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

  "What resources will you need?" asked Jedburgh.

  "I'll take my fleet, the remains of the lower spine fleets, the Japanese, and the two German fleets. The first fleet will therefore gain the Earth, French, and Italian fleets. The French don’t really like me. There is also the three Corporate sector Escort Carriers. I can keep their fighters alive, so they could come with me if the other fleet doesn’t want them. But with two Behemoth class Carriers and the SSD, the first fleet would have enough fighters already."

  "Intrepid was designed with the same shielding your Redoubt has," said Jedburgh, looking proud of himself. "So we can keep our fighters alive now, using the same tactic you were using."

  I nodded. They did their eye communion again.

  "There's one thing we're all curious about," said Walter. "What the hell are those three enormous boxes which turned up yesterday? I knew Bob was building you something special, but boxes?"

  They were all grinning.

  "Gentlemen, they're not boxes. All three are Titan class fighting ships. They are custom designed for multiple roles. When the battle needs ships, two of them will resemble battle fleets, while the third is a Carrier."

  "Fleets you said?" asked Patton.

  "Fleets. Each ship has more firepower than a dozen Battleships. Well the two fighting ships do. The Carrier will solve our small ship's protection issue. You'll see when I get some crew on them, and we start running drills."

  "Did you have any preferences for crews?"

  "Ah, yes. Hence my earlier question about people."

  "What do you propose?" asked Bigglesworth.

  I told them.

  He didn’t even check first.

  "Approved," he said.

  Fifteen

  Central Command had an auditorium which sat five thousand. It was only about half full, but it was mainly senior ranks in attendance.

  The six of us had eaten lunch in the Senior Officer's lounge, and continued talking out ideas and tactics. We'd gone straight to the auditorium afterwards, giving me no time to talk to anyone but Jane on the way.

  We were the last to arrive, everyone stood and braced as we entered, and waited while we took our seats on the stage. Each of our aides stood behind us in case they were needed. Jane was acting as my aide, and I was delighted to see she outranked the other Colonels. I nodded to Gloria Petersen, still Harriman's aide, who I noticed had her full bird now. She smiled back at me.

  The crowd settled back into their seats. The first row contained all of the flag officers, with the higher ranks in the middle and flowing down rank to each side, fleet one way, marine and fighters the other. Annabelle was up one end, with the rest of the team in a group behind her, bucking the trend. A few of them looked really uncomfortable being in the presence of so many stars and birds.

  Patton went blank for a moment, and rose to stand at the lectern. It was his sector after all, so he was technically the host, being the highest American rank present.

  "Welcome to all those recently arrived from the war," he started.

  There was immediate applause from around the room, which forced him to stop and wait for it to end. It looked like all those who hadn't been with us were applauding those who had.

  "Everyone who has fought at any stage of the war so far, is being issued the new 'Lower spine evacuation campaign medal', which like the 'Defense of Hunter's Run campaign medal' has been authorized by all the governments involved. You will find your medal in your quarters when you return there."

  "In less than two days' time, we expect the aliens to start massing on the other side of this jump point. We have a good defensive position set up. We will find out if it will work. Or not. Ships will be allocated to one of two fleets. Both fleets will be deployed here to begin with. Both fleets will have various orders to cater for various possible situations. Fleet One will be commanded by Admiral Jedburgh, and comprise the American, British, Canadian, French, Earth, and Italian fleets. Fleet Two will be commanded by Admiral Hunter, and comprise his fleet, the Japanese fleet, the remnants of the lower spine fleets, the Corporate sector Carriers, and the German Fleet. We will be consulting with the Fourth Reich's fleet commander shortly, on their disposition. There will be some reassignments, and before anyone asks, if you have a strong preference to be attached to the fleet other than already stated, you may ping a request to Colonel Ashdale."

