I looked everyone in the eyes, one by one. Most of them nodded as I looked at them.
“Wing Commander Slice.”
“Sir?”
“You will deploy a comnavsat in orbit of every planet in this system. You will also check for areas where one is not enough. We can’t cover the entire system, but we can cover all the real estate. You’ll have an escort to watch your back. No unnecessary risks. If you find an opposing force, you will deploy a comnavsat and get the hell out of there. Even if the comnavsat doesn’t last long, we’ll get enough to plan an attack.”
“Yes sir.”
“The main force will be heading straight to Midgard. That’s where I expect any remaining fleet to be. But don’t assume it. There’s at least one other inhabited location in this system, and it could also have a significant fleet there.”
I looked down the table at everyone.
“Let’s get this finished today. No last minute casualties please. There have been far too many already. Admiral Bentley will give you your assignments shortly. Dismissed.”
I looked at Susan, Vonda and Annabelle, motioning them to stay. The rest filed out.
“Jane will give you the patrol areas we worked out, Susan,” I said. “Divide up the Sci-Fi and British ships. Slice needs a bigger escort, as he’s most likely to come across something interesting. Better give him at least one Cruiser, with a sensible Captain who will let him lead. He doesn’t have the rank the Cruiser captains have, but for the job I gave him, he is the most experienced person in the fleet. Exploration is his mission.” She nodded. “The idea is, we cover the entire system as fast as possible. So if you see something we missed, by all means tweak the plan. Emphasize the no action directive. I want to find out what’s here, before we blunder in and do something stupid. There have been enough surprises in the last few days. I don’t want any more.”
“Agreed,” they said together. We all laughed.
“Annabelle, it’s about four hours to Midgard. Prep the troops. I’m hoping we can take out the missile sites from orbit, but if not, you go in and neutralize them.”
“We’ll be ready.”
“Have I missed anything?” I asked Vonda.
“I don’t think so.”
“Admiral, form up the main fleet into line abreast formation. Have BigMother’s support ships form a second line above the main formation, and get the rest moving. I fancy dinner at Midgard.”
“Confirmed,” answered Susan, and we all laughed as we stood, and left.
Six
Once the fleet was moving, I sent off a ‘We are moving to Midgard’ email, and we went down for lunch. Greer turned up looking a lot better than he had earlier. He took me aside.
“Jane told me my ship has been repaired, and swapped for the last Gunbus. What did you want me to do?”
“Relax for now. Go back to bed if you still need sleep. As the Corvettes and Privateers are repaired, their pilots should launch them, and join the line formation above the main force. Re-dock yours when you can. You and Miriam stay aboard until just before we get there. As soon as the underside airlock is clear, tell Lacey to dock.”
“Yes sir.”
I waved him towards the table, and we took seats.
After lunch, Miriam found me playing with Angel, and joined in, until Angel lost interest, and went to sleep on her kitty castle. I introduced her to ‘Who’ episodes. She didn’t really follow what I tried to tell her about the backstory, but she enjoyed the actual story itself.
BA dropped past to ask a question, although I never found out what it was, because she became engrossed with what we were watching.
I looked around at one point to find Alison in the next chair. Sometime later, the twins were lounging on the floor.
As one episode finished, Abigail asked what this was, so I went through the backstory again. To my surprise, she understood the basics, and started explaining it a different way to the others. Even Annabelle seemed to understand time travel was involved, by the time she finished.
Jane kept me updated with the repair work through my PC, as the afternoon wore on. By the time the next episode finished, all the Gunbus’ were on station in the line above us, with the exception of Greer’s. Several of the Excalibur’s were as well. Miriam’s was ready for her. All I had to do was get her away from the entertainment.
“Time to go back to work people,” I announced.
“We have to do this again,” said Aline. “I never knew the old stuff could be so interesting.”
“Me either,” said Alana.
The whole team seemed to have wondered in without me noticing.
I shooed them out. They needed to prep for possible ground combat. I needed to get to the Bridge.
Angel beat me up there, even though I’d started well ahead of her. She took her place on her console mat.
Miriam and Greer undocked, and the three junior 266 pilots landed, so they could pilot the drop ships if needed.
Alison, Vonda, and Alsop, joined me on the Bridge. Jane was there, as usual. Amy ran in a few moment later, and took a seat at the back.
As the time clicked over past four in the afternoon, the planet Midgard was large in the view screen.
“Jane,” I said, “deploy a comnavsat please.”
“Confirmed.”
The comnavsat exited through a droid airlock on the Cargo Deck, and took up an orbit around Midgard.
“Hey,” said Jane, with a laugh in her voice. “They put their beans in upside down!”
We laughed, although Alsop looked like he really didn’t get the joke.
“What have we got?”
“One hundred and twenty missile launchers, all grouped in a series of compounds, well away from any population center.”
“Any ships?”
“Negative.”
“Ready for the meet and greet?”
“Confirmed.”
“Meet and greet?” asked Vonda.
