Send in the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 3)

by Timothy Ellis

  The pile of ordinance went down rapidly, and once clear, Jane announced the reloading of the missile magazines was complete.

  I turned my attention to my karma.

  At home, we believed that any negative event between two people showed the presence of karma between the two. The bigger the event, the worse the karma. We took karma seriously. One of the books surviving from the twenty first century was called “The Wisdom of the Ages, Accrued Karma”. The original book still exists in our main museum, but its digital copy was owned by almost everyone at home. It was required reading almost as soon as you could read. From it we learned how to release karma, and this was a very important part of our belief system. Within meditation, we used a specific statement to release the karma of the event or person. Every kid had this memorized before they were eight.

  I sat there and worked my way through the sixty releases for the dead pilots of the Talons, before starting on more general ones for the unknown number of dead in the Missile Cruiser. It took me a while.

  I'd completed the releases and was on my way to my kitchen for a bottle of water, and stretch my legs, when Jane called me back.

  "A channel opened from Starman a moment ago," she told me. I was puzzled for a moment, but remembered it was Greer's call sign. In space, only call signs were used, so the enemy would never learn the names of pilots.

  "Gunbus to Starman. Sitrep."

  "Enemy squadron on approach. Twelve ships. Looks like a rotation squadron up from the planet, to relieve who ever has been at the jump point longest. I don’t think they know what's happened there yet."

  "Do you need help?"

  "No sir, we've got this. Starman out."

  "Jane, will combat team coms work this far away?"

  "I think so. Worth trying anyway."

  I turned on combat coms again.

  "Our picket force has detected an enemy squadron heading this way. I've turned combat coms back on so we can listen to the fight."

  "Thanks Jon," said the Colonel.

  "Jane, can you pick up the battle feeds from them?" I asked.

  "Sure."

  Four screens came up showing the view forward from each ship. I copied the feeds down to the common room.

  "Thanks," said someone.

  We watched as all four ships fired two missiles each. As the range closed, six more missiles sped ahead of them.

  Why six I pondered? Someone too slow locking up the next enemy?

  Twelve enemy ships became eight and then five.

  Both formations broke and ships were dogfighting in all directions. We had glimpses of the other ships as they came into view of one of ours. Excalibur was an awesome sight, her turrets knocking down missiles and biting into ship shields.

  And suddenly, it was over. A cheer came up from below, and rattled my ears through the com link.

  "Gunbus to Starman. Sitrep."

  "No casualties, no damage. Man oh man, your Excalibur is a fighting machine." I grinned to myself. "Breckenridge and I need to rearm. Is it safe to use the jump point yet?"

  "Yes. For jumping out anyway. But with luck, it will be clear by the time you're ready to return. You will have to wait for my signal though."

  "Understood. We are RTB." The channel closed. RTB, return to base.

  "George and Annette, are you fine holding your position?"

  "Yes boss," they both said together.

  I closed the combat coms.

  "Analysis Jane? Who did what?"

  "George made six kills. Greer three. Annette two. Breckenridge one."

  That made George an instant ace. I grinned, and posted that down in the common room. Cheering erupted again up the stairwell.

  "Admiral. My picket force has had an encounter with another squadron of Talons. We think they were a relief squadron for the one at the jump point which had been there the longest. Being short range fighters, they'll need to be rotating the squadrons regularly. So we can expect more. At this point, I don’t think they know what's happened at the jump point. By the way, Greer made three kills and Breckenridge one. These are confirmed. They are RTB. I hope to have the jump point clear within another hour. Hunter out."

  I made up an email with the vid and all four battle feeds, and sent if off to the Admiral, with a copy for the General.

  I thought about there being no coms.

  "Do you think the Retros have deliberately darkened their own system?" I asked Jane.

  "Very likely."

  "Hmmm. As soon as the salvage droids have cleared the jump point, send them to the new battle site."

  "Confirmed."

  I emailed the Mercenary Guild with George's kill score and sent it through the data link. He was entitled to a combat pilot's badge now, and an ace's badge. I made up a new epaulette file for him.

  The Sabre and Epee came up to Gunbus, slowing as they entered the debris zone, picking their way around salvage droids and what was left. They jumped out.

  The cleanup went on.

  Seven

  Greer was the first pilot through as the American squadrons jumped in.

  I had Gunbus positioned beside the jump point, in a way indicating a salute as the fighters jumped in.

  Jane connected me to the American squadron coms. I listened as the CAG issued instructions.

  Greer's squadron of Sabres looped around and stopped not far away. A squadron of Epees did the same. I noticed Breckenridge had a flight leader position. The rest spread out to form a Bridgehead, leaving a lot of space around the jump point. Two squadrons continued on to where George and Annette were on picket duty.

  Ding.

  Ding ding ding. Ding ding.

  Information popped up on a side screen. All six fighters had illegal drugs on board. I opened a vid.

