Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) (14 page)

Excalibur dropped out the bottom of Custer,
and I let her fall towards the atmosphere.

Slice had modified one of the comnavsats to
look down on the planet. It had confirmed the city was deserted, and the tech
centers destroyed. It also gave us the precise location of the enemy compound,
and its buildings. Vonda and Annabelle had both been deeply concerned by how
accurate my information had been.

I'd visited Medical before dropping,
getting another pain killer, allowing me to fasten my straps tightly without
hurting.

I let Excalibur fall like she was a drop
ship. I watched the digital height display wind down.

At fifteen thousand meters, I took control
and slowed, precisely coming out of the dive ten meters above the ground,
heading inward to the compound buildings, pushing to full speed again.

At the last second I goosed upward, skimmed
the top of the buildings without hitting anything, dragged back the speed, and
fired ten quick torpedoes into the first Cruiser. The explosion engulfed me as
I went overhead, but the shields kept me safe. I roared out over the opposite
side wall, gave myself some room, executed the classic Immelmann turn, and
headed back. Over the wall, I fired on the second Cruiser with the same result.

I roared back the way I’d come, did an
Immelmann again, slowed right down as I came back, and started spraying the
Talons with torpedoes. By the fourth pass, my Point Defense was taking out
missiles aimed at me, and half the Talons were toast. On the fifth pass, the
remainder joined them.

On the sixth pass I started looking for…

…shit, that’s a missile turret.

A missile was coming straight at me. I
juked hard, and…

…I was catapulted backwards, where I came
to rest against the wall, hitting it solidly with my left shoulder. I lay there
a moment in total shock.

It had happened again.

I looked towards the dining table to see
everyone except the twins looking at me in shock. The twins were also on the
floor, picking themselves up.

They rushed over to me, but I waved them
away with my right hand. My left arm wasn’t working.

I managed to move myself upright with a
major groan, sitting against the wall.

My vision swam for a moment, and I closed
my eyes.

"Fuck me dead!" I grated out
through clenched teeth.

"Not in the Dining Room Jon,"
said Alison demurely.

There was a chuckle around the table as the
shock was broken.

The twins eased me up without touching my
left arm or shoulder, and eased me into a chair. Jeeves rushed in, and gave me
a pain killer shot. I sat there, trying to get it together.

"What happened?" asked Vonda.

"What just happened here before I hit
the wall?"

"You'd just finished outlining your
plan for the planet," said Annabelle. "You no sooner finished
talking, when the three of you went over backwards."

"I just did the planet run again in
Excalibur. I took out the Cruisers easily, had just finished off the Talons,
and was looking for any other targets. Last thing I remember was a cave troll
hitting me."

The twins grinned, remembering the last
time I'd used that reference, when I'd called the first Missile Cruiser we
encountered a cave troll.

"Cave troll?" asked Alsop, in a
disbelieving tone.

"Sorry, missile battery on one of the
walls. Damned thing was firing capital ship missiles."

"This is bullshit," muttered Alsop.

"This is bullshit, SIR," I barked
back at him.

I made an effort to calm down.

"Sorry, I know how this sounds, but I
know what happened."

I looked at Slice.

"John, after you finish here, and
before you go down to the Dropships, can you change a comnavsat to point down
at the planet for me? Have it make a pass over the city, and the other side of
the nearest hills. I want to be able to tell if the local farmers put their
beans in upside down."

"I can do that," he responded.
"Won't take long." He stood and walked out.

A silence fell over the room. The twins
took their place at the table again, and went back to finishing their coffee.
Jeeves brought me a bottle of water without my asking, and I drained it. I
closed my eyes.

Are you going to tell me what's going on?

Eyes you have, but see you do not.

Can I buy a vowel?

Know that which you need.

Thanks. I think.

I opened my eyes. A random thought hit me,
and I started chuckling.

"He's lost it now," said Alana.

I laughed outright.

"The men in white coats are on their
way," said Agatha.

I laughed so hard, I fell out of the chair,
and landed hard on the floor. The resulting pain, in spite of the shot, made me
pass out.

Some horrible smell went up my nose, and I
jolted awake. I was sitting up again, this time leaning against the chair. Jeeves
pulled his hand away, and left.

"Please don't make me laugh
again," I said generally.

"Sorry," said Alana and Agatha
together.

"It's ok. I just had this déjà vu
moment. I think I was about nine, back in my bedroom playing a game. I blew the
mission, and had to reload a save. It felt like I’d just done that here."

"It feels that real to you?"
asked Annabelle.

"Yes," the three of us answered
together.

