"Still not getting where we come in," said Aleesha.
"When I made the sale of those ships with the Americans, I decided the crew of this ship, should get the same five percent, divided among the ten of you. That’s what that is."
"Oh," said George.
I could see he was doing the math. After a few moments, his jaw dropped.
"Five hundred MILLION? You sold thirteen ships for five HUNDRED MILLION?"
The girls gaped at him, then me.
"The Americans offered. Actually that was cheap."
"Cheap?" stammered George.
"The going rate for a fully outfitted Cruiser, regardless of age, starts around the seven fifty mark. But I didn’t see the point in haggling."
"He didn’t haggle," said Aleesha unbelievably.
George's face looked perplexed.
"All those Talons," he said.
"Yes," I said. "Depending on how many the Militia buy and what price we settle on, there will be another largish payment going into your accounts." I grinned at them. "Not to mention your crew shares of the station earnings and crew shares of the capital ships we captured, assuming they generate any income."
"We could retire right now, never work again," said George wonderingly.
"Where's the fun in that?" said the girls together. We all grinned.
"Hooley dooley," said George.
"Yes," I said. "Who'd have known? I started out to rescue you guys with a Corvette and a Privateer, and I'm returning home with a station and a small fleet. With enough credits to refit every ship. Wonders will never cease."
Amanda was suddenly serious.
"Is this all for Prophesy?" she asked.
"I don’t know. Could be. But one thing is for sure, as a Mercenary force, this team just became a whole new level of bad-arse to be reckoned with."
We all high fived.
"I don’t know about you, but I'm getting an early night. By the time we wake in the morning, we should be close to the station."
"Good night," they all said together, and left.
I went into the living room, patted Angel for a while, and took her into the bedroom. I changed into boxers and t-shirt, and went to bed.
Nineteen
"Wake up Jon."
"Wazzamatter?"
"Wake up Jon."
"I'm awake. Let's not do that again, please. What?"
"We're at the Azgard jump point in Cobol. There is a task force Admiral here, who wants to talk to you."
"Time?"
"Just before 1am."
"Be right there."
I bounded out of bed, sleepiness banished, gaining a loud yowl of protest from Angel. I set my suit to Australian Militia and raced to the Bridge.
A vid channel was already showing. The man seemed impatient. He started talking before I had a chance to sit.
"Captain Hunter I presume?" He didn’t wait for confirmation. "I'm Rear Admiral Woolsey, SFSF." He didn’t wait for me to figure out that meant Sci-Fi Space Force. "I've heard some of your exploits from the ASF, and frankly, I'm inclined to dismiss them as fantasy. You're just a kid. Why should anyone take what you say seriously?"
I gave him 'the look'. The one you give idiots who walk into a closed door without knowing it's there.
"One moment please Admiral." I left the channel open.
"Jane, what force has the Admiral with him?"
"Four Destroyers, six Corvettes, twenty four Gladiators."
"How many of them have decent Point Defense?"
"None."
The Admiral spluttered as if insulted. I turned back to him.
"Admiral, if I fired two hundred capital ship missiles at your ships all at once, how many of your ships would survive?"
"That’s ridiculous, no-one can do that."
"The Midgard Missile Cruisers can. They fire a barrage of two hundred missiles. Granted, they're slow to reload, but unless you can knock most of them down before they get to you, you're going to be toast."
"You can't talk to me like that. I won't allow it!"
"Admiral, are you ready to die? Are your people ready to die?"
He spluttered again. I went on.
"Admiral. So far we've seen mixed Midgard fleets ranging from one Missile Cruiser and twelve Talon fighters, up to two Missile Cruisers and one hundred and twenty Talon fighters. Yes, you have a good force here, but if they hit you with two Cruisers and ten squadrons of fighters, you are not going to do very well. Did you receive the word on the American losses recently?"
"Yes, it didn’t seem correct."
"It was. I was there. They lost almost five elite squadrons in one engagement. The Cruiser they sent in was destroyed seconds after it jumped in."
"This can't be happening. Cobol Command didn’t believe a word of it, and neither do I. We're going to the jump point just to keep the Americans happy."
