I didn’t let it show on my face though, and whenever anyone seemed to be looking, I was head down in my pad, catching up on the endless emails. The financial hubs were still operating, now located in Outback. I was still receiving tax, and was paying my troops.
David Tollin sent me vids of what Outback looked like now. Even I couldn’t have imagined it. It was like someone had taken the most bizarre city off a planet and assembled it in space. Ships buzzed around in their hundreds of thousands, mostly small civilian ones, but also a lot of freighters making sure every station had what it needed.
He asked for instructions for Hunter's Haven, which was still in Nexus, but not far from the jump point into Outback. It was something I needed to give some thought to. Grace came in just then, so I turned the shift over to her, and retreated into my Ready Room. I'd just sat at my desk when Jane came in and sat as well. The door closed behind her.
"David wants instructions?" she asked. I nodded. "Bob too. He's still on the main shipyard in Outback. Did you see his latest report?"
I hadn't, and shook my head. She blinked a couple of times, and an email popped to the top of the list in my pad. I threw it to the wall.
We discussed options until Jane suddenly popped up a vid, showing the first aliens jumping into Midnight. She popped up the navmap as well, showing us approaching the Bad Wolf jump point. The three Orions had the rear. By the time we'd watched everyone else jump, I'd given long instructions to both David and Bob. I also sent Dad a message, asking him to evacuate Hunter's Haven, and he was to frog march David and his family onto Galactica at gunpoint if he had to. I then told him to take Galactica through to Gaia the moment the door opened, so Jane's avatar on the other side could be updated in real time, and any defenses they had built would stand down so Borgcubia could safely jump in. He was then to contact the council and let them know what was happening, after which he had command of the exodus into that system. Someone had to make sure everything went where it had been planned a year ago. He was it, and I would be very happy to know my family was safe and sound.
I had an almost immediate response from my Mum, wanting to set dinner plans for before the Door opened, or failing that, she wanted to know when I’d be coming through into Gaia, so we could celebrate together. I sent her a very non-committal reply. Jane was reading as I composed.
"We're not going to Gaia, are we Jon."
It wasn’t a question.
"No. Someone has to shut the Door permanently. Logically, it has to be you and me. Although I’d prefer you're primary goes through with the team. Your Gunbus avatar can come with me."
"To do what?"
I told her. She went white.
"But…"
"Do you have a viable alternative?"
She sat there unmoving, unblinking, for a full five minutes.
"No."
"Please don’t tell anyone. I want the team to go to Gaia. They deserve to survive this."
"You still don’t get the concept of team, do you Jon."
"I get it just fine. But I'm the only one who can do this, and there's no point in anyone else dying for no reason."
"You keep telling yourself that."
"I will."
She left. She had the look of someone given an ethical dilemma which couldn’t be solved.
Bad Wolf had had a makeover. Every rock of any real size was now laid out in a line from one jump point to the sun, and from the sun straight on. More had been brought in from Nexus. With the exception of the vicinity of each jump point, and the hot zones on each side of the star itself, the path the cylinder normally took, was a mass of rocks. At the least, we'd force the cylinder to take a dog leg. I'd attempted to plot the dog leg, and rocks were laid there as well.
After Sceptre jumped in, we took up a position a little away from the jump point, while the fleet broke up into smaller fleets, each one stationed at intervals across the system. Orion was on the other side of the sun, while Hammer was at the Nexus jump point.
I spent the next three days on Gunbus, using Crystal power to move the Bad Wolf planetoid. By the time the aliens were approaching the jump into Bad Wolf, we had our last defensive position ready for them. We'd done this before, but I'd also learned a few tricks since then as well.
Bad Wolf was positioned directly in the down jump lane, close enough that only a ship going very slowly would avoid colliding with it. All around it were salvage droids. And attached to it were enough tugs to make sure if it jumped to the other side, it would jump straight back again.
Vid was going live to every ship and station, with the delay to Outback being hardly noticeable.
As we'd done so many times before, we sat and waited for the aliens to make their move. Having not found any resistance in Midnight, the first ships jumped straight through without hesitating. They impacted Bad Wolf, and the debris was sucked away by the nearest salvage droids, and passed to other ones which hurled the debris back through the jump point. Ships arriving on the other side started taking hits before they could jump.
As usual, the frequency of jumps rose exponentially, until an hour later, the cylinder arrived, and the tempo went into overdrive. Bad Wolf, held in position by tugs and grav, took everything thrown at it. The surface on the jump point side began to erode, and the debris being sucked away contained progressively more and more dust of sand quality or finer, and all of it was hurled back into Midnight. The dust spread out in a cloud, abrading the ships as they came through it, with the rest of the debris acting like micro-meteorites. Ships tumbled and span out for no apparent reason, as the alien inside was killed or wounded by a strike by something small.
But on they came. The first huge mass jumped through while we all held our collective breaths. It appeared in the jump lane, and mass hit immoveable solid object. Solid object won, although there was a noticeable chunk missing after the dust cleared. Not a single alien ship survived the impact.
