Hunter Legacy 9: Hero at the Gates (11 page)

Training so close to breakfast was somewhat
of a sadistic thing to do to a person, it being the wrong way around. Pushing
yourself to the limits after eating, is a good way of causing yourself to puke.
BA took it into account, putting us through non-intensive target shooting courses
first, and the full assault courses after.

By nine I was back on the Bridge talking to
Magnus and Jane.

"So just how were you planning on
retrieving Prometheus?" I asked Magnus.

"The same way anyone salvages
something big. Use a grav sled."

My mouth twitched, but I kept it closed.
This is why you don’t let scientists out of the laboratory.

"So your explorer ship was just going
to extend a grav sled, latch on, and tow her out?"

"That was the plan."

My mouth twitched again, firmly shut, but
going left and then right several times.

"What were you going to be doing with
your shields while this was happening?" asked Jane.

"Shields?"

Jane and I looked at each other, and I
could see she was suppressing the need to face-palm as well.

"When you slide out a grav sled,"
I said, trying to remain calm, "you either have to drop the rear part of
the shield, or extend the shield around the sled and what it's towing."

"Yes, so?"

This time I did face-palm, but it rapidly
became taking a moment. The two are similar, but face-palming involves resting
the face in the palm of the hand, while taking a moment involves holding the back
of the nose between thumb and first two fingers, while looking downward. Very
similar, and meaning pretty much the same thing. I got a grip and looked back
at Magnus.

"If you drop a shield in the Death
system, it would kill you very quickly."

"Oh."

"And if you extend your shields around
an object the size of Prometheus, they would thin to the point where they would
no longer protect you."

"Oh."

"Hasn’t anyone thought about this
properly before?"

"No-one's been able to get in there
before to try anything."

"Still should have been thought out in
case you did. Otherwise there would suddenly be two ships to salvage instead of
one."

"I get your point!"

Note to self. Scientists don’t like the
very obvious being pointed out to them.

"Any ideas Jane?"

"Safest way is not go in there."

"True, but not very productive."

"It requires some in-depth naval
gazing."

"Fine. You have until we get there. Then
we need a plan."

"Confirmed."

Magnus was looking at us as if we were
crazy. Maybe we were.

"In-depth naval gazing?" she
asked eventually.

"Deep thought," I said.
"It's when you sit there thinking so deeply, the world goes by without you
noticing it. People going past think you're doing nothing at all, but when you
come out of it, you burst into frantic activity."

"Ah, that. Yes."

I guess scientists called it something
different. She went away, and left me to my own in-depth naval gazing.

Just before eleven, as we approached the
next jump point, I told Jane to link up all the smaller ships, and bring
Magnus's shield up.

We had to wait a while for the Hives to
catch up with us. As far as could be detected, there were no other jump points
in the system, and nothing at all else, even out on the fringes of the system.
This in itself was very odd.

What was more odd, while two jump point
systems were common, a string of them was not, and we were three along a
potentially five system thread.

Well, that’s not strictly true. They were
common, like the big V, but when you looked at the space around them in three
dee, you found the jump points all looped around each other, or doubled back
across adjacent space, occupying a large volume of space.

This seemed to be different. It was like
this part of the spine was a twisting corridor, separating Human space from
something else, with a lethal barrier in between.

Half an hour after we arrived, the Hives
landed, and having dropped another comnavsat, we jumped.

"That’s odd," said Jane almost
immediately.

"What is?"

"The star here is a green-white hyper
giant, which makes it really rare, both in size and colour. But I've identified
the system, and it's recorded as having a blue hyper giant star."

"Pestilence rides a sickly green-white
horse," said Dick.

"Yes, that explains things
nicely," mumbled Grace.

"It's always been seen as green by the
expeditions who've come here before," said Magnus.

"Why did they call it Pestilence?"
I asked her.

"Because no-one leaves this system
without some form of serious sickness."

"Now she tells us," muttered
Grace.

I shot her a look, wondering what was up
with her. She seemed to have taken on the role of point out the darkly obvious,
which wasn’t her normal mood.

"At least up until the last
expedition," went on Magnus, "who had adequate enough shielding to
keep their exposure to a minimal level, which allowed them all to recover after
leaving."

"Could the green be some sort of
nebula effect?" I asked Jane.

"Could be. I'll investigate it."

"I assume your people are currently
doing tests to determine if we are safe or not?" I asked Magnus and
Carter.

"Of course," said Carter.

"I'm not going any further in until I
know our shields are protecting us."

"Give us half an hour to be
sure."

