Smoke on the Wind

by Sean Benjamin

  ~ ~ ~

  Kit Kinkaid sold Prairie Dog for scrap. She and her crew were sad about that, but there was nothing else to be done. The Dog had been a good ship, but she was beyond old, and it was time. Kinkaid and her people now had a new ship. Well, at least it was new to them. The former pirate ship Vampire was now a hauler for hire under Kinkaid’s ownership. Two contracts from Flot 1 helped ensure the ship got off to a good start. Since Vampire had sailed under several names and registrations while doing pirate business, nobody had any qualms about renaming her again. Kit and her crew remembered their recent ship when they renamed their new vessel Hound Dog. Of course, they immediately took to calling her The Dog. After two days of celebrating their good fortune, they set sail in her as they began their first job, hungover but happy.

  Kit Kinkaid was working at the desk in her cabin. She kicked back for a moment and smiled as she caught sight of the memento on display on the bulkhead above her desk, a dagger with the name GAWAIN etched onto the blade. Raferty had purchased daggers for all the crew of Gawain. Kit received them three days ago from Shane Delacruz upon their return to the Badlands. She had distributed them to her crewmembers who had been in that ship with her. The daggers had been big hits with everyone. Her people could now back up tales of their daring exploits during their pirate days with actual proof. Even now, everyone on the ship who had been on the mission had their trusty daggers strapped to their bodies.

  Rafe had included a letter that said he had given daggers to the pirate crewmembers who would stay with Gawain and the ship was being renamed Banshee so the Gawain daggers were for a select group of crewmembers that would never grow in number. He had included a copy of the purchasing invoice. Kit had kept the form and now took it out of a desk drawer. The paper showed seventy-three daggers had been rush ordered on the surface base at Wanderlust. Rafe had taken delivery of them just prior to his departure for Zelenka. Twenty-eight daggers had been forwarded to Kinkaid, one each for her, the twenty-five surviving crewmembers, and the families of the two dead men who had been part of Kit’s contingent in Gawain. She had distributed the daggers and sent the two daggers to the families of the deceased men.

  There had been written notations, in Raferty Hawkins’ handwriting, on the back of the form about the distribution of the other daggers to crewmembers remaining with Gawain as part of Flot 1. A list of crewmember’s names, including the dead, had been written out. A check mark was put next to each one. Kit assumed it was to indicate the delivery of a dagger to each pirate or to the families of the dead.

  The first time Kinkaid had seen the list, she had written in her own crewmembers next to the original written roster. Now, for the third time, she added the numbers. She got the same answer as before. Including her crew, there were seventy-two names listed, but, according to the invoice, there were seventy-three daggers ordered. One dagger was not accounted for. Captain Maclyn Yardley’s name was not on the list.

  Kit recalled the trauma on the bridge of Gawain. Yardley was badly wounded and could have easily died at that time. Quick action had kept her alive aboard Gawain. Kinkaid was sure they had her stabilized and thought she had a good chance of survival, only to hear later she had died onboard Cockeyed Bob. Despite Kinkaid’s interactions with Hawkins and his people after the battle, nothing had been said to her about Yardley and her supposed fate. Yardley’s belongings had been transferred to Predator while at Wanderlust. During the repairs and the weddings, nobody had mentioned Maclyn Yardley. Kit had taken Gawain home with the other freighters and had been given Vampire.

  Then came the daggers. Kit was positive the inclusion of the invoice with the list on the back in Raferty’s own handwriting was not a coincidence. There was no reason to give her the invoice or include the list of names, but Hawkins had done exactly that. He always had a reason for everything he did. Rafe knew she would add the numbers. Kit smiled as she regarded the list. She would have to ask the pirate leader about the dagger discrepancy sometime. Not soon, but sometime.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Michelle Yankton?”

  “Here.” Maclyn Yardley hesitated for just a moment before responding. She was still getting used to the name and had barely heard the voice above the noise of the crowded floating dock.

