Legend of Dreamwalker (The Hunter Imperium Book 5)

by Timothy Ellis

She looked over to Ms. Ball.

  “Jon has asked me to offer you a commission in the Imperium navy. Interested?”

  “Yes, but with conditions.”

  “What are they?”

  “You don’t give me a rank above full lieutenant, and I go back to being AMS after the emergency is over.”

  “He's offering you Lieutenant Commander.”

  “I don't want it.”

  “Why not?”

  “I saw what he did to Eric, sticking him here with zero notice. I'm happy flying my own corvette, but I'm not interested in anything bigger, especially anything needing a crew, or leading troops. I'm combat trained, but it's not my interest in life.”

  “Jon gives LC to anyone flying a corvette as standard. Always has.”

  I shot her a glance which said 'he didn't me'.

  “Normally,” she added. “But he anticipated you're objection and said he can live with it. Going back to AMS is not a problem either. Bob is still working on new Explorer ship designs for Slice. So like as not, once they're built, you and Eric will find yourselves flying something cruiser class or bigger.”

  “Oh joy.”

  “Do you accept the commission?”

  “Yes.”

  “You report to Eric then, and the two of you will be a loose pair. Eric will co-ordinate with Vulture, as CAG, but reports to Dreamwalker here. If Eric doesn’t launch his corvette, you fly wing for Hawk.”

  “Fine with me. What do you want me doing today?”

  “Attend to your ship repairs, and see if Eric needs a hand with Blossom. Do you want to bunk here or Blossom?”

  “I'll bunk on my own ship thanks. But I can launch faster here. Blossom wasn’t designed for rapid launching. Which is probably why we got pasted so bad.”

  “Carry on lieutenant.”

  “Yes sir.”

  She rose, paused, shifted into uniform, and bounded out.

  “Moment over,” Jane grinned at me.

  Nine

  “By the way, Jon has a present for you arriving soon.”

  Jane said nothing more as she left, leaving me wondering exactly how much further I would be failing upward this week.

  I sat there for a long moment, contemplating the desk, and the chair behind it. As I reluctantly rose, Kat came in carrying a large box.

  “How did you get here?”

  “I follow you everywhere sir. Or in this case, we moved to BigMother before you did. Since your grav chest hadn't been unpacked, we brought it with us. I'll have your quarters and the ready room set up for you in a jiffy.”

  I eyed the box, but decided not to ask what was in it.

  On the bridge, I found Claymore sitting in her usual position. She had the appearance of a smaller than average girl, with auburn hair.

  “Anything I need to know about?” I asked her.

  “No sir. The CAP have launched, the flight deck is relatively clear, and the elevator mods have begun.”

  Her accent had just a touch of the Scottish, without the impossible to understand accent some of them still maintained. Or had maintained before most of humanity went through to Gaia. Australian accents were the norm now. Although the fleet did seem to have quite a few Americans, and like me, a smattering of British.

  “I'll be in the marine training area if anyone wants me.”

  “Yes sir.”

  While the marine barracks and armoury was up from the bridge, their training area was down. Swinging off on a deck above the flight deck was obviously going to be a skill to be learned, as I completely missed, and ended up on the maintenance deck instead. I changed shafts, and jumped up using very little knee bend, and this time was able to swing out on the right level. An arrow showed me the way to the gym.

  It was there I discovered there was a second marine barracks in the design, and made a mental note to look the specs of the ship over properly. An hour later, I was sweating profusely, but feeling good after the workout. I moved to the assault courses, which were not as extensive as on Orion, predictably, but still adequate for good solid training. After another hour, by which time I was almost at dropping point, I moved into the firing range, and forced my way through all the main marine weapons, including as I found to my surprise, my own combat suit.

