The sleek vessels skimmed across the delicate sea like birds of prey soaring vigilantly in search of hunt. The red-and-white clad decks still smelled of paint, but that hardly bothered the young Curonian seamen, who’s only goal was to service their ancestors, and honor the hunt. With any hope, they would come back home with goods of all kinds; fine jewelry for their affianced, artisan furniture for their fathers, or perhaps even a serf of their own to serve the home. The men’s imaginations ran wild with anticipation. Anything could be over the horizon, and whatever they brought to their island was what would secure their legacy as affluent men.

—-

The OKP Malikhi was a respectable ocean liner, able to carry a substantial percentage of Russian gas and oil from the Novgorod Sea to their home port of Kutno, where it would eventually be piped to refineries around Lodz and Warsaw for processing. The ship ran a skeleton crew, which was usually a non-issue, as the seas stayed calm during the summer months. Most men were relegated to isolated positions, with most having duties below the deck. It came as a surprise to the men when, right before lunch, around three-hundred nearly-naked pirates, painted in the colors of Poland, hooked themselves to the Malikhi and began boarding without any prior permission. With the uninvited guests aboard and yelling in an exotic tongue, the small allotment Polish seamen decided to do as they were non-verbally told, and surrendered their unarmed vessel to the pirates.

News of the Malikhi’s capture wasn’t reported until bookkeepers in the port of Kotchetovo realized that the tanker ordered to receive fifty units of Russian oil and gas simply did not arrive, leaving the port administration puzzled on what to do with the sovereign’s fuel, eventually relegating it to an inconspicuous warehouse, never to be seen by Russian eyes again as to not run the risk of a summary execution by an overly-eager army officer looking to bend his badge.

The fates of the Polish seamen was never ascertained, leaving their families heartbroken and the small town of Kutno short a few dozen good Christians. They were out there, somewhere, indentured, perhaps, but that information was privy to only the families of the young Curonian men who captured them.

Poland loses 50 fuel from stockpiles/trade, and Lithuania gains 50 fuel. 27 civilian hostages are somewhere unknown, destined to live as glorified serfs for the rest of their days.