Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) (5 page)

We shot past Repulse, who was heading the
other way. Not long after, we shot past the station as well. Jane slowed us
next to a swarm of salvage droids.

"Jeeves, are we unloaded from Gunbus
yet?"

"All but the combat suits my
Lord," he answered through the coms.

I swept my gaze around the crowd, and they
took the hint. A few minutes later the clanking sound of moving combat suits
wafted up the staircase. I opened a cam in the Armoury, and watched them all
line up in their recharge slots. Jane walked hers and my combat suits in last.
The suit movers trooped back up the staircase. Eight decks was going to keep
everyone fit.

"Undock when the airlocks are closed,
Jane. Send Gunbus back for repairs. Have the salvage droids come aboard as
quickly as possible."

"Confirmed."

Within a minute, Gunbus was accelerating
back the other way, with Apricot One in the wingman position. I pinged Chief
McLauchlan they were coming in for repairs, and could they be done by the
morning? He answered with an affirmative. I also asked for a Comsat system to
be added to each of them. Five minutes later, we set off after the fleet again.

"Cat wall is in place Jon," said
Aline.

"Yeah," laughed Amanda. "She
tripped over it."

Everyone made themselves comfortable in the
Bridge seats.

We watched as the two fleets approached
each other.

I asked Jane to overlay John Wayne's
tactical display. Now we were seeing targeting data and ranges for the enemy.

Eight Pocket Battleships went head to head
with six Missile Cruisers, and one hundred and eighty Talon fighters. The PB's
were in triangle formation, John Wayne leading. Three Drone PB's, I'd need to
find a decent name for them, were in V formation on each side of her, with the
last one directly behind her, but above, in line with the rear ones.

The PB's fired first. Six of them launched
sixty capital ship missiles each. Each ship was targeting its own single Missile
Cruiser. The latter belatedly stopped, and started to turn sideways on.

The PB's now fired all their main guns into
the cloud of fighters. As a formation, they changed direction slightly to take
them over the Midgard fleet, rather than through them.

The Talons made a half decent, but futile,
attempt to shoot down the incoming missiles.

The Missile Cruisers exploded together,
less than half way through their turns, without having fired a shot.

Seconds later, half the Talons simply
vanished.

IR missiles poured from the PB's. Talons
staggered as they were hit. Within seconds, there were only white dots moving
on the scanner, and a lot of stationary grey ones. White was Hunter. Grey was
dead.

The PB's swept over the remains of the
Midgard fleet, and continued on to the jump point, where they were to stake it
out in case of unexpected visitors. It wasn’t safe to go too close yet. Until
the area was cleared, all we could do was stop anything else jumping in.

I held my fist up, and shook it at the
cosmos in general.

"YES!" I said with a lot of
emphasis. "That’s the way you do it."

"Confirmed," said Jane.

Everyone started hugging everyone else.

I disengaged myself from Amanda, and opened
a vid, with the scenes of happiness playing out around us.

"Marshal, Admirals, General. The new
Drone Pocket Battleships kick arse." I gave them a huge grin. "Standard
Midgard fleet of six and fifteen, which failed to get off a single shot. Their
Talons tried to shoot down the incoming missiles but they hit very few, before
being mostly vaporized. We'll begin clearance operations on the jump point
immediately, with a view to entering Cobol tomorrow. Hunter out."

I let the merriment on the Bridge record to
the vid for a few moments more, ended it, made up the email, and sent it off.

I opened a channel to Repulse.

"Repulse, your job is complete for
today. Return to Avon Shipyard for repairs."

"Thank you Admiral," said Admiral
Bentley. "That was very impressive. I almost wish I had the Bridge of the
John Wayne. Almost. You've convinced me to ask for Repulse to get a new refit
when this business is done. See you back at Avon."

