I jumped up and went down to the General's office.
"Seven thirty," we both said together as I went in the door.
Alsop looked at us strangely.
"Both jump in's happened at 7.30am." Vonda and I said together again.
"A pattern?" he asked.
"A pattern," I repeated. I took a seat. "If that's so, they intend to take a system a day. It gives them time to fight at the jump point, time to take a station, then time for the pilots and crews to get a decent sleep."
The General's face fell.
"We won't get our full four days then. They'll be here on the morning of the fourth day."
"But it gives us much more time than we thought to get the station operational and the new fighter drones perfected. We'll meet them with effectively two Battleships, four squadrons of heavy fighters and as many of the drones as the Shipyard can refit."
"Commander," she said to Alsop, "not a word of this to anyone. As far as is known, the enemy will be here in two days. I don’t want anyone slacking off thinking they have more time."
"Yes sir."
"Can you get the Shade squadrons moved here as soon as possible?" I asked Alsop. He nodded. "Who would you recommend be put in command of the whole Wing?"
He looked up records again.
"We don’t have a Wing Commander. The squadrons have been operating on their own for a long time. Actually, as old as he is, John Slice is the most experienced pilot of the lot, and has actually commanded a wing before. His commission with the British Fleet is inactive, but he is still an officer in a service, so we could get him called back to duty officially. If he's willing."
"He's here, he's willing," I said.
"Is Space Marshall Bigglesworth still the boss over on Brit-side?" asked Vonda.
Bing bong. That was a name from my childhood. I looked at her to see if she was serious. She was.
"He was last time I checked, but that was a while ago," said Alsop.
"Well send him an official request to reactivate Wing Commander Slice, and second him to us for the duration."
Alsop nodded, and went blank as he started composing the email in his head.
As I was heading towards the stairwell, I saw John Slice entering the level from below.
"I was just heading up for a look at your Bridge," he said.
I motioned him to continue and followed him up. Angel saw us passing the door and raced past us and up onto the console to sit on her pad.
"Sorry sweetie," I said. "We're not going anywhere at the moment."
Her head drooped, but she turned around three times on her pad, reversed for a turn and flopped down facing us. Slice did a double take, then went over and tickled her. She purred.
I let Slice take the captain's chair, and he activated the hollo controls. I linked to them and activated the simulator. In simulation, he backed Gunbus out, flew off to an empty part of space, and put the ship through her paces. A look of unbridled joy appeared on his face.
I gave him a squadron of Gladiators to deal with. He whooped like a teenager as Gunbus tore through them.
"Wow!" he exclaimed. "I want one. I mean for me, my personal ship."
I grinned at him. He grinned back. Then his serious business side took over.
"I know you sold some to the Americans. What was your deal with them? I'll match it."
"I never intended to sell this ship, only the Camel. However, the Americans persuaded me. The Gunbus ships come with a clone of my AI. They're coded to self-destruct in the event of capture. You need to accept that before we go any further. Under no circumstance is one to be allowed to fall into the hands of a pirate, retro, unlicensed corporate or government."
"I can accept that."
"They were designed jointly by myself and Bob Derr of Sydney Shipyard."
"That old space dog?" he interrupted me. "How is he? Bob used to work for me, back in the day. Until one of his harebrained designs made him rich, and he had the opportunity to buy that shipyard."
"He was good last time we spoke. As far as I know anyway."
"So what's the deal? Just how much will I have to pay that old reprobate?"
"The Americans are paying each of us twenty five million per Gunbus license, plus the cost of a top of the line AI for me."
He nodded slowly.
"I thought it might be something around that. The ship itself will cost at least two hundred million to build?"
"Pretty much. Depends a bit on the internal fittings and if you go for all the weapons."
"For my ship, I will. The explorers don’t need so much bang though. What they really need is Point Defense, speed and shielding. I assume that’s what your Camel was providing?"
"Yes. Same performance as this ship. Minus the heavy turrets on the sides, and only four Point Defense turrets each side. That’s still ten Point Defense turrets with four guns each. Optional is the torpedo launcher on the front. And you choose the front guns you want yourself. Since she handles like a fighter, the guns should suit the pilot."
"Same license fee for the Camels?"
"Bob and I haven’t discussed pricing for the Camels yet. He's only built one so far. It's over at the Midgard Cobol jump point with the Australian forces, on blockade duty. Will you be buying them from Bob, or getting someone else to build them?"
"We have our own shipyard, so I'll do the same as the Americans and buy licenses. But it'll take weeks to build each Corvette. I want a Gunbus now. If I can get McLauchlan to build me one, will you license it for the same deal as the Americans are getting?"
"Sure." I sent him my drop account details with a grin. "The Gunbus will get a clone of Jane, and you can use that to clone the AI's for any Camels you build. Jane, say hello to John Slice."
"Greetings John Slice," she said, rising from the rear seat she had been in since we arrived.
John jumped, and turned to see Jane for the first time. He looked back to me with a question on his face.
"Ship's avatar," I said.
"How?"
I nodded to Jane. She rolled back her suit to show the security droid underneath, and back to her normal girl form.
"That's incredible! I want one of those too."
