High Seas Hijack

Action Force Operations Base

Australia

November, 1995

The six SAS Force commandos sat in the briefing room, waiting for the secure link to Britain to become active. They’d been deployed to Australia as part of a training exercise when they’d been notified of an urgent mission.

Finally Beaver, the Canadian swimmer/canoeist, saw the screen was showing an animated rotating SAS Force insignia.

“Comms are up, gentlemen,” he said just before the logo was replaced by Eagle in AFHQ, Birmingham.

“Good day, gentlemen,” Eagle began. “''I’m sure you won’t mind curtailing your training for a real mission. We’ve received disturbing intelligence from GCHQ and an MI6 asset in North Korea. Before I get to that, I’ll fill you in on some brief back-story.”''

Beaver heard Wraith, a Norwegian member of his squad, snigger and turned to glare at him.

“''Last month, an SAS Force team assaulted a camp in Somalia belonging to the mercenaries known as Skull Squad. The camp was a transhipment point for chemical weapons smuggled out of Iraq and destined for Europe. The Coil planned to use them in some kind of attack. You all know about the Coil, right?”''

“Yes sir,” Beaver replied as Stakeout, the Liverpudlian leader of Boat Patrol, simultaneously said, “Sure do, boss.”

“''Good. Saves time. Last week, we were notified by the Oktober Guard they had thwarted an attempt to hijack nuclear warheads by the Skull Squad mercs. Russian intelligence and the presence of Coil FANG helicopters supporting the mercs confirmed the warheads were meant for the Coil. GCHQ intercepted a radio conversation between Overlord and another man at the end of last week. Overlord was mobile, somewhere in Eastern Europe, so they couldn’t pin down his location. The other party was harder to track, the signals boffins reported the message was bouncing off multiple satellites and ground relays. We do know who it was, however, if not where they were. The man was the commander of another, older, mercenary organisation known as the Black Dragons. They’re a cadre of saboteurs and spies who little has been confirmed about, beyond their existence when Action Force captured four of their number in 1991. Overlord’s conversation with the Black Dragon commander consisted largely of a request for ‘supplies’. Said supplies were not elaborated upon, but they agreed to meet in Pyongyang four days ago,” ''Eagle explained.

Beaver glanced around. The others were all listening intently.

“''An MI6 asset in North Korea relayed a message to London. He saw sixty men, mostly Westerners loading an Iranian-flagged freighter with chemical barrels. He believed the barrels to contain chemicals used as precursors to chemicals weapons. Your mission is to intercept the freighter at sea, confirm the presence of said chemicals and ensure they are removed from the vessel or destroyed.”''

“What are our rules of engagement?” Stakeout asked.

“Crew expendable,” Eagle replied. ''“You’ll be flown out to the ship by helicopter and extract via same. The freighter’s underway, two days out of Nampho, in the East China Sea.”''

“It’ll take time to get that far from here, sir,” Beaver pointed out.

“That’s fine. Try to reach it before it enters the South China Sea. Should give you a few more days. Information is being forward to you via fax on the ship’s layout and so on for mission planning. Eagle out.”

The communication link was cut off.

Four days later

Luzon Strait, 200 miles south of Taiwan

A severe thunderstorm was raging across the Luzon Strait as the Iranian freighter slowly rumbled its way south toward the South China Sea. Lightning flashed around the skies as rain poured down. The black MH-60K Black Hawk helicopter was nearly invisible in the darkness as it approached the wallowing freighter from the stern. None of its formation lights were on, the flight crew were using image-intensifying night-vision goggles to see, no cabin lights were on.

The Black Hawk was part of a trial into its use by SAS Force. Four had been transferred to the unit from the US Army. This was its first combat deployment.

Evac from Z Force was flying the helicopter, since he was trained in its use. Sitting along side him was Rose, the British Tomahawk pilot.

“Sixty seconds to target,” Rose called across the intercom. “Stand by.”

Stakeout was sitting on the floor of the helicopter cabin, feet dangling out the door. He was studying the freighter through his own night-vision goggles.

“Stick to the plan, guys,” he said over his own intercom headset. “Drop me, Beaver and Wraith at the rear. Frog, Archer and Barracuda drop in once we’ve secured the bridge.”

“Copy,” Evac replied.

The MH-60K hovered above and behind the ship’s superstructure. Stakeout tossed the rope he had on his lap out the door, allowing it to swing free from the anchor-point above his head on the side of the helicopter. He pulled off his headset and plugged in one of the earpieces from his personal radio.

“You’re clear to drop!” Evac shouted.

Stakeout slid down the rope first. Wraith and Beaver followed him down.

“Weapons free,” Stakeout said.

The three commandos moved around the superstructure to the front of the walkway outside the bridge. The three crewmembers on the bridge were clearly visible in the bridge’s lights. The three commandos fired through the glass, killing the three crewmembers.

