Hunter's Terminus Read online

  Hunter's Terminus

  By Timothy Ellis

  The Hunter Imperium, Book Two

  Copyright © 2018 by Timothy Ellis

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and events are fictional and have no relationship to any real person, place or event. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely co-incidental.

  The author is Australian and the main characters in this book are of Australian origin. In Australia, we colour things slightly differently, so you may notice some of the spelling is different. Please don't be alarmed.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contents

  Contents

  Dramatis Personae

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty One

  Twenty Two

  Twenty Three

  Twenty Four

  Twenty Five

  Twenty Six

  Twenty Seven

  Twenty Eight

  Twenty Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty One

  Thirty Two

  Thirty Three

  Thirty Four

  Thirty Five

  Thirty Six

  Thirty Seven

  Thirty Eight

  Thirty Nine

  Forty

  Forty One

  Forty Two

  Forty Three

  Forty Four

  Forty Five

  Forty Six

  Forty Seven

  Forty Eight

  Forty Nine

  Fifty

  Fifty One

  Fifty Two

  Fifty Three

  Fifty Four

  Fifty Four

  Fifty Five

  Fifty Six

  Fifty Seven

  Fifty Eight

  Fifty Nine

  Sixty

  Sixty One

  Sixty Two

  Sixty Three

  Sixty Four

  Sixty Five

  Sixty Six

  Sixty Seven

  Sixty Eight

  Sixty Nine

  Seventy

  Seventy One

  Seventy Two

  Seventy Three

  Seventy Four

  Seventy Five

  Seventy Six

  Hunter Ranks

  Hunter Insignia

  HUD Colours

  Acknowledgements

  A Message to my Readers

  Also by Timothy Ellis

  The Hunter Legacy Timeline

  Dramatis Personae

  Jonathon Hunter - Admiral of the Fleet *****.

  Jane – Artificial Intelligence - Fleet Admiral *.

  Jane Clones

  Janet – Redoubt Behemoth AI.

  Janine – Hunter Shipyard AI.

  Janice – Hunter's Haven AI.

  Detective Jane – Burnside's partner and girlfriend.

  JW – John Wayne AI.

  Angel – Jon's Lilac Point Siamese Cat.

  Jeeves – Jon's personal butler droid.

  Annabelle Smith – Lieutenant General ** - CO Hunter Ground Forces.

  Amanda Peck – Colonel – Joint CO Team One.

  Aleesha Peck – Amanda's twin – Colonel – Joint CO Team One.

  George Murdock - Fleet Captain, XO Sceptre of Kali.

  Alison Vogane – Lieutenant Colonel – Annabelle's Aide, team admin, and medic.

  Aline Takai – Second Lieutenant – Jon's unofficial girlfriend.

  BA – Anne Baracas – Master Command Sergeant Major.

  Abigail Weaver – Master Sergeant – Coms and Tech.

  Agatha Merritt – Senior Sergeant - Gunner and Squad Leader.

  Alana Henquist – Senior Sergeant – Demolitions.

  Grace Tapping – Flight Lieutenant - Helm Officer Sceptre of Kali.

  Annette Bronson – Fleet Captain – Relentless.

  Amy Allen – Hunter Media Controller.

  Melissa Gordon – Lightning Courier Pilot.

  Walter Harriman – General ****.

  Gloria Petersen – Colonel - Harriman's aide.

  Bob Derr – Shipyard Manager.

  Daniel O'Neil – Fleet Admiral * - John Wayne.

  Richard Burnside – Colonel – Hunter Chief of Security.

  David Tollin – Hunter Chief Administrator.

  Algernon Lacey – Space Commodore - Orion's Belt.

  Ron Greer – Fleet Captain - Dauntless.

  Miriam Young – Fleet Captain – Jon's Ex-Lover - Defiant.

  Doctor Elisabeth Carter – Colonel – Chief Medical Officer.

  Jillian (Jill) Carter – daughter of Elisabeth Carter.

