Yearnings Of Amber-11

‘Where is it?’ Asked the Major calmly. 

‘Sir, the Makranda was anchored 10.5 nautical miles North-Northeast as per the last report, exactly 63 minutes ago’ answered the lady surveillance officer  (SO).   

The SO pushed with her legs and her tactical chair slid along the console stopping on the radar screen. She looked at the screen and the radar before continuing. 

‘Sir, this is a busy port and there was no active surveillance being carried out for the Makranda. It seems that she may have left the port. Sir’. 

‘Can't, we hail Makranda or something’ asked Sheryl. 

‘We, already tried, but they are not  responding’. 

‘Hmm’ the Major thought for minute. ‘Give me the last known count of the ships in the port’. 

The SO slid her chair and stopped on the other side in front of a bulky laptop.  

‘53’ she replied. 

The Major raised his eyebrows. She raised a finger to stall for time, clacked some buttons on the laptop and replied. ‘And 53 now’.  

‘So, Makranda is hiding in plain sight. Call the port and stall all traffic till  further notice. Tell them, it’s a routine check.’ 

Senthil who had been standing at ease perked up at this. His naval instincts lighting up at the suggestion of action. 

‘How long will it take to check all the boats’ Senthil asked the SO. 

‘With all due respect, Sir’ she answered,’ ‘We have the best radar equipment and database. We will initially just compare the structure of the ships to narrow  down to a list of suspects. Then hail them and compare their transponders signal. Should take  exactly 53 minutes for the initial profiling’.  

Senthil shook his head as if impressed. It was an old soldier's trick, stoke the ego and pride of younger officers to get them to perform better. 

The SO started her work. Every few minutes, her chair would slide to radar screen, or the large central console or back to the laptop. She had done it a thousand times and the wide indented groove beneath her chair indicated the same. The chair had moved on the floor a thousand times, slowly but surely grinding down the linoleum. 

Sheryl just sat there, praying for the safety of her girl, watching the chair move along its path like a pendulum.  

‘Sir’. ‘We have a list of 10 ships which match the profile of the Makranda.  Eight of them have confirmed their transponders, two are not replying’. 

‘What are we waiting for?’ replied the Major. ‘Stations, everyeveryone'.

The room exploded like a beehive, every soldier hastening towards their pre-determined positions. 

‘Babi. Please stay here in the recon room. Major Sir, I will be on the roof with Bully for company’ added Senthil and moved out. 

‘Excellent!’ said the Major. He took his binoculars and moved out onto the bridge. 

Sheryl felt a purring underneath her feet and within seconds the ship picked up speed.  

Seeing her all worried and fidgety the  SO beckoned her. 

‘Ma’am if you can come a little closer, I can explain.... Even better I can show you what happens next. Just stay a little behind so that I can move my chair’. 

Sheryl pulled her chair closer to her  workstation. 

‘Here’, the office pointed to a  blinking  green dot inside a circle on the largest screen. ‘This is us, Shrunga! These are our two targets; she pointed towards two red dots. 

‘The Sari-Laut and Robin Martha’. 

The two dots had some numbers displayed beside them. 

As Sheryl looked, the green dot started moving towards one of the red dots. 

‘We are first moving going to examine the Robin Martha’. 

The officer clicked some buttons on the laptop and the circular map reduced in size and half of the screen became blank. The next second a 3D blueprint  of a ship appeared on the other half.  

‘This is Robin Martha, and this is  Makranda’ the officer said moving the cursor. Another blueprint  appeared  beside the first one, which could only be the Makranda. 

A message in green letters on a black background appeared stating 98 % match. 

‘And now to live feed. We may be the  navy, but we can also do a little flying’ she said and pressed a button on the  workstation. A dinner plate-sized  platform emerged from under the desk with some buttons and a little joystick.  Sheryl looked at her in confusion. 

‘Drone’ said the SO and suddenly the lower half of the screen illuminated to show the ocean and a rapidly approaching yellow colored ship. 

Senthil watched from behind the hastily made sniper’s nest as the Robin Martha steadily grew in size. He already had one bullet in the chamber and another 19 rounds. The Major had been generous enough to provide anti-material Sabot rounds, powerful enough to breach even the main hull of smaller ships. As the ship came closer, the drone rose overhead from behind Senthil and bounced over the waves. It settled in a hover over the Robin Martha. The Shrunga stopped, once, the ship was in firing range of the INSAS auto-rifles carried by the major and his men. The crew of the Robin Martha was gathered on the main deck, terrified enough that some had already raised their hands in surrender. 

This was enough evidence for Senthil to confirm that this was not the crew of the Makranda. Any pirate worth his salt would know that hand-held weapons were not so accurate on the bobbing waves of the ocean. They should have been more afraid of the  Bully, if they could spot it. It was currently resting beside Senthil behind the gravel sacks well hidden from everyone. 

