"Good. The more fire power we can take in the better. But I hope we don’t need to go there. A hostile planet is a whole different ballgame, and not one we've trained for."
"I don’t know if it'll be necessary or not. Or what the Americans have planned when they get there. Tell you what, do you want to contact the Americans, and find out if they have ground troops? If so, find out who has the command. You can ask what their plans are, and see how you fit in with them."
"I can do that."
"Overall, how did the team perform on Cobol and Azgard?"
"A well-oiled machine!" she said with a grin.
"Apart from you, George, and BA, when were they last looked at for promotions?"
"Hasn’t happened since I formed the team. There wasn’t much point."
"Is that true of your other teams as well?"
"Yes. Although if anyone really deserves promotions, it’s the Alpha team. Why?"
"I've just been making up a new rank structure. A lot of it isn’t relevant now, but who knows down the track? Having done it, I'm now assessing where everyone fits on it."
I indicated the wall behind her, and she read through it all.
"Workable," she said at last. "How are you going to tell the difference between infantry, fleet, and pilots?"
"Epaulette colour. Green for infantry, grey for fleet, blue for pilots. I'll be bright red."
"Also workable. What insignia?"
"There you have me. That's as far as I've thought it out so far."
"I notice you haven’t used Specialist."
"No. I see everyone as a specialist in something. As a rank, it's very vague. Tell me, how do you rate everyone on the team in terms of those ranks?"
"Most of them are obvious, they slot right in where they are. The three Specialist's, I guess, are Corporal's on that chart. But it somehow doesn’t seem right to rank them that way."
"Is there anyone on the team, who hasn’t been recently promoted, who doesn’t deserve one?"
"No. They all do."
"Good. Keep this quiet. Have George come up to take a look at this. I'll tell him it's something I'm working on for down the track, and have him make up the epaulettes for all the ranks. After we're released from other space forces, I'll bring in the new rank system, and give out a few surprises."
She grinned at me, and I grinned back.
"I think that’s a great idea."
"What do you think of O'Neil?"
"I only had that time before the Avon battle working with him, but he's certainly a competent commander. I don’t know why he never made Admiral. He can certainly do the job."
"That’s what I needed to hear. Thanks."
"Your welcome."
"What do you suggest about insignia?"
I threw the charts for British and American ranks on the walls, and we went through them. In the end we selected a mixture.
Private was one downward sloping v-shaped stripe. Lance Corporal was the same, but closed with a curve at the bottom. Corporal was two open stripes. Sergeant was three. Senior Sergeant was three, with the lower one closed. Master Sergeant was three, with two curved underneath. Sergeant Major was three, with three. Command Sergeant Major was the same, with a star in the middle. But these were not stripes to be worn on the sleeves, but badges to wear on the epaulettes, top of the stripe pointing to the neck.
Sub-Lieutenant was a thin bar. Second Lieutenant was a thick bar. Lieutenant was two thick bars. Major had two thick bars with a thin bar between them, which was what the stripes for Lieutenant Commander, and Squadron Leader had. Lieutenant Colonel was the Oak Leaf. Colonel was the American 'Bird'. The rest were stars, from one to four, in a row.
All were in gold colour, and were to look like metal badges. I updated the rank chart with them all.
Annabelle stood.
"I'll send in George, so he can get on with creating these."
I nodded, thanked her for the Azgard review, and her help with the ranks.
She left, and I went back to tickling Angel.
George came in, took an image of the new rank chart, agreed to keep it all quiet, and left to do the suit programming.
Forty Two
With time on my hands before dinner, I tooled up with the Long Gun and gatling stunner, and made the trek to Custer. I dropped Angel off on her kitty castle first, and dropped down the access shaft to the Cargo Deck. I took a trolley to the front end of the ship, for the first time since I'd come aboard, the trolley depositing me at the left side access shaft going down to the lower decks. I dropped all the way down to the bottom deck.
"Jon, can you come to the Bridge please?" asked Jane.
"Really? Now?"
"Yes Jon, it's important."
"It had bloody well better be."
I turned back to the up access shaft. I was about to leap when I was interrupted by Jane again.
"Sorry Jon, I couldn’t help it." She laughed.
