“I have it on good authority that at least four, and probably more, Spinnaker class are already in the operating forces. I find this report does not reflect that.”
Both men stared at their monarch. Wu kept a close eye on shipbuilding. The loss of the Borcanda shipyards at the beginning of the war and the continuing high combat losses made shipbuilding and crew replacement a top item on his agenda, and he knew nothing of Spinnaker class destroyers already being in the Fleet.
“Your Majesty, if you could share your information and its source?” asked the Prime Minister.
She ignored the request. “You should look into it. Again, the Defense Minister might be an excellent starting point. You might wish to converse with Admiral Barrett also.”
The Queen bent over her work now. “Thank you for the update. I congratulate you on the mission’s success and pray for many more.” The conference was clearly over.
The two men departed and walked down the hallway. Both quietly seethed. The meeting had started well but ended on a sour note. Now there was investigative work to do.
“As it so happens, I have a cabinet meeting in three hours and the Defense Minister will be there via image hook up. Perhaps you would care to sit in if your schedule allows,” Strickland said.
“Thank you. As it happens the only thing on my schedule right now is shipbuilding, and it will be the only thing on my schedule until I have satisfactory answers. I will attend the meeting.”
“Excellent. We have time to send a message to Admiral Barrett before the meeting. If we catch him in between his duties, we might get a quick reply back and have it by the time of the meeting.”
“If Admiral Barrett has something to contribute, it should have been in his reports covering this mission. I saw nothing regarding a border incident or Spinnaker destroyers.” Admiral Wu was not happy with Admiral Barrett. He thought Barrett had been less than thorough in his reports and as a result, Wu had been hung out to dry.
Strickland jumped to Barrett’s defense. “Don’t be too harsh with Admiral Barrett. His report would have gone through the Defense Minister. As the senior official regarding this pirate mission, he would have gotten final cut on all reports forwarded up the chain of command.”
Admiral Wu nodded and gave a knowing smile. “Which brings us back to Lord Cunningham.”
Strickland knew Admiral Wu had been embarrassed, and you don’t get to be the top leader in the military service by suffering embarrassments along the way. It was probably a new experience for him, and he didn’t like it at all. He would get to the bottom of this. If the Defense Minister contributed to the Admiral’s embarrassment, Lord Cunningham would have made a very powerful enemy.
As they walked, Strickland reflected on the meeting. The incident at the border crossing, regardless of what happened, did not result in deaths or ships lost. He would have heard about that. The shipbuilding report would be put right. When compared to a major war and the complexity of running the Aurora Empire, these two items were insignificant footnotes of less than passing interest. Yet, Strickland knew that relationships turn on minor events and so do empires. His relationship with the Queen had taken a step backwards. The pirates could have been allies and supporters of the Aurora Empire upon their return to the Badlands. However, if there had been a double cross of some sort, what would the pirates be now? Little events, perhaps big consequences. And a member of his cabinet who seemed to be on his own agenda. Strickland picked up the pace of his walk.
~ ~ ~
Once each month an awards formation is held on the quarterdeck of Sirocco. Officers and enlisted personnel stood in ranks while individuals are called forward to be promoted to the next rank or to be awarded various medals in recognition of their valor or for exemplary performance of their duties. With the exception of raids supporting the recent pirate mission, the Home Fleet had not been in combat during the current war, so no medals had been presented for valor, but that was about to change.
