No Rest for the Wicked
Author: Michael Chatfield
Date: 2015-11-06 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Science Fiction; Space Opera; Science Fiction Fantasy; Fiction
Description: Earth is safe for now, with it came some much needed surprises. Though if Salchar was expecting a break he’s in for a rude awakening, well he’s already done that once…. but anyway. Lady Fairgate has sensed something has gone wrong at Parnmal. Thinking that Jorsht is now trying to carve out his own little kingdom, she sends Captain Kelu, one of her favourite enforcers with the largest Syndicate Fleet assembled since the Syndicate and the Union went head to head. Though Kelu is in for some nasty surprises when he reaches Parnmal, Jorsht isn’t home and this little bit of space is defended by the
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

Table of Contents

Chapter - Siege of Parnmal

Chapter - Holding Back Is Harder Than Rushing in Sometimes

Chapter Final Preparations

Chapter - It Always Starts with a Bang

Chapter - Best Laid Plans

Chapter - Halls of Darkness

Chapter - By Any Means
Chapter - Patience
Chapter - This Ends
Chapter - Pushing On
Chapter - Reunited
Chapter - Moving out
Chapter - New Frontiers
Chapter - Part of the Job
Chapter - Freedom
Chapter - Too Smooth
Chapter - New Resident

Prologue

Lady Fairgate sat in her command chair, her face serene as she looked upon the Galeesh Captain who grovelled at her feet.

Her robes were spun of the finest material, which seemed to flutter with a nonexistent breeze. She was a statue of power in what was called her throne room by many. It overlooked Worshun, the planet of many, and now Lady Fairgate's seat of power in the Quarst system. When it had been the home world for the Union, this system had hosted ambassadors from every inhabited system in the known galaxy. Its rich purples, greens, and blues had been turned to grey and black as pirates transformed the city-planet into a trading centre for the entire Syndicate.

Fairgate looked upon it, silent fury building behind her calm facade.

Who the hell would challenge my authority? My Captains wouldn't. I've assured their loyalty, or at the very least they're too scared to do anything. The middling systems know that they only exist because I find them useful. Maybe I should take their vessels anyway. Yet still, no one would do this. Jorsht is a smart man. He might be able to get Welick on his side, but then to get a force that fights that well together. It's almost like... No.

She looked back to the Galeesh Captain, who seemed to be trying to become part of the floor. There was no way that the Union existed, but then there were also strange goings on throughout her syndicate empire.

Plus there's that activity. Something's happening.

“Foshunti, take the forces you deem necessary, and get me back my station,” she said as the Dovark moved forward, his slick smile terrifying to all but Fairgate.

He was one of her three carrier captains, and one of the most twisted.

“With pleasure my lady,” he said as he gave a sweeping bow.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Fairgate thought, looking at what she considered her plaything. Seeing him do as she said without question sent a thrill through her. If the rumours were true he might even rival her love for pain. Foshunti rose and turned, stroking his fingers over the still prostrate captain. Fairgate didn't miss the dark delight Foshunti took in the act, the Corvette captain shuddered.

“Come toy, we shall have a lot of fun,” Foshunti said, looking to Fairgate as the Galeesh reluctantly stood.

I've done things you can't believe, Foshunti. A little power trip won't sway me. Fairgate thought as her bored eyes turned back to Worshun.

“See that you do not fail,” Her tone was light, but she saw Foshunti's eyes became darker. He clearly didn't like being told what to do. But you still fear me don't you, Fairgate thought with wicked pleasure.

What is love and trust when you can make them fear you.

She stopped, her eyes to turning to where Captain Lifendi usually sat. Sometimes fear is essential to survival.

Chapter - Siege of Parnmal

Captain Kelu looked at the enemy fleet as it exited Parnmal system. While it made tactical sense, no one in the syndicate would choose to fight without the opportunity to flee if the battle turned against them. It only served to further Kelu's suspicions of the people on Parnmal, as well as the people piloting the ships which were supposed to be reinforcing him from an inhabited system.

It has to be something recent. If it was planned by syndicate personnel there would be some monetary gain, which would not be possible outside of the Syndicate, we have control over everything. It has to be an outside force, though they’re using our ships and some modified technology as I saw with the PDS. Not Syndicate; they have a lower technology base than us, he surmised.

He rose and walked out of the bridge into the bowels of the ship and to a cluttered room of hooked up information terminals and input systems. A spirited young Ershue lay there. The race was notorious for pranks, yet after Kelu had laid down the law the kid had never been involved with one of them again.

“Gog I need to know what's been happening recently in this area,”

“Humans got used as replacement crew,”

Kelu nodded. He didn't agree with having entire races lied to and having such people as unknowing slaves. One slip up would all it would need for them to cause chaos, plus the cost to replace them after using their kill switches. Just annoying.

“Cutting off trade in the area, cultivating systems in the know of the Union, a planet called Chaleel was dominated,”

“What were their forces?” Kelu felt a flash of hope that he'd found the cause.

“Ground based. Their space abilities were limited to outdated Corvettes without parts,” Gogs said as he whirled a stylus in his fingers and began spinning his chair. Ershue had an inability to stay still. Unless Gogs was focused on his console, he was moving in some erratic manner.

“Orvunut was also guarding something,” Gogs said in a way that let Kelu know he knew, but was willing to see how long it would take to sufficiently annoy his superior.

“What?” Kelu hoped his tone would get it across that he was not in a mood for games.

“Well, it was large,” Gogs said slowly, clearly enjoying Kelu's annoyance.

“Dreadnought?” An exasperated Kelu said, his tone hard as he looked at Gogs. Gog's features fell into an almost sulk. Kelu wasn't playing along.

“You know that was his ship and not what he was taking,” Gogs said, now his turn to be annoyed.

“Gogs,” Kelu's tone warning.

“It had factory ships attached to it,” Gogs said in an attempt to keep the guessing game going.

“Station?” Kelu said, damning himself for the slip up as Gogs grinned. Kelu usually liked these little back and forths, it allowed him to use his mind, but right now his baser instincts were getting ahead of him, and his finger was itching for his rail pistol.

“Close, bigger,” Kelu's thoughts of blasting the little annoying bugger away, faded as he looked away in wonder.

“A shipyard?” He half whispered, that was the only thing bigger than a station that the Syndicate had moved.

“Nancy,” Gogs confirmed, tapping a command on his console. A three dimensional wire frame of the shipyard unfurled on all of the screens.

“What's that doing here? I thought it was destroyed, it was missing for so long,” Kelu said, leaning closer to Gog's view screen to get a better look at the ship yard.

“Nope. Lady Fairgate kept the movement quiet as she changed the ships around so they were seen before they went back out. She only used ships with slave crew, so there was less people to talk about it,” Gogs said, Kelu knew it was better than to ask where Gogs had got that information from.

“Why all the way out here? There's nothing,” Kelu returned to standing, still looking at the view screen thoughtfully.

“Exactly,” Gogs said as if Kelu had pointed out his own question's answer. With another tap of controls, a star map appeared. “There's no one here from the old Union, and it just seems to be on the opposite side of there,” Gogs voice took on a dark edge as Kelu felt his fight hormones spike. He pointed to the region of space which had been long ago referred to as simply 'the line'. The worst battles of the Union-Kalu war were fought there.

“That means…” Kelu was lost in thought and shock.

“That we're fighting for much more than just a station. We're fighting for somewhere to retreat to,” Gogs said as Kelu sat on the Ershue's bed.

“Nothing was confirmed,” he said, looking at Gogs who lifted his limbs.

“Nothing was denied either,”

“Shit,”

“Indeed. It also makes sense why it was suggested that we don't use missiles,” Gogs trailed off as Kelu looked at him with silent fury. He turned his face away slightly, knowing it wasn't Gogs fault that he'd been stuck in this mess.

“Unfortunately... There's nothing saying we shouldn't use missiles against those remote weapon emplacements.” Kelu's face became strained as if his next words were hard to say. “We're going to need to take the station with our mecha troopers.”

“It's going to take time,”

Kelu made a throwing away gesture, as if he had already moved past that point.“Very well, but we're on a schedule here. I don't want to have nothing when our reinforcements arrive,” Kelu said, pulling himself up. “I want to know who they are as soon as possible,” he said, caring a little less for that in light of what he'd found out. The Kalu might not all be gone. What will they think when they find out you changed your name to be similar to them.

That thought plagued him as he walked to his cabin to find a stiff drink.

***

Since James Salchar had returned to Parnmal he'd been a man possessed. Mad Monk hadn't seen his commander this focused even when he and Mecha Tail had been preparing for their return to Mecha Assault Two.

Mad Monk doubted if the man had slept in the three weeks that he'd been at Parnmal. He'd had everyone training in hand to hand combat. Shrift and Felix had finished creating a mecha factory, Powered armor factory. Monk reminded himself, Lady Fairgate had changed the name of the armor for some unknown reason. True Mechas were towering machines, usually with damned massive weaponry. Though there was other things to trouble his mind.

The powered armor, or mecha factories, were pumping out mechas for every creature on Parnmal at an alarming rate. Salchar wanted everyone to not only have a mecha, no matter their department, but to also know how to use them before the Syndicate forces attacked.

The mechas increased a person's strength by magnitudes, allowed them to operate in any environment, had armor and could handle the recoil of the largest portable weapons in the Free Fleet arsenal. They were the workhorses of the Free Fleet, they were as likely to be patrolling as they were to be moving heavy materials or working out on the surface of Parnmal.

The Commandos were the biggest users of the mechas, their proficiency and the deadly capabilities they displayed in that armor were unmatched. Which was one of the reasons that even previous syndicate personnel knew to not mess with a Commando.

The syndicate personnel were used as a labor force getting Parnmal's interior ready. Salchar had made the station a death trap. Henry and his commanders each gave a plan of how they would take Parnmal, and for each of those Salchar had set up tens of bottlenecks, super-reflective walls which would take hours for plasmid weaponry to get through, blast out panels filled with shrapnel, and the new weapons systems taken from Earth. The gatling gun and fifty calibre variants of weaponry were intermixed with bead and rail repeaters.

It was those weapons that Felix was talking about right now.

“With Min Hae's research with the solid projectile weaponry such as the weaponry from Earth as well as the railguns we've been able to create smart rounds,”

A hologram filled the room as Felix kept up the appearance of calm, Monk knowing the gun nut was jumping for joy in his head. He'd seen the 'tests' which had been a spectacular show of Felix looking at the weapons as if they were something from the god's before, grinning his head off and letting a few more hundred rounds fly, all in the name of research of course.

“The first will have a timed delay, and effectively your rounds become shotgun rounds,” Felix played a clip of a target as a round exploded in slow motion, ripping the target apart.

“The second is a round that will explode once inside a target,”

Again a video played as ballistics jelly was held in mid-air, exploding across the bay as Felix's voice could be clearly heard.

“Fuck me, we need to get some cleaner bots,”

Monk looked to Felix who grinned, clearly unrepentant, Salchar raised an eyebrow and Henry was grinning. Min Hae, the last inhabitant of the conference room shook his head, clearly used to these kinds of actions.

“The third one explodes behind cover,” Felix continued as jelly behind a bulkhead exploded. A slow video showed as the round went through the bulkhead and split apart as it had with the first round.

“Seems quite effective. How long till you can have reloads for every solid state weapon?” Salchar asked.

“I could have a hundred thousand rounds in two days’ time,” Felix said without missing a beat.

“What if I wanted Planetary Rail Cannons priority?” Salcahr asked, leaning forward.

Felix looked at the ceiling as if finding the information there.

“I could get you a thousand rounds for the PRC's,” he said as his gaze returned to Salchar.

“For every fifty thousand rounds for other weapons I want a hundred rounds for the PRC's,” Salchar said as Felix made a note.

“Now Min Hae does it look like they've noticed our field?” Salchar asked, talking about the minefield that was now surrounding the approaching Syndicate Fleet.

Monk had been thorough in his creating defenses for Parnmal. The main defense was made of PRC's not only on the station but on thruster stabilized asteroids. A secondary tier of defense were hollowed out asteroids moved by pressurized gas, so as to not be detected as they released their stored stealthed mines.

The station itself had planetary grade shield generators as well as ablative armor covering areas not protected by the massive Asteroids thick natural armor. While Parnmal was massive, at over a hundred forty kilometers diameter, not including the off shoots. The syndicate and the Free Fleet had only dug into the asteroid about five percent of that. Min Hae was still piecing together what had happened to Parnmal, but whoever had done it had the power to crack planets, which was a scary thought indeed.

“They are in place as you wanted. Though I had something interesting happen, an incoming transmission.”

Min Hae had changed from the man that was grasping at straws trying to get information from the Syndicate from Resilient's armories. He had garnered an air which made him seem unflappable as he talked about anything from the food you liked to how he could make a reactor blow up with a simple piece of code in a ships terminal.

He truly was becoming the director of the Intelligence department. He was cold and as ruthless as the information he found. He dealt in facts and could pull information from thin air, and he was deeply involved with figuring out how the combined information of all the societies the Free Fleet protected and the Union could be used to protect them. He reminded Monk of Henry for his drive and the way he treated his subordinates, but without the air of relaxed competence. Instead, Min Hae had the deadly calm of a serpent pointed at anyone that would dare hurt its family.

Monk had seen Min Hae in interview rooms. The cold efficient way in which he got subjects to talk had made him infamous amongst the Syndicate personnel. He had gained the nickname of Merchertevak, a bird native to Drvntrni that fired small poisonous needles at its prey, remaining unseen until the victim was paralyzed and it could begin its feast.

Well. He never hurt them, but everything else was free game. Monk had seen many of the files on most of the garbage that was mining and providing labour for the Free Fleet. Little if any of them deserved any kind of mercy, but Monk and the rest of the Free Fleet treated them fairly.

“Really? What was this transmission about?” Salchar asked, the other heads in the room focusing on Min Hae.

Min Hae was always finding useful tidbits of information and anything he had to say was valuable and possibly lifesaving.

“There's a person by the name of Gogs who wants to defect,” Min Hae said.

“Are we sure that he's telling the truth?” Henry asked, not trying to hide the unhappy look at trusting this unknown creature.

“That's what he's saying,” Min Hae paused in thought before continuing. “He's also the one that was able to find our little virus and for now has stopped it from spreading. He says that he hasn't told anyone, and if we grant him asylum he'll allow the virus to spread,”

“Does he know who we are?” Salchar said, his face not revealing his true feelings.

“He and the fleet he's with still aren't sure. Though they do know that Orvunut is out of the picture. Kelu is debating whether to send a Corvette to scout or not,” Min Hae said.

“But again Henry is right to be unhappy with this development for security reasons, I haven't shared anything or pushed for specifics in a way that would betray our actions and identity.”

He looked around the table, everyone trusted him implicitly and you could see it on their faces.

“There is one other thing he said of importance.” Min Hae said, pausing as if he was trying to figure out how to best say it.

“Just spit it out or we might be waiting an age.” Salchar said in a joking tone.

“Very well,” Min Hae's own tone serious, making a few people shift in their seats to see what was bothering the Intelligence department's commander. “The Corvette Kelu sent was to gather more reinforcements as we thought, though not from the nearest people. He sent the Corvette to report directly to Lady Fairgate. So whatever's coming will be a large force indeed,”

“How long will it take that force to get here?” Salchar asked, the joking tone from seconds ago had evaporated into the steely tones of someone that didn't want to hear more, but duty held him to continue listening.

“About eight months,” Min Hae said. “The Syndicate is slow and they will stop in every system they can, to pillage, trade and suck up as much free time as possible.

“How was Kelu on us so quickly then?” Henry asked.

“Kelu is this sector's enforcer. He must be connected into the FTL relay's that Lady Fairgate took over when she took the Union. He must be out of that range to send a Corvette to her. ” Min Hae replied.

“Now the question is how we get them to attack before they get those reinforcements.” Salchar said, silence only cut by Salchar's fingers tapping the table in thought.

“Hit them with cannons?” Henry suggested as Salchar shook his head, a small smile on his lips.

“While that will do quite a bit of damage to them,” Salchar said, the short lived humor dying on his lips. “They’ll just run out of range again. We need to make them think that we're weak,” Salchar said, his tone business-like in contrast to Henry's.

“Why don't we use the mines? Push them towards us,” Monk said.

“That was going to be my final resort, but I want them to come in guns blazing so we can have the element of surprise when they get to Parnmal thinking they have the upper hand,”

“Riot?” Min Hae said, as eyes turned to him with questioning looks. “We make a show of some stuff blowing up. Then we have someone send a panicked message to Kelu saying that the ones going against Jorsht need his assistance,”

“For what reason would they attack Jorsht?” Monk asked. Everyone was thinking the same thing.

“Took their ships and there's a reward for his head,” Min Hae said. It made sense for the Syndicates.

“Make the preparations, in one week we'll lure them in, or pull them in,” Salchar said.

“We're going to lose the PRC's that they saw already. To sell this we're going to have to prove that the PRC's are out of order. We'll have to give up a few not facing the syndicate as well.” Monk had learnt that when Min Hae said something it was always true. In the world of lies and treachery, he had never lied to Monk or the command team.

I guess dealing with possibilities all the time would make the truth more valuable than gold, Monk thought as the others grimaced in the room.

“Line it all out for me. We might just have to bite the bullet on this one,” Salchar said.

“Henry, how are our Commandos?” Monk knew Salchar was up to date on the Commando's situation, but the others in the room might be interested in the information.

“They're all fighting fit. I've made mixed companies with veteran leadership throughout. We've got thirty two thousand Commandos fully trained. Thankfully the next rotation of trainees weren't slated to be here for another two weeks meaning there's no new boots around.”

He threw something into the centre of the table, which turned into a model of Parnmal. A rainbow of colors highlighted the map.

“Each squad has been assigned primary, secondary and tertiary areas throughout the station, creating defences as they each felt fit. They've turned it into a true killing ground,” Henry beamed with pride, a small grin on his tired features.

“I've had them conducting drills on every site, making it so they can switch between multiple areas depending on where the Syndicate comes from. There's companies ready to board any ship that connects to our airlocks. Airlocks have been blocked off in certain areas, so that there are fewer entry points and bottlenecking for the enemy when they come.”

Henry's calm demeanour changed to an unsure tone.

“The one thing I have an issue with is the Syndicate prisoners.” Henry finally said, looking to the others in the room. Identical grim looks came back from around the conference table.

“If I may,” Monk said as he raised his hand. Salchar waved for him to take the floor,

“We will be securing them in the new barracks. They're being made for the new trainees. They're like the current barracks, with isolating squad pods which have their own air supply, food and such, in case the station becomes open to vacuum. They however do not have any electronics in them currently. Everything is manual, and the doors leading in can be fitted to only open from the outside. It's actually better than the hangar we're keeping them in now,” Monk finished.

“Is that satisfactory?” Salchar asked the others, seeing clearly that it wasn't. “Very well take it up with Monk afterwards. I do not want to be worrying about fighting a battle on two sides.” That got a few grim faces.

“Any other issues?” Salchar asked, but no one looked to have anything.

“Alright, let's get some grub then. That includes you too Min Hae,” Salchar said as the man was about to make an excuse. Min Hae cracked a grin, Monk smiled at the sight. The man put himself under a lot of stress, and when he'd gotten the message about Orvunut too late he'd buried himself in work. Monk had told Salchar, who'd had a talk with Min Hae, getting him to lighten up a little. Now Monk had to see if he could mutter a few words into Salchar's ear in an attempt to get him to at least rest before this all kicked off. The battle was coming no matter what, and there was no reason for the commander of the whole thing to be at his limit when it kicked off.

Chapter - Holding Back Is Harder Than Rushing in Sometimes

Rick looked over his systems. Nothing different, he surmised, as he shifted uncomfortably in James’, no Salchar's, chair.

There was something about James that changed when he walked onto the Bridge, the way he sat in the very seat Rick was sitting in. He was cold and ruthless, yet there was a care for not only his crew but the fleet underneath that metal. He didn't fight battles. He orchestrated them like some kind of conductor. His music was life and death, a melody of rail cannons, missiles shields, and ships. He sent orders and the creatures of the fleet reacted as if they were Salchar's own body. It was as awesome as it was terrifying.

Rick spent his time in battle keeping everything flowing. He had the pulses of every ship under his finger. He was merely a relay to Salchar, who took everything in, from whose weapons were in the best condition to the shield levels of every ship, which was summarised by Rick and squirted directly into his command console. Rick and Salchar hardly ever needed to converse now, as Rick constantly updated his commanders’ plot with information he knew he'd find useful.

Yet now Rick was missing his other half in battle. It was as if he didn't have half of his cannons.’ He was spending every waking minute—and sleeping thanks to the sleep training programs—working on his skills as a fleet commander. It was terrifying the lives he was directly responsible for. When he was second in command his responsibility was compacting and relaying information, working at such a furious pace he didn’t have time to think about the lives that he held in his hands until afterwards. Then there was nothing but regrets that he hadn't been able to do more in order to help those that had been lost.

Now as a Fleet commander he saw how the erratic pacing of leading a fleet allowed one time to think, time to doubt themselves and reflect on the lives lost. Every decision they made was wrought with the cost of lives it might take.

How the hell does he do it? Sitting there like some statue as he dives into enemy formations, nothing but the certainty that he will win the battle no matter what.

Rick knew that wasn't true, he'd spoken to Salchar about all that was lost before. But thinking know he couldn’t help it, that was what he felt.

James just makes it look so easy, as if he has the easiest job, when in fact it's the hardest. How the hell am I going to come up with any tactics like his? Rick thought as he finished watching a sped up tactical view of a Kalu-Union battle.

Annoyed he stood.

“Aleya, take over for me,” he said to his second in command, a lithe Avarian female who crossed to his seat.

“Taking control,” she said, the natural way she moved speaking of someone that could do a lot of damage with only their hands. Instead of just following in the footsteps of many Avarians, she trained to be a tactical commander. Since there were few spots she'd been slotted as third shift second in command. She spent most of her time around the Tactical area of the bridge, but her time as a commander with the Commanders made her the right choice to fill the second in command slot for the third shift as well.

Rick was having one hell of a time getting everyone sorted out into their positions.

Rick stretched as he left the bridge, Wruck following him. Gorjuv his cousin and equally big bastard but more of a joker, and Josein a Chaleelian who switched with him were evidently off. Some of the Chaleelian's had been a bit unsure about the Free Fleet after training, but they'd quickly adjusted.

Haven't got many ships, but we've got five races in the fleet, not including the Syndicate Labor Force, Rick thought.

Rick walked the halls, talking to a few and nodding to others in recognition as they walked past. Commander Boot's battle cruiser, destroyer and five corvettes were in AIH by now. They were splitting into two squadrons. One Destroyer and three corvettes would patrol AIH, Commander Boot, his BC and the final two corvettes would patrol Earth and pass the word. The rest of the Fleet were focused on expanding the FTL network, and if the Syndicate got past Parnmal, then it was their job to stop them.

Parnmal sent updates every six hours of their current status. For the last two weeks it hadn't changed. Yet Salchar believed it would in a week, and Rick was putting down FTL relays which would take two weeks to get to Earth. He felt useless, yet he also knew that Resilient and the other ships at Parnmal would only take damage that Parnmal itself could suck up.

Doesn't stop it from being annoying. He thought, knowing he was moping.

An alert sounded on his data pad, he pulled it from his back pocket. On one of Edward's many tours he seemed to have been trying to take pictures of the armories. Edward's thought he was being covert, but he still didn't understand the sheer gap in technology between his resource's and the Free Fleet's. Thankfully Rick had been able to keep him out of his hair and mostly sat on by his commando handlers.

Out of sight, out of mind. He thought, feeling sorry for the Commando minders. Edwards was not the easiest charge.

***

He wasn't the only one in the Free Fleet not very pleased with the esteemed commanders’ decisions. Yasu sat in on the meeting with the training staff as Takahashi was explaining how the new selection process for people would work, as well as introducing the staff that would be running these advanced training programs on the newly finished or almost finished facilities. Greetings went around as Yasu memorized names and faces. There was no need for her to introduce herself, everyone knew who she was.

“For now the people that will be receiving this new training will be already graduated Free Fleet personnel, until the trainees have completed their instruction. We will also be having trainees coming from Chaleel and AIH.”

Takahashi didn't mention the storm of civilians that were coming, as well as trading ships that would plague Sol system for the foreseeable future. That I'm going to have to deal with. Yasu thought, as Commander Whorst would be undoubtedly swarmed with the other issues that came with a rapidly growing solar system and military institution. Commander Whorst was good at his job. He was young, had fighting experience, and he had a knack for wading through information. He excelled at understanding an issues and passing off solutions while managing multiple ventures, this usually left Yasu in awe.

Commander Whorst said the skills came from playing fifteen different computer games, mostly at the same time. Still he didn't take all the issues on. He had initiated a liaison office just because of the issues that had cropped up. It had been rapidly copied by other system commanders to deal with the native occupant's demands. It seemed the native occupants of the Sol system wanted the Free Fleet to do everything for them at no extra cost. Even though they were just getting into space, it seemed that they thought the Free Fleet did everything for free. Things that would cost billions. It was ludicrous.

Though there were also quite a few good things Yasu had to acknowledge the Free Fleet had gained from Earth. There were trainees, civilian contractors and miners. Shirley Manley now owned AB Mining Incorporated, and her mining colony elite produced more materials for the Free Fleet and Earth than the other three top mining companies on Earth. The ship yard Nancy owned, needed every resource she could find, now that Parnmal's ships were waiting to be not only refitted for battle but to have all the new upgrades that had cropped up from across the fleet.

Silly, Nancy's commander and head engineer had a new fire in him. He no longer stuck by useless rules and regulations that were outdated. He could use drones in the thousands. He had automated systems, factories that worked non-stop and an unending stream of ideas bouncing between him, Felix his brother Shrift and his Uncle Eddie. Some of the systems were damned exciting and he was finally getting to use some of the ideas on the BC monstrosity in front of him. It would only be another month or so until he could start laying down keels for ships of the line, proper ships that were purpose built to be on the front lines for a long time. Nancy was growing her business one yard at a time, the process getting faster with every iteration. Soon Resilient, Salchar’s Dreadnought and Eddie's passion, would have a dock to fit her, and there were plans for a carrier, and then a super-carrier dock.

Yasu had been educated on the current ships that had been around at the end of the Union. They'd been made as quickly as possible, cheaply as possible, and without the modifications such as anti-matter storage systems—that Resilient only got because she practically built herself—proper med bays, not only secondary systems, and four layered backups and easy access systems. These ships had been meant to last for a few battles, not a decade, and they were quickly coming up on a century.

Yasu saw that everyone was looking to her to say something.

“Welcome to the training team. I am Yasu Cook, the training commander for Hachiro. If you have any issues don't hesitate to ask one of the veteran training staff. I would like to get reports from all of you on your readiness to teach, what you need in order to get started and such. Does anyone have any issues at this time?”

There were no nods in the positive or raised hands so Yasu rolled on.

“Get yourselves acquainted with your areas. Before long this place will be crawling with trainees and Free Fleet personnel.” The faces around the table looked eager. It was always a great job teaching people one's trade.

“Well, I say we call this meeting and go get some food,” she smiled as the others in the room grinned, however their race did. Standing, Yasu tapped her fingers to her forehead, the others doing the same as she left, letting the training team get acquainted with one another.

She went to Ms. Li's a tea shop, hidden away in the entertainment district. Hidden away wasn't quite accurate, but it was a place where most commanders went, or people wanting their own space. Ms Li had purchased a holographic screen, which covered a full half of her shop, making it appear as if it was perched on the edge of space. There was a sped up video of the moons around Telhalra, a pleasure planet. The red, blue, grey and purple moons passed in a relaxing manner as people read books, sipped their tea, or did work, or just sat there taking time to look at the view. Yasu greeted a few people loitering around the café as she got to the serving counter. Ms Li looked up with a smile on her face as she put commands into her data pad.

“How's it going, Yasu?” the woman asked. She was one of the older first generation recruits. Even though she was only twenty two and had the body of a Free Fleet commando she was a motherly figure to all of those that came into her establishment.

“Not bad. Just wished I was there instead of hanging back here,” she said, knowing Li knew exactly what there meant.

“These trainees need your skills though, Yasu,” Li said, and Yasu nodded, knowing the truth of those words.

Yet still she was a warrior, and not being with her people, especially Salchar, when they were in battle made her feel as if she'd let them down in some way.

“I understand,” Li said as she put a cup under a receptacle, pressing different buttons and adding a few things from a variety of bottles.

“Sitting here making tea and seeing my old squad mates go off and fight at Parnmal makes me want to re-enlist,”

“Why don't you?” Yasu asked, as Li handed over a large mug as well as a few snacks on the side.

“That's a complicated question. Mostly because I don't trust myself.”

Li got a faraway look as Yasu passed her hand over the payment sensor, and it beeped that it had taken the funds for her tea.

“I was in the Aslarr district on Chaleel. We had to kill so many Sarenmenti that didn't believe that the Syndicate were really the syndicate. We had gotten to know them in our time there, and I had to kill them, or they would've killed me and my squad mates, and maybe people on Earth. I'm scared by how easily people can be convinced to believe something. Human's aren't the only ones that are easily turned by lies and people trying to gain power,”

“It's scary, but it's the universe we live in. We just have to understand that people want power for themselves, no matter what. I'm just going to make sure that whoever tries to bully those less than them gets some right butt kicking.”

Li grinned at this and Yasu did too.

“Well I best get to doing some work,” Yasu sighed.

Li's grin turned to a kind smile.

“Good luck,” she said as Yasu's face adopted a disgusted look.

“Thanks,” she said, a little sarcastically as she took her tea to an empty seat, looking out at the moons. She took a sip of the tea, finding it full of subtle flavours that soothed her tongue, body and mind. The aroma wafting from it was heavenly.

Sitting there relaxed, she looked to the entrance of the Cafe. Standing there was Takahashi, who looked to be unsure of something. Yasu caught his eye as he went deep red and made to leave. Yasu crooked an imperial eyebrow as Takahashi thought better about his retreat and walked into the cafe, sitting in the chair beside her. He took a minute before talking.

“I know the things that I did are inexcusable, but I want you to know that...” His voice caught as he looked to the ground before continuing.

“I want us to be friends. I know this is a lot to ask, but a long time ago I stopped being a master and became your student, even more so when the Free Fleet rose from the bowels of the syndicate fleet to take their own freedom.”

He raised his head as Yasu looked into his eyes.

Technically he was the oldest person that had ever been recruited from Earth, but with the physical condition that his body was in they accepted him instead of throwing him into space as the syndicate had done with hundreds of others. A fact that had only been found out when the Free Fleet had taken Hachiro. Takahashi was one of four people that had come from her hometown which was now a large crater. Yasu was another, and the Sato sisters the remaining two.

“Yes.” She held up her finger. “But now it's your job to socialize the Sato sisters,”

Takahashi's look of joy faded into one of foreboding.

“But..,”

“While we trained them in the ways of war, we did not help them in the ways of the world. It's about time we did, before all they are is two lost girls who know nothing but how to kill,” Takahashi's face fell as sadness filled it. He has changed because of the Free Fleet too, she thought.

Video gamers and actors might think they were hardcases and all, with their action movies and such, but real warriors, the ones stories were told about, were made from flesh and felt the pains everyone else felt. They weren't superhuman, they were driven. They weren't cold, they were focused, and that was what had changed in Takahashi. It’s how I've changed too, she thought as a small smile formed on her lips.

“So which manga’s have you been reading?” she said as Takahashi broke into a smile too.

Maybe it's time to savour what kinship we have, instead of focusing on the past. It's not like I know how long we're going to survive in this universe. Or how many people I'm going to lose, Yasu thought soberly as a sad smile passed over her face, her eyes seeing those that had already been claimed by the light. She close her eyes, a happier smile coming to her face as she looked at Takahashi.

“Gurren Lagan again.” Her smile turned impish as Takahashi shook his head, a smile that she hadn't seen in too long, making the corners of his eyes crease.

“Of course, I should have guessed.”

Chapter Final Preparations

Silly had spent a full day in the intelligence department understanding how contracts worked. While it had taken him away from Nancy, it had been time well spent, especially with the load of absolute crap he was getting from Earth contractors.

He was looking straight at the CEO of GloboMine, who was explaining how the loaning of tools would be paid off at minimum interest over a decade of time, while still being able to return any particular item. How cancelling the balance owed on the tool and getting the newest replacement while not paying any extra was in Silly's best interest. With all the damned stupid words that he used to cover it up.

Silly sat and listened until the CEO flashed a stunning smile.

“Same rates as everyone else,” Silly muttered to himself as he cut the channel on the blabbering CEO.

“Damned weasels,” he said before looking to the yards on his monitors, his foul mood lightening slightly as he grinned.

“Best get some work done,” he said as he whistled, getting into his yard mecha and walked to the nearest transport. “How's it going Chum?” he asked one of the dock leaders who got on the transport, looking like proverbial crap.

“LaRe keeps on changing the plans of what he wants done. I swear that ship is going through puberty,” the man said, his manipulating hands moving in tired excitement.

“I'll have a talk with him,” Silly suggested as Chum's hands moved in amusement.

“Be my guest.”

“What else have you got in your dock?” Silly said. He knew what was there, but small talk did pass the time.

“Two of those Corvettes from Parnmal, and we've got a merchant freighter with her engines getting fixed up. She's a Wolunti freighter. Surprised the Chaleelians were able to keep her going as long as they did,”

“I heard they traded for the fix and check over?” Silly asked. He just cared about fixing what Salchar told him to. What Salchar got out of it he didn't much care.

“Rations, some parts actually made on Chaleel. Plus they also had credit for transporting parts made by the Free Fleet in Chaleel.”

“It's always good to get something useful.” Silly made an appreciative gesture.

“I heard that we're going to be nearly fully automated in a year,” Chum said, his hands excited at the new ways of manufacturing and creating that they'd taken from Earth.

“I hope. It'll make us a lot faster,”

“I heard that Earth was complaining that we were taking away their jobs.”

Silly made a rude noise at this.

“Yes there'll be less employment, but it's not like the Earthies have the jobs already. Anyone can apply for them, from any system.” Silly shook his head as the transport stopped at Chum's dock and they walked off towards an airlock.

“Human's on Earth are strange,” Chum commented as Silly agreed. “They make cars mostly with machines. Yet when it comes to ships, they're nearly all made by thousands of people. I don't understand why they don't just automate them all.”

Chum took a call as they entered the airlock, exiting out into the yard, and using their thrusters to head for LaRe. Chum came back onto the Close Area Frequency, or CAF which connected all people within a fifty foot area to the same comm channel.

“I've got to go, the freighter's got some more issues cropping up,” he said.

“Good fixing. I'll have a look at what’s going on with LaRe.”

“Appreciate you trying to talk to him,” Chum said, firing his thrusters to take him to a transport line within the docks scaffolding that would whip him to the freighter.

“No issue,” Silly said to himself as he continued on his way, admiring LaRe's outer body, it was scarred and scuffed, blotches of where patches had been covered over. Burnt out weapons as well as sections open to space could also be seen. Silly climbed through one of these gashes, finding himself inside a shuttle bay.

A few shuttles were intact but whatever had pierced the ship’s hangar had practically gutted the interior. Debris floated everywhere in zero g. Thankfully Silly's yard mecha easily glided through the debris as he reached an airlock, quickly passing through it as a voice came through his CAF.

“Hello Shipyard commander Silly,” the slightly electronic voice said as Silly grinned. Not my fault I find new and crazy things interesting as hell, he thought with glee.

“Hey LaRe! What's up, my AI?”

“Nothing is up. That is a relative term,”

“Uh huh.” Silly was still loving it, even if LaRe was acting like a snobbish child. “Well then I heard you had some issues with the renovation of yourself,”

“Yes, first of all..,” Silly walked through LaRe, noting faulty systems and logging what should be replaced, LaRe detailing to him a list that Silly didn't think he could memorize if his hide depended on it. He remembered a few key issues as he supplied non-committal noises and assurances.

“When do you think you'd be able to get that completed by?” LaRe's petulant tone making Silly raise an eyebrow in annoyance.

“Most of the stuff you want done is items that would allow you to be a warship. Other than your current weapon situation I can't do anything for you in that regard, as you are not of Free Fleet personnel. The stuff about centralizing you I can do, shields no problem. Primary and secondaries too. You don't need more than one primary reactor and two secondaries. I'll leave in the second primary you have already though,” Silly said as he pulled up a deck grating, removing a corrupted bundle of cables.

“Why not an extra reactor?”

“With another reactor you'll burn more fuel and you don't have many systems to power other than yourself and the engines. Heck your two primaries aren't even really needed,”

“What if I come into contact with the Syndicate?”

“Well, you'll have some weapons. But with you being AI you don't need internal compensators for going at ridiculous speeds. Nothing will be able to keep up with you other than another AI in a faster accelerating ship,”

LaRe began listing his complaints as Silly pulled up a cable and scrutinized it. He was used to people making ridiculous demands. He'd been under the syndicate for a long time. At least now I can serve them a bit of reality, he thought as he discovered the bundle of wires had melted to a section of decking. LaRe's complaints grown to a halt as Silly used a combination of tools to pull the bundle from the decking and clear the melted coating.

“Either you take what I'm offering, or you join the Free Fleet and we give you everything. You'd also get a crew like Resilient,” Silly said, standing and drinking from his fluid hose.

LaRe was quiet for a few minutes.

“I want to go and see my home.”

He sounded almost, vulnerable.

“Me too. Though where would your home be? With the AI league?”

“Yes,” LaRe said, like a child expecting to be denied.

“I wish you all the luck. We'll have you set to go within a few months,” Silly said, setting back to deal with the damned burnt out bundle of wires.

“From what I've seen of history most people who have the advantage will do anything to hold onto it,” LaRe said.

“Is there a point to what you're saying?” Silly grunted.

“Well, I'm a huge advantage,”

“Yes, but we aren't very likely going to keep you here, are we?”

“Though it would give you an advantage. Look at Resilient. She's an Imperial Dreadnought, the biggest of the Dreadnought class, and she has the crew of a Destroyer,”

“This is the Free Fleet. It's kind of in the name that we won't make you do anything you don't want to,” Silly paused. “Well... unless you’re the bastards that are harming others.”

LaRe remained quiet for the rest of the time Silly was there, retracing all the damned wires back to their connected systems, pulling them or leaving them and continuing on.

Gave you something to think about huh? I'll chalk that up to a win and a discovery.

Chapter - Disarray

Captain Kelu was not in a good mood. Nothing had changed since the mysterious fleet had ripped through his own, and that was the reason for his current rage. The enemy Fleet hadn't been shooting randomly.

Unlike my own captains. Kelu thought, battle hormones spiking once again.

The enemy had picked off communications relays and crippled engines. All of which were taking entirely too long to be fixed.

Syndicate personnel were to a large extent a lazy bunch, if they could fob a job off on someone else, then they would. They were also great at making excuses, which was why Kelu was personally overseeing his engineering officer fix a damaged communications relay. It had worked for a short period but now all communications across his ship had fallen silent, and as much as the Engineering officer raved he'd fixed them, Kelu had yet to see a result.

The officer looked up as if to say something, and Kelu caught the Dalarr's eye as he tapped his holster. The words died in the Engineering Officer's throat and he turned back to his work. Out of his remaining fleet half of them were now using unsecured communications systems, a quarter were using secured communications, and the rest were still working to get any kind of communications online.

Urlow broke into Kelu's audio implant, and Kelu's temper not being the best right now, he was about to yell down the communication's officers neck when Urlow talked first.

“We have reports of explosions coming from Parnmal There's also a transmission from Syndicate forces which were imprisoned on the station and are now retaking it,” he said as Kelu turned and stormed toward the bridge, missing the relieved look on his engineering officer's face.

“Get that array working!” Kelu yelled back and the Engineering officer mumbled something colourful, but got back to work.

“The Fleet is moving to Parnmal to assist,” Urlow said.

“I didn't give any such order!” Kelu barked.

“I know sir, but we can't transmit,”Urlow's tone making it clear he shared his captain's anger at the situation.

“Shit.” Kelu said to no one in particular.

“Yes sir. More and more ships are following the initial ships,” Most of those without communications are in the forward elements.” Urlow said.

Kelu loathed being moved by forces not under his control. But he couldn’t do anything about it until he got his communications arrays back online.

“Follow them,” he bit out, his annoyance clear. If I find someone's behind blocking my communications array there'll be hell to pay! He thought, barely catching Urlow's words.

“Yes sir,” Urlow did the wise thing by

Cutting the channel as Kelu ran through his ship, everyone moving out of his way as anger clouded his eyes.

***

“Their entire fleet is now moving to Parnmal, Commander Salchar,” Wast, Parnmal’s Sensor commander said, watching the plot change as sensor buoys bounced their information back.

Pre-planned explosions could be heard in the distance.