One of the soldiers shot a towline across to the Robin Martha. It was secured to the grapple rails on one side and to a special winch on the Shrunga. The winch rose in height to form a decline towards the Robin Martha. The Major gave some instructions and one of the soldiers attached himself to the towline and slid towards the other ship under the raised weapons of the  Shrunga. Two more soldiers followed in quick succession and the Major himself went over last. 

The captain of the Robin Martha greeted the Major and showed him some papers. They went inside the  command cabin. Five minutes later the Major came back and muttered something in his comms. The Shrunga  slid over slowly towards Robin Martha.  

‘Thank-you for your cooperation,’ shouted the Major and jumped over into the Shrunga. 

The Shrunga moved away as the first search was futile. The SO just shook her head when Sheryl looked at her. The red-dot of Robin Martha disappeared from the screen and the green-dot of Shrunga moved onwards to the only other red-dot on the screen. The Sari-Laut. Again, the blueprints came up and again it was a 98% match.  

Sheryl had watched the operation live through the drone’s feed with some hope. But now, that hope had turned to trepidation. The Sari-Laut was her last hope. She watched in numb silence as the officer again started roving around the console in her chair. Making the scratches deeper, eroding the floor bit-by-bit, until the skeleton of the ship was revealed. Much like the events of the past few days had eroded the veneer of normality to reveal the raw wound that was Sheryl’s psyche. 

Another pair of eyes had been watching the Robin Martha.

‘You look worried’ asked Vincent handing over the binoculars to Ruth. 

‘You are not? Replied Ruth, watching  the Shrunga turning away from the Robin Martha. 

‘No, because unlike you, my plans  include all contingencies’. 

‘Just changing the name from  Makranda to Sari-Laut won't fool the Navy’. 

‘Look at you, making meaningful observations. Have we changed the transponder code’? 

‘Yes’, answered a petulant ruth. 

‘The Captain and Charu are secured in the galley?’ 

‘Yes’.

‘Where is the Marghesium?’ 

‘In the strong room, accessed through the galley. Two men outside the room at all times’. 

‘Good, good. Now watch the magic’,  saying so Vincent pulled out a little remote which had only two buttons. He pushed one button and then started cleaning his glasses. Nothing happened for a minute or so, as Ruth just looked around for something. Then suddenly, the whole ship vibrated in a deep shudder and the walls of the super-structure of the ship started turning.  Some completely retracted inside the floor, others turned 90 degrees on their axis, while a few actually flared  outwards to form an awning over the command center. In another minute, the whole structure of the ship had changed. The only indication that  something had occurred were the deep dents and scrapes where the walls had moved. 

Ruth realized that his mouth was hanging open. Vincent just smiled from behind his glasses. 

‘Would this fool the navy’ asked Vincent waving his arms around. 

‘Yes, for the time-being' Ruth answered. 

‘Thats all we need. Once they search the ship and find nothing, we can leave. Have your men ready but no action until I order.” 

Sheryl watched the feed from the drone as Shrunga approached Sari-Laut. 

‘Funny’ said the SO, ‘the super-structure looks a little different from the  blueprint’.

‘But it was a 98% match’ asked Sheryl.  The officer just shrugged her shoulders in reply. 

Senthil watched as the same sequence was repeated. The Major and a few  soldiers boarded the ship and were welcomed inside the cabin. The drone moved over to hover outside the cabin but could not get a direct view on the insides. A tense 15 minutes passed, and a grim looking Major stepped out. They were aboard the Shrunga within the next 5 minutes. Their silence announcing loudly that the Sari-Laut was also a dead end.   

‘This is not possible’; growled the Major. ‘Recheck your readings’. 

The SO took off on her chair, swiftly switching between the various screens on her console. Her chair screeching through the linoleum. 

‘Sir, it shows the same. I have reviewed twice’. 

‘Can't, we go back and do a more thorough search?’ Senthil asked looking at Sheryl. 

‘No! The captains were already agitated at being asked to wait and all this is being done off the books. They won't  tolerate another search without proper paperwork,’ answered the Major. 

As the SO dashed around in her chair Sheryl watched the swishing tires as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. And then, she gave a shudder and started speaking, her eyes locked in on nothing. 

“Tires. Tyre for movement, movement  on a path, but movement causes friction, friction causes heat, friction erodes, friction destroys, movement on path will cause friction, movement without a path will also cause friction and this friction will create a path” she gave a shudder and pointed at the  chair's tracks. 

“What?” the Major asked with raised eyebrows. 

Senthil just patted the air in reply. 

“Show me the drone footage from Sari-Laut" Sheryl asked the SO and dragged a chair to the console, all purpose in her stride, like the scientist she was. 

