Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) Read online

  "Janet, keep me up to date. I want to know the instant the Midgard fleet arrives."

  "Yes my Lord."

  I nodded to Jane, and we left the CCC.

  Back on board Gunbus, I headed for my suite, looking for Jeeves. He bustled in when I called.

  "Can you get all Angel's things together to be moved please? We'll be spending a day or two on the General Custer. The Captain's suite there should be similar to here, so please set it up as close as you can. We'll need the carry cage for Angel. Don’t forget the ramps."

  "Of course my Lord."

  "When we get on board, check what's already there in terms of bedding, bathroom needs, kitchen stuff, and food. I'm not sure how many of us there'll be, but we'll need everything we use here, for at least several days there. I also want all the butler droids on the Custer, as well as all the SR, cargo and combat droids. You better shift the contents of the Armoury as well."

  "As you command, my Lord. It will be done."

  I went onto the Bridge where I found Jane.

  "Jane, after we dock with Custer, can you move our combat suits and the heavy weapons to Custer's armoury please."

  "Confirmed."

  "Angel?"

  There was a meow from the distance, and a blur of white as she shot across the floor, and up onto the console. She skidded past her cat mat, and ended up in a mess of paws and tail against the join between the console and view screen. I laughed.

  "You need practice, little miss," I told her.

  She picked herself up, stretched, and sauntered over to her cat mat, where she sat with the dignity of those who pretend they did it deliberately. For all I knew, she had.

  Over the next five minutes or so, the rest of the team came onto the Bridge. I needn’t have worried, they all showed up.

  "Once we're over on the Custer," I said, "I'll be sending Gunbus back to the shipyard for repairs. So we'll be transferring everything we need from here to there. If you want specific food or drink, tell a butler to arrange it. I've given general orders, but feel free to give specific ones." There were nods from several of them.

  I pinged O'Neil asking if the suites and staterooms on board John Wayne and Custer were fitted out fully, and if there was food. He pinged back that all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, were ready for people, and each ship was stocked with food for twenty people for a month. That was good news, it saved me having to take the time to do it, and saved us having to move bedding and food now.

  I was going to enjoy this. I couldn’t help grinning.

  "What's up chuckles?" asked Amanda.

  "O'Neil tells me Custer is fully fitted out and ready for people. I don’t know how they did it in less than four days. She had to be practically rebuilt internally."

  Vonda and Alsop came on to the Bridge at that moment.

  "I assume your invitation was for us too Admiral?" she asked.

  "The more the merrier," I responded with a grin.

  A ping came in from John Slice. He was wondering if he should come as well. I pinged him back suggesting he did, so he could send Apricot One back to the shipyard for repairs, as I was doing the same with Gunbus. He said he'd be here in five.

  Slice had bought his own Gunbus from the shipyard after literally bribing the Chief Engineer to build it for him in a hurry. He'd been the Wing Commander for our now much depleted fighter force. His hanger doors had been blown right off during the battle.

  He didn’t hold the record for trashing a brand new ship though. That one was mine. The record was less than twelve hours, and requiring a tow home. Apparently the old record had stood for hundreds of years, before my test flight of Excalibur.

  A few minutes later, a puffing John Slice entered the Bridge.

  "Apricot One will follow us when we undock, and wait for Gunbus. They can head back to the shipyard together."

  "Confirmed," said Jane.

  I thought for a moment on the subject of the shipyard.

  "Janet?"

  "Yes my Lord?"

  "Have all the fighter pilots fly their ships back to the shipyards for repairs. Now seems like a good time for it."

  "Yes, my Lord."

  "Jane, send the clusters as well. We'll likely need them again, so we may as well get the work done now."

  "Confirmed."

  "Take us out Jane."

  "Yes, you’re mightiness."

  There were several chuckles. Jane backed us out from the station and we headed towards the new fleet.

  They appeared in the distance, and on the scanner, at much the same time. The distance between us closed rapidly.

  "Will you look at that!" Slice's voice had awe in it.

  We all gazed at the new ships in wonder.

