The Queen's Hammer: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 5

by Sean Benjamin

  The Admiral approached and stopped on the near side of the table opposite Hawkins. All her party stopped at the two rows of chairs. She would be the only one sitting at the table with the pirates. Nobody bothered to offer a handshake. Raferty smiled at Hochstadt and then flicked out his left hand to the two-uniformed women on his left. “Captain Lisa Cassidy, commander of the Royal Navy Badlands Squadron and captain of the Aurora Empire Ship Drake.” Cassidy nodded at the Admiral without expression and Hochstadt returned the gesture. Hawkins continued, “Lieutenant Lara Bychovskaya, Royal Navy liaison to Pirate Flotilla One and chief engineer of the pirate vessel Predator.” Blondie nodded with no expression and got a return nod. Hawkins gave a slight head flick to his right. “My operations officer, Tactical, and my intel officer, Baby Doll.” No nods were exchanged, only solemn stares. Hawkins nodded to his right to the end of the table. “Captain Killian O’Hare of the pirate vessel Nemesis and commander of Wolfpack.” O’Hare gave no indication of hearing the introduction and didn’t even look at Hochstadt but stared at the Goth party standing among the two rows of chairs while continuing to slowly chew her gum. Hochstadt gave her a quick glance and then brought her attention back to Hawkins. She didn’t introduce her officers. She just reached forward and pulled out her chair. “Shall we begin, Your Grace?”

  “Certainly,” Hawkins replied agreeably as he ignored the sarcasm of the title and pulled out his chair. The two leaders sat at the same time. The two Aurora Empire officers sat in chairs on Hawkins’ left with Cassidy next to him. Tactical stood behind Hawkins’ right shoulder and Baby Doll stood next to her behind Hawkins’s left shoulder. Hochstadt noted it in passing. She had read in the pirate briefs that the two women did that to hide their gun hands behind their leader. Hochstadt briefly wondered if they were armed in violation of the agreed upon rules for this meeting. She quickly dismissed the thought. She knew they wouldn’t try anything here. Anything bad happening would bring the Goldenes Tor crashing down on Destiny Flores and this planet in general. Besides, she knew from the briefs that Hawkins didn’t work that way.

  Hochstadt’s party all sat in the two rows. Her two aides sat directly behind her in the first row and took out small virtual notepads. Soon each of them had a floating screen hovering just above their knees. Dietrich took a seat at the right end of the first row. The seat next to him stayed empty as the remaining officers took the seats in the back row. The officers shifted their chairs around slightly to get good lines of sight to watch the proceedings.

  Raferty adjusted himself in his chair to get comfortable and smiled at Hochstadt. “Since I requested this meeting, I think it only fair you present any topics of discussion first.”

  Hochstadt nodded in acknowledgment and spoke in an official tone. “First topic. I demand you surrender to me immediately.”

  “No.” Hawkins didn’t sound surprised.

  Hochstadt didn’t miss a beat. “Second topic. We will assist Commodore Yossian of the Commonwealth of States of the planet of Rialta in all ways possible to allow him to bring accused war criminals of their civil war to justice. This would include assisting him in fighting people who would aid these war criminals in eluding capture.”

  “Okay,” Hawkins responded in a casual manner and went silent as he waited for the next item.

  Hochstadt thought this would be a topic that would generate discussion. Dietrich had told her of his recent conversation with Hawkins so she knew his position on this subject, and it was totally opposite of what she had just said. She guardedly continued the conversation on the same topic. “Admiral Dietrich informed me of a recent conversation the two of you had in orbit over Potenka, and you stated your position on the Commonwealth squadron at that time. Have you modified your position?”

  “No. I just knew you would not buy into that position, and I cannot force you to. Of course, when Yossian does something stupid, I will be sure to point out your support of him in the media.”

  “We can live with that.”

  “I’m sure you can, but I’ll tie it to the Bries and the OrCons and mercenaries at Agra 2 and point out that this is yet another example of the Goths getting others to do their dirty work as they have been doing for years. People might see a pattern there. It adds up.”

