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

"Is that being organized?"

"Yes. But the freighter isn't being
sent until it's known to be safe to do so."

Made sense to me.

I didn't linger on the Barracks Deck of
Gunbus, going straight up the stairwell to my suite. The damage on Deck Two
looked a lot tidier than it had when I'd last seen it. During the battle this
morning, Gunbus had been solidly hit. Vonda's office was completely wrecked, as
was Alsop's.

I kept going up, and climbed over the cat
wall. A small white Furball ambushed me, and climbed up my left side onto my
shoulder.

Meow mrow mow meow.

"I take it you missed me Angel?"
I said to my ten week old Lilac point Siamese kitten.

She bit my ear.

"Ouch. What was that for?"

MEOW.

"Ok, I'm sorry. I didn’t have a
choice. Jane and Jeeves took care of you, didn't they?"

Mew.

"Well what are you complaining about?
It hasn’t been that long."

I got 'the look'.

"Ok, it's been all morning. I'm sorry.
I'm here for a bit, let's make the most of it."

I hurried into my living room, and dropped
her on the top of her kitty castle. I set her cat ball rolling for her. She shot
down the castle, and pounced on it.

I sat at the dining table, and Jeeves, Deck
One's butler droid, had food in front of me before I could ask.

Before I knew it, I had kitten nosing at my
plate. I sniffed the food. Tuna casserole. Guess who only eats tuna? I dug a
bit out, and dropped it on the floor. She crawled her way down my leg.
Fortunately, my suit didn’t let her claws penetrate my skin. I’d adjusted it so
she could climb, but still keep me scratch free.

Angel sniffed at the morsel on the floor.
She looked at me as if to say 'Is that it?'

"That’s it sweetie pie. It's cooked,
not raw."

She waggled her back paw for a moment, and
shot off to dive bomb the cat ball. Jeeves came quietly in, and remove the
mess.

I ate, while Angel performed.

After eating, I obliged the puss with my
presence around the kitty castle, but my mind was only half with her.

I needed to catch up with emails. These
never ended. I was getting junk mail advertising everything from porn, to
luxury islands for sale on Gold Coast. The downside of being thought rich, everyone
wanted to sell you something.

Actually I was rich, at least for now. I'd
sold captured ships to the American and Australian sectors, and received a huge
payment for license fees to build Gunbus and Excalibur class ships. I'd been
instrumental in creating the designs, so received half the license fees.
Excalibur was a Heavy Privateer, a long range heavy fighter. No other heavy
fighter could beat it, one-on-one.

Midgard used the Talon medium short range
fighter in large numbers, so most fighters were vulnerable to missile spamming.
Spamming was when one hundred and eighty fighters all lit off missiles at you
at the same time. Or a Missile Cruiser sent two hundred missiles at you. Unless
you had excellent Point Defense, you were toast. The Americans had found this
out the hard way not long ago, and had bought the licenses to both my designs,
to compensate for theirs being very out of date.

So while I was currently rolling in
credits, so to speak, it was only going to be a short term thing.

On my way through Midgard, I'd been able to
capture myself a fleet. The Midgard Missile Cruisers were formidable
offensively, but had no defenses. Hence the large numbers of fighters escorting
them. I'd left Midgard with six largely intact Cruisers, and a seventh in two
halves. I'd also, thanks to a renegade American sector Captain, claimed an
Actor class Cruiser. And last but not least, I'd saved the remaining crew on
board a badly damaged Dallas class Frigate. Her captain, now Commodore O'Neil
and working for me, had given me the hull in lieu of a salvage fee.

All of these ships had been in Avon
Shipyards for the last four days, being refitted. The Missile Cruisers were
being converted into Drone Pocket Battleships. They would mount a single
Battleship turret, Cruiser guns, a significant amount of Point Defense turrets
and anti-fighter missile launchers, and updated capital ship missile launchers.
But they would have no crew, being run by my AI. The original Tyr class design,
mounted two hundred capital ship missile launchers on each side. I wasn’t sure
yet how many missile launchers would be retained. I'd seen the early specs, but
left the engineers at the shipyard to do what worked. John Wayne, the Actor
class Cruiser, was having a complete refit as a standard gun Cruiser, but with
enough Point Defense added to ensure she wasn’t vulnerable to a two hundred
missile barrage. The Actor class, a mainstay in the American fleet, had already
proved to be useless fighting against Midgard's Missile Cruisers.

All this was going to cost me a pretty
credit. I didn’t know yet, how many.

The new ships were due any time now. O'Neil
had left in a shuttle earlier, to take command of the fleet as soon as it was
out of the repair bays.

I'd sent the shipyard a hurry up ping, as
it was going to be close as to who arrived first. My fleet, or Midgard's.

