Hero at Large

by Timothy Ellis

  Everyone looked at me as if I was nuts. Maybe I was.

  "Tea sir?"

  "No thanks. My parents made me make the tea when I was younger. One day I suddenly realized the reason I put five spoons of sugar in it, was I really didn't like the stuff."

  "Cocoa?"

  "No thanks. I love chocolate, but I'm watching my waist line."

  Amanda laughed so hard, she fell out of her chair. BA had to help her up.

  "I'm fine," I said to the waiter.

  "Did you know you're weird?" said Aline.

  I looked at Amanda, and raised my eyebrows at her with a smile.

  "He knows," she said. "He embraced his weirdness, and is now working on making it into an art form."

  The whole table laughed, and I joined in with them.

  As everyone was sipping their coffee, I pinged the manager to ask if the Colonel had asked for the bill yet. He pinged back in the negative. I told him to ignore any request from her, and to send me the bill as soon as we were done.

  The waiters did another round asking if we needed anything else, and with a negative response from all, started clearing away coffee cups. The bill pinged in, I quickly scanned it, triggered the payment interface, added a healthy tip, and paid it.

  "What did you just do?" demanded Annabelle.

  "I fixed up the bill," I replied. I held up a hand before she could protest. "It's my pleasure too. I've always been credit-strapped, and so was never able to do things for others. Well I recently came into a few credits, and since this is the first real time I can afford to do anything for others, and I might be dead tomorrow and not able to spend them, I'm enjoying being able to do so now. I really enjoyed tonight, and it's my way of saying thank you."

  "Group hug," I said, to cut off any further comment.

  Everyone gathered round, and we hugged for a couple of minutes.

  "Tomorrow is a free day," said the Colonel, "for everyone except George, Amanda, and Aleesha. You're welcome to come over to the shipyard with us if you like, but by all means go do your own thing. I'll ping you if the repairs take longer than expected."

  I had a guess they would, but didn't voice it.

  With that, they started drifting off.

  Alison took me by the right arm, Amanda by the left. Aleesha came up behind me silently, and goosed me. I jumped. They all laughed.

  Twenty Four

  "What next?" I asked. "The night is young, and so are we."

  "Night club?" suggested Alison.

  There was a mumble of agreement.

  "Lead the way fair damsel," I said, but she didn't let go of my arm, and it was Aleesha who led the way.

  At the entrance to the night club, we had to surrender our guns.

  "It's ok," said Amanda. "BA has the perimeter."

  We headed inside, and found it was Disco night. Against all the odds, discos had survived for over six hundred years. It was one of those things no-one could explain. The DJ was still a disc jockey, even though there hadn't been a disc outside a museum in hundreds of years.

  The floor was moderately covered with dancers all engaged in free form expression. The tempo wasn't particularly fast, but we joined them anyway. I found it a bit slow for my tastes. I pinged the DJ to ask if he took requests, and if so could I send him some files. A yes came back. I pulsed him three oldies but goodies, I had stored in my old PC files.

  A little while later, on came 'Sing Hallelujah'. The tempo was considerably faster, and I started moving on the toes of my feet. There was a slight complaint from my left foot, but I was bouncing around so much there was never much weight on it. The ladies started following my movements, and soon the whole dance floor was moving rapidly, and chaotically.

  The next song was 'Baby Baby', and by now I was really moving around the dance floor. No-one kept up with me, but that was ok, because I needed space, as I was continually a split second away from being totally off balance.

  Immediately after came 'Rhythm was a Dancer'. I moved into high gear, and even got a three sixty spin in without falling over. Alison caught up with me as I began to tire.

  As the song ended, I stopped completely, beamed a smile around, flipped a wave at the DJ, and limped off looking for somewhere to sit down. All I could find was a table with stools around it, so I sat on one of those. The ladies joined me.

  "What was that?" Amanda demanded loudly. "Let me guess, more twenty first century stuff?"

  "Late 1980's actually."

  "And what the hell were you doing?" asked Aleesha.

