The Last Ship (2014) s05e09 Episode Script

Courage

1 Previously, on "The Last Ship".
If we work with the rebels, take control of the island, we can us it as a staging ground.
We take Cuba we can win this war.
Your leg or your life?! We're under attack and require immediate assistance.
I swore an allegiance to my president.
You may have hit us hard, but you didn't finish us.
Come at us again, I dare you.
That was a dumb thing you did.
You could have killed yourself.
I didn't.
We have an invasion to plan.
16, 17, 18, 19, 20.
Rest.
Thanks.
You watch.
When I get my new legs fitted, start doing laps around this place.
When you get your new legs fitted, I'm taking you home.
Did you get my dress whites? I want to look sharp for the fellas when I see them on the James tomorrow.
My first time back on board since my Eric.
The James is gone.
Mom and I went down to the pier this morning to deliver USO packages before I came here, and the ship isn't there.
What? There were a bunch of other family members down there, as surprised as we were.
Please, please don't be upset.
I I know you you had your your heart set on going, and Are you okay? It's on.
The invasion this is it.
D-Day's coming.
The fact that we got out without anyone knowing means we got a shot to win this thing.
Attention all hands.
This is your captain.
We have now crossed south of the 18th parallel.
In addition to the Marines onboard, we have 300 more following us on USS Michener.
It's our job to see to it that they make it safely to their destination.
From this moment forward, all contacts surface, subsurface, and airborne are to be considered hostile.
The battle before us will most likely alter the course of the war.
The conflict that began in Mayport will end on the beaches of South America.
And we will be victorious.
That is all.
Fresh intel from the rebels.
There are now two divisions of troops stationed in Panama at the mouth of Gatun Locks.
It's about 7,000 men.
How? There's no way they rebuilt the bridge at the Darien Gap.
He must have pulled troops off the front lines in Mexico and Nicaragua.
The canal is Gustavo's center of gravity, and he knows it.
He's hunkering down, waiting for us.
In view of this intelligence, the planned-on landing on the outskirts of.
Colon, Panama, will not work.
- So we pivot.
- Where? Where's a soft spot? Where do we land? Costa Rica? Based on Dr.
Montano's war plans, Gustavo likes to hang back until he's certain of where we're striking, and then mount a counterattack.
Yes, sir.
That's the Marines' experience.
So any beach we choose will feel like a soft spot at first.
So we don't waste our energy getting bogged down in a protracted land engagement when we're outgunned and outmanned.
We go with the beach that leads us straight to the king.
What do we know of Gustavo's defenses in Colombia? Armando's rebels reported peculiar troop concentrations here, here, and here.
That's the area where Gustavo was born.
A town called Rubi.
I bet he's there now.
There are several options for beaches to hit.
The most obvious ones here and here are most likely heavily mined and protected.
There is a beach area here.
Locals call it Playa Roja.
Red Beach.
It's small, a little steep and rocky for an amphibious landing.
Which means it's probably less guarded.
So we'll make our landing there, take out any troop bases, fight our way to Rubi, and take out Tavo.
Sir? Ma'am, we had eyes on our Panama landing for weeks.
We had every detail of that place mapped out.
No one's sending any Marines in without a solid plan, Colonel.
We'll send in a recon and surveillance team to give us a complete picture of the beach.
If that checks out, come morning, we're invading Colombia.
Navy and Marines, side by side.
I'll brief the team, sir.
Tavo.
The Americans have been planning an invasion from Cuba for months now.
But now they know that they are not strong enough to take Panama.
They are going to look for a place less strongly defended.
We need to protect our base in Colombia.
- At the expense of the canal? - Forget the canal.
They cannot threaten the canal with two or three ships.
They are going to try to win with a single strike.
We do agree, Tavo.
We all agree that we are vulnerable.
But it is up to you.
Either we move our troops back to Colombia, or we find someplace safe to move you.
Then what do you want to do? 900 miles to the Colombian coast.
I wonder how many shifts Gustavo's got patrolling between here and there.
Two, maybe three.
