Hero at Large_Second Edition

by Timothy Ellis

  "On station," I said. "Heading for the Dropship now."

  I unbuckled, leapt out of the chair, and ran for the Dropship bay. The walkway clanged as I ran across it. Inside, I closed the hatch. and locked it.

  "Hatch closed," I said.

  "Walkway detached," said Abigail. After a pause, she went on, "Walkway clear."

  I sat in the pilot seat, and quickly buckled up. I brought all systems up, and hovered my finger over the drop button on the console.

  "Vacuum achieved. Doors opening." Abigail paused. "Clear to Drop."

  "DROP!"

  I stabbed the button, and we dropped cleanly out the bottom of the ship. A line from a very old flat screen came to mind.

  "Express Elevator to Hell, Going DOWN!"

  "Shut up Hunter."

  It came from someone, but I couldn't tell who.

  "Shit, did I say that out loud? Sorry."

  I went red in the face. Concentrate. Focus, or we all die.

  The Dropship was in the atmosphere now, and outside the ship was the fire of re-entry surrounding our shields. The view screen had darkened the moment it started. Even so, the flames were beautiful, and for a moment, I was mesmerized by them. Then we were through. I watched the decent rate closely.

  At fifty thousand meters, I started regaining control. The thrusters on the bottom of the ship fired, and our descent slowed. 'Slowed' was relative, we were like a meteor streaking downward. At fifteen thousand meters, we shot past a civilian airliner. Not close enough to upset either of us, but a little close for comfort. I applied full breaking thrusters, and we slowed faster now.

  A city was underneath us. The target was a building top.

  From this far up, it was like intending to land on the head of a pin.

  "Five thousand meters," I called out.

  "Stand ready," came from the Colonel.

  Buildings were definable now, and coming up closer far too fast. Did I have the descent right, or not?

  No, I hadn't. I knew it suddenly without any data.

  "Hang on," I yelled.

  "Shit, don't yell," someone yelled back.

  We were going just a bit too fast, and at this speed, we'd hit the top of the building hard enough to cave in the top few floors. Shit. Shit. Shit!

  "Stop swearing Hunter."

  Damn it, I'd verbalized again.

  At the last moment, I threw us to the left, and we kept on going past the upper floors of the building, and came to a hover fifteen floors down.

  Immediately I set the ramp to come down, and took us back up. I eased us gently over the top of the building, and dropped us on one side of the largest flat area. Three suited figures were out and running before I even touched us down. The whole area erupted in laser tracks. Return fire came from the turrets, and the ramp.

  "Hunter, get us up again."

  I lifted us off, and moved us away from the building out of small arms range.

  "Where are our people Colonel?" I asked.

  "Five floors down on the south side. They're pinned down," she replied.

  "Are they near windows?"

  "Negative."

  "See if they can get to windows. If so, we can evac them from there."

  "Will do."

  I don't know if she believed me or not, but she hadn't questioned it. There was rapid talking in the background, but I wasn’t paying any attention.

  Target lock warning went off. I immediately took us up, and away, and pushed in some speed.

  "Target lock on us. Gunners, we have an incoming bird," I cried out.

  A red dot was coming at us on the HUD. I got a lock on it.

  "Target locked, strafing fire as we go past."

  I steadied us around on to a head on course. I had no intention of playing chicken, but head on gave us full guns on target. The missile warning tone sounded.

  "Missile lock, take it out," I shouted.

  Laser fire poured out in front of me from all sides, and there was an explosion ahead of us. I pushed the thrust to maximum, and then juked us sideways, and off the line of the other craft. Laser fire raked it as we went past, and it exploded behind us. I eased up our speed, and started heading back, mindful of buildings all around.

  "Team is at the windows on the south side," said the Colonel.

  "Can you rig up something to catch them using the crash webbing?"

  "Doing it."

  "Alison, do you hear me?" I said next.

  "That you Hunter?"

