Kaufmann turned slightly as he was computing on a floating screen to the right of the view screen. He soon turned back. “Yes, the Zekes can get there at their top speed. The pirates are slowed by their two cripples. If they maintain the same speed as when they departed off the base sensors, we can get them before they can get to the belt.”
Stavka was skeptical. “Once the pirates see us closing on them, won’t they abandon their cripples and run?”
“Probably most pirates would, but not Raferty Hawkins. He would never do that. The variable at play here is whether the Zekes will stop and support the pirates or continue to run and leave them to their fate.”
Now Stavka paused and considered. He had read Skyler Mallory’s biography and evaluation at the outset of the mission. He knew Mallory, left to her own discretion, would never abandon allies, especially allies who had helped her at a very critical time. But she would have to consider the bigger scenario. Despite the lack of communication with the Aurora Empire, Mallory would know this foray against her here in the Badlands would be a small part of a major offensive against her home kingdom. She would know her ships and crews must be saved for future operations against the Orion Confederation. She would have a tough decision to make.
Stavka remarked, “It would be interesting to put her in that position and see how she reacts.
Kaufmann wanted this done. “Regardless of where they run or how they reconstitute their forces, let us continue the pursuit and bring this to a successful conclusion.”
“Agreed.” The admirals signed off.
Admiral Stavka returned to the flag bridge. He looked at Captain Korlov as he took his command chair. “We push the pursuit and bring this to a conclusion as soon as possible.”
Korlov nodded in response.
Chapter 44
Captain Mallory turned in her seat and looked at her OpsO. Commander Cassidy could feel the eyes on her and looked up from her station.
“They’re chasing us. We should stay on their sensors for six hours before our speed gets us enough separation. They will then pick up the pirates at that time. It is going as planned.”
Sky nodded and smiled. “I’d tell you to keep on it to ensure all the timing remains valid, but I already know you’ll do that. Timing is everything here. I wish we knew if there were enemy reinforcements coming other than the Rosstrappe convoy. If there are pop up Goth ships, things get complicated.”
“We’ve calculated the route and speed of the force coming from Rosstrappe. If they stay with the supply ships, we should be all right. Of course, we have no idea of their initial course. We are assuming they will be in constant communication with our nearby friends and adjusting course to complete a running rendezvous.”
“I agree. But now our friends have us on sensors and will tell the Rosstrappe gang. Even if they are travelling at slow supply ship speed, I bet they will split forces and leave a few escorts with the supply ships and send the others to intercept us if feasible.”
“I’ll compute where the relief convoy would be at slow freighter speed from Rosstrappe, figure out time of transmission if the word went out about us as soon as we were spotted, and then figure out how fast it would take the escorts to get to us if they left the convoy and came toward our projected position at top speed.”
“Sounds good. Hopefully, there are no other significant forces in the area.”
“On it,” Cassidy turned away and Sky turned back to her computer screen.
Chapter 45
Pirate Flotilla One moved at a reduced speed away from Harper’s Reef and toward the Nomad asteroid belt. All ships reported combat ready with minimum damage. Shields were being recharged. Missile magazines were being refilled. Crews ate and got as much rest as possible. A slight tension floated through all the ships. Few people knew the actual plan but everyone knew another fight was in the offing. And very soon. And this would be the fight that would end this current campaign. Everything else had been a prelude to this, a shaping of the battlefield and the enemy to bring about this fight at a time and place of their choosing.
Hawkins swiveled in his chair and stared at Tactical at work at her station. She continued to work. Rafe continued to stare. Without looking up or stopping her work she spoke. “Quit staring at me.”
“I want to talk but am waiting for a break in your work ... which you seem determined not to provide.”
She continued to work and continued not to look at him. “Let me anticipate the discussion. First, we are on track time wise. The Zekes are also, and we should appear on the GorCon sensors at about the same time as the Zekes outrun it, roughly six hours from now. We still don’t have any Intel on likely reinforcements other than the Rosstrappe convoy. We are assuming the relief convoy is travelling at the speed of supply ships and not at the faster speed of navy units.”
