Movement. My proximity alert showed weapons incoming.
I snapped both of our suits into full protection mode. My suit changed in a way I hadn’t seen before, making me look like I was wearing hugely thick body armour.
I seized both gatling stunners from my arms, and looped my arms under the hand holds for the scooter, using my elbows against the undersides to keep me in place, raising my guns towards the door.
Jane was suddenly likewise armed. I didn’t know how she did it, because I hadn’t seen her with a gun since we’d arrived at London. She must have figured out a way for her suit to hide them.
We waited, proximity alarms showing where the movement was.
As the door burst open, both of us began firing. A dozen armed men went down as they entered. Another dozen behind them opened fire on the three of us. Our suits took the fire without problems, and they went down under our gunfire as well.
The firing stopped. I changed our suits back to ‘slinky red’.
Queen Liz went over to the first fallen man. She kneeled down, and took a long look at his face.
“What is this?” she asked. “This is the Duke of Norfolk!”
“You might want to rethink such appointments,” I said, “when you get a moment.” She looked at me strangely and straightened up. “Jane, we’re leaving. Gunbus to the roof please.”
“Confirmed.”
“Majesty, step up onto the scooter behind me, and put your arms through underneath my armpits and loop them up around my shoulders. Please don’t touch me anywhere below the shoulder level.”
She did as she was told. The feel of her pressed up against my back felt good.
“Hold on tight, and don’t let go for any reason.”
“Okay.”
“Jane, pick up the Duke, and take point. Once on board, put him in the brig. If he’s the leader of whatever this is, having him in custody might be an asset.”
“Confirmed.”
She picked him up as if he weighed nothing, and I followed her out of the room, and up the staircase as fast as I dared. Jeeves followed me. At the top, we started taking fire again from a platoon of troops already up there, and we stopped to mow them down. They were ordinary troops with no body armour of any sort. Ideal for handling civilians, but not for Jane and me.
Gunbus came down like a dropship, and stopped to one side of the roof, with her ramp extended a meter above us. I kicked the scooter up enough to scoot into the open Cargo Bay. The ramp retracted, and the airlock began to close behind us, as Jane and Jeeves jumped through after me. Jane took Gunbus up as fast as she’d come down.
I scooted us up to the Bridge. Queen Liz dropped off the scooter, and sat in the Coms chair. I eased myself into my chair, which had the leg support already in place, and sent the scooter to a corner. Jane came in a minute later and took the XO’s position, as she normally did on Gunbus. As I looked beyond her, I saw the figure of Kali in its position, although it was supposed to be on BigMother’s Bridge instead. Ganesha’s was also there.
Gunbus burst through the top of the atmosphere into space, and the scanner became fully active again.
Dull red dots further out in the system, lit up the scanner and HUD.
A channel opened.
The vid showed a middle aged man with Admiral’s stripes, on a uniform I didn’t recognize.
“Ah,” he said with a grin. “Our beloved Queen, with the boy cripple, who plays at being an Admiral.”
His grin became predatory as he looked at me.
“Well boy, surrender or die!”
Twenty Nine
I stared him down. In response to his supercilious predator grin, I gave him my Admiral’s look.
“To whom do I not have the pleasure of addressing?” I asked him.
The grin slipped, and annoyance showed for a second.
“You are speaking with High Admiral Thaddeus Abbott, of the pirate Battleship Unassailable.”
“Oh? High Admiral is it? Does that imply there’s a Highest Admiral you report to?”
I gave him my smug look.
“Don’t banter wit with me, boy. Surrender or die.”
“Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you.”
His grin slipped again, for just a moment. Then he laughed.
“You and whose army?” he challenged me with. “We’ll be taking back the Carrier you stole from us, and eventually our Corvette as well. The Carrier can’t leave the station, so all you have to fight with is that puny so called Heavy Transport.”
“I’ll match my puny transport against your Battleship any time you like, Mr. Abbott.” I emphasized the Mr.
The grin slipped completely, and rage replaced it.
“You choose to die then. Pity. We wanted the Queen alive so she could dissolve the British nobility once and for all, and then abdicate. My Republican allies have promised to allow me to base in this sector, while we retake what was once ours. No matter, a dead Queen kidnapped by a love sick boy will do just as well. My fleet will be in orbit shortly. Prepare to be destroyed!”
The channel closed.
“Smarmy git,” I said. “That went well.”
“How did that go at all well?” asked Queen Liz.
“We now know there’s a Republican coup in progress, and they have allied themselves with pirates. The question is, your Majesty, what do you intend to do about it?”
“Do? What can I do?”
“Act like a Queen for a start. Do you abdicate, or fight? Choose.”
“Fight!”
“Then act like a Queen under attack. What are your orders?”
She looked at me for a moment, stood, and drew herself erect.
“Jonathon Hunter, I call you to service in the British Fleet, with the rank of full Admiral. Do you accept this commission?”
“I do.”
“You are ordered to put down this coup, and deal with this pirate rabble. Use any resources available. Appoint anyone you trust to command, with commissions in the British Fleet.”