"Spooky," said Abigail.

I waited for the comnavsat to show me the
compound in detail this time, before I backed Gunbus away from the station.

I moved to a point directly over the
compound, and let Gunbus slide into the atmosphere gently. I wasn’t in any
hurry this time.

At thirty thousand meters up, I stopped,
and used just enough thrusters to hold Gunbus in one place. The red dots of the
ships below were showing on the scanner.

"Jane, paint the missile launchers as
well please." She did, adding more red dots. "And the laser
positions." More red dots.

I hadn't even been aware of the laser
positions last time around.

Odd, I did think of it as the last time
around. This wasn’t a game, but it had that feel.

I literally felt I'd reloaded a save game
after being killed. Twice. It was the freakiest feeling.

"How many targets?"

"One hundred and seventeen."

I began pumping out FF missiles from both
the front and rear launchers, as fast as they could launch. Before leaving the
station, I'd had the front launcher changed to all FF's. This gave me one
hundred of them to fire, before I needed to reload.

The missiles streamed out in front, and
back, before turning downwards.

"Reload."

"Confirmed."

I brought the comnavsats vid up on a side
screen. Down in the compound, all was quiet. Some soldiers were marching around
in formation, others were smoking in small groups. I'd never seen anyone smoke
before, outside of old flat screens, but here they were. Sentries walked the
walls. Gunners lazed around looking bored.

I watched as death rained on them. All of
the Talons exploded, since none had active shields to protect them. The
Cruisers also died as enough FF's hit them to breach their hulls and detonate
their missile magazines. The nearest building was flattened. The one beyond it was
damaged, and soldiers began to pour out of it.

Missile launchers and laser positions on
the walls, and dotted through the compound, vanished, to be replaced by holes.

The last FF landed. I checked how many red
dots were left. Twenty Seven.

"Go." I said into the open
channel to Custer.

Above me, three white dots appeared.

"Reload complete."

I pumped out twenty seven more FF's, and
watched the last targets vanish.

Three Dropships screamed past me, and I
followed them down more sedately. At five hundred meters above the compound, I
told Jane to hold us there.

I unstrapped, picked up my sniper rifle,
and limped down to the Cargo Bay. By the time I arrived, the airlock was open.
I laid my rifle down, and stepped into the back of my combat suit. It sealed behind
me, and powered up. I bent, picked up the rifle, and walked to the edge of the
ramp. I gave my feet a command to magnetize to the decking, and calmly looked
down.

All three Dropships were on the ground now,
with troops fanning out from each. Some of the laser turrets were firing in
other directions from the one the troops were going. We'd split the team up
this time, so each dropship had combat suits leading the charge out. There were
no stunners being used this time. The combat suits carried Pulse Rifles, the
soldiers, lasers. Jane's combat suit was carrying her Meson Blaster in one
hand, and her Heavy Pulse Rifle in the other. It was wearing a suit as usual,
and she was back in her Lizard shape, I noticed with a smile.

I concentrated on what was going on,
looking for any enemy soldier who looked like he was being effective. I found
one. He was on the wall, firing down at the combat suits. I aimed and fired. He
went down. I shifted target, and fired again.

Team coms was an overlapping chatter. I
listened to it as I searched for targets. As someone mentioned a problem, I
sought it out and fired.

I lost track of time. Target and shoot.
Target and shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot.

Suddenly I'd nothing to aim at, so I cast
my eyes around the compound. They settled on a large group of people
approaching the wall from the direction of the hills.

"Jane, target the wall with a torpedo
please. I want a hole where those people can enter easily, without endangering
them with the hit."

"Confirmed."

Gunbus moved, and tilted down. This left me
leaning in midair. A torpedo fired from above me, streaking down to blow a good
sized part of the wall down.

"Company coming," I said.

"Friend or Foe?" asked General
Smith.

"Friends I think. They're coming down
from the hills. Must have seen the party, and wanted to join in."

"Got it. BA."

"Sir?"

"Check out the newbies. If they aren't
friendly, I want to know about it."

"Sir."

Gunbus righted herself, and I once again
stood upright, looking down. A combat suit sprinted towards the hole in the
wall, stopping just inside. The people outside halted. I listened to half a
conversation as BA talked to them.

"Friendlies," she announced.

They'd arrived just in time to avoid
fighting.

"Do you need me anymore General?"
I asked.

"No sir," she replied.

"I'll head back to Custer then. Report
when you're able."

"Yes sir."

I unlocked my feet, walked back to the
Armoury, and into a charge slot. The back of the suit opened, I stepped out,
and limped up to the Bridge.

