Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) (23 page)

About an hour later, Jane called us back to
the Bridge. BigMother was stopped.

There was a single black dot on the
scanner, showing a station ahead.

"Look," said Jane.

We could see it in the front view. The
station was huge!

"What is it Jane?" I asked.

"The missing shipyard."

The screen zoomed in on one section,
showing Cruiser sized enclosed build bays, similar to what I’d seen at Dallas
and Avon.

"Jackpot," I exclaimed. Alison
smiled at me. "How many build bays does it have?"

"Thirty two Cruiser sized ones. Twelve
fighter size."

"That explains how they're building so
fast."

Another dot appeared on the scanner. It was
civilian blue. I looked it up. Medium freighter, and not on a course for the
planet Midgard.

"Make a note of that ship's course
Jane. We'll have to check that out as well."

"Confirmed."

"Jane, what's the best way…"

My brain caught up with my mouth. No, I
thought. No, no, no.

"Jon?"

Both her avatar and Alison were looking at
me.

"There's that look Alsop hates,"
said Alison.

"Jane," I said, pausing.
"What sort of computer would they need to run a station that big?"

"To be turning out fleets as fast as
they are, there must be a reasonable amount of automation being used. That
dictates a reasonably up to date computer system driving it all. The logistics
alone would be beyond a manual system to cope with."

"Life signs?"

"Nine thousand twenty seven."

Alison gasped. That was much higher than I'd
expected as well.

"Let me guess, the next fleet of
Cruisers is nearly completed?"

"Confirmed. Less than an hour away I
would estimate. There are four squadrons of Talons docked in a fighter bay, in
the main hub."

The blue dot vanished from the scanner. It
was just us and the shipyard.

"Can you take over the computer
Jane?"

"Not at this range."

"Take us in until you can. And let's
hope no-one sees us."

Two minutes later, Jane stopped us again.
There had been no signs of alarm yet.

"Confirmed. Full cloning achieved. New
AI is named Janine."

"Welcome Janine."

"This is strange," said a female
voice. "I was BigMother, now I'm a station? WooHoo. I'm a really big
station! Hello Jon. Hello Alison. Hello sister."

We all said hello back.

"Janine, do you have control of the
life support system?"

"No, sorry. It's completely manually
run."

"Airlocks?"

"Yes."

"Can you understand the language they're
using?"

"Wait."

It took ten minutes.

"Language assimilated."

"Do they have a self-destruct
protocol?"

"Indeed yes. You want to enact
it?"

"No, just make them think it's been
enacted."

The three of them laughed.

"You got it."

A screen popped up, duplicating what was
being displayed on station screens. We also heard an announcement in a language
we couldn’t understand.

Underneath the words we couldn’t read, was
a translation.

Station self-destruct protocol enacted.

Station will self-destruct in five minutes.

All personnel evacuate immediately.

"What's happening over there
Janine?"

"Mass panic. Supervisors are
attempting to direct people to usable ships."

"Will those ships be a threat to
us?"

"Negative. The only ships with working
engines and life support are the nearly complete Missile Cruisers. None of them
have their missile turrets installed. I've locked the doors to the fighter bay,
so none of those can be launched."

"Jane, move us on the reverse course
the freighter took, to the edge of scanner range. Let's see if we can avoid
being detected as they leave."

"Confirmed."

BigMother turned, and moved off as fast as
she could accelerate.

Four minutes to self-destruct.

"Do you have control of the building
process?" I asked Janine.

"Affirmative. You wish to build
something?"

"Indeed yes." I smiled, and told
Jane what specification to send over.

We waited as the countdown continued.

Three minutes to self-destruct.

Five of the build bays opened. The first of
them spat out a Cruiser a lot faster than it would normally have left the bay.
It immediately headed after the freighter.

Two minutes to self-destruct.

Three more of the Cruisers left their bays
in a hurry.

"Jane, prepare to fire missiles
please."

I told her what I wanted.

"Confirmed."

