Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 22:15:17 -0500
From: pnskid61@cox.net
Subject: Sojourn Chapter 38

The story below is a work of fiction and contains erotic and/or sexually
explicit behavior between consenting males. If you find this type of
writing offensive, or if you are underage and it is illegal to view it,
please do not read further, but exit now.

The author reserves all copyright privileges. This work may not be
reproduced, except for personal use, without permission of the author, and
may not be linked to any pay sites.

Author's note - I made a mistake in the last chapter.  Donations to the
Human Rights Campaign are not tax deductible.  Sorry about that and thanks
for an alert reader for the correction.

I will be the guest author on the Nifty Gay Writer's Forum on Saturday, 26
April.  Feel free to join in between 8pm and 10pm and ask questions or just
say hello.  You will find access to the Nifty chat rooms on the main Nifty
menu.

As always, keep the emails coming. Note the slight change to my email
address.  Pnskid61@cox.net


Chapter 38

Sarah arrived at headquarters to find it swarming with activity.  The media
had arrived in full force.  Sarah immediately went to the operations
center.  Under normal circumstances this center handles communications with
the ships and ports.  Links to weather satellites enables the operation
center to have a constant watch on weather in all the areas where Compass
ships are located.  Ports of calls could be altered based on this data to
ensure the safety of the ships and passengers.  Additionally, the center
had hotlines to emergency services including the Coast Guard.  Since the
attacks in New York they had also installed links to the FBI and Homeland
Security.

Sarah learned that they had now accounted for 94 of the crew.  Twenty-one
were severely injured and had been transported to either Mobile Infirmary
or Providence Hospital.  Both hospitals were on alert for triage and burn
care.  The fire was still out of control.  Mobile fire department was on
the pier and fireboats were in place.  There was a fear of further
explosions so a safe distance was being maintained.  Bottom line, Quest was
burning and, at the moment, no effort was being made to contain the fire.

DP2 and DP3 had been activated.  None of the plans had ever assumed that
both engineering and the bridge would be immediately and simultaneously out
service.  The plans were all created with the assumption that one of those
critical areas would be up and running - at least for awhile.  Even in the
event of sinking, it was never accounted for that both areas would be
instantly unavailable.

Plan DP2 was created for a disaster involving significant damage to the
ship with injuries to passengers and/or crew.  A core component was the
activation of care teams.  These teams were specially selected and trained
Compass employees that would be assigned to the injured and their families.
They would assist with all care of the injured and ensure that the family
members had transportation, accommodation, and that their financial needs
were handled.  In the case of fatality, the care team member would work
with family members on funeral arrangements, handling day to day issues for
the family, and logistics for the deceased to be returned to their selected
location for funeral services.  The care team members would leave all of
their normal duties behind and were fully deployed to the care team in the
event of an emergency.  They could be gone for weeks or months.  It was a
strictly volunteer program and it was always over-subscribed.  Compass
Cruise Lines had patterned the program after those used by airlines,
including Compass Airlines, and hadn't, until now, had to implement the
plan.

Additionally, all ships went into a lock down mode.  For the next 24 hours,
port calls would be cancelled.  Security could be better controlled while
the ships were at sea.  Passengers would be compensated if their ship had
been scheduled for a port call.  Compass headquarters and all Compass
facilities were essentially locked down as well.  Only employees with a
small star on the bottom of their ID would be allowed to enter a Compass
facility.

DP3 was a plan that involved specific threats towards Compass personnel.
All Compass senior executives, and their families, would receive immediate,
around the clock, security guards.  Compass bank accounts and computer
files would be secured and frozen for at least 24 hours.  Travel by any
Compass executive was restricted and would have to be approved by Ethan.
As far as Ethan goes, he would be surrounded by security personnel.  He
would not be allowed anywhere on his own.  The same security procedures
were to be applied for Rick and Adam.

As Sarah was conducting a briefing for the media team, Randy came in and
asked Sarah to step out.  It was the worst possible news.  Twelve were
confirmed dead and they feared there could be up to 70 dead.  Everyone by
now had assumed that Quest was a total loss which was devastating and a
tremendous impact.  But nobody had dared to think that members of the
Compass family might die.

