,” he amended, and they both chuckled as she walked over and glanced in the tank.

“There’s just something so….fascinating, I guess, about them.”

“Good thing,” Chip told her, standing up, “since you’re going to be spending a lot of time studying them.”

“And loving every minute of it. However,” she glanced at the mug still in Chip’s hand, “I need coffee!”

“Works for me,” he agreed. They headed for the dining room.

Rini was already there, and Nelson walked in right after them, so the four once more ate together. As it was still early enough that not many others were there, Chip asked Rini softly, “What can you tell me about Alberto?”

Rini raised an eyebrow but before he could say anything, Nelson did. “Why?” he challenged Chip.

“Not sure, sir,” Chip admitted. “Something about him…I don’t know.” He sent his boss a sheepish grin. “If it were Lee, I’d say something about Alberto sets off his ‘Spidey Senses’.”

Nelson grunted. “You aren’t so bad in that department yourself.” Chip merely shrugged, and Nelson turned to Rini.

“One of the best mechanics we have here,” Rini told both. “He works hard, you don’t have to tell him twice to get something done. And done in a timely manner,” he added, then shrugged and added also a bit sheepishly. “Some of our non-scientific staff work a bit…ah…,” he didn’t seem to know how to say what he wanted to.

“On island time?” Chip offered, an old phrase meaning ‘whenever someone got around to it’.

Rini grinned and nodded. “Not badly slow,” he told Nelson, but…”

“Understood,” Nelson told him.

“Suga reports having to keep on top of one or two people. But never Alberto.”

“If he’s that good, he’d have no problem messing with the tank gauge,” Chip said. The other two men nodded agreement.

“I don’t remember how he came to be here,” Nelson admitted. He sent a frown Chip’s way as the blond couldn’t quite bury a sound of some sort. “Yes, Chip, I do occasionally forget something,” he grumbled.

“Rarely,” Chip told him.

“About as often as you do,” Nelson came back with. It was ongoing commentary about Seaview’s XO that he never forgot anything! They ended up sending each other a quick nod.

“Once I hired Suga, I did leave some of the other stuff to him,” Rini admitted. “I quickly came to trust his judgement…” his voice trailed off.

“And you had an entire Station to get up and running,” Nelson let him off the hook he’d put himself on.

“After breakfast,” Chip jumped back in, “I’ll track Suga down and casually pick his brain.” Aryn frowned but quickly covered it.

Not before Nelson saw it. “Had plans to occupy my XO’s time, did you?” he asked with a decided grin in his voice. She tried to shrug it off but Nelson sent her a raised eyebrow.

“Was sort of wondering if we could check more of the reef. If we find another really good colony I thought, maybe,” she hesitated a second, “well, if I could collect a few more before you leave…”

“Leave about 0900?” Chip asked her, grinning both at her and Nelson.

His boss chuckled. “Rini and I still have several reports to go over,” he told Chip. “You’re on your own.”

“Thank you, sir,” Chip told him, and Aryn added her thanks as well before everyone concentrated on finishing their meal.

As Aryn headed for her lab for the next hour, Chip headed to find Suga. Rini had told him that Alberto’s employment file was in Rini’s office, and Nelson said that he’d take a look before he and Rini got involved in other things. Finding Suga wasn’t a problem. Unfortunately he was working with several others, including Alberto, to fix a stubborn pressure valve in the Station’s fresh water system. Chip had to bury a snort when Suga explained, then had to explain himself. “Sorry,” he told the man. “Pressure valves take on a whole new meaning for a few of us aboard Seaview.^^^

“Not fresh water?” Suga asked.

Chip shook his head. “Ballast tanks. Not something you have to worry about.” Suga shook his head with a grin. He returned to the task at hand and Chip went to Rini’s office.

When the file was pulled out, Chip read over Nelson’s shoulder but nothing stood out. Alberto had, like many others, responded to employment notices in the local area, had passed his interview and security checks, and whizzed through his probation period to become a valued permanent employee. “You said that he was quick to take Dr. Ephron ashore,” Chip said to Rini.

“He is often the one to take the launch ashore when we need something,” Rini answered. “He’s never gone longer than expected, and there have never been any complaints from those ashore we deal with.”

