"Welcome Admiral," Chandra said. "We understand we've you to thank for our liberation."
"Rubbish," I said, gaining a few negative reactions from around the table. "I merely neutralized the Midgard defenses. It was General Smith's team which did the hard work."
"Quite so, and we've already expressed our thanks to them. But I also know how difficult the task was you personally faced, and how well you did it. I was there in the compound at the time. I saw the whole thing, and will never forget it. In particular, I've never seen such a display of sniper fire before, and this is saying something, as I've known some very good snipers. Thank you Admiral, you saved a lot of lives from a very slow lingering death, and we appreciate it."
"Hear, hear," rang out from one of the politicians, echoed by others.
"That done, the purpose of this meeting is to determine our needs, and how they can be met."
"Do you need my people here for this General?" I asked.
"No, we're finished with them for now."
"General Smith."
"Sir?"
"Take the Dropships up to BigMother. You'll find accommodation for all of you on Deck Two. Your names are on doors. Custer is undergoing some refit work, so don’t go there. I had all your gear moved before the work started. All the facilities on Custer are duplicated on Deck Two. Go and get some sleep before you all fall down. It's after eleven up there, so its sleep time anyway."
"Yes sir." She motioned towards the door and they started filing out.
"Wing Commander."
"Sir?"
"Use the rear Flight Deck entrance, the forward one has Custer attached. Jane will give you lift assignments on approach. Better give George the procedure, as he's never landed on a Carrier before. Don’t go back to Apricot One yourself, there should be a door with your name on it as well. We'll talk in the morning."
"Yes sir."
"Squadron Leader."
"Sir?"
"Follow the Wing Commander out and introduce yourselves. Up to you if you want to return to the ship now, or wait for me."
"We'll wait sir. It's been a while since we were dirtside."
"Fine, see if you can be helpful."
"Yes sir."
They departed as well.
"Jane, have a butler droid meet them when they land, and escort them to Deck Two. Have them leave their combat suits on the Launch Deck somewhere for now. Can you make a list as we go along here of what needs to be freighted in?"
"Confirmed."
I nodded to General Chandra.
The meeting lasted for several hours, and showed me just how devastating the invasion had been for this planet. They'd almost no means of feeding themselves for one thing, and no longer had a functioning station to facilitate the arrival of food.
I had Jane throw the list she'd made to a wall screen.
"Anyone want to add or change anything on this list?" I asked.
Some suggestions were made, and a number of things were added, while the amounts of several others were increased.
I opened a vid.
"General Harriman. I'm here in a meeting with Cobol's military and political leaders. The planet urgently needs food and medical supplies. My station is the closest. Can you please assemble anything on the attached list which can be spared, and ship it here using any of my freighters currently on their way to you, which can land on the planet. The station here is unusable. We'll be asking Avon for the bulk of the relief needed, but you are closer. If my second Drone Freighter is still there, unload it, fill it with supplies, and send it here as fast as possible. It can get here faster than anything else. Let Jane know it's coming if it is. We can offload it on my Carrier and shuttle down the supplies, while we're still here. But we'll be leaving in about four hours from now, so it must get here first." I looked at Jane, and motioned something coming down and landing. She shook her head. "Hunter out."
I assembled a priority email with the list attached, and sent it off.
"Thank you Admiral," said General Chandra.
While we watched, Alsop did a similar vid and email, addressed to the authorities on Avon. His included details of the station, and what was needed to repair it.
The meeting broke up.
General Chandra gave me the nod, and I stayed in place as everyone left. Quite a few shook my hand on the way out. Only General Wellington and Alsop remained, Jane still behind my chair. I rose, and limped up to the other end of the table, taking the seat opposite Vonda. Jane followed.
"I won't keep you any longer Admiral," said Chandra. "I know you still have a war to win. I just wanted to thank you again before you left." He held out his hand, and I shook it. He also shook the hands of Vonda and Alsop. "You've done your best by us, now go win the war."