Stakeout led the team back to the bridge door, which he opened. The trio moved in, pausing only to flip up the NVGs out of the way.

“Bridge secure,” Stakeout reported on his radio. “Team two, clear to descend.”

Stakeout led the way to the door at the other side of the bridge that lead to a stairway, then headed down it, his suppressed MP-5SWF up and ready. Wraith was close on his heels, his own weapon at the ready.

On the next deck they moved along the corridor, weapons at the ready. Reaching the crew quarters, Stakeout eased the door open slowly, before they stepped in. NVGs back in place, they moved to each sleeping crewmember and shot them.

“Crew quarters, secure,” Stakeout reported over the radio.

“Team two on route to engine spaces,” replied Barracuda, his French accent contrasted with Stakeout’s Scouse.

“Team one, moving to secure radio room.”

As they descended to the next deck, they could hear someone singing badly in Norwegian.

“Wraith, take point,” Stakeout ordered.

The other man moved to the front of the trio as they moved along the passageway.

Wraith cocked his head as he listened to the slurred words. He paused as he reached a corner and then leaned out. A crewman was stumbling along the passage, clearly so drunk he could barely walk.

Stakeout stepped up to Wraith as he sighted on the crewman.

“Last call,” Stakeout muttered in Wraith’s ear.

Wraith fired a three round burst, dropping the crewman. “Bottoms up,” he muttered back.

The three commandos moved along the passage to the radio room, which was empty. Stakeout emptied his magazine into the radios before reloading.

“Radio room secure,” Stakeout reported over his own radio. “Moving to the cargo hold.”

“Engine room secure,” Barracuda replied. “Moving to hold.”

The six commandos linked up outside the door leading to the walkway above the first cargo hold.

“Wraith, you’re on point. Frog, cover our six,” Stakeout ordered.

“''Sierra Six, this is Blackbird. We’re at joker fuel. Returning to the ship. You’ve got about one hour until we return,”'' Evac reported.

“Copy that, Blackbird.”

Wraith eased open the door to the walkway. The hold beyond was lit by a pair of lights in the ceiling. Several Black Dragons were visible below.

“Weapons free,” Stakeout said. Wraith, Archer and Stakeout opened fire at the Black Dragons, killing six of them before they had a chance to move. Frog, Barracuda and Beaver opened fire next as the others reloaded.

Two Black Dragons managed to grab AKM assault rifles, but were hit by bursts from four of the commandos before they could even fire.

“Hold secure,” Stakeout announced. “Move up.”

The commandos moved along the walkway to the door to the next cargo hold. Wraith opened the door and moved through. Two Black Dragons were on the walkway in front of him. He dropped to one knee, firing as he did. The lead Black Dragon fell backward into the second. Stakeout came through the door behind Wraith and spotted three Black Dragons on the walkway opposite them. He opened fire as Barracuda stepped through the door.

The second Black Dragon on the team’s walkway shoved aside his dead comrade and struggled to free his AKM, as Wraith moved up and shot him.

Bullets were now pinging off the hull-plates as Stakeout, Barracuda and Archer exchanged fire at the ten Black Dragons below who’d been sat around several fold-up tables, playing cards, chess and other games. Frog and Beaver threw hand grenades at the mercenaries, which blasted apart the tables and three of the Dragons. The others were rapidly cut down.

The doors at the end of each walkway, leading to the final hold opened.

Wraith immediately opened fire, emptying his magazine in several bursts as Black Dragons started to rush through the door.

“Movement right,” Archer reported as he fired at the Black Dragons across from them.

Beaver and Frog shot several more of the mercenaries as the others reloaded.

“Targets down,” reported Frog.

“Hold secure,” Beaver added.

“Tangos down,” agreed Wraith.

“Move up,” Stakeout ordered.

Wraith led the way to the still-open door. He slowed as he approached it.

“Stand by,” Wraith said, pulling out a flash-bang.

“Ready,” the others chorused.

Wraith pulled the pin, threw the grenade and then slammed the door shut.

The boom was still audible despite the closed door. Wraith pulled the door open before dashing through.

Four Black Dragons were on the catwalk on their knees, stunned by the flash-bang. Wraith immediately shot them.

Sitting in the middle of the hold was a pallet with six cylindrical drums on it.

“Looks like our package,” Barracuda commented.

The team scrambled down a ladder to the floor of the hold. Archer picked up a clipboard on the top of the crates.

“Korean, by the looks,” he said, before handing it to Stakeout.

The Scouser stared at the ideograms and then said, “Sure as hell, it’s not Cockney.”

Frog had bent down to examine the drums. “Chemical warning notices in English and Korean,” he said pointing.

“Let me see,” Barracuda said, squatting next to him and pulling a small notepad from his web-gear.

