Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4)

by Timothy Ellis

  "Jane, deploy a comnavsat please."

  "Confirmed."

  "Janet, can we have one of the comnavsats attached to the bottom of the station please. As it probably won't be remaining here, deploy one once the station is on the other side of the jump point."

  "Yes my Lord."

  "Can you duplicate the freight scanner on Gunbus?"

  This was experimental technology I’d been trialing for General Harriman, after I suggested it be developed. It scanned the inside of a ship looking for contraband, and it checked the ship's ID to ensure it wasn’t faked.

  "Certainly my Lord. How many would you like?"

  "Make up enough to ring around the Docking Deck, so it covers a kilometer all around the station, in all directions. Also cover the shuttle dock, and small ship landing areas. Do another couple of dozen, and store them on Gunbus for now."

  "Yes my Lord."

  The range of the prototype freight scanner was only a kilometer. By putting them all around the station, we didn’t lose any range on the side opposite from where one might be put. Cost wasn’t an issue, so there was no reason for not adding as many as were needed for total coverage.

  "Jane, please move the remaining comnavsats onto the first Drone Freighter you intend to use for delivering Miami's cargo, and deploy them at each jump point between here and Nexus, and each of them in Nexus. Add what you need to complete the chain. This has higher priority than delivering cargo."

  "Confirmed. When do you want the drone freighters to leave?"

  "Hold up until the afternoon, just in case there's anything urgent that needs them first."

  "Confirmed."

  I opened another vid.

  "David, I've acquired a station in my travels, which will be at the Midnight-Cobol jump point sometime tomorrow morning. It needs an administration staff, or at least the senior management of one. It's run by a top end AI at the moment, so it won't require a normal admin section. Just decision makers, and PR for the station's residents, of which there are several thousand. There are people on the station who used to work in admin here, but I've not had time for such things. I know this is out of left field, but would you consider moving the family business structure here? There's plenty of empty space, and you can rebuild company offices to your liking."

  "As soon as the jump point here is clear, I'm sending you my Liner. Anyone you can send to help, can come back on it. If you decide to move completely, the Liner can make several trips. Doubtless you've questions. I'll attempt to answer them. As of this time, communications have been restored. The war isn’t over, but Cobol is secure again. Eventually, I hope the station can be moved to the center of Nexus, where it'll become central to the whole sector. I don’t know when I'll be back, but we can at least email again. Jon out."

  David Tollin was the head of the family businesses on Outback Orbital. I sent the email off.

  "Jane, send the Liner to Outback as soon as the station stops moving after the jump."

  "Confirmed."

  I opened another vid.

  "Bob. Communications are open again, so you'll be receiving a shit load of credits from the Sci-Fi Space Force, and the British Fleet. James McLauchlan and I have licensed your designs on a three way split of the fees. The British sent a fleet to Avon, and the damaged ships after the first battle, were all upgraded using your designs, which included a Battleship. So was a Sci-Fi Battleship."

  "I sold a Gunbus to John Slice of the Apricot Mapping Service, and he's interested in building the Camel under license at his own shipyard. However, I think he'll immediately buy the ones already built. The Americans are interested in the John Wayne design to upgrade their Cruisers. So my friend, my mad ideas have paid off magnificently, don’t you think?"

  I grinned at him, followed by a quick wince.

  "Can you send all my ships you have there to the Midnight jump point, where by lunch time tomorrow, I'll have a station waiting for them. Load them up with the cargo adjudicated to me. Can you also send one hundred security droids? Get each of them a suit belt, or if there aren't enough available, send a ship to collect them from wherever they can be found. Also, can you send the normal station quantity of building and repair droids? I'll probably take what my station has with me when I leave. Send all those to the station. Send after me another freighter with an additional twenty security droids with suit belts, and another two hundred combat droids. I'll need replacements for any I lost taking Cobol, and I have more space for them now, and several ships to spread them across. That’s all I can think of for now. Hunter out."

  I sent the email off, and turned to Angel.

