Hunter Legacy 8: Hero to the Rescue

by Timothy Ellis

  I'm wasn’t sure if what I’d said made things better or worse.

  I pinged Aline, asking her if she'd like a date at the best restaurant we could find on the Torus, the evening we arrived. She pinged back she would be delighted.

  One bullet dodged.

  I opened a vid to Miriam.

  "Oh my gaud, I'm so sorry. We went into the Sirius system to explore it, and look for a missing medical team. I've always been fascinated with the Sirius system, and finally had the chance to indulge. But I never expected us to be gone so long. I'll explain it properly in person when I see you next, but we not only saved the medical team, we rescued a mercenary unit which had been declared dead ten years ago. It’s a seriously messed up system, and we had problems getting out again. If I’d known we'd be in there so long, I might not have gone in. But in that case, a lot of people would be dead now. You know I don’t always know why I'm doing something, just that I'm guided from higher up to do it. This was one of those things. I had to go. It cost more time than I could have imagined. All I can say is, I'm sorry."

  I paused, leaving the vid running. I put a smile on my face.

  "Thanks for the Valentine. Of course, I had to look up what it was, as it's something we don’t practice back home. It seems like an interesting custom. I can't promise chocolates and flowers, but the first chance we get, dinner somewhere nice is guaranteed."

  I paused again.

  "How are you for leave? I will be coming back soon, as the Door to home opens in thirty three days' time. The invitation to visit my home still stands. I'll be inviting some General's and Admiral's as well in due course, so you might want to discreetly ask to be included in the official party, or be given leave so you can attend as well. I'll send you more as soon as I work out the details, especially RV points."

  "Missed you. More later, as I have months of official stuff to wade through now. Just had to start with your vids. See you in a few weeks."

  I blew her a kiss, and ended the vid. I encrypted it, and sent off the email.

  Another bullet dodged.

  I hoped.

  Thirty

  One of the emails from David had a bold, all caps, heading. "VIEW ME FIRST!"

  I viewed it first.

  "Jon, welcome back to the land of the living." He grinned at me. "I received your notification of going back into the Sirius system, and being you, I added a week to the time estimate you would be out of touch for. When the week passed with no contact, I began to get worried. A week later, and the first of the 'Hunter missing?' headlines began to appear. These triggered one of those mysterious messages from the Keepers, which informed me you would be gone for months, and I was to calmly continue in the face of media hysteria, putting out the message you were on a rescue mission, and would be back when it was completed. The message also gave me a set of instructions."

  He paused, looking serious.

  "I'm beginning to think one of the Keepers is here. On this station, or at least on Outback Orbital. And has been ever since you left that first day the Door was open. There is no other way they could be reacting to events like this. There is simply too much information involved. I can't say I like my chain being jerked around like this, but what can we do." He shrugged. "I've done what was asked of me, not because it was a Keeper asking, telling, but because I knew you would agree with doing them anyway."

  "You probably know already, but here's what's been done in your absence. The top of the list was to claim Dead Man's Chest for the Duchy. This proved easy enough to do, based on discovery rights. The nearby systems didn’t object, Earth sector wasn’t interested in a system that far away from Earth, and the Duchy took it over two weeks ago. Assuming it would go through, Jane sent a squadron of four of the new Missile Cruisers to act as a system protection force. They arrived the day before the system was officially confirmed as part of the Duchy."

  "Next on the list was to request John Slice to have one of his explorer ships survey Dead Man's Chest. He has since confirmed the ship was dispatched, but no follow up report has been received. I did ask, but received a cryptic sort of reply indicating he wanted to talk to you personally about what they found in there."

  I had to grin. Slice must have found something interesting. He might even have done the survey himself.

  "The third item on the list was the dispatch of another four Missile Cruisers to the Enterprise system, to await your return. The only reason I can think of for this action is if the Keepers expect you to claim the Sirius system as well. I checked, and it is not, and never has been, claimed by anyone. Nor is anyone interested in claiming it. If you're planning to do so, you need to file with the French sector, even though Enterprise is not actually a part of the French sector, putting them two jump points away. Best keep the French happy by consulting them. I did try to contact Enterprise, but apparently they consider you well and truly dead, and so the issue isn’t worth any of their time."

  My grin grew bigger.

  "Lastly, Jane was instructed to modify three more freighters to fabricate and deliver comnavsats, and to complete the job of planting them in every system on the nav map. This task has now been completed, as you should have seen by now."

  "I'm sorry to be cryptic, but I'm also instructed to tell you the following: 'You will have a distraction on your way to the gates. Take the long way home.' I've no idea what this means, but whatever it is, be mindful of the time. The Door opens in exactly thirty three days. Don’t be late!"

  He lost his serious expression.

  "Let me know when you can send again, I'll need an explanation I can release to the local media. See you soon. Tollin out."

  The email was date and time stamped six hours earlier.

  I sat back in my chair with my hands behind my head. The left arm twinged, so I put them down again.

