Echoes from Yesterday: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 4

by Sean Benjamin

  Hawkins sat and considered this brief episode. He was always keenly aware of his limitations of command. Pirates were independent by nature and resented authority as a reflexive response. As a result, when it came to the behavior of his crew and others in the flotilla, he tended to overlook many things. This was not one of them. With regard to his ship and her combat readiness, he overlooked nothing and tolerated no shortcomings. Over his years in command, he had shoved a few people out of airlocks because they continually refused to meet his high standards and commitment to combat excellence. He never regretted those actions. He and his crew had to have high standards and the ongoing discipline to maintain those standards in a universe short of friends, allies, home planets, and escape pods.

  A crewmember leaving his battle station and breaking airtight security by opening hatches as he wandered around the ship was unacceptable. He knew he had to talk to Reed about this. Then he glanced at Tactical who was engulfed in work at her station. He suddenly realized he wouldn’t have to do anything at all. She had given no indication she had even noticed Reed had been on the bridge, but Hawkins knew her well and could read her body language and the set of her features. She would address the problem herself. Despite Mason Reed’s transgression, Hawkins felt sorry for him. But only a little bit. Not enough to warn him of the oncoming storm headed directly at him.

  Hawkins turned back to face forward as he dismissed Mason Reed from his mind. “Secure from general quarters. Eli, bring the ship about and lay in the course from the OpsO. Ahead two thirds until everyone has joined up and then best possible speed. We have places to be.”

  Predator set a base course as the other ships of Pirate Flotilla One moved to join with Alpha Squadron. Soon all ships were in one formation. Predator sped up to the maximum sustained speed for the freighters. The formation set course for the Electra System.

  Chapter 13

  Mason Reed opened his compartment hatch in response to the knock. He stepped back to let Tactical enter and then closed the hatch behind her. She stopped in the center of the small area of his stateroom and turned to face Reed. He moved to her and spoke softly and earnestly. “Strange experience being in aft steering. I was down in engineering when I first came onboard and then I was in command when we were raiding in the Badlands while you and Rafe were on Zelenka, so this was my first ship-to-ship action as XO and being in aft steering. Weird feeling being closed in down there. I was worried about you. I’m glad it went fine.” He placed his hands lightly on her shoulders.

  Tactical gave a hint of a smile as she nodded in response to his words. “We had a good plan and executed it well. The Goths weren’t expecting any serious engagement on this border so they were easy pickings.”

  She flashed a gentle smile now and moved closer to him with an invitation in her eyes. They melted into each other’s arms. The close proximity quickly built up the heat between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck as her smile widened. Reed held her so close he could feel her heart beating against his chest. He returned the smile and lowered his head slightly to her face. He gave her a soft, lingering kiss.

  She gave him a hard, swift knee to the groin.

  Reed collapsed to the deck like a house of cards in a stiff breeze. He curled up on his left side in a semi fetal position. Tactical reached down and grabbed his right ear lobe between her left thumb and forefinger.

  She leaned near him and spoke into the ear in a low, threatening growl. “If you ever abandon your battle station, come to the bridge and embarrass me like that again, I will personally kick your ass all the way back to aft steering and then break both your kneecaps so you’ll stay put. Do you hear me?”

  Reed managed to wheeze out a few words. “Tactical, I…”

  She squeezed his ear lobe so hard her thumbnail started to draw blood. “Do you hear me?!”

  Reed nodded several times quickly. Now two body locations really hurt.

  Tactical made one final threat. “Never again or I will end you.”

  She let go of his ear and departed through their shared head to her stateroom, slamming the hatches at each end of the head along the way. Reed lay on the deck trying to draw in a breath. He managed to pull himself up and crawl to his rack. Then he eased up and onto the flat, soft surface where he laid as he waited for the pain to subside. “Good thing she likes me,” he thought. “Otherwise I might be dead now.”

