Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero by Timothy Ellis

off a vid announcing that two stations had been
neutralized, and subject to the patrols not finding anything else, the war
would be declared over the following morning.
    We joined in the celebrations downstairs,
which had moved into the Rec Room. I was surprised to find Angel in there. She
was getting plenty of attention, and lapping it up.
    Around eleven, I decided to called it a
night. I picked up Angel, received a mwow of protest, and a lot of wiggling,
and put her down again. She went off to seek someone else to pat her. I quietly
left.
    I was in boxers and t-shirt when I heard my
door open and close. Miriam walked in with a grin on her face, pushed me down
onto the bed, and did a strip tease.
    All thoughts of sleep, vanished.
    * *
*
    GOOD MORNING MIDGARD!
    I jerked awake, as did Miriam beside me.
    “Jane, did you do that to the whole
ship?”
    “I certainly did,” she said with
a laugh.
    “Sadist.”
    “That’s one of the milder
comments.” The laugh echoed around the room.
    “I bet,” said Miriam.
    “You have orders Jon.”
    Miriam pecked me on the lips, moved her
breasts against my chest, and ….
    “YOU HAVE ORDERS JON!”
    I rocketed up, Miriam pushed aside, and
fell out of bed, on my left side.
    Miriam looked over the side at me.
    “You okay?”
    “No.”
    “Jon, don’t make me send in a combat
droid,” said Jane.
    “Yes mum.”
    Miriam giggled.
    I dragged myself up, and headed for the
shower. Miriam followed. Jane at least gave us time for a leisurely wash and
dry. Back in fatigues, Miriam headed for breakfast, and I to my Ready Room.
    “Sitrep,” I said when comfortably
seated.
    “Most of the pilots and marines are
hung over.”
    “No surprise there. Tell me something
I don’t know.”
    “All ships are back from their
patrols. Nothing additional found. General Wellington formally announced the
war to be over a half hour ago. The comnavsats are all placed. We now have an
unbroken coverage of ship movements all the way to Nexus.”
    “Show me.”
    The scanner map went up on the main screen.
It did indeed show all ship movements between here and the Nexus 618 system.
Nexus was the central hub of the Australian sector. I was interested to see a
lot of traffic heading in and out of Midnight, past my station, Hunters
Redoubt. As I watched, a blue dot detached from the station and headed towards
an Australian destination.
    I dragged my attention away from it.
    “You mentioned orders?”
    “Check your emails.”
    Indeed there were.
    The first was from General Patton.
    “Vice Admiral, congratulations on a
job well done. As soon as General Wellington can release you, you are to
proceed to Dallas Orbital. Bring the Corvettes and Privateers with you. They’ll
go into the shipyard to complete their repairs. Once you arrive, have the
Sabres and Epees transfer to the Military Orbital, or Shipyard, depending on
their condition. Advise my aide when you jump into Dallas.”
    “On a personal note, I must say when
your promotions came up each time, I strenuously argued against them, based on
your age, and short experience. I admit I was wrong. You have conducted the war
better than most of the Generals and Admirals I know could have.”
    “There will be further orders for you
once you reach Dallas Orbital. I’m sure the civilians will want a formal
celebration, so be prepared for one. Patton out.”
    I sat back for a moment, absorbing what I’d
heard. A four star General apologizing? When I’d been responsible for getting
so many Americans killed? He was right in the first place, for Gaia’s sake. It
didn’t make sense.
    I moved on to the next one, being General
Harriman.
    “Congratulations Jon. You did the
impossible. And while I know you’re sitting there wondering what all the fuss
is about, take it from me, Australian sector is very grateful to you. The
Americans caught a series of bad breaks, and we feel for them. But all the
same, Midgard never entered American space, so their sacrifice was