  "Jane, bring us up alongside one of the Drones please, but far enough so that we can see it clearly."

  "Confirmed."

  She did so.

  Even I was surprised, and I'd done the initial design. Chief McLauchlan had outdone himself.

  The most impressive feature of the Drone Pocket Battleship was not one, but two Battleship turrets. One on top, and the other underneath. Scaling down along the top and bottom were also Cruiser and Destroyer turrets, with Point Defense turrets dotted between them. Along each side was a row of ten anti-fighter missile launchers, two Mosquito launchers, thirty capital ship missile launchers, two more Mosquito launchers and ten more anti-fighter missile launchers. Above and below them was a solid line of Point Defense turrets. There was more Point Defense on the front and rear.

  They were indeed Pocket Battleships.

  "John Wayne."

  "Confirmed."

  Jane moved us so we could see her.

  She was also a Pocket Battleship now. Different, but very similar. The difference was, she'd no capital ship missile launchers, and only half the Cruiser and Destroyer sized turrets the Drones had. She did have four Mosquito launchers and twenty anti-fighter missile launchers on each side. But she was designed for a crew, and the drones were not. It looked like most of her Hanger Deck had been sacrificed to fit the underside guns. I pulled up the specs. Yes, I was right. The hanger could only carry two shuttles. That was less than a Corvette carried. But in terms of firepower, the tradeoff was more than worth it. However, she also carried forward firing fixed guns, which a pilot could control, and a forward firing torpedo launcher. With her speed and maneuverability close to Gunbus', she was capable of dogfighting, if a pilot wished. That was a scary thought. One I'd have to test one day.

  "Custer."

  "Confirmed."

  Custer looked more like Gunbus now. Being bigger, she'd more of everything. She even mounted a single Mosquito launcher on each side. Next to the Pocket Battleships, she was pathetically small. But next to Gunbus, she was huge.

  "Dock us please Jane."

  "Confirmed."

  The General Custer slowed to a halt. The PB's, as I'd started to think of them, pulled ahead. Jane eased us in. There was a faint clunk as the airlocks met.

  I pinged George to dock in the Custer's hanger, and to keep silent about what he saw there, and on the way up. He acknowledged.

  Jeeves came in with the carry cage for Angel. I opened the door, and she walked in. I exerted a bit of pressure on her cat pad, and it came off. I put that inside the cage as well.

  I pointed the figures of Kali and Ganesha out to Jeeves, which were on the console, so he would bring them.

  I picked up the carry cage, and led everyone down to the Cargo Bay, where the droid airlock was. Jarvis, the doorman butler droid, had it open for us, and I led us in to Custer's Cargo Bay. Except that it was twice as big, we might have stepped across an anomaly which put us back where we started from.

  I led everyone directly to the staircase in the middle of the ship, and headed up.

  There were eight decks instead of five, and our destination was four decks up. On Deck One, I headed straight to the Bridge.

  Walking in was exactly like walking into Gunbus' Bridge, except it was bi
gger, and had a door leading off to each side.

  The first thing I did was turn off the console, and place the cat cage on it. When everyone was in, I closed the door to the corridor outside, opened the cage, retrieved the cat pad, positioned it, and let Angel come out. She sniffed around the console for a bit, before taking her place on the pad. I put the cage on the deck. Jeeves came in a moment later with her ramp, and removed the cage.

  Jane meanwhile, had walked up to the XO's station, and plugged herself into a data port. She stood there with her eyelids fluttering madly, before unplugging. I wondered what that was about. I had a vague recollection of it coming from somewhere, but where was a mystery.

  "Upload complete. Custer is now configured identically to Gunbus."

  "Thank you Jane. Take us after the fleet please."

  "Confirmed."

  Custer took off after the PB's as fast as Gunbus would have. Gunbus was the fastest Corvette there was. For a Frigate to make the same speed, was incredible. That a Pocket Battleship could do the same, was completely outrageous. I loved it when the impossible proved to be just an exercise in applied wish making.

