Alexis stood up and looked down to see Raferty regarding her with a slight smile.
“What?” she asked as she gave him a smile back.
“I’m married to three women,” he said.
She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. She said, “I better never meet the other two. It would get bloody.”
He replied, “First, there is the woman who works hard to be my wife. She is practical, sensible, and without pretense. She never refers to her day job. The second woman is a navy officer. She drinks gallons of coffee, eats junk food, swears more than the other two, knows her job, and loves the responsibility of running a ship. The navy is her true calling, and she values its history and traditions. Last is the Queen of the Aurora Empire. She is totally ruthless, dedicated to the Empire, and would destroy planets if it was called for.” He paused and then added, “I don’t see her very much and that’s good. Truth is she scares me sometimes.”
Alexis leaned forward and kissed her husband again. Then she looked into his eyes and whispered, “Truth is, the Queen of the Aurora Empire scares me sometimes too.”
She straightened up and walked toward the hatch to the captain’s stateroom. She stopped at the entryway and turned. “Are you busy now?” He shook his head, and she continued, “If you sleep next to me for the next few hours, I’ll make it worth your while when we wake up.” She gave him a coy smile.
“Right behind you,” he said as he turned off his computer and stood up. He followed her into the stateroom.
~ ~ ~
Later that afternoon, Alexis visited Holly. The two women went over several hairstyles and eventually settled on one for its practicality and easy maintenance. Holly supervised as the ship’s beautician cut the Queen’s blond mane. Her hair ended up almost as short as her husband’s. Holly had it styled to cover her ears and long bangs that reached almost to her eyebrows. The back was short and tapered. After the cut was done, Alexis looked into the mirror and smiled. It was radical and a big change from the hairstyle she had maintained all her life. She liked it. The key driving factor was easy maintenance. She basically had to wash her hair, and that was it. She thanked Holly and the beautician and tried to pay for the work. They refused payment. She was the captain’s wife, after all.
She returned to the day cabin, but Hawkins was out so she sat at his desk and went over her computer messages. Halfway through the process, Raferty walked in from the passageway hatch so was right in front of the desk when he closed the hatch and turned around to see her in his chair. He gave her a wide smile. “I love seeing strange, beautiful women in my day cabin, but you should leave. My wife is understanding, but she is not that understanding.”
Alexis stood up, came around the desk, and wrapped her arms around Rafe’s neck. She moved in close to him and whispered in his ear. “Then we better get started so we can be done before she gets back.”
It was all the encouragement he needed.
Chapter 6
Twelve hours from Signe, Predator rendezvoused with the destroyer Bassinet. Alexis had requested a close fly-by of the Aegis base on the planet Lilitu and Buckler base on Senka. Both bases had been the scenes of heavy fighting in the Electra System fight. This warship would escort them during the flyby and they would forego all the Return to Force (RTF) procedures to get into Signe.
These two bases, Aegis and Buckler, had been badly damaged in the Orion raid that lead to the Battle of the Electra System. Neither had been rebuilt due to other pressing priorities. Now only a sensor station was maintained at each base to expand sensor coverage of the quadrant.
During the battle, the two bases and their planets had been close to each other with the planet Signe not too far beyond Senka. The short distance between the three planets is why the OrCons had attacked at that time as they intended to hit all three. They got the first two objectives but never got to Signe. After abandoning the two bases, the Zekes had returned to Signe spaceport after a sixty-year absence and now operated out of there.
The three planets were now not as close as they had been during the battle but were within reasonable flying distance of each other. Predator and her escort entered Aegis spaceport above Lilitu. They flew by the damaged space harbor equipment scattered in a wide band around the planet. The surface base still showed the damage from Orion missiles. Only one building registered any heat. That would be the sensor station. Alexis silently took it all in at one of the large bridge portholes and then moved to her husband in the captain’s chair. She stood behind the chair and looked at what he was viewing on his tac screen. He was not looking at the planet or the spaceport. On the screen’s edge were several sensor returns of ships—or rather of things that used to be ships. That was the site of the Flot 1 fight and victory over the four strike carriers and their escorts. Among the wrecks were the pirate vessels Scoundrel and Rebel. Hawkins viewed the screen with no visible reaction. Alexis leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “You have sacrificed much for us.”
