Echoes from Yesterday: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 4

by Sean Benjamin

  He paused as he considered a course of action and then nodded to himself. “Dylan Whitlock and his crew should be back from leave now. I’m going to put him in charge of this search. He will coordinate all assets and take Flicker whenever and wherever he deems fit. I hope his operational bank account has enough in it so he has some money to draw on. I assume he is in the loop on all intel up to now so he can get after this in a hurry. His orders will be to find those ships.”

  Baby Doll nodded. “He has money in his account. I filled it up before we left and, with him on leave, it all should still be there. He also has been an addressee on all tactical and intel updates, so they will be in his message queue when he gets back to work. He will know everything we know after he reads all the reports.”

  Raferty looked at his brain trust. “I’ll get the orders out to Dylan. Anyone got anything to add?”

  Reed looked around at the other three. “I got one final point. It would be nice if Tactical would at least admit we are involved.”

  Tactical stood up and turned toward the hatch. “Keep wishing, buddy,” she remarked as she lead the way out.

  Chapter 47

  Captain Dylan Whitlock and his three crewmembers sat in the dining room at The Fort. Their ship, Flicker, was attached to a nearby docking point. They had just finished an excellent meal, courtesy of Millie, one of the caretakers of this Flot 1 hideout, and were now getting down to business at the dining table. Whitlock looked over his small group. They had just gone over the orders from Raferty Hawkins again. The orders weren’t any easier the second time around. “Going to be tough,” remarked Scarecrow. “The Badlands is a big place with a lot of out-of-the-way places. Be easy for ships to hide out for a long time.”

  Everyone agreed, but they had their mission. Dylan shrugged. “If it was easy anyone could do it, and Rafe wouldn’t need us. We do difficult really well. We even do the impossible. It just takes a little longer.” He turned to Jasmine. “These Marbellan ships have to be in contact with each other. If one says good things about a certain place for getting supplies or water or whatever, the follow-on ships will go there too. The fact two Snakes came through Last Chance means they have a set procedure now. Contact Celestria. See where she is at and if we can post her in Last Chance soonest. She gets paid for the wait time and gets a cargo load out of there when she is finished. Also, see if they can make quiet inquiries as to who loaded out the last two Snakes to come through there. Whoever did it might have a timeline on the next arrival.”

  He turned to Gabrielle. “We need to get some backup for Celestria. She can’t float around Last Chance forever. See who is available among our freighter contacts. We also need to know where all the contacts are right now. Send out a general whereabouts request to every ship on the payroll. I got to know who is available and where they are. Once that is done, put all our images of the Snake class on one disc. When we get an idea of who is in position to help us, we’ll forward the images to them so they know what they are looking for. We’ll need them to report on any Snakes coming through but also report any warship not identifiable with given Navy. That should take care of any Marbellan ships that aren’t Snakes. Not too many warships running around in these parts that can’t be easily categorized and immediately associated with somebody’s Navy. Any such warships that pop up will be noticed by someone.

  “We got a couple of financial set ups in Last Chance. I’ll check with them to see if any money transactions are coming through them for supplies or parts. Our contacts there operate on the edge of the law so they might have other clients just as disreputable as we are. Maybe the Marbellan ships are using one of them.”

  Gabrielle nodded at her instructions. “I’ll use one of the identities we got from Baby Doll recently. I’ll route the comm traffic through a couple of stations to keep it secure and nobody will know it is from us. We got a good list of freighters who help us. I’ll route the request to some of our dirtside contacts too. Somebody has to know something.”

  Dylan nodded. “Good idea. Wide a net as possible.” He now turned to Scarecrow. “Once we launch, set course for Last Chance. Max sustainable speed. We need to be in position to follow somebody if they show up there.”

  Scarecrow nodded. “No problem. We are good to go whenever you want.”

  Whitlock nodded. He always made it SOP to load Flicker before they go on leave so she can be pulled out at a moment’s notice. The crew had been on three weeks’ leave back in the Edinburgh System while Flicker was tied up here at The Fort. They had a good time, but also saw how their old haunts had changed and that many friends had scattered to the winds. The Goth overthrow of the Edinburgh government three years prior was still sending waves through the region. None of them were good waves. The four pirates were glad they had gone for a visit, but were equally happy to be back home. Now they realized they had made the right decision when they had joined Pirate Flotilla One. They were anxious to get to work.

  Whitlock smiled. “I see no reason to hang around here bothering Bill and Millie or the kids.” He rose. “I’ll pay my respects to them and we’ll be on our way.” Everyone stood up. Whitlock checked out with Bill and Millie. Flicker broke seal ten minutes later.

  Chapter 48

  The three visitors to the Queen’s office rose quickly as the Queen entered and took her seat behind her desk. She greeted the men as they reoccupied their own chairs in front of her. Admiral Noah Wu and Prime Minister Morgan Strickland sat next to each other while Defense Minister Douglas Cunningham sat on the other side of the Admiral from Strickland with his chair slightly back so he seemed a bit removed from the others. After the men were seated, Alexis leaned forward and gave them her full attention.