  A heavy-set man with a long, full beard moved through the passing horde of people before stopping before her. “Jeremiah McCovey, ma’am. I’m from Camelback. She is two slips down from here.” He extended his hand with a smile. “Welcome aboard, First Officer.”

  Yardley shook the hand and smiled back. “Thank you. It is a pleasure to be joining you.”

  He nodded and reached down for her bag on the deck. “They’ll need your papers as soon as you board. We break seal in two hours for Signe in the Electra System. Long trip. You’ll have plenty of time to get snapped in.” He smiled at her again. “Camelback is a good ship with a fine captain and crew. We stay busy—always got cargo and places to deliver it. Sometimes, it’s hard to believe there is a war on. I know you’ll be happy with us.”

  Yardley smiled back again. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  He hefted her bag up on to his shoulder and turned to lead the way through the crowd. As she followed her new shipmate to her new home, she opened the small, flat satchel that hung at her side and reached for a folder with her first officer papers, qualifications, and her professional history. Taking out the folder exposed the item underneath. The glint of metal caught her eye, and a smile rippled across her face. A dagger with the name GAWAIN etched in the blade rested at the bottom of the case. She had found it there with the fake papers when the pirates returned her possessions to her from Gawain. She knew what ship daggers meant in Flot 1 so was surprised and heartened by the discovery. Maybe, just maybe, Raferty Hawkins forgave her, at least a little.

  ~ ~ ~

  The monthly briefing was almost over as Admiral Hochstadt was giving final instructions to several staff officers. The admirals in charge of each of Third Fleet’s squadrons were stowing their briefing disks and equipment in preparation for departure. A young operations officer entered and hurriedly placed a paper in Captain Bergman’s hand. The Fleet OpsO began reading. His face went from neutral to a frown to a deeper frown to incredulous. Hochstadt followed the transformations and when Bergman looked up, she cocked an eyebrow in a silent question.

  Bergman took a deep breath before summarizing the paper. “It appears Raferty Hawkins has followed up his victories for the Zekes with a bigger personal triumph. He has married Queen Alexis I, monarch of the Aurora Empire. They are concluding their short honeymoon on Zelenka and all indications are he is returning to the Badlands aboard his ship Predator. There is no intel as to whether any Royal Navy forces are accompanying him.”

  This information was met with amazed silence. Finally, someone started to laugh. Everyone turned to find the source of the amused reaction. Admiral Erich Dietrich stopped laughing just as everyone was figuring out it was him.

  He looked at Hochstadt. “That guy is good at what he does but he is also the luckiest son of a bitch in the galaxy.” He shook his head slightly and continued. “I don’t see how we can kill him now. If we do kill him, we had better hope the Aurora Empire loses their war. If they win, we will be armpit deep in battle-hardened Royal Navy ships looking for a fight.”

  Hochstadt nodded at that true statement. She knew she couldn’t let Hawkins run wild, and she couldn’t kill him without creating a major incident. She would have to give this some thought.

  Upon the meeting’s end, all squadron commanders returned to their flagships in the space harbor. Admiral Muller of Green Squadron quickly had his flagship, Luchs, depart the port and, once clear, immediately accelerated to maximum speed heading toward her patrol area.

  ~ ~ ~

  Viktor Aurick, Emperor of the Goldenes Tor, finished scanning the same intel updates that were the subject of the discussion at Rosstrappe. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as he thought through all the ramifications
of what he had just read. He looked at the situation from a variety of angles but came to the conclusion there just wasn’t enough data available at this time to develop a reasonable response to this most unusual royal union. With the return of Raferty Hawkins, he knew he had to address the situation in the Badlands. The pirate, now queen’s consort, had survived for years so Viktor was inclined to think he would be just fine but, life being what it is, the poor bastard would probably get himself killed now just to complicate things. Viktor wasn’t sure why, but he sensed opportunity here. He reread the intel reports on the marriage and the subsequent written conclusions by his various advisors. He considered them wrong, but that was hardly new. He had never met Queen Alexis but had his own opinion about this royal marriage. Opinions were fine, but facts were better. He turned to his official scribe who also functioned as his private secretary, man Friday, and general sounding board. He was the closest thing to a confidant Viktor had. The Emperor looked at him for a few seconds and then issued one terse order. “Find out everything there is to know about Raferty Hawkins.”