Losing that Mexican oil terminal had to slow him down.
- What's wrong? - That beach.
We don't have any larger scale charts of our landing zone? You you look different than the first time we met.
You were haunted.
Or maybe hunted.
This is what war has done to you.
Cool movie projector.
Old-school.
Yeah, my old man sent it to me.
He teaches film appreciation at my old high school.
Hi, Dad.
Hi, Cherry Hill.
Dad wanted students to see films as they were made.
On film.
So that's what we're gonna do.
We got a classic tonight.
These guys are about to storm the beaches of South America.
A lot of them probably won't come back alive.
You think they're in the mood for a movie? Well, that's sort of the point.
The way I see it, I'm just lucky to be alive.
The virus, famine.
The war.
Everybody I know is dead except for these guys.
You know what I'm talking about? People are freaking out at home right about now.
Should they be? I don't know.
Maybe.
I mean, if we lose down here, there's not much to stop the enemy from I don't know.
Moving in.
So yeah, freaking out sounds about right.
You ever get afraid? Afraid, sure.
Fear is something you carry around with the rest of your gear.
You know, it's, uh It's a lot like my boy Miller used to say.
You know, you, um When you're on a mission and your pack gets too heavy, you got to dump the stuff that's useless, and fear is just one of those things.
Where's Miller now? Is this gonna get broadcast? Yes, of course.
What's up, Miller? Do your reps and don't get lazy.
I'ma see you stateside.
And if you're out of shape, I'm gonna kick your ass.
This man makes battle decisions based on seeing a bird in the sky.
It's his wife.
He executes loyal officers based on his fortune teller's reading.
Hector, how many of our troops have to die for this for this madman? Gentlemen, please, have some respect.
- He brought us this far.
- You started this.
And now you're afraid to pull the trigger? What is your problem?! I have known this man my whole life.
We were kids together.
The man you knew is gone.
General, you know this is true.
He is a danger to us all now.
Every hour we wait is another hour is puts our entire continent at risk.
I say we vote.
Here and now.
All right.
Raise your hands if you agree.
At the Commanding Officer's dinner, Gustavo Barros will die.
Admiral, I have something at SLQ-32.
Bearing? 0-1-5.
Set general quarters.
Aye, aye, sir.
All hands set general quarters.
Michener on semaphore reports contact at 0-1-7 relative bearing.
Gator, calculate range.
Calculating.
With current bearing lines, I have them at 27 miles.
Contact? Didn't expect he'd have ships patrolling this far north.
Maybe he has a fleet bigger than we figured.
I have two ships.
Noviembre- class corvettes.
Doing a crossing pattern up ahead, separating now.
Sentries stalking the waters, looking for us.
Stop the ship.
All stop.
Bridge, T.
A.
O.
Admiral's orders, all stop.
All stop.
Zero turns, port and starboard.
I can't see them.
They're still over the horizon.
Gator, any sign they heard us? No deviation from established tracks as yet.
Speeds are unchanged.
Admiral's on the bridge.
How the hell are we gonna get past these guys? If it was just us, we might be able to slip through, but with the Michener behind us It's like wearing a big flashing sign, "We're here.
" We can't let them know we're here.
Even if we sink them, they'll radio back to Gustavo that we're coming.
The invasion's off.
Ideas? Sirs, ma'am.
If we calculate a moving plot of the area of awareness of each ship, and we slip along the edges of the two zones by starting and stopping, veering sharply, and occasionally going backwards, I think we can just miss each one.
It's like "Frogger.
" The old video game? All right, tell Michener to tuck in behind us as close as they can.
Course? 1-9-5.
- O.
O.
D.
, I have the conn.
- Aye, captain has the conn.
- Helm, set course 1-9-5.
- Aye, ma'am.
Setting course 1-9-5.
Signalman, alert Michener to come 200 yards astern.
Aye, sir.
We're gonna Frogger.
First ship approaching CPA in one minute.
Slow her down.
Trail shafts.
Aye, aye, ma'am.
What's your current wind? Sir, 14 knots on the port beam.
