Hail the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 5) Read online

  We also stood, and with a series of goodnights, we headed for our suites.

  In my bedroom, I managed to switch my suit back to a belt, shuck my briefs in favour of boxers and t-shirt, and climb into bed. Angel settled next to my neck as usual. I stroked her a few times, and to the sound of her purr, I fell asleep.

  Four

  I woke to find myself draped with naked females.

  Miriam was on one side of me, and Alison on the other. Angel was curled into my neck as usual.

  I gaped at the women in turn. I'd half expected Miriam, but Alison as well? My mind boggled.

  I gently moved the draped anatomy off me, and crawled out, ducking into the shower.

  "Time," I said to Jane.

  "Seven fifty five," she replied through coms. "I'm waking everyone in five minutes."

  "Good."

  "Where are you holding the meeting?"

  "Conference Room big enough?"

  "Just."

  "There will do. It won't be for long."

  "Where are you Jon?" asked Miriam loudly.

  "Shower," I called back.

  Two naked women walked into my bathroom. I looked at them. I closed my eyes, and opened them again, expecting to find myself alone. They were still there.

  "Wait," I said. "Your Amanda and Aleesha playing a joke on me, with good suit programming."

  "Wrong," they both said together, smiling widely.

  Miriam entered the shower first, followed by Alison.

  "Umm," I said, not really having any clue as to what to say next.

  "He's clueless," said Miriam.

  "You're surprised about that?" responded Alison.

  They both laughed at my obvious puzzlement.

  "Put him out of his misery," went on Alison.

  "It's alright Jon. I know about you and Alison. She contacted me, and asked my permission, before the Avon battle. I'm a pilot. I get the whole tomorrow-we-might-be-dead thing. Lord knows, all three of us have nearly died in the last week. You thought I’d be upset?"

  I nodded.

  She kissed me, and turned to Alison.

  "I get the front, you get the back."

  "Why do I get the back?"

  "I outrank you."

  "Oh."

  "GOOD MORNING MIAMI!"

  By the time I was able to exit the shower, I was well and truly washed.

  The three of us headed along to the Dining Room for breakfast. For once, I was starving, and ate the full porky.

  I didn’t linger, but headed up to my Ready Room. Alison followed me. We sat at the conference table.

  "Sitrep Jane."

  "All requested commanders are on the way. All fighters were recovered. Freighter is due back in approximately two hours. Work is in progress on the coms issue."

  "What was the problem?"

  "The EMP from the two nukes fried most external circuitry. So while coms were actually fine, every antenna array in the fleet was rendered inoperable. Something like thirty percent of external turrets were also affected, which is why so many of the Corvettes and Privateers died. They just didn’t have enough working Point Defense for what was fired at them."

  "Hell. It's always the simple things which get you in the end. We have the parts for the antenna arrays?"

  "Yes, for the fighters anyway. The capital ships should be able to do their own. If not, they'll need a shipyard. As far as other repairs go, we don’t have parts for Sabres and Epees, let alone Excalibur's. Two hours for them to arrive. Repairs will take the best part of a day."

  "Gunbus' and Excalibur's first. The rest in order of least damage."

  "Confirmed."

  I turned to Alison.

  "Can you go to the Conference Room now please? As each person enters, ask their name, or who they're representing, and ping them their orders. Seating is by rank. I'd suggest you make a plan of the table and allocate, and tell people where to sit, or not, as they enter. Put Yorktown on my left and Lexington on my right. Greer and Young next to them. Then the two Pocket Battleships, and the Missile Cruiser."

  "I can do that."

  She left with a smile on her face. It wasn’t often a Lieutenant was able to boss around higher ranks.

  I reached for my pad, and checked for any important emails.

  A Lieutenant Colonel Ashdale, General Patton's aide, had emailed asking for more information on the fleet's condition. Jane told me the battle feeds, and a brief summary, had been sent off, when Greer returned from his midnight jaunt. I replied I was meeting with all ship commanders at nine, after which all of them would be submitting reports, if they'd not already done so on arrival on board. I would send an update after the meeting myself.

