One week later...
Friday, February 24th, 2017
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia
19:30 local time
The dank steel-enclosed space was dimly lit by bulkhead-mounted light fittings which were so badly maintained and dirty that they barely did the job they were designed for, but it was good enough for the man who was walking along the tight passageway between the steel walls as he searched for a certain container amongst the many aboard the vessel.
It did not take him long to find what he was looking for. He pulled out the wooden belaying pin which was securing the container from being accidentally opened by the vibrations of the sea, and then pulled the lever up and outwards to release the catches on the right-hand door of the container. The man heaved it open about two feet, briefly peering inside. He grinned to himself as he saw the 'passengers' at the far end of the container, standing just as they had been taught – actually, had beaten into them. He pointed at the smaller of the two children who meekly stepped forward, only stopping to pick up a black plastic bucket, her nose wrinkling with the smell of what was in the bucket. The girl was dishevelled and dirty, her eyes were dull, and they showed little sign of life. As she carried the bucket out of the container, the man slapped her about the head, motivating the girl to hurry up; he hated being in the hold and he hated the smell of shit. In return, the girl simply scowled at the man as she poured the stinking contents of the bucket into a scupper which in turn led into a holding tank below the deck. After that, she rinsed the bucket out under a cold tap mounted on the bulkhead before she dutifully carried the empty bucket back into the container.
Without a word, the man waved the older girl toward him. The girl hesitated for a moment before she walked the length of the twenty-foot container. She carried an empty plastic box, about the size of a large hardback book. The man grinned as he watched the girl come closer. The girl handed over the empty box and the man made to hand over an identical box, but just as he did so, he dropped the empty box and he grabbed the girl by the arm, pulling her closer.
"One day, pretty one, I will fuck you," the man breathed before he slapped the girl across the face, and he shoved her further back into the container.
The girl fell backwards, and she landed heavily on the steel floor of the container.
"Nighty night, girls!"
The girls glared at the man who simply slammed the container door closed before he latched it and he rammed the belaying pin back in place.
A few hours later...
Saturday, February 25th
A mile off the port beam
00:30
The four rigid-hulled inflatables closed in on the cargo vessel at speed.
Each inflatable held six men and a boarding ladder. The ladder was about eighteen feet in length with a curved top which would allow it to be hooked over a safety rail on the victim vessel. It would be the second vessel they had seized that month and the fifth so far that year. The pickings were relatively easy, but the risks were high, however, the potential gains made the risks acceptable to the pirates. They approached carefully, looking out for any sign that they had been seen, but the vessel showed little sign of activity, beyond the usual navigation lights, deck lighting, and a dim glow being emitted from the bridge windows.
The vessel was not large, around 30,000 tonnes deadweight and a little under 200 metres in length. The crew numbered around forty, hence the larger-than-normal boarding party. The trick, if possible, was to board the vessel and take control before any alert could be sent. That would allow time for the vessel to be sailed into a Somalian port before it could be intercepted by one of the many naval vessels which were operating in the area. They also needed the crew alive for ransom demands. Ransoming the hull and the cargo was one thing, but the crew, depending on nationality, were also worth a lot of money. There would also be danger aboard, as many ships now paid for armed guards to protect their interests. Therefore, the pirates were each armed with an automatic weapon – mainly Russian-made AK-47 and AK-74 weapons – as well as an evil selection of pistols, machetes, and knives.
To a man, the pirates believed that they could handle anything they found.
..._...
Very quickly, the four inflatable boats came alongside – two a little forward of amidships, and two at the stern.
Up went the boarding ladders. There was no warning, no hullaballoo. The pirates slunk aboard like the rats they were. As each group reached the main deck, they split apart to cover their assigned destinations. A group of fifteen men headed for the main accommodation and the bridge while a group of three men headed for the bow, leaving six men to check the main deck for crew members. None of the men spoke a word or made any unnecessary sound as they went about their assigned tasks. Their very livelihoods depended on how well they performed in the first few minutes of the hijacking. The fifteen men headed for the accommodation, swiftly broke up into three five-man teams. The first two teams began to sweep alternate decks as they headed upwards through the seven accommodation decks which formed the accommodation superstructure below the bridge and above the main deck.