Sarah and Randy called Ethan and gave him the news.  Sarah also advised
that Brian would be piloting a Compass Air 777 with the first members of
the care team.  The plane would be leaving Ft Lauderdale in an hour with 22
care team members and Sarah.  After they assessed the situation, more care
team members would be deployed as appropriate.  Most of the crew in
engineering that had been onboard Quest were Indonesian.  Randy was working
on the logistics of getting some care team members on their way to Jakarta
to be with family members there. He would be contacting the Indonesian
authorities in Washington to advise them of the situation.

Ethan called out for Rick who had just put Adam to bed.

"Rick, I want you to call Sean and have him come over.  Also, please alert
Kevin and Shelia that we may need R-1 to be ready to go on a moment's
notice.  Also, would you please call the Adams Mark Hotel in Mobile and
secure 50 rooms for tonight and hold them for the next 7 days at least.
I'd also like to have two meeting rooms to act as a branch operations
center."

"Oh, and honey, thanks."

Rick left and started on his tasks.  He reached Sean and he would be on his
way in a few minutes.  Sean offered to contact Kevin.  Rick then moved on
to calling the hotel in Mobile.  Ethan called the Mayor's office in Mobile
to let him know about the care teams and that Compass would be setting up
an operations center in the hotel.  The Mayor offered his sympathies and
assured Ethan that the city's emergency services were doing everything
possible.  The two men promised to keep in touch over the next 24 hours.

Sean had been asleep and was startled by the call.  He turned on the TV as
Rick was telling him what had happened.  The images on the TV were
horrifying.  Sean called Kevin's home number but did not get an answer.  He
thought that was odd and called Kevin's cell phone.  Kevin answered and had
obviously been asleep.  Sean told him what happened and Ethan's
instructions.  Sean asked him where he was.  Kevin said that he was out of
town on some personal business but he could be back in Pensacola in a
matter of hours.  Sean was confused that Kevin had gone away and he didn't
know about it.  But then again, they weren't a couple so Sean couldn't
really expect to know everything.

Ethan called Alice and Mark in Nashville.  They had been asleep and unaware
of anything.  Alice turned on CNN which was showing live scenes of the
fire.  Ethan explained that he was going to have to be focused on these
events for a few days and that he needed Rick to be with him.  He asked if
Alice and Mark could take care of Adam for awhile.  Without hesitation they
agreed.  Ethan would have R-1 pick them up in Nashville in the morning.

Ethan was going crazy.  He needed to get to Mobile.  He needed to be there
for the crew members.  He was overcome with dread,anguish, and guilt.
Something that he loved had now turned into something horrible.  People had
died.  People were badly injured.  It was his fault.

When Sean arrived, Ethan asked him to stay at the condo and man the phones
there.  He and Rick would go over to Mobile to get the operation center
established after going to the pier.  Within an hour, Ethan and Rick were
on their way.  Few words were said.  Ethan felt as though his guts were
being ripped out.  Rick knew there wasn't anything he could say.  He
reached over and held Ethan's hand.  That simple gesture meant the world to
Ethan.

Rick and Sean arrived at the pier at 1:30am.  This would be almost 5 hours
after the first explosion.  They were not prepared for what they saw.  The
flames were visible for a mile away from the pier.  At the pier it seemed
like hundreds of fire trucks, ambulances, police cars were scurrying about.
They noticed a man that seemed to be in charge and Ethan and Rick
approached him.  He was the County Fire Marshall.

"We have accounted for 132 so far.  We have 15 fatalities, 60 have been
transported to hospital and I have to say some of them were in bad shape.
The remainder received treatment here as needed and have been taken to the
Holiday Inn Downtown.  Based on the numbers your folks in Ft Lauderdale
tell me, we have 34 unaccounted for.  We have started our efforts to
contain the fire.  Fireboats are spraying water on the decks and hull to
try to cool things down.  We have not allowed any personnel onboard yet.
Mr. West, your ship is starting to list so I believe she might be taking on
some water.  I don't think we are going to be able to do much at this point
other than try to contain the fire.  We are going to have to let it burn
for awhile."

Ethan stood taking in the scene.  Utter devastation both human and
material.  Quest's white hull had black stains from smoke on it.  Flames
were still visible - out the funnel and in the atrium area.  The bridge
appeared to have disappeared.  The only part of Quest that looked untouched
was the bow and the lower decks in the forward part of the ship.