  I continued wading through the daily accumulation.

  Precisely at nine, I walked into the Conference Room from the Bridge.

  "Admiral on deck," said someone, and the room came to attention.

  "As you were," I said. Those at the table, sat. The rest stood easy.

  The room was filled to capacity, with only a corridor of space to let me get to my seat. Everyone in the room looked at me expectantly. A few of them frowned when they saw my age for the first time. I ignored them, and took my seat at the head of the table. To both sides were Commanders. A few of the Captains further down the table looked upset at the placement of junior ranks ahead of them. Greer looked tired for some reason.

  "For those who don’t know me," I began, "I'm Vice Admiral Hunter. The purpose of this meeting has already been achieved, being the delivery of your orders from General Patton. As per my instructions, I formally take command of all American forces in the Miami system."

  I turned to Yorktown.

  "Sitrep," I said to her.

  "Commander Bowrey sir. Temporarily in command of Yorktown. Yorktown survived the initial incursion because of your orders sir. We were pushed down far enough for the first two Cruiser, whatever they were-s, to miss the ships on our hull by inches. The two nukes they fired, resulted in complete coms failure, and a lot of smaller turret failures. Unfortunately, we ended up to the side of, and slightly below, the jump point, and a Missile Cruiser was fast enough to get a barrage off at us, while still in down jump. Combined Point Defense from the ships still on our hull took out half the barrage, but the other half hit us. Yorktown needs a shipyard. We have engines again, as of a short time ago, but won't be making any speed records. The Flight Deck was substantially damaged, and we can't land anything. The Launch tube system was also badly damaged, so we can't launch either."

  She looked at me helplessly.

  "Senior officers?" I prompted.

  "The Bridge was badly hit. All the senior officers are in medical Care Units. I was the senior officer in the CIC, otherwise I’d either be dead, or in medical also."

  "Thank you."

  I turned to Lexington, and nodded to him.

  "Commander Atwell, sir. The first group of Missile Cruisers had time to turn and line us up really well. We took most of a barrage. I'm not sure, but I think Lexington will have to be scrapped. The Bridge was destroyed, the Admiral and Captain killed. I was also in the CIC. We have major casualties. After Commander Greer left, we started receiving damage control teams, and medical help from other ships, so we're holding our own for now. But Lexington will need to be towed back to Dallas sir."

  "Thank you." I looked towards the first of the Captains. "Pocket Battleships and Missile Cruiser sitrep."

  The senior of the three Captains said, "Captain Johansson, sir, of Harrison Ford. This is Captain Dunning of the Mark Hamill, and Captain Channing of the Missile Cruiser Backblast. All three ships are in good shape sir, thanks to the Mosquito systems, and Point Defense. We took a few missiles each, but didn’t lose shields. We expect to have coms back up by the time we return to our ships."

  "Good. As soon as you're back aboard, jump your ships through to Midgard, and report to Commodore O'Neil. You'll join his fleet."

  "Daniel O'Neil sir? Last I heard he had the Mercenary Frigate G
eneral Custer."

  "That's him. He works for me now. He has command of the John Wayne."

  There were smiles from quite a few down the table.

  "About time that son of a gun lived up to his potential," grinned a white haired Captain, sitting next to Captain Channing. Sounded like there was a story there, but now wasn’t the time.

  "Anyone else damaged enough to need a shipyard?" I asked.

  A dozen hands were raised at the table, and just as many among the standing officers. The former presumably had Cruisers, and the latter most likely Destroyers, Frigates or Corvettes. With their lack of Point Defense, the Talons had big juicy targets to aim their missiles at. Each individual missile wouldn’t have done much, but a squadron launch at a single ship, if they all hit, would have done a lot of damage.

  "Who is senior Captain among those ships not damaged?"

  The white haired Captain raised his hand.

  "Captain Pleasance of the Nicolas Cage".

  "Form an escort for the Carriers out of those ships also needing a shipyard. Have Lexington towed by the most appropriate ship for the task. Include a tow vessel for Yorktown in case she needs one as well. Leave behind all salvage droids to continue with the cleanup. When you arrive at Dallas Shipyard, contact General Patton for further orders."