The third team raced upwards, making for the bridge. Three men took the starboard external staircase while the remaining pair went up the port side.
..._..
High up on the bridge, the bridge watch, consisting of five men, were only just becoming aware that they had been boarded.
They had missed the crucial approach stage in which they could have thwarted, or at least hindered the pirates attempt at boarding, but once the pirates were on board, there was a strict procedure to be followed. The third officer, who traditionally had the early morning watch, hit the emergency alarm and a crewmember called out a hijack warning over the vessel's tannoy. The coxswain immediately ordered 'All Stop' on the engine telegraphs and signalled for the engines to be stopped. The ship's computers immediately shut down the giant twelve-cylinder diesel deep in the bowels of the ship and the vessel proceeded to slow down over the next two miles. The ships first mate had immediately triggered the Ships Security Alert System (SSAS) and the Global Maritime & Distress Safety System (GMDSS) system, both of which sent satellite warnings out, the first to their vessel's owners and the second to the HM Coastguard and search & rescue headquarters in Southampton, England. As well as the satellite alert, a VHF alert automatically went out to all vessels within radio range. All of the signals automatically identified the vessel in distress and included the exact GPS location. The mate was on the phone to the UKMTO office in Southampton, England which coordinated anti-piracy operations in and around the Gulf of Aden and the off the coast of Somalia, when the first pirates burst onto the bridge and one gunned down the mate immediately. The HM Coastguard operator in Southampton heard the gunfire and then nothing as the connection was cut. The operator immediately notified European Naval Forces Somalia (EU NAVFOR), NATO, and Combined Maritime Forces (CMF).
It was immediately determined that the closest military units were CSG-12.
Carrier Strike Group 12 (CSG-12)
Indian Ocean
The giant 100,000-tonne nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was the hub of CSG-12.
Arrayed around the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN were a pair of Ticonderoga-class cruisers: USS VICKSBURG and USS NORMANDY and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers: USS ARLEIGH BURKE, USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL, and USS PORTER. Aboard the supercarrier, sixty-three aircraft made up the air group: 10 F/A-18C(N) Hornets of VMFA-251, 11 F/A-18F Super Hornets of VFA-211, 12 F/A-18E Super Hornets of VFA-136, 11 F/A-18F Super Hornets of VFA-103, 5 EA-18G Growlers of VAQ-137, 4 E-2D Hawkeyes of VAW-123, a single MH-60R Seahawk of HSM-46, 7 SH-60F Oceanhawks of HS-11, and a pair of C-2A Greyhounds of VRC-40.
The group of ships and aircraft were making for the Red Sea, and ultimately to their home port, which was Norfolk, USA.
..._...
01:15
Commander Carrier Strike Group Twelve (CCSG12) was awakened with the news of a hijacked merchant vessel.
The rear admiral was not best pleased with being awoken in the early hours, but after spending most of his adult life at sea, he knew that it was part of the job. After a rapid briefing, CCSG12 authorised the deployment of forces under his command before heading back to his cabin. While the Commander Air Group (CAG) arranged for one of his aircraft to be launched for a reconnaissance flight, a radio message went out to one of the escorting destroyers. Fifteen minutes later, an F/A-18F Super Hornet of VFA-103 was catapulted off the number three catapult, the afterburners of the twin General Electric F414-GE-400 turbofans turning night into day for a brief moment as the twin-seat aircraft hurtled down the deck and into the air. As soon as the aircraft was airborne, the pilot received vectors from his weapon systems officer, in the seat immediately behind him.
A subtle adjustment of the controls had the aircraft heading southwest in the direction of the stricken vessel at six-hundred knots.
F/A-18F Super Hornet
Victory Two Zero Six
Overhead
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
01:45
Five thousand feet above the stricken vessel, the F/A-18F Super Hornet passed from bow to stern, while its Raytheon AN/APG-79 radar scanned the sea for miles around but found nothing apart from the 30,000-tonne container vessel.
While his weapon systems officer (WSO) relayed the initial information back to the aircraft carrier, the pilot pushed his stick forward and the aircraft descended to 500 feet before making another pass at 300 knots from stern to bow down one side and then from bow to stern down the opposite side. The crew of the Super Hornet were able to see the pirate craft secured to the sides of the vessel as the vessel itself headed westward at sixteen knots.