"Good luck General," said Vonda. "Keep me in the loop with your supply needs. And General?"
"Yes sir?"
"I'm damned glad you obeyed my order."
"Ah, yes sir." He was going red, so I wasn’t at all sure he'd obeyed it to the letter.
We left. I pinged Lacey to meet us at the Gig, and we headed back to it. We arrived first, and made ourselves comfortable.
I couldn't stop myself from yawning.
"Are we keeping you up Jon?" asked Vonda.
"Yes." I grinned quickly, and it didn’t hurt much. "There's a suite with your name on it as well General. And you too Commander." They nodded.
The pilots returned a few minutes later. Jane boosted us.
"I need three volunteers to stay awake for a few hours."
"Sir? What for?" asked Lacey.
"There may be a medium freighter arrive in two or three hours' time with a load of food and medical supplies. If so, it'll need to dock with the Carrier, be unloaded, and reloaded onto the Dropships. Three Dropships, three pilots."
Lacey looked to his men, and the three youngest ones nodded.
"Thanks. You can sleep in after. We'll be moving into Azgard tomorrow, but not bright and early. Jane will tell you if and when the freighter arrives, and give you directions to the Dropships. They'll be moved onto the Flight Deck, so you'll need to access them through an umbilical connection. The freighter should be able to land at the end of the Flight Deck, so we won't need to bring stuff through the ship at all."
"Yes sir," they said together.
Thirty Four
I woke the next morning naturally. No alarms, no bellowing Jane, no fur in my mouth. Angel was curled next to my neck as usual. I lay there for a moment, and eased myself up. I ached, but it wasn’t the outright pain I'd been suffering the last couple of days. I checked the time, and found it was just after eight. Six and a half hours sleep. It wasn’t my usual requirement, but all the same, I felt refreshed. I bounded out of bed, regretted doing that, used the facilities, showered, and was back in fatigues. I used the access shaft to go up to the Bridge.
Jane was the only one there.
"Sitrep," I said.
"The Drone Freighter turned up here at three thirty. It left again at six. The Dropships are making their final run now, and should be back shortly. There's been no news from the Azgard jump point. Seven thirty went past without any reports, so Midgard is probably massing on the other side." I’d need to think about what to do about that possibility. "The modifications to Custer are complete. She is now docked."
I brought up some hull cams on the underside of the ship. Custer was snuggled up under the front section of BigMother. I switched to a cam in the Level One stairwell, and it showed a new airlock in the ceiling. It was open. I triggered it closed. On the Cargo Deck, I checked for the other new airlock, and saw it was in place. From a cam on the other side of Custer, I could see Apricot One was docked to the new airlock.
"Great," I said. "Just what I wanted. What happened to the team's combat suits?"
"Back on Custer. As soon as the work was complete, I docked Custer nose to nose again, and walked the suits back to her Armoury. As a way of transferring equipment, it works very effectively."
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"Have the Dropships dock inside Custer when they return, and have a trolley waiting for the pilots. Better tell them how to find their way back to their suites as well. As soon as they're docked, get us moving for the Azgard jump point."
"Confirmed."
I headed down to the Deck Two Dining Room to see who was up.
It looked like I was the last one to come in. Everyone, except the three pilots doing the supply drops, was sitting around the tables eating. Amanda waved me over to the empty seat next to her and Alison. I limped over, and sat.
"Morning boss," came from various places around the room.
"Morning all," I said. I waved away Jason, who was approaching to see what I wanted to eat. I wasn’t hungry at all this morning. He put a bottle of water in front of me anyway. I opened it, and took a slurp.
Breakfast continued on around me, as I just sat there, and enjoyed being with them. Conversation buzzed, but the only topic not being covered was the recent mission.
I looked down the table at John Slice, and he noticed my attention.
"Apricot One is docked with Custer, Wing Commander," I said. He nodded. "Have you checked your emails?" He shook his head. "Do so. When we get to the Azgard jump point, you'll need to deploy another comnavsat. Will you need to be onboard to do that?"