  "Dancing, I think. That's what I did at home, anyway. No-one seemed to care back there."

  "I think the crowd liked the music," said Alison. "I'll get us some water," she added, and left.

  I was suddenly aware of hits on my social profile, but with three lovelies around me, I wasn't going to turn on looking mode. I didn't need to.

  The DJ pinged me to ask what else I had. I pulsed him several more, but didn't go back on to the dance floor when they played. People liked them all the same. We sat there for a while sipping water, soaking in the music.

  Suddenly everyone started forming lines. I wasn't familiar with this tune, but Amanda jumped up, and pulled us all into a line. I quickly pinged the night club PC for the dance steps, and it pulsed them back to me. I set them primary, and off we went.

  Like most line dancing, I was very mechanical about the movements. Specific dance movements were not my thing, so I just let the overrides do the work. The song finished, and we stayed on the floor.

  The DJ pinged me to ask if I had any line dances he didn't know. I pulsed him two, with the dance step files. Several songs later, 'the Bus Stop' started playing. I set its dance steps to primary, and started off, waving towards the DJ. Every one stopped, and watched for a bit, and started joining in as they accessed the steps. By the time it stopped, I could tell some had cancelled the auto-steps, and were dancing naturally, having picked it up easily. The DJ played it again immediately, and by the end, everyone had joined in.

  Next up was 'Nutbush'. I set those steps to primary, and started off. Some watched, others glazed and followed after me. Again, the DJ played it twice. At the end, I headed for the table again. I needed a drink. The ladies joined me.

  "You are full of wonders," said Amanda.

  "He's full of something alright," said Aleesha grinning.

  Alison just hung on my good arm.

  We let a few go by, and went back out onto the dance floor for some slower stuff. Alison took my arms, and we fast waltzed around the floor for a bit.

  "Where did you learn to dance so well?" she asked in my ear.

  "Required learning at lower school," I replied into her ear.

  I pinged the DJ for something slow, and several songs later he obliged. Alison pulled in close, and put her arms around my neck, and mine went around her waist. We stayed like that until the end of the song, and left the floor. Amanda and Aleesha turned up as well. I hadn't seen where they were.

  "Time to go?" asked Alison with a grin.

  "I think so," I agreed.

  I flipped a sort of salute at the DJ, got one in return, and we collected our guns from the front. It was a slow walk back to the hotel for us, or in my case, a slow limp. I'd overdone it, but I hadn't had so much fun in a long time. Sarah hadn't been much for dancing.

  Back in the hotel, there was a round of good nights. Amanda and Aleesha did their commune moment, and Aleesha sat in the easy chair overlooking the door, while Amanda headed for the second bedroom with a knowing smirk.

  Alison led me into my bedroom, and started tearing my clothes off.

  Twenty Five

  "RISE AND SHINE CAMPERS!" shocked us awake the next morning. Amanda went on in a more normal voice, "Thirty minutes to departure. Get your skates on."

  Alison and I hurried through shower and dressing, grabbed our guns, and the four of us ran for the ship. Well, ran wasn't the right word for me, but 'fast hobble' wasn't right either.

  We'd barely
stepped on to the ship, when the hatch closed, and the sounds of departure started. I headed up to the cockpit to watch George flying the ship. He backed it out without any problems, and had us on our way to the shipyard.

  When we arrived, instead of docking, George was given guidance into one of the major repair facilities, which enclosed the entire ship. When Moose was solidly resting on the base of the repair dock, a docking collar attached to the forward airlock, and we made our way into the shipyard proper. Bob met us inside.

  "What's all this?" demanded the Colonel. "I was expecting an inspection team at an outside lock, not this.

  Bob looked to me.

  "I'm sorry Colonel, we got you here under false pretenses. I wasn't happy the last Gladiator was adjudicated to me, since it was a team effort to take it. So I made a deal with Bob to trade it for some upgrades for Moose. Add some antlers, so to speak. I hope you'll accept."