"Admiral, see what Chief MacLauchlan
can do in the way of increasing your speed, and tacking on extra Point Defense.
I'd say you've a full day before we need you in Atlantis, so see what he can
do. Personally, I'd sacrifice a lot for the extra speed, so give it some
thought. We've a long way to go, and I'd rather not leave you behind."

"I'll do that. Are you heading back to
Avon at all?"

"Yes, when we finish here."

"Can you pick me up? I'd like some
time with the Chief, before Repulse gets there."

"Done, see you soon."

The channel closed.

I opened one to O'Neil.

"Congratulations Commodore," I
said. "Damned impressive display."

"Thank you sir. JW did all the actual
work. I just gave the orders." He sounded pleased, as he ought to.

"JW?"

"Jane's clone. We chose JW for his
name. Everything functioned as expected. In fact, better than expected. The
interface between JW, and Jane on the Drones, was not noticeable. Are you going
to name the Drones?"

"Yes, when I think of something
appropriate. If you've any ideas, ping them to me. Hold the fort Commodore. We'll
be spending the night at Avon, but will be back tomorrow morning. Keep an eye
on the salvage drones, and if they haven't completed clearing the jump point by
seven tomorrow, take them aboard, in case another fleet jumps in at seven
thirty."

"Yes sir. See you tomorrow."

I closed the channel.

"Jane, deploy all the salvage drones.
Make a huge pile of debris off the traffic lane somewhere here, and then send
them to the jump point, where they should do the same well away from it. Any
salvageable Talons you can take control of, send to Avon shipyard. The rest of
the hulls, make a pile of, so the station can pick them up tomorrow. Then take
us back to Avon Orbital. Match speeds with Repulse when we catch up with her,
and let the Admiral shuttle over."

"Confirmed."

I stood up and looked around the Bridge.

"Who'd like the tour?" There was
a general murmur of assent. "Angel," I said to her. "We're going
exploring. If you want to go find all your things, go right ahead. Everyone
else, follow me."

I went over to the door on the left, as you
look forward, and went in. It was the Captain's Ready Room. The office the
Captain uses, when located off the Bridge, has been called a ready room for the
last six hundred years, first begun by a science fiction square screen series.
It was double the size of my office on Gunbus, and included several lounge
chairs as well as a six person conference table. Everyone had a look, and we
headed for the door on the other side of the Bridge.

This room contained a full sized conference
table for twenty people. At the other end, a door led into the passageway.

The Captains suite was bigger than on
Gunbus. The living room didn't have a dining table. Instead there was a
separate Dining Room, with a table for six. The bathroom had a six person spa. The
bed was King sized again. Angel's ramps were already in position, and her cat
bed was nearby. My civvies were hanging in the closet space, looking sad and
lonely, because most of the space was unused.

The XO's office was the same size and
layout as the Captain's office on Gunbus.

The XO's suite was about the same size as
the Captain's suite on Gunbus, and furnished the same way.

"This will normally be yours
Annabelle," I said to her.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Yes. But for the moment, General Wellington
will be using it." They both nodded.

There were also three smaller offices.

We moved down a level, climbing over the
cat wall that kept Angel from going downstairs. She wasn’t old enough yet for
unrestricted access. There were fifteen staterooms on Deck Two. Each was the
same as the ones on Gunbus. There were observation lounges front and back. Also
a kitchen, Dining Room for twenty, Recreation room with an all walls
entertainment system, gym, and a spa and sauna for twenty.

"Everyone has their own stateroom,"
I announced.

"All of us?" asked Aline.

"Yes, all of you. Just choose one. One
of the butler's will put your name on the door, so everyone knows whose is
which."

Deck Three was weapons access, so we moved
on down.

Deck Four was life support, engineering,
and the ship's main computer, with the office for the Coms officer. Abagail
poked her head into the computer room and office. Both would be her domain now.