“Jane has a greeting in their own language prepared to send.”
I opened a channel to the planet. Immediately we received their answering service.
“Die Heathen, thou who would bring Ragnarok upon us. Those who worship technology will bring the end of all, if we do not stop you. Die Heathen…”
I muted the channel, and nodded to Jane. She nodded back, and threw the just sent message translation onto a side screen.
Government of Midgard, you have committed acts of war against the Sci-Fi and American sectors. You will surrender to us now, or face the consequences.
“Missile launch,” announced Jane.
“Surprise, surprise,” I said. “Mosquitos please.”
Two hundred Mosquito missiles met one hundred and twenty capital ship missiles in the upper atmosphere.
“I wonder how they’ll explain that to their people?” asked Alison.
“Or this,” I added.
One hundred and twenty missiles launched from Guardians, and headed down to the planet. After a short pause, there was a noticeable plume on the surface, where each of the compounds had been.
“All sites destroyed,” said Jane.
“Send the message again.”
“Confirmed.”
A side screen popped up with several people showing, next to the screen with the translation from before. One of them spoke in what we assumed was Old Norse. The translation went up on the other screen.
Who are you to defile our planet?
“Vice Admiral Hunter, of the multi-sector fleet. You have waged war against us, and you lost. You will now surrender.”
I nodded to Jane, and she translated it.
The effect was instant and completely unexpected. One of the men turned to the other, and struck him across the face. The man reeled back, and fell.
The Hunter! You told us the wrath of the hunter was of no consequence. We took you at your word. The hunter was of our own people you said, and his wrath was meaningless. You fool. We are now doomed!
“Jane, a
sk him what he’s talking about.”
The man still standing, bowed.
The prophesy of Ragnarok has a little known codicil. This warns of a special doom if we leave our planet before the dawn of Ragnarok itself. The wrath of the hunter would descend on us, all who left our system would die, and we would suffer as no others will. Our Seers told us the hunter was one of us, and as a simple woodsman, could not do anything to hurt our people. Tell me truthfully, what of those we sent out on Crusade?
“All dead. Many of them took their own lives rather than be captured.”
We have been deceived by those who interpreted prophesy. You are the Hunter. Are you to be our doom ahead of the rest?
“What is the prophesy of Ragnarok?”
Forbidden. Those who must know, will know. Those who follow, must follow on faith alone.
“I need to know.”
He looked at me, as if really seeing me for the first time.
You are the Hunter. You will know. But it’s not my place to be the instrument of enlightenment.
“Fine.” I was getting tired of this. “Do you surrender?”
Midgard is at your mercy. But I cannot surrender to you. I am but the humble caretaker of this planet. Those who rule, removed the abomination from the sky. To where, I do not know. They make their will known through Seers.
I could see Vonda’s sudden smile, and the shake of her head. Her understanding hit me as well, and I couldn’t stop myself from snorting. It sounded like a classic political scam. The Seers were the real rulers themselves, with people they could manipulate doing the talking for them. They send people off on a grand crusade, thus ridding themselves of all the troublemakers.
I indicated Vonda.
“This is General Wellington. She is the new Military Governor of Midgard, until the Sci-Fi sector government decides otherwise.”
I waved Vonda forward. The Midgard official bowed to her.
“You will place all Seers in immediately detention,” she said, “and surrender them to me, when ordered to do so. Diplomats will be arriving soon. You will prepare a place where we can meet to discuss peace, and the future of Midgard.”
We await your diplomats. I ask only one thing.
“Which is?”
Return to us those who have been sent to the embarkation point, that they should avoid the Hunter’s wrath.
“Agreed. Where is this place you speak of?”
The first man savagely kicked the second man, who was still on the floor.
Tell them.
The fourth moon, of the fifth planet.
“Thank you,” said Vonda. “Lock up all the seers. I’ll be in touch with you again soon.”
Your will be done. Will you send the Hunter away before he destroys us?
The man was terrified of me!
“I cannot send him anywhere. However, he will be leaving soon.”
I await your next command.
He bowed low, and the channel closed.
Seven
I opened a channel to Custer.
“You can stand down General. There’s no need for a ground action. We are however, going to visit a station, so we may need you then.”
“Understood.”
The channel closed.
“What just happened?” asked Amy.
“Which part?” asked Alison. “Someone being terrified of Jon? Or the war being based on a lie?”
“Both.”
I put my face in my hands, and just sat there.
“Classic power play in my opinion,” said Vonda. “Exploit something the people worry deeply about, gain power for yourselves, create an enemy, and get rid of those people who might threaten you by sending them to fight. It never occurred to them the prophesy might contain a real person, who would stop them.”
“Doesn’t explain why he was terrified of Jon though,” said Amy.
“I don’t know,” said Vonda. “Wrath is a pretty powerful word to bandy about.”
“Who are you really Jon?” asked Alison. “Or what are you?”
I let my hands fall away from my face, and looked at her. She had her serious face on, but the twinkle in her eye, and the twitch of her lips, told me she wasn’t being serious.
