For Your Paws Only

Chapter 4 – That Sinking Feeling

The Security Chief announced to his teams that all non-essential crew, including them, would be offloaded at the port of Jakarta in Indonesia for several days of rest and recreation before proceeding to their final destination.

Conrad had overheard the plan to exchange the lithium ore for refined metal but had to pretend that he was unaware of the plot.  “What about security while the Ghost is in port?”  He asked.

“Jakarta is not the open seas, Lad.  Not much chance of pirates there.  Besides, I was told that a team to replace our loses in the raid is coming aboard for protection while they exchange cargos, folk the Captain’s ‘guest’ has hired.”

The old bulldog did not look happy at the prospect but told his teams to take the opportunity to unwind after their heroic defence of the ship.

Most of the mercenaries headed straight for the red-light district.  Prostitution was technically illegal in Indonesia, but in the port of Jakarta it was tolerated, even regulated to a certain degree.  Conrad told those he had made friends with that he hoped to see them in the clubs later, but he lingered and once they had left the docks he turned towards the better part of town, where he booked a room at a quiet, out-of-the-way hotel.  Once in his room he reported his location and waited for further instructions.

The reply came quicker that he anticipated, and the message was cryptic.  He was instructed to remain in his room and wait for room service. 

An hour later there was a soft knock on his door and a low female voice announced “Room service” in English.

Conrad opened the door and a tall female entirely covered in a grey niqab and loose-fitting black robes pushed a serving trolley past him with her head down demurely.  She rolled it to the small table in the middle of the room and began to lay out cutlery, glasses and plates before revealing a steaming vegetable stew.  She began to scoop large portions of it onto two plates.

Conrad waved her to stop filling the second plate.  “You’ve made a mistake.”  He told her.  “There is just me in the room.”

The server looked up at him, and her emerald-green eyes flashed with humour.

“You wouldn’t make a lady starve, not after coming all this way, would you?”

Conrad was shocked to recognize the voice of the F.O.X. Chief of staff, Vikki Beausoleil.

 “N- … no, of course not … ma’am.  Please, sit.”  Conrad stammered.

Vikki did, removing the concealing head covering, and gave out a sigh of relief.  “Twenty hours on a cargo plane to get here it time to meet your ship, then six hours arguing with the Ambassador about ‘jurisdiction’.  I’m dogged.  Pour the wine, will you?”

Conrad fetched the bottle from a bucket of ice and did a competent job of removing the cork and pouring the cool white liquid into two glasses.  He glanced at the label and saw that it was a local product.  Even though Indonesia was a Muslim nation they were not fanatics about it.  Like with the prostitution, they tolerated alcohol in the urban centres were non-believers and foreigners congregated.

Vikki drank her glass in one gulp.  “God, that hit the spot.  Dig in, ‘Renard’.  I’ll bring you up to date while you eat.”

She waited until Conrad began eating before speaking. 

“There is something fishy about the numbers you reported.”  She informed him.  “Sixteen thousand kilos of Lithium can make more than six million small batteries or a thousand mid-sized Electric Vehicle batteries, or one Megapack grid-scale battery pack, but even that is just a collection of smaller batteries in series and parallel.  Nothing in the way of a single electronic device needs that much lithium in one chunk.” 

“There are other uses for the metal though.  A stable liquid rocket fuel can be made from liquid lithium mixed with fluoride.  A number of unfriendly nations are still using liquid fuelled rockets, especially for the longer-range ones,”

“So maybe someone is starting a new missile program.”  Conrad suggested.

“Maybe.”  Vikki conceded.  “Although the comment you overheard about the refined metal being taken to an ‘extraction’ facility is interesting, if you translated it correctly.  According to the Professor’s research, lithium has two stable isotopes, lithium-7 and lithium-6. The world is due to run out of commercially available lithium isotopes in a little over a year from now.  That has resulted in the nations capable of extracting them to stockpile what they have and restrict their sale.  Since the lockdown no one can get lithium isotopes in amounts larger than a gram at a time.”