Rafe spoke up as Tactical took a slight pause in her narrative. “We need to assume the escorts will leave the convoy behind once they get word the GorCons have the Zekes on sensors, and the Reef video shows us in the attack there. Knowing the location of both enemy forces will force the Goths to move all available ships toward us.”
Tactical now looked at him in surprise. “Gee, I wish I had thought of that.” She then let a couple seconds pass. “Wait! I did think of it. We will get to the asteroid belt before any Rosstrappe ships can cut us off. They will arrive there an hour or so late, assuming we have calculated their speed correctly. We need to complete our fight before they show up. I hope the GorCons don’t want to share credit, and they commit to fighting us before reinforcements get on station.”
“I hope so too,” Hawkins agreed quietly. “Good work.” They nodded at each other, exchanged smiles, and then each turned back to waiting computer screens.
Chapter 46
Vindictive and Bandit departed Lorelei for Marblefall. They maintained best speed to their destination. Delacruz knew the brothers would warn their cousin and he would take some sort of measures either to prepare for defense or to depart off planet. Delacruz wasn’t worried. He knew there were eyes on Fred Halder every second, and these spies were getting word back to Delacruz on a regular basis. He had received several reports already. As of the last report, Halder was still unaware he had been found but this would change with the arrival of the warning from his cousins. Delacruz had considered not talking to the cousins to keep the warning from going out, but he decided to stop to get an explanation from the elder brother. If he didn’t like the explanation, he would have killed the brother and saved himself a later trip. Now he was convinced the brothers had nothing to do with this. A warning to Fred Halder was a small price to pay for a clean conscience, especially when the warning to Fred would accomplish very little.
During the nine-hour trip to Marblefall, Shane had received two messages. The first stated there had been a change in Fred Halder’s routine. During his stay of eight days in Sonoma, Halder’s standard daily procedure had been drinking, eating, whoring, and sleeping it off only to do it all again the next day. Now it was obvious he had been warned of the imminent arrival of pirates bent on revenge. First, he had visited his ship at the orbiting space dock. No doubt, he hoped it could be put back together in a few hours, and he could depart with as much of his crew as he could find on short notice. Delacruz had known this was not possible. Halder’s ship, Firestorm, was in for a major overhaul and several major components were disassembled. There was no possible way to put the ship together in a short time and make it space worthy. Fred would have to find another way off the planet.
Fred Halder then proceeded to four locations and was seen talking to friends in an intense manner. All the friends were seen shaking their heads and ending the conversation as soon as possible. Obviously, word had spread about what had happened and what was about to happen. Word travels fast and nobody wanted to get in the middle of this. Everyone knew Hell was on its way and Hell didn’t much care who got burned down in the process. Fred Halder found he had no friends who would transport
him off planet.
Fred now tried to buy a commercial ticket off planet from the two space travel services who offered transportation to other planets in the system. Fred had chosen Marblefall for his overhaul because it was out of the way with a small population, lax laws, and a tradition of everyone minding their own business. This now worked against him as he had few options and no takers. Raferty Hawkins had seen this coming and had the people shadowing Halder inform the two transportation services that helping Fred Halder would be viewed with displeasure by Pirate Flotilla One and this displeasure would be acted upon at the earliest opportunity. Both services found they were booked solid for the immediate future, and no seat could be found for him.
Fred now returned to his room and packed his bags. He stopped at two other rooms in the hotel to try to talk to several of his crewmembers, but he found they had checked out in a hurry without a word as to their destination. With his bags, he went to train station and bought a ticket to Yarrow, the largest city on Marblefall. Two men immediately behind him in line bought tickets to the same place, and ten minutes later, all three men were aboard the departing air train. The trip was three hours.
Upon arrival in Yarrow, one of the two men completed a call back to an associate in Sonoma giving the location of Fred Halder. The associate then sent a message to Shane Delacruz informing him on the new location of his quarry. Then this man departed for Yarrow to join his two associates.