“Very well,” I said as I tapped my metal mecha fingers against the commander's chair that Monk had insisted I use as he sat in his second in command's chair “Accelerate the mines and no one fires a PRC until I say so.” I caught Releams’ eye, Parnmal's tactical commander as he nodded.

“Yes sir,”

Now we wait. I thought as I opened a channel to Henry.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“Just hurrying up and waiting,” he sighed as I grinned.

“Some commanders huh?” I said.

“Some commanders,” he agreed, laughing.

“At least you don't have to deal with Edwards anymore,” he said.

“That is one good thing,” I agreed. I'd had him go with Rick, and after going through the headlong charge through the Syndicate Fleet he'd become somewhat more subdued, though I doubted it would last for long. No doubt the report he’d make for Earth would damn me for my actions.

“Now I just have to deal with reporters,” I growled.

“Oh what a shame,” Henry said, his voice not apologetic at all.

“I know you wish you were giving a one on one interview with Ms. Sparks,” I leered, it was no secret that he had for some reason fallen for the petite reporter.

“Ah well, with freedom of the press you told us that we should be available for comments whenever possible,” he said as I laughed.

“And if said interview was to take place over dinner, maybe with a movie afterwards, one must do whatever they can to inform the people under the protection of the Free Fleet,” I replied in a mock serious voice.

“But of course,” Henry smiled, barely stopping himself from laughing.

“What would Evelyn say if I told her you thought of your interactions as interviews?”

“Well we've known each other for a long time, ole buddy. I should think that such a comment should remain as more of a you-didn't-hear-anything, kind of statement,”

“But of course,” I said as he laughed.

“Well, I'm gonna go check on the Commandos and make sure they aren't pressing any buttons they aren't supposed to,”

“Yeah, I heard about team member Genatti.” She'd pressed a button thinking it was a light switch. Little did she know it was a shut off for the gravity plates for the area she was in. The area had a gym, mess and a handful of bathrooms. People, food, liquids, chairs and tables all started floating and, as Genatti pressed it again, moments later, everything that had started floating came crashing back down. One Avar even broke the toilet he was sitting on when he came back down.

“Just classic,” Henry laughed and I joined him.

“There was one Kuruvian who was playing basketball in the gym. He went for a slam dunk and ended up in the rafters. Took an hour to get him down,” Rick marvelled as I laughed at the image of the Kuruvian's panic when he missed the net and kept going upwards.

“Talk later, commander,” he said.

“Henry,” I replied by way of goodbye as I cut the channel, a grin on my face as I thought about the reports I'd gotten about the incident.

*** Maybe we should be inserting identifying legends when the scene break takes a somewhere else - like “Bregend, Cruier Rebirth, Rebel Forces” (if that’s who he is) or make it shorter but something to keep the reader oriented...

Come on baby, just stay together, we're right there, Bregend thought, trying to project an aura of calm as he felt sweat trickle down his back. The Rebirth had undergone some ad-hoc fixes as he jumped from system to system with her broken main supports.

Rous her engineer had used towing cables to take some of the strain off the super structure. Mechas and EVA suits were now mandatory and everything was checked to make sure it was secured more than usual, as Rebirth could crack with any great strain. Armour panelling had been tacked onto the worst sections. If Psycho Cheerleader was in a battle then Rebirth would be screwed.

“I can see the event horizon,” Jamzie the sensors tech said in her nasally voice. Wilma grunted her acknowledgement and everyone started to pray to whoever they believed in. Or grabbed their knees, tilted their head, and kissed their asses’ goodbye.

“Stowing sails,” Wilma said as the gossamer like membranes retracted.

“We're ready,” Mills said, her voice calm and collected as Wilma glided towards the event horizon. Afnar on shields flexed his hands, no doubt wishing he could be doing his job instead of just sitting there. I feel your pain, Bregend silently acknowledged to Afnar as he sat in his command chair. He'd decided to not have shields configured upon exit of the wormhole. When done correctly it was barely felt, but if not then the ship was in for some rough bucking, and Bregend was not going to risk that.

“Exiting horizon,” Wilma said.

This is it.

Bregend braced himself as Rebirth slid through the event horizon with barely shake. Bregend hid his nervous sigh as the plot updated with the latest map of the system they’d just entered that Cheerleader had sent weeks ago.

“No sensor Buoys in the area,” Jamzie announced. Bregend nodded. That was one issue with choosing anywhere in the wormhole limit to enter a system. It gave you the element of surprise, but if you had sensor buoys there you could know where everything was within seconds.

“Full power for the sensors,” Bregend said, knowing how vulnerable and visible that would make the Rebirth. “Afnar, you may configure your shields,”

“Sir,” he said as he and his crew began accommodating for the system’s interference with the shield projectors, and equalized it to get full coverage.

Twenty minutes later Jamzie had something.

“I have a ship that's jumped into the system,” she said as the contact lit up like a Christmas tree on the plot.

“Kyle, use communications codes and verify that ship is ours,” Bregend said as the kid got to work.

More contacts littered the plot as the sensors collected more information.

“Codes verified it's one of ours,”

“Send them the message,” Bregend said, referring to the pre-recorded message that contained all of the information on what was going on in Parnmal.

“Helm take us in, no sense in waiting out here anymore,” Bregend said as Wilma applied thrust, guiding the Battle Cruiser to the fourth planet in the system, a gas giant rich in raw fuel and where Cheerleader said she'd be based while scouting the surrounding systems.

Chapter - It Always Starts with a Bang

The syndicate Fleet had been within Parnmal's PRC's range for ten minutes now. They were blasting away at Parnmal's shields, but with little to no effect. The shields were too strong and they hadn't used one missile yet.

“Cruisers, Battle Cruiser and Dreadnought's first,” I said and Realem grunted in acknowledgement. His eyes were locked on his displays as he passed on my orders to his people in short terse sentences, PRC's aim and missile's priorities changed. I sipped my water tube as I tapped my fingers. “Keep explosions going on over Parnmal. Realem fire at will,”

“All batteries fire on preselected targets!” Realem said as he personally sent the launch signal to the missile tubes across Parnmal.

The Syndicate Fleet launched all of their missiles. They fired their engines at full power to slow down before the missiles got there. They knew they'd get one chance to take Parnmal. The missiles charged into the Syndicate's shields, but Parnmal was much bigger than any known ship, and had the capabilities of seven Dreadnought's in the number of missiles it could launch in one go, and it had massive magazines.

They fired close to six hundred missiles at us as we sent four hundred back. The power directed at one area was enough to shut down a planetary shield generator, but it was quickly covered by other generators of adjoining areas. Thirteen of our missiles made it through the lapse and split off into independent war heads. Our missiles which had already split hit their targets. Half of them had been destroyed by PDS fire, a third missed, and the remaining fifth was spread across the fleet.

Corvettes disappeared, shields spotted and fell, and two Battle Cruisers were left in sections no bigger than a shoe. Parnmal rocked as five of our thirteen missiles warheads struck home. Parnmal's PDS wasn't as good as the Fleets, but she could take more of a pounding.

Felix whooped as PRC rounds hit the Fleet.

“Firing second Barrage,” Realem said as I was surveying the damage caused by the PRC's new rounds.

Most gunners had gone for the directed shotgun like setting. I watched in shock as I looked to Felix.

“Up the explosive power much?” I asked, getting a shrug and a smile in response.

“Plasma's always more effective!” he said. He'd upped the explosive charge in the rounds, added a gaseous core and a high frequency laser. Now the round became a cloud of high speed super dense shards, and a ball of plasma. I heard the syndicate's Plasma cannons fire. I had removed that weapon from the fleet ships. They took a ton of power, and were only good in passing engagements as plasma's energy quickly dissipated. The plasma did little against shields, but the kinetic energy imparted on it caused them to flash with hits. Plasma against armour, cut like a hot knife.

Cruisers had some serious PDS, but that was little use against PRC rounds. There was still more of them than I would like, but there was some serious holes in the syndicate formation, if you could call it a formation.

“They're flushing magazines,” Realem said as PRC's whuthump's of firing could be heard in the command centre.

There was little I could do now. I knew people would fight at their stations as long as they possibly could and the syndicate were able to launch their missiles moments before Parnmal's landed.

“PRC's on PD setting one,” I said as Realem barked the orders to his gunners. “Shields I want that generator back online.”

“Sir, we have crews working to reset and replace breakers,” Shields replied.

“Good work.” Having people willing to sort their own shit instead of waiting for me to tell them to do so was always a positive in my mind.

We traded missiles, ours crashing into the Syndicate ships, theirs coming at our PRC platforms and batteries.

Syndicate shields blackened with the nuclear tidal wave, many weren't able to stop all of the missiles. Ships were ripped apart, atmosphere and personnel being thrown into vacuum, other ships exploded, or went dead as they flushed their power plants. Yet the ships behind them kept going. They passed their comrades eager to close with our weakened station.

As the ship's fell PRC's and our own PDS blazed away at incoming missiles.

There were too many missiles, individual shield generators took a pounding before failing. I gritted my teeth as sections of Parnmal disappeared and holes appeared in our armour. The Syndicate fired at everything and anything that was exposed as they got as close to Parnmal as possible so as to avoid the crossfire of multiple cannons.

PRC's quickly found themselves under fire as the Syndicate forces took their revenge.

“Henry, you're up,” I broke into his channel as he greened up and closed the circuit.

Missile batteries fell silent as hitting the Syndicate ships now would hurt Parnmal too.

PRC's hit with stage two rounds which penetrated ships, exploding with force like a missile warhead. The majority of these rounds didn't penetrate the larger more armoured ships, but exploded on their armour, leaving openings for following rounds. Corvette's used their speed to their advantage now as they ran around Parnmal's exterior, dropping off their Mecha's and pounding the slow moving PRC's.

“PDS on those Corvettes,” I said as hundreds of Gatling guns updated with Felix's rounds fired. These weapons weren’t yet on AI but with Resilient’s help we'd created a system that could fire these weapons with enough coordination that no two guns were firing on the same target.

“Min Hae,” I said, nodding, and as he began typing on his console his dormant virus became active in every communications system it dug its way into. Entire ships were unable to even communicate to different sections of their vessels, let alone others. Companies of Mecha's were left with nothing but their thoughts as the ships they were in landed on Parnmal.

Grade A cluster fuck. I thought as it was clear the syndicate was having dire issues. Corvettes settled onto the surface as they too were getting pounded.

“PDS with no ships but mechas in their area are to engage the mechas,” I said coldly, knowing full well the damage that would be wrought by the high powered lasers and the accelerated solid state rounds, especially if they were Mechas.

****

Sergeant Falesh had seen some battles in his time. He'd been on planetary take overs, station battle and ship to ship engagements. Yet the sight before him was unlike anything he'd seen before. It reminded him of the battles his mentor had told him about during the dying throes of the PDF.

Whoever these people are, they're good. He thought with cold recognition as he crawled across Parnmal's surface, finding a crater barely large enough for him. Mecha's around him were cut down by a silent hail storm of metal. He activated a plasma grenade and threw it at where his wire overlaid visor said the weapon emplacement was. There was no sound but his grenade registered as having gone off. He peeked over the edge of the crater, finding a weird weapon system pointing right at him. This is it, he though, but the weapon failed to fire and he saw his plasma grenade had melted through the weapons control circuits.

“We've got a lot more ground to cover,” he barked at his men as none of them did anything. He would need a stiff drink after all this he thought, he stopped his hand shaking by squeezing his railgun harder and standing up.

“Waiting to die in those holes are you?” he growled as he began running forward, using other craters as cover. A few started following, then more and more until he saw that the remains of his company were either following. Or too useless to.

Nearly there. He thought as his wire overlay showed an upcoming air lock.

Shit. He dropped to the ground.

“PDS up ahead!” he yelled as mechas kept running, straight into the PDS' line of sight and it began raining hell onto them. Some that had gotten too confident, or were being controlled by their fear couldn't stop their motion in microgravity.

“Get down you idiots!” he said as chaos ensued, some seeing their counterparts dropping and getting into cover, while others kept pushing forward.

It's like they can't hear me, he growled as his mind cleared and he ran a check on his communications gear.

“The hell? I didn't put it on that band,” he growled as he reset the comms gear, his ears filled with others yelling and screaming. He was about to speak when it went silent again. He checked his gear again, finding it right back on the previous channel. They got a virus into our gear, he thought as cold fear passed through his body. Not having communications with his people reduced their effectiveness considerably. His people were dying because they didn't know where weapon emplacements were.

He went to his settings and did a hard reset on his comms.

“The comms gear is messed up, do a hard reset!” He yelled over the yelling and screaming. He said it a few more times before he put in the channel for his company. His HUD showed who was connected to the channel, as well as those who hadn't survived.

It's a massacre, he thought.

“Alright, Reshna company break it down into squads, sit rep,” he said, his people's yelling fading away into nothing as squad leaders started reporting their status.

“Alright, everyone do a hard reset on yours comms. We need to make sure that we don't lose communications again,” His people did it, a strange thing for those in the mecha corps to actually listen to orders. Surviving makes some listen, he thought as he checked the table of command, seeing that most of his officers had gone and gotten themselves killed.

“Alright, link up. We need to get into the station still,” he said, but as he put together squads, a Corvette ripped past. The PDS took out its shields as it replied with railguns, and Falesh clamped onto Parnmal as the ground shook.

“Move to this airlock by squads,” Falesh said, highlighting the closest airlock.

“Low and slow, these PDS turrets are everywhere,” he said as he took his own advice, keeping low enough that he could drop to the ground in a second.

He got to the airlock in decent time and when he checked it, it registered as operable. Someone pushed him off. Falesh was sent spinning as he shot a line out to Parnmal.

“I'm going to rip your head off you little shit,” he growled.

“What was that sarge?” someone asked on his channel.

“Nothing,” he growled back, no one had any follow up questions. Falesh was ten meters from the airlock, the bastard was going to pay for almost sending him into the dark. He opened the airlock and was shot back because he hadn't depressurized the interior. The Air erupted from inside the station and spread apart in different directions. The son of a bitch was launched into space, stuck in perpetual free fall.

Falesh pulled himself slowly back towards the airlock as another mecha stepped into the chamber. Explosives went off and the mecha and three others behind it were ripped apart and blasted into the dark.

“The airlocks are booby trapped,” he said over his company channel as he used his remote cameras to look into the destroyed remains of the airlock, the inside was solid rock.

“They blocked off airlocks too,” he said as he turned to the next nearest airlock and set off again.

“Go to your closest airlock and see if you can find one that isn't booby trapped or fake,” This is going to be a long day.

Chapter Best Laid Plans

There were close to three hundred thousand mechas scrambling over Parnmal.

“Looks like they did at least have some pre-planning,” Henry said.

“Wish they hadn't,” Bok Soo grunted.

The conditions on those ships must've sucked but they knew they'd need an overwhelming force to take Parnmal. If they'd landed with their entire force...

Henry stroked the beard he'd been growing with feeling. His inner Irish had come to the fore because his beard was distinctly red. The regs on facial hair had become lax, Henry let his beard grow out, finally. He was one of the few that could. Facial hair was still one thing that reflected a person’s real age, despite the drugs and supplements the syndicate had filled them with.

“Alright, red beard. I'm off to make sure my boys and girls are in position,” Bok Soo said tapping Henry's shoulder. Henry's beard twitched in amusement as his eyes sparkling.

“Alright there, Fu Man Chu,” he said, referring to Bok Soo's wispy attempt at facial hair.

“Takes time, damnit!” Bok Soo said defensively as they both laughed.

Henry clapped Bok Soo on the shoulder.

“See you after,” he said as Bok Soo nodded.

“I'll buy the first round,” he grinned as Henry looked skeptical.

“Oh really now?” Henry smiled as they walked out of the armory closest to the largest concentration of Syndicate troops.

“What? Is it so strange that I'd be offering to get drinks?”

“I know how hard it is to get food from you!” Henry said as Bok Soo grinned.

“Well, that's a different story.”

Henry shook his head in response.

“I'm going to hold you to that beer Bok Soo,”

“Wouldn't doubt it. You Irish were always a bit obsessed with it!”

Henry laughed as he and Bok Soo separated. He was still chuckling as he swung his helmet shut and sealed it. It was a short walk to his people and he checked that his weapons were ready as he got to Santos who was waiting for him.

“Henry,” the man said by way of greeting.

“Santos.”

“We have an axe around here somewhere,” he said, his face completely straight as Henry grinned, pulling his newly made weapon from his back.

“I was only joking,” Santos laughed as he looked at the plasmid battle axe Henry had had made.

“Always wanted one,” Henry said as he offered it to Santos who looked it over.

“Ah, just channelling your inner lumber jack,”

Henry growled good-naturedly as Santos handed the battle axe back.

“How are you looking?”

“We're sealed up tight. I made sure everyone knows their fall back positions and such. It might be our first real defensive action but we'll make them pay for every step,”

“Good,” Henry said, now serious. They were going to need to inflict some serious casualties. There was twenty five thousand commandos on Parnmal and five thousand personnel of varying responsibilities, not including the syndicate prisoners of course. Ten to one. God.

“I'm going to-”

“Breech!” Amarr, one of Bok Soo's two company commanders said. The alert automatically cutting into Henry’s HUD as his map updated.

“Looks like it's just begun,” he said to Santos, who conversed with his two company commanders before looking to Henry. His eyes seeming to say, I hate not being on the front lines.

“Don't worry. The front lines will come to us soon enough,” Henry said mordantly as another real airlock was opened and Mecha's started flooding into Parnmal.

***

I wonder if this is what Jorsht felt like when we rushed into Parnmal, I thought as I sat in my command chair. Everyone had changed over to their secondary roles.

“We have break-ins across section Blue,” Wast reported as the plot changed to the internal map of Parnmal. Our people were greeted with booby traps, bottle necks and fixed cannons and machine guns. I looked over with a cool gaze as bodies were stacked like proverbial cordwood as rounds smashed into the oncoming Syndicate forces.

Grenades went off as the incoming forces tried to hit the cannons. Other removed their helmets so they could finally talk. Yet it did little to assert authority as the gunners quickly picked out leaders. Grenades hit cannons as members of the syndicate mecha force got their beachhead and moved into the station.

“Section blue, four one, prepare to vent atmo and drop gravity,” I said.

“Ready commander,” Monk said, running the internal weapons systems.

I waited as the syndicate forces reached an overlaid line.

“Now. Blue three eight, two one and one five,” I said, moving past the first one as the other halls were filling quickly.

The corridor labelled blue one four was mayhem as gravity disappeared, a bulkhead dropped from the roof and atmosphere was drained in a matter of seconds. Anyone that had pulled their visor up to issue orders, or to understand what was going on was killed except for a quick few.

“Now,” I said moments later as the remaining corridors with Syndicate mechas in were given the same treatment.

“Begin increasing gravity in our areas. Ramp up in the areas already breached immediately,”

You trained us in high gravity, let’s see if you trained your own troops that way.

“I will be joining the Commandos in battle. Call either me or Commander Monk if you need assistance. Until then, Brova you're in charge,” I nodded to Monk's second-in-command.

I checked my rifle and walked towards the doors.

“Commander,” Krom hissed, a glance to my protection detail showed that they all disapproved of my actions.

“I am the commander of the Free Fleet. I will not wait on the damned Bridge watching the fate of my people. I started this damned thing in a mecha. I'll be damned if I don't fight in it alongside the men and women that follow me,” I growled, checking the rest of my kit as I went to the last position I saw Henry.

***

Sergeant Falesh had tried two more airlocks before he'd found one that actually led into Parnmal. Cannons killed the squad he was with as they rushed headlong down the corridor. He stayed in the airlock, throwing grenades as the internal doors closed, filling once again from the outside.

“Get out! There's cannons in the corridor!” he yelled as those that didn't have their communications online pushed against those that did and could hear, or see the cannon bearing down on them.

It fired, shredding those in it's sights.

“Get grenades ready,” he said prepping his own. The inner airlock doors opened as he whipped his grenade down the corridor. A few others did the same as other people charged the cannons panic, fear or a sense of idiotic duty pushing them.

The Cannon's fire cut them down before there was a muted Thurcrank as a grenade found it's mark.

Falesh checked the corridor again before getting out of the airlock.

“Clear here, moving up,” he said as another squad came in, filling the room quickly. Falesh saw people popping their helmets.

“Hard reset your comms,” he barked as he continued on with the half squad down the corridor. He got to a T-intersection where a beader cannon that had cut down his men smoked at chest height behind an armoured slit.

“Assholes,” he spat, seeing the beader was set up to be operated remotely There was a loud noise behind him and he whipped around to find a bulkhead locking his people into the corridor they'd just gotten through. He had three people with him but there was closer to fifty in that hallway.

One of them grabbed a breeching charge.

“Stop! You blow it and you'll kill our people!” Falesh barked. The one with the Breaching charge made to say something as the beader opened up.

Falesh didn't think but threw himself at the only doorway he saw in the corridor, he crashed through it, finding himself in some remote control room.

He heard an explosion behind him as it seemed the breacher had got off his charge.

Falesh winced as he looked out of the doorway. The beader was now firing at the stunned Syndicate troops that had just faced a breaching charge right on.

Falesh looked around the room, seeing another door out from the centre.

The Syndicate troops got their act together somewhat, grenades exploded as they used that cover to move up, a few of them piling into Falesh's room.

“Get up you three, we're going to push down this hall here and see if we can't get behind that damned beader,” Falesh indicated the other doorway leading from the room.

“Good?”

He got nods and signs of agreement, nodding himself before turning and going down the corridor, his weapon up and ready for whatever showed it's face.

This place is a death trap, he thought as he reached the end of the corridor, a cannon letting a burst go down the corridor.

There was a loud noise and a rush of air leaving as Falesh and his group were pulled down the corridor towards the room they had come from. It subsided quickly no atmosphere and no gravity readings showing on Falesh's HUD.

“You stay here and try and get a grenade on that damned gun.” He yelled over the local channel, getting a few nods as he jogged back to the command centre. He walked in as a syndicate trooper stumbled into the room.

“What happened, private?” he asked moving past the troopers now holing up in the command centre.

“They turned off the gravity and pulled the atmo out. The officers couldn't pull their helmets down before they ran out of air.”

A new sound came from the corridor, different, some how havier and faster than the beader cannon. Falesh tilted in the doorway to see.

It's like the PDS system, Falesh realized as rounds passed through the first runners, exploding into shards and ripping into those behind them. The wounded and dying slowed those that were still alive. Falesh grabbed grenades off a fallen syndicate mecha, looking to those in the room his three had grown to twelve.

“You,” he singled out one of them, “You’re our grenade thrower,”

“But..,” Falesh put his face plate in the corporal's.

“What was that?” he growled, his voice deadly as the Corporal looked away.

“Nothing sir,” he said as Falesh grunted, shoving the extra grenades he'd found into his arms.

The thrower looked out into the hallway guessing the distances before he began throwing the grenades. It took eight grenades and Falesh didn't know how many dead to silence the weapon system.

“Give your grenades to him,” Falesh said and the mecha's obeyed. “Good. Now you lot are with me,” he said, checking the corridor.

“Why should we?” one asked.

“Want to stay alive to see the reward for this puppy?” Falesh said, but he didn't get a reply. Didn't think so. No one’s in the Syndicate for anything but the money.

Suddenly everything got much heavier and everyone sunk to the ground.

“Shit, they upped the gravity,” someone said and Falesh found his entire body fighting him as he struggled to stand.

Why would any syndicate force want to fight in heavier gravity? He thought as he remembered one of the commandos on Kelu's ship saying how the Captain didn't think that they were syndicate forces. He forced himself vertical with a few concentrated breaths.

“The further we get the less gravity we'll feel,” he said as those in the room with him also got to their feet. For now Flaesh just had to make sure he survived; his role as company sergeant could wait.

“You, run to the next room,” he said, pointing to the ones that had gotten up the most quickly. They didn't say anything but Falesh could see through their faceplates that they weren't happy as they left the safety of the room, walking awkwardly before getting up to a light jog. Running was impossible for them.

The same went for him as Falesh's turn came and he was barely able to jog in the increased gravity.

***

“This is what I'm talking about!” Bok Soo said, thumping Amarr on the arm, who shook his head at his rambunctious commander.

“Someone might think that you like the extra gravity,” Amarr said as Bok Soo grinned.

“I love it as much as those Syndicate wimps must hate it,” he said, looking to his armband as an alert went off.

“They're getting to line three. It's time we ended this. Dreckt, you ready?” he asked the spec ops commander, who he'd made his other company commander in light of Rosa's venture into the dark. With the influx of the newly minted commandos, he was also a reassuring older hand. His other trainer spec ops brothers made up the reserve, along with veterans and the best of the trainees. The third line were larger rooms that interconnected in multiple ways to one another. They usually had transport cars to move materials across the station, but the rails they ran on had been blocked off and removed.

“Always, commander,” Dreckt acknowledged.

“That's what I like to hear. By the numbers,” Bok Soo said as the syndicates turned the corner, entering the larger room the hallway directly across from the entrance from the airlocks slits like the ones they'd run into before. Though here there were three weapons systems pointing down the hallway and into the three entryways Bok Soo was in charge of. Six thousand Commandos waited at the third level, five thousand were held in reserve and the rest were staggered across the station, either waiting at their defensive lines or being moved to bolster others as commanders saw fit.

“Fire as targets present themselves. Beaders unless a large concentration, then rails,” Bok Soo said, his voice losing humour as he focused on his task of making the syndicate run an impossible gauntlet.

“Shield techs, hold off those grenades. Advise when the shield's will drop for pull back,” Shield techs had become a new appointment as Felix had shown Henry how he could create limited one way shields within Parnmal. Bok Soo had four of them up with the guns to balance out shields and to give his people enough time to run to the next position if they were over-run.

Salchar had made it clear in his briefings that this battle was going to be won by paying attention to the plan, as long as they could, and bleeding the Syndicate forces. If they got past the eighth defensive grid then it would be an all-out battle and there were no guarantees. Bok Soo watched as his gunners worked their weapons. With the training that had been ingrained into them, it was second nature and they could move with ease in the higher gravity environment.

“Bok Soo, Engaged Bravo,” he said simply to comms who would update Henry automatically.

Chapter Halls of Darkness

Kelu had finally gotten communications back online. Yet his mood had barely improved as his engineering officer was dead from a power blow out, and the rest of the engineering crew were trying to push the job onto someone else.

“Urlow, tell the engineers that they'll get two percent of my share,” he said, tapping his holster as he had no doubt that nearly all of them would now be clamoring for the position of engineer chief. He would deal with them after the battle.

His Dreadnought had taken some serious pounding but it had survived the landing on Parnmal. Now the Mecha corps were swarming across Parnmal, and whoever commanded it had changed it from a station into a death trap. As Syndicate soldiers moved forward they were met by multiple entrenched weapon systems. The newest he'd heard of was multiple weapon systems down a long wide hallway, working systematically to clear anything that appeared in their line of view. While grenades were bouncing off what appeared to be internal shields inside the station.

“Who the fuck are these people?” he asked himself. He'd already lost close to twenty thousand troops just getting this bare beachhead.

And I'm yet to know just who the hell I'm fighting, or come into contact with them.

“Urlow, I want a transmission for Parnmal,”

“Sir, ready when you are,” Urlow said as Kelu looked to the pickup.

“Whoever controls Parnmal, I will make this offer to you this one time. Surrender and I will guarantee your people will live as slaves instead of die painful deaths. Do not prolong their suffering. What do you say?”

The response was immediate.

“Surrender and we will likewise arrest you, to serve out your sentences assisting our pursuits,” the voice came. But there was no visual.

“Very well, then. We shall meet, and I shall personally escort you to the Lady Fairgate’s halls, where she will glean her answers from your pain,” Kelu said, cutting the transmission.

“Whoever gets me one of his people alive I'll give them a percent of mine,” Kelu said. As he slumped into his chair, his console beeped that an engineering officer had been selected finally and would have the ship back to fighting trim within twelve hours.

Kelu snarled at the report as he looked to the syndicate troops.

“Get Captain Shanuolr's troops moving, or I'll take his share from him. Tell the other captains that if they hold their troops back, or they don't have the motivation, to move forward, I'll take all of their shares,”

“Yes Captain!” Urlow said. After this I'm going to get him his own ship, I need more competent people in my personal fleet, Kelu thought before turning back to the bloody battle.

***

Grenades were the biggest problem for Henry right now. The Syndicates had gotten into the swing of using grenades to clear out obstructions such as is weapon systems littered across the station. They were also using them to great effect against the third line defences.

I'm going to have to use my Commandos sooner than I thought.

He needed to slow the Syndicate forces, and if his commanders timed the conflicts right then their people could rest and resupply in between battles, while the Syndicate had no time to recover.

“I'm going to need you and your commandos to engage the Syndicate forces sooner than we originally thought,” Henry said over the command channel. “I want you to prepare to engage them on fourth line defences.” There was a commotion as commandos moved out of the way for a distinct mecha.

Commanders under Henry greened up as Salchar checked his hair wouldn't fly free from its leather tie, chewing his gum, his face hard. Without looking Krom gave him his helmet and he sealed it, the face plate open.

“What are you doing here?” Henry demanded, looking to James' security detail.

“More use fighting then sitting up there,” he said as someone behind him calmly swung a staff with rounded ornaments on either end.

“Akatski has everything in hand,” Monk said as he rested on his staff. Monk's mecha was heavily armoured, but with an exoskeleton that would fit an Avar, and gave him more power. Salchar's was similarly massive due to the exoskeleton, but it had less armour in areas to provide greater mobility.

“You two are essential to the Fleet,” he said.

“Every person in the Free Fleet is essential to it,” Salchar said. “We found that other people could do our jobs up there, freeing us from those responsibilities. Now, use us. We're pretty good at taking orders still.”

Henry was distinctly unhappy with the entire thing, but he knew there was no deterring Salchar once he had made up his mind.

Plus if the Syndicates overrun us it won't matter who someone is, or what their rank is; they'll die all the same.

“Alright, you stubborn bastards. You'll be under Shminkt,” Henry said, knowing it was a bad idea as soon as the words had left his mouth, but also knowing that they'd take no less.

“Thank you, Henry,” Salchar said grinning, turning to go find Shminkt and his company.

Indicators started appearing on Henry's screen as Commandos started pulling back to fourth line. He pressed icons on his data pad connecting him to different units.

“Pull back to fourth line,” he said. As he cut the channel, units that had been waiting now met up with their fellow Commando's, waiting for the Syndicate's troops.

***

Falesh was altogether done with running around and finding booby traps in the rooms, hallways and waiting at every corner. He now had only thirty people doing as he said, his turnover rate had grown to almost four hundred percent.

The weight of the extra gravities made him sluggish, tired and pissed off as he gasped for air. Fighting these bastards was like fighting an invisible enemy. They'd gotten to a corridor that ran through a large open area and finally met their enemy. They'd had shield generators inside the station, which was something that Falesh had never seen or heard of before, and three weapon systems firing continuously. There was always one firing and at least one ready.

“General, from what I've seen these guys are at home with the higher gravity hell they've turned the station into,” he communicated to higher command. Captain Kelu wanted to know everything and anything about these mysterious defenders, making sure Falesh's information went to the highest levels.

“Why do you think that, Sergeant?” the nameless general asked, sounding skeptical. I don't have time to give you a dark-cursed written report you pencil pushing shit, he thought, forcing himself to breathe.

“The speed with which they switched barrels and reloaded their weapons makes me believe that,” Falesh panted, talking had become much more difficult.

“Sarge, they're leaving,” one of Falesh's grenade throwers said. Thankfully grenades were one thing that was not in short supply.

“Keep the pressure up then!”

One of his men charged the hallway, a burst of beads taking out his face plate. His cries ending in their throat as he dropped to the floor.

“No one fucking moves until I say so!” Falesh yelled. He didn't care if they lived or died, but to get his share he needed to take this station. For that he needed troops.

“The shields are spotting!” the grenade thrower from before yelled as they doubled their throwing speed.

The rail gun fired as Falesh's smirk at the enemy wasting ammo turned to horror. The rounds exploded as soon as they passed the protecting walls, killing troops on either side with the blast and shards.

As soon as we change to their tactics, they change them again.

Falesh wanted to beat the crap out of something, anything. He hit the wall a few times but found himself exhausted as the heavier gravity weighed on him.

It's not fucking fair!

“Get more grenades on those damn things!” he yelled as he saw that the majority of his grenade throwers had been ripped apart by the Rail gun.

Replacement's crept up, only to get washed away with more rounds.

“Stack the dead, use them as cover,” Falesh said as troops started to create protective walls with dead or dying troops.

A wounded woman was yelling for aid and Falesh absently shot her, stopping her annoying screams.

“Shields are down,” a gruffer sounding grenade thrower said. Falesh saw the new one was using a dead trooper as a shield.

“Good. Now silence those fucking guns!” Falesh barked as he checked his weapon.

Rail guns ripped into the hastily erected barricades of mechas as beaders fired against the walls trying to catch anything that stepped out. Grenade throwers arms were shredded but others quickly moved into their place. Stopping now would mean giving the shields enough time to recharge and make all the work that they'd done worth nothing.

Finally, one beader went down, then the other. The rail gun took time but it fell eventually.

“Go!” Falesh yelled as he forced those in front of him into the corridor.

They walked quickly, as doing anything more was almost impossible. As the first man made it past the corner, a plasmid blade flashed and the trooper fell backwards.

“Get 'em! They're right there!” Falesh yelled as more people moved past the corner. A few fell back here and there, but the majority of them continued on. Falesh turned to look into chaos, and at his enemy.

Their mechas were essentially the same as the ones the syndicate troops were wearing. They changed them up as they needed to. Whereas syndicate troops always went for more armour, as that was a symbol of status, these fighters had different amounts of armour across their mechas. The mechas were also well used. They looked grungy compared to the polished and cleaned mechas the syndicates troops had forced their slaves to polish to perfection. These mechas wore their scars with pride as, and that made Falesh pause. These people had been in vicious battles, and yet they had somehow survived.

“G-General, there's not one group. There's five of them at least.” He steadied himself at the sight as he pulled behind the corner.

“They come from a high g planet, they move as if they were born in this..,” Falesh felt the gravity increase even more and he gasped as he strained to look around the corner.

“What was that, Sergeant?” The General sounded not pleased in the slightest.

“They're definitely not syndicate. They fight together and they have no trouble doing it in a high gravity environment,”

“We shall have a harvest of many!” one of the enemy soldiers said as they cut through two attackers, then dropped back as their comrade killed another that slashed at him.

Without a word the general cut the channel and Falesh returned to his ragtag group of troops, which were dying in the droves.

“Get up there you!” Falesh said as more reinforcements funnelled through the already cleared areas to the rear.

Who the hell are these demons?

***

I grinned as I saw who was in charge of my squad as I jogged right up behind him. I tapped him on the shoulder, grinning as he turned.

“Look, I don't have ti - Salchar!”

“George,” I couldn't help smiling as the kids face lit up. He made to salute as I clapped him on the shoulder, stopping that nonsense.

“I'm now under you, as well as my pals here.” I indicated my security detail who varied from annoyed for having to protect me in a war zone, (Dave and Janice) to outright grinning (Krom and Shreesht). Calerd looked as non-committal as anyone could be. Monk and his security detail had gone to another squad under Shminkt's command. George nodded to them all. They'd met when I'd taken George home and the few times I'd gathered my friends together for a meal wherever I'd been. George was still stationed on Resilient and hadn't taken a promotion to platoon sub commander so he could stay onboard. The kid was driven.

“I'll leave you to what you were doing and fall in,” I said.

“Ah... I'm all set, just waiting to be told where reinforcements are needed,”

“MOVE! MEDIC!” Someone bellowed and a hole was made through the waiting platoon as medics and commandos carried or pulled their comrades back to one of the med bays.

“So did you hear Marco changed to be a shipyard worker with his sister?” George said as the hole closed up. George wasn't trying to disregard the wounded, I knew he'd be doing everything he could if he thought it could help, but they were already in the best care and keeping our minds clear of distractions would help them more, if we joined them or not.

“Really? I thought he was going to stay Commando,” I said, actually surprised.

“Nah. He was going to tell you, but with Parnmal and everything he knew you'd be too busy,”

“Well, we best bug him out for a drink if Silly hasn't got him clearing room for our new front line ships,”

“When will he be laying down the new ships?” George asked.

“Silly says that he thinks he can get most of the ships we have in six months, so maybe seven,” I said as an alert sounded on my armband.

Commandos were pulling back from their initial contacts with the enemy. Wounded and dead were mounting and there were still one of us to five of the syndicates. Soon they'd get to the open areas and it would become an all out brawl. George was looking at the same information.

“Alright ladies and gents, check your gear and get fuelled.” With so many races, not all of them drank water. Some of them rarely drank like the Avarians and Sarenmenti who had a mainly solid diet. It meant that specifics had become in most cases generalizations.

Just another thing the Free Fleet had changed for the people within it, no matter their race. Another alert sounded as mass casualties were reported in a hallway where someone had used a grenade to clear not only the commandos, but their own forces.

***

“Grenade detonation in Purple nine three!” One of Henry’s controllers said as he stroked his beard, anger filling his eyes as he forced back his impulse to charge into the enemy and claim retribution.

“Commander Santos reports the next squad commander is deploying support,”

Henry nodded darkly.

“Very well.” He looked to other issues.

“They're going to break through soon. I want forces engaged in hand-to-hand to fall back under the cover of the next squad,” Henry said absently. It was odd, battle raged all around them, but in this room it was quiet, everyone listening to Henry as he orchestrated the deaths of possibly thousands of Syndicate troops.

“Have squads leapfrog back to the eighth line. I want forces past the line ready to engage. We've drawn them in, now it's time to move onto recapture. As we planned I want the re-organized squads that have already been engaged and reserve force company commander Kreum ready to engage. The remaining reserve is to get those damned ships,” Henry growled as he waited for his controllers to look back to him, showing they'd sent the orders.

“Good, now we'll have nowhere to fall back to, no reinforcements, and split up. Let's show these bastards how we fight!” he said as he unlimbered his rail gun and racked a round. Others in the room checked their gear and followed their CAMC.

Chapter – By Any Means

Cheerleader listened to the message in its entirety, as well as looking at the information that had come with it, her face revealing nothing, but inside she was a mess of emotions.

The message ended and no one said anything as Cheerleader finished musing over the information she'd gained.

“Ben, plot a course to Parnmal,” she said, as if she'd been debating what movie to watch that evening.

Ben said nothing as he turned to begin plotting the course, Milra moving to his station to assist him if he needed it.

“Vort, recall all forces that are available within six hours. Also send a confirmation to Bregend. He as well as the factory ship and a destroyer are to stay behind. Bregend will be overall commander for the scouting of this area. Send him all logs. Onur, pick a destroyer to stay in-system. I want them liaising with Bregend as soon as possible.

“I want updates from every ship on their readiness within a half hour. Every ship is to be on yellow alert. I also want Corvettes to start making a FTL comm line through the systems Bregend went through to get here. That is to be a line of retreat if the syndicate make it to this system. Walf, I want you to get an information packet from him regarding those systems, as well as a summary of what is in those systems. Pass that to every ship.”

Cheerleader continued to go through the data.

How in the hell could Monk deal with that many ships? Plus he says there's probably more on the way.

By Cheerleader's calculations it had taken Bregend nearly a month and a half to get to her, and it would take her another two weeks to get to Parnmal, time she simply didn't have. They could be dead already, she thought as cold set over her, sadness making her eyes itch as she gritted her teeth, pain being replaced by anger.

Have faith. She chastised herself. If they are dead, then we will regroup and grow until we can beat them. Resolved, she tilted in her seat, resting her chin on her hand as she cleared her mind, using meditative techniques Monk had taught her. Now was not the time to let emotions rule her.

***

Kelu's forces had finally broken through and he'd found out some not so pleasing information. It appeared that he was right about not fighting syndicate forces. The troops he was fighting were organized, able to fight in high gravity and there were only five different types of them. Either they came from a very diverse planet or from up to five different planets.

We need to win this battle or we may have a fight on two fronts. He felt cold fear trickle through him at that little thought, especially seeing how well the enemy fought. Though they've now got everything on the line and we're already in the markets and living quarters. We'll soon have the gunnery control rooms.

When Kelu had the team leaders regather some of his troops and ferry them to other entry points, straining the enemy even more.

“We have movement, Captain,” The sensor officer said.

“What is it?” Kelu asked.

“Shuttles,” Kelu looked to the creature.

“What?”

“There's shutles hugging the surface of Parnmal and creeping up on ships,”

Dread filled Kelu.

“Pull back the troops now!”

“But-”

“We have no troops and those fuckers are going to board us,” Kelu clicked, an old tic from his mother race. The General didn't say another word as he began ordering the closest units back to the ships, as well as the few thousand waiting to get into the station still.

Kelu marched to his ready room, opening his closet and putting on the mecha that waited for him there. He walked out of his charging-cradle/closet, grabbing a rifle and loading it.

