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The Company
Time: Thursday, August 19, 2010 (night).
Place: North Pacific.
Last Event: Capturing the bridge of the Yakuza container ship.
Shortly after Anabel uses the PA system to demand the surrender of the ship's crew – most likely ordinary sailors whom the Yakuza have bribed and/or threatened into cooperation – worried-looking men in work clothes start stepping out onto the main deck in ones and twos. There are 30 in all, which Vinnie estimates is about right for a cargo vessel of this class. After a brief discussion, the Agents decide that the best way to handle the situation would be to send down an armed party to round up the crew, with Klas and Wen providing sniper cover from the roof.
Anabel, Ben, Qoqa, and Zhang are selected for the task; they take an Uzi, a shotgun, a captured AKS carbine, and another Uzi, respectively, as well as all of the flex cuffs. Klas and Wen watch carefully from above, making their presence known by firing the occasional bullet in the general direction of the men hiding among the containers on deck. The remaining Agents keep control of the bridge: Vinnie at the helm, Hamid watching the radar, and Lev propped up in a corner checking and topping up captured weapons. Jili gets on the radio and reports in to JB and Paul on the Gaia Defender, and then attaches the electronic stethoscope to the bridge's interior hatch and monitors that.
Down on the main deck, Qoqa – with Anabel translating – orders the surrendered crew to hand over any weapons they may have. Given the Agents' firepower advantage, this order is met with compliance, netting many knives and even a couple of pistols. Then Qoqa tells the captives to march up to the superstructure in single file and climb onto the walkways running along the outside. There, Zhang methodically cuffs each prisoner to a rail and does a quick pat-down. Wen takes a headcount from above.
While this is in progress, Anabel notices a crewman with Yakuza ink. She singles him out with a nod to Zhang. Zhang leaves his associates to watch over the captives and moves down the line toward the one Anabel indicated. When the tattooed prisoner sees Zhang coming, he suddenly reaches under his jacket. Zhang is faster, though, and manages to slap proper steel police cuffs on the man as he struggles to pull out what proves to be a small pistol. Zhang then disarms the man by smashing his wrist against a steel rail repeatedly, and soon has the situation under control.
Zhang decides to make an example of the Yakuza wolf hiding in the flock. He applies a solid beating with his tonfa, and then cuffs his victim's smashed wrist to the walkway overhead so that the man is forced to stand on his tiptoes to relieve pressure on it. A duct-tape gag muffles the prisoner's cries. Qoqa uses the opportunity to reiterate that anyone found to have concealed weapons will be dealt with severely. One of the crewmen hastily turns over another knife.
Eventually, all of the prisoners are accounted for, cuffed to the rails, and searched; there are no further incidents. None of them seem to show much empathy toward Zhang's whipping boy, which Qoqa takes as a sign that he was probably a plant of some kind, keeping an eye on the crew. However, the discovery and subdual of the Yakuza thug, and the ensuing focus on the prisoners, largely distracts the Agents from another incident . . .
As Klas and Wen watch over their associates from above, Klas hears a shuffling noise behind him. He and Wen are both prone with rifles, so he doesn't so much turn as take a quick shoulder check . . . just in time to see a man with a machete take a swing at Wen's back! He rolls to block the attack but isn't fast enough, and Wen receives a glancing blow to the head. There's a lot of blood – as always for a scalp wound – but Wen isn't badly injured, and reacts by rolling to a crouch. Klas remains supine and pulls his pistol.
The next few seconds are tense: The machete-wielding man takes several swings at Klas, forcing him onto the defensive and nicking his arm. As a result, the big Swede's first few shots go wild. Meanwhile, Wen scrambles to her feet at a safe distance, wipes the blood from her eyes, and looks for an opening, understandably reluctant to dash between a whirling blade and a firing .45 pistol! When her chance comes, Wen darts in and throws a swift, feinting kick, which causes her opponent to turn to deal with her. In that moment, Klas plugs the guy three times in the chest, killing him instantly.
