Duty and Obligation

by Sean Benjamin

  “Senior Captain Terrant, this is… Captain Wo.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Terrant replied with a smile in her voice at the hesitation of Mia referring to herself as captain.

  “Captain, I believe I’ve spotted one of the freighters we’ve been looking for. It’s in a floating deck waiting to be worked on. Can’t see the name but I’m sure it is the same class as Tristan.”

  Terrant was all business now. “Can you get your destroyer underway with just the people you have?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good. Send the shuttle back as briefed; I’ll be bringing my death squad and some people to man that ship after we take her. Follow the plan until I get there.”

  “Roger that.”

  The shuttle docked adjacent to the shipyard offices and everyone disembarked. The small craft departed, and Mia led her contingent into the building. Tremaine Zapoi, the manager for accounting, was at the door to greet them.

  “Captain Wo, so nice to see you,” Zapoi announced as he extended his hand. Mia shook it, and the two of them moved to the manager’s office as the crewmembers waited at the entrance. They went over the paperwork and Mia dragged it out as she asked questions about cost, work accomplished, parts installed, repair procedures, and anything else that crossed her mind as she stalled for time. The manager had to call a work supervisor on a comm line for answers to the technical questions, and Mia was quite content to wait for her to look up the answers in various manuals. The meeting staggered onward.

  Just as Mia was running out of dirt to throw in the air, Lew Terrant walked in. She was armed as were the two pirates behind her. She extended a gun belt with a shooter in the holster to Mia. The young woman strapped it on. The shipyard official watched with growing concern.

  Zapoi talked with sincerity and a bit of trepidation. “Captain Terrant, trying to steal your ship to avoid the bill is not a new trick here. We have ways of countering that move. For all our sakes, we should try to avoid such courses of action. It does nobody any good.” His manner suggested their ways of countering the move included violence, and he could see that he would be caught in the middle of the battle and might very well become the first casualty.

  Terrant shook her head. “Not here to dodge the bill. In fact, let’s see it.”

  Zapoi immediately handed her a tablet with the bill itemized over several screens. She skimmed through it without expression. At the end, she handed the tablet back. “It’s a quarter higher than the estimate.” She was not surprised.

  Zapoi shrugged slightly. “We found the need for more extensive engine repairs than envisioned, and the parts were difficult to procure. If you care to lodge a protest, we can certainly work toward resolving the case to our mutual satisfaction.”

  Everyone knew that particular maneuver would drag this out for weeks, all the while the shipyard would hold the ship. Terrant shook her head. “We’ll play the bill in full. There is just one proviso.”

  Zapoi nodded knowingly. There was always “just one more something” in his business. He put an inquiring look on his face and Terrant went on. “I noticed an Aeonian Conglomeration ship in your waiting line named Gawain.” Terrant had had the shuttle swing by the ship on the trip in so as to get her name.

  Zapoi nodded but was instantly on guard. Terrant continued, “That ship is a known slaver, and I’m taking her.”

  Zapoi shook his head. “Come, Captain. You must see that is impossible. We have a work order from the AC. They have paid in advance for a rush job. It will enter the docks tomorrow.”

  Now Terrant shook her head. “This goes one of three ways. I get the ship with no trouble. The second way is I tell Captain Hawkins, and he shows up with his peer title and Royal Navy support in the battle against slavery. Good luck in your talks with the Aurora Empire. The third way is I tell Captain Hawkins, and he sends Killian O’Hare.” Terrant gave him a cold smile. “I’m thinking that if she shows up, there won’t be a hell of a lot of talking.” She now gave him a warmer smile. “Trust me, this is easiest for everyone. You can tell everyone we stole it under threat of wholesale destruction to your yard. You get to keep the money without doing the work. Just tell the AC that you learned the ship was a slaver, and you are appalled by the revelation and would report it to the proper authorities, but since there is no evidence now, you think you can overlook it this time. With your cooperation in this matter, I’m sure the next overhaul needed by one of my squadron ships will be done here.”

