What iS this, dog meat?
Looks like the same crap we had yesterday.
- You should've ate it all yesterday. - Anyone seen Lieutenant Ferris?
Check the head, sir. In his office since breakfast.
Probably plotting his revenge against Mitas.
- Yeah, bite me. - It couldn't taste worse than this chow.
All right, one of you guys better go check to see if he's okay.
- Ferris, are you all right? - Yeah, I'm fine, sir.
At least until I eat this crap.
- No new orders from STRATCOM? - No, sir, just checked. Nothing.
- Hair of the dog, Ferris? - Go to hell, Mitas.
[GRUNTING THEN PANTING]
- Commander, what's the matter? - Takada, what's wrong?
[YELLING INDISTINCTLY AND GRUNTING]
[GAGGING]
CAPTAIN: Get him to sickbay.
Now!
[MEN GASP AND MURMUR INDISTINCTLY]
[TAKADA RETCHING]
- Don't you have paperwork, DiNozzo? - What do you think I'm doing?
I take the paper, and I make it work.
[GASPS]
Yay.
- Tonight's the night. McGEE: What night?
- BrainMatter. ZIVA: BrainMatter?
- Yeah, my friend's band, remember? - Brai-- BrainMatter...
Yeah, you guys all promised you would go with me.
- All of us? - All of you.
- Even me? - Even you. And you.
- And you. - Um, I don't think I can make it tonight.
I've got to catch up on paperwork.
I've got a very important thing and that other thing.
And, uh, I've got...
Some people wear these spiky things just for show.
I don't.
I've got nothing better to do than to see--
- A dead body, McGee? - You read my mind, boss.
- It's a quick read. GIBBS: Pack up, full kit.
- Motion-sickness meds? - Chopper's waiting at NAS Anacostia.
I'm fine on a chopper, boss.
Chopper takes us to the ship, McGee, the USNS Chimera.
Get briefed at Anacostia.
You know, BrainMatter's playing a really late set.
McGEE: Well, that's odd. There's no Chimera on the register.
Any reason why that would be?
We'll get briefed at Anacostia?
- I'll get my gear. GIBBS: I'll get Duck.
Pack a toothbrush. We're gonna be there a while.
Look on the bright side, probie. Ix-nay on the AinMatter-bray.
Really wish I could go. Sorry.
ZIVA: Thanks anyway.
I'll take a "Brain check"?
Sorry.
SKINNER: We received word of the death this morning.
- Yeah, they say what killed the guy? - Isn't that your job, Agent Gibbs?
Commander Wilkinson will have you out to the Chimera by nightfall.
- Chimera's not listed in the Navy fleet. - It's not on the books.
The Chimera's a highly sophisticated, top-secret research vessel.
- Researching what? - That's need-to-know, and you don't.
That's the top-secret part, McGee.
- Go in, get the body, come back out. - We've got a death to investigate.
Take witness statements. Do what you need to do.
Just don't ask anything beyond your pay level.
We'll do our jobs, commander.
NCIS was called out
because no other federal investigative agency has clearance
to get on the Chimera.
That said, even you guys don't have clearance to know what's on it.
TONY: Oh, I get it, boss.
[IN FOREIGN ACCENT] This is a black ship.
Black sheep?
[IN NORMAL VOICE] No, they don't exist.
Oh, I've seen black sheep.
TONY: No, I said "black ship," not "sheep."
Clearly the U.S. Navy is still intent
on pulling the wool over the eyes of the American people, sir.
No photos.
It's standard procedure.
There's nothing standard about the Chimera.
I don't want anyone documenting what's on that ship.
Bring the camera, McGee.
I suggest you keep your enquiry focused on that body.
PILOT [OVER RADIO]:Chimera, 9806 approaching your deck for landing.
Over.
Chimera, do you copy? Over.
The ship's LZ is obstructed. We'll hold above deck and hover.
We still can't raise any of the crew on the radio, sir.
- Alert Commander Skinner. - Will do.
- Where's the welcoming committee? ZIVA: The deck lights are on.
- Nobody's home. - This is most unusual, Jethro.
- It is creepy. - It's a ghost ship.