She leaned over the screen as the drone footage came up. She fast forwarded to the section where the drone was hovering outside the ship’s bridge. 

Senthil, the Major or even the officer could not guess what Sheryl was looking for, but they saw her shaking her head. 

“Pull up the blue-prints of the Sari-Laut and the Makranda” she requested. 

Once the prints were up, Sheryl opened a photo-editing app on the laptop and her fingers started dancing around the keyboard. She sliced off both the prints horizontally into 4 parts, two flat main decks and two superstructures. She superimposed the main deck of the Makranda with the superstructure of the Sari-Laut. She named this image  Mak-Laut. Next, she pulled up another unedited copy of the Makranda. The software still showed a 98% match. Senthil and the Captain had inched closer to the screen by then.  

Sheryl studied the two images intensely, her eyes rapidly alternating between the two images. After, a few minutes, she moved to the Mak-Laut's image and rotated the bridge by 180 degrees and in about 10 seconds the match went from 98% to 100 %. 

“What...but how?” asked the SO  gesturing to the questions with her hands. 

“It was you or rather your chair, that gave me the idea” Sheryl answered. 

She pointed at the tracks and continued, “Your constant motion on the chair has gouged out a furrow in the floor. When the drone was hovering over the Sari-Laut's bride, I saw similar  markings, but they looked much rougher and broader. As if somebody had dragged a spade on the floor”. 

“A spade or metal walls” added the Major.

“Precisely,” Sheryl gestured towards the drone’s footage. “Then it was just a matter of playing around with the images and this is the result” She pointed towards the blinking 100% result. And then suddenly Sheryl shrank into herself, tears in her eyes. 

“Charu...” she cried out softly. 

“Stations, everyone. We have a probable cause for search now. Nobody with any good intention moves around the whole bridge of a ship”. Ordered the Captain.  

Senthil was already halfway up the ladder to his nest by the time the other teams gathered on the deck of  Shrunga.  

The drone raced ahead of the Shrunga, flying low against the waves. The breeze was increasing, and the waves were becoming bigger churning the water to a froth. It was as if the ocean itself had picked up on the urgency of the Shrunga and was responding in kind. This meant that the challenge  for Senthil had increased.  

Senthil was well aware of the oncoming difficulties, but he had always relished challenges.  

‘The trick is to focus on the bullet in the chamber’ his instructor had always told him.  

‘One focus, one bullet, one target’ had been the motto of their sniper school.  And Senthil meant to justify it fully.  

Vincent hurried through the gangways, scraping between the narrow walls as the alarm kept on hooting. 

‘We have a problem...’ before Ruth  could finish, Vincent snatched the binoculars from him. 

‘They know’ Vincent growled.

‘But how?’ 

‘Doesn’t matter. Speed up. Also, Ruth, you wanted payback. Now is your chance’ 

‘Time to show our teeth’ replied Ruth and entered the control room of the Sari-Laut. 

“Sir,’ buzzed the Major’s earcom. 

‘Yes’ 

‘The Sari-Laut is picking up speed’ informed the SO. ‘Looks like, they want to reach international waters.’ 

‘I believe, you already have their screws on lock’. 

‘Yes, Sir. I believe one Catop would do the trick’. 

‘Be my guest’. 

‘Yes’, hissed the SO. She looked at Sheryl, who was again glued to the  drone's footage. 

She pressed a few buttons on the screen and a panel slid open beneath the waterline of the Shrunga. A steady beep started on the Shrunga as she armed the Catop. Torpedo armed  started flashing on the screen and a  red-line appeared from the Shrunga to the Sari-Laut. Sheryl watched with  increasing dread. 

‘This is a Catop-3 torpedo, named after the smallest species of Piranha. It is not powerful enough to blow a hole in a Ship’s hull. It does not have that much explosive power. What it has is speed and a titanium head. It's meant to break a ship’s propeller or at least maul them out of shape. It will stop the ship but not sink it’, the SO answered. 

Sheryl calmed down a bit before the SO winked and added, ‘We have bigger ones to sink a ship’. 

The steady beep of the Shrunga turned to a single tone and then wound to a stop. Everyone on Shrunga quieted down. The SO looked once at the radar, chewed her lips, looked back at the radar. Finally, she let out a breath of effort, flicked a covering over an  ominous looking button and pressed it. The Catop-3 was only a meter long and weighed less than 500 kg.  Nobody even felt its departure from the Shrunga but all eyes turned towards the Sari-Laut. The first shot had been fired and that too at a speed of 65 knots. 

As the torpedo cruised towards it, Sari-Laut was also getting armed. Ruth had thrown open the armory on Sari-Laut. 30 goons were in the process of arming themselves with Ak-47s and 74s, Glocks with extended mags, Benilli shotguns, Grenades and frags. Ruth was speaking in his walkie while checking the bolt of a sub-machine gun. 

