Rafe asked, “Do you know if the Goths do the same thing?”
Cassidy nodded. “As a matter of fact, they do. They call it the Royal Destroyer, Royal Light Cruiser and so on. Their Royal Battlecruiser led a squadron that visited several Empire planets a few years back. Can’t remember the ship’s name, but she was painted a different color and her name was painted on the hull in gold lettering. We don’t go that far. We just paint the Queen’s coat-of-arms on the ship.”
Rafe smiled. “The Queen’s designation will help us in the Badlands. Once the news gets back to the Goths, they will understand the designation and know the Queen will be taking a direct, personal interest in how things go with the Royal Navy’s Badlands squadron.” He looked through the portholes at the now empty hangar bay. “She is one smart operator.” He also knew she was doing it to poke a stick in the eye of the Royal Navy establishment but he didn’t say anything about that.
Chapter 18
The operations people from all the Zeke ships met with pirate representatives in the briefing compartment aboard Drake. The planning session lasted the remainder of the day. Procedures for sharing intelligence, schedules, and supplies were established. The Naval Headquarters’ rules of engagement for the Royal Navy ships were given to the pirates.
Hawkins and his staff had expected the Royal Navy people to resent their deployment to the Badlands and missing out on the war, but they found this was not the case. These ships and crews had been on border security for months and the Badlands was a step up from that. Although nobody said anything, Rafe suspected these officers also knew their ships were old and limited. In a fight against modern Orion vessels, they would be at a severe disadvantage and, soon after, they would be dead. In the Badlands, they could make a difference and support the Empire without getting into battles where they would be overmatched.
After seven hours of work, a break was announced for the evening meal in the officers’ mess. The food was excellent and the company enjoyable. Three more hours of staff work followed before planning was completed for now. The final item was to establish a time and location of a rendezvous in the Badlands. If all went as planned, the Royal Navy ships would arrive on station two weeks after Flot 1 arrived home. The Predator crewmembers returned to their ship. As their shuttle approached Predator, everyone watched the departure of Spinnaker and her escorts, presumably with the Queen onboard. The Queen’s visit had gone well and Hawkins hoped it was a good omen of things to come.
Predator immediately departed Hartley. They would meet the other pirate ships in four days in the Perdition system. After returning to the ship, Rafe ordered his staff to secure from their duties and turn in for the night. He went to the bridge. He wanted to do a quick check on the status of his ship before retiring to his stateroom.
He spoke to the bridge watch. “Are we on course to the rendezvous point with Captain O’Hare?”
“Aye, Captain,” replied Arky Smith at navigation.
Hawkins nodded his thanks as he went to his chair and called down to engineering. He expected Preacher or a watch stander to answer, but it was Blondie’s image that appeared on his screen. She had been in all the planning sessions aboard Drake and now was ignoring his order to call it a night. “Blondie, we’ve been doing maximum sustained speed everywhere we have gone so far. Any problems with the new engines?”
“None, Captain. There is no break in period required for these engines, and the installation was well done. We can do max speed as long as you want.”
Hawkins nodded in reply. “Excellent. We are going to crank it up then. We got places to be.”
“Roger, Captain.”
Rafe stared at her hard. “It has been a long day, and we will have more such days in the future. Once you answer the change in speed, I expect you to retire for the night.”
Blondie nodded, “Of course, Captain.”
“I mean it.”
“Walking out the hatch now.”
Rafe signed off. He was tired. It had been a long day, and staff work was always draining. He turned to Baby Doll and Tactical. “We are done for the evening.”
They nodded and started for the passageway to retire to their staterooms. Rafe, instead of going through the bridge hatch to his day cabin and then on to his stateroom, followed the two women into the passageway. Both knew why.
“You’re going to watch to see if Blondie comes up the passageway to her stateroom, aren’t you?” Baby Doll asked.
Rafe nodded. The two women said good night and entered their staterooms. Hawkins leaned against the hatch to his stateroom as he calmly waited in the passageway. One minute later, Blondie came out of the elevator at the far end. She eyed Hawkins as she came toward him and her stateroom. She smiled as she reached her stateroom hatch. “Good night, Captain.”
As she turned the handle Rafe spoke. “Did both of them call you?”
The tone of the inquiry made it clear it was not really a question but the verification of a certainty. Blondie paused halfway into her stateroom. She gave a sheepish smile. “Yes, both called. About three seconds apart.”
Rafe could barely suppress his smile. “Thought as much. Good night, Blondie.”
“Good night, Captain.” Blondie went into her stateroom and closed the hatch. Rafe waited two minutes to ensure she wouldn’t sneak back out, and then he entered his stateroom.
Chapter 19
As Predator sped to her rendezvous, dozens of messages went out requesting information to facilitate the recent planning done at Hartley. Replies to several messages sent out during their time at Wanderlust had been coming in at regular intervals. Baby Doll covered the information at each morning’s staff meeting.
