Hero at Large_Second Edition Page 20

  "What have you been up to lately?" I asked her.

  "The Colonel has had me very busy. In fact, I need to rush off again very soon. I doubt I'll catch up with you again tonight, but I should be able to drop past in the morning before we head over to the shipyard for Moose testing. You'll be coming over with us?"

  "Most likely. I need to talk to Bob about a new ship," I said.

  "Another one?" she asked.

  "Yes. What I'm in now feels too small for what's being thrown at me. For the moment, I doubt the Pirates can mount much of a force against me, but give them some time, and I could have anything at all come at me. I'd feel better having heavier shielding, and more firepower. That means a bigger ship. I need to do some research tonight if I'm going to talk to Bob tomorrow."

  With that, we said goodbyes, and she went back to her table, drained her coffee cup, and left. Others were also leaving now, so I headed over to Amanda and Aleesha to find out what they were doing.

  "We'll be along to your suite in a while. Wait up for us," said Amanda with a grin.

  I agreed I would, and they left. The General came over.

  "When do you expect to be flying again?" he asked.

  "Couple of days I think, sir. For Excalibur. I'm having a couple of modifications done as well as repairing damage. As soon as she's ready, I'll poke my nose into Nexus again. If it doesn't get bloodied, I'll run Wanderer to Outback as fast as I can. Once there, I'm free for any orders you may have. I'll need to be back here a week or two after that, as I hope my new ship will be ready by then."

  "New ship?"

  "Yes, something bigger. It really was sheer dumb luck and stupidity which saved me today. I don't want to be in that position again. A fighter can't cut it against those odds normally. Since I have the credits to do better, I will. It may change my mission profile some, but if I can do what I'm thinking of, I'll still be able to do the fighter patrols you were talking about."

  "Keep me up to date with your movements then. We'll aim for you going operational around three days from now, starting at Outback Orbital. I'll get the Intel people working on where needs some attention. We have two patrols for the whole sector, so we need more. Those ships you brought in today would be useful too."

  "I'll be talking to Bob tomorrow. Assuming they are adjudicated to me, I'll see what I can use in the new ship, if anything. You're welcome to anything left which is useful to you. Most of these ones are more beat up than the last ones, and may not be salvageable. Talk to Bob anyway. Once we have the new ship design sorted, he'll know what's needed from the wrecks, and what you'll need to make them useful."

  "I'll have someone get onto that. Well, I have work to do before turning in, so take care, Flight Officer. I'll make sure I'm kept up to date with your movements."

  With that, he turned and left. I did too.

  I was soon back at the hotel, where I changed into jeans and t-shirt. My pad was overflowing with emails as usual. One of them caught my eye, and being a hollo, I threw it to the room coms. The man who appeared looked like an older corporate type in a very plush looking office.

  "Mr. Hunter. I'm John Norbett. Congratulations on surviving today. My sources tell me you were vastly outnumbered, and still prevailed. That is impressive."

  "Pirate groups in general, and this group in particular, have been a major problem for me for many years. In my last message to you, I merely said I had a proposal for you. I understand you've not yet been able to get to Brisbane, so I'm taking the opportunity to be more forthcoming."

  "I need someone like yourself to hunt down the main pirates in this region of space. I have a list of names, and I have sources which can give you reasonable Intel as to where they can be found. I have bounties on all of them, substantial ones, and as a gesture of goodwill, I'm paying you for the ones you removed from my list today."

  I toggled pause, and checked the banking emails. And yes, there was a payment from John Norbett. A quite large one, in fact. I toggled run.

  "The situation in this sector has become intolerable for many of us in business here, and I head a syndicate who want the problem dealt with. We've been looking for suitable people, and believe you are one such."

  "I'm aware you are part of the sector military now, and I also know you have flexibility few military people get. I believe our interests, military interests, and your interests, are the same here. All we need is your agreement to participate."

  "You may believe the main threat has now been eliminated. I can assure you this is not the case. My information suggests if you do not go looking for them immediately, they will regroup, and come back at you even more strongly than they have so far. I can help you help yourself."

  "Please let me know if you're interested."

  I thought about it for a while. Being attacked was one thing. Going looking for them was another. It was not the Gaia way. Down that road was revenge. Revenge always made karma worse. I had enough trouble with my karma, doing the self-defense killing I'd been forced to do already.

  I sent him a polite reply saying at this time, I was unable to help, but I would keep him in mind if things changed.

  In hindsight, I'd wish I hadn't said that.

  Thirty

  I went to bed with Amanda and Aleesha. It took a while before sleep happened.

  I was woken up early by Alison, and it was somewhat later before we got up.

  After showering, I dressed in real clothes. While Alison was eating breakfast, I pinged Bob to say I was coming over with the Moose crew, and could we discuss ship options then? He pinged back it was fine for him.

  I asked Alison if she knew when they were going to the shipyard. She responded she didn't know, but they were on a short leash, pending a ping to leave in a hurry.

