Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Read online

  In addition to Thorton and Goldman, three other figures were partaking of Sky’s food and drink. Deputy Chancellor Hasim Attus represented the government of Potenka. He was in late middle age but carried himself as a much younger man. Dignified and polite, he was quiet, but observed everything while giving away nothing. Sky could well imagine him becoming invisible within a crowd at a reception or state dinner. She also suspected overlooking him would be a mistake.

  Argus Colandra was a leading merchant and deeply entrenched in the political and commercial spheres within this system. He was urban, well informed, and a bit too smooth for Sky’s taste. His dress and manner did everything to try to represent success and breeding. The success was a given, but the breeding was still a work in progress. Sky suspected he had humble beginnings and worked his way up. She had no desire to know the methods in which one “worked his way up” here in the Badlands.

  The last guest was Commissioner Catherine Putinsky, head of police and security for the planetary government. Putinsky was younger than the usual leader of planetary enforcement. In Sky’s experience, this meant one of three things. Putinsky had political support through family or allies, blackmail on important figures, or was very, very good at her job. Sky wasn’t sure which was true as she observed the Commissioner but suspected it was the last. Putinsky was polite, engaging, and charming. It was also obvious she hated official functions. Sky thought she might get to like Putinsky.

  Of course, the conversation had centered on local politics and how the Aurora Empire was disgraceful in its handling of this part of neutral space. Sky got an earful of the Empire’s shortcomings in protecting law abiding citizens, providing funds for commerce and infrastructure, and generally neglecting the obvious potential of this “very, very important region.”

  She took it all in stride. Regardless of her ports of call, the conversation had been the same for the last three weeks. The reality was the Aurora Empire had its hands full with managing an ongoing relationship with the Orion Confederation. This situation kept most of the Empire’s ships and military people focused on the common border with the OrCons. But the Empire’s problems with the Orion Confederation were far away and of little interest here. The fact was the Aurora Empire didn’t even claim the Badlands but wanted the entire area to be independent. The major drawback to an independent region was the Goth presence here and their long-standing claim to all the Badlands. Thus the Empire maintained a limited presence here as a counterweight while wanting to keep commitments to a minimum. One military base on the edge of the Badlands closest to the Home Systems, a few civilian administrators, and a handful of old ships were all the Empire would commit here. But Sky realized the Empire represented hope and stability for many in the Badlands, and these people wanted the Empire here in a larger role. They wanted a sheriff to police the Badlands. They would be disappointed.

  The chief of staff suddenly touched his hand to the comm device in his ear, rose, and moved away from the table. “Must be important,” Sky mused. The watch officer knew not to disturb this event with routine matters. She turned back to Mr. Thorton and his ranting on the sorry state of affairs.

  “What?” exclaimed Goldman from the corner of the compartment. He briefly glanced at the guests around the table and saw they had quickly turned to stare at him.

  Embarrassed at his outburst, he turned his back to the table while talking quietly into his comm link.

  “A problem?” Chancellor Attu raised an eyebrow as he regarded Sky.

  “We shall see,” she responded with a smile.

  Conversation waned and then died as all eyes steadily focused on Commander Goldman’s back. Thirty seconds passed, but it seemed longer as Goldman was obviously engaged in a serious conversation. Finally, he turned and started toward Sky at the other end of the table with a look of concern on his face.

  She held up one hand in a halt gesture, “Just tell me.”

  Goldman grimaced; aware his exclamation had removed any possibility of this development being discussed quietly with the commanding officer. “There is a pirate online. He claims we are about to be hit by an OrCon squadron within ten hours as part of a broad OrCon attack against the Aurora Empire.”

  There was a stirring at the table as the guests looked at each other. Then all eyes shifted to Sky. Nobody spoke.

  “What pirate and how does he know this?” Sky asked calmly. Potentially bad news was nothing new to her. She focused on verifying the information and its ramifications.

  “His name is Raferty Hawkins and he commands a ship named Predator. He says his intel officer briefed him on the OrCons yesterday.”

