Lured and Seized

The small Royal Navy patrol boat,HMS 'Gorgeous' cruised through the waters of the Arabian Gulf,and was on active patrol here.

On the bridge,Captain Louise Saunders sat in her chair,observing the sea.Like all her crew here,Louise was young,had shoulder length brunette hair,and warm hazel eyes,and of course,was a very popular captain.

Louise had worked really hard to achieve this,and she was immensely proud of having done so.The training to be a highly efficient Royal Navy captain,was one of the most hardest ever.Louise knew a lot of people were rejected whilst attempting it.The pressure put on by the training,was enormous.

Yet,in her own course,Louise always kept a cool,calm clear head,especially when the training staff were screaming at her to do things,putting on maximum pressure.Louise however,always won through.Not once did she panic,although she had to admit the training was pretty intense,but of course,she knew it would be.If you did it,you had something not many people had,and it was a fantastic feeling.

Being the captain of the 'Gorgeous',Louise always wore her rank on her shirt.More accurately,on her black shoulder epaulettes.The standard uniform of the Royal Navy,was always a white shirt with a single square breast pocket fitted either side.A knee length,navy blue skirt with smartly polished black high heels,made Louise and her fellow female crew members,very smart indeed.The shoulder lapels always had the same gold markings on each crew members shirt.This was three gold,horizontal stripes,with a half circle on the outer stripe.Louise and all her crew,were extremely proud to wear their uniforms.The Royal Navy was after all,the senior service,and it was a great honour to serve in it.

Still sitting in her command chair,Louise raised the pair of binoculars she wore around her neck,and made another scan of the sea.At the moment,everything seemed calm and normal,but Louise still kept alert.She'd been given a mission here,and was determined to complete it.

Just before the 'Gorgeous' had left the UK,Louise had attended a briefing with her first officer,Sarah Mason.Sarah was also young and very pretty too,although she was a bit taller.She had jet black hair,but was shorter than her captain's.

Sarah was a really good officer to have on board,and Louise and all the other girls were glad to have her.Sarah had a first class brain,having attended university and military college at Sandhurst.Everybody knew she had a very good and privileged background,but Sarah also knew this,and had proved to her crew that she wasn't a stuck up snob.In fact,Sarah severely disciplined any officer she found with that attitude.

Both Louise and Sarah still remembered the briefing.There had been confirmed intelligence,that there was smuggling activity going on in these waters.It wasn't known as yet,what the smuggling was,but both of them were still determined to put a stop to it.

Still scanning the sea through her binoculars,Louise hadn't seen anything suspicious.Shipping traffic was normal.They had stopped a couple of vessels for routine searches,but nothing was found in them,and after letting those vessels go on their way,the 'Gorgeous' had resumed her patrol duty.

Louise lowered her binoculars,and glanced around the bridge.It was of course,only a small bridge,but it was well equipped.They had state of the art technology,and if anybody was trying to run from them,Louise was fully prepared to catch them.In the briefing,Louise had also been told to expect resistance,and whilst she always hoped to to avoid violence,Louise was also determined to defend her ship and crew.

Her gaze passed around each of the bridge crew.Sarah was standing by Louise's chair,whilst the helmswoman,a really pretty Latin girl,who was known as Cara,was faithfully obeying instructions on steering the ship.There were two more women on duty too.One of them was known as Konnie,an Indian woman who set many mens hearts racing,when she went on shore leave.The second woman was Suzuki,born of Japanese parents,but was British through and through.All three girls enjoyed their work,and loved being under Louise's command.

Louise then decided to go and check on Zara,who was their radio operator,and after leaving temporary command with Sarah,Louise left her chair,and headed for the radio room.

It only took her a few seconds,as the boat was only small,and Louise then entered the radio room.She noticed Zara sitting there,with a pair of headphones on her head.Zara was of Africa descent.She came from Ghana,but her parents had emigrated to England,and Zara had made up her mind to join the military very early in her life.

Zara was excellent at communications.She could even decipher the toughest cryptic codes,and had proved her worth time and time again.Louise knew Zara was a constant thorn in the bad guys side.

'Anything unusual,Zara?'Louise asked.She always wanted to call her crew by their first names,believing it to be worthy,and it was.All of her crew loved her for it.It was a nice touch from an officer,especially from a captain.Louise kept her strict captains duty,only for when the situation demanded it.

'Nothing yet,captain.'Zara shook her head,still listening to the shipping radio signals going through her headphones.'Everything's quiet.'

'I wonder how long that's going to last.'Louise knew there would be something happening,but for now,nothing was threatening them.

'Stay on it,Zara.'Louise rested her hand on Zara's shoulder,and Zara nodded at her.

'Don't worry,captain.'Zara was full of confidence.'Any bad guys try something,I'll let you know.'

'Very good.'Louise nodded too,and then left Zara too it.

She then headed for the weapons room.This was manned by two women.Here,Jennifer Burns,a pony-tailed blonde,and Beverley Anderson,a brunette beauty,were operating radar screens,and constantly checking on the weapon systems.

They both noticed Louise's entrance,but didn't stand to attention for her.Louise had told them not to do that.

'Everything okay here?'Louise asked them.

'All systems operational,captain.'Jennifer informed.'Shipping traffic is normal.Nothing unusual.'

'There might be something happening tonight.'Louise warned.'So we're going to battle stations then,but for now,let me know if anything crops up.'

'No problem,captain.'Beverley grinned,and Louise grinned back.She then headed back to the bridge.

When Louise returned to the bridge,things were just the same.All the bridge crew were still keeping a sharp lookout,but there was nothing new to report.

Louise then picked up her binoculars and sat back down in her captains seat,resuming her own watch.

As Louise scanned the surrounding sea,she could see a lot of shipping activity.The Arabian Gulf was one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes,and there were indeed,a lot of vessels.

However,in her briefing,Louise had remembered the details of the smuggling vessels involved,and they weren't the huge ones.

Instead,she focused her attention on the smaller boats nearby.There was certainly plenty of them,and Louise knew she had to keep a sharp eye out.The smugglers weren't stupid,as they took to the most crafty deceptions to outwit being discovered.Smaller boats were a pretty good idea,but Louise was well aware the bad guys needed a lot of luck too,and she promised herself to make it as hard as she could for them.

There were a lot of fishing boats close by,with powerful,luxury yachts also moving too.Louise could see people looking at them from their own vessels,but so far,she saw no sign of anything suspicious.

Looks like nightfall things will get moving.Louise thought to herself,before she continued her watch.

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Some way off to the British warship,there were actually a number of boats which kept their attention on the 'Gorgeous'

Two were small fishing boats.They held a crew of several,tough looking men,whilst there was also a luxury yacht keeping the Royal Navy craft in sight.

On the bridge of the same yacht,the captain there,with a couple of other men,were also observing the HMS 'Gorgeous' with more than a passing interest.

More to follow...