Peter smiles. "I brought one barret single shot plus 100 rounds [my big game gun]. I am really not the marksman to use it but if someone here has the military skills you can reach out and touch someone hostile with this quite easily. For myself I will stick to my shotgun. Even I can work one of these."
Taking Peter's statement as a que,
"Folks I am a loosy shot, not a good soldier but I have had some experiences in shall we say the grey areas of commerce. If these really are Moroccans I have a few names I can drop that might give them pause on killing us out of hand. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon and all that. So might I be allowed to be one of the ones doing the talking?"
Demetrios clears his throat.
"Ok first things first. One if they are who they say they are ie a Morrocan navy ship the possibility of a fight should be relatively low. And chances are they would be telling the truth on the sinking part. No point in trying to lure are to them when they could just overtake them. If they are not things go different but then we are not facing 3 automatic cannon either.
Second talking wise. The captain, Peter and me I should think. The captain for obvious reasons. Me I can play army officer which could help if it's really a patrol boat and I happen to have my BDUs with me as well.
Third all well and good that we got the guns brought out but there's such a thing as fire discipline. I wouldn't want to see someone opening up when it strikes its fancy. So who besides me, Igal, Johannes and the captain ever been in uniform? And of the ones in uniform anyone who fired a M-82 before?"
"I did six years in the Navy," Dave said. "All I ever used was an M-16, a '45 and a shotgun, though. Nothing fancy."
Bob Roberts speaks up, "I spent two years in the Jamaica Regiment after I got out of school. I never used an M-82, but I'm good with most assault rifles and pistols. I did some anti-smuggling patrols, so if it turns out these people are drug runners I can help deal with them."
Morton hands Bob Roberts a set of keys. "Go open up the storage lockers, Bob. I have a feeling we might need those guns."
Morton adds, "Johannes, doesn't Austria have mandetory military service? You didn't bring any guns, but how do you feel about possible combat? Igal, I know you have some military experience. I want both you and Bob with me if this turns in to a fight."
Igal imwardly smiles - John words reminds him an old joke : " A guy and a gal are smoking in a bed after sex and he says : I suppose our relationship can become really friendly sometime in the future . - What , two month of anal sex and you promises me friendship in the future ?!!! -cried the gal" Three years in Golani in and out from Lebanon - some military experience, indeed"
sorry - no particular knowledge of this gun ..i was trained Glock, Steyr AUG and FN-FAL.."
"Only FAL that I know of here, is mine. And the other rifle I brough is is a honest to god caplock gunpowder design so no much use...without some thorough drilling first." Demetrious answers
"Don't you think we're jumping the gun abit?" Julia asks. "We don't even know if we can find this mystery ship or any of the people from it. This weather isn't exactly good for a search and rescue operation regardless of how friendly or hostile they are. I think we should wait until the storm passes. If it is a military ship they'll have life rafts and can evacuate the ship. We'll have a better chance of finding them in the daylight."
"Hear her, hear her !" -intones Igal
Peter looks cynically at Julia. "I said nothing about stupidly opening fire on a patrol boat. However if we need the guns seconds will count. I have some names I can drop that will give a real Moroccan patrol boat captain pause before he does anything stupid. I'm not sure I have names that will work if this is a smuggler's craft. Anyone else have any pull in those circles? We may risk getting swarmed by a smuggler's boat with hundreds of people. We may be running into smugglers on the return leg. Those gentleman sometimes do a bit of opportunistic piracy. Anyone feel like dieing to prove your liberal good wishes?"
Bob comes back with a set of handguns* for the crew. "I left everyone's weapons in their cabins."
Demetrios smiles. "Oh you are most probably right. And most probably there won't be a need even to fire a single shot either. But should there be trouble...better be organized in advance, wouldn't you say?"
Johannes nods : "You are right about this ...
Ultimately it is the Captains decision what to do and when to do it .. but the guidelines on emergencies on sea are pretty clear - we should move as quickly as possible to help them without endangering ourselves ... it might be a good idea to have soem weapons ready, but we still have to help .. both for moral and for legal reasons .. if they went overboard and have some of their emergency equipment with them they should have strobes on life vests and life rafts ..
Captain .. can we look at a chart to see if we can help them at all? "
"You're right," says the skipper. "There's not much we can do under current circumstances. Igal, I want you and Bob to keep watch -- I don't want us running into anything in this storm, such as large ships full of angry Moroccans, refugees, or smugglers. Keep your sidearms* with you at all times, and alert us if you see anything. The rest of you should try and get some rest until morning -- that's what I plan on doing."
"Captain - rescue operations in the middle of the night are difficult .. yes .. but should we not at least move closer to them so that we cab start helping as soon as it becomes light enough..?
I also have a star light scope with - i will get it in an minute .. " added Johannes
Demetrios sits back and simply smiles to himself "No none at all. Where a simple engineer and part time MoD analyst would would get any concept of the possibilities? And you've never been helping with moving things to Bosnia, or known people who helped either."
Igal frowned, stood up and lead the Captain to a corner of a cabin: "John, do you think we need to clear the cabin ? The passagers bravery gives me creeps - what is the next : they will elect a commity and start give orders to us ?I don't like to be fired upon for nothing. Discretion is the better part of valor, you know. And anyway, - they don't answer our calls and we don't see them on radar. We don't know where we are and where they are" - told he in a low voice
Peter looks over to Igal as if Igal has gone insane. "So making a proposal is forming a soviet? I made a suggestion. Should I remain silent and only try to save myself if worse comes to worst? Fine. My bad."