“I have sacrificed nothing,” he replied, equally as quiet. He gestured at the screen, “They have.”
“Yes, you have. You all have. I hope we are worth it.”
He turned his head slightly to look in her eyes. “You are,” he said simply.
The two ships set course for Senka. On the way, they passed the dozens of wrecks that marked the main fighting that took place between the two planets. The wrecks were not between the planets now but off to one side but they showed up on sensors. Eventually, they would be taken away as part of the salvage operations that happened at the end of all wars, but nothing would be done until then. Nobody would disturb them now.
The flyby of Senka was conducted four hours after Lilitu. Buckler base was also in shambles with only one building occupied. The ships then set course for Signe and arrived six hours later.
Chapter 7
Predator’s shuttle landed on the roof of the fleet headquarters building. Because the Queen’s visit was a secret, there was no arrival ceremony nor an official schedule for her. To drive the point home, she instructed Admiral Trevor Levant not to meet her on the roof. She would come to him in his operations room to receive a brief on the current situation in his AOR. This was to be a working visit. The Queen didn’t want to be bogged down in official events or meaningless ceremonies. In fact, the natives of Signe did not even know she was here.
The Battle of the Electra System had shown how unwieldy the command structure in the Royal Navy was. At the time, Levant’s forces were part of Home Fleet. Due to political reasons, Home Fleet had been kept at their Wanderlust base as a security blanket for the home system. At the same time, Levant’s force in the far-off Electra System had been actively engaged in offensive and defensive operations. Since they were under Home Fleet, all their communications, requests, intel updates, and everything else went through Wanderlust. The time lag and the added layer of bureaucratic inertia proved to be a great hindrance when reacting to combat situations. Nothing could be done about the time lag, but something was done about the extra command level. After the Electra fight, Levant’s forces were designated Electra Fleet and now reported directly to Zelenka and Naval HQ there. It was a move that was long overdue and only the near disaster that was the Electra fight caused it to happen. The Queen had every faith in Admiral Levant but was very interested in how the new fleet was performing. She was sure the individual ships were fine, but she wanted to see the staff and the Signe supporting establishment close up.
She intended to set that tone from the start of the visit. She disembarked from the shuttle wearing Royal Navy officer’s engineering overalls with her moniker on a name tag over the left breast pocket. It had been given to her on her visit to her old ship Cobalt when she was at Navy Base Hartley. Her new hairstyle was mostly hidden under a blue Cobalt ship cap. Work boots completed the ensemble.
She stopped outside the shuttle to wait while the remainder of her company disembarked. Raferty moved beside her and Tactical, Baby Doll, and Blondie were b
ehind her. The foursome had just formed up near the Queen when an officer wearing the rank insignia of a commander came onto the roof and moved to them. He absently smiled at them as he was looking beyond them at the entry hatch to the shuttle. He was clearly waiting for someone regal to disembark. A few seconds passed and Blondie spoke up. “She is right in front of you, dumb ass.” Blondie did not take insults to the Queen lightly.
The man was clearly befuddled now as he scanned the group. After the incident with Jackline, the Queen was having none of it. “Too late,” she said abruptly and walked past the officer while aiming for the door to the stairs going down inside the building.
“Your Majesty!” the officer said in a near yelp and made to follow. As he turned to hurry after her, Tactical grabbed his shoulder and pushed him out of the way so she could pass. Then Baby Doll did the same, followed by Blondie. Blondie repeated her assessment as she pushed him aside. “Dumb ass!” Now he was at the back of the pack as the Queen arrived at the door and moved through it.
Alexis had seen a schematic of the building as she had been shown plans of the base as part of her Signe briefing package she had reviewed while aboard Predator. She knew the route and lead the way without letting the officer catch up as Blondie and Baby Doll walked side by side and wouldn’t let him pass.