Always good to have a backup. He thought, pulling the charging handle. The mecha and weapons had been one of Kelu's plan B's in case the crew ever revolted against him. It had happened more than once in the Syndicate.

He marched out now, more confident as he remembered the lessons he'd been given on the machine. Without neural implants he was running off of chemical surges through his body which allowed him to move his limbs. The mecha was equipped to do that but it wasn't the smoothest.

The shuttle pilots seemed equal parts insane and brilliant as they skimmed across the surface of the asteroid turned station, barely missing protrusions. Weapons fire spat from the fast moving craft, hammering the Syndicate troops that were racing back to their ships. Of course they armed the damned things. Out in the open as they were, it was a slaughter. Kelu didn't have time to think on it, not that he would've cared, as some of the shuttles came under fire from the laborious and slow PDS systems. They took out a few shuttles, but they were like a rock trying to stop a wave. The enemy closed with the ships and attached not to the airlocks, but the hulls.

“It's going to take hours for them to get through,” The tactical officer said.

“These people are not idiots and you'd do best to remember it,” Kelu's voice cold as he went to a weapons locker at the rear of the bridge.

“Grab a weapon,” he said as there was a miniature stampede to get to the weapons locker. Kelu got out of the way as he indicated for Urlow to follow him. Urlow quickly did so and they walked through the open blast doors, quickly making their way through the halls to his room.

Urlow was the first to talk when they got to Kelu's room.

“What are we doing here, sir? Shouldn't we be getting ready to repel the enemy?” he said, confused as Kelu accessed something on his private terminal and threw Urlow a holdout he kept underneath it.

“Always have a plan,” Kelu said as the wall moved to reveal a well maintained and small shuttle.

“At the rear with the gear,” Urlow said with an appreciative grin. Opening the door for his captain.

“After you sir,”

Definitely giving this one a ship after this mess, Kelu thought as he got in and began powering up, Urlow sealing the shuttle behind him.

***

Falesh had never been so tired in his life. He was completely running on WakeUp now. He'd exhausted his supply and still the enemy kept on coming. Some idiot had had the bright idea of throwing a bandolier of grenades into the melee. It had killed more of the syndicate troops than the enemy, and the thrower had been promptly killed by his fellow syndicate troops. But it had given the syndicate force time to move up, until they could reinforce their defenses. Big bastards with more plating that Falesh had seen on a shuttle thumped their way into the corridor blocking their forces off. Even with their massive armour, their mechas easily compensated the weight as they locked in their arms and fired. Falesh hadn't moved from his first spot, being so tired, and he was happy he didn't as the bastards were carrying auto cannons. Beads ripped down the hallway cutting the syndicate forces down as the auto gunners moved up, forces with lighter weapons covering them as they rushed up.

Syndicate members threw grenades and fired sporadically, getting a few lucky kills, but the bastards kept coming. They moved systematically clearing rooms and constantly moving. Once they got to their dead and dying they ferried them back to the rear, gunners keeping up constant fire so not even a grenade could get to them. One tried to throw a grenade, but her hand was shredded to nothing the moment she stood. Her grenade was set on impact, it exploded when it dropped to the floor.

Once the dead and dying were cleared the enemy retreated once again. A few were hit, but none were left behind as a firing line was made at the end of the hallway. They picked off anyone that left their cover.

“Find me another way around!” Falesh barked as he saw other forces had already made it into the living areas of the station. He saw one group close to the end of the corridor, and an evil smile appeared on his face.

“Hey, whoever this is, we've got assholes looking the wrong direction right here. They're all yours,” he relayed the point where the enemy had their gun line as he rested against the wall.

I'm too old for this shit.

He watched as the gun line was rolled over, grenades falling amongst their midst as they fell to the tired cheers of the syndicate troops, who picked themselves up and continued forward. Abruptly, Falesh found himself free from the deadly corridors, and instead in the maze of living quarters which had been cut directly through Parnmal's core. Falesh dropped to the ground as he saw enemy reinforcements turn a corner. He let a stream of fire go, and the enemy returned fire, but they were slow and overwhelmed quickly.

“Let's get these fucking bastards!” he yelled to the cheers of those around him as they quick walked up the hall.

But, the enemy waited behind the corner, jumping out into the midst of the syndicate troops, shooting and cutting as if possessed. The syndicates fought back with the vicious brawling techniques they knew.

Thank god we have numbers on our side. Falesh thought. Fifty thousand troops had died from the time they left the ships to finally getting past the complex series of defences.

Chapter - Patience

Even though Dreckt had agreed to the plan that Henry, his commanders and Salchar had worked on, this part was possibly the worst. He had to wait, allowing those he had trained and his brothers that had fought beside him for the majority of his life to take on a force seven times their size as the remaining forces on Parnmal prepared their last-ditch defense.

He checked his smaller and faster firing rail guns with their attached blades. He hadn't been in any battles with the Free Fleet, but before that he had a lifetime of battling under his belt. He was confident, but still nervous.

The Free Fleet had told him and his people the truth; while they didn't know the fate of their race, the Sarenmenti as well as the Kuruvians were applying to have colonies from Sol systems to AIH. They'd learnt that one planet was not enough of a safety net.

Now’s not the time to be thinking on that. He let out a few breaths before checking his weapons again, waiting for the order.

Salchar

“Breeching!” the door Commando said as the directed plasmid charges cut through the destroyer’s armour as if it was nonexistent. There was a rush of air in, the forward Commandos threw their grenades compensating for the pressure difference and dull thuds went off as the rush of air stopped pulling at their mechas.

“Move!” George said, his commandos moving before he'd finished yelling.

“Clear right,”

“Left,”

“Moving,”

The shuttle quickly cleared as commandos filled the ships, breaking off for their objectives. I was placed in the middle of my protection detail and a few extras, our objective a secondary power plant. Brrvvvfft. Brrvvvfft. Krom's auto-cannon dropped four attackers with quick burst as we kept moving with barely any pause. We cleared through rooms, me keeping mostly out of the way as no one wanted to put me in danger it seemed.

“We have forces getting back on the ships. We need those weapon systems down so we can manoeuvre and shoot them,”

Shit, I thought as I looked at the diagrams of the ship. Someone had gotten us a blue print and after looking over the plans with Shrift, Eddie, Silly and anyone that wanted to do anything technical. I had gotten quite good at looking at the mechanical and electrical systems and understanding just what the heck they were. I circled approximately ten junctions before I contacted George.

“This is where the power relays for the PDS targeting computers are. We take them out then this ship can't use anything but manual,”

He studied it for a minute as grabbed my swinging gun, checking where my group had been moving during my little fact finding mission.

“Uhh, could you? ...”

“Just give me your orders, George,” I said in a soothing tone, he didn't need me looking over his shoulder.

“Thanks. Take out the two nearest you,” he said, sending my squad the locations for the junctions.

“On it,” I changed to the CAF. “We’ve been reassigned to take out the beauties on your HUDS,” I said.

“Calerd could you get us a route,”

“Certainly. Give me a hand here, Janice,” he said as he stopped in front of a wall, cutting into it as Janice checked the wire overlay of what lay behind it.

“I always like the express route,” I said, getting a few displeased head shakes at my terrible try at humour.

“Don't have any sense of humour, you lot,”

“Spent too much time around you sir,” Shreesht said. I couldn't help grin at my group’s chuckles.

****

Henry swung his plasmid battle axe, taking out two mecha's legs. One side of his blade had special hardened spikes which drove into the two troops' chests as he smashed them to the floor, shooting another one in the neck with his pistol.

“Come on you fuckers!” He yelled as the Commandos roared with him. The commando to his right went down under a blade, but Henry made sure his attacker quickly followed him. Henry backed up slightly. He was tired and losing people too fast. The syndicate forces were having a hard time in the high gravity, but in a battle those things mattered little: fighting hormones and chemicals ruled. The syndicates also had more reinforcements than Henry had people. Nearly five times over.

A syndicate troop got a weapon up, hitting Commandos in the faceplates and hitting Henry's shoulder before they stopped shooting. A Syndicate jumped, trying to plant his blade in Henry's neck. He hit the attacker away with the flat of his blade.

“Pull back!” he said. He needed to change out people. His front lines were bone tired from fighting constantly.

“Need to change, give us some room,”

“There's a gun emplacement, but it's broken!” a gunner said who had re-donned his mecha. One needed to know how to fight no matter if they were an electrical technician, a gunner or a fully trained commando.

“How long?” Henry got a glancing blow to the leg as he pushed an attacker back by the face plate, shooting that one while his axe crashed into the troop beside him.

“Ten minutes!”

Ten minutes was a lifetime.

“We'll hold them off. Won't we, Commandos?!” Henry barked as his troops stepped up and cut into the enemy with renewed ferocity.

Henry reloaded his pistol as he smacked a blade away, planting the spike between his two axe blades into the attacker’s shoulder. Another blade took off part of his helmet as he ducked. His rail pistol reloaded and he shot the enemy troop three times before finding something soft, at the same time dragging the plasmid blade across the groin of the one he’d spiked earlier. With an upward stroke his axe went through a helmet. His Commando's energy had waned again, and one over balanced as Henry leveled his axe. With an enemy troop going for the kill, he pressed a button on the axes handle and the spike at the end shot out, going through the attacker’s neck.

“How long?” he barked as he used his pistol to avert a blow, turning it into a useless lump of sparking electronics. He threw it at a lunging trooper, giving the commando on the ground enough time to smack the blade away and take off the attacker’s helmet in a grisly display.

“Five minutes,”

It's only been five minutes. Henry's mind didn't seem to be able to comprehend that. As he grabbed a grenade with his now free hand, he turned stopping a blow from hitting his helmet only to have it lodge in his shoulder, forcing him to drop the grenade.

“Argghhh!” Henry groaned, his eyes filled with pain driven anger as he extended the shaft of his axe with a press of a button, clearing a five foot area in front of him with four swings.

“They're coming from behind!” someone yelled. Dread filled Henry as he employed the moves Yasu had taught him to use minimal energy for the most devastating attacks with a longer weapon.

The enemy seemed to know that their forces were coming to cut off Henry's people. Their attacks redoubled, pushing back Henry and his defenders, many of them falling. Henry himself only barely survived, with limited mobility in his legs, his upper armoured torso a series of plasma burns.

“The gun’s ready” a voice called out. “But they're almost here, we have to pull back.”

I know that voice... Henry thought. It somehow reminded him of Verlu. Commander Tully! The man that took his spot, he thought sadly in a haze brought on by fatigue. I miss you buddy, he thought as he took off a troop’s arm, reversed his weapon and buried his blade in the soldier’s torso. Shit. His axe stuck as the trooper fell. Henry backed up and hit the armoured wall of the gun mount.

Troopers sensing an easy prey slashed at Henry. He took a blow to the leg which burned, telling him it got through, as another attacker stabbed at his arm. He pulled and turned the trooper, drawing the soldier’s blade against his own neck as he got around the armoured shield of the turret. He rested as he saw the mess behind the first liners. All of the commandos were bone tired. They might be able to move easily with the higher gravity, but it didn't mean it didn't tire them out. All of them were exhausted. They had been fighting for hours now. Wounded were being dragged back behind the lines, but there were more of them than people standing. Commandos were taking two or three at a time as they ran to the rear. The enemy reinforcements had almost arrived. They were no more than five meters away.

“Well sometimes you just have to do something stupid.” He grabbed the turret and depressed the trigger, rounds thudded into the syndicate who were at point blank range. The weapon was one of the PDS systems.

“How do you like a seventy five calibre Gatling gun?” he yelled as the massive shells punched through the first ranks, exploding to take out the enemy behind them.

“Pull back Commandos!” he yelled as his HUD alerted him that his people were in position. Using his eyes, he opened a channel.

“Get em,” he said, sounding every bit exhausted and angry as he felt.

The corridor where Henry had been fighting was clear up to thirty metres.

“Breech!” someone said as Henry turned the turret to the other corridor, to see the last commando stumble as her leg was cut. She stabbed her attacker, getting a blade in the shoulder, she pulled the attacker in, head-butting the other soldier and slashing him, taking his blade, as she stabbed another with the first and batted a second away with her new blade. A railgun came up and a short burst announced the end of the Commando who dropped to her knees.

Blood pooled around her. She’d been a Sarenmenti.

“No!” Henry yelled. Tears blurred his vision as he clamped down on the trigger, his face remorseless as he kept firing.

The troops that had recovered from his initial onslaught and were quickly working their way to him. He fired into them as he glanced back to his Commandos.

“Come on, Commander!” Tully said.

“You wouldn't be able to get our brothers and sisters out of here then,” Henry said as he pulled the pins that held the Gatling gun. He fired into the mass that were surging over the Commandos that had defended their brothers and sisters with their lives.

He grabbed hold of four linked boxes as he hit a switch to lower the rate of fire, walking backwards crouched over so he could drag the crates, using the same arm to cradle the monstrous weapon while he depressed the trigger with the other hand.

Heavy grav is useful for one thing. Henry thought grimly. His mecha's power output was cranked up and the thing that was slowing him down, was also making the recoil feel much less.

Sweating but twenty metres back from where the two corridors filled with Syndicate troopers, Henry took a knee and braced the Gatling gun as he fired into the converging group which continued toward him.

“Take that fuckers!” he said as he fired into the oncoming tide. The Gatling gun was a weapon of mass death but the Syndicate just had so many troopers. Using his eyes and pressure balls on his fingers to activate another view screen he looked backwards down the corridor. A group of gunners was waiting to unleash hell, but they were blocked by the casualties and the ones carrying them to safety.

Henry's gun ran dry as he thumbed two grenades and threw it into the mass just five meters away. It killed tens of them but barely slowed them. Henry only had enough time to stand, using the Gatling gun like a blunt club he crushed a trooper’s face plate.

Suddenly everything became much lighter as an unseen weight lifted from Henry. He didn't change his mecha's power settings however as he whirled, the Gatling gun now feeling like a pillow in his hands instead of a desk. Suddenly, the syndicate troopers looked like Henry's squad had when they'd first got the full abilities of mechas; they went flying off in every direction, mostly into the walls.

Henry grinned sadly.

Good memories. He thought.

A blade glanced off of Henry's helmet as he used the gatling gun to check the owner's helmet.

“What the fuck are these people? Monsters?” someone asked, and Henry realized that his comms had changed to CAF, so he was picking up the syndicate troopers.

“Fucker won't go down!” another panicked voice said and Henry grinned as he used the lighter gravity and his still fully powered mecha to jump past the first line of attackers and bury himself in the second or third.

“We're Commandos! Armoured fucking Marine Commandos, and we are your death!” Henry brought the gun low, tripping troops as he crushed one, the Gatling's handle flying off.

He grabbed a blade that made to jab up into his torso. The syndicate troops seemed to be moving in slow motion as they tried to get hold of themselves and adapt to universal gravity. Henry got inside the troopers reach, grabbed the hilt of his weapon and smashed his helmet with his own extra armoured helmet.

He took down three more in quick succession as the troopers oriented themselves to the gravity changed. The last Commando was just five meters from safety. Henry's leg cut out as an attacker behind him took out the circuits. His leg was mangled underneath the armour, and he was unable to stand on it. He jumped backwards, cutting a trooper that stabbed at him as he plowed through mechas.

“Fuck you, fuck your shitty army!” one of them yelled.

“Yeah, we'll kill you all.” Henry rolled and flicked his leg out as he activated the locking bolts, making it nothing more than a peg leg essentially.

Henry took down two as he stomped his other foot and righted himself.

He cut and sliced, nothing left but to kill, to defend what had become his family, to give his commandos the time they needed, just as the Sarenmenti commando had done.

“Commandos came from nothing, yet we will not die, we will not stop, we will never give up. That is what the Free Fleet does. We crush our enemies so totally that others do not even know about us. Your dead will be the legions that await every Commando when they go into the dark,” Henry growled and no one said anything as he staggered, getting a slice across his side.

He smashed a trooper in the face as he reversed his grip on his sword, getting close so the troopers couldn't attack him without killing their own. Someone stabbed clean through the trooper he'd just stabbed in the arm, the blade pierced Henry's arm and tourniquets clamped around it.

He switched his blade to the other hand as another blade raked his side. Feeling dizzy from blood loss he backed up as a blade seemed to appear in his chest and pain flared throughout his torso.

Shit that hurts, he thought as he dropped his blade, looking at the one embedded in his chest.

The syndicate troops still stayed out of his reach as they went around him and ran towards the end of the hall where the gunners waited three hundred meters away. Henry pulled the blade from his chest as painkillers made everything softer and the pain disappeared.

He looked at the fallen Sarenmenti.

Taleel. He read as he sighed, changing to the command channel.

“I think this is it. I'm going to miss you bastards,” he smiled sadly. “But now it's time to go see those beyond the dark. Give them hell Commandos. For the Free Fleet,” Wish I could've gone on a date with Evelyn. Wouldn’t have done it any other way though.

Henry Terrance Phillips slumped, resting on his knees with a blade in hand.

The Commando's took a second.

“For the Commander of the AMC,” one of them said in reverence, and others said it, turning into;

“For the CAMC, FOR THE CAMC!” The guns opened up, voices competing with their machine guns as a storm of rounds passed around their CAMC, Henry.

Chapter - This Ends

My chest felt tight as sadness and anger warred inside of me. I stabbed an engineer, cutting down another as I whirled, my first blade cutting another's weapon apart, I cut up with my second blade. I sheathed both as I moved, thumbing a grenade and throwing it at the PDS power junction. The announcement that Bok Soo was now the new CAMC had come over the comms. Which would only happen in the event that Henry was dead.

“We end this now,” I said, my voice as cold as space. As I pulled out my rail gun, Shreesht got in front of me, but none of them were willing to try and get me out of the fighting.

I numbed my mind as I focused on the mission. I wasn't the commander of the Free Fleet. I was a grunt following orders, and I would execute them. I couldn't mourn for Henry, that thought alone made my eyes itchy. Either I would honour his memory, or I would join him in the dark.

***

Falesh was getting weird reports of walls opening and the enemy throwing grenades into their midst when he watched the last defender of his corridor fall, killed with a rail gun. One Commando had grabbed the damned multi barrelled weapon and turned tens of troopers into mush. He'd slowed Falesh's newest troops, killing most of them. Then when his ammo had run out he'd used the gun as a club. The gravity changed and the Commando without even stopping started destroying the weapon as he killed even more troops.

He'd announced who and what the enemy they were fighter were, but it had only made Falesh more scared. These people were proud as they were deadly. Falesh took his favourite throwing dagger, and when the Commando stumbled backwards it flew true, straight into the man’s chest.

“Get moving!” Falesh yelled. There was an eerie silence as he heard a chant gradually grow. He just made it out before the auto cannons fired, their gunner’s accuracy scary as they cleared a way back to the now slumped over, but still upright commando.

That chant would live with Falesh forever. He didn't know what a CAMC was, but the words, 'for the CAMC' would be forever seared into his mind as he ran into the adjoining corridor to save his life. Enemy fire whittled down his forces, the walls opened upwards on some kind of hydraulic system and grenades were thrown into the corridor. The corridors were packed with the fifty thousand that was all that was left of the Syndicate troopers in Parnmal. The rest were dead, on the surface, or fighting in their own ships. Red filled Falesh's screen as he grabbed dead mechas and covered himself.

I'm not dying here, he thought to himself as he shook with fear, that thought playing over in his mind as he prayed to every religion, god, deity and mythological creation to let him live and that he would repent. Falesh was already defeated, and he knew it. And he knew that any of the syndicate troopers that put up a fight were dead as well.

***

Captain Kelu walked off of his shuttle, meeting Captain Durv, a captain in his personal fleet.

“We're leaving. Gather the fleet,” Kelu said as Durv nodded, talking into his earpiece as he walked with Kelu through the Dreadnought to the Bridge.

“All but twelve vessels have Commandos on them,” Durv said, recoiling as Kelu snarled.

“Leave the ones with those—creatures on them,” Durv nodded as he barked to whoever he was talking to. Kelu felt the engines rumble as the Dreadnought picked up off of Parnmal.

Urlow followed him faithfully as Kelu walked into the Bridge, sitting in the Captain's chair. Durv was smart enough not to tell Kelu to move as he took the seat of the first mate. Urlow stood at Kelu's side.

“Groups of troops are surrendering. It seems the Commandos ambushed them,” the comms officer said, looking somewhat awed as Kelu snarled again.

“Plot us the best time route out of here,” he barked as the bridge went silent.

“We have jump emergence signatures! They're coming from Mikaw system,” Kelu sat up.

Possible reinforcements?

“Who are they?”

“Processing, IFF.”

It took a few minutes and Kelu was beginning to wonder if the sensor officer needed some incentive to hurry the fuck up, like a round in the main body cavity.

“It's one of ours. It's being led by a known middling planet enforcer. They used capacitors to jump,”

Middling planets were planets that had been a part of the Union. When the Union fell apart Lady Fairgate had made the planets pay a certain tax to be left alone. Enforcers made sure that the tax was paid, and if it wasn't they exacted a price that was even higher. Yet those planets were a month away in straight travelling, and the fact the ship had come from Mikaw system made Kelu hope that they were at least a syndicate force. The fact that they used their capacitors made that hope very close to fact in his mind.

These commando's ships used their generators to jump from Parnmal, even when they had their capacitors undoubtedly charged. The ships wouldn't have enough troops to take the station, but they would have missiles. All I need is to put a few into the softer areas of Parnmal and I have the station, if not really intact, he thought a dark grin spreading across his face.

“Hold position. Don't take us past the shields,” Kelu said.

“Sir?” Durv asked, and as Kelu let it pass as he felt hope in his chest.

“With those ships we can rip Parnmal apart. We might not take her, but if we destroy her the Lady Fairgate will still give us quite the handsome prize. We need to make sure the shields don't come back online so we wait here to shoot the generators and allow those ships in,”

“Brilliant, sir!” Durv said. His face had lit up as soon as Kelu had talked about the reward.

An hour later and Kelu was grinning.

“What is going on here? What are your intentions? I demand to see your bill of prize from the Lady Fairgate!”

The Captain looked equal parts startled and unsure at the message from the incoming ship. A bill of prize was the contract Lady Fairgate gave for certain jobs.

And not just anyone would know that, Kelu thought.

“Can you confirm that message is coming from the Captain of that ship?”

“Yes sir,” A few moments later it was confirmed.

“Prepare a message for the main ship,”

“Ready sir,”

“I am Captain Kelu. I have been sent here to return control of Parnmal back to the Lady Fairgate. A group called Commandos has overtaken it. I am transmitting our bill of prize. I will offer you an equal share if you join with us. Do not and the Lady Fairgate will hear of it.”

He looked to the comms officer. “Send it.”

The officer turned around as Kelu waited. The ships applied maximum thrust about the time that they should have received it.

“Most certainly, I will be there with all due haste,” came the response. Kelu's grin turned wolfish as he looked to the outline of Parnmal.

Then I will have these Commandos at my feet.

***

Three more ships cleared themselves of Commandos, but the rest were still fighting or already taken. The Troopers had nearly all surrendered, with sporadic engagements which were being put down mercilessly. None of the ships had tried to run away. It was one thing to face some rebels who actually took surrender seriously and weren't murdering, raping and looting their enemy, and another thing to return to Lady Fairgate with nothing, and the Captain of the expedition not going with you.

Plus there was the hope of the fourteen ships, all loaded and the key to a huge payday.

The new ships made it through the shields without them being activated, intermingling with Kelu's ships as he got a transmissions from the station. On the screen a man wearing a battle scarred mecha sat in a command chair. His skin was a pale pinkish white, his head fur was long and hung down. The creature looked up.

I wonder where he got that surgery done, Kelu thought as the man's eye appeared to be red, one covered by his long head fur.

“Surrender Captain Kelu,” he said simply, this man was tired but there was power behind his tone.

“Just when I'm about to blow you to bits?” Kelu's light smile turned sour.

“I don't think so,” the man on the screen snarled.

“Weapons signatures!” Sensors said.

“We're not in the arcs of any of their PRC's,” Kelu snapped.

A second figure broke into the channel.

“But you're in my arcs.”

A woman wearing a mecha with a plasmid tipped skirt said, her features different but also similar to the first figure's. Making them of different sub groups of a single race.

Kelu snarled as he looked at the main plot. They'd suckered him. He didn't know how they'd done it, but the fourteen fresh ships in his midst weren't Syndicate after all. They were commandos.

“Fucking Commandos!” Kelu roared.

“Captain Kelu, I'm Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet,” the male first figure said. “I'll accept your surrender now, unless you want to die?” The second looked eager to fight.

Kelu smashed a screen with his fist, liquids spilling from his hand as he looked away and at the floor.

“We surrender,”

Chapter - Pushing On

Most of the Fleet was coming back to Parnmal, but Rick had left some ships to lay the FTL communications. I looked blankly at my data pad. It would be three days until Henry's family and the families of the human personnel in my fleet knew the fate of their loved ones. Cheerleader was giving her after actions report but I'd barely listened to a word. I knew what had happened already. Cheerleader paused as she finished and she pulled up a scan of a planet.

“This is what Bregned stumbled over on his way to me,” she said as I looked up to study the screen for the first time in this entire meeting.

Min Hae's kept his professional uncaring demeanour but I saw his eyes flash to the screen.

“While Bregend was coming through this planet's system he got some anomalous readings. On further study he found that they were the white noise created by electronic communication. We looked at his camera feeds and saw this.”

The planet expanded and a grainy image appeared. The cameras were used to receive information from light that had bounced into its lens, instead of sensors which sent out laser pulses, which were registered with a higher degree of clarity. Cameras were the base of the passive sensor systems. That wasn't important. I saw a planet changed by something or someone that had built there.

“We don't know who lives on here, but it seems that they are technologically advanced while being planet bound."

Min Hae had got his data pad out and was typing furiously.

“So they're a sentient race four jumps away?” I asked.

“Yes, we haven't confirmed who calls the planet home, or even if it is definitely inhabited. All we can confirm is that there is a mass of electronic white noise coming from down there, and it looks to have buildings on its surface.

I looked to Min Hae, who wasn't looking too pleased.

“Something the matter?” I asked as he looked up to me.

“No. I don't have any information on the planet. If at all possible I would like to join whatever group goes down,” He said.

“Consider yourself on board,” I said, as I looked to my data pad. It was counting down to when the Resilient and the rest of the Fleet should be at Parnmal.

“How are the new prisoners?” I asked Monk, who was sitting cross-legged in his chair.

“There have been some issues, but they were dealt with quickly,”

“What about Captain Kelu?”

“He and a few other select people are in my care,” Min Hae said with a tight smile. We needed information.

“Are we on schedule to get the station and its defences back online?”

“Yes. PRC's and their ammunition's factories were just completed. We can make a PRC in nine days. Felix hopes to speed that up. Shrift's helping him.”

He still hasn't decided what he wants to do. I thought. Shrift was like Yasu had been before becoming the training commander of Hachiro. He didn't have an official position so he helped out anywhere he could. I was going to have to get an answer from him soon on what he wanted to do, but I was too tired to do anything about it any time soon.

“When the Resilient and the rest of the fleet get here, Cheerleader, you can split off to continue your scouting and I'll continue with the fleet and Min Hae to inspect this planet,”

Min Hae cleared his throat before talking.

“With the information I've recovered from Captain Kelu and unlocked with the data keys that were left intact I've been able to update the star map.”

I remembered something about that in my personal emails, but I was still stuck thinking about the losses we'd sustained. Pull yourself together or more of them will die, I chastised myself.

Min Hae put a map showing green, white, red, purple and orange.

“The green are the systems that we patrol, white are the unpatrolled or untouched systems, red are enemy locations or areas where syndicate ships frequent, purple are the supply or middling planets. Middling or supply planets are planets that are forced to make products for the syndicate, or an enforcer makes them pay for not meeting their quota. Chaleel would've been a supply planet if we didn't free it.

“Orange is the systems that the Kalu lived in,” Min Hae said.

“But they’re dead. Why would you mark them?” I asked, knowing Min Hae rarely did things on a whim.

Min Hae took on an unsure look.

“Captain Kelu feels that the Lady Fairgate cares about this area for more than just its accessibility to Kuruvian, human and Sarenmenti home worlds. He feels that she is moving all of these large and vital resources, such as Nancy and Hachiro, to this sector as it is the sector furthest from the Kalu line. If that is the case, then it seems that something has got her spooked behind the Kalu-Union line. I went through the captain's notes on his dreadnought,” he continued. “It seems that Lady Fairgate's most trusted advisor, Captain Lord Lifendi, and his loyal forces were seen heading for the line but haven't reported back. If they’re dead, or waiting for something, Kelu didn't know,” Min Hae said, standing straight as people around the room were undoubtedly hoping he was wrong.

An ominous silence stretched through the room as people looked to one another for a denial or conformation.

We had read the information on the Union-Kalu war but it was something different to understand battle tactics and understand how our ships worked. We had also learned how the Kalu never quit, never gave up, and would fight to the last of them. They were hugely territorial and once the Union crossed into their region of space it was outright war, no matter what the Union tried to do or say.

“We're going to need something more solid than his suspicions to go on,” I said and Min Hae nodded.

“That doesn't mean we shouldn’t be ready for anything that comes our way. The PDF fell because they became complacent. We will not allow that to happen.” I looked to everyone as they each nodded agreement.

“Anything else Min Hae?”

“No, commander,”

I turned to Bok Soo, trying to conceal my grief. Bok Soo was my friend and brother, but not seeing Henry in that seat hurt me to my core.

“How are the Commandos?” I asked. Bok Soo looked as if he would rather be doing anything else but fill the seat he sat in.

“Recuperating. Losing so many people is never easy.” His voice sounded gruff as more than one person retreated into their memories of the lost. I couldn't do that. I had already glazed over some information, and I needed to be here and now. No matter if I wanted to just lie in my room looking at the dark and saying goodbye to the people that we'd lost.

The ceremony to send them off into Parnmal's system’s sun was scheduled in two days. There had been something of a religious (if one could call it that) understanding that everyone came to within the Free Fleet. The Dark was death, going into it meant dying, remaining in the light meant that you kept living. Sending one’s enemies into the dark made them await you and serve you. It was similar to the ancient legend of Valhalla as it was thought of by humans, but was a big thing with the Sarenmenti. Sending our people into the light, or the sun, which is a symbol of growth, compassion, discovery and victory, showed their triumph over the dark; n that while they had left us between the two, they had done all they could to keep us from the dark. They were our saviours and bringers of light, and thus they would fuel the light.

It was a simple belief and something that had grown as the Free Fleet had.

“Do you think they'll be ready by the time the rest of the fleet gets here?” I asked, my tone gentle.

Bok Soo looked at his hands that rested on the table, nodding slowly.

“They'll be ready,” he said. “I want to get training programs going back to normal, so people can take their minds off of it if they want to,”

“I'll okay it if you organize it.”

“Done,” he said in a gruff voice, absently stroking his now coming in goatee and chinstrap. Facial hair was coming back in a big way with the Commandos it seemed.

I leaned forward, looking at my hands as everyone looked to me. I usually sat back in my chair as if I had some master plan. When I first fell into the Commander gig I found it was best to look as if I knew what I was doing. Now I found it even better, as people voiced their ideas and talked more freely without my interfering.

“Since we were all recruited we have done nothing but react,” I said looking to all of them, their attention wholly on me. “We have been attacked again and again, forced to run from one battle to another as the Syndicate has made us dance to their tune. It is time we put an end to it.

“I will be issuing Bregend with orders to gather a fleet of five fast moving ships at his own discretion,” I continued, “And to cut off the syndicate from their middling worlds and return the resources to us once he has Rebirth secured at Nancy. He will also be protecting the 'Q' freighter Losal. I want you all to assist him as best as you can. While he's doing that Cheerleader and I will be taking our respective fleets and clearing this sector. The time of reacting to the Syndicate pulling our chain is over, it's time to put a gap between us and them, fortify it and do what this fleet was made for and keep the planets under the syndicate's control free. I know that we have taken to many losses far too recent, but we will make our brothers and sisters proud. We will show these bastards what the Free Fleet can do!”

My voice was cold with fury as I looked at the nods and agreeing looks from around the room.

“Mourn, cry and recognize those lost for now. But when I call, I want you and your people to be ready to take up the mantle of the Free Fleet and shove it in the damned galaxies face!” I said as I sat back. “Now let's put this fleet back together,” I said after a few moments, standing and walking out of the room, my protection detail trailing me as I found Monk's office and locked myself inside.

I took a seat as I pulled up a simple memo page and began writing to Henry's family as well as the families of other people I'd known. I don't know when happy tears started streaming down my face but I couldn't stop writing and I finished the messages. I was honored to know them, I thought, wishing I was back on Earth and none of this had ever happened. I wished I wasn't a commander anymore. I wished the unyielding weight was lifted from my shoulders, but I knew it never would and I would always be this Fleet's Commander. I owed it to both the fallen and the alive to stay at my post as they did, some forever.

***

Rick walked through the halls of Parnmal. The station had changed so much since the last time he'd been in it. The corridors went on and on, but they followed an organized plan rather than being driven randomly through the asteroid. Where he had docked had scared him, as it had taken five minutes of fast walking to be clear of the corridors filled with death traps and turrets.

How did anyone survive that? He thought as he got onto a transport.

The atmosphere at Parnmal was a sobering one and he stopped the transport and got off, Marleen following him. They weren't at the commander center yet but he had to do something. He was walking silently through the halls, thinking of the people he knew that had possibly died in that hallway, when he came across a hologram of a Commando sitting on his knees with his helmet tilted forward as much as a mecha would allow. Rick's face spread into a sad smile as he pulled a small jar from his pocket.

“Remember this, buddy?” he said as he knelt by the hologram, people becoming silent as they walked around.

“This is that famous moonshine you brought back from your leave on Earth.” He looked at the small container as Marleen gripped his shoulder to remind him that she was there. Rick touched her hand, thankful for her presence as he opened the jar.

“One last drink eh?” he said, tapping the glass on the decking and pouring a little on it before taking a sip himself.

“Damn that's powerful,” Rick said with a sad grin as he stood. “I'll see you later brother.”

“I'm going to miss you, Henry,” Marleen said as she took the moonshine and had a drink. “Wasn't a better drinking partner in the entire fleet. This one's way too much of a lightweight,” She playfully pushed Rick, whose eyes flattened, a small smile on his face. “Keep that light burning. You sent plenty to the dark,” she said as Rick returned the lid to the moonshine.

“Thank you, Henry. For not just being the CAMC, but being a friend,” Rick said as he looked to Marleen, who was uncharacteristically wiping at what looked to be wet eyes. Rick clasped her hand lightly as she smiled at him.

“Now let’s go and exact a Free Fleet price,” Marleen said, her voice becoming dark as Rick nodded. They walked the rest of the way to the command centre, both of them needing some time to get focused again.

***

While Commander Boot hated what he had to do, he wouldn't every try to shirk it. Chaleel had FTL communications with Parnmal and AIH, but Earth still wasn't connected. So as the returning Commander of the system he was carrying the mail. Notices that families on Earth would not be seeing their loved ones again, as well as any letters the fallen crew members, or someone that knew them had written. Exiting the wormhole into Sol system was smooth. His crew worked like a well-oiled machine now.

“Juniver, send the message,” he said simply, nodding as his Comms Commander did so.

Boot didn't need to say anything as Nav already had a course for Nancy plotted in. He and his protection detail of five ships, his own Battle Cruiser, three Corvettes and a mostly functioning destroyer, guided in the newest additions to the fleet. Eighteen ships from Dreadnought's to Corvettes stayed in formation, their hangars filled with the cut down parts of syndicate ships that had been deemed beyond salvageable, or were in pieces already.

Boot had been upset with being sent back to patrol Earth and Chaleel. He was competitive. He believed he had proved himself in battle and was about to confront Salchar when the other man had found him. He remembered the lecture clearly.

“’Winning battles is a good thing, but just make sure it doesn't rule you. Beating the enemy isn't everything. Keeping your people alive is. Don't let wanting to win distance you from your crew. You're going to need them to really win anything. I want you to learn that before I put you on the battlefield. Prove to me you can. And I'll have you running a fleet one day.

“Learn your people, get involved with them, don't distance yourself because you feel you might lose your edge, and for gods sakes relax!”

Boot nodded to himself. It had been sage advice. He cleared his throat, feeling somewhat awkward.

“Good work, pass it on,” he said, more than one person studying him as if wondering if he was the same tight ass that had been their commander before the battle.

How could I be, when I saw so many people die doing what they were told. I bear that responsibility now, he thought as his fleet of the broken continued its slow journey to Nancy

Chapter - Reunited

I watched as the dark caskets linked together and headed for the sun. I had seen too many processions like this one. I tore my eyes from it and turned to what had to be done next.

Of the ships were being taken to Nancy most of them were only useful for parts. Two of the Dreadnoughts might be able to be refurbished, a destroyer too, but the rest of the Syndicate fleet was just hulls. When the Free Fleet was starting we would've had them on the front lines. Now with Nancy the standards had crept up and our manpower issues were still an issue.

Felix and the engineers throughout the fleet worked to make systems which required less people operate, we still had more ships than people. Without an AI ships needed a huge amount of people. Resilient would need at least nine thousand people not including Commandos if she wasn't an AI. Now she had close to one and a half thousand and we were barely scraping by. That was how it was with every ship. AIH, Earth, the Chaleelian's and the people that had been recruited into the Free Fleet had stepped up, but with constant battles our numbers had climbed by inches.

There had been twenty five thousand personnel on Parnmal, newly finished trainees by the most part with veterans thrown in. There had been eleven thousand roughly left standing afterwards. That was including operators in the command center, gunners, and engineers. Now Rick and the newly created Free Fleet Personnel Placement or FFPP assigned these people to stay on Parnmal or to be shipped across the Free Fleet to fill open positions. Only three thousand of them would be staying with the near eighty thousand Syndicate prisoners.

The new prisoners had already been put to work. They'd helped out the previously captured workers with hollowing out asteroids. They didn't know that we were going to use them to expand Felix's little workshop, and the less they knew the better as far as Min Hae and I were concerned.

***

It was three days later when I walked into the small bar, the bartender pointing to the back with his head. I gave him a silent nod of thanks. I felt myself relax as I could hear Bok Soo.

“Dark Side was definitely the most dressed up team!” He said, debating another Mecha Assault Two trivia with Cheerleader. Monk always kept out of that kind of conversation.

Cheerleader was about to retort when she caught sight of me.

“Bout time you got here!” she said as the others grinned.

“Well, some of us have to make sure everything doesn't fall apart when they leave for five minutes.”

A sour expression passed over Cheerleader's face.

“You obviously haven't met my chief engineer. Her nickname's Scram, because on the first ship she was on she almost scrammed the fusion plant while we were in mid-wormhole,”

“How...?” I asked as I thought it over, knowing the amount of safeties on fusion plants.

“No one knows to this day,” she shrugged as I nodded.

“Well, good to know I'm not alone,”

Bok Soo raised his glass.

“And I'm not going to be alone in this one!” he said as we all grabbed a full glass to join him.

“Cheers!” he said, way too happy as we downed the concoction.

“I think my taste buds just committed suicide,” Cheerleader complained.

“Clears out the sinuses,” Monk said, his face working to dull the pain his throat felt.

I grinned, happy to be with my friends, pouring another round over their complaints.

“You want Bok Soo to try to spew fire again, don’t you?” Cheerleader accused me, glass in hand as she pointed at me, searching for evidence of my diabolical plan.

Bok Soo was about to say something when Monk cut him off.

“And set the damned apartment on fire.”

“Hey! It was only the carpet,” Bok Soo grumbled.

“Carpet that ran throughout the house!” I said as the others grinned.

I raised my glass.

“To good memories and family, and fire extinguishers!”

“Amen!” Cheerleader rang out as we clinked cups and threw the vile concoction back as fast as possible.

“It's not getting better,” I said as Monk poured and we all participated in trying to get rid of the taste with our facial movements.

Monk raised his glass, the rest of us grumbling as a smile crossed his lips. He became sombre and we readied ourselves for his toast.

“To those beyond the dark, may they rest in the light.” We tapped glasses, then the table before taking our drinks.

Each of us had our own thoughts before Cheerleader poured yet again.

“So, about that flame throwing idea..,” she said with a glimmer in her eye.

“Yessss?” I asked, drawing out the word to voice my concern with any flame spewing ideas.

“Well, the range is free..,”

“I also just happen to have a lighter,” Bok Soo said, pulling out a beaten one.

Monk grinned as he looked at me. I ate some salty snacks before grinning myself.

“Alright, but we're taking the snacks,” I said, alcohol maki me hungry.

“Fine! Bartender!”

****

Commander Dreckt couldn't believe what he was seeing. Cheerleader, the second in command of the largest force the Free Fleet had ever put together flipped, twirled and finally rolled before a stream of fire projected from her mouth.

Three others were laughing and applauding as Bok Soo spewed more alcohol than Dreckt thought a human was capable of holding, caught the lighter from Cheerleader and unleashed a wave of fire as he waved it back and forth before it died.