  When I returned to deck two, the arrow pointed me to the captain's suite. The bedroom was larger, had a bathroom with a four person spa bath in it, and the rest of the suite had a proper lounge room, dining room, kitchen, and private office. I showered, shifted back into uniform, and headed for the pilot's mess for lunch. I'd need to rethink this soon, being captain and all, with the loneliness of command thing, but for now, I felt the need to be with my pilots. And just maybe, I'd forget to do the section in senior officer training where they said the captain should remain aloof.

  In the mess I received a surprise.

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

  There were eight additional pilots with her.

  “Orders. We were given half an hour to pack, got stuffed into a shuttle along with all the personal gear the rest of your pilots didn’t get the chance to take with them, and sent here through one of those magic rifts the Imperator does. We just landed.”

  “Any idea why?”

  “Not a clue. No-one told you?”

  “If they have, it's waiting for me in my ready room, and not considered important enough to disturb me while training.”

  “I guess we'll find out sometime soon. Join me for lunch?”

  “Sure.”

  Kat was at my side before I'd even sat down, other butler droids appeared, and within minutes, we were all eating. Shenaid appeared shortly after, but sat on her own. Another ten minutes passed before all of 266 appeared, along with those pilots not flying the CAP.

  “Oh fuck no,” I heard Rockmonster exclaim.

  I turned to see her standing there looking at the new pilots, and a group of rookies quickly formed around her, all looking worried.

  “You have a problem cadet?” I asked her.

  “Please tell me I'm not being sent back to Orion because I bent my bird and complained about the accommodations.”

  “Not that I'm aware of.”

  “Why else would we have replacement pilots already, when we didn’t lose anyone?”

  “What makes you think any military tells its cadets what is going on?” said Gertrude. “We get orders. We do what we're told.”

  “Quite,” said Vulture. “Stow this crap, and get some food in you. You're all back in the simulators in half an hour.”

  There was movement to the tables, and the business of lunch continued. I saw Rockmonster looking my way a few times, but she didn’t make eye contact. I had the feeling there was more than just communal living and possibly being replaced on her mind.

  Gertrude filled in some history for me, as she'd met the Imperator before the Darkness War, and then fought in it. She'd had her own mercenary squadron at the same time 266 had gone merc, with mainly German and Earth sector pilots where 266 had been all Brits, and was just as experienced as Eagle was. Only she'd kept out of the Imperator's way enough to stay with her own squadron. I wondered if she too had begun failing upward, with first being posted to Orion, and now seemingly being the fourth wheel on a tricycle here.

  As soon as I finished eating, I headed back to the bridge. Claymore was still there.

  “We need some ground rules,” I told her. “Come.”

  She rose, smiling, and followed me into the ready room, where she watched me settle into my desk chair, and sat opposite. She had to wait, because I'd just seen what Kat had been doing.

  On the wall behind my chair was now a flat cabinet, with my decorations and actual insignia displayed. What boggled me was the size of the cabinet, as if a lot more was expected to be going in there. I finally turned back to Claymore.

  “Sir?”

  “First of all, when we're alone, it's Chris.”

  “Okay Chris.”

  “So why wasn’t a shuttle
load of pilots landing on my deck not sufficient enough to give me a heads up before it happened?”

  “Orders.”

  “From whom?”

  “The Imperator, via Jane.”

  “Fine. This time. But from now on, I don’t care who gives what orders, I want to know when anything not expected is happening, and especially when it concerns anything landing on this ship, or joining or leaving the fleet.”

  “Jane said you’d say that.”

  “Why would she?”

  “She apparently knows you better than you think.”

  “Or is making assumptions.”

  “Jane rarely makes assumptions. When she does, you'll know about it.”

  “And you?”

  “I'm a lot younger than she is. I'm still learning to be an AI.”

  “I'm about to start learning how to be a carrier captain. A week ago I was a washed up wrecked rookie. We're both learning. But you and I need to start to communicate, or the next battle will be our last.”

  “I've thought that several times now. Although technically, it won't be mine, since like most of us AI's, I've a primary elsewhere.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “Maybe. Who do you want to talk to first?”

