Foreword

Chapter Bombardment

Chapter To the front

Chapter Safe

Chapter Rest, Rearm, Refuel and Reattach

Chapter The more things change, the more they stay the same

Chapter Sometimes the carrot doesn't work

Chapter Let's see if it works for the second time

Chapter Beware the wrath of the patient

Chapter a time to build and a time to fight

Chapter Betrayal of blood

Chapter Fools tread heavily

Chapter Crunch time

Chapter Space’s Forge

Chapter Ready for war

Chapter Change of Scenery

Chapter Creating Bastions

Chapter Six weeks and counting

Chapter It starts with Eltar

Chapter They Come

Chapter Fall back

Chapter Power those reactors, charge those rail cannons and ready the fighters

Chapter Hit and run

Chapter Just when you thought Salchar was crazy

Chapter Ershue

Chapter The Kalu come to say hello

Chapter An army runs on men, a military runs on supplies

Chapter Parnmal, again

Chapter The Mound

Chapter Avar Interim Hermanti

Chapter Oolta

Chapter victory comes at a cost

Chapter Farmers know how to shoot too

Chapter We settle this in the dust

Chapter Laser-canose!

Chapter Well isn’t this a mess

Foreword

As the Universe of the Free Fleet has grown, a star map has been created. Thank you Paul for turning my scribbles into a true map follow the Free Fleet’s journey with the accompanying map at http://michaelchatfield.com/books/free-fleet-series-map/

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great adventure with the Free Fleet!

-Mike

Chapter Bombardment

Bregend looked as if he should be operating a Heavily Armed Powered Armor, not commanding the newly finished carrier Dal. He was a massive man, even among the genetically enhanced Avarians and creatures of the Free Fleet.

He looked over his three deck bridge. In front of his chair there were banks of consoles whose purpose was to relay the fleet's status back to him. The decks ringed the room, the first deck and lowest worked to keep the carrier running, the U-shaped projection inside of their ring housed the command team who took the information from the lower decks and spat it up to Bregend. The second deck was about the same height as Bregend's platform that he shared with Mills, his second-in-command. The third floor was dedicated to the controllers that coordinated not only the fighters of the carrier, but all the attached fighters to the fleet. Ramps from the second floor ran down and up to the other floors.

His elevated seat meant that he only had to slightly incline his head to look from the third deck to the first. People worked their stations while others moved around the bridge with deliberate haste.

“Generators are at ninety-five percent,” Rous, Bregend's Engineer since he had first stepped onto his first command, the battle cruiser Rebirth, said in his ear.

Since joining rebirth's original crew Rous' had gained fresh scars and burns, plus a prosthetic upper arm. He'd pulled more than one damned miracle out of his hide. Keeping the Rebirth together long enough for Bregend to get his message to Cheerleader was just one of them.

“Good work Rous.” Bregend said.

“Commander,” Rous said. His Kuruvian voice made it difficult to tell his emotions, but Bregend knew his chief engineer was proud. He had taken over the Carrier's engineering crew just a week and a half ago. About the time Bregend had dropped this particular plan into their laps. They'd run with it and done their chief and Bregend proud. They were a credit to the Free Fleet training schools they had come from.

Salchar had issued orders with Dal's transfer Ship Commander to give control over to Bregend as soon as possible.

Bregend had felt that the crew might be a bit pissed at how their Ship Commander was being pushed, yet there was little of that sentiment.

Bregend had proved himself to be a worthy fleet commander. Any grumblings about how he had been accelerated through the ranks died quickly. That was evident with the Star-destroyer yards that now lay between Groshum and Jafka.

Bregend remembered his meeting with Ship Commander Hazvar.

“Commander,” Hazvar said tapping his paw to his head in salute.

“Bregend, please,” Bregend said, waving the title away and him to a seat in front of his desk.

“Bregend then,” the Chaleelian said, amused as he took his seat.

"How do you feel about the carrier Dal?" Bregend asked.

“At this moment, I am out of my depth with Dal. Thankfully my command team has been picking up the slack and helping me as much as possible. Though it's not fair on the people that know their jobs to have uneducated and the unbloodied in command.” Hazvar's amusement disappeared in the seriousness of his stare.

“You were involved with the conflict on Chaleel, proved your mettle with the defense of Parnmal. You also have a damned good record of looking after your crew while patrolling the trading routes. If you don't feel comfortable in your position, I have no doubt that you will quickly get a handle on it. Rick and his staff are not in the job of putting unqualified people into positions,” Bregend said. Hazvar seemed to be proud of his accomplishments, and he liked to be recognized for them.

“That said, if you want more time to grow, I can't fault that. You know yourself better than anyone else at the end of the day.” Bregend's eyes were soft and confident. “I would be lying if I said I didn't want to get my hands on Dal,” Bregend grinned.

“She is a good ship sir, and her crew are even better,” Hazvar smiled, something like regret colouring his voice. His features hardened as he looked to Bregend. “She's your command sir, as much as I would like to find the ropes with her, well we're out in the middle of Kalu territory. Me finding the ropes could get more people killed.” Hazvar's face had the hard lines of veteran eyes, the two met one another in understanding.

“Very well commander. Though I'd suggest that you start looking over the plans for the Henry-classed Destroyers. I'm going to need commanders in boatloads to crew those ships,” Bregend said while standing and pressing a few commands on his desk as he transmitted the file to Hazvar.

“You'll have them commander.” Hazvar extended his hand.

Bregend took it, a gleam in his eye.

“Now, I also have a bottle of Dovarkian rum. I've always found the best way to get to know my commanders was with a drink, rather than an interrogation.”

“Well I must bow before the greater knowledge of my commander, and the finer selection of spirits,” Hazvar said, a similar gleam in his eye.

Hazvar was one of the forty or so ship Ship Commanders that was now under Bregend's direct command on this mission. Squadrons of ships were arriving everyday. The Kaluian Star-destroyer yard was their rally point. Ships wormholed between stars hiding in the lightyears of dark space avoiding Kalu detection.

Jump ships and their support ships operated independently moving from system to system. They supplied a constant stream of information of the Kalu. The Free Fleet had a better idea of what the Kalu were doing than the Union ever did.

Millions of Independent's, the Kalu that had been banished from their home worlds for their peaceful thinking. Now worked with the Free Fleet to upgrade the stolen star-destroyers and crew some of the marginally upgraded ships.

Free Fleet personnel were training them up to capitalize on Fleet tactics for when they engaged their brethren in open combat.

Bregend was in command of close to five million personnel. Just that number alone was staggering. Thankfully Min Hae, Silly and Felix, as well as every commander and leader was throwing in their weight, making things a lot more manageable.

Leaving me to see if some of the insane ideas that the Free Feet is famed for, work yet again.

“We are at one hundred percent charge,” Wilma said. She was another member of Bregend's command staff, that had transfered with him to Dal, keeping her position as helmswoman.

“Very well, carry out bombardment,” Bregend said, his deep voice rolling like a war drum as he stood there. His eyes were bleak, he kept his arms firmly locked behind his back.

“We have wormhole creation,” Ourv's tone brisk.

“We're stable and looking good,” Wilma confirmed.

“Payload is looking good,” Mills said from his place as second-in-command. Bregend's eyes were focused on the main screen, as scores of massive objects approached his formation. The bomb-pumped acceleration of the ships pushed them and their massive payloads through the ships to the rear of his fleet.

“Acceleration still increasing.” Ourv's attention never wavered from his console as his sensor operators fed him constant information.

“Plot is looking good and clear,” Zov said, one of the newest additions to Bregend's command staff and navigator for the entire fleet. His voice semed to catch slightly.

If one of those objects hit his ships, then the light would be claiming some of its own today.

Bregend's jaw tightened as the ships and their payloads crossed through the fleet with terrifying speed.

“Accelerating ships are releasing. Bombardment is going ballistic,” Kyle reported, holding his headset and looking to Bregend who nodded in understanding.

The fleet's wormhole generators worked together, opening and holding the tunnel to another system.

There was just twelve more minutes that the fleet could keep that wormhole open.

The ships projectiles cleared the fleet's formations in droves. Their accelerating ships peeled out of the way of the wormhole as fast as their crew could take the massive gravities.

“Wormhole stabilizers are coming online,” Ourv said.

“Configurations are looking good,” Wilma reported as those projectiles dove through the wormhole's event horizon. If those stabilizers didn't work, then the objects would be destroyed by the wormhole. Never making it to their destination.

Bregend looked to the time, it had taken seven minutes for the whole event to take place.

“Last projectile is through,” Ourv said.

“Shutting down wormhole generators,” Wilma said, there were no cheers or shouts as everyone looked at the main screen with anticipation.

“Good work people. Kyle, how are we looking on our link with Commander Smith?”

“We're solid, currently listening to 'ride the lightning,” Kyle said soberly, the corners of his mouth twitching just ever so slightly.

Bregend stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

“Very well. Relay information onto the main screen please.”

“Yes commander,” Kyle answered.

Now we just have to see if it worked, and hope that we're on goddamn target. Bregend thought as lyrics from Metallica’s Ride the Lightning filled the bridge.

***

"Flash before my eyes Now it's time to die Burning in my brain I can feel the flame"

Commander Smith muttered the words under his breath as he looked at the Kaluian system through his sensors.

The system was called Donakrel. It housed the third biggest Star-destroyer yard in traditional Kaluian control.

The biggest is in our control, and the second was one hell of a firework show. Smith smiled at the memory as Kyle came on the comms channel with him.

Kyle and the rest of Bregend's fleet were two-light years away in the dark of space. It had taken three days to get Bregend's plan together. Though its craziness went up against some of Salchar's own plans.

Smith had been a fighter and test pilot before the Syndicate decided that Earth looked like a good source for slaves. He had been recruited into a program by the United States to take at least some control back from the damned bastards.

He had launched, and found to his surprise that the slaves of the Syndicate had been up to their own tricks. Led by Salchar they had taken the second biggest damned station in known existence. They had also freed another planet and found a planet of genetically enhanced warriors, the Avarians.

Smith had been sent back to Earth and given new orders. Infiltrate the Free Fleet. He had followed his orders. Maybe a little too well. He had fought across the stars, the people he was supposed to betray, became his brothers and sisters.

He had gone from Multi-Environmental Fighter or MEF to the Jump fighter and gained himself a seat to the fall of Rosho station. The last Syndicate bastion.

And now I get a seat to the destruction of Donakrel's Star-Destroyer yards, he thought, not without a little glee.

"Payload is on-route,” Kyle said through Smith's ear. Smith clicked a button, confirming he got the transmission.

A wormhole snapped into existence.

"Sweat, chilling cold as I watch death unfold Consciousness my only friend"

"Holy Fuck,” Smith whispered. He might have felt something like, pity for the Kalu in that moment.

Then the darkness that had lived in his soul from the first battle against those damned demons made his eyes dance as he bared his teeth.

Asteroids ripped free of that wormhole, there was no stopping them as active Kalu star-warriors and Destroyers fired into them.

Smith remembered the asteroids that had ravaged Ship Commander Kelu and his Syndicate fleet. Salchar's plan had been as brilliant as it was risky. Bregend's plan mitigated those risks, and used the asteroids with terrible efficiency.

The asteroids weren't just single entities. Each projectile was made up of tens of asteroids. Each connected by cabling and supporting struts. Charges went off, breaking those separating struts.

The asteroids had been given a small spin for just this reason. It made the projectiles unfurl like deadly flowers.

"Time moving slow The minutes seem like hours The final curtain call I see How true is this? Just get it over with If this is true, just let it be"

Smith didn't even try to listen to the lyrics of his song as the first asteroid hit the yard.

The wave of destruction was indescribable. The superstructure of the thousands of yards shuddered, breaking as its sides disappeared. Kinetic energy met Star-Destroyers.

Projectile after projectile hit the yard. Those deadly flowers turned anything that seemed to stay together into uselessness. Fireballs burst into existence as Destroyers disintegrated.

It was like watching Lego be hit with a fifty calibre machine gun, again and again.

"Flash before my eyes Now it's time to die Burning in my brain I can feel the flame"

"I think we can chalk this one up for a win,” Smith heard himself say, the wormhole disappeared as he surveyed what had been the Star-Destroyer yard.

"Yeah,” Kyle said, the shock clear in his voice.

What will happen when someone looks to use that against populated worlds? A part of Smith's brain thought. A shudder passed down his spine.

"On to Venzir next,” Kyle said.

"Only fourteen more Star-Destroyer yards to go,” Smith replied as he passed the message onto his Jump-ship pilots.

They confirmed and set their plans for jumps back to the support ship.

"Be damned happy to get rid of them,” Kyle's voice turning cold.

"Me too,” Smith said, remembering the Kalu fighters at Rosho and the vids he'd seen from Heija.

Evelyn Sparks and every damned reporter was pushing those videos as hard as ever. Some were getting the idea at least.

The Free Fleet was getting more applications everyday. The reserve planet-based Commandos and fighters were quickly mobilizing. If Ashota' predictions of what Orshpa was going to do came true. Those reserve units would quickly find themselves on the front lines.

Smith discharged a capacitor, making a wormhole away from Donakrel.

***

Evelyn Spark's articles were read, broadcasted and listened to all across known space. Knox, Min Hae's informant within the highest echelons of government, listened to them more than most. The spy master scanned through another one such article. The war on Heija was unlike anything that he had ever heard of or seen. It had gone on for months. The Free Fleet Commandos and ships were just staying alive. There were no reinforcements coming, but they held on, inflicting casualties and bringing hell onto their enemies. Video footage of HAPA's being called into support of a front line trench that had collapsed kept his attention. The cannons blazed, their tracers grinding the Kalu back as the line rebuilt itself.

Injuries were severe, people were missing arms, legs and getting back into powered armour and going again. The neural implants kept them fighting. The armour acting as their new bodies while they fought.

The Free Fleet was as relentless as their enemy.

Knox respected their strength, and while he acted as an agent of Min Hae there was a few things that he wasn't going to reveal to the spy master. Such as the meeting he was about to have with the President, and a group of specially selected and powerful people which were acting as liaisons with other countries.

With the race to get into space and expand countries power, old allies had come together to have the resources to do so. Countries were now so closely connected with one another that calling them separate countries was fact only in name.

Knox put down his data pad and stood from his seat. He was in the UN building, the new one which was buried seventeen stories in the ground, with escape routes leading kilometers away. The old building in New York had been leveled as a show by the Syndicate that they ruled the planet. They didn't care about the millions of people they killed.

A man with the newest forty calibre rifle, raised a hand as Knox was scanned by hidden sensors. It didn't take long before the security guard lowered his hand, the door behind him opened.

Knox was the last to the meeting. His seat the only one open.

“The Free Fleet is basically a Private Military. We pay them with resources, technology and money to keep us safe. This sounds like a good compromise, but it also leaves us open for the fact that if the Free Fleet were to raise their prices we could cancel our contract, but then there is nothing to say that they won't turn on us. They are one hell of a force and we need to come up with a plan to hamstring their power, especially Salchar's. Among their ranks he has become some kind of legend, the kind of leader that they would do anything for,” the President said while looking over the people in the room.

An actual leader that leads from the front, Knox mentally added.

“Are there any objections with moving a plan forward to curb the control and power of the Free Fleet?” The President asked, there were none as he nodded.

“Very well, Mr. Knox would you brief us on our current personnel within the Free Fleet?” All eyes looked to Knox with the President's final words.

“We have about a Brigade's worth of informants throughout the entirety of the Free Fleet. Most have gained positions as commanders. Gaining access to Min Hae's intelligence department has been hard to penetrate, we only have ship based intelligence commanders and leaders. The development base has been similarly guarded. We could initiate a coupe, but I believe it would be more prudent to wait until after the war has run its full course. We currently need the Free Fleet to defend Earth,” Knox warned.

“What about forces on Hachiro and Nancy?” A diplomat asked.

“We have about a Battalion on Nancy, a Company on Hachiro,” Knox said. The numbers were staggering, but the yard and station supported nearly fifty million people, three times that amount if the processing and mining facilities in the belts were added, and five if the training ground on Mars was included.

“Sources on Nancy have reported that the dead fleet is going to be cut up, melted down and their components sold,” the diplomat from England, Damien Forsyth said. “We have all been developing systems for space, if we were able to get our hands on that technology then we could start to build our own parts and a force capable of taking on the Free Fleet, or at least giving us back the control of Earth.”

“It might also be an idea to test our connections in Chaleel, they do have a destroyer and a corvette under their personal control,” Jon Wilkinson from Canada said. “AIH sees Salchar as the one to give them purpose, he gave them their deity and kept them alive when their shield generator started to fail. Safe to say it be difficult messing with that connection.”

There was rumbles of agreement through the room, AIH was firmly in Salchar's pocket. They were the third biggest traders after the Kuruvians and the Free Merchant Fleet.

“Chaleel is also a massive trader with the Free Fleet and AIH, we will need to tread carefully,” Ash Anthony from Australia said, pointing a finger at Jon in his reclined position.

“We also need to figure out the numbers of the Free Fleet, and how many ships we could cripple, use or destroy,” Robert Shinawa of New Zealand said.

We might call people that fight in war's beasts, but are they right? Are they, the ones that inflict violence on others for the better of many the beasts, or is it the one that sits back, watches and criticizes those that die for them or is it the ones that call the beast's a heroes, while planning to kill them.

Knox had already relinquished the information that Edwards had given him on the Free Fleet, their systems, capabilities and people. He knew that the Free Fleet was a risk that would needed to be watched like a hawk. Yet he didn't know if taking it apart, or leaving it would be best choice.

With having people from every planet and race amongst its ranks the Free Fleet would be hard pressed to do anything against civilians without a damned good reason.

Still the what if's and maybes were what Knox and the people in this room dwelled on. Once they had a plan and a way to carry it out, then they would all feel calmer. Though it would become easier to pull the trigger on the operation.

Knox wanted to hold his head, to just have space and time to think of something other than direct action.

The potential for this to go sideways was too high and the stakes were far too big for his liking.

Chapter To the front

Cheerleader and Boot sat in her conference room aboard the carrier Mondal. Carriers were quickly being refurbished and sent to the forward lines. Boots own Pretak was supposed to clear the yards and be ready for action within nine days. The corridor's yards were working to pump out battle-ready ships as fast as possible.

More than one hull was being melted down to make the purpose-built hulls of the Free Fleet. Everything but Carriers were being made from the hull inward.

In a few weeks even that might change. With the Star-Destroyer yard in the Free Fleet's possession, using the already made carriers could be faster.

"The Fleet's growing faster than ever,” Boot said, as if reading her thoughts as they looked out on the holographically projected wall, seeing their combined fleets.

"Yes, but still not fast enough,” Cheerleader said, turning to face her friend.

"The Kalu have had time and numbers on their side,” Boot said.

"While we've had never ending battles,” Cheerleader growled.

Boot gave an emphatic sigh.

"Well we're stronger than we've ever been before,” he said, pointedly looking at the part of the screen that showed the tactical overlay of the system. They both commanded nearly a hundred ships a piece. Not including the shuttles, MEF's, bombers and Jump ships which were busy moving between ships or doing training exercises.

"That is true. It’s hard to think that we had less than twenty ships when this whole thing started off,” Cheerleader remarked.

"Yeah and all of them were barely damned well working after their time with the Syndicate,” Boot growled. He'd done more time in engineering than most commanders. When you have a ship that’s running like crap, having the Ship Commander down in the guts of the ship instead of looking pretty on the bridge was the way it should be.

"Though that's not even an advantage.” Cheerleader took a sip from her water tube, frustrated with the whole thing.

"Our people our are advantage,” Boot said, looking to her.

"I'm happy that Salchar made sure people wouldn’t be cutting corners just to get more bodies in the Fleet,” she said by way of agreement.

Training varied from four months up to a full year. Thankfully the tiered process of joining the Free Fleet meant that people already trained with using a space suit didn't need to go through it again. If someone was proficient with something, then they jumped through courses. It cut down on overall training and got to working on the things they really needed to know. When they got to their ships their own commanders and leaders would only add to the solid base the trainers had established. There were old and veteran hands throughout the fleet. With every battle those veterans grew in number and understood how vital their lessons had been.

"I heard that the first of the Fleet's kids are going to be completing training soon,” Cheerleader said, she had been managing the integration of fourteen ships, into the fleet. While getting her command staff sorted out on the Mondal and getting to know the ship as well as she had her last command.

“Yeah, there's about five regiments finishing their training down The Corridor,” he said referring to the region from Parnmal through AIH and Chaleel to Earth. “It’s going to be one hell of a learning curve for them,” Boot's voice sober, his eyes distant.

Makes sense, they're going to be replacing the dead and wounded of Heija. Cheerleader's eyes saw the images and videos that had come back from Heija, the ones that the Fleet hadn't revealed to news outlets.

Hell looked like a paradise compared to what that rear-guard had gone through to gain Salchar the time to come up with a plan, and move reinforcements to the planet. It had been only possible to carry out his plan by tricking Edvasho into confronting Lifendi and Lady Fairgate at Rosho station.

If Min Hae hadn't come up with that plan with Ashota's help. The war would be looking a hell of a lot different. A shiver ran down her back.

Salchar and the ships that were already on their way back to Parnmal were battered and torn apart. A number of them would need time in Parnmal's docks before they were able to rejoin the fight.

Cheerleader wished that those repairs would take some time, giving those veterans the time they needed to recover from their losses and inner pain.

Salchar had recruited a ton of psychologists from Earth and their equivalent from every race under his command. They were going to have their hands full.

Chapter Safe

“Vort, tell Commander Zrit to cut her engines and drift. I don't like the reports coming from her, contact the tugs to bring her to the dock and shuttles to transfer her crew,” I said.

“Commander,” Vort said, getting to work.

I looked over the main screen, looking at the thousands of lights which came from Parnmal, the massive freighter traffic that plied the trade routes along the corridor to Worshun, stopping at the Kuruvian Empire.

We had entered the system a day ago, our ships showed the signs of heavy fighting. Armor was blackened and scarred where Kalu lasers had carved into them. Missiles had ripped sections of ships apart. Ejected power plants showed in our engine signatures as we were traveling as fast as the freighters in the system.

I shifted in my armor, the odd nothingness still pervading my lower body. I had been hit while leaving Heija, instead of staying in my bed and waiting for my turn in a medical chair I had donned my powered armor and gone back to work.

I wasn't the only one. None of the Commandos that had gone down to Heija hadn't been injured in some way. There were a number of people moving around with phantom limbs inside their powered armor. The neural ports in our central nervous system, or whatever passed for one, meant that while we didn't have limbs, or nerve connections to certain areas. Our powered armor still read our nerves impulses and moved our limbs accordingly.

I had been a gamer before all of this, I had plotted out games, gone through hours of video to work out the weaknesses of my opponents and capitalize on them. The games had turned real a long time ago. I made a choice to do my damndest to get out from under the clutches of the Syndicate. We had fought them for years, rushing from one monumental battle to another.

I had been betrayed, nearly killed, well multiple times and somehow remained in command of the Free Fleet. At first I had been hesitant to take command, scared that I would get more people killed than someone else in my position.

The pain of those losses kept me in the seat that I found my ass firmly planted in. I couldn't leave the fleet to someone else that might not care as much as me, or someone that thought in terms of planetary militaries.

Memories tugged at the corners of my brain. I gently pushed them down.

Soon, soon. I thought, as if bartering with those that had gone into the light.

I needed time to decompress, time to think and let the weight of control peel from my shoulders if just for a week.

My world had changed, and it hadn't. Yasu was pregnant, making me an expectant father, as well as the commander of the Free Fleet. I didn't know which was scarier at this point.

Having Yasu in a damned Combat Ready Commando unit probably. I thought, biting back my anger. I knew that Yasu would carry out her job as commander of her ship Floater. Ship Commander Frex was supposed to replace her, returning her to her position as commander of Floater's commando detail.

While it always scared me when she went into combat, it scared me when any of my people went into combat. I knew that they were doing what they had to do, just as I was bartering their possible lives against the lives of those we protected.

Now my illogical human brain was making me an idiot, I understood her position and her responsibilities, but another part of me wanted to push her as far from the front lines as possible.

A fond smile grew on my face.

If there's anyone that can tell you were to shove it with a look and a few cold words, it’s Yasu. I shook my head, clinging to that moment of levity. Those moments were rare. At one time I would have thought it impossible to have those thoughts. I had been James Cook nickname Salchar of Mecha Tail and she had been Yasu Ono Blade Mistress of Samurai's Revenge, and my nemesis.

“The new personnel are ready to begin boarding as soon as we get into dock,” Rick said from his seat beside me. We had been in the same squad since we were abducted from Earth. He had always been a steady hand to keep me on task, and knock some sense back into me at times.

“Good, I want them situated as soon as possible. Rotating watches so that everyone gets time off. They've damned well-earned it,” my voice daring anyone to try and cut my people's down time.

“Sorted,” Rick say's, his eyes telling me that anyone that did wouldn't make it past him, let alone me.

“We're getting a number of freighters moving towards us,” Walf says sounding almost bored in his position as sensors commander.

Its sometimes odd hearing the command staff's voices when we aren't in combat. When the shit really hits the fan the bridge turns into a hive of informative shouts from different commanders as controllers work their stations, fight the ship and act as a pipeline from Resilient to the rest of the Fleet.

“Vort, check that Monk keeps them off of us,” I said, my tone relaxed even as I feel my tension rising. I didn't like having ships other than Free Fleet warships around me. If it came to action, it would be hell to defend them and fight a battle.

Vort raises a thumb, talking into his headset. I nod in understanding. No one even bats an eyelid at the exchange, a military on Earth and the Admiral, general or whoever would probably have ripped Vort a new one. Here pompous rhetoric was replaced with action. Do it right and do it fast, damn if it hurts someone’s feelings when it could keep them alive.

I looked to the blast doors and see Marleen, Rick's wife and one of six people left alive from my initial squad, including Yasu and Rick.

She tapped two fingers to her head as she strolled for her station. I repeated the gesture back to her.

“How we looking?” I ask.

“We're going to need to pull at least fifteen cannons, the others can be replaced. The armor is better than I thought it would be. That ablative shell did its work. Going to need to replace that as well. Got fifteen missile tubes blocked. The yard can pull the armor plates and have them swapped out in short order. The rest is in Eddie's domain,” she said, taking her seat at Tactical and facing me.

“He's still finishing his report, but we're looking pretty good,” Rick said from beside me, something in his voice making me turn to him. “The other ships are going to need more work and you know how Eddie is about slackers,” he said with a brief smile.

“If you and Eddie can work out a schedule,” I shrugged, leaving it under his purview.

“I'll see what I can do,” Rick nodded.

I turned back to the main screen, seeing that we had another four hours until we made it to Parnmal's docks.

“I'm going to go for a walk,” I stood, Shreesht rising with me. He was one of my two-Avarian protection detail.

Krom, the second half of that detail was getting his wounds seen to. He'd have his two arms and legs back before we made it to Parnmal.

It had taken a direct order from me to see that he got the treatment done.

Even then he looked like he was going to go against it, until Yasu had a very pointed and quiet conversation with him.

While I was a decent fighter, Yasu was one of the best in the fleet. She had put more Avarians down than any other. Something that my particular 'clan' back on AIH seemed to brag about quite a bit.

“Have fun,” Rick said, waving me goodbye, not looking up from his work as I headed for the blast doors.

“I hear that the mess has some Kimchi rolls and ice cream today,” Shreesht said in a contemplating sort of voice.

“You are really bad at hints,” I murmured back, seeing the entertained giant behind me.

Avarians were genetically enhanced creatures from the planet Avar Interim Hermanti, or AIH. Planner an AI had played with their DNA to give them a chance to do something more than just hide in their caves, he provided teachings so that they wouldn’t turn into another Kalu-like race.

Shreesht was one of the bigger specimens standing at around nine-foot-tall with vertically slit eyes and mottled black skin which made him all but invisible on AIH's ground.

I'd helped AIH out, and been given command of the city-state Asul. Avarians were damned capable warriors and a large number of them had joined the ranks of the Commandos, and other stations throughout the fleet.

Oh, and Krom, the one protecting my life, had been the closest to killing me outright. In a fight we had gone toe to toe and he'd nearly scrambled my brains. I went through a process called awakening, making me have the same odd eyes and a lighter color of the Avarian mottled skin. Thankfully, my long flowing locks hadn't disappeared. Unlike the bald Avarians.

“Never Battle master,” Shreesht said, trying to look shocked, I don't know what made me not believe him, it might have been the damned Avarian sized crooked grin on his face.

I snorted as we passed through the second blast door and into the actual ship.

A hologram descended next to me, the regal blue features of Resilient, the AI embedded in the heart of the Destroyer since it had been sent off to fight in the Kalu-Union war was the epitome of a motherly figure.

“So, how is Yasu doing?” She asked as we walked.

“Fine as near as I can tell,” I said, relaxing my guard and letting the stresses of command get pushed to the side for a bit. Thinking about the new Star-destroyer converts that Felix had in mind, as well as his new damned weapon system and how he was going to be personally...

Later damnit.

“I've been looking up the information on pregnancies. Nine months of holding the child in gestation is rather long,”

“I guess it is rather long compared to the minutes it took you to get LaRe sorted out,” I drawled, crooking an eyebrow at her.

She seemed to brighten and her eyes round in humor, she didn't have a mouth with which to smile. But with all the species of the fleet were capable of expressing their feelings in ways that no human would, I'd become pretty adept at telling what a creature was feeling.

“Yes that is true,” she replied.

“You should be proud, he's turned into quite the AI,” my voice softening as she looked on proudly. An AI wasn't supposed to really have a familiar connection with another that they had helped to reach maturity. Resilient had been in communication with LaRe almost constantly and had watched him grow with the Free Fleet. While others might think that no AI could feel like a true parent. I would disagree.

LaRe was now in contact with the AI league, which had declared that any and all AI's that wanted to, could apply to join the Free Fleet, or roam inhabited stars, knowing that they would be protected by the Free Fleet and the League.

There were now twenty-seven AI's in the Free Fleet, from Devastahli who controlled War-Station, to LaRe who controlled Nancy and would be soon moving to the Star-destroyer yard deep in Kalu space.

“Yes he has.” There was a note of sadness to her voice as we walked. I nodded to a tech working on bashing a deck plate back into place. He returned the gesture and went right on hammering.

I looked to her, never needing to voice my question.

“I just wish, as you probably do, that he wasn't born into this damned mess,” she said annoyed. “Should have made sure the job was done the first time and set Planner's programs to work in helping them to become constructive creatures instead of genocidal mutts.” There's no missing the heat directed at herself.

I nod in understanding.

“Well we've just got to make sure that we win to give our kiddos a chance.” It feels odd saying those words, as if it’s not really true that I'll be a dad. I haven't changed since Yasu announced she was pregnant, but my way of thinking, my priorities, it felt as if the world was moving around me and I didn't have enough arms to pull it all back together.

My face hardened, if it came down to it I was going to have to make a choice, give my kid the time they deserved, or keep giving the Free Fleet my body and soul.

***

Donal Shkim was a Sarenmenti, one of the first born on Hachiro, which made him a rare case indeed, out of the roughly three hundred thousand Fleet kids, he was one of five hundred Sarenmenti.

It wasn't odd for Sarenmenti to rub his head scales for luck.

The Sarenmenti were working on a place in Asul city on Avar Interim Hermanti to raise their young and start a new Sarenmenti home.

Salchar was fully behind it and had done everything as Battle Master and Commander of the Free Fleet to make sure that the program was a success.

Donal, didn't really feel like he was a Sarenmenti, sure he had the body of one, the scales, the four separate jaws and such. Though he had grown up in a crèche of Kuruvians, Humans and Sarenmenti. They had all been family, sure there had been times when he was picked on for his looks, but bullying was a no go on Hachiro. When you had to learn how to rely on one another in vacuum at a young age. It didn't take long before bullying was pushed aside.

You needed to trust the people with you in vacuum. If you'd been bullying one, then it was not likely to end well.

Add in the fact everyone matured to full adult bodies in a few months, and had the brains and hormones of a balanced adult. To any of the races that the Fleet's kids came from, it would have been an odd experience. For the kids it had been all they had known.

They had hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters and even more aunts and uncles.

Donal had taken his tests to join the Free Fleet as soon as he had reached a year old. He had been put on an accelerated program for the Commandos, jumping past basic space orientation as well as a bunch of beginning sparring and information sessions.

The training hadn't been any easier and he had made a good number of friends through that process. Now he was waiting at the massive airlock which would directly connect Parnmal's yard five with Resilient's shuttle-bay.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't excited. He knew what he was walking into and he knew that there was a high chance he wouldn't be coming back to Parnmal alive if those vids from Heija were true.

Yet he would be serving as a Commando on Salchar's own flagship!

Resilient's main shuttle-bay was open, the massive ship growing as it got closer to the yard’s auxiliary locks. Parnmal yard five was one of four slips that could handle anything up to a super-carrier. Each slip was made from a hollowed out asteroid. They were linked together with scaffolding as shuttles and tugs moved the myriad of supplies between slips, freighters and ships. None of that was moving between Resilient and the massive bay as the ship slowed to barely a crawl. Clamps secured the two bays together.

Sealing shrouds pressed up against Resilient’s hull and confirmed their seal. The electrostatic barriers dropped and personnel started to flow between the bays.

“Move it,” the Company Leader growled. Moving forward in his powered armor, two hundred Commandos followed in their boxy formations, their gear stored in bags attached to their backs. Their weapons were similarly clamped to their backs as they passed formations of Commandos moving the other way.

Holy shit. Donal looked at the veterans. Their battle suits were far from pristine, some of them moved amongst their fellows in powered armor. The scars from the damaged armor spoke volumes about the missing parts under that armor.

There was a hardness to those eyes, as if challenging the new Commandos, searching out the weak and the strong alike.

These men and women had fought Kalu, seen and felt things that Donal could only imagine. He closed his jaws, pressing them together in stern human fashion. He made a silent promise to be worthy of being in those ranks.

Racks of parts were being pulled out of Resilient for replacement. It took Donal a moment to realize that those parts were from HAPA’s. He had his qualification for them, but it was hard to think of those juggernauts being dismantled in such a fashion. Shiny metals showed where Kalu claws and teeth had made their entrance.

The racks of HAPA's and powered armor were similarly engraved with the Kalu's own signatures.

“Did you see that?” Fredrick, a Kuruvian said on a side channel.

“What?”

“The damned fucked up armor,” Fredrick had a tendency to like the more colorful words of each race's languages.

“Yeah,” Donal replied.

“And we just signed up to be in it for the next three years,” Fredrick went on.

“You can always change to something like astrogation,” Donal said, feeling a smile come on.

“And be around all those egg heads? No fucking thank you!” Fredrick said with a certain pizzazz. He was an oddity with Kuruvians, he was more interested in break skulls than he was fixing things.

Donal laughed at his friend as he noticed a group waiting for the incoming Commandos.

“Commandos, halt!” The Company leader called out, legs slamming down in unison as the group of four moved towards the Commandos.

The two at the rear wearing powered armor were some of the biggest bastards Donal had ever seen outside of HAPA armor. The one leading the group wore the insignia of Resilient's Commando Detachment Commander on his battle suit, making him Commander Carsickle. He had been the general of Chaleel's armed forces when the Free Fleet hadn't existed and the Sarenmenti/human slaves were told to take Chaleel.

He had joined the Free Fleet not long after Chaleel had come under the Fleet's protection and gained his current position.

The final person in the group of four wore powered armor and was just a bit taller than Carsickle, and a few feet shorter than what must have been the two Avarians behind him.

His armor was well kept, and his helmet was clipped to his hip, his insignia had been burned off by something and the fixed dents and scrapes showed he had seen as much fighting as the Commandos leaving Resilient and Carsickle next to him.

“Battle Master,” one Avarian barked while dropping to their knee, he was an Awakened. He must’ve been further enhanced by the awakening priests. Donal's head snapped back from the Avarian to the man in armor, using the zoom on his visor.

That mottled skin, eyes and hair tied back with a leather thong was burned into Donal's mind.

Salchar!

Avarians yelled out battle master going to a knee in quick succession.

The party came to a stop just a few feet from the Commandos. Salchar looked over them, Donal felt himself squirm at those hard and calculating eyes.

The biggest of the two behind Salchar stomped his foot, making the Avarians look up.

“Rise,” Salchar's voice was clear and authoritative, cutting through the working noises around them with ease.

The sides of his head had been shaved down as the top was left to grow, secured by a leather thong.

His brown eyes were cool as they swept the group in front of him. His Avarian/human skin looked odd, but the small marks of scars were still there. He had a strong jaw and nose, his other features were made harder by decisions and emotions rather than age.

Carsickle took a step forward as those Avarians followed his orders.

He did, like all Chaleelians, look like a bipedal alligator with a shortened snout.

“Commandos, I am Commander Carsickle and I will be seeing to your well-being for the foreseeable future. We will be getting acquainted as time goes on. Your bunks are ready and waiting for you. We are going through a quick refit and refuel before getting Resilient back to the fleet. The rest of the ship is going to be taking leave. I do not want even one issue from any of you.” Carsickle didn't have to raise his voice for it to become harder and scarier than any training commanders.

“These creatures have damned well earned their rest. One day you will too. Be polite, and make sure that no one does anything stupid.” Carsickle's eyes slowly swept the Commandos before resting on the company Commander, they looked at one another in understanding.

“Commander?” Carsickle said, looking to Salchar.

“Thank you Commander Carsickle,” Salchar nodded to him, his eyes taking in those before him slowly.

“Get some food in you, get to know the ship and listen to your fellow Commandos. I have walked on Heija with these creatures and we will probably be making our own walk in the near future. Make sure that you're as ready as you can be.”

Donal looked back at those eyes, they had lost their hardness becoming clear. In that moment Donal knew why Salchar had stayed as Commander of the Free Fleet.

He wasn't challenging them, or telling them to prove themselves. He was accepting them, together they would win or lose.

“Trust your Commando brothers and sisters to either side and the Free Fleet personnel that run these beasts,” Salchar tapped the decking with a grin. “You will become closer to them than any family you've ever had. Give respect and you'll gain it, do your job and be reliable as those around you.” He might have smiled but his eyes were serious as he looked into Donal and the new Commando’s visors.

Salchar nodded to himself as if seeing the message had sunk into their brains.

He looked to Carsickle.

“Company Commander, get them sorted out. Their commanders will be with them to sort them out shortly,” Carsickle said.

“Commandos, move to the armories as per your assigned rack,” the company commander said as Carsickle and Salchar talked between themselves before Salchar joined the Commandos going on leave.

***

Orshpa's sub leaders were feeling anything but safe as he roamed through their ranks, his anger making his shoulders shake with barely repressed fury.

“I waged a war, the likes of which had not been seen in generations, see the fall of Edvasho and Xentar claim my position as war-leader and leader of all clans and find that you have lost me five Star-Destroyer YARDS!” His claws dug into the ship as his shaking vibrated the very decking he stood on, spittle dripping from his armored maw, his laser cannons itching to be released.

He controlled himself and kept moving, the Kalu that had reported the losses, and the five star-warriors with him had been destroyed outright.

He walked his home planet Ulri, all of the clan leaders had gathered eager for the second teaching war.

Prepared to run off and attack the enemy with no thought of the supplies we will need to support that kind of battle!

It was time that he used some of the tactics he'd learned from the Union against this damned Free Fleet. He hunched his shoulders, moving as if stalking a prey on the plains that lay outside his clan's settlement.

He also knew the danger of giving such orders. Getting them to just have a few ships patrolling had taken all of Edvasho's considerable clout.

And he isn't around anymore to use that 'Hero from teaching war' excrement.

“You will rally your clans and you will put no less than thirty percent of your Star-destroyers and Star-warriors into the dark hunting grounds and prowl for these creatures. I will have them destroyed and stop these hidden attacks,” his voice came out as something between a growl and gnashing his teeth.

The cowardly Fleet had shown their trickery again as transition points appeared, presenting large asteroids instead of valiant warriors and smashing shipyards apart.

The latest attack hadn't even used asteroids. Instead the transition point appeared inside the yard. The yard had been ripped apart by the transition point. Missiles had emerged, turning anything not immediately destroyed into useless debris.

Orshpa had two options, spread his forces as far as he could to try and track down these creatures and the yard that they had claimed as their prize. Or attack the Free Fleet and the inhabited worlds of the Union.

If he didn't get rid of the Free Fleet in his clan lands, then they would continue to hammer his rearguard, making resupplying his fleet damned close to impossible. If he was unable to find them, which was a possibility, trillions of Kalu and millions of ships were impressive, but the dark hunting grounds were massive. Even those numbers would be small.

Clan leaders would start pressuring him for battle, a loss couldn't go unanswered! They had waited long enough and Edvasho had promised them a second teaching war! So what if they couldn't get resupplied with missiles or fuel. They would take the planets from the Union dwellers and Free Fleet and then look to the small matters of fuel and weapons.

Many didn't believe the stories from the bloodied Kalu of Heija and Rosho. Kalu culture looked down on them, even as they had gone into battle. That blindness and dismissal of what the Free Fleet had done would be deadly.

Stuck between a Kalu and their prey. He thought angrily as Clan leaders shook their masses in annoyance at the orders.

“The Kalu do not need to roam the dark hunting grounds like lost pups when there are ripe worlds open to us,” the clan leader of Vastal said proudly, gaining the agreeing growls and pawing of other clan leaders.

Orshpa casually cuffed the clan leader, bowling them over and holding their upper paws out of the way as his teeth dug into the clan leader's throat.

“You will do as I say, or I will destroy every ship that claims to be part of your clan and tries to join the true Kalu on their path to the second teaching war.” Kalu's angered spittle fell from his teeth onto the clan leader’s chest, above their manipulating hands.

Orshpa lowered his mouth to the leader’s audible organ located above its manipulators. Dragging a sharpened and armored tooth through its armor slowly.

“Yes,” it growled, slowly releasing its paws and pushing its head higher in a sign of disgusted defeat.

Orshpa stayed like that for a moment, driving the point home to the other clan leaders.

“See that my orders are carried out, those that find me the hiding Free Fleet will join me on my war path to Worshun.”

Guttural noises of anticipation rose from the Kalu throats around him.

You know how quickly that agreement will turn to them trying to rip out your throat.

Chapter Rest, Rearm, Refuel and Reattach

“FuuuUUUUUCCKKK!” I bit into the bite guard as my nerves were reconnected down my spinal column.

My hands gripped my restraints as Krom and Shreesht looked over the whole operation with detached professionalism.

I looked at the floor with palatable anger. I was in one of the new medical chairs which let me stare at the floor rather than the ceiling. The medics said that it made their work easier, I was beginning to think it was because their victims might remember their faces after the whole ordeal.

Much safer to make me look at the floor than their faces.

I caught the occasional nervous foot movement from Krom and Shreesht as a new nerve came back online.

It was very fucking painful and without any damned anesthesia, only muscle relaxants that made everything from my chest down as limp as chicken noodles.

“Buy me dinner first!” My throat hoarse as I breathed in short painful breaths. The pain disappeared in a number of minutes, reminding me of the surgeries I had while being trained by the Syndicate. They hadn’t bothered with anesthesia watching as your bones were snapped back together, or your wounds fixed became a familiar hell.

Or in Marhtu's Kaaorv's care. I felt my face go harder, thankful that none of the medics could see it.

I grunted as the last nerves were connected. The pain focusing my mind as I remembered those hellish halls hidden under Daestramus' surface.

Marhtu had been summarily executed for his crimes and those underground bases now held Free Fleet reserves that were training in case their planet was attacked.

Many had pressed for him to receive the same punishment he’d subjected to others; all he had gotten was a firing detail.

The government of Daestramus showed the people how sinking down to his level would only taint them.

Once dead they’d dumped his body into the recyclers, turning him into fertilizer.

I knew that I would survive this pain, but it didn’t dso anything for my immediate pain.

I didn't know when the hellfire was added to my intravenous, but I sure as hell felt it. My muscles tensed to the point where I couldn't even scream as my body realigned itself and the hellfire's mixture of medical nanites and chemical compounds put me back together.

The sounds of having my new vertebrae welded into place were the only thing I could hear cause I was as straight as a person being tasered.

Then it stopped, leaving me drained. I looked at the floor in a pissed off haze of exertion, drugs and quickly dissipating pain.

“He's going to need a few days’ rest. His ration plan has been updated to suit his needs. No exercise until he's been checked out again. Any complications, hellfire him up and bring him back down here.” I could hear the main doc working on me, talking to Shreesht and Krom.

Might not listen to me half the time, but they'll make sure I listen to the doc's orders.

“Would a few sleeping aids help?” The doc asked.

“I think that would be quite useful,” Krom's voice was a comforting deep bass.

Cowards! I thought with a grin turned lopsided as the doc was pumping me up with some damned good painkillers.

I would be lying that if I thought a dreamless sleep wouldn't be nice for a damned change.

I felt my eyelids getting heavier.

I have to... Rick and the others can handle it. I waved it off, letting my body relax and stopped fighting the drugs in my system.

***

Krom looked at his new limb, the only thing that showed where it had been reattached was a pencil thin line that was already fading.

He looked up from his position inside Salchar and Yasu's room as Shreesht buzzed him. Krom sealed his powered armor as he closed his visor, linking to Shreesht's feed.

Monk, the commander of Parnmal and one of the members of Mecha Tail was walking up with a cart covered in different food.

Krom stood silently, glancing to the bed where Salchar and Yasu lay. His Battle Master laid on his back, out cold, his chest rising and lowering rhythmically, one arm stretched towards the intravenous bag, with a patch pushing the contents into his blood stream.

Yasu lay next to him, taking an arm and leg hostage.

Krom let a rare smile flutter across his face.

He had first met Salchar when he had taken Ursht's position as battle master of Asul. Krom wasn't about to let some outsider take his brother's position without a fight.

So he and Salchar had brawled it out and no matter Krom's monstrous size compared to Salchar. The little bastard was a damned good opponent.

Best not to tell him that. Krom turned, queuing the room's blast doors open.

Monk was at the door by the time he exited the room.

“Thought you might like some food during your wait. I also got Salchar's meds, checked them, though I have no doubt you will as well,” Monk smiled in a way that conveyed his understanding and agreement with their ways. “I also came upon this.” Monk pulled out a chessboard.

“I swear this whole fleet is going chess crazy,” Shreesht said, popping his visor.

Krom grinned, he and Carsickle had made it a habit to play a game, or at least put in a few moves on the chess game they had running in Resilient's rec room, whenever they could.

Others had taken up the game across the fleet. Card games were also coming out in a big way.

“Ahh, you just don't know a real game,” Krom said, popping his own visor.

There were few people that he considered as close to him as his own brother Ursht, Monk and Shreesht most definitely fit in that category.

“I'll take the watch while you two play your game,” Shreesht said, taking a steaming plate of food from the cart.

“Salchar's drugs don't need to be changed for another seven hours,” Krom said, glancing to his timer.

“Plenty of time for a few games,” Monk said.

“Definitely,” Krom waved to the room across the corridor, Krom and Shreesht's room.

Monk and Krom got situated.

Monk's head was as bald and shiny as a waxed tabletop. He looked as if he was about to burst out into a smile at any moment.

Of the Four members of Mecha Tail he was the most reserved. He had been training to be a Monk since a young age, but when he found out how gaming was a hell of a lot of fun and he was good at it, his vocation to be a Monk fell apart.

Some might take his kind features for softness.

Krom had spent enough time around Monk to know that while he wished for creatures of all races to get along, he was willing to use that staff of his to protect those that he cared for and against any that threatened the Free Fleet.

Krom didn't need to remove his powered armor to place the chess pieces on the board. He'd lived in it for so long at this point that it felt like another layer of skin.

“So how is he doing?” Monk asked, focusing on putting the chess pieces in the right places.

“He's been asleep since the surgery two days ago. He should be coming out of it soon. He's got quite a bit of bone replaced with metal shunting. They had to remove a lot of his vertebrae, seems it wasn't as clean cut as they thought. He's going to have a metal spinal column for the rest of his life,” Krom couldn't hide the harshness of his voice.

“Stop blaming yourself Krom, we both know that as much as we will try to get him out of damned danger, he will do everything to find it.” Monk looked at the Avarian, his words a calming balm to Krom's anger.

Krom was the first to look away from those caring eyes.

“I know, but it’s my damned job to take those wounds instead of him. Especially now that he has a kid on the way,” Krom's voice was softer now as he finished putting the pieces on the board.

“It’s your job to keep him safe. That means looking after your own damned self too,” Monk said, a distinctly commanderly tone entering his voice.

Krom snorted at the care in Monk's words.

“Very well. Your move,” Krom said.

Monk looked as if he was about to push the matter for a moment before looking to the board and moving a pawn.

Krom surveyed the board with renewed interest.

“Conservative aren't you,” Krom mused, pushing his knight up.

“I work on Parnmal; the damn thing is an armored asteroid. Safe and steady is pretty much par for the course,” Monk drawled, a gleam in his eyes.

Krom let out a peal of laughter, his eyes focused on the board as Monk moved his bishop out.

***

“So how are we looking?” Silly asked from his seat. The receipient was Chief Domask, a Dovark and the man that would be taking over managing Nancy. He’d been kind enough to allow Silly to use his old office until he was picked up on his journey to the Star-destroyer yard.

“Well if this engine coolant system works as it’s supposed to, I should be there in about two weeks,” Felix said, he was the leader of a bunch of engineers stuck in a desolate system beyond Earth. Felix and his people didn't pump out ships like the other yards down the corridor. They developed the systems used across the fleet to increase the fleet's combat power. Their fingers had a hand in creating a number of systems and creations from the Point Defense Systems on every Free Fleet ship, to a combination of Union sensors, AI computing and human Gatling guns, to even the HAPA and Jump ships that were now coming into major production.

“Get some damned sleep before then Felix,” Silly said, gesturing with his Kuruvian manipulators. He would go around Felix and talk to the other engineers into putting their commander to bed if he had to.

“I hear and obey,” Felix said with a tired smile, his dark hair almost as dark as the rungs under his eyes as he leaned back in his own chair, sipping on his coffee. “How are the preparations going for LaRe?”

“I will be ready for transport shortly,” a voice came through Silly's old office and over the conference being held over FTL relay.

LaRe was the AI that was responsible for managing Nancy, the Free Fleet's biggest yard since it was captured in the defense of Earth.

He would be coming with Silly and Felix to their new post in the middle of Kalu territory.

“Good, I'm looking forward to finally getting down to turning those Star-Destroyers into Henry-classed Destroyers,” Felix said, a dark note to his normally enthusiastic voice.

“I would also like to report that the first HAPA factory has come online and we will be transporting them to the reserves closest to the line. Transports started to leave with the armor three hours ago,” LaRe said, not without some pride.

And proud he should be, he was one hell of a driving force behind the whole thing while I looked to getting the new Dreadnought's Battle Cruisers and our first super-carrier ready to go. Silly thought.

If Resilient was LaRe's mother, then he was undoubtedly the father, he had pushed LaRe to succeed and given him all the opportunities he could to grow.

LaRe had done him proud, and Silly's half-mad family had come to think of him as another part of their group.

Silly's brother Shrift was serving on the massive war-station that he would meet at the star-destroyer yards. His Uncle who had raised and trained him was Eddie, the most infamous engineer in the fleet. His father who he'd thought was dead had just returned to Parnmal after being on Heija as Talhalla's chief engineer. Silly had been the commander of Nancy until Domask took over, now he would be the commander of the star-destroyer yards. The massive sprawling complex needed someone with experience of running around like a chicken without a head and somehow kept things from falling apart.

“Good work LaRe,” Felix beamed, those HAPA's had proved their worth on Heija in spades. While Silly knew that Felix wished he was on the front lines. Knowing that his work had gone to save lives, well it didn't make him not want to go to the front lines, but it showed that his work was damned essential to keeping the Free Fleet going.

Felix looked away from the screen, someone seemed to have entered his office.

Felix's face turned from interest into him standing up, an excited smile threatening to split his face in two as he leaned in close to the vid pickup.

“The damned focuser worked! Looks like I won't just be coming with an empty hull after all!”

Silly found himself on his feet and closer to the pickup, as if he could somehow express his excitement by pushing himself through the view screen.

“What kind of tolerances are we talking here?” He demanded, his manipulators moving in nervous anticipation.

Felix moved out of the pickup, pulling the Sarenmenti, Chug, his second-in-command into the view. The Sarenmenti's stub was flicking in excitement.

“Up to a damn zetawatt for point seven seconds due to creation matter burn up,” Chug said as fast as his jaws would allow.

***

Commander Whorst looked over the plot as War-station returned to real-space. Sensor buoys went through handshake protocols, confirming war-station was friendly before the main plot was illuminated with the most up-to-date information.

War-stations bridge was the biggest of its kind in the Free Fleet. Makes sense when the craft was the size of a medium station.

It had four decks to sort all the information of the ship and feed it to Commander Whorst.

Before this he had been the commander of the Free Fleet's personnel in Sol system.

He’d managed Hachiro, the training centers on Mars, Nancy, the miners, the patrols, and all of it had been easier than handling War-station.

Devastahli appeared in front of Whorst, he was the AI that resided inside of War-station and a damned powerful sounvabitch. He paid Whorst little attention as he looked at the main screen. More than any other AI he liked to use his holographic form to look over information.

Some hypothesized that because he had been in the black for so long without any interaction with organics, that he used any excuse to interact with them on a more intimate level.

Of course no one said this around Devastahli, or even voiced the fact that Devastahli was more interested in getting to work than some of the power games that happened within the AI league.

“Hmmph, for once something is as big as reported,” Devastahli said, his voice carrying over the sounds of people working their star-ship.

“Yeah,” Whorst said, looking at the star-destroyer yards.

Devastahli half-turned, his glowing eyes looking in question.

“The Commander is still wondering what in the hell we're going to be used for,” Takahashi said from his seat as commander of the Commandos aboard War-station.

He was one of two surviving members of Samurai's revenge, the other being Yasu Ono Cook, one hell of a warrior and the only one that could make Salchar submit to her orders. Well that also might have something to do with the fact that they were married to one another.

“We've got an incoming message from Min Hae,” Arfo the communications commander said.

“It looks like we're going to find out soon enough,” Whorst said low enough so that only Dev and Takahashi could hear him. “Put him on Arfo.”

Min Hae appeared on the screen in some kind of conference room. With him were a number of Ship Commanders by their rank tabs, and Ashota. Ashota had changed from being Edvasho’s intelligence officer and battle-brother to Min Hae's right hand man. Edvasho had ordered his death, which limited Ashota's options as he looked to protect the independent Kalu. The independent Kalu were like a separate part of the species, they wanted to live, not just go to damned war all the time.

He had been restricted to a hovering chair from his wounds in the first teaching war as the Kalu called it, a war between the Kalu and the Union, which had been destroyed by the Syndicate.

Now he was no longer stuck in a chair, and instead rested on his own paws. His true body was larger than most Kalu, but the intelligence that lurked in his eyes was more deadly than his claws and teeth.

“This is going to be all rather quick,” Min Hae started off. He looked almost dull with his simple brown haired, plain face and features. Whorst wondered if Min Hae made himself look that way to make himself seem unthreatening.

“Commander Whorst, you will be gaining additional units, both Free Fleet and independent crewed. You will act as a base of operations deep in Orshpa's own territory, while Bregend is ripping into the other Kalu clans. Orshpa's control needs to not only be weakened with other clan's but within his own clan.”

Whorst nodded, it made sense, Devastahli could hold more fighters, bombers and jump ships than four super-carriers’. His mind was thinking back on the tactics that Bregend was using, thinking of how he could emulate the sheer destruction Bregend was raining down on the Kalu yards.

“It will be risky as my sources report that Orshpa is pushing his people to crew their ships and go out to look for Bregend and will undoubtedly be looking for you once you begin operations,” Ashota said, much in the same calm but heavy tone of Min Hae's.

“Very well, what forces will I have?”

“Sending you the information now. I have assembled all of the Free Fleet Ship Commanders here, the Independent Ship Commanders will be available shortly.” Min Hae's voice became harder as Ashota straightened, the two men's annoyance clear.

That doesn't bode well for operations. Whorst thought darkly.

“Very well. War-station will be docking within forty-five-minutes. I hope that everyone will be able to meet me aboard. I find these things go better in person.” Whorst looked at the people on the main-screens conference table. Firm nods of agreement came back.

“Good, and I hope that the Independent's will also be coming,” Whorst turned the statement into more of a semi-question.

“They will,” Min Hae's matter-of-fact voice made Whorst feel a tiny bit sorry for whoever got in his way.

***

I woke up, actually woke up after my surgery. No one was sticking me with a detox, or hellfire to pull me out of my drug induced sleep.

I looked to my side, finding the sleeping form of Yasu coiled around my now numb arm and leg. I tried to extract it as slowly as possible, trying to get some damn circulation going in it.

She burrowed into my side, her hands holding onto my chest and back as her legs tightened around my own.

I looked down at her, smelling her scent as I moved her hair from her face.

This elicited an annoyed moan, making me stop, unable to not smile happily at the moment I'd been given.

Yasu's black hair ran free, removed from the normal braid she used to keep it at bay. Her eyes and mouth were closed in sleepy bliss. She had caramel brown irises that hid under her almond shaped eyes, a cute nose complemented her high cheek bones. Her porcelain skin was marked with the scars of battle, framed by her hair that made a sort of wispy curtain around her features.

How did I get so lucky? I no longer wondered how I had been lumped with Yasu, I loved her. That I knew now. No matter what had happened in the past we felt deeply for one another in ways we hadn't expected.

I looped my arm around her, resting it on her side gently.

She was going to be the mother of my child, and as much as I was scared, I was also excited. The kind of excited that had me smiling at the ceiling like an idiot and made me want to throw my body around in some form of happy dance.

“Stop being so loud,” Yasu complained sleepily, moving her head onto my shoulder, one eye half-opening in warning.

“Sorry babe,” I said leaning over and kissing her forehead.

She rubbed her forehead a playful frown on her lips.

“Tickles,” she said, looking to me, both her eyes thinned in accusation. I couldn't help keep the happy grin off of my face.

Her own face broke into an identical smile.

“Baka.” While on top of me slightly, she planted a kiss on my lips.

“Now, back to sleep. I'm tired!” She rolled back down, making an act of getting nestled in my arms.

“I never thought the blade mistress would be so cute in bed,” I said to the ceiling, looking to her after the words were out.

“You watch it James Cook,” she said with one open eye.

I rolled over her so I was now looking down on her, my own hair falling down the sides of my head.

“Or what.”

“Or I will make sure our kids start playing Mecha Assault as soon as their out of swaddling to beat their daddy up!” She pouted.

I laughed, unable to contain myself anymore.

“Kids is it now?” I asked after I had got my laughing under control.

“Well according to Avarians standards, having about nine is a normal amount,” she said, looking at the bed's headboard in thought.

“Hmm, nine is it? That'll take some work, but I'll be up for it,” I said, looking over her body and raising my eyebrows suggestively, having to flick my long hair out of my eyes.

Damn hair tie is gone again!

“Nine kids? I'd look like a damned bean bag!” She barked.

“My bean bag,” I said leaning down for a kiss, she pressed her lips together for a few seconds before giving up and wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me in deeper.

“Then you're going to have to get lots of rest and be my sleeping pillow!” She hit my right elbow, making me roll away, her legs and arms capturing one of my own legs and arm.

“Good,” she said, happy with my captured limbs.

I shifted her with an arm under her body. Syndicate enhanced muscles had their use after all.

She sprawled on my chest, her head tilted to look at me.

“I'm happy I got stuck with you James,” she said, one of the few people to use my real name anymore. She reached up, giving me a quick peck on the lips before pulling the sheets over them and adjusting herself into a comfortable position.

I ran a hand through my long hair, finding that my usual leather tie, which held it in check was indeed missing.

Chapter The more things change, the more they stay the same

Foshunti ate the popcorn in peace. Parnmal had many amenities, including a theatre. Foshunti was enjoying his day off when she sat in the seat beside him. He had been trained by Elisati to infiltrate the Syndicate and work to overthrow Lady Fairgate. He'd found the Free Fleet and picked them as the best bet to get rid of Lady Fairgate and he hadn't looked back.

He was Ship Commander of the Talhalla, he had spent weeks grieving for those that had been lost on Heija. Sounds and movements still sent him back to his time on the planet.

“Foshunti,” she said in that measured way, which seemed to impress her confidence in her own skills and his position as something lower than her.

“Fuck off,” he said conversationally a cold edge of anger seeping into his tone. Getting a surprised jolt from Elisati.

Deserved that. He thought, trying to focus on the movie and forget that she was even there.

“I wanted to talk to you about the events on Heija,” she said.

Not one to take fucking hints. Anger rolled off of him as he stood, pushing past her without waiting for her to move her legs. The movie didn't seem as amusing anymore.

He exited the theatre, walking through the snacks and such.

A group of gunners and a few commandos from Talhalla saw him, nodding to him. He waved with a small smile as he left the theatre. She caught up to him before he got to the theatre's doors.

She grabbed his arm, turning him.

She recoiled from his fiery eyes and hard face. Quick as ever those emotions disappeared as she talked.

“What happened?” She demanded.

“People fucking died, too fucking many of them,” he ground out, seeing their smiling happy faces as he remembered them in the rec rooms, or in the mess when they'd been people living life to the fullest. Not getting it ripped away from them in the mindless fury and destruction that happened on Heija.

He looked away from her eyes, feeling his own emotions rushing through him. He smelt the fear on those front lines. His throat felt raw from rallying those under his command, his arms ached as he reloaded his rifle and turned to face the Kalu once again. He fired, seeing the hellish landscape before him. Lasers burned through powered armor, ignited power cells as Kalu rushed through bombardment after bombardment. Kalu fighters and MEF's waged their own terrible war above. Their losses crashed onto the battlefield, killing the unknowing below.

Powered armor, covered in the red dirt of the planet manned the trenches, were jumped on by advancing Kalu plasmid blades came free from their scabbards as claws, teeth and melee weapons fought for salvation by killing the enemy.

Foshunti saw it, but didn't register it. His world was that of a creature holding the line. He

reloaded his weapon by what the human's termed as pavlovian response. He didn't have to think as he pulled that trigger. He watched his tactical screens barking orders and pushing Commandos and volunteers to take up the positions of the fallen, or reinforce those being hammered by Kalu.

He flinched as she touched him again. She lowered her hand, obviously unsure what to do.

“I'm sorry,” she said in a tone he had never heard before. There was almost a soft element to it.

Foshunti snorted, barely keeping the look of disgust from his face.

The anger that resided under his skin, fueled by the frustration of people walking, talking, joking and living life, as if Heija had never happened.

This is what you damned well fought for. For people to be able to have lives. His anger turned on him as rationality fought emotions. But was it worth those that died for it? A smaller voice asked.

“Now you know what happened on Heija, can you leave me alone?”

“Yeah, I'll leave you alone,” she said, Foshunti couldn't pin down the feelings in that tone as he turned and left, throwing the popcorn in the trash. It didn't taste nearly as good as it had.

He headed towards Talhalla, his relaxation ruined as he stood straighter, people moving out of his way as he pulled out his Data pad.

“Wasta, take the next two days off,” he said, connecting to his second-in-command who was looking over the repairs.

“But commander, you only just took your break,”

“Nothing really interesting going on,” Foshunti said, gliding through the crowds that filled Parnmal, watching, smelling and hearing the sounds of the main courseways, but detached from it all.

“Yes Commander,” Wasta's soft tone made Foshunti think that he might understand how he needed to be with his own people; people that had gone through the same things as him.

***

Elisati saw the man that she had practically raised stormed out of the movie theatre. She could sense the anger, confusion and pain that seemed to roll off of him in waves.

Maybe I was wrong to send him off against Lady Fairgate. She thought, sadness forcing her to see the remainders of a man cobbled together. A man without a planet, but with a family.

He pulled out his data pad, talking to someone, only then did he relax. He ignored the sights and sounds around him. Only nodding to the Free Fleet personnel along his path.

Her eyes turned to those creatures. They too were hiding their feelings as best they could. The only ones not were so self-medicated on booze that their friends were dragging them to somewhere less public.

She remembered her conversation with Min Hae, the talk of having representatives from each system, the hope for the return of the Union.

Oh, but you knew that the old Union was never coming back. The PDF is long gone, and Worshun isn't the planet it once was. Parnmal on the other hand is the new hub of the known universe, and the Free Fleet are throwing themselves at the Kalu with every opportunity they have.

She turned on her feet and headed towards the Free Fleet sections of the station. She pulled out her own data pad and sent her message to the other three governors of Worshun. They had returned to the normal election process of having three leaders as was used with the Union. Now it was time to see if that Union and those elections were worth it.

She glanced up, seeing a group of prisoners doing maintenance in a corridor. A number of them glanced up, nodding in greeting as they got back to work. The Commandos watching worked to help teach them how to do their jobs better, and make sure that they didn't get any ideas of running away, or hurting people.

The Union would have executed them for their crimes, it was one reason that the syndicate had become so damned ruthless.

She got to the training office, the biggest of the Free Fleet.

It was the dead end of the main course-way armor plating barricades rested in front of the two doors that led into the office HAPA's waited behind those barricades, searching for any threats.

The doors were simple blast doors on either side of block letters which declared the building behind it the 'Free Fleet training office'.

She passed around the barricades, there were ones and twos also flowing towards the doors. She had to get out of the way of a few people talking excitedly, or looking dejected.

Prepared aren't they. She thought, looking at the railgun rounds in each of the HAPA's ammunition belts.

She moved through the doors, people were milling around, talking to various people wearing free fleet fatigues. She knew all of them were veterans that had been pushed onto the job in order to weed out those they didn't think could handle the free fleet.

The room was utilitarian, multi-functional kiosks and a clear blast-proof wall stopped people from moving on.

People tapped their information into the kiosk, the speakers calling out people towards the set of doors in the blast proof wall to meet a free fleet councilor.

She passed her arm over the kiosk, it took the information from her implants. She'd had them from before the fall of the Union and they still worked perfectly fine.

For a nominal fee a person could get them implanted by a number of medical techs.

“Elisati Drova,” a voice said after a few moments, she walked up to the doorway in the blast glass.

A Kelvar waved her over once she cleared the double doors to stop people attempting to rush through the first set.

This place is a damned bunker. It looked identical to the one on Worshun.

The Kelvar with a nametape on their chest that said Jilem looked up at her.

“I can see that you haven't done the training tests or medical. Do you want to schedule those?” The Kelvar asked.

“I was wondering if I could talk to Salchar,”

“Everyone wants to talk to the commander,” the Kelvar said, rolling over the question.

“I want to talk to him about creating a new Union,” she said, suppressing her annoyance. The Kelvar looked up to her.

“I guess it does fall under your role as Planetary governor,” Jilem said.

A man stepped into the office wearing the necessary tags for someone in the intelligence department.

“You called Jilem?” The human, Carter by his nametape, asked.

