The Capture of Independence - Chapter 3.3

Simone Baptiste

Simone Baptiste - French
Rolf - German - Simone’s Dog
Chuck Naldrett - Canadian - DaveG
Sampson Strong - English - PJ
Leonid Rokossovsky - Russian - Sukh
Rosalyn De Steel - English - Dabe
Richard Bering - English - NPC

Planning

Once there Richard asked for our group to gather round a table at one end of the bar. There he told us he had another mission for us to further the cause of our independence. He would like us to go back to Estevelo to capture the ship that landed the troops. Estevelo would have been cleared of enemy troops by the time we got there and the supers operating there had managed to obtain the evacuation code to call in the ship. He suggested we use that code to get the ship in close and then board her. He also handed over some plans of the ship to enable us to better plan our attack. She was a good looking ship for sure and looked very fast. From the pictures she had three hulls and a flat deck at the back for helicopters to land on. We asked a series of questions on crew size, number of marines and such like questions. I also checked if we would have to meet the other supers in town and I was assured that would not be required. We decided to get on with it, as it was a matter of time before the people on the ship realised that the evacuation code had been compromised so we took a car down to Estevelo.

There on the beach which we had left just two days ago we started to plan our attack. In the end what we decided to do was for us to call the ship at dusk when the fishing fleet was out. The party bar one exception was to be hidden on one of the fishing boats with a zodiac hidden behind the boat. The exception to this was to be the person who was pretending to be one of the soldiers getting evacuated. I was to perform this role as I was the most suited for it and I guess I was trying to prove to myself that I was still a hero despite what else had happened. I was to send the message to the ship and then sail a zodiac full of wounded soldiers out to them. In actual fact the wounded soldiers were made up of dead soldiers we had found round Estevelo, while I was dressed up in one of the spare uniforms. When I decoyed the ship in close to the fishing boat, Chuck would hack the computer systems on the ship. At that point I would go and create a distraction on the ship while the others used their zodiac to approach and board the ship at speed.

Execution

We then proceeded to put the plan into action and loaded my Zodiac up with bodies. I then arranged them to look like I was evacuating with wounded soldiers. The others left with the fishing fleet on a fishing boat that Rosalyn had somehow obtained. Rolf went with Chuck while Leonid piloted the boat. Once they were in position I sent the evacuation signal using a radio taken from one of the soldiers. I then waited an appropriate amount of time before starting to motor out from shore. I did feel very lonely on my boat with only dead bodies for company. As I got farther from shore I could see the ship quite clearly now as she closed in. I was now passing the line of the fishing fleet but could not see the rest of my party. Not helped that I did not know what their boat looked like. The ship had closed within 3km of me and seemed to be slowing to a halt. I could see no sign of any activity by Chuck so I eased off the throttle to give myself more time before I was committed to do something.
Distance was still closing and still no sign of any Chuck activity. Maybe the systems were beyond him or maybe they had not left shore. I cut the motor to stop myself closing as I did not want to get too close. To my consternation I heard a rumble from the ships engines as they ticked over to close in on me. On the positive side this would bring them closer to Chuck, if he was there on one of the fishing boats. I started to get the cover off the outboard and acted as though I was trying to fix the motor. While doing this I dropped various bits of cables off into the sea to make certain that it would not work again. The ship closed on my position, stopping maybe 100m off. I could see them lowering a ramp near the backend of the ship and launching another zodiac. Once that got to me the game would be up. So hearing the sound of its outboard I started to reach down towards the propeller on my outboard, acting as though I was at full stretch and then slipping and falling in. Once under the water I kept going straight down where I discarded the uniform jacket and helmet. Hopefully this would stop any friendly fire incident, presuming I was not on my own when I attacked the ship.