  “We’ll take our chances.”

  “Yes, you will be doing exactly that.” Hawkins paused and then asked “Any more topics.”

  “Our consensus is that you will continue to operate as you have in the past.” She leaned toward Hawkins. “Your peer title will not protect you if you insist on continuing your standard practices. We will kill you and take our chances with the Aurora Empire.”

  Hawkins smiled in response to the threat. “You think I returned to the Badlands to not continue my standard practices? Of course, I will continue to operate as I have in the past.” Hawkins now leaned toward Hochstadt. “I’m sure you know the stories about me circulating in the Aurora media. You know how I came to be who I am. You really think I’m going to call it even and retire to Zelenka? Really?”

  “I hope not.”

  “You’re one of the few with that particular hope.” Hawkins gave her an evil smile. “I guarantee everyone who actually has to fight me out in vacuum is hoping I will quit the field and return to Zelenka.”

  A long pause followed until Hawkins said, “Anything else you would care to discuss?”

  Hochstadt inwardly sighed. This was going badly. She had other topics, but it had been decided to let Hawkins bring them up. She chose to let Hawkins cover his topics, and she could deny him any progress or satisfaction. She stared at him briefly and then stated in a flat voice. “By all means, please state your subjects.”

  “Excellent,” Hawkins replied as he passed a folder over to Hochstadt. “Our first topic is Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Your copies are in the folder there.”

  “Letters of Marque and Reprisal?” There was a note of annoyance and surprise in her voice. She and her staff had war gamed this meeting to plan for every possible course of action and every potential topic of discussion, but nobody had seen this coming. Several staff members behind her shifted in their seats as they were as surprised as their commander. Dietrich did not shift at all but stared at Hawkins.

  “Yes. Issued by Queen Alexis the First of the Aurora Empire.”

  “How long has it been since a monarch of the Aurora Empire issued such letters?” Now there was only a note of annoyance in her voice.

  “I asked the same question myself. The Queen told me it had been eighty-six years. Her grandfather.”

  “The Queen briefed you herself?” Hochstadt found that difficult to believe.

  “Yes, she did. Right in my day cabin aboard Predator. Since it had been so long since such letters were issued, she wanted to ensure it was done right. In fact, that folder you have in front of you is the exact one she used to brief me. She gave it to me to pass on to you.”

  “I’m honored.” Hochstadt didn’t sound honored in the least.

  Rafe smiled. “I thought you might be. I considered asking her to autograph it for you, but it didn’t seem appropriate at the time.”

  “Imagine my disappointment.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Hawkins let the moment pass and then looked down at the folder. He covered the same legal points as Alexis had done with him. Hochstadt rapidly read down the pages while half listening to Hawkins. She was stunned at the terms in these documents. There were no restrictions of any consequence on the pirate leader. This was giving Hawkins free rein to do as he will, and the Aurora Empire would cover him. Either the Zeke Queen was insane or wanted a war with the Goldenes Tor. Hochstadt knew there were those in her government and her military who would be happy to accommodate her. Hawkins concluded his brief on the documents by telling her the Queen was going to ensure the Goldenes Tor ambassador received copies to forward to his government. Hochstadt nodded at the conclusion.

  “This will make no difference in our response to your activities.
It may complicate things between my government and the Aurora Empire. With these letters, my government could view your activities as acts of war by the Aurora Empire.”

  “The Aurora Empire could view your support for the Orion squadron that attacked the Royal Navy Badlands squadron at the start of the war as an act of war, so I guess both sides could view the other side in that light.”

  “But the Aurora Empire is not here in the Badlands in force. We are.”

  Hawkins nodded. “For now.” After a slight pause, he added, “That is a nice lead into our next topic. The return of the Royal Navy base at Gammatiga. As you know, bases and space ports are not considered abandoned by their owners until one standard year has passed. It has not been a year since Captain Mallory evacuated that base.”