“Drova here wants to talk to Salchar about creating a Union. Seems more your type of thing,” Jilem said, he'd probably called Carter as soon as he got her information from the kiosk.

“Very well, if you would follow me Ms. Elisati Drova,” Carter said, gesturing for her to follow.

Well seems that someone did their homework.

She repeated her intent three more times to various people before she found herself in a conference room.

An Awakened Avarian walked into the room first. It was so damned big it could only be an Awakened Avarian.

The Chief of Staff, Rick Hansen walked in.

“So how do you propose we start?” He asked, taking a seat and reclining.

“We write up a charter, people in the Union can travel between the planets with their talents and training being compatible in any other system. Taxes are the same and go to the Free Fleet as well as other administrative needs such as relief efforts, medical care and such,” she said.

Rick nodded in thought, his eyes weighing Elisati.

“Then I think we have some work to do.”

***

Knox stared at the after-action report in shock, shock which was quickly turning to anger.

It took all of his self-control to hide that anger as Keith Edwards, the prick that had reported on the Free Fleet and done everything in his power to get the kind of information that the free fleet didn't want anyone having, gloated.

“It was rather easy, with my knowledge matched with General Davidson's powered armor strike force the two freighters didn't stand a chance,” Edwards said, almost flippantly.

“All of the crew are dead?” Knox's voice was somehow calm. All he needed to see was that smile on Edwards face to know the truth.

“Well we couldn't let there be any possibility of a leak. Having witnesses that are able to talk are, well you know,” Edwards said brushing the point away.

You just killed three hundred Kuruvians traders you idiot! The Kuruvians might be peaceful for the most part but they have the most ships out there other than the Kalu and the Free Fleet. They also have damned close ties to the miners of AIH. It wouldn't take much for them to change their agreement of materials for ships to our heads for ships!

“Anyway, we now have two hundred HAPA's under our command and our strike-force distributed across that amateur's fleet,” Edwards said, not hiding his disgust for Salchar.

That is the crux of the issue. He didn't care for your bullshit and walked all over you. That's why you've been such a proponent of attacking the Free Fleet.

“Why was I kept out of the loop on this one?” Knox asked, lowering the papers which had been written out in pencil instead of trusting it to any computer system.

“If it went badly I don't think the higher ups wanted you to get pulled down as well. While Min Hae is a pretender, his people have shown that they are good at tracking down their quarry and pulling information from them,” Edwards said darkly.

I wonder if he actually thinks that Min Hae tortures those he questions, or that he's trying to use it as a reason for him to keep on torturing those that he believes have important information?

A man that could fool others was never good. Someone that believed in the lies they used to fool others, that was scary. Add in the fact Edwards had clearly been growing his power base as Knox dealt with more impotant matters. An unseen shiver ran down Knox's back.

“Yes, they are quite resourceful,” Knox allowed.

Edwards made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a snort.

“When do you think that your agents will be ready to strike?” Edwards asked.

“I don't think that now is the time to strike.” Especially when there's a damned galactic war going on! “Do you think that the Free Fleet knows about the attack on their freighters?”

“No,” Edwards said with more than a little heat at the jab. “General Davidson and myself think that it would be prudent to strike while we have momentum on our side. The President and the other world leaders are also in agreement. I am going to make a report to General Davidson personally on our ability to take control of Sol system and strike at the heart of the Free Fleet,” Edwards said, his voice hard as he looked straight into Knox's eyes.

Knox felt his blood freeze over. They're going to do it; they're really going to do it!

“Well it will take about a week to get all of the units on standby,” Knox said.

Edwards nodded, his eyes dark as he found something interesting on the wall behind Knox to look at.

That should allow the Free Fleet enough time to pull this whole thing down. Knox knew that Min Hae would not be pleased with the fact that his informant hadn't told him about this little snake's nest forming on Earth.

Knox had hoped that the world leaders might come to their senses, understanding that getting rid of the Free Fleet and stabbing them in the back would only harm Earth's ability to survive the oncoming battle with the Kalu.

Too many people were too far removed from what was happening outside of Sol. To them the Kalu were something far away to be dismissed as an immature group of kids playing at soldiers. They didn’t have to deal with it.

“Really, I thought it would be something closer to a few hours. Though I could also swear that Felix was set to come through Sol to meet up in Nancy in three days. Then again people are so unreliable today.” There was something sinister and dark in Edward's voice that made Knox's stomach drop.

How did he know about the carrier?

Two shots rang out, Knox fell from his chair, looking at the blood which had appeared in his stomach.

Pain and shock warred with one another as everything became cold and heavy.

“Min Hae will be joining you very soon, traitor,” Edwards spat on Knox.

“You won't win, they'll hammer us back, they'll avenge their fallen and the Kalu will come,” Knox pleaded with Edwards to see reason, but those hard eyes had already made their decision.

“This is Earth, home of humanity. You think some damned aliens are going to defeat us!” Edwards' gun shook with anger as he pointed it at Knox again.

Knox laid down on that floor of his unremarkable concrete room and laughed.

Fear and jealousy had defeated Edwards, it had defeated those heads of nations and General Davidson. They were so scared that they were becoming irrelevant that they’d lashed out. An act done to show that they had some kind of control.

Other nations, other systems were taking the limelight and they were jealous. They were scared humans were allowing their emotions to show that they were the greatest. They didn't need other races, they didn't need the Free Fleet, they were strong by themselves.

That kind of thinking was what made them weak compared to the Free Fleet. It was why they were going to lose.

“Humans, when will we learn?” Knox said, Edward's gun barked once, a disgusted look on his face as he holstered it and took the papers from the desk. He walked outside to the men waiting for him.

“Knox is dead, tell General Davidson we are ready to proceed with operation home turf.” One of the men saluted running off.

Chapter Sometimes the carrot doesn't work

“So how are we looking with this whole recreating the Union?” I asked, stopping myself from scratching the newly formed skin on my lower back.

“So far it looks like all of the eight systems under our protection as well as Quarst, Jakram, Rashdahl and the Sarenmenti reclamation project that is trying to rebuild their homeworld are in. The Kuruvians have mentioned some interest and will be supplying a representative. They haven't said if they want to be part of the Union if it comes into formation or not,” Rick said, not needing to look at the conference room table or his data pad that lay on it. He had been in meetings with all of the representatives for the last two weeks while I had got my ass out of bed, got my new spine all checked out and signed off on. I'd been dealing with the paperwork of ship repairs as well as the never ending reports I had been missing while I was on Heija.

I looked up to the Parnmal conference room's wall mounted view screen. It faithfully displayed where the systems were that were interested in being part of the Union.

The room was empty except for me and Rick, leaving us plenty of room for our data pads, and the litany of information that the view screen turned desks that was being pulled from the Free Fleet's servers.

“Good, what about the agreement that you looked at? What did they think?” I looked to Rick who was rubbing his face to try and energize it and himself.

“We've got a tentative agreement,” he said, finding the file after a few flicks through his personal storage, he pushed it off towards me. I turned it, checking it over.

“Basically it’s the exact same as the Union charter. Except this one names the Free Fleet as a contractual security force unlike the Planetary Defense Force of the original Union.” There was an annoyed edge to Rick's voice. “You would not believe how hard it was to get them to think of us as not a body of the Union, but as a trading house that Min Hae proposed.”

I nodded, going into this mess Min Hae had suggested that we show ourselves as a marketing house, we protected traders, traded out of Parnmal and such. Our war with the Syndicate was to keep the trading lanes clear and us in business. If we made ourselves another PDF, then we were liable to deteriorate like them. They had hamstrung themselves by looking at the military as if it was a way to climb the social ladder. With the Free Fleet we would run it like a business. Only doing good at your job would get you a higher position.

While our official line would be that we were protecting our assets and customers, we would be available for contractual work to the Union. If they needed help they contacted us, detailed the job and we would write up the perceived cost. I had no doubt that other mercenary companies would also look to get in on this market. I didn't mind, having a monopoly would only lead to the Free Fleet becoming over confident and deteriorate.

Having something stable and unchanging would only make the Union liable to fall apart again.

“It goes against what they know. Every group has had a single military, one group to protect the rest. Having that change into a contractual position, and the largest military force saying that they're just protecting their assets is odd to them. Not many of them understand that staying with the same old system will lead to the same outcome,” I said, Rick's eyes telling me that I was just voicing his own opinion.

“Yeah, it sounded odd the first time that Min Hae talked about it. He's been pushing for this to come about for quite a while though,” Rick said.

“He's been putting a lot of thought into not only protecting our asses right now, but looking at the future. We could learn a thing or two from our Intelligence Commander.”

“Much easier to worry about one problem at a time, than what might happen later on,” Rick acknowledged, looking to the notes in front of him, his shoulders slumping. Managing who went where in the fleet was a pain in anyone's ass.

And not something that I'm going to help with too much in the near future.

“Which brings up my next point,” I faced Rick who looked up from his notes. “You, the rest of the command team and Resilient have been pointing out that as the esteemed commander of this gig,”

Rick snorted at my attempt at sounding pompous. “I should be apparently manning something more powerful than our biggest Dreadnought. You've undoubtedly seen the reports by the yard’s engineers, even Eddie.” My voice became harder as Rick's expression became pained.

“Yeah, the old girl will need one hell of an overhaul to get itself sorted out,” Rick said. Resilient had been the target of more than one kamikaze Kalu. They'd smashed into the hull plating of the massive Dreadnought. Not even her ablative reinforced hull had been able to take the pounding that had rained down on her.

The main structure had been held together with armor plates as we dragged her towards Parnmal. Eddie and his engineers had worked themselves to exhaustion to keep Resilient together. It would take a complete overhaul to get her into fighting condition. We would need to rip the hull open to replace the entire superstructure and rebuild all of her main systems.

While the ship had sentimental value, that yard time could be used to put a carrier into space.

“Which is why I propose we don't overhaul her, we upgrade.” I opened a file and put it on the main screen.

It was hard to not stare at the heavily armored plans for the super-carrier as they rotated on the view screen. Massive armor plates and ablative armor coated the ship from the lumps on its bow, along the rows of cannons, PDS and missile tubes. The armor was actually closed at the entrance to the two massive landing platforms that ran along the top of the craft.

PDS were virtually invisible against the hull of the ship. Even the batteries of Planetary Rail Cannons that sprouted from the spine of the ship looked like mere toothpicks against the overall size of the carrier.

It was nearly four times the size of Resilient, and could carry two hundred fighters and bombers. Secondary flight decks similar to the fin-like-decks of the Battle-carriers were mounted on the belly of the carrier. Each of the openings that would allow fighters in and out were jealously guarded with hundreds of PDS turrets.

Shuttle bays ran along the belly of the carrier as well. Allowing them to drop out of the ship towards their intended target instead of them having to fly out amongst the port and starboard batteries.

Odd bulges lined the ship while blast plates for atomic acceleration waited to push the war machine at its targets.

“The new super-carrier in Sol?” Rick said, his interest restrained by his realization of where I was going with this.

“She's the biggest ship in our arsenal other than War-station, Commander Heston is recovering from his injuries and will be able to act as our Flight controller. Felix also says that project Elshurvum is complete and he's moving the prototype through Sol, to get Silly, LaRe the engineers and command staff that will fill her and move onto the Star-destroyer yard.”

I pushed another item onto the view screen, this a smaller carrier with a hull as thick as the super-carrier's with a heavy compliment of PDS and missile tubes. There were a lot less rail cannons than a ship of its size would usually have, but it had the odd bulges that the new super-carrier supported. They looked a lot like the old PDF's Point Defense systems.

“How long will it take for the Super-carrier to be finished?”

“A month and a half. Less if we get our crew helping out.” I looked to Rick. “And use Resilient's systems to supplement the carriers.”

Rick looked like he wanted to protest, hell I wanted him to. Resilient was the first place that we had gained any sort of independence. We had built lives on Resilient. We knew her as well as we knew our wives.

“I see,” he said, deflating and looking up at the two rotating ships. “At least I now know why you were happy to let the crew go on leave down the corridor. It'll make them closer to Nancy when we go through and pick them up for work-up on the new ship. What about Resilient herself and Eddie?”

“Resilient was rather happy with the idea. I think she knows her age and is interested to try something new. With the upgrades in processing power and storage she'll be able to do a heck of a lot more. Eddie...,” I leaned back and tapped my chin.

“You haven't told him yet?” Rick said, nodding in understanding.

“Haven't found the right time to tell him,” I said.

“Scared he's going to be pissed that you're going to turn his home into parts for a new ship,” Rick said, summarizing my feelings on the matter rather simply.

“Something like that.”

“Best to do it now than when we're on our way to Earth,” Rick said, knowing it would be hard for me to do but also knowing that I wouldn't put the duty onto anyone else.

***

Eddie sat down, he was tired to all hell, but that wasn't what made him take a seat. Engineers kept working pulling systems, replacing them, fixing them and doing all they could to bring Resilient back to life.

But you all know that it’s in vain. He let out a carapace weary sigh as he tilted his cowboy hat back and settled into the chair more comfortably.

“Something wrong chief?” Resilient herself asked, sparking into existence next to him.

He looked at her, sighing without the almost convulsive move that the human's performed of expelling atmosphere.

“Resilient...” He started, looking up to the sound of powered armor coming through his halls.

Krom appeared first, tilting his helmet slightly to Eddie in greeting as he scanned the deck.

Salchar followed after him, also wearing powered armor, it looked like it was another new set. Though a few scrapes and scuffs showed he'd worked it in nicely.

Eddie wasn't exactly unhappy with the disturbance, it got him out of telling Resilient that it would make more sense to change her to another ship instead of running in her current hull.

“Eddie, I know this is hard to accept but I think the time has come to let go of this hull and get us moved into a new ship,” Salchar said with all the subtly of a sledgehammer.

“Uhh well...,” Eddie began to say, Salchar stopped him with a raised hand.

“I know that you've put a lot of time into keeping this Dreadnought up and running. With the damage that we sustained it will take months for her to get back on the front lines. Months that we don't have and shipyard space that is put to better use getting the ships that you and the development team have been putting together,” Salchar said, his expression making it clear that he expected to have to fight over the point.

“Yeah, I agree, but have you talked to Resilient yet?”

“Yes, I suggested it to Rick who was looking at the timetables,” she said with an air of calm. “It’s only a hull, to me changing from one hull, or station or emplacement to another is like putting on different clothes. A little more annoying and control intensive, but similar.”

“So wait who doesn't know about this?” Eddie asked, his anxiety at having to tell Resilient that it might be best to move her into a new hull evaporating.

Salchar’s pause was all he needed.

“I'm the last!” Eddie's hands moved in frustration.

“Yes....” Salchar drew out the words, making it clear that he had another point. “But we also wanted to be sure that we knew what ship we were moving to before we made anything official.”

Eddie's manipulators betrayed him, moving from frustration to interest as if a light switch had been pressed.

“Well you going to tell us or just stand there?” Eddie said after a few moments. Salchar looked to be enjoying the moment.

“We're moving to the newly upgraded and renovated Super-Carrier.”

“Well at least you know how to pick ships!” Eddie said new excitement filling him. “So when are we going to be moving to the new ship?”

“Well if everything goes according to plan I want us to be moving over to Sol system in about two months,” Salchar said.

“How long will it take us from being in Sol to get Resilient herself switched over and us out of dock?”

“Unknown, that I think I will be leaving to my chief engineer.”

Eddie fingered his boot, but even the implied threat felt weak to him. Especially when his damned manipulators were moving with so much damned excitement.

It was like that damned Christmas holiday that the Humans had, and that the Free Fleet and merchant fleet were pressing upon every civilization that they came into contact with. It was good for business after all.

“Well then I have some work to do! Resilient, get me my engineering department commanders I think it’s about time that we looked over this new ship. If you don't mind commander I would like to use the conference room to fit them all in,” Eddie asked.

“It’s all yours, I have meetings to go to on bringing back the Union,” Salchar sighed.

Eddie couldn't help but feel a warmth of accomplishment flowing through him.

“The Syndicate might not have thought much of us, but by damn we're going to show them and everyone that ever thought to doubt us just what the hell we can do,” he said, practically jumping from his seat.

“That's the way of the Free Fleet,” Salchar grinned.

I wonder if he realizes that he is building an empire that will remember him and the Free Fleet for as long as any of it exists. Salchar tapped his fingers to his head and turned back the way that he had come, Krom following now as Shreesht took the lead.

Knowing him he neither cares what his name is attached to or not. As long as we are safe and that the Kaluian threat is removed then he doesn't care.

Eddie felt a fatherly kind of pride as he looked at Salchar's backside disappearing.

Chapter Let's see if it works for the second time

Edwards had assumed control over all the affairs that Knox had been running. He was still reeling from the information overload when General Davidson walked in with his medal covered dress uniform.

“Ah General, how goes the preparations?” Edwards asked from his desk. It, and the office around him was the polar opposite of the Spartan and clean room that Knox had lived in. This office spoke of his power through the rare wood that covered the walls and floors to the military artifacts of a person that found war interesting and intriguing, but had never participated in it.

Davidson rose an eyebrow and looked around the room.

“Oh, don't worry about any bugs, either our own allies or from the Free Fleet. I have this place checked randomly by a team I selected myself every day. The walls are also lined with metallic wires, making this one large faraday cage,” Edwards said, with a confident smile on his face as he stood and strolled to the sideboard filled with various drinks.

“Would you join me?” He asked.

“Certainly,” Davidson said, removing the beret that designated him as part of the Space Marines.

We should look into changing the damned name. Edwards quickly filed two glasses and put ice in them. Handing one to Davidson who took an appreciative sip as he went to take his seat opposite the man on the same side of his desk.

Davidson was one of the few people that he would sit on the same side as the General was the spear that Edwards hope he would plunge right into Salchar's own heart.

He took a sip, looking away from Davidson as anger made his lips turn into a snarl.

“Good stuff,” Davidson said, breaking into Edward's thoughts.

“Well, the two men that are looking to get rid of Salchar and this damned Free Fleet should be able to indulge in a few luxuries,” Edwards said with a conspiratorial grin.

“That they should,” Davidson agreed, nodding but lowering his glass. “Training is going well. The HAPA's are a bit difficult, and they need a user to be in powered armor when operating it, but we will have a strike force ready in about a week or so.”

“That's faster than I thought,” Edwards said appreciatively.

“I picked them men and women myself, all of them believing as we do. Most of them have been touched by the events that the Free Fleet failed to stop.” Davidson's face hardened.

Edwards wondered if the General actually believed the propaganda that had been going on about the Free Fleet as soon as they had saved Earth from the Syndicate.

Some said that they could have risen up before they left Sol and saved Earth from the orbital bombardments.

Well if he does, it shows that our propaganda machine is working rather nicely.

“Of course,” Edwards allowed his own face to darken. All he needed was to think of Salchar's treatment of himself, and the way that the sanctimonious prick had acted, treating Edwards as if he was nothing more than an annoyance. “Well it looks like you'll be able to get them into action in time for Felix coming through the system after all.”

“Yes, how are we looking for Hachiro, Nancy and other operations throughout the Free Fleet?” Davidson asked, not even trying to hide the edge in his voice.

“I have Knox's protocols that will allow me to send the message to every man and woman in the field. If they don't get it then the others will hopefully set them off as they see things starting up,” Edwards said, drinking from his cup.

“Can we be sure of their reliability?” Davidson's voice was hard.

“There will be those that feel connected to the Free Fleet, but the amount of them will outweigh those that do not carry out their orders. I will personally see that those that do not carry out their orders are seen to,” Edwards' eyes bore into Davidson’s for a moment before Davidson nodded in agreement.

The Free Fleet had ballooned to thirty-six million creatures under its command, not including the extra ground forces that acted as a reserve.

Those that had been pulled from Earth to go to Heija were being processed through the Free Fleet's system to make sure that they got the care they needed, whether it was psychological or physical. There were few if any that had made it to back without at least some physical damage, and the human mind took time and help to get past what they had seen.

Edwards had gone over the reports. He had dismissed the Kalu numbers, the majority of people under arms hadn't served in an Earth military. No most of them are already in the Free fleet.

He put the reports down to inexperienced people that didn't know their jobs. In his eyes they were traitors to Earth. He didn't understand why anyone might leave the Free Fleet alone. America was the rightful military machine, the Free Fleet were pretenders that needed to be cleared away.

Once Earth had its own military then they would show the other systems how a true military fought. There would be none of this losing battles. They would come through and crush these Kalu wholesale.

They're nothing but damned barbaric Wolves. We won our fight against wolves long ago. Edwards thought with disgust.

“Very well, does your source have an updated timeline for when Felix is expected to come through Sol?” Davidson interjected.

“Next week, I do hope that your people are as ready as you say. We will only get one chance at this.”

“My people have orders to take the carrier, or to destroy it with their own nukes,” Davidson said with something close to pride.

“Good,” Edwards said, unable to hide his own smile. He would show the Free Fleet what a real government was capable of.

***

“Silly, I have found something...odd,” LaRe said as Silly was looking over the information that Min Hae had given him. It was no quick read. He was trying to understand how the Star-Destroyers worked, which inevitably led to him looking at how to make them better and refit them for the Free Fleet's use. Then he was looking at how the yards were built, where the factories were placed and how the individual slips fit together.

Seeing as the yard had been built over generations there were also variations from slip to the next. Then there was the fact that the Kalu had never used factories to make their parts and ships. Every part was hand made by a group, then another group took these parts and put them into the star-destroyer which was made by multiple groups.

Every damned Star-Destroyer was different, every beam that made up the slips was different and the ship more of a growth than it was any kind of planned out structure.

All of that was making Silly have one hell of a time trying to figure out how he was going to get the Star-destroyers into some kind of uniformity, with systems that could be replaced by the standardized units of the Free Fleet.

“What is it?” Silly asked, unable to keep all the irritation of being interrupted out of his manipulators
“We've lost two freighters full of HAPA's.”

“WHAT?” Silly demanded. “How and where?”

“Well it’s not official yet, but I was browsing through the systems traffic to make sure that the shipments coming to us and leaving us were on time when I realized I lost two ship codes between here and Chaleel. Specifically, two freighter's seemed to have disappeared before getting to Chaleel. I back checked where they were supposed to be, they weren't in jump and then looked for the two freighters in any other location, just in case the traders had decided to make a run along one of the unplotted routes. Two freighters without Identification were recorded coming into Sol and headed to Earth.” LaRe answered.

“So they sold the HAPA's to Earth? Send the information to the Fleet and they'll sort this out.”

“It looks like there were no traders to make the trade, instead I have these images,” the images of the Star-destroyer yard were replaced by shuttles that met up with five ships, three were private freighters with decent armaments, the other two were Free Fleet freighters.

The shuttles hooked up to the two freighters and moved down to Earth, to an empty part of the Nevada desert in the United States. They went into a mountain complex so Silly couldn't see who was onboard the Free Fleet Freighter or in the mountain.

“Who the hell is that?”

“It’s a coalition of nations I think. I started looking at who has gone to that mountain base. Min Hae's intelligence department have been keeping an eye on the facility after a few too many dignitaries were going there while they were supposed to be somewhere else.”

“Send Min Hae your findings. I don't like this at all. Also alert the intelligence department's commander in-system,” Silly said, thoughts of star-destroyers and shipyards fading away. He did not like what he was hearing, or the feeling in his gut.

***

Evelyn Sparks was one of the most known reporters on The Free Fleet and possibly the most well-known reporter in known space. She had broken stories on the Free Fleet time and time again, she regularly hosted debates on the state of trading and her network produced informative videos on the people that were under the Free Fleet's protection, and the systems that weren't. She had more contacts within the governments of the various systems that resided on the Free Fleet's side of the line. Heck she even had some sources behind the line. Though those sources weren't saying much right now just in case the Kalu had another Ashota in their ranks.

Though none of that was on her mind as she watched the delegates from thirteen systems filed into an auditorium. HAPA's and commandos stopped anyone else from entering.

Evelyn knew what was going on, her contact within the Kuruvians Empire had told her about Elisati of Worshun's talk with Rick as well as Min Hae's own suggestions to create a new Union to bind the systems together with trade, medical aid, schooling and mutual military support.

She checked her appearance in her mirror before looking to Tuvio, her Chaleelian camera creature.

“Ready?” She asked but she hardly had to, Tuvio had been her personal camera man since she’d made Parnmal her headquarters.

“Just waiting on you,” He said with a smile.

She rolled her eyes before settling into her professional mask.

“This is Evelyn Sparks with an exclusive report on the events happening behind me in one of the Free Fleet's auditorium,” she paused letting that sink into her viewers before she continued.

“The Union seems to be breathing new life today as the Free Fleet are discussing bringing back the old institution. Behind these doors nine systems including the Kuruvian Empire are debating how they are going to bring back the Union. Even in these times of turmoil the Free Fleet are pushing to restart the Union,” she disliked that last sentence. She had issues with the Free Fleet, they weren’t perfect and someone needed tyo make sure that they didn’t overstep their bounds. She recognized their power and also how they tried to make the best decision for the majority. At the end of the day it was a limited military dictatorship. A fact that mattered little with war on their doorstep.

While others bitched and moaned about budgets and testing, making half-assed efforts to build something to stop the Kalu, the Free Fleet were pouring everything they had into the defense of those that stood with them.

She wondered what the Free Fleet might look like after all of the conflict was done.

First we have to survive, and our best bet is the Free Fleet, not the politicians that complain and hide behind masks and colorful words.

***

Elisati looked around the room, wondering if these people around her would be the ones to bring the Union back into creation. It was a terrifying moment and it was exhilarating. It was as if she had somehow taken the seed that Min Hae had reminded her of and she had given it life. She had started a process that could end in the Union coming back, something that she hadn’t thought possible even months ago.

It could turn into a monster of a creation that made the old Union, or even the chaos that ensued when the Syndicate were in control—look better by comparision.

Now it was out in the open there was no way that she could stop it from growing.

Not with the support that Salchar is giving from behind the scenes. Though I don’t understand why he doesn’t want the Free Fleet to be the military force of the Union. With it being the protective force of the Merchant fleet it gives them the ability to act autonomously. That might be a reason. If the new PDF becomes restive then the Free Fleet can be there to take up the contract and do what the PDF won't. It would make them our contracting forces to operate outside of Union's sphere of influence. The PDF could police them and the rest of the Union while they look to advancing their trade routes, expanding the Union instead of letting it grow stagnant. She wondered if she was giving Salchar and his people too much credit. They kept to themselves for the most part and they were used to juggling more than one ball at any given time. She only needed to look at the current situation for that to be clear.

They were hitting the almighty hell out of the Kalu in a way that the PDF had never even thought of, while they grew their trained personnel, both for the front lines and in reserve capacities.

Those numbers are only going to rise when someone finds out just what these meetings are for. Or some might hold out to start creating the PDF again.

There were so many possibilities, all of them created from the decisions of the people in this room, she looked down from her seat in the Semi-circle configuration of the lecture hall. Each delegation had their own seat, placard and were arranged so that they could see one another as well as the Free Fleet delegation that sat at the front of the auditorium.

Silence fell as Salchar stood from his position at that forward table, Rick remained seated on Salchar’s left, the commander of planetary relations and a woman by the name of Dalia Wasseur sat on either side on the right of Salchar. Rick and Salchar’s protection details sat behind them, looking omnious in their powered armor. They looked as if they were going to walk out the doors into a warzone.

Even though Elisati couldn’t see their eyes she knew they were watching the delegates, constantly ready.

Elisati didn't think that she had ever seen Salchar out of his powered armor, it looked more natural on him than the battle suit he wore. He, like every other human that had undergone Syndicate or Free Fleet training was a large specimen of muscle mass.

His eyes locked with hers for a moment, she felt herself being assessed before he moved on. He was quick with his look around the room, she didn't doubt that he had classified them based on his own system of how much they were a threat to him.

“Rick and I are largely here for decoration and to act as referees in this talk. Dalia will be dealing with all of our points. I suggest that she begin and we go from there, talking over the points raised and deciding how we're going to get the Union back on its feet,” With that he took his seat and reclined.

Dalia leaned forward in her seat.

“Okay, first of all we will look at the military organization of the Union.” Dalia began as Elisati sat forward in her chair.

The future waited for no one, and she wasn't about to have this Union come into creation without being as thoroughly vetted as damned possible.

***

Felix looked at the station on his sensors. It was too far to be seen with a naked eye, or even with the telescopic abilities of the visual sensors. The station had been put into standby mode and its reactors shut down. All of the Research and Development people were coming with him to the Star-destroyer yard. They had all been pining over the issues with the Star-destroyer's and leaving them out here would be doing them a disservice. A tug had already come to collect the various factories and other equipment that had been resting at the station. That tug would be jumping between systems all the way to the Star-destroyer yard. The factory ship in-system would be doing the same to Parnmal, resupplying, joining up with the relief column and then Elshurvum as it came through.

“Ready for jump,” Elshurvum's Helmsperson said as Felix turned towards the blast doors, the noises of confirmation  were background noise to him as he turned back to pondering just how in the hell they were going to be able to get those Star-Destroyers in fighting trim, without taking months, and giving out totally crap ships.

He heard the noises of the capacitors discharging to make the wormhole into Sol. It was a test of the carrier’s new systems; it was supposed to be able to use its multiple capacitors much like the jump-fighters to create multiple wormholes in quick succession.

For right now his people were checking that having one discharge didn't create bleed through or damage the new system. They'd simulated it multiple times, and done it with models, but this was the first real test.

There was no feeling of entering the wormhole, only an announcement overhead by the ships communications commander.

He found his bunk, pulled out his data pad and joined the forum being run by his people. He went straight to the conversation happening about the Star-Destroyer station, he didn't even hear the announcement that they had arrived in Sol as he was deep into discussing whether it would be more feasible to just melt down the Star-destroyer's than keeping them active.

***

General Davidson had to give it to Edward's source, whoever they were, they knew their damned stuff. The carrier arrived only an hour late. Dealing with things like wormholes and FTL relays, that kind of timing was damned near impossible.

“Send the message to the other ships, and to Edwards,” he said the freighter's command staff, they had begun moving on intercept course for the ship as soon as it had arrived. They were all grim faced and hard lines as they carried out his orders.

He turned and walked back to the storage pods which had been converted to hold the powered armor and HAPA wearing participants of his plan.

He pulled his visor down, it would be thirty minutes until they reached Elshurvum. He gritted his teeth and accepted that fact, no matter what, he was taking that carrier. About time someone showed Salchar what a real military with a real leader can do.

Chapter Beware the wrath of the patient

I was sitting in a meeting between all of the planets that wanted to bring the Union back into creation when I got the message.

It was our third meeting and everyone now knew what was happening in this auditorium. Groups of excited creatures whooped and cheered as we entered and exited, it reminded me of the times I had exited a tournament to crowds of gaming fans.

I was a lot more bored than I tried to make out. Which meant I was looking around when Yasu entered the room and headed straight towards me.

I didn't know what was wrong, but seeing as the session was supposed to end in a few hours, and I knew enough about Yasu that she clearly wasn't pleased, I sat up.

I heard Wruck, Shreesht and Krom do the same behind me.

Yasu walked straight towards me, her eyes hard and her strides purposeful. I felt my teeth press together in anticipation, my own eyes darkening. I could tell from her body language that she knew I wasn't going to like what she was about to say.

She bent down to my ear, I looked past her, seeing the people of the assembly. Talking quickly died as she had walked towards me. They understood that something was wrong.

“Earth has attacked Elshurvum on its way through Sol, Hachiro, Mars and Nancy are engaged in battles. Some of the enemy combatants are from within our own ranks. Elshurvum fell, they have freighters, powered armor and HAPA's,” she said, her tone capable of melting armor plate.

I looked to my right and to Rick who wore the same hard expression as me. We both knew what we had to do. That didn't mean we weren't going to like it.

“Get the intelligence department pulling all personnel that could be linked to this,” I said, pulling my data pad, using a hotkey to connect me to Monk.

“Put Parnmal on lock-down we have a possible mutiny,” I said, talking over his greeting.

“Understood,” he said, going from dealing with the day-to-day of Parnmal to possible internal war in a moment.

I stood, my eyes finding the delegation from Earth.

“The Free Fleet will be withdrawing from further talks.” This sent a series of gasps and shocked expressions back from the delegates.

“We will not be part of the Union unless Earth are left out of it. They attacked a carrier moving through Sol that was intended to gather supplies for the Kalu offensive. Using tech that they stole from us. Earth units have also attacked the instillations on Mars, Hachiro and Nancy.” Shock was quickly turning to anger, people from every system represented here were training or working in those facilities. The hope of the people in this room depended on those facilities.

The Free Fleet was the only force capable of keeping the Kalu at bay, and Earth had attacked that bulwark.

More than one delegate would probably see this as not only an attack on the Free Fleet, but on their own planets which would be under attack if the Kalu got past our lines of defense.

Dalia and Rick stood, even Dalia's smiling face was dark with anger. I led the way out of the auditorium, pulling out my data pad and connecting to Vort.

“I want all Merchants to clear Sol, put all reserves on alert. I want every Free Fleet person at their stations.”

“Yes sir.”

I clicked off the channel and joined a new one with Eddie as I marched, there were no salutes from the Free Fleet personnel as they moved with purpose, announcements were already coming through the station and telling people to go to their homes or ships and wait while Parnmal went into lockdown.

Stores closed down and people raced home as prisoners were secured in their cells and every person in the Free Fleet was screened for coded communications from Earth before being given their powered armor or being allowed back onto their ships.

The intelligence department was an efficient machine as not only humans but creatures from multiple races were held in isolation until the situation could be resolved.

“Salchar?” Eddie asked, breaking my concentration from the reports that were flooding in.

“Eddie, will Resilient make one more journey?” I asked, flipping through reports as Eddie took a few moments.

“She will,” Eddie's voice was like starlight, pure and irrefutable. “What are we dealing with?”

“Earth attacked Felix aboard Elshurvum and every instalation in Sol.” A report flashed over my screen. “Earth forces are fighting in Parnmal's yards as well.”

I wanted to punch the bulkheads we walked past on our way to Resilient.

How could they be so damned stupid!

I knew the answers of course, politicians had been playing to the fears of the people, making the situation seem as if it was apocolytpic. It was still too expensive for most people to get passage on a ship off of Earth, let alone around the trade routes that ran across what had been Union territory.

The majority of people didn't know what was going on outside of Sol, meaning that Politicians could use the fear of the unknown to give them unprecedented power.

Earth militaries were larger than ever and people wanted to assert control over the chaos that the politicians had emphasized.

Now it looked like the governments of Earth were acting upon their promises, they were going to remove the Free Fleet and show their people how Earth was going to lead the people into a new future. They didn't care about the Kalu, they cared about gaining more power. They'd come out of every war fine in recent history. They couldn't understand that the Kalu would wipe out an entire species, happily dying to add a race to their list of victims.

I didn't notice that Dsalia had left us until I looked up from my data pad to the shuttle-bay that was waiting for us.

“I'm going to move to Floater,” Yasu said.

“Look after yourself,” I said, turning to her, my tone more serious than usual.

She heard it and hugged me, I returned the embrace, breathing in her scent.

We released and she stiffened, becoming Floater's commando commander.

She looked to Krom and Shreesht.

“We'll do our best,” Krom said, tiliting his body in respect to his battle mistress. She nodded, I swore I saw a flash of wetness in her eyes before she started walking away.

I wanted to call to her, to have her come with me, but I knew that her place was with her commandos, as mine was on the bridge of Resilient. I straightened, my anger coming back to me as I headed for the shuttle at a brisk walk.

“It looks like the traitors are limited to the rear echelons. Most of the frontline personnel that got messages from Earth to attack us have reported it to their chain of command and agreed to be incarcerated. Others have been found within the frontline units but they went without a fight. It looks like they're more pissed to be associated with this, than they are unhappy about being arrested,” Rick said, trying to keep a neutral tone and failing. I nodded to the shuttles cargo master.

“Get us to Resilient as fast as possible,” I said, the cargo master sealed the door behind us as we made our way to our seats, there were a number of Resilients crew with us. Dark eyes and angered expressions met my own, sharing a sign of acknowledgment.

“If the people in question are vetted and checked by their commanders to be good people and they believe that they won't act out, then they can resume their positions.”

“There's something else,” Rick said. “Edwards is the one that sent out the message to everyone.”

I felt myself grind my teeth again.

The extra gravities from aggressive thrust stopped me from replying as our shuttle powered for Resilient.

“I want a warrant on that man,” I said, that would make sure that he wouldn't be killed on purpose, or by mistake. He would see judgment from those protected by the Free Fleet.

Having someone in the Free Fleet kill him would only further his attempts to make us look like a rabble instead of a true military.

“Sir,” Rick said. I looked to my data pad, looking at reports of what was happening in the very yards I was heading to. Traitors and Earth agents hit factories, mangled ships being worked on, and put the second slip out of comission.

It would take months to repair that damage, this was clearly a well thought out attack. The Free Fleet had reacted with speed to protect power plants and habitated areas, stopping several attacks already, Resilient and her AI friends were uploading the identities of the attackers.

Ships that were secure were now pushing their commandos into the yard to help and secure the facility.

None of the Earth agents had powered armor making it look like the situation should be cleared up in short order.

That wouldn't matter to the nearly seven hundred dead and four hundred wounded.

Gravities reversed themselves as we started braking, signalling the half-way point of our journey to Resilient.

We were greeted by power armor wearing Commandos, they passed scanners over everyone as we left the vessel making sure that none of the intelligence people had flagged us to be put into cells.

I made my way through the ship which was a hive of activitiy as Engineers were making rapid repairs to the ship in order to get them ready to fly.

I opened a new channel to Carsickle.

“How are we looking on the Commando side of things?” I asked.

“Good Commander, I was about to offer our assistance to the yard.”

“Very well Commander,” I said, cutting the channel as I made my way through the halls and finally to the blast doors that led to my bridge.

There was no fanfare as I walked in, that crap had never made its way into the Free Fleet's rules and regulations. I should know, I had to write the damned thing.

“Ben how are we looking for a plot to Earth?” I asked.

“Ready to go commander, I have clearance from Parnmal control,” Ben replied.

“In Sook, how are we looking for the fleet?” I continued.

“Information has been sent to your terminal,” she said, bent over her console as I took my seat.

“Walf can you get a map up of Parnmal yard, I want to see the areas that we've cleared and the areas that we still have to clear.”

“Yes sir. Do you want a similar map for Earth installations?”

“If you've got it I would very much so.”

I flicked information from my data pad to the various consoles before putting the data pad away and sorting through the mass of information that my command staff was now streamlining right to my chair.

Well they were damned effective. Even my mental tone was biting as I looked at the most recent numbers and statistics of what the Attackers had been able to do.

A new alert went up on the board, another explosive had been detonated, turning quarters that housed workers for the yard into a massacre.

Commandos were quickly moving to the location to render assistance and to clear out any remaining Earth agents.

***

Connolly looked up from his cell, his teeth grated one another as he heard whoever had entered walk past the cells.

He remembered the orders he had been given when he left Earth, but after he had fought alongside the creatures of the Free Fleet he could never betray them. He saw reality clearer than ever. No matter what Earth wanted him to do he would not betray the people that would be willing to lay down their lives for his.

His eyes widened into surprise before thinning in anticipation as Yasu stood in front of him, wearing armor scared from Heija.

The door opened and she walked in with nothing but cold eyes.

Connolly had seen her fight more than once, he knew that trying to take her, even in these close quarters was a bad damned idea.

He looked at the floor, it was hard for him to not feel the disgust that ran through his veins. He had accepted those orders when he left Earth. There was a record of them somewhere probably.

It wasn't that which made him look down. Now it was the feeling that she now looked at him as one of the people that had attacked the Free Fleet, which had taken their kindness and training and repaid them with a stab in the back.

He was scared to see the pure fury in her eyes.

“Answer one question,” she said, her voice pulling his eyes to her. “Who do you serve?”

“The Free Fleet,” he said, looking her dead in the eyes. That moment seemed to last a lifetime as she nodded.

“Well get suited up commander, the Fleet needs you.” She turned leaving him in a state of shock. She moved down the hall and went into another cell.

He creeped forward out of his cell and looked around in question.

Yasu had come out of another cell around the time he was fully out of his own cell, a part of him was wondering if this was some kind of elaborate trap.

“Move it Commander! We are under attack and I will not have you slacking off down here. I will get Eddie and his boots over here if I need to!” She barked, her voice would have put a Gunnery Sergeant's to shame as he snapped off a two finger salute.

“Yes Commander!” He said, turning and jogging through the ship and towards the armory to grab his powered armor.

More than one person gave him a stare that made him feel a shiver run down his spine and made him stand straighter.

I'm going to prove that I'm a Free Fleet man if it’s the last thing that I do. He thought, a new fire in him as those same words seperated him from Earth. He might have family back on Earth, but he couldn't forgive the people that made these orders, or elected the people that would give consent to them.

“Commander?” Druv, an Avarian from Connolly's platoon said, looking him over. “Why aren't you in armor?” He asked with perfect innocence.

“Long story Druv, how are we looking, I heard that Parnmal yards were being hit,” Connolly said, tapping his hand to a rack, his powered armor coming down.

“Floater is moving to group with the fleet that's going to Earth, some forces are getting shuttled to the yard to help. Parnmal station had a few hits but they reacted faster than anyone was able to anticipate,” Druv said.

Connolly got into his powered armor and began putting on the internal harness and making sure everything was in place.

Druv started to help him without being told.

“Who's in command of the Platoon?”

“Well you are commander, we were a little curious as to why you took so long,” Druv said as the last armored plate locked into place.

Connolly shook his head, letting out a small laugh as he powered up and detached the rack's harness.

He walked to the armory, grabbing his weapons and ammunition.

“Where are they?” He asked as he loaded and checked his rifle.

“Shuttle bay, just as we drilled,” Druv said. There might have been a little bit of pride in Druv's voice as Connolly slapped his visor down.

Druv followed suit as Connolly walked out of the armory.

A few members and then more and more turned to see him as he walked out of the armories.

“Connolly, you and your Platoon and half of my own are going to move to assist the Parnmal Yards, you have overall control,” Yasu said in his ear, using her senior commandership to override his comms.

“Yes sir.”

“Good,” she cut off of the channel as he sent a message to his commanders and those that would be joining him from Yasu's platoon.

Druv, being one of them stayed by Connolly as he took a knee, it didn't take long for the other commanders to join up.

Connolly looked to them, expecting to see hostility and anger directed towards him, there was little if any. There was more among the new commanders but those that had been on Heija were attentive, awaiting his orders.

He took solace in that and began his briefing.

“Alright, it looks like we're going to be helping out the units on Parnmal yard to secure the damned thing. Get your people moving to the shuttles, I'm going to check if I can get some more up-to-date information,” he said.

Squads rushed onto awaiting transports, their engines blurring the air with their heat trails.

Chapter a time to build and a time to fight

Silly clunked into the conference room wearing powered armor, his face as dark as any of the commanders or engineering chiefs that were waiting in the conferece room or following him into it.

They had cleared Nancy of any Earth agents, but it had been a bloody fight and three docks were out of order. Dock four might even need to be pulled entirely.

Why did they have to use the goddamn power plant? He thought, not without some frustration. Twenty thousand creatures had died in Sol so far by LaRe's counts.

Commander Dasal a Krotek was leading the conference. His eyes were located in what would be a human's abdomen, his head was where his manipulating capable limbs spread out. He looked something like an odd tree with four legs.

“Mars and Hachiro are still under attack. Mars should be ending soon but the numbers have been low, there were a number of depressurization in the intake barracks, not many people knew how to use their equipment and died.

“The people on Hachiro have got HAPA's somehow, the entire station is a war zone. Commander Falheel who was taking over from Commander Whorst was killed in the fighting. Commandos, trainees and whoever we can trust with a gun are fighting against a well supplied and trained Earth military. After this meeting I hope to take two regiments to assist Hachiro, another three will be pulled from the ships that are getting overhauled and moved to reinforce us if needed. Another regiment of Commandos and hopefully ships will be moved to Mars to secure the training facilities and render aid,” Dasal looked around the room. “Most of the people on Earth have declared a unilateral victory against our forces.” This gained more than one angered noise from around the room. “I think it’s about time we showed them what happens when someone fucks with the Free Fleet.”

Hard noises of approval came back from the people in that room. Silly was shocked to see that anger in the eyes of more than one human in the room.

They were betrayed as much as us. He thought.

“What about the carrier?” He asked, looking to Dasal.

“They've been able to keep out of range of the freighters chasing them, I'm surprised they've lasted this long, but the ship is slow, and they only have PDS. The Earth forces must have cleared their hull of those systems a couple of hours ago. We can't get forces to them in time. Right now we need to secure what we have,”

“But Commander, they have laser cannons,” Silly said.

“Laser cannons? Like the unstable useless popguns of the Syndicate?” Dasal said, his confusion turning to annoyance.

“No, like the Free Fleet version that can punch through a Star-destroyer length ways,” Silly cut of Dasal.

“Fuck,” Someone said in the room, summarizing the chill that seemed to have settled through the conference room.

“Are they operational?” Dasal asked.

“Not yet, but they could be quickly,” Silly said.

“Shit,” Dasal looked to the conference rooms table and turned on the holographic projector. “What can we get to them?” He half-muttered to himself as he looked at the map centered on the carrier.

“We have a Battle-cruiser and two corvettes that were on patrol and are now moving in-system as per their orders,” LaRe said, opening the map up and showing the group as they moved towards the cluster of Free Fleet facilities around Mars.

“Put me in contact with them,” Dasal said. Hold on Felix, we're coming for you.

***

“How hard is it to catch a damned Carrier! We were on top of it when it came through the damned wormhole!” General Davidson barked at the freighter's Ship Commander, oh how he wanted to drive his powered fist through that idiots head!

They already had momentum, and as soon as they saw us they powered their drives up to maximum, they have less thrust overall, but we're still making up for their initial thrust.

With our hits to their engines we're now closing with them quickly. Not even their faster drives can keep them ahead of us now,” the Ship Commander reassured the General.

“You better be damned well sure about that!” Davidson threatened as he moved back down to the bowels of the freighter.

Alarms pinged in his suit as his HUD updated the plot outside the freighter.

“How in the hell?” Shock was quickly becoming anger as more alerts went off, a second freighter erupted in explosive atmospheric decompression.

“Fire everything we have at that damned carrier!”

***

“Well how's that for a live-fire,” Felix said as the jerry-rigged rear laser cannon fired again. This time it gave one of the freighter's a nice long scar down its flank. Bulkheads blew out where the laser had kissed them. Atmosphere was ripped out into vacuum as was anyone unfortunate enough to be close to the now open sections of hull.

“The Cooling systems still aren't fully functional, even with the power plant's plasma being redirected through the system to cool it,” Joqua said, one of Felix's chiefs said from his station.

“You hear that Xruz?” Felix yelled as another 'round' fired.

“Alright alright, slow down the rate of fire, got it,” Xruz said, trying to sound unhappy with Joqua's warning, but with the damned power of the cannon, it was hard for Felix to blame the Dovark's enthusiasm.

Interesting that I am more relieved to get weapons firing on people from my own planet instead of letting them board and get close to the creatures I never knew were up amongst the stars. Can't pick your brothers, but sometimes they're the ones you weren't expecting in the beginning.

“We've got enough ammo for twelve shots, pace them out, I'm going to see if we can get that damned array back on. If I get my hands on whoever gave them our location…” Felix let that sentence go unfinished as he walked out of the turrets command ring.

His powered armor thumped through the craft as he jogged to the forward sections.

There was supposed to be a crew of twenty five thousand on this carrier, instead there was nearly two thousand trying to get the ship fully operational and fighting.

The engines were not coming back, but they were giving almost everything that they could. If the Earth forces got onboard then they were going to show them what real acceleration was.

Felix's face was grim as he continued to run. The carrier shrugged off the Earth missiles with ease.

“I've lost two of the freighters from my view, they'll be on us in a few minutes,” Xruz reported.

“Crap.” Felix opened up a channel to everyone on the ship.

“Strap into an acceleration couch, it looks like we're about to be boarded, I think its time for operation run-like-fuck,” he said changing his direction as he ran, he found himself in fighter operations command, usually this was where people managaed all the fighters looking to land, take off or resided inside the carrier at any given time.

Felix was rocked by a damned hellish explosion, his magnetic boots were the only things that kept him standing.

He slammed his butt into his chair and set his HUD to show any breaches as they occurred.

It looked like he was amongst the last to get himself into an acceleration couch.

The seat contorted to his armor and started to encompass his armor, he could move freely and get out of it, for now.

His HUD's view changed as a part of the the hull disappeared to the rear of the ship. The carrier's atmosphere had already been drained so there was no massive rush of air out the back of the ship.

Instead there were humans in powered armor and goddamn HAPA's rushing into the ship.

Use my own tech against me will you?

Another panel blew into the ship, Felix's HUD changed to this now.

They entered through the engine compartments, there were a number of engineers sitting in chairs, being unarmed they rose their hands, the Earth forces fired on them, someone in charge finally got them to stop by then there was only four of the thirteen people that had been sitting in that room left alive, two had suit breaches the third was having Hellfire pumped into her system, her suit made it clear she needed medical attention.

A man that looked to be in charge picked up the uninjured creature with his own powered armor. It was clear that he was yelling questions at the creature, but with it being vaccuum the creature couldn't understand, or reply in any way so they let themselves go limp, their weight and the powered armor's dragging on the leader's arms, he dropped them and kicked at their face. Their boot cracked the visor of the creature's powered armor, opening them up to vaccuum.

They squirmed on the floor, trying to cover their face and hold their oxygen in somehow.

The leader stood back and watched as the creature died of asphyxia at his feet. He moved around the creature, waving his forces through the ship.

“Activating acceleration system,” Felix heard himself say as he went through his remote control features, his eyes staring at his people that lay in that room.

Bombs tumbled out of the rear of the carrier, exploding and pushing the ship forward with massive acceleration.

More and more bombs dropped as the gravitational forces increased accordingly.

Felix's powered armor compensated for the increased gravities on his body, his eyes still focused on the enginer compartment as Earth forces were thrown, and the gravities broke bones with the extra weight and stresses.

Serves you right.

***

Silly looked down on the reports in front of him with grim and angered expressions visible to anyone that could read a Kuruvian’s manipulators.

Entire sections of Nancy were non-operational, the areas being held by the Earth forces he had already written off. The Commandos that had been waiting on their ships being repaired or about to ship off down the corridor had a short way with those that had attacked their friends.

Hachiro was still embroiled in a long fight, Mars was as well.

Earth forces were flooding from the planet’s surface on merchant carriers. It would take them a matter of days until they reached Nancy.

Putting them right in Elshurvum’s path. The carrier had stopped his head-long dash towards Nancy, the crew on her were badly wounded and in rough shape, but it looked like they had control of their ship and that the forces following them were too far behind to catch up with their acceleration systems.

They were now between the forces that had pretended to act like merchants only to turn and head directly towards Hachiro and Mars as soon as the fighting started. If they slowed down then they would be hit by their first group of attackers, if they continued on the forces that were going towards Mars and Hachiro would likely spell their end.

There was no good option for them so they were striking to a pace that would give them the most time out of range of both groups. That gave them four days and little other options.

When they had come out of their wormhole their projectors had been hit, too many of them to be repaired and make a stable wormhole, but Felix’s people were working on it, and their laser cannon which was proving to be one hell of a weapon if slow and dangerous as hell.

Thankfully aid was on the way, but Silly feared it would be too late to make a difference for the carrier.

With the daughter yards Nelly and Ned in AIH and Chaleel it meant that there were a number of ships that had gathered planetary Commandos and were on their way to Sol.

Salchar had set off from Parnmal just a matter of hours after hearing what had happened.

Even with his white hot rage at the att…, he cut that word off. Betrayal, Silly call it what the feckless assholes did by the proper name. Still that anger went cold with the message that he didn’t need to play again to see in his mind.

Salchar’s mask hid all the emotion but his voice was like the hammers in an asteroid processor. Unrelenting, cold, and uncaring.

Yasu was with him, but Silly doubted that she would be looking to calm her husband down much. The entire Free Fleet was angry. The backlash was already starting, traders were getting denied in ports and their ships held in limbo.

The miners of Sol had unilaterally come down on the side of the Free Fleet. They were led by the ex-Commando Marco and his sister Isabelle.

Marco had been in Salchar’s own squad during the recruitment. He and his sister owned one of the largest mining conglomerate’s.

Many of their first miners were Commandos that didn’t want to transition into the Free Fleet but didn’t see Earth as home.

With their support the Free Fleet refiners were stoked and supplied with continuous raw material and offerred any assistance they could provide.

“What do you think Salchar is going to do when he gets to Sol?” LaRe said, interrupting his thoughts as he stared at the star map that looked over Sol.

“Nothing good. He’s going to be angry and rightly so. He’s just come back from the biggest and bloodiest fight that the Fleet has been in yet. We’re in the middle of a war…” Silly trailed off, it was hard for him to think that they were in a war himself. It seemed that it was so far away, yet he’d seen the video from Heija and Rosho station. The sheer power of the Kalu when they were together was immense.

You’ve seen the numbers, been through the reports on their yards, their planets. There’s trillions more of them out there, with thousands of ships. Enough ships to block out the stars.

“He’s going to make an example of them,” LaRe said, once again pulling Silly from the depths of his dark thoughts.

“Yes, yes he will. He’s already stopped any trade with Earth and said that he will not be part of a Union that has Earth in it. They’ve burned their bridges with him and they didn’t even realize that they were standing on those same bridges,” Silly said, his voice sober and sad, yet with an undeniable hardness to it.

“What do you think that the twenty thousand survivors of Heijia are going to do when they get here?” LaRe asked, concern in his voice.

“Support their Commander as we will. While they will be hungry for vengeance and filled with anger, we’re going to see how to mitigate that. Can you open a channel with AIH’s Armored Marine Commandos Commander, Ursht and his Chaleelian counterpart Delahil? I should get them an update of the situation, record it and send it to Rick.”

“Understood, bringing Commander Ursht online first.”

Chapter Betrayal of blood

Commander Ursht didn’t need to ask his fellow commanders how his Avarians were feeling. All of them were as angry as the vicious armored Katak they hunted on Avar Interim Hermanti.

He wasn’t as large as his awakened brother Krom, but he wasn’t any shrimp.

He had been in charge of growing Asul City on AIH in Salchar and Yasu’s absence. In his care the city had grown to be the largest of its kind on the planet and had absorbed much of the other cities.

Yet even with the struggles of a city going from barely surviving to thriving a thriving metropolis, one that had the only spaceport on the planet, he had wanted more. His blood called to him and he wanted to serve not as an administrator, but as his Battle-masters man in battle.

Salchar had created the planetary Commando program. He’d also given Ursht his blessing to push his work off to those that had helped him to run the city thus far and test his skills as a Commando.

He had proved worthy and done his battle master proud with his performance. He had been given his permission on merit and by the votes of the other Commandos that lived on AIH.

He was indebted to Salchar for his actions, how he had saved his home and planet, and then gifted them with prosperity.

The other Avarians also felt a deep connection to their battle master.

This betrayal by Earth was personal. Earth had scorned their master, which made them not only betray him as a man, but them as a people.

It helped that Salchar was a good battle-master and a good man. The stories of those that went to Asul on leave from the Free Fleet made the residents of Asul happy and proud.

Some disagreed or resented their battle-master, it was to be expected. Some complained how the old ways had been lost, and they had a point, but the future wasn’t going to let them focus on the past if they wanted to grow.

“Clearing event horizon,” Linda Yousef said, as the Battle Cruiser exited its projected wormhole. Ursht might have bragged about beating the Chaleelians to the battle at one point, but right now he was more concentrated on getting to the battle. All of the ships had been boarded within a few hours of getting word, the Avarians had trained to be the fastest reactionary force they could be and that training had paid off. Two hundred and fifty thousand Avarians had boarded the ships that were capable of wormholing and headed for Earth.

They’d jumped as fast as they could, actually jumping into the dark, the spaces between systems to go to their full jump range. Their generators had been kept at ninety percent to charge the capacitors between uses and supply the wormhole generators with the power they needed to fight physics.

It had taken them nearly four days to reach Earth and the situation had improved only slightly from the initial reports they’d received about the system. Nancy was secure but badly damaged, fighting was still ongoing at Hachiro. Mars was a mass of confusion and fighting. Earth was secured by Earth forces and there was a large group of ships that had reached Hachiro supporting their forces there, with a separate group that had gone onto Mars.

The carrier Elshurvum had escaped capture thus far, but in the next two days the Earth forces would be on them.

“Linda I want to know if we will be able to jump to Elshurvum’s aid. Quasa, inform Commander Silly of our presence and ask for a situational update,” ship commander Zali asked without missing a beat.

Ursht’s opinion of the Battle Cruisers crew was revised upwards as they turned to their tasks with professional detachment. It didn’t take long until the main screen was updating with the newest information on what the Free Fleet and Earth Forces were doing in the area. Ursht used the HUD on his helmet to sift through the information and look specifically at Mars and Hachiro.

He sent the information and a list of questions to his subordinates so he could focus on any developing information on the bridge. They would get back to him with results as they found it, instead of him using his time to try and do more than he was capable of.

“It doesn’t look like a wormhole will be possible with the gravitational disturbances in the area as well as our profile. Jump ships could but we’re no jump ship,” Linda said. There were jump ships being made on Nancy but there were few pilots and the Earth forces had attacked the factory with speed and precision. Silly’s people were still assessing the damage but it would be a while until they had it figured out, fixing it would take a lot longer.

The pilots were on Hachiro, a handful of them had gotten out but they weren’t fully trained. More Jump fighters were with Salchar’s forces that were moving from Parnmal, they had set off after the fleet had made a few jumps so that they were within their resources range of Earth. They would arrive sometime in the next twenty hours, but they would need to refuel at Nancy before they were able to go into combat.

“Commander Ursht, it looks that our choices have thinned somewhat,” Zali said, looking to Ursht.

Slevarans looked very similar to Sarenmenti, but where Sarenmenti had large hips and lower legs, a stub of a tail, four jaws and large scales that didn’t change colors. The Slevarans were thinner with a larger head and eyes that looked sideways instead of forwards, they showed their emotions through their scale color, had only one jaw like the humans and no tail.

They had used to walk on all four limbs but had gone through genetic therapies when the Union was around to change so they stood upright instead of crawling.

“Yes,” Ursht said, his jaw tight as he nodded to the Slevaran, knowing just what Zali was asking.

Mars or Hachiro, which one do we take on?

He glanced over the reports again, looking at the station named after the bravery of his battlemistress father and the people that had joined him in battle against impossible odds. There were millions of people split between Hachiro and Mars, both were worthy targets. Yet Hachiro was in the path of Elshurvum and its position in Mars’ orbit would make it a good launching platform to Mars, if he could get those jump fighter pilots to their ships then maybe, just maybe they could make the small time window Elshurvum had before it was set on by Earth forces.

“Hachiro,” Ursht said, looking to Zali.

Zali’s scales flicked colors to signal agreement.

“You heard the Avarian Commander, prepare battle stations and shuttles. Linda will you be able to jump us to the station?”

“I can get us a few million kilometers closer,” she said.

“Do it,” Zali said, tongue flicking in malice.

“If you don’t mind I will be readying myself for battle with my forces,” Ursht said, grabbing his helmet from the railing it sat on.

“By all means Commander. We’ll do our best to deliver you right down their throats,” Zali didn’t try to hide the anger that filled his eyes and colored his scales.

Ursht grunted his agreement, pleased to be going into battle with a man such as Zali.

He turned and marched out of the bridge, his helmet locking with his powered armor over his bald head.

His skin was a grey-black that looked like the rocks of AIH, he, like the rest of his people were great at making themselves invisible on their planet.

Avarians looked similar to humans but were much larger and had muscle mass that looked more like armor plating than the ridges and bumps humans possessed.

Their joints and muscle had developed similar to the Dovark’s that had been the first race of the Union. While humans’ had first class lifting systems in their bodies, Avarians and Dovark’s had third.

The AI Planner had seen to changing their bodies to make them stronger and capable of living in the harsh environment that AIH hosted. This had allowed them to survive as a race and made them powerful adversaries. He had also taught them to work together and create a system that would allow them to work with others, stopping them from becoming another force like the Kalu.

He felt the power being shunted directly from the ship’s massive capacitors into its wormhole generators whose energy was focused by the wormhole projectors to open a hole through space and time. The ship moved into that wormhole, coming out of it just a few million miles away from Hachiro, behind the Earth forces.

“Get me the bastards,” Zali said over his ships comms, the Battle Cruiser Rolfa answered with anger. Her gunners trained Free Fleeters were not in the practice of missing their targets.

Missiles could be heard chasing and then passing their ship’s cannon fire.

“Commander?” Sarenmenti Kashal looked to his commander with only one question on his face.

“Well we’re not going to let the Ship’s crew have all the glory!” He barked over his speaker. Kashal didn’t wince from the volume but bared his four jaws.

Roars, the kind that one might expect from savage warriors filled the shuttle bay as the first sealed up, the others doing the same. Ursht felt his eyes widen as battle hormones filled him.

Today Earth will get their second lesson and learn what happens to oath breakers. He silently promised himself. He could still hear the yells from the others shuttles as he marched onto his own. Warriors moved out of his way as the ramps closed. The cargo master didn’t even try to calm his load as the shuttle rose after a few minutes.

Ursht looked to the questions he had asked his commanders, they had responses now.

He put his anger away, there was a time for it, and it was soon, first he had to make sure that he got his Armored Marine Commandos onto Hachiro.

***

“What in the fuck is this?” The Prime Minister of Russia said, throwing a tablet at Edwards as he entered the combined forces of Earth military command center. Edwards went red and then white with fury as he looked at the Prime Minister of Russia with disgust and anger on his face.

Why did we have to allow this, one of our worst enemies into our midst? Surely the President will allow me to deal with him after this, once and for all. I’ll show him his place like I’m going to show Salchar.

“I only answer to the Pres…”

“Answer him Edwards,” the President snapped, cutting Edward’s anger off.

“Yes sir,” Edwards said, picking up the tablet his eyes not seeing it for a minute as he quelled his anger. The President must be making sure to keep the Prime Minister unaw… Shit. His mind reeled as he looked at the massive forms of powered armor rushing through Hachiro. Massive creatures that looked as if they were wearing HAPA’s.

“It looks like the Avarians have picked a side,” he said putting the tablet on the table.

“You said that he wasn’t capable of getting forces here for another week, let alone the Avarians. While in your report you called them ‘Mindless beasts with no understanding of tactics only a lust for bloodshed’,” the Prime Minister of Russia said as if he was quoting Edwards exact words.

“You also said that ‘they seem to enjoy two things, fighting and credits. It might be possible to buy them from Salchar’,” the Chinese General Secretary and President said. Anyone that thought Xi Biwu was harmless was a fool, Edwards didn’t even feel a tremor of rebellion in his body as he kept his mouth resolutely shut while his anger ate at his stomach lining.

“There is still the…” Edwards started.

“No there is not,” Prince Majdi Saud said, his normally dark eyes black. Again Edwards bit back a retort. “I am removing my support from this endeavor, but I will leave you with one piece of advice. Those fighters might look like savages, but they are loyal. They have broken off all trade with Earth as soon as they heard it, and they must have left as soon as they could.” A video played creatures yelling ‘Salchar!’ in a heavy accent not of Earth. “Salchar is their master and a good one from the way that they follow him. They will not abandon him and they will not be forgiving.” His eyes came to rest on Edwards, he thought he saw those eyes go colder and hungrier for a moment before his feed stopped.

I shouldn’t be listening to that asshole. There’s not just a chance left, we will win and then we will see who is giving ultimatums.

He looked to his President who was staring at the star-map without seeing it. Edwards noticed the ships moving on Hachiro in red outlines.

The might of the American military will smash them back to their useless planets and show how strong America is once again.

“We cannot go back now, Salchar is coming. It seems that we can expect more than our pessimistic estimate of his forces,” the President said.

“And their abilities,” the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said.

The President looked as if he had eaten something sour as he nodded, looking at the leaders of the conference, the nation-leaders that had devoted their resources, time and people to the cause of taking Salchar’s power from him.

America, Mexico, Egypt, Brasil, Argentina, Chile, the United Kingdom, Russia, Norway, Germany, Poland, what remained of Japan, Spain, France, Portugal, South Korea and until a few minutes ago the United Arab Emirates had representatives at this table. Other countries were deeply connected to the mining operations going on in the asteroid belt and had refused the group. Politicians looking after the interests of their people in the stars, like Canada, Australia, Norway, South Africa, Greenland and Iceland had made it clear who they supported. Soon enough they would find out the price of their betrayal. Edwards thought, not without some smug satisfaction.

Other nations had been more of a liability than a use and had been dismissed out of hand. Switzerland, stayed neutral and no one wanted to mess with the Swiss. India was already building a large colony on the Moon and were planning to make another on Mars. They’d been excluded due to how close they’d become with the Free Merchant Fleet and the Free Fleet personnel.

Alliances had shifted in a way that Earth hadn’t seen in centuries.

“I believe that it is time for us to deploy all our forces to attack Hachiro and Mars,” the President said, looking to them all.

Edwards felt pride ring in his chest as he stood straighter.

“What if the Free Fleet just come straight for Earth?”

“They will not fire on us as the Syndicate did, they can’t, there are humans on those ships, and they’d rebel if they did that. Other planets wouldn’t look on them with kind eyes if they slaughtered innocents. We need to reinforce our people and take Hachiro and Mars. If we get prisoners all the better. With the reports from Daestramus we know that the Free Fleet will not leave behind a single person if they can help it. They won’t shoot their stations or their training facilities out of the sky. We strike now to hold what we already have and advance our forces onto Nancy and the asteroid belts,”

“What of the AMC on Earth?” The Prime Minister of Russia looked to Edwards.

“They and their families have been rounded up by the majority. The recruiting stations have sealed themselves in and we have been unable to enter the premises. Less than a third of the AMC contingent on Earth made it to their bases, we have advised them that if they attempt to leave their camps then we will bomb them. We have assets in position to carry out these attacks if necessary,” Edwards said with confidence.

Grim faces looked to one another.

“I vote that we send in our forces to assist those already engaged with the Free Fleet,” the President said, raising his hand.

Other hands rose and Edwards hid the hungry look that threatened to overtake his face.

***

“It looks like Earth has finally devoted their reserves,” Vort said, I looked up to the main screen as the map of Sol added thirty ships to the enemy roster as they moved past the moon, towards Mars and Hachiro.

Min Hae’s people might have been blindsided by the fact that Edwards, that was supposed to be cooped up in the middle of nowhere, had been in fact planning this entire campaign since he had returned to Earth. Even our contact, nicknamed Knox had been unable to see this. It was believed that he was dead now.

As well too many of my other people. I thought, familiar anger fighting to break through my tightly held veneer of control.

“How long until the Chaleelians and jump ships arrive?” I asked, looking to In Sook. Rick was off shift, eating and sleeping. It had nearly taken a direct order from me, but he had been satisfied with the promise that we would switch and I too would get some rest before we got to Earth.