  "Aye sir."

  "Who's next in seniority, who won't be going back to Dallas?"

  "Me sir." A hand was raised next to Captain Pleasance. "Captain Holloway of the Tom Cruise."

  "The remaining undamaged ships will stay to blockade this jump point. Please supervise the cleanup. All debris is to be cleared into a mountain well away from the jump point. No one is allowed through except for the following. I have a freighter doing supply runs at the moment. And the diplomatic ship Command is sending, with its escort. They should jump into Midgard, and request instructions before proceeding any further. Anyone else with what sounds like a good reason, should be referred to me for a decision. Until we sweep the entire system, fingers will stay on the triggers, so I don’t want any accidents with unexpected guests."

  "Yes sir."

  "Anyone not able to fix their own coms?"

  Greer and Miriam looked at me, and I gave them a small head shake to mean not them.

  No one moved.

  "Good. No-one leaves this ship without first sending a full report of the battle off to General Patton's aide, including a complete status report of their ship or command. The Joint Chiefs want to know what happened, and how many pieces need picking up. If you need an office, there are some you can use on this level, otherwise there's a Rec Room on the next level down. Let's get on with it. Dismissed."

  I stood, and everyone stood as well. I walked out, and returned to my Ready Room.

  Five

  I'd barely sunk into a lounge chair, when three Commanders turned up at my door.

  "Can we have a minute sir?" asked Miriam.

  I waved them in, and into lounge chairs.

  "We need to thank you sir," said Commander Bowrey.

  "What for?" I responded.

  "You saved everyone on Yorktown and the ships on her hull, when you told them to push us down. If you hadn't ordered that action, the first ship through would have torn us apart."

  Greer and Miriam nodded.

  "I'm also the one who put you there in the first place. I think the one negates the other."

  "No sir," said Bowrey emphatically. "We'd been on the ready line since seven in the morning. We were all lined up until your suggestion changed our deployment. Without that change, none of us stood a chance. The first two ships were designed for tearing debris fields apart, and pushing the bits out of the down jump area. They would have torn through most of us before we even knew what was happening. The next wave would have down jumped into what was left, and completed the job. Until your suggestion changed things, we were already dead, and didn’t know it yet. You gave us all a chance to survive."

  "Thank you," they all said together.

  I looked at them with a lack of understanding. I'd almost killed them, and they thanked me for saving them? What sort of logic was that?

  "You're welcome," I said. "Please don’t make me do it again."

  They laughed. I looked at Greer.

  "You look like you need some sleep Commander."

  "Ah, yes sir. How long before our ships will be ready to fight again?"

  "The parts they need should be here soon. The repairs will begin with the Corvettes, followed by the Excalibur's, and finally the fighters. You have time to get some sleep. Jane will wake you when your ship is ready for you, or team coms will wake you if something happens. In the meantime, I need you rested for the next phase."

  "Yes sir."

  The three of them rose, saluted, and left.

  I assembled an email for Lieutenant Colonel Ashdale, including a brief summary of what I'd heard, and the recording of the meeting. The reports from all the captains would fill in the blanks.

  Not long after sending it off, the freighter landed on the Flight Deck, and was transported down to be unloaded.

  Jane and I discussed how to go about finding the other habitable planet or moon, and any other inhabited structures in the Midgard system. Especially given the nav scanners didn’t work properly there.

  An hour or so later, she informed me the last of the captains had left, as had the freighter on its second run.

  I moved back to the Bridge.

  "Where are we at?" I asked Jane.

  "The three ships you wanted in Midgard have jumped. The remaining Gunbus went with them. Repairs to Greer's Starman have begun. She should be ready to undock, and give her place to the last Gunbus, in an hour or so. We are go for returning to Midgard."

  "Starman?"

  "They went with using their call signs as ship names."

