Reboot

Mabel’s plan had worked perfectly. She’d said that we might as well make

sure that at least one of us stayed free. As soon as we were in the brig, Dutch went to talk to his three friends and explained the situation. They were all sitting around a table, drinking coffee.

“The SEAL team was sent to murder this kid, Robert, who’s sitting below

right now with his friends. They murdered an innocent bystander and they were willing to do much worse. I witnessed this. I was right next to Skinner.

“That’s ridiculous. Dutch. Come on. How could the kid be that dangerous?” asked 2nd

Lieutenant Nicks, the Communications Officer and the only woman on board.

“That’s what I thought, so I tried to talk to Skinner, but he brushed me off. Then he threatened to kill another person every minute until Robert gave himself up. Made no sense to me.”

“Wait a minute. So you’re on the kid’s side?” asked Chief Engineer Stanley James. James was in charge of all things engineering and built like a pear.

“Yes, Stanley. I believe Robert when he says he has no idea what he’s done to deserve this.”

“Ok,” continued Johanna Nicks after a minute of shocked silence, “can you prove it? We can’t go to the captain with this unless you can prove it.”

“I think so. Robert believes he was chased because of a text that he’d translated. The text is on his computer and it’s coded. We need your help to decode it. He has no idea what it could be and I believe him. But think about it. What could it be? Who has the power to send our best and last resources after this kid?”

“So you can’t prove it.”

“Not yet, no.”

“So what do you want to do? I’m afraid to ask because knowing you, I’ll end up in the brig or dead.” That was from Dutch’s third friend, Rex Kramer who was Gunner on the ship.

“Well, first I want to get them all out of the brig, they’re not criminals these people, and then I want to decode the text.”

“That won’t be possible. We can’t convince the others without proof,” said Nicks.

Dutch just stared at her for a while.

“Oh no,” she concluded. “You want us to break them out. But the only way to do that is…”

“Yes. Mutiny,” added Kramer.

“It’s the only way,” continued Dutch. “I need to know who is responsible for this. Who could do this. It has to be way up high, someone in a position of such power that he or she can order this ship to go on this illegal hunt. So it’s much more important than our oaths.”

“So what do you want to do exactly?”

“We help them escape and then we put our people in. After that we decode the text, convince everybody that we’re correct and move on.”

“When?” asked Nicks.

“When almost everyone is asleep, 4am.”

“Ah Jesus. I was just starting to like this job,” said James.

“We’re right Stanley. We’re doing the right thing. All we have to do is convince the captain.”

“Yeah, yeah. Fine. I’ve known you a long time Dutch. I’m with you of course. We all are. But this is a big one my friend. You owe me a limb.”

At half past three in the morning, they joined up on deck. Out of the eleven remaining crewmembers, eight were asleep and four were on duty. One of which was Richard Drake who was in charge of security. He was the first one to grab because he was the only one who could open the brig doors besides the captain. He knew the six-digit code to get into the first room before the actual cage and he was awake when the captain was asleep.

“Richard will hopefully be in the brig anteroom anyway. It won’t be difficult if he just lets us in.” said Dutch.

“Maybe we shouldn’t all gang up on him like this. One at a time?” suggested Nicks.

“Absolutely. I’ll go first. You join later.”

“No. I’ll go first.” She said unbuttoning her shirt a little.”

“Right. OK. Um.. fine.” Dutch was tossed off his train of thought for a second.

Worked like a charm. Johanna, looking her drowsy, unkempt best, had absolutely no trouble getting into the anteroom for a chat with Richard who was grateful for the company. Dutch came in immediately behind her and let us out of the brig while Richard reluctantly took our place. Then it would be a relatively simple matter of grabbing everyone on the boat one by one.

We left Master at Arms Richard Drake in the brig and went looking for Captain Chenoweh. We quietly made our way to his cabin and knocked on his door.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Important communiqué from headquarters, sir, needs your immediate attention,” said Johanna.

“Ok, fine, goddamn it. Just a second.”

And when he came out, he was staring at the barrel of William’s gun.” We’d felt he was the best choice for this since he was an outsider.

“What is this?” Are you nuts?” He aimed a death stare at Johanna and then at Dutch. He didn’t even bother looking at William or me.

“We’ll explain soon, sir, but for now I’m afraid we have no choice. Believe me, sir, you’ll understand,” said Dutch. Then we walked him to the brig. Two down, nine to go.