  Zapoi was silent for a few seconds then asked, “Is she really a slaver?”

  Terrant nodded. “I suspect your work order is for removing a hidden compartment in the third cargo bay.”

  Zapoi walked to a tablet on his desk, picked it up, and touched the screen three times. He studied it for several long seconds. He put the tablet down and walked back to Terrant. A new look of determination was on his face. “The code to the Gawain’s port airlock is 14078. The ship is cold tits, but no work has been done yet, so you should get her online easily.” He paused in thought and then held up a finger in a “wait a second” gesture. He moved back to his desk and picked up another tablet and paged through the screens. He set it down and returned to the group.

  “I thought we had a couple of caveats on the work order. It seems the AC people who dropped the ship off argued over the price. They let on that other shipyards were doing the same work on other ships for them and they would take Gawain there if they didn’t like the price here. We eventually agreed on a price, and they left the ship. However, we contacted many other yards to see if they had these AC ships. We wanted to coordinate our pricing with them.” Zapoi gave a malicious smile and then went on. “We found AC ships going to six other shipyards and getting the same work done. One ship each is already in work at Marblefall and Sissel. The yards at Necessity and New Rochelle reported they are waiting for the arrival of one ship each. Two ships are already at two shipyards, but nothing has been done to them yet. The ships are at the shipyard at Fuodail Bay on Udal Cuain, and the shipyard of San Cristine on Mala Leche. Don’t know the timetables for those yards to actually start work on those two ships, maybe you can grab them before the work starts.”

  Terrant smiled at him. “You seem to have had a change of heart here.”

  Zapoi nodded. “I have. We didn’t know we were taking out a slave jail in Gawain. Since the work hasn’t started, nobody has paid attention to the work order. Once you look at it, the obvious shines through. A year ago, a son of one of our shipyard owners here left the planet to seek his fortune, so to speak. He always wanted to make it on his own without using the family connections. He was a good kid who worked here when he wasn’t in school and everyone liked him. He disappeared. The owner notified the authorities and hired detectives. They tracked him to a ship out of Necessity and that was it. They interviewed the ship’s captain and some of the crew, but nothing came of it. The general consensus was the ship was doing some slave running, but nothing was ever proved. Everyone believes the kid was grabbed and is now working as a slave somewhere. If our owner knew this ship was here, he would come here and blow her up himself. AC be damned. Not a lot of love for slavery around here. I hope you grab the other ships too.” Zapoi held up the tablet with the Habu work costs on it. “I’m knocking ten percent off your bill as a good customer discount.”

  Terrant smiled widely. “We’ll take it. Also, we do come across slave work camps on occasion, and we actively hunt slave ships. What’s the kid’s name?”

  “Neils Burleigh. I hope he is still alive.” Zapoi paused and then added, “The ship out of Necessity was named Rainbow.” He looked Terrant in the eye. “A slaver with that kind of name sticks in your memory.”

  Terrant nodded and said, “No promises, but I will get the kid’s name and the ship’s name out to all our people. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  Zapoi nodded his thanks. They paid their bill and, one hour later, they sailed out with Gawain in trail of Habu. Terrant sent out messages on her succ
ess and the names of the other shipyards, Neils Burleigh, and Rainbow to all Flot 1 ships. She also stated she was taking Gawain to Agra 5 for missile refit.

  Chapter 34

  Hawkins grew thoughtful as he read Terrant’s message. Their initial intel from Yardley stated there were five modified ships. Apparently, there were eight counting Tristan. Rafe didn’t think Yardley was lying. The AC would have kept the knowledge close hold, and her information was based on company gossip.