"How much of the combat feeds have you watched Admiral?"
"What combat feeds? All we've seen are claims and supposed casualty reports."
"Jane, send him the lot, from when we first jumped into Midgard the second time, to when we finally jumped out."
"Confirmed."
"Admiral, I'm sending you my combat feeds. Please do your people a favour and watch them all. You've time before you get there."
He looked sideways. I could see him watching something playing on another screen. His face slowly went white. He looked back at me.
"If this is true, what do you suggest I do?"
"There are several tactics I can suggest. Stake out the jump point so none of your capital ships are close together. That will mean that only one can be a target for each Missile Cruiser that jumps in. Drill your crews hard. Whatever Point Defense you have, needs to be as accurate and as fast as it can be. Whichever ship gets the barrage, have it run like hell, while the Bounty Hunters already there, your Gladiators, and any fighters from Azgard, target the missiles. Put the ship with the best Point Defense the closest, so it’s the most likely first target. Give it all the support you can. While the missiles are going after it, use the other capital ships to take out the Cruisers. Ignore the Talons if you can. Talons don’t take much to kill. Two IR's into the cockpit is enough to take them out. But don’t waste your missiles on Talons. Once the first barrages are removed, you've time to kill the Missile Cruisers. You don’t need to destroy them, just shred their shields and punch in one hole somewhere. They decompress and the crew dies. Once you have a hole, ignore it and go for the next target. It’s the only advantage we have against them at the moment. Once you've taken out the Cruisers, you can mop up the Talons."
"That sounded contradictory."
"Yes. Work it out with your people. You need to be firing within two seconds of them jumping in. If you can hole the Cruisers before they can fire, you've a chance."
In my opinion, they had exactly two chances. Buckley's and none. Or put it another way, toast.
"We'll discuss your suggestions. What else?"
"Call for backup. Send what I sent you on to your Command and have them send them on to every system from Cobol back to American space. You need serious backup and you need it now. Ahead of you are twelve Bounty Hunters. They may or may not be there when you get there. Azgard was sending ships, but all they have are mothballed. They may or may not have anything at the jump point when you arrive. I suggest you contact them on the way through and find out what they're doing."
I paused to get my breath.
"Lastly, do not jump any ships into Midgard and allow no-one else to go. It will be suicide. There are no coms in Midgard at all. Once you jump, it’s a blackout zone. By now, they'll have a fleet of some sort guarding that jump point, and anyone who jumps in, will die."
"How did you survive, if no one else will?"
"Point Defense, Admiral. This ship is designed around it. I probably have more on this ship than you have in half your fleet. All the same, we nearly didn’t make it several times. The most dangerous times are jumping in, so do
n’t let anyone go there."
"You're either very full of yourself, or more competent than you look." I gave him 'the look' again.
"Admiral, anyone's opinion of me is irrelevant. Midgard is a real threat, and you have the responsibility to keep that door closed, for the safety of the whole sector."
"Don’t tell me my job boy. If you're so good, why aren't you staying?"
"I'm the only defense the Australian sector has at the moment. I have to assume you will fail, and I need to go prepare our defenses. Last I heard, Australian sector had three patrols of fighters and a single Corvette. They wouldn’t survive just the Talons Midgard will throw at them. I have ships now, but they all need extensive refitting. And I have to get them there first."
"Runaway then boy, do what you think is best."
"I'm not running Admiral. I've been fighting this war since it began. My role has changed. By the way, there are two formations of ships heading across Azgard behind me. They're Missile Cruisers and Talons I captured. Please do not try to stop them, they belong to me personally. None of them are any real help to you, but once I refit them, they'll be a formidable force. If need be, and you are still alive, I'll bring them back to help."
He spluttered again. I went on.
"Take the opportunity to study the Cruisers as they go past. The next time you see them will be across a missile barrage. Hunter out."
I closed the channel.
"How do people like him end up in command?" I asked the cosmos in general. It didn’t answer.
I sent the entire exchange to Admiral Hallington and General Harriman, and went back to bed.
Twenty
"Wake up Jon."
"Nowwhatssup?"