  Hawkins’ stateroom was just forward of Tactical’s stateroom with only the bulkhead between them. He was lying on his rack to catch a few minutes of quiet before assuming the watch on the bridge. From there, Hawkins heard both hatches slam within five seconds of each other. He shook his head as he knew exactly what had happened. Tactical had just addressed the Mason Reed problem. He knew Reed would not be dead but would be hurting.

  Reed had always been a ladies’ man. His smooth style, good looks, quick wit, and confident demeanor had worked for him with a variety of women in many locations. That was part of the problem between him and Tactical. Reed continued to think that method would get the job done with Tactical when it was clear it would only get him so far. Tactical was not like any other woman and Reed had no plan B. He surely should have seen what would happen after his bridge visit. No way would Tactical let that pass without a reaction. Tactical would always be independent and would always have concerns other than Reed. This ship and this crew being chief among them. Tactical placed the wellbeing of this ship and this crew above Reed. He needed to learn he was not the center of her universe and never would be. Tactical would always be Tactical and, if any adjustments were needed, it would have to be Reed doing the majority of it.

  ~ ~ ~

  An hour later, there was a knock at the hatch on Tactical’s side of the head. Tactical was seated at her desk and looked up from her computer toward the closed hatch. Could only be one person. Reed was coming over from his stateroom through the head. Tactical wasn’t sure she could trust herself not to hit him again. She had not been this angry in a long time. She had been less angry at several people she had killed over the years. This was a personal anger directed at someone she felt had embarrassed her and betrayed her trust and judgment. She sighed. This meeting had to happen, so it might as well be now. “Come.”

  Mason Reed opened the hatch and limped in. He nodded at her. “Good shot. Did not even remotely see that coming.”

  Tactical turned in her seat. “I did not see you being so stupid as to wander around a ship that was at battle stations so we’re even.”

  They stared at each other. Reed nodded toward Tactical’s rack and Tactical nodded in return. Reed took a few slow steps to it and sat down heavily.

  He took a deep breath. “You’re right. I was wrong to do it.”

  Tactical sighed and shook her head at him. “What I don’t get is why you did it. You’ve been in space fights before. You know how Raferty runs a ship. No way is that kind of maneuver going to be overlooked. He hasn’t talked to you yet because he let me handle it, so he doesn’t have to. If he handled it, he might have had to put you dirtside for that little stunt.”

  Reed stared at the deck for several moments as Tactical calmly waited. He looked up and stared at her. “Okay. I am going to be honest here.” Tactical felt the urge to make a caustic comment but kept silent. She sensed this was one of many moments-of-truth their relationship needed. They were both still trying to figure it out. Given the weight of their past association and the nature of working closely in space over long periods, there would be several such moments-of-truth needed for their relationship to have a chance at success and she wanted it to happen. She waited quietly as he searched for the words. Finally Reed spoke. “I didn’t come to the bridge to congratulate anyone or cheer the troops on. I came to the bridge to make sure you were alright.”

  Tactical meant to respond but Reed held up his hand and continued. “As the lead ship in the attack, we took several hits in the beginning of the fight. I know all my instruments showed the hull was still airtight and w
e had only light damage. I didn’t care what the sensors showed. I knew intellectually that everything was fine but I had to see you with my own eyes. I was cooped up in that cage known as aft steering and my imagination was running wild. I had to know. Once I got to the bridge and saw there was no problem, I felt really stupid so I just ran my mouth for a few seconds and got out of there.” He stared at her intently. “I promise you, it will never, ever happen again.” He paused. “Unless we do take a lot of real damage and then I will be up there in a heartbeat.”

  Tactical showed nothing, but she was surprised at the confession. Always before his expressions of concern for her had been in the form of a joke or a shrug of the shoulders after a half-hearted compliment. This was something new. She responded gently. “We were in combat in Bandit several times.”

  Reed nodded. “It was different. We were both in Ops. We were both on the bridge there. I had eyes on you the whole time and if something bad happened, it would probably happen to both of us. I could live with that. Hell, I could have died with that too. At least we were together. I guess I just don’t like being apart when we are in combat. I feel damn safe in aft steering and I want you to be as safe as me.”

