Hero to the End (The Hunter Legacy Book 13) Read online

  "We have five squadrons of heavy fighters as well, but nowhere to billet them. We had them attached to other hulls for the journey here."

  "We can take them," offered Chet. "Yorktown can fit probably a third of them, and Intrepid the rest, since she was outfitted for three Privateer squadrons, while Yorktown had two. With both only having a single Privateer squadron, we can shoehorn a lot more heavies onto both."

  Jedburgh nodded. It was Chet's command, and there wasn’t a reason for saying no.

  "Is that the lot?" I asked.

  "Hell no," said Lacey, grinning. "That’s just the sector military forces."

  "He's right," said Bigglesworth. "There are fifteen Merc squadrons now, including the six which came with you, which you didn’t mention, all a mixed bag of Privateers. And another five squadrons of Bounty Hunters. I believe you know their Wing Commander? Rodriquez?"

  I thought back, as the name seemed vaguely familiar.

  "Orion Bounty Hunter driver? Didn't I kick his arse in Dallas?"

  "He was, and you did," confirmed Jedburgh, grinning. "He upgraded to an Excalibur as soon as we allowed him to. After Gaia, a few of our ex-pilots like him found out we were building them, heard the rumours of a war coming, and asked to be allowed to have one. You would have received an email notifying you about it."

  I probably had, but I’d long ago stopped looking at royalty payment advices.

  "Those few are the exception," said Lacey. "Most of them are not up to spec, and most are barely up to heavy standard. As far as I can gather, they've all been into a shipyard for repairs since arriving here, but none of them were upgraded."

  "Let's put a priority on upgrading them at the earliest possible time," I said. "Who wants them?"

  "All yours," said Jedburgh with a grin.

  "Fine. Jane, let's get them billeted on Orion. Set up a meeting this evening for Space Commodore Lacey, on board, of all Wing Commanders and Squadron Leaders."

  "Confirmed."

  "You won't need a CAG," I said to Lacey. "You're it. Everything on Orion reports to you. Organize the squadrons how you like, and if you need a few more Wing Commanders, promote who you want. Find yourself a competent aide, or several of them. Maybe one to do the admin side of a usual CAG, and the other to be a proper aide, who also liaises with the Marshal's staff. You'll need an XO and CCC second as well."

  He nodded. I looked at Chet.

  "What about Yorktown's CAG? Would he like to do the admin side of the job on a Titan Carrier?"

  Chet laughed, and the other three joined in.

  "You expect me to talk him into leaving a Behemoth class Carrier to babysit fighters in a big box?"

  I laughed as well.

  "Jane."

  She waved at the wall once more, and an image appeared of what the ship would look like in a battle.

  The laughter stopped. Lacey's jaw dropped, and his mouth stayed open. Chet started drooling, and didn’t notice. Jane waved again.

  "I might have known," said Bigglesworth.

  Jane waved yet again.

  "Oh," said Jedburgh. "Nice."

  Lacey couldn’t seem to get his jaw closed.

  "I want it," said Chet.

  "Of course you do," I said, laughing again. "But there's only one so far. You can have dibs on the next one. Besides, when the fleets are together, it's part of your direct command, and you can billet there if you want. What about Yorktown's CAG?"

  "Do you want him?" Chet asked Lacey.

  Lacey still wasn’t capable of words, but he nodded. They'd been working well together, which is why I'd thought of him.

  "Don’t let the Mercs give you any trouble," I said to Lacey. "If they don’t like things the way they are, they can leave. If they don’t leave, and still don’t like things as they are, they can challenge me to single combat. I'm a bit rusty in an Excalibur, but if they can survive the combat, I'll listen to their complaints."

  "That won't be necessary sir," said Lacey, finding his voice at last. "If the beef is justified, I'll deal with it. If it isn’t, they can be on their bikes out of here."

  "Your CAG," I said to Chet, going back a subject unexpectedly, "is going to need some help. He can take whoever he likes with him as staff, with your approval of course."

