Hero at Large (The Hunter Legacy Book 1)

by Timothy Ellis

  “In the meantime, I need two volunteers for a dangerous mission.”

  “How dangerous?” asked Aleesha.

  “Not very, I just thought it sounded better that way. I need to intimidate someone at the Mercenaries Guild, so some bad-arse company would be appreciated.” There were grins all round at this. “Anyone want to come, follow me. I’ll see the rest of you at dinner.”

  I headed out, with Amanda and Aleesha behind me in triangle formation.

  We were walking past the station’s food hall, and glancing in as we walked past, I did a double take and stopped dead. Both the girls walked straight into me, and we almost fell over.

  There was a Mutant Ninja Turtle at the pizza counter. I gaped at it for a moment. It looked up, waved to us, and took its pizza off to a table. I grinned and started off again.

  At the Mercenaries Guild, I went straight in the door without slowing down and stopped half way to the counter, hands on both my guns. The clerk looked up.

  “Who do I see about my whereabouts being constantly updated on my profile?” I bellowed.

  The clerk fainted.

  “What did I say?” I asked generally.

  “It was how you said it,” said Amanda.

  “It was how you looked as you said it,” said Aleesha.

  “Huh?” I said.

  The manager came out and stopped when he saw the clerk on the floor.

  “What seems to be the problem?” he asked.

  We crossed the rest of the way to the counter.

  “The problem is that my profile is being constantly updated with my movements and I keep finding pirates waiting for me everywhere I go. Why is the guild trying to get me killed?” He gulped and took a step back.

  “It is Guild policy to keep profiles as up to date as possible. The details are only for members to access. I do not understand how pirates could be accessing your profile,” he said.

  “Then you probably have at least one pirate as a member,” said Aleesha.

  “Or you have a staff member or member feeding details to them,” said Amanda. She gestured towards the still unmoving clerk.

  “I’ll start an investigation immediately,” said the manager.

  “That won’t help me much now. I want my whereabouts excluded from my profile, permanently,” I demanded.

  “The best I can do, young sir, is stop it being updated. As it will currently show you as here, what say we leave it that way? If anyone asks why it seems to not be up to date, we will have someone to investigate. Will that suit you?” he asked.

  “I think that will do. If you track down a link to the pirates, I want to know immediately.” He nodded. “If I find out that there has been a cover up, you will find out what I’m like in a bad mood. And since Colonel Smith’s team was endangered along with me, I think I can find a few others, who do ‘bad moods’ better than I do, to take some action.”

  The manager went pale, but recovered quickly to say, “By the way, congratulations on your promotion.” I nodded thanks.

  There was some quick action at the counter computer by the manager, and he bade me check my profile. It was now updated with my new rank, Ace badge and a status of ‘Sydney system’. I thanked him, and we left.

  “What are you like when you’re in a bad mood?” asked Aleesha.

  “You don’t want to find out.”

  “Yes we do!” they both said together, and the three of us laughed.

  “Ok, put it this way. My last bad mood was when I jumped out of the Dropship and blew the hatch on that attacking Gladiator. It didn’t last very long, but then, neither did the person who gave it to me.”

  “Ah,” said Aleesha with a grin. “One day maybe we will see if you give BA a run for her credits. Her bad moods are legendary.”

  “You never did tell me what BA stood for.”

  “Bad Attitude,” they said together. That penny in the air almost dropped. There was something so familiar, but I just couldn’t get it. The penny went on spinning.

  “Ah, that figures,” I said with a grin. A thought popped in. “She hasn’t ever had a Mohawk has she?”

  “Not that we know about, why do you ask?” responded Aleesha.

  “Just one of those odd thoughts that pop in for no apparent reason. Anyone for a spa?” Two grins were the answer, and we started back to the hotel.

  An hour or so soaking in the spa did me a world of good. I hadn't realized I was so tense from the day’s events. We moved from the spa to the bedroom and we each had a massage. Neither of the girls were that good at giving one, but I felt better after mine. I tried to teach them a bit more, as I massaged each of them.

  The ping from the Colonel came in as we were showering, giving a location and time for dinner. It also stated ‘regimental formal’ for dress code. I set my suit for my dress uniform again, and watched as the girls changed into a more formal variation of their normal slinky outfit.

  Dressed to the nines and armed to the teeth, we left the hotel, drawing a lot of curious looks.

  Dinner was in a large room with tables at one end and a bar at the other. About half of the Moose crew was already there and a smattering of officers. We started mixing and those I did not know introduced themselves. I filed names and occupations away in my PC, but didn't remember any of them. Names were not my strong point. I relied on my PC to look people up when I needed to know who they were.

  George came in wearing a black suit including black top hat and tails. Aleesha gave him a wolf whistle and several of us applauded. This caught the Colonel’s attention and he received a very dark look. George hurried out again and came back a few minutes later in regimental formal. He hurried over to us.

  “Nice suit,” said Amanda.

  “Thanks,” He said. “I guess I looked out of place.”

  “No more than usual,” said Aleesha. We all grinned.

