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  Duty and Obligation

  Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 6

  Sean Benjamin

  Copyright

  © 2018 by Sean Benjamin – All Rights Reserved

  No part of this book may be copied or reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  Dedication

  For Karen Steele

  2017 North Carolina science teacher of the year

  You go, Nanette!

  You know I have duties – we both have duties – before which feeling must be sacrificed.

  — Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot

  ~ ~ ~

  Some decisions, once you made them, they stay made.

  — Orleans by Sherri L. Smith

  Table of Contents

  Duty and Obligation

  Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 6

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Table of Contents

  Author’s Note

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Epilog

  Glossary

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  We have all made a million decisions of various magnitude during the course of our lives. Most of our decisions are small, routine choices made and remade each day. What to wear, what and where to eat, and how to entertain ourselves are all daily commonplace picks we do so often we don’t really think of them as decisions anymore. They are just everyday selections we make without much consideration. Such routine decisions do, on occasion, lead to major consequences. People make the mundane choice to go to the store and then die in a traffic mishap en route. People also make the decision to spend a few dollars on a lottery ticket and end up millionaires. However, small decisions leading to big consequences are the rare exception. Usually, small decisions have quiet, small consequences. If these small results turn out to be bad, they are easily correctable next time around. Just don’t ever order the pasta again.

  Most people recognize the big decisions when they are at hand. We know that with the big decisions, once made, there are no easy do-overs. Choices as to education, marriage, jobs, medical treatment, and where to live are all in the big decision category. Can you revisit these if you make a mistake? Sure, but there is a much more elaborate remove-and-replace process when correcting big decisions. Divorce or switching to a new career are more involved than simply ordering something else from the menu.

  Often, with the big decisions, there is no right or wrong answer. All the major choices are usually a matter of personal penchant. You gather as much information as possible, consider your preferences, predict the future, and make a decision. These selections only become clearly right or clearly wrong after the fact. If the decision was wrong, then you have to make the difficult choice on how to correct the mistake. Most people have been in that position. It is a rare individual who gets all the big decisions right the first time around.

  When a big decision goes bad, regrets and second-guessing tend to be the first stage in the correction process. We have all played the game of “I should have known” but, really, we couldn’t have known. We have to experience the course of action before we know if it was right or wrong for us. Hindsight may be 20-20 but foresight is fuzzy and indistinct. Experience brings it into focus and teaches us to make better choices. Of course, gaining experience means making mistakes along the way. We all do the best we can.

  Little decisions are seldom remembered unless they have major outcomes. However, we can recall every major decision we ever made. For good or ill, these decisions shape and define our lives.

  Introduction

  Several recent events have worked to Pirate Flotilla One’s advantage. Despite being embroiled in a major war, the Aurora Empire has committed limited resources to the Badlands and a new naval base has been established on Agra 2. Four Marbellan destroyers that recently came to the Badlands were placed in four different shipyards to be overhauled prior to forming a new squadron in Flot 1. The Sunrise Grange is reeling from a loss of investors and the collapse of their blockade on several key planets.

  There is a lull in the ongoing struggle with the Goldenes Tor. The recent intervention by Blue Squadron at Kiraloch has earned the Goths a pass from all the captains of Flot 1. There is no set time limit for this impromptu truce as everyone knows it will be event-driven. The two sides will be back at it soon enough but, for now, the pirate ships are content to avoid the Goths as they go about their duties. Raferty Hawkins is determined to use this operational pause with the Goths to take care of much of the old business that has built up over the years. It is time to balance the books and reinforce the idea that Pirate Flotilla One is not to be trifled with. Several entities have earned Flot 1’s wrath for past transgressions, but there were always bigger concerns for Hawkins, so retaliation was pushed back due to other pressing business. However, now is the time to square accounts.

  Chapter 1

  “Renegade, this is Cobalt. The freighter Tristan is continuing on her course after refusing to be boarded. We are continuing to trail her. Request intercept.”

  Ringo listened to the message again while navigation plotted the positions of the freighter and the Royal Navy destroyer. She reviewed the situation and saw an intercept was easily possible for Renegade. She smiled. Hopefully, the freighter would use the same procedures with Renegade as she had done with Cobalt. Ringo hoped so. She always enjoyed getting in some target practice for her crew.

  Ringo had forwarded Cobalt’s message to various stations on the bridge to allow for planning for the intercept. She reviewed the results of her bridge crew’s work and nodded with satisfaction. She now replied to Cobalt. “Cobalt, Renegade. We will intercept Tristan in three hours. Request you stay with her. Renegade, out.”