  "And the rest, I would have thought for that monster. Although I guess the AI does most of the organizing?"

  "As usual, yes. All the same, just managing that many people is going to take a few more."

  Orion had been allocated over seven hundred pilots already.

  "You'll have who you need by the time the fighters are all on board," said Chet to Lacey.

  "Thankyou sir."

  "Chet."

  "Algy."

  "About bloody time you two sorted that out," said Bigglesworth, but both four stars were grinning.

  "Is that the lot then?" I asked.

  "No," said Jedburgh. "We've been collecting medium and light fighters as they've been fleeing up the spine, and as fleets have been moving down here. Most of them are police craft of one kind or another. Some have pilots, others don’t, the latter deciding they didn’t want to get involved in any real fighting, and who abandoned their ship when we refused to release it. Some of them are our own mediums we decommissioned after Midgard. A lot of them were taken over by system police forces, and when the call went out, a lot of them volunteered. The question is, what do we do with them?"

  "If you have enough, form those who want to continue doing Police work up into twenty three squadrons, and assign them to the six evacuation fleet Escort Carriers. Attach one Corporate Carrier to each Explorer ship's evacuation fleet. The pilots can do search and locate operations on planets, looking for people in remote areas who still need evac, or for some reason haven't heard what's going on. They can also advise the troops on actual police matters. Make sure they're suited up, and appropriately armed, in case they get attacked in a remote spot somewhere by desperate people."

  I'd heard a few stories already. Desperation brings out the worst in people. Fortunately, the pilots who had been in trouble, were a pretty tough lot, and hadn't needed rescue.

  "Any pilots who want to fight, can be formed up into squadrons for Orion. The spare ships can be taken over by Jane, and will be used by one of her battle clones. Technically we don’t need the pilots on Orion. So if there's too many for the Evacuation fleets, and some of the rest don't want front line combat, let them go."

  "Are you sure you have room for them all," asked Jedburgh. "We're talking another twenty five odd squadrons."

  Potentially just over a thousand fighters now.

  "No problem," said Jane.

  "Better group the mediums and lights together," I said to Lacey. "But assign them to an experienced Wing Commander, even if that person is flying something different."

  "Aye sir. I seem to have a lot to do this evening."

  "Are we done?" I asked.

  "Yes," said Bigglesworth. "At least for operational matters."

  "What else is there?"

  "Dinner with your flag officers!"

  They all laughed at my look.

  Twenty One

  General Hobbs came in before I made it to the door, and I returned to my seat as the others left. He sat next to me.

  "Sorry to bother you sir, I won't keep you long."

  It was on the tip of my tongue to complain about the sir, but I let it slide.

  "What can I do for you?"

  "All the SAS troops will be with Fleet One. I thought I'd let you know. The Americans are replacing us with a battalion of Peacekeeper troops, they'd allocated to our job once the fleets diverged. We'll be swapping ships tomorrow. You'll get both Homer and Bonko's Club, and we'll move to an American troop transport."

  "I'll be sad to lose you."

  "We need to operate in our own space as we pull back."

  "I know. I wish you all the best."

  "Your people have been meeting with their American counterparts while you've been in meetin
gs here. As the American senior officer is a Colonel, they'll slot straight into your command, and both ships will be attached to the Enterprise fleet, so only a single Colonel is needed for them. I assume General Smith will brief you on the details tomorrow."

  "Thank you General."

  He held his hand out as he rose, and we shook. Jane poked her nose around the door at that moment.

  "Dinner is waiting on you, sirs."

  "Lead on then."

  I wondered if Hobbs' waylaying me had been deliberate, to make sure I was last in to dinner. Probably a certainty.

  Hobbs proceeded me in, bellowing "Admiral on deck!" and everyone rose from around a massive long table, and braced to attention. I faltered step as I walked in, seeing just how many flag officers were now under my command. Jane quietly closed the door behind me, and walked past me to pull my chair out. I was of course at the head, closest to the door. I stood in front of my chair, and Jane took the last empty place beside me.

