Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero (23 page)

Precisely at seven that evening, I was
guided into the main Dining Room, where I found the rest of my team already
seated. I’d showered and been given a pain shot, which was somewhat late, given
we’d not wanted to be disturbed for quite some time. I’d never experienced
quite a mixture of pleasure and pain before. It was disturbing on one level,
and enjoyable on another. Her Majesty had turned out to be a tiger in bed.
Tigress in bed. Actually, bed hadn’t figured all that prominently, as we’d
discovered ways of avoiding me bending my knees.

I’d had a twinge of concern cross my
thoughts at one point. I’d only just said goodbye to Miriam, and here I was in
someone else’s bed. But Miriam had known she couldn’t hold on to me. Long
distance relationships with no known next meeting point, were not likely to
last. And after all, one didn’t say no to the Queen of the British sector. One
said “Yes Ma’am”, and frequently.

Amanda nudged her sister as I entered, who
nudged Alison. They all looked at me as if I was the cat which ate the canary.
I popped up a hollo mirror only I could see, in case there was obvious evidence
showing of what I’d been up to for the last few hours. I was in Hunter Dress
again, and my arousal override was back on. Hollo mirrors weren’t as good as
regular ones, so there was nothing I could pinpoint, although I did seem to
have a grin plastered on my face, and maybe that was enough for them to make
assumptions.

I took my place at the table, sending my
scooter to a corner, and promptly had to rise again, when the Queen entered.
Her eyes flicked to mine, momentarily. It was long enough for Aline to catch,
and the other three caught her look.

I wondered what all the fuss was about.

Dinner was as good as the last one I’d had
here. But this time I felt a good deal more comfortable. I chatted with those
around me, and remembered nothing but the touch of a set of lips against mine,
and several other things one doesn’t mention in polite company. Or in any
company, if one wanted to keep one’s head on one’s shoulders.

After dinner, coffees stretched out, and a
sort of torture set in, being so close to her, and not being able to touch her
once again.

On the way back to BigMother, I was asked
when we were leaving. I didn’t know, and told them it depended on when the
Battleship came out of the shipyard, and how long it took Jane to figure out
how to dock it with BigMother.

I did tell them to be ready for a Royal
inspection at ten in the morning. I didn’t tell them the whole reason was so
Liz could meet Angel. I hadn’t asked why she hadn’t met her last time she was
aboard, and while I was asleep. She wanted to come aboard, it was the reason
given. If it wasn’t, I’d find out in due course.

BigMother hadn’t re-docked with the
station. As we flew past the front section, I noticed the docking clamps which
had been cut off the station, were now gone. So she could now dock, but hadn’t.
I guess my order to undock was still in effect. We were parked far enough away
from the station not to interfere with ship movements, but close enough for
short shuttle rides.

I thought about that on the way down the
lift. It might be a good idea to not dock BigMother in the future, or only dock
long enough to unload and load, before undocking and orbiting further away. If
the shit was going to hit the fan again sometime, I wanted my combat ships out
where they could be most useful, not tied up at a station. Perhaps I could use
Gunbus as an executive shuttle. Shuttle being the operative word. There was no
way I wanted to go up against a Battleship again in something as small as a
Corvette. Lesson learnt. Not only wasn’t I paranoid enough, even now, I seemed
to be getting gung-ho as well. Stupidity kills on the battle field. It almost
had.

Back in my suite, I gave Angel some
attention, and went to bed.

I woke up alone the next morning. Even
Angel was absent. By six fifteen, showered and kitten patted, I was in my Ready
Room, reading emails. Rather surprisingly, I hadn’t needed a pain shot. The
ache I knew all so well was there, but it wasn’t really outright pain anymore.
My bruises were yellowing now.

Amy had sent a copy of all the reports
she’d filed with the media in the Australian sector. Me, big hero. Hero
unavailable due to injury. Hero’s forces put down coup. Me getting knighted. Me
getting Duke’d. It all came over like a bad soap opera.

Then there were the stories coming from
home. Surprise and happiness an Australian should be knighted and appointed as
a Duke. Surprise and outright hatred an Australian should sell out to the British
Monarchy. Shock that the Australian government had given away systems to an individual
person, let alone a kid, especially when they’d refused the mining industry
ownership of Nexus since the sector was established. More shock over said kid
having a battle fleet which could destroy the whole sector. Calls for the government
to take back the systems. Calls for non-aggression and alliance treaties with
the new mini-sector. Calls for close military ties to ensure the Australian
sector’s security. Calls for the Prime Minister to resign.

My eyes glazed over. I didn’t need other
people’s drama. It’s why I pay no attention to the media at all. Never have,
never intend to.

Politics though, I was going to need to
learn how to play that game. Oh joy.

A headline caught my eye and stopped me
completely.

OUTBACK FILES TO JOIN HUNTER’S RUN.

I pinged Amy to join me as fast as she
could get up here.

She came in five minutes later, looking
like I’d roused her from sleep. It was a good look for her, but I doubt she
would have agreed if I’d mentioned it. Which I didn’t.

I threw the headline to the wall.

“What is that?” I demanded.

“What it says. Outback filed a
petition yesterday to leave the Australian sector, so the system can join your
new mini-sector. Outback’s status has always been something peculiar. They pay
their sector tax, but have never participated in the sector government. They
pay less tax than any other system, as they’ve never required anything from the
sector. And as the first planet colonized in the sector, the sector
constitution left them out of many things which bind the other systems. You
should know all that.”

“What the hell is Hunter’s Run?”

She grinned at me.