The problem though, was every ship to jump through had a second or two before they died. And I was very sure the message about what they faced had been sent back.
The question was how they would react, more so than if. And when. They'd shown they would adapt if forced to do so, and I was suddenly doubting the wisdom of making them.
We kept it up for another day.
Forty Eight
"Happy Birthday Jon," said Jane, waking me from a deep, and all too short, sleep.
In standard terms, I was now twenty. The big two zero. One year before being counted an adult at home. But I felt sixty. Mentally, emotionally, even physically. Still, the prime time for most people, to be sure, I was limping like I was sixty only many centuries before, when sixty was old. Carter kept telling me there was nothing wrong with me, just fatigue, but … Just but. I couldn’t bounce around like a twenty year should have been able to. I couldn’t party as they did. I didn't even think like they did anymore.
The only thing I wanted for my birthday, was for all this to end. And it would soon enough. It didn’t even need a wish.
I'd agreed to go sleep in my suite on the condition I be woken the moment anything changed.
"Sitrep."
"No change on our end, but Bad Wolf is starting to look like a Bad Cub. Two more masses while you slept, but nothing changed enough to wake you."
Aline kissed me. Jane waited until we came up for air.
"I woke you because something is happening in Midnight. But you probably have half an hour if you two need to take it."
"Why thank you Jane," said Aline. "We will. Honk if anything changes, but if you honk without a very good reason, I'm going to dissemble you."
"Which me?"
"As much as I can lay my hands on."
"Understood."
Aline grinned, and we started kissing again. There is nothing like waking up to a Happy Birthday Bonk. The shower after was rushed, but Jane didn’t honk, and I made it to the CCC by the end of the half hour.
"What's up Doc?" I said to her.
"This."
The navmap for Midnight popped up. It looked perfectly normal to me. Cylinder coming through from Cobol, along with a number of masses, cylinder across the system to an offset point on one side of the sun, and then a dogs leg to straighten the cylinder up to a straight run to the Bad Wolf jump point.
"And I'm looking for?"
The vid zoomed in on one of the masses, on our side of the system.
"Oh."
"I thought that might interest you."
One of the masses was now centered in the middle of the cylinder. The view shifted to show others doing the same. I watched one join the cylinder. There were no collisions, it simply merged itself in. The preciseness of it was alien. No other way of describing it. We certainly couldn’t do it, even with a highly trained squadron of fighters. Jane could, but not with that number of ships.
"Any idea what they're doing?"
"No. I was hoping you did."
I knew. She could see I knew. It was the thing I’d feared most for a long time now, the one thing I didn’t let myself think about.
"All ships prepare for combat," I said into fleet coms, going to the entire fleet, spread as it was over the whole system."
"Even us?" asked Bentley, over on the opposite side of the system.
"Even you, although you may have to go meet them. Orion, ignore anything on my side of the sun. You'll see a line when the time comes, hopefully along the asteroids, so run it down as fast as you can. Hammer will come to meet you wherever that line ends. The rest of her fleet stays at the jump point. Nothing must be allowed to get through this system. Space Commodore, if it's safe, you let loose appropriate ships to seek, locate, and destroy. But only if it's safe."
"Aye sir," said Bentley and Lacey together.
I could tell they desperately wanted to ask me what line I was talking about.
"I'm cancelling speed restrictions. Move as fast as you have to. We need to take out what comes through as fast as we can."
"I don’t get it," said Dick.
"You don’t need to. We'll all see it soon enough. Everyone stay sharp. It could happen in the next few minutes or the next few hours. The moment you have a target, fire in any way necessary for maximum effectiveness."
There was a series of acknowledgments. As the minutes went past, the team appeared on the Bridge, and all wished me Happy Birthday as they came in. I tried not to let kisses and hugs distract me too much.
The hours passed, my nerves starting to fray badly in anticipation. Birthday wishes came in from my family, and just about everyone I knew. Wishes did nothing to calm my nerves.
We ate birthday finger food in the CCC, and all three cats joined us, Jeeves giving them cat treats. It felt bizarre to be celebrating a birthday, at the same time I expected my worst nightmare to happen.
"The Door is open," announced Jane. "Galactica just jumped. Receiving a data packet."
She threw it to a side screen. Arrayed around the jump point were dozens of missile platforms, and between them was scattered a large Drone fleet, consisting of a half dozen Relentless class Dreadnaughts, and a dozen Repulse class Battleships. The new design too I noticed, making me wonder how she'd known, when I'd only found out when I arrived in Hawaii. I guess discussions had been going on when we were there a year ago. None of the ships had life support, and they were all broadcasting Hunter white navmap dots. Gaia Jane had been busy.
"My Gaia self sends us greetings," Jane went on. "She regrets the Gaia council wasn’t able to get its act together in a defense capacity, but she used Hunter resources to construct the fleet and defenses you can see. Do you want them out here?"
"No," I responded. "Make sure they're positioned so Borgcubia can jump in safely, but let everyone jumping in see there is a major fleet presence there. It should make people think twice about starting trouble. If we need them, they can come after us. You better send the specs of the changes we made to the designs. They should be upgraded as soon as possible, regardless of what happens here. The Door will be closed again, but they should get the results of our learning curve, in case Gaia does need a defense fleet. Better send the Titan specs as well."