  "In the event we have to withdraw, Fleet One will proceed up spine, accompanied by the Prometheus evacuation fleet, and the station called Borgcubia. This station will be moved directly to Denver, although some of the troops here will be deployed to Assault craft, for deployment on planets to help with the final evacuations. Fleet Two, with the Enterprise and Galactica evacuation fleets, augmented by several stations to take evacuees, will withdraw through San Diego and Phoenix, and after Denver if necessary, through Dallas and Midgard."

  "Regardless of how we do here, and in the Denver system where our next defensive position is being prepared, every civilian we can evacuate from now on will go through the jump point into the Gaia system in forty nine days from now. Assuming all goes well, the bulk of our forces will follow them, before the jump point closes five days later."

  "If something happens which allows the aliens to speed up their advance, we will fight. The job of Fleet Two is to ensure the aliens do not get a toe hold in the Cobol system until the spine is cleared by Fleet One first. The job of both fleets is to ensure the civilians get to Gaia. If we need to lay down our lives to ensure this, we will do so."

  "Oorah!" came from many of the Marines simultaneously.

  "Admiral Hunter will now outline the rules of engagement. Admiral."

  He turned towards his seat, and nodded to me. I rose and took his place at the lectern.

  "Until it is necessary for us to withdraw from this system, or the need for two fleets becomes apparent, I command all ships at this jump point, and across this system. My second is Fleet Admiral Jane, who stands behind my chair. An order from her is an order from me, and instantly obeying any order may save your life. Where possible I will respect the chain of command. But if the shit hits the fan, there will be no chain of command, just my orders. For those with a problem with this, who haven’t been with me until now, jump point battles can change in an instant as the aliens adapt to what we're doing, as our ability to contain them weakens, or when they try something new. There is no time for chain of command. Seconds can be the difference between being on top, and being dead."

  "The first rule of engagement is when your shields reach fifty percent, you pull out. This is not a suicide mission. This is not the time for heroes and glorious death. We are here to bleed the enemy, and provide enough time for our people to flee. After we do it here, we will do it again at the next jump point. And again all the way to the Australian sector. We need every ship, and every crew member, to go the full distance. The object of this exercise is survival of as many as possible, and that includes us. So, as soon as your shields fall to fifty percent, you do one of several things depending on your ship class. If you are small enough, you hide behind a bigger ship, and allow your shields to recharge. If not, you go to your designated fleet speed, on your designated vector, and you get to your first waypoint position where you recharge. Once you are at full shields, you may return to your battle position, or wherever you are ordered to go."

  "When you run out of ordinance, you are out immediately. If you have a designated resupply, you pull out immediately, and go there. You may return when you are reloaded, and not before. If not, you head to your first waypoint, and then continue on to your next assignment position."

  "The smaller ships will be grouped into sub-fleets, and have an Admiral in charge. When the first ship reaches fifty percent shielding, the entire group will be pulled out by that Admiral. Why? Because we've suffered losses of even Cruisers where a single shot from the enemy was too much for half strength shields to cope with. When you get told to go, you go. Anyone disobeying such an order, will be
replaced, assuming you survive."

  "The wearing of belt suits is mandatory, and you will ensure you have them set to hair-trigger. These can save your life, even if your ship is dust around you, and you’re floating in space. If I hear anyone saying anything macho bullshit about how uncool the suits are, I'll shoot you myself. You can wear a standard uniform with them, but they must be worn as a belt with the uniform. For those not familiar with them, the latest versions have the same armour rating as a standard high end combat suit. If anyone is unlucky enough to meet a live alien, you will be dead in seconds without one. The suit gives you minutes if the alien manages to put you down. It's enough for someone to save your arse, assuming it's possible at the time. The suit also allows you to vent the atmosphere of your ship if you get boarded, and it will protect you from serious harm if you need twelve gees to stop the aliens from moving around. All officers will check that every person under their command has a suit belt on. The more dangerous their role, the higher the rating of the suit they need. Anyone who needs either suits for those who don’t have them, or upgrades, should contact Admiral Jane. If you have civilians with you, they require suits as well."

