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STRAIT OF MALACCA

Captain O across the placid waters of the narrow strait It was approaching his California-bound oil tanker fro boat He’d tried to raise them on the radio, but there was no response It

Pirates

Using his binoculars, he could see that the boat was full ofhe could do to avoid the, and the strait between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra was barely three kilometers across at its narrowest point The ponderous ship would be impossible to turn around, and the speedboat would easily outmaneuver any attempt to ram it

“Increase to full speed,” he nevertheless told the executive officer “We’re not going to h velocity for a ship as big as theirs was risky in these tight confines, even with cal so

As the XO ordered full power, Rahal activated the shipwide intercom “Now hear this, men We have hostiles off our bow They are aro to your action stations Do not, I repeat, do not atteht them” He didn’t want any crew members to die on his watch

The boat passed behind the bow of the Dahar so that Rahal could no longer see it He went to the port bridge wing so he could watch for it over the side of the ship

They came back into view, and he could now make out seven men clad in T-shirts and ar, hidden by the roof of the tiny wheelhouse The boat circled around so it couldan extendable ladder

He called to the XO “Activate the SSAS alarm”

The XO flipped open a safety cover and pressed a large red button The Ship Security Alert System was a silent alarm that contacted the ship’s base of operations to inforress It ensured that the hijackers would not be warned that help had been summoned

A few seconds later, the bridge phone rang Rahal picked it up

“This is Captain Rahal on the Dahar”

“Captain, this is operations headquarters We are calling to verify that you have an eress”

“Affirmative This is not a false alar his identity “Seven or eight ar to board us”

“Understood We have your position and will contact the Malaysian Maritiency and the Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard Stay on the line as long as you can Are there any ships in your vicinity that could render aid?”

“What do we have on our radar?” Rahal asked the XO

The XO peered at the

radar screen and shook his head in dishter thirty kilometers behind us”

“Even if we stop, it would take her two hours to get here,” Rahal spoke into the phone “What’s my ETA on the Coast Guard?”