“The Commonwealth squadron is commanded by a Commodore Thaddeus Yossian. He is quite the character. He has never been in the military. During the war, he was one of the civilian leaders in the Commonwealth government and was very outspoken about the war being the entire fault of the Marbellans and the need to ensure they learned their lesson regarding such actions. As the war dissolved into some serious incidences on both sides, he endorsed such tactics by his people as necessary for teaching the appropriate lessons.
“It is interesting he is hunting war criminals now as his name figures prominently in the Humanity Commission Report sponsored by the Aurora Empire after their Civil War. This report was a result of a commission made up of several representatives from a variety of Aurora Empire planets. This group toured Rialta after the war. They conducted interviews, visited battle sites, reviewed official documents and reports. Basically, they compiled a history of real and supposed violations of the Convention of Conflict Conduct. As you know, the CCC was established eighty years ago and agreed to by the three empires and several planetary governments. One of those governments was Rialta, so the Commonwealth is a little embarrassed to see themselves in the report. They tossed it off as propaganda by the losers making false accusations against them but the Commission stood by the reporting.
“Both sides in the war did some not-very-nice things, and each blamed the other side for starting it first. Yossian was never accused of doing any such acts himself as he was never in the fighting. However, his name is in the report as a kind of enabler. When these events were reported in the media, he would talk far and wide about the need for such action to stamp out the bad Marbellans. He ensured such events caused by the Commonwealth military were never investigated by the various agendas within his government.
“Despite the war being over, Yossian is still a crusader on punishing the Marbellans. Doing it through war crimes trials seems to be his way of accomplishing that punishment. His campaign began as the war was winding down, and he started demanding that punishment be dished out on a large scale. He seems to see war crime trials as the best opportunity to wipe out the entire power structure of Marbella. He constantly expanded his definition of what constitutes war crimes, so his pool of potential criminals has gotten to the point of being, well, everybody who fought on the other s
ide. His latest demand is to have the Marbellan succession movement and the resulting war declared a crime in itself so that all their leaders can be rounded up and tried as war criminals.”
Rafe got a bad feeling. “Is there a religious element to this guy?”
“He does like to invoke his god every now and then.” Baby Doll smiled. “And guess what! God is always on his side and approves of everything he does.”
“Gee, imagine that. What a surprise.” Tactical interjected in a flat tone.
Rafe frowned at that news. He didn’t like fanatics although he was honest enough to admit he was one himself. However, crusaders topped the list. Invariably, crusading types thought of themselves as instruments of a higher power, so the laws of man and societal norms did not apply to them as they go about their sacred missions. The only thing that did apply was their god’s desire for mission accomplishment. Understandably, they always came to the conclusion that the importance their quest justified whatever actions they took. How convenient for them. A little too convenient for Raferty’s taste.
Also, these types of zealots could usually be dealt with in one way. You had to kill them. They couldn’t be reasoned with or bought off. They couldn’t be scared off as they were sure they had a place in paradise just waiting for them and to die doing their crusade guaranteed them front of the line privileges at heaven’s toll bridge. If this Yossian was a man on a holy mission, options to handle him just shrank to a pitiful few. Rafe didn’t want to kill him and create a martyr for other such thinkers back on Rialta. He also knew his captains would not be anxious to get into a fight with this guy in support of Terrant and the Marbellans. Rafe needed a different approach on this one.
Baby Doll concluded her remarks on him. “The Commonwealth must be getting tired of his act, and that is how he ended up out here. He is popular among the people as they see him as the avenger who will get retribution for the sacrifice the common folks made during the war so the Commonwealth governments couldn’t just toss him aside with a thank you and an award. They seem to have arrived at this expedition as a way to get him out of town and let things quiet down. The fact is there is no such rank as commodore in their Navy. They invented it just for him and then put him in command of the squadron and sent him out into space far, far away.”
Tactical interrupted. “So they want to make their problem everyone’s problem now?”
Baby Doll nodded. “Good way of putting it. We received all this intel from reports from one of Reverend Tom’s groups near Rialta after we sent out requests for info on this guy. Their view is that even the various Commonwealth Governments were getting a little antsy about his self-proclaimed mission and his expanding list of those who should feel the wrath of the righteous due to their conduct in the war.”
“Are there other people involved in this quest back on Rialta?” Raferty asked.
“Some, but without Yossian, they are toothless. He is the face of the movement among the masses, so the higher ups must figure they can handle the leftover crusaders once Yossian departed.”
After a moment’s thought, Rafe spoke up. “That might be the weakness with him. Maybe the last thing the Commonwealth wants is to be drawn into a crisis because their crusader-in-chief did something stupid while on his own agenda. They don’t want to be answering hate mail from the Zekes or Goths. He is not in the military so does not have the discipline instilled by their training and regulations. This guy is used to being on his own agenda with no restrictions. If we can get him to do a couple of dumb ass things, and the message traffic starts flowing and some Commonwealth ambassadors get a dressing down in the Aurora Empire and Goldenes Tor, they might recall him home.” He paused and then added. “I know back at Wanderlust I was thinking we would have to fight these Commonwealth ships, but now there might be other viable methods to get them gone. It will take a while to make that work but might be worth a shot.”
