Read Daniel Ganninger - Icarus Investigations 02 - Peeking Duck for Free Online Page A

inconspicuous thing the pirates could do was to act like every other merchant ship on the route.
    The route they were following was a common lane of traffic for vessels traveling to the Panama Canal from the South Pacific.  They had been heading due south for over twenty-four hours and had not yet encountered any other merchant ships.
    “ Are the colors in place?” Captain Marquette asked Balboa.
    “ Jes, sir,” he answered, “they are in place.”
    The colors the Captain was referring too indicated what country the vessel was registered.  It is called a flag of convenience.  It meant that the vessel was registered to a foreign country and thus the operation of that ship fell under the laws of that country.  It was a common practice for ships to be registered to countries that had few restrictions and regulations on merchant vessels.  This reduced operating expenses for the shipping companies that owned the ships.  Many countries had an extremely high amount of foreign owned ships under their registry.  Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Liberia, Marshall Islands, and Panama had the largest foreign owned fleets. 
    The Trusian had been registered under the flag of the Saint Vincent and Grenadines Maritime Administration and was owned by a U.S. shipping company called Regentex Maritime Shipping, but the pirates had erased all evidence of that registry.  The Alterra now flew the flag of the country of Liberia in Africa where it was registered with a ship ownership originating in Latvia.  This made it even more difficult to track because of the difficulty in obtaining information from Liberia.  The fact was, a true ship named Alterra existed, but its location remained a mystery.
    The bright black and yellow flag of Liberia flapped in the wind at the stern of the ship.  The pirates painted the same outline of the flag in the same colors on the side of the ship.  All evidence of the Trusian was gone, even many of the records that indicated the name of the ship on the bridge had been removed and replaced with the documents indicating that it was the Alterra .  They had moved through all areas of the ship removing any indication of the name, just in case the ship was boarded by military personnel.  The disguise also ensured that the pilots they encountered in any ports of call would be none the wiser.  It was a brilliant feat of deception and coordination.
    The pirates had good reasons for covering all their bases.  The Liberian government in 2004 had brokered a deal with the U.S. government that allowed any U.S. Navy vessel to board a Liberian registered ship if that ship was suspected of harboring weapons of mass destruction.  This deal significantly reduced the anonymity of this country’s registry, but the pirates felt confident there would be no reason for suspicion.
    The pirates had gone to great lengths to emulate a legitimate cargo shipping operation.  They had phony manifests, documentation of loading from a previous port of call, and a rock solid ownership with a Latvian shipping company.  The pirates also had records from navigation and radio communication throughout the Pacific.  It was an intricate and complicated plan. 
    As to their motive and agenda, only the pirates knew.  But the men in the cargo hold would know their fate soon enough. 
    Captain Marquette refigured the course of the ship.  When he was satisfied that all was in order, the Captain gave over control to Balboa so he could get a bite to eat and some sleep.
    The other eleven pirates aboard went about their work as if they were regular sailors on the vessel.  Balboa checked the route and radar, making sure all the documentation was in order for where they were headed.  A list in front of him showed the ship’s itinerary, each port of call, and the time frame.  He hadn’t been made aware of their destination, but the bottom of the manifest read Cape Town, South Africa.  This was a destination this ship would never