Shouts were heard.  "On the bow, look on the bow!!!"

Through the smoke it was hard to see so Ethan and Rick ran towards the bow.
A group of men were on the bow, yelling and waving shirts.  A few jumped
off into the water.  Most were too scared to move.  The Fire Marshall
ordered two ladder trucks to the bow.  Slowly the men descended.  Dazed.
Scared.  But unhurt.  Twenty-four men were now safe.  Ethan went and hugged
each of the men.  Tears in his eyes as he could see the fear visible on
each face.  He could never find a way to express what he felt.

2:30am.  Ethan and Rick gave the Fire Marshall their cell phone numbers and
went to the Adam's Mark to start preparing the meeting rooms.  The care
team and Sarah would be landing at 4am.  The mayor had arranged for a city
bus to meet the plane and a police escort to bring them to the hotel.

3:15am, Rick and Ethan went to their hotel room.  Both were exhausted -
mentally and physically but sleep was not a possibility.  Ethan sat on the
bed and stared.  Rick got two glasses of water and sat down next to Ethan.
Ethan sipped the water and started to shake.  Rick put his arms around him
and held him.  Ethan cried.  This was all his fault.  Rick wanted to help
put he could feel Ethan withdrawing.

4:30am, the team arrived and activity increased dramatically.  The teams
divided and went to the two hospitals.  Sarah, Ethan, and Rick and a small
team stayed at the hotel to man the center.  By dawn, the fire had subsided
and fire crews had entered the ship to put out the fires that remained.  At
10am, word came that the fires were out.  Quest had listed 10 degrees and
her bottom decks were flooded.  She was sitting on the bottom of the
shallow inlet where the pier was located.  At 1pm, word came that they had
found the remaining ten crew members.  The bodies, or what was left of
them, were found just aft of the bridge.  Captain Medina was one of them.
Others would require DNA testing to determine identity.  Also during the
night and morning, 4 had died at the hospital.  Final toll was 29 dead, 21
in critical condition, 15 in stable condition.  99 survived.  Quest was a
total loss.

Over the next week, the care team worked flawlessly.  Arrangements were
being made, families looked after, shoulders provided to cry on.  Of the 29
dead, 22 were Indonesian, 2 Greek, 3 Polish, and 2 Italians.  Ethan had
personally contacted each of the families.  They would be provided with as
much support as they needed.  Financially, Ethan made sure that these
families would not suffer.  Emotionally, all he could offer was heartfelt
sympathy.  He would peronsally attend the funeral of Captain Medina in a
small village near Naples.

The press response, and the response of the general public, had been one of
support and outrage.  The initial reports showed that three bombs had been
detonated onboard Quest.  While it would be weeks before they would know
for sure, the bombs appeared to be fairly crude but very effective.
Whoever planted them knew enough about ships to know how to inflict maximum
damage.  There were no clues so far and nobody had laid claim to this act
of murder.  The FBI had authority over the case with the Coast Guard, ATF,
and Homeland Security all involved.

Compass bookings had initially dropped but were slowly picking up.  The
team in Ft Lauderdale had to reschedule thousands of guests that had been
scheduled to sail on Quest.  Most chose to sail on another sailing with
Compass. Very few asked for refunds.  The American psyche had changed since
the New York attacks.  Americans no longer ran scared but rather they were
somewhat defiant.  Life WILL go on.  Plus, much like flying, there was an
assumption that it was now safer on Compass now than in the past.

But life wasn't going on for Ethan.  He was withdrawn and depressed.  He
was shutting himself off from everyone, including Rick and Adam.  Rick
didn't know how to reach Ethan.  He had tried.  Ethan was not hostile, he
was just quiet and sullen.  Sarah was in a similar mental situation. She
was paralysed with grief.  After attending the funerals in Indonesia, she
returned to Pensacola to stay with the guys.  She hadn't spoke with Dan and
didn't want to.  The condo was not a happy place.

