Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) (16 page)

"It's been said. But when you see the
battle feeds, it was both necessary and effective." He nodded. "I'll
take all my people and ships. I think having been so decisive here, they'll want
to see the end of this war, and not be stuck in the backwaters."

"Your right, they will. I've heard a
lot of speculation on that, without actually hearing anything officially. I was
going to suggest you leave your Carrier for me to use as a command ship, but instead,
I'll transfer my command here until you return."

"Janet, please take orders from
General Harriman until my return from the war."

"Yes my Lord."

He cracked up.

"I can't get her to stop saying
that," I said apologetically. He laughed harder. "Janet has fought
the station, under supervision of a Commodore, so tell her what you want, and
she'll do it for you. If necessary, a pilot can take full control, but I doubt
you'll need that."

"Understood."

"What can you tell me about how my
people performed?"

"Superbly. I'll be recommending them
for medals and awards. They all did the impossible. Their ships were only part
of the equation. Guts and skill, combined with technical superiority, saved the
day here. What's the deal with Lacey? He's far too competent to be a Squadron
Leader at his age."

"I've no idea. His record shows no
reason for holding promotion back. But I've only met him three times, including
today, so I've never had the chance to ask him anything."

"I've had plenty of time. I used Camel
as my flag ship, as soon as I arrived here, so we've had a lot of time for
conversation. But he's said nothing about his past at all. Maybe you can find
out sometime? I'll be interested if you do." I nodded. "It's been a
long time since I was in combat. I can see why you love it so much, but I'm too
long in the tooth now to enjoy it. But having experienced it, I'm very glad I
didn’t bring our one remaining Corvette. It wouldn’t have stood a chance here.
Your Camel is inspired, Jon. Once the war is over, we need to talk about how
you see the Militia's needs for the future."

"We can do that. Don’t ask me when it
will be though."

"As most of what was put on the line
here belonged to you, you warrant reward. I can't give you a medal, as you
weren’t here, but what would you like?"

I thought for a moment, and a wicked grin
appeared on my face. Followed by a wince.

"Ownership of Nexus? Or at least,
permission to park my station in the middle of the system."

He laughed hard and long, and was still
laughing when Lacey and Annette knocked on the door. I waved them in.

"Before I forget Squadron
Leader," I said to Lacey before he could sit, "you better tell
Marshal Bigglesworth you're still alive. He seems to worry about you."

"I seriously doubt that sir. We didn’t
part on good terms."

"So I gather. All the same, send him a
vid, and update him with what's been happening to you and the squadron. I'll
make it an order if I have to."

"Okay sir. Obviously, you've been in
contact with him, and know more than I do."

"Actually, he's been in contact with
me, and I think you underestimate him."

He laughed.

"Everyone does sir. That’s why he's
the Space Marshall now."

"Give us an overview of the war so
far," suggested Walter, bringing things back on topic.

I spent the next hour giving them a rundown
of events since communications were cut.

On the dot of midday, the four of us walked
into the main eating area of the Promenade Deck, which had until recently been
a troop's mess. It was now back to its former role as a general eating area,
where people could sit with food from any of the vendors around the deck.

There were lots of station residents
milling around, and a group of obvious pilots over to one side. A few people
held musical instruments, but no one was playing.

Janet had tasked some building droids to
erect a small podium with a lectern, and I headed over to it. We stepped up,
and faced the crowd.

"Broadcast me please Janet. Here, and
to every display in the station."

"You're on."

"Can I have everyone's attention
please," I said. The crowd of people slowly went silent. "For those
who don’t know me, I'm Jon Hunter. I own this station."

There was surprise showing on the faces of
most of the pilots, and a good few of the residents.

"I thought it was fitting to hold a
celebration this afternoon for two reasons. Firstly, for those of you who live
on the station. You've been through a lot, from the station takeover in the Pompeii
system, to the battle at Cobol. Many of you were injured at Cobol, some of you are
still in hospital. It's been a tough time. I can tell you now, it's over. The
station is now in the Midnight system, and here it'll stay until at least the
end of the war. It's safe here, and you are now safe!"

There was cheering from all around the area.

"The second reason for a celebration
is the reason why it's safe here. The faces you don’t know, are pilots who have
put their lives on the line to keep the enemy out of the Australian sector.
Until this morning, they knew they could die at any moment, at the whims of
Midgard. Today they know they prevailed, and it's time for them to celebrate
their victory."

There was more cheering, notably the group
of pilots.

"I'd like to introduce you to General
Harriman, of the Australian Militia. For the immediate future, he'll command
this station."

I indicated the General, and he nodded to
the crowd.

