Legend of Dreamwalker (The Hunter Imperium Book 5)

by Timothy Ellis

  As we went up, I saw more and more of the city, and noticed the other side was still besieged, although the combat droids were keeping most of the plants from the walls.

  Above us was Monty. The droid parked next to an external airlock, and we cycled through. Inside, I walked to the armoury, racked the guns, stepped into a charge bay, opened the back, and stepped out. By the time I made the bridge, I was puffing, and feeling like I’d done my workout for the next week.

  We sat there in silence, until once again out in space, where we all lost control of our lower jaws.

  A large rift was disgorging a station. Not a large one in the scheme of things, just a central core and four docking bays, but still a station. It was being towed by Blossom, who positioned it in a stationary orbit above the capital city, dropped the tow, and headed down into a lower orbit.

  Monty continued on to Claymore, and docked on top where she usually was. A short time later, I was on the bridge again.

  “Was there really a reason for me coming back here?” I asked Jane, who was sitting where she normally was when on the bridge. “Or was the sight of a station coming through a rift something I just had to see?”

  “There is that, but no. You have orders.”

  “The imperator?”

  “Who else?”

  “What’s he want?”

  “Your eyes only.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No.”

  She grinned at me.

  “Who’s back on board?”

  “Well he’s not on first, that’s for sure.”

  “What?”

  “Old joke. Never mind.”

  Dianne and Shenaid were looking blank, but Claymore suddenly burst into laughter. AI’s. I sighed.

  “Do I have to look it up?”

  “Look what up?”

  “Who’s on board?”

  “Who’s not on board. Actually no-one is at the moment. The fighters have all come and gone back again, but you can recall them if we need to.”

  “Put the Imperator up on the wall in my ready room then.”

  “He won’t like it up there.”

  Now the two ladies laughed. I waved dismissal at Jane, and walked into my desk, shutting the door behind me. The Imperator was frozen up on the wall. He didn’t look comfortable at all. I unfroze the vid.

  “Commander, as soon as the capital city is secured, or within two hours, whichever comes first, you’re to retrieve team six and your pilots. The Ralnor have intel about the Keerah planet we suspect was overrun for the Trixone to get where you are now. A trader got the word out this planet was under attack, and one of their spies intercepted the message. They think its two or three systems away from you, but are not sure.”

  “The word is the Keerah have been doing badly in space, but their soldiers on the ground have been putting up a better fight. So it’s possible even if the planet is overrun, there could be pockets of survivors. Your orders are to find the planet as fast as possible, and locate and secure any survivors. Unassailable will be back with you shortly, with combat droids on board. I’m sending you the only Cobra dropships Haven has left, stuffed with droids. Unassailable had enough time in a dock to fix her damage, and receive a rapid upgrade, although there is work to be done after she returns to you.”

  “I’d send you Fearless, but she’s in a dock at the moment, and going to another Ralnor planet as soon as she comes out. Homer and Bonko will be going into dock as well, as soon as they return to Haven, and I’ll send them after you as soon as hostilities on the planet below you conclude.”

  “Chris.” He paused. “The odds are the Keerah will shoot at you when you arrive. Don’t shoot back if you can avoid it. We still want to be friends with them if possible. If the planet has been completely taken by the plants, you’re to eradicate them. If nothing else, we can give the planet back to the Keerah at a later date. Or use it ourselves.”

  “Diplomats are on their way to the new station there. One reason ships haven’t been getting upgraded is the shipyard is building these small stations, in order to join up the new planets we’ve been finding who’re not Ralnor or Keerah, and who turn out friendly. Not your problem, but I thought I’d let you know someone else is taking up the slack behind you.”

  “Find that planet Commander. Hunter out.”

  Twenty Six

  “How long ago did that message come in?” I asked Jane.

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  “Recall everyone in an hour and a half then. Send Monty for team six. They came down on a salvage droid, so I assume they don’t have a dropship with them.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it. The dropships went to other parts of the planet, and then back to the ships, which are no longer here.”

  I didn’t see any point in asking when they left. It wasn’t my concern. At least until they caught up again.

  “Let me know when Unassailable is back.”

  “Should be in about an hour.”

  “Let me know then.”

  “Confirmed.”

  I turned for the door, and walked back out onto the bridge.

  “We may as well eat,” I said to the ladies. “Unless you want to wait for the pilots to return.”

  “How long?” asked Dianne.

  “Recall goes down in an hour and a half.”

  “Definitely eat then.”

  Shenaid nodded, but I suspected she’d be heading for her rooms, and ordering from a butler. I turned back to Jane.

  “If anyone lands or docks before the recall, they’re not to launch again. They should eat and get some sleep. We could be in battle again during the night for all we know.”

  “Confirmed.”

  I nodded, she nodded, Claymore nodded, and I shook my head and left. I found Dianne already down in the pilot’s mess, and sat next to her. She looked happy.

  “It seems some of the new accommodation is complete. I got a new room assignment just now.”

  “And you’re not there checking it out?”

