Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) (8 page)

"Is there any chance she'll fit in the
Hanger Deck?" I asked her.

"Yes and no."

"That’s clear, like mud. Which is
it?"

"Both. If we remove the ships already
docked, she'll fit up inside the hanger. However, the doors won't close. She'll
stick out a bit."

"How much of a bit?"

"A big bit."

"Will it affect anything
important?"

"No, just look silly."

I rolled my eyes, which was a mistake, as I
went dizzy again. I closed them, and pushed my head back into the headrest.
Another mistake, as the bruise on my temple throbbed more. I made a heroic
attempt to stop myself from shaking my head, and failed.

"Jon?"

"Yes Mum?"

"Wake up please."

"Not doing that again."

"Open your eyes."

Oh. I hadn't realized they were shut. I
opened them, and looked around without moving.

"Where were we?" I asked.

"Gunbus docking."

"What do we need to do?"

"Excalibur, the three Pythons, and the
shuttle, will need to undock. Gunbus will then fit. If the shuttle Gunbus is
carrying goes over to the station, the three Pythons can dock in her, and
Excalibur and the Custer shuttle can re-dock in Custer."

"Sounds like a plan. Do it."

"Doing it."

A screen popped up, showing Gunbus
approaching. In the distance behind her, Apricot One followed.

"Janet, do we have all the fighters
and clusters yet?"

"Yes my Lord. The last one docked
several minutes ago."

"Station repairs complete?"

"Yes. The shipyard personnel will be
gone shortly."

"Station residents back on
board?"

"Most of them. The Liner is still on
Avon Orbital."

"Prepare to leave for the jump
point."

"Yes my Lord."

"Anyone know where General Wellington
is?"

"XO's office Jon," said Jane.
"Commander Alsop is with her. They're ready to leave when you are."

Gunbus was slowly rising up into the
hanger. We watched her dock. Excalibur rose up next to her, followed by a
shuttle. The cam view shifted to Gunbus' Hanger Deck, where the three dropships
docked. The hanger doors closed. Custer's remained open.

I wondered if the station traffic control
people had just had heart attacks. This had all been just a little close to the
station for their comfort. Perfectly safe for an AI, but they didn’t know that.
No call came though.

I pinged the 'tool man' about his invoice.
He pulsed it back.

"Huh?" I said out loud.

He'd charged me for a single belt. I added
a tip for the same amount, and paid. I was having déjà vu, feeling like I was
back on Sydney station all over again, with grateful people giving me things.

The girls looked at me strangely, but
didn’t comment.

I opened a channel to McLauchlan. An
assistant answered, said he wasn’t sure where the Chief was, and would get him
to contact me, when found. I closed the channel. It didn't really matter, as we
had coms all the way to the jump point.

I opened a channel to John Slice.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed.
"That’s a magnificent bruise you have there. Why aren't you still in a
hospital bed? Sir." He tacked the 'sir' on as an afterthought, remembering
who ranked whom.

I ignored him.

"You ready to go?"

"Aye sir."

"Stand by then."

I opened internal ship coms.

"Anyone who's not on board who should
be, sing out. Anyone who is on board who shouldn’t be, sing out. Anyone with a
reason for not leaving now, sing out."

I waited. There was no singing.

"Jane, button us up, and let's be
going."

"Confirmed."

"Janet, follow us at best speed."

"Yes my Lord."

Jane backed Custer out.

A channel opened from Repulse as we started
moving away from the Orbital station. Susan Bentley took a look at my face,
before ignoring it completely.

"Repulse will be two hours behind you
Admiral," she said.

"Noted. How did you go with
upgrades?"

"Very nicely. We've several less
storage bays now, and about half our hanger space. But we should be able to
keep up with you. And we've a lot more Point Defense mounted. We won't look
pretty anymore, but with luck, it'll be enough to avoid drafts in the
future." By drafts, she meant unwanted holes letting space inside.

"Excellent. See you at the jump
point."

The channel closed.

I opened a vid.

"Marshal, Admirals and General.
Midgard was kind enough to send my new fleet some breakfast this morning. They
enjoyed it. Custer is on its way to the jump point now. Midgard should be
sending an early lunch before we get there. As soon as the debris is cleared,
we'll move into Atlantis. Hunter out."

