“Oh, shit,” said George. He knew that look all too well.
“Jane, take us back to the fleet please. Have the freighters follow along behind us.”
“Confirmed.”
I opened a channel to the Mark Hamill.
“Captain Dunning, do you have towing capability?”
“Yes sir. You want the station to be moved?”
“Yes please. Take it back to Midgard, and put it in synchronous orbit over the capital city. Inform General Wellington she now has a base, with my compliments.”
“Aye sir. After?”
“Form up with Warspite, and wait for us to return.”
“Yes sir.”
The channel closed. Mark Hamill peeled out of formation, and headed down towards the station. When she was clear, I ordered the fleet to continue.
Five minutes later, another black dot appeared on the scanner. We made a slight course change to bring us straight to it. I was surprised we hadn’t seen it already on the front view, as the HUD details showed it to be huge. At least as big as the Sydney jump point station, which being a combined military and civilian station, was bigger than most. All the same, it wasn’t visible until we passed a small moon, and found it in orbit of another moon. The planet the moons orbited was a large gas giant.
The fleet stopped at a healthy distance, within weapons range.
“Same message Jane.”
“Confirmed.”
There was a very long pause.
“They don’t believe the planet surrendered.”
“Figures. Can you clone yourself to their computer?”
“Done. The clone’s name is Janice. Should it get a little stuffy over there?”
“You couldn’t do that with the shipyard.”
“No, but here we can. The life support system here is a lot different.”
“Do so. Put a life support failure message on every screen.”
“Confirmed.”
“What ships have they got?”
“The six Cruisers which evacuated the Shipyard, and three medium freighters.”
“Are they enough to evacuate everyone?”
“No. Looks like they have three full fleets worth of people here, in addition to a crew. It will need most of the freighters we took from the other station to carry them.”
“Dock them please. Suggest they have only ten minutes to evacuate, before they lose air completely, and let them know we’re sending them more ships.”
“Confirmed. Freighters will be here in about five minutes.”
“What are you up to sir?” asked Lacey.
“Just relocating Midgard citizens back to their planet.”
“Bollocks,” one of the pilots mumbled.
I grinned at them.
“That’s bollocks, sir,” I responded, still grinning.
We watched as the freighters docked. The first of the Cruisers pulled back from the station.
“Jane, tell the Cruisers to hold their positions. When all ships are loaded, they’ll be escorted safely back to Midgard. Any attempt to escape will result in the destruction of the ships.”
“Confirmed.”
“Isn’t that a bit harsh?” asked George.
“Sure. I wouldn’t do it though. They only need to hear it. If need be, we can tow the lot of them back.”
There were a few relieved faces.
“There are some life signs on the station which appear to be ignoring the life support failure,” said Jane.
“George, take Custer over to the station, and have the team do a sweep through it. I want every civilian off that station. If need be, stun them, and haul them to a ship.”
“You’ve got it.”
He stood, and ran out.
I opened a channel to Custer, and repeated the orders to Annabelle.
In record time, indicating George must have run the whole way he couldn’t trolley, Custer undocked, and moved across to the station. I threw suit cams onto the view screen, and we watched as the team were guided by Janice to where people gathered. All of them were wearing the same sort of breathing gear we’d encountered when my station had been boarded a week ago.
The biggest group was in administration. Janice told them to surrender peacefully. They refused. We watched the team taking ineffective fire from them, as one by one they were all stunned. Cargo droids from Custer hauled the bodies off to the nearest ship.
It took an hour to subdue, and remove, the remaining people. The freighters sealed their airlocks, and undocked. The one’s Jane controlled, moved out to form a line behind the fleet. The others were directed to join them. At first they refused. I had Jane threaten to destroy them. It took all the turrets on the fleet pointed at them, to change their minds. The ships moved into a rough formation with the other freighters. I had four of the Guardians take positions behind them.
Custer undocked as well, and re-docked with BigMother.
I stood, changed my suit to ‘slinky red’, and sat again.
“You’re not,” said Alison, with her mouth left open.
“I’m claiming this abandoned station. Jane, have one of the Guardian’s take the station under tow please. Two others for escort. Take it to where the Shipyard is. Get Janine to build more station tugs, sufficient for moving both stations.”
“Confirmed.”
“Isn’t this piracy?” asked Lacey.
“No, Privateer Law. I captured the station, in a time of war, using my AI, and my own troops, who were fired upon after calling for surrender. No-one else is here to dispute the claim. It’s the same principal as claiming a ship after a battle, except war claims need no adjudication when abandoned.”
“I guess so.”
I grinned at him.
“And since you’re all crew on the BigMother at the time of capture, under the terms of our contract, you’re all listed as crew members of the station, and entitled to a share of the income it produces.”
There was a mixture of smiles and shakes of the head. I beamed at them until they were all smiling back.
It took another half hour to attach the tow, and for station and escort to move off. The fleet started back to Midgard. I switched my suit back to fatigues.
We all went down for a late dinner, where we found the rest of the team, just arriving from Custer.
