"On a personal note, I was relieved to hear that Squadron Leader Lacey survived his encounter with Admiral Hunter. I tried to talk the squadron out of turning Mercenary at the time, but he became disillusioned with Fleet Command. I've tried to follow his exploits since then, but was unaware of his being in the Australian sector. I'm happy they've found a worthy commander to serve, and one who won't squander their lives uselessly."
"Admiral, if you manage to visit London at any point in your travels, please let me know. There are people here who would like to meet you. Bigglesworth out."
"Well now," I said with a grin. "That does put the cat amongst the pigeons."
Vonda laughed.
We moved into my office and started revising battle plans.
Slice turned up not long after we began.
"Permission to assemble all pilots, and begin orientation and training, sirs."
I looked at Vonda. She nodded.
"Granted Wing Commander," I said. "I'll have Lieutenant Commander Murdock report to you. By the way, we have reinforcements on the way from the British sector. We're getting another Battleship and her support ships. They should be here tomorrow sometime. Do you know an Admiral Bentley?"
"We've met a few times sir. Quietly competent was my assessment, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Now, what do you want to do with the fighter force, sir?"
I told him.
He left with a smile on his face, and a spring in his step.
I pinged George to place himself under the command of the Wing Commander and report to him immediately.
We went back to work.
General Harriman sent a reply, which after telling Vonda what I’d said to him, I threw onto the wall.
"Admiral. There has been no interruption to emails at this end. Squadron Leader Lacey has been sending regular reports, which we assumed you'd not replied to due to pressing other business. Now you mention it, there have been irregularities reported by other people, none of which were adequately explained at the time. I'm instituting a full investigation. Lacey assures me that your family agent has things in hand and your attention is not required at this time."
"We expect that communications between Australian sector and the rest of the spine will be cut sometime in the next twelve hours. Having a natural choke point is a huge advantage in a war, but it works against us when the enemy has the other side of the jump point, and destroys all technology it finds. We are prepared as much as we can be. Be sure to send us any new information well before we're cut off. Harriman out."
We debated if there was anything more to tell Harriman, but decided he was up to date with what he needed to know. I emailed him a quick reply. We would let him know if anything else came up.
We went back to planning, until Janet interrupted us abruptly.
"Showoff!"
"Who?" I asked.
"How?" asked Vonda.
A screen popped up on the wall.
The image zoomed in to the lead ship heading towards the station.
Jane was standing on the front end of the ship. Legs spread wide, hands held aloft and spread as well. There was a huge grin on her face.
We laughed.
"That is showing off Jane," I said.
The figure on the front of the ship, flipped us the bird.
Vonda cracked up.
As we watched, twelve fighters rearranged themselves into one ship, while Jane herself didn’t appear to move.
"Jane looks like one of those carvings on the bow," I commented. "The ones you see on pics of ancient sailing ships."
The figure changed, now wearing a flowing antique style dress.
"Next she will become Aphrodite," laughed Vonda.
The outfit was suddenly skimpier, more see through, and with one breast showing.
"What the fuck?" came up from Alsop's office.
We lost it.
When I finally regained some composure, I told Jane to stop showing off and report back here. The cluster was to put itself under Slice's command for training purposes.
We watched the lead ship detach and land on the station. Jane nimbly dropped to the deck, and started walking towards Gunbus. The ship took itself off again.
A squad of soldiers were suddenly in need of medical attention as the male's all craned their necks to look at the half naked woman walking past, and the whole squad crashed to the ground in a heap, as the females collided with the distracted males.
"Put some bloody clothes on," I roared.
A cocktail dress appeared. Although it was less a dress, than covering the basics stylishly.
Vonda lost it again.
"Uniform!" I bellowed.
An American cheerleader's outfit appeared. Again, only just covering the basics.
I gave up, and cancelled the screen.
Vonda was still snickering. She set me off again and we both laughed until we couldn’t any more.
I had to admit, Jane made one very sexy lady. And we had needed the comic relief.