“Yes Majesty. Please take your seat, and buckle up.”
She did so, and I took a moment to think. I wasn’t given any longer.
“Military transport approaching the Flight Deck of BigMother, rear entrance.”
“Take us there Jane.”
“Confirmed.”
I checked the scanner. We had maybe ten minutes before the pirate fleet arrived, and it would take five to reach BigMother. I pulled up details of the fleet. One Battleship, two Cruisers, four Destroyers. One of the Cruisers and two of the Destroyers were British Fleet.
“You have mutineers Majesty.”
I pointed out the British ships to her.
“Destroy them please. Destroy them all.”
“Yes Majesty.”
I put team coms on the Bridge com system so Queen Liz could hear.
“General Smith.”
“Sir?”
“The team has just joined the British Fleet, by Order of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the fifth. You are ordered to put down the coup, using any means necessary. Stun if possible, but heavy weapons are arriving with the combat suits if needed. Be sure a target is an enemy before you take terminal action. At this point, we don’t know who is friendly, and who is not. Once your area is cleared, you will retake the Palace. I assume the Houses of Parliament were also taken, so assume this is the case and act accordingly. Think like a coup leader and retake any place you consider they may have gone after. Jane is in battle on the Orbital station as we speak. I’ll be busy with an enemy fleet up here, so you have the command on the ground. If you encounter any superior officer who won’t take your orders, stun and detain. At least one Duke is a ringleader, so make no assumptions about who may or may not be involved. Marshall Bigglesworth got the alarm out to me in time, but I’ve not heard from him since. He’s either down, or somewhere being jammed. One objective is to ascertain his fate, and if needed, effect a rescue. We’re operating under the direct command of the Queen, fo
r as long as the situation requires. Do you understand?”
“Yes sir. I have General Hobbs with me now, and he’s been listening in. The SAS will take my orders, and are preparing to move out now. The Dropships are coming in as we speak.”
“I sent six of Jane’s special suits.”
“Understood.”
She started bellowing orders.
“Hobbs?” I said to Queen Liz.
“Two star, very reliable.”
I nodded, and turned my attention back to the Orbital station, which was coming close now.
“Jane, sitrep.”
“Battle is still occurring around Station Operations. BigMother is secure on the station side, and the airlocks are closed. Still unable to undock.”
“Military Transport?”
“About to touch down on the Flight Deck.”
“Can you identify who it is?”
“Mercenary unit. Hell’s Sword.”
Great, another dark merc unit. I brought up a screen from a Flight Deck cam. The transport touched down, and combat suits emerged.
“Analysis of their combat suits?”
“Bottom of the range,” she said with a smirk.
“Any tactical difference we can exploit?”
“Main differences are how much damage they’ll take. Their sensors are nowhere near as good either. In fact, I just jammed them. They have no sensors or coms now.”
A smile came over my face. The Queen had her first look at the expression Alsop hated so much.
“What’s the difference in terms of how much gravity they can take, and still move?”
“Basic suits can still move in five gees. Ours can take ten gees. They’re gathered outside a single airlock, preparing to enter.”
“Unlock the airlock, back our forces out of weapons range, and let them in.”
“Let them in?” said Queen Liz, a look of amazement on her face.
“Yes. Jane, once they’re all inside, turn up the gravity to eight gees.”
“Confirmed!”
“If you have to, go as high as you need to immobilize them completely.”
“Confirmed.”
Gunbus slowed as we came near the station.
I took manual control, and brought us around the rear of BigMother, and we looked down the Flight Deck.
The Military Transport was sitting square in the rear entrance, and as we watched, the last combat suit disappeared through an airlock. It closed behind the suit.
“Mercs immobilized,” announced Jane. “It only took five gees too. Suggests the suits were old.”
I grinned at her.
Now for the transport. I opened a channel.
“Gunbus to Hell’s Sword.”
“What have you done to my team?”
“Neutralized them. Stand down and you get to live, otherwise I’ll blow you where you are.”
“You wouldn’t dare. You’d damage your own ship.”
“Not really. You don’t have shields. One torpedo will tear you apart enough you won’t be leaving in a hurry.”
“Huh! You wouldn’t.”
“Are you basing this on what you see on your vid, or have you actually viewed my Mercenary record?”
“You’re a kid. What record could you possibly have?”
“Fine. With luck, you’ll still be alive to look it up.”
I closed the channel. I looked at Queen Liz, and raised my eyebrows several times quickly. She grinned.
I took a careful bead on the middle of the transport’s engine, and fired a single torpedo. The back end of the ship exploded, spraying ship fragments in all directions. I backed us away, and turned to see what the pirates were doing.
They were in a V formation with the Battleship in the middle, and now less than a minute to orbit. I moved us away from the station so I’d have room to maneuver if I needed to.
“SAS barracks secure,” said Annabelle over team coms. “Moving out now.”
“Fighting continues on the station,” said Jane. “I still can’t undock.”
“Bugger it,” I said. “Get those Meson Streamers which almost killed me, and cut her loose from the station.” I looked at the Queen. “Sever the station side connections.” She nodded approval.