Midgard itself seemed to have gone Retro.
While always having a low-tech approach to things, they now believed that
technology users in general, and space travel in particular, would bring on
Ragnarok, the end of the world. Oddly, this paralleled prophesy from home,
which was called the 'Coming of Darkness'. As it was ten months before I could
get home to ask more about it, we didn’t know enough to say if these two
forecasts of doom were the same thing or not. In any case, the answer wasn’t to
declare war on the rest of humanity, as Midgard had done, minus the
declaration. No-one could communicate with Midgard, as the planet had adopted
some form of ancient Norse as their language.

I'd dropped into the middle of a civil war
when I'd pulled my friends out of Pompeii. I hadn't banked on falling head
first into a major war immediately after, trying to get home. Nor had I
expected to be the Admiral of my own fleet. I'd just wanted to stay alive, when
people kept shooting at me.

Meow.

I stopped musing, and started patting.

When her attention wandered, I went back to
emails.

Admiral Jedburgh had sent word of another
attack on Miami. Once again, the entire Midgard fleet had destroyed itself on
the debris mine field which was blocking the down jump area, from the Midgard
system. Each time they did, the obstacle grew in size, and became more lethal. It
was giving the American's time to build new ships to counter the threat. As
long as we didn’t fail here in Avon, they would come out of it fine. Failing
here wasn’t an option, but it'd been very close so far.

A follow up email had expressed his
amazement at what I'd done with the station on my own. Apparently, in addition
to the station feed I'd sent, Repulse had sent a vid of the whole thing to the
British Fleet Command, and they'd forwarded it to the Americans. He'd included
it for me. I watched it, seeing the station fight from the perspective of being
behind it, and slightly off to one side. Awesome combined with scary.

Miriam had sent me a vid. It was encrypted
again, but Jane had given my pad the decryption algorithm. There seemed to be
something wrong with her uniform. A lot of cleavage was showing. Nice and
distracting, but not normal.

"Hi Jon. I'm glad to hear you made it
this morning. How did Angel cope with being in a spacesuit? I wish I was there
to hug you, and more."

Her arms moved wide as she mimed a hug, and
more of her breasts became visible. As she was in the cockpit of her Excalibur,
I hoped she wasn't visible to the rest of her squadron. The Squadron Leader
needed to maintain discipline after all, and having the pilots slobbering over
her semi-naked form wasn’t a good idea.

I made an effort to stop slobbering myself.

"Greer and I were called in to see
Admiral Hallington. He showed us a vid of you and your station fighting a whole
fleet alone. He asked us if you were insane. I told him all good heroes
were."

She grinned widely, shifted her position,
and one of her breasts poked out of her blouse completely.

Greer, was Lieutenant Commander Greer, now
Squadron Leader of the new Gunbus squadron, currently being built.

"I don’t know how you did what you
did. No-one has ever seen anything like it before. Probably never will again, I
hope. Take care Jon. I want to see you back this way as soon as Midgard is
brought to their knees. Don’t get killed doing something stupid. Let me
rephrase that. Don’t get killed. Period."

She saluted me, resulting in her other
breast poking out. She looked down as if to wonder what had happened, gave me a
sly minx look, and waved. The vid ended.

I sent her back the noise of a stadium
begging an entertainer for an encore.

By half past two, I was back in the pilot's
chair in the CCC. There was no sign of the next enemy fleet yet, but I wasn’t
taking the chance.

I opened a channel to O'Neil. This was
possible because we'd laid a series of comsats all the way to the jump point
from the planet. This wasn’t normal, but then, the whole situation wasn’t
normal.

"Commodore, what's your ETA?"

"An hour, Admiral."

"That’s going to be cutting it fine.
The next Midgard fleet is expected at the same time."

"Understood. All ships are ready
Admiral. They won't know what hit them this time."

"Were all the ships completed to
spec?"

"Yes sir. And I've brought them all
with me. I wouldn't have believed the difference in the John Wayne, if I hadn't
lived on her before."

"Does Custer have an external docking
port that Gunbus could dock with?"

"Yes sir. Custer now has a very
similar layout to Gunbus internally, so both droid airlocks will mate, creating
a solid seal. I'm amazed what they did with the old girl. She has a new lease
on life now."

"Great. I'll take command of Custer
then, but we won't be engaging unless there's no alternative."

"Sir. You've done your bit for today.
Sit this one out, and watch the show." He chuckled. I joined in.

"I will, thank you. Hunter out."

I opened up team coms.

"I'll be going to the General Custer shortly,
which is approaching with the new fleet. Anyone who wishes to come along is
welcome. We'll not be participating in the coming battle, but will closely
observe it. It's more than likely we'll be on her for several days, so bring
anything you have on the station that you'll need. That includes your combat
suits. Please be on board in about ten minutes. For those needing a reason, I
promise not to disappoint."