  "Admiral. I thought I'd let you know that six of your fighters are carrying illegal drugs. I'm currently testing a prototype scanner for the Australian Militia, which sees inside a ship. I'm sending you the ID's and scan data of each of the six ships. Use this how you feel appropriate. Normally I claim the ships of anyone I identify with drugs on board when it's been confirmed they were. However, that’s not appropriate in this case. I do however claim any reward offered by the American sector in general terms for the identification of ships with drugs on board. Hunter out."

  I assembled the email and sent it through Jane's data link. This was getting ridiculous I thought. Gunbus could do with its own coms relay, for situations like this, or if she was a long way away from the nearest relay. Note to self, get Bob to fit one. Knowing I’d probably forget, I emailed Bob and sent that off as well.

  The station was the next through. Suddenly she loomed large over everything. Janet moved it away from the jump point, towards the lines of ship hulls and the mountain of debris.

  All the derelict ships that could move on their own, came to life and formed a line to dock internally with the station. The two freighters, moved to dock externally. The salvage droids took the remainder in tow and joined the line.

  Salvage droids came through the jump point and changed direction for the Epee hulls. I told Janet to leave those hulls where they were.

  Jane brought Gunbus in and we docked as well. I'd been asked if the crew could have some R&R on the station. I gave them time to leave, and was about to ask Jane to undock us, when I stopped and thought for a moment.

  "Jane, get us more ordinance. When we empty a magazine, I want it to be refilled on the fly. Give us twice again what we're carrying now, if that will fit. I don’t want to be caught short, ever."

  "Confirmed."

  "Janet?"

  "My Lord?"

  "When everything has been docked and loaded, call the John Wayne through and proceed to the Azgard jump point as fast as you can get there."

  "Yes my Lord."

  It would take the station around fifteen hours to get to the jump point.

  Amanda and Aleesha walked onto the Bridge behind me.

  "Hi boss," they said together.

&nbs
p; "I thought you were getting off?"

  "No, nothing of interest for us on the station. What's next?" said Amanda.

  "Now we do a flyby of the planet, and check my previous battle sites and the other jump point."

  "Sounds good. When?" asked Aleesha.

  "I was thinking about now would be good." They both smiled. "But we need to wait for some more ordinance. I'm really glad this station was armed, and had a well-stocked magazine."

  Amanda took the Helmsman's chair, and Aleesha the coms chair. Jane was in the XO's. There was no sign of Angel.

  "Angel," I called.

  Meow?

  "Moving again soon, sweetie."

  There was a flash of white as she ran in, up the cat ramp between the XO and Helm chairs onto the main console. She skidded past her sitting pad on the smooth surface, and fetched up in the far corner. She scrabbled around getting paw purchase, and resumed her place sitting on her pad. She assumed a dignified stance as if nothing untoward had happened. We all laughed. Both the girls tickled her. She purred.

  We waited while cargo droids loaded up the Cargo Bay. When they were complete, Jane undocked us and backed us away from the station.

  I pointed Gunbus towards the planet Midgard. As we moved off, Greer's two squadrons formed up behind me in V formations. I'd thought he might be forming up an escort for me, when they stopped nearby after jumping in. Now I was sure.

  It was late afternoon now and I was tired. But I wanted us out of here as soon possible.

  When Excalibur and Nightshade came into coms range, I ordered them to wingman positions behind and to the side of Gunbus. We passed the picket force of Sabres and Epees and continued towards the planet.

  I ate with the girls at my living room table, watching the planet coming closer on the wall screen. They played with Angel while I went back to the Bridge. I called them back when we were close enough for coms.

  I opened a channel to the planet.

  "Gunbus to Midgard. Why are you shooting at us? We want no conflict with you."

  "Die Heathen, thou who would bring Ragnarok upon us. Those who worship technology will bring the end of all, if we do not stop you. Die …"

  I closed the channel and sighed deeply.

  "Missile launch," said Jane.

  I opened the channel Greer was using for squadron coms.

  "Heads up people, the locals don’t like us. Commander, take your wing out of range, Excalibur and I will cover you."

  He acknowledged and gave orders. There was some grousing from a few of the pilots, but they moved away in formation. Gunbus and Excalibur followed. I told George to get in front of me and pick off anything that came past.

  "Ninety five missiles, capital ship class, staggered launch," said Jane.

  A bonus, we wouldn’t have to deal with all of them at the same time.

  The turrets opened up as the missiles approached. They arrived in clumps, and were destroyed in clumps. Five of them made it through and impacted Gunbus' shields. They went down to twenty five percent, and started recharging. Excalibur picked off the few that went past.

  "What's your status Commander?" asked Greer.

  "No damage. Shields are down by three quarters, but firming up again," I replied.

  "That’s not possible!" said someone, over the top of several other similar comments.

  "I told you," said Breckenridge.

  "Pipe down," said Greer. "Sir, what next?"

  "What's your mission time like Commander? Can you make the Azgard jump point? Or will you need to head back for relief?"

  Sabres and Epees were short range fighters. They needed a base or Carrier to go any real distance.

  "We're fine Sir. We each have a small fresher unit, water and food, so we can fly for about a full day without any serious discomfort. After that, we'll be useless for several days."

  "What were your orders?"

  "To escort you wherever you went in the system sir."