“If they are taking the metal to an extraction plant the amount of isotopes they could get from sixteen thousand kilograms of pure lithium are huge, with lithium-7 being the most abundant.  It’s most commonly used in nuclear reactors as a cooling agent since it dampens the reaction.  They could get about fourteen and a half thousand kilos of lithium-7 if they process for that.  That’s almost a billion dollars worth, and it’s getting more expensive as the commercial market runs out, so having a reliable secret supply of ore and the ability to process it puts someone at a huge advantage.”

“There is another isotope of interest though, lithium-6.  It is rarer, and harder to process.  With wastage figured in the Professor estimates that they could only produce about four hundred kilos of lithium-6 from the metal they have now.”

“What is it used for?”  Conrad asked between bites.   

“It’s also used to dampen nuclear reactions and shield equipment from radiation effects.  That could be useful for anyone planning on starting a space program.”  Then her bow furrowed.  “A long time ago it was also used to enhance nuclear explosions by producing tritium at the time of ignition, but it was too unstable.  It resulted in huge, uncontrolled and very dirty reactions.  Nowadays they use lithium-6 to produce tritium before assembly then add that to the warhead, but either way, four hundred kilos for one device?  That would enhance a nuclear weapon enough to crack the world open and kill every living thing on the planet.  Not even Putin is that crazy.”

“Putin?”  Conrad’s brow went up in surprise.  “Doesn’t Russia have its own lithium reserves?”

“They do,” Vikki admitted, “but they don’t have the means to mine the ore since all their heavy machinery production has been converted to support the war effort.  They do, however, still have the means to extract isotopes from pure lithium.  As does North Korea and China, but China can produce its own lithium for extraction while relying on its Western industrial partners to bring in enough for the battery industry … mostly.  We can’t rule them out though.”

“What about Kim Jong Un?”  Conrad asked.  “Is he that crazy?”

Vikki stared at the wall.  “Maybe.  We don’t have a good enough assessment of him to make that call.”  She looked back to Conrad.  “Anyway, the Korean angle is interesting, but not definitive.  The current President of South Korea is pushing for more nuclear reactors, and while they have officially adopted a non-proliferation policy, they do have the capacity to make nuclear weapons should they choose to do so.”

“They just need the materials.”  Conrad observed.  “Like lithium-6 to produce tritium.”

“Correct.  They also have a developing space program and could use the lithium for fuel or radiation shielding.  There is also the possibility that either of the Koreas may be acting as an agent for a third nation, bypassing embargos or adding an element of deniability for someone else’s secret nuclear missile program.”

Vikki picked up her fork and began to eat also.

“There are just too many unanswered questions at the moment.”  She said after washing a mouthful down with wine.  “It’s vital that you stick with the ship and discover where the final delivery is going.  Once we know that we can assess the risk of letting the shipment go through and take the appropriate action.”

Conrad could image what ‘appropriate action’ might entail.  He reminded himself to get a key for the lifeboats before that time came.

“Your Rules of Engagement have changed.”  Vikki continued.  “You can kill anyone that impedes the successful completion of the mission.  Just be careful to do it in a manner that does not bring the wrath of whichever God or Gods they follow down on you.  You’re not there to stop them, just to report your findings.  Keep working on your Korean meanwhile.  Good luck, Conrad.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

* * * * * * * * *

It took only three days for the MS Ocean Ghost to unload the ore and load the refined metal, although of all the non-essential crew, Conrad was the only one that knew what the true cargo was.  The rest were told that it was raw silver for the artisans of Asia, a valuable enough cargo to justify the security force.

Conrad would have liked to take a peek into the cargo hold to verify that the lithium was actually aboard be he was unable to.  While he and the rest of the old security group had been galivanting around Jakarta the Ghost had taken aboard a new team of guards that answered directly to the Captain.  While they lived with the old security team they kept apart from the rest, and discouraged interaction between the groups.

Conrad tried to make friends with a shepherd that spoke Polish, but the canine was immediately suspicious of Conrad’s attempts.  Conrad gave up trying, but over the next few days, as they made their way between the Indonesian Islands and past the Philippines, he caught the shepherd watching him, maybe even following him.  He also overheard the canine talking the other security guards about him, asking how long they had known him and how he came to be on the Ghost.