  "Bed Angel."

  She rose, stretched, and sauntered down her ramp. I followed her into my bedroom. She walked up her ramp onto the bed, and sat next to my pillow waiting for me.

  An email came in, and I threw it to the wall. It was General Harriman.

  "Admiral, it's good to hear from you at last. I see I have a lot to catch up on. The jump point will take most of the night to clear, so go ahead and get all the sleep you need. We'll talk when you arrive here tomorrow. Harriman out."

  I shifted my suit back into a belt, shucked my briefs and socks, and donned boxers and t-shirt.

  Seconds after laying my head on my pillow, I was asleep.

  Twenty Eight

  I woke naturally the following morning. Angel was curled up next to my head as usual. I patted her for a couple of minutes, and headed into the bathroom for a shower. I stopped at the mirror, and pulled off my t-shirt and boxers. If anything, the bruises down my body were much more spectacular than when I’d last looked at them. My left side, and various blotches on the right, was a solid mass of variations of the colour yellow, with two exceptions. My temple area was still purple, as was the large bruise on my chest where the Meson blast, and solid projectile, had hit me. There was also a large purple bruise on my left shoulder where I'd hit the wall. Given my pain level, I changed my mind about the shower, and went to the spa instead.

  Half an hour of soaking later, I showered, pulled on briefs and socks from the dispenser, changed my belt to fatigues, and went out looking for breakfast.

  Even after eating late last evening, I felt hungry this morning. Jeeves put a light and fluffy breakfast before me, and I polished it off.

  Finally, I checked the time, and found it coming up to nine thirty.

  My pad seemed to be overflowing with unread emails, which perhaps wasn’t so surprising, since I'd read very few last night.

  General Harriman informed me the jump point was now clear. I replied the station would be coming through very shortly.

  I limped down to the Medical Bay, received a new pain shot, and headed back up to the Bridge.

  "Janet, let's get the station moving please, nice and easy through the jump point."

  "Yes my Lord."

  "The station will be jumping in a few minutes," I said into station coms. "Once in the Midnight system, the station will be positioned for jump point blockade. Until the war is concluded, it'll remain here. As this is on the direct route between the Australian sector and the rest of the spine, and it'll be the only stop for several jump points in every direction, there should soon be a lot of traffic passing through the station. I'm hoping this station will become a center for trade before too long. If you haven't noticed, communications are now fully restored. Hunter out."

  Several minutes later, as I watched the station view feed, we jumped into Midnight.

  The first thing I saw on the other side was a huge red thing, in the shape of an arrowhead. Red? Not only red, but bright red? Bob was obviously playing a big joke on me.

  On both sides of the jump point, was a line of ships, welcoming the station.

  "Janet, move us to a point where the Destroyer guns are at longest range of anything in down jump. Align us so all the guns point there."

  "Yes my Lord."

  I opened a channel to everyone.

  "Greetings Midnight blockade fleet. I bring you glad
tidings from the war. The Cobol system has been retaken, and the Australian sector has rejoined the galaxy. I'm so glad to see you all still here. Job well done! As soon as the station stops moving, can everyone please dock. There'll be a gathering in the main eating area around midday. General Harriman and senior officers to Gunbus please, as soon as you dock. Hunter out."

  I closed the channel on a lot of cheering.

  "Janet, can you whisper to all the Promenade Deck food merchants to prepare for a celebration. The blockade fleet needs a decent meal, and after the fight at Cobol, the station needs a decent party. Tell the merchants they won't be charging anyone for anything, but to send the bills to me, via administration. Put a message out on every display, inviting everyone at midday. If there are any musicians or entertainers on board, invite them to play."

  "Yes my Lord."

  "Jane, what's the status of the Carrier?"

  "I have control. It's structurally complete as per your requirements, but only some of the internal work is complete."

  "So it has the usual large ship docking connections and airlock?"

  "Yes. It can dock with the station. Do you want me to dock it now?"

