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The Company
Time: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 (night).
Place: North Pacific.
Last Event: Packing kit and readying Zodiacs.
The team spends most of the night and much of the next day loading magazines, laying out gear, and adjusting straps. The standard outfit is night-camouflage waterproof clothing, an inflatable load-bearing vest, and high-laced combat boots. Everybody packs binoculars, a small camera (for snapshots of evidence), an emergency beacon, a waterproof pen and notepad (for quiet notes), and a synched wristwatch, plus survival basics such as duct tape and a waterproof lighter. Each Agent also crams a sleeve pouch with matching chemlights and pen flares: yellow for the assault team (Lev, Vinnie, Wen, and Zhang), green for the techies (Hamid and Jili), blue for the medics (Ben and Qoqa), white for Klas, and of course red for Anabel, although she wanted pink. And everyone has a light – the four tactical lights go to the assault team, while the others get flashlights.
As for armaments, Anabel and Qoqa pick scoped .30-06 bolt-action rifles (Anabel's really being for Wen); Ben, Hamid, Jili, and Vinnie select 12-gauge pump-guns (good old Remington 870!); and Klas, Lev, Wen, and Zhang get the Uzis. Everybody straps on a sidearm as well: a Glock 19 for Anabel, Hamid, and Jili; a Para-Ordnance P14-45 for Klas, Lev, Wen, and Zhang; a Smith & Wesson Model 629 for Qoqa and Vinnie; and the group's lone Ruger Super Redhawk for Ben. Wen also has a flare pistol. Magazines, not carrying capacity, are the practical limit on spare ammo carried. All the guns and ammo are worn with suitable bandoleers, holsters, and slings. Everyone packs steel, too – at least a folding knife, if not a hunting knife – and of course Zhang has a tonfa. And there are handcuffs for all, with the assault team and Qoqa favoring flex cuffs while the others take police cuffs.
There's also lots of specialized gear in the loadout, starting with climbing harnesses for all (the best setup going to Zhang). Ben and Qoqa have crash kits on them, while Klas, Lev, and Wen bring first-aid kits. Hamid packs the electronic security tools, Vinnie lugs the burglar's kit, and Jili straps on the various sensors (electronic stethoscope, metal detector, and thermal gun). And naturally, Qoqa doesn't forget cigs and a flask of vodka, while Wen goes nowhere without Skittles. Anabel hints that she has something naughty on under all the hardware, but nobody asks for a look.
It's getting dark on Thursday, August 19 when Jili picks up the target of all this preparation on radar. As soon as she does, she kicks in the jammer, hoping that she noticed them before they noticed the Gaia Defender. JB gives the order to run dark and silent, and steers the ship onto a crossing course. He's careful to keep his distance, as the sky is clear and the moon is just five days from full.
As the point of closest approach draws near, the boarders launch their Zodiacs. Vinnie's is in the lead (with Lev, Wen, and Zhang aboard), Anabel's is in the middle (crewed by Klas and Qoqa), and Hamid's is in the rear (ferrying Ben and Jili). The three craft are roped together, and laden with lots of extra line and climbing gear. The seas are mild, though not calm, and good for boating.
And then everybody waits.
As the huge container ship bears down on them, those aboard the tiny boats gain a new appreciation for just how wrong things could go! But soon it's time to act – a good distraction from worrying. Zhang successfully attaches a line to the cargo vessel, which unwittingly takes three Zodiacs in tow as a result. Then he begins his ascent, using a combination of grapnels, lines, and free climbing to get aboard.
Mere seconds after Zhang disappears out of sight far overhead, he drops a second line. He hauls up more rope and sets up the climb for the others. Vinnie's crew boards first; Wen, Lev, and Vinnie – in that order – scamper aboard without much difficulty. Then Anabel's team moves out; Qoqa goes first, then Klas, and finally Anabel, with Klas getting a soaker but fortunately not making much noise (or worse, drowning). Hamid's team brings up the rear; Jili leads, followed by Ben and Hamid, and Ben just about ends up lost at sea, only his strength saving him from a long night bobbing in the drink. Each coxswain cuts his or her boat free before heading up, so that nobody aboard the ship will notice a string of Zodiacs twisting on the end of a rope.
