The Crude Carrier

 

now.

I blared the ship’s horn blared. And blared it again. It didn’t matter though, no one could hear us anyway. I picked up my walkie talkie and whispered into it.

“Stowers, have you found any of them? Over.” I listened hard, trying to make out anything that could even remotely resemble words. The only noise that came from the walkie talkie was static.

“Dammit!” I whispered loudly as I slammed the walkie talkie on the table.

 

then.

“These waters are known for them pirates, captain.” Leonard Stowers, my second in command, said. ” There’s guns and rifles on board just in case.” Noticing my shudder, he quickly continued, “But they’re under lock and key.” he reassured. The first day passed by in a blur. Having not been accustomed to captaining a crude carrier, I had hours of paperwork and familiarization to do. Stowers took over command of the ship that day.

That evening, we had dinner together. Myself and Stowers, along with the crew. Being a cargo ship, there were only 20 or so crew members. It was then that I said a short speech. I got up and quickly got the attention of the crew.

“My name is Captain Rogers and I’m your captain for the duration of this delivery. Should anything happen to me, Mr. Leonard Stowers is second in command and is to be obeyed. That being said, it has recently been brought to my attention that the waters we sail are notorious for pirates. This shipment is especially at risk as we are carrying crude oil.” There were words of protest thrown out of the crew members’ mouths. “But not to be afraid!” I silenced them and continued. ” We have guns and rifles on board for self protection only.” I made sure to enunciate my words on that last part. ” They are under the supervision of myself and Mr. Stowers. Should we need them, both of us have keys to access them. But! It is unlikely we should find ourselves in such a situation. We have the United States Coast Guard watching us closely to ensure nothing can go wrong.  That’ll be it, gentlemen. Please enjoy your meals and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” I finished my speech and retreated to my cabin to do some last calculations and finalize our course.

The next morning, Stowers updated me on the happenings of last night.

” Nothing to report, captain. It was smooth sailing all night. There were a few smaller boats that showed up on the radar, but nothing we should be worrying about.” Nodding, I took over and let Stowers go and rest.

 

At around 4:30 in the afternoon, a small speedboat showed up on the radar. Remembering Stower’s report from last night, I didn’t find myself too concerned but I told myself to keep watch. However, when the boat stayed on the radar and kept coming closer and closer, I started to become worried. Eventually the boat was right behind the ship. I paged for one of the crew members. Thankfully he came quick.

“Yea boss?” the crew member said.

“What’s your name?” I asked him. I didn’t recognize him from dinner the previous night.

“Jorja” he replied. The name didn’t strike a bell but I hadn’t familiarized myself with the crew so I let it go.

“Jorja, I need you to go to Stowers’ cabin and wake him up and tell him to come to the control room right away. Get the rest of the crew all the way down to the fourth subfloor. Take these keys to get to the guns and rifles. They’re at the fourth subfloor near the steamers. Before you go down though, get Stowers down here as soon as you can. Go now!” I grabbed my keychain and slid the key to the weapons off the key ring and handed it to him. Jorja had a wild look in eyes as he nodded and turned around. I picked up the radio to try to contact the Coast Guard.

“Hello? Do you copy? This is Captain Rogers from 1129 Crude Carrier. I think we’re being targeted by pirates. Over.” I talked into the radio, crossing my fingers in hopes someone would answer. Instead, I was greeted with silence.

“USCG do you copy? Over.” I tried again, to no avail. I realized that the power to the boat had been cut. The radios wouldn’t work. Suddenly, there was knocking at the door to the control room. Through the window, I could see that it was Stowers. Relieved, I opened the door.

“What’s going on boss? Some guy named Jorja came to my cabin and told me to come see you right away.” His voice was groggy. He was probably sleeping before he had been woken up. His wrinkled pyjamas confirmed my theory. Hastily, I filled him in on the situation.

“We have to make sure the crew is safe first. I sent them down with Jorja to get the guns and hide on the fourth subfloor. But the radios are down and I can’t reach them. I can’t talk to the Coast Guard either.” I said, starting to feel panic rising in my chest.

“I’ll go down and make sure they’re ok and come back in a bit.” Stowers said.

“But how will I reach you?” I asked. Stowers looked thoughtful before walking across the room to a cabinet that had the first aid kit. He rummaged through it and pulled a set of walkie talkies. He handed me one and took one for himself.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! 

The ear splitting bangs came unexpectedly, making both me and Stowers jump. We stared at each other in agonized silence for what seemed like forever. We dared not speak or move. Eventually, Stowers tip toed to the far wall and pressed the side of his face to the wall, trying to make out what was going on.

“I’m going now. Keep trying to get the systems back online. I’ll be back soon. I’m going to pick up a gun just in case though. I’ll bring one for you too.” He whispered before he silently opened the door just enough for him to slip through. He looked left and right before he looked back and nodded one last time before he left. I ran over and closed the door and locked it. I shut the blinds over the window on the door.

 

now.

I kept trying the walkie talkie.

“Stowers, are you there? I repeat: are you there? Over.” I whispered into the walkie talkie. I paced around the control room trying to gather my thoughts. The pirates had cut the power, rendering the control room useless. The communication lines were down so I couldn’t reach the Coast Guard. I couldn’t check the cameras either to see what was happening outside the room. I blared the horn again, hoping that a nearby ship would hear and help us. But I knew it was futile. Then static came through the walkie talkie.

kksshshhshhshshs………kshshshhshshkksshhshsh

“Stowers, is that you? Are you ok? Is the crew ok?” I said desperately into the walkie talkie.

kksshshshshskk..pirates…kkkkshshshshs…guns..kkskshshsshhh…took the…kkkshhshshhhkk..killed them..kskskksssshhhh…careful..kkshshshhsh

Stower’s answer was so broken that I couldn’t decipher what he was trying to say. Suddenly, more bangs made my blood turn to ice.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Worried, I decided that I should go out there and try to help. At least I could go down to the steamers and turn the power back on, if nothing else. What kind of captain would I be if I locked myself in the control room when my crew was dying? I reached to grab my keys when I realized that I would be going out there weaponless, as I had given my keys to Jorja. Sighing, I tried the radio one last time.

“United States Coast Guard do you copy? This is a level 1 emergency. Do you copy? Over.” Still nothing but silence answered me.

I opened the door and looked both ways before I closed the door quietly behind me. I headed down the dark corridor, which was lit only by the occasional red emergency lights. I kept checking behind me and tried to stay in the shadows as much as I could. The ship was silent, but the silence was deafening. As I reached the end of the corridor, I checked behind me again. I looked through the window to the stairwell and tried to see if anyone was there. After minutes of staring and trying to detect movement, I decided it was safe. I opened the door as silently as I could and closed it lightly behind me. I started down the stairs when I heard voices from down below. I quickly moved to the side of the stairwell into the shadows and tried to keep my breathing as steady and quiet as I could. Seconds, or maybe minutes passed by as the voices and footsteps got closer and closer until they were on the same level as I was. I prayed they wouldn’t notice me and that they would go on their own way. The voices grew silent and I hoped I had just averted danger. I moved a little bit to make sure they were gone when I felt a cold, metal circle pressed against my abdomen. They had caught me. As I was dragged into the red light, I could see a group of five men all with guns pointed at me. I turned to the man with the gun pressed to my stomach too see that it was Jorja.