Disclaimer: "Rainbow Six" and all related characters are the sole property of Rubicon, Inc. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. All original characters and situations are the sole property of the author and may not be used or archived without express permission.

Rainbow Six:

SPECWAR

by Darrin Colbourne

"Major Chavez?" Sgt. Sooner called out to Ding as he tapped his shoulder. "We're almost there! Did you want to take a look?"

"Sure!" Ding said, then carefully unstrapped and let the Marine lead him to the Chinook's "Front Office". The two men reached the cockpit and the Sergeant let Chavez go forward and brace himself behind the flight crew. The helicopter was angling downward, giving a good view of the surface of the ocean and their destination.

"There she is!" Sooner said, pointing over Chavez's shoulder. "The Bonhomme Richard!"

Chavez took a good look. The Wasp-class Amphibious warship looked anachronistic when compared to giant modern carriers or their sleek, fast escorts. Bonhomme Richard was more reminiscent of the carriers of the Pacific Campaign, a straight, boxy flattop that looked as if she should be protected by massive battlewagons and scores of smaller gunships. Of course, the ship wasn't really a carrier. She was a Landing Platform (Helicopter), one of the major assets of The 'Gator Navy, capable of carrying a Marine Air-Ground Task Force, consisting of a battalion of ground troops and their vehicles as well as a wing of various helicopters and a small squadron of Harrier STOVL attack jets. Richard was the lead ship of a three-ship Amphibious Ready Group, which had been on its way to a port-of-call in the Philippines when the South China Sea crisis developed.

"Always good to be home!" Sooner said, with genuine feeling. "We'll be touching down in a couple minutes. Let's get you strapped back in."

The Chinook touched down gracefully, and Team Two, Rainbow disembarked. Richard's flight deck wasn't as noisy as Chavez had expected a carrier's deck to be, but his ears were still strained even through the hearing protection he was wearing. Two Harriers were spotted on the bow, revving up for a launch. There were no catapults. The planes took a short run off the deck and angled away. On another part of the deck, two AH-1Z Super Cobra attack helicopters were spooling up for launch, their rotors turning faster and faster till they lifted smoothly off the non-skid blacktop.

A deck officer led the team into the ship's "Island", where they were met by a Marine Lieutenant. He and Chavez shook hands as he spoke. "I'm Lieutenant Warden. Welcome aboard the Bonhomme Richard, Gentlemen."

"Pleasure to be aboard." Chavez said.

"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to Command." Team Two fell into step as Warden took them through the close corridors of the vessel. Soon they found themselves in the Battle Management Center, Richard's nerve center. The computer console and display filled space was where any amphibious landing would be planned and directed from.

Chavez was brought over to the map table, where the ship's Commanding Officers were standing. One was a tall, rangy Marine Bird-Colonel, and the other was a big, broad-bodied Black Navy Captain. The Captain made the introductions.

"Good to meet you, Major Chavez." The man's voice rumbled. "I'm Captain Franklin Hiller, Richard's CO. This is my 'business partner', Colonel Mack Shepherd, CO of the 24th MEU (SOC)."

"Pleasure, Sirs." Chavez said as he shook hands and appraised the pair. The red tint to Shepherd's hair showed through even his "High and Tight" buzz cut, while even with a broad smile on his face Hiller still looked like the Nose Tackle of every quarterback's nightmares. "So, where do we stand?"

"Take a look here." Hiller said, as he indicated the map table. "Majestic is still steady on course and speed into the South China Sea. The Singaporeans are shadowing them with a frigate on each flank. We're here, paralleling the container ship's course and matching her speed. None of the ships are very close. The idea is not to spook them into maneuvering wildly or killing any hostages."

"We're also tracking them using our Air Wing." Shepherd said. "Two Harriers on station here and two Cobras on station here. The birds are armed with the new Sea Hellfire missiles."

Chavez cocked an eyebrow. "I don't think we'll need to sink the ship, Sir."

Hiller chuckled. "Not our intention, but we thought we'd take the opportunity to do some cross-training. This is turning into a pretty interesting Sea Control exercise."

"Don't worry." Shepherd said. "Weapons are tight. We're just using them to keep tabs on the sea chase from long range. Now, we've got orders to render any assistance we can to help your mission succeed. Will you be needing any more shooters? I've got plenty of able-bodied Marines aboard that'd be glad to help."

"Shooters, no, but I may want to borrow a couple of your birds. We'll need to paint over their markings before we use them."

"I think we can manage that. What else?"

Tim Noonan spoke up. "Do you have any Combat Correspondents aboard? With some high quality video equipment?"

Peshawar scanned what he could see of the horizon from inside the bridge of the cargo ship. He was using binoculars he'd taken from the Captain, who was now standing in an empty corner of the bridge, being watched over by one of Peshawar's men, an Afghan named Khalil. The only other person in the space was the helmsman, who was doing his best to hold the ship's course and speed without thinking of the gun-toting criminals who'd taken over the Majestic. Two more of the hijackers had a skeleton crew captive in the Engineering space, while the rest of the hostages were being held in the Mess Hall. Several of them had various bumps and bruises, some received for active resistance, but most because the hijackers wanted to establish from the outset who was boss.

Though there were no vessels or aircraft within his line of sight, Peshawar expected them to be out there, shadowing from a discreet distance, maybe even from over-the-horizon. He knew he could get a better view if he went out onto one of the bridge wings, but was reluctant to take the risk, feeling safer behind the steel of the hull. He was content to play the same waiting game the Singaporeans seemed to be playing. No one had made a move to contact him yet, and he had no intention of trying to call them. His only real demand was to be given a wide berth, which they were already providing. If he could get this ship to a safe port, or at least find a way to get himself lost in the ocean, he'd be a hero back home, for having stolen millions of dollars worth of property from the hands of greedy, decadent Westerners.

