The Queen's Hammer: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 5

by Sean Benjamin

  It didn’t matter now. She had not had been a ship’s captain while holding the rank of commander, so the chance of getting a command as a captain was close to nonexistent. Also, there were many fewer Fleet billets for captains than for commanders. Onboard Mackenzie, there was only one officer with the rank of captain, Skyler Mallory, while there were several commanders serving as department heads and as the executive officer. This held true throughout the Fleet, so the chance of getting a good billet in the Fleet as a captain who had not had a ship command was very low. Due to the anticipated expansion of the Navy and the many casualties already taken, Cassidy had been promoted to captain almost two years earlier than would have happened in peacetime. Now that worked against her. She could hope the growing number of ships and the need for veteran officers might get her a command or a good job in the Fleet but she wouldn’t bet money on it. Many officers who did not have a record that would rate a command often turned to family or friends in the peers or among the high decision makers for help in career advancement. She had no family connections or friends among these groups to support her candidacy for a command. Without a great record, she was doomed. Cassidy sighed and checked her watch.

  “I think my ‘feeling sorry for myself’ time is up for today,” she mused. “Time to turn to.” She spun around back to her desk. Just as she was scanning the messages on her computer screen, there was a knock on the frame of her open door. Her boss, Captain Jose Cardenas, was standing in the door. He leaned in and smiled.

  “Permission to enter?” he asked lightly.

  She smiled back. “Of course, sir.” She started to rise, but Cardenas motioned her back to her seat and sat in one of the two chairs in front of her desk. He reached behind him and flipped the door shut with one hand. Although they were the same rank, Cardenas had been a captain for several years and had been Cassidy’s boss for the last eight months. Despite her promotion, she was still in the same job as when she was a commander, and he was still her boss, so she continued to address him as “sir.”

  Cardenas had several sheets of paper in his hand and held them out across the desk to her. “Orders for you. Not sure if I should congratulate you or not. You read through them and tell me, so I don’t make a social faux pas here.”

  Her curiosity heightened, Cassidy reached out and took the papers. Cardenas settled back in his seat and calmly waited. Lisa skipped quickly through the formal verbiage until she hit the meat at the beginning of the third paragraph. One sentence shone like a beacon from the page. YOU ARE IMMEDIATELY DETACHED FROM YOUR PRESENT DUTIES. IN TWO WEEKS, YOU WILL PROCEED TO ROYAL NAVY BASE HARTLEY AND ASSUME COMMAND OF AURORA EMPIRE SHIP DRAKE (HULL NUMBER 452). Cassidy knew Drake was a light cruiser of the old Explorer Class. She smiled excitedly.

  “Keep going,” Cardenas remarked. From her smile, he knew exactly where she was in her reading.

  Lisa briefly looked up and continued to smile and Cardenas smiled back. “I’ll congratulate you on that part. I know how much you wanted a command.”

  Lisa nodded and went back to the papers in her hand. She flipped to the second page and skipped down the page while scanning all the official language. She hit the next beacon of interest. YOU ARE HEREBY DESIGNATED AS COMMANDER OF TASK FORCE 31.2 TO BE COMPOSED OF AURORA EMPIRE SHIPS DRAKE (452), EMERALD (1233), OPAL (1237), JADE (1239), AMBER (1241), AND COBALT (1244). Her brow creased in confusion.

  Cardenas saw it. “Yep, I don’t get the task force part either. Keep reading. You’re about to hit the really confusing part.”

  Cassidy nodded to show she had heard him but did not take her eyes off the paper as she skimmed down the second page. The last paragraph was orders to report to Naval Headquarters prior to assuming command to receive briefings on her mission and area of operations. The briefings would last one week and she would be given one week of leave after that. This accounted for the two weeks prior to reporting to Hartley base. The last sentence was clearly the confusing part her boss was referring to. YOUR LAST BRIEFING WILL BE WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. Lisa looked up in confusion.

  “Told ya. Definitely confusing,” Cardenas commented with a light tone. “Task Force 31 is charged with border security along a large segment of our border with the Goths. All those ships being given to you are part of that task force so pulling them out to create a subset task force is reasonable so the numbering makes sense. One would assume the mission would be the same too. Border patrol and security.”

