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.