Chapter 3

We had escaped this time but I knew that there was no time for complacency. We had to get completely away. The moon had risen and although it was not a clear sky, it was no longer the total darkness we needed to hide us. But first things first, I gathered up my wives for a hug and by heaven we needed it. We had deliberately incinerated several people and it was not pleasant to watch. We shook as the adrenaline wore off. I'd killed before but never quite like this.

After reassuring ourselves with hugs and kisses I turned to see where the rest of the crew were and what they were doing. Not at all surprisingly they too were giving and receiving comfort from each other but nothing prepared me for the sight of Moe, Pete, Daisy and Jenny engaged in what can only be described as a mini-orgy on the deck.

Pete was on his back with Jenny kneeling over his head, Moe impaled on his groin facing his feet with Daisy lapping at the junction of pussy and dick. I think she was also rubbing her clit on his crossed ankles but I couldn't be certain of that.

"I'd say 'get a room' but this isn't a hotel and I don't think you'd listen." I called softly to the four entangled figures. Pete said something but since he was busy eating Jenny at the time I couldn't make out what he was saying. I grinned at the thought of what he might be trying to say.

"The rest of you come over here." I walked over to the wheelhouse where Chang was watching over Jeeves. "We have to get as far away from that cargo vessel as we possibly can. I don't know how well we show up on a radar but they'll be able to see us if we are closer than about 30 miles. It's pushing us quite hard but the topsails have to go up. Leave the frolicking foursome alone for the moment, let's get the yo-yos up."

We had done this before, and we had prepared the sails and ropes before dark so it wasn't that long before the topsails were hoisted and drawing. Their effect was immediately apparent as Spirit heeled over much more than she had ever done before.

I heard a soft cursing from the orgy-four as they started to roll across the sloping deck. It didn't stop them I was interested to note, they kept on rolling and sliding until they were stopped by the bulwarks where they carried on with their mutual loving. Occasionally one of them would squeal as a larger wave than normal would work its way through the scuppers and soak whoever was currently on the bottom, but even that didn't stop them.

Just then the cooks came up on deck carefully carrying two trays with hot drinks for the rest of us. Most of the crew were partial to hot chocolate during the night watches but I'm afraid I still like my cup of tea even if it is made with powdered milk.

We took our drinks and sat down, wedging ourselves against various parts of the ship in such a way that we were supported by the ship rather than having to fight against the sloping deck. We sat like that for some time before Chang stuck his head out of the wheelhouse.

"Captain, the radio..."

I looked at him and then at Pete. There was silence until Chang's meaning filtered into our brains. Simultaneously we leapt to our feet and dashed the short distance to the wheelhouse.

"... dentified sailing vessel, please respond." I caught the tail end of the message as I moved quickly into the wheelhouse. I waited.

"This is the cargo ship 'Aurora' calling unidentified sailing vessel, please respond."

The message was repeated again and again.

"We have several wounded and need assistance. This is the cargo ship 'Aurora' calling unidentified sailing vessel, please respond."

Shit!

"I called to the others. Tell me what you want me to do. Do we respond or not?"

Ayesha was the first to answer. "You're the captain, it's your call."

"No it isn't. This is like the decision about where to go. Majority vote, 75%. What do we do? Come on people, you aren't sheep. Make a decision."

"Answer but carefully." Stated Sharon. I was not surprised at her wanting to help. The mention of wounded people had her medical training dictating her reaction.

One by one the others agreed, not the orgy-four who were still occupied but with no dissenters we still had more than a 75% ruling. I picked up the microphone and waited until the speaker had finished their repeated message.

"'Aurora' this is the sailing vessel 'Spirit of the Dolphin' over."

"Thank God! We need help."

"Pardon my skepticism but we have just been on the receiving end of some help from some of your ship mates. What makes you think we would want to help a bunch of pirates? Over"

"Oh God! no! You misunderstand. They left just three behind watching over us. We took the chance and tried to get free. They are dead but we have two dead and three wounded. We don't know what to do now. We need help."

