"Thank the Lord you will be here with us," said the civilian who had asked about bombing.
I looked at the General. He nodded.
"I'm sorry, I won't be here."
"Why not?" asked someone else. "You can't go and leave us like this."
"I don’t have a choice," I responded. "You are not the main target. We think Avon is the main target initially. I have ships headed there which are completely useless to anyone now, but can be refitted to form a fleet that can prevail against anything the Midgard's send. I'm leaving as soon as this conference is over."
"Your running away, you coward!" It was a civilian I hadn't heard speak before.
I turned to her and stared her down.
"I'll be back. When I have a fleet capable of taking them on, I will be back. There is nothing to be gained in a strategic sense from me remaining here, and perhaps, everything to lose. I suggest you turn your attention to surviving."
"If anyone else has such thoughts," said the General, "DON’T voice them. I don’t want to hear anything that’s wrong or we can't do. I want to hear what we can do, and how long it will take to do it. Talk to me people."
The discussion that followed lasted hours.
As the meeting began to break up, after I was thanked by the General, my stomach began to remind me it had been a long time since breakfast.
The General gave me the head flick to signal I should follow him, which I did, with Jane following me. We took a series of corridors until we came to an office suite. The General swept through the outer reception into an inner office, and waving me to a chair, took his seat behind his desk.
"That went well," he announced.
I chuckled. I couldn’t help it. He grinned at me, but went back to being serious.
"What do you think our chances to be?" he asked me.
"Depends on how effectively you can defend this station. If you can drop the majority of the missiles they fire at you, they may just decide to give up. Most stations are not armed, so one that is, could be something they put into the too hard basket."
"Yes, but what do you really think?"
I sighed.
"That’s what I thought," he added.
"General, I think your position here is strategically weak. We both know the blockade in Azgard won't hold. Get your people to safety, as far away from the cities as possible. You need to survive this. Stations can be rebuilt, research centers can be rebuilt. Backup everything, take it as far away as you can get, and hide it. As well as hiding your people." I paused. "On the other hand, you could do something for the general good."
"Go on."
"We need time. I don’t know yet how much. I have eight Cruisers that need extensive refits. Avon Shipyard is gearing up to handle them now. Once complete, they'll be formidable. The trick will be completing them before Midgard's fleets reach Avon. The longer it takes Midgard to get there, the more time I have to put an effective fleet together."
"So the longer this station can hold out, the more time we buy you. You don’t ask for much."
"I'm very aware of what I'm asking. Anyone left on this station will likely not survive."
"Yes." He stayed still for a few moments. "We'll buy you as much time as we can."
"Thank you sir."
"Thank you for giving us the benefit of your expertise and experience Admiral."
"Sir? I'm only a Captain." He waved the comment away.
"I'm only calling you what you are. What you wear on your shoulders is largely irrelevant to me. I judge people based on their competence. And you sir, have a lot of it, as young as you are. Besides, the civvies needed to see someone with flag rank, and none of them know a private from an Admiral when they see insignia on shoulders. Anything less wouldn’t have worked as a morale booster." He stood and offered his hand. "I won't hold you up any further. We'll do what we can. You go and do what you can."
He saluted me, and I gave him the best I could do back.
We headed back to the ship, where we found a security officer with a grav sled.
"Sir," he said to me, "your adjudicated guns sir. No-one would open up to let me in."
"Good, those were my orders."
He looked puzzled. I nodded to Jane, and the airlock doors began to open.
I turned back to the security officer, while I waited for the ramp to extend.
"What came of the interrogations?"
"They all said pretty much the same thing. An email reached them several hours before you arrived, and offered them a great deal of credits to kill you as you stepped out of the ship."
"Who was it from?"
"They didn’t know. We examined it and found nothing to indicate who sent it or where from. We sent it to your ship. Maybe you will have better luck."
"Thank you. Send the sled up to the top of the ramp, and it will be emptied for you."
"Yes sir."
He did just that and Jarvis quickly emptied the sled and stored the guns in the Armoury. The security officer vanished.
I turned to Jane as I started towards the common room.
"Close us up and get us going for the most likely place the station is going to be. We've been here way too long."
"Confirmed."
I emailed the Colonel for their location, stating we were just leaving Cobol Orbital. Almost immediately, she replied, and I passed the location on to Jane, to plot an intercept course.
Twenty Three
After leaving the station, I found my loyal crew was nowhere to be seen when I walked into the common room. Well, I hoped they were loyal. Actually, Eric wasn’t even crew come to think of it.
A ping came in from Amanda.
"Forgotten something?"
"No, don’t think so," I sent back.
"You have."
"Jane, Amanda says we've forgotten something. Any idea what?"
"Actually I was about to tell you that. You and George are the only people on board."
I burst out laughing.
"Doh!" I said, without stopping laughing. I found I needed the release of tension.
"Better stop us and send the shuttle back for them," I told Jane.
"Sorry, nothing forgotten. Can I buy a vowel?" I pinged Amanda.
"Starts with 'C'," she sent back.