I assembled the email and sent it off.

I opened another vid.

"Hiya. Look what happened to me
yesterday. Just making sure you know, before someone tells you. I expect the dual
assassination attempts made the news. I took a pulse rifle shot to the head,
hence this bruise, and a Meson Blaster shot to the left side of my chest. A
nutter with an antique walking stick, hiding a projectile gun, tried to put a
solid slug into the same place as the Meson hit. I was down for the count for a
few hours. But while I'm a bit shaky, I'm up and happening again. By the way,
this is the Bridge of the General Custer." I set the cam to pan around a
bit, the girls pretended to look busy, before setting it back on me.
"Gunbus was in being repaired last night, so we moved here. It’s an
Assault Frigate, so for now, I've traded up. More when I can think clearly.
Later alligator."

Another email departed.

"Miriam?" asked Alison.

I nodded.

"What's going on with you two? Or
shouldn’t I ask?"

The twins looked interested. BA had
vanished. Jane didn’t seem to be paying attention.

"You tell me and we'll both know.
She's kept in touch ever since we left Miami. Wants to see me again when we
deal with Midgard."

"That’s great Jon. How do you
feel?"

"Confused. I've never had someone stay
in touch before. Not that there's really been a before, before."

They laughed.

"You'll figure it out," said
Aleesha.

Conversation stopped, and I sat there
watching the view forward.

I wondered what to do for the next three
hours. I didn’t get as far as choices, before Alison took me by the hand, and
pulled me gently to my feet.

"Spa," she said. "We were
going to soak bruises together last night? Remember?"

I nodded, and let her lead me into my
suite. Angel rushed me, and shinned up to my shoulder.

MEOW!

"Sorry sweetie, I had a bit of trouble
last night. Just arrived back."

I hastily patted her in case she bit my ear
again. Last time I'd not come home for a while without warning her, she'd
bitten me. She purred, and nuzzled my face. Fortunately she'd chosen my right
side this time.

We continued limping into my bathroom. I
dropped Angel on the bed as we passed, and she followed us in. As we
approached, the lid on the spa opened, and the water started to bubble.

We both shifted our suits back to belts.

We both stood there, looking at each other.

We burst out laughing together. Followed by
mutual winces.

Neither of us was able to bend down far
enough to remove underwear.

"Amanda!" we both yelled.

She and Aleesha came running. They stopped
short inside the door, and burst out laughing. Angel looked around at all of
us, and decided being somewhere else made more sense. She scampered out.

"Problem?" smirked Amanda.

"Just a minor one," said Alison.

Amanda came over to me, and Aleesha to
Alison. Amanda pulled my briefs off me, and pushed me gently back onto the edge
of the spa. I raised my feet, as she held my right shoulder, and she pulled my
socks off. I pulled one leg over the edge, swiveled, and the other, before
sliding into the water. Alison followed me in. I sank myself completely under,
and stayed there as long as I could hold my breath. When I surfaced, the twins
were in with us.

Alison came over to me. She stood, and
showed me the large bandage on her side.

"It's waterproof," she said,
"so I can soak okay. I'm glad you reached me before this killed me."

My eyes slid from the bandage to her blonde
pubic hair.

She dropped back into the water.

"Down boy, we better not get
excited."

She draped herself around me.

"Jon?"

"What?"

"I said we better NOT get excited."

The twins lost it. Amanda laughed so hard
she lost her balance, and disappeared under the water, to come shooting back
up, spluttering, with water going everywhere.

I checked my arousal override. It was off.
I'd obviously forgotten to turn it back on after being with Alison last. I
turned it back on. A popup announced the failure, once again, of my blush
override. I went red. Except where I was already purple.

"Aww," said Alison a moment
later. "I was going to play with that."

Amanda went under again. Aleesha hung onto
the side of the spa, and laughed so hard she started coughing instead.

Alison hugged me gently, and pecked me on
the lips.

The twins eventually got a grip. We settled
down to silent soaking.

I limped back onto the Bridge, showered and
changed, just before eleven thirty, sat gingerly in my chair, and opened a
channel to the John Wayne. Tactical data appeared on a side screen. The girls
followed me in, giggling quietly together.