He took one more scan of the sea in front of the ship and noticed something in the sky. It was just a dark speck in the lens of the binoculars, but turning their magnification up to full he could make out the shape of a helicopter. It looked like an American design, but in a world where the Great Satan peddled its wares to anyone with hard currency that didn't mean much. Peshawar felt justified in not leaving the safety of the bridge. The people aboard that chopper could have anything pointed right at him.

"Khalil," he said in Arabic, "take the Captain to his quarters and hold him there." Khalil moved to comply roughly as Peshawar got very close to the helmsman, assault rifle at the ready.

They'd gotten the MH-60 Blackhawk painted in record time with a fresh coat of black paint and had it dried with heat lamps and on the deck as they worked on others. The bird lifted off the deck with Tim Noonan aboard, accompanied by Staff Sergeant Nicholas Ford, a Marine Corps Combat Correspondent covering the Bonhomme Richard's deployment for Leatherneck. They'd brought with them a large portable video camera from the ship's studio and a monitor to feed the image to. The camera mounted a state-of- the-art telephoto lens and was incredibly steady in the right hands.

The pilot flew a roundabout course to the ship, and ultimately brought the Blackhawk into a hover a thousand yards from the Majestic's bow. Ford worked the camera, getting comfortable on the deck of the chopper and aiming the lens out the open door, while Noonan monitored the feed.

"Looks like two bad guys on the bridge," Noonan said as Ford panned the bridge windows, "plus two of the crew visible. Old guy must be the skipper. One guy scouting with binoculars. Probably wondering where…wait, I think he sees us. Turning to the other bad guy…now the other guy's lugging the skipper off the bridge. Maybe the scout's the leader? Keep on his face, Nick."

"I got him." Ford said.

"He's moving closer to the other hostage…yeah, he definitely knows we're watching. I think he's hinting we should back off. Try and get clear footage of his face, then start on the other windows."

"Gotcha." Ford said. The target certainly looked like an Arab, with dark, gaunt features. When he thought they had enough footage of him, Ford panned all the windows that were not obscured by containers.

"Looks like those parts of the ship are blacked out." Ford said. "They must be keeping the bulk of the hostages in closed-off areas of the ship."

"Makes sense." Noonan said. "Let's check topside."

Ford panned the camera around Majestic's deck, slowly and methodically, paying close attention to any spaces or gaps around the containers. "Not that many places to hide," Ford said as he worked, "and those places all seem to be empty. Everybody must be inside the superstructure. So the good news is you've got a relatively clear field of advance from the bow aft…"

"With the bad news being that it leads right to the most defensible part of the ship, where all the bad guys have set up shop." Noonan said. "Okay. We've at least confirmed most of the stuff we already knew. Let's pack up and head back. Pilot, we're done here. Let me borrow the radio."

Peshawar was standing directly behind the helmsman, holding his rifle up in one hand and holding the binoculars up with the other. He watched patiently until the chopper nosed-down and flew off, staying well away from the ship as it returned to wherever it came from. The terrorist took its arrival and departure philosophically. At least now he knew what the Singaporeans were waiting for.

"Public Address." He said in English to the hostage. The helmsman showed him the right console and Peshawar went over and turned it on. He made his announcement in accented German.

"This is Hahmed. They are going to try and retake the ship soon. Be ready."

"They're buttoned up in the ship for sure, Ding!" Noonan's voice announced in the Battle Management Center. "any other area of the ship visible from the outside is blacked out and abandoned."

"What about the guy you saw on the bridge?" Chavez called back. "Did you get a good look at him?"

"We got him live on videotape!" Noonan said. "He had his binoculars up most of the time, but we did get some seconds of his face!"

"Can we get hard images from the tape?" Chavez asked Hiller. "And would I be able to fax it back to my HQ? I have someone there that may be able to identify this guy."

"Yes on both counts." Hiller said.

"Okay. Get back as soon as you can, Tim!"

"We're running flat out now, Ding!" Noonan said, then the pilot signed off.

"Okay," Chavez said as he examined the schematic of the Majestic. "I'm guessing they don't need a lot of people to run the ship for 'em."

"It's best to have a Navigator along with the helmsman on the bridge," Hiller said, "but the reason container ships have such small crews in the first place is that they're built to be run by a relative few watchstanders at a time."

"Then it's likely they'll be keeping most of the hostages in one big space of the ship, one that's completely out of view from the outside. Maybe the Infirmary, the Mess Hall or Engineering."

"Probably not engineering." Hiller said. "Most of that space is taken up by the big diesels. Too many places to hide or police. Bet on the Mess Hall. A couple of gunmen can keep the whole place under control from the entrances."

"They're also likely to keep a watch for any attack from the bridge from this point on." Shepherd added. "That means you'll have to neutralize any terrorists there first, before they can get a warning to their boss."

Chavez nodded in agreement, then his head cocked as he looked at the schematic again. "I think I know how to do that. You ever see True Lies?"

Shepherd looked at him curiously. "Yeah…what about it?"

Chavez's answer was cryptic. "You'll see. I'm going to need to borrow a few more of your assets, Colonel. I think I've got a way to take these guys down. It'll be a true Search and Rescue mission once we get aboard, but at least now I don't think getting aboard will be our biggest problem."