Salchar got the bottle and he promptly created a brief but incredibly long stream of fire.

Dreckt didn't hear Kreum come up beside him. The two of them had served together for as long as Dreckt could remember, but his brother in arms always crept up on him.

“They're worse than us,” Kreum laughed.

Dreckt tried to retain what little composure he had, but Kreum's eyes smiled at the attempt.

“We are not shooting fire from our faces,” Dreckt said.

“I watched this old movie called Godzilla. It shot fire from its mouth, and it looked like a Sarenmenti.”

“It also destroyed cities,”

“Well he wasn't understood very well,” Kreum said and Dreckt couldn’t help but sigh.

“No fire spewing,”

“Alright, alright, I'm just going to go get some sleep then,”

“Alright. See you in a bit,” Dreckt said as he turned back to watching some of the highest ranking commander’s antics.

Wait, he thought as he checked the time. What the hells he up to? It was hours before Kreum would've normally gone to sleep.

Drekt shrugged as he looked back to the commanders. But then he saw Kreum walking into the range a few minutes later. Monk did the introductions and Kreum was quickly invited to down some hefty glugs of the bottle. Kreum talked to them for a few minutes before he took a massive mouthful of the alcohol, lit the lighter and spat fireballs as the others laughed. Kreum said something that made them all laugh harder and Pat him on the back. Kreum looked back up to Dreckt then, who rolled his eyes and shook his head at his brother's antics.

***

Felix and Min Hae were having a much less recreational night. Min Hae was looking over what was soon to be his baby, once Felix released it from his hangar.

I took a transport close to one of Felix's entrances, going through a few scans and a check over by Commandos as I took another transport through the main hangar. There was a medium sized freighter resting in it, but there was no one working. Everyone had paid their respects at the send off, but Felix waved over to me as I arrived. He had lost a lot of people and had turned to work in order to forget all the deaths.

“So, how's this little project coming along?” I asked Min Hae as he looked at the ship.

“No bad. I should have it ready by the time Bregend is able to get his new Battle Cruiser around these parts.”

“Sounds good,” I said looking over Felix, I hadn't seen him much in recent time as he'd stayed in Parnmal while I went around putting out every damned fire possible. It had been a big change from when we were hiding our little revolution in an armoury, working on simple data pads and I'd asked him for kill switch disables.

I looked to the ship.

“We've changed quite a bit, haven't we?” I said.

“That we have,” Felix looked to me, feeling as if there was more to that statement, his face grim.

“So how about a tour? I've only seen this thing on paper,” And I meant actual paper. Min Hae was obsessed with information control, so nothing of the ship existed on any electronic system. Made sense to a certain degree, if we were making what he called a 'Q' ship. Hell if I knew what that meant.

“Certainly commander,” Felix said imperially as he bowed, sweeping his arm in exaggeration as I followed. Still the jokester I see.

“So, on the outside, it's still the same plating,” he said tapping the hull as he walked me over to a station. Underneath, however, it has Destroyer class armour.”

The station was running scans on the freighter. But all it showed was the freighter plating.

“How?” I asked and he grinned, his eyes lighting up.

“Avarians,” he said simply as I crooked an eyebrow.

“So as you know Avarians in their natural skin are damned near impossible to get on sensors, especially if they're trying to be sneaky bastards. I basically looked at their skin and mimicked it with organic and inorganic systems,”

“You made Avarian skin?” I asked as he grinned.

“Pretty much, and covered all of the ship in it.”

I grimaced, being inside a skin ship would be kind of weird.

“The skin hides the armour from external scans, plus when it’s injured it will fix itself at a rapid rate. We integrated hellfire and nutritional supplements into it. It'll take two years before it needs to be replaced,”

“One of the oddest things I've ever heard,” I said.

“Don't worry. There's plenty of races that have used organic ships, computers and the like. This is minimal compared to those,” he said as he walked into the nearest airlock with me close behind.

The ship looked like a pretty normal freighter from what I'd seen of them. Well used and scuffed surfaces everywhere with enough maintenance done to keep the ship running. The bridge however was laid out like a Corvette's, with the stations that would be on a warship.

“Seems kind of obvious,” I said as Felix input something into the captain's chair controls and tactical as well as auxiliary controls and backups closed up. Tactical became a snack stand and the others were tables and armrests.

“The weapon systems are located in storage pods around the ship. They aren't visible until deployed. She has the firepower and capabilities of a Destroyer,”

“Not bad at all,” I said as he led me back out of the ship. I looked over it, seeing the future of the intelligence department. With these new ships we could gather information on inhabited systems without ever having to show a warship.

***

Now, time to get some information out of Gogs, Min Hae thought as he returned to the section that housed his information department. It had taken time to get some one-on-one with Gogs. He'd been herded in with the other prisoners so Min Hae arranged Gogs to have an accident, for which he was being attended to in med-bay. It was nothing dangerous and Gogs had already been fixed up, as if he was brand new. He waited with his massive goggles looking around the room. Min Hae could tell the little creature wanted to rip apart the room to find its secrets.

“He's been quiet, not very pleased about getting roughed up, but he understands,”

“Does he also know we have a time constraint? And that it might slip that he's working for us?” Min Hae asked in a mild tone, as he studied the paper that listed what Gogs had done since being held in the intelligence department's cell.

“Yes, sir.”

Min Hae nodded and handed back the papers. The expressionless mask—which he'd adopted from Salchar when shit really hit the fan, and was now his iconic look—settled on him as he relaxed and walked into the room.

“Gogs, I need to know everything you know,”

“You must be the Merchertevak,” Gogs said. Min Hae brushed away the nickname as he took the offered seat in the room, crossing his legs and looking completely at ease.

“Yes, that is what some call me,” Min Hae said as Gogs studied him.

“Don't look like a bird.” Gogs stared at Min Hae as if he could figure out his composition with his eyes alone.

“I don't have all day, Gogs. What do you know?”

“Foshunti is coming,” Gogs said.

Shit, Min Hae thought, nodding as he remembered the files he'd read on the sadistic sounvabitch. Gogs was searching for a reaction, but looked displeased with Min Hae's nod.

“Anything else?”

“I know you're from Earth. Though Lady Fairgate probably hasn't connected the dots right now. Also her right hand Captain is out skirting the Kalu line.” Min Hae's eyes tightened and Gogs looked excited at Min Hae's break in his mask.

“Why?” Min Hae asked. Gogs looked distinctly uncomfortable and he wrung his hands in thought before looking up. He wants a deal.

“I want assurances,” Gogs said as Min Hae nodded. Bingo.

“Naturally, but why should I give you any such thing?”

“I was press ganged into the crew. You know my history from the ship’s records. All I did was live in that room. If I left my pain implant was activated. I want to join the Free Fleet.”

Min Hae was slightly surprised at this last request. It would put Gogs directly under his supervision.

“My..,” Gogs hesitated, his nervousness heightened as he looked to Min Hae and then the clearly one-way glass behind him. Min Hae looked back at Gogs, the information he'd already told him stored away in his brain as he wondered what else he could get from the small man. Gogs studied Min Hae, really studied him, as if weighing if he should tell him or not.

“My planet is also one of the middling planets, but we can't meet demand. We're going to get wiped out soon if we don't have help. I want the Free Fleet's help.” Gogs looked directly into Min Hae's eyes. Min Hae had learnt a lot about body language, how different creatures relayed the truth. With his knowledge of Gog's species he was fairly sure Gogs was telling the truth. He knew that Gog's home planet was inside the middling line, making his story all the more feasible.

“I will bring it up with Commander Salchar. The Free Fleet's intention is to free all planets from Syndicate oppression. I have no doubt the Commander will be happy to assist,”

Gogs nodded as he kept looking into Min Hae's eyes.

“The Kalu weren't completely destroyed. That's why Lady Fairgate's moving everything to Sol. It's the furthest system from Kalu territory,”

Min Hae felt ice run through his veins and Gogs sat back at the change in his expression.

“Do you have proof?”

“Why do you think all of those resources were sent to Sol system? Why is her most trusted adviser and his fleet off in Kalu territory instead of protecting her from her side? She's also been beefing up systems weapons close to the Kalu sector. It's rather easy to piece together with all the information,”

“She could be consolidating her power,”

“She's had it for a hundred and fifty years. It's consolidated now,” Gogs said and Min Hae had to agree. But the Kalu being alive certainly changed things.

“I will accept you to work for the Free Fleet, but it will be under my command,”

“You've got it,” Gogs said, actually looking excited at the proposition.

“Now I need to know everything you know about the ships and resources around this sector. The information logs from the Syndicate fleet are terrible.”

Gogs grinned.

“Just get me to my station. I have something you'll really enjoy,” Gogs said. Min Hae thought on it before paging the intelligence agent that had met him outside.

“Commander?” The man asked as he opened the door.

“Get a detail of Commandos and take Mr. Gogs here to his old quarters. He has some data I very much want.”

“Commander,” the man nodded stiffly as he talked into the lapel of his grey and blue Intelligence Department battle suit.

Min Hae stood.

“Very well, Mr. Gogs. Welcome to the free fleet.” He held out his hand as Gogs admired it.

“You take it and shake it,” Min Hae said. Gogs lifted his hand up to Min Hae's, who grabbed it and squeezed hard.

“Do not even think of betraying me,”

Gogs nodded dumbly as he looked to the floor. Min Hae released his hand as he walked out, activating his own comms unit.

“Salchar, we have an issue,”

Chapter - Moving out

I looked around Resilient's bridge feeling at home. She still wasn't at one hundred percent but her missile, rail, and PDS magazines were fully loaded and the crew was ready to be moved towards the mysterious planet where the communications were coming from. Bregend was on his way back with the ships he'd picked from Cheerleader's fleet. She was going to be incharge of scouting the surrounding systems, before linking up with my fleet.

Everyone was transferred, including Shrift who still had a month and a half to make up his mind and was working on getting more of Resilients weapon systems online. Edwards was being walked around the ship. I just hoped the walk would last a long time. Rick had talked about how the man had become more vocal and spoke daily about how his people would be charged for treason, or some other threat. No one paid him any attention and most people just wanted to get rid of him. But until I got back to Earth I was stuck with the bastard.

Monk appeared on one of my armrest's screens.

“Good luck, James,” He said as I smiled.

“Thank you, Monk,” I said, bowing my head as he returned the gesture.

“When we're together we'll have to have some drinks again,” he said.

“Sounds like you’re buying,” I said as he smiled serenely. I winked and cut the channel as I moved in my chair, only finding edges.

“Do these things ever get more comfortable?” I complained quietly, moving my perch. It always seemed like my legs went to sleep in the damn chair

“Nope,” Rick said, looking at his station. Clearly it wasn't quiet enough.

“Gotta use a cushion sir. Engineering hasn't even come close to the chairs up here,” Walf shrugged.

“Don't blame them with the silent killers you keep releasing into the wild,” Milra said, Walf's gassier moments had made more than one person cringe.

“Well there's a human saying, something like it's better to keep it out than in,” Walf grinned.

“There's something about letting it out, then forcing it out like a damn rail cannon gunner,” Rick said, I couldn't help but laugh.

“At least it isn't like the bed shaking warbles you let out at night,” Marleen joked.

“That was told to you in confidence,”

“Nothing was said, you just did it! Shook the whole bloody bed,” Marleen replied, the two couldn’t help but slip on goofy smiles.

“Woke you up didn't it,” Marleen looked as if she was stuck between being annoyed and laughing.

“Alright calm down you lot, or else we're going to find every last open wire in this place and go up like a damn Cruiser,” I said.

People got back to their work, the atmosphere light as I turned to my reports. The first one a summary from Min Hae on the information he'd found on the Kalu from our Syndicate prisoners. The information Gogs had given us had shaken me. The Kalu were a race that lived for war. Other than their physical make up. In many ways they were similar to the Avarians. But while the Avarians had actually brokered a peace, while having only small skirmishes and organized battles with one another. The Kalu had no thoughts about peace. They lived to fight and had done so for as long as the Union had looked back into the history of their race. The only reason they had made it into space was because a Kaluian commander realized that the clans with the higher elevation always won. So he created a class of makers and turned them towards getting him and the clan into space.

Other clans learned of this and this brought on a space race. Then once in space their territorial nature took over and they began claiming everything in sight. Fighting one another for every damned inch of territory, whether they needed it or not. Then they had crossed paths with the Union, and naturally went to war. Yet the Kalu had fought the Union and then secondarily one another. They would take a planet then set upon one another to get the rights to the planet. Every planet across the space they already owned was continually fought over. They were at war with each other as much as they were at war with the Union.

The Kalu that had survived through their ability to breed like crazy. Kalu young only took a few years to mature, becoming full fledge warriors and joining their clan against the Union. The Kalu fought in space as they fought on the ground. They worked in packs to decimate the enemy using numbers and stealth to cross great distances before they pounced from a parent drifting and used their fusion bomb acceleration systems coupled with their regular engines. Once they closed with the enemy they battered them until they could gain entry, allowing their Vahsnu warrior troops to ravage the ships in their black exosuits.

I looked to my people, the mismatch of races all working together to get the Free Fleet to be a force that could change this messed up universe. The Kalu might come, but it might just be the machinations of Lady Fairgate. They hadn't been heard of in centuries. For now I had to concentrate on getting my people organized and ready to deal with the threat of the Syndicate. I needed more people to fill my ranks and more allies to help build my hulls. Hopefully this mystery planet could help me.

While the ships were under crewed we found ways around a lot of problems, including Parnmal. However, the refineries, Nancy and all the infrastructure that fed the Free Fleet needed hundreds of thousands of people as well. The Free Fleet was mining and refining more materials than ever before. Factories were quickly turning resources into necessary equipment. And the Free Fleet wasn't the only entity having a boom either. It had passed onto Earth, Chaleel and AIH. All of the planets had adopted factories, while Earth had just changed theirs over.

We created incentives for companies that were building items which would speed up the Free Fleet's own production. Parnmal was training over three hundred thousand people from AIH, Earth and Chaleel. Half a million people from the planets under the Free Fleet's protection were in the system, being tested on their planet or being shipped on the massive training freighters, which, instead of taking the slow routes, were powering to Parnmal. By the time all of those people were trained, the Free Fleet might actually be somewhat close to being at full strength. Though by then the new designed Battle-Carrier's should be done and the Super-carrier slip should be setup, all requiring thousands more.

Two watches is better than one, I reminded myself as I looked at my crew, amazed at how the Free Fleet had become the massive war machine it was. It was as terrifying as it was exciting, just thinking of all I could do with the upcoming resources. I looked to my screen, my grin fading. All of the damned reports too. I thought, sighing before looking up. It was about time Resilient got moving. Which I hoped wasn't just a way of saying that I was trying to stave off having to do my paperwork.

“Ben?” I asked.

“We're plotted for jump limit and ready to go,” he said from his navigation table.

I nodded, “Milra, I think it's about time we stretched our legs, if you please,”

“With pleasure Commander,” she began feeding power to Resilients’ engines. We glided through the asteroid field which surrounded Parnmal, shuttles moving around us at a furious pace, dodging between the massive warships as we headed out.

The refineries that had been built out of asteroids were now online pumping materials right into Parnmal’s holding areas. They never stopped, even after filling all of the ships and Parnmal's bunkers, the three two kilometer long asteroids getting hollowed out at a surprising rate. The prisoners had made incredible progress. Free fleet drones cut the material out as the prisoners grabbed the slag, sorted it out into useful and not, then sent it to the refiners. Soon enough that material would be coming back to lay down hulls. Felix was building the modules that would go in the asteroid once the prisoners were done.

I turned to my reports, finding them still waiting for me. I read the first one. Earth was just under a week from being connected to the FTL communications, linking them, AIH and Chaleel together.

“This is the life,” Rick said, smiling. He was fully reclined in his chair. It was quite a change in atmosphere from from when Resilient had jumped into Kelus’ fleet. We all knew our jobs now.

I sent a bunch of reports to Rick. His terminal pinged, and he made a fuss of getting his seat back to normal as he looked through the reports. He looked to me, his eyes thinned with a mildly sour look on his face. I just grinned, turning to Resilient. A report had caught my eye.

“So LaRe is thinking about joining us?” I asked the AI’s holographic form.

“Yes, well he's rather interested in us all. I also think that he wants friends and to have peers. If he stays I doubt that he will remain a battle cruiser for long,”

“Because he's lonely he'll join us?”

“AI's get lonely too. We take on all the knowledge of the systems we are born into. There are very few races that are in space that like being completely isolated,” she said.

“Makes sense. So how are things?” It had been a while since I'd had a one on one with the AI.

“Much better than when you found me. I'm about to exceed my previous housing facilities. My hull might be patches now but it would take a full overhaul to replace all the panels back to new. The weapons are coming online nicely, but the best part is my primary and supplementary systems. Nearly all of them have been fixed. I still need the new reactors and to have my first two replaced or heavily serviced,” she said, repeating the same things Eddie sent to me daily. I think he just copied the report, re-sending it to me when he had a second.

“So we'll be able to route systems a lot better without having to make routes around damaged areas in the middle of battle,” I said as her eyes smiled.

“Indeed. I daresay I picked the right person to lead this fleet.”

“I hope you did,” I growled as her holo-image glowed, her version of laughter.

“Have you found any memory blanks, or things hidden away in your memories?” I asked, the AIH thing had snuck up on us. Forewarned was forearmed, but when we didn't know what we were missing it made one a bit nervous.

She took on a serious look.

“I don't think so, but then again I didn't know that I had the coded channel that the Avarians were asking help from. I don't know what Planner has hidden within in me,” She paused, her brow creasing. “It makes me rather anxious. If he was able to hide something like that in my memories, then I don't know what else he hid. He might have even fabricated a few things,” she said.

“We'll get through this together, and if we find Planner, then we'll ask it,”

“Thank you. Your words are comforting. I will leave you to your commanderly duties. I'm helping with some remodelling as well as a few holographic training simulations. It's quite taxing,”

“Very well,” I said. Her eyes smiled at me and I felt something like pride in her gaze as she disappeared.

I looked to my fleet, which moved on the main plot. We were arrayed in a pyramid formation, Cheerleader in the right section. Bok Soo was in the upper and Resilient led the way.

Heston and Xing were in the right and lower quadrant respectively. There were twenty one ships in the formation. Twelve were Corvettes, mostly the ones that had been liberated from the Syndicate and rushed through Nancy before being sent back to Parnmal. There were four destroyers, Heston and Xing's carriers, Cheerleader's Battle Cruiser and Turek's. The Sarenmenti had proved himself in Cheerleader's reports. The spark I had seen in him when I had been under his command on Chaleel was still going. He was quiet and kept everything running on his ship in fine form. Many of the Captains were great people, doing their job as needed. A few stuck out, but that was because of the crazy situations they had gotten themselves in, and then out of.

Turek was a good tactician and had followed orders to the letter. Cheerleader had gone so far as to make him her second in Command. It showed not only that she was willing to look past his history, but that the Sarenmenti were welcome in the Free Fleet. We had however left behind a swarm of ships at Parnmal. We would've taken them with us, but they were in terrible condition. Being used by the Syndicate, battle damage and entry/exit issues with wormholes had left the ships in the state that made them unsafe and almost unusable.

I looked at Parnmal and the ships in a holding pattern around it. We had lost too many people there, for the second time. Now we would go out and poke the Syndicate. We had played the defensive game and held on, but no more. They had come for our homes, now we would wrestle the middling Union planets from them, take their resources and pound them into nothing. I changed my armrest view to the image captured by Bregend’s cameras.

Looks pretty grey and modernized. I thought as I looked at what seemed to be massive cities which dominated the planet's surface, rising from the grey of the land and the blue of the icy water. Min Hae had been able to use light and colour detecting equipment to pick up that the water was largely ice, the land similarly freezing. The cities however were a fountain of heat. I was pretty excited to find out if we might be able to convince one of the Syndicate's middling planets to join our cause. There had been hundreds of planets and races that had been a part of the union. Yet there were now only thirty seven recorded surviving planets. Some races had become extinct, while others had just fled. This planet was not only a potential powerhouse of production, trade and people. It could also show us what we could expect from the other middling Union planets.

“Look at us now, Henry, going from taking a couple of ships, to adding planets to our banner,” I said, cursing his loss.

I missed Henry badly. He had been a great friend. No, he had been a brother. The Syndicate had taken him from me as he fought to uphold the values of the Free Fleet. His mantle had passed to Bok Soo, and no matter how much the man didn't want to be the CAMC, I knew he wouldn't let me down. I remembered how much Henry had tried to shift it onto someone more qualified. It was interesting how the best officers usually thought that they weren't good enough, but gave a hundred and ten percent for the creatures that followed them.

Chapter - New Frontiers

Evelyn Sparks looked to her small team of reporters. They had grabbed a ride on the first ship going through AIH. Commander Salchar's town was becoming a boom town. AIH was a hive of activity. Ursht was every part the Avarian leader, no one questioned him as he had turned Avarians into makers as well as space miners.

The Avarians were relentless in their determination to become the best at not only mining, but also at fighting with the Free Fleet's technology. It had hit some rough patches with the other leaders equating Salchar’s influence to that of the awakened makers. Ursht had instead left the chambers and declared to everyone that could hear that the Avarians with the awoken minds were not makers, they were hoarders. Salchar was no hoarder, and nor were the people under his banner. Any and all were accepted under Salchar’s banner, not to hoard and become recluses, but to make something for their people. Word had passed fast as more and more people came to Salchar's banners.

As Evelyn left the first PRC was being finished. A growing tower was also being built and Chaleel and AIH were doing a brisk trade with resources for food supplies. The Avarians mining skills had been turned on to their dense asteroid belts, AIH's rings and their Jovian planet. While collecting the Jovian's gasses for fuel wasn't quite the same as mining out an asteroid, the care and processing were close enough. AIH had a profound respect for the Chaleelian's it was their Corvettes that waited in their system to alert them if the Syndicate arrived. The Chaleelian's had a deep level of trust and respect for the Avarians, it was their people that had helped free Chaleel from the Syndicate. Chaleel and AIH had become close trading partners and had started laying the ground work to start trading with other systems. Chaleel had been trading with other systems, hopefully those same systems were interested in Avarians resources and fuel. She had seen how Earth could become a part of this growing friendship with these other planets. The potential of all three planets working together made her excited for the future.

Evelyn had been able to distract herself from the fact that in Parnmal Salchar and his people had been fighting for their lives and keeping the future she envisioned alive. Ursht had wished them all good luck when they had left, and Evelyn got the feeling the man wished he was going as well. But Salchar had told him to look after his stead, he would carry out his duties no matter what. She was beginning to call the way the people acted around Salchar the “Salchar Effect.” He made them grow, by being a mentor, a friend and a confidant. None of them wanted to let the other down, they saw the same desire in him. He'd proved how far he'd go for them and they emulated that.

Yet every time Evelyn talked to the man he seemed like a goofy, cheery nineteen year old. He listened to people's thoughts and suggested his own. He tried to answer people's questions as little as possible, but assist them to find the answers themselves. It was a trait that was wholly annoying for a reporter. Yet there was another hidden side to Salchar. Even under his smiles and laughs he was always thinking. The man couldn't stop it, Evelyn decided. When he was going into battle the goofiness left and any childish traits disappeared. Salchar was a maestro of battle. He said little in his orders to his other ships, but he knew their commanders and deployed them to their best effect. He was a true macro manager, a tactician with everything on the line.

She had raced to the final send off for those that had died on Parnmal, which Salchar would be talking at. Evelyn and her crew knew how to be respectful and were as unobtrusive as possible at the tribute ceremony. She had watched as Salchar talked to Henry's casket and the others that had died, before they were sent towards the systems primary. Henry, for his stature and the way he commanded his troops, had been quite a shy man. Evelyn had been making eyes at the man for some time, not for some scoop, but because he was rather handsome and quite interesting. She kept up her reporting mask as she filmed the ceremony and watched the caskets disappear. Then she and the reporters went back to the hallways they'd rushed through and begun documenting the terrible wreckage left behind by the battle that had occurred within Parnmal's walls.

As information came to light Evelyn and the others looked at the halls with more and more reverence and at the Commandos with respect. The halls were quickly fixed and made to look like new, Evelyn and the other reporters did their business and looked around Parnmal. But Evelyn had found out something rather interesting. There was a section of the station which had stalls, bars, cafes and other diversions from the everyday. She walked to a panel where the area seemed to end and found a door. Using her skills she'd gotten through the door and found the remainders of what had been the Syndicate market. Salchar had found her some time later. She'd asked him about it and he'd grinned.

“Well we're going to need room to expand. Parnmal is a sector station for a reason. It's easy to get here from a lot of different systems. We're not just going to be a base. I hope for Parnmal to become a place for trading to.”

The man had foresight that was for sure. Evelyn respected Salchar. He didn't act like he was any more important than anyone else. He made mistakes and freely admitted that he did. Though he was one hell of a tactician. That said, she had known many other respectable people, and more than one were found to have nasty vices. His results were not to be denied, but in her line of work people were rarely what they appeared to be. He had pounded a fleet that had outnumbered him five to one. Now he was going to meet a planet that had possibly been under the thumb of the Syndicate for over a hundred years. So he had given her a ride on the Resilient, though under no circumstances was she to get in the way of the ships operation.

She had done a few pieces already, submitting them through the FTL communications systems. People on Chaleel and AIH were sucking up any information she put out. Earth had been less receptive of the pieces she had done by herself, which was one of the reasons Rick said he had also hired one of Evelyn's biggest critics. It made sure that there was a contrast of information, not just one person's opinion. It was damned infuriating.

“Francis, you know we can't go on the gun deck?”

“Can't or won't?” he challenged as Evelyn controlled her desire to yell at him.

“Can't. If we start going in places we aren't supposed to we're going to get sent back home in disgrace,”

“The stuff behind closed doors is the stuff we need to watch,” Francis yelled back as a few others nodded.

“I agree that some doors need to be looked behind, but the weapons deck is not one of them,” she said.

“They're just guns. It's not like we haven't seen guns before,” Francis replied, talking to her as if she was a child.

Don't rip his head off, don't rip his head off. Evelyn silently chanted.

“Yeah we've seen guns. But have we seen ones that have the power to level Britain in one hit? These aren't weapons that kill one or two people. If a railgun can get past the shields and armour of another ship it can cause it to explode if it breeches the fusion plant. If that explosion was inside Earth's atmosphere it could set the air on fire and make it uninhabitable,” she hissed, as Francis waved her argument away.

“Our viewers need to know what the Free Fleet is all about. We're not going to do that documenting planets, or how the FTL network is growing.” He looked to the other reporters to gather their support. “We have an opportunity here. We shouldn't squander it,” he said as the majority of them agreed with him. He looked to Evelyn, who shook her head and raised her hands.

“Fine. Don't come to me when Salchar says that you've violated the terms of your stay.”

“Look at Edwards. I doubt anyone wants him here, but they still deal with him. No one wants to mess with Earth,” Jin Lee said with a confidence Evelyn found largely misplaced.

“Alright. This is on you though,” she shrugged as she stood and left, going to the nearest observation bubble.

The room was actually rectangular but a clever use of screens had made it appear spherical, and as if it was in space, except for the entrance and the floor.

Evelyn sighed as she opened her book, slowly getting lost in it. She was in the middle of the action when an alert passed over her data pad.

“Gunnery deck two, left side, now!” It was from Chief Zor. Evelyn closed her book, and got onto a transport, watching as people jumped on and shot through Resilient's massive structure to other positions.

She got off and found two gun crew members waiting for her.

“Where are the idiots?” the sighed.

“This way. They're being lectured by chief Zor right now,” one of them said. Evelyn was not at all surprised by the sympathy in the gun crew members’ voice, as she could already hear the Chief's voice a number of bulkheads away from him.

“I know you've all seen weapons, hell Commandos walk around with them all the damned time doing training! But these are not the simple fucking pop guns you know! Ah! Ms Evelyn!” he said as Evelyn winced at the volume of his voice.

“Chief Zor,” she said to the Sarenmenti chief gunner. He looked quite ticked off at the cowed group of reporters in front of him.

“Now we can get on with this fricking presentation.” He herded them towards a classroom which dimmed as Zor talked into his comms system. “Now get recording and pay attention!” Zor rolled as the screen in the room came alive with a view of an asteroid. “Seems the only way you lot can learn is if you record it!”

Something shiny was moving towards the displayed asteroid. The view changed as it zoomed in on the Corvette which passed over the asteroid. The view zoomed out again and the Corvette looked to be the size of gnat against the asteroid.

“Gunnery crew three, one round,” Zor said. Power surged into the gun bay next door and everyone felt the round as it departed the rail cannon.

A plume rose from the asteroid as Francis scoffed, then an explosion ripped through it. The view zoomed in as debris moved away from the asteroid. It was clear there was a massive hole in the asteroid now.

“Jameson, how big you think that hole is?”

“Bout the size of Resilient,” a woman said, the shrug in her voice evident and audible to the entire room.

“That target was unarmoured, without shields and didn't have anything inside it to propagate the blast. Now do you fecking see why we don't want every damned monkey in the universe knowing how our weapons work? They can rip apart planets with real ease. If you look to this new planet we're going to you can clearly see the marks of bombardment,”

“Which marks?” Evelyn asked. She smelled a story and she was damned if she wasn't going to get it. Zor grinned bringing up an image of the planet.

“These disruptions in the surface are from some kind of impact, but they aren't original impact craters from a comet. Also the fact the planet is basically in the ice age is another factor. At some time there was enough crap in the atmosphere to actually cool the planet. I'm betting it was cause the Syndicate bombarded the planet.” He chewed gum as he highlighted what looked like massive towers.

“These cities used to be spread out, but after a few kinetic strikes,” Images of massive impact craters appeared. “The planet cooled and cities were made to retain heat in order to keep people alive. Which also makes them tightly packed and easy targets. Great for control.” His voice was colder as the remains of a city appeared, a crater in the middle of it. There was a sharp intake of breath at the sheer destruction, and methodical genocide that had been reaped upon that city. “It's rather smart. With everyone in the same place, all it takes is a few rounds and blammo, nothing left. It's very cold logic but effective. The syndicate got a planet where the people have to do what they say, or they can kill millions with a single round. No one can run away and hide from them because they've made the planet turn against the creatures living on it.” He shook his head.

“Now I have to get back to making sure Resilient is ready for any threats that come her way,” he said walking out of the room as Evelyn and the other reporters tried— and failed —to cluster around him.

Zor escaped into the safety of the gunnery deck, but Evelyn was already drafting an article on the new planet and how the Syndicate were systematically grouping people together to do their labour, with the option of killing their workers with just a press of a button.

That's going to get some response, she thought as she fired it off, hoping it would get onto the FTL communications before the wormhole sucked up any signal she sent

***

General, turned Company Commander, Carsickle looked over his Commandos. He had a newfound respect for all of them. He had seen troops in battle before, but after having them under his command on Parnmal it was impossible to look at them like normal troops. Avarians, Humans, Kuruvians, Chaleelians, and Sarenmenti were interspersed throughout the commando structure. It was odd seeing the blending of so many cultures, yet combined with the fact that they relied on one another to stay alive, it meant that they accommodated one another's ways and their cultural differences.

Carsickle saw Krom, Shreesht and Calerd sitting together, cleaning their weapons as they watched the Commandos go through training. Carsickle caught Krom's eye as he walked in their direction. Krom indicated Carsickle should join them.

“General Carsickle.” Krom's deep voice matched the Avarian's bulk. “Good to see you with us. I wondered how long it would be before you joined us,” he said with a smile.

“Well, I had a few things to deal with first,”

“Chaleel’s quickly becoming a space faring race. You and the governor did quick work,” Shreesht said.

“That's nothing compared to what Krom's brother Ursht is doing,” Carsickle said as Krom smirked.

“My big brother was always the ones with the plans. It's how he became battlemaster,” Krom replied proudly.

“Big brother? So, we might have found someone able to beat you in a fight,” Calerd said and Krom took on a look of fake anger.

“Other than in a game of checkers,” Shreesht said. Krom looked mildly put off as the others grinned.

“Have you played chess yet?” Carsickle asked. Simple human games had come back in a big way, a long time from one place to another meant boredom.

“I'm more into the older versions of battlefield,” Krom said as Calerd laughed.

“Probably because you can blow holes in every damned building!”

Krom's smile showed the truth to Calerd's words.

“So what is this chess?” Shreesht said, disregarding Krom and Calerd's antics in the way of people who had spent a lot of time together in such crappy conditions.

“Well, it's like checkers, but different characters can move in different ways,” Carsickle said. Shreesht clearly looked interested.

“Well, I'm out then,” Krom said as he and the others grinned at his joke.

“I'll give it a go. I'm interested by these games.” Shreesht turned to Calerd with a thoughtful look.

“Do the Sarenmenti have any games?”

Calerd thought on it before shrugging. It seems that they've picked up a few habits from the humans.

“Most of us are third to fifth iteration of Syndicate recruits. We were taken and then we bred the fourth and fifth generation. We didn't have time to think of games. Just how we were going to survive,”

Carsickle thought it sad. If Chaleel hadn't been a planet capable of making massive amounts of food he doubted if the Syndicate would have even cared for the planet, other than taking personal slaves, or extorting them for the resources that Chaleel might have. If Chaleel hadn't been contacted by other Union planets before the fall and trading resources with other planets they could've ended up like the Kuruvians, Sarenmenti, and humans. Nothing but unknowing slaves.

“There's also the fact you're the best cheats around,” Krom said as Calerd laughed.

“It makes the game more interesting!” Calerd said, grinning as Krom held his hand to his mouth as if trying to stop Calerd from hearing him.

“Never play cards with a Sarenmenti,” he said as Carsickle grinned at the sage advice. Calerd looking proud of himself as Shreesht let a huff of a laughter out.

“So, how are you liking the Free Fleet?” Krom said as he indicated to a cleaning rag. Calerd tossed it to him.

“It definitely keeps me on my toes,” Carsickle said.

“Probably Groven's boy Bexatus,” Shreesht said and Carsickle felt a familiar headache start to form.

“Has he always known how to blow everything up? Is it just his inane gift?” Carsickle asked as Shreesht laughed, looking to Krom.

“Remember the Schollax explosion?” Krom made a pained noise. He clearly did.

“So, in Mines there's a build-up of all kinds of stuff. Sometimes you could hit a pocket of something really nasty. We did with the Schollax mine. Then one day, young Bexatus was roaming around and showing off. He threw a rock into the mine. It took some time to reach the bottom but it created a spark..,”

“And the damned mine became a crater,” Krom said, obviously entertained.

“Ever since then whenever something blows up, or gets set on fire, Bexatus is usually around, or gets the blame,” Shreesht finished.

“Well, he's still got the touch,” Carsickle said.

“He messed up the capacitor in his rail gun, thinking he could fix it himself and he blew the railgun up. The quartermaster at Parnmal was not pleased,”

“How the hell did he do that?” Calerd asked, looking at his own weapon as if he couldn’t figure it out.

“I don't know, but a round that wasn't even in the chamber got stuck two hundred meters into Parnmal's asteroid.”

Everyone looked to Carsickle, a little stunned.

“Yeah, Chief Zor and Brusk have him trying to replicate it,”

“Crazy bastards,” Krom said, respect in his tone despite his words.

“How are the Chaleelians settling in?” Calerd asked and Carsickle shrugged. Looks like they weren't the only ones that picked up some other races' gestures.

“Well, the food leaves something to be desired.” Everyone grimaced. “But they're happy with it. Most of them dreamed of becoming spacers, but the only way to do that was to get on a merchant freighter. Many that did that didn't come back,”

“How many planets did Chaleel trade with?” Calerd asked as the others leaned forward in interest.

“Five, all of which haven’t been contacted since the syndicate showed up,” Carsickle said.

“And Chaleel has no idea where they came from?” Calerd asked, the other two either forgetting or done their cleaning.

“Well, we know what kind of ships they were piloting now, so we think we might have some ideas where they come from. Though we need to go through system by system to make sure our territory is clear, instead of charging right to their planets, which might be middling’s,”

Krom began putting parts of his rail gun back together.

“We'll let someone else do that. For now us three have the hardest job in the damned galaxy,” he said as parts were slotted, slapped and clipped into place.

“What's that?” Carsickle asked.

“Keeping Salchar out of trouble,” Shreesht drawled and Carsickle laughed.

“Yes, that is quite the difficult task,” Carsickle said as Shreesht and Calerd stood. They looked odd side by side, Shreesht was large by even Avarian standard, stretching his battlesuit with his muscles frame as Calerd was stooped by his Sarenmenti posture and height. His larger torso made him look overweight but he was one of the stronger people Carsickle had seen. The jaws were the oddest thing, when talking and eating a Sarenmenti's four separate jaws mashed together creating odd guttural noises without a translator. Though otherwise Chaleelian's were closer in appearance and stature to Sarenmenti than any other race.

Carsickle also had wide hips and stubbier arms compared to other races, and his head had only one jaw, but no matter their physical attributes, they were all Free Fleet Personnel.

“We're on watch for him, so we'll see you later,” Calerd said. Standing next to Shreesht he looked like a dwarf, but he moved like greased lightning when he needed to.

“Good luck boys,” Carsickle said. Shreesht gave a small hand wave as they continued their walk to the armouries.

“So I don't believe I formally challenged you to a game of chess,” Carsickle turned to Krom, whose eyes slitted.

“Is that a challenge I hear Carsickle?” Krom asked.

“Why I think it is.” Carsickle tried to sound as if he found the fact surprising.

“I'll take you up on that, only if you teach me how to play.” Krom said, moving

“Be my pleasure,” Carsickle smiled, Krom doing so as well.

“You Avarians don't get much shorter do you?”

“We do get wider,” Krom shrugged.

“Now I know why all the pastries are gone,” Carsickle said, a glimmer of amusement in his movements.

“I didn't mean it that way,” Krom growled.

“Commander Krom, you are admitting to putting on a few pounds. This is quite the discovery!” Carsickle said, signalling humour.

“Carsickle, I'm going to whip you at Chess,” Krom said, trying to get back to the original point of the conversation.

“We'll see,” Carsickle said, feeling like he wanted to be Krom, Shreesht, and Calerd's friend.

Can't go wrong when all of them are a damned sight crazier than yourself.

Chapter - Part of the Job

I watched as we exited the wormhole. The bridge was silent as Milra, Walf, and Krat made Resilient emerge untouched. Everyone was on alert as Walf busied himself with finding out just what the hell was in the system.

“Clear to thirty light seconds,” he said as the main plot overlaid current information on the information pulled from Bregend.

“Launching sensor missiles,” Marleen said.

The sensor missiles were another Felix and Min Hae wonder child. They blasted off at incredible speeds and used simple FTL relays to transmit back to the fleet in real-time.

“One minute clear,” Walf said as everyone relaxed minutely. Resilient was relaying the information to the gunner crews as well as the rest of the fleet that had emerged behind us.

It was a small force, but it was powerful. I was confident that it would be enough to deal with any potential issues, unless we ran into Foshunti, which shouldn't happen for some time if we were lucky.

“Picking up old chatter. I'm recording,” Vort said, working his terminal. The other ships had already reported full readiness.

“Slow,” Edwards said from behind me as a familiar headache settled over me. Edwards’s constant over watchfulness was wearing my patience severely thin. The man had become a master of finding a way to annoy me. Now he wore an anklet to make sure we could find him, something he'd raised all hell about, with mutterings of being treated like a prisoner.

“Good work everyone, as always,” I said, overriding Edwards’s comments.

I dreaded what Edwards had written on his nefarious tablet, but more than anything I wanted the man off my ship.

“Take us in, nice and slow,” I said and Milra did so, Ben giving directional and speed information to the rest of the fleet.

“Sphere,” I said simply as the four sided triangle became a sphere, bringing the maximum guns to bear.

“Clear up to five minutes. We also have a clear look at the planet,” Walf said, as the main screen split, half the solar system, half the planet itself, visibly rotating.

“Not picking up any signatures of warships in the system. Got a whole bunch of merchant freighters, however.” He continued his rolling commentary as I pulled the information from the main screen onto my armrest.

The planet was an ice ball other than the cities, just like what we'd got from Bregend's Rebirth. The cities base dome, curved up into a thinning spire. Everything was covered by sheeting of some kind to keep the heat inside the cities, but there were protrusions and parts sticking out, making the covered city look less than pristine. Air vapours could be seen exiting the tops of the massive peaks, and spewing gasses could be seen on the horizon as more cities came into view, all with a similar structure.

“Looks like a bunch of hershey kisses,” Rick said.

“Quite the apt description,” I drawled, a few signs of amusement coming from the bridge crew as he looked completely unperturbed.

“Based off of incoming information there are only merchant freighters in system as of yesterday,” Walf said.

“We'll wait till that's down to six hours. Then we'll send a message. Take everyone down to twenty five percent readiness,” I said getting comfortable in my chair as Shreesht nudged me, a tea in hand.