  Cassidy nodded and said. “But if that is the case, a briefing with the CME doesn’t make sense.”

  Cardenas stood up and Cassidy followed suit. “I agree with that line of reasoning. Maybe you have a super-secret mission in front of you. After your briefings, you have to tell me before you head out to Hartley.” He paused and winked at her. “Assuming you would be at liberty to do so. I might not have the security clearance nor the need to know.” Another pause. “Well, are congrats in order or not?”

  Cassidy smiled. “I’ll take them for now. If it doesn’t pan out, I’ll call you and you can take them back, sir.”

  Cardenas extended his hand across the desk and Cassidy shook it. “Lisa, let me be the first to congratulate you on your command of a ship and a task force. It is richly deserved and I know you will be great at it.” He now leaned toward her. “And you are officially detached as of now, so I am no longer your boss. You can call me Jose since we are both captains.”

  “Thank you. I would like that.”

  Cardenas nodded. “So would I.” He turned to depart her office. “I expect to hear from you every now and again.”

  “Of course,” she said loudly so he could hear her as he moved away.

  She sat back down at her desk. Attending the in-briefings at Naval Headquarters would be easy. She already was at Naval Headquarters. She just had to go up two floors and she would be at the section that takes care of such things. She decided to go up there now to get some early information on her assignment and to confirm the appointment with the CME. She rose from her chair and left her office. An elevator ride later she was at the Fleet Indoctrination Section. She confirmed her briefing times with a yeoman and talked to the deputy section head. She received a briefing schedule and several discs for review. She also found out most of her briefing classes would have only one attendee. Usually, classes included all the officers going to a certain location or who had similar duties. The fact she was the only one to receive most of the briefs was very unusual. She mentioned this to the deputy. He nodded and gave a short reply with a smile. “That’s because you will be the only Royal Navy task force commander in the area known as the Badlands.”

  Cassidy stared at him. “Why am I, or anybody else for that matter, going to the Badlands?”

  The deputy shook his head. “Above my paygrade.” He leaned toward her as if to let her in on a secret. “Apparently, it is above everyone’s paygrade except the CME’s. We have no specifics on your mission, so all the briefs will be background only because we have no idea what you will actually be doing once you get there.” He gave her a small shrug.

  Lisa departed with her discs. It was all a bit mysterious, but she had no time for concern right now. She needed to check out of Headquarters and get her personal life settled before her transfer. She had the remainder of today and tomorrow for checking out. Her briefs started on Monday. She could get her personal stuff started on this weekend. Her sister was coming for a visit, and Lisa knew she would gladly help her. Captain Cassidy moved with a purpose.

  Chapter 5

  Flint Colfax, captain of pirate vessel Corsair, sat at his desk in his small day cabin. He ran over the numbers again. They hadn’t changed, not that he had expected them to. Twenty crewmembers would not be back. Nine had been upfront about it. They had stated they would be leaving when their duty section went on leave. The others had just not returned. Colfax suspected they had actually planned to return, but once back home among family and friends, they had changed their minds. Of course,
the family and friends probably helped in that process. It could get worse. There was a group of crewmembers on leave now and the last group was due to go out upon the return of the current batch.

  He couldn’t really blame them. His ship and crew were part of an organization known as United Against Slavery (UAS). The ship’s original mission was to travel about the Badlands and report on slave activity and expose those who dealt in such trade. Exposure of these violators to the general public and the resulting shame and ridicule were to be their chief weapons in this venture. Violence was never a part of the equation. However, trying to bring about the end of slavery in the Badlands while avoiding violence would be like trying to live while avoiding breathing. Tough to pull off, and Corsair had not done it. In fact, without Pirate Flotilla One’s help, Colfax and his crew would be Goth prisoners or dead by now. Colfax had no problem with the change of tactics, but some of his crew had not seen what it would take to bring about real change, and now they didn’t want any part of the new order of things. The recent Battle of the Electra system had crystallized the future that awaited them as members of Flot 1.

  The bridge watch buzzed him. “Captain O’Hare on channel 1, Captain.”

