The huge white ship seemed to grow in size as they came closer.
“Range five hundred meters, Captain.”
“All four guns two rounds each. Fire.”
He heard the immediate reports as his weapons fired. He had out his big binoculars watching the white ship. The first round hit near the bow about halfway up the side and exploded with a muffled roar. Then, in rapid succession, the seven other rounds slammed into the side of the big ship. She cut power at once and coasted through the azure sea, letting the sixteen knots of forward motion reduce slowly until she was dead in the water.
The North Korean Navy Frigate Najin 531 had pushed most of the shielding and camouflage overboard, and now cruised up close to the Royal Princess. Captain Kim used a bullhorn from the bridge wing and called to the liner.
“Captain of the Royal Princess, you are to consider yourself captured by the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea Naval Forces. You will not resist our boarding party. You will treat your wounded and keep all activities on as normal a course as possible. We are coming alongside and will put a boarding party in the water. Open your dockside hatch so my men may board. Any resistance will be treated with the utmost severity. If you hear and understand my orders, respond through an amplified horn.”
Moments later the men on the frigate heard a reply.
“We hear you and for the moment will allow you to board if you guarantee the safety of the rest of my passengers and crew. We are in a turmoil from your savage attack. Already we have found twelve passengers and four crewmen dead. We don’t understand your sudden and vicious attack.”
Captain Kim signaled, and four small boats pulled away from his frigate and angled toward the dockside hatch that had just opened on the port side of the big ship. It was barely three feet off the Pacific swells. He smiled as sixty men came off the small boats and surged into the big pleasure craft. He would join the men shortly. His XO would be in command of the frigate and would complete the conversion from freighter to man-of-war.
He wasn’t exactly sure what he would do next. The frigate would shadow the big boat, staying within two hundred meters of it as a form of protection. He was sure that the ship’s radio had sent out a Mayday call for help as soon as the first round hit. By now the U.S. military would have figured out where the missiles came from and would have aircraft on the way. He moved his ship closer to the big liner, nudging up to within fifty yards of her side. Then he transferred to the luxury cruise ship and went directly to see the captain.
The cruise liner’s captain was Wilhein Van Derhorn, 57, at the top of his trade and furious at the wanton attack on his ship. His face was still red from screeching at his workers to locate all of the injured and dead and get help for the dying. He had blood on his pure white uniform from helping lift two elderly women out of their shattered cabin and putting them down on a mattress in the corridor.
He had seen the armed men on board, but ignored them as he rushed around trying to save as many of the wounded as he and the two doctors on board could.
When Captain Kim found Captain Van Derhorn, he was kneeling on the carpet next to the elevators where six wounded lay. He had just watched a woman in her forties die. He closed her eyelids and turned to a man who had shrapnel wounds on his neck and head. The captain didn’t know if he was alive or dead. Beside the man sat a small Korean woman whose face was smudged with tears and blood from the man. She looked around in fury.
“Who did this? Who has killed my wonderful husband? Whoever ordered those shots fired is a madman. I’ll gladly tear his eyes out if I can find him.” She looked up at the strange uniform in front of the cruise ship’s captain.
“You,” she shrilled. “You are the bastard, and you’re Korean. You bastard!” She leaped up, ducked under Captain Van Derhorn’s outstretched arms, and sprang on the startled Captain Kim. His guards were slow reacting and her fingernails clawed at his eyes, missed, and two fingernails dug deep furrows down his right cheek, bringing a trickle of blood. Kim jumped back, pushed the woman to the floor, and his guards grabbed her.
“You bastard, no-good fucking bastard. You killed my Al, you shot him with a big gun. You are a coward and a demon. You don’t deserve to be called a Korean. You are a dishonor to your mother and your grandparents. May your shriveled-up soul forever roam the planets of the universe searching for a resting place.”
Kim held a white handkerchief to his bloody check and scowled at Susie Jamison. He was surprised to see she was Korean, and stunned when she tried to put a curse on him against his ancestors. He recovered his wits quickly. “Madam, I am sorry for your loss, but in war people are killed. We are at war with the United States.”
One of his officers just behind him spoke. “Captain, do you want me to lock this troublemaker in a cabin?”
Captain Kim thought for a moment, rubbed his chin, then shook his head. “She will calm down. Have one of our doctors give her a sedative.”
He turned to the luxury liner’s captain. “Now, Captain, we need to talk. There are several changes that must be made in your routines. Get the damage cleaned up as quickly as you can. I would suggest a quick burial at sea for the dead. My two doctors will come and help with your wounded.”
Captain Van Derhorn stared at the man in front of him in a strange naval uniform. Then he stood, and his bloody hands reached out toward Captain Kim. “Blood. Look what you have done. There was no reason to fire on us. We would have had to surrender after a shot across our bow. Are you an animal? No, you’re worse than an animal. Look at the dead and dying. How can you call yourself an officer?” Two North Korean guards stepped in front of their captain, holding rifles and blocking the cruise ship captain’s way. “Why have you killed all of these innocent people?” he shouted.
Captain Kim pushed the guards in front of him aside. “I have declared war on the United States. Your ship is a prize of war and I claim it. You will get your vessel under way at once and steer a westerly course.”
“Impossible, you idiot. We would run out of fuel in mid-Pacific. We have fuel enough only to reach Seattle. We have food enough to feed our guests and crew only until we reach Seattle. If we sail west you will have a dead ship in four days.”
Captain Kim frowned. He had not considered the fuel problem. He had a tanker positioned four thousand miles from his home port where he had refueled on the way east. He would stop there on his return trip. He couldn’t refuel two ships.
“For now, continue north on your regular course. Cut speed to ten knots. Now take me to your bridge. We have more matters to discuss.” Captain Kim took out a handheld radio. He spoke in Korean so few could understand him. He ordered his ship’s medical staff of doctors and corpsmen to get a small boat, report to the cruise ship at once, and aid in any way possible the civilian wounded. Then he and Captain Van Derhorn went to the bridge.
The liner captain saw several uniformed Korean sailors with submachine guns on the way, but he didn’t comment. He was surprised to find two Korean officers with automatic weapons guarding the bridge.
“All ahead fifty percent,” Captain Van Derhorn said. “Adjust the speed to ten knots, steer the regular course for Seattle.” The Korean officers looked at their captain, who nodded. The big ship began to stir and slowly to move forward.
Captain Kim sat in the captain’s chair and smiled. “This is much more comfortable than my chair on the frigate.”
“So your ship sent the Scud missiles on San Francisco,” Captain Van Derhorn said.
“Yes, and no one knew. Now they will. Did you send out a Mayday call just after we shelled you?”
“Our radioman did. He contacted the local Coast Guard and our headquarters. Everyone knows that you attacked an unarmed ship and that you are not a freighter. We watched you come out of your merchantman shell. We realized that no freighter could make twenty-four knots. Your speed gave you away. We had reported your transformation before you fired on us.”