Nelson waved off the sudden uncertainty that he heard in Rini’s voice. “No reason to say he isn’t exactly as he seems,” the Admiral assured him, and Chip agreed.

“Just me being weird,” the blond teased himself, and Nelson backhanded his shoulder. Chip gave his face a rub, remembering that he’d not shaved that morning because he’d gotten up so early and didn’t want to disturb his boss, and went to remedy that situation before getting FS1 ready.

Stopping to pick up diving tanks, just in case, he had one double set in each hand when someone said loudly, “Need a hand?” It was Alberto.

Chip shrugged. “You can hand them up to me once I open FS1’s hatch if you have time.”

“No problem,” the affable man said with a smile, grabbed one set of tanks, and followed Chip out to the dock.

Setting his set down, Chip hopped aboard the small craft, lifted the watertight cover over the small box next to the main hatch, and entered his security code. Once the hatch was open he reached back and Alberto handed him the first set of tanks. Chip started down the ladder with the first set when he felt FS1 shift. He realized that the man had stepped up with the second set and popped his head back out. “No, Alberto. Just wait on the dock until I come back up, please.”

The man shrugged. “Just trying to save you the extra steps,” he told Chip with his almost constant smile.

Chip was beginning to distrust that smile. “My job,” he answered, producing his own grin. “The Admiral’s security regs,” he decided to blame Nelson. He dropped the tanks he was carrying at the bottom of the ladder, not taking the time to secure them, and went back for the second set. Thankfully, Aryn was just walking up, wearing her wetsuit and carrying several collection containers and what looked to be a fairly heavy cross-body bag. Chip chuckled softly with memories of donning his wetsuit when Mother C. was aboard the small craft, but kept those thoughts to himself when Aryn noticed. He shrugged off her raised eyebrow, caught the couple of collection containers she tossed at him, and she then climbed aboard with a couple more. “Alberto, when I get the engine started would you cast off, please?”

“No problem.”

Chip made sure the upper hatch was securely closed and sat down in the pilot’s chair. In the daylight the interior of the craft was mostly visible from the dock. Chip had Aryn secure the tanks – he knew that she’d watched him do it the last time – as he brought the craft to life. Once he was ready he sent a wave to Alberto, who flipped him half a salute and unclipped FS1 from her mooring lines, still smiling. Chip eased FS1 slowly and carefully away from the dock, since Aryn was still standing at that point. But she quickly sat down, pulled the bag off and dropped it next to her chair, and strapped herself in. “Lunch,” she announced when Chip indicated the bag, and Chip burst out laughing, as did she. She did pull from the bag the chart she had worked on the day before and they headed to where they’d stopped when Nelson had called.

Almost immediately, however, Chip noticed an issue with FS1. Nothing serious, really. She just didn’t feel as responsive to his controls as she usually was. He knew that Lee fought a few issues on a trip they’d made to study narwhals.^^^^ He hadn’t checked in with Seaview yet this morning, and this seemed a good reason. He wasn’t surprised when he caught Lee in the Control Room. “Not running drills?” he immediately asked, his XO voice in place.

“I’ve run so many drills the last two days the crew is threatening to mutiny,” Lee grumbled.

Chip laughed for several reasons, not the least of which was, Lee’s crew adored Lee and would follow him to hell and back on a mere word! “Well, I have a puzzle for you – something to take your mind off how you’re going to placate the crew into letting you stay aboard.” Lee chuckled, and Chip heard more laughter in the background. “Remember when we were chasing narwhals?”

“Unfortunately,” Lee muttered.

“That was a fun trip,” Chip snapped at Lee’s apparent disgruntlement. “Well, until momma polar bear tried to get her kids aboard.” Aryn pointed an eyebrow at him as there was more, louder, laughter through the mic.

“Whatever,” Lee mumbled, but the humor in his voice was very evident.

“There were issues with controlling FS1,” Chip got serious.

“The rudder cables felt sluggish so she was slow to respond. At least, that was the major issue. Why?”

“Because she’s doing it again.”

“Humm,” came back slowly. “The mechanics discovered that a linkage was slipping, if I remember right.”

“You mean you found that a linkage was slipping because you didn’t trust them to find it,” Chip growled back.