  Sky had read of the many Badlands pirates in her briefings, but there had been no names. She turned to her guests, “Anyone know this Hawkins?”

  “A scoundrel!” exclaimed the merchant Colandra, “He attacks ships and outposts throughout the system. Steals everything he can lay his hands on. His fleet is the scourge of trade and business. He and his ships are holding back the advancement of civilization here almost singlehandedly!”

  Sky stared at him, “He has a fleet?”

  Commissioner Putinsky went into her briefing mode. “He has several ships which support him on a more or less regular basis, but the pirates have no standard chain of command. They normally raid independently or in small groups. Pirate captains support him because he is successful and profitable. Exact numbers are not known, but he can draw on approximately a dozen ships for support. His own Predator and two or three others are destroyers, and the remainders are corvettes or smaller vessels with a couple support ships. With this force, he has been raiding for several years, especially against the slave trade and Goth commercial interests. The Goths hate him and have a price on his head.”

  “I wish someone would collect it!” interjected Colandra.

  Putinsky continued as if he had not spoken, “After hearing of the price on his head, he gathered several ships and smashed the lead elements of a Goth squadron searching for him. The Goths want him badly. Unlike most pirates, he looks at long-term implications rather than only short-term gains. He picks his targets and opportunities wisely. It is said he has money invested throughout the region, but I can’t verify that. He frees slaves at every opportunity so has the support of many populations in the region. He has a first-rate tactical mind and commands loyalty from other pirates. They either work with him or stay out of his way. He is formidable.”

  “You sound like you like him,” Sky smiled at her.

  Putinsky tilted her head in thought for a moment and then responded, “I respect him. He’s not like other pirates, more of a Robin Hood type. Probably the best of the lot. If you have dealings with him he won’t stab you in the back.”

  “You believe him about the OrCon squadron being nearby?”

  “Absolutely. He has contacts everywhere. I’m not surprised he would know this.”

  “Take Hawkins out now and you would earn many friends here,” Colandra spoke earnestly.

  “Maybe not,” Putinsky countered. She gave a wintry smile to Colandra, “Upon his death, command of his flotilla would probably fall to Killian O’Hare.”

  Colandra paled visibly. Chancellor Attus shifted in his seat. Thorton shook his head wearily. Sky looked inquiringly at Putinsky.

  “Killian O’Hare is captain of the destroyer Nemesis and generally regarded as Hawkins’ second in command. She is smart, brave, reckless, and probably insane.”

  “She’s a crazy bitch!” exclaimed Colandra, “You must kill her also, Captain.”

  “I don’t have to ‘must kill’ anyone, Mr. Colandra,” Sky replied coldly. She stared at the short, stout man with a warning expression. She could work up a healthy dislike for Colandra with little effort. “We’ve kept Captain Hawkins waiting long enough.”

  Sky turned to the comm station next to her seat. As she reached for the key pad Goldman informed her, “The Bridge said he talks FTF.”

  “Interesting,” thought Sky, “most pirates wou
ld want anonymity.” She ran a finger over the pad and Captain Hawkins appeared on her floating screen. She smiled at his image and received a smile in return.

  “I’m Captain Skyler Mallory. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  “Quite alright, Captain. I assume you were asking your guests about me and that takes a bit of time.”

  Sky absently noted no lag time between transmissions. This pirate was close by.

  “You seem well informed, Captain Hawkins.”

  “Being well informed is what keeps me alive and staying alive is always number one on my daily list of things to do. Speaking of staying alive, you have an OrCon squadron about ten hours away from taking a big bite out of you.”

  “How large an OrCon squadron?”

  “Three battle cruisers, four heavies, three lights, and eight destroyers. The battle cruisers are Citizen, Senator, and Republic.”

  “How do they know our exact location?”

  “Goths are keeping them well informed.”