The fleet was arrayed in a semi-circle
around the jump point. Off to one side, was a large area marked with a
navigational hazard warning. Presumably where all the debris had been moved to.

Vonda and Alsop came in next, and took
chairs to one side of me. Vonda looked concerned when she saw the size of my
head bruise, but didn’t say anything. I nodded to her, and she nodded back.

The station had been steadily falling
behind us, but was not too far behind. Apricot One was in the wingman position.

"Down jump," announced Jane.

Six Missile Cruisers had appeared together.
Before they could do more than turn a quarter of the way around, they died
spectacularly. Talons down jumped into the mess. Some exploded, most lost some
shielding. They winked out as fast as they appeared on the scanner. IR missiles
took some, Point Defense stripped their shields, and ate into hulls. None of
them got off a single shot before they died.

It was a total slaughter.

"Nicely done Commodore," I said.

O'Neil's face popped up on another screen.

"Thank you Admiral. Exact repeat of
this morning. The salvage droids are deploying now. We should have the mess
cleaned up by the time you get here."

"Good. As soon as the station arrives,
loads salvageable hulls, and salvage droids, we'll be going through. We'll meet
the next fleet on the other side."

He nodded. I closed the channel.

"Janet?"

"Yes my Lord?"

"When the station reaches the jump
point, send out the salvage droids and collect any of the hulls that are
repairable. Leave the rest of the debris."

"Yes my Lord."

I opened a vid.

"Marshal, Admirals and General. Lunch
was delicious."

The Bridge cracked up around me. I sent the
email off.

I looked around at everyone.

"Who's peckish?"

Vonda and I went over the next phase of the
war, while eating lunch. Jane called us back to the Bridge when we were in
sight of John Wayne.

We drew up next to her, dwarfed by her
size. I suggested to Slice that he dock with Custer, and come aboard. By the
time he was on the Bridge, O'Neil had arrived in the shuttle I’d sent for him. The
four of us sat at my Ready Room conference table.

"Sitrep," I said, looking at
O'Neil.

"The jump point is almost clear,"
he said. "We should be able to jump into Atlantis within a half
hour."

"The station is fifteen minutes behind
us," said Jane through coms.

"Which ship has the new satcoms?"
I asked.

"Mine," said Slice. I hadn't
expected that answer. "I have the contract for keeping the system working
in the Sci-Fi sector. I've a cargo bay full of them."

"Good," I said. "I won't
have to worry about it. Just worry about escorting you." I grinned at him
and suddenly regretted it. Note to self, don’t grin or laugh for the next few
days.

Slice looked like he was biting back a
comment. I ignored him.

"As soon as the way is clear, we'll
jump in as a force. Commodore, have five of the Guardians form a tight box
formation, with John Wayne top and center. You'll jump through first in case there's
a force on the other side. The other two will form up with the Custer, with
Apricot One beneath us. We'll follow five seconds behind, so don’t linger at
the jump point. Wing Commander, deploy a comsat as soon as practical."

They both nodded.

"I'd give it a fifty-fifty chance there's
a fleet on the other side," I went on. "If it was me, I'd have a
blocking force behind each attacking force, just in case. Not that what I’d do
has any relevance, but we'll assume it's there, and go in ready to defend, and
fire back immediately. Any questions?"

There were blank looks. I looked at Vonda.

"General, anything to add?"

"No, just good luck."

We all nodded. O'Neil and Slice headed back
to their ships.

The station was arriving as I climbed back
into my chair. Moving around was painful. I didn’t intend doing any for a
while. Salvage droids launched from the station as I watched. Some headed to
the jump point to add to the ones clearing the last of the debris, while others
headed for the massive pile of debris not far away, to retrieve repairable
hulls.

I watched as a succession of broken hulls
disappeared into the station fighter dock. At last, Janet announced this was
complete. The salvage droids belonging to Gunbus, moved to Custer, and cycled
in through the airlock on her side. While they were doing so, I had half of the
station's join us as well. If we made a mess on the other side, it would need
to be cleaned up fast.

I opened Team Coms, and ship coms.

"Team coms are now active. Prepare to
jump into Atlantis. Wherever you are, buckle up. Signify your readiness by
location."