  Jack O'Neill – Brigadier General * – CO Hunter Marine Corp.

  Samantha Jackman-O'Neill – Lieutenant Colonel – CO Team Six.

  Frank Hunter - Fleet Admiral * – Jon's father – Galactica.

  Lia Hunter – Jon's mother.

  Trisha Fox – Fleet Captain - Enterprise.

  Wayne Noland – Fleet Captain - Prometheus.

  James Bigglesworth - Space Marshall ****.

  Darius Jedburgh – Admiral ****.

  Chet Hallington – Rear Admiral **.

  Vonda Wellington - Major General ***.

  Susan Bentley - Vice Admiral *** - Hammer of Thor.

  Karen Gillan – Commander – Bentley's XO.

  Aiden Hobbs – Lieutenant General ** - CO SAS.

  Sato - Fleet Admiral *.

  Scott Renaud – Fleet Captain.

  Richard Hurndall – Hurndalls Stallion.

  Mary Hurndall.

  Suzy Hurndall.

  John Slice - Group Captain (Retired) – CEO Apricot Mapping Service.

  Eric Neilson - Lieutenant Commander (Retired) - AMS Nascaspider.

  Jessie Ball – AMS Tag'Em.

  Wing Commander Rodriquez – CO Mercenary Privateers.

  Ravi Singh – Assistant to David Tollin.

  Margaret Boothby – Haven grounds keeper.

  Kali – Indian Deity.

  Ganesha – Indian Deity.

  Thirteen – Avatar of a Dark Matter Nebulae.

  One – Avatar of the largest Nebulae in the galaxy.

  Tanith – Kelewan Mage.

  Syrinx – Karn Sister.

  Hobbes – Keerah ex-Governor.

  Roo – Ralnor ex-Governor.

  Thorn – Judge Spacemage.

  Tasha – Thorn's wife.

  Jen – Admiral ** (retired).

  Jess – Commander (retired).

  Lea – Commander (retired).

  Ships

  Sceptre of Kali – Titan.

  Hammer of Thor – Titan.

  Orion's Belt – Titan Carrier.

  BigMother – Titan Monitor Command Carrier.

  Redoubt – Battlestation – Behemoth class ship.

  Unassailable – Hive Battleship.

  Hive – Twelve medium Drone fighters.

  Guardian – Drone Pocket Battleship.

  John Wayne – Pocket Battleship.

  General Custer – Marine Assault Frigate.

  Galactica – Original Explorer ship.

  Enterprise – Original Explorer ship.
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  Prometheus – Original Explorer ship.

  Relentless – Dreadnaught.

  Dauntless – Dreadnaught.

  Fearless – Marine Assault Super-Cruiser.

  Defiant – Super-Cruiser.

  Courageous – Super-Cruiser.

  Undaunted – Super-Cruiser.

  Drone Missile Cruiser.

  Crusader – Super-Destroyer.

  Chivalrous – Super Destroyer.

  Preserver – Evacuation Carrier.

  Deliverer – Evacuation Carrier.

  Homer – Marine Assault Cruiser – On loan from Jack O'Neill.

  Bonko's Club – Marine Assault Cruiser.

  Gunbus – Corvette Class.

  Excalibur – Privateer Class long range fighter.

  Python – Dropship (Fighter size).

  Cobra – Dropship (Corvette size).

  Centurion – Privateer Class.

  Mustang – Privateer Class.

  Hurndalls Stallion – Cruiser Freighter.

  Gorilla – George's Excalibur.

  Nightshade – Annette's Mustang.

  Lightning – Courier class.

  Starman – Greer's Gunbus.

  Stiletto – Miriam's Excalibur.

  One

  We down jumped into the middle of someone else's war.

  Red dots appeared all over the heads up display (HUD) and the navmap. Three jump points were showing in a triangle below us, but there was nothing else.

