Every time I think nothing more can possibly be done to me, it turns out I'm wrong.
Hooley, bloody, Dooley.
Thirty Nine
It took me a while to get it together, and respond to David.
I told him to do whatever he thought was needed to be done, and I'd be there as soon as I could. I reminded him the shipyard could build droids, and all he had to do was ask Janine, the AI, to build what was required. If he needed to source materials, he was to go ahead and do so. I transferred five hundred million into the Hunter's Haven account, as I wondered where the name had come from, since it hadn't been me naming either of my stations. For now, it would suffice.
I also transferred one hundred million into the shipyard account for resources. It was going to need an upgrade at some point as well. The life support system was completely inadequate for a start, being manually looked after. Its building systems were far too manual as well. Before it could function as a modern shipyard, it would need to be modernized.
By eight I'd waded through a lot of bounty payments, real estate advertisements, porn links, and general junk. One of the real estate ads informed me for a measly fifty million, I could own my own island on Gold Coast. I took a moment to look at it properly. It was an interesting idea. What was a better idea, was renting one to use for a holiday once I was able to shuck everyone else's responsibilities I kept having dumped on me.
Get back to Nexus, start the mini-sector ball rolling, sit on a beach, and watch the twins skinny dipping. Sounded like a plan to me.
As if the thought evoked their notice, I was pinged by Amanda.
"Come down to breakfast, Your Grace."
The giggle on the end told me how seriously she took the title.
I scooted to the access shaft, dropped down a level, and missed the handrail. I twirled in the air, bounced off the wall, and dropped like a stone. I regained control only meters up from the Cargo Deck at the bottom. The scooter bounced, and I shot back up again, once again missing the Deck Two handrail, and banging my head against the top of the shaft, before starting down again.
This time I managed to grab the rail on Deck One, and slide myself out. I leaned against the wall and placed my forehead against it for a minute.
"Are you coming or not?" pinged Amanda.
I was really tempted to answer that, but thought better of it in time.
This time, I scooted down the stairs.
As usual, I was the last person there. I left my scooter in a corner, and hobbled over to my chair. I'd no sooner sat down, than a streak of white shot in the door, did a circuit of the room, and shinned up my left leg to plop down in my lap.
Meow.
There was a general titter of laughter as I patted the puss.
"Any word on when we can leave boss?" asked BA.
"Eager to be away are we?" I asked generally.
There were nods all round. I felt the same. We'd been here too long, even in spite of me sleeping a lot of it away.
"The Queen is here at ten. Once she leaves, assuming the Battleship is out of the shipyard by then, we can be off soon after. By the way BA, I meant to ask how your new toys are."
"New toys? You mean the combat suits? Absolutely first rate!"
The grin told me more than the words. There were nods around the table as well. The pilot's looked puzzled.
So was I. I hadn't actually been referring to the suits.
"Jane," I subvocalized, "did we get the special backpacks with the new combat suits?"
"Negative," she responded through my PC.
I pinged the local 'tool man' to ask about them. He pinged back immediately saying they'd been harder to do than thought, and the order had been completed only the night before. I pinged him back I was sending a shuttle to pick up the order, and asked Jane to send an avatar with the shuttle.
I pinged the shipyard to find out about the Battleship. The response was more expansive than I’d anticipated, and made me realize I'd not checked up on the Guardians before now. All the Guardians were still at the shipyard, but would be ready to go in about an hour. The Battleship would be ready by noon.
"Battleship will be out by noon," I said into a silent moment. Silent except for the chomping of food. "Give it an hour to dock all the ships, and assuming Her Majesty is gone by then, we can be off."
"Good," said Annabelle. "Can I see you after breakfast?"
"Sure, when you're ready."
She nodded and went back to eating.
"BigMother will be ready for docking by noon as well," said Jane through my PC.
"Ready for docking?" I asked sub-vocally. "What have you been up to now?"
"I've had to make some changes to allow the Battleship to dock under BigMother. The middle two rear docking pods needed upgrading to be able to support one battleship instead of two Guardians. It means Custer won't be able to dock underneath either. I assumed you still wanted to be able to dock BigMother at stations, so the Battleship will stick out the back a ways. The changes to the Battleship included a docking airlock in the topside, to match the one Custer uses. The Guardians by the way, are still there because I ordered docking ports on both sides, so they'll dock with our Cargo Deck airlocks, and allow another ship to dock on the other side of them. Between the docking ports is now a life supported corridor, allowing people to walk through from an outside docked ship. So we dock two to the sides, and two underneath. The new Gunbus also has a new airlock on her other side, so she can also dock to both sides."
"I'm glad you thought about all of that."
"Someone had to."
"True."
"What's all the nodding about boss?" asked BA.
"Jane was updating me with ship modifications. Oh, BA? After breakfast, take whoever wants to go down to the Launch Deck with you. There's an order coming in on a shuttle, which will need transfer to the Armoury."
"What sort of order?"
"Some new guns."
"Do we need more?"
"I thought so."
"Okay, will do."
Annabelle met my eyes, and I gave her the double eyebrow raise. She smiled.
