Duty and Obligation

by Sean Benjamin

  However, there was nothing to worry about. The three gate employees could barely contain their boredom as they reviewed tickets thrust in front of them. They rarely glanced up at the passengers as they filed by. The two pirates were admitted through the gate and onto the shuttle. Pope waited until the very end and was the last passenger to board. He was sure nobody suspicious, other than his people, had boarded the shuttle.

  Hawkins and O’Hare took seats next to each other in the crowded central cabin. Pope’s team took seats that formed a perimeter around them.

  Hawkins looked around and then turned to O’Hare. “Pope is good.”

  O’Hare nodded, “Yes, he is.”

  The short hop to the passenger ship was quick and smooth. The forty-hour flight on that ship was spent strapped into narrow seats. It was uncomfortable, smelly, boring, and uneventful. Both pirates wished it had lasted longer. In the crowded space, they couldn’t really talk so sat quietly holding hands. Neither slept. As with the shuttle, Pope again had his team in seats that surrounded them.

  The two pirates, their four escorts, and twelve other passengers departed the ship via shuttle above Ruvid. The shuttle landed at the interplanetary terminal and all the passengers took an airbus to the local terminal and disembarked. The local terminal was the landing spot for private shuttles, corporate craft, and public transportation shuttles to other areas of the planet. The other twelve passengers faded away at various gates and just the six members of the group moved toward the end of one corridor. Only private shuttles landed in this area. One of the women on the team went through the door to the shuttle pads and took a seat in a row of chairs outside. The two pirates sat down in a long row of joined chairs just inside the door to the pads. Pope sat near them. The last two team members stopped well short of the pirates’ position at the corridor’s end and also took seats. After fifteen minutes of sitting, the woman team member who had stopped short of the corridor’s end rose from her chair and walked past. She stood by the windows near the door to the shuttle pads. She was staring at the empty shuttle pads, giving every indication of someone waiting for a shuttle that was late. After a few minutes of staring, she got on a comm unit. The quick and quiet conversation ended unhappily if her expression was an indicator. She turned and moved back the way she had come. She looked angry and impatient.

  She glanced at the two pirates as she passed. “They’re already ten minutes late. Probably be at least twenty more,” she said to the two strangers in a tone of exasperation and the need to express it to somebody. A woman with places to be and stuck here through the incompetence of others.

  They nodded at her in sympathy and she moved back up the corridor to her original seat by her companion. Hawkins and O’Hare understood the message. One of the pirate shuttles would be here in ten minutes and the second twenty minutes after that. They didn’t know which one would be first and it didn’t really matter. Their time together was near an end.

  Hawkins rose and stretched his left hand down. O’Hare took it in her right hand and stood up. They walked the few steps to the door to the shuttle pads, through it, and then moved to the opposite side of the entrance from the woman in the chair. They stopped while still visible through the windows to Pope and his team inside. No way would Pope let them get out of his sight.

  Raferty turned to face Killian. “If you overlook the parts concerning pain and almost dying, this adventure has been fun.”

  “It has. I wish it could go on now that we are beyond those two little hurdles.” She gave him a forlorn smile. “I also wish we would have had those four days at the clinic.”

  They stood close together but did not touch except for the hand holding. He spoke in a slightly bewildered tone as he looked at her. “Ever since we got into this business, I have always been a planner. Every move, countermove, battle, day-to-day business, all of it. It is always planned out, war-gamed, and strategized to death. Despite all that planning, I have absolutely no idea how we arrived at this point in our careers. How did we get all these commitments, duties, and responsibilities? How the hell did we become the saviors of the Badlands?”

  She shrugged slightly. “I have no idea. We wanted to avenge our families, and that morphed into changing the quadrant. Not sure when it all changed, but it was a long time ago and we are now stuck with it.”

  Rafe nodded in agreement. “I want to go back. How can we do that?”

