"The Keeper obtained permission for us to visit Gaia Three this morning. Interested?"
"Sure," we both answered together.
"Small party only, so limited to the Alpha team and Amy."
"Good," I said. "Where are we going?"
"I thought a quick Lightning tour around the planet, and then lunch at a Sacred Glade after a dip. The ship isn’t allowed to land, but there is a place where we can step off a hovering ship, and there is a lunch spot adjacent to the Glade."
"I think I've seen it, but never been there."
"Part of why I chose it."
Jane was grinning.
"When do we leave?" asked Miriam.
"Nine."
It was already eight.
"Can you have Eric and Jessie report to my Ready Room in fifteen minutes?"
"I'll need to dig them out of your Galactica quarters. They spent the night using your game rig. Eric's wife is not impressed with him not coming home, so he'll probably welcome something legitimate to do while she calms down."
I grinned at her.
"If they have to fake being bright eyed and bushy tailed, so be it. But I have a job for them which can't wait."
"Confirmed."
I looked at Miriam. She looked at me. Jane grinned and walked out.
"See you on the Launch Deck at nine?" I said to her.
"Wouldn’t miss it."
I dragged my gaze away from her, and headed for my Ready Room.
I’d been there only a few minutes, when Walter came in the door.
"Got a minute?" he asked.
"Sure."
He sat opposite my desk.
"Your Missile Cruiser has arrived already, and is patrolling the system. The first squadron of Talons will be here in an hour. A second squadron will be here tomorrow. The squadron leaders are still largely untested, but I can't see there being too much to do here, at least until next year. One squadron will live on station, and rotate with the other who will have quarters down on Gaia Four. There were no shortage of volunteers. Apparently there is a Fleet Captain Jane on the Missile Cruiser, and I've placed both squadrons under her command, as the senior officer in the system. Any problem with that?"
"None."
"Thank you for your trust in me General," said Jane through room coms.
"Well earned Colonel. And it allows me to not have to leave an experienced senior officer here, who might be needed elsewhere, so you are perfect for the job."
"Happy to help."
I chuckled. The General rose, and departed.
Eric and Jessie entered, and stood before the desk. Both of them looked like they'd been up all night.
"I didn’t know you were into old games Jessie."
"Neither did I," she answered with a laugh. "Eric told me he was sneaking into your old haunt to use your game rig, and invited me to see what I’d been missing all these years. Damn me if I never noticed the night go by."
"Hope you didn’t mind," said Eric with hope in his voice.
"Of course not," I laughed. "I told you ages ago you could use it while you were here. I just hope it's worth your marriage."
His smile died, and both of ours became bigger.
"There is that. But she should be used to me not being around by now."
"One would think so," I agreed. "But reality?"
"Work boss?" he said, changing the subject deliberately.
"You want us to survey the system for jump points," said Jessie.
"Yes. It's never been done properly as far as I know."
"And if we find any?"
"Go through and check them out. But you only have about thirty six hours. Any later than that and you risk not being able to leave for a year."
"What if we don’t find any?" asked Eric.
"Expand the search well past your normal parameters, just in case it’s a long way out, or on a different plane."
"Do you think there are any?" asked Jessie.
"I'd be surprised if there's not at least one."
"Me too," said Eric.
"In any case, check back with me in thirty six hours, and we'll decide if any further exploring is needed or not."
"Aye sir," they said together, and left.
I spent a short time checking emails. Plenty there, but found nothing which needed immediate attention. So I headed down to the Launch Deck.
Seventeen
How do you define a paradise planet?
Rainforests, endless rolling fields of shaggy grass, forests, deserts, oceans, mountains, valleys, mighty rivers across continents, snow fields, swamps. Ecosystems as nature intended. Birds and bees, insects, animals, trees, plants, fish. Some heal, some taste good, some kill. Did I mention shaggy grass? I like my grass shaggy.
Yes, but what makes it a paradise planet for humans?
Earth like. About the same combination of gasses in the air. About the same gravity. About the same magnetics. A moon about the same distance away in the same orbit. About the same tilt.
Yes, but what really makes a paradise planet?
No people!
Gaia Three was all that. And no-one was allowed to live there. Once people live anywhere, they start cutting down trees, killing things, digging things up. They turn things into other things, and then pollute the area. Species die. The balance is upset. Do it for long enough with an ever increasing number of people, and eventually the planet dies. Remember the Earth. Less than three thousand years it took. And actually, it was the last four hundred which did the real damage.
No-one lived on Gaia Three.
It was a true paradise.
We spent several hours flying around it. We hovered over magnificent waterfalls, glaciers, coral atolls, jungle, and savannahs. Melissa even dropped us into the caldera of an active volcano, hovering mere meters above the highest reach of the lava. We marveled at nature at its completely untouched.
As lunch time approached, Jane took over the controls, and brought us to the Sacred Glade she'd selected. We hovered over a small river, just before a waterfall. The airlock on the side opened, and we stepped out onto a rocky outcrop, and started down a set of steps carved into the rock, which took us twenty meters down to where a pool of crystal clear water sat in a small clearing in the jungle, fed by the waterfall from the river above.