"Yes sir."
"Ok. Jane will have to tell you how to get to Custer."
"Sir?"
There was a ripple of silence going out around us now, as people caught the oddity. I smiled.
"Custer is now docked underneath BigMother in a special docking berth. She now has a topside airlock, which matches an underside airlock on BigMother. You need to go down to the Cargo Deck, trolley to one of the forward side down shafts, drop to the bottom level, move inwards to the new airlock, and drop through it using the access shaft facility in it. Hike down the stairwell to Custer's Cargo Bay, and through the new airlock into your ship."
"I'm going to need a map," said the owner of the Apricot Mapping Service.
I grinned at him, and there were a few chuckles.
"That sounds like a hike," said Alana.
"Not so bad. Most of it is access shafts and trolleys. Unless you really want to jog it."
Slice held his hands up as if to say, 'not me'.
"I ran the Cargo Bay before breakfast," said BA with a grin. "Good exercise."
There was some good natured ribbing to that remark, which I let wash over me.
"Why BigMother?" asked Aline.
"It’s a joke," I replied. "Something that was said when I first docked the Carrier at Sydney Shipyard. Her previous name was Junk Heap One." I waited for the laughter to stop. "Bob renamed her when he did the refit. I kinda like it."
"You would," said Annabelle.
"What's next boss?" asked BA.
"Our ETA Azgard jump point is around eleven. We've been waiting for some supplies to be ferried down to Cobol, before leaving."
The three pilots walked in at that point, and took seats.
"Thank you, gentlemen," I said to them. They nodded. "These three have been up all night moving food and medical supplies down to the planet, while the rest of us got some shuteye."
There was a round of applause, and the three pilots looked pleased, but also embarrassed.
"What's the plan for Azgard?" asked Annabelle.
"Well, that is the question, isn’t it? We've had no updates, so I'm assuming nothing has happened there of note. Which implies Midgard is massed on the other side waiting for us."
"That sounds bad," said BA.
"It's not good. Be nice to just bottle them up here. But we can't not go in. The people of Azgard are depending on us. It's just a matter of how, and when. You'll know when we figure it out."
"You'll work it out boss," said BA. "You always do."
Alsop choked on his breakfast.
"So we can use the gun ranges on Custer now?" asked Agatha.
"Sure," I said. She nodded, and shared a glance with Aline and Alana. "Plenty of room on the Bridge for everyone, if you want to be there when we arrive at the jump point." There were nods around the room.
Vonda made eye contact with me, and I nodded to her. I stood, took my half empty water bottle in hand, and left them to complete their breakfast.
I plodded back to my suite. At the door, I stopped.
There was a cat flap in the door.
I tried it, and the actual flap was light enough for even Angel to push aside. I went in looking for her, and found her on her kitty castle. I picked her up and took her to the flap. I set her down next to it and explained what it was. She looked at me as if I was crazy. I picked her up again, extended her paw and pushed the flap open a little, and allowed it to swing back. She pulled her head back in surprise, and wiggled to get down, so I placed her next to the flap.
She pushed a paw into the flap again and it pushed out. She poked her head through the gap, and stepped through. On the other side, she turned, and used her head to push her way back.
Meow! She looked happy.
It may seem a bit strange in this day and age to rely on something so simple, instead of cat responsive automatic doors, but I preferred the simplicity. There were so many things which could go wrong with automatic doors, and especially for a kitten. Technology has its place, but sometimes simple is best.
"Bridge Angel?"
She pushed her way through again, and trotted towards the stairwell. I opened the door, went through, closed it, and followed. I watched as she jumped up the stairs one at a time.
"Jeeves?" I called.
He appeared as rapidly as usual, down the stairs.
"Can you rig a cat ramp for these stairs please? So Angel can go up and down without needing to jump each stair."