Angel launched herself off my lap and hit the floor running, shooting out the door, bound who knows where. Maybe she'd heard her own breakfast being opened or something.
I rose, hobbled over to my scooter, mounted, looked at Annabelle and nodded, and scooted out. I went up the stairs this time, rather than risk being found at the bottom of the shaft in a heap. In my Ready Room, I settled into my chair behind my desk, and carried on with emails.
Annabelle came in a short time later.
"You want to go collect your other teams," I said to her before she could seat herself.
She grinned at me.
"Yes. Can I?"
"Take Custer. It'll be good experience for George to captain her for a while. Act like an Admiral for him, but let him make as many of the decisions as you can, as well as flying the ship. That ship needs a full Commander as captain, but he hasn’t the experience yet. Maybe this trip will give him some."
"I seriously hope not." We both grinned. "Who can I take?"
"Abigail and Alison are needed here. Anyone else who wants to go, can."
"I'll find out. Can I take combat suits in case we need them?"
"Sure. Take what you need. Be a good test for George if he remembers to make sure Custer has enough food to get you wherever you need to go and back. Actually, regarding that, I'll drop some funds in the ship account in case you need to buy anything. Any idea how long it'll take to return to Nexus?"
"Maybe a month, but I won't know until I contact each team and find out exactly where they are, and any time constraints they have if they currently have contracts. I've let them run independently for a while now, so I've not been in touch as much as I should've."
"Sounds like the sort of adjustment you make between being a Colonel, and a General."
"Very true. Do you want me to continue to act as a General? I was thinking there
wasn’t really much need now the war is over."
"I'll be thinking about roles on the way home, along with a lot of other things. Now I have my own mini-sector, the need for a properly organized military is even more important than as a Mercenary unit. So I can see a permanent role for a General. You may end up overseeing station security forces as well. There's only so much an AI and droids can do as far as interfacing with humans, so we'll need some security people. The General could supervise each station security head, as well as the Colonel in charge of each combat team."
"Sounds feasible."
"Are you interested?"
"It comes with the star. I always wanted the star, so I knew what I was wishing for. Besides, I'm getting too old for leading troops into battle. Azgard nearly killed me, and I've been thinking about it ever since."
"Look out for good people to recruit. You heard the Marshall. They think my role is to bring all the best of the Mercs under my control. I'll need you to tell me who they are, and do the recruiting."
"Isn't that a two stars role?" she said with a laugh.
"Find me a decent one star to lead the troops into battle, and I might just give you the second one."
I grinned at her. She grinned back.
"I'll go tell George to warm up Custer, and see who else wants to come along."
I waved her out, and she left. I pinged Lacey to come see me.
I dropped a million into Custer's ship account. If they needed to buy food or ordinance, it should be enough. If they needed more, then something big would be going down, and I'd probably need to join them.
Lacey bounded in about fifteen minutes later.
"Sorry sir. The squadron was out doing a fly around. We were going stir crazy sitting here doing nothing, so I decided we should get some flying in, while you were entertaining the Queen."
Come to think of it, I hadn't seen them at breakfast.
"Sorry to call you in. Are the others still out there?"
"Yes. George is teaching the others the finer points of the Excalibur."
"Ah. He's about to be called in then. Custer is going off on a mission as soon as the Queen leaves."
"Should I call them all in?"
"Up to you. But I called you here to give you orders."
"Yes sir."
"I want 266 to fly point for BigMother on the way home. I’d suggest a V formation on Camel, about half an hour ahead. Use your discretion though. I want anyone coming towards warned away from us, and the other side of jump points cleared before we come through. Use your AI to communicate with Jane, to co-ordinate the jumps. I don’t want a repeat of that idiot who collided with us on the way here. I want to get home in a hurry, but we'll use a cruising speed, not top speed, so it'll give you time after the jumps to reestablish a lead zone."
"We can do that sir. I’d best get the lads to land then, as we'll all need to transfer our gear to our ships."
"Okay, better have them wait until the Queen departs before you launch again. Get a butler to organize the transfer of food and drink as well, and make sure you all have more than double you think is enough. Who knows what may waylay us on the journey."
"You do seem to have that sort of luck sir."
I looked at him to see if he was joking, but apparently not. I nodded to him.
"I’ll get on with it sir."
He stood, saluted, and left.
Forty
By ten I was standing on my scooter down on the Launch Deck. The Queen's shuttle was on its way down. Everyone was here, but milling about waiting.
BA came up to me, kissed me full on the lips, and hugged me, scooter and all.
"What was that for?" I asked her when she let me go.
"I've always wanted to be able to use a Meson Blaster, but it was never feasible to lug around a tripod for it when you're running in a combat suit, and without the power unit in the tripod, one couldn’t be fired. Now I can. Annabelle told me it was your idea, so thank you. The backpack won't upset the balance of the combat suit at all, and integrates so well, the only thing you notice is the power levels being much higher. I gave it a serious workout. I can carry two Meson Blasters now, while running flat out, and fire the inbuilt stunners at the same time. Seriously bad-arse!"
