What's our ETA at Vatinaie Island, X?
30 minutes. Good.
Dutchy, have the medical supplies loaded into the RHIB.
Swain and the remote area nurse are seeing to that now, sir.
I'll check how they're going.
I'll lead this shore party, X. We've got a tight turnaround.
I wanna thank you again, Commander.
Always a pleasure.
We like to honour our
international welfare obligations.
Well, medical supplies are one thing
but you weren't obligated to give me a lift.
Thank you for that.
From memory, your clinic's a bit of a trek.
Yeah, it is. Sorry.
We're walking all the way? No.
A monorail will be around in a minute to pick us up.
(ROOSTER CROWS)
I see nothing's changed since we were last here.
2DADS: What, it's always been this flash?
I volunteered, so I'm not complaining.
I love it here. It's very hands-on.
I like that.
Hey! No, no, no, get rid of that!
It's a grenade! Throw it!
2DADS: Dutchy!
(GROANS) Dutchy.
MIKE: Here, Swain. 2DADS: Can you hear me?
Dutchy, can you hear us?
Put him on the table.
Dutchy, keep pressure on that spot.
Sir, gonna have to lose the shirt.
There's trauma to the head and torso,
multiple lacerations,
microparticles, shrapnel.
We have blood plasma in the new supplies, right?
Yeah. We're gonna need all of it.
Hope you got a steady hand for this stuff.
I'll have to, won't I?
Why are kids playing with a live grenade?
He would have thought it was inactive.
The island is full of old weapons.
All the men here are heavily armed.
Tiken! Suil, I'm sorry.
Who did this? No-one, Suil.
Your son was playing with a hand grenade.
This is no-one's fault.
Listen, we have work to do now, OK?
Everything's gonna be alright.
Sir, you have to let them help your son.
SWAIN: Can you keep pressure on that? I'll grab a saline bag.
Sir?
Sir, come check this out.
What's going on here? No idea. But they've got guns.
RO: Sir.
You men, my name is Commander Mike Flynn,
Royal Australian Navy.
I don't know what it is you want,
but we have an injured boy inside.
The boy will die?
Not if we can help it.
And what do you want?
(GUN CLICKS)
BOMBER: No! (GUNSHOT)
(MEN FIRE)
RO, pull back. Pull back!
Can't say that anything's actually penetrated the skull.
Yeah, he's lucky.
But his eyes... Oh.
Hopefully it's just dust impact but it did have a lot of force.
(GUNFIRE)
We'll need another litre of normal saline.
Sure.
You think they've run out of rounds?
I don't know. Probably waiting until we leave.
Back off! Drop your weapons!
Hey, hey, let me handle this.
2Dads! Just let's cool this right down.
Look, sir, there's no need for weapons, OK?
Let's just talk about this and sort it out.
SWAIN: What's happening out there?
Things seem to be quietening down.
How's the boy? Still alive.
Any closer to that grenade and we wouldn't be saying that.
I'm not sure about his eyes. Corneas might be scarred.
Keep doing what you can.
DUTCHY: I understand you have reservations for each other...
Suil, what happened to your son was an accident.
It was no-one's fault.
Suil.
Your son is alive.
What's the issue here?
Ifo is young and has no respect.
(HISSES) Ifo!
There'll be no more of this, do you understand?
Do you understand?
Yes.
Go.
Tell your friends not to come back here.
And you can't give me an exact ETA?
WOMAN ON RADIO: Not at this stage.
(SIGHS) Yeah, no, I understand. Roger that. Out.
Sir, local medivac, and it's the only one,
can't give me an exact ETA, but it's gonna be several hours.
Roger.
NURSE: That was Ifo and a group of younger men?
Yes.
They're the young bucks.
Any opportunity to stir things up.
Why? They want a new chief.
And Suil is the chief? Yeah.
The older men want certainty, the young want change.
Sometimes guns get waved around.
No-one really gets hurt.
And you keep coming back to this?
I'm the only medical help for hundreds of miles.
I'm safe.
Swain, you and Dutchy will stay
to supervise the medical evacuation
and keep an eye on Sarah.
She seems to think there's nothing to worry about.
I wish I had her confidence.
Things do seem to have settled down
but we've got three islands to drop supplies to, so...
We'll be right, boss.
Chopper from Port Moresby should be here in a few hours.
We'll be back in six. Keep the sat phone.
RO. RO: Yes, sir.
Happy sailing.
Hey.
How is he?
