He scanned the work to be done. Take out two bulkheads to eliminate a compartment and return the number 3 cargo hold to its original size. One of the bulkheads has a hidden hatch in it. Remove two heads and two sinks that are in that compartment. Obermann could see where this could easily be seen as a slave jail. He briefly wondered what shipyard had installed the stuff. Surely, they knew what they were creating. Oh well, the customer is always right. He knew his shipyard could hardly pass judgment on other shipyards in such matters. They had done their share of shady modifications.
Obermann looked up at Cassidy. “I understand the AC is owned by the Cunningham family. They started the corporation and still own the majority of it.” Cassidy nodded to confirm the information. Obermann continued, “Very powerful people. Isn’t Douglas Cunningham your Minister of Defense?”
“He is,” Lisa acknowledged in a neutral tone.
“So it could be said he is your boss.”
Cassidy nodded and answered again in a neutral tone. “That could be said.”
Obermann cocked his head to the side as he regarded her. He decided to push the conversation along the same lines to see where it would go. “Does he know of this claim of yours?”
Cassidy allowed herself a slight smile. “If he doesn’t, he surely will very shortly.” She flicked her hand in a dismissive manner. “All Empire citizens are subject to Empire laws. If this ship provides the evidence I think it will, Lord Cunningham will have much more to consider than today’s events.”
Obermann smiled slightly as the Royal Navy captain seemed unfazed by the course of their little talk. He was impressed by someone taking on the rich, powerful, and titled upper class. Tough to do in any society. He had never seen it done successfully. Obermann was a citizen of the Goldenes Tor, and he couldn’t imagine anyone doing it there. At least not more than once. He gave voice to his thoughts. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone confiscate the property of such well-connected people.”
“We already have two of their ships and we are going for two more, one of those being yours.”
Obermann smiled broadly now. He had always thought the elite classes, regardless of their particular locations or governments, always got away with too much, too often. Time to balance the books a bit. For once, a surprise had happened that turned out to be pleasant. Plus, they get to keep the money. The man stood up. “We would never stand in the way of such a noble endeavor as the fight against slavery. Please take the ship at your convenience.” He leaned toward her. “Your convenience should be right now. We just received a comm that the AC is hiring security to guard the ships until the work is completed.”
The two ship captains stood up as Cassidy extended her hand for a deal-making handshake. “Taking the ship right now works for us,” she said. Obermann nodded in response as he took the hand and completed the handshake.
The party started toward the door. Obermann walked next to Ace. “Captain … Ace, you have a Royal Navy destroyer, but you look unlike any navy captain I have ever seen.”
Ace smiled at the manager. “My ship was generously given to us by the Aurora government. We are actually a unit of Pirate Flotilla One, Raferty Hawkins, the Duke of Black Hallow, commanding.”
Obermann returned the smile. He knew all about Pirate Flotilla One. The yard had even done work for them on occasion. Now he was really glad he was handing over the ship without creating a fuss.
~ ~ ~
Raferty Hawkins and Commander Kathie Hollingsworth of Cobalt walked into the offices of the Fuodail Bay Shipyard on Udal Cuain. They were unannounced. Their ships were orbiting Udal Cuain with regular traffic and they had not contacted the shipyard regarding their mission. Hawkins knew Burghs didn’t like being pushed. They had always maintained negligible goodwill toward outsiders, and the Goth takeover of their systems had burned up what little there had been. They would resist any pressure applied against them even if they agreed with the point of view of the person doing the pushing. Rafe knew strong-arming them to do something was a bad move. Reasoning with them and showing them there was solid logic and benefits for a particular course of action had a better chance of success.
The pair stopped at the receptionist’s desk. The woman looked up from her work with a smile. Hawkins returned the smile and said, “Raferty Hawkins and Captain Hollingsworth to see the shipyard director.”
The woman frowned a bit. “Do you have an appointment?” She would know the daily schedule, and she was sure the newcomers weren’t on it.
Rafe shook his head. “No, we are hoping she can squeeze us in.”
The woman continued with the professional smile. “One moment, please.” She stood and walked down the hall and entered the door at the end of it. Thirty seconds later, a man came out of the door and hurried up the hallway to the waiting pair of captains.
He extended his hand. “Sorley Forbes, personal secretary to the director.”
Handshakes were given all around, and he led the way back to the end of the hall and through the door. They passed two men at desks and the receptionist who had guarded the entrance. All three stared at them as they went into a large office. A woman rose from a large desk and came around it with hand extended. Forbes introduced her. “Greer Maxwell, our director.” Forbes then introduced the new arrivals to his boss. Seats were taken in front of the desk, and Maxwell resumed her seat as Forbes departed.
Hawkins was surprised and now on guard. The Burghs were being way too nice. He assumed the lack of an appointment would have led to a long discussion at the receptionist’s desk and further discussions as the two of them got deeper into the sanctuary here. As Maxwell smiled at him, Rafe realized what was going on.
“You knew we were coming, and you know why.” Raferty’s remark was a statement, not a question.