  Colfax nodded. “I got it. Thanks.” He paused before tapping on the floating screen. He was absolutely certain she wanted to talk about the exact subject he was considering. She was pure magic in that way… black magic.

  He hit the button. O’Hare appeared on the screen. “How many crewmembers are you down?” She tilted her head as she waited for the answer. Flint was used to her direct approach. Social niceties or easing into a conversation were not staples of O’Hare’s approach to a bad topic. They were not staples of O’Hare’s approach to, well, anything.

  “Twenty gone as of this moment. We got a group out now and the last group goes when those crewmembers return.” He kept talking in anticipation of her next question. “We have had four new people join us, but two are little more than kids. I suspect they think this is a big adventure. I am probably going to send them back to wherever they came from.”

  O’Hare’s image nodded. “Do that. Let someone else break them in as to how things work out here in the big, bad universe. Can you operate with a smaller crew?”

  “We’ll have to. I know you all do it, so we can. We were manned at full strength when we went to the Badlands, so this just takes us down to your level of reduced manning.”

  O’Hare nodded again. “We can get new crewmembers once we get home, but they won’t have the same commitment you have to the slavery issue. If Eve Maldova makes an attempt to get people for you, remember she will place a few spies in that group. That would be the only reason she would want to help you fill out your crew. Don’t report any crew numbers to her, and if she brings it up, don’t give her your true numbers. We don’t want her helping us on this.”

  Eve Maldova was one of the leaders of UAS in the Badlands. She was also a Goth informer who kept them updated on topics of interest and Pirate Flotilla One was always a topic of interest. The pirates would keep her well informed on Flot 1 activities right up to the moment they kill her.

  Colfax nodded and then asked. “Why were you and Captain Hawkins so certain this would happen?”

  O’Hare shrugged. “All of us ship captains have gone through the same thing. Lots of people want to be pirates, fight space battles, and see the universe. It sounds so badass and carefree. Then they get a whiff of the reality, and they don’t like it one bit, so they leave when they get a chance. The crews on our ships are hardcore veterans now, but we in Nemesis have gone through well over one hundred people to end up with just the seventy or so that make up our crew.” She looked at Colfax hard. “You have an added problem in that you are dealing with do-gooders. As a general rule, do-gooders want to change the universe but don’t want to get their hands dirty in the process. Your crew not only got their hands dirty, but they got dumped into a mud bath at the Battle of the Electra System. Stands to reason some of them wouldn’t like it.”

  Colfax took a deep breath and exhaled. He could follow that line of reasoning. He knew plenty of people in the UAS that talked a good line but never got out of the office except to give speeches. They thought talking to the already converted and asking for donations was advancing the cause. Maybe they thought that was all that was needed to achieve the UAS goals or maybe they were quite happy to pretend their speeches and communication announcements did advance the cause. He had already come to the conclusion Pirate Flotilla One was doing more to end slavery than UAS could ever possibly do. He was proud to be a member of the flotilla and hoped his crew felt the same way. Some clearly did not have that feeling, at least not enough of the feeling to stay the course. He spoke softly while trying to put confidence in his voice. “The UAS is canvassing their membership to get volunteers. We may get a couple more before we sail.”

  O’Hare nodded. “Do what you can. We will get recruits back home. I’ll send you the most idealistic so they can fit in aboard Corsair.” She gave him a sardonic smile. Colfax nodded in reply as O’Hare signed off.

  Chapter 6

  Lisa Cassidy was fighting the urge to fall asleep in her chair. The briefings were boring and had large intelligence gaps. The fact was the Empire no longer had many contacts in the Badlands and nothing approaching a systematic network for intel collection or to monitor events there. Also, the Badlands had a very low priority given the challenges of the war and the continuous loss of ships and people in other theatres. The Empire was fighting for its life so had little time and few resources to spend on the Badlands. Cassidy was surprised the Empire was sending her there with a few obsolete ships.

  The week went by quickly as Lisa had much to do in order to settle her affairs before departing Zelenka. The final day of briefings came, and she received a morning update on the current military situation involving Empire forces throughout the universe. That was followed by the last update on the Badlands situation. The final briefer departed and Captain Cassidy rose and packed away her discs in a small briefcase. A young yeoman entered and spoke quietly. “Captain, Admiral Wu would like to see you now.”

