Chapter 25: Boarded

  The corridor outside the mess pitched under their boots. Overhead lights hummed. A crewman flattened himself against the bulkhead to let them pass.

  Hector jogged a half-step ahead, one hand clamped over his radio. “Bridge, what’s the bearing?”

  Static, then a clipped voice. “Two-eight-zero, closing fast.”

  JJ’s pace didn’t change. “Visual confirmation?”

  “Negative,” the voice snapped back. “But it’s in the air.”

  They hit the ladderwell and climbed. Metal rang under their boots. The air grew sharper as they rose, salt, diesel, and steel.

  The bridge was a gray cave of instruments and red warning bulbs, all of it vibrating faintly. Naomi rushed to the plot table, hair pinned back. Kimo stood by the forward windows with binoculars, shoulders squared.

  On the main screen, a single blip crawled toward the Challenger’s icon.

  Naomi jabbed the screen with her pen. “What is it?”

  JJ leaned in. Numbers scrolled by on the screen, the range to target shrinking. Its Speed was too high for a boat.

  “Any IFF?” JJ asked.

  “Nothing,” the radar tech said, voice tight. “No chatter. No ID.”

  Hector slid in beside JJ. “Should we arm the AAs?”

  Kimo lowered the binoculars. “Not yet. If we shoot first, that could lead to trouble.”

  JJ moved to the radio console. “Unidentified aircraft,” he said into Channel 16, slow and clear. “This is the Challenger. State your intentions and identify. Over.”

  Only the soft hiss of open air answered him.

  JJ repeated his message, switching channels. “Please respond over.”

  Nothing..

  Kimo raised the binoculars again. His jaw worked. “I’ve got something,” he said.

  JJ stepped to the windows. Through fog, a shape knifed along the horizon, dark and fast, barely above the waterline, rotors slicing through the mist. No lights or markings.

  Naomi’s voice was calm. “It’s not the Coast Guard.”

  Hector squinted. “No shit. Gutierrez would have radioed us if he was sending someone.”

  Little Bear didn’t look away from the glass. “It’s running dark. Could be smugglers. Or pirates.”

  The helicopter dipped, then climbed slightly, adjusting as it closed. Even through the fog, its approach had an angle that would bring it around the Challenger’s port side, into a position where it could see the deck.

  JJ’s hand went back to the mic. “Unidentified aircraft. Identify yourself immediately, or you will be fired upon. Over.”

  Still nothing.

  Naomi’s pen tapped the table twice, sharp and impatient. “We’ve got a problem,” she said, eyes on JJ. “One: we got civilians onboard. Two: whoever that is isn’t supposed to be here.”

  Hector's voice turned grave. “My vote is pirates.” He turned to JJ. “Give the order, boss, and the AAs will shoot it out of the sky.”

  JJ didn’t answer him. He lifted the binoculars Kimo offered. The helicopter drew closer. It was close enough now that details snapped into place: a matte-black body, doors closed, a bulky nose, and under its belly the blunt silhouette of something that wasn’t a searchlight.

  Hector made a sound in his throat. “Is that…?”

  “Yeah,” Naomi said.

  JJ set the binoculars down carefully. “Sound general quarters,” he said.

  The radar tech blinked. “Boss, you sure?”

  “Sound it,” JJ repeated, voice flat.

  The bridge alarm screamed a harsh, repetitive klaxon that rolled down the ship’s corridors. On deck, shapes started moving at once, crew jogging to stations, helmets appearing like mushrooms, hands pointing, bodies tightening into positions.

  Kimo kept the binoculars up. “They’re coming around.”

  JJ stepped back to the mic. “Hector. Get to the deck. Tell the J-2-zero to button up and be ready to lift off if we need them,”

  Hector nodded and bolted for the hatch.

  Little Bear shifted his stance. “What’s the plan?”

  JJ stared at the helicopter’s dark shape moving closer.

  “The plan,” JJ said, low, “is we make it very clear not to fuck with us.”

  The matte-black helicopter swung into view of the port side.

  JJ could hear the metallic moan of the hydraulics positioning the large anti-aircraft guns into position to fire. Then, a voice crackled across the radio.

  “Challenger,” it said. “Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”

  “Challenger,” the voice repeated, calm as a man ordering coffee. “Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”

  JJ didn’t answer right away.

  He watched the matte-black helicopter slide along the ship’s port quarter, holding low over the chop.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  JJ thumbed the mic. “Negative,” he said, voice even. “Identify yourself or you will be fired upon.”

  There was a long pause. “Last warning,” the voice said. “Power down. Clear your deck.”

  Kimo kept the binoculars up. “Make the call.”

  JJ sighed and keyed the ship-wide intercom. “All hands, prepare for combat.”

  Below, hydraulics groaned again, heavy metal shifting as the Challenger’s anti-aircraft mounts tracked the unidentified chopper.

  JJ lifted the mic again. “Unidentified craft, this is your final warning. Identify yourself. Attempt to board, and you will be fired upon.”