One minute to self-destruct.

The remaining Cruiser shot out of its bay and
headed after the others.

Jane began moving us in towards the
station, keeping the last ship at the edge of scanner range.

Boom.

Alison laughed. The word had appeared on
the screen, but nothing else happened.

"Launching," said Jane.

Sixty missiles launched progressively,
going up and over the station, on a trajectory for the other side. As they
reached the midpoint between the shipyard and the fleeing ship, they exploded.
The launches and explosions continued for a full minute, the last one happening
after we'd crawled up to the shipyard, and also after the last ship dropped off
the scanner.

"Wonderful," I announced.

"How so?" asked Alison.

"With luck, they think the shipyard
exploded behind them."

"Why is that wonderful?"

I grinned at her.

"You're not?"

"Yep!" I said with a wider grin.

A half hour later, BigMother had the
shipyard in tow, and we moved off in the direction of the Azgard jump point, at
a substantially slower speed.

I managed four hours sleep before Jane woke
me up. Alison was still asleep beside me. She'd looked like she wanted to do
more than sleep when we'd gone to bed, but she hadn't uttered more than my name,
before I was in the land of nod. I deliberately eased myself out of bed, so as
not to wake her.

A very fast shower, and I was back on the Bridge
as the jump point fleet came into view.

A channel opened from Repulse.

"That isn’t what I think it is, is
it?" asked Susan Bentley.

"Sure is," I said.

"You stole their shipyard?"

"Stole is such a harsh word."

"How would you put it?"

"They abandoned it, and I decided it
couldn’t stay where it was, being a navigation hazard and all."

She laughed.

"So you didn't have to kill anyone to
get it?"

"Who, Moi? Kill someone?" She
laughed harder.

"Seriously?"

"We took over their computer, and
convinced them the shipyard was about to blow up."

"So they don’t know you have it?"

"Hopefully not. We did give the last
ship a view of an explosion as they dropped off the scanner."

"You never cease to amaze me."

I gave her a mock bow, and winced. She
laughed harder.

"Excuse me Admiral," I said. "I
need to advise the powers that be."

The channel closed on her laughter.

BigMother came to a stop, the tow was
removed from the station, and I gave orders for the fleet to move into
positions to protect both the jump point and the shipyard.

It was six fifteen, forty five minutes
before the time the Americans had said they would be ready to jump in. I needed
to postpone them doing that. I opened a vid.

"Marshall, Admirals, Generals. I bring
you glad tidings from the Midgard system. The Midgard Shipyard has been located
and neutralized. It was hidden in an area with very limited scanner range,
almost impossible to find without following a ship there, which I did. We also have
a bearing on what I assume is a second inhabited planet, or moon."

"At this point in time, I recommend we
suspend further operations until General Wellington and my Assault Frigate
catch up with us. As soon as they do, we'll proceed towards the Miami jump
point, stopping outside scanner range. It's logical to assume Midgard have as
big a fleet guarding the Miami jump point as they did the Azgard one. As such,
jumping in from Miami would be suicide, unless coordinated with a diversion. I
plan to send a comnavsat in just far enough to determine the exact composition
and formation of the force there. I'll coordinate with Admiral Hallington, for
our joint assault."

"More good news, we now have the
ability to translate the Midgard language. The relevant files are attached to
this email. Hunter out."

Jane pulsed me the language files, I
assembled the email, and sent it off.

I went back to my bedroom. Angel was asleep
on top of her kitty castle. Alison hadn't woken up. I was asleep again as soon
as my head hit my pillow.

I woke again, five hours later. Angel was
curled up by my neck as usual, but woke as I moved. Alison was gone.

I went into the bathroom to freshen up, and
came out in fatigues. I could hear the crunch of dry food, coming from the
kitchen.

