Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero (19 page)

A channel opened.

The vid showed a middle aged man with
Admiral’s stripes, on a uniform I didn’t recognize.

“Ah,” he said with a grin.
“Our beloved Queen, with the boy cripple, who plays at being an Admiral.”

His grin became predatory as he looked at
me.

“Well boy, surrender or die!”

I stared him down. In response to his
supercilious predator grin, I gave him my Admiral’s look.

“To whom do I not have the pleasure of
addressing?” I asked him.

The grin slipped, and annoyance showed for
a second.

“You are speaking with High Admiral Thaddeus
Abbott, of the pirate Battleship Unassailable.”

“Oh? High Admiral is it? Does that
imply there’s a Highest Admiral you report to?”

I gave him my smug look.

“Don’t banter wit with me, boy.
Surrender or die.”

“Funny, I was about to say the same
thing to you.”

His grin slipped again, for just a moment.
Then he laughed.

“You and whose army?” he
challenged me with. “We’ll be taking back the Carrier you stole from us,
and eventually our Corvette as well. The Carrier can’t leave the station, so
all you have to fight with is that puny so called Heavy Transport.”

“I’ll match my puny transport against
your Battleship any time you like, Mr. Abbott.” I emphasized the Mr.

The grin slipped completely, and rage
replaced it.

“You choose to die then. Pity. We
wanted the Queen alive so she could dissolve the British nobility once and for
all, and then abdicate. My Republican allies have promised to allow me to base
in this sector, while we retake what was once ours. No matter, a dead Queen
kidnapped by a love sick boy will do just as well. My fleet will be in orbit
shortly. Prepare to be destroyed!”

The channel closed.

“Smarmy git,” I said. “That
went well.”

“How did that go at all well?”
asked Queen Liz.

“We now know there’s a Republican coup
in progress, and they have allied themselves with pirates. The question is,
your Majesty, what do you intend to do about it?”

“Do? What can I do?”

“Act like a Queen for a start. Do you
abdicate, or fight? Choose.”

“Fight!”

“Then act like a Queen under attack.
What are your orders?”

She looked at me for a moment, stood, and
drew herself erect.

“Jonathon Hunter, I call you to
service in the British Fleet, with the rank of full Admiral. Do you accept this
commission?”

“I do.”

“You are ordered to put down this
coup, and deal with this pirate rabble. Use any resources available. Appoint
anyone you trust to command, with commissions in the British Fleet.”

“Yes Majesty. Please take your seat,
and buckle up.”

She did so, and I took a moment to think. I
wasn’t given any longer.

“Military transport approaching the
Flight Deck of BigMother, rear entrance.”

“Take us there Jane.”

“Confirmed.”

I checked the scanner. We had maybe ten
minutes before the pirate fleet arrived, and it would take five to reach
BigMother. I pulled up details of the fleet. One Battleship, two Cruisers, four
Destroyers. One of the Cruisers and two of the Destroyers were British Fleet.

“You have mutineers Majesty.”

I pointed out the British ships to her.

“Destroy them please. Destroy them
all.”

“Yes Majesty.”

I put team coms on the Bridge com system so
Queen Liz could hear.

“General Smith.”

“Sir?”

“The team has just joined the British
Fleet, by Order of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the fifth. You are ordered to
put down the coup, using any means necessary. Stun if possible, but heavy
weapons are arriving with the combat suits if needed. Be sure a target is an
enemy before you take terminal action. At this point, we don’t know who is
friendly, and who is not. Once your area is cleared, you will retake the
Palace. I assume the Houses of Parliament were also taken, so assume this is
the case and act accordingly. Think like a coup leader and retake any place you
consider they may have gone after. Jane is in battle on the Orbital station as
we speak. I’ll be busy with an enemy fleet up here, so you have the command on
the ground. If you encounter any superior officer who won’t take your orders,
stun and detain. At least one Duke is a ringleader, so make no assumptions
about who may or may not be involved. Marshall Bigglesworth got the alarm out
to me in time, but I’ve not heard from him since. He’s either down, or
somewhere being jammed. One objective is to ascertain his fate, and if needed,
effect a rescue. We’re operating under the direct command of the Queen, for as
long as the situation requires. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir. I have General Hobbs with me
now, and he’s been listening in. The SAS will take my orders, and are preparing
to move out now. The Dropships are coming in as we speak.”

“I sent six of Jane’s special
suits.”

“Understood.”

She started bellowing orders.

“Hobbs?” I said to Queen Liz.

“Two star, very reliable.”

I nodded, and turned my attention back to
the Orbital station, which was coming close now.

“Jane, sitrep.”

“Battle is still occurring around
Station Operations. BigMother is secure on the station side, and the airlocks
are closed. Still unable to undock.”

