Hunter Legacy 8: Hero to the Rescue

by Timothy Ellis

  "You're sure the Liner won't be available again? Captain Marmot assured me they were the safest in the business, and also the most reliable."

  I rolled my eyes at her.

  "Um, no. I wouldn’t trust the ship, or its captain, as far as I could throw them."

  "What are we to do then? It's one of our most important events."

  I thought for a moment.

  "When's the next one?"

  "Not for several months, but it's been impossible to find anyone else willing to fly children around, at a price we can afford."

  "In several months I can have a Flower class Liner here, which will carry significantly more passengers, in much greater comfort and safety. We can keep the costs down to a minimum by offering you the ability to send more on the same trips, and by offering you a much better trip." She looked confused. "How about the kids getting a tour of the entire solar system, in the time it used to take to just do the sun tour?"

  "Is that possible?"

  "Maybe not in the same time, but pretty close. And the liner can certainly offer sleeping accommodation should it become an overnight trip. They could start with a speed run out to one of the jump points, where the kids could see ships jumping in and out. Then a tour of the planets on that side of the sun, the sun tour itself, and the planets on the other side."

  "That would be amazing. Can it really be ready for the next tour?"

  "My Liner is currently on its way here on another job, but after offloading, it is free for charter. I'll have Captain Jane contact you as soon as the ship returns to the Torus, and you can work out the details with her."

  "I look forward to meeting her."

  And with that, the Liner had a new job, and the kid's safety in the future was assured.

  The next order of business was quietly tucking the badly singed Liner into Unassailable's Cargo Bay. Tight fit it might have been, but out of sight is out of mind, and I intended to be gone before now Mr. Marmot discovered he was out of business. In any case, he would be lucky to avoid jail time.

  Dick wandered into the Ready Room some time later, with an odd look on his face. He sat across the desk from me, and waited for me to finish the email I was composing.

  I raised an eyebrow at him.

  "My ex-boss just sent me a report he thought you'd be interested in. Seems the remains of Palffy were sent to the medical station with the two bodies from the Liner, and the ones we picked up in the null zone. The administrator ordered a post mortem to determine the cause of death, not believing for a moment the apparent evidence of having been sliced up by a sharp knife."

  "What was the verdict?"

  "Death by sharp knife."

  I chuckled, and he joined me.

  "Apparently the first cut was fatal, not so much by the cut itself but by causing rapid bleeding out. The rest was explained as necessary to gain control of a combat suit from the outside. The whole thing was sent to my ex-boss, who seems to think you have a weapon he'd very much like to see, but isn’t game to ask. He accepts your version of events by the way, and believes you had no choice but to defend yourself the only way you could."

  I nodded.

  "In the process, they hit the same wall as far as identification as you did, until someone ran a full biographical analysis. This hit immediate pay dirt, and threw up the still open files of several dozen murders over the last few years, from all over the place. The common thread was the same previously unidentified bio, mainly from odd hair samples found at the scene. One of the reasons for confusion was the hair was female, but the MO was more male, and they'd been ignored as a deliberate attempt to throw off the investigation by a male perpetrator. The same bio opened up the banking system to reveal nine separate aliases, all of which are well known, but never been suspected of being the same person. And all of these identities have bounties attached to them."

  I grinned at him.

  "So the combat suit was a once of?"

  "Apparently so."

  "I can't say it surprised me. It wasn’t a very good one, and she wasn’t very good at using it. I thought at the time she was an assassin and not a merc."

  "Ah well. Once again some detectives are in your debt."

  "Hold the debts, we may have to collect on them one day."

  "I'll do that."

  He left me with a smile on his face.

  Just before dinner time, Aline and I showered, changed into fresh underwear, hers being lacey nothings she didn’t normally wear, and shifted into eveningwear. Me in a dark grey evening suit with emerald green shirt and bright red bowtie, and Aline in a devastating evening gown I couldn’t even begin to know how to describe, without being disgusting. We took the Gig across to the Torus, docking nearby the best Restaurant there, who had kindly fitted me in a table on the strength of the rescue the night before.

  We strode in the door, me feeling quite chuffed I was on a real date, with a gorgeous woman on my arm, and the Doorbot escorted us to our table, which was hidden behind a large screen for privacy.

  On the way, I noticed Dick and Ambassador Jane at a table for two, and several apparent couples also at tables for two, made up of one of my pilot's and one of my marines.

  I smiled and nodded to each couple as we went past.

  The smile died as we stepped around the screen.

  The table was round, and huge. There were only two unoccupied chairs, and they were on opposite sides of the table.

  "Happy Valentine's Day," yelled the entire alpha team.

  Jonathon Hunter

  will return

  in

  Hero at the Gates.

  Sector Map

  Acknowledgements

  Once again, a big thank you for Helen Ellis, my sounding board, ear that listens, and experience which talks.

  Thanks also go to Elliott Webber, for the graphic design of BigMother, for the cover. Also thanks to Egosoft, for allowing me to use photos from their games, to make the cover of this book.

  A Message to my Readers

  I’ve had a lot of fun writing this novel. There is still a lot of story to come, and I invite you to come along for the full journey with me.

  If you have enjoyed this novel, I hope you will take the time to leave a review on the Amazon site. All reviews are greatly appreciated, as they help assist purchasing decisions by other readers. Sales and reviews will help me to focus on the next book in the series, which impacts how fast the next installment is released.

  Please join me on the series Facebook Page:

  https://www.facebook.com/TheHunterLegacy

  You are welcome to discuss the series on the Facebook Group:

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheHunterLegacyUniverse/

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  Thank you.

  Also by Timothy Ellis

  These Kindle eBooks can be found on

  Timothy Ellis’ Kindle Author page.

  These links can also be found at TimothyEllisAuthor.com.

  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HRTTIJG

  The Hunter Legacy

  Part One

  Hero at Large.

  Hunted Hero Hunting.

  Send in the Hero.

  Make or Break the Hero.

  Hail the Hero.

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WL26P8G

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YPIKC6U

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011FH7TSM

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013LKL13U

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015AYA7CG

  Part Two

  Burnside's Killer.

  Hire a Hero.

  Jane's Christmas.

  Hero to the Rescue.

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017G60X5M

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0192XFCEO

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019POOSCW

  The Long Road to Outback

  1969

  http://www.ama
zon.com/dp/B016NMQYXU

  PC Games

  The X3 Handbook.

  The X3 Handbook for Albion Prelude.

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EV43G3Y

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B010VYG67A

  Spiritual

  The Wisdom of the Ages is available for the price of asking a question.

  The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 2.

  The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 3.

  The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 4.

  The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 5.

  The Wisdom of the Ages Complete Volumes 1 to 5.

  The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 6 Accrued Karma.

  The Wisdom of the Ages Volume 7 Healing the Indigo.

  I want to go home, Ascension for the travelling soul.

  Personal Healing using basic meditation.

  101 Tips for the John of God Brazil Experience.

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HQSORZI

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HV5C6WC

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IJBWRP8

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KF6QARQ

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KNMV9TQ

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017TSQ7LG

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KP5OYT8

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KP9BIPM

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LJVW71E

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HT087E0

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XVA1BKY

  Feng Shui

  Life Harmony, Feng Shui in Plain English.

  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EX4Y07S