Hunter Legacy 11: Home Is Where the Hero Is

by Timothy Ellis

  "Several million each on four, five and six."

  "And three?" asked Greer.

  "No-one lives there. It's off limits. There is a tourism service which can take you there for a visit, but no-one is allowed to live there."

  "Government?" asked Bigglesworth.

  "Oh yeah, I forgot. They may be waiting for us as well, since the government reside on the station."

  I saw some puzzled looks.

  "Being elected to lead here has a price tag. We don’t have normal politics as such. Each of the twelve major spiritual or geographical groups elects a single representative each year, and that person lives on the Orbital for that year, which orbits Gaia Three. In this way, we keep government contained, and it limits the number of people who actually want to be in the government, since it means leaving your planet for a whole year. Most administration tasks remain on the planets. If anyone wants to present credentials or something, you'll be welcome to. Gaia has no ties to anyone else, so this will be something very new. They probably aren't expecting anyone other than me though. But then again, it depends what the Keepers know, or guess."

  There were nodding heads.

  "I'll ask first thing and let you all know. The Keeper at least will know who to talk to. The conference room here is most likely the best place to meet. I'll suggest it anyway."

  "So you grew up on Galactica?" asked Miriam.

  "Yes."

  "And your father is her current Captain?" asked Walter.

  "Yes."

  Looks suggested I needed to say more.

  "Most of the old prime shift crews of Galactica still live on her. She's been maintained over the centuries, so she's in much better condition than Enterprise and Prometheus, both of whom were abandoned centuries ago. She was long ago modified to give each family a decent sized suite."

  Bob was giving me the look. The one which said "You now have all three original Explorer ships, all of which are still the largest hulls ever made. You know what I want to do!" I grinned at him.

  "No Bob, not yet. But I will be asking."

  His look became a grin.

  Miriam was still looking at me intently.

  "Birthday?" she suggested.

  I managed to look sheepish.

  "Yes. I turned nineteen today, by standard time. Because of our time jump, it’s a bit off now. But we don’t usually celebrate that event here, since up until now, very few people were out-system when it occurred. I guess it's important back there, but not here. The next major one here is eighteen local years, but I'm not yet seventeen here."

  "Happy Birthday," came at me from nearly everyone.

  "Thanks," I said, checking my blush suppressor was still working, which it was.

  The team starting filing back in at that point, breaking up the conversation, and I turned back to watch the approach, which rapidly caught everyone's attention. But I did intercept a few glances between some of the girls and Jane.

  The approach took us close by Gaia Four, but not close enough for a good look. I told Melissa she was welcome to take anyone for a Lightning tour if they wanted one, as long as she cleared it with the Orbital first. She nodded with a grin on her face, and went blank, presumably getting pings of interest.

  The pilots landed in an orderly stream, although Lacey left a squadron from 617 out as a CAP.

  During this time, I also asked Jane to bring Wanderer through, with her extra cargo, which had sat there on Outback Orbital most of the year waiting. With the hurry to make the Door on time, and the attack after, I’d forgotten about her. Jane also reminded me there were other cargo loads waiting to be delivered here, already loaded into some of my local freighters. I gave her the okay to bring them in as well.

  At last, we approached the Orbital.

  It looked radically different from when I’d last seen it a year before. It had been a standard looking station, large enough to dock Galactica, but not as large as Hunter's Haven. It looked like it had been added to now. Strangely though, it looked like another smaller station had been mated to it, using a set of standard docking locks.

  The additional station looked like it had a small central area, with four large spokes off it. One spoke joined to the original station. I looked at Jane.

  "It's called a Hub," she said to my unspoken question. "Specs say it's specifically designed to join two stations together, and provide a meeting place between them. Its large enough for some retail space and accommodation, but in station size terms, it's pretty small. We have docking at one of the Hub spokes."

  "Dock away then."

  She did.

  There was a rapid exit from the Bridge once docking was complete, with most of us catching trolleys to the main dock on the front end of the Cargo Deck.

  At the top of the ramp, we dismounted, and everyone stood back as I walked slowly down.

  There were four people waiting for us.

  My parents were standing there on the left.

  The Keeper I'd previously had an email vid from, was standing by himself in the middle.

  And on the right was Sarah.

  I nearly lost my footing as my eyes focused on her. She had something in her arms.

  I came to a dead halt at the bottom of the ramp, still a dozen steps away from them.

  "Welcome home, Jon," said both my parents together, with identical grins.

  But my gaze was still on Sarah. She moved slightly, and I saw what she was carrying better.

  Who she was carrying. It was a baby in her arms.

  I opened my mouth to say something, and suddenly I wasn’t there.

  The line of giant combat suits was steadily falling, vanishing into Darkness. I stood my ground, sword cutting through the dark, until I was the last one standing.

  The Darkness took me.

  Three

  I woke up in a Care Unit, Carter standing over me.

  "Welcome back sunshine."

  "What happened?"

  "You fainted."

  "Huh? The Darkness got me."

  "Sure did!"

  She seemed to be happy about it.

  I gave her the "What are you talking about?" look. Her smile faded.

