When Gibbs gets hospitalized the NCIS team meets someone with more insight about him than anyone. Set in the episode Hiatus Part I (S3, E22), will continue onward.
Warning: Some content may be too graphic for younger readers.
Disclaimer: I do not ow...
The SEALs and SWCCs made it to the ship with no casualties, the crew was trying to search for the source of the missiles. They suspected another ship hiding outside of radar range, Julian and Holloway made their way to the conference room. They met up with Ziva and Gibbs, the agents were trying to piece together what happened.
"The ship was a trap," said Ziva. "La Grenouille must've been surveying the ship from afar. If an alternate vessel was simply there for security they would have stopped us the moment they saw the Bainbridge."
"Why would he load it up with so much contraband and intel?" asked Jace. "If it was a trap it's possible everything we have is useless."
"Maybe, but we'll run it anyway," said Gibbs. "The ship hasn't made it to port in weeks and it couldn't have made it all this way by itself. The crew must've abandoned the ship before we came onto it."
Just then Gibbs got a message, that Sheperd was online. In a moment the monitor displayed the Director in MTAC.
"What can you tell me?" asked Sheperd.
"We've gathered an abundance of intel, the validity of which is questionable," reported Jace.
"What makes you say that?"
"We were ambushed, was there anything suggesting that La Grenouille had his naval force?" asked Holloway.
"Not that I'm aware," responded Sheperd. "However this is all the more reason to keep hunting him down."
Marrows entered the room just then, typing a series of commands bringing Commander Blackwell on the screen next to Sheperd. After formalities, they got to business.
"What's this about my operators taking part in a half-assed counterproliferation op without my say-so?"
"I'm sorry Commander, we came across actionable intel and time was of the essence."
"When you told me that you needed my team for a VBSS operation aboard a cargo ship you said that I'd be kept appraised."
Director Sheperd looked irritated, it was obvious that the conflict between her authority and NSWC didn't faze her. This only drew the commander's ire.
"Commander, this is a joint operation between—"
"I've already spoken to the taskforce chiefs, anymore operations involving my SEALs will be run through by me." Blackwell's main concern was obviously for those under his command. "Same goes for Special Forces and Marine Raiders, if you need operators you need the run it by the Commanding Officers."
The transmission ended. Jace and Holloway looked at each other, it was clear that the Commander caught on to the Director's interests in the case.
. . .
The platoon, plus Gibbs and Ziva, were at a combat outpost in Kabul. Their objective was to survey a black market ring for associates of La Grenouille or anyone who could lead the team to him. Jace and Holloway were the primary reconnaissance scouts for the mission, while Gibbs and Ziva were the go-betweens. The rest of the platoon was reserved to provide tactical support.
"So, Sheperd wasn't exactly forthcoming," said Jace to Ziva and his father. "Blackwell briefed the rest of the task force and they didn't appreciate hearing about the ghost ship until after we encountered it."
"She's walking a very dangerous path," responded Ziva. "The CIA already made that clear to her before."
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After their conversation, Jace met up with Holloway; the rest of the platoon mounted up into Special Operations Sherpas while they used their respective Christini AWD Military Edition motorcycles. Gibbs and Ziva used a SOF-grade MRZR as their mode of transportation.
Once they reached their location Julian and Xavier set up sniper overwatch on a hill close enough to watch over the NCIS agents, but far enough for proper daylight concealment. Naturally, Jace wanted to use the cover of night for the mission but Director Sheperd wanted to take down the soonest meeting possible. Once everyone was in position Gibbs and Ziva made their way to the seller. Jethro was wearing traditional local headwear and sunglasses to mask his appearance while Ziva only donned a simple headscarf.
Ziva addressed the man at the stall, once they made their way past the initial screening the vendor showed them the weapons. Gibbs' sunglasses transmitted video relay to the outpost, where it was fed back to the Bainbridge TOC which was sent to Director Sheperd and Commander Blackwell in MTAC. The rest of the NCIS team watched as their colleagues make their way to their objective. They saw crates of AKs, M16s, and a variety of RPGs; none of these stood out to them. It was the buyer standing with them that caught their attention.
Hameed Qassam, La Grenouille's head of Middle Eastern affairs. The Director and Blackwell gave them the go once they got a positive facial recognition. The SEALs went in, clearing their way through the guards. Gibbs and Ziva pulled their weapons on the dealer and Qassam, taking them into custody. The SEALs made their way to them and escorted them to the LZ.
. . .
Aboard the Bainbridge, the DiNozzo and McGee went over the evidence collected from the ring while Ziva and Gibbs interrogated the seller and Qassam respectively. There were no casualties from the raid, all the operators had finished their AARs and were awaiting further instructions. Jace had finished a face-chat with Kathleen, the girls had started crawling and rolling over. Jace sighed, they were supposed to be stateside weeks ago. However, Shepherd pushed for the deployment to be extended. Another sign of her obsession.
"GENERAL QUARTERS, GENERAL QUARTERS!"
Jace snapped out of his thoughts, he looked out the door of his quarters and saw Blue Navy Sailors rushing to their combat stations. He linked up the rest of his platoon and the NCIS agents in the Combat Information Center. Holloway and Gibbs were speaking with the Captain, Ziva saw Jace enter and got a hold of him.
"La Grenouille's ship, we found it," Ziva told him, however, the second part wasn't what he expected. "We are about to be engaged by it."
Jace saw the screen with the ship, it wasn't a conventional warship, it wasn't even an actual combat vessel. It was a general cargo ship outfitted with Surface-to-Air Missile Launchers. Everyone was prepping for an assault, Gunner's Mates preparing the heavy arms, CWISs ready to go. Jace hadn't been on a sea vessel since his time as a Corpsman, he wasn't used to being on the sidelines.
"Jace," his father reached for him. "We got a meeting in the TOC, Sheperd, Blackwell, and the ship captain are waiting."