Deck Five was where we'd come in. The main
Cargo Bay was three decks high, and used almost half the length of the ship,
more than double the size of Gunbus'. The Armoury had fifty combat suit
recharge bays, and enough gun racks to fight a small war with, if you filled
them. On the other side of the stairway, was the Droid store, general storage
racks, and auxiliary magazines for the launchers. The docking airlock was
positioned so the stairway was in front as you walked in, with a direct
entrance into the droid space, opposite another entrance to the cargo bay. This
meant droids could come and go, without getting too near people.

Deck Six was where I expected to get the
first notes of real surprise, and I wasn’t disappointed. The front section was
a large Medical Bay, set up as a medium sized surgery, including three
doc-droids, and twenty five top-of-the-line Care Units. Each one was equipped
with an auto-doc sufficient to handle any problem short of major surgery. Each
doc-droid was a medium level AI, dedicated to treating anything which did not
require a Care Unit.

There was a Common room with dining, lounge,
and entertainment facilities, for seventy five. The barracks slept fifty. There
was a kitchen off the common room on one side, and a gym off the other side.
The communal bathroom could shower everyone at once, and had three twenty
person spa baths.

I could see questions and speculations
crossing faces, and my grin was getting bigger.

Deck Seven was more weapons access.

Deck Eight was a series of Gun Ranges. I'd
used what the Mercenary Guild on Sydney station had, as an example of what to put
in. There was even one range where you could safely fire any laser, up to, and
including, a Meson Blaster.

The last deck down was the hanger.

From the main access area, we could see
Excalibur, a shuttle, and three very strange looking ships.

"Are those Dropships?" asked
Annabelle.

"Certainly are," I responded.
"Completely new design as well. I expanded on what I did to your last Dropship.
These are effectively heavy fighters now, as well as being a drop ship. Each
has a missile and torpedo launcher in front, with six fixed guns firing
forward. There are Point Defense turrets with four guns each, on the sides,
top, rear, and underside. When the ramp is down, there are two turrets. These
can be set up to fire four Point Defense lasers, or two Meson Blasters. Their
speed is comparable to Excalibur. Shielding is not quite up to heavy fighter
standard, but it's much better than a standard Dropship has. As well as
dropping a team somewhere, a decent combat pilot will also act as air and
ground support."

"Wow," said BA.

"Indeed," I agreed.

The standard drop ship had only two turrets
and another two on ramp gun positions. The ramp guns normally fired standard Point
Defense lasers. These were more than adequate for shredding unprotected people.
The Meson Blasters added a whole new dimension. A single Meson hit would leave
the wearer of a belt suit undefended, as even the next stunner to hit it would
result in it shredding. Two hits would leave very little left, of the person,
let alone the suit. Two hits would also do damage to the standard combat suit,
which was the point in adding them.

The level also contained the Brig, and an
internal airlock, so prisoners didn't need to enter the ship itself, keeping them
isolated. Like Gunbus, the hanger was in vacuum, and the ships were accessed
through umbilical tubes.

I rubbed my hands together.

"Who's for dinner?" I asked.

We trooped back up to Deck Two, and sat at
the dining table. Jeeves and Jenkins came in to take orders, and organize food
and drink. Jenkins was the Deck Two butler droid. Jeeves had the run of the
ship, but his main responsibility was Deck One.

While everyone settled, I loped up to Deck
One to check on Angel. She was asleep in her cat bed. I tickled her, received a
purr in return, but she didn’t stir. I went back down to dinner.

"So Jon, this is an Assault Frigate
now, isn’t it?" asked Annabelle.

"Yes, that was the idea."

"Why did you do this? I thought you
wanted firepower?"

"I have it with the Pocket Battleship
Drones. When I first saw the hull, I wasn’t sure what I'd do with it, but along
the way, I noticed how crowded it was in Gunbus for all of you. I was also
thinking of the future, and how the team would take on mercenary missions,
since you lost Moose. This seemed the logical thing to do."

Moose had been a Military Transport, used
as bait, in a trap I'd fought my way out of.

"Why so much room on Deck Six?"
asked Amanda.