  “For a supposedly neutral power, that would not be too friendly,” Sky smiled briefly. She wasn’t surprised at this. The Goldenes Tor have been playing both sides for a long time. They sell raw materials and goods to both empires and hope they will continue to expend resources and capital in competition with each other. Undoubtedly, there will be a day when the Goths will make a move to expand their territory and power at the expense of one or both of the other empires. If, as this pirate claimed, general war had erupted between the Aurora Empire and Orion Confederation, the loser of the war may find the Goths waiting to help themselves to a share of the spoils.

  Hawkins answered, “I’m sure you’re well aware of their modus operandi with regards to the relationship between your government and the OrCons. Not only are they informing on your position and strength, they let the OrCons pass through their space to get in position to hit you.”

  Sky nodded to herself. The information made sense. If the OrCons had passed through any wormholes or other neutral territories, she would have been informed. But travelling through Goth territory to here would have taken time. This expedition must have been planned quite a while ago. “The Goths will be risking much in supporting an attack on Aurora ships.”

  “Be hard for you to file an official protest if you’re dead. With the broad attacks coming at the Empire, all your fleets will be hard pressed to hold their own. I don’t think the Aurora Empire will be looking for new enemies to fight so they’ll let the Goths walk on this, at least for the foreseeable future.”

  Sky knew this was probably true. “Where are the OrCons now?”

  Hawkins looked bored with the conversation and the persistent questions. “My intel officer is up to date on all this. She’ll brief you.”

  He reached for his keypad on the right side of his captain’s chair. Another image replaced Hawkins. A young woman, pixie-like with bright purple hair, heavily rouged red cheeks, and a cherubic smile looked at Sky. A high elfin voice calmly proclaimed, “My name is Beatrice Domengeni, but everyone calls me Baby Doll. You may also.” She giggled and flicked one hand in midair. A 3D presentation materialized in front of her. “The OrCons departed Bolton’s Planet fourteen ehours ago. Three Congress class battle cruisers, four Druhnyy class heavy cruisers, three Rana class light cruisers, and eight Lodnyy class destroyers. We estimate their current position as here.” She pointed at a spot roughly two-thirds of the way between their starting point and Sky’s current position. “We also estimate they will go subspace in six hours and strike you four hours after that. They are receiving info updates from a small trading ship named Lodus, currently in orbit below you. I expect the squadron will have a small trader travelling with them to relay messages, or one ship will come out of subspace at least once to receive updates and then get a final update prior to their attack. As a side note, the attacking force has two supply ships and a six-ship Goth escort. These eight ships were also at Bolton’s planet and will probably be in trail of the attacking force and come up after the battle is over.”

  “How do you know about this Lodus?” Sky broke in.

  “Lodus came into this sector an emonth ago. She has a crew of six and no shipboard armament. Quite frankly, we’ve been tracking you, and we noticed they have been in every port with you so we began tracking them also. I’m sure your observation records will show them with you.”

  Sky did not turn from her screen but gestured with a single hand toward Goldman. This proved unnecessary as he was already moving to a workstation along the bulkhead to confirm this information.

  “How long have you had eyes on the OrCon force?”

  “Picked them up at Bolton’s Planet. We had no contact with them prior to that. I suspect the Goths would have chosen a flight path from their territory to Bolton’s planet to avoid the known trade routes and they would have provided the OrCon ships with fake squawks. Bolton’s Planet is just an isolated ice ball but, luckily, we had a ship hiding out near there and they reported the squadrons.”

  Sky doubted the last remark was true. A man as successful over the long term as Hawkins did not depend on luck and random sightings. The pirates did not want to supply their source of information. Understandable. She nodded at Baby Doll and then shifted the subject, “Your captain mentioned a general assault on the Aurora Empire?”

  “Three general attacks aimed at your shipyards on Borcanda, your base at Excandor, and seizing the rich resource Sapphire system, plus a number of localized spoiling attacks to inflict damage on Empire military assets while they are unprepared. I can send a brief if you provide a path. Suffice to say your Empire is about to absorb an ass kicking.” Baby Doll nodded to Sky and gave an elfin smile to signal the end of her brief.