“Why thank you Shreehst,” I said as I saw him roll his eyes. There was a glimmer of a grin on Calerd's face.

***

The tea was gone and I had finally staved off paper work for some time. With more departments set up it meant that I could pass off these issues to others, and often they never had to reach me.

It was slow going but the Resilient was still moving at a good pace into the system. The freighters were still running their trade, but most of them were leaving the system.

“We have an incoming transmission,” Vort said.

“Play it.” They must've sent the message just a few minutes after finding out that we were in the system.

A creature with a dulled expression and a droopy snout like an ant eater’s, with four limbs and a purple body looked was on the screen. The surroundings made some of the worst alleyways I'd seen look presentable. Obviously the conditions within the cities weren't the best.

“This is Overseer Marhtu. We have already made our payment to Rovkew a month ago. Are you here to drop off Recalcitrants?” Something glimmered in the creatures eyes that made the hairs on the back off my neck stand up.

“Marhtu out,” The overseer said, raising its snout and lowering it again as the channel went dead.

“Send it to the Intelligence department. See if they can pick up something on what these Recalcitrants are. I want to know what's going on in this place,” I said to Vort who got to sending the file and my orders out.

I didn't know what it was, but something made me wary of Marhtu and his sleepy expression. It took a few minutes for the information to come back. I answered the buzz on my armrest screen.

“Go.”

“Simply, we have no idea what he means. When Min Hae arrives and starts building his web he'll know more,” the Intel chief said as I nodded.

“Very well. Thanks.” I cut the channel and looked to Vort who had just started his shift after entering the system.

“Call them up”

“Ready to record,” he said as the screen lit up again with the image of the creature.

“Overseer Marhtu, I am Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet. The Free Fleet has been created with the sole purpose of defeating the syndicate and looking after those that require or are under our protection. We would also like to set up trade with you if at all possible. Good day,” Pretty straight forward, I thought as I dropped a line to the public relations department. They would be the one dealing directly with the people on the planet. After Earth I found it was best to let someone else deal with that. I'd just run the fleet. I stood and stretched, noticing a gleeful look on Edwards face.

“What is it that you're so happy about?” I grumbled, not really meaning for it to reach him.

“Just thinking of how when I make my report to the President, I doubt that I'll ever see you in command of so much as a cash register again,” Edwards said.

That's one spiteful, and fortunately naive little man. He still thought that the United States somehow had some power over me. No one had power over me. Well... Other than Yasu and the rest of the Fleet. I would do anything for my people, but unfortunately for me that anything seemed to be sitting in a rather large and uncomfortable chair, doing a lot of paperwork and seeing those that trusted me die in the hope that a few others might live and make a change.

“I'll take over if you want,” Rick said, turning to me from Edwards and his lovely personality.

“Thanks, bud,” I said, tapping his shoulder as Krom and Dave trailed me.

I bumped into Carsickle as I walked through the corridors. He made to give me a somewhat professional salute and I waved it away.

“We're not that posh here,” I said, grinning as I indicated for him to join my wander to the mess. I smiled and nodded to a few people I knew as they passed.

“How are you liking Resilient?” I said, looking to the man.

“She's a beauty. Your Commando detail are very well trained.”

“Any trouble with command?” I said, sure he knew that the last Platoon commander had died on Parnmal.

“Minor issues. They're not hampering me and I'm not hampering them. It's strange treating them more like equals than ranks,” he said as I studied him.

“Don't get me wrong. Rank is useful and all, but it makes sense for people to work together based on the person, not what they wear on their shoulder,” Carsickle said as I nodded. “Especially with your tactics, anyone should be ready to take any position at any time. That's the nature of internal ship battles.”

“It's one hell of a mess in those fights,” I said as I came up on Shrift with his head in a panel.

“Want food?” I yelled into the panel.

“No! Go away. This damned wiring is all backwards,” he said, his manipulators waving me off.

I caught Carsickle's look.

“He's doing a job. No sense in pestering him, getting him to mess it all up just for a meal,”

“Not going to mess it—oww, shit! Well, you're still alive,” Shrift said as I grinned, Carsickle and I moving on.

“You eat yet?” Carsickle shook his head, Dave and Krom doing the same.

“I doubt you'd say you had, yah big lug,” I said to Krom.

“Not my fault you humans don't know how to eat properly,” he said, raising his massive shoulders slightly.

“And I smell a food eating contest,” I looked to Carsickle, who looked confused while Dave looked amused.

“Right, you’re not humans,” I forgot how a race's sayings meant something completely different to other races sometimes. “Dave?”

“Like the human ruddy thesaurus,” He complained quietly.

I let out a snort of amusement as he cleared his throat.

“Right, well a food contest is where a group of people sit down to an enormous amount of food, and the person to eat the most in an allotted time, or all of it, wins,” Dave said as Krom nodded.

“You have enough food on Earth for these contests?” Carsickle asked Dave as we got on a transport.

“I guess not technically. A lot of people on Earth still starve because they don't, but in the richer parts of the world they have the resources to farm a great deal and supply themselves,” Dave said.

“Something that we're looking to fix with the implementation of growing towers,” I said.

“Yes, I looked into them, they are quite ingenious. The environmental section of the ship has already adapted some of the practices. I think that Chaleel would be willing to trade a great deal for the plans of these places,” Carsickle said, quite excited.

Chaleel had experienced massive food shortages, making it near impossible for them to feed all of their people. It was why they had made their planet one big farm essentially. They were a race of gardeners, which is why it wasn't odd at all to find a hardened Commando that kept a flower garden in the environmental section, or watched gardening television for hours on end.

Normal was an abstract word when talking about the Free Fleet, and I kind of liked it that way.

****

Captain, turned Free Fleet Personnel member, Connolly looked at his orders, his eyebrows climbing.

“You've got to be kidding me! I'm going to Nancy to assist with operations there as I complete my Commando training?”

Yasu arched an eyebrow, and Connolly became rigid.

“Yes, you are. Commander Everez requested you specifically,” she said, and Connolly felt a ray of pride, while still continuing to be as straight as possible. Even as he was expecting something like drill, or pushups his mind turned back to working with Everez.

Sure the Company Commander might be a kid, but he was a damned good commander, Connolly had seen that in the defence of Earth, or the second battle for Earth depending on who you asked.

“I thought he was on the Resilient?” he asked. Yasu's eyebrow dropped and her eyes thinned before disappearing and Connolly saw past Training Commander Yasu's image.

“He got messed up on Parnmal, lost a few limbs and we can't regrow them. He has mechanical prosthetics. He had to go to Nancy to get them, and until the Resilient comes through here, or he can get a transfer to another ship, he's doing training and labour on Nancy,” she said, looking to him. Don't piss him off or you'll have to deal with me, her eyes seemed to say.

“Thank you commander,” He tapped his head, even though he felt like saluting. She had broken that habit out of every military person that had joined pretty quickly. She returned the finger-head touch.

“Look after yourself, Connolly. Protect your fellow free Fleet personnel and you'll keep Earth safe,”

Does she know my mission? He wondered. They saluted one another before the next graduate tapped their data pad to Yasu's.

He and his company of Marines had been sent to the Free Fleet by the United States Marine Corps to gather information on the group. Not only that, but provide support in the event that the United States decided to make a play for the Fleet.

Min Hae is supposed to have gotten a network of spies already in place on two other planets. Would it be so unreasonable that he has one on Earth? Do they know of Earth's plans? His thoughts were cut short as someone jumped on him.

“It is you! Captain Connolly!” Captain Adam Smith of what had been Roman Candle One, the ship which had carried Connolly and his men into the bowels of Resilient said with an excited look on his face.

“What the hell were you going to do if it wasn't?” Connolly said.

“I would've thought of something,” Smith said with a grin.

“Good to know you haven't changed,” Connolly said, his own smile growing. Smith’s smile was infectious.

Smith had been originally from Hawaii, giving him a large build not usually found with fighter pilots. Now however he looked normal among the Basic trained Free Fleet personnel. Other than his tan and Hawaiian features.

“Where are you going?” Smith said after a quick handshake.

“Nancy.”

Adam's eyes went wide.

“They're building the new fighter prototypes there I heard. That's so cool! I thought you would be a Commando for sure,”

“I'm doing Commando training and helping the yard too, apparently,” Connolly shrugged.

“Better than doing it on Parnmal and having to watch the Syndicates,” Adam said, the man could always see the good side of something.

“That's true. Where are you going?” Connolly asked.

“Fighter training school.” Adam's smile cranked up a few terawatts. He looked like all of his holidays had come in one.

“So you're staying here?” Connolly said, gesturing to Hachiro.

“Yeah, when are you leaving?” Adam said as Connolly checked his pad.

“I have to be there by tomorrow evening.”

“Well. How about some drinks with the boys?” Adam said as Connolly shrugged.

“Sure,” Adam dragged him through the corridors, talking the entire way, giving a few hellos to fellow female personnel. Getting a few rolled eyes in return.

Coupling and long term relationships weren't shunned in the Free Fleet as they were on Earth's militaries. People were stuck together for months. If they wanted to have relations then they would. Having the Free Fleet stop it would create friction. That said, issues with relationships were dealt with quickly, a few complaints from fellow team members, anonymously, and the two individual's commander's would talk to them and try to sort it out, or get them both transferred. It sounded a lot cleaner than it was. Romantic or emotional relationships were damned hard to deal with. More than one commander had needed a stiff drink afterwards. It was a rather fair system but it was still odd to Connolly.

They got to Hachiro's entertainment district, a place rarely visited by trainees as they were too busy or too tired to do much of anything. To Connolly it looked like heaven right now. Heaven with beer as Adam took him into a bar where Connolly saw others from the group that had come with him up to the Free Fleet ships. The now ex-marines grinned and made noises of greeting as Connolly found a beer in his hand and handshakes from his men. He grinned and joked, and for a short time he forgot what his real mission was.

****

Connolly arrived on Nancy, the detox injection clearing him of alcohol as he'd drunk litres of water to replace it. Leaving him sober, and ready to see what his project was. His data pad told him where he should go. After a few minutes he found himself in a squad pod identical to the one he'd used in training, other than the personal effects of the squad members.

“What's your name?” A Chaleelian asked from her bunk. Chaleelians, being closer to Sol than Avarians, had been sent to the Free Fleets bases there for training. There were still Avarians in Sol, but there were definitely less of them compared to the ranks of them on Parnmal.

“Connolly,”

“Good to meet you, I'm Gorvite,” she waved, an obvious Human gesture.

“You too. Where's Commander Everez?”

“He's getting a tune up, and waiting for all of the trainees to make it in,”

“Ah. So which bunks are free?”

“Those ones,” a woman said as she gestured to the free racks. Connolly looked to where she was pointing. Some of the other commandos were coming from the shower. He still found the coed showering a little awkward, but it was deemed as normal by the veterans of the fleet. Connolly guessed if you saw it enough you stopped caring.

“Uhh, thanks.”

He found a bunk, and put his bag packed with his battle suits, a few packs of gum, data pad and a few comfort items. Trying to keep his eyes off of the rather tanned and rather athletic looking girl as she towelled herself off. More people came into the room. Connolly looked to them and found most of them to have weathered but tanned skin. Ghurkas? He thought as the others said hello and moved around the room to find their beds. Squad pods kept on filling up as a message came over the communications screens.

It was a rough outline of their training. Everyone copied it down as they talked excitedly, introduced themselves and a few started going to the mess hall. Connolly found himself talking to a mixed group as they made plans to go to the mess and get some food before checking out the rest of Nancy. Connolly was surprised with how the Free Fleet had grown into a true military institution. It was different to how the Marines were.

It was strange, but he liked it more for the way it accepted everyone and appreciated their skill set. In the Marines roles were set in stone. In the Free Fleet a commando could be a gravimetrics tech, or be a computer whiz and do that as a secondary role. Connolly followed the wave of trainees going to the nearest mess, and finding that it had the same buffet style serving as on Hachiro, complete with non-ration food. Which was a mandatory meal for all to feed their massive bodies.

****

George Everez had seen better days. He was missing both legs, as well as some of his arm, and his fingers. Yet it had all been replaced by the engineers on Nancy. Silly himself had looked over it after his brother Shrift had asked him to. Silly had talked of how Shrift had talked about George and Salchar's squad and how he'd been inspired by them. George owed both brothers a huge favour as Silly had got him fitted and using his prosthetics in record time. Now however it was George's time to help out Silly.

“So he's asking if he can be part of the Free Fleet?” George asked Silly as he sat at his desk, his fingers thumping against his own body in a thoughtful rhythm.

“Yes.”

“So let him.”

“But then he wants to become Nancy,” Silly said.

“Ahh... Why doesn't he want to be a Battle Cruiser anymore?” George asked. Similarly relaxing in his chair.

“I don't know. He won't talk about it.” Silly's rhythmic tapping picked up.

“So he wants to become the AI of Nancy. Why not?”

“Well because, it's rather odd. I don't know what he could do,” Silly said.

“Why not ask him?” George said, Silly looking to him and his tapping stopped.

“Hmm.”

Silly opened up a channel.

“Silly?” LaRe asked.

“Hello, LaRe. I'm with George Everez right now. We were wondering what you would do if you became the AI of Nancy,”

A list started cascading across Silly's planning table, George and Silly looking at the words.

“I've got to..,” George stood, playfully starting to walk away.

“You told me to ask him. Now you're going to help me understand just what the heck he's said,” Silly said, talking over George’s protests.

“Alright. Let’s see what he's thinking at least,” George said, the grin on his face making it clear he wasn't going to leave his friend to this mess.

“Then you want to help me with figuring out how we're going to fix all of these ships?”

“You're on your own for that one.”

The numbers were all messed up. George felt that Min Hae and Salchar both had something to do with that. Silly probably knew how many ships were coming but he also had the job of getting them all in fighting trim, Free Fleet fighting trim. It was no small feat but the first round of trainees from Hachiro would be a big help, as well as the incoming training freighters. Sols Free Fleet population was about to grow another forty thousand.

Let's see if we can't add a one onto the end of that. George thought as he began reading LaRe's list.

Chapter - Freedom

After the transmission to Overseer Marhtu the planet had been silent. The only activity we could see was a fast moving freighter that was on course to go straight past the Free Fleet. It passed us, undoubtedly sending a message to the planet. Marleen had her guns tracking it. Other than that, nothing happened as we closed in on the planet. Finally, Marhtu, looking no different from his last transmission, sent another message.

“We welcome you to our home. We would like to invite you down in order to meet you and know the Free Fleet better. We thank you for freeing us from the Syndicate. We hope that we can be of assistance.”

The lack of any emotion reminded me of videos I'd seen on heavy worlds, but Marhtu's eyes were dark, as if he was pissed off instead of happy.

Must of had a rough time with everything going on, I thought.

“Vort, send it to the relations people,”

“On it Commander,”

“Get me Cheerleader,”

“Hey, boss!” she said with a grin as she sat across her armrests and I shook my head at her antics. Of course she commanded her ship kicking her legs like a teenager in her father’s big chair.

“I want you to take the scouts to check the other systems. And link up with Bregend. Have his forces assist yours in scouting,”

“On it,” Her voice serious, despite her position.

“ Good luck,”

“You too.”

“I just stare at a world and wonder if they want the Free Fleet to protect them, or see if they want to survive on their own,” I said simply.

“Exactly! With a whole bunch of politicians!” she grinned happily.

“Please take me with you! They're the plague!” Rick said to the screen.

“Slanderous accusations on the command deck,” I heard Edwards say, just loud enough for Rick and I to hear. We looked to one another, an annoyed expression on our faces.

Cheerleader's expression made it clear she knew what we were feeling.

“The faster I go the sooner I can come back.” She gave a salute from her relaxed position. “See ya inna bit boys and girls!” she said, cutting the channel.

“She is moving away,” Walf said, the plot reflecting it.

Nine of the twelve Corvette's, one Destroyer, Cheerleader's Battle Cruiser and Turek's headed away. Leaving me with Resilient, three Destroyers, Heston and Xing's freighter-carriers and three Corvette's.

A message appeared on my station.

“Appears that the relations department already has an invitation to the planet. Its name is Daestramus. Rick...”

“I'll plan who goes on the little outing,” he waved me down, reading my mind.

“I swear sometimes you're the one married to him,” Marleen said, and Rick took on a look of horror.

“I couldn't deal with his singing in the shower,” I said as Marleen grinned.

“Earplugs,” she said, Rick tried to look hurt.

“People don't understand good music,” he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

I was happy to see hidden smiles. Parnmal had been an ordeal, but we'd made it. Most of us. Now just some more hoops to jump through.

“Looks like we have a few visitors,” Walf said and I looked up, my smile evaporating. A number of ships had approached us as we got closer to the planet. “Freighters are coming in for a closer look.”

“Probably just want to know why there's a non-syndicate fleet floating around,” Rick said. I made a noise of agreement, feeling myself relax.

“See that our weapons are stowed, best to keep a few surprises.”

Marleen worked her control panel as PDS weapons lowered and cannons went into the standby positions. It made us slightly vulnerable. The fleet followed suit, every gunner crew was trained to get their weapon systems operating in less than thirty seconds. Gunner Chiefs with years of battle experience had made that number even smaller. Ships circled the fleet, which had collapsed into a smaller sphere. There were quite a number of them that checked us out as we reached orbit and sent our shuttle down with our relations people aboard.

“Scans of the planet are problematic. Seems that there is still quite a bit of dust thrown up from the Syndicate shooting at the. We can only get basic scans of the top of the towers. Seems they're built to be heat retainers. The heat circulates to the base of the city, slowly coming up to the peak. I would guess that each city has mined into the ground and pulls heat from the planet,” Walf said.

“Isn't that some serious digging?” My armrest bugged me for my attention.

“Quite. But it seems that they're advanced enough to do that,” Walf finished. I accessed the message, it was a listing of all the races that were believed to not only be on the planet but be in the freighters. There were believed to be seven main groups, and four smaller groups of other races. I couldn't keep a grin off my face.

Eleven more races! I thought excitedly. It was soon going to start being too hard to even distinguish who was what.

****

Min Hae looked over his crew. He and Rick had picked them each by hand, and all of them knew their jobs as if it was second nature.

“Making it a bit rough,” Chrys said as the freighter bucked and shook, unlike the other transitions it had made on the way to the mystery planet.

Gogs sat at the shields. The rest of the crew were about the ship. The majority probably checking the cargo. Being traders, they needed goods to sell. All but three of the crew were Chaleelian; Gogs, Min Hae and one of his analysts, Baldabuh. It would make the freighter less out of place. After Ervstl confirmed there was nothing in the immediate area Min Hae ordered the second deck cleared and sealed. Baldabuh signalled when he got out of the secondary deck where the control panels for the weapons shields and everything else was connected. It was in the middle of the freighter instead of the front where Min Hae was located. The rest of the journey was uninteresting until the Verslva made it into ten second communications range.

“State your goods and your intentions,” a grumpy looking customs clerk asked.

“We have food stores we wish to barter or sell for technology,”

“Fifteen percent tax,” Min Hae leaned forward, a sly grin on his holo-skin face.

“Is there any way you could lower that, for a tip?”

“Well, I would be interested in a few months’ supply of food for eleven percent.” The customs officer was no longer bored.

“Deal,” Min Hae grinned as the customs officer told them to make orbit and where to land their shuttle. As the channel closed Min Hae's pleased look disappeared.

“Gogs,” he said. The second function of the shields was a discrete connection to the communications antennae and a link to every sort of high speed information. Combined with Gogs hacking skills, the information of the entire planet filled the massive storage drives Verslva held.

“I'm already in some rudimentary systems, nothing interesting other than where people went and more information to update your star map of cities and such, minimal,” Gogs reported, his small nimble hands moving quickly.

Min Hae didn't comment as Gogs continued his work, letting out small squeaks of joy. Gogs had been helpful ever since he'd been able to talk to Salchar directly about how his middling planet was being treated and his wishes for them to be free. Afterwards Salchar had said to use the chipper hacker to get more information from the Syndicate ships. Gogs was a whiz with computers and trying to make it clear he was trustworthy. Min Hae wasn't completely sure on that point. It was why he was monitoring Gog's hacking and why the diminutive man was not to leave the freighter.

Min Hae spared a glance at the Free Fleet ships that orbited the planet.

“Chrys, see what rumours you can pick up, as well as all information on the Free Fleet from the planet's point of view. No need to be quiet about it. I will be going down with some of the crew to get acquainted with the land. You're in charge, but don't hesitate to call if you need me.”

“No worries sir,” Chrys said as Min Hae moved to the rear of the ship. He checked that he looked the part with his disguise as a Chaleelian, carefully inspecting his clothes which hid his array of weaponry.

He went through the ship, picking the first four he found that weren't busy, grabbed the food bribe, and fired up the junker shuttle and road it down to Daestramus. He wouldn't have admitted to anyone he really wanted to fly the shuttle. All he'd done so far was in-space and simulation flights. Entering atmosphere was its own kind of thrill. He let his smile show as he went down to the space port, which lacked in any kind of automated landing system. His smile tightened after having a few close calls before he got into the covered space port near the bottom of the largest city.

“The customs officer has said he'll meet you at this bar, Captain,” Chrys said to Min Hae. Commander and other connotations and names from the Free Fleet were forbidden on communication systems.

“Sounds good, Chrys. I'm feeling like a drink. Enjoy watching!” Chrys, probably stunned that Min Hae was talking in such a relaxed manner, took a minute before replying.

“Better leave something for me!” he said. “Been in this tin can for too damned long!”

Less time than the fleet taking the route past Bregend. Min Hae powered down the shuttle and led his crew

“Go in in two's and don't get lost,” He warned them before locking the shuttle.

Excitement bubbled up from the group at the sight of a new planet, city and possibilities.

Min Hae grinned slightly too. This was where he would finally get to show the commander how the intelligence department was worth it. He had a lot of work ahead of him, trying to get people to trust him and become his informants. Hell he'd never done anything like this, but he was determined to make it work. Salchar and the rest of the Fleet believed in him. He couldn't let them down.

Time to start, instead of standing here and lolly-gagging, he thought as he headed for the seediest bar he could find, a splash of some kind of alcohol and his self-affected stumble got him through the doors unnoticed. Ears were such a godsend, especially ones that had implants that could cut out background noise. He hid a smile as he heard some people talking darkly about the “shadows.” He was confident as they found the bar and entered.

Min Hae grabbed a drink and weaved to the table, a sad look on his face. He bumped into one of them.

“I am so sorry, just I'm sorry,”

The person looked at him in confusion.

“My brother got taken, by the shadows,” he said, licking his lips and slugging some of the drink back.

The man's expression softened.

“My son got taken,” he said sadly. Min Hae nodded understanding.

“Fucking bastards,” Min Hae grumbled.

“Come, have a seat.” The man indicated a chair. Min Hae plopped down.

It turned out that the mysterious “Shadows” was a group used to police the people. Anyone stepped out of line and the police took them. Or they took people just because they felt like it. No one said if they were a gang, or who they were controlled by, but a look in their eyes made Min Hae think they all knew. Promises were made, contacts exchanged and Min Hae departed the bar and moved to the next, taking a pill to counteract what he'd drunk. The night was young and information ran freely from whetted tongues. It would take time to turn people from talkers into people to do stuff for him. But talkers would still be able to keep him in the loop.

He moved from bar to bar getting tidbits of information and growing his contact base. He couldn't get people to say who controlled the shadows. Asking straight out would probably make them clamp up. It was such common knowledge they thought everyone should know it. Though a lot of people wanted to do something about it, none of them had the tools. Min Hae saw an opening there.

Min Hae's comms bracelet beeped. Comms implants were a rare thing for merchants to have, and keeping up appearances was necessary.

“Captain, since we came into orbit we've got a small bidding war going on for our stocks,” Chrys said. Min Hae frowned that Chrys wasn't trying to say anything in code.

“Well, send it duurn here and I'll has a look at it.” Min Hae affected a drunken slur for the other patrons of the bar he was in, excusing himself from the table of merchants. They allowed him to sit in a private booth and look at the bids.

Looks like Daestramus has a food shortage issue. Quite a few other planets too. Min Hae made sure his elation didn't reach his holographic face.

He looked over the data pad to see a man walking in, obviously a regular by the way he greeted a few people. The bar woman had a drink ready for him as he put down some money and talked to her for a few moments. Something was familiar about the man. The man looked around and Min Hae realized he was the customs officer. Min Hae waved and his face split into a smile instead of his bored demeanor on the comms.

“Captain Saleni, it is good to meet you in the flesh,” the customs officer said as he took a seat.

“You too, Miiiister?” Min Hae slurred under the mask of Saleni.

“Narvu, so do you have that—package?” Min Hae made a show of pulling out his comms device and sending a badly crafted message to the team he'd had hold onto the goods. A locked shuttle wasn't enough protection.

“'Izz on its way!” Min Hae said as he put the comms device back and studied the man. By the way people talked to him he was a friend rather than an enforcer to many of the merchants. Though Min Hae wasn't going to use him based on that alone.

“Soo, if I say I have another shipment in the area,” Min Hae burped, “Would you be able to sayyy, keep this deal going?”

“I think so,” Narvu said.

“Well, that calls for some drinks!”

“I'm good,” Narvu said as Min Hae started to raise his hand to order.

“The wife got you on a short leash?” Min Hae asked.

“No, Marhtu has her now,” Narvu said, his hands tightening in rage as he took a hefty gulp of his drink.

“Uhh, I'm sorry,” Min Hae said, wondering what Naru meant by Marhtu having her.

“Got the kids still, so that's why I keep doing what I'm doing,”

“Ahh, I understand. I was married for some time, no kids. Though it feels like my crew are worse than a whole litter of them!”

Narvu huffed a laugh as two of Min Hae's crew came in. Min Hae waved to them as they came over with smiles. They gave Narvu a weighty box who opened it, looking at the contents inside.

“What is this?”

“Baroui, the most abundant food on our home planet,” one of the crew men answered, looking to Min Hae.

“We done, Cap'n?” he asked as Min Hae waved them off.

“No stupid stuff!” he warned, and the others waved as they departed.

“How do you eat this stuff?”

“Chomp on it, or boil it in some water with some flavoring, packed full of good stuff, but tastes awful without flavoring,” Min Hae said as he took another gulp of drink. “Anything interesting happening around here?” He asked, swirling his glass.

“Nothing other than these Syndicate ships testing that we aren't going to attack them,” Narvu said, keeping the box close and resting a hand on it.

“I've never heard of them doing it before,” Min Hae said, slurping his drink.

“Well there's a first time for everything, and Lady Fairgate is a very suspicious woman. Though it'll be worse for them if what they say is real. It would be nice if they dropped a few shells on Marthu and his gang of thugs,” Narvu said.

“But then what would happen? It'd be chaos,” Min Hae said. Maybe he’d still get something more than local gossip and a lower tax from Narvu.

“Well, we'd have to figure that out,” Narvu said, studying Min Hae again. Min Hae had interviewed thousands of Syndicate prisoners. He knew when someone was hiding something.

“Needs some organization, as well as something to use against them. Sticks and stones won't do much against plasma and rail guns,” Min Hae said.

“Well, it's not like anyone's going to sell them to the regular people,” Narvu said. And I'm betting you're not just a regular person are you Narvu? Min Hae thought.

“Just takes the right kind of drive and the right contacts. Look I picked up this book on organizational tactics. It's really interesting what some races have done,” Min Hae sent the file and Narvu scanned the hell out of it before he accepted it. It was a comprehensive look at how rebel groups on Earth had worked against the powers that be, from the French rebels to terrorist cells. The name “Earth” and all information about it was washed out, but the information was there.

“It is rather interesting, but people could get in a lot of trouble organizing themselves,” Narvu said. Min Hae didn't miss the way Narvu looked around, or the way his hand that had rested on the box had slipped to his leg.

“Why?” Min Hae asked, sitting back as he sipped from his drink.

“Well, let’s just say no one wants to be caught for anything here on Daestramus. Our reform system is not one anybody would spend a lot of time in,” Narvu said and Min Hae nodded, hiding a grin. Narvu was as good as his.

“No worries. I'm just here to sell my goods. Would you perhaps know a good seller of technologies? Daestramus is famed for their quality goods,” Min Hae asked.

“I can see if I can set something up, for a price,” Narvu said, and Min Hae grinned.

“I'm sure we can sort out a price.”

Chapter - Too Smooth

We'd been in orbit around Daestramus for seven days, and Cheerleader had exited the system some time ago to link up with Bregend's ships.

He personally commanded a newly captured battle cruiser, with a Destroyer, two cruisers and two Corvette's rounding out his squadron.

He had only taken two days from arriving in Parnmal to transfer his people and parts from his old ship to his new one.

He'd risen to his appointment as Captain admirably. Which was why he found himself in charge of six ships instead of just his own.

The relations department had been talking to the Overseer as well as the City governors for some time, trying to reach an agreement, but it seemed for some reason that the leaders were tending towards the middle path of siding with neither us nor the Syndicate. The reason I hadn't left the planet to explore more was because I got an odd feeling from Marhtu, as well as the fact that they had always implored us to stay instead of leaving.

It might be a tactic to keep us here to protect them if the Syndicate comes, I thought.

I stood, stretching.

“In Sook, you have command,” I said.

“Certainly, sir,” she said, remaining in her seat as additional options were added to her work terminal.

As we walked out, I turned to Janice and Dave who were on watch for now.

“You two hungry?” I asked, and both of them shrugged as I gave them the evil eye.

“I'll take that as a yes, considering your new found inability to make a decision,” I said, a grin coming across my face as they rolled their eyes.

“I'm going to start putting on some weight with all this food,” Dave said with a grin.

“Its cause of those damned pastries you’re addicted to!” Janice said with a playful shove.

“They are a sight better than what we had before,” Dave said, smiling at his wife, stopping their pushing match.

I took the long route, walking by the gun decks.

“Hey, Chief Zor,” I said to the Sarenmenti, who was studying something intently on his data pad.

“Commander,” he said, looking as if he was debating whether to ask a question by the way his stub of a tail moved.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Well, sir, I have some upgrades planned for the Resilient when she reaches dock. I know we won't be going in for a while because of our current mission, but if you'd like to see?”

“Of course,” I smiled. It was good to see anyone showing initiative, plus it was a sight to see Chief Zor slightly unsure of himself.

I whistled, moving the hair out from my face, my red eyes undoubtedly dancing as I read what Zor proposed.

“That is quite the upgrade.” I moved through a few more pages as I noted some changes that I'd seen before. “I see you've been working with Eddie,”

“Yes sir. He told me how even though Resilient is a beauty, the PDF was focusing on making ships at speed, so they cut corners and made systems that worked, but weren't as efficient as they could be,”

I ran my hand through my hair, resting it behind my neck.

That could work.

“Alright. Finish your plans, have a talk with Krat and work out a system that works for everyone. And take into consideration the new blow-out panels,”

Instead of looking crestfallen Zor looked excited. I couldn't help but grin.

“Thank you, Commander,” he said, chewing on his wad of gum.

“Good work, Chief. Keep it up,” I said, patting him and moving on.

I talked to and saw people I knew. This was where I did my job. On the bridge I danced with death, my ships, my instruments, my people the artists that strung them along. Down here I could see them, talk to them, laugh and forget that we were orbiting a planet with sentients on it. There was still some of that hero complex, but I had spent enough time trawling through the bowels of Resilient to be the kind of guy in charge that someone could talk to and expect to get the time of day.

“You three, shake a leg!” one engineer said to us as the two of them tried to jiggle a panel in place.

Dave, Janice and I pushed the heavy panel into alignment and the two engineers quickly secured it.

“Thanks..,” the engineer that had yelled us over went an interesting color of red. “I, uhh, commander..,”

“Don't worry about it,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

“Systems refit, pulling the old messed up, or haphazard panels and replacing them with new ones,” the second engineer said, pressing the drop down function as the panel extended down, revealing wiring, chips, processors, gauges and lights.

“Good work,” I said, smiling at them and patting the engineer that was still in shock of the gaffe he'd made as I continued on.

“So I heard that the mess chef is looking to make some ice cream,” I said to Dave and Janice.

Dave looked like a happy child as Janice rolled her eyes.

“You were right, you are going to get bigger, massive even,” Janice said with emphasis as I laughed.

“Thanks, dear.” Dave sounded pleased with her statement.

“Look at what happened with just the regular rations!” Janice said a glimmer of a smile on her face.

Dave looked himself over as if discovering his new size for the first time.

“Huh! Well, will you look at that! When did that happen?” he said with a smile. It was always refreshing being around Dave and Janice. They always had some kind of joke and I knew I was as safe as could be with them.

By the time we got to the mess the conversation had changed from Dave's gaining weight to naming the different kinds of ice cream we could think of.

“Wasabi, Sake, venomous snake, raw horse meat... What?” I asked their slightly grossed, and weirded out stares.

“Where the hell did you find those flavours?” Dave asked as they'd been talking about cookies and cream, or chocolate mint chip.

“I went to Japan for fun. Cheerleader ordered,”

“Ah... why?” Dave asked.

“Opening our horizons, and apparently getting Monk, Bok Soo and I more cultured. After the horse meat we left.”

“I think I would too,” Janice said.

“Don't knock it till you try it. Japan also has a ton of flavours of kit kat,”

We quickly went through the mess, eating and talking to a few people we knew. Dave had three bowls of ice cream. How the man didn't get a brain freeze I'll never know. We finished up and headed to the armories. It had been a while since I'd gone down there. The Bridge and my quarters were well away from it.

“Well, this feels somewhat familiar,” Shrift said as I walked into the armoury.

“What you doing in here?” I said as we touched forearms, a greeting taken from the Avarians.

“I was bored, so I felt like playing around with a few mechas. Your Commandos are almost as bad as you,” he said, my eyes raising to my mecha which was bolted to the armoury's overhead.

“Not going to let that one go are you?” I asked as Dave and Janice snickered.

“I don't think anyone's going to forget that. I think Yasu made it a training module,” Dave said

“Yeah. Salchar and his reckless friggin stunts,” Shrift grunted as I grinned.

“Got to do what you've got to do,” I said, spreading my arms.

“So what are you here for, oh grand commander? No need for you to hide out in here anymore,” Shrift said as he sat back, eating cookies.

“Just wandering around,” I said.

“Well you know where everything is. Though I have an issue you might find interesting,” he said, tapping his data pad. I turned it around to see it.

“Ahh, the new mecha's. We'll finally have a couple basic models throughout the Free Fleet instead of having to modify old ones and add a ridiculous amount of customization to get them working.”

Janice and Dave studied the plans over my shoulders.

“Well, we'll still have the customization ability, just in a more... refined fashion,”

“You mean no needing to tweak the inner workings because they're garbage,” I said.

“Exactly,”

“Let's see what damage we can do to this mecha,” I said, grinning to shrift as a hologram of a mecha appeared on a table.

“It's a powered suit, not mecha! I thought you lot would snap out of that trend,” Shrift said, half annoyed.

“Why did the Syndicate call them mecha's then?”

“Cause Lady Farigate hated calling them suits. She thought it made the Union sound too refined. So she picked mechas, which are supposed to be damned massive machines,” Shrift said.

“Good to know. Maybe we can reverse that. Your task is to change people from calling these mechas to the proper powered suits,” I told him.

“They could also be called armored exoskeletons,” Shrift said.

“One name!” I said, grinning.

“Alright, alright,” Shrift said as he stood and we walked to the mech... powered suit.

“We'll leave you to it,” Janice said.

“Have fun watching, weirdos,” I said as they grinned.

They knew I didn't like having to have people watch me. They also knew that I respected them as well as Calerd, Shreesht, Krom and that I thought of them as Mecha Tail members. They went to either side of the armories, taking a seat and watching the world go by as I got elbow deep in the suit hologram.

*****

Marhtu didn't even need to signal to his Kaaorv as they pressed their Orv to the messengers chest. The messenger gurgled in pain as they thrashed against their chains. Marhtu knew the prisoner was beyond tired, but pain was still a great motivator.

“Say that again,”

“They're not Syndicate,” the pitiful creature in front of him said as Marhtu mused. He hadn't known if this Salchar was testing him, or really not part of the syndicate. Now he knew the answer he had to decide what to do with it. No one lied once his Kaaorvs had their time with them.

The messenger had been an analyst within what was the technically non-existent Damestrus military. He had been saying the same thing since he entered Marhtu's presence, but Marhtu wanted to make sure. Plus he hadn't had many people re-educated by his Kaaorvs in a number of days. With a flick of his finger the Kaaorv ran their Orv against the creatures nerve bundles. Marhtu watched in fascination as the creature thrashed like an animal being electrocuted, but with the screams, and consciousness, of one in much greater pain that they could actually feel.

The Kaaorv waited a few minutes before touching their Orv to the creatures brain, activating every nerve bundle in painful brilliance. Marhtu grinned as he watched the creature die in pain so incredible Marhtu couldn't even fathom it. It took him a few seconds before he regained his composure, more excited than before and no longer dopey eyed. So many recalcitrant's to be reformed, he thought with sadistic glee as he pressed a button that connected him to his secretary.

“I want a plan written up to take those ships and to get me the head of that fleet,” Marhtu said, not waiting for a response as he ended the call.

He was going to get a fleet to be able to change the arrangement with the Syndicate and he would take over Frosha and Flor. The Sarenmenti and Kuruvian slaves were a good product. If he had them he'd be able to remove the disobedient masses of Damestrus. It’s all coming together, Marhtu. He said as he flicked to another Kaaorv going through their final training ritual, killing their family through torture.

Kaaorvs after a certain amount of using their Orv could only feel when they used it against others. Some would cry, or only touch their victims as emotions rode them. Though eventually they would use their Orvs for hours, craving the ability to feel once again. The Kaaorv cried as they applied their Orv to their mother. Marhtu watched, this was his world. This was how he had retained his power all of these years. He snapped his fingers a woman that had dared to try and start a rebellion used a razor sharp blade to cut Marhtu's food, personally feeding him. Others would have killed their opponents, it would have actually been a relief to his slaves, but Marhtu dislike death, he enjoyed watching his slaves, once great people, broken and suffering for the rest of their days. All of Marhtu's slaves spoke to his power, and his sadistic ways.

****

Min Hae had learned a lot of things he didn't like. Narvu had been a great source of information, though Min Hae felt that he was being checked out as much as he was checking Narvu. The Overseer was looking more like a tyrant than anything. He had a secret military that the Syndicate had never found out about. They were Marhtu's strength and were known to take people in the middle of the night. Slavery was a common trade between Marhtu and the syndicate crews.

Also that if a group called the Kaaorv, or red flowers came knocking it was better to kill yourself than let them have you. They were professional torturers that had been broken into obedience. Now it seemed that something was up, as markers that Min Hae had put in place were being tripped. Something big was underway, but he had no idea what yet.

“Gogs, I need something!” Min Hae said, venting his frustration as Gogs bent over his workstation.

“I'm trying to find something, anything. But these people are good. They actually write notes and destroy them once the recipients have them. If the people they lived around knew who they were they'd be killed. Keeping who they are a secret is as good for Marhtu's well-being as it is for their own.”

Min Hae knew this, but it still did nothing to relieve his anxiety.

“The fleet is sending down more people,” Gogs said as Min Hae leaned over his shoulder to read the information scrolling down Gog's screen.

It seemed that the first relations people that had come to Damestrus had been hit with a bout of flu native to the planet. Marhtu had his doctors working on it and had sent up a vaccine to be used on the rest of the fleet.

“Why does he want more people down here?” Gogs thought aloud.

“Hostages,” Min Hae said simply. Gogs eyes became decidedly darker. Min Hae knew how Kelu had threatened Gogs' family, torturing his nephew before Gogs became his slave effectively.

“There will be something eventually,” Gogs said.

“I just hope it's soon enough,” Min Hae said, knowing he would need more information to convince Salchar about his suspicions. His thoughts were derailed as Gogs squeezed his back where there had once been wings in alert.

“Marhtu is requesting for Salchar to come down to make their agreement to be part of the Free Fleet official. In two days,” Gogs said without prompt.

“It's a trap,” Min Hae said, the others in the room all agreeing in their own way.

“We need to set up a way to communicate to them without being compromised,” Min Hae said to Chrys.

“There's no way to get it to them without Daestramus knowing who we really are,” Chrys said.

If Daestramus knows, then other planets will know who the hell we are and our ability to gather information without others knowing we are will be lost.

“That's a last resort. What other options do we have?” Min Hae said, looking to everyone for suggestions.

“We need to send the signal from somewhere we can't be traced. Or if it is traced then it doesn't matter,” Ervstl said.

“We should choose someone to take the blame that wouldn’t be an issue for us,”

“How about the City Jak Governor, Roshvi?” Baldabuh said.

Min Hae looked to the man to explain his reasoning. He thought it was a good idea, but that didn't mean he was going to let his people have any easy time.