“I did so trust them,” Lee barely got out before more laughter all but drowned him out. “Yeah, well, I was bored,” he tried to explain, knowing that it was hopeless. He just had this ‘thing’ about being involved when either Seaview or her bright yellow offspring was being repaired. He and Chip both ended up chuckling. “So, you think that’s the problem?”

“Not sure,” Chip admitted. “She’s…just a little slow to respond.

There was a short pause. “Kowalski has you on sonar. Do you need us to come get you?”

Chip shook his head, then answered verbally. “Not at this point. She’s still under control.”

“We’ll keep an eye on you, just in case.”

“Appreciate that,” and the pair signed off.

“Polar bears?” Aryn asked.

Chip chuckled. “We had a couple scientists aboard, a man and his daughter. The guy was a bit of a jerk. Not bad,” he explained, “just…ah…a bit of a pain, mostly for Admiral Nelson.” He paused, remembering, and had to concentrate on FS1 for a couple seconds. “Anyway,” he got back to the story, “we were surfaced one day close to an ice flow when momma decided to bring her cubs onto the forward deck. I went up to the top of the Conning Tower and yelled obscenities at her…” Aryn burst out laughing. “Yeah, that’s about how much effect I had,” he agreed with a smile. “But it released a bit of tension the guy was causing.” He shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.” They both chuckled before Chip had to once more focus on FS1’s handling.

He finally decided that he wasn’t going to be able to hold the craft as steady as he usually could, not able to risk getting close enough to the reef to search for Leaf Sheep through the windows, and decided to set her down. He did call Lee to let him know the plan. He could tell from Lee’s tone that he’d been following FS1’s not-so-steady movements from sonar.

Chip found a handy place to ‘park’ the little craft, more grins were shared as Aryn faced forward in her seat while Chip quickly changed, and the pair dropped out the bottom hatch with the collection containers to go in search of more of the tiny sea slugs. Chip smiled again when he realized that Lee was listening in on the Dive Channel the pair was using between the two masks.

The dive itself went extremely well. Close to where they had found other Leaf Sheep they discovered what looked like a thriving colony and gathered several small ones, barely 2 millimeters long that they hoped were youngsters, as well as enough algae to keep everyone happy for a good long time.

Once they were both back aboard, Chip called Lee as he ran though FS1’s start up routine and the pair kibbitzed about the handling issues while Chip prepared to start up the engine. “Wait,” Lee suddenly ordered and both Chip and Aryn jumped, reacting to the command.

“I’m waiting,” Chip finally said when Lee remained quiet.

“Sorry,” Lee backed off. “You’re still in your wetsuit?”

“Yes,” Chip answered, still half angry at the order but starting to be more puzzled.

“Go back out and check the external rudder.”

“Why?”

There was a pause, and Lee’s next tone was almost funny, although Chip could hear the seriousness behind it. “Because I said so.”

Chip decided that actually saying out loud the reply that came instantly to mind probably wasn’t a good idea, and calmed down. “On it,” he said instead and grabbed his tank, which still had at least ten minutes of oxygen available. He could only shrug when Aryn sent him a raised eyebrow, and dropped back down the bottom hatch.

He was back inside of five minutes, a small plastic-looking ‘something’ in his hand. He didn’t even bother taking off the tanks before calling Lee. “How did you know?”

“What was it?” came back.

“Looks like the handle-part of a broken plastic eating utensil. Maybe a knife.”

There was a soft snort. “You don’t want to know,” came back very much not in Lee’s usual authoritative voice.

“We will discuss this later,” Chip commanded. His only answer was a soft chuckle before the line went dead. Aryn sent him another questioning look, to which it was Chip’s turn to chuckle. “Lee knows this machine better than the people who built her. Heck, better than Admiral Nelson, who designed her.” Nothing was said until Chip ditched his tanks – again – started FS1 up, and ran her through a few quick maneuvers. “Still want to scan more reef, now that we have a functioning FS1 again?”

Aryn gave him a look and pointed to the base of her chair. “I brought lunch,” she reminded him. They both grinned, Aryn dug out her chart, and they spent the next several hours as they had the day before. They did remember to call in to the Station when they stopped to eat the sandwiches, fruit, and juice that Aryn had asked the chef to pack. And they both laughed, Aryn more than Chip, when whoever was on the radio this shift said that Admiral Nelson had been by about fifteen minutes previous to check. The woman said that she’d let the Admiral know immediately that they’d called in, and that all was well.