"That was a consonant, I asked for a vowel."
"E and two A's".
"That was two vowels."
"Three for one deal."
"That’s no help. Can this wait until I've had lunch? I'm starving."
"Not really."
"Why not?"
"Duh!"
"You mean Doh!"
"No, Duh!"
"Definitely Doh!"
"Have it your own way."
"Thank you. Why don’t you join me for lunch?"
"Because it's too far to go."
"What do you mean? Take the stairwell up or down from wherever you are."
I noticed George eyeing me from the bottom of the stairwell. I threw the whole conversation on to the wall screen. He read it and collapsed into a lounge chair, laughing hysterically.
"We can't get to the stairwell just now."
"Oh? Why not?"
"Because we're on the bloody station you nitwit!"
"What are you doing there?"
"What do people normally do on a station?"
"Get shot at is my experience."
"Shit Jon, just get your arse back here, will you?"
"That’s a negative. I'm in far too much of a hurry to turn around now."
"You're going to leave us here?"
George was doubled up and having trouble breathing. I joined him in laughing harder than I had in a long time.
"Jon?"
"Jon, you better not be out of range."
"Answer your pings you bastard!"
"Duh!" I replied.
"Don’t duh me. Come back and get us."
"Shuttle on the way."
"What? So we have to trudge all the way around to the shuttle do
ck now?"
"Sorry. Shuttle or nothing."
"Shit."
"Don’t step in it." I didn't think Jane would mind me using what she had already used on me. I didn’t recall where I'd heard it before, so had no idea where Jane found it.
Amanda went quiet.
George and I continued chuckling for a few more minutes and then settled at the table to eat.
It was a very angry Amanda that stormed back on board.
"How could you leave us there?" she demanded.
"I didn’t."
"You did."
"Technically, he didn’t," said George.
"Don’t you start," snarled Amanda.
Aleesha was looking at her sister as if seeing her for the first time. Eric seemed to be finding the whole thing amusing.
"How was I to know you were off the ship?" I asked.
"I pinged George we were bored and going for a walk."
"What makes you think I saw George before I told Jane to pull us out?"
Her retort died unsaid. Aleesha was openly grinning now, and Eric and George were laughing.
"The moment the security guy left, so did we. The station is ahead of us again, and we need to catch it."
They all sat at the table.
"So what's going on Jon?" asked Eric. "We were expecting to wake up on your station, not Cobol's."
"Long story," I said. "Get some lunch and I'll tell you."
They did, and I did.
Twenty Four
Within the hour we had docked with Hunter's Redoubt, the biggest cruise ship ever built.
We were still about four hours away from the Atlantis jump point, as by necessity, the station had taken the long way, rounding up my stragglers. The Cruisers were arrayed around the station. From space, a station on the move was pretty incredible to watch. A station with seven Cruisers arrayed around it, one towing a Frigate, two towing the halves of the eighth, and all in convoy, was an awesome sight.
The Colonel came aboard Gunbus as soon as we docked. The rest straggled in over the next quarter hour. There were hugs all round.
We'd barely started a meeting to bring everyone up to date, when Jane interrupted to say I had urgent emails again. Which reminded me I hadn't updated Admiral Jedburgh as he'd requested.
I headed upstairs to my office.
Once again, General Harriman's had come in first.
"Commander. Well done on a successful conference with the Cobol people. I've heard nothing but good things. Please do the same at Atlantis. Proceed there as fast as you can. Don't worry about this end of space, we have things covered as well as we can. Avon are expecting you sometime tomorrow."
"The Australian sector government has authorized the purchase of one hundred and twenty Talons from you, allowing a squadron for each system. We'll also take the twelve Gladiators you said you had as well. I'm telling you this now, so you don’t use them for your drone project. Can you send them to Sydney Shipyard immediately please? As soon as Bob can handle it, I'll have him fitting new computers for them. I've ordered them already, so they should be waiting for the Talons to arrive. I'm also recruiting pilots." I stopped the vid.
"Jane, how many fully operational Talons do we have?"
"Ninety eight. The forty eight we captured and another fifty which have been repaired from station parts inventory."
"Add to them the best of the remainder, and launch one hundred and twenty of them for Sydney Shipyard. Send the twelve Gladiators with them."
"Confirmed. The Gladiators have had basic repairs as well. They still need work, but not as much as they did."
"Assemble the details of each ship's condition, so I can send it to the General. He'll need it, to know what they are worth."
"Confirmed."
I restarted the vid.
"For the duration of this emergency, you are seconded to the SFSF. Report to the Avon Military Orbital as soon as you arrive. Good luck. Harriman out."
Admiral Jedburgh's vid was shorter.
"Captain. Good job with the Cobol people. I gather they weren't happy you left, but General Chandra understands. Proceed to Atlantis. Same deal. On arrival in Avon, you will be under the command of whichever senior officer has the command. Dock at their Military Orbital when you arrive. I'm attaching contact details for the Chief Engineer at Avon Shipyards, who wants specifications as soon as you can get them to him. Jedburgh out."