  Hector’s voice came through his handheld from somewhere below. “Jefe, J-2-zero is fired up. Crew’s on standby. You want the bird up?”

  JJ looked at Naomi. She didn’t nod, didn’t shake her head either. She was curiously silent.

  “Get 'em in the air,” JJ said.

  The helicopter outside dipped lower. It drifted toward the pad, nose angled slightly inward, staying just outside the ship’s superstructure.

  Kimo lowered the binoculars. “They’re preparing to board us.”

  Little Bear stood behind JJ like a wall, shotgun slung, hands loose. His eyes never left the fog beyond the glass.

  The radio cracked again. “Challenger, comply.”

  JJ stepped to the bridge window and keyed the exterior loudspeaker. His voice rolled out over open water.

  “Unknown aircraft. You are approaching a private vessel with armed security. You are not authorized to board. Alter course now.”

  For a heartbeat, the only answer was rotor wash. Then the matte-black bird moved to hover over the deck.

  Naomi’s pen tapped once against the plot table. “We can’t shoot them. Not unless they fire first.”

  JJ crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing. “I know. Kimo, keep watching them. All we need is for them to pull just a pistol, and that’s all the justification we need.”

  The helicopter’s side door snapped open.

  A dark figure appeared in the doorway, braced against the frame. The figure in the open door leaned out and then stepped off the bird onto the deck.

  They had now officially been boarded. JJ growled softly in his throat. “Helm, keep us steady,” he said, already moving. “Naomi, lock the ship down. They don’t take a step past the deck. Get Guiterez on the line if they’re not government, I want authorization to ghost them.”

  Naomi’s hand was already on the radio. “I’ll do what I can.”

  JJ snatched the bridge mic off its hook and shoved it into Little Bear’s chest as he passed. “Stay with Kimo,” JJ said.

  Little Bear’s head dipped once, and he turned toward the windows.

  JJ hit the ladderwell at a jog. Metal rang under his boots. The alarm klaxon still screamed around him as he headed for the deck.

  Hector’s voice crackled in his ear. “Jefe, the baboso is on the deck, want me to waste him?”

  JJ thumbed his handheld. “Hold your fire. If they pull a gun waste them.”

  “They got marking, no transponder, and they’re unidentified. Come on, Jefe, that’s got to be enough.” Hector shot back.

  JJ took the last rung two at a time and shoved through the hatch into a wall of wind. “I wish, but no. Don’t let them pass. Stop them with everything but lethal force.”

  The Rotor wash hit him like a physical force. Mist stung his face. The deck was slick, painted lines shining wet under the bridge lights. Crew in helmets hugged cover behind bulkheads and equipment housings, rifles braced.

  The matte-black helicopter now sat squarely on the deck, its open door facing the pad.

  A dark figure was already walking towards them.

  “Contact!” someone shouted.

  JJ dropped into a crouch behind a winch housing and leveled his rifle up through the spray.

  The Wind tore at the intruder's clothing. He wore a helmet, goggles, and dark gloves.

  JJ keyed the external loudspeaker with his free hand.

  “Abort now!” he barked. “You have illegally boarded this vessel. Any further action will be met with resistance.”

  The man froze.

  “Hands where I can see them!” Hector yelled.

  The man lifted one gloved hand slowly, palm out.

  Above, J-2-zero shifted in the sky, keeping the unknown chopper in its sights, ready to unleash hell on them.

  A second figure appeared in the open door. He hesitated in the doorway.

  JJ stood half out of cover and leveled his rifle directly at the man trying to step out.

  “Identify yourselves now,” JJ said, voice carrying even under the rotors.

  The voice came through the radio again, colder now.

  “You’re making a mistake, Muldoon.”

  JJ’s eyes narrowed. “You know my name.”

  No answer. Only rotor wash.

  The helicopter lifted off, sliding away into the fog, climbing just enough to clear the superstructure. In seconds, it was only a dark shape in the mist, and then it was gone.

  JJ strode out into the open, boots splashing through shallow puddles. “Helmet off,” JJ said.

  The Intruders' head turned slightly.

  Hector moved in from the side, “You heard him, fucker.” He growled. “Helmet off.”

  The stranger's gloved hands rose and fumbled with the strap. The helmet came away.

  A man in his thirties. Close-cropped hair plastered with sweat. A hard jaw under sneering lips.

  JJ stepped closer. “Who sent you?”

  The man’s lips curled. “You’re trespassing.”

  JJ stared at him for a beat. “Hate to break it to you, we’re sanctioned by the Ministry of Public Security. You’re the trespasser.” He looked to Hector. “Cuff him,” JJ said. “And get him to the brig.”

  Hector nodded once and stepped forward.

  The man’s eyes flicked past JJ, toward the ship, toward the fog, toward the direction of Isla Nublar.

  “You don’t understand what you just stepped into,” The stranger said.

  “Then you’re going to explain it.” JJ snapped.

  Naomi’s voice snapped through JJ’s radio.

  “JJ, get back to the bridge. Now.”