“Now it is,” Chip muttered once he was sure the line was closed, and nodded to the bit of plastic he’d tossed on the window ledge.

“That seems like such a childish thing to do,” Aryn offered.

“FS1’s exterior is pretty self-contained. And made from materials that aren’t at all easy to damage. About the only way to stop her, if you can’t get inside, is to plug the intake, in which case she won’t start at all.” He suddenly grinned. “Remind me to tell you sometime about Lt. James’ first lessons piloting her.”^^^^^

“But if that had happened we never would have left the dock,” Aryn told him, and he nodded.

“The rudders are pretty unbreakable but trying to jam them was, I guess, the next best option.”

“It didn’t work.”

Chip shook his head. “But it did alter our plans. And whoever did it couldn’t know that it wouldn’t work.”

“True.”

“Or that, if we had gotten into trouble, Seaview was, as it were, right around the corner.”

“Also true.” She shook her head sadly. “I just don’t understand.”

“We won’t leave until we get it figured out,” Chip told her firmly.

Chip would have laughed, when they got back and explained to Nelson and Rini what had happened, if the episode hadn’t been so serious. He expected Admiral Nelson to blow up when shown the plastic handle. But Nelson almost immediately backed off when, instead, he had to calm Rini down. The man was absolutely livid, more so than over the scuba tank incident. He did verify, which everyone found interesting, that no plastic eating utensils were allowed on the Station, although they all agreed that’s what this piece looked like.

“Someone brought something back from a trip ashore,” was Chip’s verdict.

“And who goes ashore more than any other is Alberto,” Rini practically spit out. “And he knows plastic is not allowed on the Station.” Chip related his interaction with the man that morning, at which Rini nodded. “Yes, he was going to get Dr. Ephron’s area cleaned up,” he confirmed. “But it wasn’t assigned; he volunteered.”

“Again,” Chip muttered. When the others looked at him, he continued. “He volunteered to take her ashore.”

“Yes,” Rini said. “That is correct.”

“Was he particularly chummy with her?” Chip asked.

“To my knowledge no one was chummy, as you phrase it. She kept to herself, liked it that way, and so did everyone else.” Rini shrugged.

“Got a reason to send him ashore again?” Chip’s expression was unreadable.

“What are you plotting?” Nelson non-the-less asked, knowing his XO only too well.

“I make a call…ah, from FS1,” he qualified, “and Lee has him tailed.”

“How? We have FS1 and it’s too long a trip by zodiac,” Nelson pointed out.

“Actually, Admiral,” Rini interjected, “the launch handles it just fine. Depending on where Seaview is, if the weather is fine like now it should not be a problem.”

“And Seaview isn’t stationary,” Chip added. “Humm, unless Lt. O’Brien decided to work on the propeller shafts.” He sent Nelson a grin, knowing that his boss would accept the comment for the joke it was.

Nelson shook a finger at him but also nodded, then turned to Rini. “Would you have a logical reason for him to go?”

“Actually, yes, Admiral. Marco,” he named the Station’s chef, “says that two bags of flour were accidentally destroyed by a water leak. He didn’t notice it until after Alberto had left with Dr. Ephron. With good weather Alberto can make the run with ease.”

“Could Alberto have caused the water leak?” Chip asked. There was dead silence from the others, but Rini finally nodded. Chip stood up. “I’ll go call Lee,” and he headed out of Rini’s office.

“And I will stop by the kitchen to see if Marco needs anything else.” Rini sent the Admiral a grin. “We do have a rather important guest, and do want to make a good impression that we are taking excellent care of his Station and residents.” Nelson chuckled and followed Aryn to help, if he could, getting the new Leaf Sheep settled.

* * * *

When Chip joined the others for supper, after spending the rest of the afternoon with Suga, who he found to be extremely interesting to talk to, Nelson instantly questioned the frown on his face that he didn’t get covered up fast enough. He shrugged as he sat down. “Sort of expected to hear from Lee,” he said softly as there were others in the room.

