Three days later, Killian O’Hare received a P4 from Admiral Barrett. It was the official debrief of the Second Battle of Excandor. She looked at it and then forwarded it to Hawkins. He scanned through the report with apprehension. He wanted to know what happened there, but he didn’t want to see Mackenzie getting torched. After reading the report, he viewed the accompanying visual attachments taken from data stream downloads, ship cameras, and communication recordings. Using these sources and individual reports provided by the survivors, the debriefers had created a 3D version of the battle. Raferty played it over the conference table while viewing the original visual records on one side. This presentation provided a complete portrayal of the battle. Fortunately for Hawkins, the depiction ended with Wilson’s ship camera showing the last stand of the rear guard from a distant vantage point so Rafe was spared seeing the final fate of Mackenzie. The last item in the report was an OrCon provided list of Zeke prisoners from the battle. Skyler Mallory’s name was not on the list.
Rafe pondered for a moment and then he forwarded the brief to Lisa Cassidy back on Agra 2 and told her to share it as she saw fit. He also sent it to Shane Delacruz and Llewellyn Terrant with the same instructions. He then invited all the ship’s officers to view it with him in his day cabin. Tactical, Baby Doll, Mason Reed, and Blondie sat around the briefing table. Doc Windsor also appeared and took a seat. He didn’t normally sit in on such things but showed up now because he wanted to. He lit a cigarette and settled in while watching the proceedings through a haze of smoke.
They read the summary of the battle done by Royal Navy HQ and the written after-action reports provided by the surviving ship captains. There were no recommendations or lessons learned included in the report. Then the group watched the battle via the 3D display and visual aids. They saw the two Royal Navy task forces close on Excandor from different directions and the ambush of Task Force 1 from subspace. This was followed by Task Force 2’s attempt to pull off a desperate rescue. After TF 1’s complete destruction, TF 2’s remaining ships retreated back along their original flight path in a hopeless attempt to disengage while under heavy fire and unrelenting pressure from the OrCons. Losses on both sides were heavy. The final scenes were of the rear-guard action in the wreckage of TF 2’s first losses. The visual records and 3D depiction left no gaps to be filled in by the imagination. The defeat had been complete. The only thing that kept it from being a total disaster was the escape of the support ships and many of the warships damaged in the early stages of the fight. The rear-guard ships had held so those survivors could get away. They had done their job. Skyler Mallory had seen to that.
Hawkins, who had already viewed the presentation, watched his colleagues as they watched the battle. He saw the same disbelief in their eyes as he had had when he had viewed the material for the first time. The visual records and 3D presentation of the report lasted a little over an hour. The sequence ended, and the floating display over the briefing table went blank. Blondie immediately stood up and walked out, quietly closing the hatch behind her. Everyone understood. Blondie knew Skyler Mallory had been her supporter from the day she joined the pirates for the Murmansk mission. Sky had been instrumental in getting her transferred to Predator. Now she was dead along with many of Blondie’s navy comrades. Blondie had never been close to her navy brethren, but she certainly would not have wished this fate on them.
Doc Windsor lit another cigarette and also stood up. He knew the next event to take place at the table was a discussion of the battle, and he wanted no part of that. He took a mild interest in the events of the war, but that low level of curiosity wouldn’t be enough to get him through the upcoming conversation. He walked to Rafe’s cold storage unit and helped himself to six beers without asking. With bottles in hand, he moved to the hatch. Once there, he paused, looked at the staff still sitting at the table and offered his own contribution to the debrief about to take place. “Stupid bastards.” He departed the day cabin.
Hawkins smiled and remarked as he looked at the gathering, “What he said.” He then looked at Baby Doll. “Let’s make this available to the rest of the crew for downloading, but I want it coded so it can’t be copied and can’t be forwarded. Bunch of classified stuff in there and we don’t want it floating around the cosmos.”
Baby Doll nodded. “Easily done. I’ll also attach a time limit to the brief so it dissolves two hours after download so there will not be a million copies in our system or forwarded to somewhere else.”
“Good idea.” Hawkins looked around the compartment. “Comments?”
Tactical talked first. “The objective was stupid. Even if they had taken Excandor back, it would have meant nothing. The plan was stupid. No mutual support. Their intel effort must have been massively bad to allow that many OrCons ships to get into the area unreported. The biggest thing is the OrCons knew the Zekes were coming, so either there is a leak in Zeke security or the preparations were so obvious the OrCons caught on to it. I would bet on the latter. Large formations of ships on the move always attract attention. If the OrCons have a spy ship monitoring Wanderlust, the departure of all the ships given over to the attacking force would have been noticed. Maybe the spy ship followed them. Commercial ships are always chattering about anything they see. Once the OrCons got a whiff of a major offensive coming at them, they could put the pieces together with a concerted intel effort. I think they made that effort, and it paid off for them.”
Hawkins nodded. “You are probably right about the spy ship. We won’t put into Wanderlust with Flot 1 at all. With our ship engines, any spy ship listening to our arrival might assume we are just a bunch of Spinnakers or other small ships putting into port, but why take the chance. I do not want to give them any warning of our upcoming participation, if possible. Hartley will be good as the briefing site. It is out of the way and quiet. Once we get there, I will go on to Zelenka to see the Queen in a destroyer out of Hartley. Tactical goes with me.”