  "Yes, but be the last ship. Janet, assign external docks so the Carrier has enough room to dock safely, without preventing other ships from leaving."

  "Confirmed."

  "Yes my Lord."

  "Oh and Janet, assign repair droids to all the ships, and see what can be fixed without a shipyard."

  "Yes my Lord."

  "Where's the General?"

  "On the Carrier," said Jane. "Oh, and you might like to check the Carrier out." She ended this with a laugh.

  I looked at the HUD data.

  "BigMother?" I said out loud.

  Jane kept laughing.

  Bob had changed her name from Junk Heap One to BigMother.

  "Don’t you recall when the Carrier first docked with Sydney Shipyard? Bob asked you to dock that big mother so he could come aboard and look at it."

  I smiled at the memory. It wasn't that long ago, but it felt like years.

  "I guess there's an email on my pad explaining it."

  "Confirmed," she responded.

  There was a series of emails from Bob. Three of them were invoices for two Camels, and an Excalibur. Bob had built Gunbus to my specifications. The Camel was a sister ship, with less armament, designed to be a true Heavy Transport, or a really big, and well protected, private yacht. He was charging me cost plus his share of the license fee that the Americans were paying to make the Gunbus and Excalibur themselves. I paid the invoices immediately. I was pretty sure John Slice was going to want to buy both the Camels, and the Excalibur I had plans for.

  "Station in position," announced Janet.

  I checked the view, and it showed the jump point, with lines of ships about to dock.

  "Liner away," announced Jane.

  I watched it move back from the station, turn on the spot, and streak off at a speed it shouldn’t have been able to make.

  "Been doing some tinkering with the Liner, Jane?"

  "Confirmed." It was followed by a giggle.

  Another email outlined the refit BigMother had undergone, and apologized for the name if I didn’t like it. But he felt I'd have enjoyed the joke, had I been there to hear it when he thought of it, so he went ahead, and renamed the ship. It was now a BigMother class Escort Carrier.

  He'd completed the twenty four fighter launch tubes, twelve on each side. There were actually twenty four launch tubes on each side, but only half of them had worked when I took the ship. He'd alternated which ones worked, using the other tubes for heavy weapons, shields, and magazines. The Carrier was designed for four squadrons of twelve short range fighters. Launching that many would take longer now, but I hadn't envisioned needing to. The idea was to keep a squadron or so for added defense, and use the space for other things.

  He'd crammed as many different sizes of guns and missile launchers on her as he could. The email included the actual specs of the new design, and a list of what hadn't been done. I'd have to go over this later.

  His last comment was, he'd decided to repaint the Carrier, since it had looked so dilapidated. He'd tried to remember the colour of my uniform, and match it as best he could.

  I laughed, winced, and toned it down to a smile. He hadn't even been close! My 'slinky red' suit uniform was a dull red, not bright red.

  Lieutenant Commander Annette Bronson bounded onto the Bridge, pulled me out of my chair, and hugged me.

  "Ugggggggg!" I cried out.

  She let me go in a hurry, and I fell back into my chair. My medical monitor tried to cope with the spike in pain, but wasn’t up to the challenge.

  "Sorry," she said. "What's happened to you? Oh."

  She'd obviously just noticed my head bruise.

  "Long story," I said. "How's Unthinkable?"

  Unthinkable was my formerly Lincoln class Corvette, now also its own class, after a refit. I'd sent Annette back before the blockade, to take command of her.

  "A little dented in a few places, but otherwise good. She handles so much like Nightshade, I hardly know which ship I'm flying at times." Nightshade was her own Mustang class Heavy Privateer. "I took your advice by the way. I sent Nightshade to Sydney Shipyard for a refit. She's still there. I received one hell of a shock when your payment came through, I can tell you." She grinned widely.

  She'd salvaged some fighters in the Pompeii system, which I'd subsequently sold to the Australian Militia. Since she worked for me, the ships had become the property of Hunter Security. Her contract entitled her to five percent of the sale price. Her cut of the sale was enough for her to significantly refit her ship.

