Indian Ocean Invasion - 19. IOI Chapter 19

“Yes, I do, I am bisexual, but have been too busy with my career, to be able to have a decent relationship” I said to the twins casually. “The same with our brother, we worry about him often, the problem is finding a guy suitable for him” one of the twins said.

“Well I am not sure about socialising with the big boss, I would like to concentrate on my job really, and I am not really into high finance and money concerns, I am just happy as I am working for a living, and just getting to know new people along the way” I responded.

When I saw the twins look at each other and smile, I wondered if there was telepathy between the two of them. “Come on drink up, or we will be running late to catch the launch back to the yacht, the twins said together, so I finished my cup of tea, grabbed the last cake on the plate and stuck it in my mouth, as we stood up to leave.

“Don’t forget, you have an appointment with the boss, once you have finished your shift this evening” one of the twins said as we walked towards the shore.

Once back onboard the yacht, I quickly changed back into my work clothes, and headed outside to see what needed doing, before the guests arrive back, and I decided to get the slide out from the storage room on the owner’s deck, and using the crane, lift it onto the helipad, where it can be opened up, and let down to the water, nearly 8 metres below, before being pumped up.

The 4 twin kayaks were also retrieved and tied up to the aft platform of the main deck, ready for use, along with some inflatable toys and a large inflatable pool, that is secured to the aft port side of the yacht, to allow for safe swimming. When the guests arrived and saw all the toys out, they quickly changed, and spent the next hour enjoying the water, until it was starting to cool down.

While the guests were showering and changing ready for dinner, the deck crew, including the new additional Deckhand – Angelo, who arrived this afternoon, deflated the pool and slide, and packed them away, along with the kayaks, before starting to tidy up the outside of the yacht, with washing down the decks, wiping down the outdoor furniture, and spot cleaning the windows, until we were all called for dinner.

When I nervously arrived on the owners Deck, I knocked on the suite door, and Mr Wagner opened the door a moment later, “I thought we would relax on the top deck, I doubt you know where to find it so follow me” Mr Wagner said to me, as he stepped out into the foyer, and headed up the stairs towards the bridge.

Stopping just before the door leading to the Bridge, Mr Wagner opened a door to the right, and stepped in to what is the ship’s office, then opened another door leading outside.

“I haven’t been on this deck before, I didn’t know it existed” I commented as I followed the boss outside, and he turned again and headed up some more stairs. When we reached the top, there was just the engine funnel and the mast, plus lots of open space.

A few deck chairs faced forward, overlooking the two decks below and the view of Monaco, which was amazing. “Wow, this is incredible” I said you are lucky to have such an awesome space here sir” I commented, as I looked at the view. “Please call me Sebastian, when we are alone or with just my twin brothers” Mr Wagner responded, “Very well sir… I mean Sebastian” I replied.

We chatted for about an hour, and during that time we got to know each other a bit better, but I could not reveal too much about my Navy career, of course when he mentioned the other ship, the Southern Explorer. I recalled seeing newspaper articles about the ship, when it was in Fremantle a few years back. As the evening end, I was thinking of a way to excuse myself, so I could retire to my cabin.

“I would like to spend more enjoyable evenings like this, getting to know you a bit more, maybe we can do this again, before the twins and I have to return to London at the end of this charter” Sebastian said to me, “Well sir, maybe not tomorrow night, but the night after will be fine with me” I replied, trying not to commit myself to another evening with the boss, as I was unsure how this would end up.

“That sounds good, we will be San Remo, Italy before 10am tomorrow, and the next day we will be in Savona by 1pm, so you have a couple of busy days, how about I take you out to a restaurant for dinner, in Savona tomorrow night, I am sure the Captain will allow you to have some time off” Sebastian said to me. “That sounds nice thank you, I will look forward to it” I replied, as I stood and bid Sebastian a good night.

I stopped off at the galley to make myself a snack before heading to bed, and I spotted a newspaper written in Italian, that had a picture of what looked like Christmas Island. Unable to understand Italian, I went to the nearest yacht phone and dialled the number for the Owners Suite.

“Sorry to disturb you sir, but I have just spotted an Italian Newspaper, and there is a front-page article I would be interested in, if I could understand Italian” I said, when Mr Wagner answered the call, “where are you now Lewis?” Sebastian replied, “In the galley sir” I replied, “Stay there, I will be there in a moment” Sebastian replied before the line went dead.

A few minutes later Sebastian arrived in the galley just as I had finished making two cups of tea. “Not sure if you like tea, but I have made some if you would like it” I said when Sebastian entered the galley, “Yes please, just a dash of milk and no sugar thanks” Sebastian replied as he grabbed the newspaper from the bench and began to read it quietly to himself.

When he saw me staring at him, he smiled, “Sorry, the newspaper headline reads – Indonesians leave Christmas Island, and the article is – In the early hours of Tuesday night, the Indonesian invasion force, which has been on Australia’s Indian Ocean Territory for the past few months, quietly slipped off the island in the middle of the night, leaving behind stunned Christmas Islanders, unsure about what caused this unexpected retreat.

Although the military forces of the neighbouring country have left, there is still approximately 9,000 Indonesian citizens who have moved and settled on the island, leaving the Australian Government with a giant headache of what to do with them.

With local government and police services returned to normal, their preliminary reports state, that the Indonesians had stripped the Island of over 300 acres of tropical rainforest, to make way for expanded mining and for the construction of two villages, to accommodate the extra Indonesian citizens remaining on the island.

There have been unofficial reports of regular disturbances, cause by disputes between the permanent Christmas Islanders and the unauthorised Indonesians now living on the island.

