Sappho's Commando

SIX (ISELEN POV)

"Three minutes."

I take a deep breath, with my eyes closed, feeling the weight of the plates in my vest against my chest, cradling my H&K G36 rifle in my arms while getting mentally ready to jump from this helicopter into a wasp nest. They know we're going after them, of course, and are wating for us eager to kill us, most likely, but they can't know if we're going to attack tonight or tomorrow. This is not a perfect secret mission, to be honest, but it doesn't mean it'll be a failure, it's good to have the advantage of a surprise attack in the beginning but the final task will be the same: explore the ship and neutralize all threats. No matter how stealthy we intend to be, once we shoot the first bullet, they'll know we're here so, why bother? Everything we'll be all right as long as they don't hit us with a RPG destroying Tara's chopper, but this can happen whether we appear out of the blue or not.

Our bosses, politicians, professional negotiators or whoever is in charge of dealing with this mess, tried to reach an agreement with the pirates to free the ship and the crew pacifically for the last hour. The Somalis refused and kept sailing to Mogadishu; if they dock at that port, we'll lose the cargo forever and the hostages too, possibly. If we're lucky, they'll ask for an indecent amount of money as a ransom. At least, that's what our bosses expect, our enemies should understand that the crew is precious and they shouldn't kill them for no reason, this is the only reason why they're still alive... We can't wait anymore, we have to recover the ship.

Tara decided that fast roping from the chopper while the enemies shoot us like we're sitting duck pegs in a fairground was a bad idea, very dangerous for us, and she'll land on the ship deck so we can jump out fast and take cover immediately. Later, she'll fly away with Nora, who's in charge of communications and the cameras attached to our uniforms: the two pilots will be our eyes in the air and will come back for us when the ship is clear and safe. We were lucky and an Italian frigate that was close to us will provide logistical support, more troops and a second helicopter.

I've never had 40 soldiers and sailors under my command before in a hostage rescue operation that's been planned in less than 2 hours, troops from different countries that never trained together apart from a few NATO exercises. There're many things that could go wrong tonight... The Valkyrie is going to strangle me if I embarrass her in front of the bosses and SEALs. The colonel didn't tell them that the Sappho Commando will be in charge tonight, they'll find out when they hear my voice shouting the first order. I asked her to pay attention to their faces to tell us all about it later and I think that, for the first time in months, I saw her smiling truly amused.

I open my eyes and see Hanna sitting in front of me, cradling her rifle too, with her jaw clenched and her back straight. None of my girls fidget awkwardly like some sailors are doing, they don't show their anxiety despite I feel the tension growing in the atmosphere while taking a quick look at my boots to make sure my laces are securely tied.

"Let's go, ladies," Tara says heading down. "Be careful, don't fall overboard. There're sharks in these waters and your asses are a delicious and sweet bite." I roll my eyes hard and Dakota smiles, sitting next to Hanna. Ruby leans her hand on my thigh for a second, a reassuring touch, and I nod, getting up.

"Everybody out, the last ones will cover the backs of the mates who'll jump out first." Hanna opens the door with an abrupt movement and we all jump on the deck, shooting blindingly when we feel the first bullets flying close to our bodies while looking for a sheltered spot to squat down and wait for the other soldiers to get out of the helicopter. Bullets come mainly from our right so we focus all our effort on that area while some sailors jump out of the chopper. Finally, Tara flies away and I can't see significant damage in her bird, thank God. Everything goes as planned.

The second helo gets closer to bring more soldiers and we do our best to cover them, shooting nonstop. Suddenly, the ship lights go out and everything turns dark around us. We were expecting something like that and we're all wearing nods (*night optical device) It's not an intelligent movement on our enemy's part, we still can see them now but they can't do the same, unless they're on nods too, which I doubt. I'm pretty sure they'll turn on the lights again soon. We keep shooting, trying to eliminate as many enemies as possible on the deck because it'll be easier than chasing them inside the ship.