"All you need is a security or combat droid, and a mercenary suit belt. Your clone AI will know how to create an Avatar image."
"Wonderful."
He rubbed his hands together in glee. He put one out, and we shook. He immediately pinged McLauchlan. He responded with a vid link. I had the experience of seeing a grown man grovel and bribe to get what he wanted. When McLauchlan ended the link, Slice was promised a Gunbus by the end of the following day. It would be bare of any real fit out, but it would be able to fight.
Slice went blank for a minute, and shortly after, an email came in with a payment from him. It included the current price of an AI.
I sent Jane over to the shipyard in a shuttle to provide the specs to McLauchlan personally.
As we were about to leave the Bridge, I stopped him.
"Actually John, there's some bad news for you."
"Figures. Hit me."
"Your commission is being reinstated and you will be assigned to the SFSF for the duration. Not all bad though, you get to be a Wing Commander again."
Mixed emotions crossed his face.
"Okay, I can accept that. Probably best. Where do I get one of those suits from?"
"Mercenary Suppliers over on the Orbital station should be able to do you one. Get the belt, and three boosters."
"Boosters?"
"Gives the suit a higher hit rating. I took a pulse rifle hit a few weeks ago, and came out of it with only a bruise. And that was with only one booster. Three is the maximum. They also provide space suit like protection in the event of a decompression. Most of the better Mercenaries are using them now. Eric already has one. I'd recommend you get one for all your people who don’t have one."
"If you will excuse me, I'll be off. I'll see you soon, Admiral."
H
e stalked out, a man on mission.
Thirty
After Slice left, I dived into emails and reports again. The Shipyard was bombarding me with decisions to be made. I worked my way through them.
Vonda interrupted me, coming into my office and sitting at the conference table. I joined her. She threw a vid to the wall.
"General and Admiral." It was Admiral Jedburgh. "They hit us again this morning. Seven thirty, on the dot. Same mix of six Cruisers and fifteen squadrons. We did a lot better this time. Lost some Epees, but nothing bigger. Mining the jump point with wreckage was genius. They lost a quarter of their fighters without firing a shot, and several Cruisers were so badly damaged they didn’t get off any missiles. We are repeating moving the remains into a tighter mass before the jump point, in the hope that if they hit us again tomorrow, most of the force will be destroyed jumping in. Our new ships performed well. No ships were lost to capital ship missiles, only to fighter dogfighting. As we get new ships, I'm scaling down our older fighter's involvement so as to limit casualties. I wish we had had these new ships years ago. Jedburgh out."
"They are timely," said Vonda. "I'll give them that." She meant Midgard.
"Sounds like the commander is a stickler for being punctual, and obsessively methodical."
"It does, doesn’t it? Let's hope he keeps it up."
We both smiled. She went back to her office, and I started a vid for General Harriman.
"General. There have been four attacks out of Midgard system so far. All of them were timed for seven thirty in the morning, precisely. I suggest you warn the blockade force in Midnight to expect an attack tomorrow at that time. They're in Cobol now. If I was them, I'd hit Atlantis and Midnight tomorrow."
"On another matter, I've not had any communications from any of my people in the Midnight system. I've not heard from 266 squadron since I left Australian space. The only person I get emails from is you General. There are indications that someone is messing with the email system. The email from George was sent two weeks before. And the email sent to me to lure me to Midnight was not from Colonel Smith. As well, I keep being attacked by people who know where to expect me, mere hours after I know I will be there. Something odd is going on. Can you task intelligence to follow up on this please?"
"The Colonel, by the way, is now Brigadier General Smith. Hunter out."
Shortly after, I had an email from Miriam. She gave me a short rundown of the battle and how the squadron was coming. Then she accused me of ignoring her when telling people about my promotion and while she was happy for me, she was also pissed off I hadn't told her direct. Women, I thought. I opened a vid and started it by doing a close up of one epaulette.
"Hi honey," I started with a stupid, and trying to be funny, grin on my face. "Look what happened to me. Sorry you had to find out third hand, but actually, I didn't think to tell anyone. Those around me saw it. And I've been so busy, I haven't had time for anything non-incursion. And my last email to you was text only, so you couldn’t have seen. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you when I see you next."
I threw her a kiss and ended the vid. I wondered what was going on. I'd never had a girl actually make an effort to keep in touch before. We'd both known they were 'tomorrow we might be dead' bonks, and Miriam had already come close to it once. It was a bit bewildering. Not unwelcome, but I didn't feel equipped.
Janet broke into my thoughts.
"My Lord, you better take a look at this."
"Which this is that?"
A vid popped up on the wall. It seemed the station's main eating area had been turned into a mess for all the soldiers. The image zoomed in on one table. I watched as several soldiers argued about taking commands from a kid Admiral and Mercs in general. One of the men in particular was openly defiant. I snapped an image of him.
"Has BA seen this?"
"No my Lord."
"Show her. I'm on my way there now."
I ran for the stairwell, vaulted over the cat wall, and ran down to the Cargo Bay. I paced myself the rest of the way so I would not look puffed when I arrived there. Just short of the mess, I slowed to a walk.