His pulse is still irregular.
But his blood pressure's getting closer to normal.
You think he's made it through the worst?
Looks like it.
(EXHALES)
Thanks for helping.
Well done. You, um... you were terrific.
You know, 'terrific' really means 'to fill with terror'.
Yep. Yeah, that's what I meant.
You should probably go and get some sleep or something.
Dutchy and I can keep an eye on him.
Are you kidding? I've got all these supplies to unpack.
OK.
MIKE ON P. A: XO and shore party close up boat deck
for medical supply drop on Kaiten Island.
CHARGE: There you go, mate.
Ow! Ooh. Here.
(LAUGHS) Gonna have to do something
about those two left feet, Bird.
You OK? Yeah.
XO: You two wanna go back to the RHIB?
Roger.
You, uh, need to get out of those wet things?
Ha ha. Keep moving.
(LAUGHS) Come on.
(BIRD GROANS AND COUGHS) Bird?
Are you OK?
What's wrong?
I feel like I've been run over.
Can I get you some water, or?
I'll be fine. I just need some air.
Or maybe you can give me something.
No, it's Swain's gig. He'd need to authorise it.
(GROANS) Bird?
Hey, what's wrong?
I feel like something's stabbing me.
She's been vomiting. (GROANS)
Bird?
She's in a bad way.
(BREATHES PAINFULLY)
What would cause this?
I... Oh, I've got no idea.
I feel tingly... all over.
It...
It hurts.
It's OK.
XO ON RADIO: She is vomiting
and she has severe stomach cramps.
Uh-huh. And what's her temperature?
42.
Er, OK, um...
Look, give her 100 milligrams of paracetamol.
you've got to keep her hydrated.
But, look, she really needs proper medical attention.
Can we divert the medivac helo that's coming here?
See what I can do, Swain. Can you hold on a tick?
Swain, it's the CO. Bad news.
The medivac helo, it's not coming.
What, not at all?
Well, we're not at home now. We work with what we've got.
HMAS 'Newcastle' is about 10 hours away from our position.
They have a doctor, full medical set-up.
Our priority will be to get Bird there.
How are things at your end?
Oh, yeah, boy's holding his own.
He's unconscious but his vitals are improving.
Look, Swain, this means we won't be able to get back to you
till early tomorrow morning.
Then we'll evacuate your patient by sea.
Yeah, understood, sir. That should be fine.
The situation here hasn't changed.
Right. Well, we'll keep in contact hourly.
Sir.
Is there a problem? (BREATHES DEEPLY)
Medivac helo's not coming.
And Bird's sick.
(GASPS)
Thanks. you're welcome.
I know it's selfish but I'm glad you were forced to stay.
(LAUGHS) Cheers.
Do you want me to open that for you?
No, it's good. I got it.
Must get Ionely out here sometimes.
Particularly being the only, um...
Whitey?
I was gonna say "medical person", but, yeah.
Yeah.
I think you're very brave doing what you do out here.
Does your partner ever visit?
Partners aren't exactly compatible with this lifestyle.
It's hardly the Maldives. Yeah. I noticed.
Yet here you are, eh?
Do you ever wish you weren't married?
Yeah, sometimes.
Sir, I just heard about Bird.
I just need to know what happened on the island.
Did she eat anything? Um...
No, I didn't think...
No, she didn't.
Drink anything? Only from her canteen.
Are you sure? Positive.
OK, thanks.
Sir... how serious is it?
I really don't know.
His pulse is getting stronger by the minute.
You could almost say that he's stabilised.
Thank God.
What about his eyes?
Have to wait till they recover from the shock
but his corneas are probably gonna be scraped and scarred.
So, will he see?
We won't know till we change the bandages.
(GUNFIRE)
Don't overreact! We have to be patient with these people.
Understood. I don't know that you do.
The only way I can do good here
is if I remain completely neutral.
I get it, I'II...
(GROANS) Suil!
Swain, he's been shot.
What happened here, Suil? What have you done?
They're coming. If they find me, they kill me.
Get a pressure bandage.
Looks like it's only torn through skin and muscle.
Jeez, you're lucky. He's still bleeding.
Yeah, we need to get it closed up.
Dutchy, can you get me a fresh dressing?
Yeah.
You clean, I sew? We sound like a good team.
We're getting way too much practice.
T... C...
B...
What was that?
Can... can't f...
Can't f...
C... I don't understand.
Can't f-f... fee...
Do you want something?
Point to it.