After sending another report back to the carrier, the aircraft was directed to orbit overhead until relieved.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
01:55
The two Somalian pirates were down in the main hold, searching between the dozens of containers.
Their job was to search out any remaining crew members, but during their stroll through the steel maze below, they had found none. However, they had found a container which stood out from the others – there was obvious evidence that it had been opened on a regular basis. They both raised their AKS-74U assault rifles and one of the pirates issued an order.
"Fur albaabka."
His counterpart unlatched the container door and heaved it open. Both pirates peered inside the container, their weapons pointed into the darkness. Then they heard a sound and the two pirates exchanged a look – crying? One of the pirates pulled a small flashlight from his belt and he shone it into the container. At first, the beam of the flashlight saw nothing but then it rested on the small frame of a young girl and it was immediately clear that she was the one crying. Both pirates, seeing no threat, stepped inside the container, thus sealing their fate, but one hung back about six feet inside the forty-foot container. The other stepped forwards and he approached the crying girl. He was just feet away from the crying girl when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end and his senses told him that he was in mortal danger. The pirate turned to call out a warning to his partner over by the door but before he could say a word, a pair of strong hands reached out of the darkness and they grasped hold of his head. They twisted savagely as they dragged the man to the steel floor of the container, audibly snapping the neck.
The second pirate immediately reacted, and he triggered off a dozen rounds into the darkness. The bullets ricocheted off the steel walls, ultimately hitting nothing. With his attention drawn to the unknown attacker, the young girl stopped her pretend crying and she was able to move through the darkness of the container without notice. On her way towards the other pirate, the young girl deftly seized a knife from the dead pirate's belt, and she took a few calculated steps before coming out of the darkness behind the pirate and ripping out the man's throat with the knife.
The two girls stood in the light at the entrance to the container and neither showed even the slightest hint of remorse for the violent deaths of two men.
MH-60R Seahawk helicopters
Viper 507 and Viper 504
Approaching
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
04:25
The two helicopters had launched from the USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL some fifteen minutes previously, each loaded with six United States Marines.
As the two machines approached the stricken vessel, they separated. One helicopter headed for the bow and the other directly for the bridge deck. Both came into the hover simultaneously, easily pacing the vessel and a thick rope was thrown out of the starboard door of each helicopter.
Six Marines from each helicopter swiftly fast-roped to the ship below.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
04:30
The pirates had been aboard about three and a half hours.
However, things were not going well. The past two hours had seen their hold on the pirated vessel slip. Only seventeen of the original twenty-four pirates who had boarded the vessel were still alive. But that was not the worst of it. What was worse, was the fact that nobody living had the faintest idea who – or what – was killing them off, one by one. For self-preservation, the pirates had retreated into a pair of strongholds. On the bridge deck, eight pirates remained alive along with the vessel's Captain and four of his crew members. They had barricaded every access onto the bridge from without and from within. Two decks below, in the officer's saloon, thirty-four members of the ship's crew sat on the floor with six pirates standing guard over them. Again, all access was barricaded and there was no easy access into the space.
The easily recognisable sound of the helicopters approaching and then hovering overhead was heard by all on the bridge and in the saloon.
For the crew, there was hope.
For the pirates, there was simply foreboding.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Main Deck
04:35
The three pirates searching the main deck were worried.
They had lost contact with their men in the hold and there had been an attack on the bridge which had resulted in their leader barricading himself in. Their leader had sent the three men to take down whatever was roaming the vessel and killing their colleagues. They assumed it to be an armed private security officer who they had missed during the initial assault on the vessel. Cautiously, they spread out checking out the main deck, section by section, their AKS-74U assault rifles held tightly to their shoulders. Forty metres aft of the three pirates, two shapes flitted from shadow to shadow. One was quite a bit shorter than the other, but both were armed with their own AKS-74U assault rifles. The smell of the blood in the container had invigorated them and lifted them beyond their captivity.
Their almost feral minds had been galvanised by the coppery smell of the blood and they had turned on anybody they found, like a pair of rabid Rottweilers.
...+...
After being released from the container which had been their prison for several weeks, they had made their way directly aft and out onto the deck.
