Hail the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 5)

by Timothy Ellis

  "We look forward to it Jon," said Queen Liz. She looked around the room. "Now, if you'll all excuse us please."

  The room emptied, leaving us alone.

  "Now Jon, follow me. Afternoon tea awaits us on my private balcony."

  She led me upstairs and around into her private apartment. I scooted behind her through an ornate sitting room to, as she'd said, a balcony, overlooking a private garden. Here were two very comfortable chairs, with a small table between them. We sat, and a functionary offered us tea, and various kinds of cakes.

  I hadn't had tea in years. In fact, I remember giving it up as a young teenager, when I figured out the reason I put so much sugar in it, was I didn’t really like the stuff. However, it wouldn’t be very diplomatic to refuse tea with the Queen. So I loaded in the sugar, and found the blend to be very enjoyable. The Brits really did know about tea. I'd have to think about importing some of the better blends.

  We said nothing for a while, while functionaries fussed around us. After a while, she went blank as if receiving a ping, after which she waved them away, and we were left alone.

  "I have two personal gifts for you Jon, a way of saying thank you for my life."

  She held up her hand to silence me before I could say anything.

  "First of all, you sent me a belt which saved me first from injury when we were attacked, and then kept me alive when my own foolishness deprived us of air to breath. You prevented me from being taken, forced to disband the nobility, and abdicate. You kept me alive at serious risk to your own, even though you were barely able to take care of yourself. I owe you Jon."

  I opened my mouth to say she didn’t. But she held her finger to my lips to silence me.

  "I do Jon. Stop being so selfless all the time. Anyway, my first gift to you is this."

  She threw a feed to the wall behind us. I saw a shipyard, where the airlock doors were opening slowly. Once fully open, a ship emerged. It looked familiar.

  "Yes," she said. "I'm giving you a new Gunbus. All your things from the old one which could be salvaged, have been put aboard. Including your kitten's things, and the two figures on the control panel. It also has a set of butler droids, and two top of the line combat suits. By the way, before you go, I want to meet your kitten."

  "As you command," I said with a grin on my face.

  "Really?" she said with a grin. "Then follow me."

  She led me back through the sitting room, hobbling not scooting, and into what must be her own bed chamber. It was so large, you couldn’t call it a bed room.

  "So," she said with an impish expression. "Your second gift, is me!"

  My jaw dropped. She pushed me down into a chair, and proceeded to do a very sexy strip tease for me. I cancelled my arousal override. My suit changed shape slightly to compensate.

  When she stood naked in front of me, she pulled me out of the chair, and kissed me full on the mouth, her breasts pushed against my chest. The kiss lasted until we both gasped for air.

  "Now Your Grace, let me see how that suit comes off."

  One does not say no to a Queen.

  Thirty Eight

  Precisely at seven that evening, I was guided into the main Dining Room, where I found the rest of my team already seated. I'd showered and been given a pain shot, which was somewhat late, given we'd not wanted to be disturbed for quite some time. I'd never experienced quite a mixture of pleasure and pain before. It was disturbing on one level, and enjoyable on another. Her Majesty had turned out to be a tiger in bed. Tigress in bed. Actually, bed hadn't figured all that prominently, as we'd discovered ways of avoiding me bending my knees.

  I'd had a twinge of concern cross my thoughts at one point. I'd only just said goodbye to Miriam, and here I was in someone else's bed. But Miriam had known she couldn’t hold on to me. Long distance relationships with no known next meeting point, were not likely to last. And after all, one didn’t say no to the Queen of the British sector. One said "Yes Ma'am", and frequently.

  Amanda nudged her sister as I entered, who nudged Alison. They all looked at me as if I was the cat which ate the canary. I popped up a hollo mirror only I could see, in case there was obvious evidence showing of what I’d been up to for the last few hours. I was in Hunter Dress again, and my arousal override was back on. Hollo mirrors weren't as good as regular ones, so there was nothing I could pinpoint, although I did seem to have a grin plastered on my face, and maybe that was enough for them to make assumptions.