Six hours after receiving the message on Halder’s change of routine, the two pirate ships entered orbit above the planet of Marblefall. They would pass over the city of Sonoma before setting up a matching orbit over Yarrow. Sonoma was the major spaceport for Marblefall and the location of the shipyard doing work on Halder’s Firestorm. Shane looked at the many ships in the spaceport and decided to take advantage of this opportunity.
“Scan below. I want to know if there are any captains in harbor or the orbiting docks who we would know and would keep their mouths shut.”
His operations officer did the scan, both visually and through the port records. “A couple of traders who we know slightly. Not sure I trust them to shut up.” He then visibly brightened. “Oh, here’s the answer. Prairie Dog is down there.”
Everyone on the bridge smiled. Prairie Dog was a small old freighter that had been plying the Badlands for years. Her captain was Kit Kinkaid, a large, loud, uninhibited woman, who said exactly what she was thinking, could drink with the best of them, could cheat much better than the people who tried to cheat her, and hated all authority. If you treated her right, she treated you right. If not, she would badmouth you until the end of time, or until she got her revenge whichever came first. She had carried cargo for Flotilla One many times. Every trip was completed on time and the cargo was always intact. She was never late, never skimmed, and never ran her mouth. She ensured her small crew operated the same way. She got along well with all the Flot 1 captains, even Killian O’Hare. This last feat was the one that impressed Delacruz the most.
“Who are we today?” Delacruz asked, slightly annoyed with himself for not remembering.
“McCampbell,” replied his operations officer. He knew the captain had other things on his mind. “Should I give them a call?”
Shane was going to do it but decided to delegate. He nodded.
His operation officer got on comm and in his best Edinburgh accent called Prairie Dog on the open net. He quickly established a link with visual, went covered, and passed control to his captain.
“How can I help you, McCampbell?” Kit’s gravelly voice betrayed her open distain for the supposed pirate disguise.
“Hello, Kit.” Delacruz couldn’t help but smile at her.
Kinkaid’s voice assumed a soprano level of mock surprise on seeing Delacruz. “Oh my! Pirates! I was so taken in by your deviously clever disguise, you fiends you!” Her broad face portrayed no surprise whatsoever.
Shane had to laugh along with all crewmembers in hearing range. It was one of the few times he had smiled of late. “Were you betting on it being me, O’Hare, or Hawkins?”
She took on a serious tone. “I knew it would be you. I understand the rules. You get revenge first. I’m the one who responded to your inquiries on who was spending money around here they shouldn’t have had.”
Shane was a bit startled but then realized it all made sense. Hawkins would have paid for the information, but Kinkaid would have been motivated by more than that. She wouldn’t have liked the fact Fred Halder had fingered the Charlie house for the Goths and OrCons. She couldn’t justify women and kids as targets, and she hated Goths. Nobody knew why, but the hatred burned bright. She always minded her own business, but she also always kept track of all the activity in her immediate area. She would know if someone was doing something that couldn’t be explained.
Shane was grateful. “I thank you for that, Kit.”
Kinkaid nodded and moved on. She wasn’t big on emotion. “What can I do for the good ship McCampbell today?”
“I understand Fred’s ship, Firestorm, is in drydock down there.”
“Yep, and she is seriously cold tits, too. Couldn’t resurrect her anytime soon for love or money.”
Titanium was the primary metal used in most ships. For decades, the term cold titanium meant the engines were secured and the ship was not generating any of her own power. Over the years, this slang term was shortened to cold tits when the ship had multiple engines or simply cold tit when it was a single engine vessel.
Shane nodded at the information. “I heard the same. Do you know what is being done to her?”
“I hear a complete overhaul. It’s being done quickly, but she still has several days left. They do good work here. She’ll come out looking good and running good.”
Shane looked grim. “I’m counting on that. I’m taking that ship when the work is done.”
Kinkaid nodded in response. “The two cousins will be here for it soon enough, and they might object.”
Delacruz noticed she didn’t mention Fred. She was assuming Fred would be too dead to object to the transaction. He smiled grimly. “All the better. Can you find out when she is scheduled to come out of the docks? Also any of his crew around to make trouble?”
