"What do we have?"
Tony had withdrawn to the truck with the two FBI agents. Get out of the scorching sun. McGee had set up his laptop inside on the loading area, which was currently showing a high-resolution satellite image. Mulder crouched next to him.
"We were able to trace the route of the SeaCrawler back to within a few kilometers. It started in early June, exactly on June 6th at 4:00 am, from the Navy base in Georgia with a south-southeast course into the open Atlantic We couldn't find out the least bit about the destination port. But we assume that the cruiser headed for the coast of Pakistan. "Tony gestured to McGee to turn the laptop so that Gibbs could also take a look at the map. "Your bearing is lost here, a few kilometers off the coast of Oman. Why it left the safety of the high seas and got so close to hostile areas, we cannot clarify.
The closest port to which a cruiser of this class could call is not a day's journey from there.However, there is no comparable ship there according to the satellite photos of the last few weeks, not even along the coastline. At the time of their disappearance, there was no storm, nor was there a seaquake in this part of the ocean. Nothing that could possibly have forced them into safer coastal waters. She just disappeared. "
McGee spoke up. "As far as the cargo and the exact mission of the SeaCrawler are concerned, we still only have statements from Agent Mulder and Agent Scully. Someone is blocking our investigations with the military and the Pentagon. And our headquarters are just as surprised as we are. They don't know anything. But ... "He hesitated and cast an uncertain look at Mulder, who climbed out of the truck and sat next to Scully on the edge of the truck bed.
He had to blink against the sun as he looked up at Gibbs. "I've put a couple of capable people on this problem. It's not unexpected, and I hope it won't be too long before we get the necessary documentation in our hands."Gibbs frowned doubtfully, but didn't interrupt.
“We have our options too, Agent Gibbs.” Mulder smiled. "What I know from a reliable source, but can not yet prove, is that the SeaCrawler was sent to the Middle East with a highly dangerous secret mission. The nuclear weapons were supposed to be smuggled into the interior as commercial firearms, directly into the heart of the resistance. Thinly distributed The plan was to wipe out the individual germ cells of terrorism, but not even the American armed forces. Only a tiny group of people had been let in on the plan.
It was to be a one-time and all-devastating blow. Regardless of alliance agreements, allied treaties or human rights. The core of terrorism should be wiped out in one fell swoop. No matter how many innocent and innocent people would lose their lives.And no matter how many soldiers, whether American, French, English or German soldiers. A move that would be worse than Hiroshima. "
Embarrassed silence responded to this horrific revelation, and each of them stared at the SeaCrawler with undisguised horror. If that were true ...
“They never could have realized that plan.” Gibbs averted his gaze from the cruiser and met Mulder's eyes. "That would be outright suicide for the Bush administration. There would have been an outcry of unimaginable proportions across the planet and the US would have been razed to the ground by every, without exception, every country on this planet. They would have wiped themselves off the scene."
"Bush seems to believe that the global terrorist threat has risen so dramatically, and is already so unpredictable, that it warrants a military strike of this kind." Scully frowned thoughtfully."He seems willing to risk all of this in order to defeat this one enemy once and for all."
McGee was furious at the enormity. "Does he seriously believe that other states would take that as a justification?"
“Maybe he's just gone irrevocably crazy?” Tony tried a grin, but none of the others responded and so he fell into thoughtful silence again.
"Where does this information come from?"
Mulder shook his head. "My contact is and remains known only to me. That is the deal. In return I get all this information, for which some people would be willing to go over corpses. You have to trust me."
The thoughts raced in Gibbs head. His ears were still ringing from all these horror reports. You didn't just make up something like that. But everything in him refused to believe the FBI agent's words.
And it didn't explain how the SeaCrawler finally got here in Tennessee.Not to mention where she had been in the time of her disappearance and where this devil charge was now. "Has your contact lost a word about what happened to the cruiser? About the whereabouts of the weapons?"
Mulder shook his head. "We were hoping you would have an answer to that."