Vonda, Alsop, Alison, and the Twins rushed
in and took chairs. Alison was wincing as she rushed.

While they were all checking in, I buckled
up myself. The straps hurt, so I loosened them.

"Jane, where's the Liner?"

"About an hour behind."

"Janet, align the station so the guns
are pointing at the jump point. Once we jump through, check your target before
you fire, in case we jump back in a hurry."

"Yes my Lord."

"All ships, form up."

We formed up into the two blocks, and moved
towards the jump point.

"Ten seconds," I said.

Five seconds later, John Wayne and her
escorts, jumped.

Another five, and we jumped.

I let out an audible sigh. The jump point
area was clear. All ships moved out away from the jump point itself, to give
the station room to down jump.

"Commodore, defensive arc
please."

"Yes sir."

The Guardians moved into a semi-circle
across the line where this jump point would intersect the Atlantis planet. The
next fleet, had most likely left the Atlantis Orbital recently, or was on its
way from the Cobol jump point. If the latter, they would be passing close by
the planet anyway.

"Wing Commander, deploy the comsat
when ready."

"In progress Admiral," Slice
replied.

"Which jump point do you want to do
first?"

Atlantis system had four jump points. We
needed to place comsats at each of them, and join them up. For email
communications, they didn't have to be close together, but it was a lot of
travelling needed to join four jump points and a planet.

"I'd suggest Pegasus first, then
Atlantis, Avalon, and finally, Cobol."

"Commodore."

"Sir?"

"Select two Guardians and form an
escort for Apricot One. If you come across a fleet at the Pegasus jump point,
attack at your own discretion. But your first priority is protecting Apricot
One."

"Yes sir."

"Once Repulse and the station jump in,
we'll move to Atlantis to find out what happened there, and reclaim the
station. From there to the Cobol jump point, and close that door. Keep me up to
date on what you find, as you can."

"Sir."

"Down jump was uneventful," I
said through ship coms. "Everyone go back to what you were doing."

I closed team coms and ship coms.

I opened a vid.

"Marshal, Admirals and General. We're
in the Atlantis system. No opposition at the jump point. We're beginning the
task of replacing the comsats. When Repulse jumps in, we'll move to Atlantis,
and find out what happened there. Hunter Out."

I sent off the email. It worked. The new
comsat wasn’t operational yet, so the comsat built into Custer obviously
worked, at least this close to the jump point.

I leaned back, and began to wait. There was
always a lot of waiting these days.

"Jon," said Jane, "there's
an email just arrived. I think you'll want to read it."

I plucked my pad out and looked at it. With
eyes wide open, I tossed the vid to a screen.

"What took you so long?" demanded
Eric Neilson. "I've been sitting here with a dead engine, waiting for you
to come rescue me. And it hasn’t happened yet. I'm more or less on a line
toward Avalon, slowly ballistic. A pick up would be nice." The date-time
stamp on the email said it was a day old. Although it can't have left Eric's
ship until just now.

"Jane, whisper in George's ear, and
have him come see me."

"Confirmed."

He bounded onto the Bridge a few minutes
later.

"Fancy a rescue mission?" I asked
him.

"Sure, who's the damsel in
distress?"

"Eric."

"That’s not a damsel's name."

"True. But he needs a rescue all the
same."

"The Murdock rescue service is at your
disposal." I suppressed a chuckle.

"Head for the Avalon jump point. At a
guess, he'll turn up on the scanner not long after you leave. His engine is
out, so he'll need a tow. Take his ship back to the station, and have Janet see
if the repair droids can fix it. If he wants to stay, leave him there. But if
he wants to come back with you, that’s fine. By the time you make the round
trip, we'll probably be at Atlantis. If you don’t find us there, head next to
the Cobol jump point."

"On my way," he said leaving.

I sent Eric an email saying his was
received, and George was on his way. By the time I'd sent it, Excalibur had
dropped out of Custer's hanger, and headed off.

I sent Admiral Bentley orders to jump
straight through as soon as Repulse arrived at the jump point. Then told Jane
to tell Janet, through her datalink, to bring the station through as soon as
the Liner had docked.

I went back to emails. There was nothing of
consequence, but wading through the usual stuff, took time. I had the time, so
it kept me occupied.