"This is a good place for us to be
right now. This is the only functional station between the Australian systems,
Avon, and Miami. Once trade gets going again, this will be a natural stopping
point for ships making the journey either way. I'm hoping that those of you
with businesses, will reap the rewards of your decision to stay on the station."

There were smiles and nods from many
people.

"Janet, say hello please."

People looked puzzled.

"Hello everyone," she said,
displaying her avatar face on the screens. "I'm the station's Artificial
Intelligence. I'll be running things until a new station administration can be
set up."

A mutter arose around the room. Her face
vanished, and I replaced it on the screens.

"There'll be freighters leaving the
station later today," I went on, "bound for Australian sector
planets. If anyone has urgent orders to make, submit them to Janet as soon as
possible. Scheduling can be done based on where people need things collected
from. Until the end of the war, there will be Hunter freighters doing supply
runs from Australian planets. If you advise Janet of your orders, they'll be
collected, and brought here free of charge."

I saw some heads nodding. I'd just thought
of the latter idea, since these people had made a huge decision to relocate,
and could use some help it wasn’t going to cost me extra to provide.

"Likewise, if you need information
about the sector, and where you can order things from, ask Janet through any
display unit. The station has a small but efficient security force. If you need
their attention, again, speak to Janet. Anything else, speak to Janet. If it
needs to go to the General, you'll be redirected."

I could see boredom setting in.

"That’s all I wanted to say. This
celebration is on me. Eat, drink, and rejoice in being safe. Thank you for your
attention."

There was a round of cheering again. The
screens went blank.

"Let's have some music!" I called
out.

"Nice speech," said Walter.
"You continue to amaze me young Jon. I'd have thought you grew up with
public speaking, and yet I know you haven’t."

"Let's eat," I said, heading off
any further discussion.

I'd no sooner stepped down from the podium,
than I saw Jeeves waving me towards a table. A small cargo droid removed the
lectern. I headed over, and the four of us sat. Jeeves soon had food and drinks
for us.

Some musicians took their places on the
empty podium, and a party atmosphere quickly followed them beginning to play.

"Janet, have some butler droids go to
the hospital, and make sure everyone there is provided with food and drink.
They can also seek out any groups of people who aren't attending the party, and
offer them whatever they would like as well."

"Yes my Lord."

"What's next?" asked Annette.

"I'm going to get a few quick
modifications done to the Carrier, while no-one is aboard. When complete, and
all your ships are repaired, we'll transfer them over to the Carrier. Once all
the ships are there, we'll return to Cobol. As soon as the ground team's work
is complete, we move on to the Azgard jump point, and continue rolling Midgard
back."

"So we're all going with you?"
asked Lacey.

"Those of you who work for me. The
Gladiator pilots will remain here as a fighter force. Some Talons may join
them. That’s up to the General."

"What about the new ships?" he
asked.

"Both Camels will go with us. I think
I have a buyer for them. The Excalibur was built for me, so that goes with us
as well."

He looked a little downcast.

"I was hoping I'd get to keep flying
my Camel. I know the other two want to keep flying their Camel and Excalibur.
The Centurions will be a definite come down now."

I chuckled. I knew the feeling.

"We'll see what happens. At the moment
I have more ships than pilots. If you know some good pilots who might want to
join your squadron, let me know. Having new ships built isn’t a major problem
at the moment, although getting them done will be problematical until the
sector militaries stop monopolizing the shipyards. For now, after you've eaten,
see to your pilots and their ship repairs. When they're complete, have them
moved onto the Carrier. You can land the Centurions on the Flight Deck, through
one of the side entrances. Just leave the sides clear for two of the Corvettes
to land, and keep well clear of the lifts. The station has some other ships
I'll be having transferred over, so the lifts will be busy."

"Yes sir."

"Will I be landing Unthinkable on the Flight
Deck?" asked Annette.

"Yes. Gunbus will go one side, and
Unthinkable the other. I'll be making arrangements for docking the Camels."

She and Lacey nodded, and we continued to
eat in silence.

After eating, I showed them around the CCC,
had Janet raise and lower the pilot's chair, and left them to get on with their
own business.

Back on Gunbus, I began discussing changes
to BigMother with both Jane and Janet. While we were doing this, Janet moved
all the builder and unoccupied repair droids from the station, over to the
Carrier. With them went all but two of the Search and Rescue droids, and all
but six of the salvage droids. While no one was aboard was the best time to do
the changes I was thinking of.

The hard part was fitting things in. Bob
had done too good a job of filling up the extra spaces with anything which
could shoot.

I'd only talked to him about turrets and
launchers down the sides. But at the time, I hadn't considered the majority of
the surface area being on the top and bottom hulls. I'd been thinking more in
terms of where to put the extra power generators for the Point Defense, and
extra shielding I'd wanted, not in terms of the Carrier being converted into a
Heavy Cruiser.