As soon as the episode on the roof is over, Klas and Wen lunge for their rifles and scope out the situation below. Fortunately for the Agents, the machete attack seems to have been a random act of desperation – there's no movement on the deck to suggest a coordinated plan, and no sign that anybody noticed the distraction and tried to capitalize on it. The snipers signal to their associates that all is well. As Wen continues to watch, Klas digs out his first-aid gear and bandages her scalp wound. Then they switch places, with Klas observing while Wen patches up his arm.
Once everything is under control once again, Anabel interviews the crew until she finds their senior man and nominal leader. He doesn't know how many Yakuza are aboard, but suggests that maybe the cook does, since he had to serve them food. The cook is cooperative, and says that he remembers 13 gangsters in all. As far as Qoqa and Anabel can tell, the man isn't lying.
The Agents add up enemy casualties. The sentry Klas and Lev incapacitated early on, the two gunmen Klas and Wen sniped on deck, the four shooters holding the bridge, and the man Klas shot on the roof come to eight. If the cook can be trusted, that leaves five gangsters. Wen is certain that three are still hiding among the containers, meaning that two are elsewhere – or one, if the cook was counting the Yakuza man whom Anabel spotted in the crew.
Consensus among the Agents is that the Yakuza might be willing to negotiate, what with their crew captured, 60% of their number shot down, the bridge under the control of armed boarders, and snipers covering the decks. Anabel reasons that if she gets back on the PA and explains that the boarding action is an operation of some branch of the American DHS, supported by the U.S. Navy, the gangsters might just surrender. Odds are good that the Yakuza will assume that if they cooperate, they'll be deported back to Japan, where their mob connections will be able to free them.
Ben and Qoqa head up to the roof to see to Klas and Wen's wounds – and to bolster the Agents' control of the high ground. The other six pull back to the bridge and secure that as well, with Zhang standing where he can monitor the prisoners cuffed just below. Then Anabel fires up the PA and delivers her speech. She lies that she and her associates are American law-enforcement and naval personnel, and are quite aware that the men aboard are Yakuza, a little over a dozen in number, smuggling women into the United States. The choice she offers is simple: surrender now or be taken by men authorized to use lethal force.
Anabel's convincing act produces the desired result. After a minute or two, a man steps out on deck, sets down several weapons (including a rifle, a katana, two pistols, and four knives), and announces loudly that he's surrendering to the "American authorities." He seems to be a leader of some kind, because when he urges his associates to join him, they do. Another man emerges from the lower area of the superstructure, and then the three hiding among the containers give up. All five drop their weapons and remain in plain sight.
This time, Anabel, Ben, Qoqa, Vinnie, and Zhang head down – five captors for five potentially dangerous prisoners seems about right. Wen covers her associates very openly from above, while Klas remains out of sight, covering Wen's back. Hamid, Jili, and Lev stay on the bridge, operating lights and occasionally shouting something in English over the PA to make clear that the ship is well and truly under "American" control.
Zhang soon has the five Yakuza men cuffed, searched, and thoroughly disarmed. Once that's done, Qoqa sets up a hasty interrogation area where Anabel can interview the apparent leader. (Qoqa would love to do the deed herself, of course, but has no Japanese.) When everything is ready, Vinnie and Zhang manhandle the Yakuza lieutenant over to Anabel, who's backed by a scalpel-fondling Qoqa, and restrain the man between them. All four Agents leave their balaclavas on. Anabel then gets to work:
Anabel: "How many members of your organization are aboard this ship?"
Prisoner: "Me and a dozen of my men."
Anabel: "We found 14. Care to tell me about the man hiding in the crew?"
Prisoner: "I've never seen him before!" (Qoqa reads some strong body language that suggests that the prisoner is truly surprised. It may be that the hidden Yakuza man was spying for the lieutenant's boss – or even a rival boss!)
Anabel: "Did you send any calls when you realized that you were being boarded?"