He looked at each of his companions as he went back to the battle. “After their victory, the OrCons should have rolled over Wanderlust like a tidal wave. I know they also took severe casualties in the Excandor fight, but I would have pressed the advantage if I had been in charge.”
Tactical shook her head. “That is exactly why the OrCons haven’t won the war yet. They refuse to run great risks, and hitting Wanderlust hard would have required they strip their defenses somewhere else to get enough ships to hit that base.”
Baby Doll scornfully observed, “They probably didn’t realize the Zekes would be that stupid, so they had no follow-on operation planned to capitalized on the success.”
Mason Reed asked, “Any lessons learned you want to pass on? I noticed there weren’t lessons learned attached to the material. I thought there might be a classified list.”
Rafe shook his head. “There was no list. I think the only lesson here is: don’t be stupid. Of course, that is a lesson that can be drawn from any event, it’s just much more obvious in this case.” Rafe was ready to move on from the battle. Sky Mallory’s death was difficult enough, but now to realize how utterly senseless it had been was just gut-wrenching. He was glad the Zeke commander had died in the battle. There was some justice in the universe. After this fiasco, he understood why Queen Alexis had sent for him. He would have been desperate too if he had been in her place. He changed the subject. “How goes the planning?”
Tactical said, “It is in broad concept form right now. Until we get some intel back, we are just making guesses.”
Baby Doll said, “We should get some response to our taskings in forty to fifty hours. Due to the long en route time for messages, I told everyone to send stuff as soon as they get it. Don’t waste time trying to make a report pretty or waiting to fill in the blanks on any info with holes in it. You get it, you send it. All our people over there know about the lag time, so they will get stuff off to us quick.”
Raferty nodded. “Good. We seem to be on track considering the time lag and lack of
details. One thing I will need is an estimation of Zeke ships required so I can forward the request to Zelenka. They need to know what we want so they can figure out where to get the ships from. We are two days from Hartley and two more days for me and Tactical to get to Zelenka. I’ll brief the Queen, and then Tactical and I will run up to Haven Hill for a one-night stopover.” He thought for a moment and then added, “Also, for the inevitable command brief, I will want two or three ships to pick up all the participants at each place and bring them to us at Hartley. Last thing we need is a bunch of ships stampeding in one direction. I want all the ship captains and squadron commanders, but that’s it. They deserve to see their new commander, but I don’t want a Royal Navy reunion. When we get the list of ships from the Zekes, Admiral Wu can do the invites to the briefings. I’ve already told him about the Hartley brief and the need to move everyone in as few ships as possible. I’m sure Wu will do it right. If he doesn’t, that will tell us what his true commitment to this mission is, and we can adjust accordingly.”
Tactical nodded. “I’ll have the ship requirements for each mission to you in an hour.”
Hawkins did have the requirements in less than an hour. He forwarded the list to Admiral Wu with a reminder about the Hartley brief and the need for a small footprint in getting people there.
~ ~ ~
A day from Hartley, Predator received the lists of ships and captains from Admiral Wu on Zelenka. He also said that transportation was being arranged for moving the Royal Navy captains to Hartley. The pirate planners went over the list and found it very acceptable. The Queen and Admiral Wu were giving Hawkins all the support they possibly could. Hawkins came to the conclusion that Admiral Wu was an ally.
Chapter 11
The Royal Navy shuttle settled on one of the three pads behind the palace. On the side was stenciled AES RUBY, the destroyer who owned the shuttle and was now in orbit overhead. Her crew would get one night of liberty on the homeworld. The next day the destroyer would begin the two-day journey back to Hartley with their two passengers back on board.
The engines were reduced to flight idle for twenty seconds and then shut down. Tactical turned in the pilot’s seat and looked at Raferty in the copilot’s seat. He smiled at her. “You want to come in and see the Queen?”
“Oh, hell no,” she answered immediately.
“I’m so glad you gave that due consideration,” he responded.
“I gave it all the consideration it deserved. I’ll be right here when, and if, you come back,” Tactical said.
“Good to know,” he said as he climbed out of the seat and exited the shuttle. Immediately outside the craft, he was met by a secretary to the Queen and an armed guard who saluted smartly. Hawkins replied with a nod to him. They led him to the waiting area outside the Queen’s office. The guard departed and the secretary took a seat behind a large desk and returned to work. Hawkins sat quietly staring at an elaborate door which lead to the Queen’s office.
Ten minutes later, the Queen’s private secretary came through another door and took him through that elaborate door. The secretary quickly and quietly departed once Rafe was inside the door. The Queen was on her computer and switching her attention between her floating screen and papers in front of her on her desktop. She glanced up briefly and noted his presence with no expression whatsoever. She silently pointed to a chair in front of her desk and quickly returned to her task. Raferty took the chair. He crossed his legs at the ankles and placed his elbows on the chair arms. He clasped his hands in front of him and calmly waited. His eyes toured the room. He noted the large image of the destroyer Cobalt, the queen’s old ship, on the far wall. The Queen completely ignored him as she continued her work. He was not offended. These were busy days for everyone.