“The Jump Ships will be arriving in two hours and the Chaleelians will arrive in twenty nine hours,” In Sook read off of her screen.

Thirty-three hours before we get there, two and a half days.

“Thank you In Sook,” I said by reflex, my mind trying to figure out how to speed up the fleet. There was one option and I didn’t like it.

Breaking us apart will only make us weaker. Yes there is a part of you that wants to be there with your entire fleet and charging it right into battle. Thinking that is the only reason you’re keeping them back is idiotic. Resilient is badly damaged, Eddie is surprised that she’s handling the stresses so well. One hitch and her generators will rip us apart. Having people show up in parts and parcels will deny their effect as a complete fighting force. No once we get there then I can pull apart my formations if needed. Doing it here could only complicate things.

“We will be ready to engage the projectors in another two hours,” Ben, a Kuruvian, said from his post at navigation.

“Good, pass on my praise to the helms people of the fleet, they and you have done a great job of getting the Fleet this far and at this speed,” I said, looking into the Kuruvian’s eyes.

“Thank you commander, it is an honor. I will pass it along as you say,” he said, his arms crossed and went still in a sign of great respect.

I tiled my head in a slight bow before clunking my way to my chair in my powered armor.

Krom and Shreesht sat behind me, I could feel the anger that seemed to radiate off of them. I felt it course through my veins as well.

We were passing through the space between systems, star light, older than humanity could comprehend shined down on our machines of war.

Eighty ships, ranging from Imperial classed Dreadnoughts like Resilient to the four squadrons of five corvettes moved through that light with deadly intent.

As of yesterday a tentative agreement had been made for the founding of the Union, six governing bodies had attached their seals, signatures and prints to the document. I had submitted my own finger print via FTL relay transmission.

Daestramus, the system Quarst, the Kuruvian Empire, Avar Interim Hermanti, Chaleel and Parnmal representing the Merchant Free Fleet were the signators.

The Earth ambassadors had been ignored in their want to sit in on the talks.

It seemed that they, unlike their masters understood what was happening, they had seen the fleet leaving Parnmal after all.

***

“How are we looking?” Felix asked his people, tired faces looing back at his own. They were all sitting in the mess, a slew of food filled the table they sat at. They ate as they talked, time was running out and there was only a few hours until they ran into the forces between them and Hachiro.

“We have one laser cannon back online, though its cooldown is going to be long,” Salhunda said. “The PDS are still good, my team was able to bring a number of units back online,” Gunther said.

“Good work, How about shields?” Felix’s eyes fell to Gunther.

“They’ll hold for a while, we don’t have many spares, we were going to get them from Nancy,” Gunther said his brows knitting together in annoyance. He’d been blaming himself for that since they had come out of jump into their attackers.

“No one could have predicted this, it got past even Min Hae,” Felix said, his voice making it clear that Gunther better stop thinking along the lines of him failing.

“Yes sir,” Gunther said, his voice harsh, losing friends would make anyone think of ways that they might have gone about saving their lives.

Felix didn’t need to ask about the wormhole generators, he’d personally spent four hours looking at them and trying to figure out a way to fix them before giving up on the futile exercise.

“Well let’s get this food away and then we’ll see if we can’t make these bastards pay dearly for facing Elshurvum.” His eyes were dark, the quick smile gone from his lips.

***

It was two hours later that things started getting interesting.

“We have missile launches from the Earth Force ships,” Salhunda said. The Earth force ships were merchant freighters that had been pulled apart to stuff racks of missiles, a few railguns and their own version of PDS into and on their hulls. They were ugly things.

And unarmored. Felix thought with a savageness that he had not felt since taking Parnmal.

“Well it’s about time we gave them a response. Salhunda,” Felix said, looking to the diminutive looking Sarenmenti.

“Krofo, fire when ready,” Salunda said, his voice clear to the five people that manned the massive carrier’s consoles.

Krofo replied by discharging his cannon. It took a matter of seconds to slice through anything in its path and smash into a freighter with all the delicacy of a steel hammer against a fine-paper-thin porcelain cup.

“I’m getting a new plot update and a message from Silly,” Dasqa said.

“What?” Felix asked, surprise pulling the words from him.

“I thought that you might as well have some more toys to play with,” Dasqa said, looking to Felix.

The shared a mutual look of confusion before Dasqa looked back to her console.

“Multiple Jump signatures appearing all around us Commander!” She said in an almost panic.

Felix felt a lump rise in his throat in fear.

No, no, please!

His eye noticed something, something that he had seen for months and months, something he had recognized.

No! Something I built.

***

The convert ship Wasp was hit by the laser cannon he had seen in action against General Davidson’s forces. It was every bit as powerful as it had been then. The converts forward section was mauled, anything explosive in those forward sections had ripped through the remainder. Leaving it a floating hulk of metal, a marker of three hundred people’s deaths.

Ship Commander Salinzki looked at the wormholes that ripped through the space between him and his quarry.

“Get me the identity codes on the fucker trying to take our prize,” he said through gritted teeth, his knuckles white with pressure, looking to his first officer. Even after seeing what the carrier was capable of at a distance did nothing to make the loss of an entire ship in a few seconds any less painful. That pain turned into biting anger, his words.

“Yes sir!” Demikov said, the same acid fear-fueled-anger filling his words.

Though whoever it is, they’re a risk-taker for jumping so close to all of these ships. It must be impossible to calculate it. That thought made him frown, that frown turning into a wide eyed stare as fighters came through those wormholes. Jump fighters, five wings of them.

He had heard about the craft, they were erratic, most would say suicidal. Their capabilities were not that well known, other than their ability to jump frequently, thus their name.

No one had told him about the missiles that hid in their internal storage, or the possibility for them to mount external racks.

Twenty-five jump-fighters unleashed a barrage of seven missiles each in their first two seconds of emergence, another seven two seconds later.

In twelve seconds they had dried their external racks, sending just over one-thousand missiles at Captain Salinzki’s fleet.

“I want all PDS on those missiles, flush our magazines to take them out!” He yelled, coming out of his seat, spittle flying from his mouth.

Wide eyes from around the bridge focused on the cluster of warheads coming at them, as if trying to determine if they would be spared or not.

A few were taken out before the missiles split into ten payloads each. These were the new multi-warhead missiles that had been designed to be used against the Kalu. Salchar didn’t have any other missiles to supply them with when they had rushed forward towards Elshurvum’s aid.

Now seven-thousand missiles raced against Salinzki’s defenses, they crashed like waves against the shore, striking missiles and running into rounds that had filled the space between the Earth forces and the Free Fleet jump-fighters and their carrier.

Salinzki watched, his mouth dry and his eyes wide as warheads ignited with the brilliance of suns. They rolled in like a merciless storm. Ships were ripped apart by forces that would make Gods look.

The angry tide rolled in. The carrier’s single cannon had enough time to charge, Salinzki looked to the plot. People screamed in panic. Their searching eyes had found their answer in that invisible light that smashed through rounds and debris like a train through the rain.

***

Salchar didn’t smile or cheer like the others on the bridge when Elshurvum cleared Hachiro.

The rest of the ships from AIH were happily hammering into the Earth Forces moving to their other comrades in Mars’ orbitals. Thirty had swelled to fifty-five with the ships that had been covering Hachiro and waiting for Elshurvum.

None of them strayed far from Hachiro in case they gave the Earth Forces an opening.

General Davidson’s ships were still coming, heading now towards Mars instead of Hachiro. All thirteen of them that had survived Elshurvum were making sure to go around the Free Fleet ships as much as possible.

Another hundred reinforcements from Earth, followed just three days behind. Earth forces consisted of one-hundred and sixty-eight converts of all sizes and types left.

The AIH had brought thirty and twelve active ships had been in the system already.

Earth had nearly four times the Free Fleet in hulls, and firepower seeing as there were just two Battle Cruisers and seven Destroyers. Nine Cruisers and twenty-four corvettes rounded out the remaining ships. One Battle Cruiser had pulled back due to battle damage with the Carrier Elshurvum which couldn’t be counted in that number due to its damage. Two Destroyers were effecting repairs and one cruiser and four corvettes were with the Battle Cruiser in protecting Elshurvum.

“Update on the Chaleel,” I asked, my voice calm and concentrated, cast against the cheers and yells of my crew.

“Twenty-seven hours,” Rick said, the smile that had been on his face falling away.

“Let’s hope they can hold out that long,” I said, pulling up a map of Hachiro which had gone from a mass of red, green and mostly yellow to resolute green and red with the green forces pushing the red back with unrelenting force.

Chapter Fools tread heavily

“Alright lads, we have them on the ropes. Yes they got their carrier back and yes their jump fighters came out of nowhere. This, this is a real battle, not the kind for the navy pukes. Here we show these Armored Marines what real Commandos can do!” Royal Marine Commando Colonel John Harris said, looking at his men that wore dull green powered armor and HAPA’s. Most of the powered armor had a cobbled together look to it, because it had been thrown together with the limited knowledge of Earth.

Their armor showed scraps and signs of use. Harris was proud of his men. He lifted the new model L85A3, loading a round into the bullpup rifle. It fired seventy-five caliber rounds and took a few to penetrate armor but they were familiar and a show of British engineering.

The shuttle bay’s doors opened, showing Mars below them.

Harris closed his communications channel as his own shuttle headed towards the vista he could see through his elite seat next to an armored porthole.

***

Delahil refused to look away from her main screen as she watched the forces around Mars start dropping troops onto the planet. It seemed that they were trying to see if the original forces at Hachiro could clear and hold the station before they fell down to the planet’s surface.

Preference had disappeared as it became clear that they now needed to take and hold Earth, then focus on the station when reinforcements came.

She was one Earth day away from Earth, she would soon show Earth what betrayal brought them.

“Eshfa, make sure that everyone is fed and rested. I want them sharp for tomorrow,” Delahil said to her contingents’ chief of staff.

“Yes Sir,” Eshfa said, tapping his Avarian fingers to his head, she returned the quick and lazy gesture before he turned to his duties.

She saw the same grim determination in his eyes. He might have been born Avarian, but he had invested himself into the Chaleelian Armored Marine Commando Contingent at the request of Ursht. He had been invaluable and had taught Delahil many things that she could never have imagined. The difference between the AIH contingent and the Chaleelian contingent was size. The Avarians had taken their thirty ships to rush their Commandos to the front. Delahil had taken her time, letting the patrols come in and she had gathered fifty ships and all of her commandos before heading out as fast as possible. Salchar already had his forces ready in Parnmal and was just a few hours behind her, his plan was simple but elegant.

Her eyes looked back on the live video of shuttles descending on Mars.

She felt guilty trying to not think of the civilians that were caught between Earth forces and the Free Fleet as they fought a bloody battle on Mars and Hachiro.

***

“Alright Edwards, where the hell are the Chaleelians and Salchar’s forces?” The President asked, there was only a small group of people but they were the mover and shakers of the United States. Edwards quelled his pride as he looked to the President seriously.

“It looks like they aren’t going to be joining the Avarians in battle. They’re much closer so they should be here already. As to Salchar, I can’t give a good estimate. He has just come back from a battle, his people must be half-beaten already. Not many are going to want to join him in battle if he charges right for us, like he undoubtedly will,” Edwards said.

“What makes you think that he’ll charge at us as fast as he can?”

“For the simple fact that he is an idiot. His victories are only borne through throwing people at the solution. If his people start hearing about the conditions on Hachiro and Mars they will probably mutiny,” Edwards said.

“Lees, you look like you have something to say,” the President said, his voice coming out in a sigh of exhaustion.

“Sir, the conditions on Mars and Hachiro are a hell of a lot worse than we thought,” Brigadier General Lees said, he had been a Lieutenant Colonel before the Syndicate, he had served throughout that period and gained anti-aging treatments that made him look like the tanned Hawaiian of his youth.

Edward’s grin was stopped stillborn as Lees’ hard eyes found him with anger in them.

“For us,” he said, that hot anger falling from his eyes to his lips.

Edwards made to speak but Lees didn’t allow him the opportunity.

“The Commandos are not only damned good troops, but they’re better equipped than any military that I’ve ever seen, even our own before all of this. Their tech is better, and what’s more they know how to use it in ways that we haven’t even thought of. They are not thugs in powered armor, they are a full military that has ingrained their entire force with the ability to use power armor and weapons of all varieties. Their engineers in power armor are more than a match for our people. Their Commandos have benefitted from training so much in their powered armor that it is a second skin to them. They have had the best of our special forces personnel train them from every nation, and probably more than one planet. Their ripping their own station apart to get to grips with us. Though they’re not charging into any battles that might cost them dearly. Hachiro has a rate of three of our soldiers against one of theirs. On Mars it is closer to two, that said some of the trainees are not as good as their trained counterparts, but the people training them are the same people that trained the other Commandos,” he let that hang in the air, his eyes turning to the President.

“So you’re saying that everything is lost?” The President said, still in a relaxed position but his eyes filled with a fire that Edwards took comfort in.

“No I’m saying that this is going to cost us a lot more dearly than we thought it would. That’s not taking into account if Salchar or any more forces show up. We need to talk about taking our reserves and devoting them if we want this to succeed,” Lees said, knowing that the President wanted solutions, not just another reason why they couldn’t do something.

The President sat up crossing his hands, looking to them thoughtfully.

“Very well Brigadier Lees I agree. The information doesn’t seem to be as reliable as we hoped,” the President didn’t even look at Edwards who hid his grimace without so much as a twinge on his face. “But it looks like the end is…”

“Mr. President another group of Free Fleet ships have emerged from wormholes. Our information is a few minutes late,” an Aide said, bursting into the room. The scathing remark on Edwards’ tongue disappeared as they moved to the room past their conference room and looked to the large screen that looked onto the star-system.

“I thought that you said the Chaleelians weren’t coming,” Lees bit off while heading into the mass of people. He started barking orders at his section in the mass of bodies, heads perked up and set to work.

Chapter Crunch time

Admiral Adam Russel looked over the plot, they were a day away from Hachiro and Mars below it. His people were on alert, he wondered if this was what sea-going navies of Earth had felt like when they were going through another’s unmarked waters.

He had a grasp of how to use his ships, his people had trained with them extensively. They were the best crews that a Ship Commander and their Admiral could ask for.

In the past couple of days, the Free Fleet had shown how space was their waters. Driving through the forces around Hachiro and pushing the ships onto Mars, and rescuing the carrier.

Where a Ship Commander of old might not know where the shoals and eddies in an enemy’s waters might lay, they certainly did. The Free Fleet were at home in space and it had shown him how the thought of sea-going navies was a hindrance more than a help.

Though you’re not about to tell anyone that having something thinking like a Navy man is a bad idea. He could think of what might happen if he told his Prime Minister that. He wasn’t as bad as the American President, but the British Prime Minister had bragged how his people should be leading Earth’s forces in space. They had a long history of victories as a traditional navy, why wouldn’t they be great in space?

Space wasn’t curved like water, it was elastic. Threats could and would come from every direction at any time.

He was staring at the main screen, his hands held behind him as that elastic playground released its latest creation.

“We have a wormhole emergence to our front. Numbers and ship types are coming in,” Anthony Giles, the sensor officer said, training overpowering fear and confusion.

Admiral Russel’s grey-almost white beard moved as he pursed his lips as if someone had something particularly interesting to him. His blue eyes focused on the screen as data updated, hiding the fear that had made eating meals a chore over the past few days.

Enough of that Adam, the enemy are here, now it’s time to figure out what to do with them.

“I’m getting reports from the forces around Mars. The Jump fighters have shown themselves again and are hammering them. The ships around Hachiro are moving to Mars. I have a final count on the ships.” Even with the hustle, battle-stations being called, Giles’ voice cut through the command center. “There are fifty ships, and they’re carrying the Chaleelian contingent.”

“Very Well Giles, thank you,” Russel said, his voice didn’t even quiver as he contemplated the map in front of him.

My one-hundred converts against fifty purpose-built warships with crews that are as good as mine would be if they were operating on the ocean.

He had done the math and it was ugly, but surrendering was not a possibility. Doing so would not only have governments get retribution on him, he hardly thought about that, he had no family or anyone but the people that worked under him to care about.

He saw Young Lieutenant Anthony Giles and his family being shamed, attacked and labelled as traitors.

What kind of battle is it that you’re going in, hoping to loss as little lives as possible, but enough that it makes surrendering look plausible? He didn’t dare to try to answer that question.

“It looks like the enemy has come to offer us battle. I want us to form up into a cone and drive through their position to Hachiro and our ships be…”

“It looks like some of the forces are breaking off and heading towards Hachiro at their best speed, about fifteen of the ships. The rest are headed towards us,” Giles interrupted.

Russel looked over those Free Fleet formations, their deadly precision, for patrolling units pulled from their rearguard duty to front-lines. It spoke a lot to their training and the people that made sure that they were ready for action at any time no matter what position that they officially held.

It was not doing anything for the acid which was eating Admiral Russel from the inside.

“That will increase our chances. Set the course and inform the rest of the fleet,” Admiral Russel said, remembering his training as an Admiral of Her Majesties Navy. None saw how his knuckles were white with pressure and his fingernails pressed into his hands painfully.

***

“Wormhole formed and proceeding through event horizon,” Ben said, Milra guiding Resilient into her position at the peak of the formation.

I pulled my helmet from the rack beside me and sealed it to my powered armor. There was no need for words.

We appeared light years away from the position we had just been. Ship after ship came through that wormhole, not one of them more than ten kilometers off station. That showed skill that no one that had dealt with starships and wormholes would ever understand.

We were an advancing wall right at the backs of the seventy Earth converts headed for the Chaleelian forces.

“Ben, how long until we’re in engagement range?” I asked.

“Two Hours,” he looked to Marleen, getting a terse nod from her.

“Marleen?”

“A bit closer would be nice to have a full broadside from every ship,” she said.

“Two hours and fifteen minutes, that is if we can sustain bomb-pumped acceleration,” Ben warned, and it was a good warning. Resilient’s superstructure, her very spine groaned and complained against our treatment of her.

One last time. I patted the armrest.

“Very well, continue on.”

Chapter Space’s Forge

“How are we looking Kashal?” Ursht asked funneling food into his face.

“We’re still making advances into the station, the Chaleelian forces are on their way. Our ships are redeploying to Mars’ orbit against the original Mars and Hachiro attackers, as well as the force that attacked Elshurvum,” Kashal said, not needing to check notes or his data pad for the information.

“That brings them to sixty-eight in Mars’ orbit,” Ursht said.

“Sixty-five now,” Kashal said, a note of satisfaction creeping into his words.

“I believe Wing Commander Greeshnakc will help revise those numbers,” Ursht said, meeting Kashal, sharing their hungry looks. “Order our people to pull back to the defensive positions as soon as they’re able to break off contact,” Ursht said, straightening.

“Yes sir,” Kashal got to passing the orders.

Ursht had been in the initial fighting, but as more Commandos had flooded into the station, lower commanders had pushed him back to the reinforcing Commandos that waited to bolster the front-line when they needed. Now those reinforcements held as the frontline pushed into the enemy, then turned and peeled back, moving past the second line and creating another line behind them.

Ursht watched as Commandos ran past him, feeling their heavy footsteps making the decking shudder. It was the most organized retreat he had ever seen.

“Set!” Commander Vazal who had been the frontline company commander said as he people got into position behind the second line.

“Move it!” Commander Grorak said, Vazal’s opposite in the second line.

They moved back three more times, remote sensors reported that the Earth forces were edging out of their positions slowly, obviously thinking that they were entering a trap.

Ursht pulled up a screen on his HUD, showing him the Earth ships orbiting Mars.

Pin point small wormholes appeared, the jump fighters had returned and the ones freed from Hachiro’s fighting had joined them.

Five wings had grown to eight, and all of them were fully armed and fueled.

They came in from three directions, jumping this close to a planet was one hell of a ballsy move, but with the AI’s of the fleet it had reduced a lot of the risk.

Missiles erupted from the fighters, in six seconds they fired eight hundred missiles and moved in closer, their bomb-pumped acceleration minimizing the distance between the two forces.

Eight hundred missiles became eight thousand, overpowering the defensive fired of the stunned Earth ships.

Twenty-three were washed away in nuclear fire.

The Fighters fired their following barrages by wings, covering their closure to the Earth ships and making sure they didn’t run out of missiles before they got into close-combat.

Cohesion started to come apart as the three different ship groups in Mars orbit hadn’t figured out a new command system, all of the leaders from different militaries saying that they were in charge.

Again these leaders told their forces to do different things and the forty-three that survived the initial barrage moved in wildly different directions. The jump fighters didn’t have issues with their chain of command.

Another twelve fell to the barrages and then the wings operated independently, raking the Earth forces in groups.

The Earth forces fired missiles but they were slower and weaker than Free Fleet standard missiles PDS tracers happily reached out and destroyed them.

Three fighters were killed by them, another five were killed by weapons fired from cannons and PDS.

The fighter’s started using their railguns and missiles, operating individually or with others seamlessly.

Then they supercharged their railgun, firing twin bolts of plasma into their target. The impact caved in the side of the ship, plasma eating through metal and whatever was in its hungry path. Atmosphere streamed out of the opening.

More bright plasma bolts kissed the Earth-ships. The fighters got so close that there was no way for the Earth ships to stop or avoid the bolts.

Ursht’s face could have been carved from granite as he made it behind the defenses that he had his people start making as soon as they had enough room in which to operate without the Earth forces finding out what they were doing.

His eyes flicked to the screen on his HUD again.

Earth Forces ships started surrendering, one by one and then in mass, their guns going silent as they powered out of Mars’ orbit and then ejected their power plants.

The AIH contingent of ships split into two, two-thirds of them heading to assist the jump-fighters. Fifteen Earth ships had made it out of that battle under their own power. Eighteen Jump-fighters followed them as if inviting them to test them once again.

More Earth ships fought to keep their ships alive and out of Mars’ gravity well. Ten Jump-fighters watched them to make sure they did nothing more than try to get out of Mars’ gravity well.

I wish a battle with the Kalu would be as forgiving.

“Alright, here we hold. Reinforcements from Chaleel will be here in a few hours, by that time Salchar will have shown the remaining Earth Forces just what happens to oath-breakers,” Ursht’s voice sounded like ground granite.

The other reason Ursht had pulled his forces back was that he knew they would be watching the engagement between the Earth Forces caught between the Chaleel and the fleet that had come from Parnmal.

A good commander knew how to lead their people, a great one understood what their people were going to do and accommodated for that when they could.

***

The tension on Admiral Russel’s bridge was palpable. They were the only Earth Fleet remaining in Sol. Ships from tens of nations were piling towards the Chaleelian contingent as Salchar himself came charging at them like the devil’s hound.

The acceleration of the ships in Salchar’s fleet was incredible. Russel had watched as those ships had pressed forward with incredible speed. Though it looked to him that they weren’t even trying to go as fast as possible.

He had seen both attacks by the Jump fighters, they had hammered fleets bigger than them both times and had gone in with ruthless efficiency.

Yet they were only fighters, we’re facing their mother ships now.

“Ten minutes until we’re within engagement distance,” Lieutenant Giles said.

“Very well. Ship Commander Xiao, make sure everyone is ready at battle stations.”

“Yes sir,” the Ship Commander said, bending her head while holding her earbud into her ear as she communicated with the ship’s Ship Commander and out to the other squadron commanders to make sure that they’re people were ready for the oncoming engagement.

Russel had found it hard to get any rest, the tension had been too high and waiting wore on everyone’s nerves.

His people hadn’t been able to sleep and it showed in their performance.

Seven minutes to go and the Free Fleet’s shields snapped into existence. Perfectly timed between the forces of Chaleel and Parnmal.

“Their shields are up and they’re rotating their broadsides,” Giles said as all eyes darted to the main screen.

It was like some deadly synchronized ballet performed by those with a singular purpose.

Every ship from Carrier to Corvette turned to bring their broadsides to bear.

Time seemed to pause, consoles made noises and the air circulation systems humming only served to grow that silence rather than penetrate it.

“By God,” Russel was an atheist through and through, but his call fit his feelings. Rail-cannons fired as one.

“They’re firing!” Giles announced.

“Shields, missiles, clear our skies and fire back at them!” Russel yelled, like a man who didn’t know how to swim, trying to claw their way to the surface.

“Sir,” Ship Commander Duschene said, the bridge was in motion, but those railguns fired again. It would take them but eight minutes to reach his ships.

“We have an incoming transmission from Resilient,” Ship Commander Xiao’s voice cut through the sounds of people preparing for Armageddon.

“On screen,” Russel said, checking himself over and settling into his seat more.

Admiral Russel tried to keep his emotions off of his face but it was hard.

He looked directly onto Resilient’s bridge. Every single person wore powered armor. They talked in hushed but calm tones, moving with professional strides, in opposition to the rushed panic of his own command center.

Hard eyes looked at the main screen before turning to their work. Salchar’s didn’t, he sat in his command chair, staring right ahead. His visor was open and his scarred power armor showed the damage received on Heija.

His chief of staff sat to his side, his eyes returning Russel’s gaze with cool indifference.

Three Avarians sat to the rear of Salchar and Rick, their protectors, Wruck, Krom and Shreesht. Anger radiated off of them, their eyes filled with silent curses.

Russel’s eyes darted to Salchar’s. He might look like a short Avarian and a young twenty year-old. But his eyes showed a man aged well beyond his years by the events he had seen.

Admiral Russel had stared down some of the most powerful people on Earth, none of them had looked at him with the kind of indifference that Salchar looked at him now.

“Admiral Adam Russel I will give you this one chance to surrender. I have real enemies that need attention. I do not wish to deal with the whims of your political masters.”

Russel saw as the next wave of rounds headed towards his formation that were flushing their magazines of anything and everything they had.

The Free Fleet forces rotated, bringing new rail-cannons to bear.

“I need an answer Admiral,” Salchar said, Russel’s eyes flickered to him.

“Yes we surrender damnit,” he said, noticing the cold sweat that now made his clothes stick to it.

“Marleen,” Salchar said, holding Russel’s eye.

“Understood Commander,” she talked in hushed tones.

“Hold your shields up, our rounds will break apart. Though my engineer doubts that your ships and armor will be able to stop the shrapnel. We will send a signal when the rounds are done and you will power down weapons and shields. My Commandos will board you, placing you on transports back to Earth,” Salchar stood and stepped forward.

“I do not want to see you facing me again Admiral. I did not want to destroy these ships and kill people from the planet I was born on. Your leaders made me do this. This Fleet is all that stands in the way of a threat you could not even comprehend. I will visit Earth once more with my decrees from the Union. Vort,” the channel cut and Russel let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

His anxiousness turned to anger, the kind that made his face bunch into hard lines, his teeth grind and his hands turn to fists.

You know what he said was true, and you knew, you warned them against doing this. Yet you would not leave your duty. What an idiot I was. He had been thinking in terms of nations, in terms of power over other humans. That was the way it had always been.

The game had changed and it had taken him too long to figure it out. He held Salchar in no great esteem, hell he thought he was a damned terrible commanding officer playing things by the seat of his pants. It was going to be hard for him to get past that. Yet the enemy commander had been a worthy opponent.

He revised to make his own judgements of Salchar instead of listening to little twats like Edwards to give him that information.

Earth was going to need to build up their space force with the kind of production Earth hadn’t seen since the world wars. They’d just lost their greatest benefactor and the Kalu would come for their planet.

That’s what he showed you, they’re fighting to keep sentient life, not for people stuck in fighting amongst themselves.

He disagreed with a group that called themselves simple ‘traders’ having the sort of power that they had, yet he recognized their need and use now. Maybe they had built up their fleet to show their strength, but they needed their numbers and their ships to cover the reaches of inhabited space. Their drive for weapons like Elshurvum were built out of need, like the nuclear bombs of World War Two. They needed that strength to fight the Kalu. Even with those advantages they’d lost a battle, won another only after the destruction of the biggest weaponized station in known existence and lost close to one point one million lives in their engagements and through the battle of Heija.

These thoughts ran through his mind, part of it registering the railgun rounds used the charges inside them to explode, turning into shards with a fraction of the power of the round.

“We have shards hitting our shields from both sides. Our shields are falling, some might collapse,” Giles said, “Admiral?” Admiral Russel was staring at some point on the wall without really seeing it.

“Send the recording to Earth, bring all people into the inner decks of our ships. Follow the Commander’s instructions to the letter,” Russel’s voice was curt and hard, his eyebrows shadowing his eyes, serving to only emphasize his look of anger.

“Yes Admiral,” Giles said, quickly turning back to his station.

Chapter Ready for war

Commander Boot sat in his new Carrier Pretak his manipulators tapping together slowly in anger. He watched as the battle ended before it truly began.

He closed the FTL relay link and looked over the information more useful to him. The system Konsal waited outside the armor of his new carrier. She was the sister to Cheerleader’s own Mondal. The reason she had taken so long to be completed was because the AI Ipis had to be installed into the ship. The old AI kept to himself mostly, talking to shields and the gunnery more than anyone else. Boot had only seen him twice, ‘seen’ being a relative word as Ipis liked to be viewed as a single ball of yellow light.

Boot had gotten to his position a month and a half ago, sending his corvettes and jump-fighters out as his long-ranged scouts to make sure that no Kalu were advancing across the lines. He had seeded sensors between systems to hopefully detect if they tried to jump through the dark between systems.

Merchants arrived every two weeks to drop off supplies from the forward system, Lady Fairgate’s old home system Inkal. The merchants in the system had only been too happy to add a few credits to their account. It seemed like all of the people on the planet were buying or building their own freighters as fast as possible.

An alert came over the FTL network, the forces behind Kalu lines wanted to have a meeting with Cheerleader and Boot. They were supposed to have the meeting yesterday, but they had agreed to wait until after the fight in Sol was over, or if some kind of emergency occurred.

Boot sent his recognition of the message and stood.

“Dlai, you have command,” he said to his second-in-command.

“Yes sir,” Dlai answered.

Boot went to his conference room to the rear of the massive bridge that covered four decks.

He input her information and didn’t have to wait long until the holographic form of Cheerleader appeared in one of the chairs.

“Hey Boot,” she said, tossing her hand in greeting.

“How’s it going in Heija?” He asked.

“Probably as interesting as Konsal seeing as I haven’t heard anything from you since last week,” she drawled, an eyebrow asking if anything had changed.

He grunted and moved his manipulators in boredom.

“Thought as much,” she said with a snort.

Bregend and Commander Whorst appeared but Min Hae was absent.

“Min Hae is currently dealing with sorting out who the hell thought of turning on the Free Fleet and getting that information to Salchar,” Bregend said, answering the question they were all thinking. “He’s not too happy that something has yet again slipped through his fingers. Though it looks like the governments of Earth took great pains to not only hide what was going on from us, but to their own people.”

“What a mess,” Commander Whorst said with feeling, he had been the commander of the Free Fleet forces and resources in Sol up until he took his place on War-station’s bridge.

“That I think we can all agree on,” Cheerleader said, her jaw tightening as her eyes became sharp with anger.

“Before we get too off topic I suggest that we talk about what has been going on with our respective operations, then we talk about the shit show that Earth just became,” Boot said.

“Very well, if I may start. I’ll be talking for myself and Min Hae,” Bregend said, looking to the others that waved for him to go on.

“We’ve hammered all of their yards in our area, not one is left standing, or capable of repairs. We’ve turned to Jump-fighter raids and hitting any that try to clump together with asteroids. They got smart after this so we’ve been doing raids with our ships in close combat. Jump in, hit them with overwhelming force, and then jump back out again. Some are staying spread apart, others are close together and we’re hitting them as much as we can.

“Min Hae and Ashota agree with the reports that Orshpa is losing ground, the Kalu want to go to war but he wants to keep his supply route clear of us before he starts, or he knows that he’ll be fighting with what he has. About two-hundred star-destroyers have been turned over to the independents who are training with them and should be ready to join us within the month. The Kalu are looking to modify the fighters within the carriers so that they can be armed with our weapons instead of the weaker lasers. Silly and Felix’s people were helping out but in light of recent events they have been doing it on their own. It seems that they have made some good progress and will convert a wing over within the week to see if the modifications they made will work,” Bregend looked to them.

“I’ll go next,” Whorst said, raising his opened hand. “We’re at much the same stage as Bregend, we’ve hammered their shipyards and refineries and we’re doing hit and run on their remaining forces. I’m keeping War-station back as per orders. Situation is good, but it’s getting more annoying to deal with all the Kalu scattered all over the place. Eventually we’re going to be drawn into an engagement or found out. If that will be before Orshpa gets his forces on the move or not. I don’t know,” he shrugged, worry on his face, but also the understanding that whatever the situation he would deal with it.

Cheerleader and Boot looked at one another, him signalling for her to go on first.

“I’ve got my forces deployed, our reinforcements have arrived and we haven’t had any supply issues, either getting supplies to us, or onto you, so far. Having the Kalu between us has meant there have been a few run-ins. My people have hit them or run for it. I’ve passed the order for single jumps, so they’re slower, but at least they have the option to dump capacitors and get the hell out of a tight spot,” she looked to Boot.

“Much the same situation, I haven’t passed the same orders as you but I think I will just in case,” Boot said, looking to Cheerleader before the others in the room. “Now that is done, what do you think Salchar will do with Earth?”

“Nothing good,” Cheerleader said, her face sober as she looked at something that only she could see. She was also probably the most qualified out of any of them to make a judgement. She had fought alongside Salchar in Mecha Tail before all of this and was seen as his little sister in a way.

“Well he’ll keep the recruiting centers there, we need personnel badly,” Bregend said.

“Maybe not,” Cheerleader said, she saw all their looks and shrugged. “He sees the fleet as his home now. He will do anything to defend it. The people that he held in a high regard and that he trusted to back him and us just stabbed him in the back. He’s a lot closer to an Avarian when it comes to things like betrayal.”

“So, what might he excommunicate them?” Whorst asked.

“We should assume that much, in the eyes of Salchar they will not exist anymore. Someone that he can’t trust isn’t someone he acknowledges. The only reason he let Takahashi stay in the Free Fleet was because he attacked Salchar in the hopes of keeping his people safe, much like Bregend did,” Cheerleader said, giving a nod in Bregend’s direction.

“We did it to protect our people, Earth did it to gain power,” Bregend said, as if realizing what she was getting at.

“Exactly,” Cheerleader said as if rewarding a star pupil.

“How will Earth react?” Boot asked, the only one that wasn’t human in the conference room.

“Hopefully we’ll learn, more likely they’ll see us as the bad guys. Psychologically, everyone is the bad guy except us,” Bregend said.

***

Orshpa listened to the new battle reports coming from his sub-clan leaders. They weren’t pleased and it made sense, they had lost their shipyards and had lost nearly a million ships altogether. It didn’t matter to them that combined they had close to one-point-eight-million, star-ships. The refiners were now getting hit and soon they wouldn’t have the fuel to even fill those ships.

The time had come to make a decision.

“Load the star-ships with our best warriors, hold fights on every planet and Kalu land for those spots. I want all the supplies we can carry loaded onto our ships. If any Kalu has an issue with that then they will answer to me personally. Send the call out to my clan leaders. Prepare for the second teaching war. We march in seven rotations of Daskil,” Orshpa said to his controllers. He saw the heads shake in honor as war-growls came from their throats. They had waited for this day since coming under Edvasho. Now they would be part of the stories passed through the clans.

Orshpa let his worries leave him and shook himself. He was about to take the center of those stories, he would be the leader of all clans that brought the races of the Union to an end.

***

Empress shook her head at the information coming from Sol. Evelyn Sparks her favorite reporter was there personally, coming all the way from Parnmal to give people up-to-date information on events as they unrolled. She hadn’t been there in person for the battles but she was reporting on the goings on with the Free Fleet.

The Earth Forces on Mars and Hachiro had surrendered and were being held aboard their own ships which had been stripped of anything that looked faintly military.

Earth’s nations were reaching out with every kind of communication they had. They’d even sent a courier to Hachiro. It was surrounded by Jump Fighters and told to leave in terse and pissed off tones.

The Free Fleet and specifically Salchar weren’t saying a damned thing so far. No one, not even Evelyn had been allowed to come near Mars, Hachiro, Nancy or the refineries in Jupiter and Uranus’ atmospheres.

Empress had a better idea of what was going on, but she wasn’t saying anything, neither were the other representatives of the Union.

She remembered Salchar’s message and the look in his eyes.

“Today we shall need to reach a decision. A decision onto the fate of Earth,” his eyes had lanced through every person in that conference and none of them were left untouched. “I am too close to the matter for me to make a decision. I shall need you, as the leaders of the new Union to decide what we shall do.” Responsibility, the kind of which she had hid from in her work for so long firmly rested on her shoulders. “Earth has killed men and women from your planets, from the inhabited planets under the Free Fleet’s protection and have betrayed our trust. Tell me what happens now, I wash my hands of them and their actions. I will see to the return of my personnel and take action if any stand in my way. I also say that the prisoners be allowed to return to their planet, let them spread the word so that they think twice about stabbing us in the back,” Salchar’s voice and eyes hard, as if he let his emotions free rage and anger would consume him.

“And if they attack us again?” Elisati asked, the only one to talk in the conference room.

“Then there will be no one to tell the stories,” Salchar let out just a glimmer of the anger formed from frustration and loss. He was a man caught between the betrayal of his home planet and the enemies that wanted to wipe out all sentient life.

“We will let you get back to your people and we will discuss the situation,” Empress said.

Salchar tilted his head in thanks his finger stabbing onto his table, cutting him out of the channel.

“Well this is a fucking mess,” Narvu said, a man that had been a customs officer for Daestramus when Marhtu had ruled the planet and was the current head of foreign affairs for the newly established government of Daestramus.

“Yes it is, especially because the Avarians withdrew from this conference at the request of Salchar,” Pidali the first minister of Chaleel said.

“I could see this being rather unpleasant with their honor code coming into effect,” Elisati said.

“So us four must figure out what the sentence will be to a planet that just attacked the very people which are looking to the defense of our nations as we start thinking about rebuilding the PDF,” Empress said. “I have noticed that the Free Merchant Fleet have submitted a request to remove all of their technology and supplies from the system at need. The only reason they asked our permission is due to the fact it will most definitely destabilize the system and planet. I for one agree with them. Their deal has been broken.”

“I agree with Empress,” Narvu said. The others added their agreement and they sent an affirmative to the request.

“Then we should go on to the request about this Mr. Edwards. He passed on vital information to Marhtu and looked to have the fleet killed. He went back to Earth with a binding agreement that said he would not talk about the systems the Free Fleet used. He seems to have told every nation on Earth about them and they are all building weapons. He used that power to gain the attention of a President and broker a deal with other nations to attack the Free Fleet.”

“The Free Fleet should be able to put him through their courts,” Narvu suggested, the others agreed and that sentence was passed on again.

“So how do these leaders become so?” Empress asked, she was much more interested in ion containment chambers than different governing systems.

“The majority are elected; others use fear to intimidate others. There are a variety of ways,” Pidali said. She sounded like she had done her research on the matter. It only made sense being so close to Sol.

“It seems that a number of groups didn’t participate in the attacks,” Elisati said, looking to the others to see if they refuted her statement or had information to the contrary, no one did. “What are we going to do with them? We can’t pass something on the entire planet, we’d be hurting the ones that kept their word.”

“We allow them to continue on with their activities, though if we find out that a group we are punishing are using their activities then we apply a ban to them,” Narvu said.

“That works, I also say that we actively try to get them to Mars. Best if we have all of the aggressors in one spot instead of having to mess around with different groups,” Elisati said.

“Now, the aggressor nations,” Pidali said, no one was in a hurry to go first as they looked over the information they had on the aggressor nations, and it was a lot.

“I think that it might be best if we have some time to think on the information we’ve been given, maybe a day?” Elisati asked.

Everyone agreed, it was a momentous decision, one that would affect billions of people.

That had been a day ago, now Empress, and the three other Union signatory members had to choose the fate of a people.

She watched the plot of Sol. Salchar wasn’t going with the Fleet. Rick went in his stead on the Dreadnought Ashkoon. The Chaleelian fleet went as well. Half of the Chaleelian Commandos had been dropped onto Mars to assist with sorting things out there.

Nancy was already coming back online; the Free Fleet people didn’t wait around. Hachiro’s damage was still being assessed and repairs being affected where they could be.

It would be a day until Rick arrived in Earth’s orbit.

Earth’s messages had become more frantic as time had gone on, now as the fleet approached every message coming from Earth seemed to ask what they were going to do and trying to make amends.

The Free Fleet remained silent, their ships moving on without any sign of backing away. The Earth ships carrying their forces lay in front of them. If anyone was dumb enough to try and turn on the Free Fleet, then they’d hammer the unshielded ships into tombstones.

The conference room dimmed as Narvu flickered into existence. He nodded to Empress in greeting, he looked anxious, it was understandable, this was one hell of a decision. None of it made easier by the reading of the information they’d been supplied.

The reading seemed to raise more questions than it answered.

Elisati and Pidali appeared in their holographic form. None of them looked like they had much sleep in the past twenty-seven hours.

“Alright, well I guess we should be about it then,” Empress said.

***

Rick looked over the message Salchar had transmitter directly to him, from the council of the Union.

So this is their decision. He thought as he read through the document, it was shorter than he had expected but the words no less powerful.

He transmitted part of the orders to the Intelligence department and let out a breath before turning to Ship Commander Drux.

“The Commander has sent me the Union’s decision. I need to present them with a message,” Rick said.

“Yule, prep a channel for the Chief of Staff. Sir would you like to take my seat?” He asked, standing up from his position. Drux had tried to get Rick to take his seat since he had come aboard. He felt that it was bad manners to have him in the most powerful seat on the bridge when the second-in-command of the fleet was aboard.

“Just this once,” Rick said, a small grin passing over his lips. It faded as quickly as it arose, serious matters were afoot and it gave him little pleasure to deal with them.

They switched places and Rick brought the information over the command screens.

“Yule?” Rick asked.

“Good to go when you are sir,” Yule reported.

“Then I guess we should start,” Rick said, facing the camera at the front of the carrier’s bridge. “To the inhabitants of Earth, the Union has reached a decision on your crimes. The nations that did not contribute to the forces that attacked the Free Fleet and citizens of the Union and protected persons of the Free Fleet will be allowed to continue as they did before. Nations that did, you will pay an increased tax for the equipment you have destroyed and a blood price for the people that you killed.” His face was hard as he took a moment before continuing. “The Free Merchant fleet will reclaim their goods and any loans that they gave to various parties that betrayed their trust. Education and medical aid will remain free, by the grace of the Union. Recruiting centers will close and all trainees and personnel will be collected by ship. Anyone that tries to stop this will be prosecuted as thieves trying to hold onto Free Merchant personnel and property.” He looked to his screen, seeing the words that burned in his mind.

“The Union and the Free Fleet hoped that Earth and the human race could move past their prejudices and come to think of others as their friends and comrades. We have been proven wrong. Through Earth’s actions you have proved that you do not wish to work with others, but rather exercise power over them. When Earth shows that they are ready to be a part of the Union through participating as friends and neighbors, working together to help the people, then hopefully an agreement can be reached. A planet is judged by their actions and their people. People of Earth, you have allowed fear and war mongers lead you, you, no one else can look to take control of your fates and your direction. Together you are powerful, take that strength and decide what you want to do. If you decide you want to join the Union and the other inhabited worlds in creating a better future then show it,” Rick implored the people of Earth with a reaching hand towards the screen as if to invite them to join the other planets. “We will not standby another attack on our people, our friends and loved ones.” The pleading and open hand disappeared behind the steel in Rick’s voice and the promise in his eyes.

He twitched his right hand in a cutting gesture.

Yule read the gesture right and the feed cut.

“What now sir?” Drux asked.

“Now we get our people back, and the intelligence department gets us the names of those that came up with this idea,” Rick looked to Drux. “And we take them back to Parnmal to face Free Fleet courts.”

“Yes sir,” savage agreement in his voice.

Chapter Change of Scenery

Yasu walked through Nancy, Commander Connolly followed with Commandos Tully and Moft moving ahead.

Commandos and personnel moved to the walls, nodding to Yasu or tapping their fingers to their heads in recognition. She returned the respectful gestures as she walked, her powered armor adding to the noises of her protection detail. They were something that Krom and Shreesht had almost demanded, Salchar threw his weight behind it so Tully and Moft were at her door the next day. Tully was a Kuruvian that had found his calling with the Commandos. Moft was an awakened Avarian and seen as something like Krom’s cousin. Both were quite capable; she’d fought them a few times before she entered her current state. Word of her pregnancy had spread like wild-fire and it seemed like the entire fleet was seeing that she was cared for. She’d talked to other personnel that had been pregnant within the fleet. They all said the same thing. It could be a bit overwhelming, but at the end of the day it felt good to have all those people behind her no matter what.

They reached another larger group, they parted for her, her own protection detail splitting as she strode right through the group.

Salchar looked up, a look of interest and questioning on his face as he looked to Yasu.

“Yes?” He asked as if he was walking some tight-rope wondering if he had done something wrong or forgotten something.

She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

He looked down to her stomach and back up. “Imaging,” he said in understanding, looking to Krom. Why didn’t you remind me? He seemed to say with that gaze.

“Are you coming to see your kid or not?” She asked, pursing her lips.

“Of course I am,” he said pulling his helmet off, there was a gleam in his eye as he pulled her close, kissing her.

She pushed off.

“We’re in public,” Yasu said.

“And if others are staring they better enjoy the damned show. I am,” Salchar winked. There was still the sadness behind his eyes at all that occurred in Sol. The Funerals were planned to be done in two-day time.

She brought him in for another kiss, they both needed to think about something else for a time.

“Come on,” she said, pulling his arm and heading towards the medical area.

***

I’d spent all of yesterday talking to Yasu after we got the imaging of the baby done. I was going to have a son; he was going to have some Avarian traits like I did but everything looked good. The kinds of emotions that run through you when you see a baby moving on a screen. It doesn’t feel real, it feels as if you’re watching this happen to someone else, but your mind works on that thought, and the facts come rolling in. It wasn’t until we were at Ms. Li’s shop drinking tea that it hit me.

Yasu was talking about different reports and information she’d got and I’d reached my hand across the table, taking her hand in mine. She’d looked at me confused, my only reply was a smile. Her face smoothed into a smile as we looked at one another and then at the holographic walls of the tea shop. It had escaped a lot of the damage, the counter was messed up, as was a wall, but there were enough chairs and tables still left for Ms. Li to go about her business and she did.

“So I guess we should start looking at baby names,” she said. I tightened my grip on her hand for a moment.

“Yes I guess we should,” I said, and we’d talked about the baby, making fun of how the others would react with the kid. She’d kept my mind mostly off of the events happening around us and got me to go to bed at a reasonable time. A pregnant woman always wins.

That was yesterday, today, today we deal with Earth and my new super-carrier Hic Stamus.

I walked to the front of the shuttle, looking over the shoulder of the pilots to see their massive view screen which showed the berth that held the massive carrier. Silly had not wasted any time on the super-carrier. She was the first of her kind, a purpose-built Free Fleet vessel with all of tricks that we could figure out packed inside her. She was no peacekeeping ship. She was built for war. Resilient rested in the dock beside her, her armor had been peeled back, sections donated to Hic Stamus.

Felix and his engineers had passed on their pointers and information, throwing themselves into their work instead of reflecting on what had happened to them and their friends when they entered the system.

Elshurvum wasn’t docked but her supplies, crew and systems were being put into place. It would be another three days before they were leaving for the destroyer yard. LaRe had been fitted into his place aboard Elshurvum and Resilient had been transferred over to Hic Stamus.

Even with all of the engineers swarming over the ship, Eddie was clearly the master of his own ship. He’d driven his people harder than ever and they’d done him proud.

Hic Stamus was two-weeks ahead of schedule and she was going to be the second most powerful ship after War-station.

The damage to Nancy had been bad, but the shipyard was made from standardized units. It was a matter of pulling out the worst damaged sections, then replacing them with new sections.

The other slips were quickly coming back online but most of the engineers weren’t looking to their ships, they were looking to the new armament program.

After the attacks I had realized how minimal the defenses of our stations and infrastructure was. Every ship yard was gaining a number of Planetary Rail Cannons and laser cannons when they were available. Remote platforms were getting drafted up, slapped onto asteroids and floating them around the stations and positions.

Weapons that had been stockpiled for ships were quickly getting put online.

Hic Stamus had been built from the beginning to be a damned citadel against anything that ran into it and dished out pain with every movement.

She was shaped like a hexagon that had its sides, top and bottom pushed in. Her rear was flat with engines, her front pushed out to a blunted snout.

Hangar doors lined her sides, batteries were raised away from the bays but weren’t level with the larger surrounding armor.

Planetary Rail Cannons ran along her spine and belly. Laser cannon positions dotted the armor being placed on the raised sections. Railguns and PDS were being put into place with the armor closing around them and growing outwards to cover the rest of the ship.

Twelve massive reactors hummed beneath her armor, eighteen secondary reactors were coming online and thirty-six tertiaries would be online before she left the yard.

She would hold a crew of Forty-thousand, she’d hold five wings of Jump fighters, Eight Multi-Environment Fighter wings and four bomber wings bringing her to eighty-five small craft. She had another three wings of shuttles. Her cannons and weapon systems would be hellish, but her single greatest advantage lay with the massive capacitors that ran down the length of the ship.

The pilots took us on a long route around the slip, seeing the massive ship as it swelled to encompass our view. The super-carrier was nearly three times the size of Resilient.

The laser cannons were bigger than planetary cannons but there were still five of them on every raised section of the hull, Dreadnought classed cannons littered the surface, hard to pick out against the open hull.

The pilots aimed for a hangar bay.

“Hello Commander,” Resilient said through the shuttle’s speakers.

“Hey Resilient, you’re looking rather impressive if I might say.”

“I’m feeling rather impressive. Eddie has been able to get me the newer processing centers and systems I’ve been wanting for a while. I’ll be able to do a lot more here on Hic Stamus than I was able to on Resilient,” she replied.

“I have to ask, did you name the ship after yourself, or did you take on its moniker?” I asked.

“I took it on as I got myself roped into Syndicate service. It was a promise to those that I knew before the fall of the Union. A promise that no matter what happened, I would hold on against the odds and I would find a way to bring honor to the memories of those lost.” Resilient didn’t like talking about the times before the collapse of the Union, she had lost a good number of people that she cared about. It showed in her voice that became faraway and sad as she talked.

Some might argue that because she was an AI that she was just faking the emotion.

The truth was that she could easily hide those emotions if she wanted to. Much better than someone of organics.

Showing those emotions was a show of trust in those around her.

“And so you have. The Union has come into existence once again. Ten systems are already part of the Union and more will join,” I said as the shuttle entered the hangar and I moved back to the cargo bay, pulling my helmet on.

“Yes, though it seems that the good of the Union has come with the enemies that they had as well as new ones that do not believe in it as others do,” Resilient said.

“Yes, there will always be forces at work which try and push us away from the path we choose. We must, as you have, remain Resilient against the temptation to give in.” The shuttle settled onto its landing pad. Lights indicated that people should be wearing their helmets and sealed up in their suits.

The cargo master checked us over with a glance before pumping atmosphere out of the shuttle.

“Yes, yes we must,” she said, sounding as if she gathered strength from the words that had made my eyes sharper and my face harder.

Seeing as no one had passed out from the shuttle not having atmosphere the cargo master opened the ramps. Shreesht went first, I followed, Krom coming behind.

Felix, Silly and Eddie waited at the bottom of the ramp.

My thoughts of what was coming and the trials we had gone through fell away as I grinned at the three of them.

I ignored Felix’s salute and brought him into a hug.

“Good work their Felix,” I said as we came apart, holding him at arm’s length and looking into his eyes through our visors.

“Thank your sir,” he said looking away, embarrassed by the praise and the memories still too fresh to not see those that weren’t with us anymore.

I patted his shoulder, understanding at least some of what might be going through his mind in those moments.

“Alright Eddie how are we looking?” I asked the Kuruvian. Nancy might have been under Silly’s control until recently, but it was clear that no matter who owned the yard. Eddie was clearly in charge of Hic Stamus’ headlong charge towards completion.

“Most of her primary systems are completed, running them through tests. Secondary systems should be sorted in two weeks, closing up the armor and getting everything else sorted is going to take another month,” Eddie said firmly.

“How soon can we get her out of dock and move her to Parnmal?” I asked.

“Three weeks, we can get some stuff done while in flight but Silly, Felix, Shrift and I have a proposal for you,” Eddie said, turning to Silly.

“We should retro fit more of the ships so that they are capable of multiple-jumps. The upgrade would allow you to hit with a larger force right where they don’t want you to be and it would only mean putting in more power plants and capacitors. Take out some ammunition capacity say, but the tactical advantage might be worth it,” Silly said.

“What ships were you thinking of doing this to?” I asked, he had a point and I had just thought that it might not be possible to add the capability to ships already in service.

While it had passed through my brain, it had stuck in my engineers and if they could get it to work, then I would be hard pressed to not try and give the capability to every ship that I commanded.

“Well that was something that we want your and Rick’s input on,” Silly said.

“Seeing as he has just reached Earth a tour might be a better idea for right now,” Eddie said, he might act like an ornery old bastard, but he had a heart in there somewhere, it was probably one of the reasons that he had ordered my ass over to the ship.

No mere Commander of the Free Fleet should ever think about denying his ships engineer his time!

“Very well, Rick has everything in hand. We can work on thinning down what ships might be best for the upgrade. That way he’s not just wading through heaps of information when we do drop this surprise on his desk,” I said with a weak smile.

“Well that’s what subordinates are for!” Silly said with an attempt at humor, getting a smile more in thanks at the attempt rather than the words from Felix and myself.

“I also want to know about that laser cannon. I’ve been looking over your reports, but they didn’t tell me that you were in the zetawatt range! Or just what the hell a zetawatt could do. Would it be possible to expand the beam over a larger area or get one cannon to disperse the shot more?”

“Come on, we’ll walk and talk. It takes a few minutes to get to the forward batteries even with the turbo-lifts,” Eddie said, moving ahead and forcing us to follow.

“It could be possible to disperse the shot more. It would make it weaker over a larger area of course, and the weapon would need less time to cool down as the system used to focus the beam wouldn’t be taxed to such a degree,” Felix started as we walked.

“It might actually make more sense when going up against say a swarm of Kalu fighters,” Silly put in.

“It’ll make the job of gunner a bit harder as they will have to adjust their aperture on the fly, but it is completely possible,” Felix surmised.

“I think our gunners will be fine in handling a little more difficulty,” I said with a grin, knowing that my Gunnery chiefs Zor and Brusk who were already having rabbits over their new tech would be delighted with having the ability to change their cone of fire for maximum effect.

“Sally!” Eddie said a boot going flying and hitting a girl talking to a Commando in the rump. “Do that chit-chat in the mess and get yer butt back to putting those secondary power relays in place missy!” Eddie said, his boot coming flying back to his hand.

“Yes Chief!” The chastised Engineer said, running off while Eddie waved his boot at any of the engineers that were looking at the latest boot-victim. Eyes quickly looked back to their work with Eddie’s implied threat. Satisfied he’s made his point he put the boot back on and continued walking.

“Having many issues with the build?” I asked generally.

“A few, but we’ll have them sorted out before she leaves my… Nancy’s slip,” Silly said. He was still taking in the fact that he would be moving to the Destroyer base shortly.

He had been on Nancy since he’d finished his basic training. He’d seen her in Syndicate control. Then he’d been allowed to do whatever he wanted to do. Instead of leaving Nancy behind he’d poured all of his efforts into growing her, improving her practices and making her one of the most productive shipyards in all of recorded history.

He had also become a very rich man as the Free Merchant Fleet had traded off his practices to other yards, gathering royalties for their use.

“I expect nothing less from you and your people. I’m sure I’m going to be surprised with the things that you come up with for the Destroyer yard,” I said with a smile.

Silly’s manipulators showed his embarrassment as we walked through Hic Stamus’ corridors.

“Well these are bigger than I expected,” I said, admiring the size of the corridors.

“They’re made to comfortably fit Dovarks and awakened Avarians running in full power armor,” Felix said.

“Had enough damned repairs from one or another of them putting their head through the damned ceiling,” Eddie said darkly.

The image that conjured made me chuckle.

***

Bok Soo watched as shuttles headed down towards Earth. Entire wings headed to various locations across the planet. Some of the fleet had split off to go to the Moon.

They weren’t just making sure that their people were okay and seeing if they and their families wanted to be given a ride to Parnmal or one of the other Union systems. They were taking back the technology they had given to different nations to try and accelerate their growth.

Armed Commandos dropped onto campuses, marching through universities and collecting their tech which was being studied or part of an experiment. Scientists decried them as brutes and yelled obscenities. Bok Soo’s people tuned them out and continued with their mission.

Four hundred thousand Commandos had dropped to Earth. The units already on Earth, another three hundred thousand were activated, working to assist their fellow Free Fleet personnel.

“Sir we have a prison that is unwilling to release our people,” Ronda one of Bok Soo’s brigade commanders said.

“Very well,” Bok Soo said, gaining time for him to look over the information that Ronda had sent to him. “I’m coming down.”

“Yes sir.”

It didn’t take him more than ten minutes to get to his shuttle and headed down towards Earth with a wing of MEF’s flying around his transport.

The ride down to China where the free fleet personnel were being held was quick.

Bok Soo was wrapped up in looking over the various streams of information that populated his HUD and his data pad when the shuttle came to rest on its struts.

“CAMC?” The cargo master asked as Bok Soo didn’t move for a few minutes.

“Ah yes, looks like we’ve arrived,” Bok Soo said after a moment, realizing they weren’t moving.

He opened his harness, two sections provided his security detail as he walked out into a large open area around what looked like drab apartment buildings with bars across their windows and a fence surrounding them.

Brigade Commander Ronda walked over to Bok Soo, the protection detail moving out of her way.

“It looks like the prison governor has received orders to not let any of the prisoners go,” Ronda said.

“Yea, I saw that much from your messages,” Bok Soo said in a thoughtful tone, looking over the apartment building. “If they’re not willing to give them up, then we’re going to have to go in there, form up your people and cut our way in. We only take our people. Secure the other prisoners if they try to escape.”

“Yes CAMC,” Ronda said, turning and changing channels to talk with her people.

Twenty minutes later and Armored Marine Commandos were walking in an extended line with their plasmid weaponry drawn. They cut through the fence with ease and kept on going.

A few guards fired on the Commandos but their rounds simply bounced off.

They gave up after a Commando put penetrator round through an empty watch tower. The round exploded inside it, turning it into raining debris.

Commandos cut through the prisons doors gathering their people before moving back to Bok Soo. Shuttles raced them up to the fleet waiting in orbit or the Moon which was operating as the Free Fleet’s forward base.

Bok Soo’s eyes turned towards the Moon.

Interesting bunch those Moon colonists. Bok Soo had met with their leader Damon Xi; he had made it clear that the Moon was currently debating whether they wanted to keep ties to Earth or not. They were essentially self-sustainable. Yet they abhorred what the Earth Forces had done against the people that had helped them to even populate the Moon.

Bok Soo was interested as to how that would turn out.

“Commander, it looks like there are a number of items that were moved to military sites for testing, or recreated and moved. Shall I update that information to your Commanders?” Intelligence Commander of Sol-system Pixwul asked from her place on Hachiro. Her boss had been killed in the fighting and she had taken over his responsibilities.

“If you could that would be great, all tech given to nations that attacked Free Fleet is subject to removal,” Bok Soo said, feeling that this wasn’t going to be a simple smash and grab. Especially when most of those nations had taken the power plants the Free Fleet supplied and slapped them into their power grids.

They made their bed, now they have no choice but to sleep in it. He thought with gruff certainty.

“I’m getting reports on Edwards’ location,” Pixwul said before the channel could close.

“Good, I’ll have my people collect him, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to him before he got his time in front of the courts,” Bok Soo said, his face pulling into a grin as hungry as his eyes.

Chapter Creating Bastions

While the fighting in Sol had gone on, the rest of the universe hadn’t slowed. Monk was dealing with the grassroots of the Union and trade was booming in more ways than one. More ships than ever were plying their trade across the stars. Each system was building up their defenses as best as possible and preparing for the Kalu.

The Kuruvian manufacturing abilities had quadrupled as factories and new techniques had been shared or sold to various merchants.

With the Kuruvians joining the Union, the Free Fleet had also given them contracts to make various weapon systems. AIH was still the largest arming system out of everyone, they built more railguns, rail cannons and were already working to make laser cannons. They also produced the most rounds out of any other system.

Yet there was a massive demand for weapons and AIH couldn’t fill all the orders. The Kuruvians jumped on these contracts and were helping to relieve some of the pressure on AIH. They were also making small ship factories that were pumping out MEF’s bombers and jump fighters.

There were twenty-one systems total, all but two were making defenses—Inkal and Earth.

While Earth technically wasn’t Hachiro, Mars and Nancy were. The Moon colonists were requesting permission so as to not piss of the nearly two-hundred Free Fleet ships swarming Sol.

Salchar had turned the occupying forces into building forces, applying their numbers to Nancy’s projects, fixing the Free Fleet infrastructure in the system and readying them to take on weapons systems, either remote or built into the shipyard or Hachiro. Planetary cannons were being placed on Mars and shield generators put into place.

That kind of buildup was going on with all the other planets. The Kuruvian stations were being changed into fortresses, the inhabited stations of Quarst were having the same done to them. Those that were living on Dovark, the home of the old Union had emplaced cannons across the planet.

Other planets were rigging up as many orbitals and ground cannons as possible. The Free Fleet were selling weapons to everyone and training up Commandos on every planet. HAPA’s were starting to be built in the Kuruvian Empire. It would be two weeks until they were ready to produce, and another two before they started shipping out HAPA’s.

The industrial efforts of World War Two were child’s play to the armament and training programs that were bringing trillions to battle-ready status, arming them and preparing their worlds. The Union had looked to pouring money into their fleet. The Free Fleet was a third the size of the PDF and they knew the Kalu would target the civilized planets they protected.

While the Free Fleet couldn’t be everywhere, their defenses could be.

Monk’s second position as the commander of Parnmal was to be the Free Merchant Fleet’s Manager and liaison to the Free Fleet. A division was setup to record and process all of the trades and interactions of the Free Merchant Fleet. The Free Merchant Fleet were the only ones that were allowed to transport Free Fleet military hardware or supplies. Yet they transported so much more. Making up fifty-five percent of the merchants going through the civilized planets they moved anything and everything.

They had commissioned the Kuruvian yards to create purpose-built super-freighters like the one they had refurbished from Inkal and were taking supplies to the Star-destroyer yard.

A hundred and thirty Star-destroyers that had their decks pulled out to make room for freight were on their way back to friendly lines. Bringing Monk much needed transport to hurl supplies around civilized space.

Urshval and Oolta had joined the Union, Jakram and Rashdahl were going through the motions. Inkal had made all of their freighters and merchants Free Fleet bonded. Meaning they were afforded protection by the Free Fleet wherever they were, for a fee.

“Are the numbers agreeable?” Finance Chief Ding of the Kuruvian Empire asked, pulling Monk out of his thoughts.

“Yes they are,” Monk said, remembering how they’d been talking about the weapon systems production numbers.

“Something on your mind Monk?” Ding asked.

They had meetings nearly every other day and become something of friends as they tried to meet their leader’s wants and needs.

“Wondering how much longer we have to build all of this,” Monk said simply, holding his chin with his hand.

“Not long enough,” Ding said, his manipulators moving in annoyance, but Monk more sensed than saw the fear behind that annoyance.

“It’s never long enough, there’s always something that we could have done better. Yet we’ll make sure it’s the best that we could have done. Now moving on to those MEFs, jumps and bombers, Quarst is going to need a bunch of them to arm their reserve squadrons that they want to put in their stations. With them so close to the front and a clearly visible target for the Kalu, I think it would only make sense if we looked to getting them as many small craft as possible,” Monk said.

“I agree; the issue is transport,” Ding said.

Monk paused toying with how much he could let Ding know.

“I have a hundred and thirty Star-Destroyer converts coming back in the next week. I’m moving eighty to help with moving items through the Kuruvian Empire and beyond. They’re also going to have all of the extra ships that Devastahli has been pumping out with the small-craft factory buried inside him,” Monk said.

“Damn, I forgot about Devastahli and that factory,” Ding admitted.

“They’re being kept back just in case, in that time Shrift has being doing everything to get the War Station even more weapons. Devastahli has been pretty happy, he’s the most heavily armed maneuverable object in existence so far. Shrift’s finally got secondary systems online and is working on tertiaries. That kind of work on something the size of war station is immense,” Monk said.

“Makes an engineer proud seeing how well he’s done with that vessel,” Ding said as if finding it hard to name just what Devastahli and the War Station he inhabited was.

“It’s still hard to think that a station that size can move,” Monk said with a laugh, shaking his head in wonder as he sat back in his chair.

“What about the supply dumps? How are we looking on their supplies? Once they’re stocked then we can look to moving other equipment,” Ding said.

The supply dumps were basically asteroids with an FTL transmitter stuck in the dark of space, they were filled and covered with inventoried materials and supplies that a fleet, or group of merchants might use to survive or to resupply between battles. They served two main purposes. When the shit hit the fan and the Kalu advanced, merchants and ships that weren’t able to fight were to get themselves to those points. They would load up on supplies and wait. If a nearby system was cleared and the Free Fleet needed supplies then the merchants would jump in and cross-load supplies, bringing the Free Fleet ships up to battle readiness as soon as possible. The merchants could survive off of the supplies at that point while they waited to be of use. The Free Fleet could use them as rally points to jump on the Kalu without them knowing and also again load up on supplies if there were no merchants in the area.

Monk was hoping to move merchants around, getting them around systems that were being contested and moving materials in the dark of space so that the supply points always had something for warships.

“They’re getting close to full, I just want to make sure that we have everything possible ready,” Monk said with a sigh, knowing how impossible his request was.

“I know, I know,” Ding said, his manipulators moving in idleness as Ding’s eyes saw the preparations he had laid in for his own people.

“How are your own defenses coming along?” Ding asked after a long moment.

“Rosho will be like a walk through a Chaleelian growing tower compared to Parnmal,” Monk’s eyes found Dings with quiet confidence. “I bet my life on it.”

***

Min Hae looked over the area around the Destroyer-yard. The latest shipment of supplies had just reached them from the Kuruvian Empire through Heija and Cheerleader.

Min Hae and Ashota were overseeing the running of the station, watching the independents work their star-destroyers and fighters, acting as liaison between the independents and the Union and Free Fleet, seeing what information they could glean from the Independents spies within the Kalu ranks. Ashota had been the one to tell Min Hae to give command of the Earth investigation to those that were in the area.

“Well it looks like our time is quickly running out,” Ashota said as they reviewed the priority message they’d received just a few minutes ago.

Ashota’s body had been repaired and was back to his full size. He was about chest height and without the built-in armor of Orshpa and his Kalu. Instead he wore a Free Fleet battle suit.