  I stopped to breathe, and there was dead silence in the room.

  "We have the best defensive position here we could hope for. In theory, it should be able to hold indefinitely. In practice, it might last weeks, days, hours, or be breached by something new in the first few minutes. We are here for when the defenses fail, and we will be assuming they will fail."

  "The chain of command, order of battle, and dispositions of ships, will be available soon. Admiral," I finished, looking at Jedburgh.

  I stepped back to let him take my place, and sat in my chair again. I received nods from the others sitting there.

  "There will be some reassignments," he began.

  He rattled off a dozen names of Captains, some of whom I recognized as Pocket Battleship drivers.

  "Captains, you will turn over command of your ship to your XO, and will take up command of one of the Earth Battleships."

  "I'll take the Battleship," said a voice my PC identified as Captain Jenna Stavros, of the Pocket Battleship Sigourney Weaver. "But I think I speak for all of us when I ask to remain with Admiral Hunter's fleet."

  Jedburgh didn’t even hesitate.

  "Approved."

  Six people grinned. The other six looked at them, and then nodded to Jedburgh. I'd swap six Pocket Battleships for six brand new and upgraded Battleships without a thought. To get the other six as well, was a serious bonus, and one I wondered why I hadn't been consulted about, since it had obviously been discussed. Then again, I’d expected to lose all of them, since the American fleet was predominantly PB's. I wondered if that was the point. They wanted to keep all the PB's, without taking any firepower away from me. I’d also be losing the squadrons from Yorktown, Greer's Gunbus squadron, and Miriam's Excalibur's. So all in all, I guess the fleets balanced this way.

  Jedburgh had gone on with other appointments. While we'd turned a lot of Earth ships into a lot less super ships while we traveled up spine, reliable crews for them were in short supply, given only about half the Destroyer or smaller ships had competent crews, and all the crews for the Battleships and Cruisers had been released from military service and pressed into freighter service instead. Those who weren't locked up. The Americans had plenty of experienced officers, and Jedburgh started handing out promotions, as well as ship commands. A lot of XO's who hadn't expected to receive a command, now found themselves with their dreams come true, either in command of a Pocket Battleship, or a Super version of a Cruiser, Destroyer, Frigate, or Corvette. The ship size didn’t matter them so much as the command.

  Jedburgh finished at last, and nodded to Bigglesworth. He took the lectern.

  "It has been decided this multi-sector force needs a single rank system. As such, we will be adopting Admiral Hunter's simplified system, effective immediately. All personnel will receive a pulse which contains their new uniform, updated rank, insignia, epaulette colour to use, and rank wording for PC profiles."

  The four of them sitting, all rose, and the five of them shifted into 'slinky red', all showing four stars. They sat again, while I noticed their epaulette colours. Bigglesworth was wearing blue, showing he was designated as head of Space Fighters, which meant he also commanded all Carriers. Jedburgh was in grey, being a fleet commander. Technically I should now be in grey as well, but no-one had mentioned any of this to me. Patton was in Green, so presumably he was taking direct command of ground forces. I pinged him to ask, and he sent a structure chart back. Price and Harriman, were wearing red. It sort of made sense, since both had their responsibilities a long way from here, and neither were going to be playing any real role until we approached the Australian sector. Price would really be responsible for seeing stations and ships up the spine, especially from a supply viewpoint. And Harriman was responsible for the Nexus and Outback systems, keeping all the refugees fed, and not allowing them to revolt. 'The peasants are revolting' never got old, but it was the last thing we needed, given people didn’t tend to get on well when close packed.

  Their aides also shifted uniforms, and with epaulettes also changed to match their boss.

  "Epaulette colour defines your branch of service, and your rank title. Green is ground troops, grey is fleet, blue are predominantly pilots flying fighters, and red are command staff. There are some notable changes in ranks."