  O’Hare shook her head. “We can’t.” She gave him an intense look. “When you’re born, you have endless possibilities and countless potential futures. But time and each decision cut down on the possibilities and the available choices. Soon enough you get to the point of few choices and few potential futures. I think the timeline varies in all lives but it is inevitable. The possibilities always narrow down and you are what you are. Maybe we are there now. I have no idea how we got here either and, maybe, it doesn’t matter. It is done, and we can’t go back. We have few choices and few futures. Most of them are not that good.”

  He was swept by a wave of melancholy. “If we had done anything back there in the hospital, we wouldn’t be here now. We’d be somewhere else, together.”

  She nodded and picked up the tale. “We would be somewhere else, and we would be together. We would have been happy for a while, and then the guilt would set in. We would then blame each other for being led down the path of temptation by the other when it would have been both our faults. It would be tough to go on and tough to come back. What then?”

  He shook his head in resignation. “No idea. Maybe if we didn’t get it right in this universe, we would just go to the universe next door and try again.” They smiled at each other.

  They heard the approach of a shuttle and both turned to look skyward. The paint scheme told them it was from Nemesis. The small craft made a straight in approach and set down lightly on the nearest pad. The engines were reduced to flight idle. Reese Patrick, Nemesis’ OpsO, came out of the side hatch. He started toward the terminal but then paused as he caught sight of them. He stopped his approach and waited.

  Both watched him but turned back to each other when he stopped. Raferty reached up and touched the left side of her face with his right hand, the side without the wolf hallie, the Anastasia side. He cupped her cheek with his hand and lightly stroked it once with his thumb. He liked this side of her face better. He had a brief moment of recall when he had first seen the hallie. During the ambush that freed her, Anastasia had stopped at each of the fallen guards and had taken their wallets, money clips, or anything else of value on their persons. At the time Hawkins thought it was escape money, but the loot was not used for that. After escaping the town and before they left Bolindale, she had immediately gone out, gotten the hallie tattoo done, and paid for it with the stolen money and valuables. It was a superior job, but he never did know who did it. She had known just where to go, and he had always assumed she had learned the artist’s name in prison.

  He had never asked her why she did it. He thought he already knew. Maybe she needed to see someone else in the mirror, someone who hadn’t been through the prison experience. They had not adopted new names yet, but that hallie had announced the birth of Killian O’Hare. She was the first member of Pirate Flotilla One.

  The memory shimmered away, and he was back with her at the terminal. He looked into her eyes as he spoke softly. “I have failed you in so many ways.”

  She shook her head slowly and smiled. “You have never failed me. Not even once.”

  He smiled a sad smile and was clearly not convinced but said nothing. She went on. “Remember in the hospital you said we were at a crossroads, and once we went down that one road, we can’t come back?” He nodded, and she continued. “We will always be at that crossroads—always there and always together. No matter what happens in our lives or even if we end up with other people, I will never completely give you up, and you will never completely give me up.”

  Rafe’s sad smile turned into a half smile. “You’re right. I will ne
ver completely give you up. No matter what. We will always be at that crossroads, always together.”

  She returned the half smile. “Maybe someday we will have the guts to go down that other road.” She paused and added, “I love you.”

  “I love you.”

  They kissed. They broke apart. She walked away.

  Reese Patrick waited. As O’Hare approached he quietly remarked, “You two should get a room and work it out. We can come back.” His tone told her this was not a sarcastic observation. He had actually meant it in the kindest sense. His way of saying the two of them clearly should be together, and they should indulge themselves just this one time. To hell with the universe and the consequences, he and the rest of reality would wait for them.

  “If we did that, we would never come out,” O’Hare replied in a resigned tone as she walked past him.

  Raferty watched her all the way. She and Patrick walked to the shuttle and boarded. She did not look back, and he was glad of it. The engines spun up, the shuttle lifted, and departed for Nemesis.