The local government has called for calm, and will hold discussions with the Indonesians, who are demanding to be treated like any other resident on the island, with 70% of the Indonesian residents currently working on the mine site.

Additional police have been sent to the remote Indian Ocean Island, to keep the peace between all of the island residents, until a resolution can be found to the matter, with the Administrator of the Indian Ocean Territories, requesting a Federal Court hearing to find a solution to the problem”, Sebastian said as he translated the newspaper article.

“Wow… now that is something that I had not expected, I am so glad I am not there, to get caught up in the situation” I said, “I agree with you there Lewis, it’s what I would call a real diplomatic and political mess” Sebastian added, “Thanks for the translation services, I will let you get back to your suite now” I said, feeling a little embarrassed that I had called on the boss to do such a small task in the middle of the night.

“Not a problem, I am glad to be able to help, goodnight” Sebastian said before leaving the galley, to return to his suite, and get to bed. The next morning, I was up at 5.30 am, and after making myself a cup of tea and toast, for breakfast, I headed up to the main deck to start work on washing down the decks and cleaning the windows.

While the guests were having breakfast, the deck crew removed all the outdoor furniture covers, before getting prepared for mooring at the jetty in San Remo, Italy, where the guests would be spending part of the day looking around the city.

Once we had moored and the guests had disembarked, the crew got to work to do some cleaning, while the guests were off the yacht, and I was on the owner’s deck, cleaning the outside windows on the opposite side from the jetty, when I heard a call on the radio.

“1st Officer to Captain, sir we have visitors on the jetty” I heard James say, “Be right there” the Captain replied, as I continued to work for a few more minutes, before another call came on the radio, “Captain to Bosun, report to the aft main deck”, and I quickly responded to the call, that I would be there momentarily.

When I entered the owners deck foyer, I headed down two lights of steps till I reached the main deck and walked down the main hall to the main saloon, I spotted the two men in suits, standing on the jetty, as I exited the saloon, where the Captain was standing, talking to Mr Wagner.

“Any idea who these visitors are Mr Shaw? They asked for you specifically, and it sounds very official” Mr Wagner said to me as I arrived beside them. “By the looks of it sir, I would guess they are Australian Federal Police Officers, probably something to do with my former job on the Chagos Archipelago, or the Australian Navy” I responded.

“Lewis, just find out what they want, and nothing more, if it gets all legal, say nothing and I will call for assistance, as one of our guests is my company Barrister” Mr Wagner replied, I nodded my head in understanding, and stepped towards the side of the yacht, to speak to the two men on the jetty.

“Commander Lewis Shaw, we would like to speak to you in regarding a matter of you failing to notify the government of your overseas travel” one of the men said, “Who are you exactly?” Mr Wagner asked as he stepped up beside me, “Nothing of your concern sir, this is official Australian Government business, and we want Commander Shaw to come with us to the Australian Embassy, to answer some questions” the second man replied.

“It has everything to do with me, as Commander Shaw is my employee, furthermore, do you have an Italian Warrant for his arrest?” Mr Wagner asked, “No sir, only a French one, as we didn’t locate him until he had left France” the first man said.

“Well in that case you can wait until his lawyer arrives, then you can ask him any questions you have on the yacht” Mr Wagner replied, as he stepped back from the side and pulled out his phone.

“Commander Shaw, you are only making things more difficult for yourself, so I suggest you surrender now, before you get into any more trouble” the second man on the jetty said to me, and I decided to step back from the side and ignore the two men and follow Mr Wagner’s instructions.

The captain led me into the private dining room, where Mr Wagner soon joined us. “Franco will be with us shortly, and we can discuss the situation and decide what action to take” Mr Wagner said, and we waited for twenty minutes, till the Barrister finally arrived, and asked to speak to me alone.

After ten minutes of discussions with the Barrister, he knew all the information that I was able to give him, without breaking the Official Secrets Act of Australia, before he went to the door, and calling Mr Wagner in and they spoke in Italian for a few minutes, before they both sat down at the table with me.

“Ok, we have a plan that will work out well for you in the short term, we will allow the two Australian Federal Police officers onboard to ask you some questions, but you must check with Franco before answering any question that they put to you, and we will see how that goes.

If they insist that you go with them to the nearest Australian Embassy, which I believe is in Rome, Franco will step in and request that they produce a valid arrest warrant or extradition order, before allowing you to go with them.

As soon as they have left the yacht, we will put into action our backup plan, which we will tell you about if needs be after the two men have left” Mr Wagner said to me, “Ok, I trust you, but why are you going to all this trouble just for me?” I asked, “Because I care about you Lewis, just trust me, we will get this sorted somehow” Mr Wagner replied.

“Why did you leave Australian Territory, without notifying the Australian Government, as is part of the terms of your employment?” the Federal Police Officer demanded once they had sat down in the private dining room onboard the yacht. I looked at Franco, and he nodded his head slightly.

“Well sir, I am no longer an Administrator of the Chagos Archipelago, and when I resigned my position there, as was agreed by my superior officer in the Navy, I was also given a discharge from the Royal Australian Navy, which I received notification of finalisation just before leaving the islands, so I am no longer an employee of the Australian Government in either the Navy or as a Civil Servant” I replied.

“As conditions of you having an Australian Government Security clearance, you are required to notify the government if you wish to travel outside of Australia and its territories, what do you have to say to that?’ on Federal officer asked.

“I would say that you better get your facts straight, because from the moment that I went from full time to reserves in the Navy, my Security clearance was withdrawn” I replied. “We still require you to travel with us to the nearest Australian Embassy to clear up these facts” the lead Federal officer stated to me.