Those dark eyes turned on Min Hae who was resting his pursed lips on his clasped hands, his brow furrowed in thought.

“At least we know how much time we have before they start moving. I’ll pull a message together with that transmission and the projected routes for Salchar,” Min Hae said, his hands coming apart and instead tapping and working the table in front of him to do exactly as he had said.

Seven rotations, three months and then the Kalu will start sweeping through Union space.

“Now that’s done, shall I also tell him what the Independents are going to do when the Kalu move into Union space?” Min Hae’s voice wasn’t threatening but it made Ashota look away with a snarl on his face.

“Yes, I guess it would be best. Hopefully some will fight with us,” Ashota said, rolling his massive shoulders, his head dipping slightly.

The Independents wanted to move their ships into the Kalu systems that were left without any or a minimal guard. Once they wiped out the threats in space they wanted to try and educate their people.

As Planner had shown the Avarians that they needed to work together and accept one another’s differences as not necessarily weaknesses but possible strengths, the Independents hoped to show the same to their brethren.

Min Hae had made it clear that if the independents mistreated their traditionalist brothers and sisters, they would answer to the Free Fleet. He had read the information on residential schools on Earth. Yet that was with humans, Kalu were entirely different creatures.

Once the Independents got control of the Kalu systems they were going to hold their position if they could, if they couldn’t then they were going to flee as they originally planned.

“Hopefully,” Min Hae said, his mind had turned to other matters as he looked at the three-dimensional star-map with various locations highlighted in different colors. The line was purple, the Kalu space red, and the inhabited systems green, Union systems blue.

“So what are you thinking we tell Commander Whorst and Bregend?” Ashota asked.

“I’m thinking that we have Whorst pull back to Eltar, Boot should move to MxKug and Bregend should go to Wugan. That way every system that provides a jump-point from the line into our lines is covered. I’m going to suggest that they, as well as Cheerleader and Boot have squadrons go into Kalu territory to continue their raids but be ready to be engaged shortly,” Min Hae said, expanding the star-map.

“So start to move into the final phases,” Ashota said, most Kalu might growl at the futile efforts of those challenging them. Ashota was not most Kalu, instead he forced those emotions away and thought of the situation.

“Yes, and we should hope to hell that everything is in place for this,” Min Hae drummed his fingers on the table for a moment. “We’d best get started.”

“I thought you might say something like that,” Ashota said dryly, getting a small smile from Min Hae.

***

Edwards had been grabbed from his office, once the outcome was realized his supporters had fled.

Commandos crashed through his ornate door.

He’d yelled, cursed and thrown what he could at them. They simply grabbed him, reading out his crimes and slapping restraints on him as they dragged him to a shuttle.

He found others that he knew in that shuttle. Others that had worked with him to bring about the great failure that had been their attempt to take over the Free Fleet.

They were no longer the power brokers from back then. Their power had been stripped from them, some still cried out injustice. Edwards was among them.

He’d been shipped to a transport that then took him and the other prisoners to Parnmal.

Now he stood in court. It had been proceeding along at a good pace where he had learned that talking out of place was only going to get a glower from the judge and displeased noises from the jury and his defense.

There was no one recording the trial. Edwards had asked the defender about that.

They’d told him that the Free Fleet saw no reason to give coverage to a backstabber, they believed in showing the good of the Union not the shit.

Now was judgement day. Edwards had been able to read the signs, Earth wasn’t a powerhouse anymore, it was a backwater. His actions had made them weak not stronger.

“Does the Jury have a verdict?” the judge asked.

“Guilty of all charges,” the Jury’s elected spokesperson said.

“Very well,” the Judge turned to look at Edwards.

“You took the faith of the Free Fleet, turned it against them, harrassed them, got people killed and then worked to attack the very people defending your home and born of your planet. In my mind you not only betrayed their faith but you betrayed the faith of the other Union systems and your own people. That said the Free Fleet dislikes to kill people if they don’t have to and they believe you may be able to redeem yourself like a great many other prisoners the Free Fleet have in their care,” the judge sat back and Edwards tried to remain defiant, his world in ashes around him.

“You will render seventy years of service to the Free Fleet within the maintenance groups. I hope that you learn to work with and trust others. Space is the great equalizer. It is the hope of this court you learn to treat others with fairness and in trust. Please remove the convicted,” the judge said.

Edwards had seen the anger and hatred in the guards faces, all of them were from the Free Fleet. He had tried to evoke that anger but they hadn’t given in.

As they had said, they wouldn’t devolve to his level.

He hung his head and allowed himself to be dragged off, a part of him was relieved he would not be killed. Another part of him felt a new fear for the maintenance crews. They were fair and just, but they did menial work, for the next seventy years he would be a miner of a cleaner, he would have little control over his life.

He cried, his game of politics and maneuvering was gone.

Even then he didn’t care for those that had died, he still cared only about himself.

Those kinds of thoughts would only get someone killed working in null gravity and atmosphere, teams survived, individuals got themselves killed.

Chapter Six weeks and counting

“Alright Milra, take us out,” I said from my command chair, thankfully there were only three floors like with Resilient, yet each floor was larger to accommodate the larger crew needed to person Hic Stamus.

Commander Heston was still walking with a bit of a limp but he was quickly getting over his injuries. While Hic Stamus couldn’t move his pilots and their ships could. He’d had them out as soon as I’d given him the okay. We might have a few trainees in the ranks, but they were quickly learning the ropes first-hand.

For this moment the ships lay in their racks and most of their pilots were probably glued to the view screens which could be used to see outside the carrier.

“Yes Commander,” Milra said with more than a little enthusiasm.

Stamus’ engines came online, pushing the ship forward for the first time. Grins were on every face as our behemoth pushed away from its slip.

Eddie’s crews were putting in the final sections inside the ship. All of the double-hulled armor, topped with reactive plating had been put into place. Weapons sprouted from that armor. Every weapon was pulled into their maintenance positions catching the light of the Sun as we came out of the shadows of Nancy’s massive slip.

I looked to the systems plot. The Chaleel and AIH forces had returned to their positions. Word of the Kalu’s plans had gone through inhabited systems faster than the FTL relays could pass information it seemed.

Training had been ended as trainees were put into the positions they wanted to have and given on-the-job-training. Leaving them on a planet or a station where they could be picked off easier and making the Free Fleet lose their abilities was not acceptable.

The accused master-minds behind Earth’s betrayal had been transported to Parnmal just two weeks ago. The courts had pushed them through with quick efficiency. Five out of the ninety accused were on their way back to Sol, the others were serving sentences or awaiting a later trial date due to one reason or another.

I didn’t have time to worry about that.

“We are clear of Nancy,” Milra said.

“Good driving Milra, I want reports from every station every ten minutes for the first hour, then every hour after that,” I said, looking around to see that my order had sunk in, the mass signs of acknowledgement came back.

“Ben, plot that course to the asteroid belt for some weapons practice, might as well test all the systems out,” I said doing my best to sound happy and not let my previous thoughts enter my voice.

“Yes commander, sending it to you now Milra,” Ben said, excited and proud.

He and Milra talked about the planned route as I looked to reports that were part of my existence now.

Elshurvum had been fixed up, packed full of supplies and dispatched with Felix, Silly, LaRe and all of their people towards the Destroyer yards only two-weeks since I had first stepped on Hic Stamus. That was a month ago now.

I was on the biggest ship ever commissioned and the biggest ship that the Free Fleet had built from the superstructure out. It was an impressive feat, not even including all the systems that had been weaved into its massive creation.

I have just six weeks left until the Kalu get to my lines and those systems, this hull, my people and my fleet will be tested against the forces the Kalu bring to battle.

Including my wife. It was hard to hide the wave of emotion that ran through me. Yasu was now five months pregnant. My kiddo was now making it hard for her to fit into her powered armor. In a month she wouldn’t be able to fit into her standard armor.

When she has our kid, it’s going to be while we’re engaged against the Kalu in the fight of our lives. I guess it all comes down to timing in the end. I growled, closing my eyes as I pushed those thoughts away. The Free Fleet, the newly created Union and the bonded planets and ships needed me.

***

Yasu looked at Hic Stamus as it powered out of its slip finally, she didn’t know it but she was having much the same thoughts as her husband.

She rested a hand on her growing belly.

“That’s your dad little one, showing off his new ship Hic Stamus. He’ll probably show the ship off to you when you’re old enough, which with the Syndicate therapies means in about a years’ time!” She said with an admonishing smile.

The option of putting her baby in one of the simulated growth chambers the kids of the Free Fleet had been born from, had been there. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to do it. There were too many ways in which her boy might get hurt. She wanted to protect him, the best way to do that was to keep him in her. Defending herself was as good as defending the life that grew inside her.

“He will grow up to be a strong battle master, like his mother and father,” Moft said in a soft voice.

“Well we’d best not tell him, if he’s anything like his father his head will get too big to get through a shuttle bay!” Yasu said with a smile that made Moft’s lips quirk in amusement.

Moft had become one of Yasu’s projects, it had taken some time to break down his walls. At moments it reminded her of the Sato sisters, sending painful memories through her head.

Moft had come to talk to her as Krom and Shreesht talked to Salchar. Maybe not with the same familiarity. But time and persistence will win through. Look at James! Though he might say the same thing about me.

She looked back to the Super-carrier, her eyes sparkling as her lips twitched in amusement.

She looked at the view screen for a few more minutes before turning away.

“Bridge?” Moft asked.

“Might as well, we’ll be moving out as soon as Hic Stamus is cleared for action. Ship Commander Frex will probably want another check before we’re on our way,” she said as they walked away from the observation room.

Moft made a noise of understanding.

“The Engineers did a good job putting us back together,” she said, looking over the corridors of Floater, one of the first three Battle-Carriers that had been made for the Free Fleet. Now there were closer to thirty.

“They are an industrious bunch. Some of the things they have completed on Asul need to be seen to be believed,” Moft said.

“I would like to see Asul once this is all done. It has been too long since I spent some time in my house,” she said, remembering the house cut out from the medium sized mountain that jutted out behind Asul city and sloped down to the Armored Marine Commando Barracks.

Most humans might look at the Avarian city as if it was some kind of wasteland. Yasu saw the work that had come to turn that wasteland into a bustling metropolis. The Avarians had worked hard to come from simple warrior clans having competitions over land, to asteroid miners and the weapon makers of the known universe.

Well they might have held onto the whole fighting thing. She thought with a small smile, she had taught thousands of personnel, from Avarian to Kuruvians, Ershue’s to Slevarans. Avarians loved to fight, that wasn’t to say that other races didn’t like fighting as much. The Avarians were used to struggling to survive, having the occasional bout did them good to learn their place and smarten up. She had yet to train an Avarian group that didn’t need their ass beaten by their commander to get their attention.

Except herself and James. More than one Avarian they’d beaten was willing to educate someone that questioned their battle prowess.

“How is Dila?” Yasu asked.

“She is well,” Moft said, his voice tightening to sound more official.

“That’s good, have you asked her out on a date,” Yasu poked, she was feeling rather motherly, and poking at Moft’s love life with one of the few Kuruvian females aboard was quite interesting.

“Yes Battle Mistress,” he said, resorting back to official titles, for an Avarian with so many accolades to his name, he was not very open with his love-life. Something that Yasu was working on.

“Very good, where?”

“I was going to ask her to go, bowling with me,” he said, a note of question in his voice.

“Good!” Yasu said, patting his arm and bestowing him with a mischievous grin. He somehow stopped himself from imitating the rolling-eye habit that the Avarians seemed to have adopted from Humans.

Who said that power didn’t have its rewards?

They got the elevator and Yasu’s face slowly shifted into an expression more suiting the Commander of Floater’s Commando forces. Her thoughts changing from Moft’s love-life to the status of the men and women under her command, from the newest trainee that had been stuffed into armor before completing full training, to the veterans like herself, which had been with the Free Fleet since Parnmal.

Chapter it starts with Eltar

Smith wiped his sleep away as he headed through War Station’s massive hangars towards his barracks which were located through a few meters of rock and a layer of armor. He nodded and waved to other pilots, mechanics and people he knew as he walked onwards.

None of them looked to stop him, or the fourteen pilots behind him. They were all tired as hell and had just come back from the latest run into Kalu space.

Smith was the Jump fighter’s commander, he got his orders from Flek the Wing Commander and had taken his people and their ships three systems to hit a group of Kalu ships moving to one of their stations.

It had been a six-day long run. Their internal missile berths had been switched out with expanded magazines for their rail-cannons. The multi-head missiles were more precious than air and had been stockpiled on carriers instead of being deployed. Railguns and basic missiles did their job.

When they were in a larger battle, those multi-missiles could give small craft fighters the ability to go toe to toe with a swarm, or actually push back the Kalu for a short period.

Flek, the Ershue bastard was waiting outside the Jump fighter’s barracks. Smith tried to not sigh loudly, but from the snorts behind him it wasn’t quiet enough.

He walked up to the wing commander as his jump fighters filed into their barracks and the sweet showers and cots in that pod.

“Wing Commander?” Smith asked, wondering what she was doing down here.

I thought I sent that report in, didn’t I?

“Don’t worry I’m not here to bug you about writing a real report for once, or the music, or your name choice for your craft,” Flek said, her wings emphasizing her dry humor.

“Thank you commander,” Smith said, the lines of a forming smile, showed his need for sleep.

“I came to tell you that our latest supply run came in from Parnmal,” her large black eyes looked at him, he felt as if he was being pulled into those massive orbs. “We’re switching to multi’s.”

Smith’s face turned serious, he nodded in understanding. It meant they now had the supply to lay into the Kalu. It also meant that the higher up thought it didn’t matter if they started hitting the Kalu even harder.

Before Min Hae had advocated hitting the yards and materials because to the Kalu they were just loot. Once that was done they moved to hitting populated ships more. There was already a timer winding down.

“How long until they move?” Smith didn’t need to say who he was talking about, it could only be one group of people.

“Two weeks,” Flek replied.

“When are third wing coming back from their scouting positions?” The Jump fighters of third wing were positioned in the two systems Ockhara and Pezra that led into Eltar.

“Four days,” Flek answered.

“Fifth wing is taking their place. Commander Whorst is also preparing a minefield for the Kalu.”

“What about the rest of the Fleet?” Smith asked.

“The other fleets on the line are also building up their positions. Salchar’s fleet is moving to Parnmal, ships from down the corridor are being moved to roving positions throughout the Union,” Flek said.

In the last two and a half months since a date had been put on when the Kalu were coming, the original ten systems had grown to sixteen, five other systems hadn’t joined, but they’d built up their defenses or bonded their ships, or laid in bunkers to hide in.

Smith didn’t think that anything but working together against the Kalu was going to do anything to stop them.

“So it comes down to this,” Smith said.

“It looks like it.” Flek couldn’t hide the nervous twitch of her wings.

Four-hundred and seventy against eight-hundred and forty-seven thousand Kalu ships. Only about two-thousand to one for the Kalu.

“I think I need a drink,” Smith said.

“Shower first, I’ll meet you up there, I’ll buy a round,” Flek said.

“I’ll take you up on that Flek,” Smith said turning to his barrack door which opened for him.

“It would be a miracle to see you forget a free drink!” She said to his receding backside.

Maybe I should pass on it then, we’re going to need some damned miracles to survive this.

***

“Board your star-warriors, fill the star-destroyers! We will march through the stars against the Union and their Free Fleet as our ancestors did! Remember this day and record it for the clans of our descendants. We are the Kalu, we are the claws and hides of warrior-borne! We will bring victory to our clans, or we will not come home. To War!” Orshpa bellowed before stepping onto his star-warrior. The chant of ‘To War, To War!’ filled the open field which held thousands of Kalu ships.

Orshpa took his place as leader of clans on his ship, his other Kalu praised him with their baying and shouts to victory.

His teeth came together in a snarl, his gums pulling back as he basked in the moment, letting himself feel the battle rage that filled him, wishing that the Free Fleet were in front of him. So he could pit his claws and armor against their skills and plasmid weaponry.

Star-warriors and Destroyers at the jump points around Ulri charged their jump generators as soon as they had received Orshpa’s message.

He couldn’t hear the baying and the war cries as battle-brothers crashed into one another, pawing each other in faux battle, showing what they would do to their enemy.

***

Min Hae looked at the imagery from the stealthy reconnaissance drone that parsed its information out to the FTL relays the old Union had sown throughout the Kalu systems.

Three thousand ships rose from Ulri’s surface heading towards the jump-limit.

Silly and Felix appeared in the Destroyer yard’s command deck, looking to Min Hae.

“It’s started,” he said simply, the confused looks on their faces and manipulators turning grim.

They all looked to the main screen that usually showed the plans of the station. Now it showed the input coming from the recon drone. Star-Destroyers and Warriors continued to pile out of Ulri’s atmosphere, like massive black locusts.

The squadrons of a hundred or so Kalu ships already waiting at the jump points started charging their jump generators. It would be hard to track a few dozen ships charging their jump generators, but numbers meant that even the recon drone could pick-up what the Kalu were doing.

“Well I guess we move to the second phase then,” Felix said. “Get as many Star-Destroyers converted and armed as possible train as many fighters as possible and get them to the Fleet as soon as possible.”

“We’re not going to be doing any good watching the Kalu. I’ll let my people know and we’ll start working off of the premise that we won’t be getting any more supplies from the Fleet as they get ready to deal with the Kalu,” Silly said.

“Let me know if me and mine can be of any help, we’re still pulling information from the Kalu traditionalists but soon it’s going to be irrelevant; movements and Kalu ship’s positions are going to be essential, and they don’t need us for that,” Min Hae said.

And I want to be doing something other than watching as the Free Fleet goes into yet another battle and I can do little to nothing to help them.

“Ah we’ll find a job for you Commander,” Felix said with a grin, his eyes understanding Min Hae’s pain oh so well.

***

After I got the news of the Kalu movements I checked over the positions of my ships, and then listened to my wife’s astute advice to ‘get back in bed, I’m cold, we knew they were coming and this pillow is not as comfortable!’

We didn’t sleep much, lying there, not really understanding what was coming but enjoying the feel of one another’s embraces, our breaths seemed to declare our life to the rest of the Universe.

We lied like that, just making small chat. I felt my boy as he complained about the noise this late at night with the pounding of his feet.

We smiled and chuckled, but there was a sad note to it all. Heija might have been half a year away, but it was still fresh in our minds.

She didn’t let me get away before I had breakfast and she’d seen that I’d eaten it all, as well as Krom, Shreesht and Moft.

“Now go bicker over plans that have been set in stone for the last four months. I’ll see you tonight,” she said, giving me a ‘come here’ curl of her finger.

I came closer and she grabbed my collar, pulling me down into a kiss. There were a few hoots and hollers from the people in the mess, our Avarian protectors looked away in embarrassment. Well Krom snorted and I could feel his eyes rolling.

“Good,” she said, her tension on my collar falling away as we looked into one another’s eyes, just smiling at the moment.

Then I straightened, the universes problems assailing my head.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I said.

“Yes you will,” her tone telling me that I had better be back in our quarters at a reasonable time, or she was going to be rather unhappy and probably come up to the bridge and kick my ass out of the commander’s seat.

I looked over the information coming from behind the line. The Kalu were sweeping through their own positions, those to the rear were coming up to join the systems that ran along the line. All of them were moving away from Ulri and towards Ockhara, gathering their strength.

“Looking over the plans again?” Rick asked as he walked into our new massive conference room.

“Yeah,” I said, there was little that I could keep from him anymore. I rubbed my face, we would be at Parnmal station tomorrow, where we would meet up with the rest of the mobile force consisting of one-hundred and seventy ships.

“It’s simple, it’s elegant and it’s our best chance. There’s no sense in going back over it and trying to see if there is a way that we might be able to make the Kalu pay more,” Rick said taking a seat.

“There is always a way, I just can’t see it right now,” I said.

“That may be true, but it isn’t going to do the fleet any good to have their commander worrying about the plan when it’s impossible to change it anymore,” Rick replied.

“What if the Kalu don’t go past our initial defenses and hammer our ships on the line?”

“Then they get hammered and we make sure that we avenge them. They know what they’re doing and all of them have agreed to their task,” Rick said in firmer tones.

The plan was as Rick had said, rather simple.

“I know, get me the commanders. The Kalu might be taking the long way round getting their forces together. I want to get our fleet into position to react as soon as possible.”

“Inkal?”

“Yes, Inkal,” I answered.

***

“We have multiple wormholes emerging across the jump limit,” Zal said from his position, there wasn’t even a quiver in his voice.

“Battle stations! Run the guns and get those fighters out. Flek, I want jump fighters watching the jump-limit and plugging any holes in our sensor net we might have! Arfo, send word to the other units on the line as well as Salchar,” Commander Whorst said, he had been asleep an hour ago, but Zal had finally woken him, letting him know that the Kalu were entering jump range. Whorst didn’t begrudge his sensor commander for making sure that he had as much sleep as possible.

Now was not the time for sleep, now it was time to fight.

“Pilots are moving out,” Flek said into the bridge that had become a mass of movement and talking.

“Guns are coming online,” Frankeuw added.

“Shields are ready,” Dallaho reported.

“Fleet status?” Whorst turned to his second-in-command Richter.

“Ships are coming online, all report readiness, systems are taking a few moments,” Richter reported, his short cropped blonde hair and blue eyes focused on his command screens.

“MxKug is also reporting Kalu emerging at their position,” Arfo said. The plot to Whorst’s side updated with information on the star map of known space. The main screen updated with information on what was happening in Eltar.

Cheerleader and Bregend hadn’t reported any Kalu at their positions.

It had been a week and a half since the reactionary force left Parnmal. It had arrived at Inkal and was waiting by to give their assistance no matter what happened.

That sorted, Whorst leaned back in his chair, using the holographic interface to see the system around him and look at the Kalu which were pouring in. There were already ten thousand in-system and there were more coming in through more wormholes every second that he watched.

He felt fear fill his stomach like acid. He acknowledged it and understood it, but pushed it aside. He needed to see where they were coming from, exact numbers and then he could see what one of his plans he could put into action against these bastards.

***

Orshpa looked onto his screen as his star-warrior emerged from its wormhole. Information on the forces already in the system spread across that screen.

He let out a hungry growl as he saw the massive creation that had pushed him back and taken a hefty number of his fighters.

He knew that his warriors would want to close with the behemoth and the ships that surrounded it. He needed to try and get them away from that idea and to push on towards the enemy’s home worlds. They didn’t have the resources or the supplies to fight every enemy that they saw. Especially not an enemy as powerful as the station that waited like the universe’s own challenge.

We will defeat you…

“The Free Fleet are moving towards us,” Daskil announced. “The other clan leaders are asking for permission to lead the charge,”

I got them all excited to wage battle on the Free Fleet and to have their second teaching war. They have been attacked out of the black time and time again with little to nothing to show for it.

“Clan leader Isal will be allowed to take his ships and offer the Free Fleet battle. The rest of the Clan leaders are to hold position and follow us towards the true battle against the Free Fleet,” Orshpa said.

Daskil relayed the orders.

Isal’s ships could be easily picked out as they charged towards the oncoming station and fellow ships. Their bomb acceleration pushed them as fast as the Kalu could handle. He had twenty thousand ships, a decent sized force, but quickly replaced by the other leaders that were transiting into the system behind Orshpa’s fleet advancing through the system.

“Missiles!” One of the lower beings said as Orshpa watched missiles head towards opening wormholes.

Missiles erupted into multiple warheads, striking ships in various phases of exiting their wormholes. Wormhole projectors and generators were destabilized in the un-shielded ships. Wormholes claimed ships, or cut through them as they closed.

Jump fighters had jumped past the jump-limit and were hitting ships as they came out of their wormholes. There was nothing that Orshpa could do but watch, he was too far away from the emergence point. No Kalu was going to head back into their last system to pass the word that there were missiles waiting for them on the other side. It would take them five hours to just build up enough charge to do that.

It will be too late by then. All he could do was watched as fifty-jump-fighters fired into oncoming Kalu. Star-destroyers and warriors died in droves.

***

“There goes the siren that warns of the air raid. Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak”

“Ready?” Smith asked his fellow wing leaders, their plan outlined and their jump points plotted. His music blaring in his ears.

He got greens across the board from all of the jump fighter wing leaders.

“Alright then let’s give those bastards something to worry about.”

He shunted power from his capacitors into his wormhole generators and projectors. A hole in time and space rippled into existence in front of him. He entered and exited it behind the Jump-limit the Kalu were using.

“C’mon, I was hoping to get the first barrage in!” He complained in a light tone, not meaning anything by it. If anything he was happy that his people were trying to get into the fight as soon as possible, instead of holding back. If Commander Whorst’s plan was going to work, he needed that kind of drive.

Jump fighters that had made the transition before him were already firing the missiles on their external racks, their internally held missiles following a few moments later.

“Move in to fire at the mainstream of bombers Let off a sharp burst and then turn away,” Music blared through his speakers as trails of missiles ripped away from his craft.

Jump fighters started jumping back for War-Station as soon as their racks were emptied.

There were so many targets that Smith barely looked to changing the trajectory of his missiles. The AI’s were using the FTL relays to put the missiles to the most use. He was just the delivery system. His magazines and racks clicked empty.

He dumped another half-capacitor, jumping towards War-station. He avoided the areas where other ships were supposed to come out of their jump and headed in towards the open hangars. It was a quick process of bringing himself down on the landing pad. Techs were on him in moments, pulling the missile racks off, changing out the two used capacitors with charged versions as a missile loader handed multi-s to the internal rack which secured them and cycled taking on the next missile.

His song had just ended as they finished.

He got cleared, powering up his engines and heading back out into the dark. War-Station and the fleet of sixty-three ships around her were heading straight for the twenty or so thousand Kalu charging for them all.

The next song started up.

“One life I'm gonna live it up I’m takin' flight said I'll never get enough. Stand tall I'm young and kinda proud” He looked at those ships and he felt that pride. He poured more power into his engines as he opened a wormhole. It snapped into existence and he appeared behind the Kalu jump-point once again.

The fifty jump-fighters had done massive damage; they had launched sixty-two missiles each. The Kalu didn’t have any PDS on the rear of their ships so none of them had been shot down, about four were faulty and didn’t work, but the rest did.

Three-thousand and Ninety-six missiles had run at emerging Kalu ships. They’d split into Thirty-thousand-nine-hundred and sixty.

Some had hit ships out of wormholes, they took damage, but usually kept going, or went drifting as their rear sections were hit. The ones that were just emerging, or partially so hadn’t fared as well. Missiles threw their projectors and generators out, wormholes closed, cutting off whatever hadn’t made it out. Some actually survived, missing their rear sections and drifting. Most turned into nuclear suns as their power plants overloaded.

Seventeen thousand Kalu ships would not be making it to war, another three thousand were heavily damaged.

“If you think I'll let it go you're mad You've got another thing comin',” Smith sung along with the last line as he pressed his firing stud, missile trails appeared. Smith heard the missiles as they ignited and left his racks, the next volley firing as soon as the first had cleared and the mechanisms of his internal rack had a new missile in place.

He wasn’t alone, other jump-fighters piled in their missiles.

Twelve seconds passed and Smith was out of missiles once again.

He opened another wormhole and headed back to War-station.

It would be an hour until station closed with the Kalu, which gave him ten more minutes to get his shots into the Kalu’s emerging forces. Which meant, two runs, three if he pushed it.

If I’m a little over I don’t think the Commander’s going to be too annoyed.

***

“The last of the jump wings have returned and re-armed,” Commander Flek said from his holographic table that showed all of the Multiple Environment Fighters, or MEF’s, bombers and Jump fighters.

“Very well,” Whorst said, his eyes flicking from the constant influx of information that was filling his own holographic sphere around him.

He grabbed and expanded numbers into his view, he knew them off by heart but he just wanted to make sure.

One hundred and twenty-seven wings of MEF’s sixty-five wings of bombers and just over four wings of Jump fighters were armed, ready and waiting.

Seven hundred and six craft positioned themselves between their sixty-three larger brothers and sisters.

It was the largest group of small craft brought into battle by the Free Fleet to date.

“Kalu are flushing fighters,” Zal said from his sensor pit.

There was a half-hour until they were able to engage the Kalu with their laser cannons, another fifteen minutes after that and they would be able to use their other armaments.

“They’re surging ahead and forming into swarms.”

“Dev, Frankeuw. I want that minefield right on top of them after we pass through their formation,” Whorst said.

“Yes sir,” Frankeuw said.

“Commander,” Devastahli confirmed in his rolling voice from overhead.

Whorst turned his eyes back to his information sphere, looking at the Kalu fleet which was filling it.

The Kalu Star-warriors and Destroyers moved fast, damned fast with their bomb-pumped acceleration. Though they had stopped accelerating and were now slowing down so they could board Whorst’s fleet and not just simply smash into their sides.

The fighters were there to weaken the fleet; they didn’t care about boarding. They just kept on coming, meaning their lead elements would reach the fleet in just twenty minutes.

The drama of Earth had occurred two-months ago, in that time Felix had distributed the information on the laser cannon to every ship that might be able to use it. Shrift had been part of its development and had quietlymarked out positions for the weapons on War-Stations’  ‘hull’ running power lines and cooling lines.

Now the information was acrss the fleet Shrift passed the information to Whorst who’d got dibs on the first laser cannons being produced in AIH’s weapons facilities.

Two of them were installed and completed their run-down.

They were massive beasts and there hadn’t been time to test-fire them yet.

They worked by having a nuclear bomb explode in a containment chamber, all of that energy was converted into X-ray and gamma-ray, and then funneled down the weapons barrel which focused and directed it towards the enemy. It needed a decent cool-down else the bombs might blow it up or melt it down.

Today we see if we made them good enough or if they’re going to rip us apart. Whorst thought as the timer wound down.

***

Shrift watched as the Kalu fighters came closer. He looked over the laser cannons that he had built himself. They were prepped and ready to go. Mounted to two outcrops on either side of the ‘forward hull’ they could shoot ahead of the station as well to either side.

The timer wound down as the Kalu came into range.

Come on Whorst, come on!

“Laser cannons, fire at will,” Commander Whorst’s voice came through the speakers in the laser cannons command centers.

“Fire!” Chief Ozkul said. The cannons were three hundred meters away but it was still possible to hear and feel the bombs as they exploded, their charge being directed at the Kalu fighters.

A swarm was hit straight on. It was as if they had run into a wall. Fighters were simply vaporized by the cannons power, the blast passed through the first fighters and kept going until all of its charge was depleted. Ships tumbled and fell away, their occupants exposed to deadly levels of radiation that had caused their bodies to revolt and destroy themselves.

The other cannon had missed a swarm, mostly. It clipped the side of the swarm, killing hundreds. Yet the beam wasn’t fully spent, it kept going, a wire frame grid showing it heading for the Kalu fleet.

The chambers cooled rapidly, new laser cannon rounds were slotted into place, and the chamber sealed as the controller for the cannon watched the numbers, the gunner holding their reticule on target, adjusting the laser cannons aperture to get the most out of their gun.

“Gun one ready!” The controller said.

“Clear!” The gunner said, the command rumbling.

“Gun two, ready!” The opposite gun’s controller said.

‘Clear!” The other gun rumbled and two more swarms were hit head-on, the second gun’s gunner fixing whatever issue she’d had.

Shrift looked over the information from the cannon. Its aiming reticule hadn’t been properly aligned so she was manually correcting, firing into the distance to bring her actual weapon onto their target.

Chief Ozkul had picker her people well.

The swarms were hit by the cannons, these two bigger than the first two. They’d adjusted and been given a wide aperture.

Hundreds of Kalu fighters must have fallen away, but there were hundreds of thousands of fighters coming out of their ships or already in their swarms.

The round that had scraped the second swarm now hit the Kalu fleet. Three star-warriors and one-star-destroyer were hit, the star-destroyer’s fighters turned into small bombs, ripping the destroyer apart as they blew up leaving their hangars.

There were no whoops or cheers, just the sounds of controllers calling out information to their gunners who responded with firing their massive weapons with alarming accuracy into the oncoming Kalu fighters.

“PRC’s are coming online, watch your targets, we have priority but don’t oversaturate an area. Controllers run your checks,” Chief Ozkul said some time later.

The fleet had turned to present their broadsides to the enemy, every cannon run out and waiting to serve.

Shrift felt and saw as the planetary cannons fired a wall of rounds at the Kalu.

Human’s could only process so much information, with the six AI’s in the fleet, information was simplified and passed on with alarming speed.

Gunners were using tricks from those AI’s to fire four guns instead of one single cannon, then they were broken down into sectors, which were constantly changing and evolving as the fleets came together and Kalu were wiped out of existence.

It meant that no one was shooting in the same place as anyone else, no round was wasted as the Kalu were left without any room to maneuver.

So when the Fleet fired every cannon added to a withering wall of fire that rushed to meet the forward swarms like a flyswatter meeting a fly.

Rounds exploded into shrapnel, tearing through the Kalu swarms with hellish consequences.

The Free Fleet were doing everything they could to keep the pressure up on the Kalu.

Fighters started firing their lasers back at the Free Fleet. They were weak, but there were many of them. Shields flashed into existence as the thousands of lasers found their targets.

The Fleet fired every five seconds creating a wall of rounds impossible to dodge.

The laser-cannons were no longer firing their twenty-centimeter-wide beams, they’d turned into unfocused meter wide projections. Their increased radius allowing them to hit more Kalu fighters that could avoid the fleet’s railgun rounds.

“Coolant issue in gun one!’ The controller called out.

Shrift saw the issue, a coolant tube had become warped.

“With me!” Shrift said, his team of fifteen following him as they rushed towards the massive gun that shook the very tunnel they were in with a punishing round being sent into the face of the enemy.

No one looked to turn back, instead their faces becoming harder and steeled against the possibilities of what might happen trying to get this cannon back in action.

“Cease fire, we’re almost at the gun,” Shrift said.

“Understood,” the controller said. “Hurry up!”

Don’t need to tell me that, I saw the Kalu coming at us!

***

“Laser Cannon one is out of action,” Frankeuw reported as the forward batteries fired again. With War-station’s size, his forward batteries were the same as a Destroyers broadside. It kept the two laser cannons of the fleet pointed at the enemy.

“How long until it is operational?” Whorst snapped.

“Shrift is looking into it, he said it shouldn’t be long,” Frankeuw said.

“Do you have that missile firing solution?”

“Yes sir, it’s ready to be inserted between our barrages.”

“Fire when ready Frankeuw,” Whorst looked to his Tactical commander, their eyes holding one another for a minute. And make sure you make the bastards pay. Whorst thought before looking away.

“Yes sir,” Frankeuw said, he’d heard loud and clear exactly what the commander left unsaid.

“Now this is a battle commander!” Devastahli said, coming into existence, his chair not accompanying him as Whorst saw the outline of a very deadly and hungry grin behind his feature-covering hood.

“The corvette Pyuz have lost their port shields, they are rotating to bring their starboard to bear,” Zal said.

“Have them rotate out with another ship in better condition. I want their shields up as soon as possible,” Whorst said back, the hunger he had shared with Devastahli just moments ago evaporating into command as he checked his sphere, looking to see if there was anyone else close to losing their shields. Losing them before crossing the Kalu ships would add a whole new hell to the experience.

Missiles fired in streams, the AI’s had again timed the launch perfectly. Rail gun rounds were still shredding through the fighters but there was just five minutes until they crossed the Fleet’s formation.

“Come on you fuckers, come on!” Dev yelled, growling like an Avarian as the rounds before the missiles opened up swarms again, the first missiles split into their twenty warheads and turned the smashed swarms into a quagmire of confusion and nuclear suns.

Sensors had a hard time picking out what was happening through the cover of all those missiles as they continued on. The AI’s had switched to remote sensor platforms, using the FTL relays and guided their missiles through the Kalu swarms and into the teeth of the Kalu Star-warriors and destroyers.

“Flek, command your pilots,” Whorst said.

Flek didn’t even acknowledge the commander as bombers that had been sitting quietly in their wings, MEF’s surrounding them, now released a hell storm on the Kalu fighters. A Jump-fighter could fire nine missiles every two-second from their internal and external racks.

Bombers could fire twenty-four and they had the capacity for one hundred and twenty missiles.

***

Orshpa looked at the Free Fleet as it charged towards the Kalu fleet that numbered hundreds more in force. Clan leader Isal was no coward, yet Orshpa felt his hairs raise at the Armageddon that was coming for his sub-leader.

Having a few hundred of the Free Fleet ships did not make him feel safer, forty-three-thousand of his ships had not emerged from their wormholes. The work of a mere twenty-five ships.

The Free Fleet and Leader Isal’s fleet smashed together like asteroid in space.

Ships flew apart and away from the formation as guns blazed, cannons raged as the Free Fleet roared in defiance. Missiles let loose, their hundreds of warheads populating the long stream of Kalu.

Fighters had been released from their positions, they danced and weaved, hitting the swarms with their new missiles and exploding rounds.

Free Fleet ships accelerated away from the main body, their beleaguered shields failing.

The Kalu hammered them, yet the fleet made them pay for their distraction.

They plowed through the swarms, hundreds of thousands of Kalu fighters blocking out sensor readings, light and destruction ripping through the shroud of Kalu fighters.

The Free Fleet cruised out from the fighters; wounded, damaged and twelve less ships than what they had entered with. Their fighters now charged out, blood in their eyes as the massive ship-station leading the charge, fired its cannons. Missiles billowed out from every ship, the Kalu returned in kind.

Missiles were exchanged with mere minutes between their launch and hitting one another. The Free Fleet’s PDS were overwhelmed, shields started crumbling.

Reactive armor fought against the oncoming missiles, panels blowing out and sending shrapnel into the missiles path, destroying them before they got into range to rip into the ships.

There weren’t concentrated barrages. Isal’s ships were firing missile after missile, with all of their lasers remaining constant..

The Free Fleet fighters, bombers and jumpers were amongst the Kalu formations, laying missiles, rounds and plasma into anything they could get a bead on.

It looked like chaos as Star-warriors started getting through the shields, ripping themselves into the PDS and reactive armor, their bows latching onto the Free Fleet’s armor.

Star-warrior after Star-warrior attached themselves to the Free Fleet’s ships.

There was silence on the bridge, the battle had every Kalu’s attention.

“They might sneak, they might use tricks, but they will not back down. This is the enemy we face. They are warrior’s worthy of the stories and with courage of Kalu,” Orshpa said, his eyes not turning away from the battle as the Fleet continued on its path, no more Kalu fired on them as to do so would put the forces on board the ships at risk.

Rail-cannon rounds broke armor, PRC’s ran through it and rounds still exploded inside ships, turning them to names to be remembered by the stories.

The laser cannons took out swathes of ships still.

They fought like a Kalu, half-mad with hunger.

Twenty-seven ships made it to the end of the Kalu line, continuing on towards the jump-limit, small craft fired their remaining missiles at the Kalu ships which were now braking hard to turn around and fight the Free Fleet again, they had lost five thousand ships, and fighter tallies were still hard to figure out.

***

“Frankeuw, if you’d do the honors,” Whorst said, his voice flat and hard, his body numb as he looked at the numbers detailing how many of his people had laid down their lives to complete his plan.

Frankeuw didn’t respond but looked over his screen, his hand ready over a button.

“Time to burn fuckers,” that was all he said as the minefield that had drifted out from every ship as they charged the Kalu now erupted with bomb-pumped lasers about a fifth the strength of War-stations cannons.

Ten thousand mines as big as a desk directed their master’s fury into the regrouping ships, none were wasted on the fighters.

The AI’s worked together on a level that organics could never accomplish, using the same coordination for weapon sectors for each gunner as they did with their mines. Only two hundred shots hit the same ships.

Four-thousand-three-hundred and seventy-six Kalu ships were left. Whorst looked at those numbers, Dev looked to him and he saw his own thoughts in the AI’s eyes.

We will not rest until the Kalu will never pose a threat to our people.

“Zal collect all readings and information. I will write a formal report. Arfo get it to Salchar as soon as possible. Richter, I want reports from every ship we have and every department. Peck I want to jump to the nearest supply point as soon as possible.”

***

“I’m getting a transmission from Commander Whorst.” Vort said.

“On screen.” I said, the report would probably not make easy reading, but I needed to know what was going on over the line.

“Playing recording of the battle,” Vort said, the screen changing from the desolate system we were travelling through, Eltar.

Goliaths battled with everything they had, fighting the kind of fight that silenced the whole bridge. Everyone saw the display of courage and professionalism of the men and women that had waded into a sea of Kalu.

The sped up video ended with the Kalu being besieged on all sides by stealthy mines.

Tens of ships acted like limpets on the Free Fleet forces. A fight still waged on those ships. Kalu face Commandos and ship’s personnel for the ownership of every ship.

Each of those ships were fully staffed, three hundred thousand Free Fleet personnel had manned those ships, that number was now closer to two, but they would fight for their ships with everything they had.

And they still might lose them. A part of my mind said. No matter my feelings I had to agree with that part of my mind. I couldn’t rely on emotion to command my fleet.

I looked to the information on the Kalu fleet that was still heading across Eltar to the jump point on the other side of the system. The Kalu’s understanding of wormhole transit was still rudimentary at best, and something that I could definitely live with.

“Rick, what does it look like the Kalu are doing to you?” I asked, wondering if my eyes were deceiving me as I used my command screens to pull up information on the Kalu craft.

“Umm, like they’re slowing down?” Rick asked, his voice rough as he was pulled from his thoughts and emotions.

“It looks like they’re going to transit as one entire group. Ashota was right about Orshpa, he’s smart. He won’t let us hit his people as they come out of jump if he can’t help it,” I said.

“Yes, but transiting that many ships with wormholes that close together. It’s going to be one hell of a nightmare if he cares to do it the right way.”

“If he doesn’t because he has the ships and warriors to lose?” I asked.

“Then we have one hell of a problem that will be jumping into our system all as one.”

“At least with his fleet. His prime Falhu might not be as smart.”

“Yes, but he gave him one-point-one-million Kalu ships to make sure that his stubbornness doesn’t lose him the war. While he might be dumb, he’s nothing if not methodical and loyal. He will do as his leader says to the letter,” I said looking to Rick with calculating eyes. He nodded in agreement of my assessment.

“Resilient, can you get me Boot?”

“One second commander,” she said, Vort was busy passing information through the fleet as well as gathering reports from Whorst and his forces.

“Salchar, I was just about to open a channel to you,” Boot said in my ear, he was the only other commander who had Kalu in his system, and from the reports from Min Hae and Ashota it looked like he was the only other one that would be having Kalu coming through his position.

“Great minds think alike and all that,” I said, rushing on to get to the meat of the conversation. “I’m wondering what your plan of action is to engage the Kalu.”

“That sir I was wondering if I could run by you. I’m thinking of hitting them and getting the hell out of here,” Boot said, I could hear the question in his voice of whether he would be allowed to try and save his people.

“Tell me your plan?”

“It’s similar to Whorst’s, but with one major difference. I want to wormhole out before I bring my cannons into engagement distance with the Kalu, send in my missiles, all of my missiles, launching mines out my backdoor as fast as I can on remotes. Then make another wormhole and get the heck out of this system, meet up with Whorst, render aid if needed and get ready to hit the Kalu later on.”

“I agree with your plan completely. We need to bloody them good but we have a limited number of ships. The Kalu beat us in ships and personnel. Once you’re done I want you and Whorst to clear his ships, then move towards the Nexus. If the Kalu look to be going in any other direction, then I will change your orders. For now, look to make that a reality,” I said.

“Yes commander. We’ll hammer the bastards,” Boot promised.

“I’ll let you get back to your people and your plan,” I cut the channel knowing that we both had more important things to do other than pass pleasantries.

“Bregend and Cheerleader,” I said.

“Opening a channel,” Resilient said.

It was only a few moments later when the two commanders were online.

“Have you got the latest information from Whorst and Boot?”

“Yup,” Cheerleader said.

“Yes,” Bregend confirmed.

“I want you to move your ships. Cheerleader you’re to go to Inkal. Bregend, get to Quarst. I am forwarding the information on the forces in the area. You can take them under your command and split them up as needed. I would suggest the larger force go with Cheerleader to greet Falhu. I will dispatch the jump-fighters in the area to support. If Falhu is kind enough to bring his ships in scores at a time instead of in a single wave…”

“Hammer them like Whorst’s fighters did,” Cheerleader said, confirming that she understood what I was talking about and had thought on it already.

“Exactly. Bregend, Quarst has the largest grouping of fighters outside of Parnmal, put them to use if you can and talk to governor Elisati, she has returned to the planet to oversee her people at this time,” I couldn’t hide the frustration in my voice.

She should be back on Parnmal making sure that we can collaborate our efforts.

“Sounds like a Certain Commander I know,” Cheerleader said, getting an irritated sigh out from me.

Can’t really deny that one can I?

“We’ll see to your orders sir,” Bregend said, he had relaxed a lot on the formalities as we had come to know one another more and more. I took the comfort in his acknowledgement of his orders. Confirming that he thought that they were the best for what he and his people could do.

“Husband your strength, we’ll need it shortly,” I said, not trying to hide my inner anguish.

“We will,” Cheerleader assured me in softer tones.

“Can’t let the grand Salchar down now can we?” Bregend said playfully, lifting my mood some. It was going to be hard to get much more out of me, especially with the deaths of so many so recent, and the knowledge that they were far from the last to be affected by Orshpa and his people.

***

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Commander Boot said, looking at the Kalu. The missiles had been dropped off, heading straight towards the Kalu without any signatures that would make them visible until it was too late.

The Kalu were happily charging forward with their bomb-pumped drives. It was hard, even seeing that many ships, to truly comprehend the forces massed against them.

The mines had been dropped off, they too drifted towards the Kalu but at a slower rate than the missiles.

A wormhole appeared, and the fleet disappeared through it. Not one of his ships had been so much as fired on. It felt odd, as if he was fleeing. His fleet emerged in the dark between systems. The ships changed their heading and powered for the rally point where they would meet with Whorst’s ships.

Boot watched his screen as time wound down. The AI’s that could and were connected to the FTL relays took control of them.

Drives lit up less than a million kilometers from the Kalu ships.

Lasers took seconds to come online. The missiles were accelerating hard, the Kalu’s own acceleration hadn’t decreased and they closed quickly.

A rough sixty-five hundred missiles from ship-missiles to fighter missiles bloomed into deadly dandelions. Over a hundred thousand missiles descended on the forward Kalu. Missiles rode behind nuclear blasts which blinded Kalu sensors. It was like a roller coaster, missiles rising over the blasts to hammer into the Kalu behind, coming down again and again.

The AI’s used only a few missiles against the Kalu, hoping to wound rather than kill. Their mechanical abilities were limited, fixing their Star-warrior was harder than getting a new one. Yet they did have those kinds of supplies to call on now. Either the Kalu would help their brethren, or leave them behind, either way made them weaker. The Free Fleet needed to know how the Kalu would react. That kind of information would be valuable to everyone.

The mines erupted, again the AI’s guided their deadly beams onto targets.

Seventeen thousand ships were destroyed outright, another twenty-eight thousand were wounded in some manner or another.

Boot had killed more than Whorst simply because he had hit an entire Kalu fleet, there was little room for them to get out of the way of missiles when their own ships hampered their sensors. Leaders were yelling at one another to do different things and pandemonium took over. Orshpa had solved this issue by sending just Isal, there was one leader, everyone knew their place in his fleet and it was only a relatively small number of the fleet. Isal had been able to get his Kalu fighters out. Falhu recalled them as soon as the Free Fleet disappeared.

Chapter They Come

The fighting was furious and deadly. Takahashi and his platoon were taking a break between fights. Forty Kalu Star-Warriors had got themselves stuck to War-Station’s hull. It had taken them time to try and find an entrance, by the time they did the Commandos were in-place and the fleet was heading away from Eltar through a wormhole.

Commandos from War-station had been sent to the other ships in the fleet to bolster their numbers.

The fighting had gone on for five hours when the other ships declared themselves clear. The Kalu on War-station were still running around. There were just so many of them.

That was eight hours ago. Takahashi’s people were just clearing up the last of the Kalu packs that were running around.

A priority message pinged on his HUD. He opened it, seeing the message was actually a data packet, he watched as he saw Commander Boot’s force emerge from a wormhole, heading to render aid to the fleet.

A sense of relief went through Takahashi. It was short relieved as another message, this one from Dev showed him a group of Kalu that were getting too close to the laser cannon’s command center for his liking.

He pushed himself to his feet, his people checking their gear at his movements.

“Alright, that’s enough rest. We’ve got a pack of Kalu moving towards the cannons command center I think it’s about time that we went to go and greet them.”

Hungry noises, movements and actions showed him that his people agreed with his assessment.

***

“We have wormholes appearing,” Jorvut called out.

“Tag them for the jump-fighters,” Cheerleader said with a calm she didn’t feel. She rested in the outer-reaches of Inkal, the planet had evacuated, and every Inkalian was loaded on one of their freighters and headed away from the Kalu and towards the nearest jump-point. They would wait out the invasion at a resupply point or keep running.

They were going somewhere, that’s all she really needed to know. It was her job to see that they got out of the system and on their way to safety.

Her second job was to make sure she killed as many Kalu as possible to weaken their forces going forward.

The problem was, that unlike Commander Whorst, she only had a single wing of jump-fighters. So if Falhu exited as Orshpa had when he entered Eltar, she was going to bring in her entire fleet behind him and hammer the ever-living shit out of him.

Well it looks like he’s going to give a lady a gift.

“Jump fighters are transitioning,” Orvut reported as wormholes appeared in two-points of the system right outside her fleet and right behind the Kalu fleet.

Jump fighters appeared behind the Kalu, firing their missiles as fast as possible, hammering ships as they came out of their wormholes.

“Warm up the wormhole generators, right on the points of our jump ships. If Falhu doesn’t change his tactics, then we might as well help our Jump fighters.”

The fighter resupplied four times before the fleet transitioned in behind the still emerging Kalu fleet.

“Simiah,” she said to her friend who had taken the position of her tactical commander. Understanding passed between them as he turned to his console. The Free Fleet were behind the jump-point that the Kalu were transitioning in from.

Meaning that as the Kalu came through a wormhole the Free Fleet were looking down, right into their engines.

That would be merciful compared to what Cheerleader had in mind for the Kalu.

Simiah knew his orders, taking a few moments to pass the word that the second phase of the battle had started.

Onur relayed the message to the rest of the fleet.

They rotated their hulls to bring their broadsides to bear. Cannons bellowed in terrible rolling broadsides, announcing that they were on target. Multi-warhead missiles released from their ships, hunted the Kalu ships that were heading into the system like hell hounds. The Kalu’s armaments were on the front of their ships. They were defenseless as missiles crashed into their engines.

The Kalu that were still emerging from the wormholes were hit with enough force to throw their wormhole generators and projectors off, physics imposing its will on whatever was still inside the wormhole. Sections that had made the transition into real-space survived. The rest was left to the mysteries of wormholes.

“Jasoom, fighters?” Cheerleader asked.

“They’re on their way commander,” her wing commander informed her as bombers and fighters poured from her ships.

Gunners had a field day as ships quivered, their shots finding their mark.

Their targets were wormhole projectors and stabilizers, delicate machinery that was usually stored behind armored plates. Now they were out for everyone to see.

Wormholes collapsed on ships, silent explosions lighting the dark of space.

The Kalu started firing their missiles, trying to catch the Free Fleet as they turned.

The star-destroyers were getting special love from the gunners.

Fighters were pouring out of them, but it would take them time to brake and then build up momentum to come back at the Free Fleet.

“Jasoom, make sure that they keep an eye on the clock,” Cheerleader said.

“Yes commander,” Jasoom answered.

Cheerleader watched over her ships, feeling as Mondal’s gunnery released their anger in the shape of hundreds of rounds.

“Flip ship!” Simiah called out, his guns getting close to being out of action.

The ship flipped, there was a little feeling of sideways movement as the ship now hung upside down. Their gunners were used to seeing targets in all kinds of rotations, hitting them upside didn’t matter.

The gunners fired as they came into view of the enemy. Batteries unleashed their fury filling the darkness of space with metal composites.

Fighters and bombers fell amongst the Kalu ships, releasing their payloads into the ships that were farther away.

They were trusting their bigger warships implicitly. They had to kill all of the ships coming out through the wormholes to make sure that none of them came right up their own asses.

They raked the rear groups of Kalu with rail-cannon fire and missiles.

The destruction was hard to believe as scores of Kalu ships were struck from existence or put out of commission.

Jump-fighters were amongst the Kalu as well; their targets were only the Star-Destroyers. They used their super-charged rail-cannons to send their plasma rounds into their targets.

PDS were increasing and more missiles were hitting the Free Fleet’s shields. It felt like it had been hours and only seconds. Time was something the screens told Cheerleader and her people. It wasn’t something that had any bearing on how long battle felt. Flights of fighters stormed in, their pilots getting their craft back out to face the Kalu as fast as possible.

They drove themselves harder than Cheerleader ever could.

“The Kalu are actively turning to face us,” Orvut said.

“Jasoom!” Cheerleader’s voice rising in warning.

“I’m sending word to the fighters as we speak commander, they’re returning to their carriers.”

“As soon as they’re back I want us the hell out of here,” Cheerleader said, the bridge passing word and preparing for the upcoming wormhole transition.

Cheerleader looked at the drifting hulls and the Kalu ships that were still struggling to get into Inkal. The Kalu didn’t have faster-than-light communications so they couldn’t get word to those that were behind them to stop coming. There was no stopping them as they ran right into Cheerleaders guns.

She stopped herself from biting her lip, instead biting the inside of her cheek raw as fighters and bombers ripped free from their contact, they let loose every missiles and weapon they had before turning away. They had friends that they still owed the Kalu for.

The fighters and bombers fired their engines pushing for their homes with all the thrust they could muster.

Cheerleader didn’t need to say anything as her fleet worked like a well-oiled machine. Fighters and bombers were recalled into their hangars, her people doing a damned impressive job under the circumstances.

“Fighters are clear of the envelope,” Jasoom said, Cheerleader could still feel the guns of Pretak pounding away at anything that looked like a threat.

She looked to Simiah, her eyes like cold rolled steel.

“All tubes, flush magazines,” she said, looking to Orvut.

He nodded, talking into his microphone already.

Missiles ripple-fired from the rear of the ship’s tubes to the bow launchers, all of them, across all ships.

Hundreds of missiles filled the air as they proceeded to fire another barrage.

The surviving lead-elements of the Kalu had turned and were now peppering the Free Fleet.

Shields sparkled with light, thirty-five ships stood up against over five hundred.

Though we’ve whittled that number down a bit. Cheerleader thought savagely, looking to her readouts.

“Zinha, plot us a jump out of here before they get close enough to piss us off,” Cheerleader said.

“Yes Commander! Solution is ready,” she’d clearly been updating and working on a wormhole navigation, instead of getting wrapped up in the massive battle happening on the main screen.

“Very well. Simiah, Zinha coordinate barrages and wormhole transition,” Cheerleader said, her voice light, trying to not let the panic of what might happen if they didn’t get out of the system in time.

Missile tubes went silent, seventy-nine percent of their missiles had been expended.

Cheerleader looked at the sorry looking Kalu formation. Thousands of missiles had turned to tens of thousands of missiles, ships that had escaped their wormholes—it was hard to think of them doing anything less than that at his point—hadn’t made it out unscathed.

“Pretak, report since Kalu turned,” Cheerleader said, her ship’s AI was one of the few that wanted to be named the same as the ship it resided in.

“They proceeded to aim their fire towards our ships instead of against missiles. Lost ten percent of our missiles anyway, another twenty-seven were diverted to hit enemy missiles. Updated PDS took strain away from shields and made it so that only four ships have lost shields.

The Kalu took losses of seventeen percent of their in-system strength,” Pretak sounded proud. So he should be, that’s around two-hundred-thousand ships!

“Very good,” Cheerleader said as the familiar noise of capacitors shunting energies that could power cities for a number of years, was diverted into wormhole generators and projectors.

The entire fleet transitioned as one, those with the stronger shields to the rear.

Her ship commanders had done her proud.

She waited until they were through the wormhole’s event horizon before she continued talking.

She wasn’t superstitious or anything but she didn’t want to congratulate her people before they were safely away from Inkal.

“Now let’s go get some damned ammunition, good work everyone,” she said, seeing the silent tallies and names on her screens showing those that hadn’t survived the day.

She looked through the names as they transitioned out at a supply depot.

“Rearm, refuel,” she looked to Werv sitting in her second-in-command chair. “I want to talk to all ship commanders at their earliest convenience, pass on my condolences and also my praise for a job well done.”

“Yes Commander,” Werv said a mixture of relief and sadness in his eyes. She tapped his arm knowingly, he tilted his head in understanding of the pain they shared.

***

Falhu looked at the Free Fleet as they disappeared from Inkal.

He grabbed the head of a Kalu pulling their shoulder and paw back, his jaws cutting through the Kalu’s neck. The whole movement was over in a few seconds, the dark purple blood covering his black and silver scarred armor.

The ferocity of his attack and the uncaring look in his eye for the Kalu he had killed made more than one other Kalu back away. His eyes were only for the main screen which was now clear of all Free Fleet markers.

The Kalu fleet was still coming through their jump point, they pushed through the debris of those that had come through before.

The noise that came from Falhu’s throat was pure anger filled with unaltered promise.

I will destroy the Free Fleet, I will cleanse them and every planet that might make a race other than Kalu. I will burn their planets and dens as they have burned my fleet.

“We move on, we will split off towards Kafam and Nexus.” Falhu said, the other Kalu looking away and tending to their stations. No one wanted to be the next to have their throat bit open.

Orshpa has given me a great honor to lead the biggest Kalu fleet in history in his name. I will not let him down. They might have destroyed nearly a fifth of my fleet but we are many. Still nine-hundred-thousand follow. Even if we take those losses in every system we will make it to our targets. We will carry out grand leader Orshpa’s orders.

“Get rid of this,” Falhu said, stepping over the dead Kalu at his feet, disgust pulling his mouth back to show armored teeth with purpled pieces of Kalu flesh still within them.

Chapter Fall back

Bregend’s fleet transited into Quarst as a single body. Information started populating screens as the fleet of forty-three pushed towards Worshun.

“System is clear, all ships are clear of the system, looks like they got our warning,” Qurv said from his spot at sensors.

“We’re being hailed by Planetary Governor Elisati,” Kyle said, looking to Bregend.

“Shouldn’t keep her waiting, put it on screen,” Bregend said, looking to the screen. He didn’t try to adjust himself or try to look powerful, he was here for a job. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to enjoy it, but Elisati had come back for her people. He understood that kind of responsibility to stay with her people no matter what. Putting a face on in front of her would have been an insult to both of them.

“Commander Bregend, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances,” Elisati said with the motions of a Dovark smile that didn’t quite touch her eyes.

“As you say Planetary Governor,” Bregend replied.

“Elisati, please. Now I have a plan, it might be a bit unconventional, but it will mean that any forces that try to clear off Worshun will be in for a damned nasty surprise.” She said.

Bregend didn’t understand Dovark physiology, but he could sense the chill in her words and the hunger that lay behind them.

“I’ve tried quite a few plans that most would have thought as unconventional in my time with the

Free Fleet. What are you thinking, Pl…Elisati,” he asked, leaning forward in his chair conspiratorially, the looks they shared were as hard and merciless as rail cannon rounds.

“Well you see if we can draw them onto the…”

***

Yasu moved in her modified HAPA, move was an inelegant way of saying what she was doing with the massive machine. It danced moving in a way that only a few HAPA pilots could.

Tully and Moft might be Avarians bred to be warriors and some of the best HAPA pilots, but even they could hardly keep up with their commander and charge that they were supposed to be protecting.

“Move it up Dox!” Yasu yelled to the usually aggressive HAPA trained commander.

“You heard the commander slackers! Get your rears in gear!” He said, Yasu’s command abilities allowed her to listen in on the channel.

They were in a simulated valley, moving down towards a city that had been overrun with Kalu. Commandos were racing from cover to cover, laying fire into the aggressive Kalu. HAPA’s bounded across the planet’s surface, the weak gravity making them adapt from their normal one-point-two Earth gravities, or one Union gravities.

It was a hard balance to go fast enough to be of use, and not jump too high so as to be seen by all the Kalu and hammered by lasers.

Fucking lasers. Yasu thought, her teeth clamping together as she moved, firing her dual cannons as missiles fled her dual packs.

“Connolly, bring up the right side. Hallu get your people into line and dig in, we’ll hold here. Dennis, I want the mules brought up, this is no time to be sparing the ammunition!” Yasu yelled. Her commanders yellowing up as HAPA’s moved into position, powered armor wearing Commandos dug in and the ammunition mules and the techs that roamed with them moved up to pass out ammunition or fix a commando’s armor. There was no need for medics on the battlefield. Either a person’s suit would save them with the tourniquets and hellfire, or they were too far gone to make it back to a shuttle and the medical chairs.

***

Bok Soo looked over Yasu’s exercise that was playing out on Floaters hull, not on the planet they were seeing in their simulation.

He chewed on his gum sullenly, remembering when the simulations had been real, when the Kalu had been just meters away, swarming over the red-dustbowl of Heija. They took massive casualties but they kept coming, one attack was blunted but two new ones sprouted from other directions.

He held the desk in front of him, closing his eyes and breathing for a few moments before shaking the memories away.

More like hitting the pause until later.

“How are the simulations going?” Foshunti asked, his strong hand coming on Bok Soo’s shoulder.

Bok Soo and Foshunti had come to know one another better than anyone except family could know another person.

“Good, keeps the Commando’s minds off of sitting here,” Bok Soo said, his voice souring slightly.

“Just so that we can keep thinking about it,” Foshunti said, coming around to the table and laying his hands on it. Looking at the holographic images of Floater’s entire Commando contingent battling against a massive Kalu force.

“The joys of command,” Bok Soo said, rubbing his face, feeling a lot older than his twenty-two years.

They shared a look of two people that had been made to do something that people twice their age would have balked at.

We would have too in a past life, now we wouldn’t think of dropping this responsibility onto anyone else. It’s hard, it tears at your very soul, but it needs to be done.

“So what do you think of Elisati’s plan?” Bok Soo said as his thoughts settled into the back of his mind.

“I think my old mentor has a few screws loose, and if she succeeds then it’s going to help us out. The Kalu haven’t made planet fall anywhere except Inkal. None of the civilian populations or our units based on the ground have come into contact with the Kalu yet. The longer we keep them from doing that, and hammer the every-living shit out of their ships is a good thing for us,” Foshunti said.

“Well look at the mouth on you, who knows, I might get you to say fuck yet,” Bok Soo said, his lips twitching at his own joke, unable to form into a grin with the gravity of what they were discussing.

“My momma always said that I fell in with the bad crowd,” Foshunti said.

“Eomoeni’s always seem to know what we’re going to do,” Bok Soo said, just a bit of sadness creeping into his voice as he thought about what might happen to his mother if he didn’t succeed. He played with the controls of the holographic table, bringing up a system map.

“So Orshpa is moving through Kic’chss up to Jasah, hopefully Boot, Cheerleader and Whorst can hit them there. Then they’re on their way to Nexus, us.”

“One-hundred-and-seventy-three ships of mean,” Foshunti clarified.

“Of course, but we’ll be fighting Orshpa’s fleet and half of Falhu’s fleet. The other half of Falhu’s fleet is going to be off towards Kafam, splitting again for Doikaa and Quarst,” Bok Soo pointed to the different systems as he talked about them. Bok Soo looked at the systems Kafam hadn’t signed onto the Free Fleet. They thought that they could somehow defend themselves against the Kalu without Free Fleet help. Bok Soo didn’t understand it, but Salchar had made sure that they were given weapons and armor at a significant discount. A few trainers might have been posted at the recruitment center there as well.

Bok Soo wished that the Free Fleet could be in every system defending all of the creatures that lived in them. They had to fight smart, thinning out their forces into packets that could be wholly defeated would lead to the Free Fleet dying, if it died then the newly created Union would die right along with it.

“Well at least Falhu’s forces will be here in a couple of days, Orshpa has a lot of dead systems to get through before arriving in the Nexus, he’ll be a week at least,” Foshunti said.

“Another week of Salchar preparing, I don’t think anyone’s going to like that,” Bok Soo said, memories, ones from when he had been a gamer instead of a commander, even before he had been a recruit, surfaced.

Salchar could read his enemy with damned scary precision.

It might be why he put a minefield where he did. Bok Soo thought. A lot of people were thinking that Salchar was loopy when he had designated an area nearly a light second big as a dumping ground for all the mines that he could lay his hands on.

“That is true. With all the things that Edmund and Eddie are up to, it makes me wonder if that pacifist Kuruvian stereotype is just a mask,” Foshunti looked to Bok Soo with emphasis.

“You might have something there my friend. I thought us Commandos were a destructive bunch, but we’re just playing with elastic bands compared to you space borne bastards,” Bok Soo said, shaking his heads as he thought of the plans that Salchar had outlined and given to Eddie and Edmund. They took all the data they could lay their hands on.

And by fuck they made something that would make any sane creature turtle in their pants!

***

“Are you sure that we should have the fourth set of charges? I think that they might compromise the stability of the holding systems for the second stage of the system,” Edmund said to his brother as they looked over the conference table located in the Engineering command station. The carrier was so big that it needed an auxiliary center that directed the engineers to its tasks.

War-station had four of them.

“Look at the information from the first experiment to the more recent ones. With a big target we don’t need to have much breakdown. Here we’re going to have a lot of targets, all moving and being pains in our collective asses. Think of a fire, you going to squirt the extinguisher on a single point, one at a time, or throw a whole bucket over the entire area?” Eddie asked, using one of his large arms to move the brim of his cowboy hat up even with his manipulators crossed over his chest.

“Over the entire area of course,” Edmund said, his gestures understanding.

“Before there was a single area or it was packed, now we just want to get as much as possible as fast as possible,” Eddie said, his arms and manipulators unfolding, he was tired, hell they were both tired.

“The last of our wormhole kits will be here in five days,” Edmund said, sinking into his chair, his manipulators searching for a wake-up patch while his arms massaged the sides of his carapace.

“They were easier to put together than I thought. I wish we had them here in time for Falhu’s forces,” Eddie mumbled.

“The one thing we haven’t learnt how to conquer is breaking time, at least going backwards in it,” Edmund said, putting on the wake-up patch, he knew he’d feel the after-effects ten times worse, but he had been up since Salchar had come to them with a plan. They’d worked with the engineering heads, gunnery, Felix’s people, Silly, Shrift and the commanders of Nancy, Nelly, Ned and Parnmal’s yards.

They’d come up with a weapon system that made Edmund’s manipulators grasp in fear.

I wonder if this is how Albert Einstein felt when he had made the atomic bomb. I wonder if I will feel the same way he did once we use it.

“As you say, it is all but out of our manipulators now,” Eddie said, taking a seat himself, a rare show of indulgence.

“Did you see the report about Inkal’s yards and mines?” Edmund asked.

