Doctor Who_ Island of Death - Barry Letts [30]
„Aye aye, sir.‟
The sailor who‟d greeted her with a salute at the top of the gangway handed over the backpack and returned to his post.
„Come on, I‟ll show you where your cabin is. And the wardroom and all that jazz.‟
And away he went down the deck.
With a skip and a little run, Sarah caught up with him, and found herself almost scuttling along to keep up with his long legs. Of course it wasn‟t Sammy! Even if Sammy had grown a beard. Same colour hair, that was all. This chap was much taller, more solid and more... sort of grown up. But then, of course, Sammy would be by now.
It would be too much of a coincidence. Just as well. She‟d had her fill of coincidences in the last year or so!
„I‟m Peter Andrews. The Number One. That‟s -‟
„The First Lieutenant. Yes, I know. Sammy told me.‟
He came to a doorway and paused. „That wouldn‟t be Sammy Brooks, by any chance?‟
„Oh no! „Do you know him?‟
„Left him behind in Hong Kong. Lucky blighter. When the flotilla was rejigged, he was given command of the Cuffley. We got flogged to the Irish Navy. Much to the disgust of the Old Man.‟
„Who?‟
„The Skipper. Lieutenant-Commander Gene Hogben. Let‟s hope this little jaunt of yours will cheer him up.‟
He disappeared inside, followed by Sarah, who was trying to work out why she had an odd feeling of coming home.
„What are you?‟ she said as she followed him up a steep flight of stairs. „A frigate? Or what?‟
His laughter echoed down the corridor at the top of the ladder.
HMS Hallaton, Village Class Offshore Patrol Vessel, en route from the China Seas to Chatham Dockyard for her pre-sale refit, with a skeleton crew, was hardly the best craft to go chasing the sleek, streamlined Skang across the Indian Ocean Built in Aberdeen, and based on the commercial design of a deep-sea trawler, she was about half the length of a frigate, but very nearly as broad in the beam.
Her armament was sparse. Her 40mm Bofors could certainly do some damage, and her assorted machine guns had often proved their worth. But the four surface-to-surface missiles mounted on the foredeck, though fully operational, were there simply as a deterrent to the curiosity of the Chinese navy. They certainly weren‟t meant to be used.
But since Alex had insisted that it was too far to fly, the
Hallaton was the best the Brigadier could come up with.
Moreover, as if to prove Major Chatterjee‟s point that the British had invented bureaucracy, it had taken the Brigadier‟s boss at UNIT HQ in Geneva - apparently fearing a diplomatic incident with India - nearly three days to persuade the Foreign Office to consider lending her to them, and the Ministry of Defence another two days to say yes.
„I am dumbfounded at the swiftness of New Delhi‟s agreement,‟ the Major had said. „ Skang sailing under the Indian flag, I would be making the assumption that you would have to wait for weeks. Even so, you have a long haul to pull. I am calculating that errant vessel will already have travelled at least twelve hundred miles, and more likely a couple of thousand or more, you know. I would be hazarding a large bet that they have already arrived there. Wherever they are going.‟
And that was the trouble. There was no way they could make Brother Alex reveal their destination.
„South. Sail to the south. And when you have been at sea for two full days, with me on board, I shall tell you.‟
And nothing they could do would persuade him otherwise.
With Major Chatterjee having been left behind to hold the fort, the UNIT team was reduced to its original size: the Brigadier, in a state of sustained frustration eased only slightly by their setting off at last; the Doctor, in one of his infuriating moods of equanimity (There‟s nothing we can do, Lethbridge-Stewart, but wait...!‟); and Sarah Jane Smith, determined to make the best of their enforced cruise.
She intended to use it as the basis of one of the articles that she would eventually be writing about the whole adventure,