Agent Gibbs, we have bingo fuel. We need to know if you're staying, sir.
McGEE: Boss, I gotta tell you,
I don't have a real good feeling about this.
We're staying.
So this is the highly sophisticated, top-secret ship?
TONY: Looks more like an old tramp steamer.
I suppose they were trying to look inconspicuous,
hoping to be left alone.
Can you get any more alone than this?
I'm beginning to wonder whether they dropped us on the right ship.
Right ship.
Wrong night.
- Every room is empty. - It's like the entire crew disappeared.
Welcome aboard the USNS Houdini.
McGEE: Still playing.
Oh, hey, it's your favourite, McGee: BrainMatter.
Thanks.
- I feel bad enough already, okay? - Take another pill.
Sorry.
Wait a second, this doesn't make any sense.
- Something suspicious? - Absolutely.
This guy had a full house. Why would he fold?
"Dear Mary Beth: Good news.
Overheard the captain say they had a good dive last night.
If they found what they were looking for,
we could be heading home any day.
Can't tell you much about the mission, but..."
But...?
It stops there.
DUCKY: Do you think they all just went out for an evening swim?
You notice something missing, Duck?
- People. - Lifeboats.
DUCKY: Yeah, I didn't notice any on the starboard side either.
- The ship was abandoned. - In a hurry, it would seem.
Too much of a hurry to send a mayday?
Now, now, Jethro, no questions beyond your pay level.
[MAN GROANS]
Five minutes. You owe me 10 bucks.
[McGEE RETCHING]
- Where's McGee? - Calling Earl.
Shouting groceries.
Making street pizza. Technicolor yawn.
[TOILET FLUSHES]
- Found something. - Lost something too.
TONY: Hmm.
I guess you can't judge a black ship by its wool.
- What are they researching? - Something to do with rats,
if I were to guess from these empty cages.
Well, Skinner seemed pretty paranoid.
Guessing the mission wasn't purely humanitarian.
I doubt it's even human.
Thermosalinographs, fluorometer, carbon analyser.
Well, whatever it is, it's not visible to the naked eye.
[THUDDING ON METAL IN DISTANCE]
What was that?
Could be the metal of the ship contracting in the cool of the evening.
- Or not. - Sounded as if it was coming
from the cargo hold above us.
Duck, you're with me. Check out the cargo hold.
I was afraid you were gonna say that.
[SINGING] Baa, baa, black ship
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir
But in order to see it
You're gonna need Top-secret government clearance
Someone or something's on the ship with us.
I can feel it.
Uh, yeah, I can see it.
[GASPS]
- Scared much, DiNozzo? - Stuff it, McBarf-Bag.
It's just a cute little rat. Why the irrational fear?
It's not cute, it's not little, and it's not irrational.
Cowardly, then.
Not if you're someone who survived a bout of pneumonic plague,
thank you very much.
Rats are a known carrier. I used to love rats before the plague.
- I was a regular Willard. - What is a Willard?
- It's a movie. - Hm.
Willard had a pet rat named Ben.
Social misfit, made fun of by his coworkers.
- He had a creepy boss. - No wonder you related.
You think Gibbs is creepy?
I think she meant the social-misfit, made-fun-of part.
Shh. Did you hear that?
No.
There's something aboard, other than a rat.
Well, what do your astute ninja Mossad senses tell you it is?
In Mossad, part of the training is to be open to things you cannot see
or even understand.
- You mean the supernatural? - Call it what you want.
Not everything can be explained by the laws of the natural world.
Do you believe in ghosts?
I do not not believe in ghosts or demons
or monsters.
We are on a ship called the Chimera.
I thought "Chimera" meant "delusion" or "fantasy."
In Greek mythology, a Chimera is a monster
with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a dragon's tail.
So you think they named the ship the Chimera
because there's a monster onboard?
They did not name it the Puppy.
[METAL CREAKING]
Boo.
Get in here.
TONY: Well, whatever's on this boat must be pretty damn scary
if it got them to ditch this delicious-looking...
What is this stuff?
Don't ask me. That's not a request, it's a command.
Ooh. The plot "sickens."
- This is our crime scene. - If there was a crime.
Well, you see these little flecks of brown in the blood?