  "For ground troops, there is no longer a 'specialist' rank, or the rank of Captain. Senior Specialists will become Sergeants, juniors will become Corporals, time in service determining which, although CO's may override this if they wish, where performance warrants it. Senior Captains will become Majors, and junior ones will become Lieutenants."

  "In fleet terms, there is no longer the rank of plain Captain, but most of these will become Fleet Captain or Group Captain instead. A few junior Captains will revert to Commander."

  "For pilots, standard ranks convert directly into Space ranks. Lieutenant Commanders who command a squadron become Squadron Leaders, and Commanders become Wing Commanders. CAGs of Captain's rank will become Group Captains."

  "At the flag level, there is no longer a Lower and Upper Half Rear Admiral, with the lower rank replaced by Fleet Admiral, which reflects their job, commanding fleets. Lieutenant and Major General are now reversed, but this is a name change only, with Lieutenant General being two stars, and Major General being three."

  "Insignia are standardized across all services. It is up to you to check the PC profile for the correct rank to use when addressing anyone."

  "Why are we doing this now? Because this new multi-sector force has no traditional ranks, and because we must have uniformity. There are exceptions being made for uniforms. Special units may retain their existing uniforms, as long as the epaulettes and insignia are standard."

  He paused to see if anyone was looking like they needed clarification of something. Apparently no-one did.

  "Admiral," he said to me.

  We swapped.

  Sixteen

  "Rear Admiral Bentley," I said. "Please rise."

  She threw a look of surprise at me, but rose and braced.

  "Are you all settled in back on Repulse Admiral?"

  "I am sir."

  "Too bad, because I'm moving you."

  "Sir?"

  She looked alarmed. Bigglesworth grinned at her, and she looked even more alarmed.

  "Rear Admiral Bentley, you are appointed Captain of the Titan class ship Hammer of Thor. Congratulations." I waited for the applause to die down, and for her to look a tad less sandbagged. "You remain in command of all ships Cruiser class and above, while in this system, and for Fleet One when we leave. Admiral Jedburgh will be moving his flag to Hammer as well. You will function as both Admiral and Captain, unless you feel you require a Captain as well. If so, I leave it up to you to find one."

  "Thank you sir."

  She hadn't bothered with one on Dauntle
ss, so I rather thought she would continue without one. One of the things which normally happened to fleet flag ranks was they lost direct command of a ship. Title and rank are two different things. I didn’t see the need to separate good combat officers from direct control, regardless of their overall responsibilities. I trusted them to know when they needed to differentiate the roles. Hallington for example, always had a Captain for his ship, and not only because it had been standard American practice. He'd continued it while in my fleet.

  She saluted me, I returned it, and she sat.

  "Fleet Admiral O'Neil."

  "No," he said, while standing and bracing.

  I couldn’t stop myself laughing. It proved to be infectious.

  "I take it this means I can't prize you away from John Wayne for any reason?"

  "No sir."

  "Not even to offer you a Dreadnaught?"

  "Especially to offer me a Dreadnaught, sir."

  "What about for putting you in command of Battleship Captains?"

  "No problem sir. I can command them from where I am. In fact, it's an advantage for me to have the weakest shields, since I won't be tempted to hold on a little longer, and risk ships with less than mine by mistake."

  "Fleet Admiral, you will continue your role commanding all ships of Battleship and Pocket Battleship classes, under Admiral Bentley. You will continue the role in Fleet Two, taking over some of Admiral Bentley's responsibilities, once the fleets diverge."

  "Aye sir."

  He saluted and sat.

  "Group Captain Lacey, and I don’t want to hear a no!"

  He closed his mouth, rose and braced, while quite a few chuckled.

  "Group Captain, you are promoted to Space Commodore, and appointed Captain of the Titan class Carrier Orion's Belt."

  He fainted.

  Jeeves was quickly at his side, waving something under his nose. He stirred, and quickly bolted back up into a braced position. Jeeves vanished as fast as he'd appeared. I looked at Jane, and she winked at me. Presumably, she and Jeeves had been making sure all bases were covered.