Thick gray-white billows of smoke curled lazily from the smoldering cigarette butt to the ceiling and enveloped the already blurred images on the small television in fog. There were several men standing around him, all of them elderly and dressed in expensive suits. They watched the scenes in silence, but it was clearly noticeable that what was shown caused great discomfort among those present.
The site of the SeaCrawler was shown in brief excerpts, the hustle and bustle of a few workers who erected several large field tents and unloaded transporters full of technical equipment, and a group of investigators who gathered around a night-black NCIS truck and had heated discussions.
Whoever had taken these recordings slowly enlarged the setting and brought every single member of this group closer to where they could be recognized. The unnaturally slim, almost skinny man with his cigarette huffed disapprovingly and tossed it carelessly into the overflowing ashtray on his right.“Mulder!” His colleague's sighed exclamation made out the dissatisfaction everyone present felt at the sight of the tall FBI agent. "We should have known that a forced transfer to the office wouldn't stop him."
“We knew it.” The cigarette was now crushed with profound indulgence, the last remaining smoke nipped in the bud. "Mulder isn't the problem here. We still have him in hand."
The camera shot continued to pan over the faces of some young agents and then stuck to the obviously senior citizen. "He's going to cause us a lot more trouble if we're not careful. At the FBI we have our people in the right places that Mulder and Scully take on if they get too pushy. But he ..."
"Who is he?"
Another of the men spoke up. He was stocky and his hair was already completely gray. "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, senior agent at NCIS.We must not underestimate him under any circumstances. The NCIS has so far eluded our influence in an extremely clever way, and taking into account an additional federal authority only makes our task much more difficult. "
"Eliminate him."
The men seemed to consider this possibility for a moment, but the squat objected. "No. We can't possibly turn it off without drawing attention to ourselves."
“But neither can we let them continue!” The urgency of the statement made the speaker's voice sound more brisk than intended. "It should never have come to this. Under no circumstances should the NCIS even begin to learn what this is actually about."
"We have to act, there is no question about that. First and foremost, it is now about damage limitation. All further steps must wait."
There was silence again and the men continued to stare spellbound at the repetitive images. The Drought reached for his red box of Morleys and lit another cigarette.He sucked the hot smoke deep into his lungs. "I take care of it."

Over the small encampment in Tennessee, the merciless sun was slowly sinking towards the horizon and halfway through the endless corn and corn fields. Like liquid fire, her last rays licked and bathed the landscape at her feet in an unreal light. A significant cooling for the night was not to be expected.
Mulder and Scully had returned to the SeaCrawler once more to get samples for Abby from the hold. The rest helped with the final steps of the assembly.
In fact, every level of the storage room had been deserted. Only in one of the rooms had there been signs of recently stolen cargo, and a liquid had collected in the drag marks on the floor, which Scully and Mulder had broken open to investigate.
The engine room had been in a desolate condition and Gibbs had already taken the first steps to have the cruiser scrapped following their investigation.It would have to be welded apart on the spot. That thought alone broke the heart of the former Navy gunny.
He smiled crookedly when the tarpaulin was thrown back and a man who was also a bit older came in, took off his hat and blinked around. "Ducky! It's good that you actually managed to move here so quickly." He helped his friend out of his hopelessly sweaty coat. "Where's Abby?"
The forensic doctor, who was a good head shorter than Gibbs, brushed the dust off his clothes and then accepted the water with thanks. "Oh, she's out with Kate and Tony. Listening to the first news, I guess." He sat down.
"Jethro, what on earth got into you, calling us here in such a rush? I hope you have a good reason for that, otherwise I'll be forced to take you home with me so that you can mine Mother can explain it all.Because you should know that she has organized a dinner for tonight that I shouldn't be missing out on. There it will then ... "
"Ducky." Gibbs smiled and interrupted him gently but firmly. "We both know very well that your mother wouldn't even recognize the difference between a saucepan and her Sunday night-out hat. How is there going to be a meal together? Quite apart from that, no one is that crazy to voluntarily spend an evening with you and to spend with your mother. "
Ducky put the glass to one side and got up again to go over to the table on which several bodies arched, veiled. "You are forgetting her five closest confidants, the Japanese cockerel dachshunds. She bought them all new food bowls made from flower pots and kept the shredded meat from three days ago in the refrigerator. And that only for tonight. I even got an extra large flower pot myself Until recently, this was the home of a proud yucca palm that was bequeathed to it by its deceased neighbor."He shrugged his shoulders." She just doesn't like flowers. "
Gibbs laughed softly. So that meant nothing more than that Ducky was grateful not to have to spend tonight with his mother. He lit the kerosene lamps in the tent and then stepped next to the medic. The sun was now resting behind the horizon.