Junk Heap One, when I captured her, had
almost no weapons at all. Just a few anti-fighter missile launchers.

Bob had added Cruiser and Destroyer guns,
and after my experiences in Midgard, seemed to have run amok with Point Defense.

Much to my amazement, BigMother had more
actual firepower now than the station did. Along the sides, he'd opted for
capital ship missile launchers instead of guns. There were thirty on each side.

He'd even added twelve Mosquito launchers.
Two were on the sides, and four each top and bottom.

The thing I was coming to grips with was
the Carrier was the opposite layout to the Pocket Battleships. The PB's were
all sides, with much narrower tops and bottoms. The Carrier was all top and
bottom, with narrow sides. Narrow being subjective, since she was taller than
any of my other ships, although this varied down her length. The underside was
flat, the topside sloped down from back to front. Her length was midway between
a Cruiser and a Battleship, and the width at the front was almost the same as a
Cruiser.

She now docked the same as other large
ships, with a full length Cargo Deck ending in a Large Freighter airlock at the
front.

Below that was the Flight Deck. Like all
Escort Carriers, this was only meant to land smaller ships one at a time. At
the rear, she was slightly wider than five Cruisers docked next to each other.
Most of the rear section was engines and power plants, but the Flight Deck went
the whole way through, so a fighter could fly in one end, and out the other.
The opening at the rear was much wider than the one at the front, allowing
larger ships to enter. Inside, were large ship bays, where Privateer and larger
small freighter sized ships could be parked. You could land a medium freighter
at the rear end of the Flight Deck, but it wouldn’t fit into one of the bays.
Each bay had its own cargo handling system, mini versions of each station dock.
Private yachts, and the smallest of the small freighters, would fit down the
ship lifts, and be stored in the ship bays below.

The two side openings to the Flight Deck,
were large enough for a Corvette to enter and park, without obscuring the main
length.

What had been completed, as well as the
weapons and Cargo Deck airlock, was upgrading the Bridge Deck and the main
accommodation. The Bridge had been rebuilt to the same standard as Custer's,
except substantially bigger. As well as an adjoining kitchen and mess, there
was now a captain's Ready Room, and a Conference Room for thirty. On the same
deck were five VIP offices, and ten standard offices.

The captain's suite was bigger again than
Custer's, but of a similar design. There were five VIP suites the size of the
XO's suite on Custer, and twenty five ordinary suites comprising a living room,
bedroom with queen sized bed, and bathroom with a four person spa bath. Each
was larger than my suite on Gunbus.

On the same deck was a kitchen, Dining Room
for fifty, recreation room, gymnasium, a bathroom with two twenty person spa
baths, and a sauna.

What hadn't been done included the ship's
storage areas, the Maintenance and Launch Deck; Cargo Bay upgrades, and the
various crew areas. The latter included a Pilot's Mess, Marine Mess, and Crew Mess.
Each was the size of the crew area on Custer, and was to be equipped the same
way. I also wanted Custer's gun ranges duplicated, an arboretum, and some
viewing lounges.

Jane highlighted the fact that all the
equipment and fittings needed were on board, just none of the work had begun. As
a secondary task, I had Jane task the Marine Mess and its attached Armoury,
hopefully to be completed by the time we reached Cobol. The other tasks would
be begun when everything else was complete.

Also on board were the eleven Sabers and
four Epees I'd salvaged from a trap I’d walked into, the same day I'd captured
the Carrier. They were all ready to fight. There was also three shuttles and a Captain's
Gig. And the magazines were crammed full of ordinance for the various
launchers.

I gave Jane instructions for the six
Mustangs, five Sabers, and three Epees on the station, to be moved to the
Carrier. The Mustangs were just small enough to fit down the lifts. Excalibur
and the Centurions were too big. I also asked for twelve of the Hive clusters
to be moved to the new mountings on the Carrier, as soon as they were complete.

She also found several pallets of butler
and maid droids. I instructed Jeeves to activate those we needed once we moved
over. I asked for a butler droid to add the names of the team to the nearest
suites to the stairwell and quick access shafts. These ran up the middle of the
ship near the rear, above the Flight Deck, allowing quick access to all decks
from the Cargo Deck upwards. There were also similar access areas on each side
of the ship, as well as between lower decks in other places.

I pondered the stairwells and quick access
shafts. The Bridge was on a separate level from the Accommodation. Angel was
going to need to be denied access to the shafts, and down the stairwell on the
Accommodation Deck. I instructed Jeeves to find extra cat walls, or have Janet
make enough new walling to keep Angel limited to the top two decks.