  Tactical rose and moved to sit next to Reed on the rack. “We are in this together now. We take our chances and what happens, happens. You’re the XO, second in command of a combat vessel. If something happens to the bridge, you will be in command. Your concern is the ship. If you abandon your post and rush to the bridge, you had better hope I’m dead. If I’m not, I will shoot you and take command myself.”

  Reed smiled at her. “Mutiny in the middle of a battle, OpsO?”

  She smiled back. “Seen it done. Won’t like doing it, but it would have to happen if you abandon your post again while we are in battle. I promise I will shoot you.”

  Reed nodded at her. “I’ll keep it in mind in case I get the urge to visit the bridge again. In the meantime, please forgive my recent actions.”

  “You’re not forgiven yet, but I do appreciate your concern for my well-being.”

  Reed’s hand moved to the space in between them and patted the rack.

  “How much do you appreciate my concern?” He gave her a smile with just a hint of a leer in it.

  She frowned at him. “Apparently, I didn’t knee you hard enough.” Her voice now assumed an authoritative tone. “Leave now.”

  Reed read the tone of her voice and quickly stood up. “I’d like to stay and chat, but I have some place to be. Some place where I’m not likely to be beaten up in the next ten seconds.”

  Tactical smiled up at him. “Given your visit to the bridge and the fact the entire crew has heard about it by now, I can’t imagine where that place would be on this ship right now.”

  Reed nodded. “Good point. I can see where the crew might be offended by my travels and rule breaking. I will apologize at the staff meeting tomorrow.”

  “Good idea.”

  “I’ll hide in my stateroom until then.”

  “Better idea.”

  “See ya.”

  “Okay.”

  Reed decided on one more try. He glanced at the rack and back at her. “You sure?”

  She stared at him silently for a long moment. He nodded. “Thought so. See ya.” He repeated.

  “Okay,” she repeated.

  “Bye,” he said.

  “Get out now,” she replied.

  He smiled a regretful, too bad type smile and exited through the hatch to the head and back to his compartment. Tactical shook her head and thought, “God, he is going to require a lot of work. Good thing we got all this time in space ahead of us.” She returned to her desk.

  ~ ~ ~

  The next day’s staff meeting in the day cabin went smoothly as always. Ship’s business was covered, decisions made and Hawkins laid out his vision for future operations within Aurora Empire space.

  Hawkins now looked at Reed. He needed to talk about one more topic in front of the others so they will know that the recent transgression by Reed was covered. “One more thing before we call it a meeting. XO, I trust the sanctity of battle stations has been addressed.”

  Reed took the cue and nodded at Rafe before speaking to the assembly. “I would like to apologize to all of you for my recent failing in that regard. The Operations Officer explained the situation to me in her usual dynamic style and it will never happen again.”

  “Must have hurt,” Rafe observed.

  “You have no idea,” Reed responded.

  Everyone laughed, even Tactical had a slight smile. The laughter meant the crew would give Reed a pass on this. They wouldn’t forgive or forget. Not the pirate way. However, they would let it slide this one time. The meeting concluded and everyone filed out to return to their duties.

  Raferty sat alone at his briefing table. He thought back to the laughter at the end of the staff meeting. When directed against outsiders, pirate laughter can have a cruel edge. Hard people taking delight in the misfortune of others. That wasn’t the case here. This laughter had the quality of camaraderie. That was good. The crew seemed to be accepting Mason Reed. This was partly due to his work in Bandit years ago. He was a known quantity to several of the former Bandit crewmembers who had come to Predator with Rafe. These people would have told the other crewmembers all about Reed, and Hawkins suspected it would have been mostly good. The acceptance was also based on Tactical. Everyone knew those two were involved and people would defer to Tactical on this, trusting in her judgment and experience. Affairs of the heart are not so clear cut so Tactical’s judgment may not be the best measuring stick for rating Mason Reed, but Raferty could live with it. Ultimately, Reed would create his own destiny with this crew and this ship. It is that way with everyone. Sooner or later, you had to perform. Sooner was better but you had to perform eventually. There were no exceptions to that simple demand. Captain Raferty Hawkins would have it no other way.