The two of them hurried out. I turned to
Jane.

"Comnavsat and Hives please."

"Confirmed."

"Tactical please."

The tactical map of the system popped up.

The twins and I shivered violently.

The system had but two gas giants in it,
and a few asteroid fields in orbits, none big enough to occupy a full orbit. So
from the vantage point given by the two dee map, there were the two gas giants
in far out orbits, and scattered fairly small asteroid fields further in.
Unlike say Nexus, which also only had two gas giants, where the asteroid fields
occupied the entire orbits.

It was eerily familiar for some reason. I
felt the eyes of the twins on me, and looked at each in turn.

"Nightmare?" asked Amanda.

"Is this the system?" asked
Aleesha.

"Are we eating lunch?" asked
Dick.

The tension I hadn't known was there,
broke.

"I don’t know," I said, answering
all three questions. "Jane, how many systems are there with only two gas
giants, and asteroid fields in them?"

"Including this one, six."

"One in six chance," I said to
Aleesha.

"Where are they?" asked Amanda.

"Here," answered Jane,
"Nexus. And two on each side of the arm, roughly a third the way each. One
of them is beyond Dead Man's Chest, one is on the outer edge of the Corporate
sector, another beyond Arab space, and the last is in the Canadian sector."

"So the darkness could be coming from
any direction," stated Annabelle.

"Fraid so," said Jane.
"Unless Jon can provide some more insight from his nightmare."

"I'll try to pay more attention to
detail when I next have it."

"So will we," said the twins
together.

"Lunch?" asked Dick again.

"Waiting on the doctors," I said.

"Why?" asked BA.

"If it's going to be our last meal, we
maybe want to make it special."

"True," said Alison.

We sat there silently for another fifteen
minutes, before Carter bounded back onto the Bridge, and declared us perfectly
safe.

There was a palpable sense of relief in the
air.

"Move us right along Jane."

"You want to do that footloose and
fancy free?"

"Of course."

"Moving right along."

"What?" I said generally, when I
noticed everyone just looking at me. All except Grace, who was face-palming.
"Lunch!"

I led the way out, a white blur leading me
out.

Pestilence was a large system, which is
only to be expected when the sun is a hyper giant. While the jump point was in
the same position as the War system, and flipped from the Famine system, it
took us twice as long to get there. We laid comnavsats along the way, giving
plenty of overlap. As such, we never lost touch with the rest of the spine as we
went further and further away.

Amy walked into my Ready Room with a grin
on her face, and waved at the wall.

HUNTER VANISHES AGAIN.

HUNTER RUNNING THE WRONG WAY.

ANY LIMITS TO THE HUNTER MADNESS?

"We probably need to make a comment to
these, boss. There's no real detail to the stories. It would seem someone on
Last Hope told the media which direction we left in."

"Would now be a good time to suggest
we have evidence the Midgard prophesy might be real after all, and as such,
salvaging the Prometheus seems like a wise move to give us another useful ship
should we find the need to help evacuate planets from whatever comes?"

"We could try. But this end of the
spine isn’t going to pay any attention, and it might well backfire on
you."

"You think 'Hunter Insane' might
become a general use slogan?"

"It might."

"We need to say something sometime.
The military down this end, such as they are, need to have some plans in place
to defend key systems, and evacuate whole areas of space in a hurry. There
needs to be some preparation, or if the darkness comes through here, it could
be disastrous. All the sectors down this end of the spine, have only one or two
systems connecting them to the spine. Once their connection is overrun, there
would be no escape for anyone left behind. Between here and Earth, ten systems
control the way to escape for half of Human space. And we know the Earth end is
wiped clean."

"Is it worth saying we believe the
Midgard prophesy to be true, and so are trying to find a way of crossing the
blockage system in case we have to flee that way?"

I looked at her in shock.

It had never occurred to me. And yet, it
should have been obvious. If the Darkness came from any direction but here,
some part of humanity was going to have to flee this way. And crossing what had
previously been uncross-able, might be the difference between survival and
extinction.

We talked it out for a while and decided to
try to get the message out. After a number of false starts, and some editing,
we finally had a vid we thought worth sending. Amy threw it to the wall for one
last look.

I was sitting at my desk, in Hunter Dress
uniform, with flat images of Angel, Gunbus, and BigMother behind me.

"Hello. I'm Admiral Jonathon Hunter
from the Mercenary unit Hunter Security. I'm also the Duke of Hunter's Run, and
the Duke of Norfolk, in the British sector. I am recording this vid from a
system with no official name, one jump away from the system which stopped man's
expansion down the spine. The system where the explorer ship Prometheus died,
and which still prevents us from moving core-wards."