Thirty Two
Later in the afternoon, I donned an external air pack, changed my suit into a space suit, and with Vonda in a standard space suit, we inspected the top of the station, where turrets of all kinds were being installed. The head supervisor showed us around. We were just starting back, when someone near us said, "Now that’s a sight you don’t see every day."
Coming towards us was the British Fleet. The last time I'd seen a Battleship was in the middle of the night when I wasn’t at my best and brightest. And truth to tell, it hadn't been a particularly awe inspiring Battleship either, given how old she was.
Repulse was different. Head on, we could see the forward turrets jutting out top and bottom. Two on top, one on the bottom. Around her were ant like ships. I knew they were capital ships but next to the behemoth, they looked tiny.
We stood and watched.
The fleet approached the station, and smartly turned so Repulse was side on. Now I saw why there was only one gun underneath. The bottom was the reversed image of the top. On top, she had two main turrets on the front half, and one at the rear. Underneath, she had one on the front and two at the rear. It was obvious that at least three turrets faced every direction, and for broadsides, she mounted six turrets with eighteen guns.
She also bristled with other sized guns.
Impressive I thought.
"No, you can't have one," said Vonda.
I chuckled.
We headed inside, and down to the shuttle docks to await her Admiral.
Admiral Bentley turned out to be a small woman in her late forties. She was preceded by a squad of Royal Marines. They looked like even their chins had been spit polished.
The Admiral marched up to stand in front of us, and smartly saluted. Vonda returned the salute just as smartly, and I winged it. One day I was going to have to get someone to teach me how.
Her epaulettes had the insignia of a full Rear Admiral. I'd been expecting a Lower Half.
I led the way to my office on Gunbus.
Before we even sat down, Jane interrupted.
"Urgent email for you Jon."
I took out my pad, glanced at it and threw it to the wall.
"Admiral Hunter. Lieutenant Raymond reporting from the Cobol side of the Midnight jump point. A Midgard fleet has just shown up on my scanner. Two Cruisers and five squadrons of Talons. They'll be here within two hours. I'm jumping back to Midnight now. You can expect to lose communications with the Australian sector very soon now. I've already reported to Squadron Leader Lacey and General Harriman. Raymond out."
I opened a vid for General Harriman.
"General. We have received word that a smaller than expected Midgard fleet is on your doorstep. Please tell those at the front that we're thinking of them, and please tell them this. Show the bastards what Diggers do with invaders! They only need to hold for a few days. We have received reinforcements from the British sector. I would hope that in three or four days, depending on how things go here,
we can start rolling them back. Good Luck to us all. Hunter out." I assembled the email quickly, and sent it off.
"What's a Digger?" asked Vonda.
"Australian combat soldier," said Bentley, before I could. "The term goes back to the early nineteen hundreds."
"Indeed," I said.
We were sitting by now, but I was sitting somewhat uncomfortably. I pinged Vonda a question I needed her to ask.
"We understand Marshall Bigglesworth put you under Admiral Hunter's command, Admiral. Are you comfortable with that?" Vonda looked genuinely concerned.
Bentley laughed.
"Call me Susan," she requested.
"Jon," I said.
"Vonda," she said.
"To answer your question, if I hadn't been okay with it, I'd not have accepted the assignment. I'm a capital ship driver. I've always excelled at ship tactics and strategy. On the other hand though, I've had very little in the way of true combat experience. Battlewagons don’t get trotted out very often these days. We show the flag a lot, keeping people assured that they're protected. I spend most of my time teaching Captains how to drive a ship effectively. I'm Upper Half, solely because Command consider me the best Lower Half at the moment, and in the event we get two Battleships in the same fleet, they want me in command of the fleet, regardless of time in rank. I let them promote me to get them off my back, but I'll be damned if they ever get me off the Bridge of a Battleship, except feet first." We grinned at her vehemence. "So, with that settled, what do we have to work with, and what's the game plan?"
I told her.