Prisoner: "I sure didn't. I have no idea what this weak-willed crew did when you started shooting, though."
Anabel: "What's the name of the Yakuza leader who put you in charge here, your boss?"
Prisoner: "I'll never betray the name of my master!"
Anabel pulls out her camera and snaps the prisoner's photo.
Anabel: "We'll send your picture to Toru and see about that. We'll send pictures of your men, too, just to be sure. We have people who can convince him of your betrayal. Or you can just confirm what we know and we'll forget that part."
Prisoner: "You know my master's name – I am shamed! He trusted me with this personally."
Anabel: "What about the Filipino gang who originally controlled this ship? Who are they, and where can we find them? Cooperation here would greatly help your case, since it's them we're really after."
Prisoner: "I don't know or care. If you care so much, start by checking out that warehouse they use."
Anabel: "Who were you bringing the girls to, and how were your contacts planning to get them off this ship and into the U.S.A.?"
Prisoner: "All I know is that tomorrow, another ship was supposed to send a coded message on a special freq. I can give you that information. When we got it, we were supposed to let them pull alongside so they could use self-unloading gear to swap cargoes. Then they would re-seal the containers, I guess. After that, they'd fake engine trouble and return to L.A. for repairs. Their cargo would already be inspected, but it would really be ours, and I suppose they'd unload it somehow. We'd have their stuff – a bunch of harmless junk."
Anabel: "About this cargo . . . how many girls?"
Prisoner: "I didn't count. Lots, that's all I know."
Anabel: "Well, the fact is, we know all about the girls. Do you have anything else you want to tell us about, though? Things will go easier on you if you don't lie about this."
Prisoner: "We had a whole load of stuff that the boss put aboard: Crates of those Osama guns. A bunch of animal parts, like tiger paws and ivory tusks. Some kind of new designer drug shit – I don't mess with that. And, uh, a few suits of really old armor."
With that, Anabel concludes the questioning. She tells the others that she got the general sense that her subject was telling the truth. Qoqa corroborates this last part. She explains that while she doesn't understand a word of Japanese, she has a good feel for body language, and read nothing that suggested to her that the man was holding out on Anabel, or nervous about anything other than being a prisoner and having people with balaclavas shoving guns in his face.
Anabel also shares the gangster's "cargo manifest" with her associates. The consensus is that given the gang situation in L.A., the guns don't require much imagination. Speaking as the team's resident ex-gangster, Vinnie confirms that he's heard of animal parts and antiquities being smuggled by ship, and knows that such things can be worth quite a bit if you have the right buyer lined up. As for the drugs, Jili is somewhat surprised – next to sex slaves and specialized rarities, some iffy designer drug is a B-list commodity. Her suspicion is that the stuff is unusual in some way, perhaps a potent additive to increase the street value of conventional drugs, or some highly addictive novelty capable of opening a new market.
Finally, Anabel fills in her associates in on the plan to transfer the illegal goods between vessels. Vinnie remarks that while it's a risky plan, it's plausible. The authorities might decide to re-inspect the cargo of a ship returning with engine trouble, but it isn't likely. The really tricky part is moving containers and people between ships at sea.
To be continued . . .
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I simulate the characters' backgrounds by letting the players pause in risky situations in order to discuss their next move and roll against applicable skills to get clues out of me. These periodic group rethinks let the characters act smoothly even if the players aren't 100% sure of what would be best. In-character, JB is an ex-Green Beret, and Lev and Wen are also ex-military (from Israel and China, respectively); Klas is a former paramilitary border patrolman; and Paul and Zhang used to be detectives. Qoqa was involved in the Chechen conflicts and Vinnie was a Mafia "soldier," so they're used to the old ultraviolence. Anabel is a former UN interpreter, Ben used to be involved with Doctors Without Borders, Hamid was a white-hat hacker, and Jili is an ex-GCHQ employee . . . all of them rather unused to violence.
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