Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero Read Online Free PDF Page B

come in. Miriam was first, and she was going to be the most junior
present. She sat as far away from me as she could get, knowing her place in the
ranks. General Wellington took her place to my left.
    The room quickly filled. Admiral Bentley entered
last, slightly behind Admiral Dingle, and General Smith, who was talking to
O’Neil as they entered. I shook hands with Dingle for the first time, having
never actually come face to face with him before. For an officer I’d first
considered promoted too high, he’d certainly performed as well as could be
expected so far. There were many captains I’d not met before, from the Cruisers
and Destroyers of the combined fleet. Alison closed the door behind her, and
stood just inside the door, next to Alsop.
    I stood.
    “As of this morning, the command of
the multi-sector fleet has passed to me. General Wellington has been appointed
Military Governor of the Midgard system.”
    There was a general stir around the table.
    “We have several objectives now. The
first is to pacify the planet Midgard, in preparation for the diplomats. The
second is to ensure the entire system is disarmed. The Shipyard was neutralized
yesterday. We suspect there’s either a second habitable planet in the system,
or a moon. Midgard itself ought to have an Orbital station, but it doesn’t. So
we need to look for it.”
    “Admiral Bentley will be breaking the
fleet up into small groups. Each group will be assigned a patrol area. If you
come across a planet or moon with life signs, or any kind of station, you will
inform me immediately, and take no further action except observation. Our
response will depend on what we find. I want no one biting off more than they
can chew because they find something which they think they can handle. If there’s
another Midgard force in this system, and there could be two of them, we handle
them with our full force, not piecemeal. I don’t want to be forced to explain
the loss of one of our ships, because the captain proved to be overly gung-ho.
If you find a fleet, you back off and shadow, until the main force can arrive.”
    “Let me be clear about something.
There will be NO retaliation against civilians. We’ll need the planets’ station
back here for General Wellington to use as a base. There will be no accidents.
Understand me?”
    I looked everyone in the eyes, one by one.
Most of them nodded as I looked at them.
    “Wing Commander Slice.”
    “Sir?”
    “You will deploy a comnavsat in orbit
of every planet in this system. You will also check for areas where one is not
enough. We can’t cover the entire system, but we can cover all the real estate.
You’ll have an escort to watch your back. No unnecessary risks. If you find an
opposing force, you will deploy a comnavsat and get the hell out of there. Even
if the comnavsat doesn’t last long, we’ll get enough to plan an attack.”
    “Yes sir.”
    “The main force will be heading
straight to Midgard. That’s where I expect any remaining fleet to be. But don’t
assume it. There’s at least one other inhabited location in this system, and it
could also have a significant fleet there.”
    I looked down the table at everyone.
    “Let’s get this finished today. No
last minute casualties please. There have been far too many already. Admiral
Bentley will give you your assignments shortly. Dismissed.”
    I looked at Susan, Vonda and Annabelle, motioning
them to stay. The rest filed out.
    “Jane will give you the patrol areas
we worked out, Susan,” I said. “Divide up the Sci-Fi and British ships.
Slice needs a bigger escort, as he’s most likely to come across something
interesting. Better give him at least one Cruiser, with a sensible Captain who
will let him lead. He doesn’t have the rank the Cruiser captains have, but for
the job I gave him, he is the most experienced person in the fleet. Exploration
is his mission.” She nodded. “The idea is, we cover the entire system
as fast as possible. So if