  They now had Tristan and Gawain. That left six ships out there. The clear target was the two shipyards with ships awaiting work. Both shipyards were used by Flot 1 for their own ship maintenance needs. These facilities were owned by people who did the work, didn’t ask questions, and kept their mouths shut to all outsiders. There were probably many parties who took advantage of those characteristics. Being steady customers meant the pirates knew who ran them. Rafe also had a good idea on how to flip these people to their side. Just tell the truth. A shipyard that got a reputation for dealing with slaver runners and their ships might gain many disreputable customers but would lose many legitimate customers. Also, sooner or later, some authorities from somewhere would want to talk to that shipyard about their customer base. Not a conversation to look forward to.

  Raferty forwarded the message to all his department heads. He sent an additional message to Tactical and Baby Doll to meet with him in ten minutes. Ten minutes later, the meeting came to order after beers were passed out. Tactical looked across the briefing table at Raferty. “Got a plan in mind for this opportunity?”

  Hawkins smiled. “I want to get the two ships awaiting work. They should be ready to sail immediately if we grab them soon. The ships already in work at Sissel and Marblefall, we will leave alone. For all we know, the evidence there is already removed. Besides, we can’t easily steal them, and attacking them in major yards would not be well received.

  “We don’t know when the two ships still en route will arrive at New Rochelle and Necessity. New Rochelle is a serious enemy territory right now, and Necessity has really tightened up since Killian stole Avenging Angel out of there six months ago. My marque and reprisal letters won’t carry any weight in either port, and no way to get them without a fight. I don’t want to go that far. Plus, the AC might put them under armed guard when they hear about us grabbing Gawain. Let’s not be too greedy here. I also don’t want to use a whole lot of assets on this mission. Since we now know where the AC slavers are, we can shift ships to patrolling in Green and Gold squadrons’ AORs as those Goths do their convoy duty. We’ll just focus on the two AC ships awaiting work. We take them, use them as evidence against the AC, and then keep them under my letters.”

  He smiled and continued, “I’ve got an idea on how to get them. I think I’ll send a message to Lisa Cassidy and see if she wants in on this. If she does, we pair one of our ships with one of theirs and visit the two shipyards. We will drop in unannounced. If we set up appointments, we will have to tell them the topic to be discussed. I don’t want them to have the time to coordinate a response with each other or try to exhort more money from the AC as a reward for ignoring us. If the AC coughs up enough money those two yards will ignore us. We show up with no warning, and our visiting representatives request the shipyards stop all work on the two ships as that work would wipe out evidence of slave running. We will explain the AC is an Aurora Empire corporation trying to dodge Measure 200, and the shipyards are helping them do it; no way will the shipyard be happy with an analysis of them aiding in hiding evidence of slavery. We point out the disadvantages of dealing with slavers and appeal to them to do the right thing by cooperating with the forces of righteousness here.” He smiled slightly. “Of course, we never have much luck appealing to people’s better nature but maybe this time.”

  “No, we haven’t much luck,” Tactical agreed. She thought in silence then said, “They have to know there is no percentage in working on slave ships. If they don’t turn them over, will you attack the shipyards to get at the AC ships? A serious move if you are thinking about it.”

  Hawkins looked at the overhead in thought. “I really don’t want to do that. The reward just isn’t worth it. We have done business with these yards in the past and may need them in the future. Also, you know how the shipyards talk to each other. We attack those two, the others may freeze us out in retaliation. If the two yards insist on keeping their ships, we will just put out a bunch of bad publicity on them and move on.” He paused and then continued. “They are into profit though. If they have already been paid, they won’t much care if someone steals the ship or not. If the ship is gone, it’s gone.

  “Predator will take Fuodail Bay. If Lisa lets me, I’ll take Cobalt along as she is the Queen’s Own Destroyer. Might impress the natives a bit. I’ll go in as the Duke of Black Hallow waving my letters. That shipyard sits on the Burgh border, and they dislike and distrust everyone, but they won’t want trouble with the Aurora Empire, especially on the wrong end of a slavery argument. Burghs hate slavery.”