"You have orders."
"From whom?"
"An Admiral and a General."
"Now?"
"Now."
"Time?"
"Just after 3am."
"Shit."
There was silence for a few minutes.
"Jon?"
"What?"
"Orders."
"Damn, I thought I dreamed that."
"No."
"Shit."
"Jon, don’t make me used the alarm."
"Yes mum."
I fell out of bed.
"Shit."
"Don’t step in it."
I crawled into the bathroom and splashed water on my face. I came out wearing Militia fatigues. With a bottle of water from the kitchen, I dragged myself onto the Bridge. The chair was so comfortable, I felt myself dosing off again.
"JON!"
I jerked awake.
"I'm here, I'm happening."
"The email from the General came in first, followed closely by the Admiral's."
I plucked out my pad, and looked for the one from the General. I threw the vid to a side screen. He looked about as awake as I was.
That was the thing about a single time system used by all stations. It was 3am everywhere at the same time.
Planets were different, having the normal time zones around the globe, all varying as to how many hours there were in the day, according to what the rotation of the planet was. Comparing times on different planets was a nightmare.
But in space, every ship and every station was on exactly the same time.
"Commander. Your little 'chat' with Rear Admiral Woolsey landed on my desk a short time ago, via both the Cobol government and the SFSF Command. Neither were at all happy with the way you dealt with him. 'Showing a lack of respect for a superior' was the main complaint. Being an 'insufferable know-it-all' was another." He paused, obviously trying to hide a grin.
"Frankly Commander, you should have shown a lot more tact and diplomacy than you did. But between us, especially given it was 1am and you were being insulted, you showed a damned sight more than I would have. But I carry the rank to get away with it, you don’t."
"Regardless of their lack of appreciation of you, they want you on Cobol as soon as you can get there. I judge you to be about one third the way across the system, so you should be within several hours of their planet. Go. Go now. I have been assured there will be no repeat of the insults. The battle data you sent, has them scared shitless enough to even ask for your help. So go give it. Better tact and diplomacy this time, please. Harriman out."
I leaned back and thought about it for a moment.
"You heard Jane, turn us round."
"Confirmed."
I pulled up the email from the Admiral, which turned out to be from Jedburgh rather than Hallington.
"Captain. I just received a blast from Cobol and the SFSF about your insubordination with a Rear Admiral Woolsey. I sent them my own blast for ignoring our information in the first place and placing you in the position of having to make them see sense." He looked fair and square into the cam.
"At that hour of the morning, and as insulting as he was, he got what he deserved. But officially as you're ex-superior, I'd have to ream your arse over this, if you actually still worked for me. Since you don’t, I'll just say I liked your style, and please don’t do it again. Especially because of what I have to say next."
"Captain, you are officially recalled to active duty, and ordered to the planet Cobol for talks with their government and the SFSF. As far as I can tell, there are a lot of brown shorts there at the moment. It's not your job to clean them, just point them in the right direction. You will proceed there as fast as you can, which if I read the nav map correctly, should be within two hours of you. Report back when you've concluded the discussions."
"In hindsight, letting you go was a huge mistake. If we had known this was going to go as pear shaped as it has, we would have kept you here, and sent your captured ships to Dallas for whatever refit you wanted for them. As it is now, the closest shipyard to you is Avon, which if I'm informed correctly, is about twelve or thirteen hours from the planet Cobol for you, and about six to eight more for your station. Sydney is too far, and the Shipyard there is too small."
"I can't tell you what to do with your own resources, but I agree with you that Admiral Woolsey is dead unless he has a lot of luck. On that basis, we'll see a Midgard fleet in Cobol within days, and if they cannot be stopped there, in Atlantis, and then Avon, possibly within a week. Avon is as you pointed out, likely their first major target, being it's the biggest shipyard in that end of space. As such, I'd like to have you there waiting for them, with upgraded ships. Tell me you're going there straight after Cobol, and I'll move Heaven and Dallas to get you priority in the shipyard for your refits, and get the work done at cost to ensure you get as much done as you want."