“We’ll look at possibilities,” Tactical remarked as she noted it on her screen.
Rafe nodded and continued. “Get me something good. I don’t really want to lock horns with this guy. I suspect not one of our captains will answer that call anyway. Nobody wants to have a shoot out to support Terrant and her rag tag group of wanderers. We have bigger issues and need to focus on them.” He paused again as he changed topics. “How we looking on a campaign once we return home?”
Tactical took up the question. “Our campaign is coming together. We have a freighter taking a close up look at Gammatiga and we should get their report in a couple of days. Word has it that the Goths are making good use of the base, and they won’t give it back.”
Hawkins smiled. “Good. The Goths keeping Gammatiga gives me the opportunity I want. What freighter is doing the scouting for us?”
“Celestria under Lawrence Maddox. He knows what information we want.”
Raferty nodded. It made sense since Celestria had been working the Perdition system on the edge of the Badlands. Rafe knew Maddox would get a good close-up view of the base and the activity there.
“Make sure we pay him for the time and trouble.”
Tactical nodded and continued. “We got a reply from Greg Paulsen on Agra 2. He is laying the groundwork for our meeting there. He thinks it is fifty-fifty right now, but if the Zekes give a pitch at the meeting, it will pass. Lisa Cassidy will give the presentation. When she stands there in her Royal Navy uniform looking all official and then starts talking money that should help sway people.”
“What’s your view?” Rafe asked.
Tactical shrugged. “I suspect these people just want to be left alone so that will be their going-in position. Leave them alone and let someone else do the fighting. Once they see they won’t be left alone, no matter what, they should come over to us. Besides, the money from a Zeke base would be a big persuader.”
Heads around the table nodded. Nothing worked like money in the Badlands. Probably the same everywhere else too.
Baby Doll covered the next topic. “Just got some feedback on Baron Ernst Hochstadt. Big society type so he is in all the gossip rags. Makes it easy to track the guy. He and his cousin, the Prince, are best pals from the cradle. Basically, they grew up together. Prince Joseph is closer to him than to his own two brothers.
“The Baron fancies himself a business tycoon. I can confirm three meetings with the Sunrise people. There are certainly more. He’s the connection between Prince Joseph and the Grange. The Baron fancies himself a ladies’ man too. Marriage only slightly cramps his style. He doesn’t even bother being discrete about it. Maybe his wife, the Admiral, will kill him for us.”
Rafe smiled. “Nice thought, but she would have done it already if she was going to do it at all. She might be the only Goth to be glad to be in the Badlands, so she doesn’t have to watch that show.”
“What are you planning for him?” asked Tactical.
Hawkins looked her in the eye. “We are going to hit him. I have an idea on how but need to talk to someone first.”
Nobody was put off by the declaration. There had been several blood contracts on individuals in the past and there would surely be more in the future.
“One more item,” Baby Doll said. “We got a message from Potenka and Admiral Dietrich will be there ten days from now for an official visit with their government. Argus Colandra will also be there at the same time. Still want to drop in for a visit and get two birds with one stone?”
Hawkins nodded. “Sounds good. We’ll do Colandra first. I’m thinking dinner with his mistress. We’ll bring the meal.” He turned to look at Mason Reed. “You good with your part?”
Reed nodded. “I’m sure I can get an audience with all the right people with no problem. They all know they are up against the wall and will want a way out. If Colandra joins our plan and gives me a letter of introduction, I think it’s an easy sell. Everyone knows I worked for him and then left him under less than ideal circumstances. If he now supports me and our mission that will carry a lot of weight with people.”
Rafe agreed. “True, so we’ll have to make sure he sees the wisdom of our course of action. He’s a good businessman. He must know this whole Sunrise thing will not end well for him. If he sticks with them, the best case scenario is he loses all his investment. Worse case is he loses his life. I think he helps us out on this one. Plus, if we get rid of the Sunrise gang, it creates a vacuum in food transportation to market. Colandra will move to fill that in a heartbeat. If he deals fairly with people, no problem.
“After our Colandra meeting, we’ll hang around and wait for Dietrich and his squadron to show up. We’ll do our hanging out at Alejandar. I don’t want to be in orbit when the Goths drop in. We’ll come in behind them after half the crews of each of their ships have gone down for liberty.”
Tactical nodded. “Got it.” She now stared at Rafe. “You realize everyone is running to their houses as soon as we get to the Badlands. Once we drop all our crewmembers who want to get off at our house, we will be barely manned for safe flight, and none of the other Flot 1 ships will be available to support us.”
Rafe smiled at his sister. “Is that your not-very-delicate way of telling me not to look for a fight?”
“Pretty much.”
“Noted. I promised not to look for a fight.”
Tactical finished the statement. “But if one comes our way…” She then gave Hawkins an inviting look to confirm or deny her conclusion.
“Who knows what the future holds?” he responded in a light tone. He turned serious. “First, we stop by our house and let all those off who have family there. Nobody else. This is not a general liberty call, and we will need every one of our crew who doesn’t have family at the house.
The Queen's Hammer: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 5 Page 11