"I figured there might be times when
you needed help, so I allowed for two teams of twenty five, or four teams of
twelve, to be carried easily."

"Jon," said Annabelle, "I
have other teams you haven’t met yet. This ship is large enough for all of
them." I nodded. I'd guessed it from offhand things which had been said.

"How much has this ship cost
you?" asked Abagail.

"I've no idea," I said, laughing.
"I might find that out this evening. Depends on what General Wellington
has in mind for our brief stay here."

I'd noticed that Vonda was keeping quiet,
but not missing anything. She stirred herself.

"Actually," she said, "there's
going to be a celebration tonight on the Orbital station. Dress uniforms
please."

"I'll need someone to send me a scan
of them General, otherwise Annabelle and I will be limited to fatigues."

Alsop nodded. A few moments later, a pulse
came in with what we needed. I glanced at Annabelle, and she'd glazed over as
well, so I knew she'd received it too.

I added the new uniform to my uniform file,
and gave it the correct set of epaulettes, and medal ribbons.

"Do you require the use of full medals
General?" I asked her.

"No, ribbons are fine."

"Good, that’s easier for
everyone." There were a few smiles around the table.

Dinner continued.

After it, I took Annabelle into my ready
room.

"What's happening with the troops on
the station?" I asked her.

"They'll be returning to Avon as soon
as the station arrives."

"Should we keep some?"

"For station storming?"

"Yes. As we head back to Midgard, each
station will need to be retaken. If they've garrisoned the stations they took,
your team and sixty combat droids, may not be enough."

"True. Custer can take fifty. Any idea
how many the John Wayne can carry?"

"Ask O'Neil. I’d suggest we take as
many as we have sleeping accommodation for. But, they must be the best, and
they must be volunteers. We shanghaied them out of necessity, this is
different. Also, don’t accept any officer who you don't think measures up to
your standards. I'd rather we have elite troops answering to your team, than having
desk drivers with importance delusions mucking things up. Quality is better
than quantity."

"Have you been talking to the
troops?"

"No, why?"

"Just wondered." She laughed.

"Also, have the best troops billeted
on Custer. John Wayne will be on detached service for some of the time, so we
may have to do without them. It might be possible to rotate troops at some
point, but don’t bank on it. If you're not sure of loyalties, better we just
take the fifty best. Oh, and make sure we've food for them all. Custer was only
provisioned for twenty, for a month."

"Will do."

"Can you arrange for the station's
civilian population to be returned please?"

"Certainly. When are we leaving?"

"The station will leave as soon as its
repairs are done. Sometime in the morning I expect. We'll leave as soon as
Gunbus is ready. If there are still civilians outstanding by then, we'll leave
the Liner behind for them. It can catch us up."

"I'll get on with it."

She left.

"Jane, can you move the two freighters
back to the station when it arrives. And have one of your security droids
pretend to be a Liner Captain."

"What's this pretend business? I'll
duplicate my avatar, and use a Liner Captain's uniform. In fact, I could do
that for the freighters as well, since they're not technically up to spec for
humans to use. The cargo bays are fine, so an avatar could run the ships just
as well as a human could. Better in fact. Both ships have deliverables. My
other selves can deliver once we arrive back in Australian space. You've done
drone Battleships and fighters, why not freighters as well?"

"Good point. Fine, organize it. Better
empty their cargo bays as well. Put the cargoes with those other deliverables
we have from Miami, and organize them by destination. Once back in Aussie
space, you can load up for destinations, and deliver systematically, regardless
of where the station ends up. Have the station's repair droids go over both
freighters. They won’t need life support or crew spaces. Those could be gutted,
and used for more storage space. And see if they can increase their speed.
Faster is better. If you need, pull some repairable power plants, and anything
else you need, from some of the hulls we retrieved today."

"I feel the need. The need, for
speed."

She mangled the cry on the end of it. But
then, only an American could get it right.