“He's the biggest supporter of Marhtu, and that’s something that the people in his city hate. He's also the nearest city, and has moved most of his underground military to aid Marhtu. He's vulnerable. If Marhtu thinks that he's been betrayed he'll elect someone else,”

“How do we know the new person will be any better than Roshvi?” Min Hae asked the floor and one of the operators/engineers put his hand up. Min Hae pointed to the grinning Chaleelian.

“We make sure of it.”

“Indeed, and we get some people into position.” Min Hae looked to them all.

“You're going to the City of Jak. I want you to use any contacts you already have to get more, there in the city. We need to have people within the city structure when it changes over to a new leader.” Instead of arguing, all of them took on determined expressions.

I picked well.

“Gogs and I will stay with the ship.” A few looked as if they were about to object before Min Hae glanced at them, silencing them before they could say anything.

“Get going.”

They dispersed as Min Hae took his seat. So close but so far.

So what do you think Salchar is going to do?” Gogs asked.

“He'll go down there. He's willing to give anyone a chance. I don't know how Marhtu thinks he's going to pull this one off.” Min Hae raised an eye brow to Gogs.

“That’s my job,” Gogs said, pulling his fingers in, making a squishy noise. Min Hae hated the noise, which was probably why Gogs did it so often.

Chapter - New Resident

Connolly didn't know when he'd been more tired. Probably back when he was doing basic training for the Free Fleet. The harsh lighting, lack of air and heavy gravity nearly broke him but he'd gotten through it. At least now he knew he was doing something productive. He knew how to fight in space as well as on ships and stations. He was learning how to do orbital drops onto a planet and his fighting skills had improved exponentially. On top of that, while working on Nancy he was seeing ships coming together. He knew how to meld, lay power conduits as well as make them, replace bulkheads and use four drones at once.

Now he watched from a crowded observation bubble as what looked like a black box the size of a tractor trailer was released from LaRe's old BC shell. It had taken four days for the AI to upload himself into his new storage center. Corvettes were on alert as a shuttle whisked LaRe down to his new home. He disappeared into a hangar. Another view appeared in the observation bubble as LaRe was pulled from the shuttle and moved into his new home. The feed cut as LaRe would be stored somewhere that only a select few knew of.

“Second shift, you're up,” George said as people groaned in the observation bubble. Connolly was one of them as he walked to his control station.

The work was unending, the ships that had been trashed in Parnmal's defense were still coming in. The Free Fleet ships were finished, as they had already been adapted over to the General Ship System. It made the ships like lego. Pick up a small power panel, slide into old power panel slot. It made fixing ships incredibly easy.

But changing ships over from whatever style they were to the new system was a pain. Which was why only the Dreadnought's and a few of the BC's were getting it, while everything else was being put together as per their old systems. There were technically five working Dreadnought's in the Free Fleet now. Two were at Parnmal while a third was en-route and Resilient was out investigating the mystery planet. The last as well as the hulks of those that were beyond repair were being used by Felix.

It was a massive undertaking, and with the yards growing constantly production was always increasing. Chaleelians and even Avarians were now working at the docks as civilian contractors. Humans were trying to stiff arm their way into positions but Silly was having none of it. He picked workers based on their scores and what they'd done as well as their own blurb. Sexism and racism was basically removed through the process. It also meant that Earth's programs to get into space were getting slowed down as people from different planets were accepted into the Fleet.

The moon was being settled and there were a few Mars settlements being created, as well as plans for people to move to other planets and bodies in Sol system to study and live. Earth was finally in space, and it was slow going but it was becoming faster. People were taking up the Free Fleets deal to get into mining. There was still the ex-Commando mining facility which had expanded rapidly. They supplied forty five percent of Earth's resources and pumped the rest to Nancy, and did a swift trade with Chaleelian's as well. Earth's biggest export to AIH and Chaleel was technical items. The items weren't on par with the Free Fleet's stuff, but eventually they'd catch up. They had more people to throw at the problem than the Free Fleet.

Connolly moved his camera view to see Mars. The massive atmospheric machines were pumping their planet changing chemicals, changing it to Union standard. It would be a planet able to have races from across the Union on its surface when completed in a century, though more changes were planned to cut down that time estimate.Connolly turned back to his work. He was pulling plating from a Corvette, and he worked with two others, a runner and a replacer. It was quick work but penetrations through multiple layers of armor made it annoying to replace some panels. Connolly lost himself in his work until the Corvette's mangled panels were replaced.

“Thank you, team leader Connolly,” someone said through Connolly’s console.

“Hello?” Connolly asked, checking his open channel which simply said LaRe.

“Hello, team leader. You are probably wondering who this is. It is LaRe. I am checking if my systems are working and introducing myself to the crew. Do you have any questions?” Connolly sat back, a little surprised. He looked around noticing others also talking to the AI.

“How are you talking to everyone at once?”

“I am using an automated response system. I have collaborated your FAQ's and respond with it unless you have a question no one has asked yet.”

“Ah. So why the name LaRe?”

“It stands for last resort, as I was made from the syndicates that connected the systems that created me as a last resort.”

An alert sounded as Connolly's drones reached where they were supposed to work.

“So what do you think of Resilient?” Connolly asked as he started working on the next Corvette.

“She has a storied past. She began as a refiner, then, with the planners’ assistance, she joined the AI league. She is considered one of the wisest councillors. She brokered the contract with the Union to have the AI league join the Union through supplying them with warfighting AI's. She was one of the first to put herself into a warship hull.”

Connolly thought he heard pride in the AI's tone.

“That's quite a bit,” Connolly said.

“Yes it is. She is rather interesting,”

Definitely proud. Connolly thought with a grin, which quickly disappeared. How am I going to be able to betray these people? Can I?

Chapter - It's a Trap!

“I'm not so sure about this,” Bok Soo said to Rick as they left Salchar's meeting. “James has a point. We can't just expect people to take us on our word. We could be Syndicate for all they know,”

“Yes, but how they've kept the first team in complete isolation because of some bug they think is suspicious. No known race has a biology that should be able to cross over with the races in the fleet.”

“Maybe it was something they ate,” Rick shrugged

“Santos made sure that they had enough rations. Plus that atmospheric concoction we were living in during training should make us resilient to nearly everything.” Bok Soo's face was thunderous.

“It is indeed odd. I can also sense that there is a lot of information kept off of official channels, as well as electronic devices. Something weird is going on down there,” Resilient said.

“Min Hae hasn't gotten a message to us about anything that bad. He said he'd be on that planet. Bregend's already with Cheerleader. Look I don't like it either, though James isn't going to back down now,”

“I hope it doesn't come back to bite him in the ass,” Bok Soo said and Rick nodded his agreement.

****

Min Hae didn't like the situation at all. The first team, after a week of being in an isolation ward, were supposedly moved to another healthcare facility. Min Hae had built his network voraciously and he knew that they never went to the health care facility. Though to all official appearances it looked like they were.

They had disappeared, and there was only group that was capable of doing that with Min Hae's contacts not knowing. Daestramus' secret military were active in a big way. Thousands of them had supposedly come to Marhtu's city. But there was no extra gathering of supplies or other indicators that a massive force had gathered.

“There has to be a compound out there,” Min Hae said as Gogs took a swig of what smelt like metal and dirt.

Gogs perked up.

“What if they're already ready for something like this? And that's why they don't need all of these supplies?” Gogs put his cup down as he worked his station. “Supplies coming down by shuttle are easy to track. You get it on the ground and transport it quickly and it can disappear. Use a shell company and no one can check it back to you. They would be buying large numbers of weapons and a lot of food.” He continued typing things in as Min Hae waited. Gogs sat back, a grin on his face.

“What?”

“We know who would be supplying the money, so I checked what shell companies Marhtu has. Checked what they bought, then tracked the merchant by his implant. I'm now kind of happy that Marhtu keeps such a close eye on his people,” Gogs said as he waved Min Hae over to him. “There's bases under Daestramus' surface. I don't know how many, or where yet. But it's massive,”

Min Hae looked over Gogs shoulder. He saw the amount of supplies going into the place through different merchants and the entrances which told of its size and the depth of the bases.

“They must have built them to get away from bombardments,” Min Hae said.

“They're deep enough, though I don't know of anyone in the city that knows about them. So whoever built them is either not in existence anymore, or part of the military.”

“We need to find where our people are,” Min Hae said, with Gogs click of agreement.

“So is this enough to get Salchar to stay on Resilient?”

“No. It makes sense for them to have their military on alert. Having underground bunkers might mean that they actually care about their people. Our people disappearing is alarming, but he would ask Marhtu in person where they are. So as to not make him lose face. This is a new culture and he needs people on his side. It might be some small matter,” Min Hae replied, his voice reflecting deep concern.

“Then why are we looking into it so much?”

“Because that's our job. We're the negative department. We assume that something’s wrong and we gather intelligence we might need and see what skeletons Marhtu has in his closet. Best to know the wind and not fly, than fly and not know the wind,” Gogs said, his wing stumps twitching.

“I think that works. You find out more information on those bases. I'm going to see if I can get anything more information out of my contacts and see if there's anything else shady about Marhtu,”

Chrys's station flashed with an incoming communication. Min Hae barely had to reach for the console in the cramped bridge.

“Cap'n! It looks like we've got some buyers on the uptake,” Chrys said, affecting an excited tone. Clearly in some crowded area, background chatter making it hard to hear him.

“Are they solid?” Min Hae asked, masking nervousness with excitement.

“Oh yah. Said they would send the credits direct,”

“Good, good. Might as well have everyone come back then, if we've got that buyer.”

“Yeah. He said it'll be good to send from the ship,”

“Alright. Seal the deal and get back here. Good work,” Min Hae said, cutting the channel.

“I didn't understand much of that, but it sounded like we have a way to communicate with the fleet now?” Gogs asked as he scrolled through information on his station.

“Yeah. Chrys and the group have got it rigged so we can send our message undetected through Roshvi. Directly from the ship instead of on the ground,” Min Hae said, getting back into his chair.

“So we're going to send them everything we know?” Gogs asked.

“No, we're going to wait. We don't know if Marhtu will catch onto it immediately or not.”

“I hate this not doing anything,”

“I know,” Min Hae grimaced. “Patience is one of the hardest things in this job. That and the fact that your decisions mean people live or die,”

****

I knew that there were certain risks with me going down to Daestramus but I had to do it. I was hesitant as to Daestramus coming under the protection of the Free Fleet. I didn't expect every planet to come under our protection, and was a bit alarmed when Marhtu was the first one who wanted to meet. After all of the time under Syndicate control I thought he might want to distance himself from me. Or not take our protection as they would be fearful of the Syndicate coming back and taking revenge on them.

I couldn't hide on Resilient. If he was willing to take the risk then I had to too. I knew that everyone was looking out for me with their pleas for me to stay off the planet. I had also pressed my personal concerns about the first team which had got the flu. Marhtu said that he would not return them until they were healthy. He had released recordings of them consoling us every few days. Marhtu said due to technology being so limited on the planet, thieves and others would press to have the technology needed for the team to communicate in real time.

I didn't press the issue after he talked with the second team, who had said he was very open to having the Free Fleet's protection. Though his biggest desire was to meet the man in charge of it. Half of the second team as well as Marhtu's representatives had come up to get me. The industrious representatives were very animated, asking me a multitude of questions as the second team looked rather pleased with themselves. My entire protection detail was with me, wearing powered suits. Shrift had spray painted the name onto every single mecha. Powered suits was quickly catching on.

Marhtu’s people had tried to sway us, talking about how the people had known the syndicate through their mechas and orbital strikes. Meeting them in our mechas might not send the right message. Right message or not, I wasn't taking chances. The second relations team had been adamant about staying in their battle suits. I was quite relaxed as the representatives filmed and talked to me. I hadn't been in front of cameras for a long time. It was rather comfortable to be in front of one again. I could almost think of it as a confidential interview before a game.

The reporters from Earth had also wanted to come, but for security reasons I had made it clear that they were to stay on Resilient. I didn't want talks to get messed up because of a reporter, or have to bail them out of a messy situation. For now they had to be happy with what they could scrounge off of Daestramus' net, and looking from the observation bubbles.

The shuttle's thrusters flared, the reps floundering as the rest of us adjusted slightly. It was nothing like our landing on Chaleel.

“So what are you hoping to achieve with the agreement between Daestramus and the Free Fleet?” the interviewer asked as the shuttle's doors opened.

“I hope that we can learn to work together against the Syndicate. Work to rebuild, be stronger than the Union, and better than it was, too,”

“Do you think that's possible?”

“Nothing's impossible. You just need time and work and anything is possible,”

I stepped off the shuttle and the reps faded away as five people met us on the shuttle's landing pad.

“You will be meeting with Overseer Marhtu in one hour for food and entertainment and drinks. Then we will take you to your rooms for rest before the talks tomorrow. These caretakers will see to your needs,” one of them said. He had four ostrich like legs with a slender body and small neck, his head was angular and official.  Falu. I remembered his race from my sleep training.

His eyes were dull and his mannerisms subservient as he looked to the ground. The other three also looked to the ground as they talked to us. I looked to the second team leader who came over to me.

“Why do they look to the ground?” I asked, my tone low as we were escorted through the massive building the shuttle pad was attached to.

“It's a societal thing. Marhtu explained that they look to the ground in deference of the untouched,” Balar said.

“Untouched?”

“Basically those of higher status,” she said her tail-stub telling me she didn't approve of it either.

“Anything else I should know?”

“They love steaming for some reason. It's harmless, but they feed steam through your room at periods during the night. It's nothing to be alarmed about.”

“Thanks,” I said as we reached a suite of rooms. Red oranges and blues played across the walls as steam was indeed coming from ventsin the walls and floors of the apartments.

We were each shown to our rooms and as the man was about to walk away I detained him with a hand.

“I'm sorry if this offensive, but are you a slave?” The man's eyes looked around wildly as if trying to find a way to escape.

“I am under Overseer Marhtu,” he said, his skin flashing a muted color before going back to black scaling.

“What are the touched?” I asked as he clacked his beak, his purple and brown eyes again searching for an exit as his colours flashed dark green and blue.

“They are the ones that have need to be taught,” he said as a flash of green greeted my eyes. I would have to look up his race, Slevarans again, but I'm pretty sure green was a sign of pain.

I nodded to him.

“Thank you,” I said as he left to stand with the other three. They stood in a huddle looking away from our rooms.

I went into my room and waited. Krom walked into the room, looking around before talking.

“Food,” he said simply, continuing to look around the room.

I walked out, following him while the others were waiting for us. All of them were on their best behaviour. That didn't mean that they weren't completely focused on their task of protecting me.

Balar and her people met us as the Falu, head servant, or slave--I wasn't so sure--led us through the building. Guards met us outside the doors, who exchanged glances with my protection detail. We were admitted in, but they stopped Dave and Calerd, two pistols and a knife were produced by Calerd and Dave, both of them shrugging at my stare.

Sometimes I wonder who is in charge.

The room was tiled with cushions covering the entire floor. There was a stage where music was being played and dancers moved. Marhtu was lounging over cushions of all different types of material, some that shone, some that were dull. They ranged from rough to smooth and some were obviously new.

The others in the room showed their reverence to him with their eyes so down cast some looked like they were about to fall over. Three females sat around Marhtu, each beautiful yet deadly. They made me think of the Sato sisters. They looked cold and fearless as they looked upon everyone. They wore clothes of different pieces of material, like the cushions. Each had a baton within reach of their claws, tentacles or hands.

Marhtu reached out his hand, lowering it to us.

“Be seated,” he said as we found places on the cushions.

As soon as we sat servants came out with a variety of food and drink and set it before us.

“We have made sure that the food is acceptable for your body types. We do not know where the flu of your first relations team was infected with came from, but we have taken every precaution to make sure it does not happen again,” the head servant said.

“Thank you for the food and taking care of us I will..,”

“It is a tradition among our people that we eat before our battle master. That way we might serve him better and leave him the best of the food,” Krom said before I could finish my sentence. He was obviously not taking any chances.

“Very well,” Marhtu said as Krom picked a piece of food, bowing his head to Marhtu. Thank you,” he said before eating what looked to be some kind of doughy thing covered in meat and nuts. Inside there was a tangy smelling sauce and crunchy wafers of something.

Marhtu smiled, the expression not getting to his eyes as I did the same. I felt as if I had walked directly into the lion’s den. Something was definitely off.

Marhtu was served food by the female Shafio. Her tentacles picked up a delicacy, feeding it to Marhtu as he lounged on his cushions. Another tentacle waited with a drink as he finished eating the morsel.

“Thank you for coming down to see me Commander Salchar. We shall have so much fun together. I am really looking forward to Daestramus and your fleet working together,” his tone making my skin crawl. I didn't know if it was because his skin didn't change color, or the spark in his eyes when he'd said 'fun'.

“Thank you. I think it will be a good working relationship,” I said, trying to remain as professional as possible.

“I hope I'm not stealing you from any prior engagement you might have with your fleet. I know that a large group left on a mission. What was that for?”

“They were going to head to the nearest inhabited system. Ouquishar,” I said with a smile as Krom proceeded to his third plate. Not scouting around this system and connecting a FTL relay at all, I thought as I smiled.

I had been in bad spots before. I needed to keep my cool.

“So how is your home planet? I have to say I have not seen most of your races before,” he said as I kept up my smile.

“Well, we come from far away. We saw what the Syndicate were doing and we thought we might offer another solution. A way to get rid of them and make it a better place to live.”

Marhtu's skin flickered with colors. I had no doubt it was a carefully made display, everything about the Slevaran spoke to his planning.

“Sounds like quite the opportunity,” he said as I smiled, bowing my head slightly. I couldn't miss the gleam that entered his eyes as I did so.

The representatives from before took over asking me questions, the camera person getting a bunch of angles as I entertained them for the rest of the dinner time. It was short and terminated abruptly as Marhtu stood.

“We shall meet tomorrow and talk about signing,” he said. We stood as well, but he indicating to us to resume our seats.

“Please, enjoy. You will need to keep your strength up over the next few days through the negotiations.” He left, never touching another thing as servants and his three ladies left the room. Everyone seemed to relax, I mentally noted as I stood.

“Well, I think we shall also return to our quarters and get some rest,” I said, my protection detail rising.

The reps hounded me till we got to our rooms. It seemed they wanted to get everything that they could out of us. The others kept silent as I dealt with the majority of questions. We slurped on the rations built into our suits as we walked back towards our rooms.’ No one said anything as we didn’t know what would be passed on. When you know people for so long and trust them, a simple look is all that's needed to send a message.

Krom was displeased, and Shreesht agreed with him. They could smell the fear from the slaves. Which was becoming a reality I was finding hard to deal with. Three new minders stood in the same spot as the first three had. It was clear fear kept them on their feet. It didn't make sense to me why someone that was under the thumb of the syndicate would use slaves. Life was already terrible.

I still wanted to continue with the mission and wait till at least tomorrow before leaving. Something that they had agreed to. We all had upgraded implants that Resilient was monitoring. It gave us a silent alarm and made sure that we didn't get the flu that the first team did. The other thing they all agreed to was the fact that I was going to sleep while they took watch.

“Alright. Night girls and boys,” I said as everyone but Calerd went to sleep.

I lay in my bed, the steam rising around me. Relaxing but different, as I heard Calerd trading banter with Janice. Just as I felt my body start to get groggy as an alert cranked through my mecha. Air extractors fired up as wake-up brought me around. I stood as Shreesht burst in my room.

“They're trying to knock us out,” he said as I stood, pulling my rail gun from my back and checking it.

“I think it's time we got the hell out of here,” I said.

“Sir, the second relations team has been taken,” Janice said over the general channel.

I checked my connection to Resilient. It was jammed to all hell.

“Krom, signal to the fleet that we're in danger. We're going to go after the relations team. Calerd, Shreesht, cover the doors in case more try to take us. Janice, Dave, find out for me how the hell they took the relations team. We're going to follow,” I said as Krom found the weakest point in the wall and started shooting. He rarely brought his gun with him, the beast of a weapon was more like a tank turret than a portable cannon. It smashed into the wall, penetration rounds digging in and then exploding as the room began filling with dust.

Boots could be heard as the doors opened. Calerd and Shreesht fired discarding rounds which exploded a preset distance before the enemy.

Sending clouds of shrapnel at Marhtu's guards. The guard’s armor was mostly ornamental it seemed as guard’s were torn to shreds.

“Got it,” Dave said as Krom was hitting the armoured side wall of the city. He made it out through the armour before turning to the doorway. Holes appeared in the walls and floor as rounds punched through everything, wreaking havoc on anything outside our room.

“Move it! We're going after the relations team,” I said as Shreesht and Calerd used Krom’s cover to get to the doorway. Janice and Dave were already down the secret hole in the floor.

“Thi.... Esilie.... re....ort” Vort said over my communicator. Resilient was probably cranking their communications to get through the jamming. I cranked all of the communications up to full.

“Marhtu has betrayed us. He has the relations teams. We're going after them,” I said, putting it on repeat. Hopefully they'd get some of it.

“Come on, Krom,” I said as he fired off his remaining round, chucking the gun into the doorway, a plasma grenade attached to it. An unlucky guard grabbed the weapon as it went up.

I followed Janice and Dave down the hole with Shreesht, Calerd and Krom following as we found a transport. We got on it, the thing dropping out below us before shifting and going sideways. We quickly came to a guarded platform.

“Weapons down and no one gets hurt,” I said as a nervous soldier let off a round.

The other soldiers on the platform were just raising their weapons as my protection detail put them down. Screens came alive around the platform. There were two images, one of the first relations team with explosives strapped to them and the other the second relations team facing a firing squad.

“If you continue I will have both groups killed,” Marhtu said, stopping me in my tracks.

I barely knew the relations team, but they were my people. I needed to do everything to save them.

“What do you want?”

“You,” Marhtu said. “I want you all to put down your weapons, get out of your mechas and surrender to my men. You don't and I'll kill your people,”

“What kind of guarantees do I have?”

“My word,” Marhtu said.

“Don't do it, Commander,” Krom said.

“They're our people. I'm not going to let them die if I can do anything about it,”

“He's already gone back on his word once,” Dave said.

“I know, but what are we going to do! Charge in there and save them? He says the word and they all die.” I lowered my voice so Marhtu and his minions couldn't hear me. “The rest of the Fleet is still above us. They know something’s up. They'll find us. We have the upgraded implants, the relations team doesn't,” I said.

“You're the boss,” Janice said, her voice neither condemning nor condoning. What I said is what would happen.

“You promise to not kill the relations team?” I asked.

“I promise,” he said. Fuck, what choice do I have? I thought, looking at the relations team.

“Take your weapons and armour off,” I said, a bad taste in my mouth.

As soon as our mechas were off gas grenades were tossed towards us from up the hallway. The gas worked quickly and it was only seconds before we were all slumping to the floor.

“Fu-u-ers,” I said, my face going numb as I felt my eyes rolling back.

***

I woke up to a pristine room. It didn't even feel as if I had been knocked out, but I was naked, spread apart by chains. I looked around, finding the only other occupant of the room. A woman wearing the weird multiple material clothes studied me, her baton in hand.

“I am Savrare, I will be your Orv,” she said her eyes dull and lifeless.

“What is a..,” she touched her baton to my ribs and it felt like they were breaking. I screamed in pain.

“You will not talk unless instructed to do so. You will address me as Flower,”

“Why am..,” she touched my stomach and I screamed again, my body arching in pain as I felt something rise from my stomach. She moved away as I spat out blood. I felt a pin prick in my arm and the pain remained but little blood followed.

“This is my kaaOrv,” she said, showing me the baton. It is not like the crude pain implants that the Syndicate use. This is a much more refined tool. It does muscular and nerve damage without killing the one touched by it. The drugs will keep you alive forever, you will die hundreds of times, but still you will come back,”

“What is..,” She applied her kaaOrv to my side and it felt like my broken ribs were being pushed into me. I could feel my nerves from the pained area to my spine as I tried to get away from her, the chains stopping any movement as I blacked out from pain.

I came back to pain on my head, and I thrashed as it coursed through my body. It wasn't like pain implants. It wasn't that I just didn't feel in control of my body. It was the surety that I was going to die. My body jolted in pain as I let my head hang.

“Your first death petal. Isn't it so sweet? Maybe one time I will be able to add your petal to my others,” she said as she patted her clothing. Horror dawned on me.

It's not different materials, they're different skins. She ran her kaaOrv down my neck as blood clogged my airways. The light dimmed as I fought for air, my hands’ struggling to move as I tried to do something, anything to stay alive. The fog cleared as blood covered the floor.

“We're off to a good start, petal,” she said and I lost track of time as I had in training. There was nothing but pain. She moved from my face to my chest, killing me three times.

She was clinical, like a doctor, seeing how long I could withstand her kaaOrv, what was the most painful. What happened after repeat occurrences. She moved down my body and touched the baton to my thighs, which felt like the muscle, the tendons, and the bone were trying to separate from one another. Wherever the kaaOrv touched it left a cut. That was my only scale of time. The amount of blood I spilt. She ran it along my foot, and it felt as if my toes were bleeding and my ankle breaking.

Then there was nothing but the pain of my body, no fresh pain added.

She put a view screen in front of me. She dragged my head back, fixing it into a harness. I shook my head to fight her, getting a stroke of the KaaOrv to the back. Panting, she pressed something to my eyes which stayed open. The view screen came to life, Marhtu sitting on his skin cushions.

“I didn't want you to be without some entertainment between training sessions,” he said, his skin going orange with anger as he bared his teeth.

The screen turned into sections, each showing one of the first or second relation team as well as my protection detail.

“You fucking..!” A light touch to the base of the skull ignited my body on fire and I bit my tongue. There was no use yelling now. I would just have to do as I was told until I got out of here.

I watched my people screaming in pain. All of them being asked questions about the fleet. Most of them resisting.

Just tell them it's not worth the suffering not to! I mentally yelled at them, knowing that I would hold out for as long as possible before answering Savrare. I didn't try to look away. I would watch their suffering knowing what they went through, and me with them, even if they didn't know it.

“Now for another hour,” Sevrare said as she moved the view screen away.

I cried openly. This was no place for heroics.

She had tortured me for one hour. It had felt like a lifetime. She got a bucket and put it under me. She stepped behind me running her kaaOrv along my back. My world dissolved into pain as all I thought about was the excited, almost manic smile she had as she worked.

****

Resilient appeared in Rick's quarters without pre-amble. He and Marleen both raise their weapons before realizing who it was. Resilient gave off a light blue hue and she looked concerned.

“Salchar,” she said.

“What happened?” Rick asked as he finished putting on his battle suit, Marleen doing the same.

“He was being jammed. Then Krom shot through the tower wall and we have a partial message from him as he descended from the top of the tower. We're not picking up anything now,” Resilient said.

They walked out of their room to the bridge, Resilient’s holographic presence floating with them.

“For a few seconds the tracker wasn't active but now it is. I think they pulled his tracker,” Rick set his jaw, fire in his eyes. Marleen grabbed his hand, squeezing it, and he returned the gesture. She looked at him with eyes that seemed to say, we’re getting him back.

With that they were at the bridge bulkheads. They cycled open and closed. The second watch captain moved from Salchar's chair and Rick settled himself in it.

“Fleet on alert. I want a line of communication to the surface,” Rick said, his joking manner gone.

He was only this serious when he was in battle, getting James the information he needed while he directed the fleet.

“Hello, this is overseer Marhtu's office,” a Slevaran answered the communications request.

“This is COS Rick. I would like to talk to Commander Salchar,”

“What is this regarding?”

“We have some new developments with Ouquishar,”

“I will tell him in the morning. It is our sleep cycle here and we do not wish to disturb him,”

“He would want to know,” Rick pressed, trying to not look desperate as he remembered to smile. How the hell does Salchar keep up this facade with people? He thought as the secretary looked to be checking something,

“Overseer Marhtu is also asleep. We have strict instructions to get him before disturbing our guests. It is one of our traditions,” they said with a smile.

This one's a good actor. Made that tradition thing sound almost real.

“Then wake him up. This information cannot wait. I am pressed to get a shuttle down there to have him brought up and look at it himself.” Stick that in your beak and smoke it, Rick thought as he kept up his smile.

“I will have to talk with someone of authority on the subject. I will contact you as soon as I know if it is acceptable to have them communicate with you,” The secretary bowed her head as she closed the channel.

“Nice how she didn't mention when that would be, or if she would get them after their night cycle,” Vort said. The first shift had been rotated in as Rick was talking.

Everyone looked to Rick for an explanation.

“Resilient, do you want to tell them what happened,”

Resilient told them all what she had told Rick and Marleen. Rick wasn't surprised by the anger that seemed to radiate from the bridge crew.

“I want the Fleet prepared. We need to make sure this is a real issue. We can't make a planet of thirty trillion our enemy over some mishap,” Rick said as the bridge came alive with everyone checking over their systems.

“Rick I think there is an issue with my systems, someone has been sending messages to the planet,” Resilient said.

“Who?” Rick felt his hands bunch in anger.

“I am not sure but I am left to wonder what is amiss.”

Rick cursed when he realized what was going on: he had time to think on the bridge. Edwards hadn't been on the bridge the entire time that the Free Fleet was in orbit of Daestramus.

He opened a channel to Commander Carsickle.

“Get me Edwards now,” he ordered, his voice cold.

Chapter - Control

Overseer Marhtu sat upon his pillows as military leader Jelum bowed as low as he possibly could.

He stayed like that until Marhtu told him to rise.

“Are the communications ready?” Marhtu asked.

“Yes, my overseer. We have the videos ready to make it look as if Salchar is meeting people.”

“Good. Do you have everything that you need to break the communications code of these ships?” Marhtu asked as his Shafio Orv fed him.

“Almost. Your Orv have worked for a day and a half now but still these stubborn creatures have not revealed all of their secrets. They have been hard to break.”

“Are you saying that my Orv are not up to the task of breaking them?” Marhtu said conversationally.

“No, my overseer!” Jelum said as he prostrated himself again in front of Marhtu.

Marhtu let his hand glide over the Shafio's gelatinous mouth cavity, which had the strength and elasticity to separate his arm from his body in seconds. Marhtu shivered in excitement at the control he held over the Orv, a beautiful female that had been thought the best in her community. Until he turned them into his creatures and their gentle and kind manners were removed. Replaced with nothing but the feeling of pain.

He ran his hand over the implant in the Shafio's brain sac.

“What were you saying, Jelum?”

“They seem to become more resilient after being trained by the Syndicate. The large ones seem to feel the most pain but also have the most courage.”

“Have you showed him the fate of the first team?”

“The Orv say they are waiting to use it, letting them to have some hope before breaking it,”

“Good. We do not want them having a shred of hope that they will merely become slaves.”

Marhtu looked to the slaves around him. All of them touched, creatures that would do anything for him.

“Be a seat for Jelum,” Marhtu pointed to two of them. Jelum shuffled forward, sitting on the slaves, looking at the ground still.

Marhtu had grown his empire from the people within this room. Outside of his tower they had been criminals, politicians that had gone against him and those that had come into power through one way or another. All of them had been touched by Marhtu's Orv, and each of them had become his slaves. So subdued he could sleep with all of them in his room without worry.

Fear and power rule all, Marhtu thought.

“What does the informant aboard their flagship say?”

“He has sent us information on the main ships capabilities. He wants us to tell him what other ships are in the formation so he can tell us what they do. He cannot see them himself.”

“Does he still believe that we will take power away from this Free Fleet in his home system and return it to his leader?”

“Yes. We have promised him one of the Battle cruisers as well,” Jalum said into the floor. The slave’s frail bodies weren't even shaking under the military leader’s bulk.

Marhtu indicated a liquour bottle with a casual wave of his hand. As the Shafio fed him his scales changed to silver in pleasure. It was coming together so well. He would turn Salchar against his own people, forcing him to give Marhtu the fleet and everything else he controlled. Marhtu wondered idly what he would have Salchar doing in his tower.

Food server? No, nighttime servant. Marhtu thought as everyone looked to the floor in submission. He would be at his most vulnerable and make this Salchar stand there and watch him sleep like a pod. He rattled as silver ran through his coat before receding.

“Send the messages to the fleet. I wish to see Salchar as soon as he is broken,” Marhtu said as Jelum prostrated himself.

“Yes, my overseer,” he said before backing out.

****

“Oi, stop your flabbing and get working!” Eddie said, his hand threateningly close to his boot.

The talking engineers quickly separated and got to their work.

“Easy does it. Make sure you don't clip anything or I'll have your hide!” a familiar voice said. Eddie followed it as he wondered what was passing through his domain without his knowledge. He came to one of the massive service hallways as a cannon was being moved from storage.

“What you doing that for?”

“Well, with Edward's betrayal we don't know what they know or not about the Fleet, so we're going to put in the upgrades we've been holding off on,” Shrift replied, rushing around to make sure the cannon wouldn't hit anything.

“Get out the way you idiot, or you’re going to get hit,” Shrift said as people made a half move to get out of the way.

Eddie had his boot off and flying, hitting the nearest person being a nuisance.

“GIT!” He yelled as he sized up his other boot. Bout time they moved with a purpose, Eddie thought as they got out of the way and found different ways to get where they were going.

“That boot is rather useful,” Shrift said as Eddie huffed, pressing his retractor and the boot sailed back to him.

“Need to knock some sense into them somehow,” Eddie grumped.

“Watch it on the left side!” Shrift yelled as the cannon moved away from the wall.

“I'll be leavin yah to it!” Eddie said as Shrift waved him off.

Ever since Shrift's experience with reactor four the Kuruvian had been less than happy about working on a ship. He was less scared, but it was still there in him. Eddie had caught the way he cradled his prosthetic manipulator when they went near a reactor. An engineer who was scared of the machines he worked on wasn't good for anyone. Wariness of the machine was acceptable. These machines could blow up a small planet and take out the ship as fast as light. Being scared that everything would go wrong made you a liability. Fear of the possibilities while doing your job carefully would keep you alive.

Eddie hoped that Shrift would either get over his fear, or find a job that he could enjoy. He and Silly were like his sons. Eddie put the thoughts to the back of his neural centre. He walked towards the rigged communications systems Edwards had made. Rick wanted him to figure out who he'd been talking to and how he'd gotten access to what he needed.

***

Edwards wondered how Rick and his crew of buffoons had found out about his talking to the surface. It didn't matter anymore. He'd gotten rid of Salchar. Soon this fleet would be in chaos and the President would take control of the resources in Sol system. Leaving them to this collection of kids and aliens was not a possibility. Edwards sat in the brig a smile on his face. He would return to Earth with a battle Cruiser behind him. There were a number of people that he was sure could fill out a skeleton crew.

Everything was perfect. He knew what Marhtu was probably doing to Salchar and he didn't care. The kid thought he crapped gold. Edwards had been working undercover and manipulating people from the background and he was not someone to be dismissed easily. Carsickle had been smart enough to get to Edwards without tripping any but his last alarm. Edwards hoped that he'd destroyed enough of the communications system that he'd put together off of a plan he'd gotten in his private messages.

Thank you for the FTL network, Edwards thought as Carsickle walked into the brig. He was clearly annoyed. Edwards smiled, and the creature’s annoyance turned to anger. These people were too soft to torture him. All he had to do was wait this out and turn them down some errant roads for Marhtu to complete his side of the bargain.

“Opening door five,” someone said as Edwards cell opened. Carsickle took one of the strange seats that Chaleelian's used, lying down facing Edwards. Edwards thought it ridiculous.

Just like this man's planetary military. Maybe we should create strife within their government and then put a mission out to 'assist' them. We'd work out a contract to get food and keep their military out of the way. Win- win.

“You have been communicating with the enemy. As such your status as an emissary is nulled. We now have the ability to look through all of your communications and see who your other conspirators are. They too will be captured and charged. Do you have anything to say at this time?”

“How long did you think this little band of misfits would keep on working before someone who can turn it into a real military took over?” Edwards asked. Carsickle paused before saying anything.

“While this lot might be a bit unconventional, they need to be. I wanted to make the Free Fleet more militaristic. You know, saluting all the time, parades, and speeches. That stuff won't fly here. People who do that stuff are just kissing upwards,” Carsickle's ears twitched in lieu of a sigh.

“They have too much autonomy. Any of them could rise up at a given time. They haven't been properly molded into soldiers,” Edwards said as he leaned towards Carsickle.

“I can see that I'm not going to convince you otherwise,” Carsickle returned. “You will await transport back to Parnmal when the scouting fleet returns.” Carsickle stood and moved his chair back. “We will be stopping our protection of Earth and reconsidering our contract.”

Edwards crossed his arms and sat back in his chair.

Carsickle’s ear's twitched in disgust.

****

Things were a lot less calm in the conference room, where all the leadership was in a state of uproar that was equal parts unea and the feeling that he needed to act. Rick sat back, trying not to get into the fray as he let them exhaust themselves. He had learned from Salchar to sit back and see what the other commanders came up with. Salchar knew broad tactics, but he relied on his teams to fill in the blanks for him. He, Rick, and Henry had spent hours together to build up his vocabulary of military terms.

These people were used to action. Since they'd left their homes there had always been something to do. Now they were waiting as their leader was missing. There had been a transmission of Salchar meeting with different city leaders, as well as a personal message from him. But there had been no safe word and Resilient was coming up with flaws in the videos.

Bok Soo was also quiet as he waited. The Avarians seemed to be the loudest, not only because of their stature but their loyalty to their battle master. This has gone on long enough now.

Rick leaned forward as he cleared his throat. Nothing happened for a moment and Bok Soo spoke up.

“Silence!” he said, his voice thunderous even through the meeting system.

“Thank you,” Rick said, Bok Soo nodding to him.

“Now, I think we can assume that Salchar has been taken hostage, as well as his protection detail and the two relations teams.” Talking broke out and Rick silenced them with a glare.

“We do not leave our own behind. As such I have deemed that we will be preparing for a surgical assault on wherever Salchar is being held.” He sat back, all eyes clearly on him.

“We need to find out where they are being held. We cannot drop onto a planet and just start going house to house to find him. It will alert them to our intentions, allowing them to move our people or separate them. We have a cell on the surface that we will send a message to. We will get them to find the information for us. We will get our people back,”

“Who will command the fleet if Salchar is dead?” a ship commander asked.

“That's what we have a chain of command for,” Bok Soo drawled as the ship commander looked shame-faced.

“Till we have the information we need I want you to keep your people busy, but ready. We don't know when we'll get the information or how fast we'll have to react to any changes. Am I clear?” Rick asked.

He nodded as the room’s assent came back.

“Very well. Shrift also has some words on what we can do in our prep-time,”

“Thank you, Chief of Staff Rick. Now, every ship here has extra armaments in their storage lockers. We don't know what we'll be doing or when, but replacing the new weapons as well as shield generators will give whoever comes at us a little surprise. Some of you may know that there is a new standard armament system for each ship. If you haven't got it yet ask me. It's estimated that the implementation of the guide on each ship could improve its offensive and defensive capabilities by twenty percent. Any questions?”

Rick watched as Schrift answered questions. His thoughts were further away. He’d had the intelligence department send the operatives on Daestramus a transmission through their flight lights. Resilient said that it didn’t seem as if anyone on the planet had found it particularly suspicious. Rick hoped she was right.

****

It was the second time that Min Hae had been too late. The more he found out about Marhtu the more he regretted not telling Salchar to stay aboard Resilient. Gogs had found that the cushions that Overseer sat on were actually made from other creature's skin. The females in red were professional torturers, and the staff he kept were slaves. He'd submitted everyone around him to torture so intense and insidious that they could do nothing but obey him. Everything about him was made to emphasize his cruelty, power and control and no one was willing to cross him.

Without aid... But maybe I can do something about that.

Min Hae and his crew’s adventures into the bar's and darker corners of Daestramus had allowed them to garner a large base of contacts and a number of operatives who wanted to do something about their situation. Min Hae wasn't ready to use them yet. Once he gave them an opening they'd take it, but wasting people was a useless pursuit.

“Where the hell is he?” he muttered, Ulika who was manning comms and Gogs not saying anything as they continued their searches. It had been a full day since Resilient's message and still they had nothing.

No one seemed to know where Salchar and his protection detail had been taken. It looked like the Shadows were in charge of the whole operation. At least Min Hae now knew who controlled them.

Ulika said nothing, concentrating on working her contacts. Min Hae looked to Gogs, who'd barely left his station since they'd found out about the underground bunker system. It was nearly halfway mapped at this point.

“Alright, we need to switch off,” Min Hae said, hating the words he was saying. Yet knowing that they needed to be said.

“Gogs,” Min Hae said as he kept on working. Ulika was slowly disengaging from her systems. Min Hae sent a message to Baldabuh for him to take over.

Min Hae went to Gogs systems gently shaking him.

“C'mon. We need some rest. We're getting frustrated and getting nowhere,” Min Hae said, putting an arm over the console so Gogs couldn't see the screen.

