I headed out across the dock's cargo area. No-one shot at me this time. A platoon of soldiers was jogging to a cadence, along the public walkway. As one, they saluted me as they went past, without breaking stride. I stood there watching them head away from me, with my mouth hanging open. I headed in the opposite direction, aiming to do a lap of the docking ring. Part way around, a freighter was being unloaded. I'd never actually stood and watched the process before, so I stopped. Cargo droids 'carried' containers out through the airlock, dropped them on a special pad, and went back for another. The container dropped away and another pad took its place. I accessed station's systems and pulled up a hollo screen so I could watch where the container went. It was offloaded in a huge storage area, and moved to an unloading area. Smaller cargo droids opened it up, and started moving pallets out from it. The pallets went onto a pallet sized pad, and disappeared again. I followed one along using the cams it went past. This particular pallet ended up on the Promenade Deck. Another cargo droid moved it to a large restaurant that was being used as a mess kitchen.
I kept moving. When I arrived back at Gunbus, I turned into the station and headed inwards and upwards. I'd never actually taken the time to look at what shops were on the Promenade Deck. While it wasn’t the only deck of shops and offices, it was the biggest, and had the most windows to space around its outside corridor. The views were wonderful and I took the time to admire them. So many books had told me to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. So I did. I covered the whole deck methodically, building an internal map of which shop and office was where, and if they were still a going concern, or now an empty shell. Once the station was permanently located somewhere, I hoped the empty spaces would be filled, and the station became a viable trading destination.
Had to survive the war first, I mused.
"Admiral on deck!"
I'd come to the main eating area and groups of soldiers had been sitting around. Now as one, they were at attention.
"As you were," I said. Every military flat screen I'd ever watched, said it was the appropriate response.
Most of them sat again, but one man came toward me. He sported a spectacular shiner. He stopped in front of me, went ramrod straight and saluted.
"Begging the Admiral's pardon, sir. Permission to speak, sir." I nodded. "Private Wilcowsky, sir. I apologize for my behavior and words, sir. It won't happen again, sir."
"Thank you Private. Carry on."
"Yes, sir."
He saluted again, did a parade ground pirouette, and marched back to his seat. I made a huge effort not to gawk. I continued on my walk, changing direction towards the main administration section.
I found Smith and O'Neil discussing something, which ended abruptly as I appeared. I waved them back before either could finish getting out of their chairs.
"Do you know what's going on in the command offices?" asked O'Neil. "No-one can get in."
I chuckled.
"Janet is doing some redecorating," I said.
"On her own? Without being told too?" He sounded upset.
"Janet is a clone of Jane remember. Jane is eccentric. They both show signs of independence that might bother some people, but so far I've had no cause for worry. Janet told me if we were going to operate this station like a Battleship, we needed at least a Bridge for it, or some form of CCC."
"CCC?" asked Annabelle.
"Combat Command and Control. What the Americans call a CIC, Combat Information Centre."
"So she is building one?" asked O'Neil.
"Sure is. Should be complete by midnight apparently."
"Did you ask for it?"
"No, but I should have. I'm wondering what else I should have asked for as well."
"Who's paying for all this?" asked Annabelle.
"I guess I am. Admiral Jedburgh was going to see I received everything done at cost, but no-one here has discussed it with me yet. I guess it depends on if we survive tomorrow."
"Can you afford it Jon?" she asked.
"Have you checked your account recently?" I counter asked.
She went blank for a minute, showing she hadn't. Her eyes opened wide.
"Does that answer your question?" I said.
"Yes. You sold more ships?"
"Yes. One hundred and thirty two fighters, to the Australian Militia. It put a sizable amount into the Hunter Security company account as well as my own. Meaning the company can afford to pay and feed all you nice people." I grinned at them.
"Some of them were company ships?"
"You remember when we took the station, Annette was calling Gladiator pilots, idiots?"
"Vaguely. I was a little busy at the time."
"Well she killed a Mercenary squadron, hired by the Pompeii government, one by one as they down jumped. Those hulls were stored on the station, received some repairs, and I sold them to General Harriman. I don’t know if Annette knows it yet, but she received the payday of her dreams recently, the same time you received that last payment."
"About time something went her way."
"I thought so too. She actually listened to me when I suggested she take care how she made her kills, but I doubt she had any idea it would pay off as it has. I suggested when she came into some credits, she upgrade Nightshade."
"I hope she made it through yesterday."
"I do too. I hope they all did."
"Did they really have any chance of winning yesterday? Or are you being optimistic?"
"Gunbus took out one Cruiser and five squadrons of Talons on her own. By yesterday, they should have had three Corvette class ships, an Excalibur, five Centurion Privateers, and some Gladiators. The Unthinkable was refitted to carry as much Point Defense as Gunbus does, and the same missile launcher, torpedo launcher, setup. She is slower and does not have so much shielding. The Camels have the same speed and shielding as Gunbus, carry the same main armament, but only have about two thirds the Point Defense and neither of the heavy turrets. Between them, they should have been able to handle the two barrages fired at them. Given some good positioning, they may even have been able to kill the Cruisers on down jump, and only had to deal with Talons. And in another day or so, they should be joined by my Carrier. Bob promised to get the main work done in a rush, giving it speed, shielding and guns, if nothing else."