“It wasn’t me! Honest. Someone in the
Sci-Fi sector wrote a story about your trip to Pompeii to rescue the team, and
called it the fastest run through that section of space ever done. Someone else
picked it up and called the stretch of space through Midnight and Bad Wolf,
Hunter’s Run. When your ownership of the systems broke, everyone referred to
the systems with the name. I think it stuck.”

“Bollocks it has!”

“Then you won’t want to hear the
latest reference.”

I sighed.

“No, but tell me anyway.”

“You’re being called the Duke of
Norfolk and Hunter’s Run.”

I put my head in my hands.

“Speculation is rife,” she
continued, “on how you structure the new mini-sector. King Jon the first
is running at five to one. Duke Jon is at three to one. The next closest is
Field Marshall Hunter, the military dictator, at nine to one.”

I bashed my head on the desk three times.

“What are you going to do, mini-sector
wise?” she asked.

“I haven’t decided, and frankly,
you’re the last person I’ll be telling.”

“I promise not to file anything until
you say I can. I’m contracted to you at the moment, so you do have a say in
it.”

“I don’t know, so there’s nothing to
tell you. And if you report anything at all, I’ll boot your arse out the
nearest airlock!”

“Yes Your Grace.” She grinned at
me.

“Anything else I need to know
about?”

“The government is tearing itself
apart on the Outback issue. But those in the know are saying they really don’t
have a choice. Outback has the right to leave the sector. Asking was only a
courtesy on their part. What most of us journalists want to know though, is how
the Outback government even knew about any of this, let alone issuing
instructions and filing petitions, given they’re non-contactable for another
ten odd months. As far as everyone knows, they don’t even have an operable
receiver on the whole planet at the moment. Or so they tell anyone who asks.”

“That is a good question. I’d like to
know myself. So Australian sector will allow Outback to leave the sector?”

“The smart money is on yes, but it’s
going to cost the government big time if they do allow it. It’s one more hit on
a shaky government. They came into office on the tails of the pirate threat,
promising sector defense and stability, and promptly did almost nothing,
leaving us at the mercy of Midgard. We dodged that bullet purely because of
your forces, the use of mercenaries for sector defense leaving a very sour
taste in a lot of mouths, on all sides of politics. The government can’t win on
this issue. And that will make the Prime Minister a very unhappy man. You
better watch out for him at the negotiating table. He’ll need to look strong to
stay in power, and yet, the need to negotiate with you at all, will be
perceived as his fault for giving away the systems in the first place. Makes a
politician dangerous, being in that position.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Why is giving
away the systems a problem? Bad Wolf is practically useless to anyone, and
Nexus only has a single ring being mined, which I’m not getting control of. So
they gave away mostly empty space, useless rubble, and a few gas giants. What’s
the big deal?”

“It’s the principle of the thing.
Never give away territory. The trouble was, the war was kept away from the
sector through your actions, and the reward had to match the potential
sacrifice. They had no choice, and everyone knew it. General Harriman made
enemies though, in proposing it in the first place. Once he suggested it in
government circles, it had to happen, as there was nothing else of significant
magnitude to reward you with. And as you said, they didn’t give away anything
important. All the same, politicians don’t like being boxed into a corner and
forced to do anything. Remember that.”

“I will. I guess I may need to call on
your advice.”

“I’ll add it to my bill.”

She grinned at me, and I reluctantly
grinned back. I waved her out, and she left.

I went back to emails.

The answer to the Outback question was in
an email from David Tollin. His email was encrypted, and I had to get Jane to
sort it for me. I threw his vid to a wall.

“Sir Duke Jon,” he began with a
grin. “Congratulations. I think. Everything is running smoothly on
Hunter’s Redoubt. Your new stations passed through with no problems, and should
be in position in Nexus by now. Your AI’s have begun refitting work to Hunter’s
Haven, although not much can be done without funds. I’ve setup accounts for all
three stations, and for each ship of yours doing trading runs using the AI as
captain. If you can drop a few hundred million into Hunter’s Haven’s account, I
can get the material for the refit flowing.”

“Regarding your mini-sector, with your
permission I’ll set up accounts at the sector level. We can talk about how best
to structure the sector when you arrive back, but for now, you need accounts
separate from your own. You will need them for tax collection, and accounting
purposes. Start thinking about how you want to fund your sector, and what sort
of administrative structure you want.”

He paused, and looked serious all of a
sudden.

“No doubt you’ve heard about Outback
filing to leave the Australian sector and join your new mini-sector. This is
true, as far as it’s known. What isn’t known, is a closely guarded secret. I’m
sorry to say I’ve been keeping a few things from you. The day after you left
Outback, a Keeper arrived on the Orbital from Gaia. He had sealed instructions
from the government, after having called a special session before the Door
opened. They were to be opened only when certain events had occurred.”

“Jon, we could have brought you back,
while you were unconscious in hospital, after Wanderer was attacked. The Keeper
called the attack and your hospitalization a sign. He forbade us from bringing
you home in a Care Unit, or telling you anything about this. I’m sorry, I know
this’ll distress you. It made me really angry at the time, and I took a piece
out of the Keeper. It made no difference to him.”

I stopped the vid.

So, I was sent here after all. It had never
occurred to me I could have been taken home while the Door was open. For a
moment it made me very angry to find out all of my suffering of the last two
months could have been avoided, and deliberately wasn’t.

I’d always known I had something to do with
Prophesy, but for them to just cut me adrift like that? Just how cold blooded
were the Keepers? Just what sort of game were they playing?

I sighed. My anger dissipated. The answer
was always, wait another ten months. Less than ten months now.

I started the vid again.