“I’ve been head deep in positioning data and automated stabilization data for the last four days,” Eddie’s manipulators telling of what would be a dry voice in a human.

“The Kalu didn’t even touch them. They scanned them, didn’t see life and kept going. Commander Fassil is back on the station working on his ships and systems. The mines are in full operation as well. Salchar is having the first Henry classed Destroyers sent to the system to act as a protection detail and finish up any last minute work,” Edmund said.

“How many carriers?” Eddie said, perking up.

“Fourteen, each only have a single cannon instead of two and a limited number of fighters. Though they filled her to the brim with armor, shields and defenses. She’s got the missile throw power of an Imperial Dreadnought,” Edmund said.

“Five main reactors, twelve secondaries’ and eighteen backups, I wish we were able to manufacture the capacitors for them in-time,” Eddie said, his manipulators showing his inner anger.

“Nothing we could do brother, they were needed and needed as fast as damned possible. With the control system it means that a Destroyer worth of crew can man a carrier that has the firepower of a Dreadnought. That’s pretty damned good if you ask me, so stop moping over there. I will kick you right in the damned carapace!” Eddie’s eye stalks flicked to his brother but his manipulators couldn’t hide his inner frustration. “I will go get Salchar,” Edmund threatened.

“Spoil sport,” Eddie said, his manipulators showing he was joking before becoming thoughtful. “When those carriers are armed, they’re going to be one hell of a force,” he said.

“The damned delivery system we’re building is going to be one hell of a force!” Edmund countered.

“We shall see which is the crazier plan, Elisati’s or Salchar’s,” Eddie said.

“I reserve my judgement. I think neither is going to be anything compared to what’s supposed to happen when Orshpa brings his fleet through here,” Edmund said.

Eddie made a gesture of agreement, the conversation falling away as they looked at the awkwardly shaped devices that rotated on the holographic interface of the table.

***

Silly and Felix watched with their engineers as their first series of Star-Destroyers converted to Henry-Destroyers created wormholes and started their journey to Inkal

“Alright, shows over. I want reports on everyone’s progress by the end of the day. Salhunda we need to get every carrier out there with two laser cannons. We’ve only got four left in storage and the super-freighter is going to be in demand very soon. How long is it going to get that factory of yours up and running?” Silly asked.

“Three days Commander,” Salhunda said.

“Let me know if you need anything. Felix, we need to shave more time off of getting these ships ready. They’re force multipliers and we need them,” Silly said.

“LaRe and I have a meeting in a few hours to go over it all,” Felix said. When it came to design and making decisions about how the ships were going to be built, Silly deferred to Felix. For everything else Silly was in the driver’s seat. He knew how to get results out of people, and light a fire under their ass. Some people said that he too knew how to throw a boot as well as his uncle Eddie.

Min Hae kept out of there way as much as possible. He made sure that the Kalu who were there as extra hands did as they were told through Ashota.

Though Min Hae and Ashota were now off in Kalu space with a fleet of Independents that were going to make sure the Kalu couldn’t reinforce themselves.

Twelve thousand Star-warriors and destroyers roamed the Kalu systems looking for any ships and resources that might be shipped to the front, cutting Orshpa off from them, and if possible funneling it back to the Independents and the destroyer yard.

“Good, then let’s get some more Henry’s out there to bite Orshpa and his clans in the ass,” Silly said, looking around his people. He knew how to get them motivated and on track in short order.

***

Min Hae and Ashota watched as the newly armed Independent’s Star-Destroyers released their fighters into formations instead of a singular swarm.

The smaller Kalu squadron was flushing their swarms as the Independents rained missiles down on their old fashioned cousins.

The traditionalists hit back, missiles and lasers flaring against shields.

Fighters came in, dropping missiles into the traditionalists’ swarms and ships before pulling away and reorganizing for another run.

Explosions and fire rippled through the traditionalists’ squadron while a few Independents shields failed.

They moved away from the enemy instead of continuing the charge as the traditionalists would have.

Sheer fire power and time was the end of the squadron. A number of traditional fighters survived, trying to create swarms only to be picked apart by their quicker Independent cousins that looked for open formations, instead of one that used other fighters as shields.

The Kalu Independents moved through the remains of the squadron, lasers that had been mounted to their sides instead of just their bow, lashing out and turning anything that looked like a threat to drifting wreckage.

The feed stopped.

“So how long until they clear up to the line?” Min Hae asked.

“About two weeks,” Ashota said.

“It does look like Orshpa left a decent sized force that is gathering as many supplies as possible before joining him though,” Gogs chimed in, the Ershue was lounging over a chair, playing on his data pad and cycling through information.

“You found it finally?” Min Hae asked.

There had been rumors from the spies among the Kalu traditionalists, but without the jump fighters and the sensor buoys that would have been picked up by the massive Kalu fleets, they were back to checking system by system. Unless one of the Kalu agents, the independents, or Min Hae’s agents spotted something.

It sounded like a lot of eyes and ears, but the Kalu numbered in the trillions and were spaced over more systems than in the new Union. It was a pretty big task.

“I don’t know where they’ll be, but an agent reports that they’ll be using Wugarn to cross the line, then taking Avapor to Quarst,” Gogs said, throwing the report onto the table.

Min Hae read the first couple of lines.

“Send the information to Rick. Ashota, I think it’s time we see if the Independents could keep these bastards from helping out Orshpa,” Min Hae looked to Ashota.

“Yes commander,” Ashota said, tilting his head and leaving the room to go and communicate with the Independents leadership.

“What do you think the Independents will do?” Gogs asked.

“I don’t know, but at least we’ll know where they stand after this,” Min Hae said, turning and leaning against the table to look at Gogs.

“What’s the play if they don’t take them out?”

“Well we’re supposed to have fourteen Henry classed Destroyers in Inkal shortly. We have stealth sensor buoys in Heija. We can get one in Ulri, when they show up, we move our carriers. If we get two weeks, then we should have another five. I’m going to request some of the patrolling forces be released to help out. It won’t be anything like the fleets that are fighting it out right now. Though it should be enough to handle a few thousand supply ships,” Min Hae sighed. “God I want more information, did the agent mention anything about the size of the resupply fleet?”

“Nope, all they know is that some Kalu warrior was bragging about how they would be getting to Quarst no matter what. That he would be flying with thousands of other warriors,” Gogs said, clearly not happy with the lack of information either. They had both been doing this too long to like the lack of information. Not having enough information had back-fired in their faces a few times.

Having enough information made sure that we didn’t sell the Vahsnu on Kafam ship borne weaponry. The little bastards had been thinking about pulling a Syndicate or threatening to bombard Worshun or the stations in Quarst to get the Free Fleet to defend them. Giving them Commandos gear meant that they had to get aboard a place to be a threat.

It also meant that they were going to inflict casualties on the Kalu.

It was cold math, the Vahsnu wasn’t a large race and they had thought that their play to threaten habitats in Quarst would pay off since they hadn’t built substantial defenses. The Kalu had numbers and without a good defense there was no way to hold them off until reinforcements came.

It’s the kind of cold math that Min Hae had to do with every ally and enemy that the Free Fleet possessed. He was one of the biggest reason that there hadn’t been a hiccup in the distributing of arms, or the flow of materials. If someone tried to get more than agreed or start to affect the Free Fleet’s preparations, they would find an intelligence commanders boot on their neck soon enough.

“How long until Falhu’s splinter fleet meets Salchar at the Nexus?”

“Just under a day. I would not want to be someone in that fleet,” Gogs said, not quite sympathy in his voice but definitely a grim understanding of the seven kinds of Heija that Salchar was going to bring down on the Kalu’s heads. “Cheerleader and Boots forces will be engaging Orshpa later that day or the next. A day later and Falhu should be in Quarst, if he doesn’t have his fleet swarm Kafam. Two days later, Salchar, Cheerleader, Boot and Whorst will be in the Nexus and Orshpa’s fleet should be showing up,” Gogs summarized.

“Six days, not even a week and the Free Fleet will be engaged in the biggest battles they have fought to date,” Min Hae said in a voice that couldn’t understand the numbers at play, couldn’t understand the odds yet he knew the logic. He couldn’t wrap his head around it, but he understood it.

Such is the human mind. One is a tragedy, a million is a statistic. A sour taste went through his mouth and made him grimace. Every life counted, it was why he read the reports of those lost. It took a part of his soul each time. Yet he was scared if there was ever a time that he brushed that off.

“Okay, let’s go over the Kalu agents reports again to see if we can tease out any other crumbs of information,” Min Hae said, if he could save one life with his information then it was well worth the sleepless nights and wake-up after-affects.

“Okay Min Hae,” Gogs said, understanding his friend’s mood all too well.

Chapter Power those reactors, charge those rail cannons and ready the fighters

“Call battle stations, have the jump fighters do their thing first, I want the transmission system checked again and ready to go,” I said. My words weren’t met with panic but the confirmations of my commanders, my eyes turning to the holographic projector on the side of my chair that showed a blown up image of the Kalu fleet. Even the blown up image was sketchy with that many Kalu pouring out of their wormholes.

It was half of Falhu’s Fleet that had survived Cheerleaders engagement. Falhu had split off with the half headed towards Kafam.

We’d seen the Kalu as they had reached the jump limit. The pilots were already in their fighters or close to them.

Five seconds after I passed the order to launch, the first jump fighters were being shot out of the various carriers.

We had all of the jump fighters from Cheerleader, Boot, Whorst and our own fleet. Thirty-two wings of jump fighters were in the process of being off-loaded. Three-hundred-and-twenty jump fighters.

The first wormholes appeared and jump fighters started transiting in behind the Kalu.

Thankfully some of them had sensor based missiles so we could actually see what the hell was going on with the Kalu as their nuclear infused mayhem followed their exit from their wormholes in terrible ripples.

Missile pods ripple fired one way then the other until they were dry, internal racks cycled, firing their payload as soon as it was in position.

The last jump fighter had transitioned into real-space behind the Kalu when the first jump fighter was already entering a wormhole back to the fleet to get rearmed.

They didn’t jump back into the same position but rather jumped about around the Kalu formation which was turning like a drunk in a fight. As soon as wormholes appeared they started to turn on the incoming fighters. A few wings jumped in, other wings used the information and the alerts from the AI’s watching the data to jump in at a new location.

The Kalu would turn again to bring them under fire, charging in all directions to chase after the Jump fighters.

They were getting hammered but there were hundreds of thousands against hundreds. They got through the withering fire and caught more than a few Jump fighters with their missiles and lasers.

Control seemed to be placed over the fleet again as they accelerated hard for the Free Fleet.

The tell-tale explosions of their bomb-pumped drive pushed them away from the jump point they had transitioned from, towards the fleet.

“The first of the jump-fighter mines are in range,” Rick said.

The fighters had been loaded up with more than missiles, they’d been accelerating hard through their event horizons releasing the mines attached to their hulls, the missiles had acted as a brutal cover for them as the fighters decelerated and jumped back out. Each had only five mines, about three reached their targets and there had been two runs, nearly six-hundred mines were now coming in on the emergence points of the Kalu.

“Well we shouldn’t keep them waiting, or let them see them,” I said.

“Marleen?” Rick asked.

“AI’s are uploading coordinates, one moment,” she said, bent over her station in concentration.

“Coordinates set,” Resilient said.

Mines exploded, lasers lancing out towards the Kalu who were already pushing their way through the waves of missiles and their multiple warheads.

Even through all of that we were destroying thousands of ships, there were four-hundred-thousand against us. With those kinds of numbers, they could wade through our massive fire and still have the majority of their ships intact. We were taking out one in four ships and that number was only going down as more jump fighters were struck from space.

“How are we looking for the payloads?” I looked to Rick.

“We’re sorted, Vort what are the reports from the merchants?” Rick said.

“They’re ready and waiting,” Vort confirmed.

“Milra, Ben, I think it’s time that we built up some momentum. Ben I want you and the AI’s and navigators working on our solution. Vort, connect me with Commander Whorst please.”

“Commander Whorst is on the line,” Vort said a few moments later.

“Put him on Vort,” I said, Whorst’s bridge on War-station appeared by way of reply.

“Is Devastahli and the other AI’s and navigators sure they can pull this off?” I asked.

“Yes commander,” Whorst said, straightening in his chair.

“Very well, we will keep you updated,” I glanced to my screens that showed various waypoints in the system. “It will be another ten minutes until they are in optimum range,” I said.

“We’ll make sure their present is on time,” Whorst said with a hardness that made me take his word as already a done thing.

“I don’t think they’re going to like it one bit,” Rick chimed in. The grin on his face the kind of mischief that ended in making someone pay with their lives.

“Oh no, they aren’t,” Whorst agreed, a new hunger in his eyes after the way his fleet had been mauled. Clearing out all of the Kalu had taken his Commandos, and people working in powered armor as well as Boot’s forces.

He had taken forty-percent casualties across all of his ships, but he had done his job, they had made the Kalu pay a hundred times over. Even with those numbers Whorst’s fleet was still in pain from their losses, losses that they had no time to mourn as they worked with the massive Free Merchant fleet organized in the dark between systems with a very nasty surprise for the Kalu.

The timer counted down as jump fighters came back, less of them each time.

It hurt my soul to see them going out there again and again, rushing towards the enemy and doing everything they could to blunt the Kalu’s blow.

“The Kalu are now in range,” Resilient said.

“Transmit orders to Whorst to fire,” I said. “Milra, full military speed across the fleet, everyone to their acceleration chairs.”

The fleet’s engines were at full power as our own bomb-pumped acceleration kicked in, pushing us to a rate that inertia compensators strained under.

It was one of the rare times that I was capable of feeling the acceleration of the ship under my feet.

“Here comes the mail!” Whorst said, I looked to the main lot as a wormhole appeared in front of the Kalu forces. It was the biggest wormhole I had ever seen.

I checked my smaller view screens which showed me the area in which the merchant fleet and Whorst’s functional ships were in. They accelerated their asteroid payloads towards the massive wormhole that they’d cobbled together with wormhole projectors and massive capacitors that powered the whole thing.

Ninety-seven Free merchant ships and seventeen Free Fleet warships released their heavily accelerated cargo. Stabilizers kept the asteroids from being destroyed in the wormhole as they left the small fleet behind and appeared in front of the Kalu.

“We have good receive of the present,” Walf said, looking over the various sensor inputs.

The asteroids spread out with the engines that had been slapped on them. They turned to make sure their longest sides were pointed towards the Kalu.

“Beginning fracturing,” Marleen announced as mining explosive were set off systematically ripping the asteroids into shrapnel.

The Kalu tried to maneuver out of the way but there was no escaping the wall of asteroid debris that had been accelerated to the speeds of a star-ship.

The Kalu’s own momentum worked against them, adding power to the asteroids impacts as they raced to their deaths.

It cleared through the Kalu formations.

Ships flared in nuclear brilliance, their fire and atmosphere ripped away by the dark of space.

Star-warriors and Star-Destroyers were just alloys, atmosphere, and creatures to the laws of physics. Tens of thousands of ships were hammered by the debris.

Eventually the destruction fell away, the momentum of the asteroids breaking them into chunks whenever they came into contact with debris.

The Kalu used the hulks of their dead clan members as cover until the mayhem had passed. Twenty-five thousand Kalu ships had been destroyed, that number was still just a percentage of those that were already in the system having come through the jump-fighters reaping.

“How are we looking across the board?” I asked, looking away from the destruction, suppressing the flare of hope that filled me as the destruction fell away and Kalu that hadn’t been in the front ranks of the formation moved past their destroyed clan members and brethren to bring us under contact.

“Uhh, yeah,” In Sook stumbled as she focused on the information on her boards instead of the destruction happening outside of the main screen. “Everything is looking good,” In Sook said, her voice firming as she went through her various feeds.

“How long until we’re ready to fire?” I asked, trying to clear my throat and force air into my body, the extra gravities taking their toll as my powered armor forced air into my helmet.

“Five minutes,” Rick said.

“Good,” I said, watching my screen in anticipation.

“Ready to begin transmission of relay two,” Resilient said. A few moments later multiple points in a circular formation lit up like damned Christmas trees, capacitors as big as that which was inside Hic Stamus funneled their raw power into their projectors. A wormhole big enough to take the entire fleet and more in a single go formed, measuring nineteen kilometers big.

“Releasing payloads, Helm!” Marleen said as Milra used the forward bomb-pumped acceleration system to slow the entire carrier. Towing cables were released with explosive bolts as asteroids whipped past Hic Stamus, the other ships in the fleet were carrying out the same maneuver.

A correlating wormhole appeared a few hundred thousand kilometers past the first wormhole that had ejected the first barrage of asteroids.

Kalu rammed into it, without their projectors attuned to the wormhole it was like watching the universe’s biggest garbage chute.

Ship after ship disappeared from existence before the asteroids we released entered the wormhole on our side and ripped free of its partner, heading right into the teeth of the Kalu

The wormhole stayed up, eating Kalu ships as the asteroids did to their fellows before them, turning and exploding, their debris was faster than the first barrage. They went through a ship or two before they were either destroyed or didn’t have the momentum to harm the Kalu ships.

The Kalu had finally stopped exiting from their wormholes at the jump limit. They continued towards what had become a graveyard of Kalu even as the asteroids ripped through ships like buckshot through paper.

“Wormhole’s out of power, shutting it down,” Resilient informed us as the wormhole closed and we cruised through where the massive wormhole had been just minutes ago.

All eyes were looking at the destruction we’d wrought.

“By the Black,” Rick said, his voice so quiet I barely heard the words.

I saw more than one person looking to me. It had been my idea to do this, and it had worked, but the cost, well. I looked to the numbers, one-hundred and sixty-three thousand ships were said to be destroyed.

In less than two hours, I had killed at least seventeen-million sentient creatures.

“That’s what you get for Heija,” someone said, dark anger in their voice. Other voices rose in agreement.

Get your shit together James, either you kill them, or they will destroy you and the people that you want to protect. I thought, my face showing none of my inner turmoil as I looked over my screens.

I wanted to go in there, railguns and laser cannons blazing as missiles streamed out of their tubes to add to the pain.

This must be how some poker players feel when the asshole across for them goes all in and they’ve just won the last two pots. I thought, my mind remembering the first battle for Heija.

Not one of my people were cowards, but I needed them alive if we were going to crush the Kalu, we needed to whittle down their numbers, not throw them away on attacks that emotions determined.

“Alright get that wormhole solution ready, we’re continuing as planned.” I was about to ask Marleen if the gunnery crews were ready, but from the hungry look in her eyes, they were only waiting for the order to fire. “Marleen be ready with those missile volleys tell the gunners they’ll have targets shortly. Milra, make sure that all of the gunneries get some targets, wouldn’t want to leave anyone out of this.”

“Yes sir!” Milra agreed with a toothy smile, malice in her eyes. Marleen’s chuckle was filled with the nervous energy of someone just waiting for the target to come into their field of view.

“Commander Heston, let’s secure the jump fighters. I want them all accounted for. I know that they’re going to be the whipping people of the fleet for the near future, make sure the cafeterias have something warm ready for them,” I said, my face brooking no argument, they had done the fleet proud and we were going to honor them.

“Already done Commander,” Heston said, his eyes meeting with mine, understanding filling them.

“How long until we are in range?” I asked.

“About three hours,” Rick said.

“Rotate our people around, make sure they have something hot in their stomachs. I want them back in their positions in a half-hour,” I said, getting them up and moving, eating, or if their stomach couldn’t handle it and the nerves, drinking something kept them fresh.

Sitting at a gun, or in their Damage crew ready-areas could make a person’s mind wander. Having them think about something, anything else before the battle, then giving a hundred and ten-percent was a better practice. I had been reading some old sea-going warfare books.

***

Smith slowly pushed against the pink jelly which filled his cockpit, it sloughed off of his battle suit, covering the roughly motorcycle-looking controls he mounted when he piloted his jump fighter.

Pilots helped him out onto rubbery legs.

“I’m like a teenager at prom,” he joked, getting a few laughs as he stumbled a few steps, feeling coming back to his legs, his specialized battle suit making sure his blood was going to all the right places.

“Got some hot drink and food before we go on with the commander’s insane idea,” one of the techs said.

“The man might be insane, but he does like to make things interesting,” Smith said, remembering when Salchar had come into the shuttle he and the rest of his ‘boarding party’ had been secured in.

He hadn’t cared for conventional means since he became Commander of the Free Fleet. Who else would let Felix make jump fighters, and let me pilot them! He thought with a tired grin, a pilot helping him across the catwalk as his jump fighter was moved into a maintenance bay. Its top open at the front like an older engine hood so he could get in the rear.

There was more than one joke about that.

It didn’t take him long to get his legs back, he waved to the Shafio, Ershue and Falhu races that made up the majority of jump fighter pilots because of their ability to work in three dimensions.

Shafio looked like two squids put together with something like a face in the middle, they were aquatic creatures and could use multiple interfaces at once, and the bastards could make a fighter move.

Ershue looked like goblins with wings, and like goblins they liked their pranks, well most of them. Those in the Free Fleet had learned the age-old rule of time and place. When their minds got turned onto making someone have a really bad day, well, it was needless to say Smith always enjoyed having them on his side and not coming at him.

The Falhu were even weirder looking than the Shafio, they looked like ostriches that had their bodies stretched up. Wings lay along their sides. Their feathers were as strong as aluminum when they wanted them to be and as maneuverable as a human’s fingers. Their prey was the Merchertevak a nasty piece of work, and a creature that even Avarians respected as a worthy opponent.

Their battle suits were enough to get a few back slaps and grim nods.

Smith looked around, he couldn’t help himself as he saw faces of those that had been claimed by the dark. They’d lost forty-three pilots. That number was hard on everyone. They were a small and very elite group. They knew nearly everyone who was a jump fighter pilot.

There was no fanfare when they got into the cafeteria, those waiting in line moved out of their way to make sure that they got food.

“Come grab a stool with me, if you’re not too much of a hotshot to have a meal with your commander,” Heston said, breaking Smith out of his thoughts. Heston’s grin was light and the look in his eyes caring.

“Sure thing, hope you don’t mind me brining along a few buddies,” Smith said.

“Ahh us fighter jocks have to stay together,” Heston said with a small laugh, understanding how one could get so close to their wing that it was hard to leave them behind.

Smith tracked him to his table as he got a mug of coffee, while the navy could never get the stuff right, the Free Fleet cooks leant how to make decent coffee as their first lesson.

He grabbed some snacks and wandered over to Heston’s table, he felt his people staying back, a little nod with his head got them shuffling around the table and filling up the empty spots.

“Good work out there, wish I could have been shooting the Kalu in the ass with you,” Heston said, talking to Smith, but his words for the table.

“With good wing mates anything is possible. Unless you messed up and someone stuck your ass to a desk,” Smith said lightly.

“Har, har har,” Heston said, trying to not roll his eyes as he ate a small spoonful of some warm-oatmeal looking meal.

“From where I was sitting it looked like the damned Kalu are a lot thinner after what commander Whorst and our own fleet have done,” Smith asked aggression sneaking into his words, Heston’s face tightened as he took a breath.

“Look, I know you want to go back in there, kick the Kalu’s ass even more thoroughly so that not even one of the motherless bastards are left alive. Hell I would like to as well, but we have to make the smart play. There are still nearly two-hundred-thousand of those fuckers out there, that’s bigger than the fleet that went up against Rosho by a few magnitudes.” Heston must have seen the defiance in Smith’s eyes as he leaned forward a new fire in his own. “Commander Salchar doesn’t want to let the bastards through but he has to, this fleet is the biggest we have, we took out a thousand of those bastards and we haven’t even had one fleet warship come under contact. We need to keep doing that, just a thousand of those ships on a planets surface is going to be a monster to get rid of. If we die here, killing off this fleet, there are still two others of the same size pushing through the rest of known space,” Heston said.

“But…” Smith said, anger and frustration welling up inside of him.

“Look, the commander knows what he’s doing. Come and look for yourself,” Heston offered.

“Come up to the bridge?” Smith confirmed more than one person turning in interest.

“Yes, as long as you don’t pee on the carpet I think it’ll be fine,” Heston said, diffusing the animosity of earlier with his words and a light smile.

“I’ll try not to,” Smith said, seeing the battle from the bridge was one hell of an honor. Especially the bridge of Hic Stamus with Commander Salchar in the ship commander’s seat.

“Well eat up, sorry I can’t bring you all, but the observatories will be open. We’re not expecting to have heavy damage but keep that in mind if you do decide to watch,” Heston said to the others.

Heston cleared his place, Smith following him as he waved bye to his wing mates that were giving him jealous looks.

Smith had been loaned from War-station for the purpose of this battle, he and his wing mates would be off to support Cheerleader and Boot as soon as this battle was over. It was hard to think that far ahead.

Heston led the way to the center of the ship and the armored U that made the bridge.

The fully armored Commandos looked to them as they approached, two of them focusing on each. After the whole business with Earth, security had tightened up on everyone. A few sleepers had tried to get to a destroyer’s bridge with a bomb before Commandos cut them down.

“He’s with me,” Heston said to one of them, a Sarenmenti by their powered armor.

“Scan him,” they said to another which grabbed a wand from their leg and waved it over Smith.

“Clean,” they said back, putting the wand back and their hand settling back on the large standard railgun.

Back in his time in the United States Air Force, someone with rank would have had the commando’s ass, in the Free Fleet he was doing his job. Niceties came afterwards.

The first blast doors opened, two more commandos in there. The first blast doors closed and the second opened, revealing the bridge. It wasn’t a hive of activity, but a place that big with people doing work of any kind has a kind of mesmerizing affect of motion.

It took him a few moments to realize that Heston was moving to the other side of the blast-doors to his station as wing commander.

Smith followed, to his right where the lowered deck of different stations included the helm, tactical and shields. The floor above was dominated by sensors and different personnel that relayed information from the fleet to the bridge. The next floor up had combined arms and engineering.

Smith’s eyes moved to his left, on a raised platform Salchar and Rick sat in their chairs, Rick was flicking through information that created a holographic sphere around him. Smith had seen Commander Whorst do the same to keep on top of the information coming his way.

Salchar sat in his seat working consoles, he somehow didn’t seem real, yet dominated the space with the way he went through reports, tapping out answers and continuing on.

He, like everyone else was wearing powered armor. He had the control to hold his chin and use his screens without breaking them.

His hair was pulled back, showing the mottled grey-black skin of his awakening.

Smith felt eyes on him and looked behind Rick and Salchar, their watch dogs waited there. Wruck, Shreesht and Krom were big bastards, as famed as their charges with their feats.

Hearing about them and seeing them were two different things.

They sat there like calm Rottweilers, watching and waiting for something to go wrong.

Smith looked away with a shudder.

Wait did Salchar just look at me? He wanted to look back to confirm if he had really seen Salchar’s red eyes flicker over him.

“Shreesht!”

“Salchar?” The big Avarian asked, sounding kind of bored.

“Could you grab one of the spare sets of powered armor for Commander Smith?” Salchar asked, Smith turned, honored by Salchar knowing his name and about to offer his own aid.

“Become the protection detail for Salchar, it will be a great honor they say. Did they tell you how much of it is spent being a nanny!” Shreesht complained, Smith looked around, shocked by the tone and talk.

Salchar and a few of the others on the bridge chuckled as Shreesht moved to a locker.

“Shreesht will get you sorted out,” Salchar said, a smile from earlier still on his face, his eyes crinkled in recent laughter, they had an almost parental look of praise.

Salchar was twenty-three, nearly twenty-four. Smith was Twenty-seven, yet in that moment Smith saw the age that lay behind those eyes, the years that were earned rather than counted.

He remembered the stories of Daestramus, he moved towards Shreesht, his emotions playing around in his stomach.

Shreesht held out the opened powered armor set. It wasn’t configured so the padding hadn’t adjusted and it could be used to fit a variety of creatures.

Smith got into it, focusing on remembering his training with the powered armor. His body flowed through the steps, knowing ones powered armor was a constant exercise.

“Good to go,” Shreesht declared as Smith powered up and ran through start-up tests.

“Thanks,” Smith said.

“No problem, happy to help, I was just bugging Salchar before,” Shreesht said, his grin visible through his faceplate.

“Is he always like that?” Smith asked.

“Like what?” Shreesht asked, confused.

“Easy going?” Smith said, unsure of how to term it.

“When he can be,” Shreesht said, his voice catching as he moved back to his position behind Salchar. Smith went down from the raised platform, holding his helmet in one hand.

He went to join Heston who had gotten into his powered armor that had been waiting in a rack at the rear of the wing command area.

“You’re like me on my first day here,” Heston said, making Smith look to him.

“What?” Smith asked.

“He’s quite the man, not many could do what he’s done, but he does, and can actually smile at times.” Heston turned away holding the earbud in his ear to listen to an incoming message.

“All stations report readiness across all ships,” the ships communications commander, Vort said.

“Thirty-two-minutes to go, nicely done,” Salchar said, his face hardening.

“Marleen let me know when you get a firing solution,”

“Yes Commander, Resilient?” Marleen asked.

“Ready and waiting,” the AI said, coming into existence to Salchar’s left, on the side of the Wing Command area.

The commanders that usually worked the consoles in the alcove were watching the main screen. Heston and Smith leaned on the holographic table that was showing the battle in holographic three-dimensions.

Smith looked around the room in a flurry, the heart of the entire fleet.

“Firing solution ready,” Marleen said.

“Let the bastards have it,” Salchar said, the paternal voice gone from praise to protective.

Hic Stamus shuddered as missiles flowed from their tubes.

“How are we looking on corrections?” Salchar asked, looking to various information as it cropped up. The room seemed to break into motion as those missiles spat free.

“AI’s are looking to corrections, don’t have any issues,” Resilient informed him as if she was telling him how to bake a cake rather than the status of multi-warhead missiles numbering in the hundreds.

“Barrage one complete,” Marleen said, the ship falling silent for a few seconds before another barrage ripped free.

“The Kalu are taking us under long range laser fire, four seconds before impact,” Sensor commander Walf said.

“Well Marleen it seems we should give them a response,” Salchar said, looking almost regal in his chair as power and confidence seemed to radiate from him.

“With pleasure commander. Milra, pitch us down forty-five degrees to bring upper cannons into line,” Marleen said.

“Tilting,” Milra said back from her position as helm commander.

“Sloha is drifting, they will be back in formation momentarily,” Rick said.

“See that they do,” Salchar said with steel in his voice.

“Forty-five-degree slant,” Milra said.

Hic Stamus’ laser cannons sounded like tank cannons even through the armor. Their bombs exploded, raw explosive energy funneled through various systems, focused into a deadly .0012-second-long beam.

The missiles that rumbled out afterwards were like hail on the roof compared to that noise.

Kalu laser fire hit the first and second barrage of missiles that Smith hadn’t even noticed as he’d been looking around.

A few beams hit the shields, making them come to life.

“Shields holding strong,” Krat, the shields commander in the pit of the bridge said. His swarm of techs tweaking various systems to get the most out of their shields.

“Holy fuck,” Smith said, his voice pitched thankfully low as the laser cannons shots, all twenty-seven of them, reached out to the Kalu formation.

Ten of them were Hic Stamus’.

The cannons were firing again as Smith watched ships simply disintegrate. Others were spared but anything hit with a laser cannon straight on and in the focused beam acted like a soda can being hit with a sledgehammer.

Other ships behind those that had been smashed fell away.

“The gamma rays and other nasty light waves can pass through anything not shielded against them. The Kalu ships are basically front armor, guns and missiles, engines and enough metal to keep atmosphere out and the ship together under acceleration. Any ships the beam passes through is liable to be cooked better than Sunday dinner,” Heston said, he must have seen Smith’s face.

“Does it stop?” Smith asked.

“When all that energy is soaked up, probably gets four or five ships though,” Heston said with a shrug, the cannon’s bellowed every four seconds, the gunners changing from focused beams to larger cone fire to reduce cooling times, firing instead once every two-seconds. The lethal light-waves killed less ships in a row, but they had a better chance of getting more in the initial hits.

“I think it’s time we added some rail-cannon fire into the mix, Milra remember to rotate for everyone. Resilient keep an eye on the timer,” Salchar said, his voice cutting through the tens of voices that were having muted conversations.

Both Resilient and Milra acknowledged his orders. Marleen’s reply was every single ship in the fleet turning to present the most rail-cannons they could bring to bear and firing.

The ships could fire a few hundred missiles every eight or so seconds, it was an impressive show of firepower.

It didn’t even touch the rail-guns rate of fire. Medium, heavy and planetary railcannons opened up.

A stream of rounds left the Free Fleet the plot showed the rounds as they continued to spit out.

A chill ran down Smith’s spine as he watched a display of firepower he hadn’t thought possible.

Cannons seemed to punctuate his thoughts as Kalu ships died from the last rounds that had already passed through their formations.

“Shields are falling steadily,” Krat warned a red arrow next to average shield strength on the main screen.

“Resilient?” Salchar looked to the blue AI next to him.

“Four minutes,” she said without preamble, glancing to him as he looked away.

“Can we hold out for that long Krat?” Salchar asked

“Commander I’m hurt,” Krat jokingly sounded.

“Very good Krat,” Salchar gave the shield commander a tight smile, tight from the gravity of the situation, not the joke.

“Have the corvettes rotate and move as necessary, do you see a need to change formation?” Salchar asked Rick.

“Looking good to me, might be an idea to emphasize shield strength over amount of fire on target,” Rick said, his and Salchar’s eyes meeting for a second.

“Very well, Vort connect me with the ship commanders, my chair,” Salchar said.

“On it Commander,” the ship kept fighting as Vort carried out his task.

“Rotate us to show the starboard and cannons on that side,” Marleen said. Milra had been tilting the hull of the ships to bring more weapons into play but no major moves.

“Changing position,” Milra said altering her place.

“Channel to the other ship commanders is ready,” Vort said.

“Resilient, missiles?” Salchar asked.

“Were going to make the Kalu have a very bad day,” she assured him as the missiles entered into close range at less than a hundred thousand kilometers.

“Send the channel please Vort,” Salchar said, keeping out of Resilient’s hair.

“Time until the enemy missiles reach us?” Rick asked, Salchar in a meeting with the other ship commanders. The transition between the two seamless.

“Five seconds for lead missiles,” Marleen said.

“Bring them under PDS fire as soon as possible,” Rick said, the map populating with hundreds of impacts as missiles, controlled by the terrible calculating and processing power of the AI’s in the fleet and those that were connected via the FTL relays.

They became as nimble as Smith’s own jump fighter, avoiding fire and exploding into deadly dandelions of warheads.

They washed through the Kalu, killing thousands of ships.

The next wave rushed through their previous missiles mayhem, plunging into the following ranks of Kalu.

So it continued, Kalu fighting missiles, firing their own at the Free Fleet with abandon as controlled barrage rushed to meet them.

It was insanity for anyone to continue through that maelstrom, but the Kalu’s alien thinking carried them onwards, their numbers continuing to make them not just a credible threat but a terrifying one.

The PDS was fucking scary good especially with the AI patches, there were hundreds of thousands of missiles and shields fell at an increasing rate with close-by explosions and the occasional direct hit.

Cannons continued to take out targets faster and faster, shields continued to fall and ships moved out of the line of fire to recover.

“Nice work Resilient, let the other AI’s know that I would not want to tangle with them!” Salchar said with a ghost of a smile, getting chuckles of those that were nervous and anxious enough to take any excuse to bring levity to the situation.

“Rounds going in,” Marleen said. The wall of fire acted as it had been created.

Space was filled with debris, an area hundreds of kilometers big was covered in remains of ships, something that would make anyone aware of just how massive space was, frown in apprehension.

The wall of rounds found the debris, found missiles, found husks and smashed into ships right before another wave of missiles added their own destruction.

Penetrators went off, ripping into armor, through it and into the actual ship itself, if enough hits landed, or landed the right way.

Anything that missed exploded and turned into fast travelling shrapnel the size of a mug.

“Shifting ship,” Milra said, bringing more guns to bear and the three cannons that had been cooling off as the other three fired.

Salchar and Rick had a quiet conversation every so often, Rick letting Salchar know what was going on with the Fleet, or Salchar passing orders onto the rest of the fleet through him.

Rick was the conduit to the rest of the fleet, the bridge was the conduit to the overarching information of the fleet and Hic Stamus.

Salchar made it look easy. Smith didn’t know how anyone could command just a ship, let alone a ship and a fleet.

Fire kept pouring down on the Kalu, it put the Jump-ships firepower to shame. Though the jump ships just needed to hit the Kalu ships to throw off their calibrations, and they could destroy a ship coming through a wormhole.

“Two minutes,” Resilient said.

“Ben?” Salchar asked.

“Ready to go,” Ben said as the ship continued to rotate, bringing the ten lower laser cannons that were located on the lower sections of Hic Stamus and tilting so that two on the top could also fire, the ship rotated slightly, changing which two on the top could fire, and which rail cannons could join in.

“One minute,” Resilient said, Milra moved Hic Stamus so it was heading straight at the Kalu and along its path of motion.

Vort’s voice could be heard warning the rest of the ship that they would be entering a wormhole shortly. The fleet moved into preset positions.

“Wormhole jump,” Resilient said, guns fell silent, projectors appeared from under their heavily armored recesses, capacitors were drained as wormhole generators created the necessary components of ripping through space and time with precision.

Wormholes filled the space, creating an impenetrable wall, right in the Kalu formation.

Ships disappeared, like the ships that had run into the second wormhole.

Few of the Kalu got past the wormholes, flying around them was met by laser cannons and rail cannon fire.

“Transitioning,” Milra said, applying thrust to put a bit of an angle on the ships’ motion she didn’t have the time to smoothly cross the event horizon but the angle helped out a little bit.

They came out on the other side. Smith half expected to see Kalu waiting on the other side. Instead he was met by the inky blackness and spotted lights of an area between stars.

“I want reports from every ship and section. I want to know what happened to Dasa, More and Divine Solace,” Salchar said, not quite able to keep the hoarse emotion out of his words.

Smith released the holographic table, his hands hurting from gripping the railing around it so hard.

He hadn’t even noticed it with the adrenaline, fear, excitement and anxiety that seemed to run through him at varying levels throughout the battle.

“That’s how the big boys play,” Heston said with gravity, looking to Smith.

“Fuck,” Smith said with feeling, unsure of how else to express what he had felt and seen.

He had been on the bridge for some forty minutes, two Corvettes and a Destroyer had been destroyed. One Battle cruiser was going to need a yard and fourteen other ships had lost their shields, three of them had needed to pair up with another ship to use their wormhole as their projectors had been shot up.

Numbers were rolling in from the sensor platforms in the Nexus. One-hundred and forty-three thousand had followed their Kalu war-brothers into the black. Leaving just under two-hundred and fifty-three-thousand in working order. Twenty-eight-million Kalu, still alive and working their way through inhabited space.

The rage from before, the want to just plow through them and finish them off fell away as those numbers settled in. That single fleet was now a quarter the size of the other two fleets already past the line, the harm that they could cause just served to boggle his mind and cold water douse his spirit.

“Well anyway you’ve got a few hours before you’re off to help Cheerleader and Boot out, I’d suggest you get some rest before then,” Heston said.

“Yeah, this war isn’t going to be won in a day,” Smith said a new realization filling him.

“Nope, but with battles like that one, hopefully we can whittle the bastards down,” Heston said with feeling.

Chapter Hit and run

Cheerleader looked over the information that was being transmitted from the dead system that Orshpa was passing through. Looking at the entire fleet made them look as if they were just toy models. Zooming in showed the truth. Star-warriors halfway between a corvette and a destroyer flowed between the Star-destroyers which were as big as the smallest Free Fleet carrier.

Scarier than the number of ships, was the formation that they were flying in.

“It looks like Orshpa learned from his first engagement,” Boot said, respect mingled with anguish. Orshpa was coming in with his entire fleet in a single line, like some massive page being pushed through space.

They weren’t going to come in waves like they had in Eltar, or how Falhu’s forces had moved through their systems.

Orshpa wasn’t just reacting to the Free Fleet’s tactics, he was changing his own tactics to counteract them.

“I believe it would be best if we tell Salchar to keep a hold of the jump fighters, using them to harass the forces moving through the Nexus,” Cheerleader said, sitting back in her chair.

“Why?” Boot asked.

“If they attack that formation then Orshpa is going to flip his ships and pile unholy fire into them. The jump ships are our best assets for hit and run. He could wipe them out before they get all of their missiles out,” Cheerleader said, waving to the hologram of the formation to emphasize her point.

“I agree,” Boot said.

He had a habit of doing that, asking why, to see the logic of the other persons thinking while reserving his own judgement. It made people think through their plans, it also made Cheerleader sit back more than one time, his voice in her head asking why she was doing what she was doing and gaming out the scenario.

Both of them had come into contact with a Kalu fleet, Cheerleader with Falhu’s forces, Boot with Orshpa’s in the opening fight at Eltar.

“Who said that they wished every mission was boring, if it wasn’t it was because either someone had fucked up, or they were so deep in the shit there was no foreseeable exit?” Cheerleader asked.

“Probably the Vahsnu,” Boot said.

“Can’t believe that they still don’t want the protection of the Free Fleet,” Cheerleader said.

“We’ve been keeping the true scale of the Kalu forces a secret so we don’t scare the shit out of everyone,” Boot said.

“I thought that it would have leaked by now,” Cheerleader said.

“Salchar is going to be giving a priority message today,” Boot said, “Even with the forces at his disposal there are going to be at least a hundred thousand Kalu ships working their way into the heart of the Union.”

Cheerleader just sighed, looking to the timer on her data pad. Orshpa was expected to come through Jasah in two days time at the latest, tomorrow the earliest.

They had gone through the plan and its contingencies so many times that the fleet could recite them in their sleep now.

“Let’s give people the night off, they’ve more than deserved it,” Cheerleader said, reclining in her seat even more.

***

Evelyn Sparks shot forward in her seat as the priority message came in from Salchar himself.

She shushed everyone in the room as she hit the play, a recording playing on the large screen in front of her.

“Hello, I thought that it was past time we let you all know what’s going on with the Kalu and the fleet. So far we have engaged the Kalu in four battles. We are still fighting them in the Nexus. Two fleets are waiting in Jasah to bring the Kalu leader Orshpa and his fleet under contact. The Kalu force numbered nearly one and a half million ships when they began their campaign. They have had severe losses and lost nearly six-hundred-thousand of their number. Twenty ships, were lost with all hands to bring that about. We do not know where the Kalu intend to go, but we know that we will be there to meet them and help all that we can. At this time, we have brought every asset that the Free Merchant Fleet and its subsidiary the Free Fleet has under its command into action. The enemy is determined and their numbers vast, we will cut down their numbers at every opportunity, we will fight them on our ships, we will fight them in stations, on planets and wherever possible. We will defeat them no matter where they are. We make this promise to every person of the Union and serving member of the Free Fleet.” He paused his eyes seemed to pull Evelyn and everyone that was now watching the screen into them, “Let you not go into the light peacefully, but go knowing that the full fury and love of the Free Fleet will be with you. May your fires burn ever brighter as we take on your promise, to banish the black and strive for the light,” his words were not just absent words, but a promise carved into the armor of the Free Fleet’s hulls.

“Strive for the light, but prepare for the darkness,” the rest of Hic Stamus’ bridge replied, there was fear and anxiety in their voices. More than that there was defiance, anger and cold purpose.

Salchar touched two fingers to his head throwing a salute to Evelyn, whose eyes were transfixed to his.

The transmission stopped as other files labelled ‘battle footage’ and ‘casualty lists’ were downloaded to her linked data pad.

“I want the casualty list out as soon as possible, people have a right to know if their family members or friends are coming back,” she said, pressing the link to the battle footage, the screen changed as people started moving to complete her assigned tasks.

Wormholes appeared like a sea of glowing pearls, ships exited them, advancing into the system. A fleet was waiting in the system. Wormholes appeared around them after a few minutes, new ones forming behind the Kalu wormholes that kept appearing, hundreds of ships coming through in a matter of seconds. It was like watching a tsunami wave. They seemed unstoppable, a force of nature that seemed to defy pre-set laws.

She zoomed in on the Kalu forces, her breath catching in her throat, they had looked innocent just emerging from nothing, and now looking down on the ships she saw the strength and power of those black ships.

Missiles and fire ripped from Jump-fighters that came in from beyond the jump-limit, in the direction the Kalu ships were moving away from.

They unleashed barrages of missiles, moving to put Kalu ships and wormholes between the first waves of ships that were turning to attack and bring them under fire.

Jump fighters fired their weapons until they were dry, jumping out to their carriers, re-arming and throwing themselves back into the fight.

The display of Jump fighter firepower was impressive, deadly with the ships that were destroyed by their own wormholes with a hit from those fighters.

Yet it wasn’t enough to stem the tide of Kalu, it was like putting a big rock in a creek, water still got around it and the pressure was building behind the rock. Kalu were now in the tens of thousands and still the fighters kept returning. More of them came under the fire of the Kalu ships, lasers and missiles pulling them apart.

The fighters were recalled and the Kalu continued to pour out from their wormholes which no longer looked like pearls to Evelyn, but portals from hell.

She sped up the video, getting to where the fleet dumped missiles and mines, jumping away.

The missiles took their own toll, the mines cutting into the Kalu formation. They had finally stopped merging from wormholes, yet hundreds of thousands of the ships now raced after one another. They were predators on the tail of their prey. The fight hadn’t deterred them in anyway, it had excited them it seemed.

Evelyn let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, the fear making her hand tremble as she put the data pad down.

The office was quiet, everyone had been looking to carrying out their own tasks, but none had been able to avoid watching the imagery on the large screen that dominated the office.

“I want these videos edited for brevities sake. None of the fighting, or losses are to be edited out. I want us ready to present in five minutes. I’ll host and I want Salchar’s message ready to go,” Evelyn said, standing, trying to hide the shakiness of the motion.

The usual noises of working were subdued as Evelyn headed to the bathroom to get ready to tell the Union and every sentient creature on this side of the line that the Kalu were coming, and while millions of them had been killed already, there were still millions more on their way.

***

“Report,” Orshpa demanded.

“We’re missing a handful of ships but the majority emerged with us,” Daskil said from his position as controller.

“What about Free Fleet ships?”

“We’re not picking up any of them in the immediate area,” Daskil said, they hadn’t seen the Free Fleet in most of the systems that they had passed through. It looked like they had given up the fight after their first engagement. Orshpa knew his enemy. They were out there and they were watching, waiting to come down on him and his warriors.

He was ready this time and he would make them pay a heavy price if they chose to use the same tactics as before.

The Free fleet finally appeared on the sensors, showing seventy ships waiting on the outer limits of the system.

Come on, bring it! I’ll show you the fate of those that go up against Orshpa a second time!

Even with all of his silent threats and the new furrows in the command deck from his paws, the Free Fleet did nothing but power their engines and head towards Orshpa.

Before they could even get into range their wormholes opened and the Free Fleet disappeared, leaving yet another system opens to him and his fleet.

“Cowards! They have seen the might of the Kalu and they run like unbloodied littermates!” A controller declared, Orshpa let a hungry growl go, his lust for the Free Fleet’s blood driving his want to chase down the bastards and bleed them for every drop, to bring them under engagement.

“We proceed in the same formation that we arrived in towards the Nexus.”

“Drive signatures across the fleet!” Daskil said.

Orshpa looked up as thousands of missiles that had been silently pushed out of the Free Fleet’s missile tubes, using the momentum imparted by their mother ships to carry them towards the oncoming Kalu.

The missiles drives fired up, slamming them with acceleration and hurtling them towards the Kalu fleet.

“Cut them down!” Orshpa yelled, seeing that it was too late for all too many craft.

Chapter just when you thought Salchar was crazy

Bregend watched Boot and Cheerleader’s fleets missiles hammer into the Kalu formation. The fact that they had a formation and were actually keeping to it somewhat spoke to the power that Orshpa held.

He watched the video with almost clinical detachment as missiles swept through the Kalu, with them being in one single line there was no cover to be found behind another Kalu vessel.

The Kalu fired back against the missiles but it was too late. Twenty thousand died from missiles.

The Kalu fought to try and re-establish order, or find a target to exact vengeance, Bregend wasn’t quite sure, but it lasted long enough for the mines to get to work.

Invisible light punched through Kalu ships like bullets through paper.

An additional forty thousand weren’t going to be making it to any Union worlds.

“How are we looking?” Bregend asked.

“Kalu are in Quarst and moving towards Worshun as predicted. Kafam is under siege with forty thousand Kalu ships on the planet.” Close to four-point-four-million, Bregend silently interjected. “In a few hours the Kalu should begin landing on the planet Worshun.” Mills couldn’t quite keep the nerves from his voice.

“Very well, Wilma, are we good to go for wormhole?” Bregend asked.

“Yes Commander,” she said her face could have been carved from granite, the plan Elisati had come up with was, well calling it mad might be an understatement, but if they could pull it off and Elisati could draw enough Kalu into the trap.

Well it won’t be quite as ‘mad’ anymore. Bregend thought.

“Kyle, get me a channel to Elisati,” Bregend asked.

“Commander Bregend, it’s almost time I think,” she said, she must have been the greatest actor that Bregend had ever seen. Keeping the anxiety and fear that must be gnawing at her not only off of her face but completely removed from her body language. She looked like she was about to take a stroll through her garden, quite the image of poise.

“Yes, I think that I will be coming in a bit earlier to see how the Kalu react. It will be useful for later campaigns,” Elisati said.

“Understandable, anything that we might be able to learn will be vital as this war continues,” her palms opening out in Dovarkians gesture of understanding.

“Very well, Kyle alert the fleet. Milra make sure that everyone’s on the same page, we’ll charge up instead of wasting the capacitors,” Bregend said, looking to each of his people who quickly turned to get what needed to be done, done. We’ll be seeing you shortly, Planetary governor,” Bregend said.

“We were due for a remodeling anyway,” she said, maybe a glimmer of anxiety showing itself before the transmission stopped.

Dal’s power plants hummed as power built in the wormhole generators.

It felt like the power was leaking into Bregend’s very bones.

“I want everyone to get some food and drink in them before we jump,” Bregend said, making Mills go off first.

It wasn’t long before he went and got something to eat, then was getting back into his chair, his reports showing where the Kalu had moved to in the system.

It looked like Elisati was drawing off a contingent of a hundred and fifty thousand ships towards Worshun.

That number made Bregend’s stomach drop, his jaw tightened as he got his feelings under control.

The time for second-guessing was over.

“Wormhole’s forming,” Milra announced as wormholes formed in front of the fleet.

“Moving to pass through event horizon, next stop, Quarst,” she said, applying thrust to Dal and lining the ship up with entry into the event horizon for a comfortable ride.

“Passing through event horizon,” Milra reported.

“Shields are ready,” Afnar said.

“Tactical online,” Domal reported.

“Connecting to relays, looking good, Kalu are still in the same positions as reported,” Qurv said.

“Milra, lay in a course to Worshun, all stations stand at readiness but come down from full alert,” Bregend said, looking over the systems display on the main screen.

His forty-three ships surged ahead on just their drives. They could have added bomb-pumped acceleration but they were in no rush, in fact they wanted the Kalu to have more time.

“Time until the Kalu begin landing?”

“Three hours, we’ll be there in twelve, nice nine hours for them to bring all their ships down on Worshun,” Mills said, anticipating his next question.

“Let’s just hope that the rest of the plan goes to plan. Send the signal to the stations, have the fighters come out and play, the jump fighters are given clearance to act as they wish and bring as many of Falhu’s bastards outgoing fleet as possible,” Bregend said.

“Yes sir,” Kyle replied.

Bregend sat back in his chair, getting comfortable as time slowly crept down. The stations which looked to be lifeless wrecks came alight with power plants and life. The jump fighters that were hiding inside them came out to play, creating wormholes that appeared in front of Falhu’s main fleet which was headed for the jump limit that would put him towards Ershue or Jakram.

The jump fighters released their missiles a few light-seconds out, letting them drift, unseen by the Kalu as they returned again and again to their hangars.

Bregend’s fleet continued to press towards Quarst as the Kalu came into contact with the first missiles. Falhu’s fleet used the hulks of those in front of them to soak up the damage. Though their own motion pushed them past those wrecks, turning more of them into floating shields.

Thirty thousand Kalu ships ends were marked by the silent brilliant light of hundreds of thousands of Free Fleet missiles.

Bregend paid it marginal attention, the first couple of waves of Kalu were already on Worshun’s surface, and the planet of many had added a new race to its ranks.

Hopefully not for long. Bregend thought.

***

It was an hour before the fleet made orbit that Bregend wandered back into the bridge.

“Falhu’s fleets have transited, half to Ershue, half to Jakram,” Mills said, as if Bregend hadn’t been glued to his data pad the entire time he was away from his command chair. “All of the Kalu have landed, we’re loaded and ready to go,” Mills said.

“Dasa?” Bregend asked.

An amorphous blob appeared, Dasa, the AI of Dal.

“Commander?” It said, its voice modulated and tinny sounding as it formed random waves on its surface at random.

“Let me know when you’re ready to let loose our payloads,” Bregend said, walking to his chair and sinking into it.

“Yes commander, we should be in optimal range in five minutes. I will upload the course corrections to Wilma,” Dasa said, vanishing.

“Coming up on course corrections, it’s going to be pretty violent,” Wilma warned.

“I have preset targets,” Domal said, looking to Bregend for confirmation.

“Fire as needed, Kyle make sure word is passed to the rest of the fleet,” Bregend said.

Kyle’s hands moved across his boards, rail-cannons opened up, rounds hammering through Worshun’s atmosphere, parting the thick upper atmosphere clouds and leaving pathways to the ground below.

Dal shifted with alarming speed assisted by bombs.

Hangar bays snapped open and the rails which launched fighters now launched asteroids, more were flung from the hangar bays.

“Flipping!” Wilma said, using thrusters to not roll the ship, but swing the end of the ship around, bringing the other hangars and launchers to bear, with the assistance of bomb’s thumping the back end around like a pendulum. Other ships had already released their payloads and were doing the same swing. Rail-cannons were firing as they came to bear, parting the planet’s thick atmosphere for more asteroids that came flying out as carriers finished their rotations and smaller ships released the asteroids they’d kept hidden under their bellies.

Hundreds of asteroids enlarged the holes in the upper atmosphere racing towards’ Worshun’s surface. The asteroids cracked on mountain ranges, the remains of once-great cities, dust from the tens of other asteroids that Lady Fairgate had sent to the planet’s surface to torture the residents living there, now billowed up, as if bringing the asteroids home.

The people of Worshun had taken that terror, and today they owned it, forming it into a weapon against their strongest enemy yet.

Bregend stood, walking to his railing without realizing it, his eyes riveted on the main screen as asteroids silently sank to the planet, hitting with terrible force. The asteroids became magma after their quick descent through heavy atmosphere finally meeting with the planet below.

Cities were levels as asteroids smashed through them, throwing dust and debris up in the air, a new atmosphere, darker than the one Lady Fairgate had subjected the people of Worshun to, covered the planet.

“Rotate the ship to give all of the gunners a chance, pick out Kalu landing areas as we go. I don’t want a single Kalu ship capable of leaving Worshun,” Bregend’s voice a deep growl.

“Yes Commander,” Domal said, his voice a mirror of Bregend’s as rail cannons and the two-laser cannons punched down towards the planet.

Tectonic plates were shifting, sprouting magma. It was as if Worshun itself was fighting the Kalu.

After two-hours any Kalu ship that wanted to leave Worshun wouldn’t be able to get through the atmosphere.

“I have planetary governor Elisati on the line,” Kyle said.

“Put her on,”

“Well it looks like the plan worked,” Elisati said sitting in a place of honor to the left of a captain’s command chair.

“Yes it does, though I think it’s time that your people got out before Worshun shifts too much,” Bregend said seriously.

The captain turned to her second-in-command who started typing information into their chair-mounted screens.

“I think so too, one day, when all of this is over we will come back to Worshun,” Elisati said, her sadness clear, she had grown up on Worshun, seen it as the planet of many, the jewel of the Union, and the headquarters of the PDF as they fought the Kalu. It had been her prison when the Syndicate usurped the PDF and with her plan she had turned it into a grave for one hundred and fifty-seven thousand Kalu ships, seventeen million Kalu warriors.

“Detecting drive signatures from under the planet’s crust,” Qurv said.

More and more drives were detected.

Bregend watched as freighters filled with Worshun’s residents exited the now black skies of the planet.

Two-hundred and thirteen ships had been down there. Bregend had called in a contract with the Inkal based traders.

Those freighters carried the one and a half-million volunteers that were needed to act as bait for the Kalu to land. The rest of the residents of Worshun were already on the many stations, moons and outposts that dotted Quarst system.

“Kyle, get the numbers of the Kalu to Salchar, tell him that we will be going to Ershue with all of the support we can take from Quarst. Wilma, plot a course to Ershue, fastest time,” Bregend said turning away from Worshun and taking his seat. The fighter wings in the system could take care of any Kalu that somehow escaped Worshun’s surface.

“Kyle, also contact Kurft and tell him to pick up any Commandos he needs, we’re going to be fighting on Ershue’s surface,” Bregend said his words heavy.

“Sir,” Kyle said, confirming that he’d got the command.

The AI’s and new computers meant that a ship didn’t necessarily need to go past the jump limit to exit a system, it was why jump fighters could operate so well in-system. Wilma had already marked a jump point where gravitational pulls mostly cancelled out, or were easily compensated for.

In three days they would be at Ershue, just hours behind the Kalu.

For now, we react and hope we’re there soon enough. But as with the Syndicate we will husband our strength and we will prepare, then, just when you wonder if you’re losing momentum we will be there behind you.

Bregend’s fleet organized itself back into a proper formation as auxiliary fighters took up position around Worshun, waiting for anything that might claw its way to the surface. Shuttles were already heading from the various stations towards the fleet, filled with Commandos that had said their goodbyes, left the tears and hugs of loved ones, steeled their liquid pumping organs and donned their powered armor.

Worshun might be safe, but the Union was in trouble and the Free Fleet was calling them to their duty.

Those shuttles rattled and shook as people looked to their gear. Cold helmets, scarred armor and clunky HAPA’s filled those cargo holds.

Silence reigned supreme as Worshun seemed to drill home what their fate might be. The occasional missile illuminating that black mass, serving to focus those thoughts rather than distract.

***

Arms came from behind, wrapping around my neck as Yasu rested her head on mine.

“I should get off of the hologram,” I said, my hands traveling up to clasp hers.

“That was my thought,” she said, tiredly.

Even half-asleep and heavily pregnant, she could move around silently.

I glanced to the star-map once more, the Falhu fleet that had come through the Nexus had headed off towards Gahel and Parnmal beyond. At Gahel they could change their path and head towards Volhoulm.

Kafam was still barely holding on, Bregend was heading towards Ershue with his ships filled with Commandos. Ershue had signed on with the Free Fleet and had a hundred and ninety-thousand trained Commandos that had been digging in since they reached the planet. The Merchant fleet was helping to ship many of the young away from the surface.

Jakram had five-hundred-thousand Commandos on their planet, and they had been there since the Union was created. The planet was a fortress, Falhu had sent seventy-five thousand Kalu ships toward the system. The rest were with him heading for Ershue. A squadron was being moved from their patrols to support Jakram, they would act as orbitals when they got to the system in six days. Six days against the Kalu was a lifetime.

Yasu made an annoyed noise, stopping me from sinking any further into my thoughts.

“Alright,” I said, Yasu was a strong woman, and not just physically. She had led her people to victory and had been key in keeping the Commandos motivated on Heija. While Bok Soo and Foshunti watched the overall battle, Yasu was on the front lines, piling rounds and plasma into the Kalu and challenging every Commando within range. She’d earned a place in all of the Heija survivor’s hearts, more than one of who said that they had already walked in Hell with her and they’d do it again with just a word.

I came around the chair, she was already walking back to the bed. I picked her up, getting a surprised motion which settled into a sleepy giggle before she kicked me.

What did you expect getting married to the battle mistress of the Commandos! I thought, smiling at her sleepy but pleased expression, thinking of the nickname many of the Commandos had adopted from her time playing Mecha Assault One. That life seemed so long ago now. Barely felt like it was real half of the time.

I was thankful for the enhanced Avarian strength; a pregnant lady, and my kiddo were not the lightest thing! I lowered her onto the bed and kicked off my boots and battle suit, climbing into the thin sheets.

I took on my honorary position as body pillow and we fell asleep. Images of Yasu dying, Kalu over running Heija’s bastions and tearing me apart with their teeth filled my mind.

I woke in a cold sweat a few hours later. I looked to Yasu, making sure that she was still there.

She was and asleep, though her forehead was twisted with her own nightmares.

I smoothed out her brow with my thumb.

“Good morning to you too,” I said, my kiddo had woken up and was going for a round of football in Yasu’s stomach.

I was rewarded with another kick and a groan from Yasu, one that made me look to her in alarm.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as she took some deep breaths, pushing them out forcefully.

“That was rather painful,” she said moving to get a comfortable position. I looked over her, seeing if there was anything I could do, that sudden pain had alarmed me.

A few minutes later she cried out again and looked to me.

“Oh shit, Krom!” I yelled, jumping off of the bed and helping her to her feet.

Pregnancies ranged from five months to nine months now, which meant Yasu was in the prime range and it looked like the kiddo had decided to make an appearance.

Instead of long and protracted birthing cycles it happened in quick succession. Which added to my haste as I picked her up, Krom opening the door, his weapon ready.

“Med bay!” I barked, Yasu’s arms grabbing around my neck as she tensed again.

Thank god I’m a dude, I kept that little thought to myself as Krom moved out of the way and I ran through the doorway.

“Move it!” Krom yelled, the volume making my ears ring as I picked up my pace. It was near morning so Shreesht, Tully and Moft were there as well. They formed a protective square around us as I charged for the elevator. I had the map to the med-bay memorized at this point. People pressed against the walls as powered armor, a screaming Yasu and I raced through.

We got to the elevator, overriding it as it sunk a number of floors.

Krom’s voice bellowed again and we were off running.

Fatigue didn’t touch me. I was having a kid!

Krom and Tully moved out of the way as we entered the med-bay, the doctor working looking up.

“Baby!” I said, her eyes going wide as she realized who was saying it, and who was grunting in pain, in their arms.

“This way! Cho, I’m going to need Finnegan and Drweshe now!” The doctor said, guiding us into a room with a table and variety of machines. Battle wounds could be fixed with a medical chair, giving birth, we left that to sentient creatures instead of machines.

I laid Yasu on the table which softened and contoured to her body, her hand grabbed mine. I didn’t have time to say anything as her grip made me wince and look at the wall in pain.

“Working on your grip strength much?” I asked, thinking I might need some hell-fire to put my hand back together.

My data pad buzzed and my face changed, going from light and playful to stone.

“Answer it!” Yasu barked, another contraction taking her.

“Her water’s broken! Get that battle suit off of her!” The Doctor said, a group of helpers that had flooded the room splitting between the various machines, hooking Yasu up, and pulling her clothes off.

I pulled the data pad out, my face twinging with every grunt and grip she crushed my hand with.

I looked over the information, the Kalu had been accelerating harder than we first estimated. Someone must have kept the information from me so that I could get more sleep.

I had four hours until they emerged into the Nexus.

“Shreesht, Moft, go grab our powered armor, and grab the crate,” I said, pulling out information on my data pad. I wanted to be part of the moment my wife and child was having, but so many lives depended on me, not only theirs but that of the rest of the Union.

Yes, I was James Cook, married to Yasu Ono, but I was also Salchar, I had made a promise years ago and I wouldn’t be able to look my kid in the eye if I didn’t keep it. The Free Fleet was made to defend those that couldn’t help themselves, we stood to protect those that might end up like us. I had taken up the mantle of Commander, unsure of my ability to command. That anxiety was gone, and that mantle was part of me now.

I opened a channel to Rick.

“I need you to run the hot seat for me right now,” I said, Yasu yelling out in Japanese.

“What’s going on?” Rick asked, his voice alarmed.

“I’m having a damn kid! In three hours bring the Fleet up to readiness, have you contacted Whorst, Cheerleader and Boot?”

“Yes.”

“Good, should have assumed,” I said, taking the pause to ground myself.

“Okay, as we talked about, keep the Jump fighters ready to go, but hold off if they come in their formation,” I said.

“Then we pull back the ships and start operation wringer,” Rick said. “I’ve got it, see to your wife and kid. I’ll keep things running up here,” Rick said, he might be my second in command, but he was also one of my closest friends, he would rip into me if I needed it. He also had my complete and utter trust.

“Thank you,” I said, cutting the channel.

“What’s the status of my Commandos?” Yasu said another contraction coming on.

I whipped through reports and found the readiness for her ship.

“Connolly is reporting that they are at one-hundred percent, and getting in their powered armor right now,” I said.

“Good,” she said, someone stabbed her arm with a needle and her grip relaxed. Yasu was now wearing a sheet and doctors were playing peekaboo with my kid.

“He’s got good timing,” I said.

“How do you know it’s a boy,” Yasu asked, the drugs making her dopey, relaxing her body for what it needed to do.

“I checked the ultrasound,” I grinned.

“Cheater,” she said, another contraction taking her, though her squeeze didn’t destroy my hand this time.

Shreesht and Moft showed up, pulling two sets of powered armor and what looked like an armored box.

Well it is an armored box. I thought, I’d had Eddie make it, it was the universe’s strongest crèche. It would protect my child no matter what happened.

Yasu’s grunts and squeeze made me look away from the powered armor and box which were stuffed in a corner.

People rushed around the room, Rick sent me periodic reports and Yasu dealt with our kid’s impatience.

So it went on for what felt like a lifetime.

Then the room went quiet as the doctors told everyone to stop making a fuss as the baby was starting to come out.

Drugs had helped Yasu’s dilation and relaxation. The Syndicate had given us a bone when they’d messed with our reproductive cycle. Since kids hadn’t been inside for long they were smaller, meaning less dilation and less pushing.

“Okay we’ve got the head, the shoulders are, good,” The doctor pausing as Yasu screamed, pushing as hard as she could.

Thank god I try to not face her in battle. I thought, weird thoughts come to you when your kids saying hi, and the goddamned fucking Kalu feel like it’s a good damn time to show up on your doorstep! I am so good with this poker face.

Yasu grabbed my hand harder than ever before and I swore something snapped.

“It’s a healthy boy!” A Kuruvian said, pulling him out, crying like, well a baby.

Yasu laid back on the bed, tired to almighty hell, the cushions caught her.

“If you’d like sir?” Someone asked, holding out a knife.

“Krom,” I said, cradling my kid in my left arm, looking down at him, and my mind was blank. I’d known this moment was coming, but damn if it bowls you over like being tackled by someone in powered armor.

My sword’s hilt touched my hand. I flicked it, cutting through the umbilical cord and holding it out for Krom to take.

The Avarians were crowding around, I glanced to them, hailed as murderers in some systems and known in killers in all. They still looked at my boy with the same indescribable emotions rushing through me.

I grinned to them and looked back to my kid who was settling down as my smile grew, I laughed, tears rolling down my eyes as I walked over to Yasu. Someone gave her a towel and I handed her our son like he was the most precious thing in the universe, which he was.