  On a whim of a half-thought-out idea, I pinged the 'Tool man' and made an order. He pinged me back an invoice, and I made payment.

  I settled down in my easy chair, and threw my ship search onto the coms hollo. I was looking for a ship which was large enough to carry shielding which could handle being attacked by a dozen fighters comfortably, and had the defenses to make them wary of doing so. At the same time, I wanted cargo space for more than just a single Salvage Droid.

  Alison pecked me on the cheek, and left me to it.

  The trouble with civilian ships was they were all underpowered to run the shields and weapons I wanted. The trouble with military ships available to civilians, was they were too slow. Yes, I was military, but as far as buying a ship, I was still considered a civilian. Anyone who wasn't a government was considered a civilian, where military hardware was concerned.

  I flicked though ship designs until one caught my eye. The Centaur. Nominally a Corvette, she was larger than normal for the class of the smallest of capital ships. Crew of forty, comprising a Captain, three officers, and thirty-six crew. It included a hanger for three fighters. Its shielding was what I needed, but had the wrong mix of guns. It also had the speed of a snail, and the maneuverability of a cow wearing lead boots. But it had sleek lines, and offered possibilities. It would depend on what Bob could do with it.

  The ping came in to gather at the shuttle dock. I realized I'd lost half the morning already. I tooled up and headed out. On the way through reception, I picked up my package from the 'Tool man', and took it with me.

  I was not quite last to the shuttle.

  Last one in was a pirate in full Eighteenth Century regalia, including eye patch and parrot. I burst out laughing, and soon the whole shuttle was laughing as well.

  "Morning George," I said.

  "Morning Jon," he replied.

  "Squawk," went the parrot.

  When we arrived at the shipyard, Moose was at an external dock. I followed everyone there, and after a few hugs, watched them troop on board. When the hatch closed, I moved to an observation port and watched Moose undock, and move away. Then I headed for Bob's office.

  He motioned me to a chair.

  "You want to watch their testing?"
<
br />   I nodded. A channel opened, and gave my PC a feed from the station's external sensors. I left it running as a small box, so I could monitor it.

  "So my lad, what do you want to do next?"

  "Are you familiar with the Centaur?"

  "British military Corvette?" I nodded. "Nice all round ship, but not what I'd expect to interest you."

  "I want something which can be pounded on by a dozen fighters, without having to worry about a three missile salvo being a killer. I want something with some serious point defense, and can punch a hole in a fighter in all directions at the same time. I want to be able to fight, trade, run passengers, or a team of Mercenaries. In short, I want a multi-purpose ship which kicks arse, and takes prisoners."

  "Well, the Centaur will certainly give you some of that. But it won't behave like a fighter will."

  "Why not?"

  He blinked as if it should be obvious to me.

  "As I understand it, maneuverability is a factor of thrusters. Speed is a factor of power plant and engines. Thrusters tend to get the leftover engine thrust. To get her to go faster means upgrading power and engines. To make her as nimble as a fighter, needs more thrusters being fed from their own engine."

  He gaped at me.

  "Why can't we use power plants and engines from the fighters I brought in yesterday, to augment the normal systems? Give thrusters their own dedicated engine. Put in a bigger engine to give fighter speed. Bigger or daisy-chained power plants to power it all."

  His eyes were wide, and the predatory look was back on his face.

  "Where would you get the extra space from?" he asked.

  "There's crew space for thirty six. I'd only need space for twelve. There would be a proportional reduction in mess and bathroom facilities. Half the size of the existing Brig. That also reduces the requirements for food storage, and life support."

  He nodded.

  "I want to retain the docking for three fighters, but one of them needs to be Excalibur. The other two are most likely to be Dropship's, or fast scouts, so it should be doable. It would need a standard freighter dock on the front of the cargo bay, so I can dock to stations the same way medium freighters do, and be able to roll standard containers in and out."

  He nodded again.

  "I'd want to carry four SD's, and a full squad of security droids. And all the maintenance and system monitoring would need to be done by droids. The Captain's suite is where I'd live. The three officer's cabins would need their own bathrooms, for passenger use."

  "I'll see what I can do. What about armaments?"

  "I'd leave the side turrets, but have them rigged as fighter killers. If I ever go up against a capital ship, I'll have to rely on torpedoes rather than guns. I'd want four point defense turrets on top and another four underneath. All the turrets with manual controls on the bridge if there is room, but mostly they'll be run by Jane."

  "Jane?"

  "My AI on Excalibur. She'll run both ships."

  He nodded.

  "Then the same missile setup as Excalibur. Missile launcher and torpedo launcher in front, missile launcher in the rear somewhere. As many reloads as she'll fit in. I see she has eight guns in the nose, although how they hit anything is beyond me. Use the same guns I have now, but I want them firing at least twice as fast. With fighter speed and maneuverability, those guns will become lethal to fighters, instead of just useful for capital ships. If you can double the speed of firing for Excalibur as well, I'd appreciate that."