The monthly formation took place five days after the departure of the three pirate ships. Ensign Lara Bychovskaya was the last recipient called forward. She received two medals. The first was for her contributions in preparing her flotilla for battle deep in OrCon space. The second medal was for her actions during this same mission. Blondie blushed while standing at attention in front of the formation as the flowery prose of the award citations was read aloud. The written accounts made it seem she had invented and singlehandedly built the ships used in the attack, and then had defeated the enemy almost by herself. She knew she had made contributions to the mission and was proud of the fact, but this was very overblown. None of the pirates or their ships were mentioned by name. As the citation for valor was recited, she could hear stirring in the formation behind her as crewmembers leaned forward or adjusted their line of sight to get a clear view of the proceedings. With the exception of a few high-ranking officers, this was the first any of these crewmembers were hearing of the mission. One of their fellow officers had been in the thick of a major series of clashes deep in enemy territory while they had sat in home space. Some people get all the luck. To top it off, the last item read at the formation was a warrant signed by the queen meritoriously promoting Lara Bychovskaya to the next rank of Lieutenant junior grade.
This was the high point of Blondie’s return to the Royal Navy. She had taken up her regular duties again, but found she was slightly dissatisfied with almost everything about her life aboard the flagship. Before her departure on the Murmansk mission, she had found her duties routine and dull. Now she found them maddening. She thought her living space was confining now. She had enjoyed having her own compartment and sharing a head with one other person. Now she was back to having two roommates and using the communal facilities. She found wearing the uniform also confining. It took too much time to get it properly donned in the morning. Despite her weight loss, she found the uniform uncomfortable to wear. She now realized she hated the ritual of putting her long hair in braids and tying them to the back of her head to stay within regulations. She longed to be able to wear her hair any way she preferred. She even briefly considered cutting her golden locks down to nothing but would not give in to the temptation. It seemed like surrender, and she would have none of that. She came to the conclusion her life was now restrictive, repetitive, largely irrelevant, and very, very boring. Raferty Hawkins’ final promise had indeed come to pass. She missed her friends, her ship, her duties, and her pirate life.
She did renew her daily workouts in the ship’s gym but, rather than doing individual physical exercises, she began to participate in self-defense classes. She attended every noon class and began to take in a few of the night sessions also. She was very aggressive during these practices and a fast learner.
Although she had originally not intended to take leave, three weeks after her return to the ship, she put in for two weeks of leave to be spent on her home planet. The leave was granted and she left the ship via a supply shuttle to the base on Wanderlust to begin the journey home. Just before her departure, Blondie put in for a transfer to another ship, any ship at all, but preferably a small ship in combat.
On the surface base on Wanderlust, she changed from her uniform into civilian garb. Most military personnel travelled in uniform as it invited conversations, people expressing their admiration, and benefits like free food and drink offered by grateful strangers. Blondie wanted no conversations or having to explain her medals. She wanted to be left alone during her travels. The last item she took from her duffel bag was her dagger that she fastened to her belt at the small of her back and covered with her shirt.
After several ship transfers and long hours of staring out a porthole into space between restless sessions of sleep, Blondie finally arrived home on Aquitaine. Her ship landed at Aquitaine’s main spaceport outside the capital city, and she boarded a planetary shuttle for the quick trip to her small hometown. She had originally viewed her leave as a brief escape from the flagship, but now she was glad to be arriv
ing home. She found herself anxiously looking out the windows for the first glimpse of her quaint hamlet. Blondie was looking forward to a quiet visit with family and friends.
As soon as her hometown and its landing pad came into sight, she realized her hopes for a quiet reunion were dashed. A large crowd was waiting just off the landing pad. Blondie realized the majority of the town’s population must be in attendance. As the shuttle settled on the pad, the crowd began to cheer and wave signs. WELCOME HOMETOWN HERO and WE LOVE LARA were two large banners at the back of the cheering, clapping people. Blondie was perplexed. How had they known of her recent adventures? She reflected on her mail home. She had stated she had been away on a mission but had given no details. Their information did not come from her.
Blondie departed the shuttle and moved toward the crowd wearing an uncertain smile. Her family was in the front of the rambunctious town people. Her mother and siblings hugged her and, in accordance with family tradition, her father hugged her last. Blondie returned all the affection in equal measure. Still in her father’s embrace, she asked, “What caused all this?”
