Chapter 4

As I entered the bridge I noticed that the Captain and several of the crew were gathered around the large radar screen. I had come to the bridge because the screens available here were much larger and had better detail than the one we had in the SCC to control the weapons.

"Well Captain, what do you think?"

"Harry we have two boats that seem to be positioning to intercept us and they are currently about 85 miles out. They were stationary until about 30 minutes ago and have begun to move in the direction of our new course which we changed to about 2 hours ago. We will wait another hour and then alter course to go behind their current position by about 10 miles. If they alter course again then we will know they are after us and we will attempt radio contact. Both boats appear to be about 60 footers."

"OK, so it looks like we have about 2 hours before my people need to start getting ready for action. Probably between midnight and one; maybe a little later if the course changes have any effect." I said.

"It will be longer than that, probably about 3:15 to 3:30 you will need to get in position and we will be within 10 miles at about 4:00 or so unless they start heading toward us. We have slowed to our normal cruise rate of 11 knots. Come back by here about 3:00 and I'll give you an update and well make plans. You would know we get to pull an all nighter our first night out."

"Yes sir. I think I will go get a couple hours nap and then get with my night shift to apprise them of the situation. Of course they are probably watching the radar occasionally as well since there were some rumors about protestors. Why they would intercept us in the middle of the night doesn't make sense. You would think protesters would try to confront us in the daylight to get better film. Call me please if you will need me before 3."

I went back to my cabin. My cabin is really nice and better than even the guest cabins. I have a bed room with a queen size bed, two night stands, two dressers, and a flat panel 32" LED TV. The bath room has a shower large enough for two, a Jacuzzi, double sinks and a separate toilet room. The living area has a 46" Samsung LED flat panel complete with DVD and DVR, my desk and computer, and a little kitchenette with microwave, small stove with two burners that has a small oven, and a 10 cu.ft. refrigerator. It also has a large sofa and a couple of other chairs.

The office section was really comfortable and efficient. My computer had the latest Intel i7 processor with two SSD drives and one 2 terabyte sata hard drive. I run VMware with normally three virtual machines running simultaneously. I have a 24" monitor and Klipsch Gallery G-17 Air speakers. My desk chair is a Herman-Miller Aeron chair you can sit in all day without getting tired. The best thing about the Aeron is that your farts go through the mesh seat and don't become "sinkers" waiting to embarrass you the first time a guest sits down. With my system tied into the ships systems and due to some modifications made by my buddy Jermaine I can monitor even the radar on my computer at my desk. I of course have access to all the databases with information on all the employees and guests.

My cabin is similar to the rest of the ships officers and upper managers with the exception of the Captain who has a two bedroom set-up and a dining room. The BEST Company allows this group to bring spouses or guests with us as much as we would like and the cabins are set-up to accommodate this situation. This is primarily for morale since most of the officers and upper managers would be on board the ship for extended periods of time. Since laundry and housekeeping is provided it is really a nice set-up, especially for a single guy.

The E-Crew cabins which are located on E and F decks are similar to an upscale motel suite with two double beds, dressers and 32" TV in one room; a bathroom with a shower and double sink and a sitting room with a sofa, 42" TV and desk and computer. These rooms are shared by two girls and while guests are not permitted on these decks other visitors are permitted. The E-crew has free laundry facilities on each deck and dry cleaning available if needed. They are expected to clean their own rooms with housekeeping coming in once every two weeks to do an in depth cleaning and sterilization.

The S-Crew cabins which are located on G, H and I decks are similar but a little smaller than the E-Crew cabins and don't have a computer and desk and have single beds. There is a crew computer center with 30 private cubicles, a library, and an extensive game room and snack bar that is open 24 hours a day. This a is quite a popular place and you can find a pool game or ping pong game in progress about anytime during the day or night. You wonder how you can play pool on a ship that is rolling around – the floor of the room in which the 3 pool tables are located is gyro stabilized so that unless the waves are over 20 feet or so it is as stable as a concrete floor in a building on land. Good place to go if you begin to feel sea sick. The S-crew has free laundry facilities on each deck. They are expected to clean their own rooms with housekeeping coming in once every two weeks to do an in depth cleaning and sterilization.

All the guest cabins are virtually identical. It doesn't matter how wealthy or powerful they are they are all treated the same. Each guest cabin has a large bedroom with a king-size bed. The bathroom is about the same as my cabin with a good size shower and Jacuzzi that can hold two or maybe three if you really want to have fun. The living area is about the same as my cabin as well but only has a small bar set-up and small desk with internet access but no computer. They are meant to be comfortable in entertaining the E-crew girls but not for long term accommodations. The guest cabins have full laundry and housekeeping service and room service available 24 hours a day. Pretty much anything they want is provided. The guests are basically anonymous with only the Captain, me, Carla, and Sharon Billingslee able to access the guest's data. Of course some of the more famous people would be recognized but the ship crews were trained not to treat them any differently than anyone else and to use only the name that they introduced themselves by or Sir or Madam.