“But they're there, I can find them!” Gogs said and Min Hae saw the pleading in’ the little creature’s eyes. He could see how much Gogs cared that no one was ever taken hostage. Min Hae never knew what happened to Gog's kidnapped nephew but he felt that Gogs was pushing himself to make sure the same fate didn't befall the Free Fleet people on the surface. Gogs wasn't strong or tough, but he was brilliant with technology. It was the one thing he could do to help these people where he couldn't help his nephew.

“Come on. The sooner you rest, the quicker you can find them,” Min Hae said, seeing how Gogs's eyes were cast downward as the relief crew came in. They conferred about what they had found out as the new crew got into the vacated chairs, continuing the search as Min Hae made sure Ulika and Gogs made it back to their cabins.

When he found Salchar he was going to resign, become a Commando. He wasn't any good at being chief of the intelligence department. He thought he'd made progress only to have a fleet attack Earth without warning Salchar, and then have Salchar and twelve Free Fleet personnel captured.

That is if he comes back, Min Hae thought, doubt creeping into his thoughts and fear creeping in with it. Salchar didn't know everything. He threw battle plans together from basics and had a lot of help from Rick and his other advisors. Yet the man had a drive that infected everyone around him. He believed in the people around him and pushed them forward. It was always a rollercoaster with Salchar. It seemed to never stop. But thinking of a Free Fleet without him was hard. I'll make sure it lives on, no matter what, Min Hae silently promised as he walked into his cabin. He would not let the greatest creation he knew of die here. Doing so would only show what a fool Salchar was.

Sometimes a strong headed fool who relies on his friends and a good poker face is what the universe needs to give it a swift kick.

Chapter - Breaking Point

Janice didn't know how long she'd been strung up for. There was nothing but pain. The drugs in her system wouldn't let her sleep and kept her in a constant state of feeling as her KaaOrv played her Orv over her body. She crunched in pain as her calf felt as if someone was putting it through a chipper. She felt something loosen on her right hand. The relief nearly made her pull against the loosened fixture.

No, hold out. She thought as Dalsee played the Orv over a nerve port.

Janice shrieked in pain as her lower body went through fluctuations of control and not, while her nerves went from numbing pain to expressive shrieking pain. The KaaOrv hadn't said much in the time she'd been working on Janice. There had been no demands or orders, just a steady stream of degrading comments. Just tell me how to make it stop. Janice mentally pleaded as she felt bile rise in her throat.

How can I think such things? I am a Free Fleet Commando, Salchar's personal guard. She drew strength from that, using the pain as a reminder of that. Trying to not pull on the loosened fixture. She would have her freedom and she would burn down the bastards that had done this to her and her comrades. She had seen how the first relations team had died in agony. They had said anything to get out of being tortured.

Janice didn't feel hatred or anything negative for them. Everyone broke from being tortured. It was just a matter of time. She felt proud whenever they had misdirected their KaaOrv.

“You look perfect, my dear,” Dalsee said with a smile as she traced Janice's arms and nerves, leaving her in a state of continuous pain as she worked her Orv with painful precision.

“Good girl,” Dalsee said as she moved away. “Movie time now,” She said in a singsong voice as Janice tested the chain, the bolts from the roof were nearly off.

Nearly. She thought as she waited for Dalsee to come within arm’s reach.

Dalsee moved the view screen into position. Her attention being focused on that she didn't notice as Janice pulled on her chains. She turned as they came free from the ceiling. Dalsee raised her Orv as Janice put her arm around the other woman's neck and squeezed. The chain wrapped the two of them together, and Dalsee shrieked in pain as her raised Orv was driven into her stomach. Dalsee being a Slevarian flickered in a rainbow of colours. After a few seconds she stopped, slumping. The chains became tighter, digging into Janice's skin.

Janice felt around Dalsee's clothing, pressing a remote through the skins and she dropped to the floor as the chains released. Her muscles had atrophied over time and with the torments of the Orv, making co-ordinated movements hard. Freeing herself from the chain wrapping her to Dalsee she tried to stand. Her legs were too weak to allow her to. Tears rolled down her face at her inability as she grabbed the Orv and a mop that was used to clean up Dalsee’s work area.

She went to the only console in the room. It was foreign and not on the planetary network. Still she accessed the messaging system, she wrote a simple message that advertised rare metals, set it on delay to be sent to everyone connected. Using the broom like a crutch she got to the door. She opened it, finding an empty corridor. She went right, hobbling towards something with the Orv by her side. There was no one at the next corridor. She took a left, looking in the doors as she passed them. They were all unoccupied cells. She got to one where a guard was working on a console. She opened the door quietly, judging the distance she jumped. The guard turned as she reached him, she pressed the Orv to his nearest tentacle his other shot out in pain. Janice grabbed a tentacle and jabbed the Orv in towards his main body. A gurgling shriek came from him for a few minutes before it ended.

The console had videos of people being tortured on it. It looked like he was the movie maker for the scenes she'd seen on her view screen. She checked in his tentacle cluster above his body and found a communication device. She fired it up and sent the same message that she had on the console to every contact.

“Crap,” She said as it didn't send. There was probably some kind of communication blocking system in place.

Sirens went off as she put the device back into the guards’ tentacles and took his pistol. She still held onto the Orv. As much as she despised it, it was still a weapon. She got into the corridor, hugging the walls as she advanced, her legs were slowly getting better but they were still weak. A squad of four turned the corridor she was going down. Janice fired first recognizing their races and their weaknesses. She dropped to the floor as she kept firing. A Tacher rolled into a defensive ball. Janice crawled toward the downed squad trying to reach them before the Tacher had time to get out of its defensive shell. She was grabbing a rifle when it did. She put three shots into it before it died.

Janice got a vest on and a rifle, using the walls as she stood unsteadily and continued her advance. She kept going until she got to a corridor where there was a barricade. She edged out only to have rounds smash into ’the wall right above her head. She ducked back behind cover, knowing that there was no way for her to get through all of the soldiers in front of her. There were raised voices as something was thrown. Janice jumped away from the corner. There was no explosion and she looked to the object they'd thrown.

She picked it up, seeing a video screen. She kept a rifle trained on the corner as she hit play.

“You made me do this,” a voice said as she watched a door open to Dave's cell.

“No, don't!” Janice yelled as tears rolled down her face.

It changed to the view she had seen from the movies. Dave looked at the person who entered the room.

Janice saw realization dawn on his face. She screamed and cried as the person raised a pistol, a shot rang out as Dave slumped.

“Noooo! NOOO!!!!” She screamed remembering how they'd looked after one another when they'd been in the same squad, and the comfort of just sleeping with one another. They had been one another's rock and these bastards they'd tried to help had destroyed that. She felt strength fill her as she stood, checking the items she had.

Bead rifle, four clips, three grenades, pistol two clips. She felt a sad smile cross her face. She fired down at the barrier, priming a grenade that she whipped after the rounds. Crump. She turned the corner firing at anything that moved. Her legs wobbled and her body hurt where it touched anything. The leftover pain was nothing to how her mind reeled from Dave's loss. She was hit in the chest, but she controlled her fall, firing at the shooter. She rolled next to the armoured barricade as she reloaded her beader. She thumbed another grenade, waiting for it to go off before following it again. Her reinforcements came in as she was going past the barricade. They came together in a mash of bodies and weapons. Janice screamed as she grabbed her pistol, shooting the attackers. She got up as a round hit her leg. She fell face first, firing and rolling to get a new weapon. Her leg was destroyed, but she had learnt to handle pain as she grabbed a riffle and laid down fire. Another round got through the thin layers of her side armour, she gasped in pain as she felt her body become weak from blood loss. An irresistible wave of tiredness was breaking over her and she let her rifle drop.

***

Krom felt like his body was freezing from the inside out as he became fully awake. His torturer put the view screen in front of his face and turned it on. He watched as Janice took a barricaded station and rounds hit her as she fell. She sank to the ground and a pool of blood expanded underneath her. Rage built inside Krom, and he pulled on his restraints as his muscles bunched.

His Orv put her kaaOrv in his nerve ports. He passed out, screaming in pain until the cold feeling brought him back. He looked up to the video as he saw a soldier enter a torture room. Dave looked up before being rocked back as the soldier's pistol kicked.

“They died and you did nothing,” his torturer said into his ear as she left the video playing, forcing Krom to see the deaths of his two closest friends.

Dave and Janice had been like parents to the rest of the protection detail. They were the ones that made sure everyone was eating and changing shifts. They made Krom trade off protecting Salchar all the time. They had been kind and loving people as well as the best Commandos Krom had the pleasure of knowing. He would add their names to the wall of the awakened when he returned to AIH if he did.

For the first time in his life Krom felt completely useless. He had been trained to fight and look after his battle mates his entire life. Yet now he couldn't do anything. He was shameful, weak and useless. He wasn't a real warrior anymore. Over and over he was forced to watch the deaths of Dave and Janice,’ just as he’d been forced to watch the scenes from the relations team. It was all he could do to pay them homage as his Orv returned. The feeling of cold focus faded away as the hazy continuance took over. Krom let his head fall to the floor, shame and embarrassment filling him.

I should've never let them take us, was his last thought as he lost himself to nothingness.

Chapter - Progress and a Surprise

Cheerleader and the majority of the fleet had been working to scout out the areas they didn't know as much about as they would like.

But now something had emerged from a wormhole looking for them.

“Move!” she yelled as people hugged the walls.

Her first shift crew were already in their positions or trickling in after her.

“We have one Cruiser in system,” Jorvut said from the Sensor pit. Werv, Cheerleader's second-in-command was still making his way to the bridge.

“Bring the fleet to readiness.”

Onur bent over her comms console as she sent the alerts. Anyone too far out to provide support was to watch the outcome of a battle, if one occurred, and head for the fleet at Daestramus as fast as possible.

Bregend's small squadron of two Corvettes, two cruisers, a destroyer, and his new Battle Cruiser Resolute went through start-ups and readied themselves. So did Taleel's Battle Cruiser and two more destroyers which made up Cheerleader's scouting fleet.

In minutes they were ready.

“Sphere formation,” Cheerleader said as she pulled up reports on the FTL system, which would be connected within four days.

She waited as it took six hours for a message to come in from the Battle Cruiser.

People gasped as a Dovark appeared on the screen. Dovarks were the first race, the group that had created the Union and the real PDF. They had connected races across the Universe and their home planet was the centre of the entire Union. The home system Quarst was now the property of Lady Fairgate and she had something against the Dovark, something she made clear to the race. She never let them leave the surface. Well, she never had. It looked like she did now.

“My name is Captain Lord Foshunti,” The Dovark said with a sweeping bow.  Its mouth was toothless and it had oddly shaped long limbs. They looked long and weak but Cheerleader knew they were extremely powerful. The Dovark, while looking like feeble creatures, were as strong as, if not stronger than an Avarian.

It wore rich clothes which shimmered in colors against its bland grey skin. Its head had patches of roughness which she knew extended across the rest of its body.

“I come on behalf of my Lady Fairgate. To challenge you and your fleet to a nice little battle. Say at this location in three weeks’ time? Good luck, lovelies.”

Foshunti bowed again, his clothes shimmering as he did so, the transmission ending to be replaced by a solid looking Troulver resting on its chair.

“Do you accept Captain Lord Foshunti's battle?” the creature asked, ending the message.

Cheerleader stared at the screen while she thought about it. Salchar had given her the power to make decisions on his behalf. Having someone actually proposing a battle seemed ludicrous, yet she only knew a little about the universe. It was a possibility. Also knowing where a battle was going to take place was good intelligence. They could get some advantages just from knowing that I had a time. And, not agreeing meant she had less of an idea where Foshunti might be.

“Open a channel,” she said and Onur did so.

“I accept his battle.” She indicated for Onur to cut off the connection.

“Have the ships near the jump limit move independently. I want them to alert the other scouting parties as soon as possible. I want one ship to get to the nearest FTL hub and send a message to Parnmal about what's happened, another ship to Salchar. No movement before that cruiser is out of this system,” she said, Werv looking after the details as Onur contacted ships to make Cheerleader’s idea a reality.

“Go to readiness yellow,” Cheerleader said They could have a fleet waiting within wormhole range,” making sure her people didn’t relax now that their immediate issue was dealt with.

Cheerleader waited for the message to reach the cruiser. A half hour passed before the cruiser jumped away using its capacitors. Cheerleader couldn't see what the other ships were doing as they had four, to eighteen hours time lag.

Yet another fight to prep for. Cheerleader thought, opening a channel to Bregend.

“Cheerleader,” the man said, his voice deep as ever.

“Will you be with us or following Min Hae? He's supposed to go to the next inhabited system.”

“I'll send my fast movers. Two Corvettes and cruisers. My Destroyer and my Battle Cruiser are at your disposal,”

“Thank you, Bregend,” Cheerleader said, updating her roster.

“I'll leave you to it,” Bregend replied. Cutting the channel, Cheerleader sent a message off to the ship that was on standby to Daestramus.

***

Cheerleader wasn't the only one getting messages.

“I've got them!” Gogs said as Min Hae rushed to his station, mostly by climbing and awkwardly shuffling.

Gogs opened a hologram in the middle of the room, making Min Hae feel a little embarrassed. Well. If he'd cared about that sort of thing. Algorithms the hologram showed a section of an underground base out in the middle of nowhere.

“How did you find it?”

“Someone posted an advert coming from this position that fit our algorithms.”

“You sure it's not a mistake?”

“No, it looks like one of ours was able to get a message out. I'm trying to retrace, using the communications device sending the message as a hub.” Gogs stopped talking as his hands flew over the console. As information populated the hologram, Gogs face tightened in a rictus of concentration.

“Chrys, I want that communications system prepped. Also get the others ready. If this is them we need to be ready to leave,” Chrys nodded into his console as he worked.

“Someone also sent the same advert through the entire system. I'm finding the point of origin. Seems there's some video footage. I'll see if I can..,”

Gogs stopped, looking away as Min Hae watched four different screens of people being tortured. There were slim wands being pressed against their flesh but Min Hae knew that something didn't have to be large to elicit pain. He looked away as he remembered his pain implant. The wands left bloody welts wherever they passed and most of the tables his people were strapped to had a container underneath them that caught the creatures’ equivalents of blood.

“Run it through face recognition. I want to know where our people are,” Min Hae said and Gogs did so, putting it in the background so he didn't have to see the pain people were being submitted to.

***

I breathed heavily,’ having forgotten there was any other way to breathe. KaaOrv Sevrare was walking around, waiting to use her Orv whenever I wasn't paying attention for maximum shock and to make me feel completely vulnerable.

“I used to hate this thing,” she said, waving her Orv. “I used to be a good person. I was told so by my father before I tortured my mother in front of him. You see, for you it is an instrument of pain, for me its freedom. I don't feel anything unless I use my Orv on flesh. Not being able to feel anything is worse than any pain imaginable. I don't really know who I am, or care about anything other than bringing others pain. The more pain I elicit the more I can feel.

“Once I'm done inflicting pain I don't feel anything anymore. It makes me wonder if the reason I don't continue is because I hate the emotions I feel, or if my feelings contain some of the goodness my father talked about,”

She looked into my eyes. “Everything is better from the other side,” she said, jabbing my stomach as it felt as if I'd been impaled.

***

“We have someone transmitting to the fleet in orbit,” someone said in the command centre. Jelum didn't have time to remember people's names.

“I want it traced. Have the detail nearest the transmission bring them in.”

No one said anything as the signal was traced back.

“It's coming from the city of Jak... Governor's personal communication system,”

“City Governor Roshvi sent the message?” Jelum asked.

“Yes sir,”

“Bring him in. See if Overseer Marhtu is available,” Jelum said as he stood at parade rest.

It was several minutes later when Overseer Marhtu graced Jelum with his transmission.

Marhtu raised an eyebrow in question.

“City Governor Roshvi sent a message to the Free Fleet. I have a team bringing him to your KaaOrv,” Jelum said as Marhtu's scales reflected his anger.

Jelum saw someone trying to get his attention. He dared not turn and look to the person, lest it be taken as an insult by Marhtu.

“See that he is not allowed to die before getting there. I want him to adorn my floor,” Marhtu said and Jelum bowed.

“It will be done my Overseer,” Marhtu waved his hand, the channel closing as Jelum looked to the person trying to get his attention.

“WHAT?” He asked, his voice threatening what would happen if the person hadn't nearly interrupted the Overseer for some very good reason.

“The Free Fleet is moving. The Dreadnought is descending,” the message said in a rush as the entire room seemed to look to Jelum, all of them in shock.

“Scramble the fighters, get the defences up. I want the Free Fleet personnel moved!” Jelum said. “I want a plot on the main screen!”

He leaned on the railing in front of him. He was a nobody Marhtu had picked for his loyalty. He wasn't trained for this sort of thing. He wasn't a general.

“We have visual!” someone said, and the screen changed to the Dreadnought as it sunk through atmosphere, the massive ship blowing as it's armour was heated by entry. Two Corvette's trailed behind it as the rest of the fleet waited in atmosphere. It was one thing to see it as a designated target on a screen, another to see it sinking through atmosphere like Death's own judgement. “It looks like they know where the prisoners are.” Nervousness was showing in people's voices. The room suddenly felt too cold and Jelum shivered slightly.

“What the hell is going on, Jelum!” Marhtu said, his face replacing the image of Resilient. His scales were a mess of anger.

“They've got ships descending,” Jelum said, shock filling him.

“I can see that! I want them off of my planet! Tell me when it's done, or I will replace you!” Marhtu said, cutting his channel and leaving Jelum to stare at Resilient as if the ship had some kind of answer.

“Fighters are in the air,”

“Pound those ships!” Jelum yelled as he remembered the planets defences. “Shoot them with everything we've got!”

Jelum felt strength come back into his body. He could still win this!

“We have multiple launches from the ships in orbit, it looks like they're carriers!”

We should've told the informant which ships. We don't know what they have other than Resilient,

“We know what Resilient's defences are. Hammer that first, then the other ships,”

“Resilient is flaring thrusters. It's opening shuttle bays!” Jelum's panic rose again but he fought it down. If he didn't win he wouldn't survive, or worse he'd become one of Marhtu's slaves.

***

In Sook was wearing the cap of Ship Commander instead of Combined Arms Commander when the information on where Salchar and the rest of the Free Fleet were being held came in.

“Confirm that information and prep for drop,” she said, opening a channel to Rick.

“In Sook?” He sounded confused.

“We know where they are,” she said.

“Follow the plan and drop us right on them,” Rick told her.

“Readiness level red,” she said as the fleet powered up fully, not caring who saw.

Helm moved the ship so it was ready for entry. They switched off with Milra as she took over. Rick jogged into the room as In Sook got into her command station, making sure that all of the Commandos as well as fighters were ready to go. Heston and Santos were giving her a green light. Bok Soo was staying with the Fleet in orbit in case they needed reinforcements, or the rescue force was killed. He was next in line for command after Rick, something that he'd been very vocal about being against. He didn't want his Commandos on a battlefield he wasn't on.

“We got the message a few minutes ago, the location as well as plans for the entire underground base of the Daestramus secret military,” In Sook reported to Rick.

“We are planned for entry into the atmosphere. All ships report readiness,” In Sook said, adrenaline making her nervous she'd forgotten something.

“Thank you, In Sook. Now it's about time we got our people back,” Rick said as there were nods, grunts and various movements associated with the individual races way of agreement.

“Brace yourselves. I haven't done this in a hundred and twenty years,” Resilient said, not making In Sook feel any safer.

Resilient shook like all hell as she descended.

“Corvettes are following,” Walf said, “The other ships are moving so they will be in overhead position over the co-ordinates,” He continued.

“Braking!” Milra said as the massive ship applied thrusters to the ground, stopping its continued falling and jerking everyone slightly in their seats as the inertia compensators took bare seconds to adjust.

“They're launching fighters!” Walf said.

“Vort, have Heston's fighters give us support. In Sook, get our troops on the ground. Marleen, give them cover,” Rick said in a rush.

In Sook looked to her job, barely registering Heston and Xing's fighters as they interposed themselves between Resilient and the defensive fighters, which were having to fight their way out of the planet's gravity well.

The Corvettes might not be the strongest ships in a space battle, but in atmosphere they were one of the few that could bring the majority of their weapons to bear. As they opened up with their rail batteries and lasers, Resilient's PDS came online, their massive rounds smashing into the oncoming fighters.

“Impacts!” Krat said.

“Calm down, Shields,” Rick said as the shields chief looked practically apoplectic without his protection.

“Get the Corvettes to take cover behind us,” Rick said.

In Sook kept checking that everything was running well, casualty reports coming in, as well as major issues.

“Daisy skimmer has got limited maneuverability,” she said, immersed in the information stream of goings on.

“Understood,” Rick said, acknowledging details, even as he devoted his concentration to the bigger picture.

“Assault shuttles are away. Sealing the bay,” In Sook said.

“Protective fire for the shuttles. The fighter's priority is to get them to the surface,” Rick said as Vort parsed out the orders.

In Sook had to fight the want to communicate with the CAG's on Pandora and FengFang. Shuttles and defensive fighters came together and Resilient mowed through them like the Dreadnought she was.

Chapter - Devil's Express

Santos dropped to the planet amongst semi-organized chaos. Shuttles disgorged Commandos as they secured the immediate area. Squads that came down after the first couple moved to the area where Bok Soo had laid a marker on everyone's maps, but it looked no different than the rest of the scarred and frozen world.

“Bok Soo, I'm not seeing any entrances,” Santos sing-songed.

Craters appeared in the ground as Resilent's railguns bellowed.

“That should do it,” Bok Soo said, sounding all too pleased with himself.

Santos grunted as he changed channels. While Bok Soo wanted to be on the ground Rick had put an end to that plan.

“Move it, Commandos!” Santos said as he tagged the holes, using the finger-balls in his mecha to designate units to each breach as he moved.

Weapon systems sprouted from Daestramus' frozen ground and troops came out to meet the Commando's charge.

“Pepper potting!” Santos called out as squads covered one another, pinning the enemy down as they advanced each half at a time.

The defensive troops were getting steam rolled. They might be organized and trained, but they had been used as bully boys their entire time in the military. They were used to going up against opponents weaker and without support. None of them had been in a fight with organized forces other than in a simulation. Now they were up against the veteran Commandos and their lack of training and ability showed.

Bok Soo was acting as Combined Arms. He organized support for the Commando's fighters, his gunners raked the trenches and embedded positions with their railgun rounds. Felix's penetrators worked with devastating results. Fires sprouted from the frozen ground as Santos jumped into a ditch, covering his team member as they joined him. Santos checked his map and found that the breaches opened into the living quarters and armouries of the Daestramus military. Anyone that had been in there was dead, or dying.

“Dreckt, I want you and yours to secure our people. You'll be moving into territory without support.”

“Understood,” Dreckt said, pride in his voice and the tone promising that he would get them back or die trying.

Santos looked over the ditch, and saw some of his Commandos get cut down by a late rising turret. He swore under his breath.

“Sir we're in the compound,” a squad commander said as Santos considered if he should race through the fire to support them. No.

“Secure it and clear out the bastards shooting at us. Send scans to Resilient and Eddie. They can tell us which power lines to cut. We need those turrets off,” Santos said, cutting the channel.

He kept the location of where the Free Fleet personnel were being held to himself. Dreckt and his brother Kreum would be enough. Santos didn't want his people racing through the compound and not clearing it completely in their hurry to get to their buddies. Kreum and Dreckt had made their people experts in close quarters fighting. Santos just hoped it was enough.

“Moving!” Santos said to his team member, who laid down fire as he dashed to the next piece of cover.

It's going to be a long day, he thought as he put two rounds into a rising turret, the thing blowing out in sparks and plasma. He checked the advance of the Commandos. The shuttles were providing area support from their landing zones, as four thousand Commandos were spread across a two kilometer long frontage.

Not one Commando faltered as they charged towards the enemy.

No one who took the Free Fleet's own should expect to survive.

***

Min Hae watched as Resilient broke atmosphere, Corvette's and fighters covering her as she covered the forces on the ground. The ships in orbit lay waiting for whatever Rick decided he had use for. Min Hae had done his job but he could see on the faces of his crew that they, like him, still felt bad as they fled the system as the other traders were doing. Min Hae used his station to shut down the main screen showing the battle.

There was a small outcry and Min Hae looked to them.

“I know you want to be there, helping your friends to get back at the bastards. But this is our job. To get the information that can save their lives, then disappear again. We don't take credit or thanks. We work in the shadows to protect the Fleet and those we care about.” They all knew what their job entailed, though he doubted any of them had thought it would be this hard to swallow the reality of what it would feel like doing it.

“All of you have done an outstanding job. We've created contacts, and started to bring changes to the Daestramus government. We've brought hope to these people that the Free Fleet is a group that they can trust, not just another band of pirates. Hell, look around us, we're in a convoy of traders going to Parnmal!”

That made a few of them nod and make grudging displays of agreement.

“The more we know, the better prepared the Fleet can be when we come to these planets again,” Gogs said, surprising a few in the room, even Min Hae.

“It'll take time but we've seen how much people need the Free Fleet,” Gogs went on "we just have to vet them to make sure the Free Fleet can trust them. Here we failed, but we built up contacts that will be here when we, or one of the other Q-ships returns. Lady Fairgate has pushed the planets away, not caring what happens on them, she’s blinded herself from what happens in the shadows.”

Determination filled Min Hae's crew as they listened. It would be slow and arduous work, but he and his growing group of Q-ships, informants, contacts and operators would be the eyes and ears of the Fleet. It was as daunting as it was exciting to Min Hae.

“I want full reports from everyone before we exit the system,” he told them. “Also a check of all goods and trades so we can pass that on to further crews.

***

I felt explosions as my chains swayed me.

Savrare applied her KaaOrv to my legs, eliciting screams from me as guards rushed into the room.

One, a Slevaran, looked at me, his body color telling me he was disgusted and nauseous at the sight of what Savrare had done to me. They quickly looked at a wall, as the one behind them threw up outside.

“What?” Savrare said, her voice calm but threatening.

“The Free Fleet has their forces moving into the compound. We're to remove him and his people to another facility.”

Hope bloomed in my chest just as Savrare's kaaOrv stabbed into my ear.

Pain, unlike anything I had ever experienced lanced through my body, it blurred through my vision as nothingness slowly embraced me. Cold fierce pain ran through my body as my throat tried to scream, but my voice was long gone.

My thoughts returned to the days of pain and frustration of being recruited. They won't let me die. They'll just bring me back like they did with the ones who couldn't take the pain implants.

The first guard had excreted their version of bile onto their scales, a natural defensive measure against predators. The smell barely affected me as I hung on my chains, each of them pulling my body in painful ways.

“Gather him, we will depart immediately!” Savrare said. Anger seemed to radiate off of her as the guards moved to me and she stormed out of the room as the guards released my chains.

I fell to the floor. My muscles were weak and atrophied, and any type of movement sent lancing pain through me. Guards tried to beat me into movement, clearly panicked. It was nothing compared to what Savrare had done.

“Carry him. We need to link-up with the seven others and get the hell out of here,” the first guard said.

The others wrestled me onto a table, they didn't bother to tie me down as I sprawled on it, as weak as a newborn.

Seven, I thought, hiding a small smile’ before it could cross my face. At least some of my people had survived. Now I had to figure out a way to get ourselves free of our captors and into the hands of my people. I moved my hands and feet slightly, feeling the weakness in them. It felt as if I was disconnected from my body. I opened my eyes, my face hurting from the movement as I looked at the guards around me. They were decently armed with a mixture of weaponry and armour. None of it was powered, but it would stop anything but a direct hit.

I remembered the video of Janice, thinking of the guards that she had taken down and the one's that had captured her. They had made one mistake, they had shown me their tactics and way in which they operated. Something that I had learned long ago to turn on my enemies. I could feel the impacts of heavy weaponry hitting the compound, but the guards looked confident. They knew they were getting out of here, and they were relaxed. They knew the battle wouldn't come to them. They'd be long gone by the time it got into this area. That illogical confidence would make them slower to react. Fear was always a great motivator, but confidence was an immobilizer.

I moved my hands and feet erratically again.

“Fucking Orv's always leave them fucked up. I don't know why they don't just kill them,” One Guard said as I continued my antics. It hurt like damned hell, but I could take stock of my injuries and mobility.

***

Krom felt sluggish, as if his entire world was fogged. He was in it, but he kept floating out of his body. There was no sense of clarity. He knew he was being moved and that there was thumping in the background but he didn't know why. He took a breath, remembering the teachings of the awakeners.

Focus your mind, center yourself and evaluate. Do not think with the senses, but with the mind, evaluating that which you perceive as sense.

He focused on a single point on his forehead, forcing his mind, which kept seeming to yo-yo around, to concentrate on that point. He didn't allow himself to give in to frustration, as he realized that he remembered the sound of one of the noises.

A Free Fleet PDS system, he thought. Remembering the weapon, he focused on the information surrounding it, grounding himself in the knowledge. His mind became focused as he assessed why he heard that weapon, whether it was real or not. It wasn't just one it was tens of them firing. He felt the ground around him moving. The area was being bombarded.

He fought his excitement down they had found him, they would save him. He had another purpose to fulfill. He must find his Battle Master. To do that he had to control not only his mind but his body.

He twitched his body. Drain the poison with circulation. He flexed muscles, his hands, to his forearms, to his upper arm, then chest and back, abdominals and lower back, then legs, calves and feet. He did it again and again, gaining more control of his body each time as he cycled the inhibitor from his system. He checked his implants, and found they were down except for short-range transmissions. He was about to activate his beacon when he paused.

Save the beacon until I'm with James, he thought as his implants connected with another.

“Calerd?” His implants picked up his subvocals so he didn't have to move his mouth.

“Krom? Are we dead finally?” The relief in Calerd's tone made Krom's anger flare.

“No. brother. We are now given a chance to fight. What do you know?”

“Commandos coming for us. They're trying to hide us away in another base,” Calerd said, sounding subdued.

“Good, rest. We will have a chance soon,” Krom said, testing his mobility and finding bindings around his hands.

“Krom, I... I don't know if I can fight anymore,” Calerd said.

“Calerd, you must, if not for yourself then for Dave and Janice,”

“But they're dead, dead because we were too blind to listen to the facts. We killed them!”

“No, they killed them. They lured us here under the pretense of peace, and future trade and betrayed us. We will create an honor guard for Dave and Janice from their ranks. We are Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet's protection detail! We will carve Dave and Janice's names into this planet!” Krom said, fury building in him.

“We're a protection detail? We failed. I can't pick up Salchar at all! They probably granted him mercy,” Calerd sounded relieved.

Krom realized that Calerd was no longer a warrior, that torture had driven him away from the sword and into self-pity. Krom would have only himself to rely on in this fight. At one time that had been his way. Now the Free Fleet had taught him the importance of working with others. Now it felt foreign to be preparing for a fight with no one to rely on.

***

Dreckt fired down another hallway. He moved to the side as an Avarian with a beader fired down the hall, ripping the whole passageway apart. The walls were too thick for plasmid weaponry to be effective and the place was a damned maze, even with the maps that they'd gained from somewhere. Kreum was covering the rear as Dreckt forged ahead with brutal fire power and a lack of any real tactics.

The Avarian advanced, another two waiting on either side to add their fire if needed. A mixed squad followed them, posting sensor balls, a new invention from Felix and the late CAMC, Henry. Teams would stack up and clear the rooms as they went. Backrooms were the way to go. Dreckt took every passage that didn't connect to a main passage to get to his target. He couldn't get bogged down with a long fire fight. He just needed to get to his target area and hold for the other Commandos to link up.

“Kreum, pull up,” He said, getting a green light as Kreum moved his forces closer to Dreckt.

The whole thing was too slow for Dreckt's liking, but he knew charging ahead would only get his people killed. Something he would never forgive himself for.

***

“What in the Dashro is going on?” Marhtu demanded from Jelum, the commander of his armed forces, who was clearly busy, dust and debris falling around the command centre he was located in.

“They've dropped their Commandos on the surface. They're in the bunker compound that Salchar and his people are in. I'm getting them moved to another location,”

“How did they find out? I want the perpetrator found and sent to my KaaOrv's!”

“Sir, we have more immediate problems!” Jelum said, Marhtu's colors showing his annoyance at his commander's lack of the deference due his position.

“You dare use that tone with me! Our fighters will be victorious. We will still take their ships.”

Jelum bowed his head, clearly cowed.

“I am sorry, master, for my words. They too have fighters, one's that are better than our own,”

“Bring in more from other compounds,” Marhtu said, infuriated with the lack of ability in Jelum. He would have to have him replaced after this fiasco. “What about the traitor who sent the Fleet information before they descended?” He would not breathe the traitors’ name, to do so would grant him some small kind of victory.

“He has been dispatched as per your orders. The city is in disarray. It looks like a faction has begun rising up. They have been organized by some unknown group into cells. I do not know how they operate but they are taking over the city rapidly, and other cities have shown a similar uprising,” Jelum said as Marhtu's head swam.

I am surrounded by traitors, all of them creatures that give me smiles, and take from me everything.

He looked to Jelum, his body shaking in anger as his colors flashed into new spectrums.

“Kill this fleet and these traitors and I will give you a city of your own Jelum,”

“Yes, sir,” Jelum said, lowering himself even more.

Marhtu closed the connection.

“Get me my ship,” he said, his guards reacting immediately.

He was favored by Lady Fairgate. If he appealed to her, then she might lend him forces. He could reclaim his planet and show his people how fair he had been before. He had kept his dealings with Lady Fairgate a secret before, so as to not give rebellious factions a reason to gain more support, but now he did not care. This universe was created for people that knew how to work with pirates. There was no such thing as honor, law, or some kind of code to be upheld. These Free Fleet creatures were holding onto an ideal that had long since perished, shortly after the Union had fallen apart.

***

Rick watched as the battle raged. There were fighters coming from other bases across Daestramus. He had requests for assistance taking cities from rebel groups. While he was dealing with the incoming reports from his people inside the base where Salchar and the other Free Fleet personnel were being tortured. It was chaos, he didn’t know how Salchar dealt with it all.

“Vort, give those rebels any and all information you can to assist them. Tell them that we can’t help in a physical capacity at this time,” he said as he scanned his screens. “Resilient have the FengFang enter atmosphere. She's to cover our westwards side. Have them use us as a shield,”

“Good thing we added new armour,” she said, her bulk shaking from hits.

“In coming fighters from the south!” Walf reported.

“Milra, change us to orient south-north on our guns,” Marleen said.

“Do it,” Rick said, as Milra turned to ask him to confirm.

Resilient's thrusters fired, plumes of smoke blasting away as the guns faced the southward fighters.

“Clear the south skies,” Marleen said as Rick passed the orders. He saw what she was doing.

The Free Fleet fighters dove for the ground, exposing the enemy to Resilient’s guns. The rail guns fired, their rounds like colossal buckshot as they exited the barrel and shredded the incoming fighters. Damn, Felix's rounds are effective. Rick thought as the rebels changed to engage the incoming eastward fighters. Half of the fighters were refueling and re-arming.

“Bok Soo, what's the Commando's progress?” he asked. The man was on Pandora, but he was overseeing the ground operations. He was coordinating support and assisting Santos who was the on ground commander.

“We've got a solid beachhead. We've got two platoons moving under Dreckt to get to the supposed location of the prisoners. The rest are clearing as they go,” Bok Soo said, his voiced sounding rushed.

“Leave you to it,” Rick said, not wanting to disturb the CAMC more than needed. He had his own battle to run.

I need to get out of this damned gravity well, he thought. Until he did, he would keep being pounded by the fighters. Resilient was durable, but the Corvettes weren't. Daisy skimmer, one of those corvettes, was climbing back into space as Rinky Dink came down to replace her.

Chapter – Down but Not Out

My implants were down, Savrare’s handiwork had seen to their painful removal.

“Where are the others?” one of the guards asked another group they had run into.

“They'll be here soon,” the new voice said. I looked around seeing Calerd and Shreesht. Both of them looked like hell, with rough points left behind by where an Orv had touched their skin.

I looked to Calerd. His eyes were open but he was unresponsive, looking away instead of facing me. I looked to Shreesht. The Avarian looked at me, groggy but still with a fire behind his eyes. He gave me a small nod, his eyes telling me everything. He was with me no matter what. I tried to tell him to wait with my eyes and he seemed to understand as I looked around slowly. We were in a room with four waiting transports. They had signs and information on them that would make them look like one of the thousands of transports on Daestramus. Once we were in those things we'd be lost.

People were opening them and other carts were being rushed into the room. A few of my people were being dragged through the room, towards us. I could tell they were in immense pain by the way they half-flinched, not strong enough to try and get away from the pain, just acknowledge it. I saw Krom, his eyes were closed as they took him to one of the nearest transports. He looked like he was dead, but suddenly he reached out grabbing a Falu and snapping a lower limb. He rolled off of his cart. Using the Falu as cover, he pulled a side-arm and shot three of the guards. I threw myself at the first guard I encountered, grabbing her plasma pistol. A pull of the trigger took off her leg as I dragged it free.

My body felt slow and groggy, as if I was moving in jelly, everything else felt numb. Shots rang out as the guards reacted. Shreesht punched a Shafio hard enough to kill it as he too dove to the side to use the transports as cover. I tried to yell to the others but nothing came out. I looked to Calerd who just lay upon his cart, subdued. They had gotten to him and broken his will. It only took a matter of time before anyone could be broken. I had simply lasted slightly longer than him. Calerd was of no use to me in the state he was in, but Shreesht and Krom had somehow endured their treatment. The second relations team were mixed. Some were trying to fight, two lay dying from wounds and the remainder were like Calerd.

Krom grabbed a cart, throwing it into a group of guards, he charged them. He ripped into them like a chainsaw. There was no finesse or thought as he dug his claws and teeth into vital areas, his blunt blows leaving guards stunned or dead. He wasn't without wounds either, though he just didn't seem to care. Sporting a plasma burn across his chest as well as the Orv wounds and cuts from tussling with guards, he tossed grenades at the retreating guards.

He ran to the transport I was hiding under. I gave him as much cover as I could as he slipped down next to me. He motioned to me, pointing to his throat. I did the same, neither of us could talk. He pointed to his head with a questioning look. I shook my head. Implants aren't working, I tried to say with my eyes as he nodded, handing me a pistol and some grenades. I fired at the guards and military personnel that weren't running for the doorways. It seemed they didn't care about keeping us alive anymore as they brought heavier weapons to bear against the Transports. I nodded to where Shreesht was and indicated for Krom to bring him back. As I made to go over there, my legs not even supporting my weight, he pushed me down, before running out. Again I gave him cover. Please hurry up. I thought as I kept shooting at the fuckers keeping us from safety.

Shreesht came back a few minutes later, breathing heavily from the short run. I nodded to him as I popped off a few rounds. The other prisoners must have survived, because I could see shots hitting the doorways leading into the room. Shreesht pulled me back and looked to me, his voice raspy.

“Ac...tivate....ed.....Bea...con” he said, coughing as I nodded.

Hopefully someone would pick up on the Beacons that Shreesht, Krom and myself had in our implants. Before it had been useless, but now with our people being so close, hopefully it wouldn't be jammed anymore. My prayers were answered by the response of a beader cannon. A doorway was cleared of Daestramus' people as beads ripped into them. Commando's came out of the doors minutes later, firing at the other doorways to cover a squad which rushed to our aid.

They set up a perimeter, one of them coming to me and sticking a hell fire into my shoulder. I welcomed the pain, knowing that at least with this I'd be able to be useful again. My relief turned to shock as the hell fire took over my body. I watched a guard who wasn't dead raise his pistol, shooting a Commando in the back. Self-loathing filled me as I watched the Commando fall, their visor filled with the purple blood of a Sarenmenti. I cried as hellfire wracked my system, not because of the pain, but at how absolutely fucking useless and powerless I was.

I had gotten my people killed coming to this planet. I was the reason for all of this suffering. I was just an idiot thinking I could make a difference. The Universe didn't care what I did. It would just roll over me. Anger built up, becoming a storm as I looked up at the camera which had been recording my pain. I felt a new kind of strength, a cold and deadly one powering me. I was the commander of the Free Fleet. Shit was bound to happen. I was the one that would remind the bastards of this universe what would come down on them if they crossed me, or my people. A new hatred, raw and terrible, shaped itself inside me. Before I would have been scared by these feelings. Now they gave me a terrible and monstrous strength.

***

Dreckt checked the codes again, they matched with Krom's and Shreesht's.

“Move it! You four blast anything between us and them. Dreckt, I want you on recovery. I'll establish security,”

“Got it.”

Dreckt's Avarians and their beaders laid into anything that dared to put their heads out, the two platoons following right behind.

“Santos, this is Dreckt. I believe that we have a location on Salchar and his security detail. We are moving to intercept,”

“Understood. I'll pass the info higher,” Santos said as Dreckt saw an opening up ahead on his HUD's map. The cannons wasted a group that wasn't paying attention to the right direction.

That's got to be them, Dreckt thought as he had the beader cannons split.