  Admiral Wu was there to update the Queen on the recent Battle of the Electra System. Strickland was there to watch the interaction between Cunningham and the other two in order to forestall any untoward confrontations. He knew neither the Queen nor the Admiral were particularly fond of the Defense Minister, but Strickland needed him as he had the loyalty and the votes of several key members of both Houses. If Cunningham was forced out or resigned, those members would be very unhappy and would take that unhappiness out on him and his government. He was holding a majority in both Houses, but the margins were not large enough that Strickland could afford a large number of defections.

  Defense Minister Cunningham was there to protect his personal kingdom and to get involved in any discussion concerning the Badlands. He had been surprised and angered by the Queen getting a squadron of Royal Navy ships sent to the Badlands. He didn’t like people moving around assets without even a cursory email to him. They were obsolete ships to be sure, but the precedent being set was unacceptable to him. He had his own plans for that lawless region. Part of those plans included any military forces sent there would be commanded by people with a personal loyalty to him. Now the situation was getting more complicated. He had no idea how much more complicated it was about to get.

  Admiral Wu launched into his brief covering the Battle of the Electra System. The Queen listened intently for the duration of the presentation and then leaned back in her chair as Admiral Wu concluded his remarks. His brief was much more detailed than media accounts, and had a much more sobering assessment of the final results. The media had trumpeted the battle as a great victory. They were casting the results of battles in the most favorable light allowed by the facts. Including the ships destroyed by Pirate Flotilla One, the Royal Forces certainly inflicted slightly greater casualties on the attackers than they took in return, and the enemy forces retreated to their own home space without completing their raid, but the media statements overstated the victory and its effect. This was understandable given the current war situation, but the reality was, an Orion raid had been repulsed with severe casualties after having achieved some limited success in inflicting severe damage on an Aurora naval base and disrupting commerce at a major trading hub. As Wu concluded his brief, he looked at his two companions to see if they had any
thing to add, but both men remained silent.

  The Queen understood the thrust of the Admiral’s brief. “So we won but we didn’t win by much.”

  Admiral Wu nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty, we did inflict great casualties on the enemy and their aircraft carrier force was decimated. We lost a good share of ships and the military base of Aegis was hit hard. We won but it falls short of a major clear cut victory.”

  The Queen nodded. “Do you have details on the pirate contribution to this victory? I’m given to understand they hit the carrier force.”

  The Admiral paused. He had not wanted to give them too much credit in official releases, although he freely acknowledged their contributions in informal settings. He just wanted the greatest share of the credit to go to Royal Navy forces. He feared that playing up the pirate role could lead to a public fascination with those colorful figures to the detriment of his own organization and people.

  He chose his words carefully. “The pirates were responsible for the destruction of enemy aircraft carriers as the majority of enemy ships were forward engaging Admiral Levant’s ships. The carriers had been left with minimal escorts and this allowed the pirates to sneak in and hit the carriers.” Wu paused. As he looked at the Queen, he realized she was well aware of his delicate parsing of words. He slightly altered course. “The pirates certainly contributed by destroying the four carriers and a few escort ships. The loss of the carriers led to the loss of their air wings as most the aircraft were onboard the carriers, and the few not on the carriers had nowhere to land.”

  He concluded his remarks and silence hugged the room for a few moments. The Queen gave her thanks to the Admiral and then addressed all her visitors. “I understand the pirates lost two ships in our battle. Is that confirmed?”

  The men noted the words “our battle.” The pirates were members of the team now. Strickland nodded slowly as he tried to figure out what was coming. “Yes, Madam. The pirates lost two corvettes with all hands and suffered damage to all their other vessels.”

  The Queen nodded in return and spoke in a soft direct tone as she rotated her gaze among her visitors. “I think it is only fair we replace those two ships as a gesture of gratitude for their timely support in our fight.”

  A brief silence followed as nobody knew quite what to say. As Prime Minister, Strickland knew it was up to him to engage the Queen on this idea. He also knew Cunningham wouldn’t like this in the least and Strickland did not want the Defense Minister to become involved in the discussion with the Queen on this. He spoke in the same soft tone she had used when advancing the proposal, as he suspected there was more to this gesture than her simple statement. An abrupt rejection of the idea seemed to be a very bad course of action at the moment. “Of course, Your Majesty. We can transfer two corvettes or destroyers from Fleet Reserve squadrons to make up the loss.”

  Admiral Wu took up the cause. “Despite their age, these ships are maintained very well. We can load them with munitions and supplies, and transfer them immediately. The other pirate ships will be repaired in our shipyards and also resupplied before their departure.”

  Cunningham still maintained his silence. He was content with the course of the conversation and felt his two companions could accommodate this ridiculous idea of the Queen without too much trouble. He knew he was not in the Queen’s good graces at the moment, so did not verbally support the Prime Minister’s suggestion for fear his endorsement would automatically lead to her rejection of it.

