Jane and I were the only ones not to go down. Jane because her droid frame could brace itself enough not to be affected by the momentum of the shots, and me because I was now in mid hop.
Target acquisition went primary. The gatling stunner spat in one direction, while the Long Gun sought the worst threats. It spat twelve times in as many seconds, before I holstered it and drew the other gatling stunner. Jane and I started moving forwards, taking fire, and dishing it out.
The twelve threats I thought I’d neutralized, rose up, and all fired Pulse Rifles at the two of us. I was in the air again before I knew it, spitting fire back at the closest one. It seemed ineffectual.
Time stopped.
I looked down on the situation from above. The twins, Alison, and Aline, were all out cold, sprawled out behind where they’d been standing moments before. Their suits were intact, but they’d each taken multiple Pulse Rifle hits. Abagail, and both Generals were down, but in the process of getting up. The Generals were wearing suits, I was relieved to see. Amy was curled in a ball, her suit intact as well. Petersen was trying to crawl away from the firing, her suit showing the first signs of shredding. Pyne had multiple serious injuries. He was bleeding badly from the chest, and not so badly in two other places. He hadn’t been wearing a suit belt. The nearest security droid was in the process of changing back to a belt, and was moving towards him.
I’d screwed up again.
Gung-ho had overridden paranoid, and my team was down as a result, perhaps even badly injured. I couldn’t tell from this perspective.
There looked to be three groups of attackers. The group nearest us were armed with Pulse Rifles, and they were all wearing suits. I’d only seen twelve Rifles, but there were actually twenty five. Another twelve were armed with handguns. At a guess, the Pulse Rifles had been aimed at me and my team, while the handguns had gone for the Generals and their aides. Amy had simply been another target, even though it should’ve been obvious she wasn’t armed, and wasn’t military.
The third group were the ones attacking the station security force. Half of both sides were down, as none of them were wearing suits.
It was as nice an ambush as I would ever see, perfectly executed. Although three different groups seemed to be involved, the co-ordination had been spot on.
Jane and I were rushing into more trouble than we could handle.
Time restarted, and I pulled Jane to a halt, and turned us to retreat back to the ship.
“Jane,” I said, as I hobbled back the way we’d come, still taking fire, each step ending in a hop as the suit took the hits, “get the team under cover and bring up the combat suits. We’re outclassed as we are. Time to bring out the big guns.”
We made it to the airlock as security droids pulled the rest around the side of the airlock, and out of the line of fire.
I took up position where the airlock gave me some protection, and continued firing. I pinged Price for authorization to use heavy weapons on the station. He gave it.
Jane had a line of combat droids across the airlock within another minute, blocking the way, in case whoever was attacking us wanted in. But they only held stunners, so their fire was ineffectual. All the same, no-one was going to get past them.
Twelve combat suits moved into position behind them, carrying two Pulse Rifles each. None of them were Jane specials. I raced to the nearest one, holstering as I went, and practically jumped in the back. It closed on me, the gun I’d holstered on my hip dug into my side, and the systems came online.
“Jane, leave the combat droids where they are in case anyone gets past us. Let’s go get them with the suits.”
“Confirmed.”
“Charge!” I yelled.
I’ve always wanted to say that.
Twelve combat suits began moving purposefully towards the attackers, who rose from behind their cover, and blasted away at us with everything they had.
I used both Rifles as a single entity. Acquire target, lock, and fire both. The targets went down under the double hits, but some of them were able to rise again. They were given another dose.
By the time I reached the other side of the dock area, only four belt suited figures remained on their feet.
Three of them were only using one arm, while cradling some area of themselves, indicating heavy bruising underneath.
The fourth was standing there firing at me, screaming his defiance of my advance. He was a giant of a man, and he’d braced himself against a wall. He took my last double shot without flinching, firing once more at me, before I smashed the butt of my right hand Pulse Rifle into his head, followed by the left one into his chest. His head smacked back into the wall, before following the rest of his body down to the deck.
I looked around for the next target, and found them all down.
“Perimeter Jane. Interlace the combat droids. Have some security droids collect all the weapons. Move our attackers where they can be contained. Stun if they come to. If they won’t stun because of a suit, pulse them.”
“Confirmed.”
I started looking for the local security forces.
“Jon,” said Jane, “the team need medical assistance. I’m loading them up onto a trolley now. Jump on the back and ride shotgun as I go past.”
I pinged Lance Freelander, the station’s head of security, to find out where he was. He replied he was on his way, delayed by another group attacking his main security offices. I told him I was taking my team for medical help, leaving combat droids in a perimeter around the docking area. I also told him it looked to me like three combat teams had hit us here, and they would need medical help as well, since I’d used heavy weapons on them. There was damage to the station as well.
The trolley slowed as it came up to me, and I swung up on the back, sitting on the rear seat, towering over the others, a Pulse Rifle pointed front and back. A hole opened in the perimeter line, and we went through fast.