“Because of the late start,” Rini answered. “I told Alberto that he could spend the night. He has a sister who lives near there.”

“Another reason that he likes to be the one to run errands,” Aryn speculated.

Rini shrugged. “I do not think he likes her several small children very much.” The others nodded. “But yes, that is the reason he gives. At least at the beginning.” He shrugged again. “And then it sort of became a regular thing.” He sent Nelson a look of uncertainty.

But Nelson nodded. “Makes perfect sense.” He turned to Chip. “And Lee will report when he has something to.”

“Yes, sir,” Chip nodded. “I just…”

“I understand perfectly.” He sent Chip a quick nod. “We all want this to be settled.”

“Yes, sir,” Chip repeated.

It caused Nelson to grin at the always so correct response from his XO. But he grinned even more, thinking about a few times when Chip’s temper got the best of him and his responses weren’t always so politically correct. True, those were mostly directed at his CO – and best friend. But there had been times… Nelson let a guffaw escape, nearly choking as he got it under control.

“Sir?” Chip was instantly concerned, as were the other two from the expressions on their faces.

Nelson waved them off as he settled himself down. “Just a stray thought,” he tried to pass off his momentary lapse.

“Like how quickly Lee can get himself into trouble and not bother to tell anyone else?” came out before Chip could stop it, and immediately Nelson burst out laughing as Chip did exactly what Nelson had been thinking.

When he stopped, which took him an extra second, he told his XO, “I rather suspect that Will is keeping track of your occasionally impetuous captain.” He barely got it out before a couple more chuckles escaped.

Chip finally nodded. “Someone has to,” he still grumbled, “since I’m not there.” Nelson went back to chuckling.

“You might try calling him again,” Nelson suggested a little later, as the four were finishing eating.

Chip shook his head. “I don’t want to know he’s not on board. Sir,” came only half a second late. “You know as well as I do, if there’s undercover work to be done he’ll do it himself.”

Nelson nodded. “Very true.” He shrugged. “Neither one of us is ever going to stop him.”

“No, sir.” He shared a look with Nelson as they both knew Lee only too well. Nelson went off with Rini, to do whatever they were in the middle of when the dinner hour came. And Chip went with Aryn back to her lab.

Just after 2000 hours, as Aryn finished up a detailed report of the day’s activities concerning the Leaf Sheep collection and charting, Chip’s cell phone pinged. Lee wrote, “Ask Aryn if she recognizes anyone,” and there were half a dozen pictures attached. The first few were strangers, but Aryn flung herself out of her chair at the fourth one and started screaming. “That’s Roberta.” She grabbed the phone out of Chip’s hand and started pacing, muttering something too low for Chip to hear.

“Who’s Roberta?” he finally asked in as calm a voice as he could, trying to get her to calm down. She let out a word that made Chip snicker. “Your momma’s gonna wash out your mouth with soap for that one.” She finally took a deep breath and sat down. “I repeat. Who’s Roberta?”

Aryn took a deep breath and handed the phone back. “You’d better let Lee know, then let’s go find the Admiral and Rini.” Chip did have her look at the last two pictures, but Aryn only knew the one woman and Chip let Lee know. He said that he’d get back to Lee later. Lee didn’t question, just texted, ‘Okay’, and Chip and Aryn went in search of the other two men.

The whole story came out over a multitude of hits on the coffee urn in the dining room by all four. “Roberta Alomar,” Aryn started. “That’s the name I knew her by.”

“Alberto’s sister,” Rini identified the picture. “Alomar is Alberto’s father’s name. He uses Cardoza.” He sent a worried look toward Nelson. “There were no problems with his security clearances.”

“I remember,” Nelson told him. “People can change their names for any number of reasons.” It seemed to relieve Rini that Nelson wasn’t angry.

“I met her my Internship at Scripps,” Aryn continued. “Damn,” came out softly. “Even when there was that reference to Scripps I didn’t think about her.”

“I gather things didn’t go well,” Nelson said mildly. Chip almost smiled; Nelson didn’t use that tone often. There were many people who didn’t think that he knew how to use it at all. But Chip had heard it often during those times Nelson was dealing with those few people he truly cared about. It pleased Chip to hear him use it now to Aryn.