Coffee-ground emesis, usually a sign of alcoholism,
but you can get it from severe gastrointestinal distress.
[McGEE GROANING]
- Steady, probie. - Tell that to my stomach.
- Steady, probie stomach. - I would not stand there if I were you.
That's a good point.
We don't wanna compromise the crime scene.
ZIVA: Gibbs?
GIBBS: Partial footprint. - In blood. They lead out of here.
In here.
You were right, Ziva. Someone is onboard with us.
Not him, there's something alive. I can feel it.
A lion-headed dragon-goat?
- Maybe. - Mm.
Someone tossed a month's supply of creamed corn
to make room for him.
Please don't say that again.
- "Tossed"? - No, "creamed corn."
There's significant petechial haemorrhaging in the eyes,
these little pinpoints of blood.
It's often a sign of asph*ia.
Well, we won't know for sure until we conduct some tests.
McGee, get me a satellite link.
[TECHNO MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
McGEE [ON COMPUTER SCREEN]: Abby.
Abby!
McGee, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that.
What the hell is that noise?
BrainMatter.
- I love them. - You guys okay?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're peachy.
I am dealing with my boat phobia, Tony's dealing with his rat phobia,
and Ziva's dealing with her ghost phobia.
So, what's Gibbs dealing with?
Them. Abs, patch me through to the director.
No need, Jethro, I'm here. What's the status?
Well, the crew has disappeared. Except for one.
- Did he tell you where they are? - No, he's dead.
- Have you ID'd him? - Yeah, hang on. Um...
Dr. Satoshi Takada. What do you got on him, Abs?
ABBY: Dr. Satoshi Takada, marine biologist,
Iieutenant commander for the Navy since 1997,
Ph.D. in biology from LSU.
Make sure Skinner knows he's got 20 men stranded in lifeboats.
I'll get right on it. Does Ducky have a cause of death?
We're still doing tests. Don't know what killed him yet.
Yes, we do.
My initial diagnosis of asph*ia was incorrect, I'm afraid.
It looks as if Takada died of viral hemorrhagic fever,
to which, by now, we have all been exposed.
- Can't leave the ship. - Well, that's not a problem, Jethro.
If my diagnosis is correct,
we'll all be dead by morning.
[ON SCREENS] S TRATCOM has received no signals from any lifeboats.
A crew of 20 doesn't just disappear into thin air.
Trust me, we'll find those men.
We're dispatching our rescue and recovery ops
and getting a relief crew out to the Chimera ASAP.
I need you to tell me
what kind of research the Chimera was involved in.
Deep-sea marine-life exploration.
And I'm afraid I can't say anything more than that.
- It's classified. - I have top-secret clearance.
The mission is above top-secret, director,
but trust me, it's pretty mundane stuff.
My medical examiner believes that Dr. Takada died
from a deadly virus he may have contracted
from the mundane stuff he was studying.
Then he must be mistaken in his preliminary diagnosis.
Something on that ship killed him.
We have no reason to believe
Dr. Takada's research had anything to do with his death.
Commander, if you insist on stonewalling me,
I can take this to a higher command level.
I'm not stonewalling, director. I'm telling you the truth.
You're not telling me a damn thing.
You do not run black ops to carry out mundane research.
The lives of my agents are being threatened,
and I need to know what is threatening them.
- Primitive conditions, Duck. - Heh, primitive?
You remember that tiny thatched cottage
I used as an examination room in Namibia?
Yes, of course, then I was working on Pygmies.
You know what killed him?
Well, if Dr. Takada was a bit too fond of his Scotch,
what I'm seeing here is oesophageal varices,
and this tear caused blood to enter his oesophagus,
causing him to vomit blood.
Or Dr. Takada could have had a severe gastrointestinal infection
that produced a Mallory-Weiss tear,
in which case the vomiting would have come first.
Neither diagnosis is inconsistent with hemorrhagic fever.
And if we were exposed?
Well, I'm hampered from prognosticating further
[GLASS CRASHES]
Until Dr. DiNozzo gives me a proper blood analysis.
Abby, where's the gas chromato-thinga?
ABBY [ON SCREENS]: It's the boxy-looking thing
with the, um, circular door-like thing on the front.