Conrad had to schedule his forays up to the forward superstructure for when the shepherd was on duty below decks and keep an eye out in case other members of the new team were also taking an interest in him.

He came to learn the schedule of the key players.  The Captain almost lived on the bridge, and the First Mate was there half the time also, especially at dawn and dusk when the ship’s crew changed shifts.

The passengers, the tiger and the female snow leopard, kept to their cabins, with the Captain coming to them to report their progress twice a day.

The crew kept regular shifts and rarely wandered away from their duty stations, except to check the hold on a daily basis in case the load shifted.  They were responsible for cleaning and repairing the ship between shifts, and there was always a few mops and buckets strewn about.  They were also slowly repainting the superstructure and when they were not scraping and painting the bulkheads they stashed their tools, rags and paint cans wherever they were working, which Conrad considered a bit of a fire hazard.

A week out of Jakarta they were heading north through the Philippine sea and Conrad had yet to learn anything new.  He decided to take a more active approach.  After studying the impression he had made of the Mate’s key in bubble-gum he chose the picks most likely to defeat the lock on the warthog’s cabin door.  Waiting until the Mate left for the morning shift change, he quickly picked the lock and slipped inside the cabin. 

He should have at least an hour to search the cabin, unless the mate had forgotten something and came back for it, he reminded himself.  He stayed alert in case he heard the sound of a key in the lock, prepared to dive under the bunk behind the ammo crate if he had to.

The crew of the Ocean Ghost did not believe in keeping electronic records, and Conrad found what he was looking for inside a locked filing cabinet that was easy to pick. 

What he found was four cargo manifests.  The first declared that they had taken on sixteen thousand kilos of lithium metal.  As the metal was very reactive it was considered a dangerous cargo and the Indonesian authorities had restricted their route to the outer islands, away from the main shipping channels.  That manifest bore official stamps and would serve should the Indonesian Coast Guard stop them for an inspection. 

The second manifest claimed that the metal onboard was an aluminium-copper alloy.  That manifest showed the northern Chinese port of Dalian as their final destination.  From there, according to the papers, the metal was to be shipped to an aircraft factory owned by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.

A third manifest, however, declared that they were carrying sixteen thousand kilograms of aluminum-scandium alloy, destined for the Japanese Space Program, to be offloaded at Sapporo. 

The last manifest indicated that they were carrying rare-earth metals for the South Korean electronics industry.  Conrad knew that China was the world’s largest producer of such metals, but they were hording them in an attempt to force electronic manufacturers to relocate to China.  South Korea needed to import all the rare earth metals it used in producing electronic devices from elsewhere.

There was no mention of the silver they had told the crew about.

Conrad realized that as they approached the East China Sea and the disputed islands in it that they may be boarded by any number of the nations with conflicting claims there.  The Captain would show whoever boarded them whichever manifest would get them on their way quickest.  In and of themselves, however, they did not indicate which, if any, of those countries was the actual destination. 

There was nothing else useful in the way of information in the cabin, but Conrad did find the keys to the lifeboats and few disposable lighters that the warthog used for his two-pack-a-day smoking habit.  Conrad took one of the spare lifeboat keys and a lighter, figuring that neither would be missed.

When he got back to the security quarters the Polish-speaking canine was there, looking suspiciously at Conrad.

For the next few days Conrad could not shake the tail the shepherd had placed on him.  He reported what he had learned by tapping a message into his watch under the blankets of his bunk, but he knew that it was not enough for F.O.X. to take action on.  He needed something more, like a destination.  That would only be found on the bridge, but the bridge was never unoccupied.  Even during the weekly fire drills the Captain or the mate, whoever was on duty, stayed at the helm while the rest of the crew went to fight the fire.

Then he remembered that there was one time of day when neither the Captain nor the Mate were on the bridge.  It was in the morning when the mate went off shift and the Captain went to report on their progress to the tiger.

It took a couple of days, but Conrad was finally able to slip away at the right time without the suspicious shepherd seeing.  He made his way to where the crew was currently painting two levels below the bridge. 

