Dramatis Personæ

International Waters

The team took the fishing boat out ahead of the path of the MV Pegasi Perseus, which had slowed considerably since it was spotted earlier in the day. The mothership that had been following it was nowhere to be found. Still-injured Mahoney remained at the helm of the fishing boat, while the others drifted into the freighter’s bow in a black inflatable raft, helmed by Vega. There they threw grapples and quietly climbed aboard. They split into two fire-teams and proceeded aft along either side, using silenced weapons to take out a few pirates along the way—though the pirates did not appear as Somali, but rather more “Arab” looking. At the freighter’s tower, the Team reassembled on the way up the back stairs, and split again to either wing of the flying bridge. They stormed the bridge, taking out a few more pirates operating the ship there. The freighter was brought to a halt so Mahoney could approach with the fishing boat. Vega keyed a captured pirate walkie-talkie a few times to get the attention of whomever might be listening, eliciting a response from another pirate, in Arabic, asking who it was. It was decided the Team would clear the tower, room-to-room, on the way down to engineering. Vega stayed at the bridge to continue his radio deception.

On the level below the bridge, the team surprised the lead pirate exiting his bunk. A hasty interrogation gained no useful information, so Chana knifed him in the knee. He did snarkily give up that there were around twenty of them, but his scream of pain had been heard anyway, and others began to emerge into the corridor. A (rather one-sided) firefight ensued, and Vega was called down to join.

The sound of a helicopter was heard outside. Then the freighter’s bridge above was shredded by autocannon fire. The Team hastened downstairs to engineering, to the sounds of pirates engaging in a firefight outside with unknown attackers.

In the engine room, the Team located the crew’s panic room, and found it hastily camouflaged and unlocked—and full of dead crewmen, executed—and no CS:Loki to be found. Also, a ticking bomb.

The Team fled back upstairs, and ignoring the Russian commandos on deck, jumped clear of the ship before it exploded…