People jumped out of the way, as the trolley went full speed through the station. I looked at my team, while threat assessments came and went on my HUD. The girls were still out. Pyne was being carried by a security droid, its belt now configured as a bandage around his wounds. He looked the worst hit, even though he’d only taken handgun fire. I wondered why he hadn’t had a belt. Maybe it was something to do with his dislike of droids and AI’s. Whatever it was, he was going to regret his decision. If he survived.
The trolley pulled up outside the same hospital I’d been taken the last time we were on Avon. The security droid was the first off, sprinting Pyne inside. Jane must have called ahead, as medical people poured out the door. In quick order, everyone was taken inside.
I stepped down from the trolley, opened the back of the combat suit, stepped back out of it, and closed it behind me. Jane took control, and moved it to guard the hospital entrance. I hobbled inside, rubbing my left hip.
An administrator intercepted me before I reached where the girls had been taken, extracted the fast version of what had happened from me, and took me around so I could identify each person.
The girl’s suits had all responded to medical requests to return to a belt form, and doctors were working on each of them.
Abagail had been the luckiest, taking one Pulse Rifle hit in the side, and several handgun hits.
Both the twins had three large welts in the chest area.
Alison had also taken three. Two were to the shoulder area, but the third had been almost exactly where her previous wound had been.
Aline had taken four, one of which had been directly over the heart, and another to the head. Her heart monitor flat lined as I reached her. The doctors reacted immediately. I felt a huge hand grip my own heart, and it felt like mine stopped as well. The monitor bleeped back into life, and I started breathing again.
The sound of another flat line came from the bed next door, but was quickly brought back to life. Pyne I guessed.
Jane came to stand next to me, and gently pulled me away from the bed, out of the me
dical people’s way. Armed as I was, I guess they hadn’t dared tell me to move.
“That was the third time Aline’s heart stopped,” she said. “Her own Health Monitor restarted her the first time, and the second time was on the way in, before they had her on the monitor. She’s in a bad way Jon. You better prepare yourself for the worst.”
I looked at her, tears running down my cheeks. She wiped them away, and they were replaced with new ones.
“The others are fine though. The docs are talking about keeping them sedated until their bodies come out of shock. They’re going to be out of action for a while though. But the boosters on their suits worked well enough to keep them alive. Aline was unlucky taking one directly over the heart.”
I wondered about the unlucky part. More likely the cosmos was teaching me another lesson, at someone else’s expense.
Walter came in at that moment.
“How are your people doing?” he asked.
Jane told him, while I stood there like a stunned mullet.
The flat line noise sounded again, and my heart skipped a beat, before I realized it was coming from the next bed. It restarted as I looked in. It was Pyne. He was hanging in there, but only just. The doc turned away from the bed, saw me standing there, and came over.
“Whoever configured that belt saved his life. I think we have him now, but he’s lost a lot of blood. The belt on him stopped the bleeding flow outward, otherwise he’d have bled out before we could get to him. As soon as he’s stable, he’s going into surgery.”
“Let him know an AI saved his life. It might change his mind about them when he finds out. Tell him he can keep the belt. He was the only one of us without one. If I’d had any inkling this would happen, I’d have made sure everyone had one on. But up until now, it’s been me who was the target, and anyone with me hasn’t been targeted.”
“Well at least you had a spare one available. It made the difference.”
I nodded, and moved back to Aline’s bed. She seemed to be stable now, but people were still fussing around her. Walter had vanished, presumably seeing how Petersen was doing.
A doctor came in, looked at me, and beckoned me out. Jane and I followed him.
“Your people?” the doctor asked. I nodded. “They’re mostly out of danger now, except for Ms. Takai and Commander Pyne. We’ll know for sure with both of them in the next half hour. The injured from the other side of your battle were taken to a different hospital. They have fatalities. So does station security. When were you planning on leaving?”
“Straight after the celebration. I guess that will be delayed now?”
“Do you have your own medical facilities?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll keep everyone here for a few hours to ensure they’re fit to move, then we’ll release them to your facilities. Assuming nothing happens beforehand, Ms. Takai will need a Care Unit transfer, so have one of yours prepped for her. With luck, she shouldn’t need more than twenty four hours in one, after which she should only need bedrest. But it might be best if they all stay in one for twenty four hours or so, which we should’ve done with you last time, but didn’t. They’ll all need monitoring, and pain shots for several days after that.”
“My AI can monitor them, and I have a butler droid which has been giving me pain shots.”
“We’ll see how they are when they each wake up. If need be, we’ll put them back to sleep before we transfer them to your ship. I’ll ping you when they wake up, or when they can be transferred. If you have anything else to do, you may as well go do it. And I’d rather you removed that combat suit from the entrance. If anyone else was going to be combative, I think it would have happened by now.”
“Fine. I’ll take it with me.”
He nodded to me and left.
I looked in on each of them, all apparently sleeping. Aline was looking better now. Amy was awake and asking to be allowed up. She’d taken several handgun shots, and had minor bruising only. The docs wouldn’t let her go though.