I supposed I was fair game for that one. I sighed, and moved towards the airlock for Custer. It was open, so I checked to make sure no-one was underneath, and jumped down. I landed a bit awkwardly. The next challenge was the stairwell. I had to take a breather half way down. Eventually I stepped onto the Range Deck, and had a look around. Other than the first tour we'd done when we first came on board, I’d not been here. A screen near the stairwell showed a number of dots on a deck plan, so I could see others were here as well. I asked for direction to the best range for my Long Gun, and followed the arrow on my PC.
I started out with various range target shooting, using the Long Gun first in my right hand, and later in my left. I quickly had a feel for it, and was achieving a ninety percent hit ratio. Next I changed it to a combat scenario, and kept at it until I was also in the nineties. Starting to feel pain in my major bruises by now, I finished by trying to see what range I could hit at. It was almost as good as a standard rifle, but nowhere near the sniper. All the same, the claims the 'tool man' had made were accurate. In a normal station environment, it should be able to hit a target at as long a range as you could get in most areas of a station. Across the docks was probably the only place a sniper would have the advantage on me.
Satisfied, I made the long trek back to Deck Two, and poked my nose into the Rec Room. About half the crew were sitting around with drinks, waiting for the dinner hour to begin.
I spotted Slice sitting with Eric, and gave him a wave to follow me. He stood immediately, and we moved to my lounge room. Angel was asleep on top of her kitty castle, so I didn’t disturb her.
"What can I do for you sir?" asked Slice.
"Camels," I said enigmatically.
"You want to know if I want some? I'd prefer to build my own, than buy them."
"Okay, I just wanted to check. I know Eric wants one. But so do two of my pilots as well."
"Sounds like you should keep them."
I nodded and he started to leave. At the door, I asked him another question, he shook his head, agreed to keep it quiet, and left.
Meow?
I patted the puss for a few minutes, and headed back to the Rec Room.
When everyone was present, we went into the Dining Room for dinner.
In the gap between main course and dessert, speculation about what was at the Miami jump point began.
"What do you think boss?" asked BA.
"I think we'll see a large force there, probably lying in wait for the Americans to come through, as they must know they will some time. Trying to guess their formation is pointless, as every encounter we've had, used a different one."
"So what haven't they tried," asked Lacey.
"A box or sphere formation. They've done several wall formations."
"Can we counter those?" asked Brown.
"With advance warning, yes. Hopefully, we can see what their formation is this time, without being detected."
Dessert interrupted conversation, and I was glad to get off the topic. We could find almost anything at the jump point, and
speculating about it was rather pointless.
After dinner I headed back to the Bridge, detouring via my bathroom, and a quick cat pat, and settled into my seat. Angel followed me up.
"Did we come within scanner range of the planet as we went past?" I asked Jane.
"No. Nor have there been any contacts of any kind."
"Is the salvage droid ready to go with the comnavsat?"
"Affirmative. I'm taking direct control of it, so I can stop it the moment it makes contact with the Midgard fleet."
With time still on my hands, I took my pad out again.
I threw a vid from Miriam to a side screen.
"Thanks Jon. I was a bit surprised this time. I wasn’t due for promotion yet. But I guess my enthusiasm for your Excalibur's was taken as a sign I was the person to lead them. Greer is chuffed as well. He's been a lot closer than I was, and being the senior kill maker, it was inevitable giving him a Corvette would get him promoted."
"About your suggestion for jumping in. You're really serious? It can be done, but there were some seriously vanished eyebrows apparently, when your vid was viewed. Had the hallmarks of you all over it, but nothing you suggest surprises me anymore."
"With luck, we'll see each other again tomorrow. Bye for now."
She blew me a kiss, and the vid ended.
"She forgave you then?" said BA from the doorway.
"Apparently so," I responded, without looking at her.
BA had been surprisingly insightful when Miriam had taken issue with some of my past actions.
"Your advice worked," I added.
"Glad to help."
Forty Three
With about twenty minutes to go, I visited my bathroom, and had Jeeves bring me a bottle of water.
Back on the Bridge, I emailed Admiral Jedburgh we were fifteen minutes from scanner range of the jump point, and to have his forces standing by.