Just the Alpha team had grown just a little. On the Launch Deck I'd found not only the team and Miriam, but Amy, Melissa, Grace, Jack, and Sam.
We filed down the steps. The Lightning re-oriented so Jeeves could exit the small cargo bay with a number of grav trunks, and returned to how it had been to let Jane step out behind us. The ship then ascended to wait for us at a high altitude.
At the bottom of the steps to the left, there was a small clearing set up as a picnic area. It was very clear it had been setup in a way it wasn’t interfering with anything natural, mainly being barren rock.
To the right was the pool and waterfall.
The twins pushed past me, and whooping madly, in seconds they were naked, and jumping into the water. George was about ten seconds behind them.
Amanda was in the center of the pool, before more than Miriam and Aline had come down behind me.
"Everyone come in," Amanda shouted up to us. "The water is divine!"
I bent down and dipped a finger in, and found it to be a very pleasant temperature. Both twins were grinning at me, so I shifted my suit to a belt, dropped my briefs, pulled socks off, dumped them in a pile behind me, and jumped in after them. I swam out to the middle, and turned to face the others.
The girls in the team were right behind me. Grace hesitated for a minute, and then stripped and jumped after us, Amy only slightly behind her.
Melissa's jaw was hanging open. It had obviously not crossed her mind we'd be going skinny dipping. She must have made a decision though, as her suit vanished and her underwear came off, before she too jumped in.
This left Annabelle, Jack, and Sam. Annabelle considered for a moment longer, shrugged, stripped,
and joined us. Jack stood there looking poleaxed, with Sam quietly laughing at his reaction. Her belt changed into bikini bottoms, she pulled her top off, and moved a short way away, where she stepped down into the water, and waded out into the middle to join us. Jack watched her go, shifted his belt into shorts, and followed her.
Jeeves lobbed a large ball in after us, and it began to be tossed around. I paid it no mind though, and headed for the waterfall. I took a deep breath and swam under the falling water, eyes closed, and letting it pound down on top of me. It was much heavier than a shower, slightly cooler than the pool itself, but very refreshing. I stayed under as long as I could, and then pushed up out of it between the flow and the rock behind it. I was still getting spray here, but could breathe as long as I wasn’t looking up. I looked around and found a ledge. I pulled myself onto it, and sat there, in a few centimeters of water.
A head poked through the curtain of water in front of me, and grinned at me. Aline pushed through, and joined me on the ledge. Before I knew it, she was kissing me. I hastily checked I had my override set on.
"None of that you two," said Amanda loudly, her face poking through the curtain now. "This is a public place. Shame on you."
She was grinning wildly. The grin faltered for a moment as Miriam poked her head through as well, and saw us together. But she laughed her head off when Miriam seized my leg, hauled me off the ledge, and I disappeared into the waterfall. I not only went into the waterfall without preparing for it, but I went under as well.
It was Jane who pulled me back to the surface, where I promptly coughed up water and spluttered for a while. She pulled me over to the easy steps in, and helped me out of the water.
Jane was naked too. She pulled me over to a seat, and before I sat, I changed my suit into a pair of shorts. Jane remained naked, and while I continued to cough, she fetched a bottle of water for me.
"When did you learn lifeguard duties?" I asked her when I could talk again.
"I didn’t. I read about fifty books on the subject before we left. Just in case."
"Glad you did."
"Someone would have pulled you out. Eventually."
"Yeah, right."
"Sorry," said Miriam, now standing in front of me, still naked.
Aline had come up behind her. Also still naked. I made an effort to not notice. Especially as the others were starting to come out as well.
"Lunch is served, my Lord," said Jeeves. "Dress code is beach informal."
Everyone else made their way out, and shifted to either bikini bottoms or shorts. Lunch was in the shade, so we didn’t need to worry about sunburn. The humidity was high though, so most of us started sweating. Lunch was a cold salad, with chicken and ham. One of the trunks had cold beer, ginger ale and water.
George sat down next to me and began eating. I waved a chicken leg in his direction.
"I've been meaning to talk to you about something," I said to him.
"My new ship?"
"No."
"Damn. The suspense is killing me."
I chuckled at him.
"Suit programming actually."
"What about it? Any new ideas for me?"
"Not so much ideas, no. Are you aware they're releasing civilian versions soon?"
"No, I hadn't heard."
"I assembled a team of 'tool men' to come up with alternate versions, including civilian, baby and pets versions."
"Good idea. What does it have to do with me?"
"Clothes."
"You mean suits and dresses and stuff?"
"Yes, but also baby clothes, cat and dog clothes, and stuff like Halloween costumes. You could make up packs of different types of clothes."
"Is it worth it do you think?"
"You know what suits come with. It’s a very basic range. What you'd be offering is whole wardrobes of alternate clothing, for people who live in dangerous places, but still want good civvies."
"That’s why I started programming in the first place. There wasn’t anything in the default list I particularly liked. And the girls wanted a better variation."
"There's also your scan ability. You could license that for use by anyone selling the civilian suits. It would allow them to sell suit versions of their own clothing labels."