The crew was changing shifts and no one would be back to take over painting duty until after the off-going shift had eaten.  Conrad soaked some of the rags in the flammable paint cleaner and strung them between the open cans of oil-based paint.  The sabotage experts at F.O.X. Academy had assured the students that cotton rags would burn at a fixed rate if they were laid that way.  Conrad hoped they were right as he lit the rags with the lighter he had stolen because he had missed the practical classes due to his unexpected promotion.

After making sure that the makeshift fuse was burning Conrad climbed a seldom used ladder that led to the bridge level and hid behind a short bulkhead on the far side from where he had set the fire and waited.

Right on schedule the Mate left the bridge and headed down to the crew galley below decks for a meal before retiring to his cabin.  Shortly after that the Captain left the bridge and took the stairs leading to the passenger cabins.

Less than a minute later a call came from the forward sentry.  He had spotted smoke and flames coming from the second level of the superstructure.  A moment later the ship’s fire alarm went off.

As Conrad had expected, the crew abandoned the bridge and scrambled down the stairs and ladders to where the fire was reported to be burning.  A quick glance through the window of the bridge confirmed that it was empty.

Conrad rushed in.  There are many instruments and displays but the only thing of interest to him was the chart table at the back of the bridge.  From his earlier observations Conrad knew that the mate and the Captain plotted their progress on the chart the old-fashioned way at each shift change, just before the lion went to report their progress.  Upon his return the charts would be stowed in a locked cabinet beside the table, and there was no way Conred could pick that lock and locate the right chart in the short period of time the bridge would be empty.

Fortunately, the on-duty crew had followed the fire drill routine and left the bridge immediately, without thinking to lock up the charts.  Conrad studied them quickly, noting that instead of a port their route ended in the middle of the Sea of Japan, at a spot equidistant from the coasts of Russai, Japan and the two Koreas.  The spot was marked with the letters “RV’, for rendezvous, Conrad supposed.  The longitude and latitude of the location was written beside it.

Conrad memorized the coordinates and turned to the door of the bridge opposite where the fire was.  It was filled with the figure of the shepherd that had been dogging him since Jakarta.

He did not know the canine’s background, whether the big dog was a brawler or a trained fighter, but he did know that whoever got in the first hit was most likely to win in any kind of fight.  While the canine’s mouth opened to demand what Conrad was doing on the bridge the coyote charged him and caught him in the midriff, knocking the dog backwards against the metal railing.

The canine got in a couple of shots to Conrad’s kidneys, but they were weak and poorly aimed.  Conrad knew that time was against him, so instead of protecting his sides he picked the shepherd up off the deck and tossed him as hard as he could over the railing.

The fire alarm was still going off and everyone had gone to the other side of the ship to fight the fire, so there was no one to see the canine break his back on the gunwale of the main deck or hear his screams as he cartwheeled overboard.

Conrad followed him over the railing, twisting around and grabbing the metal framework to slow his descent.  Once he was up against the bulkhead he let go and dropped to the next level.  His paws had no sooner slid below the level of the bridge when he heard the Captain roaring from the other side for someone to get their tail back up there to take over the helm while he went to supervise the fire fighting effort.

Sliding down a ladder to the level he had set the fire on Conrad grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran to the other side of the ship.  The mate, coming up from below, and the Captain, coming down from the passenger deck, found him engaged in the fight as if he had been there from the first alarm.

Once the paint cans had been extinguished the captain gathered the crew on the bridge deck and reamed them out royalty for being so sloppy with flammable materials. 

“No more smoking on deck except at the stern.”  He declared.

Those of the crew that smoked, which was most of them, were not happy.  The stern was the farthest point from their stations and they would have to puff quickly to be back in time for the end of their break.

Ignoring their grumbles the lion set off to report the incident to the tiger that had hired them.  Conrad, who had gone around to the other side of the ship when no one was looking had scaled the bulkhead and was able to crawl under the open portholes of the tiger’s cabin after the Captain entered.

“Are you sure that the fire was an accident?” the tiger asked after the Captain had finished briefing him.