I sent them both 'orders received' emails. On the General's, I added the one hundred and thirty two ships were now on the way to him, and suggested he should warn the blockade they would be coming through. I attached the details of all the ships. I also sent him the company drop account for payment for the Gladiators, since they were Annette's salvage, and thus belonged to the company, and not me personally.
Bob had sent me specifications for the Tyr refits, and for the Talon Drones. I sent them on to Avon Shipyard. He promised the others as soon as he could.
The last important email was from Miriam.
"Hi Jon, like my new digs?" she said with a laugh. She moved the cam around her cockpit. "I LOVE this ship. I've just taken delivery of the first of the Excalibur's. I'm on my way back to Miami. As soon as the first of my new squadron arrive we'll begin training to destroy missile barrages. Any tips? I'm so glad to be flying a ship that is superior to the Epee. I'm not losing any performance, and at the same time, I lose that stuffed-in-a-box feeling that short range fighters give you after a day in the cockpit. Did I say I love this ship? Miss you." She threw me a kiss to end.
Something she said was niggling for my attention, but I was too distracted to catch it. I opened a vid back to her.
"Hi. Great hearing from you." I grinned at her. "I've been condemned to endless staff meetings. Eight hours on Cobol, and more to come on Atlantis. I'm heading there shortly."
"Tips. If the barrage is coming towards you, extend the squadron to line abreast, align all turrets forward, and assign each ship a field of fire so all missiles are targeted. Fire as a single entity until they're all destroyed. Depending on how many ships you have, punch a hole through the barrage. If the remaining missiles turn to target you, you've time to take them out. If they continue on towards another target, flip yourself right over and go back at them again. The trick on the approach is to maintain maneuverability while not being too fast. Too fast, and you don’t give yourself enough time to get them all. Too slow and you may not get out of the way of the one that gets through, and some will. Those things pack a punch. The Excalibur should be able to take one of them, but two will most likely be fatal. She can take a lot of punishing from FF's, but those capital ship missiles are lethal."
"If you can get behind the barrage, do the same thing. If you are to one side of it, fly down the length of the barrage line as fast as you can, making damn sure they don’t start to target you while you do so."
"On a personal note, I miss you too. Where's my vid of you naked in your new cockpit?" I grinned like an idiot at her, and threw her a kiss.
I sent the email off and replayed her vid several times. What was it I was missing?
"Shit!" I said suddenly. I thought about the implications and opened a new vid.
"Sirs. I've just had the most disturbing of thoughts, as you get when you miss the bloody obvious."
"Talons are short range fighters. At the most, they can go about one day without the pilot needing a break. They need a base. So far, we've seen no signs of a Carrier, or any form of support ship. Without support ships, they must TAKE a station in each system, so the Talons can land to rotate pilots and rearm. To take a station, they would logically be carrying troops on the Cruisers."
"What I did in Pompeii was to nose up to an airlock, and keep enough forward thrust to hold the ship hard against the station. We opened our airlock, used the emergency controls on the outside of the station airlock to open the doors, and used the inside soft seal controls to make it airtight. Next we picked the lock on the station internal airlock. They won't be able to do
the last, but they can, and most likely will, blow it open. Once in control of the station, the Talons land. When they leave, the Cruisers close their airlocks, back away, and let the station decompress. With no opposition, the station is easy to destroy."
"I don’t know this is how they're going to do it, but we cannot ignore this possibility. Please warn all stations between Azgard and Avon, and those in Miami as well, in case they get past the blockade there."
"We'll also have another problem. If they destroy all the coms satellites, we'll need to replace them as we retake the systems. When Gunbus gets to Avon, I'd like her fitted with the com relay systems. This will allow me to communicate on the other side of a jump, where there are no other coms. I'd like all my ships fitted with the same. Could be useful. We'll need a supply of coms satellites and whoever or whatever deploys them."
"Sorry sirs, should have thought of all this before. Hunter out."
I sent it to both American Admirals, General Harriman, and General Chandra.
I headed back down to the common room.
Talking stopped as I walked in. I didn’t bother sitting.
"Sorry, but I'm off again. I have to do the same conference as I had on Cobol, on Atlantis. Anyone who wants to come with me, stay on board. George, you stay please. Colonel, you remain in command of the station. Get it and the Cruisers to Avon Shipyard. Don’t stop for anything or anyone. On the way, I want the station's defenses augmented as much as possible. Anything in the way of missile launchers or Point Defense that’s in inventory anywhere should be mounted on the hull. If you can only cover one arc, do that. When you get to the shipyard, place the station directly between it and the jump point, so the station will have to be targeted before the shipyard can be, with all available weapons pointing towards the jump point. I also want you to think about repelling boarders. If my guess is right, they'll want to take the first station they come across, so they can land their Talons. So the Cruisers may carry soldiers. Your job if they board is to eliminate them, and preserve the station. If you need to enact a decompression protocol with the civilians, do it. Keep them safe. Is there a 'tool man' on this station?"
Send in the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 3) Page 16