On 11 April 2010, Pralav Dhyani, a freshly minted deck officer in training on a cargo merchant vessel, was contemplating the intense discipline life at sea would require from him, when armed pirates forcefully boarded the ship off the coast of Africa. As confusion ensued, one thing became clear to Pralav: the MV RAK Afrikana was being hijacked. It was the beginning of a nightmare that Pralav-then all of twenty-one-has never been able to forget.