  “Thank you, Baby Doll,” Sky nodded toward the screen. “I’ll see to it you get a path to send us the brief covering the general OrCon attacks.”

  “Of course,” Baby Doll giggled as her screen disappeared to be replaced by Hawkins.

  “I think we are about there.”

  “Thank you, Captain Hawkins. One question. Why are you helping us?”

  Hawkins leaned back in his seat and smiled at her, “As much as it pains me to admit it, the Empire provides the only stabilizing force here. The Goths claim the region and the Aurora Empire disputes this by maintaining a naval force here. If you are eliminated or driven out, the Goths will move to fill the void. With a general war raging between you and the OrCons, I doubt the Empire will be back any time soon, leaving the Goths to do as they will. As your guests undoubtedly told you, the Goths and I don’t play well together. With them as the sole major power in the Badlands, there would be many changes, all of them bad from my point of view. We can live with the Empire here, not with the Goths in complete control.”

  Hawkins shifted in his seat. “Time is short and you have much to do. In my own little way, I, too, am also busy. Places to go, things to do, people to kill.” Hawkins smiled at Sky and nodded, “Fair winds and following seas, Captain.”

  His right hand tapped his console and he was gone.

  As soon as the screen went blank, Commander Goldman spoke from a nearby workstation, “Lodus has been with us at every stop. “

  Sky nodded. She wasn’t surprised. Her squadron would have been easy to track since they were showing the flag and not on a war footing. She felt slightly guilty not knowing about Lodus being with them at every port. Wouldn’t have made a difference, but she will have to direct her intel people to be more vigilant in noticing such a “ coincidence.” In Sky’s universe, there was no such thing as a coincidence. She turned to her guests, “I am sorry, but you can understand why we have to cut our dinner short.”

  “Surely you don’t believe him.” Colandra jumped in.

  “I can’t afford not to. Commander Goldman will show you to the officer’s wardroom where you can relax for the next few hours.”

  Goldman moved to the door to show the way to the wardroom. Sky rose and the others followed suit.

  “Why can�
��t we simply leave on one of your ship’s shuttles back to the surface?” asked Thorton.

  “With Lodus watching us, your early departure from this ship would be noted as unusual. We can’t take the risk they will read something into that. Your scheduled departure was to be in two hours and we will have to stick to that. Of course, once back on planet, I would expect you to keep all information learned here to yourselves.” She stared at Colandra.

  “Everyone will keep quiet until this crisis passes, I assure you.” Deputy Chancellor Attus spoke with authority. He also looked pointedly at Colandra.

  Sky smiled. She believed him. At the door, Sky briefly shook hands with the four guests as they exited the compartment. She returned to her console and called the watch officer on the bridge, “Paul-Henri, have the ship’s battle staff assemble in the war room immediately. Replay the tape of my conversation with the pirate captain for them while I talk to our squadron captains. Also, the pirates are forwarding a brief covering the general OrCon attack on the Empire. Please provide them an information path and then ensure that brief is forwarded to all principle department heads aboard Mac and to the other ship captains.”

  Chapter 3

  Ten minutes later, Captain Skyler Mallory entered the war room with a serious expression and the glimmer of a plan to deal with the incoming OrCon squadron. Her staff was gathered around the table in the center of the space. All the officers rose on her entrance. Sky took her seat at the head of the table and immediately got to it. “A couple of admin notes here before we get into the planning. For the foreseeable future I will function solely as the squadron commander and will control the squadron from CIC.” She now nodded to the other end of the table at Mackenzie’s executive officer, Commander Erik Kruger. “Erik, you are now the acting captain and will fight Mac from the bridge in our upcoming actions.” Kruger nodded in response. Sky turned to Commander Goldman in the chair on her right. “Ari, you are now the ship’s acting XO and will take the XO’s battle station in aft steering.” Goldman also nodded in response.