Blind into the Breach (The Hunter Imperium Book 4), page 21
"But I'm missing something, aren’t I?"
"Yes. We didn’t drop the usual comnavsat at the jump point, although our scanner range means this doesn’t matter yet. We also have no coverage of the rest of the system yet."
"So we need to send out Lightnings?"
"That we do."
"How?"
"You give Orion the order."
"Why me?"
"Because although you gave the ship back to me, I've not released you yet, and technically, you're the officer of the deck."
"Orion?"
"Yes sir?"
"Send out the Lightnings to lay comnavsats please."
"As you wish."
We lapsed into silence, watching the marine teams work. I started to nod off.
"You're chariot awaits, acting captain, sir."
I jerked awake, and looked around to find Grace and Lacey standing behind a grav chair. I sat up, put a foot on the ground, and they both came around to help me get to my feet. Guided into the grav sled, Lacey took the handles, and twirled me around to face the exit.
Hallington stood, and saluted me.
"I relieve you," he said.
"I sit relieved sir."
I saluted back, and was pushed out.
Along the passage way on both sides ahead, stood the squadron CO's, at attention. After them was each squadron, until by the time they wheeled me into a mess, I'd passed by every pilot on the ship. I had no idea why. I was wheeled to the head of the table, and the CO's and 266 squadron sat around it.
Kat dropped the full porky in front of me, and I ravenously ate the lot without looking up from the plate. I could hear everyone else eating, but no-one spoke. When I finally downed cutlery, and looked up, Kat placed a drink in front of me, and I downed the caffeine hit in one long swallow. Water followed, and I sipped at it.
"If you don’t mind Chris," said Lacey, "can you tell us how you did that?"
I thought for a moment.
"Did I do something?"
It wasn’t a joke, and my face was straight. But everyone laughed.
"Oh yes," muttered Buzzard, "you surely did."
I shrugged.
"No matter," went on Lacey. "I'm sure Jane will have a vid of the whole thing available soon, matching the flying to what was happening as a result. And not long after that, I bet it's on the simulator as a challenge for pilots to better."
"Better how?" asked Dianne.
"Achieve the same result with less loss of shields, and in a faster time."
"Oh. Well count me out for a while at least. I would have killed us all."
There was some good natured ribbing after that, but I started to tune out. When the eating stopped, everyone went their separate ways to whatever duty they had lined up now, and I found myself being pushed by Grace back to a travel car. A short time later, she had me next to my bed, and helped me over onto it.
I shifted mask to glasses, pulled them off, placed them on the bedside table, shifted my flight suit to a belt, heard Grace say something appreciative while she threw the sheet over me, and I was gone.
Forty Eight
Kat woke me for lunch.
A late lunch. Even later because they waited for me, as I took a very long hot shower. This time shifting into uniform, I shuffled to a travel car with Kat following me, and arrived to find it was the 266 mess, with the CAG, Wing Commander, Jane, and Chaos all sitting there as well. I took my normal place at the table, and the butlers started serving lunch.
"You're walking again," said Rockmonster.
"I ache all over."
"I'm not surprised at all," said the CAG. "I've never seen someone so in the zone before. That kind of concentration, coupled with not moving for so long, and being rigidly in control of one's body the whole time, takes a toll."
"I bet the marines want me on the courses again this afternoon."
"The CO already fought that battle for you. You are officially on leave for the rest of the day. The rest of us are back in the simulators as soon as we finish eating."
"Are they back yet?"
I meant the marines.
"Finishing up now," said Jane. "They even took prisoners for once. Should be back on board before the Imperator gets here."
"He's coming here?"
"In a few hours he said. He's cleaning up his battle area the same as we are. When he can leave, he's coming here to pick up the marines and Mage Syrinx."
"What happens to the station?"
"It'll be moved back behind the jump point, and converted for our use. And until the Ralnor get here, all that debris is going to form a jump wall on the other side as a first defense against any more Trixone fleets."
"Orion will be here for another week we think," said Lacey. "CO says he's heard from the Ralnor admiral who's on the way here with a good sized fleet, but they're still about a week away. In the meantime, we hold the fort for them."
"Oh joy," muttered Watershed.
I think he was trying to lighten things up, but no-one even smiled.
"Any idea where we go next?" asked Falcon.
"No," replied the CAG. "But the Imperator will let the CO know when he decides. But my money is on Imperium space inside Keerah territory. We have those jump points well-fortified, but having fought so hard for those buffer systems, I'm betting the Imperator will want to make that buffer bigger, and if the plants do roll back the Keerah all that way, they still won't get anywhere near our space."
"Sounds like a plan," said Hawk. "Any chance of us getting some flight time this afternoon?"
"For?" asked Buzzard.
"Well there's all that debris out there, which it seems a shame to waste."
The two senior officers looked confused for a few moments.
"Permission to launch," said Vulture, "and use the larger debris for target practice in a debris field. Sir."
He was grinning, and it forced everyone to smile.
"Granted," said the CAG. "But Dreamwalker is taking it easy this afternoon, and won't be back in the cockpit until tomorrow."