Now he studied her. She was sharply dressed in a tailored suit of soft green. Her blonde hair was done up in a braid on the back of her head. She was beautiful but looked strained and tired. The war was weighing on her. More probably, the lack of good results in the war was weighing on her. The loss of her best friend didn’t help. The final weight on her was probably not getting the leaders around her to do what needed to be done to win. There were still too many people on their own agenda. There were still too many people supporting incompetent commanders because these commanders were peers, friends, or important family members. There were still too many people who want to win but were not willing to sacrifice any of their personal kingdoms within the government to achieve victory. It occurred to Rafe she had used one of the few arrows she had in support of him. If he failed, it would be her failure also, and she would be finished as far as having a direct input on the military operations of her beloved Navy and Marine Corps. Rafe smiled to himself. He had no intention of letting that happen to her because he had no intention of losing.
He had only met the Queen three times. There was the grateful queen who had invited him to dine with her after the vote on Measure 200 following the Battle of the Electra System. There was the friendly, personable queen who toured his ship and ate with his people on the way to Hartley. Lastly, there was the former naval officer queen who had just returned from one night on her old ship, Cobalt, and missed being in the Royal Navy. Raferty knew he would not be meeting any of those queens today. Today he would be dealing with the Queen of the Aurora Empire, a woman hell-bent on doing what was best for her kingdom and, right now, winning the damn war was number one on that particular list. If you could help in that endeavor, she was your friend. If you couldn’t help, or, worse still, were defeated in this war, the Queen would happily see you staked out on the nearest ant hill. Since Zelenka didn’t have ants, you would have to be taken to a planet that did have the little pests. Not to worry, the Queen would gladly arrange the transportation so you could be smeared in honey and laid out in grand fashion. She would want images taken and posted as a warning to others. Then she would put a curse on you and instantly forget you ever existed.
At that moment the Queen hit several virtual keys on her virtual keyboard and then pressed a real button on her desk. The computer faded away. She now gave Hawkins her full attention. He sat a little straighter in his chair while silently trading looks with her.
“Black Hallow,” she said in an official tone.
“Your Majesty,” he replied in the same tone with a slight nod of his head in deference.
Several seconds passed in silence as they openly regarded each other with neutral expressions. Hawkins did not fidget or sweat but calmly returned her gaze while relaxed in his chair. Eventually, she gave a slight smile to show the stare down was over.
“I’ll say one thing for you. You are a calm one. Most people, especially first-time visitors, are sweating and shifting in their seats after that little exercise.”
Rafe shrugged in indifference. “I would venture a guess that none of those visitors have been shot at as many times as I have.”
Alexis nodded in agreement and smiled for a brief moment. The smile faded and was replaced by a look of quiet desperation. “Can you win something?”
“Yes, I think we can achieve something. You had a chance to look at the plan?”
Alexis nodded. “It is complicated. Why?”
Raferty relaxed in his chair. Now he was talking about a subject he was comfortable with. “There are really only three things in this war that actually matter. They are the same for both sides—the navy, the support for that navy including bases and lines of communication, and the last thing is the home system. Nothing else is that important. Destroy any one of those three, you win the war. I plan on hitting all three. It won’t win the war, but it will serve notice to the idiots on our side about what their damn targets should be. It will also tell the OrCons there is a new aspect to this war, and they will have to take that into account for their future planning.”
Alexis nodded. “So this is a learning experience for our side as much as an attack on the OrCons?”
“Yes, Madam. It is amazing the amount of energy, people, and as
sets that have been wasted on targets that actually mean very little. It is akin to attacking a man and focusing your attack on his little finger. Even if you are successful, it doesn’t mean too much. That’s what has been going on around here. The recent defeat trying to retake the base of Excandor is a good example. That was stupid. Even if the base had been taken back, it is too damaged to be of any use anytime soon. Also, with the organic base defenses destroyed and the heavy ship losses that would have occurred even if the operation had been a success, it would have been easy for the OrCons to get the base back if they made a determined effort to do so.
“Fortunately, the OrCons have the same type of idiots in charge. Their current attack on the Glazomer System proves that. Hopefully, they will push on into the Nugatory Region on the far side of that system. It would take significant enemy forces out of the way and accomplish very little of real value. After their recent victory at Excandor, they should have moved against Home Fleet at Wanderlust or the home system itself. Of course, if they were that bold they would have won the war in the first two months.”
The Queen smiled at Hawkins. “I’m glad you’re not directing their war effort.”
Raferty shrugged. “Just making a few observations. I get tired of seeing good people killed because their leaders are timid and stupid. There are many military people on both sides more concerned about not losing battles rather than winning battles. Winning against an equally matched opponent requires risk. They aren’t willing to take that risk so they hit safe targets while not admitting that the reason those targets are so lightly defended is because they aren’t all that important.
Smoke on the Wind Page 7