Bird, can you feel that?
C... can't... f...
What is it? Paralysis.
Is there anything I can do? Anything you need?
No, 2Dads, there's nothing.
I've done everything Swain told me to.
Are you sure you have no idea
what happened to her on the island?
Sorry, no.
OK, we have the sat phone.
Bomber, you don't have to do this on your own.
I'll call 'Newcastle's medical officer.
(PHONE BEEPS)
(CHECKS BLOOD PRESS URE)
She was drinking from it
while the X and Charge were walking to the village.
Then she threw some at me, um...
That water came from on board. It's not contaminated.
No, no... No-one else is ill.
But it's full now. See? What if she filled it up on the island?
Bird, did you drink water from that island?
X, I think we've got something.
It looks like the water on the island might be contaminated.
Without analysing it... Wait.
On the boat deck, there are still some medical supplies
we haven't delivered yet.
Chances are there are water testing kits.
Right, sir, I'm onto that.
Has Bird responded in any way to what we've been giving her?
I don't know, sir.
But, sir, Bomber seems out of her depth.
Thanks, RO.
If my son dies, they think they can take over.
We've got visitors.
Give us the old man!
You know I can't do that. You should leave.
He shot at me.
He is old and stupid.
you're not taking him. He is my patient.
And you're not coming in!
We want Suil! Hey, back off!
Back off.
Now!
Leave.
All of you, leave!
You shouldn't have done that.
What choice did I have?
I might have been able to talk him around.
It didn't look like that was working.
But now you've gone and drawn a gun on him!
To him and his friends, we've taken sides.
We're not neutral anymore.
XO: We've used a total water quality test kit
and so far we have had negative readings
on lead, copper, zinc,
sulfate... pesticides and nitrates.
The bacteria test won't show us conclusive results
for at least another 10 hours
but so far it's showing us nothing.
Sir, we don't understand it.
We've followed the instructions to the letter.
She's getting worse.
The younger men have most of the guns.
Yeah, that explains why they're so cocksure of themselves.
They're like young lions
sensing the old bull is weak enough to be challenged.
People are leaving the village.
We have to head to the beach. They'll be expecting that.
There's gotta be somewhere else
we can rendezvous with 'Hammersley'.
There's only one other beach, on the other side of the island.
Around 12 miles! That's gonna have to do.
Suil, we have to head off now.
They'll kill my son. He's still unconscious, Suil.
He may be unconscious for hours yet.
My cousins are nearby. They can help to carry him.
We'll need extra pain medication for Tiken.
It'll be hard when he wakes. Go get your cousins now.
I don't think we have much time.
I hope we're on the right side.
MIKE: Heading where?
Well, that depends. What's your ETA?
We're still en route to HMAS 'Newcastle'.
Still two hours away from that rendezvous point.
Is it possible to return to us directly?
Bird's condition has deteriorated,
so that's not an option.
you'll need to find a safe place to spend the night.
We'll rendezvous in the morning. Copy that.
We're crossing to a beach
on the opposite side of the island now.
Keep us posted of any developments, Dutchy.
We'll do the same. Understood. Out.
See if there's any way
'Newcastle' can make their way towards us to save time.
Sir.
(TIKEN GROANS)
Tiken? (GROANS)
Tiken, shhh. You must be quiet.
No, no, it's best not to touch them.
Everything's gonna be OK.
My son is strong.
Let's move. OK, we have to go now.
MAN ON RADIO: Our medic will examine the patient
and make an evaluation - over.
We'd appreciate that.
Is he ready to come across now? Affirmative.
Stand by to receive.
Hey.
I just feel useless.
We're doing everything we can.
Just hang in there, Bird. It's not long now.
Bird?
She's unconscious. I'm way out of my depth now.
Bomber, this is Lieutenant Rogers.
He's the MO from 'Newcastle'.
She just lost consciousness.
Her pulse is 120 and her BP is 80 over 55.
OK, you've given her fluids? Yep.
But I don't know how much she's retained and she keeps vomiting.
She's in respiratory distress. Grab the oxygen.
We'll deal with this quickly
and then we'll get her outta here, OK?
(O X YGEN HISSES)
Keep it moving. Every second counts.
That's it. OK, let's go.
Move.
You did well.
We've done all we can here.
(WATER SPLASHES) (MOTOR REVS)
(SIGHS) There's no sat signal here.
The hills must be too high, satellite signal too low.
Need to get higher.
Do you want us to wait? No.
