Chapter 17
10:12 PM July 28th, 2016
MV Colombo Express, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Earth
The night was calm. The small waves made very little sound as they hit the Colombo. Jolami stood in front of the opening to the container. He looked at the 4 human shaped objects trying to figure out what they were. No one in his crew had ever seen anything like it in their entire lives. Below the deck, the rest of the pirates were enjoying the mess hall. They were obviously very expensive if they were inside a vault he thought. He was holding the entire ship including the crew for ransom. Jolami went back inside to celebrate with his crew.
A mile east of the ship were 3 HAL Cheetah helicopters flew right above sea level. The 4 men on the sides, 2 per each side were sprayed by the waves. The 12 men were from the Special Frontier Force, an elite Indian infantry division. They checked the magazines of their MP-5 submachine guns and waited.
Jolami sat quietly at one of the mess hall tables. The rest of his crew were shouting and celebrating. Over the cheering and yelling Jolami heard a low buzz. At first he ignored it.
The helicopters were hovering over the ship. 8 of the men dropped down. 4 went straight for the suits. Using hooks from the helicopter, they attached them and began to hoist them up. The other 4 went to the hatches to take care of the pirates. The last 4 were to provide cover fire from their helicopter. 3 of the suits were hoisted onto the helicopter.
Jolami stood up.
“To the deck! Arm yourselves!” - Jolami
The pirates charged out of the mess hall with their weapons. They reached the deck and were about to fire on the helicopter. The 4 Indian soldiers opened fire on the pirates killing the first 5 the ran up on deck and causing the others to hide below deck. One of the soldiers dropped a grenade down the hatch and kicked it closed. The pirates below panicked and tried to get away from the grenade but the blast engulfed 3 and injured 4 others. The SFF around the hatch were then under fire from pirates up on the bridge. They took cover behind the nearest container to avoid the machine gun fire from the pirates. The Indians on the helicopter took notice of the pirates on the bridge and opened fire on them. The pirates scattered while the soldiers behind the container ran to where their helicopter had dropped ropes for their escape.
As this was happening, the 4th suit was being hoisted up to the helicopter along with the squad members. Just as the suit was about to be pulled up, the pirates from below deck began to fire upon the helicopter. The helicopter pulled up hard causing the crew inside to lose balance. The men being hoisted up grabbed onto the helicopters landing gear to avoid falling into the sea. The 3 helicopters sped away from the Colombo.