Distracting Action

Swimming under the ship I came up underneath in the gap between the central hull and the side hull. Once here I prepared myself for action taking my shotgun out of my backpack and unwrapping it from its plastic bag. After making certain that it was water free I flew up the side of the ship level with the flight deck, this was I hasten to add on the opposite side of the ship from where the Zodiac was. From the edge of the deck I could see that there was a flight crew working on a helicopter. I take a distraction shot at them before ducking back under the hull into the gap between the hulls. I can hear some shouting from the flight deck but no signs of any activity from anyone or anything else. I then move towards the bow of the ship where I read the ships name for the first time. She is called the “USS Independence” which is kind of ironic since that is what we wanted. I then fly up to the bridge windows and fire a two shots into the windows, which seem to be bullet proof as they do not break, I see people inside gesturing towards me and I wonder what would I look like from their point of view, a red haired young women wearing army trousers and t-shirt flying outside their window with a shotgun. An arresting sight I am sure. Then with a deafening roar the cannon on the top of the hanger opened fire and then came an explosion from the flight deck with a fireball rising into the sky. So Chuck has arrived at last! The alarm klaxon now sounded so we were in action.

Offensive Action

I flew down to the rear of the ship and entered the ship by a rear hatch under the flight deck. Once in I took out one marine before having to beat a hasty retreat from a second. It was at this point the rest of my group arrived up the ramp that had been lowered for the second zodiac launch. Together Sampson, Leonid, Rosalyn & I then cleared the hanger bay of any marines. Then Chuck and Rolf arrived also as they had been left behind on the fishing boat while the others arrived by zodiac. It was great to have Rolf back with me again. Chuck settled himself down against a wall to continue his activities while the rest of us took control of the ship. There were two corridors leading from the hanger deck going forward into the ship. Rolf and I went down the left one where we took out the guy that I had trouble with previously. While I was tying him up I heard the others shouting for help at the end of the corridor so sending Rolf ahead of me I went down to see what I could do. By time I got there it was all over as Rolf had taken out the guy that was giving them so much trouble. By now the standard sailors were surrendering so I instructed them to all move to the hanger bay and bring any of the wounded with them.

Leaving Leonid, Sampson and Rosalyn to take the Bridge, I proceeded to gather all the prisoners against the wall of the hanger bay. This potentially could have turned nasty very quickly as I was outnumbered some thirty or more to one. Luckily they did not seem to want a fight and I tried to keep things calm by speaking to the sailors and assuring them that no harm would come to them. The marines that potentially could have caused trouble were left tied up but I did heal their wounds. After all if I was going to be regarded as a good super hero, I had to start somewhere, it would also help keep things calm down on the hanger deck. In fact Rolf seemed a big hit, with lots of sailors finding him snacks to eat. After about quarter hour Chuck stood up and said “the ship is ours”.

He then plotted a course to the town of Houmanu which has a deep water port on the East Coast of the island. We then took it in turns in pairs to watch the prisoners to allow people to have a rest. While I was out getting some fresh air on the flightdeck, Alexander flew by checking who was in command of the Independence, seeing it was us he waved and shot off. He is so handsome! I also liberated some female clothing of my size from one of the crew. So now have a full range of clothing plus toiletries. Also careful to get a sealable water proof bag to put them in case I had to do any more water exploits. After a two hour sail we pulled into the harbour and Chuck cautiously manoeuvred the Independence up against the harbour pier where she was tied up. The time was now 9pm in the evening.

Unwelcome Visitors - Chapter 3.2

Simone Baptiste

Simone Baptiste - French
Rolf - German - Simone’s Dog
Chuck Naldrett - Canadian - DaveG
Sampson Strong - English - PJ
Leonid Rokossovsky - Russian - Sukh
Rosalyn De Steel - English - Dabe
Milan Zadradnik - Czech - NPC
Richard Bering - English - NPC
Pitik Loshang - Islander - NPC Bar owner