“Confirmed.”
A channel opened from the Battleship.
“Last chance to surrender, kiddies. Bad enough having a girl in charge of the government, without a boy pretending he can protect her from us.”
“Jane,” I said deliberately into the open channel, “take aim at the Battleship. Full broadside. Target the Bridge.”
“Confirmed.”
The High Admiral of pirates laughed. The rest of his Bridge crew laughed with him.
“What do you intend to fire at me boy? Your anti-fighter missiles can’t hurt my shields, and you know it. The only missiles you have which are any threat are on your Carrier, which can’t fire while docked.”
“Do you have a parrot?” I asked him.
“Parrot? What are you babbling on about?”
“All good pirate captains should have a parrot. And a wooden leg. I ask because I’d hate to kill an innocent parrot.”
He laughed hysterically, and his crew followed his lead.
It took him a minute to calm down.
“No boy, I don’t have a parrot. You’ve been reading too many kids books.”
I grinned at him.
“Maybe so. And I’m relieved to only be killing vermin.”
His mirth changed to malice in an instant.
“Target that ship,” he ordered.
“Mr. Pirate,” I said. “You’re wrong about something important.”
He laughed again.
“And what would that be?”
I looked at Jane.
“Fire.”
Thirty
Three hundred missiles launched downwards from BigMother, arced around her hull, and headed for the Battleship.
“Launch.”
Four white dots appeared on the scanner, as the four Guardians disconnected from BigMother. They moved into a position flanking Gunbus, and we moved to intercept the pirate fleet. For a moment I seriously thought about launching Custer as well. But she didn’t have the offensive firepower to help much, and there was no way we could move to her safely. Besides, Gunbus made a smaller target to hit.
“Launch the Hives.”
Twelve Hive clusters detached from the upper hull, and moved into flanking positions as well.
“Missile launch,” said Jane. “They have the Mosquito system!”
Seven hundred tiny missiles had launched, showing they had a single Mosquito launcher on each ship. As we watched, most of my missiles were destroyed, and only a handful hit the shields of the Battleship. The fact of any getting through at all suggested they were using only a single medium level AI to control them.
“Guardians to attack the Destroyers one at a time. I want them destroyed to remove their Mosquito launchers. Hives to co-ordinate with torpedoes.”
“Confirmed.”
My ships moved. I bucked Gunbus away from the first laser salvo coming from the Battleship. The enemy formation changed to line abreast, and then fell apart as each ship moved differently to counter the speed my ships were moving to intercept them at.
Laser pulses crisscrossed the area. I had to concentrate on keeping Gunbus clear of them.
Part of my mind went into staying clear of the pulses. The rest of my mind analyzed the best course of action.
Abruptly, I flipped Gunbus end for end and started heading away from the fight at full speed. Pulses followed me, so I had to continue juking erratically.
“What are you doing?” asked Queen Liz.
“Getting you to safety Majesty.”
“You want me to be known as the Queen who ran away?”
“You want to be a dead Queen?”
She glared at me for a moment.
“No, I don’t want to be dead. But I also don’t want to be the Queen who ran
away.”
“Trust me.”
“To run away?”
“No, to know when running is the only rational thing to do, and when fighting is the proper logical choice.”
A pulse almost got us, as my attention had wandered from the battle behind us.
“Don’t jog my elbow Majesty, please.”
The Guardians and Hives were firing on the first of the Destroyers, using guns, missiles, and torpedoes. They were all taking hits from the other enemy ships, but shields were holding for now.
She glared at me again, but didn’t say anything more.
I dodged another set of pulses, and we kept on running away.
A channel opened.
“And so the boy coward runs,” gloated Mr. Pirate Abbott. He laughed, until something caught his eye. “What the hell was that?” he asked someone off screen.
“That,” I said, “was one of your Destroyers turning into confetti.”
The Guardians and Hives turned their attention on the next nearest Destroyer. Shields were down round the eighty percent mark now.
There was a bellow of outrage from his pirate-ness, followed by orders.
The Battleship turned away from pursuing us, and started towards the fight behind it.
I flipped Gunbus again, now heading more up than back. First I wanted an angled line so the pulses still coming from some of the Battleship’s guns would have the hardest time hitting us, while at the same time, I wanted to position Gunbus for the attack I had in mind.
A second Destroyer exploded. The Guardians started shooting at the next closest. Shields were now in their seventies.
The Battleship entered range of the Guardians about the same time I reached my turning point. All her guns now began to fire at the Guardians. The drain on their shields increased, but the enemy ships were trying to fire on all of them, where my ships were only firing on a single target until it was destroyed.
The third Destroyer staggered and went dark, as a missile salvo mostly hit it. There weren’t enough Mosquito missiles being launched now to fully counter the Guardian’s full broadsides, and the missiles still coming from BigMother. Their AI obviously couldn’t cope. The Guardians shifted target to the last Destroyer.
Gunbus was halfway to its target now, hopefully forgotten. I grouped up all the main guns, both the fixed forward ones, and in the side turrets, and waited for target lock on my target.
Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero Page 18