This was a man in a panic, we could all hear it in his voice, he was close to breaking.

"Are you still there? Can you hear me? Oh God! don't leave us like this." He kept on in this manner.

I looked at the others. "The choices are three. One, ignore them and keep on going. Two, try to assist them over the radio. Three, go to their assistance but be prepared for a trap."

"What would you do if you were really in charge?" Asked Pete

"Two or three. I think I'd have Sharon try to help over the radio as we went to find them but we'd prepare for trickery as we travelled. It's a risk, but my feeling is that we don't want to be the type of people that would abandon others in need. Killing vermin is one thing. This is something else."

"I'd agree with that." Said Pete after a moment's thought.

"I want to help them." Called Annie from behind me.

"So do I."

"And I."

"And me."

The others were soon agreeing with what I suggested. I sighed. This wasn't what I wanted, they had to start making their own decisions. Oh well, baby steps.

"Okay, throw buckets of water on the foursome, we've work to do." I said this in a loud voice knowing that at least one of them would hear me.

"Don't you dare!" came the voice of Daisy from outside. "We're finished. What's all the excitement about?"

Annie went over to them and told them what had happened in an excited voice. The rest of us started to take down the topsails so recently raised. Spirit heeled less and less as the sails were taken down until she returned to a more comfortable angle.

Sharon, meanwhile had stayed in the wheelhouse talking to the man on the radio. I went down to the chart table and tried to guess where they were in relation to us. I knew what direction the inflatables had approached us from originally and using that tenuous direction as a starting point I worked out what would be a suitable course to find them.

It would not be a swift trip since they were probably downwind of us. Sailing with the wind behind is the slowest point of sail and usually the most uncomfortable. So I decided to 'tack downwind' instead. Here we would zig-zag towards our destination keeping the wind about 45 degrees off totally behind us. It would take about the same time to get there but it would be a more comfortable trip. Additionally we would be heading towards their supposed position in broad sweeps, perhaps as much 5 miles per leg and that would dramatically increase our chances of seeing them.

When we were a bit closer to them we would be able to use the radar to locate their position. A swift check using the radar showed that we were too far away for them to show up. Contrary to popular belief, radar cannot see around corners and the cargo vessel was effectively around a corner by being below the horizon. Generally speaking, if you can't see it on a good day in daylight, then the radar won't either. It's not quite as simple as that, of course, but that's a good working rule. So why bother with radar? Simple, darkness and fog.

Having decided on the course I went back up on deck and explained our course of action to the crew. Then we adjusted our heading and sails and started back. I collected two mugs of tea from the cooks, for myself and Sharon, before going to the wheelhouse and waited until Sharon had finished giving instructions to the people on the cargo ship. It was a tedious business since no-one at the other end had any type of medical experience and Sharon was virtually reduced to words of one syllable. However, after nearly an hour she had finished and I took the mike from her.

"'Aurora', this is the captain of the 'Spirit'. We have altered course and are heading back towards you. We don't know where you are so is it possible for you to turn all the deck lights on? That should light you up like an office block and increase our chances of seeing you. Over."

"I don't know. Let me find out." There was silence for a long time.

"'Spirit'? Are you still there?"

"'Aurora', yes we are. Over"

"We think we can do that."

"'Aurora', Good. Can you find any flares? Over"

"Where would they be? What do they look like?"

I carefully explained where the most likely place for flares would be and what they looked like. It took a long time.

"We think we've found some." Finally! "Should we let them off?"

"'Aurora'., no! Do not light the flares, I repeat, do not light the flares. We are probably too far a way yet to see them. We will use them later on." I looked at the time. "We have to make a manoeuvre, please stand by. Over"

"Okay."

It was time to change course for our second leg. If it were daylight and we'd practised the manoeuvre, I'd happily jibe the ship. This is where the ship is turned onto a new course where the wind passes behind the boat. If done correctly is isn't a problem, however, an uncontrolled jibe can knock down masts so I did it the slow but safe way of tacking the ship. Here the bow, or front, of the ship passed through the wind. Even so it took us five or ten minutes to complete the course change.