I closed the coms, and opened a channel to
Repulse.

"Hunter for Bentley."

"Stand by Admiral."

I waited a few moments.

"Yes Admiral?"

"Turn Repulse around please. The new
fleet is an hour away, as is I suspect, the Midgard fleet. Assume they meet
about half way to the jump point from here, and move to a position where you
can monitor the fight at the edge of sensor range. Once the Midgard fleet jumps
in, the station will be joining you. It's time to turn my new toys loose, and
see what they can do. We'll all be observers for this battle."

"Understood Admiral. On our way."

The channel closed.

I pinged George to launch Excalibur just
before Gunbus undocked. The Privateer was usually docked in Gunbus' hanger,
being my private fighter. George had been flying her for the battle this
morning. She'd needed repairs, but was back where she lived now.

"Janet, keep me up to date. I want to
know the instant the Midgard fleet arrives."

"Yes my Lord."

I nodded to Jane, and we left the CCC.

Back on board Gunbus, I headed for my
suite, looking for Jeeves. He bustled in when I called.

"Can you get all Angel's things
together to be moved please? We'll be spending a day or two on the General
Custer. The Captain's suite there should be similar to here, so please set it
up as close as you can. We'll need the carry cage for Angel. Don’t forget the
ramps."

"Of course my Lord."

"When we get on board, check what's
already there in terms of bedding, bathroom needs, kitchen stuff, and food. I'm
not sure how many of us there'll be, but we'll need everything we use here, for
at least several days there. I also want all the butler droids on the Custer,
as well as all the SR, cargo and combat droids. You better shift the contents
of the Armoury as well."

"As you command, my Lord. It will be
done."

I went onto the Bridge where I found Jane.

"Jane, after we dock with Custer, can
you move our combat suits and the heavy weapons to Custer's armoury
please."

"Confirmed."

"Angel?"

There was a meow from the distance, and a
blur of white as she shot across the floor, and up onto the console. She
skidded past her cat mat, and ended up in a mess of paws and tail against the
join between the console and view screen. I laughed.

"You need practice, little miss,"
I told her.

She picked herself up, stretched, and
sauntered over to her cat mat, where she sat with the dignity of those who
pretend they did it deliberately. For all I knew, she had.

Over the next five minutes or so, the rest
of the team came onto the Bridge. I needn’t have worried, they all showed up.

"Once we're over on the Custer,"
I said, "I'll be sending Gunbus back to the shipyard for repairs. So we'll
be transferring everything we need from here to there. If you want specific
food or drink, tell a butler to arrange it. I've given general orders, but feel
free to give specific ones." There were nods from several of them.

I pinged O'Neil asking if the suites and
staterooms on board John Wayne and Custer were fitted out fully, and if there
was food. He pinged back that all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, were
ready for people, and each ship was stocked with food for twenty people for a
month. That was good news, it saved me having to take the time to do it, and
saved us having to move bedding and food now.

I was going to enjoy this. I couldn’t help
grinning.

"What's up chuckles?" asked
Amanda.

"O'Neil tells me Custer is fully
fitted out and ready for people. I don’t know how they did it in less than four
days. She had to be practically rebuilt internally."

Vonda and Alsop came on to the Bridge at
that moment.

"I assume your invitation was for us
too Admiral?" she asked.

"The more the merrier," I
responded with a grin.

A ping came in from John Slice. He was
wondering if he should come as well. I pinged him back suggesting he did, so he
could send Apricot One back to the shipyard for repairs, as I was doing the
same with Gunbus. He said he'd be here in five.

Slice had bought his own Gunbus from the
shipyard after literally bribing the Chief Engineer to build it for him in a hurry.
He'd been the Wing Commander for our now much depleted fighter force. His
hanger doors had been blown right off during the battle.

He didn’t hold the record for trashing a
brand new ship though. That one was mine. The record was less than twelve hours,
and requiring a tow home. Apparently the old record had stood for hundreds of
years, before my test flight of Excalibur.

A few minutes later, a puffing John Slice
entered the Bridge.

"Apricot One will follow us when we
undock, and wait for Gunbus. They can head back to the shipyard together."

"Confirmed," said Jane.

I thought for a moment on the subject of
the shipyard.

"Janet?"

"Yes my Lord?"

"Have all the fighter pilots fly their
ships back to the shipyards for repairs. Now seems like a good time for
it."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Jane, send the clusters as well. We'll
likely need them again, so we may as well get the work done now."

"Confirmed."

"Take us out Jane."

"Yes, you’re mightiness."

There were several chuckles. Jane backed us
out from the station and we headed towards the new fleet.