Maxwell nodded while holding her smile. “We’ve been notified by the Hranice shipyard after your Captain Terrant pulled the AC ship from there. Hranice told us they gave you the names of the other shipyards doing the same work for the AC. We were one of those names. I didn’t know when you would get here, but I knew it would be sooner rather than later. You want our ship before she goes into work.”
Hawkins nodded and took on an official manner. “I want to confiscate the AC ship before the work is completed as that work would remove evidence of the slavery compartment. Also, I’m claiming the ship under my letters of marque and reprisal to strike a blow to Goth commerce which is always a good thing.” He passed copies of Measure 200 and his letters across the desk to Maxwell.
She accepted them and spoke as she scanned through them. “The ship is named Olwen, by the way. I understand the entire class is named after Arthurian figures.” She glanced up at Hawkins and gave an ironic smile. “Noble names for slave runners. How very corporate of them.” Rafe had a flashback to the King Arthur book he was reading to Killian at the medical clinic. He briefly wondered if any of the ships were named Lancelot or Morgan le Fay. It would be more fitting. Maxwell’s voice brought Hawkins back. “We certainly recognize the legitimacy of your claim, and anything that hurts Goths is fine with us.”
The visitors shifted in their seats as they both heard the “but” in her voice. Rafe helped it along. “Buuuut…”
Maxwell smiled and answered, “But I’m not giving you the ship. The ship only got here three days ago, and we haven’t been paid yet. The AC has heard that they’ve lost their ship at Hranice so have changed the terms of the contract. They stopped payment to us and are holding it until all shipyard work is completed, and the ship is picked up by them. They are also hiring people to protect their ships. I understand we can expect guards here in three hours or so. I assume you are going for other AC ships besides ours. If you are successful in any of those endeavors, the AC will be very difficult to deal with.”
Hollingsworth spoke, “You won’t lose anything if you give us the ship. It would be like it was never here.”
Rafe could sense her impatience. Her comment mirrored what both of th
em were thinking. After all, guards were coming, and they needed to move quickly. Once the guards were in position, there would be no stealing the ship without bloodshed, and there was no way anyone here wanted a fight in the middle of their shipyard.
Maxwell nodded in agreement that Hollingsworth’s statement was true but then said, “The ship is here, and the AC knows it. The AC won’t believe any story we spin about how we lost their ship.” She paused and then added, “I think we have a workaround. You pay the bill that the AC would have paid and then come in and steal the ship. We will look the other way. The AC will hold a grudge so the money will partially offset the loss of future AC business.”
“What are we looking at here?” Rafe asked.
“Eight hundred thousand Aurora credits.”
Hawkins said nothing. Everyone knew the AC wouldn’t have paid that much for the modification removal, not even for a rush job. Hawkins stared at Maxwell and then turned his head to address his companion. “Captain Hollingsworth, do you think Captain Cassidy can be persuaded to file a motion for a writ of seizure with the planet government here?”
Maxwell immediately jumped in. “Filing some sort of legal papers against us will do no good. We can get the ship’s work done while the matter works its way through our system. Then your reason for seizing her would be gone. This shipyard employs a couple of thousand people and supports a wide variety of industries here. The various levels of government here know that. They won’t get in the middle of this just to support you.”
Ignoring Maxwell, Rafe continued to look at Hollingsworth. The naval officer replied to his question. “She’ll file whatever we need to file to get this ship. Gladly.”
Rafe nodded and turned back to Maxwell. “The filing won’t be against your shipyard. It will request an injunction to stop the work as that particular compartment in that particular ship is evidence in a slavery case. The filing will be against the AC to get your courts to tell them to stop their own work order, so it will be the Aurora government against an Aurora corporation. We won’t name you at all. Of course, if granted, the motion will stop the work and, if we win, the ship will be turned over to the Royal Navy. You get nothing but the publicity of attempting to help slavers by eliminating key evidence against them even though the Aurora government requested you refrain from doing that.”
Maxwell leaned back in her chair while regarding Hawkins. She was clearly computing the odds of the situation going the way Hawkins said it would go. While she contemplated, he continued to predict the future. “Even if we don’t win in your courts, you will still get the publicity. Knowing how Burghs feel about slavery, that will sting a little. Also, knowing that ship hauls cargo for the Goths, and you helped it get away won’t help your case either.” He paused and then added, “I’ll tell you what. Let’s split the difference and we can both be equally unhappy. Four hundred thousand credits.”
Maxwell knew a face-saving gesture when she saw one, and the offer was still well above what the AC was paying for the job. She stood up and extended her hand over the desk. “Done.”
The deal-making handshake was completed, and the planning commenced on how Hawkins would “steal” the ship from the shipyard. Money was transferred to the shipyard and the “heist” went off two hours later without a problem. The guards arrived thirty minutes after that and found they had nothing to protect.
Predator lead Olwen out of the area with Cobalt providing rear security. Hawkins sent a message to Agra 5. There would be three freighters, in addition to Tristan, that would need missile systems installed. He also wanted the shipfitters on Agra 5 to do a complete documentation of the hidden compartments on all three ships. The evidence would be needed for any prosecution under Measure 200. If needed, the compartments would be left intact to ensure their role in the upcoming trials would be fulfilled.