Her father looked at her in surprise. “There were stories in the press about your mission and your medals. No details but we know our oldest girl had been in the middle of a big fight. The medal citations were published word for word.”
Blondie inwardly sighed. She should have seen this coming. The government and Royal Navy were playing up any good news in the dark days of the war, and they were very good at it. However, this also meant her friends and shipmates of Pirate Flotilla One would not have been mentioned at all. She had had no part in this publicity campaign, but the omission of her friends bothered and offended her. It had been a team effort, and the remainder of the team was not even mentioned.
“And thank you for the money!” Her father smiled broadly. “We paid off the loans against the farm, and had money left over to begin an education fund for your brother.”
Still in his embrace, Blondie snapped her head back so she could stare at him in complete bewilderment. He was still smiling happily but read the confusion on her face. “Your money. Came to our account from a bank in some system named Perdition. We never heard of it so had to look it up. System is beyond the Empire in the neutral systems between us and the Goths. Your name was on the payment transfer order. We thought you got paid extra for volunteering for the dangerous mission and you sent it from there.”
Blondie nodded dumbly. She knew exactly where the Perdition system was located. She had passed through it twice. It was on the edge of the Badlands, and Flot 1 had several business arrangements, including bank accounts, in that area. Blondie had known each of the pirates on the mission received a bonus, but she had expected nothing for herself, and it had never been mentioned she would get anything. She also knew her Academy debt was greater than what would have been paid out to each pirate. Captain Hawkins had seen to it that she received enough money to pay off her Academy debt even if that amount was greater than that given to the others in the three crews. He would not have shortchanged the other pirates so the extra credits came from Hawkins himself and, possibly, Tactical and Baby Doll.
She hugged her father again and buried her face against his shoulder to hide it as she blinked rapidly to ensure tears did not form in her eyes.
Captain Hawkins, Tactical, Baby Doll, Eli, Preacher, Ace, Joker, Doc Windsor, and all the others flashed through her mind’s eye. Then she felt the dagger strapped under her shirt in the small of her back. She had been so comfortable wearing it she had forgotten she had it on her person. A familiar reminder of her friends, her ship, and an everlasting promise.
“Come now, Lara. The hometown hero must greet everyone,” her father said lightly.
She lifted her head off her father’s shoulder, stared into his eyes and smiled. “I am not a hero, Daddy. I am a pirate.”
Glossary
Admin - Administrative.
AOR - See area of responsibility
Area of responsibility – A geographical area assigned to a military unit to control. Commonly referred to by its initials AOR.
ASAP - As soon as possible.
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.
CIC - See combat information center.
CO - Commanding officer.
Cold titanium - A ship at dock 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.
Close hold - See operational security.
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.
FTF - Face to face.
Freq/Freqs - Frequency, frequencies.
Hallie - Slang for hallucinate tattoo. A hallie is a tattoo on the body that changes when it is viewed from different angles. When the body muscles flex, the tattoo changes.
Head - Naval term for a toilet.
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.
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. Slang term is klick.
Klick - Slang term for kilometer. See kilometer.
Log dogs - Slang for logistics personnel.
Logistics personnel - Crewmembers responsible for obtaining and distributing all material needed for unit use or for mission requirements.
Noisemakers - Slang term for small decoys used to imitate a ship’s engines emission 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 the OD.
Operational security - Keeping plans, operations, methods of operation, SOPs, capabilities, and other relevant information res
tricted to the people who need to know. No discussions with outside sources. Operational security is 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. Generally, he is the third in command after the CO and XO, commonly called the OpsO or Ops.
OpSec -See operational security.
Ops - See operations officer.
OpsO - See operations officer.
Net - Term for communication network with multiple units on one communication channel for command and control coordination.
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. Usually requires following a given route and having current IFF codes and passwords. These procedures keep enemy units from coming into friendly territory by impersonating friendly forces. Often referred to as RTF procedures.
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.
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 SOPs.
Payback Is a Given: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 2 Page 32