The Last Ship~ Season 3

Chapter 1~ The Scott Effect

Chapter 1~ The Scott Effect

Death, death was on every breath, every smell, every blade of grass and whisper of the wind. Ships of all sizes lay strewn as though a war had been fought and lost here, their faces blooded, bodies bloated and blotched. Eyes in some cases, still open, devoid of the sparkle of life. A lone ship still remained, desperately caring for her grandson. The Jiangdao-class corvette was barely a year old when he contracted the Red Flu. Once like any youth, an eccentric happy child boistering with the joys of life, now lay upon the bed as though he was a wounded elder. The dreaded virus had taken every ounce of his youthful innocence and thrown it back at him in the form of helpless agony.

His grandmother couldn't be more different. Born in another country across the sea as a spy ship and captured many years ago, she now cared for what remained of her now shattered family. "You just need more." She whimpered, trying desperately to feed the distinctive blue liquid to her dying grandson. "Just a little more please." A strangled sound issued from her throat as she saw her attempts, like with so many of the others, became in vain. Her grandson's valiant little heart had surrendered. She buried her bow in his superstructure and feeling the muscle that still remained there, thought of what might have been. What glorious honors he could've achieved for his country. For their country. "They said it would work. I trusted them and they said it would work!" She sobbed. "They betrayed me! THEY BETRAYED ME!" In anger, she threw the bottle across the dock where it shattered, what precious liquid remained inside spilled onto the dock. The label on the side "made in the USA".

...

Nathan James sat alone at his moorings. The work on his repairs was nearly completed and he'd received orders from CNO Captain Thomas Chandler to report to Hong Kong China. There had been conflicting reports there recently of the virus spreading despite more and more shipments of the cure arriving in the stricken country.

"Nathan! Nathan!" squealed a happy voice and Nathan turned to see his son Chandler racing towards him.

"Hey now!" Nathan laughed as his son latched himself onto his superstructure. "Are you going to let go anytime soon?" He asked.

"Nope!"

Nathan chuckled and pried the shipling off his mast, setting him down in the water beside him. Chandler's big blue eyes gazed up at him and Nathan's heart twinged at the sight. "So much like his mother." He thought with a sigh.

"There's the hero of the land!" said a familiar voice.

Nathan turned to see Thresher approaching. The submarine had all 12 of Achilles' pups riding on her back but seemed little bothered by the extra weight. Her hull had healed nicely from the effects of the Red Flu and hardly a visible scar remained. The dark look in her eyes was gone as well. Much better. She had something in her fin as well but Nathan could make out what it was yet.

"Thresher, how many times must I tell you. I'm just a soldier." He said, embarrassed by her proclamation.

"Embrace your title Nathan! How many other "just a soldier"'s brought this great nation out of the darkness eh?" She asked and he huffed, about to say that any ship could and he was just the one who so happened to be it. Thresher shoved him the little pamphlet she had before he could say anything. "The new food ration stamps. I figured you should see them before anyone else did. A fitting tribute eh?"

Nathan looked down at his mate's likeness, his heart giving its approval and its sorrow at both the tribute and the memory that Dr. Rachel Scott was gone from his life forever. Quietly he murmured "It's not enough."

"It never will be." Thresher agreed. "She and you did more for this country than can ever be immortalized in any kind of stamp or statue."

He nodded.

"What do you think of your assignment?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't know what to think." Nathan replied. "I find myself perplexed. How is it that the virus could mutate when Rachel made it very clear that it couldn't? Niels saw to it."

Thresher's eyes narrowed at the mention of Patient Zero as Niels was called. "I think that you're holding too tightly onto the past Nathan." She said.

"What?" The destroyer faced her.

"You want so badly for Dr. Scott to be right. For her to be remembered as such. I understand that. But you must accept the possibility that she and Niels were wrong."

"Niels I can accept but Rachel? She was right Thresher! She has to be! And am I even right to take this assignment?" He asked.

That gave the submarine pause. "What do you mean Nathan?" She asked.

"I'm not the same ship I was Thresher. I have a son now. A family. And if something happens to me, what will happen to Chandler?"

"I will take care of him." Thresher replied immediately. "I already do. I provide for him in ways you cannot."

"And I thank you for that. Repeatedly." Nathan said. He sighed. "Thresher, he's already lost his mother..."

"Then come back." Thresher replied. "Even if it makes you a coward. Kick Peng's ass and come back."

He sighed. "I have no choice in this do I?" He asked.

"You always have a choice Nathan. But I don't need to ask you to accept this assignment when you already have." Thresher smiled. "You wouldn't be worrying like this if you hadn't."

"You know me too well Thresher." He said.

She shrugged. "No more than I know any other warship. You're all the same. You may have ties here at home but you never can ignore the call to duty."

He nodded. "I entrust my son's care entirely to you." He said. "And Chandler."

Chandler stopped playing and approached at his father's tone. "I want you to behave for Thresher you understand?" He asked.

Chandler was still too young to speak in words but he seemed to understand. He pressed his little form to his father's nose, purring as he babbled in shipling speak. "Good boy." Nathan nuzzled him once and handed him off to Thresher.

On the sub's back little Achilles reached out a fin for him which Chandler accepted. "Ooh, easy now Chandler you're getting to be a little big for that." Thresher grunted as the destroyer pup climbed onto her back. Nathan laughed. "Oh laugh at my pain how noble of you Nathan James." Thresher rolled her eyes.

Nathan chuckled and offered her a friendly toot on his whistle as he headed out.