Barracuda examined the warning labels, checked three pages of his notebook and then looked up.

“Bombardier gave me names of chemicals it was possible they were shipping,” he explained to Stakeout.

“Yeah?”

“Oui,” the Frenchman said. “I’ve got matches. Same names.”

“What’s the next step?” Frog asked as he stood back up.

Stakeout checked his watch. “We’ve got about twenty-five minutes until Evac gets back. We need to get these drums up on deck, so they can be loaded aboard the Black Hawk and got out of here.”

The team got to work, moving the pallet with the drums on into the centre of the hold underneath the hatch in the deck, opening the hatch and then using the ship’s crane to hoist the pallet up to the deck.

As the Black Hawk helicopter approached the freighter, Stakeout contacted Evac on his personal radio.

“Chemicals are all secure, Evac. We need you to hoist them aboard the helicopter, so we can get them back to the ship safely,” Stakeout said.

“Roger that,” Evac replied. “Stand by, there’s some bad crosswinds coming off the ship.”

The Black Hawk was now pacing the freighter as it continued to sail on through the storm-tossed sea. Evac had the helicopter in a near hover just off the freighter’s port side.

Rose suddenly called out a warning, “Unidentified aircraft inbound!”

Evac immediately pulled the helicopter up and away from the freighter.

“Two fast movers, coming south at high speed,” Rose went on. “We’re being illuminated by air-search radar!”

“Stakeout! Bogey fast movers inbound, we’re aborting the pick-up,” Evac shouted into the radio. “Stand by!”

The two fighters screamed past over the helicopter and the freighter.

Evac managed to keep the Black Hawk steady in the turbulence from the fighters and the winds of the storm.

“Tracking fighters,” Rose reported, “They’ve still got their radars on, ECM panel’s calling them Chinese Q-5 strike aircraft.”

Evac swore. “They may be carrying anti-ship missiles.”

Rose looked across at him, before hitting her mic, “Strike team, we suspect fighters are Chinese jets with anti-ship weapons, stand by for immediate pick-up!”

On the deck, Stakeout and the rest of the team were straining to see the two fighters, which had looped around and were now speeding in from the south.

The Black Hawk was drifting back toward the freighter when Wraith suddenly saw two flashes of light in the sky.

“Shit! They’ve opened fire!” he yelled. “Get down!”

Evac pulled the Black Hawk away from the freighter as the commandos ran toward the superstructure. Rose had warned him of the missile launch as Wraith had yelled his warning.

The two anti-ship missiles slammed into the side of the freighter, detonating above the waterline. The freighter heeled to the right, before rocking back to the left. The commandos were thrown off their feet by the explosion. The two Chinese fighters sped away to the north.

“Sierra Six, this is Blackbird, come in!”

“The ship’s sinking!” Barracuda yelled. “She’s taking on water!”

“We need to get out of here now!” Archer yelled.

“Sierra Six, come in dammit!”

Stakeout hauled Wraith to his feet. “Blackbird, this is Sierra Six, we need immediate evac, get down here now!”

The Scouser turned to Wraith who had dropped to his knees as the ship rocked as something below decks exploded.

“On your feet, soldier! We are leaving!”

The Black Hawk began to drop toward the freighter’s deck once more.

“Frog, get some C4 on those drums! Blow them up before we go!” Stakeout shouted.

Beaver moved to help Frog as he pulled to small shaped charges from his web-gear.

The Black Hawk hovered only a few feet off the deck; Archer and Barracuda ran across the deck and scrambled aboard. Frog and Beaver soon followed, with Stakeout and Wraith bringing up the rear. Barracuda hauled Beaver aboard with little dignity, the pair crashing on to the helicopter’s deck as Archer grabbed Frog’s arm and pulled him on to the helicopter.

Another explosion shook the ship as Stakeout and Wraith reached the helicopter. Evac slid the helicopter forward to compensate and Stakeout leaped on to the Black Hawk, before turning back to Archer.

The freighter rose up toward the helicopter as it hit another swell. Wraith stepped easily into the Black Hawk.

“Frog, blow the charges!” Stakeout shouted. The SBS commando hit his detonator and the drums exploded.

“Evac, we’re all aboard, go!” Barracuda called.

The MH-60K immediately pulled up and away from the freighter as it began to break apart and slip beneath the waves.

“I guess the Coil are going to need another way to get their chemical weapons,” Beaver commented as he flopped down into one of the seats at the side of the helicopter.

Barracuda snorted. “Maybe they’ll give up and try something else instead.”

Wraith slammed the door shut against the wind and the rain. “Let’s just hope next time, we don’t have to board a bloody freighter in the pouring rain and then get it blown apart under us, eh?”

“Too right, mate,” Frog agreed. “Let some other poor sod deal with it.”

The Black Hawk flew on, rain lashing against it in the darkness.