  "Send one of your Epees back to the jump point to tell your CAG what just happened here. They need to know, or your next diplomatic mission will get trashed as well. Those were capital ship class missiles, and I doubt even one of your Battlecruisers could take that sort of pounding. They might be better to hold off the diplomatic mission until they can bring in some serious Point Defense or something with shields that can handle a hundred missiles. You might be able to get away with a fighter screen, but my guess is that you will lose fighters for no gain, and maybe even still lose the diplomatic ship. We don’t know how fast they can reload and fire again."

  "Roger that sir."

  I listened to him giving orders to the rearmost Epee pilot. It turned and headed back the way we had come.

  "Form up on Gunbus, and let's see what the rest of the system has to offer in the way of sights and excitement."

  "Roger that."

  Not long after, we came to the site of my third battle on my way through the system originally. There were eighteen derelict Talons still here.

  "Jane, can you reach Janet at this distance?"

  There was a pause.

  "Yes."

  "Send this position and have the station come straight here. Are salvage droids fast enough that the station won't need to stop?"

  "Yes they are, although it will be close."

  "Tell Janet to ignore the debris, and just collect the hulls."

  "Confirmed."

  The girls headed off. With nothing due to happen for a while, presumably they were off for some beauty sleep. I stayed in my chair, watching 'Who' episodes. I liked all the really old science fiction series, going all the way back six hundred years. I had collected all the remakes of the remakes. When I'd nothing else to do, I watched series in order, sometimes from earliest to latest, from original series to last remake. Other times, I picked the series I preferred and only re-watched that. Since leaving Outback, I'd been working through 'Who' episodes from the early twenty first century. Updated many times down the centuries for new technology and formats, they were very dated at times, but I found them very entertaining. I had often wondered if the actors had realized that they were now virtually immortal.

  It was late in the evening when we came upon the site of my second battle with the Retros. Another eighteen derelict Talons. I gave the same instructions for Janet.

  We kept moving. I kept watching episodes.

  Just before midnight, the girls appeared on the Bridge again. Angel trotted in, looking like her sleep had been interrupted, but content to take her place as ship's crew.

  At long range, twenty four red dots and a blue one popped onto the scanner.

  I opened combat and squadron coms.

  "Show time people. Someone needs help, I'm going ahead."

  I pushed for full speed, and Gunbus leapt ahead of the other ships. A few seconds reaction time on George's part behind, Excalibur kept pace, but the other fighters began to fall behind.

  "Shit and shinola!" Breckenridge didn’t sound very happy.

  I pulled up the details on the civilian ship. Apricot Explorer. The ship database described it as a long range exploration ship based on a Privateer design. Bigger than the normal Privateer hull, but not any better armed.

  The pilot was doing well, but his shields were failing. We were not going to get there in time to help.

  Just short of the battle, the pilot bailed out. Firing continued.

  "Shit," said George. "They're shooting at the pilot."

  I started lighting off IR missiles as fast as I could lock and fire. George did the same. For a short while, the scanner was full of missile dots and red dots, and then all that was left was grey dots.

  I brought Gunbus to a stop close to the ejected pilot and sent out an SR droid. The girls headed down to the Cargo Bay to meet it at the airlock.

  "Who got what?" I asked Jane.

  "George killed ten," she said. Which meant I had another fourteen.

  I made up another Mercenary Guild email, for sending when we had proper coms ag
ain.

  It wasn’t long before the Epees caught up with us. The Sabres and Annette were a bit further behind, not having the same top speed as the Epees.

  The girls arrived back on the Bridge without a word.

  I contacted the Epee's squadron leader, call sign Stiletto I noticed, and told her I was jumping into Azgard to check it was clear, and would be back in a few minutes.

  I wound a course through the debris field, and jumped.

  There were three brown dots staking out the jump point. Bounty Hunters. A channel opened.

  "There you are. What took you so long?" said a voice.

  "Sorry? What took me so long? Who are you?"

  "We are payback for some friends you killed on your last visit here."

  "Look," I started. "I'm too fucking tired for this shit. Check my Mercenary Guild record. Then decide if you want to die or not. If you intend to die, just blow yourselves up and save me the fucking trouble."

  The girls looked at me in shock. They hadn't heard me swear like that before.

  There was a long pause.

  "Sorry we bothered you Commander Hunter. Our mistake."

  The ships turned and headed towards Azgard.

  I sighed. Finally Bounty Hunters with a survival instinct.

  The channel had closed but I reopened it.

  "Can you take a message to Azgard for me?"

  "What sort of message?"

  "Do you know what's going on in Midgard?"

  "Midgard? No-one goes there anymore. And nothing comes from there either."

  "Do you know why?"

  "No clue, but before communications with them were lost, the government there warned us to stay out of their system. The ships who tried it, didn’t come back and were never heard of again."

  "Do you know what kind of ships they were?"

  "Our government sent a Tyr Missile Cruiser and squadron of Talons in to collect on some debts. They figured if contact was going to be cut off, they should damned well pay their debts first. Nothing came back."

  "Well that explains something anyway, thanks."

  "What's going on in there?"