  "Down jump," said Janet. "Midgard fleet, standard configuration. The lead ship hit the debris field, and has suffered some damage. Some of the Talons have also been damaged."

  "Show us the feed from John Wayne please Jane. Janet, take the station back to Avon shipyards. But offload the salvage droids first. I'll pick them up as we go past."

  "Confirmed."

  "Yes my Lord."

  The view screen changed to show us what O'Neil, on John Wayne, was seeing. In the distance were the Midgard Cruisers with a cloud of indistinct fighters behind.

  We shot past Repulse, who was heading the other way. Not long after, we shot past the station as well. Jane slowed us next to a swarm of salvage droids.

  "Jeeves, are we unloaded from Gunbus yet?"

  "All but the combat suits my Lord," he answered through the coms.

  I swept my gaze around the crowd, and they took the hint. A few minutes later the clanking sound of moving combat suits wafted up the staircase. I opened a cam in the Armoury, and watched them all line up in their recharge slots. Jane walked hers and my combat suits in last. The suit movers trooped back up the staircase. Eight decks was going to keep everyone fit.

  "Undock when the airlocks are closed, Jane. Send Gunbus back for repairs. Have the salvage droids come aboard as quickly as possible."

  "Confirmed."

  Within a minute, Gunbus was accelerating back the other way, with Apricot One in the wingman position. I pinged Chief McLauchlan they were coming in for repairs, and could they be done by the morning? He answered with an affirmative. I also asked for a Comsat system to be added to each of them. Five minutes later, we set off after the fleet again.

  "Cat wall is in place Jon," said Aline.

  "Yeah," laughed Amanda. "She tripped over it."

  Everyone made themselves comfortable in the Bridge seats.

  We watched as the two fleets approached each other.

  I asked Jane to overlay John Wayne's tactical display. Now we were seeing targeting data and ranges for the enemy.

  Eight Pocket Battleships went head to head with six Missile Cruisers, and one hundred and eighty Talon fighters. The PB's were in triangle formation, John Wayne leading. Three Drone PB's, I'd need to find a decent name for them, were in V formation on each side of her, with the last one directly behind her, but above, in line with the rear ones.

  The PB's fired first. Six of them launched sixty capital ship missiles each. Each ship was targeting its own single Missile Cruiser. The latter belatedly stopped, and started to turn sideways on.

  The PB's now fired all their main guns into the cloud of fighters. As a formation, they changed direction slightly to take them over the Midgard fleet, rather than through them.

  The Talons made a half decent, but futile, attempt to shoot down the incoming missiles.

  The Missile Cruisers exploded together, less than half way through their turns, without having fired a shot.

  Seconds later, half the Talons simply vanished.

  IR missiles poured from the PB's. Talons staggered as they were hit. Within seconds, there were only white dots moving on the scanner, and a lot of stationary grey ones. White was Hunter. Grey was dead.

  The PB's swept over the remains of the Midgard fleet, and continued on to the jump point, where they were to stake it out in case of unexpected visitors. It wasn’t safe to go too close yet. Until the area was cleared, all we could do was stop anything else jumping in.

  I held my fist up, and shook it at the cosmos in general.

  "YES!" I said with a lot of emphasis. "That’s the way you do it."

  "Confirmed," said Jane.

  Everyone started hugging everyone else.

  I disengaged myself from Amanda, and opened a vid, with the scenes of happiness playing out around us.

  "Marshal, Admirals, General. The new Drone Pocket Battleships kick arse." I gave them a huge grin. "Standard Midgard fleet of six and fifteen, which failed to get off a single shot. Their Talons tried to shoot down the incoming missiles but they hit very few, before being mostly vaporized. We'll begin clearance operations on the jump point immediately, with a view to entering Cobol tomorrow. Hunter out."

  I let the merriment on the Bridge record to the vid for a few moments more, ended it, made up the email, and sent it off.

  I opened a channel to Repulse.

  "Repulse, your job is complete for today. Return to Avon Shipyard for repairs."

