2.3 - SEEING STARS
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“There’s a group that has circled around the tower, they’re moving towards the rear staircase.”
Eric flicked the cameras to another feed which showed a group of 9 converging at the stern of the ship.
“What are they trying to do back there? Gain access to the bridge?”
“Do they even know what a bridge is?”
Greg leaned over to look at the feed. “That’s an officer,” he declared.
“How do you figure that?”
“Look at the way the soldiers move. They’re protecting the central guy more, they wrap around him.”
“I didn’t know that pirates had officers. I thought they were more about the every man for himself.”
“It’s not unheard of… but it is uncommon.”
The camera feed showed one of the unarmoured boarders suddenly dart forwards and attempt to open the hatch at the deck level. After frantically jiggling the handle of the locked hatch, he turned and shook his head at his group before rejoining them.
The group moved slowly, creeping towards the staircase that ran up the back of the tower and lead to the bridge. As they got closer, the unarmoured units carefully touched the handrails of the staircase and smiled back at the rest of the group.
“What are they so happy about?”
“I don’t know. They better stop touching my ship though.”
The stairs were not well covered by the CCTV so the group dropped in and out of coverage as they moved up the winding staircase. When they could be seen though, they moved carefully, clearly anticipating a retaliatory attack for this boarding maneuver.
Due to the width of the staircase, they were forced to narrow down to single person spearhead. The officer had taken the point position of the group and moved up the stairs carefully, spreading his legs wide to gain stability on the slick metal staircase. At each floor he would jiggle the handle of the hatch to try and gain entry, and would fail as the hatches had already been secured.
The three K’s huddled apart from the rest of the crew and had a hushed conversation.
“Alright, we’re going to capture the officer to get some answers out of him.”
The rest of the crew looked at them dubiously.
“That’s a bit of a step, isn’t it? Suddenly just kidnapping someone?”
“Are we the baddies?”
Kevin looked unimpressed with the crews reaction.
“You’re all idiots. If we can capture him, we can find out what he knows about where we are. It’ll be fine! No danger!”
“Apart from the danger of you getting shot in the face by a dude with a crossbow, Kevin!” Max complained. “How are you going to capture someone with an entire security detail on them?”
“What are they doing?”
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The cameras showed the group as they came across an exterior panel covering some fuses. They appeared to be trying every method they could to access and manipulate it, but the officer turned around and said something to get the group moving again.
“Why do they have to touch everything?”
“What, you don’t like others playing with your toys?”
As they came into the next view, they did the same thing again. The group was approaching the next landing, just before the bridge.
Kevin motions to Kru to move to the door. “When I give you the signal, you pop that door open. Keith covers with the SMG and I grab the officer. Keith - Try to scare them if they don’t point a crossbow at you, but if that comes anywhere near any of us you drop 'em, clean.”
“Understood.” Keith slid the bolt back to chamber the first round in his magazine, and checked the safety. Kru unlocked the door and held it shut, bracing with his feet in case they tried to force it. Keith stood back, weapon raised to the ceiling so he could drop it down and aim over Kru without risking him being in line of fire.
Kevin took his position to the side of the door, and watched the CCTV from his vantage.
The group came up around the corner of the staircase. The officer approached the bridge door. One of them stopped and started messing with a red and white handle on the exterior wall of the bridge. The others were further down the stairs, due to the narrow path.
“Are they doing it again?”
“Wait is that the-”
The one touching the fire alarm hooks his fingers in, and pulls down sharply. Immediately, a loud horn sounds and then the ship’s bell begins ringing continuously. Red cage lights along the exterior of the ship began strobing.
The group at the back fell over themselves to back away, as one of the cage lights was directly above the fire alarm and the red strobe seemed to terrify them. The one holding it was locked in place, fixated on the flashing light above him.
Kevin yells “It’s as good a time as any, go!”
Kru shoves the door open - The officer, who was staring in horror at the caged strobe light, is smacked in the face and almost falls backwards over the rails. Keith grabs him by the collar and yanks the dazed man inside.
The soldier holding the alarm finally snaps out of his daze and looks at the door as it slams shut. He runs over in a panic, shouting for the others as he tries to force the doors open.
Kru and Kevin manage to ziptie the officer, Kru holding him down with a knee in his back while Keith has pulled a knife and holds it to the man’s throat for compliance. When Kevin looks to Keith and the knife, he shrugs. “I figure he may not understand a gun, but any man can understand a nice sharp edge.”
Once it’s clear the K’s have things well in hand, Greg returns to the CCTV. “They’re jumping ship - Some literally.”
Sure enough, some of the scouts had returned and pulled the injured back, and were ferrying them down the ladders back to the galley. The eight soldiers who had come with the officer were going from door to door trying to get in. Instead of simply trying the handles, now they were using their axes and swords to bash or try to pry the doors open.
“STOP TOUCHING MY BOAT”
Everyone on the bridge looks to Greg, who has picked up the intercom and shouted into it. His face is red and it’s not from embarassment.
The eight attacking the doors fall backwards over themselves and run down the stairs, abandoning their officer as they hightail it back to the ladders.
“What’s… What’s that?”
Max had changed one of the screens to show the CCTV feed over the side of the ship. In the water, the scouts who had tried to save their injured comrades were frantically swimming back to the galley, others on board holding out boarding pikes to try and help them get aboard.
Dark shapes swam beneath them, massive and elliptical. One of them was closing in on a swimmer. At the front, a head broke the surface, covered in rough scales, and with a flash of beak and crimson one of the scouts was just gone. Nothing but red foam remained where he had been.
“Was that a fucking turtle?”