  I took my place at the table, sending my scooter to a corner, and promptly had to rise again, when the Queen entered. Her eyes flicked to mine, momentarily. It was long enough for Aline to catch, and the other three caught her look.

  I wondered what all the fuss was about.

  Dinner was as good as the last one I’d had here. But this time I felt a good deal more comfortable. I chatted with those around me, and remembered nothing but the touch of a set of lips against mine, and several other things one doesn’t mention in polite company. Or in any company, if one wanted to keep one's head on one's shoulders.

  After dinner, coffees stretched out, and a sort of torture set in, being so close to her, and not being able to touch her once again.

  On the way back to BigMother, I was asked when we were leaving. I didn’t know, and told them it depended on when the Battleship came out of the shipyard, and how long it took Jane to figure out how to dock it with BigMother.

  I did tell them to be ready for a Royal inspection at ten in the morning. I didn't tell them the whole reason was so Liz could meet Angel. I hadn't asked why she hadn't met her last time she was aboard, and while I was asleep. She wanted to come aboard, it was the reason given. If it wasn’t, I'd find out in due course.

  BigMother hadn't re-docked with the station. As we flew past the front section, I noticed the docking clamps which had been cut off the station, were now gone. So she could now dock, but hadn't. I guess my order to undock was still in effect. We were parked far enough away from the station not to interfere with ship movements, but close enough for short shuttle rides.

  I thought about that on the way down the lift. It might be a good idea to not dock BigMother in the future, or only dock long enough to unload and load, before undocking and orbiting further away. If the shit was going to hit the fan again sometime, I wanted my combat ships out where they could be most useful, not tied up at a station. Perhaps I could use Gunbus as an executive shuttle. Shuttle being the operative word. There was no way I wanted to go up against a Battleship again in something as small as a Corvette. Lesson learnt. Not only wasn’t I paranoid enough, even now, I seemed to be getting gung-ho as well. Stupidity kills on the battle field. It almost had.

  Back in my suite, I gave Angel some attention, and went to bed.

  I woke up alone the next morning. Even Angel was absent. By six fifteen, showered and kitten patted, I was in my Ready Room, reading emails. Rather surprisingly, I hadn't needed a pain shot. The ache I knew all so well was there, but it wasn’t really outright pain anymore. My bruises were yellowing now.

  Amy had sent a copy of all the reports she'd filed with the media in the Australian sector. Me, big hero. Hero unavailable due to injury. Hero's forces put down coup. Me getting knighted. Me getting Duke'd. It all came over like a bad soap opera.

  Then there were the stories coming from home. Surprise and happiness an Australian should be knighted and appointed as a Duke. Surprise and outright hatred an Australian should sell out to the British Monarchy. Shock that the Australian government had given away systems to an individual person, let alone a kid, especially when they'd refused the mining industry ownership of Nexus since the sector was established. More shock over said kid having a battle fleet which could destroy the whole sector. Calls for the government to take back the systems. Calls for non-aggression and alliance treaties with the new mini-sector. Calls for close military ties to ensure the Australian sector's security. Calls for the Prime Minister to resign.

  My eyes glazed over. I didn’
t need other people's drama. It's why I pay no attention to the media at all. Never have, never intend to.

  Politics though, I was going to need to learn how to play that game. Oh joy.

  A headline caught my eye and stopped me completely.

  OUTBACK FILES TO JOIN HUNTER'S RUN.

  I pinged Amy to join me as fast as she could get up here.

  She came in five minutes later, looking like I'd roused her from sleep. It was a good look for her, but I doubt she would have agreed if I’d mentioned it. Which I didn’t.

  I threw the headline to the wall.

  "What is that?" I demanded.