  Three hours later, Renegade was closing fast on Tristan. She approached from Tristan’s starboard quarter while Cobalt maintained position on the freighter’s port quarter. As Renegade closed the gap, Cobalt moved closer to the merchantman in support of the pirate corvette. Renegade took up a close aboard position on the big freighter and moved to a location slightly above her plane of travel to allow a good look-down view on the merchant ship. Although Ringo thought it unlikely, the Goths still had Q ships running around the quadrant and a smart pirate captain kept that in mind. Ringo was just such a captain. All guns of both warships were trained on the big freighter.

  “Tristan, this is the pirate vessel Renegade. Heave t
o and prepare to be boarded.”

  Captain Maclyn Yardley was prepared to ignore this demand as she had with Cobalt. She had not let the Royal Navy board her ship and had no intention of giving in to these pirates. After stripping away all the holding partnerships and dummy companies, a person would find Tristan was owned by the Aeonian Conglomerate. Yardley knew about the new law called Measure 200 passed by the Aurora Empire government. It was an anti-slavery measure and allowed Royal Navy ships to stop and search merchant vessels. She also knew the Aeonian Conglomerate’s controlling partner was Lord Douglas Cunningham, Defense Minister of the Aurora Empire. His family had started the conglomerate over one hundred standard years ago and continuously expanded it. Yardley would ignore the Royal Navy and their pirate lackeys and continue on her way, confident “the AC” would back her actions. If and when protests were filed, she was sure her bosses would make them go away without even a ripple left by their passing.

  She leaned back in her captain’s chair and spoke to her comm screen without bringing up the image of the pirate captain. “I have no intention of stopping or being boarded. You should check with the owners of this vessel before you make any rash moves.” Yardley knew that once these two warships looked up the ownership of Tristan, all would be well.

  The pirate answered immediately. “I have no intention of checking with anybody. I don’t give a unicorn’s ass who owns your ship. Now heave to, or you will be fired on.”

  Yardley would call her bluff. “We will not heave to.”

  A second later, Tristan shook under a series of explosions against the hull. She had just been raked with cannon fire. The pirate voice came back online. “How’s that heave to looking now?”

  Yardley was beside herself. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! How dare you fire on my ship! Do you know who we are?”

  “I know exactly who you are. You’re a big, fat, non-maneuvering target with a life expectancy of about sixty seconds from right now.”

  “I’ll have your ass-!”

  The threat was cut off by more cannon rounds hitting the ship.

  “Two compartments venting atmosphere,” reported the First Officer, trying to stay calm.

  The pirate captain talked in a conversational tone. “You would be amazed at the number of people who were going to have my ass. However, I’m still here, and most of them are dead. Are we going to add you to that list?”

  Yardley took a deep breath. She would make a full report to the main office but, right now, she saw no alternative to the pirate’s demands. “We are stopping.” After cutting the transmission, she turned to the comm station in the corner of the bridge. “Inform the regional office about our situation.”

  The young man manning the station nodded. The regional office could not provide any real-time help, but a record would be established regarding this incident for the AC’s future use. Hopefully, the regional office, or the corporate headquarters on Zelenka, would make these people regret their actions.

  Soon a pirate shuttle was sitting in Tristan’s number one cargo bay. The lights turned green and an angry Captain Yardley lead a contingent of four officers into the bay. She had pointedly ignored the order to have all her crew come to the bay except for a skeleton watch. Once the five merchant officers were in front of the shuttle, the hatches opened and the pirates emerged. They had been packed in tight as Ringo had brought her death squad in addition to her normal boarding party. The pilot and one man manning the laser turret stayed in the shuttle. The gun was pointed at Yardley and tracked her every movement.

  Ringo lead the way with a shooter in one hand and her computer tablet in the other. She walked toward Yardley. Her eyes scanned the few crewmen just behind Yardley and she spoke to her hit team leader. “Get everyone down here.” She now looked at the boarding party leader. “Search everywhere. There is something here. I am damn certain of that.”

  Yardley was damn certain these people were going to regret this. She spoke with authority. “You don’t need to meet the whole crew. They are busy working on the damage you caused and-.”

  Ringo talked over her. “No, the damage you caused by not stopping.”

  Yardley continued as if there had been no interruption. “And I have notified my front office of all your actions, Captain… uh...”

  Nonchalantly, Ringo supplied her name. “Ringo.”

  “Well, Captain Ringo, we’ll just see-.”

  “Not Captain Ringo. Just Ringo. And we won’t be seeing anything. We assist the Royal Navy in enforcing Measure 200. You could have had it easy with them, but you were too stupid to take advantage of that. Now it’s our turn. Let’s see how it goes.”