Meow.

A white Furball shinned up my leg and
landed on my lap. I spent some time dedicated to patting her, and she curled up,
and went to sleep.

When I went back to emails, I found one
from Chief McLauchlan.

He'd included an invoice.

The total on the bottom, was one credit.

I blinked rapidly for a minute. One credit?
What nonsense was this?

His email included another attachment.

It was a breakdown of the refit costs,
which ran close to two billion.

It was using full prices I noted, and not
the at-cost pricing Admiral Jedburgh had promised me he would organize.

Subtracted from it, was the estimated
salvage fee for all the Avon Orbital structures.

The balance was one credit.

I added a tip of one million credits, with
the suggestion that all the workers received a bonus for working so hard over
the four days of the refit, and paid it.

I pondered the ways people expressed
gratitude for doing what you had to, just to survive. The stations had never
been in any danger. But I guess if I’d failed when I’d flown the station solo,
they very well might have been destroyed.

I kept reading emails. One brought me up
speechless for a second.

"What the fuck?" I finally
muttered.

"What's up Jon?" said Alison.

"Some woman wants to marry her
daughter to me."

Alison lost it, clutched her hands to her
side, and passed out.

I picked up Angel, and barely reached her
chair in time to prevent her from sliding out of it. The movement cost me. Jeeves
rushed in. He administered a pain killer to Alison, and waved something under
her nose.

She groaned, and slowly sat back up.

"Jon, are you trying to kill me?"

I shook my head, not game to speak. That
hurt, and I raised my other hand to my head bruise.

"Please don’t make me laugh like that
again. Next time might be lethal."

"Sorry."

"Someone wants her daughter to marry
you? For real?"

"Yes, she sent a photo too. Nice
looking kid. Doesn’t look sixteen to me. I can't think why anyone would want to
marry someone so young to me."

"Well, you're not that much older, are
you. And don’t forget, some cultures marry their kids off at fourteen." We
both shuddered. Eighteen was too young in my opinion. "I wonder how she
obtained your email address?"

"No idea. I wonder how many other
marriage proposals I'm going to get?"

"I said don’t make me laugh!"

"Sorry."

Sorry didn’t feel like it cut it. Trouble was,
I wasn’t trying to be funny.

I flopped gently back into my seat, and let
a disgruntled puss settle back down.

At one thirty, almost to the second, the
fourth Midgard fleet popped onto the scanner. They were nothing, if not
punctual.

Just after two, the station came through.
Half an hour later, Repulse jumped in. She had two Destroyers and four
Corvettes with her. They all simply bristled with Point Defense. I moved the
main fleet further out, and had the station and Repulse's fleet make up the
defense perimeter.

I opened ship coms.

"We're moving to intercept the next
Midgard fleet, eta in approximately thirty minutes. Buckling up is
recommended." I closed ship coms.

Custer and the five Guardian's formed up
into line abreast formation, Custer in the middle. We moved out to intercept
the Midgard fleet.

Well before we were in range, the Missile
Cruisers stopped and began to turn sideways. We kept heading towards them at
full speed.

Jane fired off our three hundred missile
broadside first. Each sixty missile salvo was aimed at one of the Missile
Cruisers. As we came in range of the Battleship turrets, they all fired at the
remaining Cruiser.

Before anything we'd fired arrived, six barrages
of missiles started towards us. Twelve hundred Missiles.

Twelve Mosquito launchers fired
immediately, and for the next twelve seconds, all our ships did was move
towards the enemy, as Jane concentrated on aiming twelve hundred individual
missiles.

A fire storm erupted in front of us, as
missile met missile. Point Defense turrets opened up.

Five Missile Cruisers exploded at the same
time. The sixth sparkled as the Battleship's pulses hit it. Its shields went
down.

The Cruiser and Destroyer guns, now in
range, fired at the remaining ship. The cloud of Talons fired at us.

Cruiser, Destroyer and Point Defense pulses
intersected with anti-fighter missiles, and more than half of them winked out.
The remainder of the capital ship pulses struck the remaining Cruiser, and it
exploded. The remainder of the missiles were whittled down by more Point
Defense fire, with some getting through to strike shields.