- Oh. I got it. ABBY: Okay, good.
Now put the sample in the circular rack-like thing
at the top.
TONY: Got it. - Okay, press the blue start button.
It's bluish and squarish.
It's on the tower on the top, Tony.
- The tower-like thing. - Got it.
ABBY: While we're waiting, let's get the blood count.
So place a small amount of blood on your slide.
It's amazing what you can learn from blood, even before it's analysed.
I mean, the colour and the texture and the smell.
Okay, um, now take out the dropper of methylene blue.
- It's bluish, and it's dropper-like. - Got it.
Okay, now place two drops of the methylene blue on your slide.
- We're good. ABBY: Of course, blood that's passed
through someone's Gl tract has a very particular smell.
But since this guy may have died from a highly contagious virus,
whatever you do, do not inhale it.
We're not good.
GIBBS: Hey, you okay, DiNozzo? - Not for long.
DUCKY: Where's my blood analysis, DiNozzo?
I'm working on it, Ducky. It may be the last thing I do.
DUCKY: Let's hope not. May I?
There's definitely an increased white blood count,
with an absolute increase
in lymphocytes having an atypical appearance.
ABBY: That would be consistent with acute viral infection.
I have located three rodent bites on Takada's body.
Perhaps he contracted the virus from a diseased rat.
That would be bad.
Maybe the top-secret whatever it was
that Takada is studying is what killed him.
- In which case it would be airborne. - That would be really, really bad.
Boss, I've got a feed from MTAC
with Director Shepard and Commander Skinner.
They want you and Ducky patched in right away.
Aah. Aah.
I'm flying a crew out to take control of the ship.
DUCKY: No, the risk is too great.
Director, you cannot allow anyone on this ship.
I can put anyone I want to on that ship.
Then I have no choice but to quarantine the Chimera.
On who's authority?
Ours. Dr. Mallard is a medical examiner.
Agent Gibbs is a federal officer.
- That's my ship. - Not anymore.
What kind of game do you think you're playing?
Any word from the crew?
We have every possible resource looking for those men.
Look, given what we know, this is high precedence.
Those men may well have been exposed to the virus too.
They may also need to be quarantined.
You don't need to explain to me the dangers involved here.
Well, it might have helped if you'd explained them to us.
If that is all, director,
I'd like to go find out what this virus is before it kills me,
and quite possibly everyone else on this ship too.
Commander, I think it's time you tell me what I need to know
about your ship.
I cannot divulge any more about the Chimera's mission
than I already have.
Seeing as how my agents now have control over your ship,
I am going to instruct them
to investigate any and all aspects of the Chimera's operation
that will help them determine what they are up against.
Nothing will be off-limits.
- You can't do that. - You can't stop me.
- This is a classified mission. - Then read me into it.
Even if I wanted to read you into the Chimera's mission,
I can't do that over an MTAC feed.
The file has to be read to you in person.
If you think I am going to stand idly by while my agents' lives are in danger,
you are sadly mistaken.
I will be waiting for you and your file, commander.
Now, you--
We've been through almost every room on the ship.
"Almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
[THUDDING ON METAL IN DISTANCE]
- Could be a rat. - Have to be an awfully big one.
- Or a ghost. - Are you done?
Done searching the ship?
- We could always search it again. - I could stay here with Ducky.
- Well, so he's not left alone. DUCKY: I'm not alone.
- I've got Takada to keep me company. - Duck.
Got it.
So, Takada, as one doctor to another,
what is this horrid virus which caused your demise?
TONY: Anyone else feeling itchy?
- Maybe that's a bug bite. - Or a rat bite.
No, no, no, look at that spot.
- It's a freckle. - It's not a freckle.
- Freckle. - I never had a freckle there.
You've always had that freckle.
Uh, how would you know whether I had or didn't have a freckle?
By the way, I never had that freckle.
GIBBS: Ducky. DUCKY [OVER RADIO]: Yes, Jethro?
Give me the symptoms for hemorrhagic fever.
DUCKY: Well, initially, one might experience a feeling of paranoia
and a growing sense of dread.
Then more obvious physiological symptoms
would manifest themselves.