"Form ranks," came a bellow from inside.
By the time I entered, everyone in the room was standing in parade ground ranks at attention. BA heard me coming and looked around. I shook my head at her slightly, and she stepped aside. The defiant soldier was in the front rank.
I walked calmly up to him, kneed him in the groin, and as he bent forward in pain, I king hit him in the face hard enough to knock him over backwards. He crashed into the person behind him and they both went down. He stayed there. The soldier he'd crashed into pushed him off and jumped back into position.
I turned, walked back to where BA was standing, and faced the ranks of soldiers.
"That wasn’t fair," came from deep in the ranks. "He didn’t even get a chance for a fair fight."
"Silence!" bellowed BA.
There was an uneasy shifting of bodies.
"Who here wants a fair fight?" I demanded. "Don’t be shy, put your hands up."
A half dozen did so.
"What the fuck are you people doing here?" I bellowed at them. Hands were jerked down. "You want a fair fight? Be a Boxer! You, are supposed to be soldiers. This is a war. Our job is to hit the enemy and put them down before they even know we're a threat."
"You, are on my station. The AI that runs this station is reading your thoughts as you have them. The next person who even thinks about defying the chain of command, who disrespects anyone for any reason, will find themselves doing guard duty, outside an airlock, without a space suit. Do you understand me?"
There was a muttering of yes' and sirs.
"I said, do you understand me?" I bellowed it at them in the loudest voice I could manage.
"SIR, YES, SIR"
"Sergeant Major."
"Yes SIR," clipped off BA.
"These soldiers have too much time on their hands."
"Yes SIR." She saluted me.
I turned and walked back the way I’d come.
"Give me fifty," came from behind me. Followed by the sounds of a lot of people doing pushups.
Outside the door, with no-one to see, I let loose a huge grin.
Annabelle was waiting for me outside the Cargo Bay.
"Where did you learn to do that?" she asked.
"Where do you think?" I grinned.
"Old flat screens," she said with a smile.
"Exactamundo," I responded, getting a 'what the hell' look from her. "I think some Colonels need your attention. These troops need to be honed and trained to repel anyone storming this station. We only have a day and half to be ready. I know the twins are not drill sergeants, but they learned from BA. Turn them loose on the officers. They and their troops need to be as sharp as we can make them. If they all sleep from exhaustion tonight, they won't have done enough."
She saluted me and walked off.
I had a similar conversation with Vonda on my way to my office. Except I had to explain for her where my 'training' had come from.
I was starting to think about lunch when an email came in from General Chandra. I hurried to Vonda's office. She had thrown it to her wall. She restarted it for me.
"General and Admiral. The assault on the Orbital station has begun. They hit it with troops from all six Cruisers, which docked without the locking mechanisms. They forced entrance through the docking airlocks, which are now unusable. When they pull out, the station will decompress. They also used assault shuttles through the shuttle dock at the same time. My troops are holding for now, but the Midgard soldiers are good. They don’t care about damaging the station, although they're ensuring it does not decompress for now. None of their soldiers are carrying any sort of space suit or decompression protection. Maybe you can use that to your advantage. I'll keep you up to date as long as I can. Chandra out."
"I hope he followed my orders," said Vonda.
"Yes."
I'd liked him and hoped h
e had as well. I'd have hated for him to die on what were effectively my orders.
I pinged Annabelle with the news that she would be facing elite shock troops, who didn't care about station damage. If it was possible, could she see if the docking level could be sealed off after a retreat, and decompressed? If we needed a last resort, if they successfully forced their way in, spacing them all, might be a good way of dealing with them.
Vonda and I went up to my living room for lunch.
Thirty One
An email came in from British Fleet Command as we were finishing eating. Alsop pulsed it to Vonda, and she threw it on the wall of the living room. Angel stopped scratching her kitty castle and turned to watch it. The man on the vid was dressed in a Space Marshall's uniform.
"General Wellington and Admiral Hunter. Your reputations precede you. Your request to reinstate Wing Commander Slice and to second him to your command is approved. He will be receiving the orders as this reaches you. We are aware that the only ships you have of any consequence are the Warspite, which is old and very out of date, and the Admiral's personal Corvette. I dispatched a fleet to Avon as soon as I could after hearing the news from Miami. The Battleship Repulse is currently in the Apricot system and should arrive in Avon sometime tomorrow. She was refitted several years ago. We are aware that Point Defense is a prime requirement, and while I'm not sure Repulse carries enough for what you face, she is not exactly helpless in this department. Her support fleet is less well protected, but with two Battleships at the jump point, we can hope the smaller ships will be ignored, while their firepower should be a significant addition. Rear Admiral Bentley has been placed under the command of Rear Admiral Hunter. The admiral is an excellent Battleship tactician and given the time to be involved in planning, I hope you will take advantage of the expertise."
"If you will take the advice of an old campaigner, once you have Admiral Hunter's fleet refitted, I suggest you attach several of your new Cruisers to Admiral Bentley's fleet and use it to support the blockade at Midnight. Once Cobol is retaken, use that force as a rearguard, in case any enemy force gets past you."
Send in the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 3) Page 20