  “Better get Rockmonster up here as soon as she finishes eating.”

  “She just did. I'll whisper in her ear shall I?”

  “Please do. If you can get the senior officer course material ready for me as well, I'll start wading through it this afternoon.”

  “You got it.”

  “I notice some of the other AI's have specific order acceptance wording. Do you?”

  “Eric never really gave me orders. I mean, LC Neilson. And since no-one else has commanded, I've never developed anything. Do you have a preference?”

  “No. Just choose something, or use whatever is appropriate at the time. And you don’t need to be stuck on the bridge all the time either. We've got a lot of people on board now, so you may as well mingle and let people get used to you being around.”

  “I can do that.”

  She paused, cocking her head slightly to the left.

  “Rockmonster is here.”

  “Send her in.”

  She rose and left, and a few moments later, Dianne entered. I waved her to the chair Claymore had vacated. She sat, looking wary.

  “No, I don’t have orders for you.”

  She looked relieved.

  “I thought we needed to have a chat before I get irretrievably into captain mode. What's on your mind? Besides communal living?”

  “I'm sorry about that. I've had my own room all my life, and my own bathroom. I wasn’t prepared to find the middle of a large room was all one shower area, and everyone was expected to use it at the same time. The CO set me right, but if I turn up dead, it's going to be from embarrassment.”

  “You missed the joys of basic training.”

  “So I've been told. I guess I'll adapt. What I don’t understand is why it's done?”

  “Communal showering?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tradition mainly, from the days when ships were so small, the crews were packed on. But it's not about space anymore. It's more about team building.”

  “Seeing everyone butt naked is considered team building?”

  “In a way. You missed the explanation as well. One of the things which ruins unit cohesion is lustful thoughts about a team member, and daydreaming when you should be concentrating. Gets people killed. So recruits get thrown together, everyone sees everyone one naked very quickly, and the novelty quickly wears off. Most units continue the practice. If someone does find they're attracted to a team member, they quickly get transferred. Marines and pilots especially, since an idle thought about wanting to see someone naked, or daydreams about bonking could get everyone killed.”

  “Sounds like mansplaining to me. Convenient excuses for something men wish for. Anyway, I wish someone had warned me.”

  “Whoever recruited you should have. And in the normal course of things, you'd have been showering with fellow cadets for a week now. But a lot of things were bypassed with the need to get Orion deployed, and that ship itself is just not normal in any way.”

  “Can we really not keep our own marine mess?”

  “It's not a good idea. You need to bunk near your ship, which is why the pilot's mess is where it is. An extra couple of minutes to get from deck zero to the launch bays could be critical.”

  “I can see that. Can I use your shower?”

  She looked aghast at having said it aloud, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  Ten

  The rest of the Imperator's surprise turned up midafternoon.

  I was bored shitless by this point, wading through course material designed more for civilian freighter captains, and to a certain extent obsolete with AI's running ships instead of crews. Once through the basics, the next section was all military, but as Dianne and Grace had both told me, was super boring. All the same, some of it I needed to know, now I was giving orders. A lot of it was common sense, but some of it wasn’t. Well it was. But.

  “A rift just appeared,” announced Claymore. “You better get out here.”

  Glad for the diversion, I rose hastily, and was on the bridge in seconds.

  Ships were appearing one after another, each one curving around to form up in a line abreast above Claymore. The rift vanished after the last one came through.

  “Vid from the Imperator.”

  A screen popped up.

  “Commander. I'm sending you the only reinforcements I can manage at this time. They're essentially all the ships I didn’t know what to do with originally, because they would never have survived. They've all been upgraded to Crusader specs, or as close to it as possible. I sent you pilots already. Consider these ships as big fighters, and allocate pilots accordingly. I'm told there'll be replacements for your Excalibur threes ready to send you in a few more hours. Using the threes as AMS recon is approved.”