"I'm here for several reasons. Not yet
a year ago, the Australian, Sci-fi, American, and British sectors, fought the
Midgard war. The planet Midgard, have prophesy they call 'Ragnarok', or the end
of the world. It foretells the end of everything. The planet Outback in the
Duchy of Hunter's Run also has a similar prophesy. Both appear to be about the
same event."

"Recently, I visited the Sirius
system, which is the most complicated system known to us. While there, we found
evidence that one day, whole planets would be wiped clean of all higher life
forms, and all evidence of humans having been there. The scientists I have with
me are in no doubt that this will happen, although we do not know where or when
it will begin. Nor do we know what the threat is. We have some indications that
six key systems scattered along the length of human space may be the first
system to see the threat. The system I am currently in is one of them. My home
system of Nexus 618 is another."

"Our goal in the coming days is to
salvage Prometheus. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate that passage across the
blockage system is now either possible, or soon will be. Should it be necessary
for humanity to escape a threat we cannot handle by going core-wards, knowing
how to do so safely is essential. Should prophesy actually happen, having a
ship the size of Prometheus available for moving people to safety will be
invaluable, especially as it appears a Carrier class ship size is the smallest
which might safely cross this lethal system. Once salvaged, she will be
converted for this purpose, along with her sister ship Enterprise, which is
already on her way up the spine to my shipyard."

"Why am I telling you all this? I've
lived with the Outback prophesy all my life. The foretold signs are happening.
I don’t know when, or where, but I believe something we call 'The Darkness' is
coming. And when it gets here, humanity is going to need to move, and move
fast, to stay alive. I'm not in the create panic business, but now is the time
for all sector's to plan for the defense of the key systems along the spine,
the loss of which would prevent hundreds of millions of people from gaining
safety. They also need to plan on how to move planetary populations through
those key systems to safety, whichever direction this proves to be."

"To sector militaries I say this: I've
been on a crusade to remove mankind's internal threats. It is now vital to begin
preparations to defend your sectors from an external threat, while your
populations flee to safety. This will require co-ordination with your neighbor
sectors. It will require many more ships than any sector has now. It will
require every station and merchant ship we have being used to move people in
the direction we identify as being where safety lies."

"Now is the time for planning,
building, and forging ties with allies. I know the threat is coming. It might
be tomorrow, next month, next year, or next decade. I know some sectors have
these sorts of plans already. Now is the time to get them out, dust them off,
and update them. Now is the time for Mercenary units to re-forge ties with
their origin sector militaries, or to join me."

"Why should anyone take me seriously?
Midgard, one planet, went to war with multiple sectors, on the strength of prophesy,
and nearly won. This alone should give anyone pause. We are woefully
underprepared for any kind of external threat, as indicated by nearly having
been overwhelmed by an internal one. The Midgard war was a wakeup call. I have
evidence of what is to come, should sector leaders and their military
commanders wish to see it. It will not be made public, until we know where and
when the threat is coming. My aim right now is to get preparations started. I
will be in contact with key governments on my way back up the spine, but I
won't be stopping for long winded discussions."

"There hasn't been any central
government since man left Earth. And to a large extent, until now there hasn’t
been any reason for sectors to form a higher government. I'm not advocating one
now, but I do believe the sectors need to begin to work together, in order we
as a species survive what is coming."

"I fully expect to be laughed at and
ridiculed. But as you do, think on this. I’d rather be wrong and be laughed at,
than be right and not done all I could to prepare. Consider the galaxy we know.
We have been limited to one isolated arm. We know only a fraction of what there
is to know about our galaxy. We have encountered lethal environments, but know
nothing of the void of space ahead of us as the universe expands. We have
speculated for millennia on the existence of intelligent alien life, but found
no evidence of them. But lack of evidence does not mean there are none. It
simply means something has prevented contact, the most likely reason being the
distance between us, and for lack of a better word, them. We know enough to be
able to prepare for an external threat. We have had two warnings one is
imminent. We can prepare and hope nothing happens. Or we wait and react without
a plan to whatever comes. I for one, am planning for the worst, and hoping for
the best. What will you do?"

"Thank you for your time."

Amy and I sat there for a long moment,
before clapping came from the doorway. Jane was standing there, with the twins
and Annabelle behind her.

"Nice," said Amanda.

"Just the right tone I thought,"
said Aleesha.

Meow, said Angel.