Free Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero by Timothy Ellis

station,
which apparently booted a lot of civvies out to accommodate us all. The
exception is John Wayne, which docked at the Military Orbital instead. O’Neal
and his crew moved to BigMother as soon as they completed docking.”
    The Gig rose from the Flight Deck, and
headed out the rear entrance. I noticed Unthinkable was missing.
    “Unthinkable?”
    “All damaged ships were moved to the
Shipyard before we docked. ETA on the repairs is sometime this evening. My
avatar took Camel over personally, and I updated all the ship ID’s as you
requested.”
    “Good.”
    A thought struck me.
    “What uniform am I supposed to be
wearing?”
    I was in Sci-Fi fatigues.
    “I’ll ask.” She was silent for a
moment. “American fatigues.”
    I shifted uniforms, and checked I’d updated
the rank insignia correctly.
    “Who did you ask?”
    “Admiral Jedburgh’s aide. And no, I
don’t know who you’re meeting with.”
    “What about the American ships?”
    “All moved to the Shipyard. The pilots
were not impressed with the two o’clock wake up call. They gathered their gear,
and were gone by two thirty. Neither Carrier is out of Repair Dock yet, so the
pilots are now on the Military Orbital.”
    Speaking of which, we were now on approach
to it. Jane swept us in the shuttle dock entrance at a faster than normal
speed, and within minutes we were docked to an airlock. The airlock door
opened, and Jane followed me through. An Ensign was waiting on the other side,
and he headed off into the bustling maize of corridors.
    Precisely at seven thirty, I was shown into
a large office.
    Admiral Darius Jedburgh didn’t look well.
He waved me to a chair.
    “Good to see you again Vice Admiral.
Forgive me not greeting you properly, but I feel like you look.”
    He was referring to my head bruise, which
was still a mottled yellow colour.
    “I was only released from hospital a
few hours ago, and I had to bully my way out. Too much to do, to pander to
doctors.”
    I knew the feeling. He partly rose, and
offered his hand across the desk. We shook.
    “Thank you. Without your quick
response at the Miami jump point, I’d be dead, and most of my fleet with
me.”
    “Sir? It was my recommendation that
put you in that situ…”
    “No Jon,” he interrupted me.
“You’re not going there. I was told you felt badly about the whole
situation, but nothing was your fault. There isn’t an officer in the entire
fleet who had any inkling Midgard would attempt another incursion into Miami.
And I did ask. We had a senior officer’s think tank after your suggestion came
in. No one even thought of it, let alone voiced the possibility.”
    “But…”
    “No buts. Had the situation been what
we expected, your recommendation was precisely what we needed to bring our
ships into the fight, quickly and decisively. What happened was entirely due to
the fog of war, and my stupidity in not acquiring the specs for your comnavsat.
Had I sent one in that morning, we would have known what was going down, and
prepared for it. As it was, you’re warning, and the very quick orders you gave,
saved Yorktown, four Cruiser sized ships, the Corvettes and Privateers, from a
very unexpected death.”
    “Actually…”
    “No again. You were about to say some
of the pilots would have been fast enough to save themselves. Perhaps so. But
Yorktown would’ve been dead. Carriers are like a small city. The loss of life
was bad, but being destroyed would have been much worse. And before you
interrupt me again, our being hit was none of your fault either.”
    I closed my mouth, and he went straight on.
    “What happened to Yorktown was just
plain bad luck. One enemy captain out of twenty four, was good enough to
recognize an opportunity, and take it. Without the nukes, we might have taken
out most of the missiles before they hit, but it’s doubtful given how close we
were at the time. It’s what happens in war. No plan survives contact with the
enemy, and even when you win, you