  She looked hard at me, obviously not happy, but not wanting to turn the offer down.

  "What were you intending to do?" she said.

  I looked at Bob, and her gaze followed.

  "Add four heavy point defense turrets, two up, two down, and a missile launcher forward. It'll mean doing a lot of structural strengthening of the hull, as the ship wasn't designed for this. It'll also need a power upgrade, and an AI upgrade to provide the military support in case the AI has to run the guns. The turrets will have four guns each, with manual or auto fire capability. They won't let you take on anything major, but they should keep missiles from hitting you, and they will hurt a fighter who takes you on. The launcher will be a fifty magazine with two refills, and allow selection of what you want to fire, if you load it with different types."

  The Colonel's mouth opened, and closed without saying anything.

  "Just say yes," I said.

  "Yes," she said. "How long will it take?"

  "About two days, maybe three. But you should plan on the third day having a test flight with live firings. Your gunners will need to update themselves to the latest protocols. I know what your Dropship carries, but these are a couple of levels more advanced than they are."

  "Which brings me to part two," I said.

  She raised an eyebrow.

  "We want to put a torpedo launcher on the top of the Dropship. It will give the pilot fifty solid direct fire punches which could be used against anything which tries to interfere with a drop mission, and it would be useful in supporting a ground assault. Just needs a pilot with good aim. It won't interfere with its primary role. It will need some hull strengthening too, and we did check it would fit into the hanger bay. It will also give the Dropship a side role of a light support fighter, should you need one again. As far as I can tell, this hasn't been done before, although who knows why, as it's obviously needed. So it'll surprise the hell out of whoever you use it against first."

  She smiled at that. And nodded.

  "I'll get on with it then Colonel. I'll let you know when it's all done, and you can inspect it. Anyone who wants to see the lad's new ship can follow me."

  Bob went blank for a moment, presumably giving orders, and strode off. I followed him, as did George.

  "We'll wait for you on the station, ping me when you're on approach," yelled Amanda after me.

  I waved in acknowledgement.

  After a good walk, we came to a full build bay. My new ship lay there, seemingly complete. I held my breath for a few moments, and slowly let it out.

  "She'll be ready for you tomorrow, young Jon. We'll be finishing the fitting-out today. You should go shopping for what else you'll need. Any of the guilds will sell you the maps for the nav system. You'll need linens for the bed, and basic kitchen stuff, and if you plan to be eating aboard, you'll need to think about food."

  "Where is Wanderer?" I asked.

  "Not far, you want to see her?" replied Bob.

  "Yes please."

  "This way then." He headed off in a new direction. "Oh, by the way, what do you want to call your new ship? We need to register a name."

  I thought for a moment.

  "Is 'Excalibur' being used these days? I think it would be a good name for what is a new type of Heavy Privateer."

  "Good name," said George. "I like it."

  Bob glazed over for several minutes as we continued to walk.

  "It's not in use in the Australian sector registration. I've put in a request for it, subject to it not being used elsewhere. Even then, they may let you have it as a new type of ship regardless, as ship types have preference, and it's not often the Australian sector puts out a new type or class of ship."

  We stopped at a landing bay.

  "Here she is. I'll leave you with her, and see you tomorrow."

  We bade goodbyes, and he left.

  I looked at Wanderer. She looked alone, and rather small, sitting there in the landing bay. It'd been less than two weeks since I'd walked aboard her for my first trip in space, and then she'd been the largest and most impressive ship I'd seen. I sighed.

  George followed me in. The cargo bay still had our trade goods sitting there. I'd completely forgotten we had deliverables. I wondered idly why I hadn't heard from those taking delivery. We headed into the cockpit, now completely repaired. I sat down in the pilot's seat, and George sat in the jump seat behind. I swiveled round to face him.

  "Just think," I said, "if I'd been sitting in that seat you're in when we came through the jump, we'd all be dead."

  "Small mercies," he answered. "Why weren't you?"

  "Uncle sent me to the cargo bay for some reason, and I was on my way back. Be damned if I can remember why now though."

