0132 hours (Zulu +3)

Helo Devil Dog One inbound to Bandar Abbas

The helicopters had launched nearly an hour earlier, but they'd been orbiting over the Gulf since that time, well out in international waters. Devil Dog flight consisted of six UH-1 Hueys, "Slicks" off the Nassau and the Iwo Jima. Each carried a Blue/Green Team, a joint SEAL/Marine Recon boarding party of fourteen men, and they came in low and fast, close behind a flight of two Marine SuperCobras. The Cobras clattered across the Yuduki Maru's deck, less than twenty feet above her steel deck, then wheeled across the dockyards and waterfront buildings beyond.

Automatic gunfire chattered from a dry dock; there was a rippling flash, and then a bundle of living flames slashed from the lead Cobra, lighting the sky with their contrails. The rocket barrage struck a catwalk running along the side of the dry dock, flinging shards of metal and fragments of bodies far across the compound.

By now, the entire shipyard was in chaos. A siren wailed its mournful ululation against the crump and rumble of exploding ordnance. Somewhere in the distance, antiaircraft batteries were going off with a stolid-sounding crump-crump-crump, apparently at random and apparently without actually bothering to aim at anything. Green tracers drifted across the sky above the horizon.

Over the shipyard, however, the American forces appeared to have won a momentary control. Flames continued to boil into the sky from the fuel dock, which was now blazing from one end to the other. The fire had spread to the patrol boat as well, and fresh explosions continued to rack the sadly listing vessel's frame as fuel and ammo stores detonated. Ashore, men were running everywhere, some armed and moving with purpose, but most scattering in desperate bids to find shelter or simply to leave, as quickly as possible. Very few stood their ground and attempted to duel with the circling Cobras. Those who did were cut down almost at once, by rocket salvos, or by ratcheting fusillades of 7.62mm minigun rounds, sprayed from the helos' chin turrets so quickly the tri-barreled cannons sounded like chain saws.

The lead Huey, meanwhile, circled the Yuduki Maru once, trying to draw fire from her deck or from the pier alongside. When no one accepted the offer, the Slick came in at a hover, twenty feet above the forward deck, tail low; from its open cargo doors, ropes and black-faced men descended with stomach-wrenching drops.

The technique was called "fast roping," and it was a quick way of getting from an airborne chopper to the ground... or to the deck of a ship. The first men thumped onto the deck and moved clear, H&Ks held at the ready. More men followed, sliding down the rope on gloved hands.

The men hitting Yuduki Maru's deck now were drawn from Marine Force Recon and SEAL Seven, First Platoon, and were part of the Maritime Special Purpose Force, or MSPF Designed, in the language of the Pentagon, "to optimize forces available to conduct highly sensitive and complex special missions," the MSPF was trained to conduct raids deep in enemy territory, to reinforce U.S. embassies or other facilities at need, to extract important people or documents, and to conduct hostage rescues. The theory was that, more often than not, when a crisis situation went down it would take two or more days to move the Army's Delta Force into position, but the U.S. Navy and the Marines nearly always had units positioned somewhere close by, allowing MSPF insertion at virtually a moment's notice.

SEALs and Recon Marines had been practicing joint MSPF exercises for a number of years now, and though the traditional Navy-Marine rivalry continued to run deep, this particular collaboration had been used with outstanding success on a number of occasions.

As soon as the first fourteen men were down, the Huey cast off the ropes, dropped its nose, and roared off into the darkness as its prop wash lashed the water below. The second Huey came in right behind the first, and fourteen more men roped their way to the freighter's deck.

The other Hueys deposited their loads of Blue/Green commandos ashore, dropping them into open areas that blocked avenues of approach to the pier from inland. Other helos clattered overhead, big Marine Super Stallions, each loaded with fifty-five combat troops and their gear, bound for LZs along the roads leading from the shipyard to Bandar Abbas and other coastal towns. They were protected by AV-8 Harrier jump-jets, wondrous aircraft that swooped and stooped like great birds of prey or slowed to a magical, helicopter-like hover. An Iranian armored battalion was reported to be somewhere near Bandar, and the MEF's Marine Air contingent was committed to stopping those tanks from reaching the shipyard. Meanwhile, Harriers and SuperCobras staged a surprise raid at the Bandar Abbas airport, turning a dozen military planes into twisted, blackened skeletons, and savaging twenty more with shrapnel and machine-gun fire. More air support was already on the way, a flight of Marine F/A-18 Hornets off the Iwo Jima, rigged for their role as close ground support with cluster bombs and laser-guided ordnance.

Soon, the Yuduki Maru was an eye of relative peace in an expanding storm of violence.

0140 hours (Zulu +3)

Freighter Yuduki Maru

Murdock crossed the steel deck to where one of the newcomers was giving orders to his men. There was no easy way to separate the Marines from the SEALs in the MSPF. All wore black gear with full assault loadouts; all wore full-head safety helmets and had their faces heavily blacked. Most carried H&K subguns, though a few varied the routine with M-16/M203 combos, or with combat shotguns. The only real outward difference was in their backup weapons; SEALs carried 9mm handguns, while Marines favored the venerable .45 Colt.

Watching them as he approached, Murdock could tell that they were working as a well-rehearsed, well-practiced team.

The officer in charge of the unit turned toward Murdock. "Captain Cavanaugh," he said, extending a gloved hand. He didn't salute, not when enemy snipers could be watching the scene from the buildings in the distance. "U.S. Marine Corps."

"Semper Fi," Murdock replied, taking the Marine's hand and firmly shaking it. The rank of captain in the Marines was equivalent to Murdock's rank of Navy lieutenant. "Welcome aboard!"

"A real pleasure. You the OIC?"

"That's me!"

"I was told to report to you, Sir," Cavanaugh said. "We thought maybe you boys might need some help!"

"Good! We could use it." Murdock pointed toward the burning fuel dock. "Listen! I've got two guys ashore. Probably back that way. One of them may be injured. Think you could spare some of your boys to go look for 'em?"

"No problem, Sir. That fuel dock fire was their idea?"

Murdock cocked an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be a damned bit surprised."

He was interrupted by a loud cheer from the top of Yuduki Maru's super-structure, a cheer that was taken up by the MSPF team members on the deck. Turning and looking up, Murdock saw the American flag rising up the freighter's main truck in a series of short, jerky movements, illuminated by the lights from shore. He wondered if one of his SEALs had brought the flag, or if it was courtesy of the Marines.

"Okay, make yourself at home, Captain," Murdock told Cavanaugh. "We're seeing what we can do about getting under way."

"Aye, aye, Sir," Cavanaugh said. Then his teeth shone brightly against his black face. "You guys did a real good job, Navy. Almost as good as the Marines!"

Murdock grinned back. "Just don't let me hear any shit about the Marines always being first to hit the beach!"

Yuduki Maru was secure. SEALS, and now Marines as well, continued to move through the freighter's passageways and compartments, ferreting out remaining pockets of Iranians or Japanese terrorists, but it looked as though this part of the battle had been won. Minutes earlier, DeWitt and Frazier had killed an Ohtori gunman standing guard outside the crew's quarters. They'd found the captive Japanese merchant marine sailors and officers locked inside, including the stolid Captain Koga, a prisoner aboard his own ship. Murdock had ordered that the crew be kept locked up, at least for the moment. It was safer that way, without having to worry about Ohtori gunmen hiding among the former hostages... or about civilians blundering into the middle of a fight.