“Yes,” he honestly admitted. “I’m afraid if I come in, I might forget to leave.”
Alexis kept her smile. “A valid concern. I would definitely consider kidnapping you.” She closed in on her husband and circled her arms around his neck. “God, the time went fast. When will you be back?”
Rafe shook his head. “No idea. Maybe you can come to the Badlands for a tour?”
“It’s an idea,” Alexis agreed. “We could visit the Badlands Squadron, and I could see Cobalt again.”
They kissed and held each other for as long as was possible. Raferty smiled at his wife. “I love you,” he said.
“And I love you,” she replied.
They kissed again and then let each other go. He returned to the shuttle. After boarding the small craft, it departed the palace grounds and returned to Predator. The pirate vessel immediately broke orbit and aimed for the Badlands.
Epilog
Prime Minister Morgan Strickland thought it was a great idea. A published account of the Queen’s fight on the return trip from the Electra System would be a winner on many levels. The Queen personally fighting the OrCons, her consort’s ship, Predator, back in the war, and another victory adding to the momentum toward the ultimate triumph were all a media dream.
“No,” replied the Queen forcefully. “I have done nothing compared to everyone else in our military. This little trip and the events surrounding it are classified and shall remain so until after the war.”
The Prime Minister protested, “Think of the media value, Madam.”
Alexis shook her head. “I’m thinking of our military. They face that type of danger every day and nobody writes stories about the great majority of those fine citizens. I see no value in such a self-serving maneuver. No.”
Strickland was disappointed, but he had somewhat expected this reaction. “Of course, Madam.” As he rose to depart, he glanced again at the item he first noticed when he entered the room. Hanging from the back of the Queen’s chair and dangling down next to her right arm was a belt with an attached sheath holding a dagger.
~ ~ ~
Predator was one day out of Zelenka. Raferty and his sister had their feet up on his desk in his day cabin. They were drinking the always-available beer.
“It was a good trip,” offered Hawkins.
Tactical nodded. “You got to see the wife. We got to visit Admiral Levant and Haven Hill.” She paused and added, “Best of all, we got to be in another space fight.”
“We do seem to attract those, don’t we?” Rafe agreed.
“Yes, we do, even when we aren’t looking for one. I’m sure we won’t have to wait too long to attract a fight back home. Plenty of people to choose from there.”
Raferty nodded. There was no arguing that there were always plenty of people to choose from in the Badlands.
Glossary
AOR - See area of responsibility.
Area of responsibility - A geographical area assigned to a military unit to secure and control. Commonly referred to by its initials AOR.
Bogey - An unknown sensor contact. Friend or foe still to be determined. Sometimes spelled bogie.
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.
Close hold - Slang for operational security.
CO - Commanding officer.
Cold titanium - A ship at dock or adrift in space with engines secured and generating no power. Slang term is cold tits.
Cold tits - See cold titanium.
Comm - Communication, communications.
Cyclic rate of fire - Firing a weapon as fast as possible.
Dog watch - Splitting the 1600 to 2000 watch into two halves. Those standing the 1600 to 1800 first dog watch eat the evening meal after their watch. Those standing the 1800 to 2000 second dog watch eat their meal before going on watch.
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.
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.
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.
Freq/Freqs - Frequency, frequencies.
FTF - Face to face.
Head - Naval term for a bathroom.
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.
IntelO - Short for Intelligence Officer.
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.
Klick - Slang for kilometer.
Log dogs - Slang for logistics personnel.
Logistics personnel - Crewmembers responsible for obtaining and distributing material and supplies needed for unit use or mission accomplishment.
Merge - When two opposing missile volleys pass through each other on their way to their targets.
Net - Term for communication network with multiple units on one communication channel for command and control coordination.
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 by the initials OD.
Operational security - Keeping plans, operations, methods of operation, SOPs, capabilities, and other relevant information restricted to the people who need to know. No discussions with outside sources. 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. Usually, he/she is the third in command after the CO and XO. Commonly called the OpsO or Ops.
Ops - See operations officer.
OpSec - See operational security.
OpsO - See operations officer.
Overhead - Naval term for ceiling, particularly aboard ship.
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 or joining other friendly units. Usually requires following a given route and having current IFF codes and passwords. These procedures keep enemy units from coming into friendly territory or approaching friendly units by impersonating friendly forces. Often referred to as RTF procedures.
RTF procedures - See return to force.
Sitreps - See situ
ation 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 by the initials SOPs.
Tac screen - Slang for tactical screen. Screen brought up on computer that shows all sensor returns so as to show the current situation.
Vacuum - Slang for outer space.
White phones - System used to listen for ships in subspace and used by ships in subspace to listen for ships in real space. Akin to present day sonar.
XO - See executive officer.
About the Author
Sean Benjamin is the pen name for the author. He has two sons named Sean and Ben who live in Australia. He resides in Las Vegas with his lovely wife, Lynnda, and one new cat who wandered into the yard and never wandered out. He is a retired Marine Corps pilot who fought in Desert Shield/Desert Storm and cruised on navy ships a lot.
A Trip to Signe Page 6