"Peter", Igal slowly answers , "it's nothing personal, but I'd like to remind you : he who knoweth lesser - sleepeth better. Can you promise nobody here wouldn't run to the press and blame the Captain in manslaughter of 100 helpless refugees who positively and without any doubt could be rescued ? Hindsight is always 100% perfect, you know Anyway, I didn't speak about your proposal, it's excellent proposal and possibly can save our hides
"Then my appologies. I am no fighter, no solider. I know commerce and gray areas. However I also am an attorney. Law of the sea is not my specialty but the suit you are describing would have no merit as best I understand the law. A ship may use armed self-defense. Old sea law from the piracy era. I also know the broker who booked the ship's insurance for this trip. That was how I came to be here. I am reasonably certain I can get the insurer's to fund any litigation expense as they will be the primary targets of a judgment."
Igal sighs : Do you know what is the difference between a clever manand a wise man ? A clever man knows how to find a solution to any problem and a wise man knows how to evade any problem. I trust your words about litigation, but I really prefer to evade any possibility of litigation - I don't like to spend a lot of time proving lawfulness of my armed self-defence and it's tenfold right for our good Captain
Morton quickly steps in, "Now guys, you're both right. I do value the suggestions of everyone, Peter -- I'm just as in the dark about what's going on as the rest of you. And Igal's right, I'm the one who's in charge here, any decisions will be mine alone, as will the consequences. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to try and catch an hour or two of sleep. There's nothing we can do until this storm ends and the sun is up, lets leave it at that for now. In the morning we'll see if we have any better luck at raising anyone on the radio, and if we can find the source of that distress call. Until then, we'll sit tight."
Peter shrugs and keeps his opinions to himself. However his face shows he is dubious.
Johannes asks , looking at Igal and Morton with a disturbed lok on his face: "Captain - you do realize that by sitting tight for the next 10 hours we ARE breaking the law ? And completely besides the legal point .. we DO leave people out there in lethal danger - do we want that on our conscience? .. we could at least move closer to to the site in order to reduce search times in the morning."
Morton sighs. "I am well aware of the law, Johannes. However, given that navigational systems are out and the current weather conditions I do not feel that we are equipped to engage in any sort of rescue without undue risk to the ship and its passengers. Blundering around in the dark will do no one any good. In the mean time, we'll keep trying to establish radio contact with anyone else in the area. There should be Spanish coast guard units within range of our radio, that they aren't responding to either us or the Moroccan ship shows that there's something more serious going on than a single ship in distress."
"The legality of self defense can be discussed if we really had an need to defend ourselves and find ourseves at court for it .. very much a theoretical situation at this time ..
However we are letting people die out there who have called for help - and THAT is NOT theoretical .. and finding ourselves in front of an admiralty court for that will not be theoretical either.
By all means - lets be careful and take precautios .. but sitting here and doing nothing is simly not right ..
Captain, please .. "
"Mr. Baur, I understand your concern, but this is my ship. You are a passenger, and it is not your responsibility it is mine. We will certainly attempt a rescue -- once the situation has improved and we have better lighting. I have no desire to blunder into a damaged warship or whatever other debris and damaged ships are out there after the Event earlier tonight. We may well be the lucky ones, the only undamaged ship in the area, or we may be one of the few damaged ships with our equipment mysteriously malfunctioning in ways we can't see. Given the possibilities that either our equipment is malfunctioning or the entire rest of the world has shut down, I think it's best to assume that we are the ones in trouble. I'm tempted to request assistance myself, but the fact that we can still move prevents me from doing so."
Demetrios shrugs. "Let me tell you if our equipment is malfunctioning right now it would be doing it mysteriously enough for me to throw my degree in a trash can as useless. but by all means ask for assistance and relay that mayday...I'd like to see who answers at least.
Post that mr Morton, you are commanding officer aboard the Oberon. So the decision on whether to head right away east, wait for daylight or don't at all depends on you and only you as far as I'm concerned.
That said of course you have cranked the guns out. And the last thing we need is someone open up just cause it struck his fancy. Therefore fire discipline... "
Johannes sighs, leaves the bridge for moment and returns with a small, bright yellow object in his hands: "Captain .. i am not sure that we are doing the right thing - but you might need this in any case .." .. as he hands the small object over .. "ITT night vision monocular . water thight and it floats too - but please dont drop it overboard ."
Oh and I agree with him in that it"s your decision about where the ship goes and what it does but I also think that if there"s any chance of saving their lives we should give it a go. I was plotting our progess in my GIS database when the ... whatever the hell it was hit so I could help with a last known position if needed." Jackson said after Sophia and him had listened for a while.
"I"ve always loved how some military men think that those of us not in the military are idiots. As far as the GPS malfunctioning, I highly doubt it. I develop GPS and GIS software for a living and my GPS unit isn"t working either. It"s not that it isn"t picking up a strong enough signal it"s that there is no signal to pick up. I stepped into the running code on my unit and it"s simply not finding any signal at all. I seriously doubt that the GPS civil service was turned off unless I"m totally wrong about how the Air Force would go about shutting off the signal. It"s strange I"ll say that.
Demetrios sent a lopsided grin at this. "Oh have no fear. Speaking as a civilian, who did his term, I'd tend to believ that the admiration of IQ is mutual. Thing is GPS is just the cherry at the proverbial key. No radio sans that Osprey 55 which is even more troubling in its implications."
"I'd venture a guess that the Morrocans, if they where Morrocans happened to be at the edge of the dome with us further to the center. And yes we should try to save them if at all possible. But if the captain says no I doubt any of us will try turning this to Bounty."
*The pistols are M1911s -- Morton took a liking to them while serving