  "At ease," I said, and sat.

  Everyone followed my lead, but the room remained silent, and they were all looking at me. I didn’t have the foggiest idea what to say. I didn’t know most of these people, and had no idea what they did. And since the majority of them were in 'slinky red', there was no way at a glance to tell which space force they were from. The Germans and Fourth Reich officers were obvious though, since they retained their own uniforms. The Nazi insignia wasn’t going down too well with more than a few people here, but they were all controlling it well. I switched my PC to start popping up names and ranks.

  "Someone said something about dinner?" I said with a smile. "Who's the official host?"

  "You are," said General Patton, seriously.

  "And why would that be?"

  "You have more stars than the rest of us," ventured a two star down the table.

  "Whose fault's that?" There was a titter of laugher around the table. "General Patton?"

  "Sir?"

  "You are officially designated host for the evening." He looked at me, waiting for something. "That's an order."

  "Yes sir."

  He stood, raised his champagne flute, and everyone followed. I looked for my own, found it, and was last glass up.

  "Admiral of the Fleet Hunter."

  There was the clinking of crystal, Jane doing mine on one side, and I found Annabelle on my other side, with my father next to her. All clinked, we sipped, and put our glasses down. I hastily checked my blush suppressor. It had finally been upgraded a few months before to something which did appear to actually work all the time, something over a year after I’d put in a complaint about it failing at key moments; and thankfully it was working correctly, even though I still felt the need to check it sometimes.

  "Serves me right, I guess," I muttered.

  Annabelle and Jane cracked up. My dad looked on with an amused expression on his face.

  "There has never been a fleet this size before," said Patton, still standing. "There has never been a time when humanity has been united in a single goal, especially given that goal is survival."

  He looked around the table, taking in everyone.

  "Even I don’t know what everyone here does. But what I do know is the logistics of keeping this fleet functioning are mind-boggling. Everyone here has a vital role to play, so the few at the front line can fight a war beyond the most deranged of imaginings. But it isn’t just the fleet at stake. If we fall, humanity is lost. Those are the stakes."

  He paused to let it sink in.

  "We have a day for final preparations. In all likelihood, this will be the only time we are all together like this. This station, and those who serve on it, will be leaving for Denver in the morning. If this system falls, Denver is our next choke point, so some of us are heading there now to prepare our next line of defense. Hawaii made the perfect place for the defense we have assembled here, but the planet itself is not suitable for a large scale ground defense. Denver is. If they breach the defenses there, we will challenge them for the first time on the planet itself. General Smith's people did the only ground defense so far, but it was small scale, and never did have any chance of success. But it gave us information and experience we are using for Denver."

  "Some would ask why we're going to risk several divisions of troops, when it would seem to be hopeless. The main reason is, we have to try. If the aliens break through into the Gaia system, fighting them on the ground becomes our last hope. We have to know how to beat them. I must emphasize, this won't be a suicide mission for the troops, and the same rules apply as for our ships. I can see a few of you looking skeptical, and fair enough. If you have any input to make, make it through General Wellington's staff. We need every idea anyone can come up with. Even if it's not practical, someone else might be able to use it or make it work."

  "Some of us have a long night's work ahead of us, so let's get to eating."

  He sat, and butler droids descended on us with the first course. I noticed Annabelle go blank several times, and then chuckle to herself. She saw me watching her.

  "The Colonels are all dining together as well, including the LC's. The twins and Alison have been pinging me about it. The Fleet Captains are also dining together, and George is feeling out of his depth, being one of the group of just promoted's. BA said the SM's were eating together as well."

  I saw Jack down the table, who also looked out of place. And obviously missing his wife not being there. It rang a bell, and I turned to Dad. Annabelle leaned back so I'd not be talking past her so obviously.

  "How's Mum doing with all this?"