  I smiled at that. Easy solution. Fighters generally weren't named. But Corvettes always were, and so usually were Privateers. Although Gladiator convention was to tag a number on the end. All ships were named with the class and a number to start with, but this was changed when the owner took possession. The two Camels for example, were currently named Camel 01 and Camel 02, since they'd been pressed into war service instead of me taking delivery normally. Among capital ships, the first in the class was named a way the rest of the class would follow. Hence the Actor class, with the names of ships being past actors who were now immortal. Using call signs to name what were larger than usual fighters, was a great idea.

  "Jump us out of here Jane."

  "Confirmed.

  We jumped back into Midgard, and I called a senior officers meeting for as soon as everyone could arrive. I told Jane to specially make sure Greer wasn’t woken up. He needed the sleep, and he wasn’t going to be needed for what I had in mind.

  I was sitting in the Conference Room as people started to come in. Miriam was first, and she was going to be the most junior present. She sat as far away from me as she could get, knowing her place in the ranks. General Wellington took her place to my left.

  The room quickly filled. Admiral Bentley entered last, slightly behind Admiral Dingle, and General Smith, who was talking to O'Neil as they entered. I shook hands with Dingle for the first time, having never actually come face to face with him before. For an officer I’d first considered promoted too high, he'd certainly performed as well as could be expected so far. There were many captains I'd not met before, from the Cruisers and Destroyers of the combined fleet. Alison closed the door behind her, and stood just inside the door, next to Alsop.

  I stood.

  "As of this morning, the command of the multi-sector fleet has passed to me. General Wellington has been appointed Military Governor of the Midgard system."

  There was a general stir around the table.

  "We have several objectives now. The first is to pacify the planet Midgard, in preparation for the diplomats. The second is to ensure the entire system is disarmed. The Shipyard was neutralized yesterday. We suspect there's eithe
r a second habitable planet in the system, or a moon. Midgard itself ought to have an Orbital station, but it doesn’t. So we need to look for it."

  "Admiral Bentley will be breaking the fleet up into small groups. Each group will be assigned a patrol area. If you come across a planet or moon with life signs, or any kind of station, you will inform me immediately, and take no further action except observation. Our response will depend on what we find. I want no one biting off more than they can chew because they find something which they think they can handle. If there's another Midgard force in this system, and there could be two of them, we handle them with our full force, not piecemeal. I don’t want to be forced to explain the loss of one of our ships, because the captain proved to be overly gung-ho. If you find a fleet, you back off and shadow, until the main force can arrive."

  "Let me be clear about something. There will be NO retaliation against civilians. We'll need the planets' station back here for General Wellington to use as a base. There will be no accidents. Understand me?"

  I looked everyone in the eyes, one by one. Most of them nodded as I looked at them.

  "Wing Commander Slice."

  "Sir?"

  "You will deploy a comnavsat in orbit of every planet in this system. You will also check for areas where one is not enough. We can't cover the entire system, but we can cover all the real estate. You'll have an escort to watch your back. No unnecessary risks. If you find an opposing force, you will deploy a comnavsat and get the hell out of there. Even if the comnavsat doesn’t last long, we'll get enough to plan an attack."

  "Yes sir."

  "The main force will be heading straight to Midgard. That’s where I expect any remaining fleet to be. But don’t assume it. There's at least one other inhabited location in this system, and it could also have a significant fleet there."

  I looked down the table at everyone.

  "Let's get this finished today. No last minute casualties please. There have been far too many already. Admiral Bentley will give you your assignments shortly. Dismissed."

  I looked at Susan, Vonda and Annabelle, motioning them to stay. The rest filed out.

  "Jane will give you the patrol areas we worked out, Susan," I said. "Divide up the Sci-Fi and British ships. Slice needs a bigger escort, as he's most likely to come across something interesting. Better give him at least one Cruiser, with a sensible Captain who will let him lead. He doesn’t have the rank the Cruiser captains have, but for the job I gave him, he is the most experienced person in the fleet. Exploration is his mission." She nodded. "The idea is, we cover the entire system as fast as possible. So if you see something we missed, by all means tweak the plan. Emphasize the no action directive. I want to find out what's here, before we blunder in and do something stupid. There have been enough surprises in the last few days. I don’t want any more."