"'Aurora', this is 'Spirit'. Over"

"Yes, yes we hear you."

"'Aurora', in about an hour's time we will ask you to set off a flare. Is there anyone left on board that knows how to set one off. Over"

There was a muffled discussion for a few moments.

"One of the women says that she can do it, but she's only a woman."

Oh shit and double shit!

"'Aurora', perhaps we should leave you alone, after all, our doctor is 'only' a woman. Over."

"No you can't do that! I didn't mean it. Don't turn away. Please."

"'Aurora', pass me over to the woman who says that she knows how to set off a flare. Over."

"There's no need, you can talk to me."

"'Aurora', we will not be talking to you again until called by that woman. 'Spirit' out." I placed the mike back on its rest, reduced the volume and turned to look at Sharon with troubled eyes.

"I really don't like the sound of that. 'Only a woman' indeed. We could have trouble here."

"We can't just leave them. Maybe he was still panicking."

"I know, I wasn't going to. In a few minutes he will put her on to talk to us."

We could still hear the voice of the man pleading with us to talk to him again. Again and again he called us. The rest of the crew gathered around to hear what was going on.

"I think some of you had better start thinking about some sleep. It's going to be a long night and we will need to be awake and alert when we reach them."

No-one moved.

"All hands, this is Captain Bligh. All crew members not currently on watch are to go to their cabins and sleep. Do it, people, now!"

I heard several sniggers at the mention of Captain Bligh, but the off watch crew made their way below.

I found a place to lay down on the deck with a coil of rope on which to rest my head. "Call me when that idiot lets the woman speak or 23:45 hours, whichever comes first." I closed my eyes and tried to rest.

I felt someone come over and lie down beside me, then cuddle up close. I briefly opened my eyes and saw that it was May.

I slept.

Moments later I felt a hand shaking my shoulder gently and heard April's voice saying "Hey Skipper! It's 23:45.".

I stretched waking May in the process and we got to our feet. "He's still trying to raise us but there are sounds of other people trying to persuade him to let them take over.

"Let's make the next course change. Positions everyone." The change took less time now that it had been done once. Spirit turned though nearly 360 degrees onto her new heading and we started back on the third leg.

"Skipper, he's finally given up and there's a woman that wants to talk to you." Pete was at the helm as we made the course change and heard the new voice on the radio.

"'Aurora' this is 'Spirit'. Over."

"'Spirit' this is 'Aurora'. You wanted to speak with me. Over"

"'Aurora', at last someone who knows what they are doing. My name is James and I am the captain of the 'Spirit of the Dolphin'. Over."

"'Spirit', I am Janice ex-captive onboard the 'Aurora'. Over"

"'Aurora', firstly, my medical officer would like to know how the wounded are faring. Over" Sharon gently kicked my leg when she heard me call her the medical officer. I grinned.

"'Spirit', they are much improved and we have managed to stop the bleeding in all three. One even regained consciousness for a few moments. I think he is now sleeping. Over"

Sharon gave me thumbs up.

"'Aurora', I have a thumbs up on that from the good doctor. Now, you say that you can let off flares. Over"

"'Spirit', I can, my late husband sailed and I learnt the safety aspects of sailing a few years ago. Over."

We talked for a few more minutes with Janice running through what she could remember of the procedure. Actually, it is very simple but you'd be surprised at how many people think they know how to do it and end up sending flares into the sea or other boats.

"'Aurora', good, you remember it well. Would you please go to the highest part of the ship that you can safely reach and let off one white rocket flare. Over."

"'Spirit', I will. Please stand by. Over."

"'Aurora', this is 'Spirit' standing by."

I turned to the crew on watch. Spread yourselves out. If I'm anywhere near correct the flare will be somewhere over there." I pointed with both arms about 120 degrees apart. "Each look in a different direction to cover that area."

