Guns for Hire - Script Forty Two

Magellan Star, Hadiboh Bay 10.32pm - 30/07/2016

Vrasten had, for the moment, given up trying to raise Skinpin, his headache was getting worse & he'd barely managed to patch up the wound where Inda'ade had previuosly shot him, since T-Bird's disasterous crash landing back on the ship it had started bleeding again.

The pain was pretty bad again & his vision flickered in & out of focus, worse however were the memory flashbacks, things he didn't want to remember. Closing his eyes he waited for the latest flashback to pass & swallowed a couple more Paxium, near instantly the shaking stopped & the memories fragmented into dust, now if he could just lose the feeling the his spine was trying to reach out & strangle him everything would be cool.

Magellan Star, Hadiboh Bay 11.23pm - 30/07/2016

On the Bridge Alex, T-Bird & Vrasten peered over the shoulder of Able Seaman Lahtinen Heiskanen as he watched the various dots on the radar screen, again Lahtinen assured them that nothing shown was acting out of the ordinary, several of the pings were from larger recognised vessels identifiable by the codes highlighted next to the vessels icon, the other slow moving boats were fishing smacks or maybe illicit runners, whichever nothing within a fifteen mile radius was paying the MV Magellan Star any notice.

Magellan Star, Hadiboh Bay 11.39pm - 30/07/2016

Out of the Blue Alex's phone rang, glancing at the screen she grinned & patched the call through to both her, Vrasten's & T-Bird's mastoid implanted comm's unit, instantly Skinpin's plaintiff voice could be heard,

"You bastard shitheads, you frigged off & fucking left me behind"

Over the next minutes Skinpin spilled his tale.

"So, Al-Khaiwani yeah, starts hammering on the door, I was just chilling on the bed waiting for one of you dudes to maybe call, anyway I unlocked the door & Sameer starts bleeting & pushing me towards the door, couldn't tell a word he was sayin' though, I managed to stop him for a minute an' he realised I couldn't understand anything he was tellin' me. Finally the dude starts talking English, turns out he'd had a call from his cousin who knew somebody who knows someone tellin' him that the somethin's kicked off an' there's a raid on route to the hotel cos' they think we're firken terrorists. I grabbed a few bits & lit out. When I hit the street I could see headlights so I ducked around the side of the hotel an' went to ground under the truck, not the best but I had nowhere else to go, fortunately the truck wasn't locked so when I got the chance later I climbed in the back an' pulled a old blanket over my head an' kept stum."

"Eventually I poked my nose up & spotted a couple of lurkers hanging around looking pretty, figured the best I could do was stay low & see what happened."

"I didn't realise what was gonna down at first, I heard the chopper comin' low, figured it was Yemen action, it wasn't until it near brought the roof down on the hotel that I guessed it was you bastards, I was gonna try an' make a run for the roof but just to many lurkers about, those Lucy's you flicked off the roof didn't go down to well, guessed that's what they were from the first sniff, lucky I got filters, before I could chance a run you'd lifted off."

"Anyway it worked out in the end, after they'd stopped trippin' they all cleared out an' left me be, so, you guys gonna come visit or what ?"

Magellan Star, Gulf of Aden 11.58pm - 30/07/2016

As arranged Skinpin called them back just before midnight to confirm he'd managed to hot wire the truck & slip out of town, he'd tucked himself up out of view before making the call to check out the details of what was to be done.

With some reservation T-Bird had agreed to once more to fly the slightly bent chopper back to the island, again he'd need the boatswain, Moon, to assist.

Alex had checked with Crippen how far south they'd be at sunrise, he'd confirmed that as they were only running the engines at around three quarter speed they'd only be a hundred or so clicks south, T-Bird gave this a green light as it was still well inside the range of partly fueled ZHi-8, armed with this information Alex gave Skinpin a heads up to to get himself around to as remote a spot as he could on the Southwest coast & they'd contact him just before sunset to arrange the pick up.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 5.03am - 31/07/2016

T-Bird, with his impromptu assistant, & with a combat ready Alex in the gunners perch, slipped, literally, off the Magellan Star's port side narrowly missing ditching into the sea. T-Bird uncrossed his fingers, leveled out & set a course back to Suqatra all the while instructing Moon what to watch for on the many dials & what to adjust to correct their slightly erratic flight.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 5.27am - 31/07/2016

T-Bird watched as the island grew from a dark smudge on the horizon to the outline of the island in the pre-dawn light, checking the dials for the millionth time he gave Alex the nod to prep Skinpin for the pick up.