  He returned to the row of seats inside to wait the twenty minutes for Predator’s shuttle. He sat and did nothing. He knew Pope was three seats away, and his team was covering him, so he indulged himself. He ignored his surroundings, leaned back in his seat, and fell into deep thought. In fifteen minutes, Predator’s shuttle came in. Rafe could tell by the deft maneuvering of the small ship that Tactical was flying. No surprise there, she loved to fly whenever she got the chance. Tactical landed the shuttle on the same pad recently vacated by Reese Patrick. Reese had had a pilot with him and had come out for his captain but not a chance Tactical would do that. Besides, she was probably alone so would have to shut down the engines to leave the craft, and she wouldn’t want to do that. Hawkins stood up and shouldered his small bag. He casually glanced around. When his eyes fell on Pope, he lingered for a split second. Pope met his gaze for that instant, and then the two men continued to sweep their surroundings with their gazes.

  It had been relayed in that instant. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome. Glad to help.”

  As Rafe moved out, he reminded himself to send a kind note of thanks to Destiny Flores. She wouldn’t expect it, but it would be the right thing to do. He also needed to ensure Doctor Bergeron got paid. He smiled as he recalled that despite everything, he had many really good friends.

  Chapter 28

  Rafe sat in the copilot’s seat and stared out the side porthole. He talked very little to Tactical on the return trip, but he knew she wouldn’t be offended. She was not one for idle chatter either. Tactical soon had the shuttle lined up for recovery, and Rafe watched quietly as they closed on the open shuttle bay of Predator. He saw Nemesis holding a close station off the starboard side. He was depressed by that. Nemesis was right there but might as well be halfway across the quadrant for all the good it did. He shook off the feeling. Play time was over and there was work to be done. The shuttle made a smooth approach and landing. The two occupants waited as the hangar bay hatch closed and the bay pressurized. He and Tactical exited the craft and then the shuttle bay as they moved directly to his day cabin. The ship’s officers were already there. Raferty took his customary seat at the briefing table.

  He smiled at the gathering. “Vacation’s over. Good to be back. What is happening?”

  Baby Doll took up the brief. She was short and distinct on each subject. “I have prepared briefing papers, and they are in the computer network under Intel. We’ll hit the high points here. First, this is old news to us, but you may not have heard that Shane Delacruz got Fusilier four days ago. Musketeer made a brief appearance and then ran back of Libellule when it was clear Fusilier was going down. The full brief and Shane’s report are on the network.”

  Hawkins smiled. “I had not heard. I will review the information and send a well done to Shane and his force. That is fantastic news.” He paused and his smiled winked out. “Did they hit the escape pods?”

  Baby Doll shook her head. “No, but I heard through back channels it was a near thing with Corsair.”

  Rafe nodded. He could have lived with it either way. Corsair was entitled to her revenge, but the battle will play better throughout the quadrant now that the pods had been left alone. But again, he could have lived with it either way. It was a tough business after all.

  Rafe looked at Tactical. “What’s the fallout from the Bries?”

  Tactical shrugged. “As you would expect. Mad as hell. Hunt us to the ends of the universe. Shoot our babies. Rape our pets. Spit on our graves.”

  Rafe shrugged in response. “The usual. You back channel anything to them?”

  Tactical smiled. “I told them if they or any of their surrogates hit our house on Agra 5, we will drop in on New Rochelle, and it won’t be pretty. Also, I used your name and position to let them know the Duke of Black Hallow had pull in the Aurora Empire and a long memory so they might see the Royal Navy down the road. I also got our three freighters cargo loads to go to out of the way ports. They are our most vulnerable ships, and I thought it would be a good idea to get them off the beaten paths until the Bries calm down.”