They appeared in the distance, and on the
scanner, at much the same time. The distance between us closed rapidly.

"Will you look at that!" Slice's
voice had awe in it.

We all gazed at the new ships in wonder.

"Jane, bring us up alongside one of
the Drones please, but far enough so that we can see it clearly."

"Confirmed."

She did so.

Even I was surprised, and I'd done the
initial design. Chief McLauchlan had outdone himself.

The most impressive feature of the Drone
Pocket Battleship was not one, but two Battleship turrets. One on top, and the
other underneath. Scaling down along the top and bottom were also Cruiser and
Destroyer turrets, with Point Defense turrets dotted between them. Along each
side was a row of ten anti-fighter missile launchers, two Mosquito launchers, thirty
capital ship missile launchers, two more Mosquito launchers and ten more anti-fighter
missile launchers. Above and below them was a solid line of Point Defense
turrets. There was more Point Defense on the front and rear.

They were indeed Pocket Battleships.

"John Wayne."

"Confirmed."

Jane moved us so we could see her.

She was also a Pocket Battleship now.
Different, but very similar. The difference was, she'd no capital ship missile
launchers, and only half the Cruiser and Destroyer sized turrets the Drones had.
She did have four Mosquito launchers and twenty anti-fighter missile launchers
on each side. But she was designed for a crew, and the drones were not. It
looked like most of her Hanger Deck had been sacrificed to fit the underside
guns. I pulled up the specs. Yes, I was right. The hanger could only carry two
shuttles. That was less than a Corvette carried. But in terms of firepower, the
tradeoff was more than worth it. However, she also carried forward firing fixed
guns, which a pilot could control, and a forward firing torpedo launcher. With
her speed and maneuverability close to Gunbus', she was capable of dogfighting,
if a pilot wished. That was a scary thought. One I'd have to test one day.

"Custer."

"Confirmed."

Custer looked more like Gunbus now. Being
bigger, she'd more of everything. She even mounted a single Mosquito launcher
on each side. Next to the Pocket Battleships, she was pathetically small. But
next to Gunbus, she was huge.

"Dock us please Jane."

"Confirmed."

The General Custer slowed to a halt. The
PB's, as I'd started to think of them, pulled ahead. Jane eased us in. There
was a faint clunk as the airlocks met.

I pinged George to dock in the Custer's
hanger, and to keep silent about what he saw there, and on the way up. He
acknowledged.

Jeeves came in with the carry cage for
Angel. I opened the door, and she walked in. I exerted a bit of pressure on her
cat pad, and it came off. I put that inside the cage as well.

I pointed the figures of Kali and Ganesha out
to Jeeves, which were on the console, so he would bring them.

I picked up the carry cage, and led
everyone down to the Cargo Bay, where the droid airlock was. Jarvis, the
doorman butler droid, had it open for us, and I led us in to Custer's Cargo
Bay. Except that it was twice as big, we might have stepped across an anomaly which
put us back where we started from.

I led everyone directly to the staircase in
the middle of the ship, and headed up.

There were eight decks instead of five, and
our destination was four decks up. On Deck One, I headed straight to the Bridge.

Walking in was exactly like walking into
Gunbus' Bridge, except it was bigger, and had a door leading off to each side.

The first thing I did was turn off the
console, and place the cat cage on it. When everyone was in, I closed the door
to the corridor outside, opened the cage, retrieved the cat pad, positioned it,
and let Angel come out. She sniffed around the console for a bit, before taking
her place on the pad. I put the cage on the deck. Jeeves came in a moment later
with her ramp, and removed the cage.

Jane meanwhile, had walked up to the XO's
station, and plugged herself into a data port. She stood there with her eyelids
fluttering madly, before unplugging. I wondered what that was about. I had a
vague recollection of it coming from somewhere, but where was a mystery.

"Upload complete. Custer is now
configured identically to Gunbus."

"Thank you Jane. Take us after the
fleet please."

"Confirmed."

Custer took off after the PB's as fast as
Gunbus would have. Gunbus was the fastest Corvette there was. For a Frigate to
make the same speed, was incredible. That a Pocket Battleship could do the
same, was completely outrageous. I loved it when the impossible proved to be
just an exercise in applied wish making.

"Down jump," said Janet.
"Midgard fleet, standard configuration. The lead ship hit the debris field,
and has suffered some damage. Some of the Talons have also been damaged."

"Show us the feed from John Wayne
please Jane. Janet, take the station back to Avon shipyards. But offload the
salvage droids first. I'll pick them up as we go past."

"Confirmed."

"Yes my Lord."

The view screen changed to show us what
O'Neil, on John Wayne, was seeing. In the distance were the Midgard Cruisers
with a cloud of indistinct fighters behind.