  He paused as he considered the Mala Leche ship. He frowned and then spoke, “Do we know anyone already there in Mala Leche who can help us?”

  Tactical shook her head. “Not anyone permanent—the management has always been strictly business with us when we’ve had work done there. No way they could be considered friends or allies. Despite being a bit isolated, that is a fairly busy port that gets overflow from Lorelei. It’s probably why the AC put a ship there with their HQ on Lorelei.”

  Rafe sighed. “That’s what I don’t like. That port is just over a day from Lorelei but off all beaten paths. You have to intend to go there. We won’t be sneaking up on anyone there.” He paused and then went on. “I’ll ask Lisa to go herself. She goes in flags flying and lays out the situation. She tells them about Measure 200 and this is the Aurora Empire Royal Navy trying to rein in an Aurora Empire corporation that’s gone rogue. It’s an internal matter for the Aurora Empire. If the shipyard wants to get in the middle of that, well, have at it.”

  “Who do you want to go with Lisa?”

  Rafe thought and replied, “How about The Deuce? Let’s see how Ace plays with others.”

  The two women nodded and Tactical asked, “Just to sum up, you’re letting the two ships still en route to shipyards to get away and ignoring the two ships already in work?”

  Rafe nodded. “We are supposed to be going after ships as evidence for slave running. Just because we will be keeping them afterward, that cannot look like the real reason we want them. We will document the hidden compartments and the move by the AC to have them taken out.”

  Everyone nodded. The meeting wound down as drinks were finished, and the two women departed.

  Rafe moved to his desk and pulled up a floating screen. He sent a message to Captain Lisa Cassidy outlining his plan and his request for her support with Drake and Cobalt. He tasked Ace in Rebel II to join Captain Cassidy at Mala Leche if Captain Cassidy agreed to help. He also sent thanks to Lew Terrant and a well done to Mia Wo. Finally, he completed a lookout request for a ship named Rainbow as a possible slave runner and for a young man named Neils Burleigh as a possible slave. He sent that request to all ships and agents who supported Flot 1. The reward for successfully locating either would be three thousand credits. They had a vast information network, and the reward was significant.

  ~ ~ ~

  Captain Cassidy flipped through her comm mail while seated at her day cabin desk aboard her light cruiser Drake. She smiled as she read Hawkins’ request. She concluded she and her ship were spending too much time in orbit at Agra 2, and a quick trip to Mala Leche would do both of them well. Cobalt could use a change too. She sent a reply agreeing to help Pirate Flotilla One.

  Chapter 35

  Albert Cunningham landed at the city of Baseline on Lorelei, sent his assistant to their hotel to check them in, and went alone directly to the regional offices of Aeonian Conglomerate. He arrived there unannounced and blew past the three guards sitting behind
desks at the front entrance.

  “Sir, hold it right there!” demanded one of the security people as he rose from his desk.

  Albert did not even slow down as he spoke over his shoulder. “Albert Cunningham. If you say one more word, you’re fired. If you alert anyone in this the building, you’re all fired.” The three guards sat back down.

  Cunningham went to the top floor and walked into the regional manager’s office. He walked past the two secretaries without acknowledging them and let himself through the closed door. There were six people in the office. They sat around a conference table and looked up in surprise at the opening of the door. The regional manager, Raylen Whiting, recovered first. “Albert! What a surprise!” He stood up, moved around the conference table, and extended his hand.

  Cunningham gave him credit. The man had to know why Cunningham was here unannounced, but he made it sound as if he was glad to see him. Whiting had always been a great “people person” and this made him an excellent salesman and sales manager. The promotion to regional manager might have been a step too high, but you never know this about people until you promote them.

  “Raylen,” replied Albert in a neutral voice as he took the handshake. He glanced at the others in the gathering. He knew them all from their personnel files. They were the top regional officers, and Cunningham suspected there was only one real topic under discussion. If not, it didn’t matter because now that he was in the room, there was only going to be one topic.