"Confirmed."
"How about refugee preparations?"
"Complete. Well, complete for fifteen billion. It's going to be inadequate now, but there are more planets available in other systems apparently. So a lot of the stations can simply move on further. A report is following," she said.
"Not our problem anyway. Did Walter get a copy?"
"He has his own version, yes. He's already waiting for my other self to signal the fleet and defenses are clear enough to allow Borgcubia through. In any case, ships are pouring through already."
"Fine. We'll let him get on with it. Jane, can you get the senior officers on hollo please?"
"Confirmed."
One by one, Bigglesworth, Patton, Jedburgh, Price, and Harriman all popped up.
"I think it's time you all moved to Outback, and through to Gaia, taking the other sector seniors with you. Senior officers for each sector are going to be needed there to ensure everyone goes where you all worked out they should go. Not everyone is going to be happy about things, and there will undoubtedly be some new negotiations needed, since apparently we have some new planets available. We're almost done here anyway."
"Are you trying to get rid of us?" asked Bigglesworth, with a grin.
"No. And yes. Your people need you now. Gaia needs logistics. The fleet is almost done with them. Those of us in fighting positions will stay and see the defense out. The rest should be heading to Gaia to sort out the mess about to happen there. We don’t need Generals here, or troops. Just ships and fleet crews."
"Agreed," said Patton. The others chimed in behind him.
"You will make sure to be on time, won't you Jon?"
Walter was giving me a quizzical look. They all changed expressions to match.
"Five days," I said. "See you in three. Tops."
I grinned at them.
"See that you do," said Bigglesworth, and his hollo winked out.
The rest followed without another word.
"Does that include us?" asked Annabelle.
"Of course it does. But I'm not deluded enough to think you'd go."
"We're glad you appreciate that," said Amanda.
I grinned at her. But inside, I really wished they'd go, and thus survive.
Forty Nine
"Well that’s different," said Jane, in a puzzled voice.
"What is?" asked Aleesha.
"They stopped jumping in."
I hit the fleet coms button so hard everyone jumped.
"Fingers on triggers people. Aim for the nearest rocks, and prepare to fire as soon as you have a target. This is not a drill. Could be any second now. Be ready."
"Jon?" asked Grace, not looking at me, but sitting at the Helm engrossed in the displays.
"Meow!" said Angel, her paw pointing at the view just inside Midnight, as if she was trying to swat it.
She never missed a movement. Maybe somewhere in her brain, red dots moving equated with mice or bugs. Or something.
"What?" started Jane.
On the navmap, a long series of red dots across Midnight became a red line instead.
And suddenly there was nothing at all for half of Midnight, and the red line extended all the way from here to the Bad Wolf sun and beyond.
The center had been punched out of Bad Wolf, and dust and debris were going everywhere. The line of asteroids across the system became debris as well. The red line became dots again. Jane was already firing with every ship she had control of, across half of the system. We started taking hits as alien ships went in all directions with the debris.
I mashed the fleet com button again.
"Hammer, move towards the nearest alien ships as fast as you can go. Orion, move down the line away from the sun. All ships target the biggest clusters nearest you, then seek, locate, and destroy. Not one alien ship must survive to find the j
ump point. Missile platforms pump them out and let them seek their own targets. Just get them launched as fast as you can."
I took my finger off again, sighed, and looked at Jane.
"Get us moving to the nearest mass. Leave the other ships here to clean up."
"Confirmed."
Sceptre came around on a new heading, and proceeded away from the jump point towards the sun, all guns firing out in all arcs around the ship, with missiles spitting from launchers and heading everywhere at once.
"What happened?" asked Dick. "When you can, Jon."
Jane had firing under control it seemed, but it looked like both George and Grace had control of some of the turrets. They were both intensely concentrating, as if picking targets. I left them to it, and looked at Dick.
"I've been expecting this for a long time now. They finally made the connection."
"What connection?" asked BA, before I could clarify.
"You know how we join our stations and jump them as a single entity?"
"Yes, but…"
"No but. They finally joined every ship in the cylinder on this side of the Midnight sun into one giant mass, and pushed it forwards enough to jump. It leap frogged them over half way into the system. They lost two masses because they jumped into the sun, which they had no idea of knowing how far it was, and because this system is smaller than Midnight. There's another mass out there on this side, which we need to kill as fast as we can, if we can."
"Shouldn't you have brought Orion round to help us?" asked Amanda.
"Probably, but it's more important the aliens on the other side of the system get destroyed as fast as possible."
"Why?" asked Aleesha.
"Several reasons. We don't want them discovering the location of the Nexus jump point, or they'll be able to figure out how to jump right to it. We also want them to know we can destroy cylinder ships fast enough for it not to be worth their while trying again. Or at least, it's worth trying to teach them that. They know how to beat us now, but we have to bluff them into thinking it isn’t that at all."
Hero to the End (The Hunter Legacy Book 13) Page 23