We high fived.
"I was thinking about what would happen if the team went up against another team with similar equipment. It seemed like an innovation which would give us an edge. For a while anyway."
"That it will." Her grin was Cheshire cat level.
The shuttle appeared on the lift.
"Ranks please General," I said towards Annabelle.
She barked a command, and everyone formed up behind me.
A cargo droid pulled the shuttle towards us, and stopped it so the Queen could step down in front of us. Another cargo droid pushed a set of stairs into place. The hatch opened, and Queen Liz stepped out, followed by her entourage. General's Harriman and Price followed along after, with aides in tow.
Annabelle looked ready to give another command, but was beaten to it by the Queen.
"No protocol please," she said. "This is a social call, not a state visit."
"Social call?" I said.
"Yes Your Grace, social call. In fact, I'm here on false pretenses." She indicated a lady behind her, who was carrying a bag. "I'm actually here to make sure you get a proper medical checkup before you leave, and get yourself into who knows what kind of trouble next. This is Dr. Whiteman, my personal physician."
I looked at her dumbfounded. Behind me I could hear sniggers being suppressed. I looked around sharply, and a sea of respectful faces stared forwards.
"Come along Your Grace, your quarters please." She turned to Annabelle. "Could you give a tour to the rest of my entourage please?"
"Of course, Your Majesty." She looked towards the group, and waved a hand towards the launch bays.
The two General's came up to me before I could be hustled away.
"I offered General Price a lift," said Walter. "Hope that’s okay."
"Sure," I said. "Follow us up, and pick a VIP suite each which doesn’t have a name on the door. Have a butler droid bring your stuff up for you. Your aides should be able to find spare suites further along the deck."
"Come along YOUR GRACE!" bullied the Queen.
I scooted towards the access shaft, and they followed along after. At the shaft, I checked they all knew how to use it, and gently wafted myself up to the Cargo Deck. I was the first in, and the last out. But I wasn’t taking any chances with missing the exit rail.
The others boarded a trolley, and I scooted along next to them. I did think of scooting a different direction, but I doubted I could hide long enough for it to matter. It was a big ship, but not that big.
We all made the jump up to Deck Two successfully, with me again bringing up the rear. The Queen looked to be enjoying herself.
I waved the Generals on down the passage way, and entered my suite. The Queen and the doctor followed me in, the doctor shutting the door behind us.
"Please lock the door," the doctor said to me. "I don’t want us being disturbed."
I did so, sending it a lock code through my PC, but wondered why. No-one was going to disturb us anyway. If I was wanted, I'd be pinged.
Angel sat up from where she'd been sleeping on her kitty castle. Queen Liz and the doctor hurried over to her, and Angel was delighted to meet them. After a good pat, the doctor turned back to me.
"Bedroom?" she asked.
I sighed, and pointed it out. She waved me to go in, and followed me.
I spent the next fifteen minutes in my briefs and belt, being prodded and poked, tested, and investigated.
"You're bruising is coming along nicely," she said. "Try not to damage yourself again before they heal. You should have full movement of the knee again within a few days. Make sure you eat properly and drink enough."
She went over to the door.
"He's all yours ma'am," she said as she went through, leaving me s
itting on the bed in my briefs.
Queen Liz came straight in, and closed the door after her. She stood there looking at me, with a grin on her face.
"Actually," she said, "my false pretense was a false pretense."
She laughed and came over to me, pushing me back onto the bed. Her suit changed to a belt. She pulled off the skimpy top she was wearing underneath, and then the lacy knickers. She practically tore my briefs off me, jumped onto the bed next to me, and straddled over me. Without thinking, I checked her for hairpins, but didn’t see any. I relaxed, and switched off my arousal override.
"I just wanted to give you a proper send off," she said huskily.
We just made it to the Dining Room for lunch, before everyone else started without us.
Aleesha opened her mouth to say something, and Amanda clamped a hand over it before she could. They silently did their communion thing together for a moment, and then pretended to be interested in their drinks.
The presence of the Queen put a bit of a dampener on the usual lunch atmosphere, but for all that, it was an enjoyable meal, in spite of an intense effort on both our parts not to make eye contact and exchange cheesy grins. All too soon it was over, and the Queen and her party were departing.
I watched the shuttle disappearing up the lift with mixed feelings. She was a really fun person to be with. But she was Queen, and I needed to be somewhere else. It would never work. I sighed.
I turned to head to the Bridge, and Annabelle caught my eye.
"You can leave now if you want," I said to her. "How did George go with preparations?"
"He remembered the food and the beer, but not the drinking water."
We both laughed.
"Keep me informed of where you are please. Daily report. If I don’t get one, I'll assume you're in trouble, and come after you. Always have Jane encrypt your emails too. And don’t let anyone send unencrypted ones which give away your whereabouts or anything else important. Given recent events, let's assume hostile intent is following us all the time now."
"Yes sir. Good attitude. See you in about a month."
The 266 pilots had already disappeared, heading for their ships.
Hail the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 5) Page 22