"But we have to hope they're ok." It wasn’t a question.
"Yes. Until we can get back there, we won't know a thing. There's the small issue of surviving tomorrow ourselves."
"Just between us," said O'Neil. "How do you rate our chances?"
"Pretty good. I think we have enough Point Defense now to be able to handle six barrages at once if we have to. With the firepower we can mount now, we may be able to take out one or two of the Cruisers before they can fire. It's going to be close, we may lose some paint, but I think the station and the drones tips the balance."
"I hope your right," said Annabelle.
"Me too," I agreed.
I left them to it, and walked back to Gunbus. Angel greeted me at the cat wall, and I played kitty castle with her for a while. When she tired I went back to emails.
I threw Miriam's new vid to the wall in my office.
"I guess my last vid didn’t go down so well, since you didn't reply."
"Shit!" I said. That's what I'd forgotten to do, reply to her vid. She went on.
"I'm sorry if I upset you, but I was a little emotional about what I saw. I would like an answer to why you did what you did, and then uploaded it. Young out."
Ouch!
I started a vid, got down on my knees and with a huge grin on my face, begged forgiveness for being distracted and forgetting to answer her. I stood, told her to look up my Bounty Hunter Guild record, then watch the other vids I was attaching. If she wasn’t able to figure out the why's from those, there was nothing I could say that would satisfy her. I attached the feed BA had suggested. I also found the station feed for the platoon that had saluted me, and the soldier who had apologized, and included
them as well. I sent it off, hoping it was enough for her to understand.
The mundane emails kept pouring in as they always did, although nothing at all from Australian sector. I waded through them for the next hour.
Another vid came in from Miriam.
"Holly fucking shit! One hundred Million credits? If I'd known that, I'd have shot you myself."
She grinned and laughed, before sobering up again.
"Okay, I get it. That’s a cross to bear that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Just try to keep the body count down, please."
She went very serious.
"I know you have a big battle coming up tomorrow morning. Our door is closed. They won't be getting into Miami any time soon. Everyone here will be thinking about all of you there, come seven thirty tomorrow morning. Jon, please don’t take that one risk too many. I want to see you again. Do what you have to do, but don’t be the Lone Ranger. Let your people do their jobs. I want to hear from you the moment the battle ends."
She threw me a kiss and the vid ended.
I looked up the Lone Ranger. It rang a vague bell. I'd seen that series in the database but never watched any of them. I read the blurb about the original show. It had been remade in one form or another several times each century. The Americans had never given up their love of cowboys and that ole Oregon Trail, whatever that was. The last had been made only a few years ago, but American Cowboy, or anything like it, had never been my thing.
"You are a Lone Ranger you know," said Jane.
"That makes you Tonto."
"Yes Kemosabe".
I was saved from answering by Alison, arriving for dinner. We moved into my living room. But before we could seat ourselves, Jane interrupted Alison's interruption of her, by announcing the last of the drones had arrived. I excused myself, and went down to Vonda's office. She looked up as I walked in.
"We ready to go?" she asked.
"We now have twelve Drone clusters. Jane is positioning them around the station as an escort. Any reason why we can't leave now?"
"Not that I know of. Ordinance is on board. Provisioning was finished hours ago."
"I wonder if Slice has his Gunbus yet."
I pinged him and asked. He replied immediately saying he was just taking delivery. He asked if the station was moving now. I gave him an affirmative. He asked if the fighters should cease training and land. I told him it was his call. He responded it was probably best.
"The Wing Commander is taking delivery now. He's ordering all fighters to land, so once they're on board, we can get moving."
"Carry on Admiral."
I pinged O'Neal to get the station moving to the jump point as soon as the last of the fighters were on board. He rogered that.
I went back upstairs. Alison was seated at the table, with a place setting directly across from her. I shuffled through shipyard external cams until I found one that showed the station. I threw the cam feed to the wall and sat. Alison grinned at me, so I grinned back. While Jeeves was busy serving drinks, we started to catch up with what we had been doing lately. I hadn't realized there was so much administration just keeping a station running. Of course, now there were no civilians on board, the only real work for her involved the troops. Angel was racketing around her kitty castle.
While we were eating, the station started moving. We watched the cam feed until the station was out of sight of the shipyard's cam, after which I closed it down.
"Umm, is it me, or is the station moving faster than before?" she asked.
"It's moving faster. We added more tugs. We should be at the jump point in about three hours I think."
"Isn't that almost fighter speed?"
"Just about."
"That’s outrageous!" She grinned. I grinned back. "Actually that’s one of the things I like about you Jon. You're not afraid of doing the impossible as if it was everyday stuff."
"The impossible can be done immediately. Miracles take a little longer."
She laughed and I laughed with her. Conversation flowed smoothly for the remainder of dinner.
We lingered over our desserts, and then without saying anything, moved into the bedroom.