  “Where did you get the Ninja Turtle idea from?” I asked George.

  “There was a remake a few years ago, and I watched it again the other night. I was thinking over what you said and scanned one them. I felt like pizza today and put them together. Seeing the three of you doing a fall down act, was worth it!” He laughed. We laughed with him.

  “I’ve got some other good ideas, but what I really need is a challenge. What can you suggest?”

  “Jake the Peg,” I said deadpan.

  “Who?” he responded. I looked around and no-one seemed to know the reference.

  “You said you wanted a challenge.” I laughed. “Its true blue Aussie, that’s the only hint you’re getting. Excuse me a minute.”

  I’d seen Bob come in, so I went over to greet him.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him.

  “I got an invite from the General himself, couldn’t turn that down. It’s been a long time since I had a decent night out, so I was happy to come.”

  “How far did you get with the redesign?” I asked.

  “All done, just needs a couple of days to complete. There was room on the central half deck for the rear-facing missile launcher and a refill, once the existing turret was removed. Bit tight fitting it around the engine outputs, but it worked. Do you want the same mix of missiles in it?”

  “No, all FF’s please. When I fire them, I will be running, all I need is some chaos behind me to slow up pursuit.”

  “Will do then. By the way, there will now be three fire buttons on the top of the joystick. Left will be the forward launcher, middle will be torpedoes and right will be the rear launcher.”

  “Sounds fine to me,” I agreed.

  At that moment the General entered and the room fell silent.

  “Thank you all for coming,” he said. “It’s a tradition here to hold a dinner party when one of the station’s officers is promoted, and while young Jon here is not strictly a station officer, it’s too good an opportunity to pass up.” There was general laughter. “It’s also not usual to have a mixture of service and mercenaries, but in this case, it seems appropriate
, and quite novel. This is quite informal, in a formal sort of way. I’m assured the waiting staff will be around to each of you shortly for your meal choices and that dinner will not be long. Enjoy yourselves.”

  There was general applause and everyone went back to their conversations. George had joined us. He asked about the damage my ship had taken, and we talked about the new upgrades. I encouraged him to do the training for combat pilot. He already had the basics. He just needed time in a combat simulator. At that moment, the Colonel joined us and I suggested she get a proper simulator for Moose so George could train while en-route to missions. She raised an eyebrow to Bob, he raised an eyebrow to me, I grinned, and he assured her it could be fitted before the current upgrade was complete the next day. She nodded. I suggested to Bob it included a full military combat package, and the best Dropship training package available. Bob went blank for a moment sending instructions.

  The waiters turned out to be military. One arrived at our group at that moment, and we made our choices. We continued to socialize until dinner arrived and we found our names on the tables. I had been placed to the left of the General, with the Colonel to his right.

  Main course came and went, and conversation stilled as everyone ate. In the break, waiting for deserts to arrive, I caught the Colonel’s eye and she looked over to me.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you," I said. "How come all your team except for George has a first name starting in ‘A’.” She laughed.

  “Actually, we all have a first name starting with ‘A’. George is actually ‘Alain George Murdock’.”

  The penny dropped.

  Smith, Peck, BA, Murdock, A. Finally I understood what had been nagging at me. It was a very old reference and I hadn't watched the series since I was a kid. I grinned hugely.

  “What’s so funny?” asked the Colonel.

  “Nothing. With all the A’s, you don’t call yourselves the ‘A-Team’ do you?” I asked.

  “Not specifically, no. But we are the first team for a much larger unit than you have seen so far,” she replied.

  “Ah,” I said as if that was significant, even though it wasn’t. “What’s with George then?”

  “He has a French mother and a British father. Apparently he has always hated his French name.” We both laughed.

  The General turned to me.

  “Jon, where did you learn to fly like you do? I reviewed your fight and I have never seen such tactics used before.” Silence rippled out, and it seemed everyone was suddenly looking at me. “Was that something you were taught on Outback?”

  “No, not really,” I said. “I went through the basic pilot courses, as well as all the ship certifications. When we decide to train for space, we get a solid grounding in everything to do with space travel, so if we do get stuck out here, we have plenty of options as far as getting work with commercial traders.”

  “But that doesn’t explain what you did today,” stated the Colonel. The General nodded, as did a fair number of others.

  “It’s sort of a family thing. At least one in every generation of Hunter’s takes on the responsibility of Outback’s trading, like my Uncle did. And in about fifty percent of generations, one of us gets drawn into some sort of war. It is less often these days than it used to be, so the percentage has been dropping. But when someone in the family chooses space, we are trained for everything. In my case, it was suggested to my parents early on that, if I started getting any interest in space, I should be encouraged. I guess it showed up in my early school tests or something. Where most kids were out playing, I was building my own simulators and computers able to play the really old flat screen games of centuries ago.” I took a long breath, but no-one spoke.