- Such as? - Such as the appearance
of atopic melanosomes.
- Come again? - Spots, possibly itchy.
Then a fast-rising fever, of course.
I knew it, I'm gonna die. I inhaled it. God!
Definitely didn't picture my demise like this.
I always figured I'd go out like Cagney in White Heat, fiery explosion.
Or Redford and Newman in Butch Cassidy, a hail of bullets.
Or Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush?
- How'd he die? - Silently.
Ziva.
- Didn't you see that? - See what?
Someone, something, was running.
Surely I'm not the only one who saw that.
The Chimera?
- I swear there was something there. - It's not here now.
It ran down the passageway, it made a right here, and then it...
TONY: And then?
It disappeared. I know there was something there.
Like my freckle.
Uh... Boss.
Biohazard. Sounds inviting.
GIBBS: McGee.
McGEE: It looks like some kind of cyber-lock
with a bar code and touch memory.
- That's right up your alley, McGeek. - It's gonna take time.
We're not going anywhere.
Okay.
I thought you said you weren't going anywhere.
TONY: Ziva, I can check you for spots. - No, thanks.
I'm sure you've got hot spots and warm spots--
DiNozzo.
- Get this to Ducky. TONY: Me?
That's a dead diseased rat.
Which is why it may aid Dr. Mallard in his investigation.
Which is why I'd be pleased as punch to walk back through this ship
with a dead diseased rat.
You can show Ducky your freckle.
TONY: Stinky, stinky.
[GROANS]
Yes, Alex, I'll take Horror Films That Take Place on Ships for 500.
Thank you.
Oh, goody, Double Jeopardy!
McGEE: Oh, jeez.
DUCKY: Oh, dear.
JEN: Oh, crap.
[FOOTSTEPS]
- I don't suppose you hear footsteps? - Yeah, I hear them.
It's just me. And Ben.
GIBBS: DiNozzo, bag that thing. TONY: Ziva.
Thanks.
Well, this moment is almost perfect. All we need is a storm.
[METAL CLANGING]
GIBBS: McGee.
McGEE: Yeah? GIBBS: You all right?
[GRUNTING]
I've had better days, boss.
I tripped over a barrel, and it made this kind of--
Bangy, crashy sound like thunder?
- Yeah. - You crack the lock?
Uh, no, not yet.
The touch screen, it's a bit... I'm working on it.
Why don't you work on turning the lights back on?
I think we just passed the electrical room.
TONY: It's like Aliens Numero Uno.
Ripley, light in hand, moving through endless corridors,
searching for a hideous monster.
- You ever see Run Silent, Run Deep? - The "run silent" part sounds good.
The electrical room should be...
...right here.
[SCREAMING]
[GRUNTING]
[ROARS]
Let me out of here.
ZIVA: Here's the crew list. He's the cook.
Get these shackles off of me.
GIBBS: Why were you hiding? - Why did you attack us?
Why'd the crew abandon ship?
- What happened to Takada? GIBBS: You're asking me?
It was that thing, wasn't it?
What thing? I knew there was a thing.
- What thing? - Something out of the water.
Takada was studying it. That's what killed him, isn't it?
- Don't know. - Don't lie to me!
It's killing me too, isn't it?
GIBBS: You'll be lucky if I don't kill you first.
Sit down and tell us what happened here.
What happened to the crew?
[CRYING]
- They abandoned ship. - Why?
They thought whatever killed Takada was contagious.
Captain forced me to stay behind.
He thought that I'd already been exposed
from all the blood he puked on me.
Nobody sent a mayday.
The radio operator was supposed to. He was the last to leave the ship.
- So you were left here alone. MITAS: I thought I was.
- And then someone hit me. - Who?
I don't know, they hit me from behind.
- Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. - But why would I lie?
- Why were you hiding? - Why did you run?
I thought you were the ones that hit me.
There's someone else on this ship.
What's in that biohazard room?
- Don't ask me, I'm just the cook. ZIVA: Oh, come on.
You never overheard one conversation about what's locked up in there?
- That area was off-limits to me. - Stay down!
You live with these people, sleep with these people,
work with these people for months and can't tell me what's in that room?