I pinged O'Neil and asked him to join us.
We were talking tactics when he arrived, and I introduced him.
"Daniel will command this station in the first battle. When my ships are out of repair dock, he will take command of that fleet on the John Wayne. Susan, since you're senior to him, you'll have overall fleet command until we leave Avon, at which time roles will change." They both nodded. "Daniel, bring us up to speed on what's being done with the station."
He spent the next hour talking us through the final designs for the station. When he finished, we all sat down to dinner in my living room.
After dinner, Bentley and O'Neil went off to discuss how to integrate three different levels of Battleship.
Vonda left for her own office.
I sat at the table for a while pondering things.
Meow.
Angel shinned up my leg and sat in my lap. I picked her up and carried her over to a lounge chair and made myself comfortable. It had been a while since I'd had any time to myself. Actually, it wasn’t all that long, but it felt like it.
I needed to relax, so I hunted through my library looking for something light and fluffy to watch. What I found was more dark and fluffy. Nah, I thought. I don’t need to be watching stuff about dead people, not on the eve of a major battle. The cleavage was attracting me though. Can't deny that. In the end I decided on a mid-twenty second century space comedy instead. I spent the next couple of hours chuckling, patting the cat, and forgetting about the real world.
Somewhat uplifted, we went to bed.
I dreamed of white sand, naked twins, Miriam going into battle in the nude, and dancing bananas. The latter was so discordant I woke up. Angel snuggled against me. I nodded off again. A gorilla and a lizard were dancing on the sand this time. I gave them both a beer and they turned into the twins. Miriam gave them a beer and they turned back into a gorilla and a lizard. Miriam vanished in a puff of purple smoke.
I woke up shivering. After a while, I went back to sleep again.
Thirty Three
I was sitting in my command chair, in space.
No ship, no life support, no nothing.
Just me, in my chair, in space.
Space behind me turned black.
I bolted out of bed in a blind panic.
MEOW!
Angel was not impressed but I was too shaken to even notice her. I bolted for the bathroom and threw up. I sat there on the bathroom floor wondering what that had been all about.
As I tried to get some composure, I heard footsteps coming up the staircase.
Amanda and Aleesha burst into the bathroom.
"Did you see that?" they both exclaimed.
I threw up again.
"I guess that’s a yes," said Amanda.
They dragged me back into the bedroom and flopped me back on the bed. Angel came over and sat on my forehead. She leaned down and licked my nose.
I woke up.
Angel was sitting on my forehead licking my nose.
Amanda and Aleesha burst into the bedroom.
"Did you see that?" they both exclaimed.
I woke up.
Angel was asleep next to me as usual.
Nothing at all seemed to be abnormal. I patted Angel for a bit, pondering if the dream had been trying to tell me anything. If it was, I couldn’t see it. I finally slid off the bed and showered. I decided not to have breakfast and went to my office to catch up on the overnight reports.
We now had another three clusters, making four in total. Each cluster was of twelve ships. Each ship had the basic shape of a Talon, but the resemblance ended there. Where the cockpit had been, was a missile launcher, and a torpedo launcher. Above them was a four gun Point Defense turret. Another was on the underside. I looked at the performance specs that Jane had generated after her initial trials. It was faster and better shielded than any other fighter with the exception of Excalibur. I started thinking about a name to call them.
Also complete and in the small ship docking spaces, were six Mustang class Privateers. They had been able to repair an extra two from the hulks of the other seven I'd destroyed. I'd expected four. I loved a bonus. I emailed John Slice to arrange pilot assignments so the best pilots got to fly them. As they had more Point Defense than anything other than Excalibur and Gunbus, I suggested he start drilling the squadrons so that they and Excalibur were spread among the other ships for protection. Of course, in a dogfight, any attempt at formations would collapse, but at the start, there were going to be so many missiles that every little bit would help any individual ship.