He sent a second message to all Flot 1 ships calling off the search for more AC freighters. The four already taken would be enough to accuse the Aeonian Conglomeration of a planned and coordinated campaign to engage in slave transportation for profit. Rafe knew the various Badlands authorities would do little or nothing against the AC but it really didn’t matter. Hawkins also knew there were several peers who would be more than happy to stand up in the Upper House and use the evidence to make a slavery charge against the AC and the Cunningham family. He also knew David Van Drucker would ensure it was in the media throughout the Aurora Empire. This slavery fight with the AC would have little impact in the Badlands but a great deal of influence in the Aurora Empire.
Chapter 39
Once well clear of the shipyard, Olwen set course for Agra 5 with Cobalt as an escort. With the AC search brought to a successful conclusion, it was now time for Flot 1 to take advantage of the Goth convoy system. Predator aimed for a rendezvous with all Flot 1 warships. Hawkins sat in his captain’s chair in deep thought as he pondered the next course of action for his command. He had nothing. Finally, Rafe turned in his chair and looked at Tactical at the ops station. “I have no idea what target we should go after. Any Goth target we hit will mark the end of our de facto truce with them, so I don’t want to do that.” He thought for a second and then asked, “What is the highest value non-military target in Green Squadron’s AOR?”
Tactical thought for a moment and then looked at him with a gleam in her eye. “The Crystal Communications Array on the edge of the Zenith System. A bunch of Goth corporations paid for it, and at least a third of their long-range communications flow through that. They sell time to others, so there are a bunch of organizations and government agencies that use the system. They lose it, and they lose comm with a good quarter of the region, and heaps of people are inconvenienced. They would go to their secondary channels on shorter range commercial networks. Their comms would have to be sent from planet to planet instead of directly to the destination planet. That would slow their operations to a crawl.” She fell silent and then asked, “Are you thinking of hitting that?”
Hawkins nodded, and Tactical commented, “Far from any planet to ensure nothing blocks the continuous comm flow. Surrounded by minefields and floating batteries. Usually, on-call support is provided by Green Squadron, but they are spread thin so might be further away than normal. Minimal manning, and those people are all in one structure that has both their housing and workstations. If we hit the array and the defenses and leave the personnel alone, there would be no casualties.” She talked faster as she went into full planning mode. “We bring all ships. Approach through subspace so they have no warning. Still take hours to get through their defenses, but if Green squadron is too far away, we will have the time.”
Baby Doll came over from the intel station and joined the thought process. “Take the floaters out from long range and move in gradually. We start pumping missile through their minefields; they have to blow mines to stop the missiles. Long process and a lot of missiles, but we get through eventually. Then missiles hit the array itself. Get in close enough—we can use guns, but we would leave ourselves open to return gunfire.” She nodded and looked at Hawkins. “It would take a long time because we have to ensure we don’t take losses to our own force, but it’s doable. In fact, a long time might be good, as it points out Green Squadron’s failure to support.”
Rafe looked at his two companions. “How long will it take to put the plan together?”
Tactical gave a slight smile. “We basically just did it. We’ll get the details done for your review in a couple of hours. One weak area is we have no current recon of the area so will be going in blind. That might be taken literally if we go in via subspace.”
Hawkins thought for a moment. “Let’s go in straight up. No subspace. Nothing cute. We will go in and start shooting.” He stopped and smiled. “Oh, yeah. I don’t want to hit the array. I just want to grind down their defenses so it is clear we could take out the array if we wanted to.”
The two women stared at their captain. Tactical spoke with a strong flavor of disbelief in her voice. “So we
are going to risk an attack and casualties for a demonstration?”
Raferty nodded. “Most the comm through the array is done by corporations and others who are playing it right, and we have no quarrel with them. If we hit the array, we will make many new enemies. The last thing we need is a bunch of commercial organizations banding together to get us. Hell, for all I know, the shipyards we use send traffic through the array. Don’t need them mad at us. This excursion is to point out Green Squadron’s inability to cover the array, not destroy the array. Our attack on their defense will drive that point home.” He thought for a moment and added, “I think this is a safe attack for us. If you think otherwise or want to argue my reasoning, have at it.”
Tactical and Baby Doll looked at each other and then back at Hawkins. Baby Doll said, “It should be straightforward and easy enough to do. Not hitting the array will save some missiles. Everyone will see it for what it is and realize we could have torched the array if we had wanted to. All the users will bitch about Green Squadron’s lack of support so that will accomplish the mission.” She looked at Tactical and shrugged. “Seems odd though. I guess I’m just used to killing people.”
Tactical nodded and said, “I’ll get out the warning order so when we get to the rendezvous, everyone will know the mission.” She now stared at Raferty. “Especially the part of the mission where we run away.”
“Good to have your agreement on this,” Rafe said as the two women turned away. They both gave him “the look” over their shoulders as they moved away.
Tactical sent the message; she then left the bridge with Baby Doll to work up the plan.
Chapter 40
Duty and Obligation Page 29