'Yes, the M240s are in position. One over the command room and the other two at the ends. Both the RPGs are on the starboard side facing them. No. We have only two and these men are experienced with it. Yes, we have more ammunition than men’. Ruth shouted into the walkie. 

Vincent lowered the walkie and again looked through the binoculars. The Shrunga was accelerating now. He was worried but his shark smile never left his face. As he bent to sit on chair, there was a muffled whoomph  and the whole ship shuddered. Alarm bells started screeching on the Sari-Laut. Unbalanced, Vincent tried to hold on to the chair but found that it slid away from him. A crippled Sari-Laut was now listing towards the port side. 

No cheers went up on the Shrunga  as  the torpedo chewed through two of the propeller blades and bent the third to a nice 90 degree. They were soldiers, they trained for this. The torpedo was  fired, and it achieved its objective. Everyday mundane for them. On to the next objective. Only, the SO gave a slight smile. 

Vincent watched as a raiding craft  splashed down from the Shrunga and moved away. Five fully armed  commandoes rode it away from  Shrunga at an angle but still towards Sari-Laut. They would patrol the limping Sari-Laut in a wide circle and act as a  back-up if required. 

Senthil was scoping out Sari-Laut when he saw a figure bob up. He had a tube on his shoulders. Senthil did not need binoculars to identify an RPG. The enemy took aim on the raiding craft and Senthil on the RPG. Senthil was the first to fire but at the same time a big wave lashed the Shrunga sending his shot wide. The bullet gouged a ragged tear in the bulkhead above the enemy.  The  enemy fired RPG in panic and it  exploded some meters away from the craft.  

‘Sir’ Senthil spoke into his coms. 

‘I saw it. The craft had been ordered to keep out of range.’ the Major answered. ‘We are taking the Shrunga in. Happy hunting’. 

‘Sir!’. 

Senthil, loaded another round into the chamber and started observing for any targets. Suddenly a command came to Senthil. 

‘Watch the drone’. 

He saw the drone hover over a spot  above the stern cabin. Adjusting, the scope he could barely make out a figure sprawled behind a heavy gun. 

‘Definitely, an HMG, but no shot’ he barked in his comms. 

‘M240’ came the reply. ‘Get ready for the shot’. 

The Shrunga suddenly turned and instead of moving towards the other boat, it sped away in parallel. This motion brought the M240 guy in clear sight of the Bully. Senthil watched once with his naked eye and then through the scope and then he adjusted the scope. A slight squeeze on the trigger and he exhaled. All of this within 6 seconds. The SO saw the man behind M240 jerk as if something had kicked him and the gun topple over. 

‘Nice shot’ she exclaimed. 

Senthil smirked and chambered another round. 

‘Another M240 at the other end’. 

Ok. And..in my sight’. The same sequence was repeated with the same result. 

The drone’s roving eye caught another RPG goon crouching behind some crates. 

‘Behind the crate, RPG’. 

‘No problem’ Senthil answered. He eyed the crate and thought for a second. Then fired. The was a big fireball where the crate used to be and nothing else. 

Crouched inside the aft cabin, Ruth had also witnessed the carnage caused by Senthil. As the Shrunga came closer to them. He and 4 of his men jumped out and concentrated fire on to Senthil’s position. The angle was awkward and as long as Senthil stayed prone he was safe. But he could not return fire. 

On Vincent’s command the first RPG goon, stood up and targeted Senthil. He was steadying himself to take the shot  but a hail of bullets from the raiding craft peppered him.  

The Major just smiled as he saw this through his binoculars.  

‘Boys, I believe we do have some grenades ourselves’ 

‘Yes, Sir’. 

‘Well, don’t wait on my behalf’. 

By the time the 5th concussion grenade went off, the fight had also gone from the Makranda. The soldiers found Vincent, sprawled on the ground, bleeding from one ear. Ruth tried to rush Senthil when he came abroad. He took two wobbly steps and the third coincided with a solid left hook from Senthil.  

They found the Captain holding down a goon while Charu bonked him with a frying pan. 

It was bitter-sweet reunion between Sheryl and Charu. 

Five days later, Senthil found Sheryl and Charu hunched over some old photographs.  

‘The Major called’ he said.

 ‘The Marghesium has been shifted to the lab and they would like you back, if you want to continue’. 

Sheryl smiled, ‘No, I already have another project’. She pointed towards Charu, who had moved over to the garden. 

There was still a long way to go for Sheryl and Charu in their relationship, but they were willing to work towards it. 

The Captain, had sent Sheryl some buds of Marghesium and they had  already taken root. 

Flowering season was not far away,  and Sheryl looked forward to it.