  “I need food more than satisfying curiosity. I’ll know what it’s like soon enough.”

  “Practical person.”

  “I try to be. But I am starving.”

  “So am I. Why are you?”

  “I was hungry when we went down.”

  “You didn’t have to.”

  “I’m glad I did. It’s not every day you get the chance to meet a new species.”

  “I gather it’s been happening a lot lately. The new station here is a result of needing them in a hurry.”

  We broke off and looked around to the noise of footsteps coming towards. To our surprise, it was Shenaid. She sat on the other side of Dianne.

  “What?” she said.

  “I wasn’t expecting you here,” said Dianne before I could.

  “Given all that death and destruction today, I decided I didn’t want to be alone for a while.”

  “I don’t blame you. It was intense where I was on the wall, let alone on the ground fighting. How do you do that?”

  “What?”

  “Throw fireballs?”

  She laughed.

  “Fireballs are easy. And against plants effective. Now throwing lightning around is much more difficult, but with plants it’s not as effective.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I was told.”

  They both laughed. I was beginning to feel a little left out of the conversation, but Kat dropped a plate in front of me just then, with another for Dianne, and I decided eating was preferable to talking. Dianne continued doing both.

  “What else can you do?”

  “Lots of things. I’m learning how to use ship’s energy to increase my power, so I can copy the crystals which boost our shielding. The more I can do, the more replacement fighters we can make ourselves.”

  “Of course, if I stopped breaking them, we wouldn’t need any.”

  Dianne looked sad and dejected for a moment, bu
t saw our reactions and laughed.

  “It’s a useful skill for me to learn,” went on Shenaid. “So far I’ve done a half dozen of the Excalibur ones. But they tire me out. I’m still working on doing a frigate sized one, so Monty can be better protected. Once I do one of those, I’ll try for a destroyer sized one.” She looked at me. “It’s one reason I tired so fast today. I wasn’t rested enough before we started.”

  She’d caught me with a mouthful, so I made an effort to chew rapidly and swallow, before answering. They both grinned at me.

  “We’re all going to be like that at times, so don’t worry about it. From what I know of past wars, we’ve had it easy so far.”

  “Easy?”

  Dianne sounded surprised.

  “Comparatively speaking, yes. We’ve had one or two scrambles a day. And we’ve only really been getting one major battle per system, unless we stay put for a while.”

  “As opposed to what?”

  “We could be launching every couple of hours, if the plants were serious about taking this area.”

  “You think?”

  “Hard to know. From what I gather, the plants attacked across a massive front, but are only managing a fleet a day through any part of it. I’d have probably chosen specific paths, blockaded the others, and then hammered my way through the ones I really wanted to take, giving defenders no time to recover before the next wave attacked. So no more than an hour or so between waves.”

  “When did you become the military strategist?”

  “I’m not. But I had seven years of nothing to do but listen. And I was a warrior, so I spent a lot of time listening to history.”

  “Any of it help now?” asked Shenaid.

  I chuckled.

  “Not a lot.”

  Shenaid’s food arrived, and the three of us ate in silence for a bit.

  “Unassailable is back a bit early,” said Jane in my ear. “I’m sending Monty now.”

  A hollo popped up, showing a repaired battleship. Five Cobra’s launched from her huge side doors, and headed down to the planet.

  “I thought we were getting those?” I said.

  “Getting what?” asked Dianne.

  “Sorry.”

  I changed the hollo so they could both see.

  “Dropships?” asked Shenaid.

  “Big ones.”

  “Why would we get them?” asked Dianne.

  “Jane?”

  “The last infantry reserves are going down to the planet in them,” she said through room coms. “The Cobras will be coming back here empty, and filling up with combat droids for when we need them next.”

  “And the troops?” asked Dianne.

  “The three plant ships are being modified as troop transports. No-one is quite sure if they’ll be finished when we need them though, as the shipyard is making station modules as fast as it can. Syrinx is no longer on a ship, but is fully occupied linking up stations as fast as they’re deployed.”

  “So we’ve saved more species then?” I asked.

  “We were too late for a lot, and we can’t be sure how many we don’t know about who’re now just gone, but we’ve been saving more than we lose lately. A lot of them were kept safe in space, so we’re making contact with viable civilizations, who’re really pissed with both the Keerah and Ralnor to be left unprotected as they have been.”

  “So the Imperium is going to get bigger?”

  “Every chance of it, yes. Even if none of them join, we will be trading with most of them I think.”

  “Let me know when one of them supplies a decent Irish Mist,” said Dianne.

  We looked at her in surprise.

  “What?”

  Twenty Seven

  I managed about five hours sleep.

  I’d hoped I’d get more, but one of the threes was going to be at the jump point before we were, and it was going to toss a comnavsat through to see what was on the other side. Claymore had instructions to wake me up if there was anything threatening there.

  Claymore woke me up.

