"Indeed yes. You want to enact it?"
"No, just make them think it's been enacted."
The three of them laughed.
"You got it."
A screen popped up, duplicating what was being displayed on station screens. We also heard an announcement in a language we couldn’t understand.
Underneath the words we couldn’t read, was a translation.
Station self-destruct protocol enacted.
Station will self-destruct in five minutes.
All personnel evacuate immediately.
"What's happening over there Janine?"
"Mass panic. Supervisors are attempting to direct people to usable ships."
"Will those ships be a threat to us?"
"Negative. The only ships with working engines and life support are the nearly complete Missile Cruisers. None of them have their missile turrets installed. I've locked the doors to the fighter bay, so none of those can be launched."
"Jane, move us on the reverse course the freighter took, to the edge of scanner range. Let's see if we can avoid being detected as they leave."
"Confirmed."
BigMother turned, and moved off as fast as she could accelerate.
Four minutes to self-destruct.
"Do you have control of the building process?" I asked Janine.
"Affirmative. You wish to build something?"
"Indeed yes." I smiled, and told Jane what specification to send over.
We waited as the countdown continued.
Three minutes to self-destruct.
Five of the build bays opened. The first of them spat out a Cruiser a lot faster than it would normally have left the bay. It immediately headed after the freighter.
Two minutes to self-destruct.
Three more of the Cruisers left their bays in a hurry.
"Jane, prepare to fire missiles please."
I told her what I wanted.
"Confirmed."
One minute to self-destruct.
The remaining Cruiser shot out of its bay and headed after the others.
Jane began moving us in towards the station, keeping the last ship at the edge of scanner range.
Boom.
Alison laughed. The word had appeared on the screen, but nothing else happened.
"Launching," said Jane.
Sixty missiles launched progressively, going up and over the station, on a trajectory for the other side. As they reached the midpoint between the shipyard and the fleeing ship, they exploded. The launches and explosions continued for a full minute, the last one happening after we'd crawled up to the shipyard, and also after the last ship dropped off the scanner.
"Wonderful," I announced.
"How so?" asked Alison.
"With luck, they think the shipyard exploded behind them."
"Why is that wonderful?"
I grinned at her.
"You're not?"
"Yep!" I said with a wider grin.
A half hour later, BigMother had the shipyard in tow, and we moved off in the direction of the Azgard jump point, at a substantially slower speed.
Forty
I managed four hours sleep before Jane woke me up. Alison was still asleep beside me. She'd looked like she wanted to do more than sleep when we'd gone to bed, but she hadn't uttered more than my name, before I was in the land of nod. I deliberately eased myself out of bed, so as not to wake her.
A very fast shower, and I was back on the Bridge as the jump point fleet came into view.
A channel opened from Repulse.
"That isn’t what I think it is, is it?" asked Susan Bentley.
"Sure is," I said.
"You stole their shipyard?"
"Stole is such a harsh word."
"How would you put it?"
"They abandoned it, and I decided it couldn’t stay where it was, being a navigation hazard and all."
She laughed.
"So you didn't have to kill anyone to get it?"
"Who, Moi? Kill someone?" She laughed harder.
"Seriously?"
"We took over their computer, and convinced them the shipyard was about to blow up."
"So they don’t know you have it?"
"Hopefully not. We did give the last ship a view of an explosion as they dropped off the scanner."
"You never cease to amaze me."
I gave her a mock bow, and winced. She laughed harder.
"Excuse me Admiral," I said. "I need to advise the powers that be."
The channel closed on her laughter.
BigMother came to a stop, the tow was removed from the station, and I gave orders for the fleet to move into positions to protect both the jump point and the shipyard.
It was six fifteen, forty five minutes before the time the Americans had said they would be ready to jump in. I needed to postpone them doing that. I opened a vid.
"Marshall, Admirals, Generals. I bring you glad tidings from the Midgard system. The Midgard Shipyard has been located and neutralized. It was hidden in an area with very limited scanner range, almost impossible to find without following a ship there, which I did. We also have a bearing on what I assume is a second inhabited planet, or moon."
"At this point in time, I recommend we suspend further operations until General Wellington and my Assault Frigate catch up with us. As soon as they do, we'll proceed towards the Miami jump point, stopping outside scanner range. It's logical to assume Midgard have as big a fleet guarding the Miami jump point as they did the Azgard one. As such, jumping in from Miami would be suicide, unless coordinated with a diversion. I plan to send a comnavsat in just far enough to determine the exact composition and formation of the force there. I'll coordinate with Admiral Hallington, for our joint assault."
"More good news, we now have the ability to translate the Midgard language. The relevant files are attached to this email. Hunter out."
Jane pulsed me the language files, I assembled the email, and sent it off.
I went back to my bedroom. Angel was asleep on top of her kitty castle. Alison hadn't woken up. I was asleep again as soon as my head hit my pillow.
I woke again, five hours later. Angel was curled up by my neck as usual, but woke as I moved. Alison was gone.
I went into the bathroom to freshen up, and came out in fatigues. I could hear the crunch of dry food, coming from the kitchen.