Once again we waited. We seemed to spend a lot of time doing that. The minutes dragged by as the always do until we were all startled by both April and May saying "There!" and pointing away to the horizon.I was pleased to see that it was within the area that I'd pointed out, but only just. I noted the direction using the hand bearing compass and moving back into the wheelhouse I wrote the bearing in the log.

"'Spirit', this is 'Aurora'. Over."

"'Aurora', we spotted the flare so we have a direct course to steer for you. Please stand by while we make the course change. Over."

"'Spirit', this is 'Aurora' standing by."

We changed our course and headed directly for where the cargo vessel waited.

"'Aurora', this is 'Spirit'. Over."

"'Spirit', this is 'Aurora'. Over."

"'Aurora', we have changed our course and are heading directly for you current position. I estimate that we are at least 25 miles from your position and that will take us at least 5 hours to reach you. Over."

"'Spirit', 5 hours, that is a long time. Did I hear you correctly? Over."

"'Aurora', Affirmative. In the meantime, I suggest that we all get some sleep. Over."

"'Spirit', sounds wonderful. See you in five hours. 'Aurora' out."

I put the mike down.

"Will it really take us five hours?" asked April.

"No, about three as Bob is going to start the engines to assist us soon, but I didn't want to give any more away. Remember, we still don't know their real intentions.

"I doubt that anyone there will know how to use the radar, and it's dark. We should be able to get very close to them before they know we are there which gives us a chance to observe them before approaching them too closely. The moon is going to spoil the possibility of getting really close, but we will be able to get close enough to use the binoculars to watch them."

I returned to my coil of rope and lay down. Again, I felt someone lie beside me and cuddle. This time it was April. She undid my trousers and pushed them a short way down my legs, exposing James Junior to the night air. I was as hard as a rock by the time she rolled over on top of me and slid down on me not stopping until I was fully sheathed inside her. She lay her head on my chest and did nothing else.

"Is that enough?"

"Yes, it's all I want right now. Sleep, James and relax."

I did.

My dreams were erotic. Very erotic. You try it and see what I mean. April also found a wonderful way to wake me up. She used her internal muscles to massage me until I woke. Then she moved her pelvis until we both came. Explosively, but quietly, which was rather strange.

She lifted her head and smiled at me. "We can see the lights from the cargo ship." She gave me a long deep kiss. "Bob is shutting down the engines." Another kiss. "It's dark now, the cloud cover is total." And another. "I don't want to get off you but, I must." And she carefully lifted herself off me, cleaned James Junior with her mouth and carefully pulled my trousers back to their normal position.

I'm glad she stopped after that, I was beginning to get hard again.

The rumble of the engines died away and left behind the deafening silence that marks the passing of a noise that has become so ordinary as to be unheard.

I stretched, got to my feet and went to the wheelhouse. I checked the ship's log and looked at the chart using the red light over the chart table. I took the binoculars and used them to try and get some idea of what we were approaching. Unfortunately, we were still too far away. We could see the loom of the lights but nothing more. While I had slept the wind had risen and even on this slowish point of sail we were making 10 knots.

"I think it's about time to get some sail off."

Pete stood behind me. "Why? We seem to be doing quite well and the wind doesn't feel that strong."

"Firstly, this is a slow point of sail and to be making 10 knots or around 60% of the maximum speed this ship is capable of means that there is a lot of pressure in the sails. The wind only feels light because were going in more or less the same direction. If we were trying to go the other way, you'd be complaining about how strong the wind was, believe me."

"You're the expert. So, what do we do?"

"We're going to put a reef into both main sails. Let's get the watch on deck and I'll describe the process."

The others in the watch were soon gathered and I explained the procedure. The main thing to remember about reefing is that it is better to reef too much, too early. Shaking out a reef because the wind is not so strong is a far different operation that trying to put in a reef when the wind has become too much. One is easy, the other has taken lives.

So, carefully we put a reef into the fores'l, the smaller of the two mains, and then the mains'l which was harder as the sail was much bigger. But all went well. It was not the tidiest of reefs but under the circumstances it was a good reef.