The waiting started again, as we drew closer. The team started filing in. The pilots began checking in as they arrived at their ships. As before, Slice was in his Apricot One, still docked to Custer. Lacey had the pilot's chair in Custer. George was in Gunbus. Annette was in Unthinkable. Eric was in Camel, and Brown was in the other one. Jones had Excalibur, with Taylor in the second one. Williams was in his Centurion. All remained docked to, or on the Flight Deck of, BigMother.
"Jane, connect the coms of all ships into fleet coms please, and turn team coms on. Add the 266 pilots to team coms."
"Confirmed. Done."
"Team coms is active. Fleet coms is also active. All ships check in please."
The litany of check-ins began.
"Jane, when we're close enough, can you include the AI's on the other side of the jump point in fleet coms?"
"There will be a second or so lag between messages, but yes."
"Do so please."
"Confirmed."
The wait continued, as time seemed to go slower and slower.
"We have contact with Miami. Fleet coms expanded."
"Attention American sector ships. I'm Admiral Hunter. Welcome to fleet coms. The multi-sector fleet is approaching the Miami jump point. Five minutes to contact. Standby for instructions."
A screen popped up with Admiral Jedburgh and Admiral Hallington showing.
"Welcome General Wellington, Admiral Hunter, and all ship crews. I'm Admiral Jedburgh, and I officially take command of this multi-sector force. Admiral Hunter has operational command of the jump point until the battle is resolved. We await the order to jump in and join you in the fight."
The screen closed.
"Time," said Jane.
"All stop," I said.
The scanner showed all ships stopping in their correct positions. We were still in a wall formation.
"Jane, can you access the scanners from the other side of the jump point?"
"Confirmed."
The side screen showing ship movements all the way back to Cobol, changed to also show the other side of the Miami jump point. There was a mass of green dots right on top of the jump point itself, and many more in defense positions further away. I quickly checked what was at the jump point, and it seemed they'd taken my suggestion to heart.
"Send in the comnavsat."
"Confirmed."
The salvage droid launched. It took only a minute for it to stop, and the scan data of the jump point on this side to be added to the rest.
I expanded the new data, and stared at it.
"Oh hell no!" I exclaimed.
… To Be Continued.
Jonathon Hunter
will return
in
Hail the Hero.
Acknowledgements
Once again, a big thank you for Helen Ellis. My sounding board, ear that listens, and experience which talks.
Also thanks to Egosoft, for allowing me to use photos from their games, to make the cover of this book.
Special thanks to 'pref' from the Egosoft forums, for the specific image used for this book cover.
A Message to my Readers
I’ve had a lot of fun writing this novel. There is still a lot of story to come, and I invite you to come along for the full journey with me.
If you've enjoyed this novel, I hope you will take the time to leave a review on the Amazon site. All reviews are greatly appreciated, as they help assist purchasing decisions by other readers. Sales and reviews will help me to focus on the next book in the series, which impacts how fast the next installment is released.
Please join me on the series Facebook Page:
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Feedback is welcome on my Games Forum.
http://apricotmappingservice.com/X3forum/viewforum.php?f=46
If you would like to be kept informed of new eBooks, updates and information from The Hunter Legacy universe, join the mailing list at http://eepurl.com/bqMgVz
The Apricot Mapping Service exists as the author's personal in-game entity, for the computer games in the X3 series, by Egosoft. John Slice and other AMS characters, were originally used in fan fiction for mods, walkthroughs, and guides for the games.
http://apricotmappingservice.com
The Egosoft website is at:
http://egosoft.com
Thank you.
Also by Timothy Ellis
These Kindle eBooks can be found on Timothy Ellis’ Kindle Author page.
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The Hunter Legacy
Hero at Large.
Hunted Hero Hunting.
Send in the Hero.
Make or Break the Hero.
Hail the Hero *Forthcoming*
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PC Games
The X3 Handbook.
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Spiritual
The Wisdom of the Ages is available for the price of asking a question.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 2.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 3.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 4.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 5.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 6 Accrued Karma.
The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 7 Healing the Indigo.
I want to go home, Ascension for the travelling soul.
Personal Healing using basic meditation.
101 Tips for the John of God Brazil Experience.
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Feng Shui
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Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) Page 23