"Cockpit? You promise?"
"Bridge then. Imperator's orders I'm afraid."
I let myself slump, and everyone laughed.
With lunch over, I headed back to my quarters. Sitting in an easy chair, I caught up on the news from the Imperium, and for the first time in seven years, I could actually watch it.
The Ralnor had taken a beating, but with Imperium help, were starting to stabilize their frontier. In several cases, the Trixone had made it more than a dozen systems inside the frontier. Those incursions had still to be stopped, and were most likely on the Imperator's list of things to do.
The Keerah were doing just as badly, with the difference being they'd been able to stop none of the incursions into their space. Media from various systems were speculating on how soon it would be before their space saw the plants arrive. Others were speculating about where someone called Thorn was, and if he'd return in time to help in the defense.
On three planets, there were calls for anyone who could do battle magic to enlist in the Imperium space force. There were also reports on the first classes of Imperium cadets and midshipmen. And calls to fast track the current pilot trainees.
At that point, I turned the hollo display off, and pondered things. While I still couldn’t see any point to carrier based fighters in this conflict, it seemed pilots were needed. It likely meant Orion would continue to be a training based combat ship into the near future. But when she arrived back in Imperium space, we'd likely find the squadrons broken up, and at least half sent to front line carriers.
I thought about it some more. If it was me, I'd take the most experienced pilot out of each squadron, promote them to squadron leader, and then take the middle eleven pilots to form the new squadron with. It'd leave the best and the worse to form a new training squadron with twelve new rookies. Likely at least a third of the current CO's would end up CAG on whichever carrier they were posted to.
And I doubted anyone would get a choice in the matter. The brass would deploy as they thought was best. It didn’t stop me wondering if I wanted to stay with Orion, or be deployed to a combat squadron. But the choice also included joining team one as their pilot, and going where they were sent, flying whatever I was needed to fly.
The last option appealed to me more. But like as not, I’d not get the option. Just orders. But at least I had another week on board before anything changed.
With that settled, I fell asleep again.
Forty Nine
"Attention to orders," bellowed Jane.
The room came to attention.
I'd slept another couple of hours, been once again woken by Kat, and told to shift into dress uniform. It looked like everyone on the ship was here, plus a few more. I’d spotted several of the carrier captains as I’d come in, and they were with other captains my popups told me were dreadnought drivers.
I’d wondered why until Jane pinged me with the info the Wayward Fleet was here with BigMother. While waiting for whatever was going to happen, I’d pulled up images of each of the ships. The largest was a bright red triangular command carrier the length of our dreadnaughts, which the popup informed was BigMother. I bet that name had a story behind it, but I'd leave finding out to later.
About half the fleet were showing some kind of battle damage, especially the smallest ship named Unassailable, which was a bog standard battleship, until I looked closer and found she was a drone carrier. Jane caught my eye, and nodded. One of hers apparently.
"The Imperator," bellowed Jane.
He came in through the door, wearing a mainly white Siamese cat on his shoulders, followed by Jeeves and Kat, both carrying trays again. Jeeves's tray was empty however, but not for long. The tray was raised to shoulder height, and the cat stepped over to it, and sat. Jeeves stepped back, effortlessly holding the cat at chest height, but the cat faced the rest of the room as if it knew what was going on.
"At ease," bellowed Jane, and the room took up a parade ground rest stance, hands clasped behind the back.
The words I was dreading came next.
"Flight Lieutenant Ecclestone. Front, and, center."
I managed to stop myself shaking my head, and started forwards, people moving aside to let me through. I stopped in front of the Imperator, and braced to attention.
"Most of us have had a busy day," he began. "As you should be aware, the Trixone led most of our ships into traps this morning, almost coordinated to happen at the same time, so we received no warnings. We prevailed, and although we didn’t lose any ships or people, we took a fair amount of damage. As we can, I'll be shuffling ships through our shipyard."
"Orion's Belt was the only ship to avoid springing its trap, but I gather that was more about the damage you'd already taken. Of the six titan ships we have, Orion's Belt came out of the last week with the least damage. And that is a major achievement given what we've all faced."
"But what happened here this morning? This was a victory to make the Trixone rue the day they first attacked us. This was a defeat they didn’t see coming, and must surely be sending a shockwave back across their space."
He paused, looking around the room, and then back past me.
"I told Admiral Hallington to put his best pilot in the chair, and to go to it. He did just that, and as far as I can see, a miracle occurred. I've watched the vid of your battle. Five times. It could not have gone any better if I'd flown it myself, and probably would have gone worse."
"But this wasn’t the work of one person. A week ago Admiral Jane drafted a man who'd been blind for seven years, gave him back his sight using the most advanced tech available, and brought him on board this ship. Every single person here helped to forge a rookie into a veteran pilot, and what he did today says as much about all of you, as it does about him."
Now he looked at me.
"Flight Lieutenant Ecclestone. I think a legend started here today. The legend of the Dreamwalker. I'm proud to have you in my space force, and look forward to seeing your long and distinguished career. On that note, I award you your third Imperium Distinguished Flying Cross. Congratulations."