“His crew grabbed their money and scattered. They moved fast. I suspect they didn’t know what was going on as far as selling information on your house and only learned about it from people here who learned about your search for information on Firestorm. The crew knows the rules, and they know they are a legitimate target for revenge regardless of what they knew at the time. They have scattered to the winds or gone deep underground. I doubt any of them will admit to being on Firestorm let alone helping Fred Halder.” Kinkaid smiled at that thought and then she added, “When I find out the timetable for Firestorm’s release, I’ll send you a coded gram.”
“Thanks, Kit. I owe you one.”
“No you don’t. Bastard has it coming, and I’m glad I could help.”
Shane signed off and the two pirate ships proceeded to an orbit over Yarrow. There were few ships here as planet law required all cargo be unloaded at Sonoma and clear port authority and customs. Once in orbit, a shuttle departed from each ship and dropped to the spaceport on the outskirts of the city. A large cargo air car met the shuttles on the pad. The air car’s driver got out and lifted the rear door of his vehicle. He waited as the engines of both shuttles wound down and stopped. Each shuttle discharged four individuals with Captains Delacruz and Legrand in the lead. One man had a large narrow canvas bag hanging by straps from his shoulders. Nods were exchanged but no names. Seven of the people entered the rear of the air car and Delacruz moved to sit next to the driver. The driver was one of the three men following Fred Halder. He settled into the driver’s seat. The driver got down to business as Delacruz strapped in.
“Two men are watching him. He’s in a small hotel in the center of the industrial district. I think he is hoping to lay low and trying to stay alive long enough to get off the planet wit
h help from his cousins or a really stupid friend. He knew you were coming so he thinks if he can hide in a deep hole he can outlast you until he can arrange a getaway or rescue.” The voice was gruff and no nonsense in tone. This was a man who had done tracking and stalking jobs for years. He would have finished the job if paid for it, but he knew the particulars here and understood he wouldn’t get that task except as a last resort.
“He got any allies or paid help in the area?” Delacruz matched his directness and intensity.
“Not that we could see as of yet. He did a bunch of calling and visiting people a couple of days back but not now. Don’t think too many people want in on this upcoming wreck. The story is out on him and nobody wants even a sniff of this. Now his comm is off and untrackable so he has taken the batteries out of his personal gear. Wouldn’t do that if he was expecting a call from someone who could bail him out of this. He’s on his own and he knows it. He is armed and holed up in a corner room with a fire escape out one window and a clear view of the front door of the hotel out of the other window. There is a back entrance. Wouldn’t be surprised if he has bribed some members of the hotel to call him if anything out of the ordinary happened within the hotel, or if any strangers showed up.”
Shane nodded. He had expected something like this and had prepared for it. He had enough people to cover all exits and win any shootout with the desperate man. He would prefer to get him out of his room vice having to go into it to get him. He would study the situation and formulate a plan based on his recon of the area. The vehicle entered the Yarrow city limits. The city was teeming with people as the growth in population has outstripped the growth of the infrastructure. The car slowed as it maneuvered through the pedestrian traffic. The people in the vehicle scanned their surroundings in silence. Hands rested near weapons stored out of sight. Every person who passed close to the plodding vehicle was observed intently until the individual continued on. Any unusual movement was immediately locked onto. Delacruz idly noted the tension in the cabin. It was always that way. Pirates only felt comfortable aboard ship. Whenever they were in the vicinity of others or in unfamiliar surroundings, every pirate was on guard, prepared to react to any threat, real or imagined. Survival was a continuous task. Delacruz worried the pedestrian traffic would complicate the attack on Halder. He was happy when the car pushed through the downtown area and into the industrial sector. This was the oldest area of Yarrow. It was the first part of the city to be settled over a century ago. The large industrial expanse rested on the river that provided the transportation route for the early industry of agriculture and still served as a main transportation artery for the region. The crowds thinned out rapidly as the van went further into the warehouse district. There was nothing here but factories and warehouses. All was quiet in the afternoon as it was the first day of the planet’s three-day time off for workers.
Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Page 23