Alex called Skinpin's number & got a instant answer,

"Jeez Alex, I'm freezin', you nearly here ?"

Alex confirmed an ETA of 5.49pm,

"You better be solo Skinpin, we ain't in no condition to fight for the beach"

Skinpin, adamant he'd not been tailed, suddenly whooped as he spotted the chopper emerge from the light, Alex, wind battering her face as she watched through the open side door & with the jury rigged Wu-Bejing 381 locked & loaded, confirmed to T-Bird that he could see Skinpin flashing the 4 x 4's lights just beyond the surf line.

The ZHi-8 thundered in over the surf with it's twisted undercarriage literally dragging through the last few rollers.

T-Bird wrestled the controls whilst bellowing at Moon to do what he couldn't do with his missing right hand, fortunately the soft sand assisted in absorbed some of the damage that would have resulted from T-Bird's to heavy approach, even so the ZHi-8's already suffering landing gear screeched as it buried itself in the sand.

Climbing aboard Skinpin was about to belittle T-Bird's abilities for such a crap touchdown, when he saw the pain T-Bird was in from the damage to his right hand he thought better of it & kept his mouth shut.

Within seconds T-Bird put the ZHi-8 back in the air & headed back to the ship.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 6.53am - 31/07/2016

As T-Bird dropped down towards the make shift helipad atop the containers alarms were ringing, literally & mentally, warning everyone to brace themselves he noticed a couple of the ships crew decked out in fire fighting gear just in case the worst happened, for a moment T-Bird considered which offered the least chance of death, hitting the containers or ditching into the open ocean, neither appealed, before he could alter his approach path however the containers came up to meet him as the Magellan pitched in the heavy swell.

With grinding fatality the ZHi-8's undercarriage made contact with the steel containers, closely followed by it's belly panel, the helicopter slid sideways but fortunately came to rest before it pitched over the side of the containers, inside all four occupants were thrown violently from side to side, luckily nobody collected anything more than minor cuts & bruises.

As T-Bird cut the power smoke bellowed from the choppers control array & flames quickly licked around the Plexiglas front screen however the ships fire crew quickly doused these with foam.

Climbing shakily from the wreck T-Bird confirmed that even if he by some miracle got the bird airborne again there'd be no landing just a guaranteed & terminal impact.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 11.16am - 31/07/2016

Skinpin gulped a mouthful of coffee & took stock, since coming aboard he'd pretty much not left the sickbay as he'd redressed & reset the wounds & breaks of all those shot, slashed & generally battered.

Vrasten had confessed about the headaches, vision issues & uneasiness he was suffering since being shot in the head as well as his increasing reliance on Paxium, Skinpin listened as Vrasten described what he knew to be increasing levels of cyberpsychosis. Doing his best to assure Vrasten all was good, apart from a fractured skull, Skinpin mentally made a note to keep a close eye on Vrasten.

After dealing with Crippen & Skalton, Skinpin checked over the Somali pilot, with the limited medical facilities on the ship it was it was touch & go whether he'd pull though.

Yusuf Mohammed Siad Inda'ade wasn't overjoyed to be poked & prodded by Skinpin however with gracious humility he accepted Skinpin's request to disrobe, from what Vrasten & T-Bird had already said he wasn't expecting to see a great deal of damage so it was no great surprise to see that the wounds were near healed suggesting a high level of nano-medication, he also saw evidence of the full body skinweave & muscle & bone strengthening as well the obvious eye modifications. What did surprise him however was the extent of ritual scarring on his arms & chest, something to tell the others thought Skinpin.

T-Bird was the last into the surgery, carefully Skinpin peeled back the bandages & dermal gel that Vrasten had coated the burnt flesh & shattered bone with. Skinpin spent the next hour or so cleaning out the ravaged flesh & closing the skin around the missing middle, ring & little fingers before reapplying fresh dermal gel & breathable but durable outer protective layer,

"Soon as we get back to momma's man you gotta get this ripped, bestways I can do with what I got is keep it fresh, it's either a rebuild or the tank, your choice but it ain't gonna wait forever, you know what I'm sayin' yeah, I can keep it fresh for maybe another two weeks tops, after that nothin's gonna stop it turning Green"

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 12.43am - 31/07/2016

Steaming south at around sixteen knots Crippen suggested they'd be looking at around five days sailing to the Ras Kamboni Peninsula, on the upside this would, suggested Crippen, allow his crew to make good headway in putting the ships quarters in some semblance of order.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 1.51pm - 31/07/2016