That's where it is.
The bug.
I don't get it.
The breakers aren't tripped. The conduits are fine.
Tony, check behind this panel over here.
- Tony. - Feel my head.
- Why? - Just feel it.
- I don't want to, it's all sweaty. - Exactly.
I got the fricking fever. I'm burning up, man.
The ventilation is off, Tony. We're all burning up.
This is different.
I'm dying, McGee.
You know, the last time you were dying of a horrible disease,
you were a little bit more stoic about the whole thing.
I was younger then. Carefree.
It was two years ago.
The last time I almost died, someone blew up my car.
So I've almost died twice, and this is the third time.
And bad stuff happens in threes, and I'm out of almosts.
I'm telling you, man, this time I'm dying.
I know it.
Okay.
- But until you are actually dead, - Okay.
Can you please help me fix this thing?
- Yeah. - Okay.
Go take a look behind that panel over there.
See if maybe one of the leads got fried.
Okay. Thanks.
Well, hey, I think I found the problem.
Assuming this ship runs on tiny little batteries.
Lithium, like camera batteries.
Odd, someone must have hidden them in there.
- Transponders. - From what?
Well, my guess, EPIRBs.
That's my guess too.
What are EPIRBs again?
SKINNER: "Containment of aforementioned microbial species,
deadly or otherwise,
is to remain under the guardianship of the operation's chief scientist
until such time it can be safely transported
to Naval Research Headquarters."
Biowarfare research is illegal. We signed a treaty.
So did the Russians, and we've spotted their fishing trawlers
in areas of the Bering Sea that aren't considered fishable.
So two wrongful fishing expeditions make a right?
We're just trying to get our hands on the next generation
of biological weaponry before our enemies do.
Do you file that under "deception" or "hypocrisy"?
[CHUCKLES]
Nondisclosure agreement.
Now do you understand
why the Navy doesn't want anyone to know where the ship is
or what it's doing?
And do you understand that the Navy's secret
could cost my agents their lives?
I got a support vessel on its way with medical facilities onboard
and a decontamination unit.
Great. Show it to me.
How exactly do you propose I do that?
There must be an Orion or two that you could scramble overhead.
I think you're gonna have to trust me, director.
I don't know you well enough, commander.
We can fix that.
You can cut the charm.
Higher-ranking, richer, and definitely better-looking men
have tried that on me and didn't get very far.
Now, I can't speak for you, commander,
but I didn't get where I am because of my looks,
so get your eyes off of me and put some on that ship.
What's that?
- Transponders you took off life jackets. - Why would I?
You didn't want the crew located once they abandoned ship.
I didn't sabotage any life jackets.
- There's no one else on the ship. - There has to be.
GIBBS: You were in the electrical room when the power went out.
I wouldn't know how to shut off the power.
- I told you, I'm just the cook. - Just the cook?
Yeah, that's what Steven Seagal said in Under Siege,
and look at the havoc he wreaked, huh?
What about The Hunt for Red October? The saboteur was the cook.
I'm sorry, boss, I'm just saying that, you know, just because he's the cook,
doesn't mean he's any less potentially guilty.
He could've slipped poison into Takada's food.
I swear, I didn't kill Takada.
DUCKY: Well, not with poison, at least.
The good news is I've confirmed beyond a doubt
that Takada did indeed die of hemorrhagic fever.
That's great news, Ducky.
However, the virus was injected into him.
It was not airborne.
I've also examined the dead rat that Tony so heroically brought to me.
Ironically, it died from having bitten Takada.
So I'm not gonna die?
Well, the bottom line is, there was no outbreak on the ship.
He was injected without knowing it.
If I could do a proper and thorough toxicology,
I think we'd find that he had first been drugged.
- Takada was murdered. TONY: Why would someone do that?
- To scare everyone off this ship. - But why?
I mean, what's so valuable on this ship that someone would kill for it?
Yeah, about time, McGee.
Boss, I had nothing to do with it. Someone is messing with us.
Maybe Mitas is right. Someone else is aboard.
[METAL CREAKS]
ZIVA: Gibbs, up here.
- I saw something running on deck. McGEE: Something or someone?
I don't know, it was moving fast.