Jane had us on our way up already, so I sat
and waited for us to arrive back at the station. Once Gunbus was docked, I
limped around to Custer, and up to my suite.

Angel greeted me as I went in, and sank
into a lounge chair. I soon had an excited puss in my lap, and I gave her all
my attention for a while, as I let the tension drain. When she lost interest,
and went to sleep in my lap, I started doing the releases for all the people
I'd just killed.

When I finished, I sat there, pondering
life, the universe, and game saves.

Jane brought me out of my pondering with
the news an email had come in needing my attention. It was Admiral Bentley
reporting her fleet had reinforced the Azgard jump point.

Vonda was in her office, monitoring the
ground action.

We discussed our next moves for a short
time, and I went back into my living room, calling for Jeeves. I gave him
instructions to move all of Angel's stuff back to Gunbus, and to go there
himself.

While this was happening, I went onto the Bridge
and gave Jane instructions. Twenty of the comnavsats in the Cargo Bay were
moved over to Gunbus. I emailed Slice a request for an invoice.

When the move was complete, I caged Angel,
and we changed ships.

Custer undocked and pulled away from the
station. Apricot One also undocked, and moved to dock with Custer.

Once they were at a safe distance, the
station began to move towards the Midnight jump point.

I opened a vid.

"Marshall, Admirals, General. Cobol
has been retaken. The enemy had a large walled compound on the surface being
used as a ship landing area. They had two Cruisers, and sixty Talons on the
ground. General Wellington will update you with Cobol's status as it becomes
clearer. We freed some captives, and have made contact with the locals. I'm now
on my way to Midnight. All is quiet at the Azgard jump point, where our
combined fleets lie in ambush. Hunter out."

I sent off the email, with the battle feeds
from the four ships involved.

Angel scampered up onto the console,
stopped, looked at me, and meowed angrily. I’d forgotten to move her console
cat pad. Jeeves hurried in with another one, and slapped it down in the same
place it had originally been. Angel sniffed at it, stepped on, turned around
three times, reversed, did another turn, then flopped down, facing the view
screen. Another meow, and I transferred the station feed to the view screen, to
replace the blank station wall it was previously showing. Angel started to
purr.

I was hungry again, so Jeeves brought me
some finger food.

I was struggling to stay awake, but I
needed to. I threw the next episode of 'Who' onto a side screen, and started
watching, munching and slurping my way through the next couple of hours.

Ten minutes from the Midnight jump point,
my pad lit up, and began downloading emails. I was obviously close enough now
for the comsat built into Gunbus to start working as a relay through the jump
point.

I emailed Squadron Leader Lacey for a
sitrep, telling him I was close to the other side of the Midnight-Cobol jump
point, and there were no enemy in sight. Lacey worked for me, and as far as I
knew, was the senior rank at the blockade point.

I also emailed General Harriman, my
Australian sector boss, of my location, and that Cobol was now secured, and
communications re-established. I told him he would be getting a whole stack of
status reports for the fighting to date. I asked him for a sitrep as well.

Until I heard something, I could not jump
into Midnight. For all I knew, they had a massive debris minefield there, the
same as they had in Miami.

An email came back from Lacey almost
immediately, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I threw the vid to a side screen.
He was sitting on an identical Bridge to mine.

"Good to hear from you sir. We were
beginning to fear the worst. The Midnight jump point is secure. We lost some
Gladiators in the early fighting, but nothing since. After a few days, we had
enough debris to block the down jump area, so half of each battle was won
before a shot was fired. General Harriman is here, commanding the blockade
himself, with me as his XO. All our ships have battle damage, but nothing a
repair droid can't fix when we dock next. Please let the General know your
intentions. Lacey out."

I opened a vid.

"General and Squadron Leader. My
station will be arriving on the Cobol side of the jump point within minutes of
you receiving this vid. Please clear the jump point on your side. When it's
cleared enough for a salvage droid to jump in safely, send one through. My AI
will send all of mine to help with the clearance. While this is happening, I'll
be getting some much needed sleep. I'll contact you in the morning. If it's
clear for jumping then, I'll bring the station through, so keep all ships well
clear. Hunter out."

I sent the email off immediately, and
opened another vid.

"Marshall, Admirals and General. The
Midnight blockade held. After the jump point has been cleared, I'll take the
station through, and leave it there as a forward base for the Australian
sector. I hope to be back at Cobol in the late afternoon. Hunter out."

I sent this one to Admiral Bentley and
General Wellington, as well as the American Admirals and British Marshall.

"Jane, deploy a comnavsat
please."

"Confirmed."