  Rafe nodded and Baby Doll continued her brief, “The Sunrise Grange is in big trouble. Media reports state they are losing investors so fast, it makes a stampede look to be in slow motion. They are putting a happy face on it, but the loss of the Agra planets is giving the other agriculture planets ideas. Two Royal Navy ships made port calls at three of those other planets, and the natives are restless there already. Once the Agra planets start making money for themselves, the other agriculture planets will drop Sunrise also. The killing of the Sunrise regional director in his own house seems to have caused several of the regional company officers to move to Rosstrappe. This has disrupted their day-to-day operations so a quick response by Sunrise to their crisis seems unlikely at this time. The chance of the Sunrise people hiring mercenaries is still viable, but no such forces are on the scene as of now. We are letting it be known through our private contacts with several groups that we would not be amused by mercenaries, and we would take drastic action to set an example if any mercenaries appeared on the scene in support of Sunrise or in support of the Bries because of Fusilier.

  “In a related topic, we have not heard from Dylan Whitlock or any of his team. We didn’t expect to, so nobody is upset by it. We have been monitoring reports out of the Goldenes Tor and their home planet of Vorfreude. No news of any hits or aborted hits on the royalty there. We think no news is good news, and Dylan is still in his planning and recon phase.

  “Moving on, the Royal Navy base at Agra 2 is progressing as planned. The construction battalion is busy on the orbit structures and the surface base is being built by local workers. We are still three months from rudimentary operations in orbit. Building the surface base is moving along faster. The medical clinic is operational, and the headquarters building will be completed shortly. In orbit, the ship berths are the priority and then a basic defense of floating missile batteries.”

  Baby Doll looked directly at Hawkins now. “I just got word on Maclyn Yardley. She opted for a trial by judge. Ringo was the chief witness. Yardley was found guilty of multiple counts of slave running and was sentenced by the court to twenty years in prison. She is currently back in the Benteen jail as there is no other place to put her. Before the trial, Greg Paulsen stopped a hit on Yardley and she talked. She said she took her orders from people in the AC regional office. She named five other ships as slavers but thinks there are actually more of them. She based that on company gossip as nothing was ever said officially. That makes sense. The AC regional people would keep that information compartmentalized. We are looking into those five ships’ schedules. The Royal Navy is making inquiries of all the major ports on the arrival and departure times of any of those ships, and not finding any of them doing cargo runs. We know the AC will pull them from service as soon as they can, so we have started checking shipyards to see if they are having their jails taken out. It’s slow go
ing, as shipyards don’t like to talk about their customers. If those ships get their hidden compartments pulled out, it will be harder to make the case as this is a company problem and not just a renegade captain problem. We have to move to get them now.” Baby Doll paused a moment and then added, “Yardley’s former ship, Tristan, is still at Agra 5. The refit with missile systems is almost done, and she will be good to go. Shane Delacruz is waiting for you to get back to him on crew manning. All the freighter crews have been solicited, and several people have put in for billets on the new ship and also have provided names of family, friends, acquaintances, and everyone else who wants to join the new ship.”

  Rafe nodded at the news. This was the normal procedure for getting a new ship up and running. Pirates from the other freighters would move over to higher billets on the new ship. They would form a veteran core to build a crew around. The remaining crewmembers would come from a list of applicants with their skills and experience as the primary qualifications for making the cut. Having someone in Flot 1 put a name on the list was the first step, but a person succeeded or failed on his or her own abilities. Pirates who submitted names of potential crewmembers took the duty seriously as an obviously unqualified candidate reflected badly on the pirate who put the name forth. Pirates made sure their suggested recruits were somewhat qualified or, at least, quick learners. If a new person screwed up, it was accepted practice that the new person and the pirate who recommended him or her were put dirtside together.

  Rafe looked around the compartment. “Are there any names for captain?”

  Tactical answered first. “We have several officers from the other three flotilla freighters. We have also solicited outside candidates because we might take some of the five AC slave runners currently at large, and we will need to man them. If we can take three more of them to replace our three current freighters, we will need to have bigger crews for those bigger ships.” She paused and then added, “In fact, I just got the first outside name to add to the Tristan captain list. Nathan Corbett, the first officer of Celestria, wants to apply.”