Read Hunter Legacy 9: Hero at the Gates for Free Online

control.
    But it was too late.
    I desperately pulled the speed off us,
pulling us up and left, as I yelled "Brace for impact!" into ship
coms, forgetting I’d just destroyed them.
    BigMother slammed into the station's shields,
with Unassailable taking the brunt of the impact. We may as well have slammed
into the station itself, as the whole ship shuddered down its length. Both
shields died, but my evasions at least stopped us hitting the station for real.
    I pulled us away, and changed course for
open space as soon as I saw we'd bounced towards the planet. We barely had
steerage speed now, but I wanted us heading where there was nothing to hit.
    I sat there in shock for a moment.
    There are some days when you shouldn’t get
out of bed.
    It got worse.
    "Good," said a voice I didn’t
recognize behind me, but which was vaguely familiar. "There you are."
    I turned. Jane was standing there. But this
wasn’t Jane. Her face and body were the same, but her skin and uniform were jet
black. There was a look of unholy glee on her face, as she stalked towards me.
    My suit shifted to full protection mode.
    She stopped a half dozen paces away, and
grinned at me.
    "Who are you?" I asked.
    "I'm Jane. Who else would I be?"
    "You're the station AI?"
    "That’s right. I'm Jane, the station
AI. I'm also Jane the ship AI, Jane the Droid AI, and Jane the killer. And I'm
here to kill you."
    The grin became bigger.
    I thought rapidly. This had to be one of
the security droids, not Jane's primary avatar. One on one, it had the
advantage. Underneath the suit was an exoskeleton, not bones. It would take a
while, but slugging it out would only have me losing.
    I needed another option. I had another
option.
    The sword materialized on my back, and I
smoothly drew it. In one fast swipe, I cut the head off the droid. Its suit
shredded immediately, leaving a droid head on the floor, and a still reaching
for me body. Without stopping the swing, I brought the sword up and around, and
cut the droid cleanly in half down its full length.
    I checked ship systems, and found our
shields were regenerating. Coms were completely out, meaning the HUD and nav
maps were useless. The sensors would still be gathering data, but had no way of
communicating it to screens any more.
    "You okay boss?" pinged in from
Lacey.
    At least pings still worked. But it meant
Camel was very close by, which wasn’t a good sign.
    "Ship has no coms, and bugger all
shields. What's happening out there?"
    "Big furball in progress. Ten plus
squadrons launched from the station."
    "Tagged AND Bagged!"
    The latter sounded like Jessie, but how it
came through a ping from Lacey was something I didn’t have the time to
consider.
    "Protect BigMother until we get some
shields back."
    "Roger that."
    Not only didn’t we have shields, we also
didn’t have Mosquito's for incoming missiles. There was nothing I could do, but
leave defense to Lacey and his people.
    I needed to find out what was going on
here.
    I headed down again on a hunch, touching
down on the Cargo Deck.
    The sight before me stopped me cold.
    Hundreds of Jane's were fighting it out
with each other. About a third of them were black, and the others either normal
Jane, or the security guard's she emulated, mixed in with unsuited combat
droids which seemed to be on both sides. Pulse Rifles were firing from all the
combat droids, dark and light, and light lasers firing from all the security
droids. On the other side of them, fighting in a defensive formation, appeared
to be several of my teams.
    "Jane!" I called out. "I
need a wedge formation around me now."
    I walked calmly out onto the Cargo Deck,
like a fictional Knight walking into a battle. My sword was in my right hand,
held ready to swing.
    The nearest dark Jane came at me, and I
moved the sword so both hands would wield it, and cut the droid in half. A
dozen Janes formed up around me, giving me protection to the sides and back,
while I moved with a purpose.
    I strode forwards