From there, they had raced up the port side of the superstructure before emerging onto the deck below the bridge wing. A single ladder separated the pair from the bridge, one deck above. After a brief pause, the two girls had jumped up the remaining ladder to the port bridge wing. There was a pirate there, and he was instantly jumped upon, his throat slashed by the younger girl who appeared to have a penchant for that type of kill. The older girl had moved to the door into the bridge, her AKS raised and ready to fire, but a crewmember crossed her sights and she withheld her fire. That move had cost the girl as she fell backwards, narrowly avoiding the burst of AKS fire aimed in her direction. The bridge outer door was slammed shut and locked in place. That door was solid steel and effectively bulletproof. The girl had quickly picked herself up off the steel deck, rubbing her bruises, and the pair of them had headed back down a deck, before heading for the starboard side, only, they had both heard the outer door slammed shut before they could get there.
Annoyed, they had headed back down to the main deck where they had begun searching out the pirates.
...+...
The two girls smelt the pirates, long before they saw them.
They could smell the sweat, and to a very limited extent, the fear. Knowing that the pirates were scared of them, only invigorated their killing frenzy even further. To say that the older girl got off on killing would be a fairly accurate comment. There was also a small amount of rivalry and the younger girl was already one up on the older girl. The two girls communicated with hand signals, making absolutely no sound as they closed in on the three pirates like a pair of Rottweilers on a scent. The first pirate to meet the girls froze as he felt cold metal on his right cheek. The muzzle of the AKS-74U was pushed into his cheek and the man dropped his own AKS which clattered to the steel deck. That angered the girl with the assault rifle as it had alerted the other two pirates who were even then closing in on their companion.
"That was very stupid," the girl hissed as she squeezed the trigger three times, blowing the man's head apart.
"Messy, bitch!" the younger girl hissed.
"The twat had it coming."
"I suppose..."
The other two pirates reacted to the burst of gunfire by running directly for their colleague, expecting it to have been his gunfire. The two pirates had just minutes, of not seconds, to live as the first was run through by a knife, slashing open the man's chest and dumping a few feet of steaming intestines onto the deck. The man screamed and screamed, at least until his throat was ripped out by the same knife. The remaining pirate had heard his comrade scream and he had run harder before skidding on his partner's entrails and crashing to the deck.
"You slipped up, dumb fuck!" the older girl growled as she squeezed the trigger of her assault rifle and the stream of bullets ripped the man's chest apart.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Bridge Deck
04:40
The first group of US Marines touched down on the port bridge wing and they instantly went on guard.
The bridge wing was clear . . . apart from what appeared to be a dead body just a few feet away from where they had come aboard. They cautiously approached the prone form, avoiding the pool of still-wet blood which spread from the body. After a check for boobytraps, one of the Marines rolled the body over. They had expected it to be a crew member, but instead, they found that it was a pirate who had died horribly with a slashed throat. Had the crew fought back?
Slowly, they made their way past the body and towards the bridge.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Fore Deck
04:40
Further forward, the US Marines who had just landed on the bow advanced aft along the main deck.
As far as they were concerned, it was a fairly routine boarding to put down a hijack. However, it did not take long for the team of six Marines to discover that there was nothing routine about the ship they were on. It was not until one of the Marines quite literally put his foot in it, that they realised they had come across some dead bodies of their own – three to be exact. On closer examination, all three were found to have died under decidedly horrific circumstances – even by US Marine standards – and the deck was running with blood. One body was almost missing a head, and another had been disembowelled, while the last had no throat left. To a man, the Marines were shocked by what they were witnessing.
Somebody was not just killing pirates, they were mutilating them without mercy.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Bridge Deck
04:42
The six Marines on the bridge wing did not hesitate as they assaulted the bridge.
A bridge window was put through, sending glass exploding across the bridge, and a flashbang was thrown in. The flashbang exploded, blowing out other windows. Then bullets followed before anybody on the bridge could react, and three of the eight pirates fell to the deck. Just as the Marines were about to continue the assault, the outer bridge door burst open and amidst wild shouting and chatter in Somalian, the Marines moved into the bridge where they found the remaining pirates, including their leader, surrendering. One of the voices continued chattering as the voices fell silent one by one and a particular phrase was latched upon by one of the Marines who spoke Somalian.