“Military Transport?”

“About to touch down on the Flight
Deck.”

“Can you identify who it is?”

“Mercenary unit. Hell’s Sword.”

Great, another dark merc unit. I brought up
a screen from a Flight Deck cam. The transport touched down, and combat suits
emerged.

“Analysis of their combat suits?”

“Bottom of the range,” she said with
a smirk.

“Any tactical difference we can
exploit?”

“Main differences are how much damage
they’ll take. Their sensors are nowhere near as good either. In fact, I just
jammed them. They have no sensors or coms now.”

A smile came over my face. The Queen had
her first look at the expression Alsop hated so much.

“What’s the difference in terms of how
much gravity they can take, and still move?”

“Basic suits can still move in five
gees. Ours can take ten gees. They’re gathered outside a single airlock, preparing
to enter.”

“Unlock the airlock, back our forces
out of weapons range, and let them in.”

“Let them in?” said Queen Liz, a
look of amazement on her face.

“Yes. Jane, once they’re all inside,
turn up the gravity to eight gees.”

“Confirmed!”

“If you have to, go as high as you
need to immobilize them completely.”

“Confirmed.”

Gunbus slowed as we came near the station.

I took manual control, and brought us
around the rear of BigMother, and we looked down the Flight Deck.

The Military Transport was sitting square
in the rear entrance, and as we watched, the last combat suit disappeared
through an airlock. It closed behind the suit.

“Mercs immobilized,” announced
Jane. “It only took five gees too. Suggests the suits were old.”

I grinned at her.

Now for the transport. I opened a channel.

“Gunbus to Hell’s Sword.”

“What have you done to my team?”

“Neutralized them. Stand down and you
get to live, otherwise I’ll blow you where you are.”

“You wouldn’t dare. You’d damage your
own ship.”

“Not really. You don’t have shields.
One torpedo will tear you apart enough you won’t be leaving in a hurry.”

“Huh! You wouldn’t.”

“Are you basing this on what you see
on your vid, or have you actually viewed my Mercenary record?”

“You’re a kid. What record could you
possibly have?”

“Fine. With luck, you’ll still be
alive to look it up.”

I closed the channel. I looked at Queen
Liz, and raised my eyebrows several times quickly. She grinned.

I took a careful bead on the middle of the
transport’s engine, and fired a single torpedo. The back end of the ship
exploded, spraying ship fragments in all directions. I backed us away, and
turned to see what the pirates were doing.

They were in a V formation with the
Battleship in the middle, and now less than a minute to orbit. I moved us away
from the station so I’d have room to maneuver if I needed to.

“SAS barracks secure,” said
Annabelle over team coms. “Moving out now.”

“Fighting continues on the
station,” said Jane. “I still can’t undock.”

“Bugger it,” I said. “Get
those Meson Streamers which almost killed me, and cut her loose from the
station.” I looked at the Queen. “Sever the station side connections.”
She nodded approval.

“Confirmed.”

A channel opened from the Battleship.

“Last chance to surrender, kiddies.
Bad enough having a girl in charge of the government, without a boy pretending
he can protect her from us.”

“Jane,” I said deliberately into
the open channel, “take aim at the Battleship. Full broadside. Target the Bridge.”

“Confirmed.”

The High Admiral of pirates laughed. The
rest of his Bridge crew laughed with him.

“What do you intend to fire at me boy?
Your anti-fighter missiles can’t hurt my shields, and you know it. The only
missiles you have which are any threat are on your Carrier, which can’t fire
while docked.”

“Do you have a parrot?” I asked
him.

“Parrot? What are you babbling on
about?”

“All good pirate captains should have
a parrot. And a wooden leg. I ask because I’d hate to kill an innocent
parrot.”

He laughed hysterically, and his crew
followed his lead.

It took him a minute to calm down.

“No boy, I don’t have a parrot. You’ve
been reading too many kids books.”

I grinned at him.

“Maybe so. And I’m relieved to only be
killing vermin.”

His mirth changed to malice in an instant.

“Target that ship,” he ordered.

“Mr. Pirate,” I said. “You’re
wrong about something important.”

He laughed again.

“And what would that be?”

I looked at Jane.

“Fire.”

Three hundred missiles launched downwards
from BigMother, arced around her hull, and headed for the Battleship.

“Launch.”

Four white dots appeared on the scanner, as
the four Guardians disconnected from BigMother. They moved into a position
flanking Gunbus, and we moved to intercept the pirate fleet. For a moment I
seriously thought about launching Custer as well. But she didn’t have the
offensive firepower to help much, and there was no way we could move to her
safely. Besides, Gunbus made a smaller target to hit.

