More than half the asteroid was gone now, and I was waiting for it to disintegrate completely at any moment.
Instead, we were suddenly on the other side.
"Get us back," I yelled at Jane.
"Throw or keep?" she asked.
The cylinder was out ahead of us, and they were still bone jarringly hitting us.
"Fuck it! Full speed ahead. Ram the bastards for as long as we can."
"Confirmed."
Buckles snapped around the CCC, as people buckled up. I did the same. Relentless accelerated as fast as she could with the remains of the asteroid pushed in front of us.
But the aliens knew now, could see us, and the ones from further along were disengaging and massing to shoot at us. The ones on the outside not too far in front of us were shooting away, and they started going around us and jumping. Our guns were picking off a lot of them, but as we moved away, more of them were able to get behind us and jump.
The asteroid disintegrated, and Jane used the gravity sled in reverse to push the mass ahead of us, while she turned us away. We took a massive hit immediately after, and lost half our shielding.
"Jump us back," I suggested.
Jane didn’t answer, but we were soon up to fleet speed, and with our shields about to fail, we jumped back into Libya.
"Suit!" I commanded, and the ship's belt shifted into a suit, which took the brunt of the next hit from a mass of ships which had been waiting for us.
"Vanish!"
We cloaked, and Jane violently changed our course, enough so the next shot missed.
"Take us back to Libya orbit Jane."
"Confirmed."
"So that’s why we didn’t shield the asteroid?" asked Grace.
"Yes," I said. "The moment the asteroid came apart was always going to be hairy. I wanted our full shields for it, in case most of the debris hit us."
"Well that was fun," said Amy from the back, in a voice which suggested it hadn't been.
It broke the tension, and most of us chuckled.
The team went off to prepare for their afternoon down on Libya.
I send a vid off to Central Command about the effectiveness of an asteroid as a jump block. There were variations I could think of, but I was starting to get the impression there was nothing we could do to stop them.
The best we could hope for was delay.
And sooner or later, we were going to blunder badly, and lose ships.
But not today.
Another battle fought, and successfully withdrawn from.
The Libya evacuation was proceeding a lot better than Brazil's had. By the time we'd completed Egypt's as well, and merged with the Prometheus fleet, and whatever remained of the African fleet, we should have this down pat. We'd be seeing an Indian fleet of some sort in Delhi, the Chinese fleet in Beijing, and rest of the Japanese fleet in Nippon. As long as we didn’t lose anyone, we should be getting stronger as we went.
I had time to ponder how to use my ships more effectively, for fighting and evacuations. By Delhi, I’d have three evac fleets I could send into the Indian sector itself. Now if I could convince their fleet to meet us in Nepal or even Egypt, I could send those fleets off sooner. Nepal didn’t have a large population, so evacuation could probably be done just using my smaller ships, and the civvies. Delhi was an entirely different matter though, and the longer we had there, the better. I made a note to ask Admiral Sato if he could influence the Japanese High Command to bring the bulk of their fleet to meet us in Nepal. Last I'd heard, they had just under a hundred Corvettes. With those numbers, we could set up firing lines like we'd used on Last Hope, so each could retreat for a while, without us losing any firepower at all.
Still, it was early days in the war, and we had a long way to go.
For now, all I could do was…
Rinse and repeat.
Jonathon Hunter
will return
in
Hero to the End.
Hunter Ranks
Marine, Fleet, Pilots.
Private, Apprentice Spacer.
Lance Corporal, Ordinary Spacer.
Corporal, Spacer.
Sergeant, Able Spacer.
Senior Sergeant, Petty Officer.
Master Sergeant, Chief Petty Officer.
Sergeant Major, Senior Chief Petty Officer.
Command Sergeant Major, Master Chief Petty Officer.
Sub-Lieutenant, Ensign, Pilot Officer.
Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant Junior Grade (JG), Flight Officer.
Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Flight Lieutenant.
Major, Lieutenant Commander, Squadron Leader.
Lieutenant Colonel, Commander, Wing Commander.
Colonel, Fleet Captain, Group Captain.
Commodore. (Brevet rank only).
Brigadier General, Fleet Admiral, Space Commodore.
Lieutenant General, Rear Admiral, Rear Marshall.
Major General, Vice Admiral, Vice Marshall.
General, Admiral, Marshall.
Sector Map
Acknowledgements
Once again, a big thank you for Helen Ellis, sounding board, ear that listens, and experience which talks.
Thanks goes to Kalen O'Donnell for the cover design for this book.
Thanks also go to Elliott Webber, for the graphic design of BigMother, for the cover.
Thank you also to W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, for the perfect bit of whimsy to march the team off to war with. For anyone interested in watching Act 2 of the Pirates of Penzance to see and hear the way the parts meld together, there are plenty of examples on the internet.
A Message to my Readers
I’ve had a lot of fun writing this book. There is still a lot of story to come, and I invite you to come along for the full journey with me.
If you have enjoyed this book, I hope you will take the time to leave a review on the Amazon site. All reviews are greatly appreciated, as they help assist purchasing decisions by other readers. Sales and reviews will help me to focus on the next book in the series, which impacts how fast the next installment is released.
Please join me on the series Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/TheHunterLegacy
You are welcome to discuss the series on the Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheHunterLegacyUniverse/
If you would like to be kept informed of new eBooks, updates and information from The Hunter Legacy universe, join the mailing list at http://eepurl.com/bqMgVz
Thank you.
Also by Timothy Ellis
These Kindle eBooks can be found on
Timothy Ellis’ Kindle Author page.
These links can also be found at TimothyEllisAuthor.com.
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HRTTIJG
The Hunter Legacy
Part One
Jonathon Hunter – Omnibus One
Hero at Large.
Hunted Hero Hunting.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L4E08OS
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Send in the Hero.
Make or Break the Hero.
Hail the Hero.
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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013LKL13U
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015AYA7CG
Part Two
Burnside's Killer.
Hire a Hero.
Jane's Christmas.
Hero to the Rescue.
Hero at the Gates.
The Long Road to Gaia
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Part Three
Home is where the Hero is
Hero in Darkness
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The Hero's Companion
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PC Games
The X3 Handbook.
The X3 Handbook for Albion Prelude.
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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B010VYG67A
Spiritual
The Wisdom of the Ages is available for the price of asking a question.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 2.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 3.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 4.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 5.
The Wisdom of the Ages Complete Volumes 1 to 5.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 6 Accrued Karma.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 7 Healing the Indigo.
I want to go home, Ascension for the travelling soul.
Personal Healing using basic meditation.
101 Tips for the John of God Brazil Experience.
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Feng Shui
Life Harmony, Feng Shui in Plain English.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EX4Y07S
Hunter Legacy 12: Hero in Darkness Page 27