  I looked up where Amy was, and opened ship coms to her office.

  "Amy?"

  "Boss?"

  "How's the media release going?"

  "I sent it off a few minutes ago."

  "Send a copy to David Tollin please."

  "Already did."

  "Thanks."

  I closed the channel, and opened a vid to David.

  "David, you should already have received my media release. That’s the official version. The actual events are secret for now, but I'll let you know the whole story when I see you. Needless to say, we were gone a lot longer than I expected. Good job on the Keeper tasks. I assume I have a series of reports to wade through, but I haven’t begun yet. We'll be jumping into Enterprise shortly, and I expect to be at the Earth Torus in about two days, assuming the French don’t hold us up. The only gates I know about are somewhere I have no intention of going, and we'll definitely be taking the fast way home. See you in a few weeks. Jon out."

  I encrypted it, and off it went.

  A reply came in from a seemingly mollified Miriam. The dinner invitation was now cast in stone, and I could expect to be abducted at gunpoint if I didn’t deliver.

  I sat there for a moment, wondering if it would be Aline or Miriam who actually killed me, and if this would happen before or after the Darkness came. I sighed, put it aside, and went on with emails in priority order.

  Thirty One

  The Bridge was full for the jump into Enterprise. It was as exciting as expected, like a cat jumping into the middle of a flock of birds. The French Fleet scattered in all directions, moments after we appeared. As there was no ship directly in our path, Jane moved us sedately away.

  A channel opened from the single Heavy Cruiser, which presumably was the flagship.

  An Admiral, not unexpectedly in French uniform, spouted French at us in a very loud voice. Jane scrolled the translation up a side screen. Grins were immediately held in.

  After I let him vent for a few minutes, I told Jane to thank him for his warm welcome, and ask what his business was with us, if any.

  The response came back in English, albeit with a heavy French accent.

 
"Jonathon Hunter, you are under arrest."

  Shock echoed around the Bridge.

  "May I ask why?" I enquired.

  "The charges are murder of a Corporate sector citizen, willful damage to a system relic, and creating a biohazard on said system relic."

  "And this concerns the French Fleet because?"

  "The Enterprise system has requested our help in this matter. While not a member of the French sector, we are happy to help our neighbor in times of need."

  "Right neighborly of you. May I enquire why a French Fleet is at this jump point? You cannot have been here on the off chance I returned."

  "Very true. We were requested to blockade this jump point, so as to prevent more fools from venturing forth into such a dangerous system. The request came from Earth, and was felt to be of sufficient gravity to warrant our attention."

  "Ah. An excellent reason. You may be interested to know I plan to claim the Sirius system for just this reason, so I may leave a force inside this jump point to prevent anyone else from endangering themselves by venturing forth as you say."

  "You have such a force nearby?"

  "I do. And I would be happy to have them relieve the French Fleet of the time, resources, and above all, cost, of garrisoning this jump point. I'm sure you will agree your force is wasted in this backwater of a system."

  "On this we do indeed agree. However, I have my orders. Perhaps for now, we could agree to a joint blockade of this jump point, while we proceed to the planet to expedite the processing of your charges."

  He was, now, being exceedingly polite. It's amazing what a backup fleet does in this regard.

  "Ah yes, the charges. I will of course be requiring the Enterprise authorities to explain my assault, kidnapping, and unlawful removal from the planet to their, um, relic; and will be fascinated to hear why they failed to stop a known assassin from unlawfully accessing their, um, relic, when he must have done so in full view of local traffic control."

  He was good. I'll give him that. He shifted gears flawlessly.

  "Indeed we shall be fascinated to hear such."

  "I'm quite happy to admit I did damage the, um, relic, in the course of my escape from certain death. However, I'm more than happy to repair the damages. In fact, I’d be more than happy to repair the entire ship."

  His jaw dropped open. I held my chuckle well under control, as he shifted gears once again.

  "Then let us proceed to the planet, where I shall conduct a brief hearing. If you do not mind being escorted?"

  "I don’t mind at all Admiral. I suggest you form up on me, as I have the larger ship."

  "We will do so, Admiral. See you on the planet."

  The channel closed, and the Bridge burst out laughing. I let the mirth go on for a few minutes, watching the HUD as half the French fleet formed up on us.

  "Jane, call in the Missile Cruisers, and have them form up with the remainder of the French fleet. Get us moving to Enterprise, normal speed."

  "Confirmed."

  "Won't that leave them behind?" asked Amanda.

  "I guess it will." I let my wicked grin slip out for a moment. "But it will give us an hour or two to resolve this situation before our friend there arrives."

  "What do you think is going on with the charges Jon?" asked Annabelle.

  "Feels like a shakedown to me," said Dick.

  I grinned at him.

  "Jane?"

  "You want to know the financial situation of the Enterprise colony?"

  "Yep."

  "Pretty bad. About as you'd expect, out on the fringe of known space, with nothing much beside tourism to generate credits to buy what you can't make. The French are not a lot of help to them."