Rubbish Disposal

When I joined the rest by the van I found that two of the enemy Supers had been tied up. The one Rolf had taken out (Mr Duplicator) and the Earth Magic man. Electric girl was dead, apparently from a shot to the head. All the people we had came to rescue were ok so we transported everyone back to the village. Leaving them there we took the two Supers to Milan for him to lock up in his spooky church. I went in to the church/temple first as I had at least some rapport with Milan which put me some considerable distance ahead of the others. Milan showed some distaste for Leonid but luckily Leonid had stayed outside the church, so that helped kept things cool on that front. I handed over our prisoners to Milan and explained their powers. I gave Milan a warning about what Duplicator was capable of as he did not seem to take me seriously, as maybe he still considered me that “mere little girl”. Suddenly tentacles ripped out of the ground through the Duplicator spreading his body parts all round the church, so I guess not. Milan said he could make use of the earth magic Super and then both of them disappeared. We then made our way back to the village with me wondering what Milan meant by “I can make use of him”.
Since it was late afternoon and we were all so very tired we decided to get some food and rest. We asked the villagers to warn us if anybody approached from the Estevelo. I eat well, soaked for an hour in the bath and then crawled into bed and tried to forget all the trauma of what had happened to me that day. That day was the lowest of my life as I had seen me been molested before dying in my own arms. I just kept thinking of what it must have been like for the Simone copy with all my memories, been molested and then finally for it all to end with her feeling her life ebb away with her having no control over anything.
It was very hard to shift those thoughts, to stop empathiseing with her situation but eventually sheer tiredness enabled me to drop off in a restless sleep. Lets hope tomorrow is a better day.

A Relaxed Morning

After a restless night I got up at six in the morning unable to sleep any longer. I just felt I had been put through the emotional wringer, I felt so twisted up inside. Decided to go and see if Pitik was up, so I could have some food and someone to chat to. If I could keep my mind occupied maybe I could stop my mind wandering onto yesterday’s activities. Wandered into the bar area but it was all empty with the stools on the table tops. Since I knew Pitik was relaxed about these things I switched on the coffee percolator behind the bar and started to prepare myself a sandwich. I was munching on this when Pitik arrived in the bar. I chatted to him for some time about anything, other than what had occurred yesterday. This, and the food seemed to settle my stomach down to a more normal level so I felt a bit more relaxed and was able to chat to the others when they rolled in later. Found out from Pitik that Richard was expected later that afternoon so we decided to have a relaxed day while waiting for him. We did ask the villagers to set up watches on the roads into the village to warn of potential trouble while we carried our communicators with us. I took this opportunity to wonder round the village with Rolf, talking to the locals when I met them, with me playing at normal life to keep my mind occupied. Rosalyn and Leonid stayed in the bar while Chuck and Sampson had gone for a walk also.

Visitors

This idyllic morning was brought was to halt by a burst of static from the communicator, then a voice said “column of cars inbound”, someone then asked “from Estevelo?”. The response took me by surprise when they said “No, from the mountains” as I was expecting it to be soldiers from the coast. Time stood still for a little while someone somewhere examined the convoy to see who it was. I then heard a voice say “It’s ROSS”. I did not hear what else they said, as the fight/flight reflex kicked in with a vengeance. ROSS that bastard who first of all had launched a sexual attack on me and later tried to kill me, his name was enough to send a tremor down my spine. Well I was not going to be attacked by him again if I could help it. I was no longer that same girl from the prison and Rolf was with me now! I positioned myself in a place where I could observe the main square and Pitik’s bar with the jungle to my back.
The convoy pulled to a halt outside the bar, four vehicles in all, with twelve people getting out. The two that I recognised were Ross and his plague friend. I could hear Ross issuing orders as though he owned the place, the arrogant bastard. I had hoped that someone would have killed him by now but it looked like he had built his own gang. They all then walked into the bar leaving no one outside. It was all quiet for a while but I was certainly not going down to investigate. Did see some flickering down by the cars so either Leonid or Chuck was up to something. Eventually trouble started, as I know it would with the sounds of wood been smashed. Then there was a murmur of voices before Leonid shot out of the bar, on his own two feet I would add. Then Ross came out on the bar veranda and started to shout out for one of us to come forward. Chuck stepped forward which I have to say I thought was an insane thing to do since the last time they met Ross had tried to kill Chuck. There was much talk where Ross said he was leading a force of Supers against the International military surrounding this island. They were on their way to clean up Estevelo. He then started to talk about me “Asking where was Simone?” I had to stop myself from running at that point as that was my instinctive reaction! I was not the same girl! I am a future Super hero and I will NOT run from scum! So I stayed to listen to see what else was said. I caught Chuck saying that he did not know where I was and he strongly suspected I would not be showing up, oh that’s so true. In all this conversation I could see there was an undercurrent of hatred from Ross towards us so I was surprised he was so controlled. There was more conversation in which Ross said Richard would be along later. Ross then called the conversation short saying he had to get onto Estevelo to sort out the military there. He called all the other Supers out of the bar and told them to mount up, did I detect special relish in the way he said that? I could not be sure but it would not surprise me. It was at this moment the Supers found out their ignition keys had been taken. Ross demanded to know who had them, so Chuck threw them on the ground before backing away. Ross then sent his drivers forward to retrieve the keys before rolling out of town on the road to Estevelo. Doubt that improved Ross’s feelings for us either.