  I’d taken the higher being rebuilt BigMother through the jump point slowly, so now we hung over the system, so to speak, able to observe for a short time before anyone could realign to shoot at us. The big question was, who were they? A more important question was, how long before they noticed us?

  "Stop anyone else coming through Jane."

  "Confirmed."

  Jane was an AI, fleet admiral one star rank, controlling most of the ships in my fleet. She could communicate back through the jump point to the system on the other side, instantaneously. Until I knew what we'd jumped into, I didn’t want anyone else coming through. As we knew from bitter experience, the other side of the jump point was much more defendable than this side was.

  For the first time in over a year, we were jumping blind. We were after all, somewhere out in the galaxy, and not only didn’t we know exactly where yet, but also had no idea who was fighting who below us. This was the sixth system we'd scouted since some higher being moved us here, and so far, there'd been no indication this part of the galaxy was even inhabited. Apparently it was, and none of them liked each other.

  "No planets," muttered Grace, Flight Lieutenant currently assigned to big ships, at the helm, but not actually doing anything, since Jane had control.

  "No sun," added Jane's avatar, sitting two seats to the left of her.

  "No nothing," said Amanda, Colonel and team one co-leader, sitting between them.

  "Weird," added Aleesha, Amanda's twin sister, also a Colonel and team one co-leader, on the other side of Grace.

  Weird was right. Midnight, back in the human arm of the galaxy we were used to, had been devoid of anything, but the Midnight system had been huge, and still had a sun, a brown dwarf. This one had nothing at all, and the three jump points below us were all in scanner range, which I'd never seen before. This was a first. A system so small, everything was within three hour's range. Useful though, as we could see everything in real time.

  "Who the hell is fighting who?" asked BA, Master Command Sergeant Major, and team one's combat adept.

  Like most of the rest of the team, she was sitting along the left hand side of the bridge, which by unspoken agreement, had become the human side. George was in the captain's chair, with Annabelle at the XO's console. She outranked him, being a General to his Fleet Captain, but he was a pilot and she wasn’t. I was in the admiral's chair behind and slightly above George. And when it came to combat, it was me who did the flying here.

  Also on the unofficial human side next to BA was Alison, Lieutenant Colonel, medic, Annabelle's aide and team admin. Next to her was Aline, Second Lieutenant and junior officer of team one; and Agatha and Alana, both Senior Sergeants, with Agatha being a gunnery specialist, and Alana our demolitions expert. Abigail, Master Sergeant, coms and tech support, was next to Aleesha at the coms panel.

  These were the founding members of Annabelle Smith's Alpha team, although team one now usually had a full twenty compliment when deployed. The others stayed in the marine barracks when with us, which was only when we expected to deploy marines. The core team were lethal in their own right, but very rank top heavy these days. It didn’t matter. We were a very close knit group, and ranks rarely meant anything to us. In combat, BA took point. We all followed. They looked to Amanda and Aleesha for tactics, and me for strategy. But whoever had what we needed at the time, led. Rank wasn't a factor in combat.

  Aline by the way is my unofficial girlfriend, breaking all the rules of teams when it happened, but technically not under my direct command now, since her chain of command is quite long. Yeah, flimsy. But no-one seems to care.

  George and Grace were redundant on this bridge, unless I left it, in which case, George took actual command. But he wasn’t my XO, any more than Annabelle was. He should have been on the other side of the jump point flying my Sceptre of Kali, but he'd begged to stay with the team as we explored where we were.

  I dragged my mind back to the problem at hand.

  "That’s my people around the left jump point," said Hobbes.

  "Mine around the top right," added Roo.

  Both were on the right unofficially non-human side of the bridge. Hobbes was a white tiger from a species called the Keerah. Roo was something vaguely like a giant kangaroo, from a species called the Ralnor. Both barely tolerated the other. They'd tossed for who sat in the frontwards seat, and the tiger had won. Both had custom seats, which Jane had organized, although installation had waited until they'd sorted who would be sitting where.