I made it as far as the stairwell, when a streak of white shot past me, and up the new cat ramp which spiraled around the outside of the stairs. I launched myself up the access shaft, and swung inelegantly off the top. I hopped over the cat wall, and was almost hit by a streak of white coming back the other way, which disappeared down the stairwell. I limped onto the Bridge, and a streak of white shot past me again, up the ramp and skidded across the control console. She ended up in a heap against the view screen, picked herself up, walked gingerly over to her pad, sat, and started to wash herself. The view from my seat when I finally sat, was cat butt.
I pulled out my pad and looked over the emails.
Miriam had sent me a congratulations vid. She'd been topless while she recorded it. I couldn’t stop grinning the whole way through it, and watched it again.
Next, I threw the vid from Admiral Jedburgh to a screen. Admiral Hallington was also in the vid, so I assumed Jedburgh had taken command of Miami himself now. With two Carriers, and presumably two Rear Admirals present, it made sense to have a more senior officer in command there.
"Admiral Hunter. The Miami jump point is now clear of debris, and our fleet stands ready to engage the enemy. While the delay is not welcome, we understand its necessity. It'll give us time for one, and possibly two more Gunbus Corvettes, to join the fleet. The wing of Excalibur's is complete. Lieutenant Commander Young was promoted to full Commander to be its Wing Commander. Lieutenant Commander Greer has also been promoted to full Commander, to lead the Gunbus squadron. We've seven of these at the moment. If you've any suggestions as to how to jump all these ships in effic
iently, please make them."
"We also have two John Wayne class Pocket Battleships, and a modified Tyr class Missile Cruiser. We took your advice on the latter. It mounts fifty capital ship missile launchers on both sides, and the same Point Defense as the John Wayne class, although the Mosquito launchers are mounted top and bottom instead of on the sides. A new class designation hasn’t been decided on yet. You'll be receiving a royalty on each build in the class, as the design used key aspects of both the Guardian, and John Wayne designs. As no-one has any real idea how to use these ships, some tactical advice will be welcomed. Please advise your ETA at the combat zone, so we can plan accordingly. Jedburgh out."
I thought about what I'd heard. But first things first. I opened a vid.
"Congratulations Commander." I emphasized the second word for effect. "I look forward to seeing your Command…" I emphasized that word as well. "…in action soon. And you in person."
I blew her a kiss as always, and ended the vid. I sent it straight off, and opened another vid.
I told the American Admirals exactly how I would get their ships into the system, couching it in suggestion terms. I also suggested the Tyr should fire twenty five missile salvos at different targets, and the PB's should pool their fire, so together they came close to being a Battleship in hitting power. I sent this off to them. It would be interesting to see how they reacted to my suggestions.
Custer was on her way, with an ETA of twelve thirty, now forty minutes away.
Janet had advised me one of my small freighters was on its way, coincidentally arriving at the same time as Custer. They'd removed life support to all but the cockpit, removed all the living areas, and seriously increased its speed. It could carry half as much more now. The manifest showed combat droids, security droids, and their guns. Only there was double what I'd ordered. There was an invoice from Bob for exactly what I'd ordered, so I paid it. If Bob couldn’t count, who was I to argue? The next email was another invoice for the droids and trolleys needed by the station. It looked light on, by what I remembered ordering. I paid that as well.
Alison limped in, so I joined her in the Bridge Mess for lunch.
We were back on the Bridge when Custer, and her little fleet, jumped in. A channel opened.
"Now what the hell have you done, Admiral?" asked Vonda, with a Bridge of curious faces behind her, and one scowling Alsop.
"Who me?"
"Don’t come the raw prawn Jon," said Annabelle. "Who else would have a shipyard cluttering up a jump point?"
"Well, it was just sitting there all on its lonesome, and it followed me back here."
There was general laughter.
"You make it sound like a kitten," said Amanda.
Meow.
The laughing increased.
"Everyone dock please," I said. "We need to be moving on."
"Confirmed," said Vonda, from my chair on Custer.
There was general laughter around her.
The channel closed.
"Jane, will the freighter fit downstairs?"
"Yes."
"Send it down then. Deploy half the combat droids, and all the security droids, at the main airlock forwards. Distribute the rest to the other airlocks."
"Confirmed. Oh, and it's carrying a passenger."
"Who?"
"She hasn’t said, but General Harriman authorized the trip."
I turned to Alison.
"Want to go meet our guest?"
She shook her head, paused, nodded, and limped out.
I watched on a series of screens as all the ships docked. While this was happening, I debated what to leave behind to mind the shipyard and the jump point. In theory, there were two, maybe three, possible threats left. It was almost certain there was a major force at the Miami jump point. There might also be a force at Midgard itself. And there might be another force at what I assumed was a second inhabited planet or moon.
The threat at the other jump point was the biggest concern, and I couldn’t see how I could leave much of anything here to guard the shipyard. The more Point Defense we had, the safer the fleet would be.
So what could I leave behind safely?
Fighters.
