Hunter Legacy 9: Hero at the Gates (20 page)

"Not possible," said Jane through
the room coms.

"Not for normal people, but Bonko
isn’t normal."

"Normal or not," said Jane,
"it’s a standard Earth type Cruiser. You could fit a Corvette in the
hanger, but nothing bigger. There are several shuttles, two Dropships, and a
gig in there now."

"I'm disappointed," said Sam.
"Not like Bonko to not have a rabbit in his hat all ready to go."

"Jane?"

"Yes, they are locked down, and no
they can't get out, and no they can't do anything which might interfere with
the ship."

"Just checking."

"Confirmed."

"So what's his story?" I asked
Jack.

"Essentially, he was employed by
someone called Norbett, to infiltrate the pirate outfit run by an Admiral
Abbott. Norbett stopped sending orders and money, Abbott died over London, and
they narrowly missed being caught up in the mess near Earth, while seeking out
the next nearest pirate group. When he heard they were pretty well all been
wiped out recently, he tried contacting whoever was left of them, without
success. Figuring there was nothing left to infiltrate, and having no way of
verifying anything, Bonko felt the only chance he had was to find you before
anyone else found him. Not knowing you were down spine of Earth, he's been
going the wrong way, at least until the media started pointing out you were on
a speed run up spine, after which he turned around to try and meet us. Unfortunately,
someone must have spotted his ship and told the ASF, because suddenly he had
Battleships on his arse. He's actually very glad he found us first, and his
ship was faster than most Cruisers."

"Why me?"

"Your reputation as a spiritual
warrior. He figured you’d ask questions before shooting."

"Almost his last mistake, wasn't
it."

"A number of his crew needed new
underwear. Bonko though is made of sterner stuff."

"Summarize all that, and send it off
to Captain Johansson. Let them decide what to do with Bonko and his crew."

"Sir? He's not a bad sort. And like
all Mercs, sometimes they take the wrong missions because they have no
choice."

"I know. But this is ASF jurisdiction,
and they could have demanded we hand over Bonko, crew, ship and all."

He nodded, and the pair of them left.

We blew through Denver and Kansas with no
further incidents, other than a brief message from General Patton to the effect
Bonko and crew were to be left in the Washington system for a debriefing about
their knowledge of pirate activity.

Waiting for us in Washington were three
Lightnings. They were lined up from the down jump, enough apart to safely take
each one on board without slowing down.

Annabelle, Jack, Jane, and I, waited on the
Launch deck for the Lightnings to come down from the Flight Deck.

The first had General Patton and his aides
on board. We did meet and greet in an official capacity, and the General and
his party were taken to their accommodations on Unassailable, detouring via the
Brig to talk to Bonko on the way.

The second had Admiral's Jedburgh and
Hallington, and staff. Again, we did meet and greet, but this was a little
warmer and less official. They also were taken off to their accommodations on
the Battleship.

The third had brought General Wellington
from Midgard. She stepped down, we did a formal salute, after which she hugged
me.

Behind her, stepped down Greer.

And behind him, was Miriam.

Both of them saluted me with big grins on
their faces. They still wore Commander's insignia. I knew they were still new
in grade, but I wondered why the American brass hadn't moved them up again
already. Possibly for the same reasons I hadn't moved Annabelle and George up
yet.

Wellington and Greer were taken off to
Unassailable by Annabelle, but Miriam just stood there in front of me.

There was a long pause. A butler dropped a
grav trunk behind her, and stood there waiting.

"Hey you," she said eventually.

"Hey," I said awkwardly.

"I'm sorry about that whole
Valentine's day thing."

"I forgave you."

"Thanks."

"I understood it too. It was a bit
surreal getting all the vids at the same time, but I understood it."

"Are we okay?"

"Why wouldn’t we be?"

"Because you're standing there, and
I'm standing here, and we haven’t hugged yet."

"Got you there," said Jane,
through my PC.

"Time and place Commander, time and
place."

"And they are?"

"Settle in. I assume you were flying
the Lightning as fast as it would go?" She nodded. "So you need some
rest. Go get some. I've things to take care of on the Bridge. We'll make some
private alone time later."

"You better!"

I grinned at her, and she pretended to hit
me.

She took herself off, with the butler and
trunk in tow, and I rubbed my left arm where it now hurt. I really didn't want
her hitting me when she meant it.

I went and hid in my Ready Room.

Bonko and his crew were transferred to a
standard shuttle, and dropped out the back of the Flight Deck, for Jane to fly
to Washington Orbital. They were not exactly prisoners now, but something told
me unless their story hung together really well, they might become so. I seemed
to have scored another Cruiser, but I'd need to wait and see what the verdict
was about Bonko, in case I needed to give it back to him. It wasn’t exactly a
stock standard ship though, so I sat there for a while wondering how to legally
claim it regardless of what happened to Bonko.

Sometime later, I heard the sound of Miriam
cuddling Angel, and telling her how big and adorable she was. Footsteps came to
the door.

"You do know your cat is leaving white
fur all over your command chair?"

"Her command chair you mean?"

"Really?"

"She thinks so."

Miriam laughed her head off. I let her take
her time. Eventually she subsided and came in.

"Thanks Jane," she said.

There was an audible click from the door.

She threw herself at me, and we hugged for
a long time, followed by desperate needing of air type kisses.

We ended up doing it on my desk.

As she took herself off to catch up with
other members of the crew, I wondered if the black and white cat was now in
play, and how the fluffy white cat was going to react.

In London, there were two Lightnings
waiting for us.