Walter was in with Petersen. She looked to be ok, but her belt was toast. I told him I’d get both of them new ones. I told him what Amy had told me about his making enemies. He and his staff needed to take that seriously from now on. He nodded to me.
Price was in with Pyne. I gave him the same advice to take things seriously, on the basis the pirates could target him as the only strong link in what they might perceive as a weak defensive chain now. I made sure he knew about the boosters, and the new type of belt I was wearing.
He reminded me of the celebration, and although I could be late, I was still expected to attend. I stared at him, but reluctantly nodded. I might be inactive in the SFSF now, but I’d been the Admiral in charge of the fleet which had defended here, and then fought its way to Midgard. As such, I was the only officer from that fleet to return so far, and I needed to put in the appearance on that basis.
I headed out with Jane following me. We climbed aboard the trolley, the combat suit jumping up to take the same position I had when I’d been in it, the security droid next to it. Jane took the control position.
“Where too?”
“‘Tool man’.”
“Confirmed.”
The trolley moved off at a sedate pace. Five minutes later, we stopped outside his place, dismounted, and went in. The combat suit took up position outside the door.
He was waiting for us, a grave look on his face. I held out my hand and he shook it. I threw the feeds for the recent battle to his wall, and we watched the battle in silence. His face lit up when he saw my hops, and he looked me up and down as well.
“It worked,” I said when the feed ended. “I was the worst hit, and yet I took no damage. The suit lost some integrity, but it’s already regenerating.”
“It was your idea. Without your insight, I may never have figured it out.”
“Well you did. I want them for my entire team, and all my security droids. So make me up several hundred of them. Having spares may save some lives down the track.”
“Fine. You get them at cost plus five percent. Everyone else will pay an arm and a leg for them, ten percent of which you get as a royalty. I insist.”
“I won’t argue with you.” We both grinned. “When can you have them for me?”
“That many? Lunch time tomorrow.”
“I’ll leave a ship behind for them. Jane here will take delivery. Pulse me the invoice as soon as you have it ready.”
“Certainly.”
“Can you do ten of them in the next couple of hours? New belt merged with two normal ones, with three boosters each?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll leave a security droid here then. As soon as they’re ready and made up, give them to the droid. It’ll replace the belts on my people still in hospital.”
“No problems.”
We did our farewells, and Jane and I started to leave. He called me back before I reached the door.
“I think I have the very thing for your minor walking issue. Be back in a sec.”
Walking issue? I couldn’t help smiling. I was somewhere between a severe limp and a hobble. I didn’t feel like I needed a pain shot, but my medical monitor was giving me some pain relief. I made a note to get myself checked again once I was back at the hospital. My main problem was not really pain, but my knee still didn’t work properly.
He came back in carrying a cane. It looked like plain wood, with an ornate silver top.
“PC controlled ten shot laser,” he said, handing it to me. “Default mode is stunner, so it’s legal on stations.”
I shifted it to my left hand, let it touch the ground, and put some weight on it. A pop-up asked to start a download, which I accepted. A new menu was added. Under setup, was an option to match the cane to the person. I activated it, and the cane lengthened a small amount, making it the perfect length for me.
“Add it to my bill,” I said.
“My compliments,” he said with a grin.
I nodded to h
im, and we left, sending the security droid in to wait.
As far as shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted was concerned, no-one was better at it than me.
Forty Six
Lacey and the other pilots met me just inside the celebration venue.
Jane and I had a problem getting in. The doorman had insisted we disarm first. I’d given him ‘the look’ and seen him go pale, but he’d still held his ground. When the combat suit pointed a Pulse Rifle at him, he’d fainted. The suit took up a position outside the door, and Jane and I walked in wearing ‘slinky red’. We were the only ones not in Dress uniforms or swanky attire, and the only ones armed. In the mood I was in, I didn’t care. I was there, and that was as far as I was going to accommodate anyone.
The pilots were shocked to hear what had happened at our dock. Camel was on the other side of the station from us, and the Excalibur’s were in the fighter docking area. They’d come straight to the celebration, expecting to meet us here.
I pinged the ‘tool man’ for an immediate five more belts, and instructed Jane to bring the security droid here with them first.
Price and Walter came in with an armed escort, saw me, and came straight over.
“I set the doorman straight,” said Price. “Given what happened at the last celebration you were at, we aren’t taking any chances at this one. If it makes anyone uncomfortable, too bad.”
He went over to the same chairs I’d used last time, moved people off them, and waved us over. We sat, with Jane and the escort taking up flanking positions.
People politely ignored our guns, and sought me out, chit chatting about the war, and inconsequential things I knew nothing about. I made an effort to be polite, and if I wasn’t able to smile, I at least kept the worry off my face.
Chief McLauchlan came past at one point, mentioned new payments coming in soon, and moved on.
An hour into things, a man in ‘slinky red’, carrying a bag, made his way over to us. Jane announced he had six belts with him, and I sent Walter and the pilots to the men’s room with the security droid, so they could change their suits over in private. Not something to be done in public.
Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero Page 26