If we slow down any more, we're gonna start to yaw, and then we'll be presenting a great big radar reflection to them.
Let her skid if the wind starts to turn her.
Aye, aye, sir.
I've got a light on the horizon, dead ahead.
That's them, but they're passing.
They're passing CPA in 10 seconds.
Now seven, now five.
Take your rudder left 4 degrees.
Aye, aye, ma'am.
Rudder's left 4 degrees.
Passing on my mark.
Now! But here comes the second one.
Back one-third now! Signalman, tell Michener to back off one-third.
Yes, sir! That was way too close.
Second vessel is passing CPA Now.
All ahead full.
Aye, aye, ma'am.
All ahead full.
I think it worked.
They didn't see us.
Helm, come to course 2-6-5.
Aye, ma'am.
Setting course 2-6-5.
Nice job.
I've thought it over, Hector.
And I've made my decision.
We're going to move a battalion of troops back to Colombia.
Conchita showed me the signs, and they're auspicious for moving in this direction.
Please send my thanks to your oracle.
Thank you.
For everything.
Of course.
Always.
Sorry, ma'am, this is off-limits.
No cameras.
Unlike our initial target in Panama, this beach hasn't been mapped closely.
And it's right in Gustavo's backyard.
I want intel on the surf, the sand, and the landing area.
We need to know if and where the enemy has placed guns or troops.
A few hundred souls will be storming that beach tomorrow before dawn.
I don't want any surprises.
- Are we clear? - Yes, sir! Green, Burk, Wolf, you'll be headed back to the ship tonight.
Good luck and see you in a few hours.
Kandie, Barco, you're staying ashore to set targets.
Stay safe, stay quiet.
See you at dawn.
Got your swim legs? You know I do.
What is it? This is my last mission.
I mean it.
After this, after we do what we came here to do, I'm out.
I'm done with war.
And if after all this, you and Frankie can stand being around whatever's left of me, I'd love to come home.
You mean that? What do you say, Captain? We'll talk about it when you come back.
Okay.
You just make damn sure you come back.
Gear up, rookie.
We're out of here.
Bird is away.
Can we reach them on one watt? Yes, sir! For another minute or two.
Brawler, this is Nathan James.
You got your radio on? Nathan James, we are currently six miles from target.
Horizon's clear.
Try to keep that bird in one piece till you get back.
Copy that, sir.
Unless you see something that threatens the mission, go radio silent now.
Godspeed.
Nathan James out.
Going zip lip now, sir.
Catch you on the flip side.
T.
A.
O.
, mark the time.
Recon team will drop in three minutes.
Drop zone in 10 seconds! Gonna have a 15-foot jump.
My grandfather piloted a landing craft into Normandy.
A year later, he joined the 7th Fleet in the Pacific.
And here we are, doing it all over again.
History tends to repeat.
A lesson you can share with your class next semester, professor.
They should be on the beach by now.
This is Cobra One, commencing periphery scout.
Cobra Two and Four, establishing hide site.
Cobra Three and Five commencing hydrographic survey.
That's right, boys.
Just another night at the beach.
Cobra Team, this is Cobra Five.
Well, the good news is, so far, everything is consistent with what we've expected to find.
Copy that, Cobra Five.
And the bad news? Well, so far, everything is consistent with what we expected to find.
We have steep inclines and various near-surface obstructions.
I'm gonna suggest the Admiral rename this operation.
"Less Than Ideal.
" This is Cobra One.
I've got two observation posts with machine-gun placements.
Looks like .
240s.
250 meters apart.
33 and 36 yards from shore.
A dozen or so military-aged males standing watch.
Some kind of makeshift barracks on the bluff.
Hard to tell how many more could be up there.
Copy that, Cobra One.
- Ready? - Ready! Cobra Two, antenna is set.
Establishing connection with Navy Spear.
I count swell periods of five to seven seconds.
Direction is north, northwest.
It's gonna be a bumpy climb up the beach.
I got the pucks.
XO, you all right? It's so beautiful here, man.