As the Agents arrive one at a time on the main deck of the container ship, they take up firing positions around the boarding point. There are no "greeters," however; Hamid's homemade radar jammer, JB's shiphandling, and the group's overall stealth seem to have done the trick. As soon as everybody is aboard, Vinnie hauls up all the lines and stashes them out of sight . . . just in case they're needed. Then the team forms up, with Wen and Zhang on point, Vinnie and Qoqa behind them, then Anabel and Hamid, Jili and Ben next, and Klas and Lev on rearguard.
The group's first goal is to take and secure the bridge. Massive containers on deck make stealth relatively easy, so the Agents are most of the way to the superstructure when Klas stumbles over the loose chain. Almost instantly, someone peeks around the next row of containers and shines a light at Klas! Klas quickly lunges for and seizes the man, Lev uses his Uzi to club Klas' victim, and Zhang drops back and flex-cuffs the guy. The sentry proves to be armed with an AKS-74U carbine, which Klas grabs, just in case.
While there's no shouting or shooting, the only safe assumption at this stage is that stealth has been lost. It's possible that nobody saw the flashlight or heard the scuffle, but the Agents aren't betting on it. And sure enough, when the bridge is about a 10-second dash away, Anabel and Ben both hear the sound of a hatch slamming shut somewhere overhead, followed by hurried footfalls. Somebody must have spotted or heard something.
The Agents hastily decide that the fastest of their number – Lev and Zhang – should sprint for the superstructure before things get nasty. That way, they can provide covering fire, if necessary, as the others move to join them, and possibly even take control of a hatch before the vessel's crew locks everything down. Halfway there, though, the ship's loading lights come on and a loud klaxon sounds. The jig is up!
Zhang decides that the best course of action would be to hit the bridge as fast and as hard as possible. He taps Lev and they head up the ladders on the outside of the superstructure. When their allies see them moving, they break into a run. Soon, all 10 boarders are clambering upward, guns at the ready, heading for the hatches to the bridge.
Zhang reaches the top level first. The only entrance to the bridge is already locked, so he doesn't waste time pounding on it. While Lev crouches to one side, covering the hatch with his Uzi, Zhang finds and climbs a ladder leading to the roof of the superstructure. There's no obvious way in up there, but he does spot a ventilation shaft that almost certainly leads past the bridge inside. He promptly removes the grille and crawls in.
By now the others have caught up with Lev. There's still no shooting – it's likely that the team hasn't been located yet – but down on the cargo deck, in the bright loading lights, the Agents can see five men armed with carbines. These gunmen roughly herd a number of women into lit containers and then slam the doors on them. It seems that there is indeed a human cargo aboard, which removes any doubt that the armed crewmen are gangsters. In short, the gloves are officially off.
Klas and Wen trade their Uzis to Qoqa and Anabel for rifles, brace their weapons on the railing, and scope in on the situation on the cargo deck. It's quite clear that the women are all young and reasonably pretty – and unhappy guests of the armed men. Two headshots later, there are two fewer thugs alive and the rest are taking cover. Klas and Wen fire off a couple more shots to keep heads down. Their targets decide not to risk leaning out to return fire.
Of course, the booming of .30-06 rifles isn't subtle, so this escalates the situation further – it's only a matter of time before there's some variety of organized retaliation. Vinnie immediately gets out his tools and starts working on the hinges of the hatch, trying to remove them silently. Klas and Wen head up the ladder to the top of the superstructure and set up a sniper perch. By now Zhang is in position behind a grille leading into the bridge, awaiting a signal. The other six keep their heads down and guns at the ready, covering Vinnie and the ladders.
Vinnie is very good at what he does, and has the hatch unhinged in record time. He nods to Lev, and when Lev signals back, he yanks the door off. Lev erupts onto the bridge, where several gunmen are crouched behind consoles, carbines pointed at the hatches. Despite their preparation, Lev is faster – much faster. He scores hits on two of the men before they can react. Unfortunately, there are four men, and one returns fire accurately, sending Lev to the deck.