The room had grown quiet, doctors and their people doing their thing. Our bodyguards looked in at our kid with quite possibly tears in their eyes.

I looked at him, squirming in his mum’s arms.

Well you are one feisty bugger, I thought, rubbing his cheek with my finger. It was rougher than humans, it seemed a bit of the Avarian awakening had gotten to him.

My data pad beeped, and started increasing in frequency and time.

“Commander, the Kalu have arrived,” Krom said.

Yasu looked to me, a host of emotions running there, and understanding.

“Commander Ono you’re going to need a few hours of…”

“Get me a shot of wakeup and hellfire, run your tests but I’m going back to my ship.” That fire which made me damned proud to be called her husband, back in her eyes.

“He’s going to be staying with his dad,” Yasu said, looking to me a smile crossing her face, the pure joy of moments ago now marred with the hardness of duty.

“Commander,” the Doctor started.

“Shreesht!” I barked, holding out my hand. Yasu gave me our boy, exhaling.

“Can’t be as bad as giving birth,” she said moving the pillows out of the way by throwing them on the floor.

I felt the syringe in my hand. I didn’t give a warning, slamming it into her leg. It injected itself and she started yelling. I pulled our boy to my chest, hoping to save him from his mother’s screams. She went rigid as the hellfire took full effect.

I tossed the first needle and held out my hand again, again Shreesht put a needle in my hand. I waited for Yasu’s body to relax and her breathing come down.

“You good babe?” I asked, honestly scared for her.

“Feels like I’ve been awake for weeks,” she responded, grunting as the second needle went into her shoulder.

Her look was not a happy one.

“Love you,” I said, smiling and leaning down, kissing her.

We parted, her laughter filling the room.

“I love you too, Dad,” she said.

“Thank you Okaasan,” I said, unable to stop the laughter that jumped from my body.

Our kid not getting the attention he wanted started bawling again. We looked at him, resting in the crook of my arm between our two bodies.

“James,” Krom said, he rarely used my first name.

“I know,” I said.

“Say see you inna bit to your Okaasan,” I said handing the boy over. Yasu took him, rocking him gently, touching him, as if memorizing his features down to the wrinkle.

I nearly choked up at that moment, wanting nothing more than to get them both away from the violence. Yasu was a strong woman and she would beat my ass if I tried to push her to the rear when her people were fighting.

As for my kid, well there weren’t many people I’d trust with my kid that weren’t part of the fleet and fighting right alongside us.

“I need to get dressed,” Yasu said, getting up off the bed/table, the whole movement hard for her, not because of everything she’d gone through, but because she knew she had to say bye to our son.

She handed him to me, Moft tossed her a clean battle suit, and she pulled it on and sealed it. We walked to the powered armor, never taking our eyes off of him.

“Look after him, and yourself,” she said, looking to him, her body pressed against my shoulder to look at our son.

“You too,” I said, looking to her, using my free hand to tilt her head and kiss her.

She smiled somberly and turned towards her powered armor. I opened the crèche and put my son in. No matter what direction it was in, if it fell or was tossed, he would be kept against the bed of the crèche, the environment inside completely regulated and armored against anything outside.

Tully was helping Yasu with her powered armor as I got into mine. Shreesht made sure I was secure, Krom stood over my son, watching for any threats.

“Good to go.” Shreesht said, Yasu was already moving back to the crèche as my armor plates slid and locked into place. I opened my visor.

“Keep him safe,” Yasu said, a wealth of emotion passing over her face. I could see that she felt like she was abandoning him.

“We’ll be here when you get back,” I said, walking over and touching her shoulder, our powered armor touching.

She nodded, unable to say anything. Then she walked away, unable to look back as Tully and Moft filed after her. I looked down to our son and closed the crèche, looking in through the side and top armored windows which armor would snap shut around if there was a depressurization.

My boy looked about as comfortable as possible.

He’s so tiny! I thought a smile coming to my face as I started out of the med-bay, my visor clamping shut as we marched.

“Rick, status,” I said, my voice hard and missing the emotions of earlier. If my boy was to have a future, then his father was going to have to fight.

People cleared out of the way. I kept glancing down at the crèche, thinking that I was throwing my boy around, every time he was moving around in some unexplained way, learning all about the universe he had been brought into.

“The Kalu have arrived in the same fleet formation that they used to cross Kic’chss and Jasah, all ships are ready and awaiting your instructions,” Rick said as I used my HUD to look over a map of the system.

We stepped on an elevator, Krom hitting the override as we whirred off to the command deck.

A corner of my mind wondered if a military person had fought a battle with their new-born, literally hours old, sitting in the back of his bridge.

I stepped on the thought as I checked the positioning of the Kalu.

“Looks like the simulations were correct,” I said.

“Yes it does,” Rick said, not without some satisfaction.

The elevator stopped and I was off, walking towards the bridge.

I checked over the reports that Rick had been sending me. The reinforced doors to the bridge were both open as I marched on the bridge.

Everyone looked to me, we had spent so much time together, so many battles, and systems. We had done things we hadn’t thought possible and others claimed weren’t.

They were my friends, my fellow Free Fleet companions.

I held up the crèche and opened my visor, showing the biggest, stupidest smile on my face.

“It’s a boy!” I yelled, the bridge erupting in cheers, laughter and whoops. I moved to my command chair. Rick peered into the crèche, his face lighting up, no matter the situation that lay beyond our main view screens.

“Looks like you did well James,” Rick said, looking to me with a massive smile.

“Now let’s see if we can’t do two things really well today,” I said, moving past the raised dais where my command seat lay and to the seats behind them.

“I’ll make sure he’s secured,” Krom said, from my side.

“Thanks,” I said, it was hard as hell to hand him that crèche. Krom took it from me, gentle as could be and secured it to the wall. Him and Shreesht taking a seat to either side, both putting a protective hand over their battle master, no, friend’s child’s crèche.

I exhaled in a rush and went to my command chair, it was about time to kick Orshpa’s teeth in.

“Let’s go and greet our guest,” I said, people moving to their stations as the entire fleet accelerated towards the Kalu.

“Charging wormhole generators,” Milra said.

I opened up a personal channel to Cheerleader, Boot and Whorst.

“Heard that the boy’s finally here,” Cheerleader said.

“Yes he is, and he’s probably looking forward to seeing his aunt right after we hammer Orshpa for showing up in our part of space,” I said, trying to pull her and the rest of them on track.

“How are we looking for the bombardment?” I asked.

“Everything looks good on this side, War-station’s been charging a couple of hours before they left Jasah,” Whorst reported.

“Good, then we should give him one hell of a time,” I said, my hungry eyes finding my quarry on the main screen.

***

It had been a few hours since she’d got off of her shuttle from Hic Stamus.

The medics had given her a check over. Other than feeling like she’d been awake for weeks, she was in good health.

She’d joined up with her Commandos, all of them asking how the boy was. Word had passed through the fleet like wildfire, the rest of the Universe probably already knew.

The wormhole generators had charged and now the projectors rose from their armored positions.

“Engaging wormhole!” Milra’s voice echoed over every ship in the Free Fleet, both in-system and the three supporting fleets that were two light years away.

Five wormholes appeared in the Nexus, all of them surrounding the Kalu formation as they moved towards the Free Fleet.

“Show them what happens when they fuck with the Free Fleet,” Salchar’s voice rung through the transmission.

“Release holding cables!”

“Braking!” Asteroids peeled around the ships, thrown through their wormholes. They came out like a flood all around the Kalu formation. The Kalu tried to move out of the way, but the wormholes were so close that some Kalu ships couldn’t get far enough away.

That’s what happens when you’ve got AI’s on your side that can plot a wormhole within inches.

Asteroids spun out of the wormholes, cables split and thousands of asteroids spread through the Kalu formation, covering their path.

The Kalu couldn’t do anything but blunder through. Explosions marked the death of Star-warriors and Destroyers as they struck the asteroids.

There were a lot of Kalu, many of them still making it through all the chaos, only to run right into Salchar’s second surprise.

He had been planting mines across that patch of space since the fleet had gotten to the system. People had wondered what the heck he was up to, they shrugged it off and let him do as he wanted, he was Salchar after all. What they didn’t know was that the Kalu were a very basic race with basic math. If their equations for wormholes worked once, they saw no reason to change it. Orshpa’s fleet was following the same equations on both Eltar, Kic’chss and Jasah.

Salchar and the AI’s had figured out where those formulas would pump the Kalu out this time and they laid a trap.

The dark of space was torn apart, like some fight between gods. Dark and light clashed, missiles set off their drives and powered for the fleet as mines single shot lasers plowed through armor and Kalu.

This was no battle, this was a slaughter, a show of power and destruction. Alerts went out as jump-fighters were deployed from every carrier they rested in.

The Kalu formation was in tatters, there was no semblance of order as they slogged through the unending chaos. The asteroids and minefield claimed over a hundred and eighty-three thousand, nearly two-thirds of the Kalu formation. Yet a hundred and thirty-three kept plowing forward.

Even after all of that the Kalu still had enough numbers to make the Free Fleet experience a very bad day.

Jump-fighters from all three Free Fleet’s appeared around their targets and piled fire into them. The battle went on for forty minutes, yet it felt like eternity and it felt like seconds. The destruction that had rolled through the Kalu fleet was incomprehensible.

“Prepare for wormhole transition, take us to Parnmal,” Salchar’s voice came over the feed from Hic Stamus. His voice putting steel in Yasu’s spine, battle would come soon enough for her and her Commandos.

The Jump fighters fought doggedly for twenty minutes before the last one exited through a wormhole.

Silence seemed to descend over the Free Fleet as the numbers were totaled up. Barely a hundred thousand Kalu ships were still operational.

Salchar’s continuous attacks, peppering them with asteroids, hammering them with missiles and lasers and letting six hundred jumpers free in the Kalu’s confused and scattered rear had been fast and brutal.

It almost didn’t seem real.

The Fleet waited till all fighters were aboard and jumped.

Nexus lay behind them as they headed for Parnmal, chasing the other half of Falhu’s fleet they’d let past. Whorst would follow them, Boot and Cheerleader would be heading towards Ershue, passing Bregend and heading on to Oolta to hunt down Falhu.

Hopefully they’d grind the Kalu invasion forces in space. They would have to fight on the ground, but down their things became a lot more even, and a lot worse for the Free Fleet.

Yasu remembered Heija only too well.

The fleet was now accelerating towards Parnmal.

“Alright, get everyone out of their armor and on some rest. They’re going to need it before we get to Parnmal,” Yasu said to Connolly who was waiting by her side.

“Yes Commander. If you don’t mind me saying, I think you could use some rest too,” he said.

“Yeah, giving birth is tiring stuff, don’t try it,” Yasu said.

“I’ll try not to,” Connolly smiled at the joke.

“Talking about birth, I’m going to see my newborn son. I’ll be on the Hic Stamus if you need anything.”

“Yes Commander, I think we can look after ourselves for a bit at least,” Connolly replied.

She gave him a smile and headed towards the shuttles, inquiring if any were available to Hic Stamus, one was already prepped and ready to go.

I guess the fact everyone knows you just gave birth has some fringe benefits.

She smiled as she walked, excited to see her son and go back to bed. It had been a very long day already.

Her face soured as she thought about the Kalu, they were already waging ground combat on Kafam and would be on Ershue shortly. If they decided that Parnmal was too much of a hassle and went right on, then ground combat would be coming sooner rather than later for her and her Commandos.

Chapter Ershue

Bregend looked over the reports from Ershue, they’d been flooding in since he’d entered the system. None of the Kalu were staying around except for the invasion force of seventy thousand Kalu ships, about eight million Kalu. The numbers were as staggering as they were scary.

Jump fighters were engaging the Kalu, rushing in, hitting them from long range and running away again. They were getting a few here and there, but their own numbers were dwindling.

“Okay, we’re going to accelerate as hard as we can to get the fighters and bombers up to speed to race through the Kalu formation. I want them to get as many of the bastards as possible. We’ll come in behind them, hitting the Kalu with everything we’ve got. I want us down to only repelling Commandos. The rest should be aboard shuttles that will come in our wake and head straight for Ershue. As we see the Kalu on their final approach towards the planet I want to create wormholes in their path, hopefully that will thin their numbers out. The fleet will regroup, come back to Ershue and do everything we can to stop them ever reaching the ground.

The fleet will stay in orbit and provide support from the orbitals, our reports from Kafam show them going to the planet’s surface as fast as possible, not one ship tried to stay in orbit as they did at Heija,” Bregend said, looking to his command team and the commanders of his fleet in holographic form.

“Sounds like a plan,” Kelu said, one of the Syndicate prisoners turned reformed Free Fleet ship commander.

“Questions, comments, ideas?” Bregend looked around, they had all worked on the plan together, but he wanted to make sure there were no last minute tweaks that might help them out. No one had anything to say.

“Alright, well let’s get our people ready,” Bregend said rising, the holograms turned off and the room seemed smaller as he headed for the bridge.

***

Commander Fal looked to the skies, he couldn’t see the Kalu that hid behind the atmosphere of Ershue, but he could damned well sense them. It was hard not to with the dread that hung over the planet like the massive trees that Ershue and the creatures of the planet lived in.

He looked away from the sky and looked to the mountain plateau that rose out of the trees. A massive asteroid had once hit Ershue, making this rise in the center of its impact.

Now Commandos from across known space drew their lines in Ershue’s ground, protecting those that hid in the underground bunkers built under the mound that acted as the command center and base for the Free Fleet forces.

PRC’s sprouted from the mound’s armored walls, automated Gatling guns rose on pillars and were mounted to walls. Fal had taken a lesson from Parnmal, turning the rise into a maze of choke points, funnels and weapon systems made to give the Kalu a very bad time.

More units were spread out around the planet. They were there to harass the Kalu from the rear. Make it so that they were never not under attack.

Fal wished he had more weapons, had built up his defensive complex more. It was fifteen kilometers wide, but he had watched the videos of Kalu. He didn’t know if that was going to be enough.

***

Bregend watched as flight after flight of fighter, bomber and shuttle was released from their carriers.

It wouldn’t be long now.

All of the Fleet’s ships were presenting their broadsides, momentum carrying them towards the Kalu.

“All craft are clear of their respective carriers,” Zoka, the Fleet’s Wing Commander said from her place at Bregend’s left.

“Good,” Bregend replied, the bridge was tense. The jump fighters were popping in and out of the Kalu formation, they were inflicting a lot of casualties, but the Kalu turned and tried to engage them as soon as they emerged.

It was a risky game of cat and mouse.

“How we looking Mills?” Bregend asked, glancing to his second on his right.

“Ready across the board,” Mills reported, looking to Bregend, steel in his eyes.

“Domal, run the guns and open all tubes. Kyle pass the word to the rest of the Fleet. Afnar, bring the shields up. Qurv can you put up field of fire ranges in front of the fleet?” Bregend asked, rail cannons hydraulics pushing them from their maintenance positions out to firing positions. Gunnery chiefs yelled at their people like those officers that had commanded the warships of Earth’s oceans.

“Yes Commander,” Qurv said, a sphere opening in front of the Fleet showing the outer limit of the Free Fleet’s effective fire.

People moved around, dealing with the smaller issues that came with bringing a ship to full readiness, like ramping up the power reactors, making sure that command systems were ready to be transferred, reporting any issues they encountered.

There was nothing like war, it was brutal, terrifying and about the worst thing that sentients could do. Yet it was the biggest rush they could get, two sentients smashing together with all the power, smarts and skill they had.

There’s nothing quite as bad as war, but there’s no rush quite like it. Bregend summarized as he snapped his visor shut, locking and sealing. The rest of the bridge followed suit and the first fighters lit up their drives, both the ones that powered their craft, and the ones behind their missiles.

“The forward fighters have contacted the edge of the Kalu formation,” Zoka reported.

The fighters and Bombers had been largely kept in their carrier’s hulls as jump fighters were rushed from battle to battle, grinding into the Kalu at every opportunity.

They had learned a lot watching the Jumpers, and now their simulation was being put to the test.

Their railguns fired as they raked Kalu ships, fired multi-warhead missiles and used all of their skills to get away from the angered Kalu’s bows which were now spitting out missiles and lasers at any target they could see.

The first Bombers and their accompanying fighters tumbled and jinked, getting out of the Kalu’s fire.

The Bombers had yet to truly prove themselves. Now was their first opportunity.

“Remind me to not piss off our pilots,” Bregend said, loud enough to be heard across the bridge as Bombers opened their bays and vomited missiles at the Kalu. Fighters dove in, trying to take the heat from the Bombers.

The first fighters were clearing the Kalu, they turned back firing anything they still had in their guns and started breaking.

It took a few more seconds for the last bomber to clear the Kalu formation, their path skirting atmosphere.

“Domal?” Bregend asked, looking at the sphere which looked to be touching the Kalu’s rear elements.

“Ready for Laser cannons, twelve seconds until missiles,” Domal reported

“Fire, release missiles when you have a solution, same for rail cannons,” Bregend said, the first Kalu lasers were now hitting the Free Fleet, causing their shields to glow.

Dal’s Laser Cannons spoke up, their thundering explosions heard even on the Bridge. Five other ships had the Cannons and added their firepower to the brawl.

Anything in the weapons path was destroyed.

Kalu missiles thundered out of their ships.

Domal, waited. PDS sparked up and space was covered in millions of accelerated rounds hunting down incoming missiles.

Just when Bregend was about to say something, missile’s ripple-fired from every Free-Fleet ship.

“Flip!” Domal barked, Kyle repeated the order to the other ships as Wilma did as Domal asked, Dal’s other side presented itself, bringing fresh laser cannons and missile ports in range. Again the Free Fleet ripple-fired every port facing the Kalu.

“Roll!” Domal barked again, and so it continued, the Kalu’s lasers were spread across the Free Fleet’s shields as they flipped, fired and flipped again.

“Dash have lost their shields,” Mills said, the main screen showing a ship go from green to yellow.

“Ilox got a nasty hit in their bow, close to their reactor,” Mills said again as another ship went from green to red.

“Gunnery, you are free to fire, focus on the missiles,” Domal said into his microphone. Rail cannons erupted, they didn’t have the strength or speed of the Laser Cannons, but they had numbers. Thousands of rounds rolled through ammunition belts feeding their hungry children in the hands of their Gunnery teams.

Missiles hit the Free Fleet.

“Destroyer Qin has, she’s gone. Battlecruiser Gomz is rolling. Defiant have lost shields but are still flying, moving out of line of fire,” Mills kept up the commentary. Bregend looked over his fleet. He wanted to yell or do something. At this point all of his people were devoted to their jobs. His actions would only impede them. So he shut up and watched as his people fought.

“Missiles on the Kalu,” Qurv said.

“Shields are at sixty percent and falling.” Afnar reported.

Seventy-thousand ships had been sent at Ershue, the fighters and bombers had taken out nineteen thousand. The leading Kalu were already entering atmosphere.

“Keep us together Afnar!” Bregend barked, the missiles rushed to meet the Kalu. Wave after wave hit them, blinding sensors to their presence as the Free Fleet came in.

“Sir, I think we hit one,” Afnar said, his voice totally serious. The Kalu had been braking to enter the planet’s atmosphere and the nuclear waves had blacked out both sides sensors. Collisions in space were so insignificant they were almost an impossibility. When a shit load of ships is all in one place all trying to do the same thing. They can’t see anything and a big assed carrier comes through, well the possibility of a collision rose rather significantly.

Bregend opened a channel up to his gunners.

“Come on you bastards, shields are trying to take your jobs now!” He said, laughing as Dal and the rest of the fleet came through their own nuclear wasteland. The gunners, not about to be outdone, and right in the middle of the Kalu fleet, unleashed everything they had. PDS fired right into Kalu ships. The Kalu quickly stopped firing missiles as they were blowing up in their face more often than their enemies.

“AI’s take over,” Bregend said, seeing they were moments away from passing through the Kalu formation.

There were seven AI’s in the fleet, and it seemed that even though they were made from numbers and characters, they had their own bloodlust to fulfill.

The ships rate of fire increased monumentally, ships moved as they blew out guns, crews racing to replace the parts needed as the AI’s fired everything they had. Laser Cannons fired at their limit, temperatures going dangerously high as Kalu and Free Fleet ships clashed.

Ships exploded, both Kalu and Free Fleet, lighting up the planet’s sky.

Then they were past the Kalu formation which was descending into Ershue’s atmosphere.

AI’s returned control to the gunners, coolant flooding their taxed systems.

Damage crews worked tirelessly to save ships, twenty-seven remained. Seven of which were barely operational. All of them had lost their shields, most of them had been breached. Guns were offline, the gun bays being ripped open. Thankfully Salchar had instituted programs to remove all air from the ship to prevent explosive decompression. Yet it hadn’t helped those in the path of a missile or laser.

“Collect our fighters and bombers and bring the Fleet around to support Ershue. I want reports on every ship. Anything incapable of combat is either going to be sent to the nearest resupply point to be fixed, or pulled apart for parts and left to drift. Make sure the Ship commanders don’t try to fight on with a fucked ship,” Bregend said, looking to his second. Ship commanders didn’t want to lose the ship that they had fought so hard for.

“Understood,” Mills said, touching his earpiece and relaying his commands.

Bregend had missed his shot to put a wormhole in front of the Kalu. Yet he’d done better than he’d hoped. Now only five million Kalu were headed towards the planet. So were another three hundred thousand Commandos.

“Planetary defenses are firing, good effect on target,” Qurv said, Bregend nodded, not trusting himself with words as he looked at the main screen, the names of his friend’s ships wiped from the screen.

The rage he kept back through gym and work made his fist ball. He was an angry man, but he put it to use. Though he hadn’t got all of his anger out, not by a long shot. He had a lot of Kalu to kill.

***

“Fire all Planetary Rail Cannons and get some missiles up,” Fal said.

The ground thumped as the first PRC’s accelerated their massive projectiles towards the Kalu. Smaller Rail cannons added their fire into the mix as armored missile silos opened their hatches and unleashed their half-ship strength missiles.

The Kalu didn’t fire once on their way down towards the planet, but the gunners took their toll, PRC’s blasted straight through even Star-Destroyers, smaller rail cannons riddled them with holes. The missiles, well in atmosphere weren’t just destructive, they were cataclysmic. Each of them carried a load of a hundred refined kilotons of nuclear force. The kind that makes new suns and is felt thousands of kilometers away. Anything within a hundred kilometers disappeared, the shockwave whipped Kalu around for another hundred kilometers, some recovered, and others didn’t. It was mayhem.

Fal saw the first of the craft dip below the tree-line.

“Find out where they land and get the word out to the ranging parties,” Commander Fal said, it was night time where he had made his defenses, giving them a prime view of the Kalu and Free Fleet smashing together. It made one hell of a light display.

The Kalu fighters were now pouring out of the Star-Destroyers and heading for the defenses.

“Have the missile weapon techs seal up their armor if the Kalu fighters come in close. Don’t need them having their gear going off,” Fal said.

“Yes sir,” Poj said, passing the information. Ershue made great assistants, they were one of the few races that could multi-task, and with their agile limbs they could manipulate many items at once.

It was probably one of the many reasons why Ershue were so damned good and annoying with practical jokes.

Everyone was inside the armor mound and the PDS were starting to earn their pay.

The HAPA’s had wanted to add their own firepower to the mix, but Fal wanted to get a feel for fighting the Kalu before devoting his most powerful units.

“Communications from Bregend’s Commando Commander,” Poj said from her position at the communications console.

“Well tell me!” Fal snapped, some of the stress and understanding of the seven kinds of shit that had just landed on his planet breaking through.

“He’s coming down with the Fleet’s Commandos, breaking atmosphere in three minutes,” Poj said as if she was in basic again.

“Good,” Fal said and he meant it, he was going to need the veterans of the Fleet. He had a few hundred sown into his units, their advice and teachings were invaluable. Having an entire Fleet’s worth of them and their tag-ons from Quarst made him feel the etchings of hope.

No time for that now, he thought. The Gatling guns across the armored mound going from periodic bursts to full out streams, more of them adding their firepower with every second.

He had a feeling that sound would become normal after a while.

“We have touchdown with the Kalu, five hundred miles out. I’ve informed the Ranging parties, artillery has the coordinates and they are coming on target.”

Fal winced, it wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate artillery, it was what it would do to his planet with its use.

It was a capital crime to burn a tree down that wasn’t dead or destroy them. Even with the battles between the Ershue, before they found the ability to spread across the stars, they never hurt the trees.

Now it was do or die. Fal wanted to limit as much damage to the trees and his home planet as much as possible, but it was losing a few trees to surviving. Salchar had brought up the point that trees could be grown, great swathes of the planet could be left untouched by the fighting. Yet lives, the lives of the young and the old, they couldn’t be regrown. If the Kalu won on Ershue then there would be no place for the Ershue to come back to.

I can start to see why having the same name as our planet can be confusing. He thought trying to alleviate some of the guilt in his thoughts as artillery tubes fired timed rounds that would rain shards down onto the Kalu.

The Ershue shared the same name as their planet. Their belief was that they were just a part of their planet, they did anything to protect their planet, hurting it was like hurting another sentient creature.

“Rangers have acknowledged orders, they are moving between us and the Kalu to lay traps,” Poj said, her multiple hands working various screens as her wings moved in anxiousness. “The Commandos have broken atmosphere, the Kalu fighters are moving to intercept.” Her wings were not at all happy.

“Concentrate all PDS fire on those fighters. Tell Commander Xar he and his HAPA’s are cleared to fire on the Kalu fighters moving against the shut… Holy fuck,” Fal said, swear words are the first words that a person learns from another language after all.

The shuttles weren’t without their defenses, they might be big lumbering crafts, but after the first drop on Chaleel the pilots understood a need to upgrade their ability to clear a path and help them get to the surface.

Heat coverings fell away from disposable missile pods and Gatling guns seated on the wings, sides and front of the shuttles came alive.

The Commandos inside manned those guns, sent rounds trailing out from the crafts as the shuttles plowed into the Kalu fighters.

Even the Kalu fighters seemed shock as the missile pods erupted, sending multi-warhead missiles into the midst of the holes they’d created within the Kalu swarms.

Shockwaves ripped the Kalu formations apart as nuclear fire showed itself. The missile pods fired fighter missiles and only a few at a time for good reason.

However, like always the Kalu could soak up the hits. They fired on the shuttles. Lasers meeting armor. The lucky ones had a new engraving, the unlucky ones got hit in something useful, or too many Kalu hits coming in from too many directions and they were cut apart like cheese through piano wire.

The HAPAs fire helped some, drawing the Kalu fighters away from the shuttles helped more. PDS weren’t even slowing down now, just moving across the sky, peeling Kalu out of the swarms. The Kalu didn’t even change their direction.

Then the first Commandos were on the ground, ramps opened before the shuttles touched down. Commandos were on them and jumping free of the vessels as fast as possible. Half of them were wearing HAPAs.

“Oh my,” Fal said, his wings moving in excitement as those massive arms fired, missile pods locking into position and added to the fire.

Fal had never seen something so beautiful as over a hundred HAPA’s rail cannons streaked rounds across Ershue’s skies.

Tracers, missiles, artillery, lasers, a collage of weapons fire lit the Ershue night sky. Shuttles raced up into the atmosphere, firing what seemed like all of their missiles. Thankfully most of them that had made it to the ground made it out into atmosphere.

Caught out in the open against Kalu fighters, the Commandos didn’t panic and run, they leapfrogged, Companies protecting one another until they reached the mound.

I wonder if my people would keep it together like that, Fal batted the thought away.

“Once the Fleet’s Commandos are in, recall Xar, and his people. Send a message to the Commander of our reinforcements asking for them to meet me,” Fal said.

“Sir,” Poj answered, dealing with the mass of information and messages that were vying for his attention and prioritizing them.

“Mound!” Fal exclaimed, rolling the word around in his mind. The base had never been officially named, and not having a name was going to get really annoying really quick.

“Poj, revise the base’s name to Mound,” he said.

Her wings stopped moving for a second, caught off guard by the comment, she looked to him confused.

“Yes, sir,” she said slowly as if trying to figure out if he was serious and if she had heard him correctly.

“Commander Fal?” Commander Kurft said, coming into the command room which was styled like a tree with hologram screens at the end of the branches, Fal resided on the second tier of branches, perched inside a hollow.

“Commander,” Fal said, Kurft looking at the tree, and then the mix of races in the room. Fal jumped, twirled slid and landed in front of Kurft.

“I am pleased that you and your men were able to reach the mound. I am sorry for those that you lost, your assistance and their sacrifice will not be forgotten by Ershue,” Fal promised.

Kurft made a noise somewhere between clearing his throat and trying to water it enough to talk.

“Thank you,” he got out.

“I offer you my seat as Commander of our forces here,” Fal said, waving to his perch in the hollow.

“This is your planet, I could…”

“Commander if I may stop you there, first of all this will be my first battle. I was looking up your information as you were coming in. You have fought in a number of battles, including against the Kalu. I have trained and not seen any real combat. I am trained as a guard commander. While I look to carry out my duty to the best of my ability. I couldn’t do this if I remained Commander. The logical choice is for me to give you, or someone you choose to be commander of the forces here,” Fal retorted.

“Why are you doing this?” Kurft asked, probably trying to look for some Ershue trick.

Fal wanted to rub his wings in annoyance. Not all Ershue are pranksters, most, but not all of us!

“This is my planet and home, I want my wives and children to come back here and find it at peace. While I might be able to win, I believe that my decisions will result in more people dying and with me as commander there is a greater chance that this mission will fail. You have experience that is literally invaluable to the protection of my home,” Fal said instead.

“Alright, but you’ll be my second, so learn quickly. Us fleet types don’t like being in the rear all that much,” Kurft warned, looking to the tree.

“You can take the seat up there. I’ll use something a little more on ground level,” Kurft turned to the three Commandos with him.

Fal turned and picked a console that would afford Kurft the best position to command from.

The three Commandos raced out of the room, not wasting time on saluting. Kurft had been talking to them through his powered armors communications.

“Second thing. I want everyone, everyone in powered armor, the civvies should get some armor at least. Also how well do they know weapons?”

“Some do, some do not,” Fal answered.

“We’re going to change that. I’ve seen the layout of the base but I have a few questions,” Kurft said, walking over to Fal.

“Certainly,” Fal said, there was a can-do attitude about Kurft that was making his wings move in excitement.

***

“Deploying fighters and bombers,” Zoka said from her station, the fighters and bombers had been collected a few hours ago, their crews given a few hours and a rota while the fighter engineering crews repaired, armed and refueled the small craft. The shuttles had made it back to their berths just thirty minutes ago, they’d been rotated in on their cradle’s so that the fighters were ready to go at a moment’s notice.

They were being filled with ammunition and supplies that the Commandos would need.

“Have sights on Kalu parking space,” Domal said.

“Fire when ready,” Bregend said. It took five ships, Dal, two Dreadnoughts, a Destroyer, and Battle Carrier to cover the area that the Kalu had abandoned with their ships. The bombardment was brutally efficient, five hundred rounds rippled through the Kalu ships, turning them to slag and destroying reactors. Multiple mushroom clouds rose from where the Kalu ships had been. Fires had started in the forests of Ershue.

The trees didn’t take to fire very well so Bregend hoped they stopped burning soon. He knew how connected the Ershue were to their planet, he kind of wished he had that same connection.

“Domal PDS are free to engage Kalu fighters as long as there are no friendlies in the potential impact areas,” Bregend said.

“Yes sir. I’ll make sure the gunners take them over manually,” Domal said.

“Good idea,” Bregend said.

“Fighters and bombers are ready for their first run,” Zoka reported.

Bregend knew that this wasn’t going to be a quick fight and he didn’t want to have his pilots tired when he might need them most. He didn’t know how long those Kalu fighters could last without their Star-destroyers, there were still about two-thousand Kalu craft moving about, most of them Star-destroyers with the ability to re-arm and refuel those fighters.

It might be an idea to let the Kalu fighters attack, just so they drain those Star-destroyer’s resources faster, then drop them all, Bregend thought, balancing lives against tactics.

He decided against it. His fighters and bombers targets were the large swarms and those Star-destroyers. There were hundreds of thousands of fighters, even if Bregend killed a hell of a lot of them, there would still be more than the destroyers were supposed to handle.

Instead he kept his ideas to himself and watched as the Multi-Environment Fighters lived up to their name, the bombers following. The Kalu swarms shifted directions, aiming themselves at the incoming ships. They were met with a hail of rounds. Once the bombers and fighters were fully inside the atmosphere they used their missiles to open up breathing room and head for their real targets.

The fighters and bombers did the fleet proud but fifty-seven people gave their lives for a hundred and twelve Kalu destroyers.

“Ready the next flight and target those destroyers from Orbit, one round each until they go down. I don’t want to start any fires this time,” Bregend looked to Domal who jerked his head in understanding.

“Move the fleet to twenty-five percent. I want everyone to get a shower, some sleep and food, we’re not going to be of any use to anyone if we’re dead on our feet.” Bregend’s eyes were hard and unflinching as he looked at his crew, the message would be passed on to everyone else.

Sometimes to be their commander he had to play hardball, it was all part of the game.

“Mills sync up our computers with the ground forces. I want to have constant communications with them so we can help them in anyway,” Bregend commanded.

“Sir,” Mills said, getting to work.

“Kyle I want you to get with every ship commander and department head, get a parts list and fire it off to the nearest supply depot to call in supplies, before you do that, see if you can get Rick or Salchar,” Bregend asked.

“On it,” Kyle said, Bregend sat back in his chair trying to look relaxed while all he wanted to do was jump on a shuttle, go down to Ershue and fight alongside his people in hopes that it would keep more of them alive.

Chapter The Kalu come to say hello

“The Kalu emerged right on schedule, all systems are looking good, and we’ve got a day and a half before they reach us. Salchar thinks that he will be with us in two days and that Orshpa will be a day behind him,” Akatski said from her position as his second-in-command. It had been a while since Parnmal had gone on war footing, they hadn’t been sitting on their hands since then either.

The shipyards had been brought closer to the station, a dozen asteroids had been added to the station, adding to the natural armor and giving the gunners more places to mount PRC’s and the new laser cannons.

Remote platforms were dotted around the asteroid fields that Parnmal resided in, most merchants and people that came through the system didn’t know that they were being watched by multiple weapons systems at all times.

“Send the word to the residents of the station they will want to know what’s going on. Bring all units to alert, have a full battery of tests run on everything. I don’t want anyone up and running around. We have plenty of time till the Kalu get to the actual station. Oh and send a warning to the merchants that are coming to the station. Have them divert to the supply points until this mess is over,” Monk said, standing and stretching.

“Now I think I’m going to get some food, normal shift rotation, we’ve all been in combat before, a whole lot of hurry up and wait, I don’t want you all tired before we even fire a shot,” Monk’s voice was more like a father warning that they had to be up for an early shift the next morning than a Commander.

“Yes sir,” they responded, amused by Monk’s kindness. He was a nice and calm man, nothing seemed to faze him. While he didn’t advertise it, he was also a damned deft act with his pole that he used to walk around. Many thought that it was because he had a bad injury, but it was a token to the monkhood he had walked away from.

Monks carried staffs and other simple objects in their travels to make them look non-threatening, when in reality they could use those staffs with brutal efficiency.

Monk walked out of the bridge and headed into the central areas of the station.

People were subdued but Parnmal was the biggest trading station in known space, and it was the best defended place. A number of merchants were jumping on their ships and setting off for the supply points around Parnmal.

Commandos moved through the massive corridors of Parnmal, wearing their normal powered armor or entombed in their HAPA’s. Parnmal’s corridors were one of the few places that a HAPA could be operated in and not run into a ceiling or wall.

It didn’t take long before he was walking into the main thoroughfare of the station. It had been two massive corridors meeting with a large intersection between them. It had expanded upwards and out. Now it was a massive open area with elevators moving up down and around the roughly upside-down cone area. Corridors came in from all across the station trees and gardens were bracketed by seats, stores, and people still milling around. Nothing like the throngs that usually came through the place.

Sometimes it’s hard to think that we’ve come this far in such a short time. Feels like it was only months ago that we were taking Parnmal from the Syndicate, now there’s no Syndicate. We’re a fighting force to be reckoned with, and we’re fighting an enemy that the Union at their full-strength couldn’t destroy. He smiled, not letting the last of his thoughts get him down.

“One day at a time, all it takes is one day at a time and we’ll get there,” he continued to smile while on his stroll. Come what may Monk wasn’t going to worry about it until it happened, oh he’d plan for it. But there was no reason to cry over milk that hadn’t spilt yet. When it did, there was always another day when it wouldn’t spill.

***

Yasu and I looked down at our boy squealing and moving in his crèche on the ramp of the shuttle that would take her back to her ship, there was just a matter of minutes before we started charging our wormhole generators that would take us to Parnmal, right after Falhu’s forces which he’d sent ahead.

“We’ll see you after Parnmal,” I said, looking to her.

God, it feels like I’m being ripped apart every time she has to leave me and our son, I thought, trying to keep my smile reassuring.

“I know, we’ve still got to figure out his name,” Yasu said getting out a laugh as her eyes held more water than usual.

“We’ll have plenty of time when this is all done,” I said, pulling her to me, kissing her forehead and smelling her hair. It smelt like home and of comfort. Sadly, I’d be without it for at least a few days while we dealt with the Kalu threat in Parnmal.

She nodded against my chin, I don’t know if many people would be surprised by two of the leaders of the Free Fleet parting with tears in their eyes.

I didn’t care, right now it was just the three of us, and then the moment was gone as we pushed away. The universe pulling us apart and to the roles we had chosen to play.

“I love you,” I said, getting a starry-eyed smile in return.

“I love you too,” she said, I grabbed the crèche and closed it, moving back from the shuttled. Yasu held my eyes for a moment, god it hurt seeing her go.

She collected herself and walked onto the shuttle.

It hurt every time she went, but now I felt the pain in her eyes at leaving not only me, but our son as well.

“Alright kiddo, let’s go and see Parnmal. It’s where your mommy and Daddy started putting this fleet together,” I said, he looked content in his crèche as the shuttle sealed and pushed out of the hangar’s electro-static field.

It applied more thrust and headed away from Hic Stamus.

“It’s also where I’m going to slap the sounvabitch that keeps pulling your mommy and me apart,” I said. There was no kindness in my voice or mind, only cold hatred.

***

Edmund was the brother of Eddie and the father of Shrift and Silly, he was also the chief engineer of the carrier Talhalla under the command of Foshunti.

The ship had changed a lot since the time of its service to the Syndicate.

Everyone wore the standard battle suits of the Free Fleet and their powered armor. The carrier had gone to Heija, followed Salchar to the Nexus and battled Orshpa’s fleet there.

Edmund had seen the reports but it still made his manipulators shiver when he thought of those images of Kalu being slammed by wave after wave of destruction. There was no escape, no letting them surrender. Edmund understood why. The Kalu weren’t going to give them that chance and if the Free Fleet didn’t kill them here, then they were going to have to kill them on a planet somewhere. It was a lot harder to kill a few million Kalu warriors on the ground, than it was to destroy their un-shielded space craft that could only fire in one direction.

Now Salchar’s fleet, including Talhalla were chasing after the Kalu that had already appeared in Parnmal.

“Charging wormhole generators,” Delphine said over the ship’s speakers. Edmund looked over the power-outputs of the generators and projectors.

The ships were refueled and re-armed from the supply station between the Nexus and Parnmal. The entire fleet was up to full strength, the Kalu however, should be low on missiles and supplies.

Edmund was usually a rather happy-go-lucky sort. That was before Heija, now he saw the reality of the universe around them. It would pound on them relentlessly, only giving up when they did. They could only endure and hope to gain a brief respite.

The hours dwindled down. The wormhole projectors ripped a new hole in the universe and the Free Fleet went home.

Chapter An army runs on men, a military runs on supplies

“How are we looking?” Min Hae asked, looking to Ashota and Gogs who were bent over their screens looking at the streams of information coming from the fleet of Independents and the Henry-classed Destroyers that were massed around the point between Heija and Wugarn.

The Kalu had been building up their resupply fleet for a number of months, tomorrow they were supposed to be moving out to join the rest of the Kalu in Union space.

Not if I can help it, Min Hae thought.

“The Independents are well, being themselves. They want to be mopping up the remaining Kalu that are floating around the Traditionalist systems and trying to figure out a way to make the other Kalu turn away from violence. Our people are ready to go, all twenty-three Henry-classed Destroyers,” Ashota said.

“Incoming wormholes,” Gogs interrupted as ships started emerge from the new points.

“Make that thirty-seven Henry-classed Destroyers,” Gogs said with a smug look.

“Indeed,” Ashota said, looking to Min Hae.

“Very well, they have the capacitors to do three jumps, we might as well put them to the test,” Min Hae said. “Send a message to war-leader Kalvin, we are ready to engage when he is.”

“Sending,” Ashota said, speaking into the consoles microphone for a few moments.

It took a few moments before the War-leader’s face was on the main screen.

“As our allies seem to be finally prepared to go to battle we will continue as planned. We will accelerate and deploy outside the jump-sphere, right on top of the massing Kalu supply fleet. We will destroy them and their ability to return to liberated space,” Kalvin’s growl was a bloodthirsty thing, his eyes holding deadly promise as the channel cut.

Orders came to the Free Fleet contingent, the newly arriving Destroyers moving into position with their fellow Destroyers. Min Hae’s Verslva had been taken to be used as a freighter with a little more firepower, keeping the Free Fleet’s materials moving.

Wormholes appeared in front of the Kalu, they might be independents wishing to get away from war, but they still fought along the same lines as the traditionalists. They weren’t afraid to get into battle, at least the military faction.

“Once we are all formed up, then we will continue on,” Min Hae said to ship Commander Drux.

“Sir.” The ship Commander was incharge of all things tactical, Min Hae was well versed in information not battles. Drux took the overarching commands of Min Hae, but when they were in battle, Drux was going to do what he was trained to do, fight and win.

It took a good thirty minutes for the fleet to come together, Min Hae sent a message to Drux, he didn’t want it to seem like he was joggling his elbow. The Ship Commander read it.

“Navigation, why don’t we see about coming out at these coordinates, it’s going to be a bit hotter, but we’ve been given these nice shiny ships, might as well see what they’re capable of,” Drux said.

“Yes sir,” Navigation said.

Min Hae had been watching as Kalvin’s forces emerged, powering right towards the supply ships and firing their lasers to try and get a bead on them.

The supply ships had powered up and were now rushing to meet Kalvin’s forces. Min Hae’s coordinates would put the Free Fleet off to the side of the Supply fleet’s path, allowing them to bring their broadsides to bear.

“Jump point is good to go, ready for transition,” Navigation said a number of minutes later, it was nearly an hour after Kalvin had left. His forces were still two-hours from crossing the other Kalu fleet’s lines.

“Very well, let’s go kill some supply ships,” Drux said.

The corner of Min Hae’s mouth twitched upwards in approval.

“Gogs, what is the status of second squadron?” Min Hae asked.

“All ships are ready to go and awaiting our order,” Gogs replied. Ashota looked to Gogs and Min Hae.

“Something I should know about?” Ashota asked.

“Had to play a few things close to our chests, this is not meant to just destroy the Kalu supply ships,” Min Hae looked to Ashota. He had been the one to tell Min Hae about how certain elements of the Kalu independent leadership thought that the Free Fleet was weak. They had only seen them in battle once, and then it hadn’t been much of a fight against anything like the kinds of fleets that had waded into the Union.

The Free Fleet needed to show their strength and prove that they were a force to be reckoned with and respected.

Min Hae’s earlier amusement cooled as he thought of how Earth hadn’t understood the power of the Free Fleet and disregarded it. Hurting them in the rear while they were readying for their fight with the Kalu. It could have ended a lot worse. Yet it instilled into Min Hae that trust was nice, but a healthy amount of respect for your allies’ abilities to whip your ass if you turned on them, also had its useful qualities.

***

“Looks like our battle brothers have decided to show up,” Lox, one of Kalvin’s aide’s vented. Kalvin let it slide. Lox was probably half taken away by the combat hormones of his youth.

They are late, what kind of honorable group looks to coming into battle later than possible. They talk of tactics, but what use are they when they do nothing but make them look pretty.

Kalvin clamped down on his anger, the Free Fleet had helped out the independents more than they could have hoped for. The leaders were thinking about trying to apply to be part of this Union the Free Fleet were building. He had seen the cowardly tactics that killed, maimed, and destroyed more than four fifths of the Kalu’s massed military power. It had been a big display, but the Free Fleet ships had stayed at arm’s reach, hit the Kalu and slinked away.

This would be the first time since the Destroyer yard was stolen away from the Kalu Traditionalists, that the Independents would see the Free Fleet in combat. So Far Kalvin was far from impressed.

“They’re formation is turning to bring their sides to face the enemy. The Supply ships are largely ignoring them,” Lox said. Why shouldn’t they? His tone and actions asked as he shook his mane in annoyance.

“Lox, I understand the hormones of the younger, and while I am not happy with the actions of our allies, it does look to me that they are closer to our enemy. Let us see what happens,” Kalvin said, not making a commitment to either liking or disliking the Free Fleet.

“As you say war-leader. I am sorry for my outburst,” Lox said, bowing his head to him. Kalvin waved the gesture off, noticing how Lox wasn’t giving the Free Fleet the same kind of respect.

Maybe they earn it, maybe they show that Lox has a right to be angry. He thought, watching as the Pyramid of Free Fleet ships moved as a single entity, all of them swinging their broadsides as the lead ship was pointed to the Kalu supply ships.

“Incoming Wormholes, twelve of them all along the Kalu formation’s line of acceleration,” Haru grunted in shock.

“Message from Ashota,” Lox said.

“Show,” Kalvin growled, he was not one to like surprises sprung on him.

“War-leader Kalvin, I have been informed that the Free Fleet advise that the Kalu supply fleet will not be a problem much longer. They ask that you refrain from shooting at the ships emerging from the wormholes,” Ashota’s message ended.

“Do as he says,” Kalvin said, the first ships came out from the wormholes, the second rank followed.

All of them are in those Pyramid formations, and there are so many of them! I thought that the Free Fleet had less than five-hundred ships.

Still, there are more than Thirty-Thousand Kalu supply ships, nearly a hundred thousand fighters swarming out from their freight-holding Star-destroyers, he consoled himself.

The first triangle, the one that Ashota was presumably on, and that weasel Min Hae, opened fire.

“It looks like the first triangle is firing,” Lox said, it was hard to track lasers that were travelling through vacuum.

Their results were easier to track.

By the silent clans, Kalvin thought, seeing Star-Destroyers gutted with a single shot.

The wormholes closed and Kalvin looked at the newly organized numbers, there weren’t thirty-seven Henry-classed Destroyers, there were over six hundred.

Triangles opened up in series, and that was where Kalvin learned the beauty of not only rudimentary tactics, but tactics that made him actually step back in horror.

It was a systematic destruction.

The laser cannons fired on angles, two pyramids were firing at all times, allowing the other gun’s time to cool down before it came back to them. Every Cannon would fire on preselected targets, even with the odd miss here and there, every four minutes, five hundred or so shots landed.

The supply ships seemed to forget Kalvin’s much larger twelve-thousand-strong fleet and turned to the Free Fleet pyramids.

Kalu fighter swarms struck out like lances headed right for the same pyramids.

The Free Fleet’s shields flared with hits, ships were getting wounded. Those taking the worst hits pulled back, the ships further back pushing up to cover their position as they affected repairs.

There was no dishonor in asking for help. Instead they looked to help one another.

The Independent Kalu aimed to help one another, but this was almost instinctual.

Streaks of missiles rose and headed for them, stopping the fighters in their tracks, PDS opened up. Through all of this the Free Fleet never budged from their pyramid formations, only altering their direction to get a better shot on the reduced supply fleet.

They never chased, never retreated, they were plows, opening the Kalu fleet to the darkness of space. Like one of the farmers opening the ground to plant seeds.

The supply fleet seemed to cross some invisible line and the destroyer’s laser cannons doubled and their railguns added to the onslaught.

Not one Kalu ship crossed the Free Fleet’s forward pyramids. A wake of debris, broken ships and Kalu laid in an expanding path towards Kalvin’s fleet and out towards the Free Fleet’s pyramid.

Only twenty-three of their ships had been destroyed, sixty-seven were affecting repairs, many, if not all had lost their shields. Yet they had won against their enemy.

There wasn’t a noise on the Star-Destroyer’s command deck.

“We have an incoming channel from Ship Commander Drux,” Lox said, sounding as shocked as everyone else on the command deck.

“Open it,” Kalvin said, trying to shake off the confused feelings he was having.

“War-leader Kalvin, thank you for your assistance. We will be departing from the area shortly,” Drux stopped, as if he was remembering something.

“Oh and Commander Min Hae reminded me to ask you about the Kalu Independents joining the Union and that if you ever have any problem with any Kalu we would be happy to help remove them if they demonstrate a threat to the Union or the Free Merchant Fleet’s assets,” Drux finished.

Kalvin looked behind Drux, seeing Min Hae’s calculating and cold stare. There was no mercy in those eyes only cold logic. Kalvin had seen warmth in them when Min Hae was talking to other members of the Free Fleet, but never for any potential threat. Kalvin hid his fear, making a silent promise to never become an enemy of Min Hae, or to kill him before then.

“Thank you Ship Commander, we will make sure that no other supply ships appear. I believe the other leaders will be contacting the Free Fleet shortly about talking with the rest of the Union and applying to be a member.” Kalvin saw Min Hae’s head nod in agreement, some of the fear falling off of Kalvin’s shoulders.

“Very well War-leader. I hope you have a good day, Ship Commander Drux out.” The channel cut to show the main screen of Free Fleet ship pyramids collapsing, moving to their wounded, those that didn’t have wounded ships were wormholing out of the system.

“Did you notice how they said they would fight any Kalu that threatened them, not just the traditionalists?” Haru asked, he was an old Kalu that had seen many battles, it was always wise to listen to Haru.

“I suggest we share the story of Wugarn and the Free Fleet’s true abilities far and wide for the education of all Kalu that think to betray our first true allies.” Haru was looking to Kalvin, but his words were for everyone on the command deck and the ships in the fleet.

“I believe that would be a wise suggestion Haru. Would you be able to get me a channel to the council? I will take it in my den,” Kalvin turned, leaving that main screen behind.

“Yes War-leader,” Haru said to his back.

***

The crews of the Destroyer yards were in an odd mood.

They had destroyed the Kalu resupply fleet, but not all of those that they had trained with for months had survived.

There were no cheers and pride felt like an empty emotion.

“Alright, that’s enough watching the tube. I am effecting a day off, a full twenty-four hours, then we’re going right back at it. This war isn’t going to be won overnight, but five hundred Henry-classed Destroyers just doubled our Fleet strength and they’re going to help our people out immensely on the front lines,” Silly said, looking around to everyone.

“That said, we all need rest, we’ve pushed hard for weeks to build up some real strength with the Henry-classed Destroyers. We should all be proud about the laser-cannon factory we got into commission, our personal achievements and professional achievements of turning these Kalu excuses for ships into something that will make them piss themselves in fear.” Laughs and chuckles ran through the crowd.

“Alright, now git! If I see you so much as staring at your tools lovingly, I’ll start following my Uncles practice of boot throwing!” He said, his manipulators moving in tired amusement. The engineers laughed and joked, moving in groups as they left the command area of the shipyard.

“How about a beer?” Felix asked, looking as tired as Silly felt.

“That, that would be marvelous,” Silly said, his entire body felt like it had been put through a metal press from the sheer volume of work over the last few weeks. They’d finished the Henry Destroyers, given them two cannons and a slew of weapons which they put on themselves. Then they moved to the next hull and the next.

It was tiring and mind-numbing work doing the same thing day-in and day-out. Yet it had shown results.

“I thought so too,” Felix said, the two of them walking towards the impromptu mess which was the meeting point for the majority of the engineers, the Commando’s commander had opened a tab up for them. She’d seen how hard they’d pushed themselves and she knew how the people on the front lines were going to see the Destroyers for the godsend they were.

Felix and Silly got into their own flavors of beer and sunk into their seats. Two aliens from wildly different cultures thrown together by the Syndicate, the Free Fleet, and their love of building things. It’s odd where you find your best friends.

Chapter Parnmal, again

“I swear we spend more time fighting in this system than we spend passing through it,” I sighed as I looked over the screens. We had exited a wormhole into Parnmal a few hours ago.

The Kalu had done the same a day and a bit ago. Well Falhu’s splinter group, Orshpa’s group was still about five hours behind us. Resupplying had taken its time.

Though unlike the Kalu we had up to minute by minute information from Parnmal. Which allowed us, combined with the AI computing power of our fleet, to jump a hell of a lot closer to Parnmal, meaning we were just seven hours away from coming into range with Falhu’s splinter forces. Instead of twenty-six hours.

“There might be something to that. I think we’ve only passed through the system four times and fought in it three times?” Rick said, looking thoughtful before shrugging. “I’d have to look through the logs for how many times we’ve passed through,” he said.

I knew he didn’t have to look up the number of times we’d fought in the system. We’d both had our share of grief not only for losing those we knew, but those that had followed us and our orders in those battles.

I looked over my side, seeing Krom’s ungloved hand playing with my boy, keeping him from crying his almighty head off. The kiddo seemed to have a good taste in people and had turned Krom into the perfect babysitter. Deadly, six and a half foot tall, preferred powered armor to a battle suit and a big ole softie on the inside.

My criteria on an ideal babysitter baby sitter might be a bit different compared to others, I thought getting a small chuckle from myself as I looked back to the main screen. Every time I saw Parnmal I was struck by the onward march of progress and our ability to overcome our limitations when we make something pretty fucking awesome. Like having a trading hub, usually with the population of New Jersey. Even with everything going on, the sight of Parnmal wasn’t just reassuring because of the firepower, shields, and armor it sported. No it gave me hope for the people that flooded its marketplaces and called it home.

People can be pretty damned awesome when they work together. Wow I am a sappy bastard sometimes; I guess being a new parent had something to do with the tidbits of wisdom that seemed to be fleeing my brain like people running from a burning building.

Might be the wake-ups I’ve been having for the last couple of days, I wondered, a man couldn’t win.

I got comfortable in my chair a report coming in from Min Hae. I opened it, sitting up in my chair as the report completed.

“Damn, I didn’t think they could do it,” I muttered to myself.

“Do what?” Rick asked, hearing my voice.

“The Destroyer yard finished off those Henry-classed Destroyers. They engaged the supply fleet, which is now drifting components, and five hundred of the six hundred and thirteen ships are coming to reinforce our people across Union space,” I said, sending the report to Qurv.

“Hey Qurv, I think that a few people might be interested in this little video,” I said.

“I think so,” he said, scanning it over before throwing it on the main screen, we watched the sped-up battle play out.

“I am so happy those bastards never understood shields,” Krat said.

“Amen,” Marleen agreed.

Death and Destruction was the currency of the Free Fleet and here we had done ourselves proud. The Henry classed Destroyers weren’t the pretty purpose built machines of war that the rest of the Fleet had been transformed into. They made me think of the days when we had been spending as much time keeping the damned ship from trying to commit suicide as we spent trying to fix the extra damage we’d piled onto them. We’d come a long way, we had used the useless and broken with effectiveness that made me damned proud of my people.

I saw the makeshift ships for the weapons they were, sure they weren’t perfect, but they were a chance.

“Rick remind me where those ships are going?’ I asked, I knew but others hearing might bolster their efforts and reassure them.

“A hundred will be joining us, the rest of the five hundred will be split between Cheerleader and Boot’s fleet to assist in the tracking down of Falhu’s forces,” he said, his voice loud enough to carry across the bridge.

“So they should be meeting up in Drvntrni in, five days?” I looked to him.

“About that,” he nodded in agreement, referencing his star map briefly.

I looked around the bridge, people weren’t on edge and were talking in more conversational than tense tones.

I glanced to my fleet, we were formed up like the pyramids that had smashed the Kalu supply freighters, though our leading craft was War Station and Super-Carriers with Dreadnoughts flowing behind him.

I leaned to my left side, resting my chin on my fist, my right hands fingers tapping on my other armrest like a wave, leaving the bridge behind and studying my enemy. I had done this for hours as a gamer and spent many sleepless nights studying my enemies over the years. My strength wasn’t in being a stubborn ass, it was exploiting every and any weakness I saw.

“Ben, could you get me a plot showing Orshpa’s predicted entry point and a straight line from that to the Falhu splinter group?” I asked, my eyes moving across the main screens information in thought.

“Yes sir,” Ben said, a change in the plan forming in my head.

***

Wallace Jones looked out of Parnmal’s view screens, he was one of the hundred and fifty ambassadors from Earth that were on the massive station. They were supposed to be making agreements to benefit Earth. Yet after the mess that had occurred between the Free Fleet and Earth, they had been promptly told to fuck off by nearly every other star-system and most of the traders disregarded any interest in trading with them.

He was part of the American embassy, which had meant fuck off was one of the more polite terms the residents of Parnmal used.

The Free Fleet had pulled a smart move saying that they were a subsidiary of the Free Merchant Fleet. It had connected them to the sphere of traders and merchants irrevocably. The fact that they still had patrols helping to watch merchants crossing space at a fee was similar to the merchant fleet in Earth’s world wars.

The Free Merchant Fleet was the backbone of the Union; the Free Fleet was the shield.

There had been moments where Wallace wished the Earth forces had succeeded if only to salve his own pride and get the respect due to his office. Begging and scarping at the doors of the lowest merchants on Parnmal was undignified and humiliating.

Those thoughts were far from his mind as the Kalu fleet raced towards Parnmal like dogs on their prey’s tail. Their drives and bomb-pumped acceleration hurling their two hundred and fifty-three thousand strong armada at Parnmal.

That was more than half of Earth’s population after the Syndicates’ bombardments. Though not all of those on Earth were capable of combat, only about twelve percent of the population of Earth were actually trained for combat. Not one of the Kalu were anything but warriors all baying for the blood of any that fell in their view. To them everyone was a combatant, whether they were a kid or a mother or father.

He had never served in the military and he had generally looked down on the people that did so. Honor and all of that were just useless words to him, used by people to gloss over the bloodied psychopaths that were part of any military.

Sure it was better to have them ready to be thrown out in the defense of the country, it was better than having them clutter up the jails and hurting the real people that kept countries moving forward.

He had seen the Commandos in their powered armor as a tool to instill fear in the population. Hell he still did and he didn’t know how they, or anyone could destroy the oncoming Kalu.

There was no way that the Free Fleet with their fleet less than five hundred in strength, now closer to four hundred after the losses they’d sustained, would be able to kill the hundreds of thousands that they had reported.

We should have taken control from Salchar as soon as possible, he thought, looking to the Free Fleet pyramid that was following the Kalu in towards Parnmal. An alert appeared on the screen in front of him.

He zoomed in on it, a new wormhole had formed, out of it even more Kalu emerged, sandwiching the Free Fleet between them.

Why the fuck did I have to get stranded on this station? He asked some unknowing power as the first Kalu fleet unknowingly entered Parnmal’s firing range.

The station invited them in like a Venus flytrap, waiting for them to get just deep enough to making pulling away a hard proposition.

***

Orshpa had heard the copies of information from Ashota, they talked about how Parnmal was a station even bigger than Rosho.

He’d been right, a shipyard filled with Free Fleet warships was connected to the station which was a mash of asteroids melded together. Weapon batteries were tiny on the station which made one think that there weren’t many of them. They would be mistaken. There was more firepower on that station than in the entire fleet between him and Falhu’s splinter group.

He was looking at scans that were a half hour late.

He growled and shook his head roaming around on his command deck.

If Falhu’s fleet went up against that station they would win, a Kalu leader could never think any differently. Yet the cost of ships and Kalu would mean that they couldn’t continue their attack on the core systems of the Union and the Free Fleet.

“Send orders to Falhu’s splinter fleet. I want them to send half of their number against the station, the rest are to regroup with us as we move onto attack the feeder worlds of the Free Fleet,” Orshpa said. He was writing off half of the other fleet, but it was the only way to get the rest to come with him.

If he didn’t get into the feeder worlds, then the Free fleet would win. The Kalu’s strength was in ground combat, that was clear to him now. He needed to bring them to fight on the planets, the first world he came to he would demonstrate the might of the Kalu’s fighting ability.

Then he would strike out to attack Earth, the home of the Free Fleet’s leader. He would lose face with his home planet since he was unable to defend his own people.

He bared his teeth, a growl tickling his throat in pleasure.

“We will go on and bloody the worlds of the Free Fleet. We will go into ground combat and we will make them howl our names as we write ours in the stories! Come with me brothers, let our honor guard crush this station of metal and weakness. We shall ravage their worlds and cull those that might avenge them!” He said, stirring his Kalu up into a blood-frenzy, two crashed together in battle on his command deck.

“The order has been sent clan leader of all Orshpa,” Daskil bowed his head in reverence.

“Let us bring honor to our clans and feel the life in our enemy’s death!” Orshpa yelled, the Kalu howled and pawed the floor’s in anticipation, sharpening their black claws as their eyes burned with fresh fire. The losses of the Nexus were forgotten. The names of those lost would be remembered as they won and hopefully gained the honor of joining them.

***

“Well that’s annoying,” Monk said as if the store was out of milk. Half of the Kalu fleet were turning away, a hundred and thirty thousand or so.

“Pint, if your gunners could give them a parting gift, I’d be thankful,” Monk said, looking to the Kuruvian tactical commander. It was odd to see a Kuruvian in that position, but anyone is capable of anything and Pint was a damned good tactical commander.

“Would be my pleasure commander. Shall we open fire on all of them or just those departing?” Pint asked, a few people looked at him annoyed with his conversational tone.

“Oh, I think all of them,” Monk said, bestowing Pint with an amused smile, with just a hint, of bloodlust filling his eyes.

“Yes Commander,” Pint said, his arms moving in a way that turned Monk’s eyes into cold slits, an amused smile still on his face.

“All batteries, confirm targeting,” Pint said, his hands now moving across his multiple controls absorbed in getting the most out of his people and weapons.

“Very well, bring all batteries to readiness,” Pint said, his head twitched from screen to screen while he continued to move.

Signatures that had been dormant grey turned to active purple.

After the shipyards, Parnmal itself had been the biggest purchaser of weaponry, even when they’d been moved to other planets to shore up their defenses they had taken extra weaponry.

That was why Four thousand PRC’s came online on their remote stations, another four across Parnmal’s armor, just over a thousand Laser Cannons rotated into position. Tens of thousands of railguns that had been hoarded instead of destroyed also powered up. While most ships used a single AI to help out. Parnmal needed eight with the largest capacity processing and computing systems in existence.

“Firing third phase defenses,” Pint said. Not a single cannon actually fired, instead the hollowed out and altogether fake asteroids the Kalu had just been passing revealed their true identity.

Laser mines were great, but they had one short coming, you couldn’t pack all that many into a Free Fleet ship.

This meant there was less of them over a large area, making the chances of a hit pathetically low.

Parnmal didn’t have to carry their mines anywhere, so they made them as big as they wanted, thank you very much!

They ranged from as powerful as a laser cannon’s blast, to the equivalent of four. They didn’t just destroy ships, they made holes through ships.

The Kalu fleet continued to split up forces the majority heading for the nearest jump point, the rest headed for Parnmal.

Their lasers hit Parnmal’s planetary-strength shields having little effect. They fired missiles in their usually haphazard way.

Compared to their numbers, the Kalu’s missiles headed for Parnmal were pitiful.

Remote PDS platforms went active, rounds streaking out to meet the Kalu missiles.

“Well I think that we’ve finally run them out of missiles,” Monk said.

“All batteries, open fire,” Pint said, his voice perfectly professional as Parnmal’s batteries opened with the hunger of the gunnery teams and AI’s behind them.

Parnmal was the home of the Free Fleet, the families of the fleet lived there. It was where the Free Fleet had first come together and fought, where they had blunted Captain Kelu’s forces and struck out against the Syndicate.

The first Commander of the Armored Marine Commandos had died to give his people the time they needed to pull back.

That history rested with the people of Parnmal, it seemed that Henry himself was guiding their guns on target as the Kalu ships in range bucked and shook with impacts.

Salchar’s fleet turned, heading after the Kalu fleet that was fleeing battle.

“Commander Salchar is broadcasting on all channels,” Hulio said from communications.

“Broadcast to the entire station,” Monk said, leaning forward in his seat.

“You came for us with death in your hearts and thoughts of showing your forefathers that you could do what they couldn’t—slaughtering the races of the Union, innocents and military alike. You grew up seeing war as an ideal, learned how to kill and swore to one-day kill others to prove your strength,” Salchar rose from his chair and walked to the bannister.

“Strength is not killing those weaker than you, it’s working with them to make one another stronger. Though you will never understand that, you have made your purpose war. You may have fought on your planets for position, your clan may have fought another for domination and land. You saw war as a sport, a past-time, something to be taken lightly, yet you never experienced true war. Now you face an opponent born into battle, born right here, right in Parnmal. We fought for our freedom and we have never given up. We will never give up,” Salchar ground out, his voice crushed gravel and his eyes primed laser cannons.

“You wanted war, you wanted sport.” Salchar’s face seemed to be made of stone. Unfeeling and without mercy.

“Sir, we’re broadcasting to the entire Union,” Hulio said.

Salchar bent and slammed his leg against the floor. Monk could see the Avarians on Salchar’s bridge stand and slam their legs into the decking as well.

“Today I renew a promise made months ago. A promise that Commandos on Jakram and Ershue are fulfilling now, that the fleets and Commandos of the Free Fleet have taken onto their shoulders,” Salchar said, the beat picking up.

Monk stood, his own feet slamming into the decking in rhythm.

Then the chant came that had started with the Avarians and spread to the rest of the fleet, began, their chant, the chant of the Free Fleet going to war.

“Give us war;

Give use death,

And know despair.

We are Free Fleet.

We are shadows,

Blades, and claws.

Hear our chant.

We are war;

We are death;

We are despair.

We serve battle,

Masters lead us

Not to victory,

But to our enemy’s death.

Give us war;

Give use death,

And know despair.

We are Free Fleet.” By the end of the chant the entire command center of Parnmal was ringing and not just from the cannons that demonstrated the Free Fleet’s promise.

“Come Kalu, come fight us. Its time you wrote something in your stories that you will never forget. This is the last teaching war, and you will not survive, just as your supply fleet did not survive.” Anger and defiance seemed to roll off of Salchar’s shoulders. Everyone stood straighter. The Free Fleet would fight no matter what, they weren’t just the men and women of Parnmal. In that moment Monk felt everyone was thinking of the hundreds of thousands of Free Fleet personnel spread across the vastness of space, all working to defeat the Kalu. They might lose a planet, they might lose this war, but they had laid in plans to survive. The Free Fleet would win eventually. That thought gave even the most scared person in the Free Fleet something to think about.

Monk’s eyes slid to the crèche where his nephew rested. Even in the darkest of times there was hope.