It's peaceful.
It's hard to believe how different this place is gonna be in a few hours.
Let's go.
Navy Spear, this is Cobra Four.
Drinks are on the house.
Over.
Cobra Four, this is Stonewall Six.
Go ahead with sit rep.
Two anti-air artillery pieces.
Half a dozen men with AK-47s.
Change of command TBD.
Regular patrol every 15 minutes.
Conbeachrep consistent with previous satellite imagery.
Coral outcroppings and obstructions currently being marked in the water with infrared pucks.
Cans.
Hear that? Marking.
I'm sorry, sir.
I'm not hearing anything.
- A vessel, sir? - The battleship.
No sign of her since the spring.
She's back.
Enhancing low frequencies.
Maybe they cut their engines, sir.
Admiral, surface contact on passive bearing 0-4-4.
Now 0-4-3.
- Unable to identify on SLQ-32.
- There is a ship out there.
Damn, it's right between us and our team on the beach.
- Sonar? - I have it.
Scanning profiles now.
It's a corvette.
They followed us south? No, sir.
Previous contacts were Noviembres.
This this is an Espora class.
Another ship.
This far east of Panama? There's no sign they've changed course or speed.
I don't think they've seen us yet.
Even if we stay at Emcon Alpha, chances are she'll find us or Michener very soon.
We move, we're found out, and the operation is blown.
We stay put, same outcome.
And Cobra team is stranded on the beach.
We have to be ready to fight.
CIC, bridge.
Enable all manual bypass settings for weapons.
T.
A.
O.
, aye, dispatching now.
Don't energize until my command.
Worse comes to worst, we're gonna have to sacrifice Nathan James to save Michener.
Keep those Marines on mission.
By that time, Gustavo's entire army will be at the beach.
There won't be any mission.
Uh, ma'am? Sirs? If I may? I think I know a way for us to stay invisible.
Jamming? They'll sense that.
Sir, I can do it without them even knowing that their system's being jammed.
- How? - Send out the helo, align it with their bow, and emit a custom-coded HF signal.
Now, the software doesn't kill the radar entirely, but it creates a loop, giving them false imagery.
Software? I never heard of it.
Uh, it's new, sir.
And full disclosure, untested.
I started developing it in my JMO course before we got called up.
Kind of a pet project.
Show us.
Mother, this is Brawler.
Radar jammer on board.
We are ready for action.
Copy that, Brawler.
So, once the HF signal's picked up on enemy radar, they won't be able to see us, even though our helo's right in front of them? Yes, sir.
I've only been able to test this on commercial radar, but it was designed to operate above 1,000 megahertz.
It'll render, sir.
I know it.
We good? Going in low, slow, and without a glow.
Let's hope this nerd knows what he's doing.
Here we go, girls! Mother, we are seven mikes to target.
The entire war effort is riding on an untested invisibility cloak.
This programmer hasn't failed us yet.
The corvette's still in its standard search pattern, ma'am.
Good.
Let's hope we can keep it that way.
Helo should be coming up on corvette's radar range soon.
Brawler, Mother.
Initiate jamming sequence.
Uh, Ensign? Shouldn't this thing be whooshing or something? Negative, ma'am.
Don't worry.
It's engaged.
I marked three areas of obstruction.
IR signals are set to turn on just before we launch.
We got about a dozen pucks left.
Let's carve out a lane for the tracks.
Mother, this is Brawler.
We are in position.
Here she comes.
And we're live, Mother.
Corvette should be panning the helo as we speak.
Is it working? Yes, sir, Admiral.
It should be.
Monitoring the corvette's HF chatter now.
They're silent.
No alerts, no alarms.
We're drowning in radar right now.
I can't believe they can't see us.
I got something! Biologicals.
Dolphins.
Corvette is changing course.
Toward Nathan James.
Prepare to drop Emcon Alpha! Hold on.
They're talking.
Gran Colombia Reina, reporting in.
Minor adjustment to avoid marine interference.
Resuming the search pattern.
Nathan James is now clear of enemy ship.