  She gave me as much time as she could, but I’d been clear I wanted to be on the bridge in enough time to make decisions before we got there. She shaved it closer than I’d have liked, but I had needed the sleep. Ten minutes out, I was back in my chair.

  The comnavsat had been destroyed, which was a first as far as I knew. Then again, the three hadn't had a cloaked version on board, just normal ones.

  But it showed there was not only something on the other side, but it was trigger happy. Fortunately, we received enough data from it to know what we faced. The two AI’s and I reviewed what we did get.

  Arrayed around the jump point, and I mean really closely arrayed, was two normal fleets. They had the jump point boxed in completely, including the down jump lane. None of the four hundred fighters had launched yet, but the twenty four ships were in point blank range, and obviously now expecting us.

  “Plus ten for checking,” I said absently. “But minus a hundred for checking the wrong way.”

  “What?” asked Claymore?”

  “Nothing. Wake them up please.”

  I’d warned the CO’s this might happen, but no-one had taken it too seriously, given the number of jump points over the last few weeks we’d been through without a problem. I hadn't bothered correcting the general mood, preferring them to get some real sleep instead of staying awake in expectation. The fact I’d actually slept myself was more about the fatigue of the day overcoming a busy mind.

  “All pilots to your ships. This is not a drill.”

  It seemed to echo through the ship, and Jane looked far too happy waking people like that. I had no idea why she added the not a drill part, since we never did any drills. But then, back on Ark Royal we’d had them all the time, and maybe we ought to be. Not today though. This was not a drill.

  “No-one launches. We’re going to have to thread the needle as a single ship before we do.”

  “Confirmed.”

  Claymore was now stopped well before the jump point, giving us a good sprint space. While I waited for pilots to get their ships ready for launch, I debated sending in another comnavsat, a cloaked one this time. And decided not to. If the plants were this hair trigger, they might be able to detect the movement of a new one. We could make them invisible, but the thrusters generated both heat and a visible distortion as the sat moved. And both could be detected if being looked for.

  I told the AI’s what to do.

  “All fighters ready,” said Vulture, his head a hollo on my console now.

  “All destroyers and corvettes ready,” said Knüppel, next to him, with Hawk and Falcon next to her.

  Dianne and Shenaid came running onto the bridge, and I added myself to the general channel as they sat and buckled up.

  “This is Dreamwalker. The enemy have the jump point staked out. We’re going to thread the needle. No-one launches until I give the word. Destroyers and corvettes can fire on targets of opportunity if you get the chance. Stand by.”

  I looked at Claymore.

  “Hit it.”

  Claymore started sprinting for the jump point, and as she did, we rolled into a very odd angle. I looked at Shenaid.

  “Eyes shut might be best.”

  She shut her eyes.

  We hit the jump point at the fastest speed Claymore could make.

  Within half a second, we rolled further, and the titan turret spat at the ship slightly to our right. As I’d thought possible, they’d shifted their ships, like we’d been doing in past battles.

  At a second, we shot through a gap between ships, narrowly avoiding an outright collision, as the ship to our right disintegrated. Once past, the battleship turrets which could fire to the rear, fired on the ship which had been to our left, leaving its shields weakened.

  We kept going flat out for a few seconds more, followed by a rapid change of direction. Our shields were still good, but we’d taken hits to both front and back shields.

  I’d gone into combat
mode just before the jump, but even so, it took me five seconds or so to process what had already happened since jumping. The plants were improving, or they had a way of seeing the other side of the jump like we normally did. Or both.

  And now we had a problem.

  The battleships and cruisers were turning to follow us, and were launching fighters.

  But that wasn’t our problem.

  The rest of the fleet was jumping out.

  Unassailable was back there, but we hadn't anticipated this one, and she was mere seconds from jumping herself. An overlay popped up over my all round sight, showing me the navmap on both sides. I watched Unassailable turn away from the jump point, and while doing so all her turrets moved to target the first destroyers jumping in.

  Once again, it was point blank range, and while the plants should have anticipated this, they obviously hadn't. While Claymore continued to run, Jane slaughtered the destroyers as they jumped through. There’d been no attempt to jump in formations, and as I shifted to watch through Unassailable’s cams, I noticed something different about the amount of firepower she was putting out. It was significantly bigger.

  I pulled up her new specs, and she’d had an extra battleship turret added top and bottom on the end which had only had one, and three new ones on each side, in front of, between, and behind the two hangar doors. Not only the eight new battleship turrets, but dozens of cruiser and destroyer turrets as well, and she was firing almost everything at once.

  I almost stepped down to see what expression Jane had on her face, but stopped myself. I needed to decide when we stopped running, and turned to fight. My hands went to the controls on my chair.

  “I have the ship.”

  “Captain has the ship,” said Claymore.

  My left hand brought the speed slider back to normal cruising speed, and Claymore slowed.

  “Launch.”

  The big ships on the wings came apart immediately, all taking a forward vector just enough apart to not collide with anyone else, and with enough speed to start drawing ahead of Claymore. The first sixteen fighters launched at the same time, angling around to also get in front of me.