Vrasten emerged onto the Bridge via the internal staircase expecting to find Alex, a quick check on the comm's however revealed he'd gone down for a chat with Inda'ade, as he was already here he made idle conversation with Lahtinen to get a better understanding of the ships radar & navigational systems, whilst talking Crippen reentered the Bridge, instantly Lahtinen's informality became more conservative, Vrasten guessed that Crippen was reestablishing his authority with the remaining ships crew,

"Mr Nordskov, a word if I may"

For a second Vrasten didn't realise that Crippen was addressing him,

"yeah, sure, what can I do for you Henry"

"I've taken the liberty of relocating the Yemen Minister to, shall we say, a cleaner environment that where he had been incarcerated earlier, I respect your & the others decision to temporarily keep him under lock & key however as Captain of this vessel I will not see him treated unjustly or inhumanly, after all it's only a few hours ago he too was a hostage as was I & my crew."

For a moment Vrasten happily saw himself putting a bullet between Henry Crippen's eyes, instead he resisted the urge & listened as Crippen continued to make it clear that whilst he had given his word to make no contact with the outside world for the duration of the attempt to liberate the remaining hostages he, Captain Henry Crippen, would not permit any further atrocities to be carried out on his ship.

Smiling Vrasten turned tail & left the Bridge, the image of blood dripping from Crippen's eyes & ears nevermore appealing.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 10.34am - 01/08/2016

On the Bridge Lahtinen pointed out to Alex & T-Bird the identified signature on the radar screen approaching rapidly from the North towards them, as they debated it's source Vrasten watched for its approach with his inbuilt teleoptics, eventually it came into view, at around the same time Lahtinen advised that the Magellan star was being hailed on a open frequency channel, immediately, & before any could object, Crippen instructed it be patched through to all stations,

"This is Captain Pinterry Balgowie of the HMAS Armidale, Royal Australian Naval Force, acting under instruction of the Combined Maritime Task Force, I am hereby authorised to instruct you to identify yourself, heave to & be prepared to be boarded,, I repeat this is . . . . . "

Alex allowed the Armidal's Captain to repeat herself a second time before interrupting,

"I'm sorry Captain Balgowie but whilst I note your authority we wont be able to concede to your wishes at this precise moment in time however if you'd be prepared to meet me alone to discuss I can explain matters in more detail."

Again the ACPB 83's Captain repeated herself but added that no, she would not meet whoever was speaking for the ships captors alone but she would be happy to discuss any matters once her crew were allowed to board & the safety of the crew was established.

After several similar exchanges the HMAS Armidale ceased to broadcast & completed two full circuits of the MV Magellan Star before retreating North, Lahtinen confirmed it had however settled into a matching pace some half dozen miles to the stern.

Out of earshot of Crippen T-Bird spoke,

"Fuck, Vrasten, see if you can raise Uriel, maybe he can call the dogs off"

Alex suggested she & T-Bird have a look at the ships defenses just in case the ACPB's crew decided that a night time boarding party was in order.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 11.07am - 01/08/2016

Vrasten joined T-Bird & Alex on the forecastle,

"Uriel sends his regards" added Vrasten by way of an opener, "He'll do what he can but as he said having previously disputed all knowledge of what's going down it's problematic to then suggest CTF pull back, as far as he's concerned we're the experts & this is why they're paying us two million big ones, any news on our shadow ?"

Alex confirmed that according to Lahtinen, as of ten minutes ago it was still holding its position relative to the Magellan Star.

"What we gonna do about Crippen" asked T-Bird

There followed an awkward silence, both Vrasten & T-Bird had a fare idea what Alex wanted to do, Vrasten on the other hand, despite his meanderings, had clearly made her opposition clear to cold blooded murder of Crippen & his remaining Crew.

T-Bird was still playing his cards pretty close to his chest, neither Vrasten nor Alex were sure which way he was leaning.

"Cross that bridge when we get there ?" suggested Alex "I'm going for another chat with Inda'ade, let me know if anything changes yeah, catch ya in a bit."

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 12.18am - 01/08/2016

Alex locked the meeting room door behind her & left Inda'ade to his book, bloody Byron thought Alex, who'd a fuckin' thought that one out.

