If all you saved was shortcuts to the pictures, then the usb stick is useless - it didn't have the pictures on it.
If you still have the old hard drive we can walk you through simple recovery procedures. If these don't work and the pictures are very important to you, there are professional recovery labs. My last trip to one cost me $1,700, and that was on the low side.
In the future, have someone show you how to make actual copies and keep them in several places so this won't happen to you again. In addition to backups, I have copies of almost everything on my Android tablet - that way I can show them off at the drop of a hat.
I wish you the best of luck with the recovery. Take more pictures, and keep separate copies.