"Pete, take a look at the speed log." He did as he was bidden.

"It's still reading 10 knots. Well, slightly under."

"So, we've taken in sail area but not slowed down or at least only a little. Therefore, the sail area that we're reduced by was doing nothing to make us go faster, just putting additional strain on the ship and rigging for no reason."

"Yes, I see. How did you know?"

"Experience, mainly and having left reefing too late once or twice before."

We grinned at each other in the darkness lit only by the soft lights of the instruments in the wheelhouse.

I checked the time. "Looks like the next watch should be relieving you in about 10 minutes. Make sure the rest of this watch go below and get some rest. We'll need all hands in about an hour's time when we are closer to seeing more of that cargo vessel."

"Okay, skipper."

We stood in companionable silence as Spirit sailed on.

All but Chang and the helmsman stood in various places around the bows of the ship. We had just three sets of binoculars. I had one pair, the other two were being passed around the rest of the crew on the foredeck. Why not mine? I was as high up the rigging as I could get in the darkness trying to get a better view with the added height. I was only partially succeeding. Although I had on a very stout safety harness and was clipped onto various parts of the rigging with the two lines on the harness, it was still quite difficult to get a stable enough perch for viewing through the glasses. Sometimes Spirit would seem to calm down a bit and I could get a good view, most of the time she pitched and rolled and spoilt the view. Not that she was moving that much, but it was magnified by the height I was above the deck.

The ship was visible in front of us and totally lit up, they must have switched every light on they could find. Strictly speaking they were still too far away to make out anything by eye but some of the younger crew had very sharp eyes. Using the binoculars was better, but not as good as I would like.

After trying for about 30 minutes I gave up and descended carefully to the deck and handed my binoculars to Smitty who was nearest.

"Any luck from up there?"

"Not much. It's a better place to see things from when not using the glasses. Still, I did see a fair bit."

I raised my voice a bit so that all could hear me. "Another 10 minutes and then we'll take a short break and talk about what we have or haven't seen."

There were sounds of agreement. I walked back to the wheelhouse taking the time to scan the horizon all around the ship. No point in keeping a good look out if you are only looking in one direction.

As I passed the companionway I stuck my head in to see how Chang was doing. He had volunteered to check the radar. "Any news?"

"No, skipper. We are about 5 miles away with nothing else on the screen."

"Thanks."

I continued to the wheelhouse where Harry was keeping watch on Jeeves.

"Could you see anything?"

"A little, we'll have a discussion in a few minutes about what each has seen and then try to decide on a plan of action." I watched the crew in the bows until another 10 minutes had passed before I stood outside and called quietly.

"Times's up. Gather round back here."

I waited until everyone was comfortable. "Right, starting with Annie and continuing clockwise, please tell everyone what you have noticed even if someone has already said what you want to say, just say it again. Annie?"

"There seem to be three, sometimes four people on the deck. One has what looks like a rifle but it could just be a big stick..." She continued for a few moments before stopping. Silvia took the next turn. Pete the next and finally all but me had told the rest what they had see. I'd been making notes as best I could using a small torch to light a clipboard and paper.

"Okay, then, to summarise, we've seen five perhaps six different people at different times on the deck or superstructure of the ship. At least two of them appear to be armed with what could be rifles, but Moe and Pete are of the opinion that from the way they hold them, they are not used to handling weapons, or not rifles.

"Of the five, three are definitely female, possibly four. None of the people seen had or appeared to be using binoculars.

"At least one person was seen on the bridge, possibly two but it's not known if they were one of the ones who were walking the decks. So we'll assume that they are not and that we have seen eight people. We know that there are three wounded somewhere on the ship and we can probably assume that there is at least one person looking after them. Sharon knows that two of the wounded are women.

"Best of all is that they do not seem to have seen us yet, or they would all be on this side of the ship pointing and looking at us."