"I understand you've some disposable funds now for doing refits. We can do this two ways. You can do the refits yourself and retain your own fleet, or you can sell the ships to us, we will do the refit to your specifications, and assign you as commander of the resulting fleet. But we keep the ships after. I understand your first allegiance is to the Australian sector, but we both know the first main target is Avon, not Sydney. If you retain ownership of the ships, you take a defensive fleet back to the Australian sector afterwards. Your decision. I'll back you whichever way you decide. Jedburgh out."
I sighed. Just when you thought it was safe to get a good night's sleep, the war grabs you by the short and curlies, and drags you back.
I sent an urgent email to Colonel Smith, giving her a summary of the war so far, and a copy of the battle data. I told her to turn the station around and backtrack to the Azgard jump point. She was to recover all the Talon's from the first captured fleet and have Janet reroute the Missile Cruisers to the Atlantis jump point. She was to proceed on until she met the second captured fleet, and recover those Talons as well. The station and Cruisers were also to go on to the Atlantis jump point. If I wasn’t there, the whole fleet would jump into Atlantis, with the end destination of the Avon Shipyards.
I added that I'd been called to Cobol for discussions, and I'd be heading for Atlantis as soon as I could get away.
I shifted
my suit back to American fatigues, and started a vid for both the Admiral and the General.
"Admiral Jedburgh and General Harriman. I'm doing you a joint vid to save time, since you both need to hear the same message. Orders received. I'm on my way to Cobol. I'll try to be more diplomatic. I've ordered my station to recover ships I captured in Midgard, and proceed to Atlantis, and then Avon Shipyards. I'll catch them up somewhere along the line, depending on how long Cobol keeps me. I'll refit my new ships myself and retain them as my personal fleet."
"Admiral, please notify Avon Shipyard I'll be bringing six Tyr class Missile Cruisers, two with minor hull damage. A seventh is in two halves. I also have an Actor class Cruiser which requires a new Bridge and a refit to new specifications. There is also a Dallas class Frigate, but it's badly beaten up and will have to be a secondary priority. If we have the time though, I'd like it completed as well. In addition, I'll have one hundred and fifty Talon fighters to be modified into combat drones. Specifications will follow as soon as I can get them completed."
"Admiral, tell them to get hold of every Point Defense turret, capital missile turret, and fighter missile and torpedo launchers they can lay their hands on, as fast as they can get them. The missile turrets on the Tyr's are old, manually loaded and only fire broadsides. I need state of the art turrets that fire in all directions, especially frontwards and backwards, to replace them. Each ship will likely need a new power plant. Or additional ones. And new or upgraded engines. They'll also be given enough Point Defense to protect themselves from a two hundred missile barrage. All the Tyr's will be gutted and turned into drones. We won't need crews for them and the existing crew space will allow more guns and ordinance to be carried. I've been working on something better than crewed ships." I paused as a thought struck me. "Oh, and tell them the crews are still aboard, there has been no way to clean the ships." I took a deep breath.
"Ordinance. Get lots and lots of ordinance. Any ships Sci-Fi have in the area, tell them to put ordinance in every nook and cranny they have. Too much is not enough."
"General, move 266 squadron and you're Gladiators into Midnight, and have them guard the door to the Australian sector. Put Squadron Leader Lacey in command. Tell him the secret is to punch a single hole in the Tyr's as fast as possible. His ships have the Point Defense to handle the missile barrages, and the torpedoes for the holes in the Cruisers, as long as they fly with their heads on the right way. The Gladiators are much more vulnerable as they're slower and carry less ordinance. If you can, send them a freighter full of ordinance so they can resupply if necessary. I asked Bob to build a Camel to use as a demo for a potential customer. Put Lacey in it when it's complete, and loan his ship to your best pilot. I also asked Bob to build me another Excalibur. Put the next best pilot in Lacey's squadron in it, and loan his ship to your next best pilot. Tell Lacey when he has them, to use the Camel and Excalibur to take the Cruisers while the others do what they can with missiles and Talons. Talk to Bob. If he can make another Camel in the time, he should do it. We'll worry about credits after the furball's have stopped flying. I think I have a customer for it anyway."
Send in the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 3) Page 14