“You were in the Badlands?” He clearly did not remember her despite her stay in his sickbay.
“Yes, Doctor. In fact you patched me up after the fight in the Nomad asteroid belt.”
“You were in the Zeke heavy cruiser? We did several of the crew.”
“Yes, I was in Mackenzie.” She paused again and decided to take another attempt on the family meeting. “Your father is now the Lord First Surgeon for the Empire.”
Doc Windsor stared at her, clearly weighing whether to be drawn into a family discussion. He nodded to himself as he came to a decision and stated, “He must love that. He has spent the last several years on the administrative side of medicine. Probably been a couple of decades since he has actually treated a patient. He’d rather order a bunch of other doctors around than do such work himself. He loves to tell people what to do, and the more people he can boss around, the better.”
Sky smiled at the observation. Despite not seeing his father for many years, he knew him very well. She suspected the man sitting before her was a hands-on doctor and had no use for those in the medical bureaucracy. “I told them you were a ship’s surgeon and headed the medical department for a flotilla.”
Windsor stared at her with mild annoyance. He evidently did not like that she had given them news about him. Sky responded to the look, “You did say to give them your regards if I was to meet them.”
“I didn’t think you would actually run into them and then actually do that.”
“Well, I did and I did.”
“They must have been thrilled.”
“Your parents weren’t that impressed,” she reported honestly. “But your sister was excited to hear about you.”
That caught the doctor short. “Josephine? How is she?”
“She is very well. She was very pleased with your station here. Said she would like to hear from you and that you have the address.”
Doc Windsor suddenly was far away as he stared into nothing. Sky eased back in her seat and waited. The man came back after several seconds. He drained his coffee in one gulp and stood up. He turned and moved away without a word. He then paused at the hatch and turned. “Thank you,” he said simply and departed.
Sky smiled to herself and finished her tea. She rose and set her cup near the dish washing station and decided to stop by the bridge on the way back to her cabin. Maybe Hawkins would have the watch. She retraced her steps, went past her cabin, and on toward the bridge. She entered from the rear and was surprised to see Blondie in the captain’s seat with two screens floating in front of her. Sky moved up beside the command chair. Blondie turned at the approach and started to rise. Sky motioned her back down. “I just stopped by to see what was going on.”
“All quiet, ma’am,” Blondie reported as she settled back into the chair. Sky looked around the quiet bridge as she studied Blondie out of the corner of her eye. Blondie monitored the screens while also watching over her bridge crew. She was calm and confident in the captain’s chair. Sky had no doubt she was a good officer of the deck.
“How many OD watches have you stood?” asked Mallory.
Blondie slightly frowned in concentration. “Hmm… I don’t know. Several. There was training under supervision first but it was relatively short. After that, I got thrown in the deep end.”
“You seem to be swimming quite well.”
“Thank you, Captain. I really enjoy this, even when it is boring.”
Further conversation had to be postponed. “Vindictive reporting contact to their port,” reported the crewmember at the tactical station.
“Noted,” replied Blondie. “Come starboard twenty degrees, nose up five degrees. Ensure Nemesis and Bandit are informed.”
“Aye, aye,” helm and comm stations responded in unison.
Vindictive was on the port side of Predator while Nemesis was far out to starboard. Bandit was well in trail of Predator. Vindictive was to maintain course and speed as the contact might be suspicious if she turned and ran. The other three pirate vessels would turn away to ensure they would not appear on the contact’s sensors. If the contact was hostile, the three unseen ships would go subspace and the Vindictive would turn and bring the contact to them. If the contact was too much to handle or was the lead ship of a naval force, the pirate ships would run.
“Nemesis and Bandit acknowledge turn,” reported communications.
“Very well,” Blondie responded.
Minutes passed. Sky moved a few steps from the command chair. She did not want to give even the slightest impression she was looking over Blondie’s shoulder. This was not her bridge and not her ship. She briefly smiled to herself. Hell, it wasn’t even her Navy.
Sky regarded Blondie as the OD looked over her screens. It wasn’t Sky’s Navy but it certainly was Blondie’s. Sky had to admit the young woman fit in well. She was the officer of the deck for a ship moving through enemy territory. In fact, she was not only the OD of this ship but, since Predator was the flagship, she was the acting squadron commander. Admittedly, if any crisis arose, Raferty Hawkins would be out of his day cabin and on the bridge in a few seconds. But those few seconds would be critical, and decisions and actions taken in that very short span of time would often determine the outcome of the situation with all the attendant ramifications. Blondie would be making those decisions and taking those actions. There were no senior bridge personnel here to monitor her performance and nobody was on standby to run in at the slightest whiff of anything out of the ordinary. Blondie had this all by herself. She was twenty-three standard years old.
Sky couldn’t think of a ship of any size in the Royal Navy that would have a qualified OD of such junior rank. Besides, in the Royal Navy, intel officers such as Blondie couldn’t even become an OD. That duty could only be done by unrestricted officers of the line. Sky suddenly felt a pang of… what? Jealousy? She had to admit to herself that was probably it. She hadn’t qualified as an OD at such a young age. Admittedly, nobody could. Too many rules and too long a qualification course. But here? Prove you can do it and you are given the responsibility. Rank and rules meant nothing here. You can or you can’t. If you can’t do it now, maybe you can do it later with some experience. If not then, then probably never.