I could see his eyes lighting up with credit symbols.
"Why me though? You're the one who's done the real work using the suit. You first used it for uniforms for example."
"Put it this way. Once the civilian suits are out there, someone is going to make the leap to scanning for them. Why not get in immediately and patent the method?"
"Only if I can cut you in on it."
"Sure, if you feel better doing it."
I laughed, and he joined in.
"How do I go about it?"
"Talk to David. He can get the legal work done. Once you have the patent, all you need to do is package product, and sell licenses to use it. Some of those licenses can go to each military that start using the suit, so they can scan their own uniforms, and make up their own insignia for them."
I pulsed him my suit overlay files.
"That’s how I make uniforms. The epaulettes can be changed independent of the uniforms themselves, it would be simple to do collar insignia the same way. Cut me in for that part of it."
"Done!"
He held out his hand, and we shook. He immediately went blank, presumably contacting David, while I continued eating.
I was slurping at a ginger ale a short time later when Amanda pinged me.
"Jon, Jane is really different now, isn’t she?"
"Yes."
"That’s not a suit over a security droid anymore is it? Is it real skin?"
"Not skin, but very close."
"How?"
"Ask her yourself. She may or may not answer."
"Okay, I will."
"Be discreet. It's not something she wants widely known I think."
"Oh. Yes, I will be."
She didn’t get the chance to ask.
Jane suddenly shifted back into 'slinky red', and came over to me in a hurry.
"Jon, I'm not sure how to tell you this."
"Spit it out."
"I lost Sarah."
Eighteen
"What do you mean you lost her?"
"She and the baby have vanished."
Silence rippled out from us, and everyone went still.
"How can she just vanish?"
"I don’t know."
"Where was she?"
"On Galactica. She was helping your parents move their stuff off the ship. Her bodyguards were helping move heavy things. She was packing and they left her unattended for maybe two minutes tops. When the first one returned from the loading dock, neither of them could be found."
"How long ago?"
"We've been searching for ten minutes."
"Shuttles?"
"All authorized shuttles are accounted for."
"Unauthorized ones?"
"None we can detect."
I went cold, in spite of the heat and humidity. I walked over to where I’d left my underwear, not really aware of anything else, thinking fast. My suit changed to a belt, I pulled on briefs and socks, and shifted to 'slinky red'. Everyone else followed my example. Jeeves started packing up the lunch.
I turned back to Jane.
"Call the Lightning."
"Already done."
"Any mass without an ID moving out there?"
She was still for a moment.
"Yes. There's a shuttle sized mass almost to one of the asteroids in orbit of Gaia Six. It has a mining base on it."
"Can we get a ship with a sled to it before it lands?"
"No. I vectored the CAP after it, but none of them have a sled. I put a weapons hold on them, and told the flight leader to watch and see, but no action without your permission."
"Fine. Let's go."
The kidnapper's demands came in on the approach to the Flight Deck. They were short and sharp. I turne
d to Annabelle.
"I want every team in a Dropship yesterday. Combat suits, but only stunners. Prepare for a full assault on my order, or when you lose contact with me. Get the troops moving, but leave Jack and the twins with me for now."
"Done," she responded, turning away.
Team coms came online, and I could hear her giving orders in the background. The Lightning altered course, and instead of going down into the ship, Jane parked it next to an airlock. Those going out in a hurry, set their suits to full space suit mode, cycled through the airlock, and jumped for the Flight Deck. Jack and the twins stood by waiting for me.
"Jane, get the Keeper here as fast as you can."
"Confirmed."
Jack and the twins stood by waiting for me. Annabelle stopped talking and joined us.
"The Kidnappers have demanded the Keeper and I surrender ourselves to them on the mining station, in an hour. Less than an hour now. Any attempt to rescue Sarah and the baby will result in them being killed. If we're late, they are killed. If the baby cries too loud, they're killed. Blah blah blah. The straightforward thing to do is what they want."
Nodding heads. But frowning faces.
"Dick, you listening in?"
"Yes boss. You want hostage advice?"
"Yes please."
"Fifth Element."
It took a moment, but it brought a smile out for a few seconds. One of the benefits of selecting what the theatre plays. It involved being a dead shot, but thanks to Amanda, I was one.
"I'm assuming even if I go in with guns, they'll take the elemental precaution of frisking me, and the guns will be discovered anyway."
"Then you'll need to go full on Deadpool."
I shuddered. Deadpool liked his swords.
"Messy," said Aleesha.
I nodded to her.
"Thanks Dick."
"Break legs."
I looked at Amanda.
"You're a kidnapper. You want to swap hostages for the people you really want. What's your play book?"
"Is that all they want?" asked Jack.
"Why wouldn’t it be? If they wanted more, wouldn’t they demand it?"
"Perhaps," said Aleesha. "And perhaps not."
"We can assume they want me and the Keeper for less than healthy reasons."
"What's the end game?" asked Annabelle. "We can't respond effectively if we don’t know what they actually want."
Hunter Legacy 11: Home Is Where the Hero Is Page 7