“At first things were fine. She was a study-buddy, along with several others.”

“Your ex-husband?” Chip asked.

“Actually, no.” She shrugged. “Maybe that’s why, when I first heard about the letter, I didn’t give her a thought.”

“Then…” Nelson nudged.

“Then things got weird,” Aryn continued with a frown. “I never really did understand. I thought everything was going along great. We were all helping each other, getting good grades with our projects. One day she flounced into the room we used as a study hall, called me a teacher’s pet, called Brionne a suck-up, accused Leslie of sleeping with our supervisor to get ahead…”

“Dr. Ephron called you Teacher’s pet,” Chip told Aryn, “when I chased her out of your cabin.”

“Could it be that Alberto, with incentives from his sister, was originally using Dr. Ephron’s dislike of everyone to get her focused on harassing you?” Nelson wondered.

“And then made very sure that he was the one to take her off the Station, and clear her workspace, to be sure she said nothing, or left anything that could tie them together,” Chip postulated, and the others nodded. “But how would Roberta know you were coming here?”

“Easy, actually,” Rini admitted. “I posted notice as soon as I knew that she was coming, so that everyone else would know who she was and could welcome her as the serious researcher she is.” He sent Aryn a bright, although slightly bashful, smile.

“Alberto could have simply passed that on as nothing more than casual conversation with Roberta and she, obviously, was still holding a grudge,” Nelson’s turn to postulate. “I swear, the world keeps getting smaller. Never know who you’re going to run into.” He sent Aryn a smile.

“But why? And especially after all this time. We never did anything to her, and especially not what she accused us of.”

“I intend to find out,” Nelson’s voice was instantly hard, before he seemed to realize and worked to moderate it. “I’ll contact Scripps again and find out the circumstances of her leaving. Ah,” he looked at Aryn. “I assume that she left.”

Aryn nodded. “We never saw her again after that day.” She huffed. “Nor did we miss her, actually. Totally forgot the whole incident.”

“Understandable,” Nelson agreed. He sighed heavily. “I’m just glad that we could finally figure it out.”

“Alberto will be dismissed immediately,” Rini pronounced judgment. “There is no place on this Station for that behavior.”

“Not before he gets back with the sacks of flour,” Chip told him. “And the launch,” he quickly added. The other three chuckled.

But Nelson immediately sobered. “This is all speculation. We have absolutely no proof that he did anything wrong.”

Chip frowned but nodded. “Even though he had the expertise to sabotage the gauge, even though his hair was wet right before we had the issue with FS1, there is nothing to tie him directly to either. Chief Hauck didn’t think, once he’d studied the partial fingerprints that were found, there was enough even if we did think we had a match, to stand up in court.”

“I want him off my Station,” Rini growled, then sent a look toward Nelson. “Your Station,” he amended a good deal quieter than the original outburst.

Nelson waved a hand, but the expression that hit his face had Chip almost cringing. “And so you shall,” the Admiral told Rini. He looked at Chip. “And I know exactly how to do it.” He turned back to Rini. “I need access to your radio.” He and Rini headed for the communications room on the Station.

Aryn looked at Chip, who could only shrug. “Do not ever get in the way of a rampaging Admiral.” They both shuddered slightly, and silently followed the other two.

* * * *

Chip, Nelson, and Rini were waiting on the dock when Alberto returned the next morning. He was all smiles until he realized that all of his belongings were sitting right behind them. Almost immediately Seaview surfaced about a hundred yards away and a zodiac quickly buzzed their direction. Alberto didn’t even have to be told; from the expressions on all three faces, he knew. And especially when he spotted Seaview’s MAA, Chief Hauck, step off the zodiac along with COB Sharkey, Lee, and Seaman Monroe, one of Chief Hauck’s Security team.

“Certain suppositions have come to light,” Nelson spoke firmly to the younger man. “And while we do not have sufficient evidence to prosecute you for attempted murder…”

Alberta’s eyes grew into saucers, so hard did he stare at Nelson. “I did no such thing…” came out before Nelson cut him off.

