Hunter Legacy 9: Hero at the Gates (16 page)

"Easy enough to do. They could also
provide some feedback on the systems currently being used. We have a lot of
ships either in dock now, or scheduled for upgrades. An experienced ship crew
could be useful for updating systems."

"There's an idea. Why not tell them
you want their help on big ship system upgrades, and let them go through all
the ship types with you. Some of the older ones need complete systems rebuilds
anyway, so why not have them help you redesign the Bridges and systems to a new
standard. Makes them feel useful, while keeping them sane."

"Confirmed."

There was a laugh in her voice.

I sent Annette off a don’t-worry-about-it
message, emphasizing the could-happen-to-anyone aspect of it.

Not long after, I received requests for a
meeting from both the sector fleet commanders. At this point, we were about to
leave them behind, as they continued to chase the last of the pirates around
the system. I looked at their dispositions, and laughed. The African fleet was
chasing the last pirate fleet towards the Latin fleet. I wondered why the
pirates didn’t realize this, until it occurred to me they were well out of
range of the Latin fleet, and could only see the Africans behind them. But
where did they think they were going? I rotated the nav map until it became
obvious. They were headed for the planet. It was well behind us now.

I sent messages to both flagships, saying I
wasn’t slowing down, but if they wanted to do lunch, I'd send fast Couriers to
pick them up, and return them to their ships later. It might cost me two
Lightnings, but it was worth trying to make the meeting happen.

While neither Admiral was happy leaving
their ships at this time, they agreed.

I pinged Melissa and George to take a
Lightning each to one of the flagships, and bring back whoever was coming. I
warned them to make sure people were in the airlocks before they docked, as if
they lingered too long, they might not catch us. Lightnings were fast, but not
significantly so in relation to BigMother's current engine configuration. And I
was serious about not stopping.

The two Lightnings launched the safest way
they could, by taking the lifts to the Flight Deck, and launching out the back.
Both of them went out at full speed, so the combined effect was like watching
lightning. I chuckled at the comparison.

Shortly after eleven, we jumped into Morocco.
There was one last pirate Cruiser in the system, but we were not going to be
anywhere near it, on our course for Treasure Chest. It appeared to be heading
into Last Hope as well. I still didn’t really understand why they were going
there, but whatever was driving them, it wasn’t really survival based as far as
I could see.

The Lightnings caught us up about a half
hour later. They each had a one star admiral on board, with aides. Both in
their own ways were pretty belligerent at having to leave their fleets during a
combat operation, but both admitted they were under orders to find out the
details of our earlier communiques.

Annabelle and Jack joined us in the mess
off BigMother's Bridge, which was hardly ever used these days, as we didn’t all
fit in it, where the one on Deck Two fit everyone and then some. I called
Alison in to do her 'my aide' thing, and Jane joined us as well.

Between us, we walked them through the two
sets of prophesy, and the Midgard war. Jack related how Homer had been
stranded, and been saved by us. We all talked about being in the future, and
what all the Earth sector planets looked like.

They didn’t believe a word of it.

If it hadn't been for Annabelle and Jack
doing the majority of the talking, I think they would have walked out very
quickly. Certainly they gave no weight to anything I said.

Before leaving, this time on Lightnings
with Jane avatars piloting, and in spite of their reaction to me, I gave it to
them straight.

They could feel free to ignore our warnings
if they wanted to. The top end of the spine sectors were taking our warnings
seriously, and planning for the worst, while hoping for the best. But if they
didn’t take steps to have evacuation plans in place, and fleets in position to
defend the key systems, then if the worst came to the worst, most of their
people would die. I left them with the 'I’d rather be wrong my way than yours'
argument, being that if I was wrong, they could laugh at me, but if they were
wrong millions would die.

They left as belligerent as they'd arrived,
but took with them all the evidence we had for their superiors, plus designs
for station tugs.

It hadn't gone at all well, but I hadn't
expected it to.

My claims for the four horsemen systems
were recognized without any opposition. No-one cared. There was nothing there
anyone wanted. Well not exactly no-one cared. One media headline read 'HUNTER
NOW OWNS DEATH', with the article suggesting my madness had no end. Even the
incident where I'd come back from the dead was mentioned in a sarcastic way
intended to show I had some fixation for death itself.

I'd needed a good laugh.

Sometime after three in the afternoon,
being back in my Ready Room, Angel once again on my lap, Carter came in to see
me.

"Something strange happened last
night."

"How strange?"

"Very."

"On the strange scale of one to
ten?"

"Fifteen."

She had my attention now.

"What happened?"

"Did you have any nightmares last
night?"

"Be more specific. I have nightmares
all the time."

She looked at me as if to measure me for a
shrink's couch.

"A dark man in fire?"

I shook my head.

"No, can't say I did."

"I wonder why not you?"

"Why not me? You're not making much
sense."

"It doesn’t make any sense."

"Try me."