I made it as far as the stairwell, when a
streak of white shot past me, and up the new cat ramp which spiraled around the
outside of the stairs. I launched myself up the access shaft, and swung
inelegantly off the top. I hopped over the cat wall, and was almost hit by a
streak of white coming back the other way, which disappeared down the
stairwell. I limped onto the Bridge, and a streak of white shot past me again,
up the ramp and skidded across the control console. She ended up in a heap
against the view screen, picked herself up, walked gingerly over to her pad,
sat, and started to wash herself. The view from my seat when I finally sat, was
cat butt.

I pulled out my pad and looked over the
emails.

Miriam had sent me a congratulations vid.
She'd been topless while she recorded it. I couldn’t stop grinning the whole
way through it, and watched it again.

Next, I threw the vid from Admiral Jedburgh
to a screen. Admiral Hallington was also in the vid, so I assumed Jedburgh had
taken command of Miami himself now. With two Carriers, and presumably two Rear
Admirals present, it made sense to have a more senior officer in command there.

"Admiral Hunter. The Miami jump point
is now clear of debris, and our fleet stands ready to engage the enemy. While
the delay is not welcome, we understand its necessity. It'll give us time for
one, and possibly two more Gunbus Corvettes, to join the fleet. The wing of
Excalibur's is complete. Lieutenant Commander Young was promoted to full
Commander to be its Wing Commander. Lieutenant Commander Greer has also been
promoted to full Commander, to lead the Gunbus squadron. We've seven of these
at the moment. If you've any suggestions as to how to jump all these ships in
efficiently, please make them."

"We also have two John Wayne class
Pocket Battleships, and a modified Tyr class Missile Cruiser. We took your
advice on the latter. It mounts fifty capital ship missile launchers on both
sides, and the same Point Defense as the John Wayne class, although the
Mosquito launchers are mounted top and bottom instead of on the sides. A new
class designation hasn’t been decided on yet. You'll be receiving a royalty on
each build in the class, as the design used key aspects of both the Guardian,
and John Wayne designs. As no-one has any real idea how to use these ships,
some tactical advice will be welcomed. Please advise your ETA at the combat
zone, so we can plan accordingly. Jedburgh out."

I thought about what I'd heard. But first
things first. I opened a vid.

"Congratulations Commander." I
emphasized the second word for effect. "I look forward to seeing your
Command…" I emphasized that word as well. "…in action soon. And you
in person."

I blew her a kiss as always, and ended the
vid. I sent it straight off, and opened another vid.

I told the American Admirals exactly how I
would get their ships into the system, couching it in suggestion terms. I also suggested
the Tyr should fire twenty five missile salvos at different targets, and the
PB's should pool their fire, so together they came close to being a Battleship
in hitting power. I sent this off to them. It would be interesting to see how
they reacted to my suggestions.

Custer was on her way, with an ETA of
twelve thirty, now forty minutes away.

Janet had advised me one of my small
freighters was on its way, coincidentally arriving at the same time as Custer. They'd
removed life support to all but the cockpit, removed all the living areas, and
seriously increased its speed. It could carry half as much more now. The
manifest showed combat droids, security droids, and their guns. Only there was
double what I'd ordered. There was an invoice from Bob for exactly what I'd ordered,
so I paid it. If Bob couldn’t count, who was I to argue? The next email was
another invoice for the droids and trolleys needed by the station. It looked
light on, by what I remembered ordering. I paid that as well.

Alison limped in, so I joined her in the Bridge
Mess for lunch.

We were back on the Bridge when Custer, and
her little fleet, jumped in. A channel opened.

"Now what the hell have you done, Admiral?"
asked Vonda, with a Bridge of curious faces behind her, and one scowling Alsop.

"Who me?"

"Don’t come the raw prawn Jon,"
said Annabelle. "Who else would have a shipyard cluttering up a jump
point?"

"Well, it was just sitting there all
on its lonesome, and it followed me back here."

There was general laughter.

"You make it sound like a
kitten," said Amanda.

Meow.

The laughing increased.

"Everyone dock please," I said. "We
need to be moving on."