The first had Marshall Bigglesworth and his
staff, and Admiral Bentley and her aide. Instead of heading off to
accommodations, they waited for the second to land on the deck.

From the second stepped the Queen, followed
by her husband, and high ranking members of the Court.

She was very noticeably pregnant, and I
hoped like hell she didn’t go into labour on my ship. It would force me to take
her back home, and I couldn’t afford the wasted time. Cancel, Clear, Delete!

Queen Liz waved off all formalities, and we
moved straight to the Theatre, with her being assisted by her husband and an
aide, while being fussed over by several maids.

I'd wanted to wait until General Price was
on board before doing another presentation, but the arrival of Queen Liz
demanded we proceed again anyway.

By the time the Queen was settled, and
refreshments had been used, and consumed, the Canadian and American delegations
had arrived, and Annabelle and Jack were ready to give the same presentation
they had at Earth.

This one went off without a hitch, with
intelligent questions asked and answered. Once the presentation was complete,
discussions began about what to do. The Queen listened intently for a long
while, as her people, the Canadians, and the Americans, all put in their five
credits worth; and finally spoke into a sudden lull.

"I want to make something quite
clear," she began.

She had everyone's attention.

"We know Duke Hunter well enough to
know he believes everything which has been presented today. Some things are
open to interpretation, but there is no timeframe or point of focus to any of
this."

She looked directly at me, and I nodded.
She was correct.

"That notwithstanding, the crown is
committed to the preservation of our subjects, and we cannot and will not
ignore any external threat, especially one which might be considered an
extinction level event."

She looked at Bigglesworth.

"To that end Marshal, you are granted
full authority to work with the sectors of this end of the spine for the mutual
protection of all along the spine, in so far as the safety of the realm is
assured."

I raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded
to me.

"Excuse me Ma'am, but what does that
mean?"

Bigglesworth answered.

"It means as long as I can assure the
safety of the British sector, I am able to deploy to help the other sectors in
any way I see fit, given the resource limitations placed by protecting the
realm first. As such, if the threat comes up the spine, I would be looking at
deploying British forces in the Denver system, and should it come from up
spine, in the Verse system. However, there is flexibility available, and we
will discuss the options as we near Nexus. The British sector has the advantage
over most of having two spine accesses, some way apart, giving us the ability
to hold at one end while we retreat through the other."

He nodded towards the Canadian four star,
acknowledging they had no such escape route.

"I have similar instructions,"
said Patton. "We have potentially three choke points to cover, but we have
at least two ways of retreating regardless of the direction the threat comes
from. This restricts our fleet deployments, but it also gives us options. And
we do have some flexibility as well."

The Canadian four star indicated he wished
to speak, and I nodded to him.

"Admiral Aidan
Tremblay,
Canadian sector," he said, introducing himself to those who hadn’t met him
before. "We are not so lucky on two counts. We have one of the nominated
threat systems in our territory, and it is only one jump from our only escape
route. We have a fine fleet, but we do not believe we could hold back a serious
threat for long enough to save all of our people. Admiral Hunter has agreed to
consider if he can spare ships to help us. I ask that the other sectors
represented here do the same."

The Queen put her arm on her husband's, and he helped her
up.

"I will leave you all to discussing strategy and
tactics." She looked at me. "Admiral, would you be so kind as to see
us back to our shuttle?"

"Yes Majesty."

I turned to the rest of the theatre, as the Queen was helped
out the door.

"I suggest we adjourn for now. We have some time left,
so going off half-cocked isn't necessary. I'll schedule a meeting for after
General Price comes aboard, and it will give everyone a chance to think about
the overall situation at this end of the arm, see the presentation again for
the benefit of General's Price and Harriman, John Slice, and my people in
Nexus, who haven’t seen the full presentation yet. By then, we'll be almost in
real time communications distance."

This caused a bit of a stir.

I waved at them and hurried to catch up with the Queen.

"Admiral," she said when we
reached the Launch Deck. "I've given instructions that should this
prophesy of yours turn out to be real, all British Forces will be placed under
your command. The Marshal has instructions to promote you to the currently
unused fifth star, as soon as such a threat is proved to be real. My only
concern is you not expend too many British resources trying to save those in
other sectors who perhaps cannot be saved."

"Majesty, I'm not sure it's wise to
promote me any further. The Marshall has a lifetime more experience than I
do."

"It was the Marshall himself who
suggested this. No false modesty. I know when this thing happens you will be in
the thick of it, and I can think of no-one better to be leading those defending
our space, or responsible for guiding us away from some catastrophic event. All
I ask of you is not to make it a suicide mission."

I gaped at her.

"Don’t look like that. I know you. If
the situation demands it, you would sacrifice yourself to save others. But in
doing so to save some, you may doom all. Just think about it."

We were back at the ramp to her Lightning.

"I will. There is a lot to think
about. We are also short a lot of information I intend to seek as soon as I get
home. I assure you though, I have no intention of sending anyone on suicide
missions, least of all myself."

That was easy to say. Stopping others from
doing it on their own initiative if the situation was dire, would be a lot
harder. And I knew in my heart there were several situations where I would
sacrifice myself and my ship to save others. I had no intentions, but I knew it
was possible. And perhaps, inevitable.

I gave her a short bow, and she was
escorted aboard. I stood there and watched the Lightning be pushed into a
launch tube, the doors closed, and on a pop up screen, watched it go.

For some reason I felt quite depressed, and
I went in search of Angel. There are two things guaranteed to perk one up.
Chocolate, and a good cuddle with your cat. I went looking for both.