"The nightmare is best described as
the figure of a dark man, wreathed in fire, who takes a step towards you, and
you bolt upright in bed, terrified."

"Nope. I've never had that one. But it
does seem familiar." I paused for a moment, until it came to me. "Hang
on, it is familiar. That’s a scene out of the Rings prequel."

"What?"

"It’s a flat screen, from the days
before hollo entertainment. The dark lord returns after some three thousand
years of being dead, and appears as a dark shape inside flames. Later he's just
an eye in flames. He can't take physical form until reunited with the one
ring."

Her eyes glazed over.

"This is something real?"

"Hell no. As I said, it's an old flat
screen, before hollo's time. It's in my library. Not to mention its many
remakes. The first set are best though in my opinion."

"So we're all dreaming of a fictional
character."

"You must be. Hang on, how many people
are we talking about?"

"Most of the crew?"

"What?"

"Everyone except for you and the group
you call the alpha team."

"You're telling me more than a hundred
people had the same dream?"

"At the exact same time."

"Which was?"

"As we jumped into the War system."

"So everyone who was asleep dreamed
it?"

"No. None of the alpha team did at
all, and even some people who were not asleep, nodded off right then, and
dreamed it."

"That's not strange. That’s super
weird."

"Glad you think so."

I looked at her expecting more. She looked
at me, obviously expecting more. The silence lasted for several minutes.

"What does it mean?" I asked her.

"I was hoping you knew."

"Jane?"

"Yes, oh omniscient one?"

"Ha-ha. Any ideas?"

"None."

"Research?"

"Research what? It's not much to go
on."

"Any physical effects?" I asked
Carter.

"None. Just stark terror for no
apparent reason."

"Do we need to get head help for
anyone?"

"No, we can handle things. Most of
those who had a problem with it, accepted it was just a random dream."

"So it's not widely known how many
people had it?"

"You and me, with a few of my staff
suspicious something else is going on."

"Fine. Let me know if anything comes
up about it, or if it happens again."

"Will do."

She left, leaving me wondering why I'd not
had the nightmare. Maybe it was as simple as I had enough of them already
without needing one more. Something did occur to me, but I dismissed it with a
firm 'not going there'.

The rest of the afternoon passed with my
nose in my pad.

At five, we jumped into the Treasure Chest
system. There were several ships showing Hunter white on patrol nearby. The
Cruiser had a small crew, but the escort Corvettes were Jane run. When I
checked the HUD, I found a similar small fleet on the other jump point. The
Shipyard was obviously up to speed and very busy.

Jane and I discussed how to use our
captured fleet once all the upgrades were done, including sending a battle
fleet to blockade the Last Hope War jump point. While the Battleships were
going to take a while to upgrade, Jane hoped to have a fleet there within a
month. Once the upgrades were complete, the next task for the Shipyard was
building the modules for a new station, to take into Famine and assemble there.
This was going to be a simple docking ring station, no more than four levels
high. Like a cross section cut out of the middle of what most other stations
looked like. It would be all docking spaces around the outside, and barracks
inside. Nothing more than a place to dock, to base a fleet at. But big enough
for Battleships, and having better entertainment systems than the ships did.

The extent of the nightmare had become
apparent, as it was the main discussion at dinner. I declined to comment, which
had the twins looking at me strangely. But I really had nothing to add.
Nightmares often have no basis in reality, and trying to interpret them was
either pointless, or your ego trying to make something real just to scare you.
My ego wouldn’t dare, and I wasn’t going to pander to someone else's.

It was Dick who came up with the best
interpretation.

"What if the Nightmare is something
which the slow pulse of Death programs into anyone who views the pulsar long
enough? I know I watched it for quite some time."

He looked at me.

"I didn’t watch it at all, other than
the tiny representation on the HUD, when I was in the CCC."

"Maybe that representation wasn’t big
enough. I had Jane blow up the size, as I was curious what a pulsar sun might
look like."

"Me too," said Carter. "I
used it as a lesson for Jill, comparing different types of suns. The pulse was
really compelling. I sat there watching it for quite some time."

"Ditto," said one of the team
Majors. "Damned thing was almost hypnotizing."

I looked at Amanda.

"Nope," she said. "We didn’t
look at it at all. Never even occurred to us."

"Me either," said Annabelle and
BA together.

I looked around at the rest of the room,
and could see the rest of the alpha team also hadn't looked at it, where
everyone else had. Interesting, but not particularly useful, even if we did
know why most had been drawn to look, but the rest of us hadn't.

"Special entertainment tonight,"
announced Jane. "In view of the nightmare's contents, you are invited to
see the flat screen Jon said it reminded him of. Be warned though, it's very
long. For those of you battle hardened, you might enjoy the battle towards the
end. It’s a nice twist on pre-gun warfare."

"Bring it on!" said BA with a
laugh.