  "You realize this will cost a pretty credit?"

  He wasn't joking. The Centaur in standard configuration came in around the one hundred and fifty million mark.

  "Take what you can use from the fighters I brought in yesterday, as soon as they're adjudicated, and sell the rest to the General for whatever they're worth, or he'll pay. I gather he's desperate for more fighters for the sector militia, so haggle until it hurts him."

  We both smiled.

  "Anything left over you normally buy, make me an offer, and we can put it towards the cost. In the scheme of things, it won't be a lot, but I've got twelve more sets of bounties coming in at the moment, so between ships and bounties, I think I can cover this, even if it doesn't leave me much left over."

  "I'll do some designs immediately, and let you know what I can do, and a ballpark figure as soon as I can."

  "Great. Is Excalibur somewhere I can access?" I asked.

  "Bay twelve. The hull work has mostly been done. Do you really need to go inside?"

  "No, actually I wanted to get one of my security droids, and talk to Jane."

  "You can talk to me anywhere," said Jane unexpectedly, in my head. "Even though I'm here, I can still talk to you over on the station."

  "That's fine," said Bob. "I'll get right to it, and let you get on with your day".

  He turned to his computer, and I left his office. I started towards bay twelve.

  "Jane, can you get one of the security droids operational please. Take complete control of it, and have it meet me at the bay door, armed, and ready for bodyguard duties."

  "Confirmed."

  A short time later I was at the door to the bay. I could see Excalibur had a new wing, and the rear turret had been removed. The installation of the new turrets had not been completed yet.

  The droid was standing waiting for me. It was like a stereotypical robotic representation of a human skeleton. I took a new belt out of the package I'd brought with me, and secured it around the waist of the droid.

  "Jane, how would you like a body?"

  "You mean a human look-alike body? Why would I want one of those?"

  "I'd like the droid to blend in. Can you use the belt to create a realistic body using George's programs?"

  There was a pause. As I watched, the belt expanded to form a female human shape, about the same size as the twins. The face was blank, like a store dummy.

  "Give it the same uniform I wear, the red slinky, as I call it." The droid changed. "Now, can you model a face, and have it imitate life?"

  The face became an attractive adult woman in her twenties, with collar length mousy brown hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.

  "Great!"

  I took out two more of the guns I used from the parcel, and gave them to the Jane droid one at a time. A holster formed for each one, and she slotted them in. The recharges and laser bolts followed. The droid was also carrying a laser rifle, so I had her make her suit form a holster for it on the droid's back, after checking it was set for stunning only.

  "Ok," I said. "Let's see how you do. Come along."

  We headed towards the shuttle dock. On the way, I told her what to do whenever I had company in the hotel, or on board ship, and how to act when I was in public.

  As we reached the dock area, a ping came in from the Colonel saying they'd completed testing, and were leaving for a job somewhere in the American sector. She expected they'd be back in a week or two's time. I pinged back a good luck farewell.

  I threw the feed of the station's sensors on to a view screen, and watched Moose heading for the jump point.

  There went my friends.

  For over a week, they'd been almost family, filling a void I'd not really felt, and hadn't known existed.

  Moose Jumped.

  Now I felt the void inside me. I was finally alone.

  People still wanted to kill me. I still hurt all down my left side.

  But things were looking up. My bruises were fading. The upgraded fighter was due in the next day or so, and my new ship hopefully within several weeks. There was a kitten on its way, things to do, and orders soon to carry out.

  But for right now, there was just empty space around the jump point.

  I stood there.

  Watching the empty space.

  For a long time.

  Jonathon Hunter

  will return

  in

  Hunted Hero Hunting

  Acknowledgements

  A big thank you must go to Helen Ellis, w
ithout whose encouragement, this book would never have been completed.

  I also wish to thank all the writers of science fiction I've ever read, watched, or played over the years.

  In particular, I wish to thank the writers and programmers of the Computer Games - Wing Commander 1 through 5, Privateer 1 and 2; and the Egosoft games, X2 The Threat, X3 Reunion, X3 Terran Conflict, and X3 Albion Prelude, which gave me the combat experience needed for a novel of this kind.

  Also thanks to Egosoft for allowing me to use photos from within their games to make the original cover for this novel. And to Kalen O'Donnell, for the second cover, and the Second Edition cover.

  A Message to my Readers

  I've had a lot of fun writing this novel, and it was written with being the first in a series in mind. It's been a long time in the making, having rattled around in my mind for many years, before I finally sat down to write it. There is a lot of story to come, and I invite you to come along for the full journey with me.

  If you have enjoyed this book, I hope you will take the time to leave a review. All reviews are greatly appreciated, as they help assist purchasing decisions by other readers.

  Sales and reviews help me to focus on my next challenge. Sales pay my bills, and my ability to continue writing is dependent on the sales of this book, and what comes after.

  I thank you for your support, and hope you'll continue to read my next book.

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