  Neither of them looked happy. Their people were at war, and we didn’t know yet if either of them actually existed. It was the same for the two sitting behind them. Although they appeared human in every way except skin colour, they came from different planets, and were treating us as if we were the aliens. I guess we were. The human arm of space wasn’t in easy detection range of where some higher had put us after the Darkness War had ended, a week earlier.

  "Who are the other two groups?" asked George.

  One group seemed to be fleeing from the other, but not yet heading for either of the other jump points. It was a mismatched group of ships. One of the two large ones was very similar to the ships chasing them, while the other looked completely different to all of them. Around them both were fighter sized ships. They were targeting the missiles coming from behind them.

  All eyes turned to our larger bridge-mates.

  Roo spat out a name which failed to translate for us. But the tiger barked out a laugh, and nodded its head.

  "One of you care to enlighten us?" Annabelle asked him, in her General's voice.

  "They are the scourge of the galaxy. A plant life form which subjugates all other species it meets."

  "And you don’t?" demanded the tiger.

  "We do nothing your people don’t do as well."

  "Except neither of our people eat the species we conquer."

  "True."

  "Get a room you two," said Aline quietly, and the rest of us laughed.

  Both looked horrified at the suggestion.

  "And the last group?" I asked.

  "Fleeing," said a voice from the back of the bridge.

  We all looked, and found Thirteen standing there. He walked forward, and took an empty seat. Now I began to worry. I’d thought we were done with the avatars of the galaxy's nebulae. Apparently not. He fixed me with a look which said 'what are you doing sitting here doing nothing?'

  "You’d like us to save them?" suggested Amanda.

  "Please."

  Now I was real
ly worried. Thirteen could do it with his eyes closed, but he wanted us to do it? What the hell?

  "You want us to pick a fight in an already four way furball?" I asked him.

  He nodded. I turned to Jane.

  "Analysis?"

  "Thirteen just wants us to do his dirty work for him."

  I gaped at her. Was that a joke? Ever since we got back from being jumped through alternate fictional universes for a few weeks, which had ended up being a few hours of here time, Jane had been acting less and less like her normal self. Add one more thing to the list of things to do, and find out what was bothering her.

  "Analysis of the battle?" I clarified, deadpan.

  The twins giggled. Ever since Jane sort of lost it in alternate land, they'd been baiting her a lot more. All good fun of course, and Jane could take it, but I was worried for her.

  "The plants have the fastest ships. The Ralnor have the best missiles, and the Keerah seem to have regenerative hulls."

  "Yes," said both of them together.

  "A fair assessment," added Hobbes.

  I was about to ask how they related to us, since she'd had more than enough time to assess more than what she'd said, when she interrupted in her ship AI voice.

  "Incoming."

  Yellow dots were now on their way up to us from three directions.

  "Mosquitoes," I ordered.

  Several hundred launched immediately. These were small fast anti-missile missiles, and BigMother carried a lot of the launchers, each able to put one hundred missiles in space with a single launch. The missiles themselves were controlled by mid-level AI clones of Jane, dedicated to targeting and control.

  I sighed.

  "Better point us at them, and get the guns aimed in the general direction."

  Big Mother tilted downwards, not that it made any difference to us, except the view screen compensated for the change in orientation.

  I wasn’t going down there until I knew if we'd make it back out again. True, we were the biggest ship in the system right now, but I had it on good authority our tech wasn’t up to galactic standards. BigMother was my command carrier, but although she was as long as a battleship, and as wide as six of them at the rear, she wasn’t my biggest ship by a long shot. I was using her now, first because I loved the ship, but mostly because she was big enough to say 'don’t mess with us', and yet not actually be my big guns if someone decided to.

  Talking of big guns, the new titan turret on her underside was now pointing its four gigantic guns towards the plants, on the basis they were the biggest threat, and were the obvious aggressors here. Four of the six battleship turrets on the titan turret, were also pointing at them. The other two were each targeting the Keerah and Ralnor.