  "Jon, you fainted at the bottom of the ramp."

  "I wasn’t even here. I was somewhere else. Combat suits were falling, and the Darkness took me."

  "You had another one of your visions?"

  "Seems like it."

  "Next time you do something like this, I'm doing the whole battery of tests on you. Just in case."

  "How long was I out?"

  "Ten minutes or so. I let you come out of it naturally, since there wasn’t any pressing reason to do otherwise."

  I sat up, and eased myself out of the Care Unit. I didn’t recognize the room.

  "Station medical?"

  "Yes. Everyone is waiting for you in the next room."

  I sighed.

  Everyone wasn’t waiting for me in the next room, but it was still full of people. They all did looked concerned. I grinned at them. No-one grinned back.

  "What did you see Jon?" asked Aline. "Combat suits in Darkness again?"

  "Yes," answered the twins for me.

  I nodded to her. My parents looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

  "He's fine," said Carter. "Seems to have had another of his visions."

  "Likely story," muttered someone.

  Hostile eyes turned to the speaker, who I now saw was Sarah.

  "What?" she demanded. She fired a look at me. "We need to talk." She turned and stormed out.

  The Keeper stepped forward, forestalling anything else happening.

  "We need to talk first," he said. "Follow."

  He turned and walked out. I nodded to my parents and the team, and followed him. He led me to an office in the main administration area of the station, and waved me to a chair. I sat. He sat. We sat there looking at each other.

  I suddenly found myself not wanting to know anything, as if the vision I'd just had was pre
dicated on what he might tell me. I waited for him to break the silence.

  "The council of twelve want to see you," he said at last.

  "The council? You lead with the council? I expected to have to see them sometime, but I see no point until you explain Prophesy to me."

  For some reason I was angry. I made an effort to calm down.

  "Jon, we don’t know anything you don’t."

  "What?"

  "Prophesy told us a Jonathon Hunter, spelt with an O instead of an A, will suffer a life threatening injury within hours of leaving Outback, but survives and thrives. He goes on to become a leader in a war started by another Prophecy. It mentions something called the Darkness, references the dreams you have and share with two others, and must be taken seriously once the red arrow arrives at Gaia."

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  "You expect me to believe that?"

  "It’s the truth."

  "But not the whole truth?"

  I was reminded of the old joke. 'I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing.' It sounded like I was getting nothing.

  "What about the emails and commands you've sent David and me?"

  "Prophesy is a little large to quote verbatim, and yes, it did have instructions for when certain things happened, such as you being made a Duke. That side of things has been a closely guarded secret. Until the signs occurred, no-one who has not actually read Prophesy could be told anything other than the basics. You becoming a Duke was one of the major signs."

  "How many people have read Prophesy?"

  "You mean how many who are alive now, have read Prophesy?"

  I nodded.

  "One."

  "What?"

  "Since the day Galactica arrived in Nexus, only the head Keeper has been allowed to read Prophesy. There are only five Keepers now, and they are spread out so no one event can kill them all at once. When the head Keeper dies, the next in line gets access. For me, it was fifteen years ago. Unlike most Keepers before me, I knew we already had the first sign among us, so all I had to do was observe you. I've been watching you closely since you turned eight."

  "Messing with my life you mean?"

  "Why would you say that? Until today, we’ve never met."

  "Can you deny I was trained from an early age so I could be sent out to fight a war?"

  "Of course I can. You may feel that way, but that doesn’t make it so."

  He held up a hand against my once again rising anger.

  "Of course you feel like that. I did influence your parents. I admit to encouraging them to let you pursue your own interests rather than sending you out to play with other kids. As you got older, I made suggestions, and opened doors for you. How do you think you made it out-system at only sixteen?"

  "That much was obvious. But explain 'Hunter's Run' to me. You knew before I did. In fact, you forced me to accept it as a name, even when I didn’t like it."

  "Hunter's Run is mentioned explicitly. The Keepers have been waiting for it to come into being for centuries now."

  "I want to read it."

  "Prophesy?"

  "No, 1984. Of course Prophesy."

  "You won't like it."

  "Ya think?"

  I made an effort to calm down again. This wasn’t going the way I'd thought it would.

  I glared at him while he thought.

  "Jon, you have the right. I have some idea of what you've been through this last year. On your way in, I requested your AI upload the important recordings over the last year. I've scanned through them quickly, picking out the main events. You've been through hell. No-one could have asked you to do what you've had to. But you are the Hunter Legacy, the end product of over six hundred years of a family bred in space. The prophecy is about you."

  "When can I see it?"

  "I'll fetch it for you."

  "Fetch it? You couldn’t foresee I’d want to read it?"

  "Sure I could. But you're not ready to read it yet. Take the rest of today for catching up with your family. Relax a bit. The council will want to see you first thing in the morning. I'll see you after. You can schedule a meeting with your people for the afternoon. The day after, when everyone has had time to think, we can all meet to talk about what happens next."

  "We are on the clock you know. Five day window and all that."

  "Jon, you of all people know it's not a good idea to go off half-cocked."

