United Under Fire

Win or Die

Jace watched as Bishop cleared her way through the hallway of the empty compartment of the ship. She located the OPFOR, but in her attempt to apprehend him a second roleplayer grabbed her from behind. Despite her resistance, the first held a training knife to her neck. Bishop had fallen.

The roleplayers removed their masks, revealing the older Gibbs and DiNozzo. Bishop sulked on her way to the TOC; despite their differences, Jace wanted to see Bishop be able to adapt, but she was still too rigid.

He and Rorke watched Echo Team conduct a ship self-defense drill with the crew's Master-at-Arms and Small Craft Action Teams. The SEALs worked with the seasoned Blue Navy Sailors to instruct the junior enlisted; after the attempted seizure of the USS Kent, the Navy wanted to emphasize the capabilities of Shipboard Integrated Tactical Teams.

Before Bishop's test, Julian had demonstrated tactics to neutralize armed assailants and counter-assault methods. Now, his team was prepping for the next drill.

Jace was wrapped in thought, he went over the few months he spent with Ziva before she relocated to Israel. While they recovered from their injuries from their game of bumper cars with Bodnar, Ziva stayed with him. She was preparing for a fight at the Navy Yard Gym when she wasn't at his place. During Parson's probe into NCIS Ziva continued to stay with him, busying herself with spending time with the triplets, wanting something to take her mind off of the attack on her surrogate family. The night she departed for Isreal all Jace could say were five words.

"See you when I see you."

It meant so many things.

" I will always love you."

"I belong to you, forever."

He didn't want to say goodbye but didn't want to force her to stay.

Jace was snapped out of his thoughts when someone called out 'Man overboard!'. All his teammates were accounted for and the body wasn't wearing a uniform, so he was not a part of the ship's crew.

Jace watched as his dad, Agent Borin, and a Coast Guard Petty Officer boarded a Seahawk. They were going to board the vessel and Bishop was going to escort the body back to the Navy Yard. Since the ship was sailed under the flag of a foreign nation and was currently in American waters it was under both Navy and Coast Guard jurisdiction.

Jace and the rest of his team were getting ready to board the ship in the event of a hostile situation. He had his HK416 10.3" outfitted with an EOTech HWS EXPS3-4 and six magazines on his rig, he had his Sig Sauer P226 ready, with three spare magazines. Depending on the situation Jace had an M110 in a weapons cache.

At this point, they were waiting for the GO/NO GO.

"How are you holding up?" asked Reese.

"Not used to being sidelined," replied Jace.

"By the Coast Guard, no less," joked the other SEAL.

They were joined by Rorke, who briefed them on the details.

"Borin and Special Agent Gibbs have boarded the ship," the Special Warfare Officer said. "Aside from a single Coast Guard Petty Officer, it's just them until we're given the green light."

"It's a big ship," replied Jace. "Command and Homeland Security haven't changed their mind about letting us board it?"

"No, in fact, they are debating between us and MSRT. Maybe even FBI HRT."

"We're right next door and MSRT is almost an hour away," said Reese. "What's left to debate?"

Jace and Rorke shrugged, neither wanted to get into the headspace of politicians or bureaucrats.

Their conversation was cut short by Tony rushing over with the worst kind of news.

"Pirates infiltrated the San Dominick," said the Agent. "They're holding everyone hostage."

Rorke went to notify command, while Jace and Reese went to get the others ready.

The operators set up and gathered in the SEAL Delivery Vehicle, once everyone was in the submersible they deployed to the cargo vessel. They had worked up a plan while waiting for the green light, they were going to stall the propeller, climb onto the deck, and split into teams; Jace was going to take three other SEALs to take the Bridge, Reese was going to take a team to the Mess Room.

The older Gibbs managed to overpower one of the pirates and gathered intelligence from him. ISR confirmed that the hostage takers were a team of six and verified their locations, Agent Gibbs was holed up in the Machine Room, with his prisoner. Once the hostages were secured the SEALs would conduct a sweep of the ship.

Jace took his team, Ward, Miller, and Clarke, to the Bridge entrance. Clarke began conducting a thermal breach, once they were done Jace charged in, taking out one pirate, and the others followed suit, eliminating the other pirate.

"Bridge secure, Echo Two, how copy?"

"Lima Charlie One, Mess Deck secured, hostages accounted for, two pirates dead."

His dad had Renaldo secured, which meant that there was one pirate left on the ship.

One missing pirate left wandering around and they had no apparent exit strategy.

They began sweeping through the ship, Reese's team took the lower decks while Jace linked up with his father and carried on to the containers. McGee alerted them that the pirates were after a specific container. Once they located it the SEALs breached the lock, they did not like what they saw.

A C4 bomb connected to barrels of accelerant.

"TOC we need an EOD to our location, we have a bomb set to go off in less than three minutes."

They were interrupted by a young man speaking in Spanish. This pirate was younger, roughly in his twenties, and he had Petty Officer Felton at gunpoint. Jace had his rifle trained on the young man, IR laser focused onto his forehead. He and the older Gibbs focused on the new pirate and the others focused on the bomb.

"Drop the gun and let go of the Petty Officer!" Shouted Jace. "Do it now or get shot in the face!"

"You drop your weapons or she dies!" replied the criminal.

"You're outgunned and outnumbered," said Jethro Gibbs. "Do as he says and I'll defuse the bomb."

"Listen to them, Jaime," said Renaldo. "The boat isn't coming."

Borin, Tony, and the MSRT team came around the corner. Jaime looked around and listened to their orders, DiNozzo cuffed the boy, meanwhile, the older Gibbs held up the fuse he had removed from the bomb when they checked the container. The timer went off, the follow-through did not occur, showing that the device had been rendered safe.

"If the Cartel money isn't here then where is it?" inquired Jace.

"What do you guys make of that?" asked Agent Gibbs, pointing his flashlight at the floor, revealing a liquid stain.

"A bad habit," said Tony, puzzling the pieces together.

Jace recognized it almost immediately, after all, it was a popular habit amongst other operators.

Chewing tobacco.

As soon as they returned to Norfolk, the agents left to arrest the Captain of the San Dominick, O'Rourke. Meanwhile, Jace was getting ready to go home when Bishop called asking to meet. They met at the diner the other Gibbs liked, the probationary agent was about to bite into a club sandwich when he arrived.

Julian already knew what this was about.

"The point isn't perfection," began Jace. "It's to understand that anything and everything could go wrong. To adapt and overcome."

"I just don't want to screw everything up."

"Listen, learn, and improve. You're part of a team, it's bigger than what you think of yourself."

Ellie let what Julian said sink in.

The sailor left, covering her bill while she wasn't looking.

She's earned more than she realized today.