I stopped. "Is that about it?" No-one seemed to have anything else to say. "Good. At this distance even with the binoculars we would not be able to see finer details like if they had hand guns, we won't really be able to see that sort of thing until we are about a mile away. In fact I'm surprised that we managed as well as we did.

"So, we need a plan. Sharon will have to go aboard. I will..."

"Stay on Spirit." Interjected Chang surprising me greatly. Normally he was the soul of politeness and tact.

"I beg your pardon?" I have to say that I was a bit taken aback by what he said and my incredulity showed.

"You are the captain of this ship and the only one who knows how to sail her. You will stay onboard. If anything should happen to you, our chances of survival become greatly reduced."

"Skipper, I hate to say it, but that makes sense." This from Bob.

I sighed. "I know, it doesn't make it any easier to take, though." I thought for a moment.

"So, Li will go with Sharon to protect her. Pete will also go and be armed with a handgun and rifle, however, Moe, as our best rifle shot will stay onboard. Bob, you also get to stay here as our only competent engineer but Smitty you get to go with Jenny and Daisy. Sarah, April and May will stay here and use the binoculars to constantly scan the ship for surprises, the rest of us will be on deck ready to take any action that is necessary."

I took a moment to review what I had said.

"Sharon and Li will stay together as will Pete and Jenny and Smitty and Daisy. Each pair will have a VHF radio, we have four charged, and will report in every ten minutes. If everything is well then the code phrase will be 'all is well', if not or you have any suspicions about anything the phrase is 'everything is alright'. Is that clear?"

"'all is well', means good, 'everything is alright means not good. Correct?" asked Sharon.

"Correct. Finally, Chang will be the ferryman. We will heave to about 200 metres from the ship and launch one of the inflatables. The cargo vessel seems to be drifting at the moment so that will be fine. Chang will take all of you together and then take up station about 100 metres from the cargo ship and to the aft but out of direct line with us. He will use the VHF on the inflatable to communicate. Sharon and Li will be referred to as 'Team Doctor', Pete and Jenny as 'Team Landscaper', Smitty and Daisy as 'Team Carpenter' and Chang as 'Team Ferryman'. The ship will be 'Spirit'."

I could see everyone looking at the various members of the away team as I talked, trying to fix in their minds what the code signals were.

"Skipper?"

"Yes, Annie"

"We have three or four of those nice MP3 players that can record things. Should each team take one and have it set to record all the time? That way we can listen to what people say when they get back. I mean, they might have had their own meeting about what to say and do and this could be a way to check that they are each saying the same thing."

"That is a good idea. Do we have batteries for them?"

"They're rechargeable and I've had them on charge for ages. They're supposed to last for 10 hours between charges and I think they can record about 5 hours of voice."

"Good. Give one to each pair and show them how to use them."

Anne went below and retrieved the units and handed them out.

"Sharon and Li will obviously deal with the wounded. The other two teams should walk about the ship and talk to everyone there. Make sure that you see everyone and every part of the ship. If necessary say that you want to make sure that none of the pirates are still onboard."

"What if they prevent us or try to stop us?"

"Call us and give the code message. Then get out and that includes Sharon and Li. Leave the wounded if you have to. Remember that while you are on that ship you are in a potential hostage situation and that is not good. If in doubt, get out!"

We spoke a bit more, but the essence of what we wanted to achieve had been dealt with.

Ayesha came over to me after the discussion was ended and asked a question. "What is 'heave to'?"

"It's a cool manoeuvre that is a way of stopping the ship in the water, drifting slowly sideways but in such a way that she can be got moving again very quickly. You pull all the sails in tight and then tack leaving the jibs alone. As the boat tacks the sails in front of the centre of the ship try to push the ship away from the wind, especially the jibs, and the sails behind the centre of the ship try to push the boat into the wind. You use the helm to trim out any imbalance between the two sets of forces and the ship settles down and drifts sideways. It is a very steady platform even in a rough sea and ideal for launching or recovering a tender. Or people, for that matter."

"I think I see, presumably I'd understand it better after we've done it and you've shown me on paper what happened?"