“It’s possible that it was deliberately set.”  The lion admitted.  “But there was never any real threat to the ship or its cargo,”

“A distraction then.”  The tiger concluded.  “I’ve seen a few of the crew and the security guards hanging around where they should not be.  I suggest that you restrict everyone to their duty stations until we reach the rendezvous.  If you catch anyone sneaking around bring them to me … I’ll deal with them.”

“The ones we hired for security are going to suspect that something is up.”  The lion countered.  “Especially after a mid-ocean transfer of, uh, goods.”

“Once my people rendezvous with us we won’t need them anymore.”  The tiger said, and Conrad could here him pacing inside the cabin as he did.  “Once they arrive we’ll throw everyone except the essential crew overboard.  Those that are left will be able to manage the transfer of the lithium.”

“Too bad.”  The Captain replied.  “I was getting to like some of them.”

* * * * * * * * *

Conrad reported his findings to F.O.X. right away, in case anyone had seen him on bridge or throwing the shepherd over the side.  It seemed that he had gotten away with it though because no one bothered him when he went off duty.

The ship continued steaming north across the East China Sea for two days before crossing between Japan and South Korea to enter the Sea of Japan on the third day after the fire.  Things were tense on board, especially after the Polish-speaking shepherd was discovered missing.  Several of the new guards cast guarded glances toward Conrad but he deflected their suspicions by wondering aloud if the shepherd might not have been spying on the Ocean Ghost.

“Maybe he set the fire as a distraction and slipped away with whatever he found out about the ship or the cargo.”  He said within earshot of the Mate.

His ploy seemed to work, if the level of nervous tics and twitches the thought brought to the mate and the Captain were any indication, but everyone was still confined to their place of duty.  Even smoking privileges were revoked, resulting in a run on chewing tobacco and nicotine gum at the ship’s store.

Conrad did not know how fast the ship was going, but it did seem to be moving faster than it had previously.  It would not take long to reach their rendezvous at that pace.  He resolved to stay awake and alert until then.

Near dusk on their first full day in the Sea of Japan, while he was on duty at the port bow, he heard the engines cut out.  The ship was drifting, slowing down quickly with no power behind the screws.  He looked around for another ship, the one that they would transfer the cargo to, but saw nothing.

Suddenly, ahead and to the starboard side, the otherwise calm sea began to roil and foam.  A moment later he saw the sail of a large black submarine break the surface.  The disturbance in the water went on for quite a distance before and behind it, and when the hull emerged Conrad could see why; it was a Typhoon Class Russian nuclear ballistic missile carrier, the largest submarine in the world.

He remembered from one of the many classified briefings he received during his training at the Academy that Russia had decommissioned its last Typhoon a year ago.  But if that was the case, what was this one doing here?  Did this mean that the Russians were the tiger’s clients?  Or had they sold the stripped-down sub to another nation?  Conrad was torn between hanging around to confirm who was operating it and making himself scarce before the tiger started throwing non-essential crew overboard.

Caution won out.  He needed to live, long enough to report what he had seen at least.  The sub was already pulling up alongside and extending a ramp with a rope railing as he started moving to the rear of the ship.  He objective was a single small lifeboat at the stern, one that could be lowered directly into the sea now that there was no prop wash churning up the water behind the ship.  It was small, but one creature could live for months with the supplies on board.

The crew that operated the cargo winches were already on station when he reached the cargo deck.  He took shelter in an alcove and waited for them to direct the powerful flood lights on the cargo hatches, throwing the edges of the deck into shadow, before proceeding.  Behind him, at the front of the ship, he could hear the Captain calling the security teams and other crew members not necessary for ship operations forward.

Conrad saw his opening and stepped out, directly into the path of the female snow leopard.

She had come down the rear stairs of the superstructure, the sound of her approach masked by the roar of the winch engines.   She was heading for where the submarine was being secured to the Ocean Ghost with heavy lines.  She was wearing the uniform of a junior army officer of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea … the North Korean army. 

Conrad touched the brim of a non-existent cap and mumbled “Excuse me ma’am” as he stepped around her.  Inside his coat he gripped the pistol he carried while on guard duty and slipped the safety catch to the ‘off’ position.