Talent is very important in every Navy. But in all other navies, rank, social status, friends in high places, your military specialty, and duty stations also meant something in helping advancement within the Navy. Aboard a pirate ship, talent meant everything and the other items meant nothing. In fact, they didn’t even exist here. Career advancement in the Badlands consisted of staying alive and doing your job well. Of course, a nice dash of ruthlessness would be career enhancing also.
Sky regarded the young OD again. Blondie was thriving in this environment. She enjoyed the challenge of providing important contributions to a vital mission and the freedom of action afforded her here. She may have been loaned to the pirates, but she was a part of their crew now. Yes, Blondie was doing outstanding work in all respects, but Sky couldn’t help but wonder how Ensign Lara Bychovskaya would fit in back at Home Fleet upon the completion of this mission. Sky would have to keep an eye on her upon their return.
“Vindictive reports contact is a freighter, and it has moved on with no suspicious maneuvering,” reported the comm station.
“Very well. Return to base course and plane of travel,” Blondie ordered.
“Aye, aye,” confirmed the helmsman and the ship came to port with a slight nose-down attitude.
“Nemesis and Bandit conforming to our movements,” the ops watch stander reported.
“Noted,” said Blondie.
The bridge became quiet as the dull routine returned. Sky thought now would be a good time to call it a night.
“You have a good watch, Blondie,” Sky said.
“Thank you, ma’am. You have a good night.”
“I’m sure I will. The ship is in good hands.”
Blondie turned at that and the two woman exchanged smiles. Sky retu
rned to her cabin and turned in. She dropped off immediately.
Chapter 31
Raferty scanned through his sensor logs and reflected on the few contacts over the last few days. He was sure they had not been detected by passing traffic. He was happy with that and hoped it was a good omen. They had received comm confirmation on the raids in Astra. The raids had been against a small forward base and then action with several OrCon patrols. The attacks were successful with the base heavily damaged and three Orion ships destroyed in running fights. More importantly, the raids had pulled Orion reserve forces out of Naufrague to the Astra system. This left an open lane for the pirates to move through the region to the Etesian system. The four ships passed into the Etesian system and set course for the large gas planet of Feist.
Twenty hours later the pirates moved among the eight moons orbiting the planet. The small flotilla came to a stop and waited. Thirty seconds later Flicker simmered into view in front of Predator. Predator slid next to her to pass supplies.
Dylan Whitlock appeared on the command screen of all ships. “Welcome. Good to see you. Any trouble getting through?”
“Nope,” replied Hawkins. “Couldn’t ask for a smoother transit. How’s life here?”
“Boring, but that should change soon. We got the latest downloads when you’re ready to receive.”
Tactical came on line. “Send it now. Any change in their routine?”
“No. Convoys arrive like clockwork and always dock in the same place. Ships fire up and move out at 0800 each morning. The base is definitely on a hard schedule. Nothing new to report operational wise. That new battleship will be a problem. If you hit when she is on line in the harbor, you will be in serious trouble.”
“Has she been firing up to get underway at 0800 each day?” Rafe inquired.
“She gets underway whenever she wants and departs harbor for work in the area. I assume she is doing test runs for engine alignment and sensor checkout. I suppose she is also going to the weapons range. She is in final acceptance sea trials before joining their fleet, so she may even be gone by the time you attack. She seems to be in a hurry to be done as she has the longest workdays of any ship there.”
Raferty frowned. “We will hit in the morning so I hope they are not spun up for departure when we come in. I would love to put some missiles in her unshielded hull if we can get at her while she is cold tits. That would be a big bonus.”
While this conversation was going on, Predator’s shuttle departed and hooked up to the airlock leading into Flicker’s small storage hold. Supplies and other equipment were moved into the spy ship. Flicker would not be returning to Murmansk but still had duties to perform in support of the mission.
Dylan spoke to Tactical. “Got the download?”
Tactical’s image responded with a head nod. “Looks good. We’ll start going through it as soon as we sign off here.”
“Don’t think you’ll be surprised by anything there. It is complete through twenty-four hours ago. They are on a routine at that base. With the exception of the battleship, you can set your watch by the activities each day. I think we got good positions on all their sensor and defense batteries. The surface stuff is spotty, but we got all the shipyard buildings because of all the racket they put out during their workday. You should have the location of all the important buildings, including power stations and comm centers. I don’t know which one is their headquarters but I bet we have it plotted. Just can’t pick it out from the comm centers or similar set ups. The surface gaps in the base layout will be barracks, admin buildings, storage tanks, and the like.”
Raferty replied, “You all have done a great job. You have mapped out everything from sound alone. We’ve built a model base on your reports, and from what we know of OrCon doctrine and just common sense, it looks spot on. Once we come out of subspace, our sensors will fill in the gaps, and we’ll adjust our target lists as required. We couldn’t ask for better results from you. Sterling work. Pass that to Scarecrow, Gabby, and Jazz.”