I don't want you to lose any time. Be right behind you.
Good luck.
He only does it to show off. Come on.
RO: Sir. Dutchy.
Dutchy. Reporting in, sir.
We've transferred Bird to HMAS 'Newcastle'
and we're on our way back now.
How is she? She's still serious.
But she's getting the best attention.
What's your situation?
We haven't seen any hostiles in the last hour.
We're making our way across the island.
OK, I estimate a rendezvous at map reference Alpha Echo 3-5
at around 0900.
Keep a low profile until then. Will do. Out.
Where are we?
S ARAH: We're about halfway across the island.
My head hurts.
We'll rest soon, Tiken. Right now we have to keep moving, OK?
Well, we'll push on till we're up this hill.
And then we can... MAN: Hey! Come this way.
MAN 2: Around there. SWAIN: Suil?
MAN 3: We need help. MAN 4: I can hear someone.
Get down. Get down.
He's army. Pick him up. Pick him up.
You can do it, brother. I can hear someone.
I'll get his gun. Let's go, let's go. Come on.
SWAIN: Where the hell is Dutchy?
This way. They're all around us.
Grab his hand. Come on.
SWAIN: Now, listen, can you use that?
Yeah, I grew up on a farm. (MEN TALK)
MAN: There. Let's go. you're nearly there.
He's getting there. Almost there.
(DUTCHY GROANS)
Dutchy?
Sarah, n...
I'm Sarah Denton.
I just wanna talk to you.
We have no problem with you.
MAN: Oh, look, I can see. There's the chief.
Paddo!
Chief! Hey, look. (LAUGHS)
It's Paddo. So good to see you, Chief.
It's Paddo. (MEN TALK)
So is this friends or family?
I don't know. I've never seen these men before.
But you just approached them anyway?
Yes. (LAUGHS)
OK.
Dutchy. Hey.
You alright?
Paddo says he's sorry. He didn't hit you that hard.
Oh, hard enough.
I must go with them. I'll take Tiken.
No, Suil, I'm sorry. you're not taking Tiken.
He's my son! Suil.
Tiken needs to be in a hospital.
His eyes are gonna need surgery.
Father.
Tiken.
I'll go with my brothers.
We will lead the others away from you.
Be brave.
I'll take care of him.
Be careful, Suil.
Keep your wounds clean. Use clean bandages, OK?
Watch out for her. She talks too much.
Suchen, Biffo, you must stay with them. Look after my son.
See ya, Paddo.
Yeah. Thanks, Paddo.
Right.
We're not going anywhere in a hurry.
No.
It gets dark quickly here.
Alright, let's look around for a spot to set up camp.
OK.
ROGERS ON RADIO: Yeah, we've rehydrated her.
We've given her antipyretics and lots of antibiotics
but it doesn't seem to be a bacterial infection.
What does that mean?
Well, it means it's very hard to treat an illness
when we don't know what's actually causing it.
Look, she's holding her own but it could still go either way.
Right. Thanks for the update.
Let us know if there's any change.
Yeah, will do. Over. Sir.
We've been trying to raise Dutchy on the sat phone.
There's no response. Right.
Let's just hope it's a technical glitch.
Keep trying. When we get within range, use the radio.
Sir.
Sir, that'll be 9 hours and 13 minutes.
(TENSELY) Thank you, Robert.
I'm scared. Don't be scared.
We're just gonna quickly check your eyes, OK?
Just gonna have a quick look.
OK.
Now, relax.
S ARAH: That's it. OK.
Now open your eyes very slowly, just...
Everything's dark.
Yeah, it's night-time, mate. That's OK.
Just give your eyes a minute to adjust.
You can see us?
That's good. That's good.
OK.
Alright, mate, that's enough for now.
Your eyes need to rest. Just shut them again.
We're going to give you fresh bandages, OK?
(CRACKING AND RUSTLING) MAN: Hurry up.
Where is he?
you're too slow.
We need to find the old man.
SWAIN: Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. I looked there.
Remember, I looked.
You go through there, I'll go through this way.
(RUSTLING) Check. Check everywhere.
Sun starting to go down. It's gonna get dark.
(RUSTLING)
Remember, we stick together. Keep that gun up.
It looks like somebody's...
(VOICES AND RUSTLING FADE)
(EXHALES)
Oi. You have a nice beauty sleep, twinkle toes?
Yep.
Where have you been? Scouting.
There's nothing out there.
You should still be taking it easy.