  "No, it's the Easter Bunny, where do I collect your eggs?"

  "Homing beacon on tach five."

  I checked, and there it was.

  "Got you. Kill the windows, prepare to jump."

  "Say again, jump?"

  "Affirmative, wait for my mark."

  "Colonel, are we ready to receive yet?"

  "DO IT."

  "Doing it," I parroted.

  I pushed the drop ship around the building to the south side, and down past the marked window. Glass shattered its way out, and started down towards the street.

  "Everybody hang on, ninety degree shift in ten seconds."

  I ease the Dropship around, and stood it on its tail, rotating us to be flat to the building with the ramp about three meters below the window, and 'landed' us against the side of the building. My own position was above the window so I couldn't see what was going on. My left foot throbbed in response to its misuse.

  "Alison, jump now."

  There was a pause.

  "All on board. Home team still out. Go," said the Colonel.

  I eased us away from the building, flattened us out again gently, and floated us upwards.

  "BA, where are you?" I asked.

  "Two floors down from the roof. Beacon on tach four."

  "Got you. How far can you jump?"

  "Thirty meters if we have to."

  I eased us into position about fifteen meters off the building, with the ramp on the level with the windows.

  "Colonel, incoming home team, clear for hot entry."

  "Clear."

  "In position BA, fifteen meter jump. Go when ready."

  There were a series of thumps behind, and below me.

  "All aboard, move us Hunter," said the Colonel.

  I closed the ramp, angled us upward, and punched in for speed. There was a little fire at us as we sped past the top of the building, but it all missed behind us. At one thousand meters, I slowed us, and went into a broad circle.

  "Where too Colonel?"

  "Sending you co-ordinates," came the reply.

  I checked where. Another building top.

  "Friend or foe?" I asked.

  "Should be friendly."

  I assumed it meant if it was not, we were in deep shit.

  I set a course, and we quickly covered the distance. I dropped us neatly on the bull's eye of the landing pad on the roof, and lowered the ramp. Someone came up behind me. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around me, chair and all. I felt a kiss on the top of my head.

  "Thanks Jon," said Alison. "That was incredible flying. I've never seen someone land on the side of a building before."

  "Well no-one told me it couldn't be done."

  "You did it with style!"

  She pecked me on the cheek, let me go, and headed off back and down.

  While I was waiting, I listened to what was being spoken by the rest of the team, and kept checking both the local skies, the traffic around the planet, and via a link to Moose, the traffic in system. There were no threats showing up. Whoever had attacked us either didn't have back-up, or had decided we were too tough to take on. Either way, I was glad of the break. At last, it sounded like the client had been safely delivered, and our team was on its way back. Some clanking noises drifted up to me, and I assumed our suited troops were back on board.

  "Back to the ship, Hunter," said the Colonel.

  I raised the ramp, smoothly lifted us off, and set a course upward. When we were high enough up, I pushed the thrust fully forward, and
we rocketed up into the upper atmosphere, and through it.

  I started sweating again when I realized now I had to dock the Dropship back up into the hanger bay. A funny thought popped in. The Dropship did in fact 'hang' there, so it was aptly named. I giggled and nearly lost it. Half humour, half terror I think. I got a grip again. I looked up the specs for the Dropship. Yes! Just next to the connect point on top, there was a cam. I activated it, and threw the feed on to the HUD, out of the way, but where it was straight on for me to see easily. Shortly after, Moose came into sight ahead.

  "Dropship to Moose, permission to dock."

  "Moose to Dropship, permission granted, welcome back."

  I eased the Dropship under the hanger opening, matching speeds with Moose. Then very gently I goosed the underside thrusters, and we rose up into the hangar space. I kept my eyes glued to the topside cam view. Slow, slower, slight adjustments to get us fitting perfectly. A soft clang sound as we connected. The pylon took our weight, and the doors began to close.

  "Good job Hunter," came from the Colonel right behind me, and I startled.

  I'd been concentrating so hard I hadn't heard her coming in.