Thinking about what we had, led me to looking at the fleet Susan had brought with her. Two Cruisers, four Destroyers, and Six Corvettes. They worried me. The Sci-Fi fleet had been Destroyers and Corvettes and had died rapidly. I pondered how to use them. Something popped in, so I sent it to Susan. Repulse and her fleet had moved to the Atlantis jump point during the night.
Amanda and Aleesha burst into the office.
"Did you see that?" they both exclaimed.
I fell out of my chair, and lay there waiting to wake up again.
"Was that a yes?" asked Amanda.
If I was still asleep, I obviously wasn’t waking easily this time. Besides, my left knee was hurting from landing on it.
"Yes" I said. "Know what it means?"
"No, maybe we should ask George."
"Do that."
I picked myself up and sat again. The girls stood there looking at me.
"What?"
"Are we always naked when you dream of us?" asked Aleesha.
"Are you wearing anything now?" I asked in return.
"Oops," said Amanda, and the girls shifted into 'slinky red'.
We all laughed. They went for showers and breakfast, I went on with some work.
As seven thirty drew close, I went down to Vonda's office. She was sitting at her conference table, waiting for the screen to light up.
"No more from Cobol?" I asked her.
"Nothing."
We sat there in silence together, waiting for the inevitable. Alsop joined us.
Three people looking at a blank wall. Three poker faces trying not to show the dread we felt. Alsop stiffened.
The screen lit up with a two star General I'd seen at the Atlantis conference.
"General Wellington. I have to report that Midgard forces have just down jumped at the Atlantis Cobol jump point. Our
scout is retreating towards the Avon jump point. Six Cruisers and fifteen squadrons of Talons, as expected. Our station is on high alert, but we don’t have the troops to put up much of a fight. I'd like to go with the plan I suggested to you yesterday. We probably have little communication time left, so I would appreciate your fast response. I don’t see that we can do much else except hide and wait for your forces to liberate us. Connelly out."
"The plan?" I prompted.
"He proposed abandoning their station and leaving it for them, open to space. As such, if they want to use any part of it, they'll first need to seal it, and re-air it from their own ship supplies. That will take time, and maybe give us the same advantage as if Atlantean troops had fought to hold it."
"Damn good plan."
"Commander, issue the orders please."
"Yes sir."
The next one was predictably Admiral Jedburgh. He looked happier.
"I've just had the word that another fleet attempted to jump into Miami. The entire fleet destroyed itself on the debris mine field we left there. Hunter, any time you want to give up being freelance, you come talk to me about a job." He was grinning. "Our fleet is getting stronger. By the time you've retaken Azgard, we should be in a good position to jump into Midgard at the same time you do. Good luck tomorrow morning. Everyone here will be thinking and praying for those at the Avon Atlantis jump point. Jedburgh out."
At least there was good news going with the bad. Of course, there was nothing from Midnight. My gut tensed thinking about the people I knew there.
"I'm going for a walk," I announced. "Let me know if anything else comes in."
Vonda nodded. I left.
I decided to walk over to the station admin area and find out how the station upgrade was going. I'd had some updates, but there was nothing like eyeballing the work.
I walked out through the docking area in front of Gunbus to the public walkway.
There was the sound of a heavy weapon firing and I was slammed backwards, landing heavily on my left side. I stood up. My hands went for guns that weren't there. I'd never expected to need guns on my own station. Sloppy thinking.
My suit had gone into full protection mode and so I was seeing using my PC. I scanned around looking for targets. A platoon of soldiers were now standing on the walkway looking at me. The unarmed combat routines, which Amanda had given me the first time she had started to train me to protect myself, went primary. I aimed at the nearest soldier and ran at him. Sidearm style laser fire started hitting me but it didn’t slow me down. I reached the man, who was looking like a ghost was coming at him, and he went down beneath my fists. I was on automatic now. I went through half the platoon before I was again blasted off my feet, and again landed on my left side. I calmly stood up again. I sought out the heavy weapon firer and went at him. He went white. It didn’t last for long when I reached him.
Send in the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 3) Page 21