“Remote missile batteries are ready to fire,” Pint said.

“Then let’s show these Kalu what it means to go to war,” Monk’s voice was conversational even with his words.

The batteries opened fire, they’d been waiting for the half of the running Kalu fleet to get close enough to do some real damage. They had a short window before they passed through the remote missiles’ range and towards their jump point.

The batteries were a mix of old and new, old single warhead missiles and new multi-warheads.

The Kalu seemed to have learned something, aiming their bows at the launches, targeting the batteries and firing on them instead of wading through oncoming fire. They took up trying to shoot down the missiles. Yet it was a new practise for them and a good twenty percent of the missiles made it through.

Parnmal had tried to saturate them with two-hundred thousand missiles, a quarter never left their launchers, just over half were either hit by the Kalu, failed to detonate, or were destroyed by the Free Fleet’s own fire or missiles.

That was around forty-three thousand missiles. Some were too far away to damage the Kalu ships much, the multi-warheads maimed many, but getting actual kills was harder. The bigger missiles made ships evaporate or disintegrated entire sections like something had taken a bite out of the Kalu ships.

The Kalu saved themselves by being spread out for once, changing directions had allowed them to push apart as some eagerly followed Orshpa’s orders and others tried to get as many shots in on Parnmal as possible.

Fifteen-thousand were taken out with the first wave, though they weren’t the only batteries that had fired. Batteries further back had fired afterwards, using the first wave as a screen. They fared a lot better, ripping holes in the Kalu fleet and taking twenty-seven thousand with their fiery destruction.

The Kalu fleet heading straight for Parnmal didn’t fare as well.

They’d lost Forty-thousand from Parnmal’s fire already. Another fifty-three thousand blossomed with nuclear light.

If they’d had shields or automated PDS then it would have been a different story, Monk thought, thanking the light that the Kalu’s stubbornness had led them to disregard the proposed defences. They were fighters, not ones to worry about protecting themselves.

“The fleet moving towards the jump point is exiting weapons range,” Pint said, his manipulators showing his annoyance.

“Akatski, have all of our Commandos report to their vessels, call in the merchant fleet, we’ll have them get loaded up and ready to support the worlds the Kalu decide to land on,” Monk said, the weapons were now focused on the Kalu that were still charging at Parnmal.

“Yes Commander,” Akatski said, putting his words into actions.

The battle was a foregone conclusion but the Kalu, no matter what they did couldn’t escape, they were too far into the trap to pull out. If all of them had come at Parnmal then there might have been a chance of them cracking the station.

Rosho hadn’t had the mass of weaponry, new and old that Parnmal did, they also didn’t have people working together and AI’s backing them up. The Syndicate had been too sure of their power; the Free Fleet had never stopped trying to improve their position.

Parnmal wasn’t a rock in the Kalu’s way, they were a dam.

Unfortunately, too many of the Kalu are listening to their leader and going around us. He did some mental math, it looked like a close two-hundred thousand Kalu were going to get past.

The massive numbers didn’t seem that big as the Free Fleet had bled hundreds of thousands of Kalu off of their fleets.

Monk knew that while those numbers weren’t quite as daunting in space, if the Kalu got to the ground it was going to be hell.

He bowed his head, sending a silent prayer to those that would be engaging the Kalu on the ground.

***

“Those fucking alien fucks!” Edwards yelled. He and his maintenance crew had been working on clearing the yards to make sure that no sensors could see the slips under the asteroid they were cut from.

Edwards didn’t care what some judge said or what the Free Fleet said or what the Union people agreed to.

He had expected the people of the United States and Earth to rally to his cause. Instead they looked away, as if they were ashamed by him.

He had yelled and screamed at his guards, accusing them of everything and anything he could think of, he refused to do his tasks and he’d been put in isolation.

It took weeks before he finally gave in.

He cared little for those he worked with and they couldn’t give a fuck about him or his issues.

More than once the other prisoners had told him to shut the fuck up.

No one had raised a fist to him and that had made him all the bolder as he cursed aliens and the useless creatures that wouldn’t be in the stars if it wasn’t for Earth’s abilities.

His arguments made little sense, he said that humanity had brought them to the stars but many had the ability to travel in space before humanity did.

The only humans to help people get to the stars were in the Free Fleet. Earth was now back at sorting out getting themselves into space as the Free Fleet had removed their support.

There was no winning against his arguments and most gave up, finding him an annoying nuisance that never shut up.

Now Edwards scrambled across the asteroid, forgetting where the hatch was, and his fear of space filling him.

He vowed to make it back to Earth and exercise control over these savage aliens. A righteous fire built in him as he thought of seeing the fear in their eyes, his face twisting into a hungry snarl as he thought of how he would hurt Yasu to get to Salchar.

Too fucking bad someone’s feelings aren’t as powerful as a nuclear missile.

The asteroid’s surface gained a new crater and sanitizing Edwards from the universe.

Chapter The Mound

Kurft was finally up to date on everything that was happening around the mound. The Kalu hadn’t taken long to rush towards their primary position. It had kept a lot of them alive when the Fleet hammered the crap out of their parked ships. The fighters and bombers thinned out the remaining Kalu starships hovering over the planet’s trees.

The PDS and HAPA’s were keeping the Kalu fighter swarms occupied.

He’d lost five hundred HAPA’s in a few short days and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better. The forward trenches of the Mound were engaged with the Kalu heavily, the artillery’s guns never paused, crews shifted out in parts so that they could keep the guns going. A number of the guns had to be completely replaced when they burned through their control circuits or the coolant couldn’t keep up. The Fleet shipped down all the rail cannon parts they could.

Rail cannons along the armored walls above the trenches were having the same issue.

He had the AI’s generate a schedule to change out Commandos and Free Fleet personnel. The cooks had strict orders to always have warm drinks and food ready for those coming in and those about to go out.

“Have a talk with the ranger groups and see if they can do anything about the Kalu foragers. I know that they can eat almost everything, but from their biology we know that they get colds and the runs. Let’s see if we can’t get something into their diet that doesn’t quite agree with them,” Kurft said to Fal.

“Yes Commander, I think his teams will only be too pleased,” Fal said, sounding quite happy to ruin the Kalu’s days.

No one, not even a soldier or a warrior hell bent on bloodlust was going to have a good day if they needed to pop a squat every few hours. Kurft let out a grunting chuckle at the thought of Kalu looking like a bunch of dogs out for a walk.

“I’m a little shocked,” Fal said, pulling Kurft out of his thoughts and wondering if the Ershue could read them.

“About what?” Kurft said as they walked around the command center. Kurft hated to be sitting still and Fal made climbing through the lower limbs of the artificial tree as simple as walking.

“I’ve heard the stories and I seen the videos from veterans. I kind of thought that they were one of a kind, and while they are each their own person. It is easy to see their similarities with the other Veteran Commando units you brought along. They might complain a bit and mutter about their shit deal. Though when the shit hits the fan they’re like grim juggernauts. They put their armor on and get to work,” Fal said, respect in his voice.

If he keeps thinking that way he might have a future as a Commander, Kurft thought, all too many officers before the Free Fleet had seen their soldiers as nothing more than pawns for their bidding. They showed them to do something on the map and they expected it to be done that way. They didn’t see the obstacles in their way, to them they were idiots wandering around in a field. Not trained killers ready to look after their friend to their left and right.

“Fal, I think you’re doing the newer units a disservice, everyone has been on the front lines. It’s hard for everyone. The Veterans have learned of ways to deal with that combat. For most of us it’s embracing the reaper as our true master and Salchar being his conduit. The veterans don’t simply go about this as if it’s another job at the office, doing the same thing day in and out. They go out their expecting their enemy and uncle Murphy to do everything to fuck with their day,” Kurft let that settle in Fal’s mind.

“The newer troops are still thinking about their training and worrying about fucking up. Once they’ve been bathed in fire a few times they’ll realize their instructors were right and they’ll stop trying to imitate Commandos, they’ll be Commandos,” Kurft continued his pacing, Fal pausing for a half second as he thought on Kurft’s points.

“Kalu are pushing hard in sector five, HAPA’s are already reacting and moving to the walls to support,” Poj reported, Fal felt his wings open in alarm, Kurft’s body tensing as he eyed the door.

Damn I wish I was out there fighting the fight. He remembered the message that Bregend, his Commander, and good friend had sent him after he’d voiced his own feeling about being in command. The trust and respect in Bregend’s words hadn’t been sugar coated, they’d been just what he needed to keep him in the command center and watch as his people rushed into danger.

“Very good,” Kurft said, his voice harsh, he looked over the main screen to see what was happening.

“We’ve also been able to trace some of the camps the Kalu have been making,” Fal said, drawing Kurft away from the screens.

“Very good, let’s keep observing them for a day or two, to see what they do, the Fleet needs that information for other battle plans. Then we’ll give them a new kind of rain,” Kurft’s voice hard, he saw Fal wince as well as some of the other Ershue.

“I wish we didn’t have to bombard your planet, but.”

“I know, we all do, its just that we’ve protected our planet from everything including ourselves for so long that its an almost gut reaction,” Fal said, imitating a human smile, it was weak, as was his wings attempt at brevity.

“When the Kalu are gone, I promise I’ll do what I can to help Ershue, all of Ershue,” Kurft said, looking into Fal’s eyes. The Ershue twitched a bit, they did not like looking in one another’s eyes as it was usually what happened when they looked at the animals that tried to kill them.

They were usually prey.

They’ve come a long way to get to this point, Kurft thought, proud to be standing next to a race and planet that had been able to prioritize their needs in order to fight a battle to save their lives and the lives of their people.

I hope it won’t mess the entire planet up after this, he thought before shaking his head. He had to first make sure that they won.

“We have break-ins in sectors one, seven, twelve and fourteen,” Poj said, her voice increasing in volume. Kurft marched to face the main screen, his eyes darting over it to read the situation.

“Drop a nuke load onto each of the breaches, push the Kalu back,” ue said to the artillery.

“Send a warning to the Commandos in those areas, have radiation meds ready to go. Bring up the reserves and have them ready to move,” Kurft pointed to Poj, his eyes still looking over the main screens.

“Inform the commandos that they are pulling back to the second line,” he pointed to Fal who started rattling out orders. “This isn’t going to be their first push and we really should have pulled back earlier than this, we’ve got a hell of a lot of frontage to cover.” The last part was mostly to himself.

HAPA’s rushed out of the opening hangar doors, right into the Kalu’s fire, their own guns up and firing as smoke haloed from their missile pods, coming down among the Kalu pressing through the lines breaches.

The reserve that had been sitting in the second line of the trenches now stepped up and started firing as the first line grabbed their gear and ran back to them.

In most places it was organized, in others it was chaos where the Kalu had broken into the lines and were fighting Commandos in hand-to-hand combat.

It was getting messy and fast.

The nukes went off, mushroom clouds putting an end to the Kalu’s advances, the HAPA’s and reserve units piled in the firepower and kept the Kalu off balance. Units that had been on the front lines moved to help out their comrades in killing Kalu in the trenches while pulling back to the second line.

It took some time, more time than Kurft had hoped, but less than he feared. Thankfully the Kalu seemed to have pulled back and were regrouping for an attack.

“Activate all of the booby traps in the first trenches, wouldn’t do to have the Kalu use them,” Kurft said.

“Yes Sir,” Poj said inputting the codes that turned the first trenches and the area around them into a death trap.

“Pull back the HAPA’s but keep them on alert. The frontlines and the secondaries should be able to handle this. How are the standby reserves looking?” Kurft asked the main screen panning out from the highlighted second group of entrenchments.

“They are in the third line of entrenchments and waiting,” Fal said.

“Good,” Kurft said, nodding in approval. His people had reacted with speed and efficiency. He knew it would go on as the battles lasted longer and they got less sleep.

For now, they were safe and ready if the Kalu decided to attack.

“They’re coming.”

Didn’t have to wait long, Kurft thought, watching on the feeds as the Kalu ran up the mound’s sides, getting blasted with PDS and pushing through it, their lasers taking out the PDS where they could. The Commandos fire helped give them pause, but it wasn’t enough to stop them. The artillery waited before raining timed rail cannon rounds onto the Kalu which turned them into holed and bleeding armor grinding to a sudden halt.

Kurft watched, seeing if there were any breaks in the defense.

“Fal, how are we looking for artillery shells and missiles?” He asked, continuing his stroll and Fal moving through the fake tree.

“Well Commander, our numbers are good, we have…”

***

“Don’t take this wrong Ben, but damn if Physics isn’t a bitch,” Salchar said. Ben had plotted out the new route of the surviving Kalu fleet heading for the jump point as well as Orshpa’s fleet if they were to meet up with them. The Free Fleet would be too late, and if they used their capacitors they’d get minutes on their targets. Using Wormhole generators would take too long.

“No offense commander, but I was thinking something along the same lines,” Ben said.

“Well then, seeing as we aren’t going to be giving them any parting gifts. We should work on getting a gift ready for their arrival on the other side. Plot a course for Parnmal, we’ll pick up our Commandos before heading down the corridor,” I said, the bridge turning into action as my orders were carried out and the fleet informed of my decision.

I looked to Ben who understood my glance having worked with me for so long.

“Two hours until we reach Parnmal Commander,” he said.

“Good,” I said, sitting back in my seat.

“So what do you think?” I asked Rick as I looked at the map of the corridor. The intelligence department had cracked the codes of the Kalu fleet and with ours being right in-between the two fleet’s we were picking up everything.

“It looks like he got them all riled up. If it was just so they would turn away from Parnmal, I don’t know, but we both know that he is going to need to do something to bleed off their bloodlust. It did look like he was telling them that the next inhabited system they got to they would make a demonstration of their might on,” Rick said rubbing his face. We had aged years in months.

Guess that’s why we get paid the big bucks. Hell I wonder if I even do get paid, I thought, my mind wandering due to a lack of sleep.

“I kind of hope that they do,” I said looking to him.

“Yes, it would be rather nice if the Kalu were stupid enough to try and take Avar Interim Hermanti,” he said with a rare thoughtful smile. My own face mirroring his.

“Vort, send a message to Commander Ursht, make sure that he is ready in case the Kalu decide to make a visit. Tell him that we will be there to assist shortly,” I said, tapping my lips in though. I didn’t have a crystal ball, but my mind was trying to sort through the possibilities of what might happen with the Kalu.

“Yes Commander,” Vort said, but his voice was distant from my absorbing thoughts.

My screens pinged with a message from Yasu, I checked it and try as I might, I couldn’t help but look back at my boy in his crèche.

It’ll be safer for him, I thought, knowing that I was only trying to justify it to myself. I felt as if part of me was being pulled away. Sure I would know that he was safe, but hell if I didn’t want him to be by me all the time so that I could personally watch over him.

This was going to be one of the hardest few hours of my life.

“Rick could you call me up a shuttle. I’ll be going to Floater and then on to Parnmal,” I said.

“Can do,” Rick said. Working on my request as I went and grabbed the crèche. Then I walked out of the bridge, looking into the box the whole walk down to the shuttle bays and on the ride over to Floater.

Chapter Avar Interim Hermanti

Ursht looked to the battle masters, they were gathered in the same hall that Krom and Salchar had fought the first time.

He had been sure he would lose his position for calling down someone of the stars to help the proud Avarians.

Now he was the leader of the Commando regiments across the planet and part of the forming committee that overlook Asul City’s growth.

“So the Kalu are coming here,” Jahli said rather than asking, all of them had seen the reports and the information coming from the Free Fleet.

“Yes, the Commandos are ready and waiting. Our defenses are solid,” Ursht said.

“So why do you come here if your own city and people are safe?” Kolva said from his position.

“We wish to hunt together,” Ursht said looking to the other clan leaders, they leaned forward in interest.

“We have room in our defenses and bunkers for your people and the Free Fleet looks to protect all people. As AIH has signed a treaty with them all of our people, not just the people that follow Salchar are subject to their reassurances.” Calling it Protection would have just started a fight with these proud men.

“When you say you want to hunt together, will you give our people powered armor and railguns?” Kolva asked, his eyes widening in greed.

“Railguns yes, they don’t have the nerve ports for the powered armor, it is too late for that,” Ursht tried to keep the bite out of his tone.

After all it was you that didn’t want them to come to the Commandos in order to get proper training with the powered armor. The other leaders in the room still saw the Commandos as being Salchar’s and Asul’s people.

“What is your battle plan?” Jahli asked, he had the second biggest clan to Asul city and he had looked to upgrading his own city to give his people better living conditions. He did trade closely with Asul, they were the most prosperous city afterall and Jahli had a defense agreement with them. A number of his fighting capable youth had joined the Free Fleet and the planetary Commandos under the command of Ursht.

“We open the hunts up for all, on the Kalu,” Ursht couldn’t hide his thin smile as he looked to the clan leaders. They had limited the hunt as they realized that killing their prey and would leave them starving unless they let them recuperate.

It was a big blow to the Avarian honor. They were hunters, trackers and taking away their hunt was not met with the happiest of sentiments.

The Avarians had come up with a weapon that had a bag on the end of it and carried a dye that would leave its mark on the prey. That way they kept their skills sharp for when hunting season was called and they could show their mark on the prey with their own distinct color in their fur or on their shell.

“Well that would be an interesting hunt,” Traz’s voice rumbled, sharing the hungry look in Ursht’s eyes, opening and closing his hands in anticipation.

The other two leaders were also leaning forward in their seats; many would be happy to hunt. It lived in their blood and souls.

“Asul have already armed their hunters with their weapons and promised that any Kalu killed by the hunter will be claimed as theirs. The Kalu’s armor is made from rare and refines materials. The shipyards will pay well for their weight. We will also be supplying explosives in case any of your hunters might want to test some traps out,” Ursht saw the pleased smiles on all of the Avarians in the room. Traz stood from his chair and walked to Ursht’s position as talker, he put his right hand on his shoulder and tilted his elbow so that it was covering his face.

“Dasva will join you in your hunt,” he said. Ursht held his arm in the same fashion and they touched the back of their arms.

“It will be my honor to hunt with you and yours,” Ursht said, holding Traz’s eyes as one would hold those of a worthy opponent.

Traz let out a barking laugh as they lowered their arms. He made his way to the halls doors, his muscles rippling as he pushed the doors which took four Avarians to open.

“Dasva goes to hunt the Kalu!” He barked.

There were stunned looks as that sunk in, it quickly turned to cheers that filled even the hall of clan leaders.

Ursht looked to find Kolva with the same salute, they touched the back of their arms.

“Let us see which city gathers the most kills,” he said in challenge.

“I trust Asul’s hunters will gladly take the challenge,” Ursht said, their arms lowering to reveal satisfied smiles.

“Kolva’s clans will also join the hunt!” he bellowed, cutting through the noise of Traz’s clans.

Ursht touched arms with Jahli.

“Let us make up for the lost hunts,” Jahli said.

“May our people hunt together for a hunt to be talked about for ages,” Ursht said, both of them lowering their elbows.

Jahli brought with him not only his clans, but the awakening facilities that the priests looked over and their champions protected.

“The awakened will join the hunt,” Jahli’s voice wasn’t loud but it cut through the yells and cheers.

It was greeted by the savage war cries of the awakened.

Ursht walked to the entrance of the hall, marching out, his Commandos falling in behind him. There was no stopping the rush that filled him. All of AIH was united in one cause, hunting the Kalu that came to their planet.

***

I stopped walking in the corridor, looking to the statue of Henry. Yasu stood with me, tears in both of our eyes.

“How about Henry?” I asked, looking at the statue, our hands finding one another, taking strength from the other.

She let out a soft laugh.

“How about Henry Hachiro Cook?” She replied. Her hand tightening on mine.

“Sounds perfect,” I said, looking to her.

Henry would be safer than many, Monk had taken his duties as Uncle with great pride and the fierce protectiveness in his eyes put me and Yasu at ease. He was family and he would lay down his life to protect our son.

“Salchar,” Krom said softly, reminding us to keep moving, the Fleet was needed in AIH.

I touched the statue dedicated to Henry.

“Wish you were here to see how we’ve grown brother,” I said, emotions making my jaw tighten as my eyes shimmered.

Yasu patted the statue as well, we sunk into our own memories for a moment before Yasu pulled me onwards.

We walked together, hand in hand all the way to the shuttle bay.

“Let’s go and protect our home,” Yasu said, fire in her eyes.

I nodded to the truth in her words. Earth had betrayed us too many times, AIH was our home and the Free Fleet were our people.

We hugged, giving eachother our love. Neither of us wanted to let go, as we hadn’t wanted to let go of our boy Henry.

We came apart and I darted in for a quick kiss and one last hug.

We hid our tears, the training of gaming celebrity helping us. I pulled my helmet on, silent tears falling down my cheeks as I hooked my gloves in.

I took my seat with a rattling breath, moving my arms to focus myself.

We hadn’t been just saying goodbye, we’d been telling the other what we would want them to remember if they died.

The shuttle arrived at Hic Stamus all too quickly.

“We are ready to move to Avar Interim Hermanti,” Rick said in my helmet as I stepped off of my shuttle.

“Very well, get us there as fast as possible,” I said, steeping into my role as Commander Salchar, not James Cook the husband and father.

***

Orshpa looked at the planet he was sending eighty-thousand Kalu. All of the Kalu had vied to join the clans that had gained the honor of attacking the planet.

It was a dull looking planet of rocks and little growth. It would be easy to flush out the weak creatures of the Union. Without their ships armor and missiles, they would fall like the prey they were.

“Go, claim this world in the name of the clans of Kalu, we shall meet afterwards to feast and celebrate our victories whether with our ancestors or one our new worlds,” Orshpa rose his head, showing his pride in the Kalu that were heading towards the planet.

It seemed to have an effect as they went to full acceleration.

“The Free Fleet have arrived,” Daskil announced some three hours later.

He had seen them stopping at the massive station that had destroyed an entire fleet and anything that had come into their sights.

The fleet’s defeat at Parnmal had done nothing but expend irreplaceable missiles and ships.

Orshpa stepped on the dread he was starting to feel.

I will watch these worlds run with the blood of their inhabitants. We will claim all of space as our own and look to spread our stories through the stars. Our people will send more supplies or we will take them from those that we defeat. We shall not lose! That ironclad conviction made him look at his fleets proudly, they would bring him victory.

“The Free Fleet have transitioned into the system,” Daskil said, pausing as if determining whether to tell Orshpa something.

“What?” Orshpa said, his eyes focusing on Daskil and making him squirm into a position of submission.

“The entire planet that the fleet is going towards are chanting,” Daskil said, hitting a button from his position on the floor.

“Give us war;

Give use death,

And know despair.

We are Avar.

We are shadows,

Blades, and claws.

Hear our chant.

We are war;

We are death;

We are despair.

We serve battle,

Masters lead us

Not to victory,

But to our enemy’s death.

Give us war;

Give use death,

And know despair.

We are Avar,”

It was similar to the chant that Salchar had used, yet the deep growls, roars and guttural noises of this race fit the chant better.

It looked like they had found the planet where the song had originated from.

“Hopefully they will be able to offer our warriors a worthy battle,” Orshpa said, cutting the chant off with a shake of his head and noise in the base of his throat aimed at Daskil.

For a moment Orshpa was apprehensive. He turned and walked from the command deck.

“I will be with my brood mates, alert me when our forces land on the planet,” the door to his private chambers opened, revealing two female Kalu with clean fur, lacking the Armor of the warriors.

They helped him out of his armor and made him forget about the universe beyond his Star-Destroyer for a while.

An alert sounded on his screens, he indicated for one of his mates to open the message, the others moved to get out of his way.

It showed the Kalu fleet moving to the Union world. PRC’s and Laser cannons, more than Orshpa had thought the planet might have, but a tithe of the firepower that he had encountered at Parnmal.

He watched for a few moments, looking at the losses the Kalu were taking only to make sure that they would get to the planet with the sort of numbers that they would need to take the planet. He cut the transmission and his mates coiled around him and helped him forget once again.

***

The cannons orbiting AIH fired, the gunners didn’t miss once. They not only made rail-cannons they tested them, making them possible the most proficient gunners within the Union. But there were only fifteen hundred cannons on all of AIH. While they had made tens of thousands of weapons systems. They had been shipping them to other planets. Their defense didn’t rely on the cannons, it relied on the warriors of AIH and their planet.

“Incoming transmission from the Commander,” Hod said from her place to his right. He had done away with a command center, all of his commanders new their missions. He wasn’t going to stay back while his people were out on the hunt. Those that were not part of the battle had been evacuated by the Avarians Merchant fleet and the Free Merchant fleet. Only warriors waited for the Kalu on the planet. Two-point-three million of them, only four hundred thousand were Commandos, but all of them were armed with railguns, modern explosives and at least some kind of armor to protected against the Kalu lasers.

There was only one person that was ‘the commander’. Ursht accepted the transmission, it was audio. He continued to look over a star map of the oncoming Kalu and the laser cannons.

“Battle Master Salchar I hear that Yasu had a good birth. I hear that you a father, this is great news!” Ursht exclaimed to the smiles of the other Commandos of all races around him.

“Thank you Ursht,” Salchar said, his voice catching ever so slightly. “We’re going to put a couple of wormholes right into the Kalu’s path to help to thin out their numbers, how are we looking on the ground?” Salchar continued, his voice firm and brisk.

“All units are deployed; we have positions ready across the planet to fall back to. We will engage the enemy in a series of attacks across the planet, using the guerilla tactics that we learned about. We hope to break them up and fight them in packets hopefully less than our strength, though it will be hard,” Ursht answered, he knew Salchar had the reports he’d sent up to him. Salchar didn’t just want the numbers and figures, he wanted to know the situation from his man on the ground.

“Hopefully we can thin out their hordes a little,” Salchar said.

“Thank you Battle master,” Ursht replied, he was proud of his people and he would pit any of them against any Kalu, but there were nine million of the bastards up there. He looked up as a laser cannon battery was hit when it was about to fire, it turned into a fiery blast which made his visor darken.

“I have a decision to make.” Salchar said, his voice low and thoughtful.

“How may I help?” Ursht asked, feeling honored.

“I have seven hundred thousand Commandos on my ships here, I could send them to the ground to support you, or I could send them on to Chaleel. I have to decide where it’s best to put them to use,” Salchar said, the statement a question.

In his mind Ursht pictured Chaleel, he had been there many times. AIH and Chaleel had become fast allies trading food for refined materials and goods.

They’d built merchant fleets together and their people were the backbone of such enterprises.

The Chaleel were fine warriors, but there was a large amount of them that tended to their fields. Ursht of past might have seen them as weak, but now he saw them as the resource they were. He also saw how leaving them to die for the good of the warriors would be a mistake. While AIH had been able to evacuate all of their small non-fighting population, the Chaleelian had only got about twenty-percent of their population off of the planet.

They had around seven hundred thousand Commandos and standing military units. Even with those numbers they would be spread thin to protect the ten-million civilians on the planet.

“We have the thirteen ships at the supply point, I will send word for them to come and support us. Help those on Chaleel, we at least do not have our children and innocents out in the open,” Ursht said.

His decision was clear, even if he and all of those on AIH died, hopefully they would have protected the innocents of Chaleel.

“You are a credit to the Commandos and AIH,” Salchar said, pride in his voice.

“Thank you Commander,” Ursht said, his focus pulled away by an alert. The Kalu had entered AIH’s atmosphere.

“About this point I think you have something else to do. I will let you fight your war Commander,” Salchar said.

“I too wish you luck in your coming battles,” Ursht said. The channel cut and Ursht wasted no time in pulling up a map that showed where that Kalu were supposed to land.

There were noises of shock, he looked up from his planning and information, clearing his HUD enough to look where his people were staring. Orbs of distorted light appeared in AIH’s atmosphere, they were hazy and wobbly. The Kalu diving into the atmosphere were unable to meet the orbs.

Wormholes, Ursht thought, knowing that he was right. The Free Fleet had projected Wormholes into the planet’s atmosphere, right in the path of the oh-so-predictable Kalu. They were unstable and they were nasty. They moved and swayed from the distorting gravitational interference of the planet. This close to a planet nothing would come out from those wormholes alive. Which was perfect in Ursht’s eyes. The Kalu rushed through them, disappearing from existence, they didn’t have their projectors or stabilizers out and charged. It looked like watching someone jumping into water so muddy that you couldn’t see them once they were submerged.

But this was in midair and the wormholes sucked in anything that crossed their event horizons.

Science beyond Whorst comprehension annihilated anything that crossed their paths.

“Well fuck that looks weird,” an unknown Commando said, summarizing the sight up aptly.

Kalu made it past the wormholes. Some hit only partly the holes themselves, pieces of ships disappeared and debris tumbled, atmosphere caused them to glow and burn up into uselessness.

“Adjust cannons on the ground to target ships that make it through the wormholes,” Ursht said to Chief Holloway that was commanding all of the cannons on AIH.

“Done,” the chief said, the cannons took moments to change their targeting, smacking into the Kalu coming in to land.

“As soon as they’re on the ground and out of their ships, hit them with artillery,” Ursht said, his voice distant as he looked at the three landing areas that were forming and the Kalu fighters that were peeling away from their mother Star-Destroyers.

They headed for the PRC’s dotted across the planet, only to run into PDS fire. The Avarians had been busy in the time the Kalu had given them. Personal Defense Systems dotted elevations across the planet, all updated with Kalu ship types and with commands to open fire on any that came across their path.

AIH produced weapons en masse and while everyone had wanted the new laser cannons and Planetary Rail Cannons, they hadn’t stopped making PDS. They’d made so many PDS that they could churn out tens of thousands in under an Earth week. They’d passed them out like candy, but they still had a massive stockpile.

Holloway had come up with the idea of mimicking Foshunti’s idea on Heija with the PDS in the hills, except putting them across the entire planet.

Ursht had approved and Holloway’s people had gone to work.

There were hundreds of thousands of the weapons everywhere, and while the Kalu fighters took them out quickly, they each took out at least a few fighters.

Swarms that rushed over HAPA positions were met by rail cannons and nuclear missiles. Ursht could hear the thunderclaps and see the mushroom clouds forming already.

“Let the hunt begin,” Ursht said to himself, marking his Commandos objective.

“We’re going to wait till all of the Kalu are down, then we’re going to bring them under fire. The hunters will turn their ships into traps then we’ll use the tunnels to pull back,” he said to his commanders, stepping down from the ridge, his command team following him under the overhang which looking to be the bottom of the valley. Under which a hundred and thirty thousand HAPA’s waited, with engineers and techs doing last minute checks as Commandos moved in their organized lines. Ursht climbed up into his HAPA, pulling his controls down and powering up the beastie, it hummed with life and he checked his motion and various displays, waiting for the Kalu to land.

“Wormholes have ended,” Hod said.

After the onslaught of the Avarians cannons and the Fleet’s wormholes. Instead of there being nine-million Kalu warriors and fighters on the planet. There was seven and a half. True numbers were following up but Ursht flicked away from that information and focused on picking an encampment to go fuck with. He labelled the three Kalu Camp Alpha to Charlie and picked Bravo, Kolva’s hunters were moving into the area. He sent Kolva his plan.

A few moments later he got Kolva’s wholehearted agreement. Ursht got the HAPA moving with its rolling gait.

“Move out,” he broadcasted to his commanders.

They had passed on his orders down to their people and they followed him, heading not out from their hidden underground maintenance hangar, but through the tunnels which had been widened over the last couple of months since Ursht had seen the designs for the HAPA’s.

The HAPA’s went through a variety of tunnels all of them had been traced and were well known to their navigation systems.

It was a long walk and Ursht took the time to look over the Kalu, making sure that they weren’t doing anything that would warrant him speeding up. On the way down they hadn’t been able to find any good readings of people on the planet. They’d probably seen pockets, but it looked like they were piling out of their ships and waiting for direction from their leaders.

Alpha landing sites people started moving out and heading for Asul, thankfully it was away from Bravo landing spot and Ursht’s Commandos.

Ursht got to a massive door, transmitting his status to the other commanders, they transmitted when they too were next to the doors that led to the surface.

The HAPA’s moved, reading themselves for what was about to come.

“Ready,” Ursht said, grabbing the lever that would open the hatch, “Go!” He pulled the lever back and the hatch opened on its heavy-duty hydraulic pylons.

HAPA’s feet hammered up the cut stone of the tunnels and onto the planet’s surface. Rail cannons started firing and missile pods covered their wearers in smoke.

Ursht got his HAPA up on the surface, rolling side to side with the machine, he saw a swarm coming in from his left, and he raised his left hand firing as he kicked the HAPA’s side out, swinging it around, the recoil of the heavy railgun was just enough to notice.

“Holy fuck I love these things,” Ursht said, hearing the bellowing laughs of his Commandos. Training showed him to respect the HAPA, fighting in it, he was in love. He didn’t know how he had lived so long without the hellish destructive monster that wrapped around him.

His guns only paused as he selected missiles with his finger balls and sent one from each shoulder streaking up into the Kalu. He didn’t have normal payloads. Nukes sent the swarm into a tumbling mess of fire and broken ships. Their fires didn’t go out as they dropped to the ground, this wasn’t space anymore, it was AIH.

More HAPA’s had got to the surface, Commandos and engineers behind them were slapping PDS turrets in place and activating them to create an area that the Kalu fighters couldn’t get in.

“One Platoon watches the skies, another two focus on the Kalu warriors, we need to give Kolva’s hunters the time they need,” Ursht said. Pulling himself back to focus on the mission he needed to carry out.

There was enough PDS up and the Commanders were putting his orders into effect as they got the HAPA’s moving to a nearby ridge. Ursht looked at the HAPA’s that were pouring out from the tunnels into the light of day.

He took up position on the line, no one tried to pull him away, they knew what his answer would be, and they didn’t want to go to the rear with him.

“Wait till they get over the next ridge,” Ursht said, his voice low as if he was stalking prey.

They waited, HAPA’s to their backs continued to hammer any Kalu fighter swarms they didn’t like the look off, the PDS barrels ripped out bursts, traversing to follow a new target, firing again and repeating the process again and again.

Ursht paid them no heed, he trusted those to his back.

He moved his dual railguns, checking his ammunition levels and making sure the belts were still intact. Commandos in powered armor were already hauling ammo packs out of carts with HAPA ammunition.

We’re going to need that soon enough, Ursht thought, taking a slow breath as the rumbling of the oncoming Kalu raising dust in the distance turned into black carapaces.

They do look like massive wolves, he thought as he yelled “Fire!” at the same time.

Rail cannons bellowed and lasers darted back at the HAPA’s.

The five-hundred-meter gap between the two ridges was a light show, missiles added their touch to the fray as Ursht got on a channel with Holloway.

“Looking for supporting fire five hundred meters in front of my location, need to flatten a ridge out some,” Ursht said.

“Understood, dialing in,” Holloway said, Ursht could actually hear the tapping of the universal keyboard. There was a whining noise of a star-ship rail cannon sending a whole lot of pain in Ursht’s direction.

The first round was on Ursht’s side of the ridge, the round hammered into the ground, exploding with its penetrator round and making the Kalu’s ridge shake.

“Adjust another fifty meters back,” Ursht said, firing as he gave corrections, hearing Holloway tapping again.

“Sending,” Holloway reported, a few moments later a round buried itself in the top of the ridge, killing three Kalu and turning it into a spray of rock and Kalu bodies.

“Good effect on target, repeat, move first from position left to right from that point to fifty meters back,” Ursht said, hearing not one but multiple artillery pieces firing.

The rounds hammered into the ridge, detonating and taking its lip off, giving the Commandos a clear line of fire into the advancing Kalu.

They took advantage of it, not caring about bursts to take out the Kalu that popped out over the ridge. They clamped their fists onto their triggers and the battle became up to the ammo runners to keep the HAPA’s from running out of rounds.

Here and there the Kalu got a lucky shot in, hitting arms and taking out guns. One of the great things with the HAPA’s weapons being above their heads, was that the Commandos that were about a foot and a half lower them, could stay in cover as they fired, using their arms cameras and the camera above their heads to see what their fire was doing.

It kept casualties lower but there was still those here and there who got an unlucky hit, going down.

Commandos pulled them free, one of their number jumping into the HAPA and seeing if they were operational. If they were, they got back on the line and took their place.

The Kalu fighters seemed to be getting interested by all the action and were coming from the other landing locations. It was going to get real hot real fast.

Ursht opened a channel with Kolva.

“How is it looking?” He asked, making sure to not move that much as an ammo crew slapped feeding arms into his back, hurling rounds into his internal magazines.

“We have about half of the ships rigged, how long do we have?” Kolva asked.

“We can hold for another ten minutes, tops,” Ursht emphasized, the weight of Kalu coming to bar on him was like the waves from the growing Planner Sea. For now, it was manageable, but Ursht knew that was going to change very damned quick.

“We will not be able to rig all of the ships. You should have your people use artillery on them to take away their resources,” Kolva grunted, clearly not pleased with destroying potential loot, but his warrior side won out in the calculation.

“Understood,” Ursht said, his opinion of Kolva rising slightly.

“We will be free in five minutes,” Kolva promised.

“We will hold for five more minutes; commanders get your people ready to move back to the tunnels!” Ursht barked, more Kalu fighter swarms were coming from the directions of the other Kalu camps.

“Commanders, you are free to use the nuclear warheads,” he told the commanders of the HAPA’s keeping the Kalu fighters off of their brother HAPA’s.

“Holloway, nuke load, get us some fucking breathing room,” Ursht barked.

“Yes commander,” Holloway said. They were at the three-minute mark already as HAPA’s missile pods locked into position, firing their slender loads.

They raced up towards the Kalu. They didn’t care for the missiles, they were the Kalu, and they would wade through the fire and claim their enemy’s heads after all.

The missiles split into three warheads, blossoming into destruction, at the heart of the Kalu formations.

The shock waves rocked the HAPA’s only a few falling over. The Kalu warriors, racing to close with the HAPA’s, were tossed across the battlefield.

Holloway’s rounds made their arrival known, billowing waves of pressure, fire and destruction followed by smoke rolled through the Kalu formations, hurling the rocks, dust and Kalu that were in their range.

“We’re done,” Kolva said at six minutes.

“Pull back!” Ursht barked, to the uninitiated the HAPA’s would look like they were breaking, turning like a flood of metal hulks and racing away from the battle. They were actually organized into their units and this was their normal marching pace. Those on the line fired missiles down onto the stunned Kalu.

Ursht looked to the skies. The Kalu fighters were in disarray, for now. He knew that they would get their shit together all too soon.

The mass of fighters coming from other camps weren’t in such confusion.

Even as a part of him wanted to stay and fight, his training ruled. He needed to live to fight another day. Sure he might kill a lot today, but it would spend all of his forces.

He had lost a hundred and fifty-seven people.

He wouldn’t get many more by staying.

“Commander, we’re pulling back,” Hod said.

“Then I guess we should be following them,” Ursht fired his missiles, emptying his pods before heading for his tunnel.

The HAPA’s covering the skies dissolved into the tunnels as well.

The last one cleared the tunnel, rushing past Ursht as he watched the hydraulics of the tunnel’s opening close as lasers struck the ground around the opening.

“Commander?” Hod asked, her words serving to get Ursht moving.

“Have someone ready to collapse the tunnels if they make it in. Pass the word, we’re going to Charlie,” Ursht said.

‘Yes sir,” Hod started passing the word and Ursht disappeared into the world of information that told him of the fighting happening across his planet.

Chapter Oolta

Ershue disappeared behind Bregend’s fleet, Cheerleader was powering for the planet as fast as possible. Boot was similarly powering to catch up with Bregend. Falhu had been given nearly a week head start towards Oolta.

Reports from the system showed that there was a force of fifty-thousand Kalu shops powering for the high gravity and sandy world.

The remaining nearly three hundred thousand ships were heading for Drvntrni as fast as damned possible. Bregend wasn’t that worried about Drvntrni, first because all of the inhabitants lived underwater, second because everything on the damned planet looked to kill its inhabitants. The Kalu were going to have a bad time when they landed. The sentients wouldn’t need to do anything, the native creatures would wear down the Kalu forces.

It would be three days until Bregend’s fleet got to Oolta, another day until Boot caught up, and another two until the Henry classed Destroyers caught up with them all. Then Bregend would look to taking the smaller packets of Kalu head on.

***

It was three days later and Falhu was already on his way to Drvntrni. A third of the fifty-thousand Kalu had been stopped from getting to Oolta’s surface, the gravity was too strong for Planetary Rail cannons. Though mines didn’t need to worry about the same issues.

Another seven thousand craft didn’t make it to the surface, well more accurately, they made it to the surface too fast. The planet Ooltar was one point seven the gravities of Earth. Making it nine gravities more than the Kalu’s normal gravitational equivalent.

Orvunut, using specialized powered armor that turned them into walking tanks of HAPA cannons and missile pods meandered down to the Kalu landing areas and piled the firepower into the Kalu that were trying to slog it through the planet’s sand.

Kalu were meant to run fast over firm ground on lower gravity worlds. The sand seemed to eat them as they heaved themselves forward. The thicker atmosphere absorbed their laser fire and Kalu fighters were more likely to run into one another than hit the Orvunut tanks, or the Commandos that had been stationed there for a number of months.

“Commander Geh, if you have any targets I would be happy to send them a gift from the fleet,” Bregend said over a channel to the Planet’s Commando Commander.

“Sending,” Geh said, her voice rolling, deep and slow. The Orvunut were damned smart people, but they talked like molasses dripped from a spoon.

Targets illuminated the map.

“Domal, spread those targets around. Wilma have the fleet come to bear on the planet,” Bregend said.

His orders were carried out, and rail cannon batteries fired on their preselected targets. Their masses turned into cherry-red droppings, striking the target areas with brutal force. Dust rippled out from their impacts as craters appeared from their landing sites.

After twelve minutes the remaining three million Kalu strong force was turned into less than half that.

“The Orvunut can easily clear the remaining Kalu from the surface. We will try starving them first. We know that the Commandos will be needed in other systems to protect them. You are good fighters. Many of our own wish to join your ranks in helping push the Kalu back. Will you allow them to fight alongside your forces?” Commander Geh’s voice came out in a computerized synthesizer. Reading her body language was a lot faster than her actual ability to form words.

“Are you Certain Commander?” Bregend asked seriously. Yes, he wanted those forces, but he didn’t want to pull them from Oolta if he could help it.

“Yes Commander, we have gamed this situation out, this is one of the better and we will be fine. Thank you for your concern,” Geh’s computer voice came back.

“Very well, we are honored with your offer of assistance. We will send down ships to collect your people as soon as it is safe.”

“I will have one of my aide’s contact yours when we have secured a spaceport for your shuttles to land,” Geh cut the channel, it wasn’t rude but rather a high point of respect in the Orvunut culture. Everything they did was an economy of motion. If they spent more time on something, then it was because they thought they were dumb.

Bregend checked his reports. The Kalu had made it through Parnmal and AIH, the main force was moving on to Chaleel. Salchar and Commander Whorst were chasing right after them.

He looked to his own concerns, once Falhu was in Drvntrni he would have three directions in which to go; Rosho, Hada or Urshval.

Rosho would allow Bregend to harass the ever living hell out of him. Something he had learned well in Kalu space. If they went to Hada then it would take them to the overpopulated moons of Geraz three. It would not be pretty at all. They were late comers to the Union, so they had less forces on the planet’s their cannons were just getting installed and their moons had little atmosphere and gravity.

The last choice was Urshval. The planet Urk and its moons Ud and Uek were well populated, but they were the fifth biggest group of traders in the Union. They’d joined the Union quickly once they’d gone through all the terms with a fine comb.

They had one of the first mercenary units, which had called themselves Future Securities Incorporated watching their asses. They also had a hundred and eighty thousand Commandos spread across the planets.

“Let the dice fall where they may,” Bregend said, wiping his tired face. Dal fired occasionally according to the coordinates that Commander Geh fired up to Domal and he fired right back down with very physical results.

To the Kalu, Bregend might seem like a god of wrath and destruction. To him, he was a man trying to save a boat that had been beset on by a massive wave, but was now facing much smaller holes punched through its sides.

“Kyle, send a message to Boot, tell him to move on towards Drvntrni. We will hold here to grab the forces Ooltar is willing to part with and then follow behind him,” Bregend said, his voice sounding tired and weary.

“Yes sir,” Kyle said.

“Mills, make sure everyone gets some down time. I want them fresh for when we come up on Falhu,” Bregend said, looking to his reports from the Henry-classed Destroyer. It was time to do some real damage.

***

The dark of space was ripped apart and a flood seemed to come hurling out of the blackness.

“Well I don’t think Falhu’s going to like this,” Boot said to himself, seeing hungry and tight expressions mirror his own. The Henry classed Destroyers with their four capacitors had busted their asses off from their first battle to the nearest supply point and all the way to the nothingness between Oolta and Drvntrni.

Seventy-eight ships, turned to four-hundred and fifty-seven. The newest ships went to join them. The HCD’s grouped around the heavier ships of the line. They all had at least three capacitor banks as per Bregend’s orders. His own Dal led one of the larger pyramids.

Boot could have added Pretak’s hull to those pyramids, but someone needed to command the remaining ships that were formed up, ready and had asteroids strapped on their hull. Every carrier in his formation was a hull filled with Commandos and without a single MEF, bomber or jumper. All of them were slotting into the HCD’s with precision.

Boot’s pride at the entire evolution made him want to laugh and pat people on the back.

It was one of the most complex maneuvers he had ever seen but every single person was working to make sure that it went according to plan.

Five hours later and Bregend opened a private channel to Boot.

“Start wormhole generators, let’s kick this thing off right,” Bregend said. He sounded a hell of a lot better after the sleep and forced rest he’d been practically ordered to take by Boot after Oolta.

“Sounds like a fine idea to me,” he looked to Dlai, his second in command.

“Me too,” she said with a smile.

“Mister Dennison, power up our wormhole generators. Welick, be ready on those weapons. Asa run a final check on all the buckling cables for my piece of mind. I don’t want an asteroid going the wrong way,” he said with an amused display of his manipulators.

“Yes sir,” Asa smiled as the set to work.

Chapter victory comes at a cost

Falhu watched as the fleet of fifty-thousand ships headed towards the largely water covered planet he had found.

He was down to around two hundred and forty-five thousand ships, a fourth of his original strength, and all too many of them had been destroyed by the Free Fleet’s attacks.

He was heading towards Orshpa, he needed to report on what he had done and ask for new orders. A long the way he would sow his fleets across the inhabited worlds he came across.

“We have a wormhole opening in our fleet,” one of the aides said.

“Free Fleet!” The words came out like a curse that Falhu wished had never existed.

He watched as his fleet plowed through the tens of wormholes that had appeared directly in the largest concentrations of his fleet.

After a number of seconds asteroids came through the wormholes, spreading out as they cleared the event horizons and adding to the wormholes already considerable body count.

All the Kalu could do was get out of the way.

Sixteen points around the Kalu opened into wormholes.

Pyramids started coming out from them, each numbering around twenty to thirty. All of them lay along the fleet’s acceleration path and off to either side.

“Kill them!” Falhu said, they were actually within range of his ships for once, he wasn’t going to let this go to waste. The meager remaining missiles shot out from the Kalu ships.

Their lasers started firing, and Kalu ships disintegrated.

The laser cannons that had been on less than a fifth of the Free Fleet ships he had faced before were mounted on most of the ships which looked to be.

“Are those Destroyers?” Falhu demanded, his claws ripping through the decking.

“They appear to be,” an aide replied. Falhu yelled in frustration and tore a console apart with his claws and mouth.

“DESTROY THEM!” He growled, anger raging in his eyes and through his body.

They had taken their weapons of war, and turned them against their true masters. This would not stand!

The destroyers released smaller crafts; the fighters, bombers and Jumpers of the Free Fleet were within missile distance of the Kalu.

Their Pyramids vomited fire from their laser cannons and rippled out missile launches.

The smaller crafts used the covering fire to pull themselves together into formations and get in close to the Kalu formations.

Waves of stunned and defenseless Kalu were wiped from existence, becoming nothing more than navigation hazards as Free Fleet ships dove into the formations.

They reminded Falhu of Kalu on the hunting plains in their prime, cutting down the enemy and prey with impunity.

His fleet took out a ship here and there but they simply moved behind their fellows, regenerated their shields and took up a new position.

His anger from before was removed as he looked at the beauty of their warfare, of their economics.

For someone that had been born, trained, and lived to fight battle, this was art to him.

Kalu ships fell like forests before a fire.

“Flush all Kalu fighters!” Falhu barked, seeing that they moved through his formation with such impunity.

Someone passed the word. It took the fighters five minutes to launch, in that time another wormhole had appeared, all made of ships of the line, all of them releasing a barrage of missiles.

The new ships were unknown, but the ones that had emerged, he knew their capabilities. They were citadels of war, but he knew they could be destroyed with enough fire brought onto them and they could be boarded.

“Order Guresh to take our new arrivals,” Falhu said. He would not leave this battle without at least one victory. Twenty thousand Kalu ships started moving off from their acceleration line, subjecting themselves to massive velocities in order to change their heading and cut their trajectory.

The Free Fleet read their movements and piled fire into them. The new formation of larger ships was arraying in a rotating pyramid of rail and laser cannon barrages.

They could pile more destruction into the Kalu, but their rounds were taking longer to reach the target and could be avoided.

In forty-five minutes the two formations would crash together, physics and its laws of inertia were already deeming it an eventuality.

The Free Fleet ships used their own bomb-pumped acceleration to increase their speed.

They fired everything they could muster up into the oncoming Kalu fleet. Guresh pushed his people on, not one of them turning away as walls of rounds came down on them. Leaving no room for the ships to escape or evade the slower rounds.

The Kalu’s lasers took on the Free Fleet shields, taking them from calm serene colors to the angered hues of beleaguered juggernauts.

They failed as the Kalu got within three hundred thousand kilometers.

“Come on you fuckers, bring your fucking lasers and meet my fucking gunners, they’ve been waiting to give you some personal lessons. For the Free Fleet!” A creature with its Skeleton on its outside yelled, the video showing them gripping the bannister in front of their seat, their manipulators moving in calm but swift manners. Falhu couldn’t understand them. Yet he could understand the effect of the Free Fleet’s fire.

The Free Fleet had just recently acquired the laser cannons which gave them the ability to hit the enemy faster without them knowing what was coming at longer ranges.

They had long ago mastered the rail cannons, missiles, PDS and reactive armor that lined their hulls.

Avenging gods turned and watched as the armored citadels of the Free Fleet were bathed in tracers and plasma, rail cannons bellowed and PDS streamed across Drvntrni system.

***

“Come on you bastards, my mother could do better than you and she’s a damned toy maker! Get those cannons singing!” Boot yelled, he was no longer a person, he was no longer detached from this fight. He was part of Pretak, the man wielding the sword that was this fleet. His people were the blade, the Smiths that had formed it and the edge that cut into the Kalu.

They forgot who they were, what their hopes and dreams would be to answer his call. They were the ship, the blood that ran down the sides, the sinews that supplied the ammunition for the hands, the gunners to delivered their blows.

Now come on you Kalu, bring us your warriors, your destroyers and fighters, we will show you the fire that hides in the Free Fleet.

“Missiles!” Welick barked, “I can’t get them!”

“All hands brace!” Boot barked over his ship-wide channel.

There were five, one was caught in time, the second and third got close enough to activate the reactive armor. The fourth and fifth played tag with one another. The fourth detonated out of the reactive armors range, stripping it clean and opening a hole in the side of the ship.

The fifth detonated, the hull and the ship’s structure screaming in agony as Boot went sideways, he felt pain in his side and then nothing.

He came to, not knowing where he was. His powered armor showed a gash in the side of it. He looked around the bridge, delirious from the drugs and wake-up that kept him mobile.

It was a sort of surreal moment.

People fought their stations, lights blinked and flickered, red seemed to cover the main screen. Sparks shorted out of somewhere and someone fell back. People rushed around and there was a movement to the door. He turned, seeing the door had a growing red line on it.

Something in his brain told him that was bad. He used his manipulators to move himself to his chair.

Dlai was slumped over, half of her side missing as well as the chair.

He felt a moment of sadness and pride. His people were doing their duty without instruction and doing it damned well.

They definitely don’t need my messy cock-eyed input right now, He thought a mix of sad and happy, as if a father watching his kids going off to live their own lives.

He grabbed his railgun, checking it by impulse. He leaned against his chair, aiming it at the door. His side hurt and his lower limbs weren’t working. Probably because his carapace was fucked up in ways he didn’t even want to know.

The door opened and Kalu came flooding in.

Boot was waiting, several railguns fired into the opening. Not one of them had forgot their mandatory Commando training.

The first went down with a laser blast from the Kalu bastards. Then another and another, the Kalu got inside. Boot continued firing, his gun clicked empty just as a Kalu eyed him up, he dropped it, grabbing his pistol instead. The Kalu seemed to understand and ran at him. Boot punched it right in the nose, making it back up. He fired three times, the light going out of the Kalu’s eyes. His manipulators had reloaded his rifle as he killed the Kalu. Now one of his upper arms fired the railgun and his manipulators fired his pistol. It was hard keeping track of both of his arms, but Kuruvians were wiley bastards.

Never play poker with a Kuruvian, Boot laughed so hard it hurt.

His manipulators moved in excitement, sorrow, and happiness. He had lived a damned interesting life, and he knew he’d have good company on the other side. A Kalu came around his chair a claw digging into his shoulder and making Boot scream.

He was dragged backwards, another claw finding his stomach and vital organs. He grabbed his four plasmid blades and buried it in the Kalu.

He took the restrictions off of his pain medications, he was now next to his chair, he pulled himself into it and looked at the bridge.

His people were dead, the Kalu picking through them. One of them appeared to be talking on the main screen, he cranked his powered armor’s speakers up.

“Well come on then you motherless excuses for sentients! Let’s see how many of you want to go to the black. My fellows are waiting for me in the light and I’m not about to let them go without their commander!” The shock was replaced with aggression as the Kalu charged Boot.

He stabbed and slashed them, throwing two blades and catching two jumping Kalu. A final claw got him in his chest. He cut it off and the Kalu seemed to back up. The one without a claw writhing on the floor as the others looked at him.

Boot didn’t see them anymore; he saw the faces of the people that had stood around the consoles they now prowled around.

He let out a rattling sigh, his eyes becoming misty as his hands moved in the final farewell.

“I’ll be seeing you shortly,” he said, coughing a rattling cough.

“For the Fleet,” he said with the pride of a Commander leading his people on one last journey.

***

Bregend could do nothing but watch as the Kalu excursion met Boot’s force head on. His people were firing as fast as possible, the small craft exacting their own toll. He watched as Free Fleet shields flared and blossomed with hundreds of impacts, Kalu ships disintegrated. Those following them coming on like some kind of unstoppable wave. They soaked up damage, using the forward elements as cover to get closer.

Shields failed on the Free Fleet side and ships died by a million laser hits. Free Fleet ships tried to save one another, shifting in their formation. Yet it didn’t matter, ship after ship fell as Kalu and Free Fleet ships waged war in a small pocket of the universe. Their cannons acting as fists, their ships their bodies.

The formations crossed and the Kalu could no longer use those in front of them as cover. Now it was just their unprotected sides against the Free Fleet’s guns. Few of the Kalu turned to bring their guns on target. There weren’t many, but there were enough.

The Free Fleet took a heavy price from the Kalu, but their own ships sagged under the massed Kalu fire.

He saw the missiles strike Pretak, the ship was hit close to its engines. Two power-plants were ejected and the ship stopped firing, the Kalu stopped firing on them and warriors at the tail end of the Kalu fleet that had slowed down enough, grabbed onto the super-carrier. She wasn’t the only ship to come out with Star-warriors breaching through her hull.

Forty-seven ships had gone up against twenty-thousand Kalu Destroyers and Warriors. Fighters had jumped on them like rabid dogs. Their shields had failed. Warriors had boarded them.

Twelve were still intact. Nine thousand Kalu ships couldn’t say the same.

Three of them drifted listlessly, including Pretak.

They had the Commandos on them. Bregend could do little to help them but keep up his fire on the Kalu.

“Mills get working with the Commandos, I want a list of all available personnel to assist Boot’s fleet,” Bregend said, his voice harsh for those he had lost.

“Sir,” Mills said, bending his head to his work.

“We continue with the plan. Let’s send these Kalu bastards to the black where they belong,” Bregend said with dark hunger that would have scared some people, but only resonated with his. They had lost friends too, and they weren’t about to let the Kalu get away with that.

Small craft returned to their hangars aboard the HCD’s and the larger Free Fleet vessels. Pyramids that had all their people and their small craft refueled and rearmed. They made a linked Wormhole, entering it and exiting from it just ahead of Falhu’s fleet, firing everything they had and dumping the small craft right into the Kalu’s formations.

***

Bregend watched as the Kalu tried to escape from the pyramid’s constant fire, opening wormholes to escape Drvntrni and head towards Urshval.

The Free Fleet ships waited until all of their shields were at maximum strength and their laser cannons had cooled before they wormholed in front of the Kalu again, they came out shooting and changing positions within their formation, rotating fresh guns and shields in and out.

The Kalu only had their weak lasers, the laser cannons dished out twenty times the pain at the same speed.

Some Free Fleet ships fell, but the Kalu lost a lot more.

As the Kalu left in their wormholes, HCD’s jumped to their emergence point. Their extra capacitors and power plants were built specifically to charge constantly and allowed them to wormhole nearly continuously.

Six pyramid formations hammered them as they left the wormholes. The remaining nine fired into the departing Kalu. It was an unmitigated massacre.

One pyramid formation hung around Boot’s fleet, shipping their power armor trained personnel and Commandos to help secure the ships.

Bregend watched the fighting happening in Urshval, the pyramids were rotating out to a supply point now. Even they had limits.

He wouldn’t leave his people behind until he knew they were safe.

The Kalu had two hundred and forty-five thousand ships when Bregend and Boot had ambushed them.

One-hundred and ninety-seven thousand had made it to Urshval. The hunters had well and truly become the hunted.

“Commander,” Kyle said, actually coming to Bregend’s seat.

Bregend was surprised to see his red rimmed eyes and hear the shakiness of his voice.

“The ships have been secured, I think you’re going to want to see Pretak’s bridge video. It’s of bridge’s last moments,” Kyle’s voice shook again and tears were hastily rubbed away.

“Show me,” Bregend said, his own voice gruff.

Kyle nodded and tapped a command into his data pad, he slumped into his seat as all eyes were on Pretak’s familiar bridge. It had only been a matter of hours since they had last seen it. In this video it was a mass of consoles blowing out, parts coming free from their positions and people trying to regain some sort of control.

Bregend saw Boot get up and shift around, he was badly wounded, unable to stand. He ambled to his railgun, grabbing it and facing the armored doors that were being cut through.

Commandos made a firing line across from the door. The Kalu gained entry and were met with a mass of fire. The Kalu had numbers and all they needed were a few lucky shots, and they got them. The bridge crew still fought at their stations even as the Kalu got inside. Some were killed at their stations. The majority added their own efforts to the fight. Bregend saw Kalu charge Boot who was up against the back of his chair for support.

The Kalu moved through the bridge, checking everyone was dead. One opened a channel and was addressing someone. There was movement. Boot levered himself up into his chair, his armor was in tatters, his internal liquids came from multiple holes.

“Well come on then you motherless excuses for sentients! Let’s see how many of you want to go to the black. My fellows are waiting for me in the light and I’m not about to let them go without their commander!” Boot bellowed.

Bregend pressed his lips together, hoping to stop the tears from falling, he raised a hand to find that they had already fallen long before. The Kalu charged Boot.

He stabbed and slashed them, throwing two blades and catching two jumping Kalu. A final claw got him in his chest. He cut it off and the Kalu seemed to back up. The one without a claw writhing on the floor as the others looked at him.

Boot let out a rattling sigh, his eyes becoming misty as his hands moved in the final farewell.

“I’ll be seeing you shortly,” he said, coughing a rattling cough.

“For the Fleet,” he said, his manipulators in a position of happiness and pride. They fell to his side.

There wasn’t a single dry eye or equivalent on the bridge, the sounds of people trying to hide their bodies’ reactions to the emotions that piled out of them was punctuated with the sounds of various items requiring their attention.

Those noises only served to highlight the fact that the command crew of Pretak was gone, rather than actually call them back to reality.

Bregend leaned forward, pulling his helmet off and burying his face in his armored gloves.

My friend, my friend is gone, so many of them are gone. His body wracked with sobs, the floodgates opened.

How many will the Kalu claim before this is all done? Memories piled in like a wave, they comforted him, but drove him deeper into his emotions, deeper into the losses he had endured of the brilliant and amazing people that had died just so the Kalu could wage their war.

He let out a rattling breath, his eyes closed as he sniffed.

“Get yourself together Bregend, you’ve now got the tools to stop the Kalu once and for all,” he whispered to himself. Later he would look to those he had lost, he had a war to fight and people to avenge.

He sat up in a rush, finding his command staff looking to him for guidance.

“I want reports on all ships within the hour, any that can’t supply them or are combat ineffective are to cross-load Commandos to our formation and head to the nearest supply depot. Those that are combat capable are to be assimilated into our formation,” Bregend said, his voice strong as he pushed his emotions to the back.

“Let’s be about it, I want to see if we can’t make Urshval the last place the Kalu ever visit,” he said, letting some of those emotions bleed into anger.

***

Falhu wasn’t dumb, he was loyal. Loyal to his clan leader Orshpa. Which was why he had a hard decision to make. He needed to meet up with Orshpa and he knew where he was going generally. He also knew that if the converted Destroyers continued at the rate they were going at, he wouldn’t make it out of Urshval with any ships if he wanted to take the planet as well.

“Make best speed to the next system we will regroup with Orshpa and he will command us,” Falhu said.

His aide’s saw that his words were passed on. The fleet changed directions, still the pyramids showed up in his path, their laser cannons taking ships away from his mass. The Kalu lasers could take down their shields, but they didn’t work together to focus all of their weapons on one target, letting them get back into cover behind their fellows.

It was infuriating.

He remembered the video of the ship leader that had had been yelling for the death of the Kalu. How he had climbed up into his command chair, killing four Kalu even heavily wounded.

He’d yelled out for the Free Fleet, confident in his own voice before slumping over.

The Free Fleet were fighters, fighters born from desperation. He was only just finding out what desperation felt like. He had never thought that such a mighty host might fall to the Free Fleet, he hadn’t thought it possible for it to fall to anyone.

Yet he was seeing it coming apart.

He needed Orshpa’s guidance, they needed to end the Free Fleet.

Chapter Farmers know how to shoot too

“Kalu fleet coming into range,” Yuvel said, looking to the Commander of Chaleel’s defenses, Delahil.

“Open fire,” Delahil said, her voice removed of all emotion. AIH and Chaleel were close in not only distance but relations.

So when Chaleel joined the Union with them and were allowed to purchase weapons systems from the Free Fleet subsidiaries, AIH had rushed to help their closest allies. Chaleel had the largest population of any system in the Union. They needed guns, lots of guns to keep their people who were primarily farmers safe. The Avarians had fought for generations and knew how to protect themselves. Other systems had done the same. Yet Chaleel was only getting roughed over by the Syndicate when the Free Fleet found them. They were peaceful and not used to war.

Commandos bolstered their ranks and their military had grown with the insistence of governments that could see that violence wasn’t going away.

They’d turned their space elevators into miniature Parnmals, covered in armor, planetary shields,  weapons, and with a thick covering of space mines around the entire planet.

None of them had powered up or poked their weapons out as the Kalu fleet of twenty-nine-thousand headed towards Chaleel.

Now the Kalu fleet was in range of five space elevators.

Power shielding couldn’t hide the weapons powering up on the elevators, or how they shifted on their umbilical’s to face the Kalu.

It definitely couldn’t hide the twelve hundred weapons firing.

***

Orshpa ripped apart the railing in front of him in anger, yet another fleet was being mauled by these armed Free Fleet worlds.

He had seen the pastures of the planet, the obvious signs of farmers.

They should be weak nothing’s, just creatures to be brushed aside! He demanded answers from his universe, but the only thing that he saw was yet another fleet coming apart as they tried to make planet fall.

Cannons had been mounted to what looked like tracked vehicles that were moving across the planet in massive formations. Their guns bellowed, striking more Kalu from the sky as they raced towards the Kalu’s landing zone.

They might be farmers but they were no cowards and they had the same fiendish imagination as the rest of the Free Fleet.

Orshpa looked away from his screens, the command deck quiet as wormholes formed in front of the fleet.

They were going to Sol.

Orshpa looked at the information coming back from the system, wormholes appeared and Star-destroyers started piling into Chaleel system, right behind the Free Fleet who were starting to send shuttles at Chaleel.

A spark of hope lit in Orshpa’s chest.

Looks like not all of my supply train was destroyed.

His sour mood evaporated as he thought of what he might be able to do with those supplies. It could change the entire war!

He dug his claws into the deck, sharpening his claws. They exited the wormhole, looking at a new system.

“Send orders to the fleet, attack everything and anything. We have reached Salchar’s home clan system. We have reached Sol,” Orshpa growled.

The others got into the mood of it, sharpening their claws on the deck beneath as well. Messages were sent and the clans spread.

“We go to Earth,” Orshpa said. “Full acceleration! It is time we had the ground beneath our paws and our teeth bloodied from meeting the enemy,” Orshpa’s growl tickled his throat and ran through his body.

They hadn’t yet seen this Earth, sensors updating as more information came back.

He was done with this space fighting, he would fight the Free Fleet on the ground with his full strength.

It wasn’t long until a planet with growing cities on it and orbital facilities came into view. The entire fleet shifted like Kalu turning on the hunting plains towards their prey.

There were not many cities and while the orbitals were dense it didn’t look right to him.

Other planets started filling in the plot.

A new one appeared, it was covered in life unlike the dusty cold planet he was seeing.

“Change our heading for that planet,” Orshpa said, indicating the new planet.

“Any clan that wishes to write their stories about the dust planet and orbitals will be welcomed at my clan hall to tell their tales,” Orshpa said, giving them assent to fight the dusty planet instead of having to follow him.

Sub-clans broke off headed for the dust planet of the system, two massive orbital facilities were revealed, one a ship yard, the other a station. Other items were in orbit, but none matched the size of the two creations.

They were all armed with thirty or so Free Fleet warships around them.

Earth had no weapons, no batteries. It didn’t look to have anything in their orbitals.

Orshpa felt the lurching acceleration of the bomb’s igniting behind his ship. His fleet of eighty-seven thousand surged towards Earth.

Eleven thousand headed towards Mars. The battle for Sol was about to begin.

Chapter We settle this in the dust

"Commander Kafam has fallen," Werv said from his position as second in command.

"Shit!" Could this week get any worse? She thought, grinding her teeth in anger.

"Numbers?” She asked.

"Looks like close to thirty-one thousand," Werv said, his voice grim.

"Get me a line to Min Hae," she said after a minute. Looking through the reports that were now coming in from the sensor buoys throughout the Kafam system.