- It or him? - I don't know, I have lost it.
TONY: I'll say.
- Gibbs, I swear-- - I believe you, Ziva.
ZIVA: See? Someone else who believes in what they cannot see.
No, I believe what I can see wasn't there before.
Someone's sending a signal.
[METAL SQUEAKS]
TONY: Whoa. Aah.
Okay, okay, I believe you.
[GRUNTS]
Mitas was telling the truth.
He's not exactly a ghost,
but he's got a B-horror-flick thing going.
You have no idea what you're dealing with.
Oh, I think we do.
Lieutenant Ferris, communications officer.
Who failed to communicate that his crewmates abandoned ship.
You're not very good at your job, are you?
- You're wasting your time. - I think we're wasting yours.
Navy's on its way. You're going to the brig.
- You'll be dead before they arrive. - Save it, we know about the virus.
GIBBS: Outbreak was a hoax. - Heh, heh.
It's not the virus that'll kill you.
SKINNER: Satisfied, director?
JEN: I'm not that easy, commander. - That doesn't surprise me.
That must be your support vessel. Can we get any closer?
I'm sure we can.
It's going to reach the Chimera a lot faster than you said it would.
That's not our support vessel.
JEN: The approaching craft has no known identification.
GIBBS [ON-SCREEN]: That seems to be the way things operate around here.
Looks to be the size of a small assault vessel.
Same type of boats I've seen used by marauders.
- Pirates? - Cruise ships, tankers, steamers.
They'll attack anything to make a buck.
GIBBS: How long? - You should put eyes on it any minute.
These people come heavily armed, Agent Gibbs.
Automatic weapons, grenades, even RPGs.
- What are they after? - I can't divulge that.
Hold on, you tell me heavily armed pirates are coming to attack me,
you better damn well tell me what they're looking for.
Your agent hasn't been read in.
I don't give a damn about your secrets, commander.
I care about keeping my team safe.
- Tell me what they want. - I can't do that.
Can someone give me a damn answer?
JEN: Put me through to STRATCOM. - All right, all right. Wait.
Look, the secret material they have dredged up from the ocean--
What am I looking for?
Something the size of a breadbox, a gallon drum?
It can fit in a vial. But it's untested, unproven.
Ferris has already killed one guy. He's put 20 others at risk.
- This is worth something to someone. - Boss, I cracked it.
Now, before we go in there, boss, the power is back on,
so the ventilation and filtration system should also be back on.
I know it says "biohazard,"
but if there's anything biological in there,
the room should be negatively pressured.
The thing is, this, uh, room is not.
Uh, boss?
You really could risk exposure if you stay in there very long.
What is it?
ZIVA: Gibbs?
We spotted the assault craft. Five minutes, maybe less.
Yeah.
[IN RUSSIAN]
[MAN 1 SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN]
[MAN 2 SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN]
MAN 2: Aleksei!
[GRUNTING]
Aleksei!
ALEKSEl: Ferris.
[IN RUSSIAN]
Ducky, how long before Ferris wakes up?
A couple of hours.
It'll take him considerably longer to wipe off the fake blood.
How'd you disable the ship, McGee? Spew all over the engine?
Steering has several nonlinear effects: saturation, dead zone, rate limiting.
The bottom line is, the ship's still able. Able to sail in one big circle.
Russian.
- Yeah. Orders from the Russian navy. - They weren't pirates?
Soviet state-sponsored pirates.
- But why? - McGee?
- Russian nuclear warhead? GIBBS: There's your ghost, Ziva.
The ghost of Soviet project K629.
So this whole thing was a Russian black-ops mission
to recover their nuke?
So pirates that weren't really pirates were actually Russian sailors
who were on a covert mission to steal a Navy research ship
that wasn't actually a Navy research ship
in order to get back nuclear weapons
that we thought they didn't think we had retrieved?
- Uh-huh. McGEE: Okay.
DUCKY: Perhaps we should call the Navy,
tell them that we're on the Russian black ship
and the Russians are on theirs.
[JET ENGINES ROARING]
I guess the Navy didn't want anyone to know their black ship ever existed.
How did they know we were off the ship?
Don't think they did.