Chapter 17

Hoi’s whole attitude toward Liz changed at that point, and he started treating her as if we were already married. He reminded me that we could be married by the ship’s captain if we were in a hurry. Hell, that sounded like a good idea to both of us. We could have a regular wedding when we got back to Shanghai if Liz’s parents wanted that, but that could be discussed later.

Our dinner arrived at that time, and we three sat down to an excellent meal. No wonder it was SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the cruise passengers to put on weight while at sea. After we finished eating, Liz and I went back to the bedroom.

Oh, God, the bed was in a mess. There was a blood stain on the bed cover, and the coverings were wet clear through to the mattress. There was no way that we were going to fuck any more on that messy bed, much less sleep on it. I called housekeeping for a maid to come change the bed. I was promised service “as soon as possible,” but that could stretch into tomorrow.

Okay, we had an out. There was that empty bedroom in the suite, so we moved into that. We made love two more times that night, but this time we put down a towel for Liz to lie on. That modified missionary’s position we had used the first time had worked out so well that we used it both times, and immediately decided that it was our favorite position.

We even had a quickie before heading to the bathroom for another bath. It was not so much that I enjoyed bathing, it was that I enjoyed playing in the water with my new wife. Liz and I did hope that the pirates skipped showing up today because Liz was very sore inside her pussy. However, she maintained that it was worth it!

After we made a trip to Liz’s cabin to pick up most of her clothes to transfer them back to my, make that our, suite, we had what the room service people called a brunch. It was good, but I really preferred a regular breakfast and lunch. Oh, well...

It was then that I called the ship’s captain to ask if he could and would perform a wedding ceremony for Liz and me. Ha, I found out that this was a routine service, and the cost would simply be added to my bill—that did not make any difference to me because the ship’s management was picking up the cost of the trip to repay me for running their defense setup.

The captain actually had some time today for the affair if we would agree to having it at 3:00 PM. Of course, we agreed, and promised to meet him in the small ballroom at 2:30 to go over the details. The ship even had a ring that we could borrow for the ceremony. Dammit, how often did this situation come up?

Hoi was delighted to be asked to be my Best Man, and I had a spare tuxedo that would fit him. Fortunately, Liz had a suitable dress, so we were all set. I will not bother you with the details, but the ceremony went off without a hitch. Liz and I rushed back to the suite to celebrate our wedding.

As was the policy aboard ship, the wedding had been publicized intensely, and there were a fair number of guests at the wedding. I would not classify any of them as friends and very few were acquaintances. I was sure that the vast majority showed up out of curiosity. I was sure that some were disappointed that there was no reception with free booze, but nobody complained where I could hear them.

We were headed from Hong Kong to Macau at this point in the voyage, so I was warned by the First Mate that we should expect a pirate attack. The pirates always figured that the passengers were rich and were carrying a lot of money as they headed for the famous gambling resort. That may or may not have been true, but I figured that pirates were always an optimistic bunch.

As predicted, pirates hit us the next day. Befitting the fact that there were so many rich passengers aboard, there were enough pirates in this gang to require two junks, each of moderate size. Liz, Hoi, and I grabbed our weapons and headed for the lowest open deck. That was where the pirates usually headed to try to board us. Normally, the ship was fast enough to outrun the pirates, but the company and the captain wanted to see how well the defenders could handle a pirate attack. They just had not counted on meeting so many pirates at one time.

The two junks split up and each one headed for a different side of the ship. The defenders had been issued their shotguns and 20 shells each, so we were ready for the attack. However, this split attack forced me to split our forces. I sent Hoi and four of the squad to the left (port) side of the ship, and Liz and I kept two members of the squad to defend the right (starboard) side.

That meant that Hoi had four double barrel shotguns to back him up with his lever-action shotgun, while Liz and I, with our lever-actions, had two men to back us up. Hoi had orders to call on me if he needed help. Hoi was reliable enough to trust to do that, so I was not worried. With so much backup, I figured that he would have a relatively easy time of it.

I thought to try an experiment. The first two shells in my shotgun were what I had always called hogloads. That is, the shells were scored with a knife between the powder and the pellets. When the shell was fired, the paper sleeve would break off and fly from the gun with the pellets still inside the paper tube. That would break upon impact with the target and have the .25 caliber shot spread out in random directions as if 24 or so pistols had been fired at the same time. Any man hit with such a missile was in a world of trouble!

I was going to use this type of shell against the helmsman as the first shot at a range of about 70 yards. If I could, I would then shoot the leader of the pirates. Hoi was equipped the same way, and he would follow that same plan. I hoped to disrupt the pirate attack before they got close enough to cause us any trouble.

All of the others would hold their fire until the junk was tied up to the ship. That would put them at a maximum of 15 or so yards away, and well within the range of the other shooters. I expected Liz with her repeating shotgun to make up for the regular shooter that was missing from our side of the ship. Of course, Hoi and I would join the fight as regular shooters after those first two shells had been expended.

At last, the junk on my side of the ship was close enough. I heard Hoi fire just before I was ready to fire, so I had to concede that the pirates were better coordinated than I had expected. Well, it was too late to worry about that now.

I aimed at the helmsman and fired my first shot. Because hitting the helmsman was my primary objective, I watched him the whole time, instead of hunting for the leader of the pirates. My accuracy was good, and the helmsman collapsed. That caused the junk to veer away from us. That gave time for a new helmsman to be sent to the wheel, and he was too far away for me to risk another shot at that time.

However, he did get the junk under control and steer it toward us. I waited for him to get close enough before I fired again. Dammit, all I did this time was to wound the helmsman, and that not bad enough to drive him away from the wheel. When he got a little closer, I could see that he was only using one hand on the wheel, and the deck under him was turning red, but this guy was a sturdy man and sticking with his job. Man, I wish that he was on my side!

I never did hear Hoi fire his second shot, so I would have to wait until later to find out what happened to him and what went wrong.

It did not take long for the helmsman to get the junk lined up to come alongside us and match speed. Four men with grappling hooks heaved them over our deck railing and securely hooked us to the junk. As usual, the ropes tied to the grappling hooks had knots on them to facilitate climbing.

This was when Liz started firing, and the rest of the shooters followed her lead. The shooting from our side was so accurate that it only lasted for a couple of minutes. As soon as we had killed every pirate that we could see, I ordered the two male shooters to remain where they were to keep any sneaky pirates from trying to board while we were not looking.