Chapter 51: Pollensa Military Airbase

Carina was having hormonal challenges and I had to talk her off the ledge. So I was about five minutes late getting to the bridge but Captain Alfred didn’t say anything.

“The winds are out of the northeast at fifteen to twenty and the seas are one to two feet. The sky is overcast, but no rain yet. Keep an eye on the weather and another on the jib,” he told me. I noticed that we were currently doing twelve knots.

“Did you talk to Archara,” he finally asked me after giving me the bridge update.

“Just came from there. She was very helpful about discussing my responsibilities as skipper,” I told him vaguely. Archara could tell him what she wanted, but I wasn’t going there.

After he left, I immediately furled the jib and unfurled the genoa. It was a bigger sail and should give us a little more speed. Especially without having to skirt so many islands. The problem was that some skippers were a little tentative about increasing speed in the dark. But with all the electronics onboard the Windsong, I didn’t see it as a problem.

When I checked a little later, we were doing over fifteen knots. Now, if we could just keep this up and make up some of the time we lost.

It was around two thirty when the radar began to emit a strange chirping sound. I was on my feet immediately, studying the screen. Once I determined that we had something barreling towards us and the general direction it was coming from, I stepped out on the bridge wing and began my own search while holding the house phone to my ear.

“Incoming!” was all I said.

“Be right there!” Captain Alfred said. I hope he knew to let Captain Tony know.

Less than a minute later, I had my answer as both men reached the bridge.

“Out here!” I called out. It was almost pitch black because I had killed ALL the exterior lights before I came out.

“What is it?” Captain Tony asked.

“I think it’s a drone, sir,” I replied, saying nothing more.

“Do you...” he started.

“Shhhh! Let the boy do his thing,” Captain Alfred whispered fiercely.

“I cannot detect a pilot but I think there is some kind of computer calculating a shooting solution,” I told them.

Shhhh!” Captain Alfred told Captain Tony again before he could ask.

“There!” I said. “I think I have disabled the firing computer. What do you want me to do with the drone?”

“What can you do with it?” asked Captain Alfred.

“I can destroy it. I can disable it so it returns to its sender. Or...” I said.

“Or what?” asked Captain Tony anxiously.

“Or I can disable it’s signal which should cause it to return to its sender and then track it and detonate it when it arrives back to its senders,” I said with an evil look in my eye.

“You can do that?” Captain Tony asked.

“Oh, yeah,” I replied. I was mad that someone was trying to harm my friends.

“Do it,” Captain Alfred said. “I’ll turn the running lights and the nav lights back on.”

I stood on the bridge, my concentration totally on the drone as the wind whipped my body. Captain Alfred came back out with a jacket which I slipped on without breaking my connection with the drone. It was over an hour before I sensed the drone slowing down. Just before it shut itself down, I fried all the circuits on the ammunition it was carrying. I’m sure it was a massive explosion.

“Assholes!” I said disgustedly. “They deserved what they got!”

“ ... Pollensa Military Airbase, by my best calculations,” Captain Tony was telling someone. “On Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands.” There was a pause. Then “Yeah, less than five minutes ago.” Then, “Roger. Lavigne out.”

Then turning to us he said, “I called my buddy in Brest (French Naval Headquarters) and told him of the explosion. I reported it as if we had seen it from a distance, but didn’t know what it was. If I know him, he’ll have the analysts combing the satellite stuff for pictures since he has the approximate time and location. I’ll call him back tomorrow.”

“Would one of you call Reggie? I wouldn’t want them to be caught unaware” I asked as I resumed my watch duties by checking the sails.

“Permission to attend the bridge?” Captain Tony asked when I came back in.

I looked my question at Captain Alfred.

“He means do we have your permission to stay on the bridge. After that bit of excitement, neither one of us could get back to sleep,” he explained.

“Hey! You’re the one with the Captain’s rank here. And besides, it’s your ship. So you can do anything you want. You don’t have to ask me,” I said.

“Au contraire! My young skipper!” Captain Tony exclaimed. “Even the owner cannot supersede the orders of the skipper.”

“Seriously?” I asked disbelieving.

“He’s right, Alex. He may own the boat, but you’re in charge. You remember that if it ever comes up in a critical situation,” Captain Alfred explained.

Reggie called back just after dawn to report that there were numerous reports of explosions at a military air base on Mallorca last night, but no official word.

“Just continue on course and stay sharp,” he told us.

The captains sent me down to bed then. They said they would wake me if there was anything important. Captain Tony told me to use his cabin.

So I went down and crawled in bed with Monique.

“ ... and you cannot guess what I found in my bed when I woke up this morning. I was so surprised I had to wake him up to see if I was dreaming. And then I had to ride him to really make sure. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to wake up to such a magnificent stallion. I had to ride him for over an hour just to get back to sleep. And was I exhausted!” Monique was telling her friend when I came up to the dining room.

Then both women just looked at me and smiled.

“I wish I could have a surprise like that, Monique,” Archara told her.

“Ladies,” I said as I tipped my imaginary cap and went down to the galley to get myself a bowl of cereal.

“Lunch is in ten minutes,” Samantha told me. “I’m sure you must be starved after the exhausting morning you had.”

Okay, someone has been talking! Why was I not surprised?

I went back up to the salon and sat at the other end of the long dining table to wait on lunch.