She entered the operations room which was in a high state of activity. Nobody looked up from their work and, if they had, they would have thought some ship’s officers just came in. When the Queen was halfway across the room aiming at Admiral Levant, the erstwhile escort arrived at the door.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Queen!” he announced in an out-of-breath voice.
Everyone stood up as they looked at the door, expecting the Queen to come through that entrance after the announcement. When it didn’t immediately happen, people looked around in search of royalty. Alexis smiled to herself as she approached Levant. He recognized the Cobalt hat and bowed. The Queen extended her hand to him and, at the same time, said, “Do carry on, people.” It was only with her announcement that most of the people in the room finally located her. Many stared for a moment at the Queen’s appearance, but she pretended not to notice.
Admiral Trevor Levant pursed his lips in frustration as he straightened and took the Queen’s hand in a firm grip for a handshake. He stared briefly at the commander who was supposed to be the escort. That man was smart enough to stay near the door and out of range.
Levant shook her hand and said, “Welcome to Signe, Your Majesty.”
“It is a pleasure to be here and to see you and Electra Fleet, Admiral.” Alexis responded.
Captain Alistair Bond moved to the pair as Hawkins and his people waited behind the Queen. Levant was right in step with the Queen wanting this visit to be all business, and he was ready to make it happen. He nodded toward Bond, “Captain Alistair Bond is the fleet operations officer and will be your initial briefer on the current situation in our AOR.”
“Your Majesty,” Bond said as he bowed and then gestured toward a briefing table in the center of the room. The Queen moved in that direction with Tactical, Baby Doll, and Blondie following. Hawkins stopped next to Levant.
“Trevor,” Hawkins greeted as they shook hands.
Levant smiled. “Good to see you, Rafe.” The two warriors had been through much together, and their friendship overrode the rituals demanded by their positions. Levant nodded toward the door and the commander still hovering there. “Why did the Queen come in unescorted, and why does my aide look like he should be plugged into a life support system?”
Hawkins told him of the encounter on the roof beside the shuttle. Levant shook his head slowly and looked skyward at the ceiling. “Son of a bitch.” He now looked at Hawkins. “I saw the video of the Queen’s encounter with Captain Tate of Jackline early yesterday. To Tate’s credit, he sent in the video immediately and takes full responsibility for the incident. An hour later I got your P4. That is why I sent you his information so fast. I already had it pulled, and it was on my desk.” He glanced at the Queen studying the layout over the briefing table as she listened to a briefer. “I’ll talk to her and see what she wants to do.”
“I showed her his record. She’s not headhunting him.”
Levant nodded. He said, “Good to know, but I’ll still ask her. It’s the proper course of action.” He smiled. “I understand your comm was down for twenty-two minutes yesterday. I assume you found out the incident had been downloaded and sent off your ship so you had to scrub your transmitters and comm computer to ensure you erased all the copies hiding in the queue.”
Hawkins nodded slowly with unhappiness on his face. “Some of my crew forgot there is a war on. They found the incident amusing so decided to share it with, well, everyone. The comm scrub was needed, but that does nothing about what already went off the ship. I owe you an apology for that. OpSec went to hell in a hurry. My fault.”
Levant shook his head. “Predator’s cover was in place with IFF codes and scheduling, so Tate should have just scanned her and been done with it. He never should have initiated close-in contact. Besides, the Queen doesn’t need to punish him at all. He will be catching grief over that damn video for the rest of his life.”
“That’s true,” Raferty agreed. “Give it a week, and everyone except some remote mining colony in the Goldenes Tor will have seen it.”
He suddenly paused in thought. Levant said nothing as he recognized the signs of an idea forming and was willing to wait until Hawkins got there. Rafe looked at him. “Can we get Captain Bond over here?”
“Of course,” Levant responded. He looked at the briefing table. Bond was standing back as other officers were briefing to the Queen. “Al.” Bond looked up and Levant waved him over. Tactical was listening to the brief but looked up at Levant’s call to Bond. Rafe waved her over.