  "Join us in the mess as soon as you finish shut-down."

  She turned and left, without waiting for a reply.

  While I shut down the Dropship's systems, Abigail aired up the hangar space. I was still last one out though, and not knowing if I should or not, closed the hatch behind me. I was completely exhausted, and my left foot was bothering me badly. My limp was worse than normal. I used the first fresher I found, before walking into the briefing room, and finding no one there. I looked around in surprise for a moment before realizing I was in the wrong place. I had to look up the ship plan to find where the mess was.

  A mess heading to the mess. I started giggling again, and walked into the door frame. Left side, of course. That was it. I had to sit down for a bit. I took a seat against the wall, and went straight to sleep.

  "Wake up sleeping beauty!" roused me, and I felt the soft brush of lips on mine.

  I opened my eyes to find Amanda in front of me.

  "How long was I out?" I asked.

  "Not long. When you didn't come into the mess behind us, I went looking for where you'd gotten to. Come along, you need some food."

  I couldn't argue that.

  She led me to the mess, and I was cheered in. I must have looked puzzled because they started laughing.

  Twenty Two

  Sometime later, I woke up in a bunk.

  I don't remember eating, or anything which was said in the mess. I had a powerful need for the fresher, and had to look up where I was, and where the nearest one was. Should have guessed there was a full bathroom attached to the bunk room, but I was still groggy. Not enough sleep. Or too much? Checked. No, not enough. I did the needed, and went looking for the mess. I needed something more to eat, and a lot of water.

  The mess was empty, but there was food and water, so I helped myself. I settled down at a table, and chomped away for a time, gurgling down water in between bites. I started to feel human again. I racked my dishes, and headed for the cockpit. There was no one there either. Had I woken to a modern day Marie Celeste? I pulled up the life support system, and checked for life signs. Ah, all in the briefing room, most likely debriefing, I suspected.

  I began checking what was around us. Nothing untoward showed. For the first time I noticed Melbourne had both an Orbital station, and a jump point station. There was a steady traffic between the two, although I noticed no activity around the jump point. I guess things being the way they were with pirate activity, not a lot wanted to risk going out into Nexus. It must be playing havoc with interplanetary trade.

  Heavy footsteps came in behind me. I turned, and saw George.

  "Great," he said, "you're up. Colonel wants us boosting for the jump point, and since you're here, I can get my head down for a while. By the way, thanks for the pickup. That was some very impressive flying back there." I made non-committal noises. "No seriously," he went on, "I couldn't have done half what you did. Given how old you are, and your lack of experience, some of us are beginning to think you're some sort of 'pilot savant'."

  He grinned at me, and left before I could comment. Just as well he left, as I didn't take the comment all too well. If I recalled properly, 'savant' was usually associated with low IQ, and some limited brilliant ability. I definitely had a higher than average IQ, and my piloting ability was good enough to miss hitting a building. I forgave him, and went back to work.

  I turned us towards the jump point, and got us moving. I pushed us up to cruising speed, and sat back to try and relax for a bit, while I had some alone time.

  Releases.

  Now was as good a time as any. At home, we believed any negative event between two people showed the presence of karma between the two. The bigger the event, the worse the karma. We took karma seriously. One of the books surviving from the twenty first century was called "The Wisdom of the Ages, Accrued Karma".

  The original book still exists in our main museum, but its digital copy was owned by almost everyone. It was required reading almost as soon as you could read. From it we learned how to release karma, and this was a very important part of our belief system.

  I'd been lax in letting it go so long, but I figured I had a good excuse. Excuses are not reasons however.

  I closed my eyes, confident I would be alerted if anything needed my attention. I rested my hands on my thighs, palms down. Ordinarily, people meditate with their palms up, but I found while I meditate, reiki energy usually flowed, and so I had my palms resting on my legs as a means of using the healing energy.