He held out his hand, and we shook. The pulse came in, and the ribbon on my chest added a second diamond.
"But it's not enough," he went on. "Admiral Hallington put this man in for the Silver Star. The Imperium met two hours ago, and were happy to award it, but it's not enough. They told me the situation didn’t warrant a gallantry medal, which I regarded as ludicrous but understandable, and I told them Silver was not enough. I told them we needed a Gold Star. They agreed. Jane had it forged a mere thirty minutes ago, from pure gold. Flight Lieutenant Ecclestone, you are hereby awarded the first ever Gold Star. Congratulations."
He held his hand out once again, and again we shook. Only he could really see the strain in my face, and my complete shock at the award. The pulse came in, the ribbon appeared on my chest, and started to relax in preparation for being able to stand easy like everyone else.
"And again, this is not enough!"
I braced again, and had to use a PC override to keep what could be seen of my face immobile as the shock intensified.
"I have a lot of good pilots under my command. But I'm short of pilots capable of flying a wide variety of ships in diverse situations. Flight Lieutenant, effective immediately, you are separated from Orion's Belt, and will return to the Haven system on BigMother, along with the marine teams, who are being reassigned. You have a decision to make, but I'm not going to ask the question just yet."
He smiled at me, as I held myself rigid.
"Starting tomorrow, your first task is teaching all my capital ship captains, including me, how to do that magic you worked this morning. After that you're going to help me design a new corvette class fighter. And then we'll see what the Trixone throw at us, and where you'll be needed next."
He grinned at me.
"Flight Lieutenant Ecclestone. You are hereby transferred from Fighters to Navy, and promoted to the rank of Commander. Congratulations."
Commander? That was a two grade step up. The room exploded into cheering behind me, as he once again shook my hand. The cheering intensified as the pulse came in, and my shoulder insignia changed to a gold oak leaf.
"We'll discuss your options in a couple of days," he said quietly. "But I don’t want to waste someone with your talents. You need to talk to Alison once we're on BigMother. You need some additional officer training now. And you better turn up to marine training tomorrow morning or BA will not be happy."
"Aye sir," I said quietly, although no-one would have heard us anyway.
"Dismissed," bellowed Jane, and as I turned away from the Imperator, I was mobbed.
It took nearly an hour to shake everyone's hand. I received hugs from a lot of the women, including a real Rockmonster hug.
The kill board updated and was displayed, showing me with the outrageous kill total of five thousand eight hundred and eighty eight fighter kills, with fifty seven battleship, forty cruiser, and sixty destroyer kills as well. I protested every chance I could that this morning's kills were not fighter kills, and every time I tried, someone pointed out Orion had been a single seat fighter that morning, and as the pilot, the kills were mine. I gave up.
We ate dinner as a single mess that evening, me sitting next to the Imperator again, with my squadron around us. I wondered what would be happening to them, and all I got when I asked was an Imperator nose tap and a grin. All he said was aimed at the CAG, to the effect the new Excalibur Mk IV FB needed extensive testing over the next few days, while Orion had a potential lull in the fighting.
The implication was the Trixone would send another fleet to take back their station, and before returning home, Orion would be in combat again. No sooner than I’d thought it, someone mentioned it, and eyes went to the Imperator.
"Orion won't be alone soon. Day after tomorrow, the first battlestation will be deployed here, with two more coming over the next two days. By the time the Ralnor arrive, this jump point should be solid."
The news rippled out around the room, and there was a lot of toasting and drinking going on amidst the eating.
Fifty
Grace had been eating with team one, and after the eating stopped, I didn’t see her leave the mess. But she was in my room when I arrived there some time later.
"Is this goodbye?" I asked her.
"Hell no," she laughed. "Fearless is going back to Haven with the fleet. My stuff is already on BigMother, so we just need to gather your stuff, and leave. Jon made it clear you're going to be nearby team one for a while, so we'll connect as we can. Then we'll see what happens. So I'm coming with you. SIR."
She was grinning, and I realized I now outranked her. The kiss which followed was long, and left us both breathless.
Two Kats had my new grav trunk packed in double time, and the four of us followed my arrow to the bridge.
There I found Admiral Hallington, and Space Commodore Lacey. They both shook my hand again.
"Congratulations again Commander," said Hallington. "I assume we'll be seeing you again sometime in the not too distant future. Good luck with whatever the Imperator has you doing."
"Thank you sir."
"I'm sorry to lose you," said the CAG. "He did the promotion thing on me as well, had me flying the forerunner to this ship for a while, and look where I ended up. Mind your six, and I don’t mean plants, I mean the Imperator winding it up. I have no doubts we'll be seeing you soon."
"I'll do that sir. Thanks."
Jane was waiting off to one side. The two officers came to attention and saluted me, and I saluted them as well.
"This way," said Jane, and stepped through a vague oblong shape.
Grace and I followed, with the Kats behind us, and I found myself on another ship.
"BigMother," said Jane. "Your arrow will take you to your suite." She looked from Grace to me. "The ship is a little short of accommodation for this trip, so you'll have to share."