As the two operations officers approached, they gave each other a sideward glance. All four people knew what that glance meant. Our bosses have been talking together and now they have an idea. Oh, goody!! Both Levant and Hawkins smiled. In their careers, each had been operations officers and often disliked it when their bosses got ideas, especially bad ideas.
As the two OpsOs stopped in front of the two commanders, Hawkins lead off the conversation. “I was just telling the Admiral that the Jackline episode with the Queen had been sent off the ship many times and soon enough, everyone will have seen it except some mining colony on the far side of the Goldenes Tor.” He looked at Tactical and waited for her response.
“An exaggeration but not by much,” she agreed.
“Think the OrCons have seen it?” he asked
“I think the OrCons are laughing their asses off right now,” she replied.
Rafe nodded in agreement. “And after they are through laughing their asses off, what will they do?”
Tactical’s eyes drifted to the ceiling as she considered the question. Then her eyes came back down and focused sharply on Hawkins as she arrived at an answer she didn’t like. “If I were them, I would grab every ship I could lay my hands on, cross the border, and set up subspace ambushes to intercept the Queen on her way home.”
Hawkins nodded in agreement and looked at Bond. He nodded and said, “I would do the same damn thing. You’d be playing big space-little ship but it would be worth the gamble.”
Hawkins switched his gaze to Levant. He also nodded. “I’d do it. Put enough ships out there and they could really move the odds in their favor. It is a game changer if they can pull it off.”
“I think so too.” Hawkins looked at each of them. “They would know the Queen will have to visit for a standard week, more or less, to justify the long trip out here. That will give them time to put a plan into action. How are we going to respond to it?”
Tactical answered immediately. “With a counterplan, of course.”
Chapter 8
The AOR situation brief concluded, and the Queen joined the two commanders. The two operations officers, Baby Doll, Blondie, a
nd the Electra Fleet battle staff gathered around the main briefing table and immediately began planning how to counter the possible OrCon ambush threat.
Hawkins briefed his wife on how they currently viewed the situation and what was going to be done about it. He added, “Predator will return to Zelenka on the original schedule and see what we can draw toward us for a fight. I would like you to go home on a different ship by a different route.”
Alexis gave her consort an icy stare.
“Or not,” Raferty added.
“If my husband, his crew and his fine ship cannot protect me, then nobody can. I will follow my original schedule.”
Raferty opened his mouth. The Queen of the Aurora Empire continued to stare at him. He shut his mouth.
Admiral Levant stepped in to change the subject. “How would Your Majesty like to address the Tate incident?”
Alexis looked at Levant. “It doesn’t bother me that he did not recognize me. The Queen standing a watch is rare, indeed. It did bother me that he did not know the ship. They have done too much not to be recognized on sight. However, after Black Hallow provided me with his personnel record, I can understand why he didn’t recognize the ship. He has been out fighting on the edges of the Empire or in a hospital somewhere—wounded at the start of the war while in the Sapphire System, wounded again while fighting in the Glazomer System. Cited for bravery twice. We need warriors and he certainly is that.”
Levant nodded in agreement. “He is that. A bit ostentatious in his manner, but he comes out of the Morales family on his mother’s side and grew up on Itzal. His uncle is the Count.”
Alexis nodded knowingly. “That explains it.” She turned to Rafe. “Itzal is in the home system. The planet has four peers, one title being the Conde de Montaña held by the Morales family. That peerage covers a large mountainous region, so they have been looking down on people, literally and figurative, for over two hundred years. When it comes to self-importance and officiousness, they make the royal family look as laid back as Doc Windsor. Nobody can outdo them in that type of behavior, and their reputation is widespread in that regard. They revel in that reputation. I had wondered why his bridge watch didn’t tell him the story behind Clan class destroyers. Maybe they did, and he didn’t listen.” She turned back to Levant. “The man fights, and the Empire needs fighters. Let us consider the incident closed with no further action, Admiral.”
A Trip to Signe Page 3