She had to admit the guy seemed to play his cards straight, she actually thought she was beginning to believe his offer of his life in exchange for the MilKor suits, perhaps it would work out in the end, shrugging she headed for the Dining Room in search of food.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 3.57pm - 01/08/2016

Just before 4.00pm Crippen put out a call on the ships intercom asking Vrasten & Alex to join T-Bird on the Bridge, shortly thereafter Lahtinen pointed out the absence of the Australian skippers ACPB on his screen,

"It dropped back around ten minutes ago, turned tail & disappeared off in the opposite direction"

Suggesting Lahtinen give them a shout if it reappeared Alex, T-Bird & Vrasten headed out on to the gantry to discuss just what they were going to do if ACPB & friends came back in a hurry.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 2.41pm - 03/08/2016

Two days later all was quiet, of the ACPB nothing more had been seen or heard, maybe Uriel had managed to pull some strings, maybe it was just luck, either way Crippen was being cooperative, if not pretty cool towards them, the crew were all on edge as whilst Crippen was the Magellan Star Captain they clearly new who was in charge, it wasn't a good atmosphere, on the up side the heads were now working & relatively clean.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 3.49am - 04/08/2016

During the early hours of the morning the Somali pilot lost his battle to survive.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 10.29am - 04/08/2016

Alex had again paid her morning visit to Inda'ade to make small talk & run over the upcoming exchange, as she rose to leave she picked up that there was obviously something else on the Somali's mind,

"Miss Price" he pointedly always addressed her formally, "I have a request of you, I have offered my life in exchange for the hostages, this is you must admit a more than generous offer & will undoubtedly bring much consternation to my friends at home, I would ask you consider a token to sweeten the bitterness of this for me, from what we spoken I see you do not care for our Yemen friend, Mutahir Rashad al-Masri, I would ease your contemplation in this matter, when you exchange my life for those of your friends I would ask you give me this man to pacify my people so they do not loose faith."

"I promise he will not be harmed, if he was to die then I would have a empty hand with which to barter for freedom."

Alex made no promises but said that she & her associates would consider matters, alone in the corridor Alex did a little jig & smiled, problem solved.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 2.37am - 04/08/2016

Inda'ade returned the prepaid mobile to Vrasten's out stretched hand, he & Alex has listened intently as Inda'ade has spoken with one of his followers at the Hizb ut-Tahrir training camp, whilst their Arabic wasn't exactly fluent the language chips gave them a pretty good base from which to interpret what had been said, as far as they could both were happy that what had been said was as had been agreed,

"It is done" confirmed Inda'ade, "my people will have three, maybe four boats, they will come tomorrow morning before midday, there will be guards, my friends are simple but careful"

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 10.29am - 05/08/2016

The MV Magellan Star hovered some fifteen miles or so off the coast of Somalia & just North of the Ras Kamboni Peninsula, her engines producing sufficient grunt such that the ship held position without resorting to dropping her twin anchors.

As requested Inda'ade made the call to to confirm that the hostages were to be brought as arranged to the ladder hung over the starboard rail of the weather deck & that the boats should individually pull along side to discharge their cargo, with a short prayer he ended the call & handed the mobile back to Vrasten,

"it is done, my people will come"

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 10.35am - 05/08/2016

On the raised forecastle deck Alex stood behind the handcuffed Somali watching the small flotilla approach from the peninsula, in total there were four boats, two outboard powered inflatable's & a pair of single sailed pirogue.

On the Bridge Vrasten watched them set out & buzzed T-Bird on the mastoid comm unit,

"OK, Alex has got Inda'ade up top & boats have launched, you better get the Minister ready to roll, Skinpin's coming down to give you a hand, guess you're gonna need it."

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 10.47am - 05/08/2016

Vrasten headed down from the Bridge ready to meet the first batch of hostages, above he could see Alex covering their approach, over the comm's he could hear T-Bird & Skinpin cajoling the Minister to mount the vertical ladder than ran up the bow escape shaft, from the sounds of things the Yemen had had clicked as to what was going down & he was refusing to mount the ships ladder to the forecastle deck.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 10.49am - 05/08/2016

Alex watched as the first inflatable pulled along side, seconds later the first hostage struggled up to the weather deck closely followed by two more, Vrasten had made sure they all had a copy of the photographs of the hostages that Uriel had provided, from up her it was difficult to assess who was who but she watched as Vrasten expertly frisked them down & signal all was OK before leading them off towards the Bridge Tower.