"Onur, send a message to the reserve patrol forces, they are to take up our position here, send orders to the fleet, we're going to Quarst. Send an additional message to planetary Governor Elisati to appraise her of the situation," Cheerleader said, getting into the zone. Forgetting what had happened over the last couple of days and focusing on her duty as the commander of her fleet.

"I have Min Hae on the line," Onur said.

"Commander?" Min Hae asked, sounding as if he had just woken up.

"Kafam has fallen, what can you get to me within the time it will take them to get from Kafam to Quarst?" Cheerleader asked, having no sympathy for his tiredness.

"I can get you at least seventy HCD's. If you want I can also ask the Independents for support, I do not know how long they will take however.”

"Do it. Quarst has no defenses, we stripped them to help with other systems as they came under attack," Cheerleader said, her tone biting.

We're supposed to think of this shit, she chastised herself.

"Give me ten minutes and I'll have a better estimate of what I can bring to the battle," Min Hae said.

"Very well, ten minutes," she said, cutting the channel. "How are we looking Onur?"

"The fleet is ready to carry out your orders, the reserve patrols will be here in twenty-seven hours," Onur replied.

"Werv pick five ships to stay behind as support for Oolta, I want us moving within the hour," Cheerleader said, looking through the sensor logs from the Kafam sensor buoys.

"Yes Commander," Werv said.

Min Hae came back a few minutes later.

"Go," Cheerleader said.

"I can have the Seventy Henry-classed Destroyers there in time, I can also bring eight-thousand Independents," Min Hae said.

"Do it, I've been looking at the defense in Quarst, they have less than twenty fighter wings and any cannons they put their credits into were wiped out with Bregend's kinetic strikes," Cheerleader said.

"We will be there," Min Hae assured her.

"I look forward to it," Cheerleader said as she felt Mondal's engines start to fire, her fleet leaving Oolta's atmosphere at maximum thrust. As soon as they were clear of the planet their bomb-pumped acceleration kicked in and the fleet came together into an arrowhead formation.

The sight brought hope and pride to her chest.

"Good hunting, Min Hae out," he closed the channel as Cheerleader’s fleet headed for Quarst.

They wouldn't be taking the normal wormhole routes, they'd be crossing right through the black of space, doing multiple jumps without sight of systems until they got to Quarst.

Five ships spread across Oolta's atmosphere. Their railguns sent fiery rounds through the planet's atmosphere and into the teeth of Kalu formations on the ground.

***

I looked around at the people in the conference room. I trusted all of them with my life.

"Bok Soo, have you talked to Commander Delahil?" I asked, referring to the Chaleel Planetary Commander.

"Yes I have, I was able to get the numbers you were looking for. I think that we should be able to get her them without affecting the numbers we need for Sol," Bok Soo said.

"Good, Rick have you let the ship commanders know who is staying and who will be coming with us to Sol?" I asked, looking to him.

"Yes, they understand their orders," Rick said.

"When will they be ready to depart?" I asked.

"Within a few hours," Rick said, looking to Bok Soo for confirmation. Bok Soo nodded his agreement as I sat back in my chair.

"Will we be going to Earth, or just protecting our assets in the system?" Yasu asked the question that everyone was thinking. All faces looked up from reports towards me. I looked at the bulkhead in front of me. My expression blank.

"If Earth asks for aid then we will give it. If they do not, then we will see to protecting the Free Fleet. We are not in the job of asking those that do not know how to ask for help," I said, looking around the room. I could tell that there were a number of people not happy with my decision. Yet it was my decision to make. I would have sent everything I had to Kafam if they had just asked for my help. Yet they did not, so I watched as the Kalu added a planet to their collection.

And I, like everyone else dismissed the system out of hand, I thought not without some silent guilt and anger. The Vahsnu of the planet had killed a good many of the Kalu. Though the Kalu didn't need many to fly their ships, they had started birthing their reinforcements already and had thirty-one thousand ships departing the system, fully armed and heading towards Quarst.

Cheerleader would be there a few days before the Kalu. If Min Hae or the independents could make it was still to be seen.

"How are the HCD's looking?" I asked, breaking the tense silence in the conference room.

"Ready to be hammering Kalu," Rick said.

"Then I think we should release them to do just that," I said, I looked around the table to gauge if anyone had anything to say to the contrary.

"Cut orders to that effect," I said seeing no great challenges.

"Will do," Rick said, typing out a message on his data pad.

"Does anyone else have anything they need to bring up?" I asked, looking around the room. I waited, no one moved to show they did.

"Very well, let us prepare to engage the Kalu in Sol."

***

Falhu looked at the numbers of his fleet, he now had less than seventy-thousand. Those damned pyramids were not giving up either. He wormholed into Daestramus and they had followed like scavengers after a predator’s kill.

We will not make it to Earth with anything like a fleet at this rate, the thought came unbidden to his mind. A Kalu should not be thinking of defeat. Yet even as he tried to push the thought away it had already taken root in his mind.

He looked at the jump limit towards his master. It was too far.

His eyes instead moved to the inhabited planet of the system. It was a cold planet but great cities covered in metal and shaped like upside down funnels projected heat into the atmosphere.

"I have become bored of this travelling between the stars. Take us to the planet. I wish to feel our enemies under my claws and their blood to paint my armor," Falhu said.

The command deck growled with hunger, the simmering anger of the pyramids attacks turned into direction. Now they had a target, now they would close with the enemy, now they wold be free of their ships to fight as true warriors borne of claws and teeth.

Word passed and the fleet turned like a drunkard’s sway. Bomb’s pushed them along, a pyramid appeared but it was off target, out of the line of Kalu, they shifted to bring them under fire. Even as dozens of Kalu ships fell it mattered less now. Falhu could feel life entering his limbs again, hormones raced through his veins. His hunt had just begun. He would dominate this world and return to his master with the prize under his claws.

***

"Falhu has changed directions, he is heading right towards Daestramus," Qurv reported, looking to Bregend.

"Then I guess we will be fighting him in the dust rather than in the black," Bregend said, looking to the information coming out of Daestramus.

"Kyle, get me a channel to the planet's Free Fleet Commander," Bregend said.

"Sir, I have a man by the name of Narvu listed as the contact," Kyle said for the benefit of Bregend.

"Very well," Bregend replied.

"Commander Bregend, I have heard a lot about you. Though that is a conversation for another time. What can I help you with? I am a tad busy organizing my planet for an oncoming Kalu invasion," Narvu said, his voice somehow light with the oncoming fight.

"Commander Narvu I am currently chasing that Fleet coming towards your planet. I will do everything in my power to try and get rid of as many of them as possible, though I know I will not get them all," Bregend said.

"Any help that you can give to me and mine is greatly appreciated, we haven't been sitting on our hands down here," Narvu said, Bregend could hear the amusement in the man's voice. It was refreshing to hear someone that wasn't all doom and gloom in these dark days.

"That's good to hear. I also have about a hundred and Eighty-Thousand Commandos that would be more than happy to assist you and yours," Bregend added.

"They are more than welcome to join our little party here," Narvu smattered with a grin.

"I am looking at your defenses and it looks to me that you have neither cannons nor mines," Bregend said, confusion and fear building in his gut.

"Ahh, well we modified a system that we hope to use to heat our planet. We think it will be pretty effective. We talked to Salchar's engineer about the project," Narvu said.

"Ahh quite, how does it work?" Bregend asked.

"For that it might be best to ask him. I am not a very technical man, and the people that know about it on my planet are rather busy at getting it ready," Narvu said.

"Very well, I will talk to him after this. Is there anything that you could think of that we might be able to assist you with?" Bregend asked.

"Your people have done a good amount for us already, I hope that we can quickly deal with the Kalu here so that you might help other worlds," Narvu said holding his eyes with a solemn look.

"I hope so too, though we will not be leaving Daestramus until we get rid of every damned Kalu threat, if you don't mind me saying so," Bregend said.

"I would expect no less, thank you commander. Your assurances do a lot to put my heart at ease," Narvu flashed a brief smile. There was noise in the background of the pickup.

"Ahh I must go, seems that Murphy loves to show his head at the most inopportune moments," Narvu growled to the noise off-screen.

"I understand commander, good luck." Bregend said, pushing out a small smile.

"And you too commander," Narvu said tilting his head as he cut the line.

"Kyle, get me Salchar, he's about the only person I know that can get Eddie on a comms channel," Bregend said.

"Sir."

"Hey Bregend, I understand that you want to talk to my recaltrient Engineer?" Salchar asked coming around to his command seat on the main screen a handful of minutes later. People were filling out of his conference room, waving and gesturing to Bregend. Bringing a small smile to his lips.

"If at all possible," Bregend said.

"He should be up here in a moment, though I understand I pulled him away from some power plant modifications," Salchar warned.

The armored doors into the bridge opened and an annoyed and irate looking Kuruvian Engineer came in, assisted by two Commandos.

"What is so damned important that I get these two goons pulling me away from my work? Do you know how close these damn things are to blowing themselves up!?" Eddie said, pushing his cowboy hat up on his head and looking to the main screen.

"Well?" He demanded, not at all put off about being in the presence of the Commander of the Free Fleet or one of his primary commanders.

"I was talking to Narvu of Daestramus, he told me that you know something about the planet's defense systems?" Bregend asked.

"Well of course I do, half designed the damned things! All those engineers must be half cockeyed with their angles and measurements as messed up as they were!" He growled, muttering something about rudimentary math and light diffusion.

"What are they?" Bregend asked, understanding some of Salchar's pain with dealing with the engineer.

"They're the damned heating towers! What else do you think is going to get through the planet's atmosphere to hit the wolfie bastards?" Eddie demanded.

"How are the heating towers going to kill any Kalu?" Bregend asked, confused.

"Lord give me patience," Eddie said, looking up at something out of view. He looked to Bregend again.

"Daestramus is on the wrong side of being cold for normal life to live on it right?" Eddie said.

"Correct," Bregend said.

"Now there are a few ways to warm that sucker up so that people can leave those towers and the heated underground facilities. The most common, the one which you humans were on your way to doing a lot of, is pump up the carbon dioxide levels and trap the heat in. Now this would take them a long time, because unlike you apes, they don't burn everything they can get their hands on. I swear you lot are a bunch of native arsonists!" He shook his manipulators before continuing.

"Now carbon dioxide helps to retain heat, but you still need light from the systems sun to get things toasty. Thing is, that would take centuries if not millennia’s with Daestramus. So we had a talk about environmental systems. This one stuck me into that conversation as well," Eddie said, pointing to Salchar who was reading something. He merely shrugged, continuing as he was doing.

"Anyway, if you can get at least some carbon dioxide, then all you need is more light to heat the place up. They made lasers to heat up the carbon dioxide inside the cities and let it flow out. I bet if you looked at the planet right now then you would see all of the heat pouring out of those damned places. It will take a few centuries sure, but in a generation or so they'll have a nice warm planet that people can go run around in. Without bits falling off," Eddie said.

"How powerful are these lasers?" Bregend asked.

"In the hundred megawatt range," Eddie said.

"How the heck are megawatt lasers going to hurt the Kalu ships?" Bregend asked, sure that was power levels of a sea-going carrier, but that was nothing like the power in say the Free Fleet's laser cannons. Or the amount of power that they put out on a regular basis.

"Combine them together, focus the beam into one point, say the top of a tower and point. Apart they might be megawatts, together they're touching a few hundred yottawatt range," Eddie said proudly.

Bregend sat back, actually having to look up how much power was in a yottawatt. It was a hundred times more powerful than the Free Fleet's laser cannons. It put them at a stage two civilization on the Kardashev scale and at a third of the strength of Sol's sun.

"By the light," Bregend said, unable to understand that power.

"Quite a smart design if you ask me," Eddie said, looking rather please with himself. Salchar that had been listening to the tail end of the conversation shook his head as if he didn't expect anything else from his engineer.

"We have an incoming transmission from Earth's United Nations," Vort said on Salchar's bridge.

"I think I best be taking this, do you need him, or anyone else for anything?" Salchar asked Bregend.

"Nope, I think that's it. I'm going to have a talk with Commander Narvu," Bregend said.

Recognition flashed in Salchar's eyes.

"Tell him I send him and his boys my regards," Salchar said.

"Will do sir," Bregend said. "Kyle?"

Kyle cut the channel.

"Get me all of the ship commanders for a holographic meeting. Let’s see if we can get the Kalu to walk right into Daestramus' laser towers. Kyle could you find out everything about those towers, Domal help him out," Bregend said, standing.

"Sir," Kyle and Domal said, Domal moving from his position to Kyle's. Bregend turned and went to his conference room. It was time to put down a few plans.

***

Months ago most of the people in this room had been in this very room and planning to take over the Free Fleet. Now they were deciding how to plead with them to save Earth.

How the tables have turned, the newly elected President of the United States Frank Gerard thought.

They should have taken Knox's advice. The United States was no longer the world's super power, they had devoted all of their military resources to the failed attack on the Free Fleet.

Their actions had turned the United States into a black Mark for Earth. Hell, Earth itself was a black mark on all of them now. No one would do trade with them. Emigration was up thirty percent, the United States was no longer the land of opportunity. That now belonged to the Free Merchant Fleet that was plying the trades through every damned inhabited star system known.

Frank Gerard's predecessor had been made to step down by the American people. They were done with letting people run their country on ruined promises. They had realized how their vote mattered not only to their country but to their very lives and Earth.

Politics was not a game, nor was it a tool to make people scared of what was to come. It was supposed to create leaders that would do the best for the people, not for their own pride.

Frank had served with the Marines, he was a doctor and a teacher. He had put his name in with one promise. Not to hold onto past glories and stay quagmire in the politics of old, but to get the United States out into space. Not as a warfighting powerhouse, but as a trader.

America was great because of its people. They were innovators, they were determined and they could carve out a place among the stars. He came with the hope for that future. He quoted John F Kennedy's speeches about doing things not because they were easy, but because they were hard. They went through a terrible time, but now America could become something magnificent, move past those struggles and be reborn into a new age.

That's not likely to happen with the Kalu coming down on us like a ton of bricks, Frank's expression soured as a connection was made to the Super Carrier Hic Stamus.

Frank wondered if many knew that the carrier's name meant 'Here We Stand', he hoped they would stand with Earth.

"What?" Salchar asked, spitting the word out with a combination of cold anger and someone wholly done with listening to the other person.

The representative from South Korea looked a bit shocked for a moment, obviously they weren't used to being talked to in this manner.

Frank felt his jaw tighten as the representative looked like they were about to say something else.

Thankfully they bit back their comments, maybe they noticed the angered looks coming from the people across Salchar's bridge.

All wore the powered armor of the Free Fleet, all of them had killed before and all looked like they would like to do it again to the people that had betrayed their trust and killed their friends.

The representative bowed their head.

"We call, asking for your assistance against the Kalu," Kim Mi Yeon said.

Salchar stood, the people on the bridge looking to him as his powered armor thumped up to the edge of his dais.

"Send them the conditions Rick," Salchar said.

A document appeared in Frank's personal email. He had heard of the Free Fleet's intelligence abilities, but shown in such a flippant way sent a shard of cold fear through him.

"In the document before you, you will see the terms of the Free Fleet. We will aide you in the defense of Earth, and you will abide by our decisions. If this battle and the other battles against the Kalu are won with the lives of my people then you will damned well make their sacrifice worth it." There was no mercy in Salchar's voice just the cold reality of their decision. They had made their bed, now they must reap what they had sown.

"You will become a member of the Union, you will reach the stars, you will create a polity to overlook all of the nations, or absolve nations into one polity. You will allow the Free Fleet to recruit from Earth, you will allow trade through your system. You will pay recompense to the families of those that you killed,"

"This is absurd!" Germany’s prime minister declared.

"ABSURD? YOU FUCKING KILLED MY PEOPLE. People that wanted to fucking learn, people that were building ships, that wanted to go and see the fucking stars. They had fucking family Mr. Prime Minister; they were my fucking family. So if you, any of you think that they were just another fucking cog in the machine, another fucking nameless soul who died for you to fucking show what assholes humanity can be. I will fucking come down there and I will burn that planet down around you. You will fucking learn the realities of space, the realities you are now living in. The Free Fleet was not fighting just for itself out here, we were fighting for every fucking sentient, including all of you. Yet you decided to take that gift and stab us in the fucking back. You do that again and I will not be the person bringing you peace and harsh terms. I will bring my fleet and I will treat you like the selfish inconsiderate fucking children that you are!" Salchar's hand had gripped the railing in front of him, crushing it without noticing. Veins could be seen in his neck.

"You are not a powerful nation on a singular planet anymore. You are all the heads of nations on the weakest planet in all of known space. With this you are being given a third chance," his eyes swept the assembled leaders of nations. All of them shocked into silence.

"There will not be another," he made sure his words stuck, turning and waving a hand, "Kyle." The channel cut. It was a few moments and then people started the inevitable yelling match around the room.

Someone, Frank didn’t know who, got control of the main screen and changed it from the emblem of the UN to one of the systems map.

Coming right into the heart of Sol was eighty-seven thousand Kalu ships. It sounded like a lot, it was hard to think of that many ships, but it hadn’t sunk into the minds of many people in this room or beyond.

Over half of the Kalu fleet were on headings that would take them towards Hachiro, Nancy and the facilities on Mars.

Still there was nothing that Earth could do against those forces. Sure they had standing militaries, though they had no force that could engage them in space and their ground forces didn’t even have powered armor.

Frank was finally given the chance to speak.

“We stabbed them in the back and this is what we get. I will not try to say that America was not in the wrong here. Yet there were other nations that were equally in the wrong. Earth stabbed the Free Fleet in the back, and now they are the only thing that can save us from the enemy they warned us about. The longer we sit here debating this, the longer until they get here and try to save our asses.” He looked around at the politicians that had talked about how they would not stand for this injustice, how the Free Fleet was looking down on them.

“We forget all too quickly that they are not indebted to any one group here, they have attachments yes, but in the bigger scope of things they answer to a conglomerate of systems. They answer to the Union, which number in a population magnitudes larger than Earth. We are small fry to them. Some of the populations of the countries around here are less than the number of personnel within the Free Fleet, both military and merchant wing. Now we can posture and piss away our time. I hope that you won’t. I call for a vote of confidence in favor of the Free Fleet’s agreement. Hopefully we can save as many of the people that elected us as possible,” Frank sat down among hesitant clapping.

The speaker called for a vote, it didn’t pass, and too many people were left undecided.

He just hoped that they would hurry the hell up, the timer was very literally winding down.

***

It took four hours and some grandstanding that made Frank pained to be called a politician. Yet it was finally over, they finally agreed to the Free Fleet’s decision. They sent it off, they didn’t get any kind of speech from Salchar, just a set plan that the Free Fleet had drafted up for the protection of Earth. It had been modified as Armored Marine Commandos Barracks had been pulled from Earth. Yet there was a general call to any of them that had chosen to stay on Earth. Shuttles were being sent from Mars with all of their gear.

The militaries of the world were being called up, they too would be getting lower end power armor and weapons.

“We have new emergences into the system!” An aide said, their voice carrying across the room as the main map changed. Now there were six pyramids standing in the way of the Kalu fleet as it headed inwards.

“What kind of ships are they?” Someone asked.

“Kalu they look to be their Star-Destroy...” Their voice trailed off as the Star-Destroyers started to open fire on the Kalu.

Those aren’t any Kalu, Frank thought, standing and looking to his staff.

“See that all of the commands from the Free Fleet are followed and make sure that as many of our people are in the underground bunkers as possible,” he said. They pulled out phones and started passing his orders. He walked out of the UN assembly, there was nothing else they could do. The holographic images of other nations also started to slip away.

***

Orshpa looked over the system. There were two inhabitable worlds, the one that was barely in habitable was surrounded by a few stations, one a massive conglomeration that was four or five kilometers big and a shipyard.

The other habitable worlds showed many signs of life, yet little in the way of structures in space.

The blue-green marble habitable world he summarized as being Earth. He was headed there at his best speed with sixty-four thousand ships. The remaining twenty-three thousand of his ships headed towards the station, yard, and barely habitable world.

Wormholes appeared in their path. Out from them came Star-Destroyers.

How were they able to cross the system so quickly? He thought looking at them in wonder as more appeared from separate wormholes, they were all along his acceleration path and they were all facing in his direction.

Then they opened fire and dread filled his gut, they weren’t friendly Star-destroyers, they were the Free Fleet’s.

They must have converted them from the stolen yard. A small part of his mind thought. It didn’t matter, they were here and the resupply fleet wasn’t. Doubt started to crawl into his mind as to the status of his resupply fleet.

“Bring them under fire!” Orshpa barked, the laser cannons struck his formation, ripping through ships and carrying into his formations.

There were roughly two hundred of the Star-destroyer converts and they had two cannons cycling between the two, they also had some damned deep missile magazines. Wave after wave of missiles came crashing into the formation. Jumpers, fighters, and Bombers piled out to add their own kind of hurt to the mix.

“Flush all Kalu fighters. I want those Destroyers!” Orshpa growled. He was so close to Earth he could reach out and taste their blood. They were going to bleed him heavily.

“Go to full acceleration, we will rush past these obstacles to our true prizes!” Orshpa said.

***

Delahil looked upwards to the skies, the twenty-three ships that Chaleel had under their command had returned as soon as the Kalu had made it past the space elevators, they were now acting as orbital batteries firing into the Kalu landing sites. Over three and a half million Kalu had landed. A million had died at their landing sites. The forces on Chaleel were still well under half of the Kalu’s and they had civilians to deal with.

“That is one hell of a plan commander,” she heard herself say as she thought about the plan. It could work, hell she knew it could. She was just thankful she didn’t have to weigh the risks of following the plan.

“Thought you might like it,” Salchar said in her ear.

“We will make orbit in two hours, our shuttles have already been released and they’ll start landing in that time. I would suggest looking to their landing sites and using them to plug your gaps. Rick is sending you a manifest of their load outs, most are wearing HAPA’s,” Salchar said.

“Very well, in three hours I guess we’ll give this plan of yours a test,” Delahil said, wondering what in the hell she was agreeing to.

“Yes Ma’am,” Salchar said, sounding a lot more enthusiastic than she felt.

“Recall the tanks in two and a half hours, Salchar seems to have a plan,” she said to her staff around the command room.

Orders were passed and looks given as she sunk into her seat.

***

“All Commando units are on the ground and moving to position,” In Sook reported as I sat at my place on the command deck.

The last time the Free Fleet had tried out this little feat it had been to rescue my sorry ass.

“Very good. Milra, how are we looking on the plot?” I asked.

“Clear, mild turbulence?” She said looking to me and shrugging. I gave her a small smile despite the seriousness of our situation.

“Resilient how are we looking at for the targeting system?” I asked.

She appeared in holographic form. “Information has been input and we are ready to go,” she said.

“Marleen?” I asked.

“Gunnery is ready,” she assured me.

“Alright, then, Vort connect me to the fleet,” I asked.

“You are connected Commander,” he asserted.

“Let’s go for some target practice boys and girls. Dive,” I said looking to Vort, he cut the channel as Milra took her cue from that. Hic Stamus tilted and headed towards Chaleel.

“All hands brace for atmospheric entry,” Vort’s voice said through the ship, repeating as the carrier started to shake from atmosphere trying to beat on her armored plates.

She handled like a brick, we were jarred around in our seats some, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the near-nuclear blasts that I’d had in my time.

Then it was gone and we were leveling off.

“Coming down to ten thousand feet,” Milra reported, she and Ben were working as a team with a singular purpose, piloting a super carrier in atmosphere is probably no easy task.

Yet they pulled it off as the massive carrier came down.

“Running out weapons,” Marleen said, the cannons extended from their berths to make sure that they hadn’t been sealed shut with the warm atmospheric entry.

“Looking good,” Marleen said, her face stuck to her screens as she went through various data readouts.

“Kalu on the horizon,” Qurv reported,”

“Marleen, I’ve always wondered what a laser cannon looks like in atmosphere,” I said.

“I have to say the same,” she said with a smile that made her look like one scary damned woman. I couldn’t help but reciprocate as she turned and passed orders.

Laser cannons lanced out, their beams weren’t invisible punches but rather a few seconds’ long blasts of both coherent and incoherent light. Mostly it looked like a light bulb that couldn’t be turned off had been shot out of a, cannon... Laser, light, cannon, kind of makes sense.

The destruction against Kalu ships had been bad, against Kalu that were running across a field. It was chilling.

Weapon impacts left glass craters and threw dirt, rocks and Kalu through the air.

“Milra, might you be able to rotate us so that your spine is facing in the direction of the Kalu?” I asked, tapping my chin in thought.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Oh, this is going to be fun. Resilient, could you get a fire algorithm for the side facing away from the Kalu, one that would turn their guns into long range artillery so that they can join in the fun? Link them to the ships above for telemetry,” I asked.

“Working on it,” she said with a special sparkle in her eyes that made my day just seem that much better.

“Milra, turn this ship. Vort could you get me Zor and Brusk?”

“Sir,” Vort said, confused.

“Sir?” Zor asked.

“Commander?” Brusk added.

“Alright gents, I’ve been wondering lately which side of the ship is getting the most kills. Who ever gets the most, will get a round on me the next time we’re in Parnmal,” I said, the challenge clear.

“Oh damn sir, we could do that any day of the week and twice on Sunday,” Zor said, spitting.

“You wouldn’t know how to hit a damn Kalu from an asteroid!” Brusk yelled back.

“So I take that as a yes,” I answered.

“Of course commander,” Brusk said.

“Wouldn’t ever let a wager go,” Zor said, I could hear the amusement in their voices.

“Good, get me some damn Kalu,” I said, my voice dropping from light and cheerful to cold and dark.

“Aye,” Brusk and Zor said together, cutting the channel. Milra finished her rotation and Resilient’s fired program worked a gem, cannons blared across Hic Stamus’ exterior. Not one Kalu was making it past our line.

Here we stood, we would do no less and no more. Any that challenged us would taste our mettle.

I looked to the other ships in the fleet, they too had made the trip down to Chaleel. We made broken circles around the cities, facing out towards the Kalu.

Few if any made it past our lines. Any that did were met by the Commandos in their HAPA’s.

***

Delahil looked at the destruction being brought down on the heads of the Kalu.

Even with her sound cancelling helmet she could hear and feel the blasts of cannons as they smashed into the beasts.

The light from the lasers cannons seemed to be seared into the back of her mind, her visor had been fully polarized, but even it wasn’t enough to stop the brutal light.

Kalu lasers rose up to try and kill the massive ships. But that was their issue, these were ships that were meant to protect against nuclear blasts and the firepower of many lasers that were magnitudes more powerful than the ones that they carried in their personal armor.

They barely left a mark in the reinforced armor of the Free Fleet ships. It was a pitiful fight, the outcome already predicted.

The Kalu had no where to go but try to get to the cities. The Free Fleet ships were like brutal angels, they let nothing come close to even threatening the Chaleel cities.

Delahil watched as the day turned to night. It didn’t matter to ships that operated in the dark of space, the Kalu still died in droves. On the second day the Free Fleet ships started to move away from the cities.

She was woken by her comms unit demanding her attention, she was awake in moments.

“Go,” she said, her adrenaline making her aware of everything going on around her in a matter of seconds. She checked who the caller was, seeing that the ID showed it as being Hic Stamus.

“Commander, we will be advancing away from the cities and hopefully pushing the Kalu back into packets to be totally obliterated,” Salchar said. “I was wondering if your tank and HAPA’s would be able to support my ships in their march forward, we will be covering more area in most circumstances and I would like to not have any Kalu bleeding through our fire.”

“Understandable, let me know how they can assist,” she said.

“Commander in Sook has a better idea of these things than me, I’ll pass you over. Also, good morning Commander,” Salchar said, sounding all too chipper for Delahil’s peace of mind.

“Hello Commander Delahil, this is Commander In Sook, these are the planned routes of the Free Fleet ships. These are the areas where we will have weak coverage,” In Sook said, maps appearing on Delahil’s main screen in the command center, updating with the information.

“I see what you’re saying,” Delahil said a few minutes later. She had made sure that her tank commanders were awake and ready to go. The HAPA pilots were getting into their machines while they discussed plans.

“I should have my people ready to move in,” she glanced to a screen on her command chair. “About five minutes, getting them into position might take a few hours.”

“Very well, I will inform the commander. I will have a line open for you no matter what,” In Sook said.

“Thank you Commander.”

“No worries commander, I’m rather looking forward to getting these bastards off of Chaleel,” In Sook said.

“I think you’ll find yourself in good company with that opinion,” Delahil agreed.

Chapter Laser-canoes!

“We’re getting an energy buildup in the large looking cities facing us,” one of the aide’s said. They had been chased across the star system by the converted Destroyers. They had tried to escape their withering fire as much as possible. Falhu had thought of the right words to use in order to slave his people’s pride, but he was running out of phrases and patience.

“Soon it will not matter as we will have the surface beneath our…”

“They’re firing!” The aide interrupted Falhu.

Falhu’s stomach hit the ground as he looked to his main screen, ships simply disappeared.

Maybe the third teaching war will come to retrieve our honor. Hopefully they will be more prepared than us, Falhu thought.

***

“Holy fucking laser-canoes!” Domal said from his position at tactical.

Seems pretty damn accurate, Bregend thought as Daestramus’ cities opened fire on the Kalu fleet.

The tops of the cities illuminated the planet below as a straight funnel of laser three hundred meters wide was projected through the thin upper atmosphere of the planet and right into the Kalu formations.

Five cities were in range of the Kalu fleet, they all fired as one.

Thankfully the Kalu hadn’t revised their tactics of hiding behind one another as they went into battle. Where a laser cannon usually used all of it’s charge in a single shot and killed just a ship or two, these ‘laser-canoes’’ were many times more powerful with a larger beam. They cut through twenty to thirty ships before their energy was spent.

Waves of atmosphere pooled around the laser-canoes, ripples of air spread across the planet. Then they fired again. Thankfully Daestramus was nice and cold, quite nice for bleeding off all the heat they’d just created.

They had a nearly constant rate of fire and used it to their advantage, boring through the Kalu fleet.

Sixty-three thousand Kalu had reached the laser-canoes’ range.

The Kalu spread out to try and get out of the range of the cities turned weapons. They found out that all the cities had been converted to fire their lasers into atmosphere.

If there were less Kalu in the sights of a city, then they didn’t go with the eruption of fire from the first barrage. They husbanded their power, turning their single shots into cutting beams. Reducing power output meant they needed less time to recharge, which meant they could fire continuously, or set the cities to fire rapid pulses.

Daestramus had bought a number of Personal Defense Systems from the Free Fleet. They’d hacked the telemetry program from these systems to the cities and now they let them rip.

PDS normally fired around four hundred thousand rounds per minute all more accurate than any human sniper, at ranges that people needed the complex targeting computers held in a gunnery section just to see them.

Have the range at a few hundred thousand kilometers and reduce the rate of fire to around a thousand pulses per minute. If those PDS were even close to sentient it would be like using a power-washer to clean the outside of a house instead of a sponge. Sure the sponge does the job, but damn if a power washer isn’t more fun.

The light coming from the cities looked to be constant but that was because Bregend’s eyes couldn’t pick up the pauses in all of that mess.

What he could see was the Kalu getting thrashed.

“Bring units into range and begin firing,” Bregend said. They had stayed a million or so kilometers out of the Kalu’s range. They had tried to hit them with the odd pot-shot but they had at least three seconds to react, fusion acceleration allowed them to get out of the way in a quick fashion.

Laser cannons opened fire across the fleet. They hadn’t wasted their shots before as the Kalu had a good chance of getting out of the way as well.

Now they had their claws filled with other things.

The Free Fleet surged ahead, six pyramids of Free Fleet ships, coming in to close the door on the Kalu.

Some of the Kalu to their credit turned to fight the Free Fleet, they didn’t have missiles, shields or really anything but their laser weapons and they didn’t have any damned coordination at all.

They fought to the end but it was in vain. The Free Fleet did have shields, they knew how to work together, concentrate their fire, or move out of the way if they were heavily damaged.

Free Fleet ships took hit after hit, poking a bear would have probably hurt less by the Free Fleet’s reaction.

“Domal, rolling barrages through all formations. Wilma turn the ship to bring more weapons to bear, plan for deceleration to keep the Kalu in our sights. Zoka, flush our small craft, let’s show these bastards what the Free Fleet price is,” Bregend’s eyes slid around the room. They had all lost Friends and family in this campaign, they had all stood by him throughout it all. Now they were getting their own back. The Kalu had it all on their side at the beginning of this fight. Their numbers had chilled them to the bone. Now the Free Fleet had leveled the playing field, figured out their tactics and they were ready to take payment for those that they had lost.

Free Fleet ships rotated in and out of battle, their weapons firing as ships fled their carriers in order to make their own mark.

The Free Fleet spread out, slowing their progress to pile their fire into the Kalu, boxing them in like a hand trying to grab Daestramus with them in the middle.

“This one is for you my brothers and sisters,” Bregend muttered to himself, seeing the faces of those that hadn’t made it this far.

His eyes itched as he worked his jaw. He would not cry today, he had work to do and Kalu to kill.

***

Narvu looked at the Kalu with cold calculation, they had been ripped apart, and there was seventeen thousand of them left now. That number was doing nothing but rolling down.

Still they will make it to Daestramus. He thought, knowing that it was true.

“Prepare the cities to fire along the horizon,” Narvu said to Vela, looking to his helper.

“Yes sir,” she said, her Slevarans colors showing her receding shock at the firepower they had unleashed on the Kalu formation.

Most people were probably feeling that now.

Narvu had been going over the plans since they knew the Kalu were coming. He’d expected the cannons to be damned powerful, but knowing that and seeing it was a world of difference.

Kalu started breaking atmosphere and heading for the cities. The cities opened side hatches that focused a percentage of the main aperture's strength. They caught a good many Kalu, but it was like trying to catch rain with a spoon now.

He winced as the first Kalu ship made its ‘landing’.

The star-warrior fired into Felso city, cutting great holes in the reinforced but unarmored structure. It didn’t turn and only barely slowed, smashing its front end into the city. It went in a few decks before coming to a halt. Narvu looked to the fuzzy sensor feeds from inside the city. The Star-warrior opened and Kalu surged out into the cities.

The other Kalu seemed to take their lead from that Star-warrior.

Cities lasers stuttered and then failed as safety after safety was tripped and shut down the whole operation. Star-destroyers moved at a sedate pace, releasing their fighters in billowing clouds. The fighter’s grouped up as they headed towards the cities, their lasers cutting into the structures.

Fires started, explosions rocked the cities and Daestramus started burning.

“Move the Commandos outside the cities,” Narvu said, looking at the maps. “Let’s see how much they like the cold,” he said, his smile mirroring the temperatures above his command center.

“We have an incoming message from Bregend,” Lofa said from her position as communications commander.

“Patch him on through, if it’s the commander do that every time, he has priority,” Narvu said, not chastising but rather amending her actions.

“Yes sir,” she said with a small smile.

“Commander,” Narvu said, seeing the bridge of the Dal come into view.

“Commander,” Bregend said, something like humor meddling in the back of his tone.

“What can I do you for?” Narvu asked, looking up from his table but not straightening from his position.

“I have a number of Commando units that are eager to help out Daestramus if you would be interested in their assistance,” Bregend said, there was something in Bregend’s voice that tickled Narvu’s memory.

Ahh crap, he told me about the Commandos before. I must have forgot; I’d been planning this defense with only my forces in mind. How many times did I think what it would be like to have a few thousand more Commandos?

“Certainly Commander, we would be delighted by their presence,” Narvu said, breaking free of his lolly-gagging. He hadn’t been sleeping much in recent days.

“Good! I have nine hundred thousand Commandos as well as bomber’s MEF’s and my fleet at your disposal. I hope the Kalu don’t mind a short stay,” Bregend said.

“Oh I hope so,” Narvu said.

They brought their people onto the line and started laying out what they were going to do. Fighters and bombers started to make their appearance as the Free Fleet looked to reducing the Star-Destroyers across the planet. Rail cannon rounds ripped through the slow moving crafts, ripping flaming holes in their carcasses, sending them down to Daestramus’ embrace.

Fighters and bombers attacked the Kalu fighter swarms.

The Free Fleet opened their shuttle bays and Commando-laden shuttles headed in towards the planet.

The battle in space had ended, the battle on Daestramus’ surface had just begun.

“Cut orders for the Henry-Classed Destroyers to split into two groups, half for Sol, half for Quarst. Make sure all the resupply points along their path will get them sorted out before they get to their destinations,” Bregend said, looking to Mills.

“Gotcha,” Mills said, turning to his new work.

***

Falhu looked at the city around him. It must have supported a good many sentients, yet none of them remained in the city.

We were tricked, he thought, sharpening his claws as he wound his way down from the cities peak.

“Destroy it, destroy it all, we will fight them on the plains of this planet!” He growled, his voice being projected into ever Kalu’s headset. They set into the destruction of the cities with gusto. They had been cooped up on their ships for too long, now they were able to vent their anger.

Falhu barely watched, cutting down whatever he saw in his path and heading down towards the surface of the planet. He saw the Free Fleet small craft fly into the planet’s atmosphere, they jumped on the Kalu fighters. The Kalu fighters were waging a glorious battle outside the cities.

He pulled his eyes from the sight, if the Kalu and the Free Fleet were evenly matched in any way, he gave the advantage to the Free Fleet. He needed to use the time in order to bring the planet’s natural inhabitants under contact. If he started wandering across the planet without them under fire or claw, then the Free Fleet would start coming for him. Not a nice proposition in his mind.

We were supposed to show them the might of the Kalu, instead we were shown the foolishness of our ways, of our preparations. We need to win on this planet. Without victory then the Kalu will fall. He tried to banish these thoughts from his mind but they lurked in recesses of his mind.

Chapter Well isn’t this a mess

Empress looked over the reports coming from the rest of the Union. Her Empire had thankfully been left alone. Salchar had already sent orders for all of the Commandos within the Empire to mobilize and take any transports they could to assist the other systems that were under attack. Empress had made sure that none of her politicians had put their manipulators in.

Kafam had fallen, Quarst was once again in the Kalu sights.

Jakram was still fighting, but they had the defenses and the people to defeat the Kalu. In fact, it looked like unless the Kalu started to change their tactics Jakram wouldn’t be too bad. Ershue was also under attack and they’d been fighting heavily for a number of weeks, they needed fresh bodies and reinforcements.

Oolta’s defense had been short and sweet. Empress wished that the rest of the fighting had been as easy.

The Orvunut’s customized powered armor and HAPA’s working together in an environment that put the Kalu at a severe disadvantage was a winning combination. Already merchant ships were moving to the planet’s atmosphere and dropping supplies to the residents. The Free Fleet group overlooking the planet had destroyed anything that looked capable of flying.

Drvntrni was a war of attrition. Empress was watching it closely. The Kalu had landed and were fighting the wildlife instead of the native sentient Shafio.

Maybe they think the wildlife are sentient, they’re deadly enough, she thought, also mentally reminding herself to never take a vacation on the planet.

The Merchertevak birds were getting fat off of the Kalu they’d drugged, stalked and killed. Their diamond sharp beaks opening the Kalu’s armor with deadly precision.

If the Kalu stayed on the planet, then they would remain the prey of the planet. If they left, then it rose a whole bunch of issues for the Union and primarily Empress. She wished that they could simply bomb the Kalu ships like they had on other planets, the problem was the water. If they blew up the Kalu ships, then it would send massive shortwaves through the planet’s seas. It could destroy the Shafio’s habitat and make their planet useless to them for generations. It could also kill a lot of them with the pressure.

Not something that Empress was going to condone.

Urshval’s forces were also being uprooted from their post and moved to help Daestramus. The Kalu had just landed, their numbers were a fraction of what they had been, but they were hunters, not starship pilots. On the ground the game could change completely. Bregend wanted to bring as much fire down onto them as possible.

Empresses’ eyes shifted over the map, looking to Sol.

The Kalu were now two distinct groups heading for Mars with Hachiro and Nancy in orbit, and Earth. The HCD’s were hammering them and more were coming from Bregend, but it looked like they would make it to their destinations. She didn’t want to think about what would happen to Earth if the Kalu made it to the unprotected planet.

She didn’t like what Earth had done to the Free Fleet and she was in no rush to try and repair their trading relationships. They had destroyed five Kuruvian traders who didn’t recognize them as the security force of the system during their whole attack on the Free Fleet.

Yet she was a leader of her people, she saw her people everyday, working living and pushing on. She knew that not all the people of Earth wanted to fight the Free Fleet and she knew not all of them deserved to be allowed to die by the Kalu.

She had mixed feelings about Kafam for these reasons. The one thing that stopped her from being angry with Salchar for not helping them out, was their inability to ask another for help.

This universe wasn’t nice and it wasn’t pretty, things seemed intent on pushing you into the dirt time and time again. Working together was the only way to move forward. Being to proud to ask for help, that wasn’t a strength. It was the worst type of weakness to have, and it had ended in the loss of an entire planet.

Her eyes started tracing down the corridor, looking to Chaleel and AIH. They were close traders with the Kuruvians and the Free Fleet. Empress had many dealings with both groups and found them to be rather accommodating. AIH was fighting a guerrilla styled battle across their planet. It was hard and bloody like any fight with the Kalu, but they were holding on.

Chaleel had Salchar watched over them. She’d seen the videos of the Free Fleet warships acting like deadly leviathans, dropping fire down onto the Kalu, actually pushing them back. Free Fleet fighters and their larger ship’s PDS were swarmed with Kalu fighters making it slow.

HAPA’s and the Chaleel’s tanks were aiding in the fight against the Kalu. They needed more small craft to deal with the Kalu fighters.

Though they have been targeting the Destroyers. I don’t think there’d be more than a handful of them left on Chaleel, she thought, hoping that the Kalu fighters would just expend all of their power plant fuel already.

Parnmal was looking after all of the refugees that hadn’t fled to the Kuruvian Empire. Billions of people had added to the Kuruvian worlds.

They were pumping out weapons of war as fast as possible. HAPA’s missiles, fuel, parts, ammunition, all of it was being shipped across the Union to those that needed it to stave off the Kalu’s claws and fangs.

The Union was burning, the Kalu were finally having their second teaching war. At times it was hard to not despair when looking at all of the conflict going on. The Kalu still outnumbered the Free Fleet fighting them. It wouldn’t be hard for the Free Fleet to fail and go the way of Kafam.

If supplies didn’t get to those planets then there would be less people on the lines, less ammunition when it was needed most. She wiped her face and looked away from the holographic display of the Union.

The war had entered a new stage. A stage that would be fought on planets, with Free Fleet plasmid blades, HAPA’s, and powered armor. Against the lasers, sharpened claws, and teeth of the Kalu.

In war there are no victors, just losers. I wonder whether we will lose a lot or a little. She thought, turning away from the hologram. She had a busy day ahead of her, the Free Fleet were going to have all the damned ammunition, guns and parts they could ever desire.

She had promised Salchar before this war started that the Kuruvian Empire would make sure that they were never without their necessary supplies. She wasn’t a lady to go back on her promises.

***

Thanks for reading ‘From Furies Forged’!

The Free Fleet Series will continue with ‘War’s Reward’. Read on for the first

Chapter from War’s Reward.

POSTSCRIPT

Thank you for reading! Being a self-published author I rely on your reviews to get my works out there. If you’ve enjoyed my work, please leave a review, reading reviews is one of my favourite things to do.

I wouldn’t have been able to complete this book without my beta readers; Alex, Paul and Shan.

Paul also made a map of the Free Fleet universe you can find here: http://michaelchatfield.com/books/free-fleet-series-map/

Thank you Neil for going through and bashing my work into order.

You can check out what I’m working on and upcoming releases through the following means:

Twitter: @chatfieldsbooks

Facebook: Michael Chatfield

Goodreads: Goodreads.com/michaelchatfield

Website: http://michaelchatfield.com/

Thanks again for reading!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Having spent the majority of his childhood jumping from country to country with his

Mother, Michael Chatfield now travels the world searching for inspiration. He calls

Canada home, for now, but regularly bounces across the pond to his true home, the UK.

Michael pays the bills as an Infanteer in the Canadian Military.

Epilogue

Chapter There are no victors in war

Hic Stamus rumbled with fire, it was a constant and tiring noise. We had been in the planet’s atmosphere for a few days, much to the displeasure of the Kalu.

With every rumble my super-carrier destroyed a new section of Chaleel’s planet. I tried to not think about the cleanup that would happen after the battle. Chaleel supplied many planets with food from the farms that ran around the entire planet. Farms now under the Free Fleet’s fire our would be soon enough as we walked fire across the planet.

Heavily Armored Powered Armor, or HAPA’s that marched beneath us and the Chaleelian tanks followed in our wake, clearing up the Kalu that had somehow made it through our ship’s fire.

We weren’t killing the Kalu, we were eradicating them. They were the new crops of Chaleel and harvest had come in the shape of the Free Fleet.

“Something on your mind?” Rick asked me. It reminded me of the first time I’d met him, when he’d patched my shoulder up. I’d been Salchar a world-class gaming celebrity. He had been a recent new addition to the American Air force. Five years later I was Salchar the Commander of the Free Fleet, he was the Chief of Staff.

We had fought the Syndicate, Kalu, every kind of race and even our own. We had somehow survived battles that all too many hadn’t. I was twenty-two and damn if I didn’t feel old.

“Just thinking about the first couple of times that we were here,” I said, my eyes no longer seeing the screens that processed information from my personal fleet, and the other actions of the Free Fleet at large.

“Times be changing,” Rick said, I could hear the similar stirrings of emotions in his voice.

The first time we had come to Chaleel it had been in a baptism of fire. We had finished training at Hachiro, it hadn’t been named that yet, and we were told to take and hold Chaleel’s power plants.

We’d taken the positions and terrorized the people of Chaleel under the instructions of the Syndicate. Half of our number were left here and the rest had continued on towards Parnmal. We didn’t have a choice in the matter, not doing as we were told meant that we were tortured, or killed.

My jaw clamped in anger, thinking of those months that had turned us from kids and teenagers into soldiers. It had also led to the creation of the Free Fleet.

With our return to Chaleel, we rescued our people and took on the Syndicate forces in the system. This also led to us freeing Chaleel. They’d been apprehensive of our actions at the beginning, it took them time to warm up to us. We promised to do our best in looking out for their best interest and had set out towards Earth.

Chaleel was under attack again, and again the Free Fleet was protecting them. They weren’t the only system that the Free Fleet was defending. We were spread across nine systems fighting the Kalu.

Sol had Orshpa and the remainder of his fleet rushing towards Mars with Hachiro and Nancy in orbit as well as Earth.

Daestramus had started their ground campaign against Orshpa’s prime Falhu that had finally taken out the planet’s cities which had been converted into laser-canoes. Calling them Laser cannons was a weak comparison to the fire that they had hurled into the Kalu forces.

For the record, Laser-Canoes sounds so much better.

“How long until Bregend’s Henry-Classed Destroyers in Daestramus reach Earth and Cheerleader?” I asked.

“A day for Earth, they’re going to do three jumps. Five days for the other half to get to Cheerleader,” Rick said.

I nodded, they would be joining what looked to be the last two star-battles against the Kalu. Hopefully withering down Orshpa’s fleet down to something that wouldn’t immediately overwhelm the Free Fleet infastructure and Earth.

I looked at the swelling information across the deck, while I wouldn’t be back to Earth for a few days, Whorst and all of the ships I was capable of releasing from Chaleel were on their way.

I stood from my seat, striding forth in my powered armor, my feet clanked on the floor as I wrapped my hands over the railing. I looked at the main screen that watched the ground beneath us.

Machines of war followed in our path, weapons fire lashing out from our turrets. I watched as we burned away Chaleel and the Kalu infection that had touched it.

We killed thousands of the Kalu in minutes, I had seen the feeds from Jakram, I had fought the Kalu on Heija, some might call this fight a genocide, I wasn’t sure that I’d disagree with them. I was sure that I wasn’t going to give the Kalu an honorable fight.

I watched and waited, I dared not look away, bartering my soul for the victory that would come. This was an extermination.

A part of me wished the fights had been this easy on the other planets. Another part of me wished that war was never as easy as this.

When the dust settles and the people finally look out to see their lands are clear of Kalu, will they look to the sky in fear? That thought pervaded my mind as Hic Stamus and the rest of my fleet continued their unrelenting push forward. Kalu fighters still tried to attack us, wings of our own Multiple Environment Fighters, or MEF’s smashing into them with the assistance of the Personal Defense Systems of our warships.

Hic Stamus rolled, we’d taken a number of hits on our presented side. Bots moved across the side not shown to the Kalu fighters and started their repairs.

“Not long until the Kalu fighters start running out of fuel,” Rick observed.

“Couldn’t come fast enough,” I said, standing away from the railing and rolling the shoulders of my powered armor.

I walked back to my chair, pulling up information on Commander Whorst and Foshunti’s fleet.

***

“Let’s be about it,” Commander Whorst said, looking to his command center, calling it a bridge would be pushing it. He was the Commander of War-station the biggest mobile platform in known existence.

A hologram appeared of a creature wearing a dark cloak with Dovarkian numbers in grey running over it.

“Devastahli, good of you to join us,” Commander Whorst said, the apparition looking to him with glowing red eyes. Commander Whorst had never seen the form underneath the cloak, but the way it lay across Devastahli’s body spoke to the holographically animated muscles that bunched with every movement.

“Seeing as you are the one’s piloting my habitat I have little ability to be anywhere else,” he said, his voice was harsh and deep.

Whereas Devastahli was large with a deep voice, Whorst was average height with dirty blonde hair and a muscular build. No one in the Free Fleet got through training without muscle.

“Such is the way of the Free Fleet, we go where we’re told,” Whorst said, his eyes on the holographic sphere around him. It took the information from those around him and allowed him to manipulate it with ease.

Right now he was looking at a representation of Sol. Orshpa and his forces had entered the system along a path that took them towards Mars. While it was a good path to mars, it wasn’t a good path to Earth. Earth was about Twenty degrees off of Mars and a hell of a lot farther.

“Wormhole generators are good to go, shifting power to the projectors” Peck said from his position at Helm.

What looked to be a spinning sphere appeared before War-station and the rest of the Fleet.

“Let’s get a move on then,” Whorst said, the station’s engines increased power, passing hrough the wormhole’s event horizon, and other ships also opening and passing through their wormholes.

The screens changed for a few moments and then flashed to life with the Faster-Than-Light relays recognizing them and shunting all of the sensor data of the system into their own.

“We are clear of hostiles,” Zal said, studying sensors.

“Clearing wormhole and setting course for Mars,” Peck said.

“Richter, take us off of alert.” Whorst looked to the blonde haired, blue eyed poster boy that was his second-in-command.

“Sir,” Richter acknowledged, his eyes on his screens as lights changed colors and people took their powered armor’s helmets off.

“Arfo, get me a channel to Commander Foshunti,” Whorst said.

“One moment,” Arfo said.

A ping on Whorst’s holographic sphere told him that Foshunti was available.

“Letting us go Commander?” Foshunti asked. Whorst could hear the hunger in Foshunti’s voice, undoubtedly being stuck to go the pace of War-station had played on the other commanders’ nerves.

You’d be lying if you said it didn’t play on yours too. Whorst thought to himself.

“Yes, you and your squadron are free to go, good hunting commander,” Whorst said.

“And you too Commander,” Foshunti cut off the channel.

“Commander Foshunti’s squadron is moving away,” Zal said a few moments later.

Twenty-seven ships angled their headings towards the Kalu pushing for Earth.

Whorst and nineteen other ships were powering on their heading towards Mars. According to the laws of physics and Peck’s calculations, the Free Fleet would be there in a day with eight hours to spare before the Kalu arrived.

Whorst changed his view of the system, looking to the fleet that was headed towards Earth, since it was going along a path with less planets and gravitational objects on it, the Henry-Classed Destroyers or HCD’s were jumping around the Kalu fleet, hitting them with their laser cannons.

Whorst had watched their attacks after the Kalu across the systems between Chaleel and Sol and now the final leg towards Sol. Kalu fighters raced around the Kalu fleet and tried to bring the HCD formations under fire, but they were too far away and their lasers too weak to do too much damage. They had got lucky and the HCD’s had grouped together more tightly and spread away from the Kalu formation.

The hope was that the Kalu fighters would burn a hell of a lot of fuel, plus with their lack of bombs to accelerate themselves like the rest of the Kalu fleet, the Kalu had to travel at slower speeds.

It wouldn't be long until they got too far in-system for them to keep jumping ahead of the Kalu without severe risks of the wormhole not opening in the right place or the wormhole’s being unstable and destroying any ships that traversed them.

Not long ago Whorst had been the system commander of Earth. In the short time that he had been away from his post it had changed. Mars was creating its own cities, Hachiro was now twice the size and there were three other asteroids that had been moved into orbit to become stations. Nancy was nearly as big as she had been before she donated Nelly and Nate to Chaleel and AIH.

Markers of haulers, freighters and shuttles moved between all of the different structures. Earth by contrast had only a few ships moving around the entire planet. After they had tried to take over the Free Fleet they had been ostracized by the space-going community at large. Most of the ships that were moving around were either private company owned, or built by the governments of Earth. Each of them represented a good chunk of Earth’s resources and credits.

The Kalu ships, even with all that the HCD’s had done outnumbered all of the ships in-system by a hefty margin. That wasn’t even including their fighters.

“Let’s have a look at those weapon emplacements around Mars again,” Whorst said. He had one task, keep Mars safe. It was Foshunti’s job to look after Earth.

Gun emplacements appeared on the map infront of him, detailing what their range and their cones of fire were.

He had a battle to plan for and if there was a saint Murphy, and he knew if there was, there would be last minute alterations and decisions that he would have to make.

***

Commander Wesom looked over what had been the purple’s yellows and blues of Jakram. Now there were just scars, fires, and the bodies of Free Fleet and Kalu alike.

Five hundred thousand Commandos had been waiting on the planet when the battle had started, four hundred thousand more of the population had volunteered for combat, two hundred and thirteen thousand were left of either force, but the civilians were safe.

Wesom wanted to fall in the dirt and cry, he had lost so many friends, so many people had died and yet he had survived to see this terrible sight.

There was a booming noise from above, the first Free Fleet ships were finally descending towards the planet. Following them were the Free Merchant ships that would drop off what aid they could while gathering up Wesom and his forces. They were needed on Ershue, Jakram might be safe, but the Free Fleet and the Kalu were far from finished in their war.

“Check to see if all of our people are ready to go,” Wesom said, he turned towards the space port. The view didn’t change much, signs of death and loss were everywhere. He stood in what had been the capital of Jakram. Now it was falling buildings, burnt parks, and bodies. Kalu lay across defenses, civilians that hadn’t run lay in the street. Wesom had opened his mask when he exited the bunkers and promptly evacuated the purple soup the Free Fleet lived on.

The planet smelt like death a few months old in a humid atmosphere.

Civilians walked through the cities, looking in wonder and shock. Volunteers walked around, making sure there were no surprises. Some had found a comfortable place to sit and were crying, sleeping or looking at what had become of their planet.

Wesom moved through defensive positions that he had manned just months or weeks ago, they felt like years.

He trudged through the mess, his second, Jar sent him an alert. The first Commandos were boarding their shuttles and other crafts.

He picked up his pace, memories flicking through his mind as he focused on his path through the destroyed city.

It didn’t take him long to get to the space port.

Commandos, HAPA’s and personnel moved in marching order to the massive Free Fleet warships and Merchant freighters. He cast a look over the city that was perched on the edge of a cliff. The sun was near afternoon, but the red dust from bombarding the planet so many times with the Free Fleet’s shipboard guns made it look pink. Some said that it would remain for generations.

A month of fighting and we changed an entire planet for generations. He shook his head, not knowing if he felt disgust, guilt, anger, or just frustration.

He opened up his HUD, information filling his field of view. A line showed him the way to his ship. He joined the moving mass of a hundred a seventy-three thousand Commandos.

It was quiet other than the thumping of armor on the space port’s reinforced pad. They all knew where they were going and they all knew some of them weren’t coming back.

They were veterans, one and all. Gone were the illusions of heroism or the belief that they couldn’t be killed.

I just hope I kill more of the bastards before they take me out, Wesom summarized their feelings as he thumped aboard a shuttle. The doors sealed and the shuttle took off, he fell into a seat, a harness clamping over him.

The rough jostling was nothing like the pounding of the Free Fleet’s cannons, he quickly fell asleep.

He’d need all the rest he could get before Ershue.

***

Fal looked at the main screen that displayed what had come to be referred to as ‘The Mound’ on Ershue.

The landscape had changed in ways he had never thought possible since the Kalu landed. Swathes of sacred forest had been ripped apart by both the mound's artillery and the Kalu's lasers.

The mounds flat top had been dug into with massive trenches. The three-kilometer-wide and three story tall base that he stood in was the center of it all.

Smoke rose from the forest. Trees for kilometers around the mound had been turned into wreckage. The vibrant colors of the forest colored with destruction.

It hurt him inside to see the new scars that his planet now bore.

"We will rebuild Fal," Kurft said, reading his thoughts as he too looked at the main screen.

"I know," Fal replied, their eyes meeting briefly before they looked towards the screen again.

"We have word coming in from the guerilla forces," Poj said, referring to the platoon sized Ershue units that had been deployed around the planet to make the Kalu's lives a living hell. They'd done well in their duties, poisoning food and water so Kalu were barely able to fight, booby trapping their lines of approach and designating camps for bombing targets.

It hadn't been without risks. Hundreds had died in order to carry out their duty.

"On screen," Kurft said. The guerilla forces always got priority.

It was an artillery designation, the reason that they were asking for confirmation was because it was on a fueling facility.

The Kalu weren't as dumb as they looked, they had brought machinery and supplies with them in order to keep themselves and their weapons going. Including Helium processors that could turn water into fusion fuel.

"Confirm target and send," Kurft said, his voice gruff. He knew the kind of damage that would come on the planet. Fal felt as if he was bartering a bit of what the Human's called 'soul' away as the order was given. A number of Ershue had needed to be removed from the command center as they watched their planet being destroyed. Their planet was their legacy, their home. It was a part of them in a way that few other races felt.

Kurft seemed to be touched by it and understood it on some level.

Somewhere in the base Planetary Rail Cannons fired, and a swathe of Ershue was cleared of all life. The area of forest on the screen bloomed into a cloud of destruction. There seemed to have been a power plant on the location. It had been punctured by the artillery fire, reacting from the opened storage tanks of Helium-three and turned into a bomb that shook the base with its ferocity. Kilometers of forest burned. Fal just hoped that there was little to no fallout so that they might one day reclaim that portion of their home.

"The Kalu look to be massing along sector three," Poj said, sadness, but determination in her voice.

"Alert the HAPA units in that sector, have artillery see if they can coax them out," Kurft said looking to the map.

The Mound base had thirteen trench lines that extended to within a few kilometers of the incline that led from the forest to the barren rock face.

Seven of those lines had been pulled back from, sealed off and their booby traps activated.

Fifty-nine thousand Commandos, both from the fleet and Ershue had died in the defense of those lines. It was a small price to pay for the more than a hundred and fifty million Ershue that hid in the catacombs cut under the base and inside the mound.

“I’m going out,” Kurft said, passing his pad to Fal.

“I will come too commander,” Fal said respectfully, their HAPA numbers had been ground down, Fal was certified and he didn’t want to sit back as his commander went out there and fought.

Kurft looked over him and nodded, pulling the data pad back and handing it to Poj.

“Keep us safe,” Kurft said.

There wasn’t the nervousness Fal would have expected to see in Poj’s wings. She knew her abilities and if Kurft bestowed his trust in her, then she would carry out her task to the best of her ability.

Fal clamped his helmet closed, Kurft did the same. They weaved their way through the base, it was a large base but they knew it well. It wasn’t long until they were in the grimy armory racks. HAPA’s powered up and moved, their users making sure they were running properly. Racks shifted as people moved to join their units. Ammunition belts rattled as ammunition was fed into the beast’s magazines and then up to their medium rail cannons. Elevators dropped from the floor above, more HAPA’s following.

The room was appeared to be in hard use, grease and scars ran across the walls and ceilings.

Fal twitched his wings, his powered armor translated it into walking. Ershue didn’t walk all that much, but the heavy powered armor translated these movements.

In space with their reactive thrusters, they were free to fly.

Fal climbed up his HAPA and ambled his way in, he didn’t miss the easy way that Kurft swung himself into position and started the powering up sequence.

Fal orientated and powered up, the machine rumbled to life underneath him.

Again he used the interface between his wings and powered armor to move, which made his HAPA move. He rocked with the HAPA’s large gait, he walked, flicking switches to bring ammunition to both guns and alter the gait of the HAPA to better suit him. Another closed the harness around his powered armor and mated it to the HAPA’s.

He checked the harness and grabbed the dual joy sticks to either side of him. He flicked a toggle on the side. His missile pods came up on both sides and locked into position.

Kurft was ahead of him and moving through the HAPA commandos towards the hallways that surrounded the armored facility. These would put them in front of the approaching Kalu.

HAPA’s were jogging, a simple enough looking practice, but one of the most complex.

Fal hit another toggle on the sides of his joysticks, they became free, whirring as he brought them up, he shifted his arms and the cannons on them from side to side, checking his range of motion.

“All good?” Kurft asked over personal communications channel.

“Five by five,” Fal said, remembering a human saying that had stuck.

Kurft let out a huff of air and picked up the pace into a jog. Fal followed, switching the second last toggle on his joysticks. The guns rotated, revealing plasmid swords. He hit the toggle again and the cannons came back.

He felt his body moving side to side with the elongated steps of the HAPA. It had felt so odd and heavy compared to flying. After months of training he was finally used to it.

Kurft turned and came out of the corridor.

A hatch had been opened to allow the HAPA’s to stream out. Kurft’s arms came up his rail cannons firing.

Fal followed, checking his cannons again.

Then he too was going through the hatch and saw a sight that training could never replicate. HAPA’s stood or took a knee in any depression they could find, grouping together and firing at the oncoming Kalu. Artillery rained down over the edge of the mound and on the side of it. There wasn’t enough additional support to keep them all back and the Kalu had spread out enough that the artillery didn’t kill that many of them.

Fal realized he had blanked for a moment, thankfully he hadn’t stopped moving and slid down a crater wall. He used the opposite side to stop himself, other HAPA’s came around and joined him.

While training couldn’t make up the sights he was seeing, it did train him to react. He raised his cannons, his HUD showing him the cameras mounted on them, and he found his first Kalu.

He squeezed his trigger, seeing it slump down in a hail of rounds.

He paused, realizing that he had just killed another creature.

Not going to help if the Kalu overrun you and kill your family and friends.

His wings tightened and sunk into his training, finding targets and filling them with rounds.

He was no longer sub-commander Fal, he was just another Commando trying to hold the line as Kalu charged over their lines and dove into the trenches.

The Kalu scampered up the edges, jumping on the HAPA’s where they could.

Plasmid blades buried themselves into the Kalu’s shells, others fired their guns even when in close combat. Metal giants fought armored wolves.

Fal fired his last remaining missile into the oncoming Kalu, firing his cannons at the pack that were racing through entrenchments, all of the booby traps had been destroyed at this point. While the remaining trenches were too short to give powered armor and HAPA’s cover, the Kalu were half the size. They raced through the trenches, using their cover to come charging at Fal.

“Commandos on me!” Fal barked over a close-communication channel, turning his bulk and bringing his cannons to bear, his cannons roared, rattling his entire frame.

It was a kind of exhilaration that he had never thought to feel. His cannons moved independently, tracking down the multiple runs of Kalu. HAPA’s announced their arrival by sliding around him or rolling to a stuttering step, pausing their mass. Their guns blazed and for a moment they held the Kalu back.

For a moment Fal hoped that they could get enough time to push back.

He hadn’t been watching the large contingent of Kalu join the smaller pack that had gained entrance into the trenches.

The Kalu in the rear surged over the sides of the trenches, giving the HAPA’s too many targets to handle.

Fal likened them to a nest of seldar.

“Blades!” One of the Commandos said, guns rotated and set in place as the first HAPA’s were rocked back with incoming Kalu.

Fal realized he was screaming as his arms moved wildly, bashing, cutting and attempting to stave off the Kalu.

The Kalu had trained from birth to kill others with their teeth and claws. Fal had learned how to fly, to play to have joy.

Kalu blood covered his HAPA, he fought, not thinking about the reasons he was there, to stop was to die.

He felt pain in his side, he released an arm joystick and grabbed his shotgun, it bellowed, clearing the Kalu off of his HAPA. He struggled upright, his side in pain. He didn’t dare to look down. Another Kalu lurched at him. He grabbed his joystick and dragged his blade through them, he weaved, as if drunk.

The Kalu writhed in dying agony, the movement made Fal stumbled and almost fall, his right arm stopped him from falling over completely.

He took a breath, looking at the ground, glancing to his sensors and hearing more Kalu on his back.

Fury rode him, he yelled pushing off of his arm and slamming on his back, he hit the ground with his left arm and rolled away, getting to his HAPA’s feet, being on the ground was death.

He switched his right to a cannon, firing it into the two recovering Kalu that had been on his back.

His HAPA locked and Hellfire made him go rigid.

He grunted and wailed through his suit, it was a big dose. He knew that wasn’t a good thing, the Wake up got him back into fighting order within moments.

“No rest in the Commandos,” Fal said, remembering the words of other Commandos as he stumbled towards the line he had been holding, he switched his left arm’s blade for a cannon and fired as he walked up the small rise. He had work to do.

The artillery had stemmed the flow of Kalu and made the oncoming Kalu manageable. It looked like they had broken the Kalu’s charge, for now.

The ground rumbled with more HAPA’s reinforcements coming in and adding their firepower to Fal’s and the three survivors of the line, there had been seventeen on the line before.

Fal bit back his emotions shifting to a new position with better cover, warning signs were all over his armor.

“We’ve got this now, go and get yourself sorted,” a Commando said on a private channel.

“I can...” Fal started.

“Be quick about it. That hellfire and wake up is going to drain off and you’re going to be in a damn sorry state,” The Commando said.

“You may have a point,” Fal said. “Vamp me first,” Fal said moving back from the line and holding out an arm at the Commando.

They reached their arm over, connecting ports. Fal watched as his ammunition dropped to ten percent, pouring into the Commandos internal magazines.

“Good luck,” Fal said, heading for the base at a jog, he got a few laser strikes on his back, but the HAPA barely dipped below yellow.

He got into the hatch, his vision swimming while his Wake-up was wearing off.

He weaved a little, gritting his teeth and heading towards the HAPA armory. He locked out his arms and made sure to keep out of people’s way. A medic saw him and waved for him to stop. He ground to a halt, it was hard for him to keep his eyes open. The medic jumped up, making sure the HAPA was locked into place and started staring at his side. He felt new hellfire go raging through his system. The auto-injector must be dumping its remaining reserves into his system as he desperately wanted to hit the medic who’d activated it.

Fucking hellfire!

Oblivion took him and he slumped into his harness.