Taking the exchange of automatic weapons fire as his cue to action, Zhang knocks out the grille. His awkward posture means that he must wriggle into a better position before he can shoot. Fortunately for him, the gunmen have other things to worry about, as Qoqa charges in, screaming and spraying Klas' Uzi around. She doesn't put any metal on target, but she does manage to force one of the enemy shooters to duck behind cover. She then rolls onto the deck, shooting at her target's position and staying beneath return fire.
Qoqa's arrival is enough of a distraction to let Zhang make his presence felt. From his slightly elevated position high in the bulkhead, he can see Qoqa's suppressed opponent. He lets the man have it, filling him with half a dozen 9mm holes. This leaves just one enemy in fighting condition, who returns fire on Zhang but shoots wild owing to the crazy angles, ventilating everything but the ventilation shaft.
By now Anabel is in position, and dashes in with Wen's Uzi. She puts a few extra rounds in some of the downed shooters, mainly to intimidate their mates. Neither she, nor Qoqa, nor Zhang has a clear shot at the last gunman, but they have him thoroughly pinned down. Anabel moves up on his position, while Qoqa and Zhang provide covering fire.
Having discarded the hatch, Vinnie is the next one in. He edges onto the bridge, staying well out of the path of his allies' flying bullets – the impacts of which make the remaining enemy's position rather easy to deduce. So easy, in fact, that Vinnie can circle around to one side, lean over the console with his shotgun, and blast the guy. This ends the shootout.
Leaving Klas and Wen on the roof to cover things from on high, Ben, Hamid, and Jili join Anabel, Lev, Qoqa, Vinnie, and Zhang on the bridge. Qoqa immediately gets to work on Lev's injuries, which are bad but not fatal; Ben lends her a hand. Zhang dogs the intact hatches and then covers the entrance from which Vinnie removed the door. Vinnie heads over to the controls and stops the ship, while Hamid and Jili see to the electronics.
Being an expert on people rather than on medicine, ships, or tactics, Anabel decides to take a look at the bullet-riddled gunmen bleeding on the deck. They're clearly Japanese, sporting extensive Yakuza ink and this year's Tokyo menswear. She's certain that they aren't career sailors. She doesn't recognize any faces or tattoos, but she whips out her camera and gets photographs for later analysis.
By the time the ship's systems are under the Agents' control and Anabel has finished her photo shoot, Qoqa and Ben have done what they can for Lev. They manage to get him conscious and mobile, although he's covered in haemostatic bandages and dosed with pain meds. Lev snatches up his Uzi, slaps in a fresh magazine, and slumps in a corner. It's clear that whatever comes next, he isn't in any shape to run around doing it.
The logical thing to do at this stage is to try to separate the Yakuza thugs from the ship's doubtless unwilling or marginally willing crew, to avoid unnecessary deaths and unpleasantness. The best option for this is likely a straightforward call to surrender. Jili says that the PA system is working, so it should be possible to broadcast a ship-wide ultimatum from here. This job falls to the group's linguist and talker, Anabel.
Anabel takes an interesting tack: Given that the Agents' strike was sneaky and sudden, involved automatic weapons and snipers, and led to the swift capture of the bridge, she figures that a plausible lie would be that the boarding action is a military operation. And given that the ship is only a few days out from both California and Hawaii, she reasons that "U.S. Navy SEALs" may seem believable – especially if those aboard the ship aren't especially familiar with how real SEALs operate. Drawing upon her fairly extensive knowledge of military protocol in such situations, she broadcasts a polite-but-firm "surrender and step out on the cargo deck . . . or else" message, starting in Japanese and then rotating through half a dozen other languages.
From their rooftop vantage, Wen and Klas see immediate results. Unarmed men who look like actual sailors – in work clothes rather than gangster chic – file out of various hatches and hiding places, and onto the cargo deck. Some have their hands raised, while others simply look afraid and confused.
To be continued . . .