"Yes my Lord. There's a storage bay with all the remains of the building supplies, and carpeting offcuts. It shouldn’t be a problem for a builder droid. Leave it with me."
I followed Angel up, taking it one step at a time myself. By the time I was up the top, I was ready for a sit down. I limped onto the Bridge, and Angel raced past me, up her ramp, and onto the console. She slid past her cat mat as she tended to do, scrabbled a bit, and finally sat on it, looking out at the space in front of us.
"Angel," I said to her. She turned to look at me. "I'm in there if you want me."
I pointed into my Ready Room, and limped in, leaving the door open, and took my seat behind the desk. Angel poked her nose through the door a moment later, and strolled in. She had a look around and headed for the lounge chairs. Jeeves had put a cat ramp by one of them so she strolled up and settled on the chair. Moments later, she was asleep.
I pulled my pad out and started looking at emails.
General Harriman had sent a summary of the supplies sent to Cobol. It was mostly made up of what had been left over from the supplies added to the station for the troops, before the battle in Avon. He'd requisitioned replacements already, on the basis that in future, the station might be entertaining troops again.
Miriam had sent me an all quiet on the Miami front message. Apparently Midgard had stopped sending fleets through. That made me feel even more uneasy than nothing coming through from Azgard did. She'd a full squadron now, and they were training for entering Midgard. I sent her back a positive sounding nothing of an email, hoping she wouldn’t see my worry through it.
The truth was, I was starting to feel spooked. We'd a much larger fleet than I ever expected to have available for this job, but I had the distinct feeling it wasn’t going to be enough.
If all we had to do was stake out this jump point, we could hold indefinitely. But we couldn’t. We had to go in there, and we could only jump blind.
Or did we have to? I pondered that for a while, and was interrupted by Vonda joining me. I moved to the conference table, and Vonda joined me there.
"Tell me what happened after I left," I said to her. "The team all looked exhausted."
"They were. They found a whole building full of capti
ves, who all needed urgent medical help. The Dropships ferried them up to Custer, and the worst went into the care units. The doc-droids worked on the rest. The team coordinated the move of all the civilians back to the city. The combat suits came in useful to move some of the heavier gear. It took all night, and had only just been completed when you arrived back. General Chandra had just come out of a care unit, and resumed command, when you showed up."
She looked me in the eyes.
"Was it really necessary to pull that stunt with the strange looking robot thing? Annabelle showed me what you did."
I laughed.
"Actually yes. It was Jane's idea, and I didn’t know what she was going to do, only she'd thought of something really funny. I let her do it. We don’t get much opportunity for a good laugh these days."
"Annabelle wasn’t laughing. Alsop just about had a heart attack."
"True, but Eric certainly was. Knowing his past interests, he'd have known exactly what Jane was pretending to be."
"And that was?"
"You live in the Sci-Fi sector and you don’t know?"
"Living there doesn’t make you obsessed with science fiction. Maybe our ancestors were, but whatever madness they had, died with them."
"Have you looked at our fleet lately?" I laughed.
"Good point. The madness still lives, but not everyone shares it. So give, what was that robot thing?"
"A late twentieth century cyborg, created for a square screen series. It was supposed to be the ultimate evil adversary for the good guys to fight. Machine grafted to a person, with their individuality suppressed by an all-consuming hive mind. The process of converting a person was called assimilation. They were technologically far more advanced, and took any new tech they found directly from the brains of those they assimilated. Brilliant idea, but in six hundred years of remakes, they never lived up to the threat they were supposed to be."
"And you know about this because?"
"I share the madness?"
We both laughed.
"Why would Jane choose it?"
"From the moment we turned her on, she's been rummaging through my collection of six hundred years of science fiction. Every now and then, she throws something at me. It's usually funny. And as I said, I can use the laughs. That’s the first time she's turned it on other people though. I must tell her to be careful where she uses it. Like as not, some areas of the Sci-Fi sector would take cyborgs as an insult, not a joke."
Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) Page 18