Eight
Dinner was a boisterous affair, now the war seemed to be over. We were still lingering over desserts (me), and coffee (everyone else), when we arrived back at Midgard. The return trip had taken more than twice as long as the outbound trip, because we were escorting slow freighters.
The Cruisers were instructed to dock at the station, and offload everyone. All the freighters followed them. The station was going to be crowded for a while, until everyone was ferried down to the surface.
Jane sent her security droids in for crowd control, using my shuttles, but not the Gig, which I didn’t want to get trashed. Each shuttle also carried five combat droids. The security droids, who appeared to be human, and thus wouldn’t alarm anyone, started loading operations.
I instructed every ship with its own shuttle, to provide a military escort for the pilot, and begin taking people down. As well as the shuttle dock, we configured some of the main docks to take shuttles.
The drop off point was a large field outside the capital city. Those who were still out from stunning, went first, and were literally dropped in a heap out of the way.
Once the Cruisers and freighters were empty, I had Jane send over repair droids with fighter computers, so Jane could use the ships fully. They also gave the ships Hunter ID overlays. As each one was completed, it docked with a Pocket Battleship, loaded up with the salvaged hulls it was carrying, and Jane sent it to the jump point, to dock with the station. The super-freighter loaded all the remaining hulls, and was the last to leave.
My small freighter landed on the Flight Deck, was taken down, and unloaded. It didn’t need to do another trip, so it joined the shuttles in moving people. The last
lot of parts would hopefully see the rest of the fighter’s combat ready by the morning. The ships might be ready, but I doubted the pilots would be. Miriam had gone down to check on them, and found a party in progress. By the sound of things, there would be hangovers in the morning.
Vonda came back aboard, and we conferred in my Ready Room. She sent off a vid announcing that two stations had been neutralized, and subject to the patrols not finding anything else, the war would be declared over the following morning.
We joined in the celebrations downstairs, which had moved into the Rec Room. I was surprised to find Angel in there. She was getting plenty of attention, and lapping it up.
Around eleven, I decided to called it a night. I picked up Angel, received a mwow of protest, and a lot of wiggling, and put her down again. She went off to seek someone else to pat her. I quietly left.
I was in boxers and t-shirt when I heard my door open and close. Miriam walked in with a grin on her face, pushed me down onto the bed, and did a strip tease.
All thoughts of sleep, vanished.
* * *
GOOD MORNING MIDGARD!
I jerked awake, as did Miriam beside me.
“Jane, did you do that to the whole ship?”
“I certainly did,” she said with a laugh.
“Sadist.”
“That’s one of the milder comments.” The laugh echoed around the room.
“I bet,” said Miriam.
“You have orders Jon.”
Miriam pecked me on the lips, moved her breasts against my chest, and ….
“YOU HAVE ORDERS JON!”
I rocketed up, Miriam pushed aside, and fell out of bed, on my left side.
Miriam looked over the side at me.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Jon, don’t make me send in a combat droid,” said Jane.
“Yes mum.”
Miriam giggled.
I dragged myself up, and headed for the shower. Miriam followed. Jane at least gave us time for a leisurely wash and dry. Back in fatigues, Miriam headed for breakfast, and I to my Ready Room.
“Sitrep,” I said when comfortably seated.
“Most of the pilots and marines are hung over.”
“No surprise there. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“All ships are back from their patrols. Nothing additional found. General Wellington formally announced the war to be over a half hour ago. The comnavsats are all placed. We now have an unbroken coverage of ship movements all the way to Nexus.”
“Show me.”
The scanner map went up on the main screen. It did indeed show all ship movements between here and the Nexus 618 system. Nexus was the central hub of the Australian sector. I was interested to see a lot of traffic heading in and out of Midnight, past my station, Hunters Redoubt. As I watched, a blue dot detached from the station and headed towards an Australian destination.
I dragged my attention away from it.
“You mentioned orders?”
“Check your emails.”
Indeed there were.
The first was from General Patton.
“Vice Admiral, congratulations on a job well done. As soon as General Wellington can release you, you are to proceed to Dallas Orbital. Bring the Corvettes and Privateers with you. They’ll go into the shipyard to complete their repairs. Once you arrive, have the Sabres and Epees transfer to the Military Orbital, or Shipyard, depending on their condition. Advise my aide when you jump into Dallas.”
“On a personal note, I must say when your promotions came up each time, I strenuously argued against them, based on your age, and short experience. I admit I was wrong. You have conducted the war better than most of the Generals and Admirals I know could have.”
“There will be further orders for you once you reach Dallas Orbital. I’m sure the civilians will want a formal celebration, so be prepared for one. Patton out.”
I sat back for a moment, absorbing what I’d heard. A four star General apologizing? When I’d been responsible for getting so many Americans killed? He was right in the first place, for Gaia’s sake. It didn’t make sense.
I moved on to the next one, being General Harriman.