We currently have a US Senator, 2 US House Representatives, a member of both Great Britain's and Canada Parliaments, 3 from the National Diet of Japan, a number of Arab princes, and the majority of a well known rock band on board. There are also about 10 fairly well known Hollywood stars of both TV and movie fame and CEO's, Presidents, or other officers of 9 of the Fortune 50 companies. Needless to say the hijack/hostage/assassination possibilities mean that we need to be able to deal effectively with any attempt and Corporate had to be able to convince the security for these people of that capability. While I didn't really want to sink attack vessels we weren't going to mess around and those who threatened us and didn't respond would be sunk. Our entire route was either in waters controlled by the Best Corporation or in international waters.

After checking my email and relieving the pressure on my bladder I stripped to my boxers, set an alarm for 2:00 AM and hopped in the bed. I clicked on the TV and checked the weather and watched the Headline news for about 15 minutes and then clicked it off and went to sleep. I was worn out and after not sleeping well in the preceding week or so due to the excitement of getting ready for the inaugural cruise.

At 2:00 my alarm went off and I got out of bed and hit the head. I thought about shaving but decided that I would have a chance later before most people's normal start of the day. I did take a quick shower and then dressed and headed next door to the SCC.

"Morning Hiram" I said to Hiram White who was the lead for SCC Team B which was made up of Sonya Gunter, Allen Lawson, and Rufus Thomas.

I was glad to see that Sonya was on shift since she was the best fire systems operator of all the security members.

"Hiram, contact the rest of your team and ask them to all come to the SCC as we have a possible situation to discuss."

I then checked the radar in the SCC and it appeared that the boats were still on an intercept course and had turned around to do so. After about 10 minutes the whole team was in the SCC sitting around the small conference table right behind where the SCC lead normally sat. Hiram just spun around and I began.

"We have a couple of about 60 foot boats that appear to be setting up to intercept us. We don't know anything about them yet but may send out a UAV (Unmanned Arial Vehicles) if we need to. The ship has changed course twice to try and determine if they are trying to intercept us and they appear to be doing so. We need to be able to take action about 4:00 AM so make sure you are in or close to the SCC at that time with any breaks or meals out of the way."

"Who do you want on the fire systems" Hiram asked.

"I figure that since Sonya won the competition as the best operator she should get first shot at a real action." Sonya got a big smile. "I'm going by the all night café and then heading up to the bridge about three. Anybody got any questions? It's just like we trained for."

No one had any other questions and I went to the all night café and got a diet Mountain Dew and a chocolate muffin. These muffins are the same as the Subway restaurant chain had begun selling and they are hard to resist. Rufus came in a got a cup of coffee and sat down across from me at the table.

"Man, I still can't believe the chicks on dis boat. There's some prime pussy and they all seem to be willing"

Rufus was from Shreveport, Louisiana and had grown up in a family of 10 with a single mom who worked two jobs to keep the family together. He had enlisted in the Army when he turned 18 and had gone through Ranger school at Fort Benning, Georgia while Hiram was an instructor. I always thought it was funny that a white West Virginia redneck mountain boy and a poor black boy from the wrong side of town could be best friends but the two of them had been through some tough situations together that they couldn't and wouldn't talk about.

"Your right about the girls, they did a great job of recruiting." I agreed.

"Harry, is it really OK if I hook up with one of these chicks?"

"We went over all the guidelines in training. You just need to be careful about respecting your and her room mate's space and privacy. If things get really serious see me and I might be able to arrange a cabin for the two of you for a while."

"Really?" Rufus grinned.

"Are you going to be able to deal with her being with the guests?"

Rufus thought about it for a minute and nodded his head. "Where I grewed up hav'n mo than one boyfriend at a time wuz jus the way it wuz for de chicks. No problem."

"Well, just be careful and don't cause any issues and everything will be fine. Remember that these girls are getting paid well to take good care of the guests just like you are for your job so don't do anything that jeopardizes either of your jobs."

I finished my drink and headed up to the bridge. Rufus was something else. He normally sounded like he was from the ghetto but if he talked to a guest or someone important he talked like the Cal Tech graduate that he was. He probably was the smartest of the security team members and had common sense on top of the intellect. It would be interesting to see what persona he let the prospective girl see.

As I walked into the bridge the Captain waved me over.

"Harry those two boats definitely mean to intercept us based on their response to our course changes. We have tried to contact them via radio on all the common frequencies and using multiple languages with our automatic translator. They are currently approximately 24 miles out which will put us in the 10 mile range of the boomers about 4:20. Go ahead and have your people ready by 4 unless the defense signal sounds. I'll transmit the standard warning every 10 minutes with all the legal garbage until we have to launch. Let's just launch one boomer to start with off the bow of the boat to right on the radar screen. I'll then warn them to begin moving southwest which is perpendicular to our course and give them 10 minutes. If they don't move then we will alter course to pass them to their Northwest and you fire a second boomer in front of the left boat. If they reverse course to intercept us again we will take out the closest boat if they come within 3 miles."

"Any thoughts about sending the chopper to take a look? I know it will be dark but maybe we can get close enough to us the PA system." I asked.

"I thought about it but don't really want to put our people at risk. I might have done it in the daytime where you could probably pick up someone with a rifle but at night I think it is too risky. The boomer ought to get their attention. I'll probably come down to the SCC just so we can talk easier and the First Office will be on the bridge to control the ship."