  He had me there.

  "See you tomorrow."

  He rose, and extended his hand. I rose and took it. There was a slight tingle as we touched. He shook, and let go, smiled at me, and left.

  A minute later, a corridor away, someone shot me.

  Four

  I had my Long Gun up and sighted along the pulse's trajectory before I was at the top of the hop. But there was no-one there to shoot at. The pulse had hit me in the back, and whoever it had been, it was a one shot hit and run.

  I came down, gun still raised, but all I could do was holster it. Immediately I did, it vanished. I'd long ago learned my lesson about walking around unarmed, and given the missiles earlier, I wasn’t going to ignore such an obvious hint. All the same, walking around where I’d once lived, fully armed, seemed excessive, since no-one else did, so I’d opted for using the suit to hide the guns. Guns were not a normal thing here. No-one needed one, and few owned them.

  Where I’d once lived. The thought brought me up short. It had only been a year, but already, the home I’d known wasn’t home any longer. I knew this station like the back of my hand, but my heart wasn’t here anymore.

  "You okay Jon?" asked Amanda, as both twins rushed up to me.

  "I'm fine. Whoever it was hit me and ran really fast. Any signs?"

  "None," answered Aleesha. "We were too far in front of you, and BA was a few seconds too late behind you. Whoever it was is now long gone. Or had a good hiding spot ready."

  "Jane?"

  "Yes Jon?" she answered through our PC's.

  "Can you tap into station security and find any vid of the shooter?"

  "I can try."

  There was a brief pause, during which the three of us started walking towards Galactica's dock.

  "Sorry Jon. There are not very many cams on this station, and the area you're in isn’t covered."

  "Figures. Keep monitoring."

  "Confirmed."

  We were half way there when a ping came in from my mother, advising me dinner was going to be in the family suite on Galactica. The twins were momentarily blank as well, so I assumed they had an invitation as well. I looked at Amanda without breaking stride, and she nodded.

  Aline and Miriam met us at the bottom of Galactica's ramp, and we all entered together. I led the way towards where used to be home. Galactica was actually docked side on, so the ramp led up onto a deck above one of her flight decks. We had to cross the width of the flight pod, and then make our way into the accommodation areas of the central section of the ship.

  Mum and Dad were waiting at the door of their, our, their, suite. Emotion swirled in me I hadn't expected. This wasn't my home any more. The others waited as we hugged.

  My mother studied me intensely. Probably to see if I was eating right or not.

  "Nice beard dear," she said, unexpectedly. "Your Grandfather had one, and I think it looks better on you than it did on him. All the same, how long did you intend keeping it?"

  Thankyou mother. Not seen each other for a year, and the first comment is about facial hair. Typical.

  "It's an optional extra, mother. When someone close to me complains about it, and offers to shave me every day, it can come off."

  She laughed. But what was worrying to me, was the scrutiny I suddenly got from Aline and Miriam. The twins were quietly laughing. I didn't blame them. Dad wisely said nothing and kept his face neutral. He was of course, clean shaven. Shaving as such was something you only saw on the really old square and flat screens. Everyone knew, or I assumed they did, facial hair could be controlled by t
he PC, or the application of a face rub. It was still referred to as shaving, even though blades had nothing to do with it. You could even do it by sticking your head in a badly turned fresher. Of course the latter resulted in the bald look, but at least your face was kept smooth. I’d been joking anyway. I liked my beard, and it was going to take a lot of persuading to get me to remove it. I was pretty sure Aline and Miriam knew this, but just in case, I had no intention of finding out for sure.

  We moved into the family living room.

  I made the introductions, but was quickly mobbed by close relatives, who all wanted a hug. The last was Grandma Violet, looking older and frailer than I remembered. She pointed down the passageway to the bedrooms.

  "Sarah's in the guest room," she said.

  The room went quiet, everyone looking at me, so I turned and walked that way. Conversation started up behind me, but only one sentence came through clearly.

  "Aline dear, we need to talk. You too Miriam dear."

  My mother. I wondered what that was about, but not for long, as I reached the door to the guest room, and walked in.

  "Hi Jonny," said Sarah.

  She came forward and hugged me. I hugged her back.

  I felt strange. This was the only girl who'd ever paid me any attention before I left a year ago, and yet, she now felt like a stranger. Had I changed during the last year? Or had the me she'd known died during the war?

  She pulled back from me, her eyes going wide.

  "Jon? What's wrong? Don’t you remember me?"

  I tried to smile at her, but it didn’t work.

  "Hi Sarah. I'm sorry. Sure I remember you. But it's been a long year, and I'm not the same person I was when I left."

  "What? Of course you are. Except for that ridiculous beard, you look the same as the day you left."

  I didn’t. And she should have seen that. I’d spent a year doing serious training with people who took it seriously. My body didn’t look anything like it had when I left Gaia. I'd filled out across the shoulders and chest, and I had muscles where they counted. You don’t get muscles by spending all day and most of the night sitting at a computer rig. But I don’t think she could see any of this.

  An odd look crossed her face, as if she was suddenly scared of something.