The jamming worked.
Sir? If you don't mind my saying, you sailors sure know how to put on a show.
Just another day at sea, Colonel.
Shit.
Cobra Team, we have a contact.
Should we engage? Negative.
We can't give up our position.
They can handle it.
Come on, boys.
Oh, no.
They found the marker! Fernando.
Fernando? You take the forepeak.
I'll clear below aft.
Okay, Burk! You okay? Come on, man.
You got to get up.
Come on.
Come on.
I got you.
God damn, Danny.
Oh, God damn.
Come on, Burk.
Hey, stay with me now.
Burk.
Burk.
Hector! Brother! Welcome.
Come in.
Felipe already started.
He's hungry.
But we can eat now.
Sit.
The generals, unfortunately, won't be joining us.
Sí, Tavo.
Tavo, what is going on? Bad news, Hector.
The generals? They were plotting against me.
Who, Tavo? Eat, Hector.
Gazpacho shouldn't be allowed to warm to room temperature.
It's good.
There must be a mistake.
You're telling me there was a coup amongst my generals? Your generals? I hope they aren't your generals, Hector.
No.
They're cowards.
And I warned you against them.
Are you sure? I've known these men a very long time.
I would have heard something.
There is no mistake, Hector.
So you have proof? Conchita saw it.
In the cards.
Tavo.
We cannot play with men's lives.
These cards cannot always be trusted.
They confessed.
Chacon, Bianchi, Rodriguez, Munos, Moreno.
Every single one of them.
Oh, my God.
But it doesn't matter, not really.
All I wanted to know the only thing I asked them before I removed their intestines was, did Hector know? Of course, none of them gave you up.
But they gave each other up real quick.
But you? Not you.
Then I started feeling bad.
For doubting you.
It's it's okay.
No, no, no, no.
With all the pressure from the war, I've I know I've gone a little crazy.
And I'm sorry about that.
You don't have to apologize, Tavo.
I support you.
Always.
Of course you do.
Of course, I know.
That is why I want you to lead the investigation to see just how far down this conspiracy goes.
I want it torn out by the roots! Sí, Tavo.
I will handle it personally.
Like always.
Like always.
Conchita.
Hector, my friend.
My brother.
If you're gonna stab a man in the back, the least that you can do is look him in the eye! Tavo.
Dios Viva Tavo.
You can wear your uniform home, but not longer than 30 days.
Suppose they paid you off in South.
And you went home on foot.
They can't tell you how to go home.
You can go home on a pogo stick.
You got to think of your mother.
The regulations clearly state That only applies to Marines.
You ain't really a Marine anymore.
Besides, the regulations is very elastic.
I was even a colonel once for a couple of days.
And a brig hound for a couple of months.
Back it up 20 seconds, please.
14:22.
You're sure that's the correct marker? Admiral Chandler says he heard the battleship between these frames? I'm positive, ma'am.
I've studied the recording from end to end, and I can't find anything.
Guess Gator's got the right idea.
Try and keep their minds off things, even just for a few hours.
So, tell me, Admiral.
What's going through your head on the night before D-Day? Nathan James.
The ship? The sailor.
Ship's namesake.
Captain Nathan James skippered a PT boat during the war in the Pacific.
His fleet was decimated.
His boat was all that was left standing against nine Japanese destroyers.
The boat sank beneath him.
Not before he stopped the enemy's advance.
He single-handedly saved a fleet of newly repaired American destroyers coming out of Pearl Harbor carrying thousands of sailors into the fight.
Captain James said, "War is a beast.
" It appears in many forms.
Sometimes it's the beast you face head on, out on the field of battle.
As equals.
Sometimes the beast hides out.
Lurking somewhere in the deep, biding its time "until, when your guard is dropped, it comes for you.
" "Bloodthirsty and merciless.
" "And it drags you under.
On any given day, you never know which beast you're gonna face.
" Which beast is it for you, Admiral? All aboard! I knew the Marines could do almost anything, but I never knew they could do anything like this.
You've got no idea.

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