“Congratulations Jon. You did the impossible. And while I know you’re sitting there wondering what all the fuss is about, take it from me, Australian sector is very grateful to you. The Americans caught a series of bad breaks, and we feel for them. But all the same, Midgard never entered American space, so their sacrifice was not in vain. Don’t beat yourself up about the losses. It’s part of command.”
“Your station is becoming a hub of activity here, as traffic between the sectors gets back to normal. It’ll be a shame to move it now. Are you sure you want to do that? Let me know. I’m sure I can convince Sci-Fi sector to allow it to remain here.”
“Enjoy the celebrations. That’s an order!”
He grinned at me briefly, and the vid ended. I started one to send back.
“Walter, thanks for your email. Order accepted.” I gave him a grin. “The station can stay where it is. However, make sure it’s well away from the jump point, and not in the line towards Bad Wolf. I’ve taken possession of another station, one the size of Sydney station. It will be heading your direction as soon as I can organize it. It’ll go to the center of the Nexus system, just off the traffic routes between the jump points. You can advise the merchants of the new station, and where it’ll be. I’ll let them have first choice of moving to the new station if they wish, or establishing themselves on both stations. Let David know, so he can make preparations for moving there, and duplicating the administration section. It’ll need some work first, so there’ll be no hurry to do anything.”
“I’m ordered to Dallas, and assume there’ll be a delay in leaving there. At this point, I have no idea when you can expect me back. But I’ll send the stations on soon, regardless of when I can leave. I’ll advise you further when I know anything. Hunter out.”
The next email was from General Price.
“Congratulations Vice Admiral. Job well done. I have to admit I had my doubts about you at first, but your conduct has been exemplary. Proceed to Dallas, and offload the Americans. Leave the Avon troops with General Wellington. I’ll have further orders for you when you get there. Price out.”
Marshall Bigglesworth had the last word.
“Vice Admiral. Congratulations on a job well done. I’ve heard nothing but good things from Admiral Bentley. I look forward to meeting you soon, as do a few others here on London. Bigglesworth out.”
I wondered what he meant by that. London wasn’t in the general direction I intended going. Even if I was ordered back to Avon, London wasn’t on the way.
I sighed. It would be good to get back into my own uniform. It would be even better to get back into civvies for a while.
I called a meeting of senior officers for nine.
Nine
I looked around the room. Seated at the conference table were General’s Wellington and Smith; Admiral’s Bentley and Dingle; Commodore O’Neal; Captain’s Johansson, Dunning, and Channing; and Commander’s Greer and Young. Alsop and Alison sat at the other end.
“End of this road,” I said with a smile. “I have orders to take the American pilots to Dallas.”
“I also have orders for Dallas,” said Susan Bentley.
“Admiral,” I said to Dingle, “You’ll command the Sci-Fi ships, under General Wellington. Give her all the support she needs, as Governor of the system. You report to General Price, through Commander Alsop. I’ve had no word about the status of this system, but for now, assume it’s quarantined. You’ll need to put ships at the Azgard jump point to stop people jumping in. I have assets there at the moment doing the job, but they’ll be gone within two days. So work up a deployment plan that blockades this planet and system. You won’t need to worry about the Miami jump point yet. The Americans have a sizable fleet still there. If that changes, someone will let you know.
Although at some point, Sci-Fi sector will need to take responsibility for that jump point as well.”
“Yes sir.”
“Captain Johansson. Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Backblast, will form the primary escort for the Diplomatic Mission which is on its way. You’ll wait at the Miami jump point for their arrival. In all other respects, which don’t interfere with the Diplomatic Mission, you’ll report to Admiral Dingle, until a more senior American officer arrives, or you’re recalled.”
“Yes sir.”
“General Smith, the Avon troops will be remaining here. Debark them to the station, with enough supplies for three days. The Senior Colonel has the command, reporting directly to General Wellington. Move them to Custer, and have George dock her at the station for the transfer. They can clean the station to keep them busy. Identify a place to convert into an armoury.”
“Yes sir.”
“Commanders, your squadrons will be returning to Dallas for repairs. Arrow formation ahead of the fleet please. No point in having a normal CAP while we’re on the move.”
Why did that sound like famous last words?
“Sir,” said Greer. Miriam nodded.
I turned to Alsop.
“Commander, have you done provisioning orders for the station yet?”
“No, sir. I was going to inventory before ordering.”
“I think you can order without doing that. The station will need a full complement of building, repair, butler, maid, and cleaning droids. Add salvage, and search and rescue to the list, as well as the normal amount of trolleys, shuttles and maintenance scooters. It needs a new station computer as fast as one can be delivered. Assume the accommodations will need rebuilding, or at the least, refurbishing, and order new beds, and bed linens. Also everything else for kitchens, bathrooms, and Rec Areas. Order enough food for five hundred people, for three months. Add whatever a normal station administration requires, and anything Governor Wellington wants for her comfort and wellbeing. Think of everything a station normally has, which a tech hating people would destroy or remove. Get the order off as soon as you can. I assume Avon will order from Dallas, and it’ll all be here tomorrow.”
Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero Page 5