  This was one of the topics that Hochstadt and her staff had decided to let Hawkins raise as it was likely the freshly minted peer would try to score a success for his new comrades. They had a ready answer crafted in reply. “That is true, but that policy is not applicable here since the Goldenes Tor has never recognized the Aurora Empire’s presence in the region known informally as the Badlands. We have never entered into any agreements or treaties with that entity regarding Badlands relationships. The Gammatiga base was abandoned by the Royal Navy while under no threat from Goldenes Tor forces nor were any demands made by the Goldenes Tor government regarding that base. In short, the Goldenes Tor did nothing to force the Royal Navy out of that base. The Royal Navy can hardly expect to routinely abandon a base and then think the Goldenes Tor will return the base with all the improvements we have made there over the last several months.”

  She ended her response with an overly polite smile. Hawkins replied with a matching smile of his own. “Well, in that case,” he said as he reached into his pile of papers and brought out another folder. He passed over several papers with discs. “This is official notification of a new Royal Navy base being established on Agra 2. The top document shows the treaty between the Aurora Empire and the Agra 2 government. The base will consist of a ground base with a space port in synchronized orbit. Construction is beginning even as we speak. You will notice in the paperwork the agreement is for fifty years with a renewal of fifty years beyond that if the Aurora Empire hits certain thresholds in spending on Agra 2. The thresholds are set at five-year intervals. The base will eventually consist of a surface infrastructure for support of base personnel, defenses against both ground and space assault, a twenty-berth space dock, and a small shipyard. All construction is to be done within the first ten years.” Hawkins looked up now from his reading and added. “Civilian and commercial ships will have docking privileges on an as-available basis, but all warships from other governments will be banned from the new base. A security zone will be established around the planet to provide for base protection. There are several more minor points in the documents to be reviewed at your leisure.”

  Hochstadt stared at Hawkins as her staff sat frozen behind her. Nobody saw this coming. Hochstadt now realized where the pirate ships and the Royal Navy ships were. That combined force was chasing away the Brie mercenaries and whoever else the Sunrise Grange had hired to close down Agra 2.

  Hochstadt addressed Hawkins through clenched teeth. “You do not seriously believe the forces around Agra 2 are going to just pull out and let your force of destroyers and corvettes just cruise on in there?”

  “Actually, that is exactly what I expect to happen.” He leaned toward Hochstadt. “People will fight and die for many things. They’ll die for their Empire, their planet, their nation. They will die for their family or the love of a good man or woman. They will die for their honor. One thing they won’t die for is money. As I’m fond of saying, it’s tough to spend money when you’re dead. The only thing binding those Brie mercenaries and whoever else the Sunrise Grange has hired for their blockade is the money. Once our ships drop in on them, they will have a choice to make. If they fight, they know this won’t be a one and done battle. They will get to fight my ships and Royal Navy ships many more times if they choose to stand at Agra 2. The fighting could easily spread to other battlefields outside the Agra planets all of which means there will be ample opportunities for them to end up dead. No way they want that. They’ll move out of the way.”

  Hochstadt glanced at Cassidy to gauge her reaction, but the Royal Navy captain gave away nothing. “You’re committing the Aurora Empire ships to this course of action,” she asked Cassidy.

  “I take my orders from the Aurora Empire and the Aurora Empire stands in support of the Duke of Black Hallow.” Cassidy leaned toward Hochstadt. “In fact, for all intent and purposes, the Duke of Black Hallow is the Aurora Empire here.” She leaned back and relaxed in her seat.

  Hochstadt stared at her and then switched back to Hawkins. “The going might not be so easy if Goldenes Tor ships drop in at Agra 2.”

  “As I have already stated, we have established a base security zone around the entire planet with the support of the government of Agra 2. Dropping in will have ramifications far beyond Agra 2.” Hawkins looked Hochstadt in the eyes. “You keep our only base and then say we can’t establish another despite having a negotiated agreement in hand with a hosting planet? Mighty high handed of you. Governments negotiate such agreements all the time. You have no claims on Agra 2 so there is nothing here for you to protest. I don’t see your government wanting to take that to the wall, especially considering the people we are pushing out of the way right now. Any move by Goldenes Tor ships at Agra 2 will automatically tie you to the mercenaries and other undesirables now doing the dirty work there.”