The bed already had a towel laid out over it. Alison went into the bathroom and returned with a container of massage gel.
"Where did you get that from?" I asked.
"I found it in with the spa salts and deodorants. You didn't know it was there?"
"No, I just ordered bulk packs, without really looking at what was in them."
"So you haven't tried this gel yet?"
"Nope."
"Let's get started then."
She grinned at me and I took the hint. I changed my suit back into a belt, and for the first time, took it off completely. I removed my socks and briefs and stood in front of her naked. This wasn't the first time she had seen me naked. Before we took the station, I'd been in the spa naked with most of the girls in the team. And not long after we first met, she had given me a massage and pulled my briefs off me. I remembered that night fondly as we had ended up in bed together. She had been my second time with a woman.
I lay on the towel. Angel ran up her ramp, settled on the pillow near my head, and went to sleep. Alison spent the next half hour massaging my back and bruises, not leaving anywhere at all out. It was very relaxing. She even did some of the reiki I'd taught her, using it on each of my new bruises in turn. I rolled over on command, and she continued.
When she finished, she toweled me dry on both sides. Then with a grin, she stripped off, and lay down on the towel where I’d been. I obliged the unasked and proceeded to massage all of her back side. Let me rephrase that. I started at her head and massaged all the way down to her feet, not missing anything out. Up and down her body I went, getting her energies flowing properly. When I tapped her on the back, she turned over, and I did the same on her front side. By the time I'd finished, her nipples were hard.
She opened her mouth to say something, and Jane committed 'massage interuptis'.
"Jon, we're approaching the jump point. The senior officers are gathering in Vonda's office."
We both groaned.
I gave her a sorry look, and dived into the shower. She followed me and we washed the last of the massage gel off each other. We rapidly dried each other and I pulled my briefs and socks back on, followed by my belt. I shifted it to fatigues. Alison had done the same and was back in 'slinky red'. I was interested to see that the suit covered up her state of arousal. Shaking off thoughts that I didn't have time to pursue, I waved to Alison and headed downstairs.
"You look relaxed," said Vonda, as I entered her office.
"Indeed yes," I replied. "Just had some reiki on my bruises from the team medic."
O'Neil came in and threw one of the station cams onto the wall. Annabelle was not far behind him. We sat, as the jump point approached.
"Jane, show us a tactical display please," I said.
It popped up next to the forward view.
To our left and right, and still ahead of us, were positioned the two Battleships. They were on a broad angle to the jump point, so all the main guns could bear on it, while not being fully side on. It made them harder to hit with a whole missile barrage, while still allowing them to fire a full broadside.
The station was sliding into position mid-way between them, but a bit further away from the jump point. The Battleships were deliberately positioned to be the main threat to anyone jumping in.
We watched as the station came to a stop. Its top surface was pointed directly at the jump point.
"Aren't we a bit close to the jump point?" asked Annabelle.
All eyes turned to me.
"I left it up to Admiral Bentley. There's a tradeoff involved. If we engage at long range, the enemy fleet has time to fire full barrages at us, before any of our fire will hit them, and may well get two barrages off. If we engage at short range, we can hit them really hard the moment they jump in and keep hitting them while they turn broadside on to fire th
eir barrages, with the hope that several of them won't fire at all under our fire. But the barrages that are fired, won't have far to go to hit their targets. We're not as close as we could be, but still at fairly short range."
I pointed to the positioning of the other ships.
"The Cruisers and Destroyers are further away, as they're more vulnerable, making the Battleships the main immediate targets. We hope that will keep the smaller ships alive. But they're close enough to ensure their fire will be fast and effective."
"How will we defend the Battleships?" Annabelle asked next.
"With the fighters. The drone clusters will attempt to protect Warspite, and the rest of the fighters will protect Repulse. But that will only last for the first barrage. They'll be outnumbered by Talons. The barrages will be the main threat to the capital ships, but the Talon's missiles will be the main threat for our fighters. We're gambling on having enough Point Defense to cover both types of missiles. I won't kid you, it's going to be close. How we do will depend a lot on how fast we can take out the Missile Cruisers, and how fast the enemy react to our having such a substantial force at the jump point."
"I'd be expecting a meat grinder at any time, if I was them," said O'Neil. "They've had it relatively easy as they've come this way. They blew through the defense at the Azgard jump point, and since then, have had next to no opposition at all."
"Yes," I agreed. "I'd be expecting it too. The question is, are they? We have to assume they will be. We need to be firing as they come through."
"We'll find out soon enough," said Vonda, effectively closing down that conversation.
With nothing more to be said, we all left.
"Is that you Jon?" came from Alison as I entered my living room.
"Yes," I called back.
I followed her voice into the bedroom. She was sitting up in bed, naked again. She slipped out from under the covers, definitely naked, with only her belt on, and came over and hugged me.
"I don’t want to be alone tonight," she said huskily.
She kissed me. I returned the kiss.
"Should we be doing this?" I asked her.
"No. But I want to anyway. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. I know the twins went looking for testosterone, but I can't be bothered with the macho bullshit that goes with it. Be with me?"
Send in the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 3) Page 23