"Janet, can we have one of the
comnavsats attached to the bottom of the station please. As it probably won't
be remaining here, deploy one once the station is on the other side of the jump
point."

"Yes my Lord."

"Can you duplicate the freight scanner
on Gunbus?"

This was experimental technology I’d been trialing
for General Harriman, after I suggested it be developed. It scanned the inside
of a ship looking for contraband, and it checked the ship's ID to ensure it
wasn’t faked.

"Certainly my Lord. How many would you
like?"

"Make up enough to ring around the
Docking Deck, so it covers a kilometer all around the station, in all
directions. Also cover the shuttle dock, and small ship landing areas. Do
another couple of dozen, and store them on Gunbus for now."

"Yes my Lord."

The range of the prototype freight scanner
was only a kilometer. By putting them all around the station, we didn’t lose
any range on the side opposite from where one might be put. Cost wasn’t an
issue, so there was no reason for not adding as many as were needed for total
coverage.

"Jane, please move the remaining
comnavsats onto the first Drone Freighter you intend to use for delivering
Miami's cargo, and deploy them at each jump point between here and Nexus, and
each of them in Nexus. Add what you need to complete the chain. This has higher
priority than delivering cargo."

"Confirmed. When do you want the drone
freighters to leave?"

"Hold up until the afternoon, just in
case there's anything urgent that needs them first."

"Confirmed."

I opened another vid.

"David, I've acquired a station in my
travels, which will be at the Midnight-Cobol jump point sometime tomorrow
morning. It needs an administration staff, or at least the senior management of
one. It's run by a top end AI at the moment, so it won't require a normal admin
section. Just decision makers, and PR for the station's residents, of which
there are several thousand. There are people on the station who used to work in
admin here, but I've not had time for such things. I know this is out of left
field, but would you consider moving the family business structure here? There's
plenty of empty space, and you can rebuild company offices to your liking."

"As soon as the jump point here is
clear, I'm sending you my Liner. Anyone you can send to help, can come back on
it. If you decide to move completely, the Liner can make several trips.
Doubtless you've questions. I'll attempt to answer them. As of this time,
communications have been restored. The war isn’t over, but Cobol is secure
again. Eventually, I hope the station can be moved to the center of Nexus,
where it'll become central to the whole sector. I don’t know when I'll be back,
but we can at least email again. Jon out."

David Tollin was the head of the family
businesses on Outback Orbital. I sent the email off.

"Jane, send the Liner to Outback as
soon as the station stops moving after the jump."

"Confirmed."

I opened another vid.

"Bob. Communications are open again,
so you'll be receiving a shit load of credits from the Sci-Fi Space Force, and
the British Fleet. James McLauchlan and I have licensed your designs on a three
way split of the fees. The British sent a fleet to Avon, and the damaged ships
after the first battle, were all upgraded using your designs, which included a
Battleship. So was a Sci-Fi Battleship."

"I sold a Gunbus to John Slice of the
Apricot Mapping Service, and he's interested in building the Camel under
license at his own shipyard. However, I think he'll immediately buy the ones
already built. The Americans are interested in the John Wayne design to upgrade
their Cruisers. So my friend, my mad ideas have paid off magnificently, don’t
you think?"

I grinned at him, followed by a quick
wince.

"Can you send all my ships you have
there to the Midnight jump point, where by lunch time tomorrow, I'll have a
station waiting for them. Load them up with the cargo adjudicated to me. Can
you also send one hundred security droids? Get each of them a suit belt, or if
there aren't enough available, send a ship to collect them from wherever they
can be found. Also, can you send the normal station quantity of building and
repair droids? I'll probably take what my station has with me when I leave. Send
all those to the station. Send after me another freighter with an additional
twenty security droids with suit belts, and another two hundred combat droids.
I'll need replacements for any I lost taking Cobol, and I have more space for
them now, and several ships to spread them across. That’s all I can think of
for now. Hunter out."

I sent the email off, and turned to Angel.

"Bed Angel."

She rose, stretched, and sauntered down her
ramp. I followed her into my bedroom. She walked up her ramp onto the bed, and
sat next to my pillow waiting for me.

An email came in, and I threw it to the wall.
It was General Harriman.

"Admiral, it's good to hear from you
at last. I see I have a lot to catch up on. The jump point will take most of
the night to clear, so go ahead and get all the sleep you need. We'll talk when
you arrive here tomorrow. Harriman out."

I shifted my suit back into a belt, shucked
my briefs and socks, and donned boxers and t-shirt.

Seconds after laying my head on my pillow,
I was asleep.