Kevin and Shelia had been making several trips between Mobile and Ft
Lauderdale to ferry Compass Cruise personnel to and from what remained of
Quest.  Unfortunately, Kevin had been gone and Sean had been very busy so
they weren't spending much time together.  The ENW team from Atlanta was
relocating to Pensacola as planned.  Sheila had met someone in her
apartment complex shortly after moving to Pensacola.  She had not expected
to meet someone and didn't even know that she was lonely until she met
Simon.  He was a great guy who had moved from England to Pensacola and was
a geology professor at the University of West Florida.  They had been out
on several dates and were getting to know one another.  He loved airplanes
and was fascinated with her work as a pilot.  She had given him a private
tour of R-1 and he was very impressed.

The teamwork that usually developed over time was developing quickly
between Kevin and Shelia.  Both had quick senses of humor and were excited
about the flexibility their new positions afforded them.  Kevin did not
feel close enough to Sheila to share what he was going through in his
personal life but he was starting to feel a friendship form with Sheila.

Sarah and Ethan had a conference call with the team in Ft Lauderdale one
morning about 2 weeks after the fire.  They had determined that Quest was
beyond repair and that she would be scrapped.  Insurance would more than
cover the loss.  Bookings for the remaining ships were increasing.  The
team was hesitant to raise the point, but they needed a new ship.  Ethan
listened and simply replied without enthusiasm, "send me a proposal."

After the call, Ethan felt something stir.  He was angry.  He started
pounding the desk.  Sarah went over to him but he pushed her away.

"Look, I know you are mad about what happened and I am too.  But don't push
me away." Sarah said.

"Just go away Sarah.  Get away from me before something happens to you.  I
am a curse.  I should have died in that fire.  I can't help but think it
was meant for me." Ethan yelled.

Sarah went over to Ethan and grabbed him a shook him. "Listen to me.  Snap
out of this.  This is not the Ethan that I know and love.  It was horrible
what happened.  Innocent people died.  Many more are still in pain.
Families have been hurt.  And we lost a ship.  But Ethan, you can't give
in.  They win this way.  Can't you see it?"

"I don't care.  Let them win.  Nobody else can die."

"That's it Ethan.  Be a coward.  Fucking run from it all.  You dishonor
everyone that died or was injured by doing that.  Selfish bastard," Sarah
yelled at him.

Ethan raised his hand to hit her, something he had never done to another
human being in his life.  Suddenly, it all broke.  She was right.  He
couldn't run.  He had to go on, and rebuild, and he would do it for all
that gave so much.  He broke down and had a cleansing cry.  Weeks of
emotions came out.  Sarah sat and held him.  She too let go and they both
sat and cried.

Ethan emerged from the room in search of Rick.  He had been awful to Rick,
cutting him out, isolating himself from the man he loved.  He hoped Rick
would forgive him.  He found Rick in the kitchen. He went up behind Rick,
put his arms around his waist, and rested his chin on Rick's shoulder.
Rick leaned back into Ethan.  Even after all they had been through, feeling
each other's body still caused butterflies.  Rick turned, looked into
Ethan's eyes.  Ethan leaned forward and kissed Rick.

"I am sorry I have been such a poop.  I love you.  I couldn't have made it
through all of this without you.  I haven't done a good job of showing you
how much you mean to me and what a difference you have made.  Please know,
I love you and I need you.  Thank you so much." Ethan whispered into Rick's
ear.

Rick didn't respond, he simply took Ethan's face in his hands and kissed
him.

Sarah emerged confident that Ethan was back in good form.  She had a
mission.  She would make sure that the person responsible for this would
suffer.  Just like the 29 that died and the others that were injured.
Sarah thought that they better hope that the police find the culprit before
she does.

Thanksgiving was approaching and Ethan had an idea of how to spend the
holiday.  Rick loved the plan.  It would give them a chance to get far away
from Pensacola and Mobile and the nightmare of the past few weeks.  It
would also be a place that he knew Ethan loved and that he had never been.
In fact, Rick had never been outside the US except for the ports of call
onboard Sojourn.  A couple of phone calls and the trip was set.  Kevin and
Sheila had confirmed and would be flying R-1.  Sarah would join them.
Jayne was anxious.  The farmhouse would be home for the week of
Thanksgiving.  It would be dark and cold but the moor was magical in
November.

While the moor was magical that time of the year but it also could be
unforgiving.  When he learned that Ethan and Rick would be going to Devon
for Thanksgiving week he realized he would have to accelerate the next step
in his plan.  With any luck the fog would be thick on the moor providing a
cloak for his plan.  It would make things so much easier.