“Wait!”  she called after him.

He stopped and turned.  She was looking at him in a queer way, a puzzled expression on her face.  He tensed as he prepared to step inside her guard and use her body as a silencer when he shot her in the gut.

The snow leopard stared at Conrad, then she heard a splash and looked to the bow.  Illuminated by the submarine’s running lights they could both see the tiger tossing non-essential crew members overboard while soldiers in North Korean uniforms held guns on the rest. 

The snow leopard’s expression turned to one of shock, then disgust.  She half turned back to Conrad and made a ‘get away’ gesture with her paw.  He nodded, removed his paw from the pistol and slipped into the shadows.

From the cover of darkness he saw the snow leopard gather her courage and stride with feigned confidence toward the ramp leading to the submarine.  She did not look to where the security guards and merchant sailors were being thrown, or shot and then thrown, into the water, but he saw her shudder with every splash and burst of gunfire. 

He found the lifeboat and used the key he had taken to unlock the mechanism that otherwise would not engage unless the ship was sinking.  A push of a button swung the small boat out over the stern and Conrad was able to scramble onto it.  The onboard controls allowed him to lower the boat to the surface and release the ropes.  The rear superstructure shielded him from view while the noise of the winches covered the sound of the small motors that controlled the lifeboat’s descent.

The ship had stopped, held in place by the lines connecting it to the idling submarine, and Conrad had to make a decision.  Once the non-essential crew was disposed of the soldiers would likely deploy around the ship for security, and to look for stragglers.  Firing up the motor on the lifeboat might give him away if they stopped the winches unexpectedly.  Also, the wake he would leave behind would be visible in the moonlight, an arrow pointing directly to the fleeing boat.  He would have to use the oars to put some distance between him and the ship before he dared use the motor or the small sail.  That was the main reason that he had chosen the smallest lifeboat; it was the only one that could be rowed by a single creature.

He shipped the oars and pointed the bow of the boat away from the stern of the Ocean Ghost and began to row.  With only one passenger onboard the lifeboat was light in the water and it moved quickly away from the ship.   He counted on the soldiers searching the ship not being familiar with it enough to see that a single lifeboat was missing.

Conrad kept going until the sounds of the winches faded and the lights of the ship began to sink below the horizon.  He figured he was far enough away to erect the mast and deploy the sail, blessing his GROM Blue Phase training for teaching him how to sail.  He noted the bearing to the ship and set a course one hundred and eighty degrees away from it. 

The light breeze took him steadily father away from the ship.  After an hour he figured that it was safe enough for him to use the flashlight and send a message with everything he had seen to F.O.X.

After sending his report via one of the Academy’s satellites Conrad hung a lantern from the mast and explored the boat.  He found survival gear, bottled water, a beacon, flares, preserved food, fishing gear, a water purifier, and a GPS. 

He knew that his mission was essentially over now.  Once the tiger realized that he was unaccounted for he would have the ship searched and the missing lifeboat would be discovered.  A loose end like that could not be allowed to unravel, so either the ship or the submarine or both would begin looking for him as soon as the lithium was transferred. 

Backtracking would be the most likely option.  Conrad toyed with the idea of turning ninety degrees off course to confuse them, but they could move much faster than this little tub and if they were sweeping the area turning would only bring him closer to the search area.  He decided to maintain his heading, which would take him to Japan eventually, and keep going as fast as motor or sail would take him until he reached land or they caught up and ran him down.

Meanwhile, on faint hope of rescue, he checked the GPS and sent his current location, speed and heading to the Academy.  Maybe someone there had a contact in Japanese intelligence, but it was unlikely.

Conrad locked down the helm and had a late-night snack of biscuits with cheese from a tube and waited for either rescue or reckoning.  His mind was calm, and he even managed to catch a few cat naps before the sun rose over the sea.

It was shortly after dawn when the sea began to stir a hundred meters off to his starboard and a large black submarine sail broke the surface.

Oh well, he thought as he waited to see if they would take him aboard for questioning or just use a torpedo to blow him out of the water, it had been a short career but a fulfilling one.