  "Is it just me, or does the ship feel sad?"

  I looked at him. He showed a bit more perception than I'd expected from George.

  "It's not you. The ship does feel sad."

  "What will happen to it?"

  "It needs to go back to Outback Orbital. It belongs to the family company. I guess someone in the up and coming generation will get to fly it."

  "It won't be you."

  It was a statement, not a question.

  "No, won't be me. The cosmos seems to have other plans for me than to be a trader captain. I'll probably tow her back after my ship is complete and run in, and the pirates let up on me. Which reminds me."

  I turned back to the console, and started up the main computer. I downloaded the manifest, and our purchase list, so I could follow up both. Then shut her down again. I was about to get up, when George stopped me.

  "How are you getting on with the ladies?" he asked with a grin. "I gather you have something going on with Alison?"

  "Is it that obvious?"

  "Pretty much." His grin got bigger. "You know the twins have the hot's for you too, don't you?"

  I blushed. This time I did hunt down that override, and turned it on. The blush vanished.

  "They won't act on it while they're still guarding you though. Professional code. They've been bending it pretty badly as it is, but they won't break it."

  "How will that sit with Alison do you think?" I asked.

  "She knows she only got a look-in because they couldn't act. And as I think you know, in our line of work, the next job could be our last, so no one begrudges anyone a good bonk. She knows how the twins feel, and she shares that, so I doubt she'll stop them if they decide to act on it before we pull out for our next job. Knowing those three, anything could happen, or nothing. But don't you tell them I said that, or I'll never hear the end of it!"

  "I won't. I'm still sorting out how I feel about them. It's all so new for me. I had a friend back home, Sarah, and we made love the night before I left in case I didn't come back, which I didn't. We'd been friends since lower school, and then it got more personal, but we never did anything like share a shower together. It was her idea to take it further, almost as if she knew I'd not be back, and she wanted to remember me a special way, but neither of us really knew what we were doing. Back home we were both sixteen, so it was only just legal.
I wasn't exactly prepared for what has happened here. Other than Sarah, none of the girls paid much attention to me, so I had no expectations. I like all three of them, so it's very confusing. What about you? Anything happening for you?"

  "Not within the team. I know several of the girls like me a lot, but we won't take it any further than barracks stuff. It's not worth the risk. I don't have any trouble finding company when I want some. We mercenary types usually don't. I just put out a status of 'available' when I'm looking, and they usually come to me. But that's partly why I mentioned it to you. Having two very sexy ladies flirting with you, but not going any further, can be frustrating, and I was trying to tell you how to relieve that. As I think you found out, the twins will give you space if you bring someone home with you. Not that I think you will while we're still around. Will we be off first, or you?"

  "I don't know. I'll be testing the new ship tomorrow, and if that goes ok, I'll try a test flight somewhere. The pirates are zero for six in three engagements so far. Assuming they're sick of me, where I go from there is anyone's guess."

  "Will you let me fly her sometime? I'm not a fighter pilot, but it would be fun to have a go."

  "Sure, let's see how things go."

  With that, we got up, closed up Wanderer, and headed for the shipyard's shuttle dock.

  Twenty Six

  I pinged Amanda as we were on approach to the station, and she met us at the station's shuttle dock. George went off on his own, and Amanda and I headed for some shopping therapy. I found I needed a woman's touch when it came to selecting bed 'stuff'. She wasn't much use with kitchen stuff, but she knew what Moose carried, so was able to point things out for me. I needed another travel sled to be able to carry it all. We stopped off at the Traders Guild, so I could get maps for the Australian sector and the adjoining Sci-Fi and American sectors, in case I went there any time soon. We eventually found our way back to the hotel.

  The first thing I did was contact the consignees for Wanderer's cargo. As it turned out, none of them had heard of what had happened, and had not expected delivery on any particular date. I cannot say I understood this. However, arrangements were made to pick up the consignments from the shipyard, and I emailed Bob the details, so collection could be made.