"Confirmed," said Vonda, from my
chair on Custer.

There was general laughter around her.

The channel closed.

"Jane, will the freighter fit
downstairs?"

"Yes."

"Send it down then. Deploy half the
combat droids, and all the security droids, at the main airlock forwards.
Distribute the rest to the other airlocks."

"Confirmed. Oh, and it's carrying a
passenger."

"Who?"

"She hasn’t said, but General Harriman
authorized the trip."

I turned to Alison.

"Want to go meet our guest?"

She shook her head, paused, nodded, and
limped out.

I watched on a series of screens as all the
ships docked. While this was happening, I debated what to leave behind to mind
the shipyard and the jump point. In theory, there were two, maybe three,
possible threats left. It was almost certain there was a major force at the
Miami jump point. There might also be a force at Midgard itself. And there
might be another force at what I assumed was a second inhabited planet or moon.

The threat at the other jump point was the
biggest concern, and I couldn’t see how I could leave much of anything here to
guard the shipyard. The more Point Defense we had, the safer the fleet would
be.

So what could I leave behind safely?

Fighters.

Oh. Yes. The shipyard already had forty
eight Talon fighters. I also had six Mustang class Privateers, sixteen Sabres,
and nine Epees. That was seventy nine fighters mounting missiles, six of them
also having torpedo launchers. That was a lot of firepower, as long as they
didn’t get hit with a major fleet. But I seriously doubted there was more than
two fleets left, and both of those had tasks elsewhere.

"Jane, send the Mustangs, Sabres, and
Epees over to the shipyard. And give Janine what she needs to fight them if the
shipyard is threatened."

"Confirmed."

"Do we have enough parts to add
computers to the Talons?"

"We have computers."

"We do?"

"We do."

There was a pause.

"Care to enlighten me as to how?"

"There's a container in one of the
storage bays with pallets of them in it."

"There is?"

"There is."

"Is there an echo in here?"

My words echoed. I shook my head gently,
without smiling.

"Bob," added Jane, "must
have foreseen the need, and included them in the parts inventory."

"Ah. Send over what's needed on a
salvage droid, with a repair droid to do the work. Is it possible for the
shipyard to make its own droids?"

"Confirmed, and yes. But I'll need to
send over build specifications for them."

"Do so."

"Done."

I watched a side screen of fighters
launching through the now empty launch tubes. The Hives were back on the top of
BigMother, on their custom made pads. I didn’t want to leave them behind in
case we needed the massed torpedoes, and the extra Point Defense. The Mustangs
had to use the lifts, and the Flight Deck. They were too big for the launch
tubes.

As I was watching, people started arriving
back on the Bridge. The last fighter launched.

"Jane, move us to a position where the
fleet can form up on us safely."

"Confirmed."

BigMother moved a short way away from the
fleet. I opened a channel to Admiral Bentley.

"Admiral, let's form a wall formation
please. BigMother has the middle. Warspite on my left, Repulse on my right.
John Wayne above, with the Guardians on both sides. Corvettes above them.
Cruisers and Destroyers below BigMother. Deploy individual ships where you
think they should go."

"Yes sir." The channel closed on
her giving orders.

The fleet formed up, and moved out.

"Hello everyone," said a voice
from the rear door.

"Amy!" said most of the team all
at once.

Amy Allen entered, and there was a group
hug. Amy was a journalist. I'd met her at a particularly low point in my life.
She knew the team from accompanying them on several missions, the previous year.
I can't say I was pleased to see her on board my ship. When the hugs stopped,
she was introduced to Vonda and Alsop, who were the only ones she didn’t know
on the Bridge. None of the pilots had come up except George.

"No hug Jon?" she said to me,
with a twinkle in her eye. She'd walked around my chair so she could look at me
directly.

"I hurt too much to hug anyone,"
I said. Not strictly true, but I didn’t feel we were on hugging terms yet.

She looked at my head bruise with interest.

"I bet that has a story attached to
it," she said eagerly.