  "Thank you Admiral," said Admiral Bentley. "That was very impressive. I almost wish I had the Bridge of the John Wayne. Almost. You've convinced me to ask for Repulse to get a new refit when this business is done. See you back at Avon."

  "Admiral, see what Chief MacLauchlan can do in the way of increasing your speed, and tacking on extra Point Defense. I'd say you've a full day before we need you in Atlantis, so see what he can do. Personally, I'd sacrifice a lot for the extra speed, so give it some thought. We've a long way to go, and I'd rather not leave you behind."

  "I'll do that. Are you heading back to Avon at all?"

  "Yes, when we finish here."

  "Can you pick me up? I'd like some time with the Chief, before Repulse gets there."

  "Done, see you soon."

  The channel closed.

  I opened one to O'Neil.

  "Congratulations Commodore," I said. "Damned impressive display."

  "Thank you sir. JW did all the actual work. I just gave the orders." He sounded pleased, as he ought to.

  "JW?"

  "Jane's clone. We chose JW for his name. Everything functioned as expected. In fact, better than expected. The interface between JW, and Jane on the Drones, was not noticeable. Are you going to name the Drones?"

  "Yes, when I think of something appropriate. If you've any ideas, ping them to me. Hold the fort Commodore. We'll be spending the night at Avon, but will be back tomorrow morning. Keep an eye on the salvage drones, and if they haven't completed clearing the jump point by seven tomorrow, take them aboard, in case another fleet jumps in at seven thirty."

  "Yes sir. See you tomorrow."

  I closed the channel.

  "Jane, deploy all the salvage drones. Make a huge pile of debris off the traffic lane somewhere here, and then send them to the jump point, where they should do the same well away from it. Any salvageable Talons you can take control of, send to Avon shipyard. The rest of the hulls, make a pile of, so the station can pick them up tomorrow. Then take us back to Avon Orbital. Match speeds with Repulse when we catch up with her, and let the Admiral shuttle over."

  "Confirmed."

  Seven

  I stood up and looked around the Bridge.

  "Who'd like the tour?" There was a general murmur of assent. "Angel," I said to her. "We're going exploring. If you want to go find all your things, go right ahead. Everyone else, follow me."

  I went over to the do
or on the left, as you look forward, and went in. It was the Captain's Ready Room. The office the Captain uses, when located off the Bridge, has been called a ready room for the last six hundred years, first begun by a science fiction square screen series. It was double the size of my office on Gunbus, and included several lounge chairs as well as a six person conference table. Everyone had a look, and we headed for the door on the other side of the Bridge.

  This room contained a full sized conference table for twenty people. At the other end, a door led into the passageway.

  The Captains suite was bigger than on Gunbus. The living room didn't have a dining table. Instead there was a separate Dining Room, with a table for six. The bathroom had a six person spa. The bed was King sized again. Angel's ramps were already in position, and her cat bed was nearby. My civvies were hanging in the closet space, looking sad and lonely, because most of the space was unused.

  The XO's office was the same size and layout as the Captain's office on Gunbus.

  The XO's suite was about the same size as the Captain's suite on Gunbus, and furnished the same way.

  "This will normally be yours Annabelle," I said to her.

  "Seriously?" she asked.

  "Yes. But for the moment, General Wellington will be using it." They both nodded.

  There were also three smaller offices.

  We moved down a level, climbing over the cat wall that kept Angel from going downstairs. She wasn’t old enough yet for unrestricted access. There were fifteen staterooms on Deck Two. Each was the same as the ones on Gunbus. There were observation lounges front and back. Also a kitchen, Dining Room for twenty, Recreation room with an all walls entertainment system, gym, and a spa and sauna for twenty.

  "Everyone has their own stateroom," I announced.

  "All of us?" asked Aline.

  "Yes, all of you. Just choose one. One of the butler's will put your name on the door, so everyone knows whose is which."

  Deck Three was weapons access, so we moved on down.

  Deck Four was life support, engineering, and the ship's main computer, with the office for the Coms officer. Abagail poked her head into the computer room and office. Both would be her domain now.