"...iyagu waa hooska dhimashada..."
"Corporal?" another Marine, an officer, asked.
"He's raving on about whatever is killing his men – he's calling them, 'shadows of death' and he is shit scared."
As the echoing from the flashbang and gunfire had died down along with the shouting, everyone on the bridge could hear the sounds of a raging gunfight coming from below.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Officer's Saloon
04:40
The thirty-four crew had no idea what was going on.
One minute they were sitting on the floor, praying that they might actually live through the hijacking, and the next, they were in the middle of a noisy firefight. The pirates had created a barricade of tables and chairs after a shouted warning over the radio from their leader up on the bridge. That had been fine for a while, but then after an hour, or maybe longer, somebody had begun to feverishly attack the locked door to the saloon. At first, it had been the sound of an axe on wood, then had come the sound of the same wood splintering. The six pirates guarding the crew were getting very anxious and their fingers were caressing the triggers of their assault rifles. That, in itself, was also unnerving the captive crew who genuinely feared for their lives. As the door to the saloon failed spectacularly with the vicious sound of splintering wood, the pirates began to converse in short rapid exchanges, their voices edged with fear.
Then the lights went out.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Outside the Officer's Saloon
04:45
The six US Marines who had landed on the bow had run down the main deck on a command from the officer on the bridge and they had swiftly separated into two three-man teams as they raced up the inside of the superstructure.
They had seen the flashes of gunfire in the large windows of a space located two decks below the bridge. As they came closer, they could hear the distinctive-sounding AKS fire as a major firefight appeared to be underway. The first three-man team emerged onto the deck to find bullets shredding the bulkheads and they crouched down, out of the line of fire. The bullets were coming from within the saloon and were being aimed towards the entrance door and the passageway beyond, punching through the wooden partition. At the doorway to the saloon, a pair of dark shapes could be seen in the flashes of gunfire and from the dim glow of the emergency lighting as all mains lighting appeared to have failed. The two shapes were firing short steady bursts from AKS assault rifles and both shapes obviously knew how to handle and fire the weapons which the held in their hands.
"United States Marines!" the senior Marine, a corporal, yelled.
"Horse shit!" came the surprising response from a surprisingly young voice which sounded surprisingly female.
"Come again?" the corporal yelled back.
"Prove it before I slot your lyin' ass!" the response came back as the shooting from the saloon stopped.
"Fucking hell!" the corporal breathed as he lowered his rifle and he stepped forward, his hands visible.
The Marine found himself facing a pair of young girls, one taller than the other, and both held AKS-74U assault rifles to their shoulders and aimed at his head. The two girls moved toward the Marine corporal, one with a rifle aimed at him, and the other at his colleagues.
"Tags, Marine!" the taller of the two girls ordered.
The Corporal dug into his collar and he produced his dog tags, holding them up for the girl. It was just possible for the girl to make out the details in the dim emergency lighting.
"Hicks, huh?" she grunted, lowering her weapon. "Guess you ain't fuckin' lyin'!"
"Oorah!" the younger girl called out.
USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
05:15
Captain Ryan Bennett USN was pacing the bridge of his command as the destroyer hove to with the hijacked merchant vessel just two miles distant.
About an hour previously, he had launched his two helicopters loaded with Marines and they had been aboard for a little over thirty minutes. He was impatiently waiting for an update on the situation aboard. He was the de facto onsite commander and very soon, the Admiral would be on the horn for an update.
"Captain, sir!" the yeoman called out. "We have the lieutenant aboard the merchantman."
"Thank you, yeoman."
Captain Bennett selected a phone from the console before him.
"This is Churchill, go ahead, lieutenant." Captain Bennett listened for several minutes before he frowned. "Okay, let me recap: crew safe – one dead; killed by the pirates. Five out of twenty-four pirates secured – rest dead with maybe ten already dead before the Marines boarded. How?"
Captain Bennett listened to the response, then he considered what he had been told by the lieutenant, before he issued his orders, and his mind began to provide answers as to who – or what – the two girls might be.
"Two girls, huh? Send them over with a guard on each but keep six Marines aboard for now . . . Thank you, lieutenant – Churchill out."