Dylan smiled at the compliment. “Will do. We got the last few missions to do and we’ll head for home. Best of luck and we’ll see you down the road.”
“Sounds good. Thanks for the work. I know it hasn’t been easy.”
Dylan smiled again and disappeared. The offloading to Flicker was done and the shuttle returned to Predator’s bay. The four attackers moved out with Flicker in trail. It soon became clear Flicker was on a slightly different course and gradually separated to starboard.
Sky turned to Baby Doll. “May I ask where she is going?” She managed to make it seem like an innocuous inquiry. In the brief given at Wanderlust, there had been no mention of a rendezvous with another ship and there sure as hell had been no mention of a spy ship. Since spy ships didn’t officially exist, if it had been mentioned a bunch of pirates had one such craft, Sky was certain that passing fact would have stayed with her. Just when she thought she had figured out Hawkins and his merry band of outlaws, something happened to remind her that she wasn’t even close.
“She is off to Miresa, nearest planet to Naissance. She is going to lay out some noisemakers we just gave her to give our OrCons pursuers something to look for.”
Noisemakers was slang for small units that emitted engine electromagnetic waves. From a distance, sensors would report a ship at that location. As the sensor platform closed on the noisemaker, it would be obvious no ship was there, but the ruse could work for an hour or better. With the noisemakers spread out at Miresa, the effect could fool the OrCons longer. Anything to throw off pursuit was worth a try.
Sky nodded. The Wanderlust brief had not included that ploy either, but Sky suspected there were several more events to come that had also been omitted from the brief. She understood. The pirates and her Empire were bound together for one mission. After that, the relationship would return to an unspoken truce, which could easily turn into something else if Lord Cunningham did as Hawkins suspected. These mission facts may have been kept from Empire representatives at the brief, but Sky noticed nobody made much of an effort to hide the truth from her or Blondie. She understood Blondie would be privy to all the secrets. She had provided key assistance in putting the brief and the mission together. Sky wasn’t sure why she herself had such free rein. Hawkins could have ordered her to her stateroom prior to the rendezvous to keep the secret about the spy ship, but he hadn’t done that. They may not trust the Empire, but they didn’t seem to have a problem with her. Sky suspected it was Hawkins who didn’t have problem with her, and all the others took their cue from him.
The raiders moved toward Naissance and the target codenamed Murmansk. They would go subspace in ten hours. Then it would take sixteen more hours to journey into Murmansk. They would emerge in the space harbor at 0630 local time and rain hell on the Orion Confederation. Payback for Ulatar. In a perfect universe, all the surviving OrCon ships from the Ulatar attack would be there, and the pirates would get them too. The universe wasn’t perfect, so everyone knew those ships wouldn’t be there, but that was okay. They would get them in the future. Besides, if the universe were perfect, they wouldn’t have a job.
The four ships continued toward their target in a tight formation. A spread out formation would increase the chances a single ship would be scanned. The pirates assumed the base had a twelve-hour restricted area around it. This area extended far beyond their sensor range, but any ship scanned within the restricted area would be immediately intercepted. Twelve hours of flight time meant twelve hours at maximum sustained speed. If the pirates had gone subspace at the edge of the twelve-hour border, they would have had to spend thirty-six hours in subspace. Hawkins decided to take the risk of crossing part of the restricted area at high speed vice spending so much time in subspace. Big space, little ships. Even with dedicated patrols, the chances of being caught were remote. As the force got closer to the base, the chances of interception went up, so they would transit in subspace for the final phase of the flight.
The base
sensors on the outermost of the two moons would have the farthest sensor reach of approximately two-and-a-half hours of max-sustained speed. At six hours of maximum speed flight time from Murmansk, the pirates went into subspace. They travelled in a loose formation at a fast speed for subspace, but gradually tightened up the formation, and slowed down as they closed on target. Computers had the flight profile now and controlled heading and speed. Crews ate and rested. The 3-D map of Murmansk was updated for the final time and committed to memory by all captains and ops officers. Target lists were reviewed, analyzed, and shuffled. Each ship could change their target list priorities as they considered their weapons, their changing position in the rotating formation and the distance to target. Equipment was rechecked. Munitions were moved into position for quick reloading of magazines.
The ships slowed even more. They were within sensor range. Blondie was in engineering, monitoring engine harmonic adjustments. Although no order had been given, crewmembers moved to their battle stations with their personal air supply system strapped on. Battle hatches were quietly closed and dogged shut, isolating each section of the ship in case the hull was holed in battle.
Time slowly slinked past. This was the most difficult time as there were still hours before the ships would emerge from subspace, but they could be discovered at any moment so everyone had to be prepared to conduct battle at a disadvantage with no warning. Hawkins toured the bridge and talked to each person. He smiled, laughed, and thanked everyone for their fine work. Surprisingly, he stopped off at Mallory’s station at the laser controls. The lasers were already programmed, but she could override if needed. In the chaos of battle, the need to do that was almost a given.
“I think we’re ready,” Rafe spoke in a low voice.
“You got a good crew, good ship, and great companions. I can’t think of anything else you can do to get the odds more in your favor.”
Payback Is a Given: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 2 Page 24