“What did you think would happen when you tampered with the air tank gauge?” Nelson all but yelled. Alberto started to open his mouth again but Nelson continued, cutting him off. “As I said, while there is no absolute proof, I have already spoken to Indonesian Reserse Detective Makmar Sabirin.” All of the Seaview personnel, and including Rini, nodded. They knew Sabirin from a previous encounter.* “He will be waiting for you where my men drop you off.” He waved and Alberto’s belongings were transferred to the launch. “I strongly,” and Nelson emphasized that word, “suggest that you cooperate with his investigation. He knows all about,” and again Nelson emphasized the phrase, “what has been happening here on the Station, and will be watching both, and your sister, very carefully.”

Alberto looked sick. He was silent as he joined his belongings on the launch. Escorted by both Chiefs, he left the Station for good.

Chip realized that Alberto had recognized Chief Hauck, and pointed an eyebrow at Lee. The brunet grinned back, totally understanding. “Since Alberto knew me, I sent Chief Hauck and Monroe to do the surveillance.”

Nelson laughed and lightly backhanded Chip. “And we were muttering that you’d do it yourself…”

“And get into trouble,” Chip finished, unapologetically.

Lee’s turn to laugh. “Almost did,” he admitted, and everyone laughed. “How’s it going here? Still need FS1?”

Nelson smiled. “I rather think that, by this evening we,” he gestured toward Chip, “will be ready to head home.” Lee nodded, turned and nodded to Monroe, who stepped back aboard the zodiac and returned to Seaview.

“Who said that you could stay?” Chip challenged Lee. Lee sent him a glare but Nelson laughed, everyone else grinned, and they all headed inside.

* * * *

The next night, about 2000 hours as Seaview sailed for home, instead of Chip dropping onto Lee’s cabin, Lee dropped in on Chip as the blond was catching up on reports. Chip frowned at his ‘In’ basket and Lee nodded as he sat down in the chair next to Chip’s desk. “I know exactly how you feel. I’m off the boat for three days and I’m buried.”

“It doesn’t stop you from going,” Chip muttered. Lee merely shrugged and nodded. Chip finally sent him a quick nod. As Nelson had pointed out, neither he nor Chip was ever going to stop Lee’s ONI service. But it didn’t hurt to whine about it from time to time. “What’s up?” he did ask.

Lee shrugged again. “Bored,” he admitted.

“Don’t tell Jamie,” Chip ordered, and they both cringed.

But Lee quickly grinned. “He already knows. I ran drills in Sick Bay while we waited.” Both men laughed.

“Do you think she’ll come work at NIMR?” Lee asked. “Aryn, when she’s done with the Leaf Sheep.”

Chip knew that he blushed. And didn’t care, in front of his best friend. “I hope so.”

“Hopefully, none of the female employees will get jealous, like that Roberta-person,” Lee teased. Chip had quite a reputation for trolling the unattached females on NIMR’s staff for companionship. Such was his charm that, even when he moved from one to another, everyone stayed friends.

Chip sent him a quick glare, but also nodded. “The Admiral ever hear back from Scripps?”

“Not that I’ve heard.” Lee grinned. “He’d no doubt tell you before me.”

“Whatever,” Chip grumbled, but also nodded. “Just glad that it got sorted out.”

“Amen,” Lee agreed, but suddenly grinned again. “If you can tear yourself away from those,” he tossed a hand at Chip’s mound of reports, “what say we go raid the Galley for the rest of the peach cobbler Cookie made for dessert tonight.” Chip instantly gathered all the papers on his desk into a pile and tossed them haphazardly into the basket. Lee laughed and the pair headed out, shoulder to shoulder.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

* see “Past Imperfect” by R. L. Keller

** see “Shimmer” by R. L. Keller

*** see “Job Hunt” by R. L. Keller

**** see “Quote, Unquote” by R. L. Keller

+ see “For Every Action” by R. L. Keller

++ see “Dragon of the Sea” by R. L. Keller

+++ Name used with permission of the lab’s creator, Liz Martin.

++++ see “Storm Front” by R. L. Keller

^ see “Mother’s Day” by R. L. Keller

^^ see “The Test” by R. L. Keller

^^^ see “Pressure Valve” by R. L. Keller

^^^^ see “Close Encounters of the Arctic Kind” by R. L. Keller

^^^^^ see “Duck, Duck” by R. L. Keller