  "There you go," said Dick. "Classic shakedown. Rich person provides excuse to levy huge fines. Can't ignore it when your colony is broke. Perfectly legal too."

  "Legal?" asked Grace.

  "Sure. It's only illegal when individuals do it. When governments and big business do it, it's perfectly legal. And if it isn’t, it very soon is."

  I was still ginning at him.

  "I know that grin," said Alison.

  "What's the plan boss?" asked BA.

  I told them.

  Thirty Two

  Enterprise colony had a somewhat unique government. Not being big enough for normal kinds of government structures, it was instead run by an elected Governor, and a set of officials all elected to do a specific task. It was more like the organization of a ship's crew than a government. Not entirely unexpected since that’s where it had devolved from.

  Grace landed the Dropship on the roof of the Government building. Jane led the way into the building, me following, with the twins behind me. BA brought up the rear. All of us were armed to the teeth. Much more than usually. In addition to my three guns, I also had the sword visible on my back.

  Jane kicked in the door to the Magistrate's office, walked in, sidestepped, and ushered me forwards.

  "Admiral Jonathon Hunter, Magistrate," she announced me.

  I strode up to his desk, as the man choked on his coffee. The twins took up positions on each side of the door inside the room, while BA turned her back and stood in the middle of the doorway looking out, ensuring we wouldn’t be disturbed. Jane paced in with me, and stood one pace back and to my right. All of them had hands resting next to guns.

  "Magistrate," I boomed at him. "I understand you have a warrant for my arrest?"

  The coffee cup shattered on the floor at his feet, the dregs drenching his lap on the way down. I let him have a moment to gather himself, before sitting in the chair in front of him. Jane took position behind the chair.

  "Magistrate?"

  "This is outrageous," he spluttered.

  I let him see my angry face.

  "I completely agree," I broke in before he could say anything more. "A Corporate sector assassin comes to your colony, assaults and abducts one of your guests, forces entry onto your most sacred relic, and proceeds to try to kill your guest. Funny how no-one witnessed the abduction, traffic control completely missed the launch of a ship, completely missed its passage into space, AND completely missed it landing on your most sacred relic. How could this be? Was this gross incompetence? Or was this a look the other way and be grossly compensated job? Yes, this is completely outrageous!"

  He looked at me as if I’d slapped him. I didn’t let up.

  "And to add insult to injury, the victim is blamed for escaping his captor in the only way he could. This IS completely outrageous."

  I glared at him enough to make him visibly wilt.

  "One has suspicions," I told him, my voice a lot more reasonable now. "One has the means to verify said suspicions. Should one be forced to do so, one might have to contemplate war, or at the very least, there will be consequences."

  He went completely pale, as I emphasized the last word. Hands went to guns behind me. He looked about to faint.

  He opened his mouth, but I beat him to it.

  "Shall we discuss options?"

  "Options?" he squeaked.

  "You have choices. I have choices based on your choices. Shall we discuss them?"

  "Please," he croaked.

  "Can I assume you will dropping these ridiculous charges, and sending word immediately to the French Admiral?"

  "But you did cut a hole in Enterprise, and leave a biohazard behind you."

  "I am quite prepared to have the damage repaired, and the biohazard removed. Of course, I am in a position to offer more, should I not have to worry about petty charges."

  "More?"

  The lights turned back on in his eyes.

  "Come, am I a free person or not, Magistrate?"

  "You are, Mr. Hunter."

  "ADMIRAL Hunter," grated BA, in the doorway.

  The lights dimmed again as he cringed.

  "Admiral Hunter, my apologies. All charges against you are dropped. Give me a moment to file the paperwork, and make the necessary notifications."

  No-one move
d while he went blank for several minutes.

  "There, all charges dropped, and all notifications of such sent."

  I looked up at Jane. She nodded.

  "Excellent. Perhaps now would be a good time to visit the Governor?"

  "I'm not sure he will see you without an appointment." BA half turned in the doorway and glared at him. "Admiral," he added quickly.

  "Let us see, shall we?"

  I rose, and started for the door. The Magistrate followed, reluctantly. Jane led us through the building to the Governor's office. The five of us strode in formation, forcing the Magistrate to almost run to keep up with us.

  Jane kicked in the door again, striding in with me just behind her, while the twins and BA took up the same positions as in the Magistrate's office. The Magistrate followed us in.

  I strode up to the desk. More coffee was wasted, but the cup survived this time.

  "Governor," I boomed. "I'm Admiral Hunter. I'm delighted to make your acquaintance. Your Magistrate has been very helpful in removing some ridiculous charges against me, and I thought we might have a chat about your options."

  For a moment I thought he hadn't heard a word I’d said. He was still looking at the door.

  "Oh, my apologies. My associates tend to get a bit over enthusiastic at times. But then, mercenaries do tend to act first and ask questions after."

  I emphasized the word mercenaries. I didn’t need to put him off balance, but they had been trying to shake me down, and I wasn’t going to let them feel good about anything.