Vonda laughed at Alsop’s expression. He had that swallowed-a-frog look on his face again.
“Email from Slice, Jon,” said Jane.
I dug out my pad, and threw the vid to a side screen.
“Admiral, first planet done, moving to the second. Have you checked the tactical display for this system? If not, I think you’ll find it interesting.”
“What’s he talking about Jane?” I asked her.
“This.”
Another screen popped up showing the positions of the planets around the star.
“Hooley, dooley,” I exclaimed.
“What are we looking at?” asked Amy.
“This,” I said with a flourish, “is how the system looks from above at the moment. All the planets are almost lined up in one neat line, nearly ninety degrees around from the jump points. There’s less than a five percent deviation.”
“Is this good?” asked Alison.
“It’s very rare,” said Jane. “In some systems, it only occurs once in tens of thousands of years.”
“And it’s happening here now?” asked Vonda. “Is that significant?”
“Could be,” I said. “For Seers, it’s too obvious an omen to pass up on using to justify whatever you want people to do for you. Wars have been fought before based on much less of an omen than this one.”
“Makes Slice’s job easier too,” said Jane. “Took him the same time as us to get to the first planet. Now he can do all of them in the same amount of time, instead of having to cover the entire width and length. Also means the Orbital station is not all that far from us. Half an hour or so, depending on exactly where it is.”
“What do you want to do now General?” I asked her. “The main fleet needs to find this missing station, but you probably should remain here.”
“I could move to Custer.”
“No, better make it Warspite. They need to see something significant in orbit for a while. When the rest of the Sci-Fi fleet finishes their patrols, they can form a blockade around the planet. I’ll leave the Americans here for now, in case any ships try to escape. We didn’t detect any, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have some hangered somewhere.”
“Fine with me. Who tells who what?”
It took me a moment to shift mental gears.
“Your bailiwick, your announcement.”
She nodded, and opened a vid.
“Generals and Marshall. While Midgard hasn’t actually surrendered, their ability to threaten anyone has been ended. They’ve agreed to accept a diplomatic mission, and I’m hopeful, this war is now over. There remains at least one loose end, which Admiral Hunter will now pursue. Governor Wellington out.”
She nodded to Alsop, and he went blank while he assembled the email, and sent it off.
“Captain’s Gig for the Governor, please Jane.”
“Confirmed.”
As soon as Alsop finished, the two of them left.
I opened a channel to Greer and Miriam.
“Commanders, we’ve been given the location of the Orbital station. General Wellington is remaining here, on Warspite. I’m assigning the smaller American ships as a temporary blockade force around Midgard. Commander Greer, deploy so no ship from the surface can escape. Capture is better than destroying, but no ship leaves this planet. Commander Young, dock with BigMother please, you’ll assume command of the pilots still aboard.”
“Yes sir,” they said together.
I closed the channel, and opened another to BigMother’s ships.
“Dock please people. As soon as you’re all aboard, we’re moving out again.”
They acknowledged, and I closed the channel.
A half hour later, we were on our way to the fifth planet. The main wait was the Gig doing a round trip. Geor
ge and the 266 pilots appeared on the Bridge, and took seats. Annette followed them in a minute later.
There wasn’t any point in leaving the Bridge, so pad still being in hand, I started checking emails. A number of invoices were waiting for my attention, so I paid them. Seems Jeeves had ordered a few things, given the opportunity the freighter runs provided. One of the invoices was two complete sets of Angel’s stuff. It made sense. There was no point in continually shifting her stuff around, especially the kitty castle, wall, and ramps. Might as well have a set in Gunbus and Custer, for future use. Seemed Cat World considered me a safe customer, as the pallets had been delivered to the freighter, before the invoice was paid.
“Heads up,” said Jane.
We were about half way to the fifth planet, Midgard having been the fourth in the system. Ahead of us, and somewhat below our course line, was an asteroid belt.
A black dot was now showing on the scanner. There were no ships showing, but this didn’t mean there weren’t any docked at whatever station this was.
We watched as the station came into visual range, and progressively grew bigger.
As we reached a point where the fleet was about to pass it by, I called a halt. Jane took us down, relatively speaking, and BigMother approached the station. It was located on the edge of the asteroid belt itself, just far enough away to avoid any possibility of a collision with a rock.
“Mining station,” said George. “Looks like we found the Shipyard’s feeding ground.”
“Looks like it,” I said, with a grin. “Jane, send the following. Midgard has surrendered, please do the same, or you will be destroyed.”
“Confirmed.” There was a minute’s pause. “The station has surrendered.”
“What ships are docked?”
“One super-freighter, and a mixture of large and medium freighters. Nine in all.”
“Can you take control of them?”
“Yes, but for basic functions only.”
“Anyone on them?”
“Not many.”
“Tell them to leave the ships immediately. Once they’re empty, undock them.”
“Confirmed.”
“What are you up to Jon?” asked Alison.
I gave her the Maniac grin.
Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero Page 4