  "What it says. Outback filed a petition yesterday to leave the Australian sector, so the system can join your new mini-sector. Outback's status has always been something peculiar. They pay their sector tax, but have never participated in the sector government. They pay less tax than any other system, as they've never required anything from the sector. And as the first planet colonized in the sector, the sector constitution left them out of many things which bind the other systems. You should know all that."

  "What the hell is Hunter's Run?"

  She grinned at me.

  "It wasn’t me! Honest. Someone in the Sci-Fi sector wrote a story about your trip to Pompeii to rescue the team, and called it the fastest run through that section of space ever done. Someone else picked it up and called the stretch of space through Midnight and Bad Wolf, Hunter's Run. When your ownership of the systems broke, everyone referred to the systems with the name. I think it stuck."

  "Bollocks it has!"

  "Then you won’t want to hear the latest reference."

  I sighed.

  "No, but tell me anyway."

  "You're being called the Duke of Norfolk and Hunter's Run."

  I put my head in my hands.

  "Speculation is rife," she continued, "on how you structure the new mini-sector. King Jon the first is running at five to one. Duke Jon is at three to one. The next closest is Field Marshall Hunter, the military dictator, at nine to one."

  I bashed my head on the desk three times.

  "What are you going to do, mini-sector wise?" she asked.

  "I haven't decided, and frankly, you're the last person I’ll be telling."

  "I promise not to file anything until you say I can. I'm contracted to you at the moment, so you do have a say in it."

  "I don’t know, so there's nothing to tell you. And if you report anything at all, I'll boot your arse out the nearest airlock!"

  "Yes Your Grace." She grinned at me.

  "Anything else I need to know about?"

  "The government is tearing itself apart on the Outback issue. But those in the know are saying they really don’t have a choice. Outback has the right to leave the sector. Asking was only a courtesy on their part. What most of us journalists want to know though, is how the Outback government even knew about any of this, let alone issuing instructions and filing petitions, given they're non-contactable for another ten odd months. As far as everyone knows, they don’t even have an operable receiver on the whole planet at the moment. Or so they tell anyone who asks."

  "That is a good question. I’d like to know myself. So Australian sector will allow Outback to leave the sector?"

  "The smart money is on yes, but it's going to cost the government big time if they do allow it. It's one more hit on a shaky government. They came into office on the tails of the pirate threat, promising sector defense and stability, and promptly did almost nothing, leaving us at the mercy of Midgard. We dodged that bullet purely because of your forces, the use of mercenaries for sector defense leaving a very sour taste in a lot of mouths, on all sides of politics. The government can't win on this issue. And that will make the Prime Minister a very unhappy man. You better watch out for him at the negotiating table. He'll need to look strong to stay in power, and yet, the need to negotiate with you at all, will be perceived as his fault for giving away the systems in the first place. Makes a politician dangerous, being in that position."

  "I'll keep it in mind. Why is giving away the systems a problem? Bad Wolf is practically useless to anyone, and Nexus only has a single ring being mined, which I'm not getting control of. So they gave away mostly empty space, useless rubble, and a few gas giants. What's the big deal?"

  "It’s the principle of the thing. Never give away territory. The trouble was, the war was kept away from the sector through your actions, and the reward had to match the potential sacrifice. They had no choice, and everyone knew it. General Harriman made enemies though, in proposing it in the first place. Once he suggested it in government circles, it had to happen, as there was nothing else of significant magnitude to reward you with. And as you said, they didn’t give away anything important. All the same, politicians don’t like being boxed into a corner and forced to do anything. Remember that."

  "I will. I guess I may need to call on your advice."

  "I'll add it to my bill."

  She grinned at me, and I reluctantly grinned back. I waved her out, and she left.

  I went back to emails.

  The answer to the Outback question was in an email from David Tollin. His email was encrypted, and I had to get Jane to sort it for me. I threw his vid to a wall.