The situation was getting muddier and muddier, he thought as he exchanged a grim look with his navigator who had overheard the exchange with the lieutenant aboard the merchantman.
MV PACIFIC GLOBETROTTER
Officer's Saloon
05:30
The Marines had the captured pirates corralled on the main deck pending transfer off the vessel.
The vessel's Captain was now back in command and he was on the bridge assessing any damage the pirates - and the two girls – had done to his ship. A US Navy Corpsman had been dropped aboard by one of the Seahawk helicopters just a minute before and he entered the saloon to assist with the wounded. He was directed toward the two girls who both sat on the deck in the middle of the officer's saloon with a Marine watching over them. They had both been disarmed of their considerable armoury and they were scowling at all around them. The Corpsman approached the two girls and he crouched down, looking both girls over. They were dirty, smelly, bloody, and above all, belligerent. As the man made to check over the younger girl, the older girl punched him in the side of the head, sending the Corpsman reeling across the saloon onto the floor.
Immediately, a pair of Marines grabbed the girl and forced her face down on the floor, pulling her wrists up behind her and securing them with a set of plasticuff restraints. The girl swore loudly, violently, and fluently, as she questioned the Marines' parenthood and threatened them with increasingly creative levels of grievous bodily harm. She was ignored, however, as her younger companion bristled but sensibly did not intervene. The girl controlled her temper having clocked a Taser held by one of the Marines . . . the girl had no desire to experience it.
"You going to control yourself, girl?" a Marine growled at the older girl, pulling her to her feet.
The girl nodded as she was led out of the saloon with her younger compatriot close behind.
USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
Aft
06:10
The first rays of sunshine were creeping over the horizon as the girls were flown aboard.
Ryan had walked the length of his command to be in the hanger when the girls were brought aboard. He recognised the obvious belligerence which he knew from bitter experience was being used to cover the underlying fear which was a direct result of being in a situation outside their control. Ryan had seen the same expressions before on similar kids, but he did not want to jump the gun, and he would await the details resulting from the girls' medical checks. The girls were both led away into the superstructure by their Marine escort.
Once the girls were gone, Ryan headed back to his cabin to ponder a response for the Admiral which he knew would be demanded very shortly.
USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
Sickbay
06:20
The ship's doctor, Lieutenant Hayley Edwards smiled at the two grim-faced girls.
She had taken custody of the youngsters, ordering the Marines out of her sickbay. She could see that the two girls were still angry, and she decided to talk first before releasing the older one.
"Look," she began. "I am here to help you both, not to harm you. I am a doctor and I don't care who you are, or what you may have done. I am going to check you both over for injuries or any other medical issues. You will both be showered and provided with clean clothing. We want to help you both, but if you resist, then that won't help anybody. Now, how about some names?"
The two girls exchanged looks before the younger girl responded.
"I'm Ruth and she's Eva."
"Thank you."
"Eva, I am going to remove your restraints. Do you promise to cooperate and not try to rip my head off?"
Eva grimaced and she nodded. The doctor produced a scalpel and cut the restraints away. She saw the look of gratitude on Eva's face and smiled supportively.
"Right, let's get you both examined. I can do this individually, or together, the choice is yours."
"We'd rather stay together," Ruth said. "You want us to strip?"
"Yes, please," the doctor replied.
Within seconds both girls had pulled off their dirty, stinking clothing. It was obvious that neither had received a change of clothing in a long time and even their underwear was filthy. The doctor dumped the clothing for each girl into a clear plastic evidence bag and then labelled them.
"Do you have second names and ages – I need them for the paperwork?"
"Eva Horton – I'm thirteen," Eva said, speaking for the first time.
"Ruth Anders," Ruth added. "I'm eleven."
"Thanks."
As the two girls sat naked on the bed, the doctor checked them over from head to toe. Apart from many bruises, scratches, and cuts, the two girls were in better health than could have been expected. Eva's body was as it should be for a girl of her age while Ruth's younger body was only just beginning to show signs of changing. After both were showered and the doctor had tended to some of the bumps and scrapes, the two girls were provided with some clean clothing.
The Marines were summoned, and both girls were taken to a cabin where they both quickly fell asleep on the racks provided.