  Queen Alexis was quite willing to reject the suggestion without any input from Cunningham. She shook her head in response. “I was thinking we should transfer two modern destroyers to the pirates. With the Spinnaker class joining the Fleet in increasing numbers, surely we can spare two Armet class destroyers. I also think we should replace any damaged engines on their other ships with Spinnaker engines. My understanding is these are our best engines for small ships.”

  Her guests stared at her wide-eyed. What she was suggesting was impossible. Cunningham leaned forward in his seat as he stared at the Queen. This was taking an unexpected turn toward lunacy. The Admiral glanced at Strickland, willing him to speak up and destroy this idea. Strickland looked at the Queen and she returned his stare as she calmly waited for an answer, or rather, waited for the objection that she must know was about to be presented.

  He took a breath and began. “Your Majesty, replacing the losses suffered by the pirates on our behalf is certainly the right thing to do. However, the Spinnakers are just now becoming available, but are not in sufficient numbers so we can give away our Armet class destroyers. Those ships are still desperately needed by our own forces. Also, the Armets are technically advanced ships and that level of technology cannot be given to others. We would have no way of tracking the ships once given to the pirates and they could fall into the hands of the Goths or others in the Badlands. There is a great deal of tech knowledge to be gained by dissecting one of those vessels. The older destroyers of the Gem class can be spared. The squadron you requested to be sent there will have Gem class ships, and the maintenance effort can be streamlined so we can support the pirate ships as well as our own.”

  Alexis had not so much as twitched during this rebuttal of her suggestion, but she still managed to convey that she was totally unconvinced. Her words took away any doubt about that impression. “Mister Prime Minister, if we don’t have enough Spinnakers for my Royal Navy, how is it we seem to have enough to support a private Navy? Also, the Gem class destroyers under Captain Skyler Mallory got eaten alive in combat in the Badlands in the opening days of the war. I only agreed with Gem class going to the Badlands as part of a Royal Navy squadron because I thought their chances of exchanging fire with the Goths is remote. If I thought they would engage in combat there, I would have rejected the suggestion. However, our pirate friends do engage in combat, and the Gems would be destroyed quite readily.” She shook her head, “Really, gentlemen, the Gems don’t fulfill the requirement here. I think two Armet class will do that quite nicely.”

  The three men stared at their monarch. The Queen had read the investigation into the interception of the pirates on their return from Murmansk. She had also read the investigation into the ship building fiasco that resulted in several shipbuilding reports being altered to allow two personal squadrons of Lord Cunningham to be stocked with new ships. The Queen was well informed on these two occurrences, but she had kept her own counsel regarding them. She had issued no statements regarding the two investigations and had never brought the subject up in private conversations with other government officials. Now she was bringing it up and was presenting a bill for the mistakes made in both cases. Nobody missed the references to “my Royal Navy” or to a “private Navy.” She had not even glanced at Cunningham but all three men could feel her heat. And her determination.

  The Prime Minister was at a loss as to how to proceed. He knew, as did everyone in the Empire, the Queen had attended The Academy and had been commissioned in the Royal Navy. It was also known she had loved the Navy and had intended to make a career of it until other events made that impossible. As a junior officer, she had served in Cobalt, a Gem class destroyer, and she knew of what she spoke regarding the various classes of ships in the Royal Navy, her Royal Navy.

  Cunningham was about to weigh in but Strickland tried again. “Giving valuable ships with up to date technology to people outside the Empire is not going to sit well-.”

  The Queen interrupted. “We are not giving those ships to people outside the Empire.”

  “Your Majesty, I realize the pirates have aided us on three occasions and their help has been very… well, helpful but they are not members of the-.”

  She interrupted him again. “We are not giving ships to someone outside of the Empire but to a peer of the realm. I don’t know how more “inside the Empire” a person can be than to be a peer of the realm.”

  Strickland was confused so said nothing. He glanced sideways at Admiral Wu and then at Cunningham on the ot
her side of Wu, and could see both men were just as mystified as he. All three men were equally determined not to make a false step so nobody spoke. The silence grew as the men were not to be lured in, and the Queen was not giving away information. Finally, Strickland said cautiously, “Is a peer going to the Badlands with the squadron we are sending?” He could think of no military orders or discussion on that topic.

  Alexis shook her head. “No. A peer is already in place. The Duke of Black Hallow.”

  Involuntarily, the three men looked at each other in bewilderment. Cunningham could no longer keep quiet. “Tobias Gallagher? Tobias Gallagher is not well and is not a military…”

  His voice trailed off as he saw the outlines of the snare. His mind raced. A transfer of the title was the only logical answer but to who? He knew Tobias Gallagher quite well and knew the man had no children left or any direct heirs. He had other family members through his siblings but Cunningham couldn’t recall any of them having any military experience at all, let alone enough experience to rate a command in the wild Badlands. Also, he couldn’t imagine Tobias transferring his title to one of those family members. He didn’t have to glance at the other two men to know they were equally adrift in this conversation. Their silence told him they had no insight into this revelation.