  "Sir Duke Jon," he began with a grin. "Congratulations. I think. Everything is running smoothly on Hunter's Redoubt. Your new stations passed through with no problems, and should be in position in Nexus by now. Your AI's have begun refitting work to Hunter's Haven, although not much can be done without funds. I've setup accounts for all three stations, and for each ship of yours doing trading runs using the AI as captain. If you can drop a few hundred million into Hunter's Haven's account, I can get the material for the refit flowing."

  "Regarding your mini-sector, with your permission I'll set up accounts at the sector level. We can talk about how best to structure the sector when you arrive back, but for now, you need accounts separate from your own. You will need them for tax collection, and accounting purposes. Start thinking about how you want to fund your sector, and what sort of administrative structure you want."

  He paused, and looked serious all of a sudden.

  "No doubt you've heard about Outback filing to leave the Australian sector and join your new mini-sector. This is true, as far as it's known. What isn’t known, is a closely guarded secret. I'm sorry to say I've been keeping a few things from you. The day after you left Outback, a Keeper arrived on the Orbital from Gaia. He had sealed instructions from the government, after having called a special session before the Door opened. They were to be opened only when certain events had occurred."

  "Jon, we could have brought you back, while you were unconscious in hospital, after Wanderer was attacked. The Keeper called the attack and your hospitalization a sign. He forbade us from bringing you home in a Care Unit, or telling you anything about this. I'm sorry, I know this'll distress you. It made me really angry at the time, and I took a piece out of the Keeper. It made no difference to him."

  I stopped the vid.

  So, I was sent here after all. It had never occurred to me I could have been taken home while the Door was open. For a moment it made me very angry to find out all of my suffering of the last two months could have been avoided, and deliberately wasn’t.

  I’d always known I had something to do with Prophesy, but for them to just cut me adrift like that? Just how cold blooded were the Keepers? Just what sort of game were they playing?

  I sighed. My anger dissipated. The answer was always, wait another ten months. Less than ten months now.

  I started the vid again.

  "Jon, this is where it gets really weird. The instructions were to be opened when word was received of two events happening close together. Knowledge of the two events was date coded as well, so we only found out the events were significant on the days they happened. The first was your being given ownership of Nexus, Bad Wolf and Midnight. The second was your being appointed Duke by the British Queen."


  "Jon, they knew! There's no other explanation. If we ever needed something tangible to say you are entwined with prophesy, this is it."

  "Only the Keepers know what prophesy actually is. No-one knows if this is prophesy unfolding, or not. But whatever the darkness is, I think we can say for certain now, it's coming. In any case, when news of you gaining ownership of systems reached Outback, I was called back to Outback Orbital, as it was another pre-instruction I be here when the instructions were opened, which happened when we heard you were now a Duke. Inside, we found the petition to leave the Australian sector, and another one to join 'Hunter's Run'. We didn’t know the name existed until media sources pointed it out to us when we asked them."

  "Jon, regardless of the Australian sector's decision, we are instructed to join your mini-sector immediately. When the Door opens, the government will defer to you. Effectively, you are the government of Outback now!"

  I stopped it again, and sat there in a state of total shock.

  None of this made any sense at all.

  After ten minutes sitting there with a non-functioning mind, I restarted the vid.

  "I'm heading back to Hunter's Redoubt as soon as I send this off to you. I used one of your fast freighters, which is run by your AI, and only has life support in the Bridge area. Not comfortable, but the fastest way to get about in a hurry. Outback's administration on Outback Orbital will handle all contact with the Australian sector government. My job is to prepare your mini-sector to become an official entity. I'll do some options for you to consider, and send them as soon as I can. The faster you get a structure in place, the better. Until you do, all sorts of things can't happen, which need to as soon as possible."

  "I can see you sitting there as stunned as I was. I'm sorry I don’t have any real answers for you. But I can pick up one end of the burden for you. I suggest you return to Nexus as fast as you can get here. Pick me up on your way through. See you then."

  The vid ended, and I just sat there.