Visitors Aftermath

After Ross had left, Chuck came out to find me. Once we met up we talked over what had occurred and he tried to persuade me to join the others back at the bar. I was not having anything to do with that as I did not trust Ross and never would. My reading of his motivations still show him being the same low life he always was but been more controlled at the moment ... for some reason. With eleven Supers at his command Ross would be more than capable of coming back into Mweki at any time. In that situation I wanted to be in a place where I had options. I said I would join the rest of them at the bar when I saw Richard arrive.
Time went by until I saw Richard drive in from the mountains on the same road that Ross had arrived on. So off I trotted with Rolf to the bar to meet the others. Once there I found there was a bit of discussion about how Ross was a changed man and was now Ok! WHAT!!! Unlike the old days where I would have kept a low profile I now steamed in saying he was still the same person, i.e. just a petty thug who would attack anyone when he had the advantage. Leonid said he had been down to Estevelo to check out Ross’s story of taking on the soldiers there and that was apparently true. I was so fired up that I told them something that only Richard knew previously, that Ross had sexually assaulted me in prison. There was a flippant comment from someone “maybe he was just been friendly”. I exploded at this point shouting out " its attempted rape when they are holding you down by the shoulders”. Things went very quiet in the bar and conversation stopped before restarting at a low murmur. I caught Richards’s eye and indicated that we needed to talk.

A Friendly Chat

Richard led me into a back room where we could talk with more privacy, but I was still angry so I wonder looking back on it if I managed to keep my voice down. Can not recall the full detail of the conversation now but I know I let off steam about Ross and other peoples attitude re him and what he did. Eventually I calmed down enough to start to talk with less emotion. I did notice that Richard was being very careful to not tip more fuel on the fire and he was very careful about what words he used. He explained that he had met Ross and “persuaded” him to leave Chuck and me alone. Well that is all very well for Ross but the same rules would not apply to me! I told Richard that the best place for Ross would to be buried under the yard as he could not be trusted. But apparently it was a done deal but Richard said he would try and keep us separated. He then asked how our mission in Estevelo had gone? I was able to tell what we had done in Estevelo in a controlled manner but when I started to talk about our rescue of the low level Supers at the farm my voice started to break up and I broke down in tears. Richard came over and tentatively hugged me while I sobbed out what had happened to the Simone copy with my head on his chest He tried to comfort me in a very English way in a loose hug but I guess only time will heal my wounds.
He then talked about his future plans to distract me from my own thoughts. I think Richard was underestimating the military here. He seemed to think that if we took the island and demonstrated that we were a force to be reckoned with that the world governments would then negotiate with us. All I could think was that this was just painting a great big target on our heads and with large force of Supers on one island what a great target we were. If the English or the Americans did not have the guts to nuke us, the French certainly would! We need to get off the Island! I hope Richard has some super up his sleeve that can shield the whole island like in War of World’s. Richard said he had a mission for us but he would need to talk to the others so we rejoined the others in the bar.