  I slip into a meditative state really easily, as most of us do, when trained from an early age. My breathing slowed, I allowed thoughts to slow and stop. About ten minutes later, I allowed thoughts to start again. I cast about for the name of the man who had killed my Uncle.

  "I accept all karmic debt with Louis Santiago, and release all karmic debt into the earth…"

  I stopped. I was in space, how could I release into the earth, when there was none anywhere near me. Should I use Melbourne?

  Use Mother Earth. She, who was home to you all before the dispersal, can still receive the energy of your release. No matter where you are.

  I started again.

  "I accept all karmic debt with Louis Santiago, and release all karmic debt to Mother Earth for renewal into good energy, at all the levels, in all the bodies, in this lifetime and all lifetimes, across space, time and dimension, through all levels of dna, attached or not, and through my soul lineage, and soul extensions, forgiving myself unconditionally, and forgiving anyone else connected to this unconditionally, with healing to be given, now."

  I started coughing. And kept coughing for several minutes. Physical release often comes with such a release statement. We were taught to just let it out, however it manifested. For me, it was usually coughing.

  I repeated the release for the other four pilots, even though I'd only known the name of one of them. Followed by releases for the three men who'd tried to kill me on the station. The coughing became shorter as I went down the list.

  A pop-up reminded me we were close to the jump point now, so I ended my meditation. I slowed the ship as we came near, and manually jumped us.

  "Thanks for the warning," came wafting in from somewhere.

  "Sorry," I yelled back.

  I turned us towards the Sydney jump point, and eased us back up to cruising speed. I checked out what could be 'seen' of the Nexus system, and there was no traffic of any kind. I went back to meditating.

  Another pop-up alerted me to the approach of the Sydney jump point, and again, I slowed us for jump. This time though, I remembered to make an announcement. I pulled up the combat coms overlay, and activated the link.

  "This is your pilot speaking. We are preparing for jump. Please return your seat to its upright position, make sure your tray table is stowed, and your luggage is secu
rely under the seat in front of you. We ask that you turn off all hand held electronic devices, and that your safety belt is fastened securely. Thank you."

  I won't repeat what was said in reply.

  We entered the jump zone, and jumped.

  A combat warning went off immediately. There was a Gladiator in red between the station and us. Fortunately it was not very close to us, as if it'd been patrolling back and forth, and we got lucky. I spun the ship one hundred and eighty degrees, and pushed the thrust forward to maximum.

  We were unarmed I thought, all we can do is run.

  Unarmed my arse I thought. I grinned.

  "Battle Stations," I said. "We have a Pirate Gladiator in pursuit. I'm running, but it will catch us. George, get up here NOW. Crew the Dropship, and man all its guns. The rest of you, get to an airlock, and if you see a missile, shoot the fucker."

  Our first problem was missiles. Our enemy potentially had twenty, and it was plenty to kill us with. I doubted anyone would kill a missile with a pulse rifle, shooting from an airlock, but better to die trying, than not try at all. I had to even up the odds.

  George came running in, I unbuckled, and leapt out of the seat.

  "You have the ship," I said. "Keep running as hard as you can. When he fires missiles, try your best to avoid them, but keep as much distance as you can, because if he uses guns, we have no defense at all."

  "What are you doing?" he said to my retreating back, as I ran for the Dropship hangar.

  "Going to even up the odds. Abigail, can you jam his computer systems at all?"

  "Never tried before. I'll see what I can do," she replied.

  "I'm at the hatch, move the walkway, and start opening the doors. We can't wait to save the air."

  "Gotcha."

  The walkway started moving as I stepped off it, and I quickly slammed the hatch, and locked it. I ran to the cockpit, and started her up.

  "Who's on board the Dropship?" I asked.

  "Aline, Agatha, Alana, and myself," answered the Colonel.

  "Stand by for a missile attack. We must take those out before they can hit Moose. Brace yourselves, I may have to throw us around a lot out there. I'll be lowering the ramp as soon as we're clear of the ship, so get on air now."