Oh. Yes. The shipyard already had forty eight Talon fighters. I also had six Mustang class Privateers, sixteen Sabres, and nine Epees. That was seventy nine fighters mounting missiles, six of them also having torpedo launchers. That was a lot of firepower, as long as they didn’t get hit with a major fleet. But I seriously doubted there was more than two fleets left, and both of those had tasks elsewhere.
"Jane, send the Mustangs, Sabres, and Epees over to the shipyard. And give Janine what she needs to fight them if the shipyard is threatened."
"Confirmed."
"Do we have enough parts to add computers to the Talons?"
"We have computers."
"We do?"
"We do."
There was a pause.
"Care to enlighten me as to how?"
"There's a container in one of the storage bays with pallets of them in it."
"There is?"
"There is."
"Is there an echo in here?"
My words echoed. I shook my head gently, without smiling.
"Bob," added Jane, "must have foreseen the need, and included them in the parts inventory."
"Ah. Send over what's needed on a salvage droid, with a repair droid to do the work. Is it possible for the shipyard to make its own droids?"
"Confirmed, and yes. But I'll need to send over build specifications for them."
"Do so."
"Done."
I watched a side screen of fighters launching through the now empty launch tubes. The Hives were back on the top of BigMother, on their custom made pads. I didn’t want to leave them behind in case we needed the massed torpedoes, and the extra Point Defense. The Mustangs had to use the lifts, and the Flight Deck. They were too big for the launch tubes.
As I was watching, people started arriving back on the Bridge. The last fighter launched.
"Jane, move us to a position where the fleet can form up on us safely."
"Confirmed."
BigMother moved a short way away from the fleet. I opened a channel to Admiral Bentley.
"Admiral, let's form a wall formation please. BigMother has the middle. Warspite on my left, Repulse on my right. John Wayne above, with the Guardians on both sides. Corvettes above them. Cruisers and Destroyers below BigMother. Deploy individual ships where you think they should go."
"Yes sir." The channel closed on her giving orders.
The fleet formed up, and moved out.
"Hello everyone," said a voice from the rear door.
"Amy!" said most of the team all at once.
Amy Allen entered, and there was a group hug. Amy was a journalist. I'd met her at a particularly low point in my life. She knew the team from accompanying them on several missions, the previous year. I can't say I was pleased to see her on board my ship. When the hugs stopped, she was introduced to Vonda and Alsop, who were the only ones she didn’t know on the Bridge. None of the pilots had come up except George.
"No hug Jon?" she said to me, with a twinkle in her eye. She'd walked around my chair so she could look at me directly.
"I hurt too much to hug anyone," I said. Not strictly true, but I didn’t feel we were on hugging terms yet.
She looked at my head bruise with interest.
"I bet that has a story attached to it," she said eagerly.
"Why are you here?" I asked her bluntly.
"Australian sector media companies expressed their displeasure at being left out of the loop with war news. The government ordered General Harriman to embed some journalists with the fleet. He responded that the Australian sector had no fleet to embed anyone with. He was told that Australian ships were in the fleet, and to do it anyway. He told them to get permission from Sci-Fi sector. They approved one, and apparently I was the top of their list of trustworthy Australian journalist
s. So here I am."
She smiled like a Cheshire cat. I had this intense desire to wipe the smile off her face. But that wasn’t really fair. Alsop looked like he'd swallowed a frog.
"I must have missed the memo."
"The General was supposed to notify you."
"He may have. But I've been a little busy lately to keep up with emails. There will be some rules."
"Rules?"
"My ship, my rules. You're not on an Australian ship. You're on my private ship, currently attached to a multi-sector fleet. You remain here on my sufferance."
"Oh."
"You may sit on the Bridge, but you sit at the rear. And not in one of the VIP seats. You remain quiet at all times. Bridge time is not reportable, and you will not record anything here. You may request access to battle feeds, but the final decision is mine. You may interview those willing to be interviewed. I don't give interviews. Ever. You will not harass anyone for an interview. You may ask, but if they say no, that’s the end of it. To interview anyone on a British ship, you must first go through Admiral Bentley's aide. To interview anyone on a Sci-Fi ship, you must go through Commander Alsop. When we meet up with the American fleet, to interview anyone on one of their ships, you go through Admiral Jedburgh's aide. General Wellington is the highest authority here, and anything she decides to restrict, shall be restricted. When we join up with the Americans, this passes to Admiral Jedburgh. Any questions?"
She looked about to argue, but stopped herself. Her gaze went around the Bridge. She saw the same expression on Vonda's face as was on mine, and resignation on Alsop's. The general mood was tolerance, since the team knew her, and I really didn’t, and seemed to convince her arguing would achieve nothing.
"Fine," she said at last.
"Someone show her an unused suite, and get a butler to put her name on the door. We're about eight hours to the Miami jump point, so anyone who wants to catch up with sleep, has plenty of time for it."
There was a general movement towards the door.
I pulled out my pad. Sure enough, there was a very apologetic email from Walter. He'd at least had the satisfaction of shipping her here in a ship with no accommodation whatsoever, other than a small fresher. I smiled at that.
"Jane, is that freighter needed back anywhere?"
Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) Page 21