  Cassidy looked up and nodded. The CME being interested in this obsolete flotilla going to a backwater area while a war for national survival was being fought was unusual. Okay, she had her orders. “Right behind you,” she said in a tone implying this was business as usual.

  The yeoman led the way out the door and down the hall to a bank of elevators. The two people entered a waiting elevator, and it moved to the top floor. The yeoman stepped at a door opposite the elevator and knocked. The door opened, and a Royal Marine major stood in the frame. He nodded at the yeoman. “Thank you.”

  “Yes, sir,” the yeoman immediately responded and turned to reenter the elevator.

  The Major stood aside for Cassidy to enter the large, well-appointed outer office. “Major Costler, Captain. I’m one of the CME’s aides. The Admiral will be with you in a moment. A pop-up comm call just came in.” He gestured to a seat next to the door with Admiral Wu’s name on it. She took a seat as the Major continued. “Captain, I would offer you a beverage, but the CME said it would only be a moment.” Cassidy nodded, and the marine returned to a desk at the side of the room. He sat and resumed working and Cassidy scanned the antiseptic office. There was little to hold her interest, so she reflected again on the reason the CME would want to see her. She was still at a loss. She couldn’t even decide if this was a good thing or bad thing. She would know in a minute.

  Actually, it would be several minutes. Just when Lisa started to get antsy, the door to the inner office opened and Admiral Wu stepped out. Both Lisa and the marine aide rose. The Admiral stepped to her with his hand extended. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

  “Just a few minutes, Admiral.” She took the proffered hand and shook it.

  Wu smiled. “I apologize, but it was one of our many daily crises.” He stepped to the side and held out his arm toward the interior of his
office. “Please.” Cassidy nodded her thanks at the invitation. She entered as Wu addressed the aide, “Thank you, Martin.”

  “Yes, sir,” the aide responded as Wu followed Lisa into the room and closed the door.

  The large office was what one would expect for the top uniformed member of the Empire’s military. Expensive furnishings, fine art on the walls and tables, and an excellent view out of two windows behind a large, ornate desk. There were several personal touches as well: many images of family and friends, the Admiral in his younger days, and of ships were strategically placed throughout the office. Three rows of personal books and many souvenirs filled a bookcase located between the two windows. Models of various ships were also on display.

  The Admiral did not pause or move to his desk. He headed toward a private elevator door on an interior wall. “Please follow me,” he ordered in a polite tone. He pushed the elevator button, and the door immediately opened. Lisa smiled to herself. Since it was his private elevator, the car would be on whatever floor he was on. A nice benefit.

  Admiral Wu entered the small space, and Cassidy followed. Wu pushed the ground floor button, and the door slid shut. The elevator moved to the ground floor. The quick ride down was done in silence. As the elevator came to a quiet stop, Admiral Wu pressed the “door closed” button to keep the doors from opening so they would be assured of privacy.

  He turned to Cassidy. “Please forgive my haste. The comm call has put us, or more accurately, put you behind schedule. I will be quick here before pushing you out the door.” He paused and took a breath. “You have a midday meal appointment with Queen Alexis.” Lisa’s eyes widened in surprise. Wu continued. “Let me be honest with you regarding this assignment. The Badlands flotilla is entirely the Queen’s project. Despite the pressures of the war, she wants our presence there to be maintained. Due to her great interest, we included her in the selection process for a commander for the flotilla. We sent a list of five names of potential flotilla commanders to the palace. Your name was not on the list. You were just promoted to captain. You did not have a ship command as a commander, and you were severely wounded in the opening days of the war. All those reasons worked against your name being on the list despite your Badlands experience.” Lisa nodded. She was not offended. The reasoning was sound and did not reflect badly on her. Not every officer was qualified to do everything at all times. Wu continued. “However, when the list was returned from the palace, it had six names on it. The Queen had handwritten your name above the others and put a check mark next to it.” Wu smiled. “We took that as guidance, so here you are. I have to ask you. How does the Queen know you?”