  "Proud of both of us I think. I certainly never expected to get a star, seeing Gaia didn’t need one. So your mother never thought about it. Finding out you were an Admiral was a shock for both of us, but we quickly discovered we were over the moon you'd not only thrived out here in the galaxy, but risen to the top, even if it was in the military. Both of us going to war wasn’t something she was happy about, but her work on Galactica has kept her busy, fulfilled even, getting to help so many displaced people, and I'm glad she came with us."

  He looked me in the eye.

  "You still think you're not going home, don’t you?"

  I nodded.

  "Why?" asked Annabelle. "Sorry, didn’t mean to butt in."

  "Your fine Annabelle," we both said together, smiling after we did.

  "We are talking across you," added my Dad. "Well son? It’s a valid question."

  I sighed. I could see a few others nearby now hanging on our conversation, and this wasn’t a good time or place for it. Still.

  "Best case scenario sees everyone through the jump point into Gaia, and the Door closes leaving no-one behind. But this raises the issue of how to defend it on the other side, but does give a year to solve the problem."

  "But you don’t think this will happen?" asked Jane.

  "No, I don’t. My gut tells me we'll be fighting a rearguard for real, and some of us are not going to make the door in time."

  "Why not?"

  "Because under no circumstances must the aliens be led to the Gaia jump point. The moment the first of their ships jumps into Outback, any remaining ships of ours will have to head out into open space, and hide in the deep dark. Gaia must be protected at all costs, and we have to hope the jump point is in such a non-standard position they don’t find it before the Door closes, because they won't be looking for it where it is. If the Door is still open, those who remain in Outback will have to defend it without reinforcement from Gaia, until it closes, without giving its position away. Only if they discover the jump point, can anyone come back after jumping through, and anyone who does will probably be committing suicide. Either way, I'll be the last man standing, or the last man leaving. And I intend to be alone on Sceptre by that time. The rest of you WILL be going through in plenty of time."

  Annabelle and my Dad made eye contact, and something passed between them.

  "Don’t argue with me on this," I went on. "Gaia will need all of you,
so don’t make me issue orders. When the end comes, I don’t want us feeling negative about anything. Good memories for all is what's needed. And Gaia knows I've packed a lifetime worth of living into the last two years."

  I think I sold it. I sure as hell wasn’t telling them what I really had planned.

  Twenty Two

  Patton led me to the same small lounge I'd used before dinner. Vonda, Annabelle, Hobbs, several American officers I didn't know, and a German two star, were with him. Jane was still following me.

  "We have a problem to solve for Denver," said Patton, looking at me.

  "And?"

  "You managed to cloak Relentless didn’t you?" asked Annabelle.

  "Yes."

  "Can we do the same for Gatherer?"

  I looked at Jane.

  "Yes. But it'll take some time. Three or four days at least."

  "You want a fall back for the troops, so we can evac as many as possible if Denver goes pair shaped?" I asked Patton.

  "It’s the one weak link in the plan so far."

  "It won't be needed," said one of the American officers. "We learned everything we need to know from General Smith's …"

  "Debacle," interrupted Annabelle, "is the word I think you’re looking for."

  "I don’t want to hear this," I said, cutting the American off before he could argue.

  They all sat there and looked at me. I was tired, emotionally wrung out, and wanted to go play with my cat. The first two at least should have been visible on my face.

  "I don’t care how good your plan is, and no I don’t want to know the details, but we will have a backup plan to evac everyone if possible should things go badly. You can have Gatherer when she gets there. I’d give you the other two as well if we could cloak them, but we only have that ability on four ships, and only one of them has a transferable power source. So Gatherer it is."

  I turned to Jane.

  "Jane, you need another avatar. Give it green epaulettes and one star, and send it with this station." I saw one of the Americans mouth the word 'avatar?' to the other. "Use Gunbus to cloak Gatherer, but go one step further. Where the main ground confrontation is going to be, build Gatherer into the terrain, so at the last minute all you have to do is open the entrances to let the troops in so they look like they're going underground to escape. Put heavy grav in the entrance tubes to stop the aliens getting inside, and be prepared to jettison them if need be."