Prologue
The fledgling rays of early morning sun
shimmered across the still waters turning faded pewter into brilliant
translucent shades of opal, silver and
bronze. The strengthening shafts of
light stretched across the harbor to a battle scared ship waiting in silence
for the sun to warm her decks and playfully dance along shimmering brass
fittings. She came to this anchorage to
heal the wounds suffered during a desperate encounter with the elusive Japanese
destroyer sent by a merciless conqueror to destroy the last British citizens to
flee Singapore. She waits now in silence
to feel the pulse of oil pumping life into her array of pipes and tubing as her
engines—her heart—come to life and beat in a steady rhythm. Soon her human masters will breathe new life
into her and she will experience the pleasurable taste of salty spray streaming
across her sleek dazzle painted hull.
Her name is Mariah.
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Chapter 1
Katrin Lee Albright stood alone on the
peak of the tall tree covered hill overlooking Surabaya Harbor. Her 22 years on earth had not prepared her
for the increasing fear she experienced as the Japanese Army pushed closer to
her home. She brushed the long
golden-brown wind whipped hair away from her face while anxiously watching the
remaining Allied ships from her hiding place high above the harbor. The brilliant rays of sun light laughingly
danced across the decks and momentarily reflected off guns and fittings as its
hot breath seared the backs of sailors scurrying about the decks.
Katrin and her father, a missionary priest
from the Church of England, went into hiding when the Japanese began their
lightning-quick offensive through the small island state within days of their
conquest of Malaya and Singapore. She
and her father, Joseph Albright, a missionary Anglican priest, saw the brutal
flashes from dueling ships across the horizon during the vicious naval conflict
in the distant Java Sea. The few ships
that returned gave witness to the lopsided battle that left only a few to
retell the story of failure and defeat. Now she feared the ships would abandon the
war ruined harbor before they could reach them.
Katrin hoped her dad would come back before
darkness fell and relieve her anxiety.
She knew he believed God would protect them and prayed with her to place
them in His hands. He told Katrin to
believe it was already so, and it would be done – just as Jesus promised so
many centuries ago. Katrin knew she
needed to trust what her father knew to be true, but right now she was alone
and felt afraid she would be discovered.
Katrin felt a shaft of fright penetrate
her soul and quickly climbed a nearby tree when a sudden rustling in the
undergrowth caught her attention. At
least she had remembered to make a barely perceptible path away from where she
watched like their friend, Colonel Gherst from the Army Rangers, once showed
her. He said it was a way to fool the
enemy during one of his many visits to their home. She briefly wondered if Colonel Gherst was
taking part in the battle to keep the Japanese from overtaking Java.