Dinner over, most headed for the theatre,
while I took myself back to the Bridge. With luck, Elves and Dwarves verses
Orcs and Goblins might keep the crew occupied for a while. Although I seriously
didn’t think anyone would be watching the whole thing in one sitting. I had,
but then, I do crazy things like that at times.

Bang on eight, we arrived at the Treasure
Chest planet, and the Shipyard in orbit above it. Jane had modified the
Battleship Bay to be wide enough to take Prometheus, although it would not be
able to be closed, as Prometheus was way longer than any Battleship.

The idea at this point was to give her a
quick overhaul. Jane had convinced me all she needed for structural integrity
was a complete re-paint of the outside hull, using a special paint used for
temporary battle repairs, where outer plates were damaged but not destroyed
enough to need immediate replacing. Making enough paint was the main problem,
but most of what we needed was now in storage waiting for the ship. The rest
would be completed before it was needed. The estimate was for two weeks to
completely cover the ship, during which time her power plants and engines would
be looked at.

Once space-worthy, she would either fly to
Nexus under her own power, or use a dozen tugs. Or both. By the time she
arrived in Nexus, the Door to home would have well and truly closed again, and
I'd hopefully have a much better idea of how she and Enterprise should be
upgraded. With Enterprise well on her way to Nexus as well, Janine was building
two giant bays on the Nexus Shipyard, to enclose both ships in while they were refitted.
Once they were done, the bays could then be used for a new class of Dreadnaught
ship.

The one thing I'd had constantly brought to
my attention over the past year, was the need for better shields. Battleships
had the best, but even a Battleship could not survive a battle in the Death
system, if it came to that. When thinking of worst case scenarios, if we had to
retreat through the Death system with an enemy attacking us all the way, we'd
need damned sight better shields than we had. And that meant a bigger class of
combat ship. Likely something the size of the American Fleet Carriers, but a
pure fighting ship. Or bigger. Prometheus and Enterprise could be modified for
the role, but I wasn’t convinced this was a good idea. A Dreadnaught class ship
should be custom designed. It was something for me to do on the way home.

It took three hours to get Prometheus into
the Shipyard bay, mainly because we didn’t have the dedicated tugs for it. Tugs
we had, but in destroying the Shipyard's computer, the complex software for
docking Battleships was lost. Jane had to figure it out as she went, and it was
a case of do it slow, get it right.

It was probably just as well, as Lacey sent
me a frantic 'wait for us' message at the two hour mark, being as they were
still half an hour away. When they arrived, the remains of Unthinkable was
moved into a Corvette Bay on the Shipyard, to be salvaged. The captured
Corvette was docked with the station, and prisoners transferred to BigMother's
Brig.

We also docked a station shuttle, which
Jane was going to modify as a prison barge. I intended to blow past Libya as
fast as possible, and simply drop the shuttle near the planet, with Jane
piloting it, to deliver the pirates to the local authorities, and then return it
back to the Station. It didn’t need an avatar, and the pirates would sleep the
whole trip, so as not to get any ideas about taking over the shuttle.

Annette practically knocked me out of my
chair when she bounded onto the Bridge in full apology mode. I told her to
forget it. I’d lost the first Gunbus pretty much the same way. Corvettes were
simply not built to attack Cruisers and above with. Not without taking
casualties. I gave her the bad news of Unthinkable not being salvageable, but
told her she would get a new ship when we arrived back in Nexus. She demanded
to know which one, but I told her I hadn't decided yet, and besides, by the
time we arrived there, and after visiting my home, there would be more ships to
choose from. No point in rushing into it I told her, since it made no
difference until then anyway.

In the meantime, I told her by all means
see what Jane could do with Nightshade. The ship had been upgraded by Bob Derr
on Sydney Shipyard, but he hadn't been able to tweak her specs to Excalibur
standard. Jane had a lot more ship design experience now, and there were
probably tweaks she could think of which would make Bob shudder. I mentioned to
Jane that anything she could come up with for Nightshade might also be used to
increase the speed of the Centurions.

The one thing I didn’t like about the
current 266 ship configuration, was the lack of a single speed for the ships.
It was always better to have a squadron comprised of all the same ship. If
Annette and Jane could get the whole squadron running at the same speed, it
would make me happier. Lacey too I would think. It would make his job easier,
giving them tactical orders.

Lacey was next in, apologizing for having
messed up the attack. I told him bluntly he hadn't done anything wrong, and I’d
have done pretty much the same thing, and suffered the same result. Unthinkable
had been the best armed ship, and therefore was the likely main target, but
no-one could predict where a ship would fire at first. Even I'd thought the
Cruiser would have fired on all three Corvettes at the same time. Annette had
simply been unlucky, and it wasn’t his fault.

I could see he wasn’t happy, but he took
what I said seriously. At least he hadn't lost a pilot. The beat up Centurion
was now back in its external dock, being worked on by repair droids. The rest
of the squadron were also being given a once over, and the work would be done
in transit.