“Launch the Hives.”

Twelve Hive clusters detached from the
upper hull, and moved into flanking positions as well.

“Missile launch,” said Jane.
“They have the Mosquito system!”

Seven hundred tiny missiles had launched,
showing they had a single Mosquito launcher on each ship. As we watched, most
of my missiles were destroyed, and only a handful hit the shields of the
Battleship. The fact of any getting through at all suggested they were using
only a single medium level AI to control them.

“Guardians to attack the Destroyers
one at a time. I want them destroyed to remove their Mosquito launchers. Hives to
co-ordinate with torpedoes.”

“Confirmed.”

My ships moved. I bucked Gunbus away from
the first laser salvo coming from the Battleship. The enemy formation changed
to line abreast, and then fell apart as each ship moved differently to counter
the speed my ships were moving to intercept them at.

Laser pulses crisscrossed the area. I had to
concentrate on keeping Gunbus clear of them.

Part of my mind went into staying clear of
the pulses. The rest of my mind analyzed the best course of action.

Abruptly, I flipped Gunbus end for end and
started heading away from the fight at full speed. Pulses followed me, so I had
to continue juking erratically.

“What are you doing?” asked Queen
Liz.

“Getting you to safety Majesty.”

“You want me to be known as the Queen
who ran away?”

“You want to be a dead Queen?”

She glared at me for a moment.

“No, I don’t want to be dead. But I
also don’t want to be the Queen who ran away.”

“Trust me.”

“To run away?”

“No, to know when running is the only
rational thing to do, and when fighting is the proper logical choice.”

A pulse almost got us, as my attention had
wandered from the battle behind us.

“Don’t jog my elbow Majesty,
please.”

The Guardians and Hives were firing on the
first of the Destroyers, using guns, missiles, and torpedoes. They were all
taking hits from the other enemy ships, but shields were holding for now.

She glared at me again, but didn’t say
anything more.

I dodged another set of pulses, and we kept
on running away.

A channel opened.

“And so the boy coward runs,”
gloated Mr. Pirate Abbott. He laughed, until something caught his eye.
“What the hell was that?” he asked someone off screen.

“That,” I said, “was one of
your Destroyers turning into confetti.”

The Guardians and Hives turned their
attention on the next nearest Destroyer. Shields were down round the eighty
percent mark now.

There was a bellow of outrage from his
pirate-ness, followed by orders.

The Battleship turned away from pursuing
us, and started towards the fight behind it.

I flipped Gunbus again, now heading more up
than back. First I wanted an angled line so the pulses still coming from some
of the Battleship’s guns would have the hardest time hitting us, while at the
same time, I wanted to position Gunbus for the attack I had in mind.

A second Destroyer exploded. The Guardians
started shooting at the next closest. Shields were now in their seventies.

The Battleship entered range of the
Guardians about the same time I reached my turning point. All her guns now
began to fire at the Guardians. The drain on their shields increased, but the
enemy ships were trying to fire on all of them, where my ships were only firing
on a single target until it was destroyed.

The third Destroyer staggered and went dark,
as a missile salvo mostly hit it. There weren’t enough Mosquito missiles being
launched now to fully counter the Guardian’s full broadsides, and the missiles
still coming from BigMother. Their AI obviously couldn’t cope. The Guardians
shifted target to the last Destroyer.

Gunbus was halfway to its target now,
hopefully forgotten. I grouped up all the main guns, both the fixed forward
ones, and in the side turrets, and waited for target lock on my target.

My finger itched next to the trigger, and
my thumb hovered over the torpedo button.

“What’s that dot close to us,”
came the bellow through the still open channel.

I had target lock now.

The last Destroyer exploded, and the
Guardians, with shields now down in their thirties, opened fire on one of the
Cruisers. The Hives followed suit.

At the longest range for accurate firing, I
pulled the trigger, and began pumping out torpedoes. I kept at it as long as I
dared, and then pulled Gunbus right to turn back the way I’d come, aiming for a
narrow miss of the Battleship’s side.

I waited one second too late.

Just as the turn began, a pulse from the
Battleship tore down Gunbus’ left side, and opened the ship to space from front
to back, as if a hand had simply ripped the side off her.

Our suits snapped into space suit mode, and
connected to the nearest air connections.

Jane was gone. Her side of the console was
ripped away with the hull.

Everything went dead, and Gunbus pin-wheeled,
completely out of control.

I looked at Queen Liz. Her eyes were closed,
but I could see she was still breathing. Most likely fainted. Just as well, as
she was going to miss the next bit. I desperately wanted to miss the next bit.

I sat there, unable to do anything, the
view spinning crazily, as Gunbus followed her torpedoes into the Bridge of the
Battleship.