  He paused for a moment.

  “About the AMS. I'm not happy requisitioning their ships, especially as they're not as well shielded. Allocate them to protecting Slice's cruiser under AI control. I understand Eric wanting to be on Blossom, but as soon as Slice is on his feet again, Eric is too good a combat pilot to waste on an out of date cruiser. So put him on a destroyer straight away, and get him used to it. He won't be happy, but I’d rather have him unhappy than dead. And you can tell him I said that.”

  He paused again, seemingly to look me in the eyes.

  “Hunter out.”

  The vid ended.

  “Better get the four CO's up here.”

  “Already on their way.”

  Before I could ask, she popped up a screen with the new ships listed, including an image of them from the side. They were all destroyers or super-corvettes. The interesting thing was very few of them looked the same, as if they'd been dredged from different navies. They probably had. Which meant they all predated the Darkness War, and had managed to survive it.

  The four squadron leaders came in together, and I waved them to the conference table, and joined them. They'd seen the wall screen I’d been looking at, and while the three men were frowning, Gertrude was smiling.

  “The Imperator sent us a present.”

  Jane walked in at that point, and sat as well.

  “Apparently they're all upgraded to Crusader spec, or as close as possible. Anyone want to comment?”

  “More failing upward happening?” muttered Hawk.

  “Anything constructive to comment?”

  None of them said anything, but Gertrude's smile upgraded to a grin.

  “Anyone care to speculate?”

  “I will,” she said. “He wants me to lead a mixed destroyer and super-corvette squadron?”

  “Yes,” said Jane. “But he didn’t specify who was to lead the squadron, but assumed it would be you.”

  Gertrude looked at the three men, and it was obvious who was gett
ing the new squadron. They didn't want it. However, they'd have to suck up the rest of it.

  “Here's my thinking,” I said. “Vulture takes Crusader. Falcon has Chivalrous. Hawk and Whirlwind. You do the same thing I started, by flying the destroyer in the middle of the rest of the squadron, with C flight being the weakest pilot with two experienced wings. So two finger fours, and an arrow formation. Any problems with this?”

  “No,” said all three together, although none of them were enthusiastic.

  “Jessie Ball gets Wizard, Eric has Zealous, and Knüppel gets Vigilant.”

  She nodded.

  “Jessie and Eric command A and B flights. The best of the Excalibur pilots, and I'll leave that to you to determine, gets Unannounced and C flight. So three destroyers head each flight.”

  I paused to make sure they were keeping up. All four nodded.

  “We also have seven super-corvettes. Tenacious, Redoubtable, Paladin, Pathfinder, Rigorous, Unthinkable, and Unthankable. I don’t know who named the three beginning with Un.”

  “Pirates,” said Jane. “Jon captured them, and a lot of others, which were chopped up to make supers with. He just never had a use for them before now. The destroyers were all such different designs, they weren’t suitable for merging. But they upgraded the way Crusader was for Chris, so while looking different, are effectively the same spec.”

  “So the next seven best Excalibur pilots, assuming they want to fly something bigger, get the corvettes. The squadrons will need to be reorganized, but I'm told we'll have additional Excalibur fours here in a few hours, which means all the fighters will be the same, and launchable from the tubes. You'll have to work out who launches in what order, given we have sixteen tubes, and thirty three birds to launch.”

  “We can handle that,” said Vulture.

  “The four of you have deck two suites I assume?”

  “Yes,” said Jane.

  “What can we do about docking everything? Is that even possible?”

  “Not impossible. Put Monty back where she was. Needs an extendable airlock connection for each of the new ships, and connect all the destroyers on one side, and the corvettes on the other. If Jessie and Eric prefer living aboard Blossom, I can do the same there. It'll look silly, but allow the pilots to live in the same mess, instead of alone. Unless they want to, given captain quarters will be a lot better than marine barracks.”