  Glossary

  Admin - Administrative.

  AOR - See area of responsibility.

  Area of responsibility - A geographical area assigned to a military unit to secure and control. Commonly referred to by its initials AOR.

  ASAP - As soon as possible.

  Bogey - An unknown sensor contact. Friend or foe still to be determined. Sometimes spelled bogie.

  Bulkhead - Naval term for a wall, in particular the walls of a ship dividing the ship into compartments.

  Burgh - Edinburgh solar systems and the natives thereof.

  Chairman of the military establishment - Highest uniformed person in the Aurora armed forces. Commonly referred to as the CME, pronounced See Me.

  CIC - See combat information center.

  Close hold - Slang for operational security.

  CME - See chairman of the military establishment.

  CO - Commanding officer.

  Cold titanium - A ship at dock or adrift in space with engines secured and generating no power. Slang term is cold tits.

  Cold tits - See cold titanium.

  Combat information center (CIC) - A shipboard compartment with stations for sensors, communication, shipboard systems monitoring, weapons control, etc. It is the nerve center of the ship. On larger ships, CIC is located near the bridge so the captain can move easily between the two. On smaller ships, CIC and the bridge would be one compartment.

  Comm - Communication, communications.

  Cyclic rate of fire - Firing a weapon as fast as possible.

  Earth day - Twenty-four-hour period running midnight to midnight. Planets have different rotations resulting in different lengths of days. Earth days are used in space to ensure all ships are using the same universal unit for the measurement for time. Also called an eday or standard day. Same principle also applies to earth hour (ehour) and earth year (eyear).

  Eday - See earth day.

  Ehour - See earth day.

  Evac - Evacuation.

  Executive officer - Second in command of a ship or unit. The executive officer is responsible for the oversight of the administrative work of the unit, and he/she is considered the enforcer of discipline. In short, the commander is the nice guy, and the executive officer is the hard guy. Executive officers often move up to be commanders in their own right. Commonly called by the initials XO.

  Eyear - See earth day.

  Flag officer - Generals or admirals are called flag officers because they have their own flags adorned with the appropriate emblem of their rank. These flags fly at their headquarters or are displayed aboard ships if the officer is present.

  Flag rank - See flag officer.

  Flagpole officer - Disparaging slang term for officers who spend the majority of their careers at headquarters or rear area establishments working for high-ranking officers and other power brokers in an attempt to be noticed and to gain powerful patrons. They only come out to the operating forces to command so as to get the "command" check mark on their records. Term comes from the fact there is always a flagpole at headquarters buildings, and they are never far from it.

  Freq/Freqs - Frequency, frequencies.

  FTF - Face to face.

  Hallie - Slang term for a hallucinate tattoo.

  Hallucinate tattoo - A tattoo on the body that changes when it is viewed from different angles. When the body muscles flex or move, the tattoo changes.

  Head - Naval term for a bathroom.

  Identify friend or foe (IFF) - An identification number assigned to each ship. This number will appear on the screen of a sensor when the sensor scans that ship. Slang term is squawk.

  IFF - See identify friend or foe.

  Intel - See intelligence.

  Intelligence - Information gleaned from all sources that gives insight into other forces operations, weapons, methods, and SOPs. Usually, this information is thought of as applying to the enemy, but it actually applies to everyone including your own forces, neutral forces, and civilian/commercial entities. Commonly called intel.

  IntelO - Short for Intelligence Officer.

  Kilometer (km) - A measure of distance based on the metric system. It is 1000 meters long. A meter is just less than 40 inches. One kilometer is 5/8 or .62 of a statute mile so 100 km is approximately 62 miles.