The NCIS team exchanged a few questioning glances and when Gibbs nodded weakly, it was up to Kate to let the two agents in. And you could tell how uncomfortable she felt about these new developments. If her meager knowledge was enough to declare an absolute state of emergency with regard to Islamic terrorism, now, with all this new information, a nightmare arose in her head that couldn't be worse.
"The message that got us on the scene was, of course, primarily the reappearance of the Navy cruiser. There is a suspicion that the ship was either hijacked on the open sea or that a mutiny smashed the crew and the ship outlawed has made.In both cases it can be assumed that the trigger for this was the cargo of the SeaCrawler, which was to be stolen from the care of the American military and brought into the hands of the enemies of America. "
She was silent for a moment and looked at Gibbs, then each and every one of them in the eye. "If you then take into account the information from the FBI ... there is a risk that the secret mission of the SeaCrawler has become known in terrorist circles and that they forced the ship into their power to get the weapons for themselves and then to use them against us to use. "
"That's crazy! You can't just force a ship like the SeaCrawler into your own hands, let alone hijack it."
“You are wrong, Agent Scully.” Gibbs scowled at the almost a head shorter agent under the visor of his cap. "We are no longer in the 17th or 18th centuries, that's true. But contrary to the widely held opinion of many, piracy has never been completely wiped out.In the Middle East in particular, rapidly increasing numbers of raids on the high seas have been reported in recent years. Mainly on cruise ships or smaller yachts that were too far away from the protective coast.
These modern-day pirates travel in ships that appear too small to pose a real threat to an ocean liner. But they are quick and agile. And mostly armed to the teeth with weapons that they won somewhere on their raids. You attack with several of these ships at the same time and the chosen ship, the victim, has no chance. It can't escape, it's too slow for that. And on the high seas, it takes far too long for the rescue workers to arrive on site.
The SeaCrawler wasn't one of those defenseless cruise lines, that's true. She could have defended herself. And that's exactly why I assume that this operation was undermined in advance by our enemies and that some of the crew were not loyal Americans, but trained terrorists who, at the moment of greatest need, paralyzed the cruiser's most important defenses.Not even a Navy cruiser can cope with betrayal from within. "
Scully's voice sounded strangely thick when she spoke. "So much the worse. If reports of such attacks were already known, appropriate precautions should have been taken to protect the SeaCrawler on their behalf."
"Precautions that would have drawn new, unwanted attention to the project."
"That is unbelievable! What we are discussing is dangerous in the extreme case. We are talking about treason by our incumbent government. And at the same time of a danger that could not only result in the downfall of the USA.
And all based on ... oral claims. We have nothing with which to prove that and therefore no chance of making a difference. Neither in one nor the other direction. "
Gibbs nodded in confirmation. "You are absolutely right. For one thing, we must prevent our government from committing such a betrayal of their country and all of their allies and from repeating them.On the other hand, we have to prevent this mistake, with devastating consequences, from falling back on us all.
We need evidence. I still really refuse to believe that Bush planned such a military move. But neither can I dismiss these assumptions as nonsense. If anything is true of what has been said here in the last few minutes, time is of the essence. We will take the cruiser apart down to the smallest detail if necessary.
McGee, call Abby and tell her to come over here as soon as possible. Preferably with your whole laboratory. We will set up stationary here, there is no other way of doing it. Help her with the organizational preparations.
Kate, Tony. Get your things. We enter the ship and begin. "
Everything broke into hustle and bustle, and Mulder and Scully stood up. "There is only one question left: How did the SeaCrawler get here?"
Gibbs eyed the FBI agent again.It really seemed strange to him. "That's true. But that's the least of all of which interests me at the moment, Agent Mulder. And so we can understand: Nonetheless, this is the field of NCIS. You can stay and I will accept your help. But nothing happens here, without having discussed it with me beforehand. I don't want to go it alone! "
Mulder cocked his head, his brown eyes sparkled angrily, and Scully had to intervene one more time. "You're the boss. That got there, clear enough."
The NCIS agent met her again and they looked at each other in silence for a while. Then suddenly Gibbs smiled and let her out of sight. "Before we start our collaboration, I