  Hochstadt stared back at Hawkins. She had no reply. The point is that he was probably correct in that the Bries and their mercenaries will get out of the way, and the Goldenes Tor government would do nothing to challenge the new Zeke base. The entire strategy of the Sunrise Grange depended on cowing the Agra planets into cooperating with the Grange on their terms. If planets started to revolt against the Sunrise suppression, there really wasn’t much the Goldenes Tor Government or the Imperial Navy could do about it short of armed intervention. Supporting the Sunrise Grange was largely a show of force and cooperation while looking the other way at some of the methods employed by the Grange. If hired mercenaries did some shooting for the Sunrise people, that was one thing, but nobody had authorized the use of force by Imperial ships or Imperial personnel in support of the Grange in a shooting war. Hochstadt thought it highly unlikely anyone would authorize such force. Despite her show of indifference to Hawkins pointing out recent events in the Badlands, the truth was that the government and Imperial Navy were not happy over some of the actions taken by forces acting in concert with Goldenes Tor units. Shooting at a planet full of unarmed farmers would not be tolerated.

  Hawkins sensed her dilemma. “Shall we go on?” He was offering her an out.

  “Of course.”

  “I know the slave trade is officially outlawed throughout the Goldenes Tor Empire and the Aurora Empire. However, it continues to thrive in this quadrant. As you may have read in your intel updates, a law recently enacted by the Aurora Empire requires all Aurora Empire entities, regardless of their location, to cease participating in, or profiting from, the slave trade. The law is Measure 200. Within this quadrant, Royal Navy ships will be enforcing Measure 200. My own flotilla has always opposed the slave trade so will be supporting the Royal Navy in that mission. Although the ships and other entities to be inspected will be of the Aurora Empire, it is possible there may be some interaction with others while carrying out this mission.” Hawkins smiled at Hochstadt. “Just wanted to inform you about this before all the complaints start rolling in.”

  Hochstadt maintained a severe look. “Yes, I’ve been briefed on how your pirate ships handle the slave trade. Will you continue to shoot crewmembers at random? Will the Royal Navy ships be doing the same thing?”

  “To answer the second question first. The Royal Navy ships will immediately quarantine any ships with their car
go if slaves are found aboard such ships. The ships will be taken to Agra 2 for processing. A variety of outcomes may come after that. None involve shooting people. As for my flotilla, we will continue to do what we have always done. We do not shoot crewmembers at random. They earn the death shot.”

  Hochstadt was not convinced. “I understand Vindictive stopped a ship roughly four months ago and ended up shooting nine crewmembers. Four of those were women.”

  Raferty recalled the incident from sitreps from Shane Delacruz. “Yes, but not at random. We keep a database of all crewmembers caught serving on slave ships. Facial recognition is part of that. All crewmembers are told any repeat offenders will be shot. Everyone we have executed was a repeat offender.” Hawkins stared at Hochstadt. “Everyone gets a onetime pass. Nobody gets a second pass.” He leaned back in his seat. “Some people think they can beat the odds by shipping out on a second slaver and not get caught. Sometimes they are wrong, and they pay the price for that mistake.” Hawkins shrugged. “All the freighter crews know this. I’ll bet they forgot to include that part in the reports that reach you. As you can see, it is not random at all.”

  Hochstadt frowned. It was true that aspect was never in any of the reports, but that was of small consequence to her. “So you have no problem being judge, jury, and executioner?”

  Raferty shook his head. “Nope. No problem at all, and we will continue to do so. The rules are well established, and everyone knows them. I see no reason to make an adjustment.”

  The Goth Admiral turned to Cassidy. “You will do the same? You don’t have a problem with his methods?”