  “So you could say I started training myself in space combat from an early age. Computers and games were about the only thing I was ever really good at, and instead of trying to get my attention on to other things, my parents encouraged me. The tactics I used today came from a game first played in the late 1900’s, when computers were completely new. I love the old stuff. Games, music, flat movies, the original science fiction in all its forms. I collect a lot of it, through all its remakes and technology updates down the last six hundred odd years. All I do now is adapt ideas from wherever and whenever, to whatever situation I find myself in. So far, it’s worked.”

  “That’s amazing!” said the General. “Perhaps for those who haven’t heard of the battle today, would you care to run through the highlights?”

  I quickly gave a sum up of what had happened.

  “The extra speed I insisted on having in the new ship saved me,” I finished up. “No doubt about that. But the other thing was stupidity. I’d have run their end of the fight a lot differently than they did. Anyone who studies tactics would see what they did wrong.” There was another set of nods.

  “It’s good to see you are thinking that way. Pilots who can look further than their kill count are rare.” There was general laughter to that, and I laughed with them.

  Desert saved me from commenting further. While everyone was having coffee, I got up and headed over to where Alison was sitting. She rose and we moved away from the tables.

  “What have you been up to lately?” I asked her.

  “The Colonel has had me very busy. In fact, I need to rush off again very soon. I doubt I’ll catch up with you again tonight, but I should be able to drop past in the morning before we head over to the shipyard for Moose testing. You will be coming over with us?”

  “Most likely. I need to talk to Bob about a new ship,” I said.

  “Another one?” she asked.

  “Yes, what I’m in now feels too small for what's being thrown at me. For the moment, I doubt the Pirates can mount much of a force against me, but give them some time, and I could have anything at all come at me. I’d feel better having heavier shielding and more firepower. That means a bigger ship. I need to do some research tonight if I’m going to talk to Bob tomorrow.”

  With that, we said goodbyes, and she went back to her table, drained her coffee cup and left. Others were also leaving now, so I headed over to Amanda and Aleesha to find out what they were doing.

  “We'll be along to your suite in a while. Wait up for us,” said Amanda with a grin. I agreed I would, and they left.

  The General came over. “When do you expect to be flying again?” he asked.

  “Couple of days I think, sir. For Excalibur. I’m having a couple of modifications done as well as repairing damage. As soon as she's ready, I will poke my nose into Nexus again. If it doesn’t get bloodied, I’ll run Wanderer to Outback as fast as I can. Once there, I’m free for any orders you may have. I’ll need to be back here a week or two after that, as I hope my new ship will be ready by then.”

  “New ship?”

  “Yes, something bigger. It really was sheer dumb luck and stupidity that saved me today. I don’t want to be in that position again. A fighter can’t cut it against those odds normally. Since I have the credits to do better, I will. That may change my mission profile some, but if I can do what I'm thinking of, I’ll still be able to do the fighter patrols you were talking about.”

  “Keep me up to date with your movements then. We'll aim for you going operational around three days from now, starting at Outback Orbital. I’ll get the Intel people working on where needs some attention. We have two patrols for the whole sector, so we need more. Those ships you brought in today would be useful too.”

  “I’ll be talking to Bob tomorrow. Assuming they are adjudicated to me, I will see what I can use in the new ship, if anything. You're welcome to anything left that is useful to you. Most of these ones are more beat up than the last ones, and may not be salvageable. Talk to Bob anyway. Once we have the new ship design sorted, he will know what's needed from the wrecks, and what you will need to make them useful.”

  “I'll have someone get on to that. Well, I have work to do before turning in, so take care, Flight Officer. I'll make sure I'm kept up to date with yo
ur movements.” With that, he turned and left. I did too.

  I was soon back at the hotel, where I changed into jeans and t-shirt. My pad was overflowing with emails as usual. One of them caught my eye, and being a hollo, I threw it to the room coms. The man who appeared looked like an older corporate type in a very plush looking office.

  “Mr. Hunter. I’m John Norbett. Congratulations on surviving today. My sources tell me you were vastly outnumbered and still prevailed. That is impressive.”

  “Pirate groups in general, and this particular group in particular, have been a major problem for me for many years. In my last message to you, I merely said I had a proposal for you. I understand you have not yet been able to get to Brisbane, so I am taking the opportunity to be more forthcoming.”

  “I need someone like yourself to hunt down the main pirates in this region of space. I have a list of names, and I have sources that can give you reasonable intel as to where they can be found. I have bounties on all of them, substantial ones, and as a gesture of goodwill, I am paying you for the ones you removed from my list today.” I toggled pause.

  I checked the banking emails, and yes, there was a payment from John Norbett. A quite large one, in fact. I toggled run.

  “The situation in this sector has become intolerable for many of us in business here, and I head a syndicate that wants the problem dealt with. We have been looking for suitable people, and believe you are one such.”

  “I am aware that you are part of the sector military now, and I also know that you have flexibility few military people get. I believe our interests, military interests and your interests are the same here. All we need is your agreement to participate.”

  “You may believe the main threat has now been eliminated. I can assure you this is not the case. My information suggests that if you do not go looking for them immediately, they will regroup and come back at you even more strongly than they have so far. I can help you help yourself.”

  “Please let me know if you are interested.”