  "You're welcome," I said. "You followed my advice, so you reaped the reward of it. Actually, your reaction was probably the same as the rest of the team, when they received two payments for another lot of ships I sold. Not quite what you made, but still in the seven digits range."

  She laughed.

  Squadron Leader Algernon Lacey came onto the Bridge at that moment. He looked older than I remembered, but considering the burden he'd had dumped on him, it wasn’t surprising. I felt a great deal older than I used to as well.

  He came over, and we silently shook hands.

  "It's good to see you both alive," I said. "We'd no idea what had happened here. I half expected to find Midgard ships here, and you back in Nexus, or scattered about the place here in small pieces."

  "It was close the first couple of attacks," he said, "but we held. Once we figured out how to do it more safely, they didn’t really get much chance to take us."

  "I'll look forward to studying the battle feeds when I have the time."

  "As will we, sir. I understand the General has all of yours, and they're must see viewing. I'll borrow them when he's finished with them."

  "Ah, no. You won't have a chance. You can watch mine."

  "Sir?"

  I didn’t have to respond to that, as just then, General Harriman walked in.

  I rose from my chair, and turned to face him. He stuck his hand out, and we shook.

  "Let's go into my office," I said before he could say anything. I turned to the other two. "Can you give us a half hour, and come back?"

  They nodded, and left. General Harriman walked next door, while I limped, and sat at my conference table.

  "Welcome back Admiral," the General said.

  "Pleased to be back sir, and even more pleased to find everyone in one piece."

  "Call me Walter, Jon. We're only one rank apart now." He was a three star, I was two. He grinned at me, and I smiled as much as I could back. "I've not finished all the battle feeds you sent me. Thank you for that, by the way. Even though I didn't get them until early this morning, I'm glad you included me on the distribution list."

  "I couldn’t do otherwise. I might be inactive with Australian Militia, but you're still my boss in terms of sector security. One of them anyway. I have three now."

&
nbsp; "I noticed." He laughed.

  "I apologize for making you come here, but I had an assassination attempt on me, that left me unable to get around very easily."

  "I saw the report. It was big news on Avon apparently. As soon as communications opened again, it was one of the first things the newsies wanted confirmation about. So I'm afraid you're all over the news here again."

  I groaned.

  "What should I know now, before the juniors return?" he asked me.

  "General Vonda Wellington commands the multi-sector task force rolling back the Midgard fleets, with me in operational control. She's a three star with Sci-Fi sector. The force comprises The Battleships Repulse and Warspite, eight Pocket Battleships, an Assault Frigate, and an assorted mix of British and Sci-Fi Cruisers, Destroyers, and Corvettes." He nodded. "I was going to suggest you take command of my station for the remainder of the war. She has the firepower of a Battleship fleet, so can guard the sector here at its natural choke point." He looked surprised. "Actually, this the largest single seat fighter ever built." He laughed, and I laughed, and winced, with him. "Seriously though, the station now has the freight scanners mounted, so you can control what comes in and out of the sector from here."

  "Who will you leave when you go?"

  "I was thinking of leaving your Gladiators, and any Talons you base here. That should be more than enough for sector protection, given the door from Azgard is blocked tight now. Your biggest threat will be pirates. Even if they bring in a Cruiser, the station will take it out easily. She mounts eight Battleship turrets.

  I brought up the design layout for the top of the station.

  "You know this is completely outrageous, don’t you?" He said it with a grin. I couldn’t remember seeing him anything but serious, except for a few smiles on vids, so this was novel.

  "It's been said. But when you see the battle feeds, it was both necessary and effective." He nodded. "I'll take all my people and ships. I think having been so decisive here, they'll want to see the end of this war, and not be stuck in the backwaters."

  "Your right, they will. I've heard a lot of speculation on that, without actually hearing anything officially. I was going to suggest you leave your Carrier for me to use as a command ship, but instead, I'll transfer my command here until you return."