We had no trouble with Junior Engineer Sark, who was also asleep. Next up were the three in the bridge: Officer of the watch James Sheehan, Chief petty officer Georges Marcos, and Navigation Officer Paul Ricks. There was no way to sneak up on them. We’d decided to wait for the changing of the watch, which was planned for 6am. That way they’d be expecting a knock on the door.

“We still have an hour to go before shift change, let’s go get Lieutenant Walker, OOD David Shanks and Helmsman Sikes. They should be sleeping still. They’re the replacing team at 6am. They also ended up in the brig without much difficulty.

At 6am we went up to the bridge knocked once and entered. They were expecting the changeover team so they were caught with their defenses down too. So at 6:30 in the morning we already had nine guests in the brig. Only two left, Midshipman Franklin Roosevelt and Chief Engineer Nathan Prior.

“Which one do we get first?” I asked Dutch.

“Prior. Definitely. He wakes up first so let’s get him out of the way. Roosevelt after.”

“Ok.”

But when we came to Prior’s cabin, he didn’t answer. There were four of us at his door, William, Dutch, Johanna and myself. Johanna knocked again.

“Chief? You’re needed in engineering right away.” No answer.

“Oh Christ… You don’t suppose…” William began but never finished. The sound of a gun cocking shut him up. Prior and Roosevelt were both there, behind us, each with a gun in their hands.

“Put your guns down and then put your hands up. All of you. Do it now.”

“Chief, plea…” began Dutch.

“Don’t even try it Dutch. Just do what I say. Let’s go.” And we headed back to the brig. The way there seemed longer than before and the metallic clanging noises were louder. When we got down there, a relieved Captain Chenoweh ordered us all behind bars and left us there to go get the others. Soon all nine of us mutineers were together in the brig. The captain left us in there to stew the entire day. Until finally, he came to see us with lieutenants Sheehan and Marcos and Senior Chief Ricks at around 1800 hours.

“Ok, Dutch. Let’s hear it.” He stood a hand’s width away from the bars, Dutch was similarly distanced on the other side. Both men were the same height. They both looked directly at each other unflinchingly.

“Sir, if you don’t mind, I’d like to introduce you to Robert Morgan. I think he should tell his story first, then I’ll continue.”

“Fine. Go ahead young man.” I was surprised at Captain Chenoweh’s attitude. He was polite and didn’t seem angry at all.

I stood and took Dutch’s place in front of him and I pumped up my chest to gather courage. My friends were behind me and their support was very reassuring, but I still felt very alone. I had the floor.

“My name is Robert Morgan, Sir. I am your mission. You were sent all this way to kill me and everyone on that island.” I let that simmer.

Captain Chenoweh looked at his men, ending with a quick look at Dutch, then back to me. They stayed quiet, urging me to go on.

“We know that you were unaware of this. I don’t even know why they did this yet, but we’ll find out soon enough. I can only tell you that I’ve done nothing I’m aware of that could justify this. So, here it is:” I paused a bit, took a step forward. I looked at each one in turn in the eyes, unflinching.

“Let’s go back home together. During the trip, we’ll need your help trying to figure this out. When we do, you can decide what to do about it. Believe me, if there is something dangerous about me, I’ll turn myself in anyway.” I looked at Dutch and moved over. He took my place slowly. First staring at the floor as if thinking about what to say because each word would be very important. He then looked at them and said: “Men, Sir, I promise you, when we find out why we were sent to kill this man, I’ll do it myself if it’s warranted.” He stood up straighter.

“But I can tell you now, this is not what I signed up for, this is wrong, and something stinks. Why would one of the last remaining ships in the US Navy be sent halfway around the world to kill this boy? We are not assassins. Help us find out what it is. Please. If you don’t want any part of this, we’ll stay in the brig. All we ask is that we be given the opportunity to investigate this further.”

Captain Chenoweh stayed silent and kept staring at Dutch. They faced each other for a while. Dutch didn’t flinch.

“You all know Dutch. He’s as sensible as they come, and I will not stand for any doubts about his character.” Then he turned around and faced the others. “Leave them in the brig, but give them any help they require. That’s all I have to say for now, meet me for a general meeting in ten minutes,” and he walked off leaving us in jail.

It was going to take two weeks to get home, but we had lots to do before then.