  Chapter 14

  The download of the sensors of the Sentinel Line had arrived and the Intel and Operations officers had gone over them. They immediately informed the Admiral who called a staff meeting in the large briefing compartment. The Admiral and Captain Mallory entered the already crowded compartment together. He sat in his chair at the center of the table while Sky took her customary seat at the far end.

  “Show me,” he ordered without preamble. He had already been forewarned the news was not good.

  The room darkened slightly as a flat screen formed over the briefing console in front of the long command table. A star pattern shone on the screen. A few seconds later ships entered from one side of the display and moved across the screen. The long formation began with destroyers serving as pickets in the van of the formations. These were followed by two battleships, many battlecruisers, and their escorts of cruisers. Four aircraft carriers with small attack craft droning around each of them came next. Supply ships brought up the rear. Nobody briefed the scene as everyone viewed it in silence. You didn’t have to be a military expert to see this was a major task force on a mission. The presentation lasted only 45 seconds and terminated. The screen disappeared and the lighting increased slightly. People shifted uneasily. The enemy had indeed stolen a march on them and there were no units close enough to reinforce the threatened systems. Royal Navy forces were about to get hit hard and there wasn’t much anyone could do about it.

  Admiral Barrett looked up at the back of the compartment at Blondie in her customary seat. He smiled at her. “Well done, Lieutenant. Now that you have found us an enemy, perhaps you know of a force we can use to reinforce the Electra System.”

  His voice had a joking quality, and he obviously did not expect a serious response. But, just the same, he got a one.

  “Pirates.” Blondie’s voice was soft but carried to everyone in the compartment.

  Admiral Barrett stared at her. “Are they around?”

  Captain Zerbe broke in before Blondie could reply. “We have them disbursed throughout the Badlands on raiding mi
ssions.”

  Blondie quickly took back the conversation. “Which means two things, they are concentrated, and they are not in the Badlands.”

  “Where are they?” asked Barrett.

  “I don’t know, sir.”

  “Will they respond to a message from me?”

  Blondie considered her response for a moment. “Perhaps, Admiral. But Captain Hawkins will definitely respond to a message from me.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m a member of his crew and he takes that seriously. The answer might be no, but he will respond.”

  Admiral Barrett nodded. “Send a message, please.”

  “I’ll have it to you shortly for your review, sir.”

  “No,” the Admiral looked up at her. “You will write it with no input from outside sources. I don’t want Captain Hawkins thinking we are putting words in your mouth. You compose the message, pick the code, and send it.”

  Blondie nodded as she replied, “Aye, Admiral.” She didn’t bother to tell Barrett she had already written the message. Nor did she mention any message from her to the pirates would have to be in a certain code with certain words for authentication purposes. No point in getting into that.

  Chapter 15

  Admiral of the Second Rank Claudia Kupin sat in her command seat on the flag bridge of the battleship Fortress. She took a deep breath and willed herself to be calm. Finally, the time had come when she could afford to relax. Her newly created Task Force 10 had crossed out of Orion-held territory and was now deep into the Ascentra system. She was beyond recall back to home space. Kupin had feared the opponents to aircraft carriers, and the opponents to this raid would achieve a last second triumph within the Central Military Command (CMC), and get her recalled. She was positive they would have tried mightily to make that happen, even after she had departed. She had considered ignoring a recall order if one had arrived at the last moment. Fortunately, she did not have to make that decision. The message board from the CMC was empty. The fact was, there was not even the customary “Good Hunting” message in the queue. It was such a poisonous atmosphere at the Central Political Committee and Central Military Command, even a “Good Luck” message might be construed as an endorsement for this mission. Everyone was sitting on the fence, well prepared to jump to the side that benefitted them the most when the results of this raid became known. If Kupin was successful and the carriers performed well, she would find she had many allies who had always been in her corner. If this raid went badly, there would be a large pack of wolves at the door howling for some fresh meat.