Freighter bridge, somewhere in the Atlantic. The ships captain turns to a man looking out at sea with binoculars.

"Mr. Fransisco, our targets in sight."

"Muy bueno captain." he replies with a Spanish accent "Is the Sonic Pulser ready?"

"Yes sir."

"Bueno. Activate it when we are close enough."

On the bridge of the Retriever, Bengal looks up from his screen.

"Unidentified freighter on an intercept course with us Commander."

Emerald looks out with binoculars and see's the ship.

"Have Captain Bowser come up, Winston."

"Yes ma'am."

Meanwhile in the lower decks, Dusty and four other crewdogs are gathered together.

"Now you know the drill. Put these plugs in your ears or you'll end up like the rest of crew. When their done, we go up on deck and help them board. Everyone ready?"

They nod and place the plugs in their ears. Back on the bridge Bengal is groaning.

"Ah, that noise! Make it stop!"

"What noi--" says Emerald before clamping down on her ears. Soon the entire crew have their paws over their ears before collapsing onto the deck. The mess hall, the engine room, the missile room, crew quarters; they all collapse unconsious. However, in the ships weapons range, Tex McCoy, T-Bone and Mojave also have ear plugs but are unaware of what's happened because of their target practice. Tex notices something and begins to take off his plugs when he quickly puts them back in. T-Bone and Mojave notice and all three begin to mime going out of the room and finding the problem.

Back on the freighter, Mr. Fransisco is looking the carrier.

"Ahoy!" he calls out "Anyone there?"

"Up here Mr. Fransisco!" comes Dusty's voice.

"Ah, Senor Dusty, is the crew knocked out?"

"Yes sir. You may board when ready."

Fransisco turns to the captain.

"Captain?"

"Let's get to work men!"

Later, Mr. Fransisco is standing on the flight deck, unconsious crewdogs moved out of the way. Dusty walks up.

"Very nicely done Dusty."

"First order of business?"

"Clamp down that mistake of Parvo's, then get the captain in his office. I want to have a little talk with him. The rest of you, start getting the parts you need."

Bengal slowly wakes up to find himself tied down. He begins to struggle.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."

He looks up to see Fransisco looking down at him.

"You see, there's a weapon aimed at you. You pull that cord near your paw, and the gatling gun on that jet will fire, turning you into pulp. Si, we know all about you Bengal. The mistake of Parvo's who became a good guy and hates injustice."

"What do you want?"

"Just parts from your ship. Which will help bring about the glorious victory of Ocean Blue!"

Bengal growls.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with your captain."

****

Weapons room. Two Ocean Blue foot soldiers guard the room, both are taken out in quick succession. Tex, T-Bone and Mojave drag the bodies in and then begin to arm themselves properly.

"Ocean Blue." says Tex "I should have known. We are not going to allow that bunch of scum get away with this."

"Yeah, but just the three of us?" says Mojave.

"Put your marine corps training to good use and we'll stop them. Let's go."

****

Bowser slowly wakes up in his office to find Fransisco sitting at one of the chairs and two guards behind him. Bowser's tied down to his chair.

"Hola Captain Bowser. Allow me to introduce myself. Diego Fransisco, second in command of Ocean Blue."

"Oh, not again." groans Bowser "How many times can one ship get hijacked."

"I sympathize senor Bowser, but its nesessary. You see, your ships technology will be the key to our glorious victory. Nazcapolis is nearly ready to ascend from the ocean floor, and when that happens we will take our place as the new superpower of the world!"

"I'd say your crazy but I just hate cliches." says Bowser "So your second in command, huh? Who's in charge of Ocean Blue?"

"Ah, I see you've heard of us?"

"It's difficult not to have."

"True. Our leader is Spiro Mykonos."

"The merchant marine tycoon?"

"And CEO of Thera Shipping Corporation. We've been working for months to get everything ready. Thanks to Senor Mykonos's shipping company, we've gotten technology from company's world wide. We even managed to finagle some tech from General Parvo, the KH Military, and even from the now defunct GONV Forces. We are going to rule the world my dear Bowser!"

Diego's walkie talkie comes to life.

"Mr. Fransisco, we've removed portions of the computer core, some part from engineering, arrester cable and other items from our wish list."

"Excellent. Get them to the ship."

"One other thing sir. We've lost contact with several teams, and we believe that a few of the crew is still loose."

"Do not concern yourself. We will be gone shortly anyway. Hurry it up and then get aboard the ship. Muy bueno work Senor Dusty, when we get to base, you and your friends will be rewarded handsomely.

"Yes sir!"

"Dusty?" says Bowser

"That's right Bowser, we've had several operatives on your ship for some time now. Now I must take my leave of you captain. My apologies, but we must leave your vessel disabled for now. You might be able to get your engines running again, in say a couple day. Adios senor Bowser."

****

On the flight deck, Fransisco, along with several Ocean Blue men, plus Dusty and his henchmen are getting the last of the stolen components onto their ship. A ramp from the freighter to the carrier ties them together.

"Semper Fi!"

They all turn to see Tex, T-Bone and Mojave running towards them, guns blazing.

"Stop them!" shouts Diego.

Dusty and his henchmen get behind a crate they were hauling and return fire while Tex and company hide behind a fire truck. Fransisco and the Ocean Blue men run toward the freighter and take away the ramp before the ship chugs off at top speed.

"Wait!" shouts Dusty "Mr. Fransisco, stop!"

Tex comes out from cover, runs, rolls, then in quick succession takes out Dusty's crew before turning his weapon on Dusty. Dusty jumps just as Tex fires and splashes into the sea. He doesn't come back up. T-Bone and Mojave join him.

"Secure those traitors. I'm going to check on the captain." says Tex

Later, in Bowser's office, Emerald, Sultan, Rusty, Bengal and Tex are here.

"It would seem that Fransisco was right." says Rusty "It'll take us a couple days to get the ship back in order. Fortunatly the last crate they neglected to take was part of the computer core they planned to steel."

"Ocean Blue has just shown how dangerous they are." says Sultan.

"And I owe 'em one!" says Bengal who pounds his fist into his paw

"So how do we stop them?" says Emerald

"And how do we keep enemy operatives from infiltrating our ship?" says Tex

"Its a mess, I know." says Bowser "Emerald, as soon as Rusty gets the engines back on line, have Seamus set course for these coordinates."

Bowser hands her a piece of paper.

"This is off Madagascar. We going back to whatever's down there."

"That's right. There's some friends who owe us a favor."

to be continued.....