Free Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero by Timothy Ellis Page A

can still get your butt kicked solidly.”
    He paused and looked at me.
    “We’ll be going to an awards ceremony
at nine. I understand you have a suit definition for Sci-Fi Dress?” I
nodded. “Close enough. Wear those, although if you can match ours, all the
better. Ribbons are fine.”
    “I’ll need a scan of yours. If any of
your officers are already in Dress uniform, I can scan those.”
    “Admiral Hallington is in the outer office,
you can use his to scan.”
    “Thank you sir.”
    “This afternoon at four, there’ll be a
civilian reception on the Orbital station. Everyone from your ships is invited.
It’ll be followed by a state dinner. Dress uniforms. You can expect a late
night. Have you checked your emails this morning?”
    The change in topic caught me by surprise.
    “Ah, no. I took the opportunity for a
good night’s sleep. I didn’t get that far on the ride over.”
    “Check them now. You should have one
from Marshall Bigglesworth. Throw it to the wall.”
    I pulled my pad from its hip pouch. Sure
enough, there was such an email. I threw it to the wall as requested.
    “Vice Admiral Hunter. You and your
people are invited to London for a reception at the Palace. We’re inviting all
the major players in the Midgard war to attend, save those on blockade duty in
Midgard itself. Please reply with your acceptance of this invitation, and a
probable ETA. Bigglesworth out.”
    “Sir…”
    “Call me Darius, Jon. You’re wanting
to know when you can leave?” I nodded. “We’ll all be leaving at oh
seven hundred tomorrow. In fact, I wanted to ask you a favour. We don’t have a
fast enough Command ship. Can I hitch a ride with you? I have a Battlecruiser
which can follow after to bring me, Admiral Hallington, and my staff, home.”
    I grinned at him.
    “No problem. I’ve flag accommodation
onboard you can both use. Your staff can stay on the Battlecruiser. I had a
modification done to my Carrier, so we can actually dock your ship underneath.
As long as that doesn’t offend her captain.”
    He laughed.
    “You never cease to amaze me Jon. Done
and done. You better send off a reply now, you won’t get much chance from now
on.”
    I did the math on how long the trip to
London would take from here. The direct route was Kansas, Washington, London,
so not a long trip. Roughly twenty one hours in total. So we should get there
about four, the morning after leaving. I did a quick vid accepting the
invitation, and giving the ETA for us, and the American contingent.
    “Now,” Darius said when I was
done, “if you’ll excuse me, I need to dress. Admiral Hallington is
outside, he’ll show you to the ceremony.”
    He rose, offered his hand again, and we
shook.
    I walked out into the outer office. Admiral
Hallington was waiting with his arm outstretched. We shook. He didn’t look a
lot better than Darius did.
    “Nice to see you again sir, and thank
you for your actions the other day.”
    I chuckled to myself over the role reversal
which suddenly occurred to me.
    “Call me Jon.”
    “Chet. I understand you want to scan
my Dress uniform?”
    “Yes please.”
    He stood still while I scanned an image.
Once I had it, I motioned him to a seat, and sat myself, while I made up the
suit definition, removed his insignia and medals, and added my own. I stood
again, and shifted into American Dress.
    “It’s amazing how you do that.”
    I chuckled, and he joined in.
    “You should be using these too.”
    “It’s been proposed already. Neither
Admiral Jedburgh nor I would have suffered as badly as we did, had we been
wearing them. Both Greer and Young have been pressing for them, but the wheels
grind slowly at times. Having lost one Admiral, and almost lost two more, in a
single engagement, and it being preventable, is making a powerful argument. Had
the entire crew of the Yorktown been wearing them, the casualty list would have
been a lot shorter. Anyway, what’s done is done, and we’ll be moving heaven