We are awake when Anusha serves us breakfast in bed, we tell her that she is spoiling us. She smiles and says that with all our responsibilities we deserve something special. She notices Mr MacHinery covered in a spare blanket but resists the urge to ask about it and continues with her duties. We know very well that when we're out and she is servicing our stateroom she'll take a look under the blanket, we agree that the time it takes for someone to mention our machine will be an excellent indicator of her trustworthiness.
As we enjoy our breakfast, I confess to Sansa that I've been investigating the idea of adding another luxury cruise yacht to The Marigold Line for which we'll use the codename 'Empress'. Construction has already started and Sushila has secured first refusal for us at a price of £430 million. It offers 38 luxury staterooms incorporating an luxurious and spacious open-plan reception area and dining area with ocean views, the glass is one-way providing privacy for those inside. In addition, there are all the restaurants, lounges, communal areas, and more than we have here on Maharani.
There is an owners' residence covering the complete area of the highest residential deck. There's even a helipad in the bow area. If we were to charge £50,000 per week for a stateroom, as we are doing very successfully here on Maharani, the annual gross income could be as much as £98.8 million if all staterooms are occupied.
It is a well established pattern on cruise ships that wealthy ladies often choose to spend their autumn years and savings on cruising and being looked after by cruise ship staff, rather than resort to paying for several staff at home, so why not other rich ladies too?
Empress will be able to undertake more adventurous ocean cruises for rich and powerful ladies to live very comfortably on board and run their various enterprises from an office in each apartment. She will be able to travel at comfortable speeds and every stop will be at the vote of our residents, as will the length of time that she stays in port to give all the time desired to make the most of the visit. Bangkok Girl and Maharani would continue to cruise around India.
She absolutely loves the idea, particularly since our current cruise guests represent just the sort of ladies that could be our target demographic. She says that the news the purser gave us about advance bookings being on the way to a two year waiting list suggests that what we are doing with Maharani is what such ladies appreciate. I agree and suggest that others might like our idea and try to copy it, so we should move fast and capture as much of the market of rich & powerful ladies looking for a perfect home afloat as possible. She agrees and says perhaps some consultations with our colleagues and current guests should be expedited. We agree that getting first refusal on purchasing Empress is a priority and I undertake to ask Sushila to arrange it for us.
We've no sooner enjoyed our intimate shower and dressed in our identical ready pleated saree gowns with spaghetti straps, a 'V' neckline with each hem highlighted by a gold border. There is a matching handbag and shoes. Sansa's is emerald green, her favourite colour and mine is sapphire blue. There is a knock at the door and Anusha enters to inform us that the Captain and the Head of Security ask for an urgent meeting. Curious as to the need for urgency, we ask her to admit them to the lounge and arrange for fresh coffee to be served. She leaves to admit them while we check that we are properly dressed.
In the lounge we greet them cordially and invite them to make themselves comfortable. When seated, Anusha serves coffee and biscuits and then leaves us to talk in private. Prajna thanks us for making ourselves available while Ayma nods agreement. Prajna tells us that she has received an encrypted message from the Coastguard that 2 fast Somalian style pirate boats are operating in the same area as Maharani and Bangkok Girl and the armed Coastguard vessel 'Indira Gandhi' is on her way to meet with us. We have contacted Bangkok Girl, who have received the same message and both vessels are currently changing course and accelerating to maximum speed to rendezvous, they are already in sight and the vessels will close together in 10 to 15 minutes at current speed. According to radar, the pirate boats will arrive about the same time as Bangkok Girl and Indira Gandhi will pursue the pirate boats, radar indicates that she will have them within firing range within 10 minutes.
Sansa takes my hand on the mention of pirates and I don't try to mask my concern either. Ayma informs us that she and her counterpart on BG have been in contact via encrypted messaging. Both vessels are adequately armed to deal with the pirates and that machine guns have been mounted at vantage points around both vessels. Rocket launchers have also been deployed. We expect that the pirates, through binoculars, will see they are well overpowered by each vessel but the two vessels together represent an overwhelming threat to them of being sunk immediately they come within range.
Prajna says that merely as a precaution she wishes to sound five short blasts on the horn (meaning danger) and use the tannoy to order that all guests and their stateroom stewardess are to stay in their staterooms with life-jackets at the ready. Everyone is to stay well clear of all balconies, windows and portholes with all curtains drawn. The situation can be monitored on the TV in your stateroom. She pauses as if awaiting permission, so I simply say: "As Captain, such decisions are yours to make but, since my Captain and my Head of Security are in agreement and seem to be well prepared I, and I suspect my partner too, are sanguine. Thank you for taking the time to inform us personally, but we must not delay you further at this time. Please keep yourselves safe".
They thank us and take their leave and Anusha returns to switch on the TV to an internal vessel channel that alternates through the vessel's four cameras. She also ensures plenty of soft drinks are within reach. After about five minutes, Bangkok Girl and Indira Gandhi can be seen with the pirate vessels appearing just as tiny blobs. Three minutes later there is a huge splash in front of the pirate boats followed a second later by an explosion. The tannoy informs us that the Indira Gandhi has fired a warning shot in front of the pirates after they ignored a radio order to 'heave to' (stop).
The images are getting larger and we can see a man on each of the pirate boats firing a sub-machine gun at the Indira Gandhi. The next thing we see is one of the boats explode in a ball of fire, followed by the sound of the blast. The second pirate boat turns away to try and escape but suffers the same fate as the first pirate boat. We feel the Maharani reduce speed, sound two short blasts to signal we are turning to port (the left). The tannoy announces that the threat is over and Maharani may resume normal activities. We see Bangkok Girl slow, sound one short blast and turn to starboard (the right) to run parallel with Maharani.