  Klick - Slang for kilometer.

  Letters of Marque and Reprisal - A government permit given to private individual(s) to take property from a foreign state or its citizens as reparations for injury caused by that state.

  Log dogs - Slang for logistics personnel.

  Logistics personnel - Crewmembers responsible for obtaining and distributing material and supplies needed for unit use or mission accomplishment.

  LZ - Short for landing zone.

  Merge - When two opposing missile volleys pass through each other on their way to their targets.

  Midrats - Slang for midnight rations. Food put out on the mess decks just prior to midnight so the oncoming midnight to 0400 watchstanders can eat and, shortly after, the watch coming off at midnight can eat before retiring.

  Net - Term for communication network with multiple units on one communication channel for command-and-control coordination.

  Noisemakers - Slang term for small decoys used to imitate a ship’s engine emissions and heat to fool long-range sensors.

  OD - See officer of the deck.

  Officer of the deck - A senior crewmember put in charge of the ship in the absence of the captain. Exercises all the authority of the captain. Commonly called by the initials OD.

  Operational security - Keeping plans, operations, methods of operation, SOPs, capabilities, and other relevant information restricted to the people who need to know. No discussions with outside sources. Commonly called OpSec. Slang term is close hold.

  Operations officer - Person in charge of planning and carrying out the operations for the ship or unit. Usually, he/she is the third in command after the CO and XO. Commonly called the OpsO or Ops.

  Ops - See operations officer.

  OpSec - See operational security.

  OpsO - See operations officer.

  Overhead - Naval term for ceiling, particularly aboard ship.

  P4 - See personal for.

  Personal for - A private message sent between commanders that bypasses normal communications channels so nobody else can read/hear it. Often used to convey bad news or to discuss personal or embarrassing topics. Commonly called a P4.

  Rack - Naval term for a bed.

  Return to force - Friendly units returning to friendly territory or joining other friendly units. Usually requires following a given route and having current IFF codes and passwords. These procedures keep enemy units from coming into friendly territory or approaching friendly units by impersonating friendly forces. Often referred to as RTF procedures.

  Rikki tikki - Carry out a task in a fast, direct manner.

  RTF procedures - See return to
force.

  Sitreps - See situation reports.

  Situation reports - Reports sent to higher headquarters or other units as required to keep them informed on the situation and the status of the sending units. Units send them on a regular basis or as required by circumstances. Usually, the report has an established format that is filled in to ensure all aspects of operations, logistics, personnel, intelligence, etc. are covered. Commonly called sitreps.

  Snakes - Slang for the Mamba class destroyers of the Marbellan Space Navy.

  SOP/SOPs - See standard operating procedures.

  Squawk - See identify friend or foe (IFF).

  Standard day - See earth day.

  Standard operating procedures - Established procedures which all members of an organization know so as to reduce briefing times and, when faced with any given situation, all members will react in a given way so the response is coordinated and cohesive. Commonly called by the initials SOPs.

  Table of organization - A list stating the number of people, their rank, and the number and type of equipment a military unit should have. Commonly called the T/O.

  Tac screen - Slang for tactical screen. Screen brought up on computer that shows all sensor returns so as to show the current situation.

  T/O - See table of organization.

  United Against Slavery (UAS) - Organization headquartered in the Aurora Empire dedicated to the eradication of slavery throughout the universe using peaceful protests, economic boycotts, and lobbying for new laws.

  Vacuum - Slang for outer space.

  White phones - System used to listen for ships in subspace and used by ships in subspace to listen for ships in real space. Akin to present day sonar.

  XO - See executive officer.

  About the Author

  Sean Benjamin is the pen name for the author. He has two sons named Sean and Ben who live in Australia. He resides in Las Vegas with his lovely wife, Lynnda, and one new cat who wandered into the yard and never wandered out. He is a retired Marine Corps pilot who fought in Desert Shield/Desert Storm and cruised on navy ships a lot.