  The group stood in silence for three minutes as Ringo waited for the remainder of the crew to be brought to the cargo bay and Yardley was silently considering the consequences she would want visited upon these intruders. Soon enough, a long line of Tristan crewmembers was coming in, herded by pirate guards. Two injured crewmen were being helped along by their shipmates. It was clear they had been physically assaulted. Yardley stared at the procession and started to speak. Ringo beat her to it as she addressed the accompanying guards. “What happened?” she asked in a mundane tone, making it sound as if someone had just spilled a beer.

  “Didn’t want to come,” reported one of the pirate guards as he shrugged in a casual manner.

  Ringo shrugged in return. “Okay. As long as they’re all here now.”

  Yardley was livid. “Your people attack my crew and that is your response? You must be crazy.”

  Ringo was unmoved. “No, your people are the crazy ones for not seeing the obvious.” She leaned toward the freighter captain. “You do get the fact we’re pirates, don’t you?”

  Ringo turned away without waiting for an answer. Yardley reflected on the comment. She had been furious and was treating this incident as if it were an unwarranted intrusion by planetary customs officials. The remainder of her crew probably viewed this situation in the same vein. She now realized nobody would be issuing citations or maritime court summons here. This could turn out much worse than that.

  The freighter’s crew were bunched in one large group in the bay. This small open space in between the cargo containers did not lend itself to an orderly review of these crewmembers, but the pirate with the facial recognition tablet was moving to each crewmember, taking an image, and getting these crewmembers into the system. This pirate now stepped to the line of officers that were standing with Captain Yardley.

  “What is this?” barked Yardley.

  The woman pirate ignored her question, took her image for the recognition program, and then moved on. Yardley looked for someone else to make demands of, but nobody was close except one guard with a rifle and an unfriendly expression. She now noticed a pirate had returned to the bay and was in close conversation with Ringo near the entrance hatch. The pirate leader nodded and moved to Yardley with her conversation partner in trail. She stopped in front of the merchant captain. “My man here says your third bay is four meters narrower than your other bays. Why is that?”

  Yardley felt her life collapsing but maintained a stoic appearance. “It was built that way.”

  Ringo gave her a cold smile and shook her head. “Nope.” She held up her tablet. Yardley could see the schematics of her ship on the screen. Ringo continued. “This ship is one of eighty ships of the same class. All three bays are the same in size.” She held up the tablet to Yardley and stared at her. “Exactly the same. Yet your third bay is narrower than the other two. If I were of a suspicious nature, I might conclude someone had done a very nice job of installing a bulkhead four meters in front of the original bulkhead and creating a long narrow space to hide things in.” Ringo nodded slightly. “Yup, I might come to that conclusion very easily.” Yardley was staring at her. She was clearly surprised the pirates were so well informed as to her ship. Ringo responded to the look. “We had three hours to intercept. What do you think we were doing during that time? Teaching our ship’
s parrot to say ‘Polly want a cracker?’ We reviewed plans of your ship, your cargo manifest, and your crew numbers.” She now got back on track. “Where is the hatch for that new compartment?”

  “There is no hatch because there is no compartment.”

  Ringo turned to the pirate who had reported the find. “Get a laser welder and cut a hole in the bulkhead.” The man nodded and moved off.

  Yardley realized she was in dire danger now. “That will compromise the integrity of the cargo bay.” She summoned up her best put-upon look and added. “We don’t have time for this. We have-.”

  Ringo cut her off. “Sure, we do. We have plenty of time.” She looked hard at Yardley. “At least I do. You? Maybe not so much.”

  The bay went quiet as they waited for results from the bulkhead cutting expedition. The woman tasked with the facial documentation returned to the bay and reported she had gotten the few crewmembers still manning posts on the bridge and in engineering. Ringo nodded.

  The man who made the original report on the bulkhead came in. It was clear from his hurried walk and intense look that something of importance had been found. He walked directly to Ringo. Guards noticed the man and his manner. They became more alert and weapons shifted to cover the freighter’s crew. Tension in the compartment increased noticeably. The pirate stopped in front of Ringo and reported, “We cut a small hole and called into the space. A voice called back and directed us to the hidden hatch. It was locked, but we cut it open. Sixty-two people were shoved in there.” The man shook his head and said, “The smell! Anyway, they are out in the passageway now. You know their story: Kidnapped. False promises. Fake job offers. The usual stuff.”

  Ringo nodded and shifted her gaze to Yardley. She stared at the woman long and hard. The freighter master said nothing. She was the captain and was responsible for everything that happened, or didn’t happen, on her ship. Ringo turned her head and spoke to the woman handling the facial recognition. “Anyone?” she asked.