Over the comm's both Alex & Vrasten could hear T-Bird & Skinpin struggling with the Minister, for a second it went quiet, then they heard T-Bird arguing with Skinpin, apparently they'd give the Minister a shot to calm him but in the struggle they'd overdone the dose & were now struggling to lift the dead weight of the minister up the shaft.

Vrasten ushered the hostages onwards then quickly ran back to assist, on route he grabbed a life belt from one of the life saver stations along the starboard rail & cut it free of its safety rope. Up on the forecastle deck he quickly formed a cradle in the safety rope & dropped it down the shaft where Skinpin & T-Bird hitched the Minister in its loop. Between him & Alex pulling & Skinpin & T-Bird pushing they soon had the unconscious minister on the upper deck.

On the weather deck the second group of two hostages plus a solitary armed Somali reached the deck & waited, the second inflatable pulled around to sit under the bow, moments later Alex, T-Bird & Vrasten lowered the Minister over the ships prow, when the weight went from the rope they let it go & watched the inflatable pull towards the distant shore with the Minister slumped in its gunwales.

Skinpin, leaving the others to deal with the remaining exchange dropped down to the Weather deck, wary of the staring Somali guard, he took charge of the second pair of hostages & lead them away to safety.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 10.54am - 05/08/2016

The first of the pirogue fishing boats tacked across the water until it maneuvered itself along side the Magellan's ladder, with Skinpin gone for the moment T-Bird took charge of the next pair of captives, as with the previous pair they were lead aboard by a second armed Burcad Badeed, under the Somali's watchful eye T-Bird quickly checked over the hostages, both were unsurprisingly nervous & just a touch jumpy but apart from that they seemed in reasonable shape, satisfied that they like their predecessors were unarmed & not rigged to explode T-Bird herded them towards Skinpin who'd appeared at the far end of the weather deck from the Bridge Tower.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 11.10am - 05/08/2016

Finally the last boat was ready to discharge the remaining two hostages.

Alex released Inda'ade's wrist cuffs & pointed towards the ladder leading down to the weather deck.

As Inda'ade descended, Alex & Vrasten ever so slightly eased respective fingers on to triggers, a third armed Somali popped his head over the rail, saw Inda'ade waiting with T-Bird & shouted down to those still in the boat below, as he climbed aboard he was quickly followed by the remaining captives.

As Skinpin lead the last pair of hostages away the three Burcad Badeed closed protectively around Inda'ade,

"Time to see if the shit's going to hit the fan" muttered Vrasten.

It didn't, Inda'ade looked up to where Alex & Vrasten stood on the forecastle & then turned & smiled at T-Bird,

"Until we meet again my friend"

With that he disappeared over the rail closely followed by his escort.

Magellan Star, Arabian Sea 11.18am - 05/08/2016

In the aftermath of the exchange Vrasten headed for the Bridge, as he climbed the stairs he could feel the vibration through the ship pick up slightly as the ships engines ramped up, funny thought Vrasten, we haven't told Crippen where we're heading yet.

As he walked onto the Bridge, Vrasten new something was amiss, before he had chance to open his mouth Captain Henry Crippen went ballistic,

"You fifthly despicable animals, you're no better than the scum you've just bargained with, I saw what you did, we all saw what you did, you gave those bastards the Yemen Minister, whatever he may have been or done he was a hostage, a civilian, he looked to you for protection & you just threw his life away like it meant nothing, I don't care what you did for I & my crew, you're no better than the terrorists you supposedly came to rescue us from. I've had enough, that's it, I want you off my ship before I call in the authorities."

Vrasten stood & listened, he couldn't help but think that most of what the captain said was true.

As Crippen continued to rage against Vrasten, Alex & T-Bird entered the Bridge, instantly Crippen turned his anger to include them in his admonishment,

"Mr Moon, would you kindly contact any body who happens to be listening & advise them of our position & request their assistance" bellowed Crippen

Instantly Alex put her hand to her holstered pistol,

"Henry, I think you need to think about this before you make a rash decision" suggested Alex, "Mr Moon, I'd suggest you don't touch the comm's panel"

Hesitantly, Able Seaman James Moon looked from one to the other.

"Mr Moon" barked Crippen, "make that fucking call now, that's an order"

As Mr Moon's hand reached for the handset Alex's hand dropped to her holtster however Vrasten was already there, he fired at point blank range, he couldn't in all reality miss.

Silence, then the acrid smell of melting cable insulation, Vrasten smiled & slipped the EMP pistol back in to its holster,

"Oops"

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