What are the odds of that?
We've still got 6 miles to travel.
We're, um, ready to move out when you are.
Right. OK.
Um...
Well, we'll move out in 10 minutes, eh?
Anything happen between you two last night?
(LAUGHS) What? Just asking.
She's nice.
And I'm married.
Any news? Still nothing.
OK, let's assume they're still
heading to that beach as per our last call.
RO, ETA to radio range.
Uh, possibly hour and a half. Good.
Depends on their location.
If they're in a valley, it might be a bit... bit longer
and if they're up a hill, bit... bit shorter.
You sleep last night?
A bit.
Bird's gonna be OK, 2Dads.
you've gotta keep believing that.
I'm trying. Come on, mate.
I know she's got two left feet,
but she's got thick skin.
She's tough.
Ow! Ooh! You right?
Gonna have to do something about those two left feet, Bird.
(LAUGHS) Come on.
Charge, you're a genius.
She fell.
She...
What?
(KNOCK AT DOOR)
RO, I need to speak to that medical officer
on HMAS 'Newcastle'.
Yes. That request will have to go through the CO.
No, no, there's no time.
I have some information that might make a difference.
What kind of information?
The kind the medical officer needs to hear. Now. Come on.
'Newcastle', this is 'Hammersley'.
I need to speak to the medical officer. Over.
She fell? 2DADS: Er, yes.
She fell into the water, into a saltwater creek on this island.
One of her knees hit something just below the surface.
I think it was the right one.
She reacted to something, like a sharp pain.
Yeah, there's some inflammation here.
2DADS: Yeah? It looks like a tiny bite mark.
Thanks for that. I'll get back to you.
(GUNFIRE)
DUTCHY: See anything? No.
I think they're still after Tiken.
Can you cover me? Yeah. Go! Go!
Tiken.
You OK?
(SWAIN GRUNTS) Here, let me help.
Sarah!
Dutchy!
No, I got it, I got it, I got it. Come on. you're alright.
Come on. (GUNFIRE CONTINUES)
I'm OK, I'm OK.
Come on, we've gotta move! Yeah. Come on.
'Hammersley' to shore party, are you receiving?
Bird has cone shell poisoning?
That's the report that I got from HMAS 'Newcastle'.
It's a marine snail... Yeah, I know what they are.
They're highly venomous.
How did they work out it was a cone fish?
They got additional information from 2Dads.
'Hammersley' to shore party, are you receiving?
DUTCHY: 'Hammersley', are you receiving?
We're under enemy fire. Repeat, under enemy fire.
Charge, EOD. Sir.
Radio, RO.
Dutchy, can you hear me? Receiving you, 'Hammersley'.
Alright, what's your position, Dutchy?
I estimate we're approximately 500 metres west of the beach.
We're being pursued by hostiles who have fired on us.
We have wounded. OK, Dutchy.
We're nearly there. Make it quick.
Get those RHIBs in the water, X. Sir.
Away landing party, away landing party.
(GUNFIRE) (GROANS)
Damn!
(FIRES)
Quick, that's the only cover there is. Move!
(FIRES)
You stay down here. OK, keep down.
(RAPID GUNFIRE)
(MACHINE-GUN FIRE)
2DADS: Get down! Put your weapons down!
You right? Yeah.
Where's Swain? Swain's over there.
(GUNFIRE CONTINUES) 2DADS: Drop your weapon!
Sarah. It's OK.
Relax, Sarah.
You cover me. (GUNFIRE)
Swain!
Swain.
Oh, God.
(DOOR OPENS)
How's he doing?
Yeah, he's OK.
Be better once he gets to a hospital and has an operation.
His eyes should heal in time, though.
And how about you? You alright?
No, not really.
Sarah spent three years of her life on that place,
trying to help these people,
and now they're just gonna end up hacking each other to death,
and it's just such a...
...such a waste.
No, Sarah's life wasn't a waste, mate. You know it.
This boy wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for her.
And whatever she meant to you...
...it's a gift.
2Dads.
Boss wants a chat.
Uh, you wanted to see me, sir?
2Dads, you did very well.
I know you don't take compliments well
and, let's face it,
sometimes you don't do much to deserve them.
But this time you did a great job.
Um, yeah.
2Dads, come in!
Now my two favourite people are here.
Favourite?
Because I brought you flowers? Oh!
No, because apparently I have you both to thank
for getting me back on my feet.
Hey, it's good to see you looking so good.
So where are my flowers, hey?