“Well, what happened to these brave marines anyway?” He pulled back the heavy linen sheet with a swing and looked at the naked man with a trained look. "You want to kid me, or did you know something about tonight, Jethro?" He looked reproachfully over his glasses. "This man was obviously shot."
The agent inclined his head in confirmation, but immediately raised a hand to stop the other person's complaint. "You'll find these injuries in everyone lying here, Duck. That's why I didn't let you come. I want you to take a close look at the inner workings of these men and pay attention to anything that is not normal.""Well ... don't I always do that?"
Gibbs growled. "Yes, but especially this time. You won't work alone. A lady from the FBI will be at your side. She also has more information about what you're actually looking for." "Where's your assistant anyway?"
"Mr. Palmer stayed at home, which he thought was more desirable in view of the heat here. And besides, at least one of us has to keep in touch with the base." “Can you tell me what this is about?” He waved one hand in the rough direction of the Navy cruiser. "I can imagine that it has something to do with it."
"We are looking for evidence of a virus that attacks the organs of a body and its cells and slowly decomposes them piece by piece."
In surprise, Gibbs and Ducky turned to the voice. Scully had entered the tent unnoticed."You must be Dr. Mallard, I suppose?"
The person addressed adjusted his glasses and eyed the FBI agent attentively. "Indeed, I am. And you are ..."
“Agent Dana Scully.” She smiled and shook hands with the man who was not much taller than herself.
“Dana Scully.” Ducky muttered to himself as if that name reminded him of something. Then suddenly his face lit up. "Sure you did. Scully! Your father served in the Marines too, right?"
She nodded slowly.
"I knew him well, you know? An exemplary marine, only unfortunately far too tied up in that determination." His look turned sad. "I'm really very sorry, Miss Scully. It's a shame he left us so early."
For a moment they were awkwardly silent until Scully was the first to break free and walk over to the tables. In her left hand she waved a clear glass tube. "This is what we are looking for.I don't think we'll actually find any residue, but I hope so. Mulder will be taking the other tubes next door for fornesics so that we can have reference material as soon as possible. "
Gibbs patted Ducky on the shoulder, then prepared to leave. His work was done here, from now on he would only be in the way. “I think I can leave you both alone.” He stopped in front of Scully, however, and caught her gaze with a faint smile. "You are in good hands with Dr. Mallard. If you still have reason to complain, you can always contact me. Not everyone is comfortable with his methods."
Ducky snorted reproachfully but couldn't get his friend's attention. Scully just nodded, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other. She almost jumped in shock when the NCIS agent's hand closed around hers, lingered for a moment, and then took the tube from her."I don't think you need that anymore. I'll take it to Abby's." He let go of her and went out. Scully followed him thoughtfully with eyes.
“Red hair.” Ducky shook his head in resignation, then grinned innocently as Scully turned to face him with a raised eyebrow.

"Spooky Mulder! I can't believe you're honoring my humble laboratory with your presence."
Mulder stared at the petite woman in front of him, puzzled, trying to understand what she meant by that. Without a doubt she seemed completely excited, her eyes shone and her two black-haired pigtails, which stood like feelers from her head, bounced wildly as she jumped at him and embraced him full of exuberance. He looked helplessly at Gibbs, who now appeared behind him in the tent entrance. He just grinned at him with a shrug. "What did I say?"
"Oh man, Gibbs, you should have told me that we have such high-ranking visitors!" Abby beamed from one to the other and didn't seem to notice the indefinable look the men exchanged this time.Without a word he