“Shoot anything that isn't ours,” he said, the cannons started shooting into the doorways that opened into the room.

“Move around and secure the entrances, have a gunner in support,” Dreckt said, his squad commanders getting a hold on their people and moving out to secure the doorways.

Dreckt looked to Kreum who was just getting to the transports. He had his people checking on the prisoners there, and creating an all-around-defense. Kreum walked up the side of a transport as one of the guards who’d been playing possum lifted a pistol. A shot rang out as Dreckt ripped his eyes from the scene. The noise in his suit and the information scroll, told him all he needed to know. Kreum was one with the light.

“Secure this goddamn place down!” Dreckt said, fighting back his emotions as he checked the overhead hangar doors.

“Dreckt to CAG, I have a possible route for extraction,” he said, passing information to Heston's staff, who were working the shuttles and fighters.

“Understood. Get it open and we'll get you transport,” the person said, somehow sounding calm during all of this chaos.

“Understood. Will do. Someone find me a control panel for that overhead,” Dreckt said to his squad leaders.

***

“It's confirmed. We have the prisoners,” Vort said, not wanting to use the names of those who they'd recovered just yet. Casting eyes at Edwards, he thought that the man had been suspiciously quiet since learning about coming to Daestramus. But he seemed to be on his best behavior. Rick understood it completely. When they had been travelling from Earth to Parnmal he had done nothing but complain and get into every nook and cranny he was not supposed to be in.

“Get them back up here and pull our remaining forces. We've been down here long enough,” Rick said as Vort turned to pass out the orders.

Heston's fighters had done an amazing job, but they'd still been lit up to all hell. Santos' people as well. Rick wondered if he'd made the right choice getting the Fleet's people back, at the cost of losing even more. Only time will tell, Rick said to himself. He felt that it had been the right call. The Free Fleet looked after its own, no matter the cost.

“Walf, we have confirmed targets on those extra fighters’ hangars, correct?” Rick said, noticing some enemy fighters retreating.

“Uhh, yes sir. We're getting it relayed from Daisy, which is linking up with the rest of the Fleet,” he said, clearly not thinking of that as Rick nodded.

“Vort,” Rick said. “Inform the orbiting fleet that I want those targets marked, and hit. Kinetics only, I don't want any fallout, or any civilian casualties.”

***

“I want those shuttles moving yesterday!” Heston barked as he looked over his holographic display. To an untrained eye it looked like one hell of a complicated situation. There were fighters, warships, shuttles, Commandos and all manner of shit in-between displayed. To Heston it was as like a checkers board. He'd run through so many simulations with it that he needed only a few seconds to understand it.

“Xing, I want your fighters to concentrate on keeping the other bastards off of us. My forces will look after the shuttles,” Heston said. The other carrier commander was linked by hologram, so it looked as if they were in the same room.

“Done,” Xing said as he began rattling off information to his wing commanders.

“You. Tell Bok Soo to get his people to designate clear landing zones,” Heston pointed to the myriad of comms officers. “You. Yes you. Connect to Resilient's Tactical, these shuttles are going to need cover. Decoys and the rest.  We don't want a missile hitting them mid-load.” The controller turned around as he finished.

“We're down ten percent in fighters, corralling wings together,” Red, Heston's second in command said.

Heston hated how the Sarenmenti used statistics instead of numbers, but he knew that when he was dealing with massive battles, he would need that kind of data. Heston nodded as he watched his plot. It was in his pilot's hands now. Feng Fang was tearing into the fighters but they had numbers and missiles. The freighter turned carrier was going to need an overhaul. She was battered to all hell, but vital to getting fighters re-armed and back in the fight. The enemy was having to go around the planet to refuel and re-arm. The orbiting Fleet had split up and fired onto the different locations. Pandora had refrained from doing so. She had missiles and PDS, neither of which would've been the best for the job. As the resupply areas fell, the fighters seemed to panic. The ones already leaving the battle went to other bases, which were targeted and hit.

“Sneaky bastards,” Heston said under his breath as after a few minutes the fighters without fuel started to go towards the civilian airports.

“What's our current policy with the civilian population?” Heston asked, not getting a reply back. “You,” he said, looking to a controller.

“We're to assist them in any way possible, except with weapons and the like,” the person said, looking slightly nervous.

“Well, we might think about getting on the horn with them and letting them know that our wings are going to smash anything not theirs or clearly civilian and that we might land on their pads,” Heston said.

The enemy had come into their fight with all of their fighters at the main base. Now all of them were out of fuel and weapons. The ones that had to blast around the planet were similarly running out of fuel. It was still one hell of a battle in the sky, but his fighters had cover from the warships and organized wings. While they still lacked in numbers, they were turning the battle into a covering action for the shuttles, a true dog-fight.

“How do you like me now, fuckers?” he said under his breath, grinning like a mad-man.

***

Narvu had imagined doing a lot of things in his life, not one of them being part of a rebel sleeper cell. Sure there had been talk of rebellion before, of overthrowing Marhtu and making a system that was right, not one that just worked. Narvu wanted a place for his kids to grow up safe from the fear of someone coming in the night to take them for no reason other than they could. Elsi his wife was one of those nameless people who had been taken. Narvu remembered the pain as he had wept, holding the twins as he realized how stupid he was for thinking he was safe. When that trader Saleeni and his ship of food stuffs came in, he had given Narvu more than food to keep his boys healthy for the harsher months. He had given him an idea. He had inspired Narvu, told him about the Free Fleet. There was a way to be free, but he had to do it himself. Saleeni extended Narvu an invitation to become part of something larger. Narvu had been hesitant. He still had his two boys to look after. Then one of his friends stole a bag of food from him.

When he asked for it back, the friend said that he would report him to Marhtu for having more food than allowed. Neighbours and friends were supposed to help one another, not steal from each other. He didn't want his boys to grow up in a place like that. So he had accepted Saleeni's offer. Saleeni had given him everything, ways to communicate, ways to get people to work for him, contacts that he had made in different cities. Within a week Narvu was building sleeper cells in every major department within his city. He was the only one who knew more than two other people. Some of them didn't even know that they were under him.

It was complicated, but it was made so that any cell could do anything, coming together in a group or being by themselves. It was perfect and difficult to lure out the leaders, or the other groups. When the Daestramus military was mobilized Narvu got a massive file. It listed all of the people in the military, gave him plans to cities, tidbits of information on different people. Narvu had taken Saleeni’s last present and struck at the heart of the cities. Rebel cells were working to take over the city as the information nets were filled with the names of those that had terrorized the people. Whatever happened Narvu knew that Daestramus was going to be a new planet. He just had to make sure that he didn't allow it to go backwards.

He was using the communications system he'd set up at the shipping control tower when his work screen beeped with an incoming message.

“Well that's interesting,” he said as he thought for a moment. Remembering a couple of numbers, he dialled them in and sent them short messages.

He had a few contacts down on the pads. He didn't think they'd take too kindly to having the secret military landing on their ground. He checked his station, going through the history to see if he missed anything. There was an odd freighter leaving the city. It wasn't listed as a trader. He delved deeper and found that it had been on the pad, serviced but never flown.

“Shit.” He sent a message back to the Free Fleet. The Freighter was running for it, but maybe they could catch it. Narvu knew in his bones that Marhtu was on that ship. The information in front of him only confirmed it.

Chapter - A Win?

Dreckt watched as the two shuttles entered the now opened hangar. His people piled on, carrying their wounded and dead.

“Get those turrets going!” he yelled, seconds later he heard the turrets opening up on anything that was chasing them when they retreated to the shuttles.

The first shuttle took off as Dreckt changed to his pilot's channel.

“Last man!” he said, the ramp lifting up as the shuttle sped into the air. Dreckt was thankful for his mag-boots as the shuttle changed direction, not taking long before it decelerated. The familiar sounds of clamps engaging around the shuttle could be heard as engines cut out.

The ramps lowered as those in need of medical attention were whisked out. Dreckt hated how the whole thing was like a drill to his people. He removed his helmet while he watched everyone take the unconscious Salchar, who was rushed with the other wounded to the sickbay. The ground under Dreckt lurched as the shuttle bay doors closed with alarming speed. He could see the fighters clashing still as Resilient made her exit. Dreckt looked around the shuttle bay. Carsickle and the Commandos that had been left onboard were helping everyone get sorted out. Santos moved through the crowds, people getting out of his way as he hopped onto an elevator. Dreckt nodded to Carsickle as he passed.

“I wish I could've gone,” Carsickle said and Dreckt nodded. It wasn't that the old general wanted to fight.

It was that he wanted to be with his men.

Rick had kept him on-board to organize reinforcements before they went down. It was a shitty job, sending others into battle as you watched, but Carsickle knew Resilient the best and had the rank to get people moving. Dreckt moved on numbly as Carsickle's gauntleted hand tapped his shoulder. Dreckt turned to him.

“I heard,” he said. Dreckt didn't know the man very well, but being part of Resilient's Commando group he had seen and talked to Carsickle quite a lot when first came aboard. Some were a little irritated that Carsickle had been appointed to his current position. The man was good with organizing troops and getting them trained, he was a veteran in his own right.

Though none of that mattered. Dreckt saw the understanding in Carsickle's eyes.

“He did good,” Carsickle said, surprising Dreckt as he felt pride well up inside him at the loss of Kreum.

He had been a goof, and a joker, but he had also been a damn good Commando. He had trained fine warriors and died looking after his brothers and sisters.

“Yes, he did,” Dreckt nodded as Carsickle squeezed his shoulder.

“You need me, just ask,” Carsickle said, Dreckt feeling the weight behind those words as he nodded, turning and leaving. He still had to tell Shminkt and Kareesh.

***

“Get us the fuck out of here if you please, Milra,” Rick yelled.

“With pleasure.” Resilient fired her thrusters, sending her up through the atmosphere as FengFang, Rinky Dink and Toupe led the way.

I don't know if the other races are mocking how we name our ships, or they think that those are actually good names in their language. Rick thought, the levity of finally getting out of the battle causing him to lose focus. He growled at himself as he checked reports and looked at the Fighters that were covering their retreat in his display. Felix and Salchar were right. Those damned ships are worth their weight in gold, he thought as the fighters below broke off their engagement, the enemy running for it.

“I want the Fleet in formation and a million kilometers from this damn planet. Ben, I want a flight plan made up for us to reach Cheerleader,” Rick said.

“On it. COS.”

Rick looked to his med-bay numbers.

“Parse out medical billets and have the Commando's transferred back to their ships immediately. In Sook, you can take over your post as Combined Arms again,”

“Sir!” Rick didn't miss how relieved she sounded. She had been a good second-in-command, but she had found her true calling in combined arms.

Rick scanned the ships.

“Vort, have Daisy Skimmer go to Chaleel and send a message to Parnmal. Have Toupe go to Cheerleader with the same message,” Rick said.

“What would that message be?” Vort asked.

“Update on our actions on target, current status,” Rick was tired as the feeling of battle wore off.

“Sir.”

Rick stayed on the bridge, looking at the reports, their bloody numbers as well as the mechanical issues. Eddie was already getting crews out onto Resilient's hull to repair the massive rents in the armour plating he'd been largely responsible for fixing since her being in the Free Fleet.

“Go check on him,” Marleen said as Rick looked up, about to object until he saw the other's faces.

He stood stoic.

“I'll be back shortly. Marleen you have command,” he quickly left.

If it was at all proper he would've run to the med-bay. The bulkheads and transports seemed to take forever as he got to the bay. It was a mess of people being moved about. Those that were stable and based on other ships were already being sent with their people back to their own med-bays. Resilient's bays were big, but they didn't have the staff or the specialized equipment to treat everyone.

“Resilient, where is he?” Rick said, not wanting to get lost in the mess as she gave him instructions through his implants. He got to an isolated room, a doctor coming out as he was about to enter.

“Get out... Chief of Staff,” she said, looking flustered.

“How are they?” he asked as the doctor’s eyes darted around him, not wanting to make eye contact.

“Physically,’ they’re healing. Mentally, I just don’t know. Some of them have given up. They just don't care anymore. Others blame themselves, and others are disgusted by their inability to do anything. They all need help,” she answered, looking grim.

“Thanks doc,” he said, bracing himself for the worst as they moved past one another and he went into the room.

It was a small ward with four beds. Calerd and two of the second relations team were on the beds. Calerd looked to the ceiling, one of the relations people shivered, as the other rocked himself. Salchar was facing the wall in the bed furthest from the door. Shreesht and Krom moved from where they sat next to the door. They wore new battle suits but painful looking lacerations covered all the skin that Rick could see. There was an anger behind Krom's eyes that scared Rick as he nodded to the man.

Shreesht's eyes were duller than they had ever been before. Where there had always been a bawdy joke there was now a glum look. Rick moved to Salchar.

“James?” he asked as he got closer. The man moved, his red eyes finding Rick. He sat up against his pillows.

“Rick,” He said, a flash of something cold and dark in his eyes, sending a ripple of fear through Rick's spine. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

“We're away from Daestramus. I've got people relaying our status to Parnmal and Cheerleader,” Rick said, not knowing what to say.

“It's my fault,” James said, looking to Rick. “I thought that I could make this universe a better place. I can't. It doesn't want to be better. The Kalu, the pirates, the corrupt, the sadistic, the uncaring, all of them were here before us and they don't care what I think, you think, or what we do. They'll just roll over us and forget us,” James said, looking to the bed, defeat in his eyes.

“James, look at what you've done! You've built a fleet out of nothing, you've given these people hope. Daestramus is changing before our eyes,”

“I sent down a team to get tortured and turned into that fuckers cushions! I sent down another one because I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I went too! I got Janice killed, Dave killed. I GOT FIFTY NINE PEOPLE KILLED! For what? For goddamn fucking nothing!”

Rick felt his heart turn at his friends’ words. He saw the James before he truly became Salchar, the man that had cared for himself because it was easier.

“Don't you understand? It's all for fucking nothing! Lady Fairgate is going to send a bigger fleet, then a bigger, until we're nothing but fucking dust!”

“We've won against impossible odds before!” Rick yelled back, he wasn't going to lose this fight. He needed Salchar, not this person that didn't give a rat’s ass.

“Okay, say we win, then what? We have a bunch of little planets that owe us their lives, and they turn to us, and tell us to fuck right off. They rip up their contracts, piss all over the Free Fleet, and they complain if anything goes bad. It's a bad joke. If we become what we want to be, then we're nothing. The pirates got one thing right. They stopped caring what other people thought, and they did what they wanted. They grabbed the power to change what they wanted, how they wanted, and told the universe where to shove it,”

“You can't believe that, James,” Rick said, pleading for a part of Salchar to be left in there.

“I can't? Look at what the fuck just happened! These people are used to pirates, not people helping one another. We're just looking to get stabbed in the back,”

“We have to take risks to get anywhere. Don't we owe it to these people to help them get to where they can make their own decisions? You made this Free Fleet to give people a chance to prove themselves. We can't just give up on it halfway because you feel a little guilty. I need Salchar back, the man that would piss in the eye of the most feared woman in the known galaxy because he believed in the little guy that's been crapped on by the syndicate all their life,”

Rick stood, walking to the door, turning before he left.

“The Fleet needs you, Salchar, so get over whatever you're going through and hurry up about it. Fifty nine people died for the ideals you came up with. No one in this fleet was going to leave one of their own behind. No matter the cost. No one made them listen to my orders, no kill switches or pain implants. They did it on their own. Think about that before you start complaining about how the universe doesn’t change.”

Rick left. The door shutting behind him as he exhaled, his body shaking.

What the hell did they do to him? He thought.

“Resilient. I have another message for Daisy Skimmer. This one's for Hachiro though,”

***

Connolly walked through the shuttle bay, admiring the ships. He felt a hand on his back and turned to find a grinning Smith.

“Smith?” he asked. He hadn't seen the pilot that had taken him to Resilient since he'd gone off to fighter school.

“The one the only!” Smith said, smiling as per usual. Connolly clapped his shoulder.

“It's good to see you! What are you doing here?”

“I'm testing out the new fighters, and I’m in Nancy's first fighter wing,” Smith grinned.

“Those fighters aren't even off the production line yet,” Connolly said, wondering just how Smith had swung this one.

“The best time to try them out, right when they still have the brand-new ship smell. What have you been up to since you got here?”

“Training and building. I could take apart a Corvette with my eyes closed and use my mecha without moving a single muscle. I'm a fully trained Commando now,” Connolly said, not without some pride.

“I wanted to talk about some business,” Smith said, his smile faltering as he saw that Connolly knew what he meant. He nodded to a work room. They went inside, Connolly checking the door before Smith started talking.

“I'm not going to do it,” Smith said, there was no smile on his face anymore, and Connolly could tell that Smith was being serious, a rare and strange occurrence.

“Why?” Connolly asked, although he understood the sentiment. He didn't know if he could do what the United States told him to do anymore. He had bonded with these people and seen the true scope of the things they were doing.

They weren't trying to be a military or impose themselves on Earth. They had too much going on to care about that. They were building a collection of space faring planets. They were creating a new Union, one based on giving people opportunities.

“Say the United States takes over the Free Fleet. Then we have an entity that has done nothing but wage war on other people, dictate terms for how people should operate in other communities and used their military like a baseball bat on a piñata. Don't get me wrong. This isn’t just about the United States. I don’t think any nation should have the power of the Free Fleet. There is too much history, too much single-mindedness. The Free Fleet would turn into a symbol of power, not one of possibilities for people to get another chance at life,” Smith said.

Connolly was slightly surprised, but impressed.

“I understand,” Connolly said, seeing Smith tense up. “I agree,”

“Sir?” Smith asked. He was clearly not expecting that reply.

“I'm not going to turn on my people here just so some politician can corrupt it,” he was grinning as Smith seemed to deflate, clearly relieved.

“Well that's good to know!” Smith's infectious grin was back.

“Now, where's the best place to find something flammable in this place,” Smith said.

“Haven't changed at all have you?” Connolly returned as they exited the work room.

“Me? Change? What a horrible idea!” Smith said, Connolly grinning as they walked towards the recreational areas of Nancy.

“So what's it like having an AI helping out?” Smith asked.

“A godsend. Lare has streamlined the process of fixing ships by thirty percent. He's also looked into laying down the first Dreadnought keel. We're going to wait until we've got the new Battle Cruisers out, but it's just amazing. We're going to be making our own ships soon enough. It's crazy.”

Connolly shook his head.

“That's good. Seems I'll have that to think about while I'm piloting a tug,” Smith said.

“A tug?”

“Well, the new fighters, as you said, won't be done for another couple of weeks. In that time I'm second on a tug. Are they as bad as I've been told?” Smith grimaced.

“Worse,” Connolly smiled as they got on a transport.

“Shit. Oh, well. It should be worth it. Have you heard how Earth is now coming after Yasu for looking after the kids of the Recruits?”

“Yeah, it's stupid. Earth can't support that number of kids. Hell, they wouldn't know how to deal with the fact that they're a year and a half old and look like they’re seventeen.”

“With the mental capacity of a twenty year old,” Smith said, and Connolly felt his eyebrows rise.

“That's got to be one hell of a managing issue,” Connolly said.

“Oh, you bet. Yasu is running shop on them all.”

“That has got to be interesting,” Connolly remembered the stories that George had told him and the other Commandos about Yasu, Salchar and the rest of the leaders of the Free Fleet.

***

Yasu closed her eyes, smelling the growing section. She was breathing in the soft aromas of earth, water, and nature.

She heard a thump. Her eyes found Wallace on the ground, Linda and Tyler in the tree, looking at Yasu. The expression oh shit plastered on their faces.

“Out of the tree this minute!” Yasu said, storming over to them. She yanked Wallace's hands out of the way, checking his head as Tyler and Linda toed the dirt.

Yasu felt the other kids watching.

“Keep staring and you'll be doing training too,” she said, the kids quickly going back to their work as Tyler, Linda and Wallace looked glum. “Put some ice on that later, and tell someone if it starts hurting more,” Yasu said as she moved away from the three kids.

When she had come to Hachiro she had devoted her time to creating a training plan for basic mecha control, fighting skills, and ship skills. Within the first rotation she had gotten her plans ironed out and left them to Takahashi. She kept close tabs on the man. While he was doing his level best to train people to the Free Fleet's standard, she still remembered how he had used her to ambush James. It was not something she was going to easily let go.

With her extra time she trained. She also read and much to chagrin she was growing bored with the incessant wasting of time. That is until one of the nannies in charge of the thousands of kids that the recruits had birthed asked if she wanted to give some self-defence classes to the kids. Yasu had thought it would be useless, but the kids were eager to learn. They loved doing new things. She didn't teach them like kids, but adults, and got the Sato sisters involved. She remembered the looks of confusion and shock that the Sato sisters had tried to hide as they helped train the kids.

The sisters hadn’t been the only one’s teaching the kids new things. Yasu had seen the sisters smiling and laughing with the kids. They were like big sisters, whether they wanted to be or not.

Yasu didn't treat the kids like kids. It was clear to see they hated that. They were much more advanced than their Earth-born equivalents. She treated them like teenagers and adults, something they appreciated and probably why they spent all of their time around Yasu. The kids weren't just human. There were Sarenmenti and Kuruvians as well. Some cared where they came from, but most just accepted the fact that they had a few hundred thousand brothers and sisters.

“Since you three have so much time to go climbing when you're supposed to be looking after the crops and plants that keep us alive, we'll be doing circuits today.” The three groaned.

“Come on,” she told them, the three following her as she took them into the training area. They nodded solemnly and greeted those that they knew.

The trainees grinned. Yasu's punishments were famous not only with the kids but among their own ranks.

“Arms, so you might be able to hold onto a tree better. Begin,” Yasu said as they found an open spot in the middle of the track.

She felt pride and caring for each child. All of them had their quirks and issues. Yet she had made it her policy that anyone could come to her at any time. Sometimes that had meant little to no sleep, but they were worth it.

Commander Whorst pinged her implants, so she opened the channel.

“Commander?” she asked. The Sarenmenti was the Hachiro’s commander, and her direct supervisor. Though it usually worked out that he assisted her in getting people trained and kept Hachiro running and building, which was nearly completely finished.

“Yasu, it seems that there is an issue on the planet.” He sounded concerned, but not alarmed. Hopefully it's not more politicians being idiots, she thought.

“What issue?”

“It seems that the Syndicate didn't only accelerate the Recruits aging. They did it to everyone on the planet,” Whorst said.

Oh shit.

“While these kids have accelerated brain growth, the majority don't have teaching implants.”

“So they're kids with big bodies and all the joys of that, with a developed brain and nothing in it.”

“Yes,” Whorst said.

“Tell the parents to get them sleep implants and start educating them on everything. If they can't handle it we will,” She said, looking at Linda, Tyler, and Wallace as they changed from dips to push-ups to pull-ups.

“I'll let them know,” Whorst said cutting the channel.

She felt that new weight rest on her shoulders as she wished, not for the first time, that Salchar was around. While they had fought like hell in the beginning they had finally come together, working as a team, as a couple. A small smile crossed her face. Maybe they would be adding another kid to Hachiro's halls sometime soon. She had done her training plan. She had sorted out the kids and dealt with the loss of everyone she had known on Earth.

She was ready to get back to the Fleet, back to Salchar.

***

George and Silly looked at the plans in front of them. Since the second battle of Parnmal Silly had churned out seven Corvette’s, four Destroyers, and three Dreadnought's. He hadn't finished one Battle Cruiser, and the reason he hadn't was the plan in front of him. It combined Felix's gadgets and the technology that had been created from throwing all kinds of Rex together, as well as the experiences of the ship's crews.

The new Battle Cruisers were only possible due to the number of them and the new technology.

“This is going to be one hell of an undertaking,” George said.

“Oh, it will,” Silly said.

“It's the most extreme double-bagging I ever did see,” George said.

Half of the Battle Cruisers had been stripped down to the bare armour, which was completely repaired. They had been cut along the sides, the engine cut out and the bow split, creating what looked like a flayed ship. The second half of the ships had their armour fully repaired and replaced and were slotted inside the first Battle Cruiser. The additional armour was stuck on using explosive welding and the result was that the Battle Cruiser doubled its armour.

Once that was done Silly and his crews had to go about putting in the new weapon systems and blow-out panels. New and upgraded reactors and engines would allow the Battle Cruiser to move as fast as before, though the charge times for wormholes would be increased. Eddie had wanted to do the same thing to Resilient, but the Dreadnought's had been built with thick armour and were one hell of a ship already. Destroyers were too small for the new upgrades, and so were the Corvettes. So it had to be the Battle Cruisers.

“Now, for the carrier conversions it's going to be a little harder. I was thinking of copying the Detara class Carrier,” Silly said as he brought up a hologram of the carrier.

It had pods on either side that acted as runways for fighters.

“Yes, but then you have increased jump times and weak points where the hangars are, due to being tacked on, not built into the structure,” Lare said, adding his own opinion.

“So go with a solid-state hangar system like the Oluti Class?” George said, a hologram of that carrier replacing the previous image.

“With a single hangar running the length of the Carrier there is the issue of incoming fire. A missile in the right spot and the soft underside is gone,” Silly said.

“Also if one side is taken out then having fighters coming in and out of only one side will severely limit their capabilities. Look at the issues Pandora is having because of that,” Lare added.

“So we need a system that has more than one way on and off the boat. And doesn't leave us with structural issues,” George said, flipping through holograms of various ships.

“I might have a suggestion,” Lare said, sounding apprehensive.

“Well, spit it out,” Silly said as a Hondula class carrier appeared. It looked like a rounded stone with odd nubs on it.

“The Hondula used wing pods that were close to the ship. They didn't launch at great speeds as they ejected sideways. If we had ships ejected forwards with rails like human carriers and not tube accelerators like the ones on Pandora we would have a lower power draw, but little structural change, and small targets with snap shields,” Lare said. The wing pods looked like half circle jet engine air-intakes with fins inside.

“Though you'll have limited launch capability,” Silly said.

“Launching will be slower, but with the right system we can take space from the human's again and store fighters inside the ship. If the runways are hit, then not everything is lost,” Lare said.

“Show me what your wing pods would look like on the Battle Cruiser.

The Battle Cruiser had little in the way of cannons, but had five wing pods. Two on each side facing forward and one underneath facing to the rear.

“How many wings could this puppy hold?” Georg asked.

“Eight wings,”

“Going with missiles and PDS still?” Silly asked.

“Yes, though there could be some medium classed cannons along the spine.”

Lare added in the cannons to the top of the carrier. It was the strongest part of the ship, away from the large areas that the wing pods would need, and would give the carrier some offensive abilities up close. Missiles were great, but the more options one had the better.

“Well, I think we just decided how we're going to make our Battle Carriers,” Silly said.

“Good work, Lare,” George added, grinning at the rotating hologram.

“Thank you. It was fun.”

“That's even better! Now to get these beasties made. In a few months we might be able to make a real carrier,” Silly said.

“Always seems that we're saying another few months,” George complained.

“Makes the anticipation that much more,” Silly, said giving him a playful pat.

“Now we have Battle Cruisers to outfit!” he said as he sent orders to have the already prepared hulls moved into the only free slip.

There were four slips, and a fifth quickly coming along. It didn't seem anywhere near enough, yet its size was massive. The fifth slip would fit Resilient and regular carriers. The sixth, which was being put together by Lare and a small drone army, should be big enough to start building the first super carriers. Silly rubbed his hands together. He hadn't felt so alive in a long time. Salchar hadn't lied when he said he'd be busy as Murphy's own meddling hands.

Chapter - The Obstinate and the Gamer

Lady Fairgate threw the cup she was drinking from. Her calm face turned into a mask of anger as she read the report from Foshunti's fleet.

“He thinks he can defy me? I fucking made him!” she grated, wishing she had something else to throw in anger.

No one in the room dared to make noise, or anything that would draw attention. A slave cleaned up the remains of the cup.

Word had reached her that Foshunti instead of destroying the Free Fleet wholesale, had turned it into one of his twisted games. Captain Lord Lifendi was still off on the line making sure that the Kalu threat wasn't a real one. While also trying to find out about the Planner that was rumoured to have been seen again. She looked at the screen, fuming. Foshunti had put her in a bad position. To chastise him would make her look weak, and while no one knew that she had told him to attack the Free Fleet full on, both she and he did.

It was a clear threat to her authority, but one that she couldn't change without looking weak herself. She wrote a message to Foshunti, detailing how displeased she was with the change in tactics, and also giving him a thinly veiled ultimatum to win against the Free Fleet. Or she would personally see to his re-education with her own KaaOrv.

She sent the message and watched the other reports coming in. People were upset per usual. She didn't care. She had made it her life goal to see the Union in ashes for letting the Kalu get through their lines and hitting her home planet. Everything and everyone she'd ever known had died, but she survived. Fuelled by her anger and a sharp mind she had brought the Syndicate together for the sole purpose of crushing those that had taken away her childhood.

Lady Fairgate didn't care about the Kalu. While they might be the ones that dropped the nukes, they weren't the ones that didn't keep their promise. Her promise was simple. She would fight for herself, and watch the rest of the galaxy burn. She revelled in chaos and anarchy. She had seen how planets that relied on trading had returned to the caves of their ancestors as they had nothing to live off of. She looked to Worshun, seeing how the planet looked like a mark on the perfect blackness of space, instead of the jewel it had once been.

She stood and began pacing so she could think. She needed to crush the Free Fleet, break their hopes as soon as possible. If the Kalu were a real threat then she would need to escape quickly. Earth would provide her with the things she needed to live out a joyful existence while the Kalu destroyed what remained of the Union. Why should she waste her time killing people when she could get another to do it for her?

The syndicate would be in disarray, looking for a leader and running in all directions. It would be perfect anarchy. Yet she needed Sol system for the safety it would provide. With the station, shipyard, and her own fleet she could live comfortably with humans crewing the areas of the ship that were beneath her people. She would unleash her captains and their crew onto Earth, dividing it up as she wanted and letting them fight for what they held, or for more, if they wanted it. She sent orders to Rosho, a station in a nearby sector, sister to Parnmal. They were to assist Foshunti in getting rid of the Free Fleet and re-establishing Syndicate control over the area. It was fine if Foshunti was going to play his games. She was going to make sure that he had enough damn ships that losing wasn't an option.

***

The mood in the conference room was sour. Krom, Bok Soo, Eddie, Shrift, and Rick sat with their faces ranging from anger to sadness.

“So what are we going to do? Salchar is defeated. He doesn't think he should command anymore. Cheerleader has one of the Captain Lords inviting us to a space duel, Marhtu has escaped and Daestramus is in chaos,” Bok Soo finished.

“Daestramus hasn't signed a contract with the Free Fleet and I don't think we should get involved. This is the people's fight. Are we ready for a fight with a Captain Lord?” Rick asked.

“Definitely not. Foshunti will have at least one carrier, a handful of Dreadnought's and more Battle Cruisers, Destroyers, and Corvettes than we've probably ever seen,” Eddie said, his manipulators moving in aggravated twitches. “A Captain Lord is not sent to settle disputes. They're sent to decimate the enemy so badly that no one even thinks of looking at a weapon for a century,”

“What about pulling back to Parnmal?” Krom asked.

“We can't,” Shrift said. “The station is so damned messed up from the battle against Keluthat Foshunti would roll over us and then the station. We need to buy them time in case we fail.”

“So we gather the fleet and hit them?” Rick said. He dealt in information, facts and figures. Tactics, finesse and subtlety was Salchar's realm.

“Seems to be our only option,” Bok Soo grunted, sitting back in his chair.

“We should tell the Battle Mistress,” Krom said as Rick held his chin, nodding.

“It's worth it. Takahashi can take over training, and she can come with the rest of the Fleet,” Rick said, as the ramifications of what he was suggesting spread through the room. Yasu should be there before Foshunti could arrive, and if the main fleet was messed up, then she would at least be able to react to Foshunti and his fleet.

“Are we going to leave forces behind?” Bok Soo asked.

“Either win this battle or Foshunti is going to roll over us and take everything we have. If we do win, I'm going to suggest we have a base that can operate autonomously of the Free Fleet,” Rick said.

“You might not have to suggest anything sir. You might be the COFF,” Shrift said.

A few looked to argue the point before dismissing it. All of them had seen Salchar.

“So what are we going to tell the Fleet?” Rick asked

“He's sick, he's getting looked after. We can't let them know how he really is,” Bok Soo said, the others giving signs of agreement.

“Okay we'll keep it quiet for now,” Rick said, sighing. He just wanted the old Salchar back, the man that pushed the Fleet forward, not caring about the obstacles in his way.

“What about Edwards?” Krom asked and Rick felt his anger rise.

“As much as I hate the man we can't do anything with him. I should've sent him on Toupe back to controlled space. We'll keep him on the bridge until we get somewhere where he can stand trial and answer for betraying the trust of the Free Fleet,” Rick said.

Bok Soo grunted, the others showing contempt and anger at the man that had used his position in a foolish attempt to gain favour with Marhtu and give control to the United States.

I'm going to have to look into that as well. Or get Min Hae to see how much of a hold Earth has on the Free Fleet. How the hell did James deal with all this crap? Rick thought as he stood.

“Alright. That's enough sitting around. I'm going to get the Resilient tuned for link-up with Cheerleader's forces. We'll gather at DU12287 and prepare to give this Foshunti bastard a right good ass kicking,” Rick said.

The others stood as he nodded and left the room. He couldn't deal with the thought that he might end up in charge of the Free Fleet. He couldn't think of the Fleet without Salchar.

“Ben, do you have the plot to link-up with Cheerleader?” Rick said as the other man exited the conference room.

“Yes sir,”

“Good. Milra, get us underway. Vort, coordinate with the other ships.” Rick took his seat, In Sook returning to her station.

All those who had gathered for the meeting filed out of the bridge. Rick pulled up his inbox, finding a detailed report on Resilient's condition. As well as the condition of the other ships in the Fleet. He kicked himself for being too preoccupied to have asked Eddie in the meeting. He needed to get focused. Salchar was his friend and commander, but even he had told Rick to look to the Fleet before everything else.

***

Bok Soo marched in past the doctors, nodding to a few people he knew as he stopped in front of Shreesht who wore his complete mecha, fully buttoned up. Shreesht nodded back as he took a breath and walked into the room. Calerd was curled up in his bed, despondent. Another person from the relations team sat silently, rocking himself.

Salchar sat in his bed, looking at the view screen which seemed to look directly out onto Worshun, the planet that had been the jewel of the Union. Salchar looked up, a smile covering his face. It was tinted with the pain in the young man's eyes. He got up, and Bok Soo didn't miss the grimaces as the two of them embraced.

“God, it's good to see you,” Bok Soo said, his eyes misty.

“I didn't think I’d get to see your Iron hide again,” James said as they held one another for a moment, just happy that they were both alive.

Bok Soo pulled away and James took a seat on his bed as Bok Soo sat on the visitor chair.

“So what is this garbage with you not wanting to be the CFF anymore?” he said, his tone curious instead of harsh.

“I'm done, Bok Soo, I don't have the confidence to be a commander anymore. It's useless,” James said, slumping.

“Grit your teeth,” Bok Soo said and James looked confused. Bok Soo hit him in the face, causing him to tumble off of the bed.

“The fuck was that for?” Salchar said as he got off of the floor.

“Stop listening to your self-pity and whining. Listen to the people around you. You didn't listen to what I was saying. You only thought of how hard you have it and you got punched for it,”

“Thanks,” James drawled.

“Anytime, brother,” Bok Soo grinned. “You better get off your damned ass and get on that bridge. We're going into what's going to be our biggest battle yet. We're going up against the Captain Lord Foshunti,” Bok Soo said, seeing James shut down again.

“I don't care,”

“Grit!”

James got out of the way of the incoming fist this time.

“Ahh, now you’re listening. Now sit!” Bok Soo said, James doing so sullenly.

“Foshunti is the only know Dovark that isn't on his home planet. He is ruthless, and twisted. He see's battle as a joke, a way to put one over on the other. He loves sadistic displays. Many think he's insane. He commands the Talhalla, a Detara super carrier and the fourth fleet. Lifendi commands the third, Fairgate the first and second,”

“Why are you telling me this?” James said, clearly annoyed.

“Because you're James goddamn Cook, Salchar the gamer that took Mecha Tail to the MAO and MAT championships. You're the man that got this whole damn thing going, and you're the man that's going to see that it continues going,” Bok Soo yelled, actually coming up out of his seat a little.

“I'm not him anymore,” James muttered, his eyes cast down.

“Oh stop this crap. Yes you were tortured, yes you saw people die. We all have! You're going to have to suck it up and expect more of the same. We aren't glamorous or good looking, but we're what this damned galaxy needs to set it right,”

“You're at least human! Look at me, I'm a beast,” James waved at himself.

“You’re alive aren't you!? That means you either get with the goddamn program or fuck off! This is a team, not a group of individuals—sound familiar?”

Bok Soo saw the recognition in Salchar's eyes, even if he didn't admit it.

“That's right, you said that to me after our third game. You know what I did. I packed, hell I even left and then not even a kilometre from the house I turned my sorry ass around and rolled back to Mecha Tail. You know why I did that? Because I wanted to be part of something that I could be proud of. I didn't know it, but I wanted to be part of a team. I wanted to be a part of Mecha Tail. Now it's your time to find out if you want to be in the Free Fleet. Till then I'm going to fill your twisted little head with all the information you're going to need to win this battle against Foshunti.”

Bok Soo smacked his hands together, making James jump.

“Now, to begin at the start is best, as you said. Cheerleader was doing her scouting as per normal when a Battle Cruiser jumped into the system sending her this transmission. Bok Soo went through all of the information.”

James was forced to listen carefully for when he would say 'grit.’ Otherwise he knew he would end up on the floor again.

Bok Soo knew that James was hurting. He had been through immeasurable pain. He'd seen the people he'd ordered to the surface die. He took all of the blame on himself. He felt weak and useless. Bok Soo knew that those two traits were what had gotten a lot of teams into trouble when Mecha Tail had come onto the gaming stage. James wasn't that strong alone, maybe an average player. But when he had people to draw on he only seemed to get stronger, and he was far from useless. His mind was his greatest asset, not his body.

Bok Soo completed the most in-depth briefing he could, going on not only to describe the forces they believed were coming with Foshunti, but also the strength of the Fleet and reports from Parnmal that Cheerleader had passed on.

“So we need to win against him before he gets to Parnmal. That gives us three systems. Our projected link-up date with our forces is three days behind when Foshunti wishes to face us in DU122349,” Bok Soo finished, outlining the data of the alpha-numeric system, which had nothing but a weak red star and some barely formed planets. It had a Jovian and a massive iceball of a planet, the gravitational pull of the two massive planets had stopped other planets forming inbetween them, creating a massive asteroid belt around the sun.

“Grit!”

Salchar smacked the fist away with ease.

“Good. At least you know what we're up against.”

“What you're up against, I'm not part of this fleet anymore.”

“Oh, I think you'll find you are,” Bok Soo told him. Not saying anything else as he left.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, you misery-guts, Bok Soo thought, a grin on his face. He'd seen Salchar under that veneer of self-pity. The man was in there. He just needed time to come to terms with the deaths of those that he had sent to Daestramus.

Time that we don't have, Bok Soo thought, nodding to Krom who had replaced Shreesht and taking a transport off to the shuttles he needed to look to his own people. He had looked to the dead, taking time for them yesterday. Now he needed a stiff drink to deal with a day without them. He knew he'd be able to rouse a few for a good old toast to those that had ventured into the Black to find the Light.

Chapter - Off To a Jokester's Game

“There's a message you'll want to see,” Chrys said through Min Hae's implants. He'd been pouring over the information that he and his crew had pulled from Daestramus.

“Send it,” Min Hae told her, and the message hit his implants. It was a simple text message.

Engaging Captain Lord Foshunti in system DU122349. All ships that are combat ready are to meet the Free Fleet before or during combat.

There was a list of systems that the Fleet could be in at a given time. Min Hae nodded to himself, adjusting his plans. The Free Fleet could very well be destroyed by Foshunti and his goons if they weren’t extraordinarily fast and lucky. It was his job to keep the Fleet going by any means. He sent of a number of messages to the Q-ships and intelligence departments. He would have every Q-ship under his command out and working the people under the control of the Syndicate. He was not going to let the Fleet die.

“At the next jump point I want us to change headings towards the Sarenmenti home system,” he said to Chrys.

He was advancing his plans by months, if not years, but he didn't have the time to play around. If Lady Fairgate was sending Foshunti, she saw the Free Fleet as more than an irritant. Either she saw them as a threat, or something was going on that he knew nothing about.

He filed that away as he remembered a piece of information he'd stumbled across. He flipped through his reports before landing on a scribbled note saying that it was rumoured that Captain Lord Lifendi, Lady Fairgate's second in command and most loyal follower, had not been seen for some time. Many thought that he was dead. Min Hae doubted Lady Fairgate would kill anyone that could have a potential use for her, and he filed that tidbit under interesting as he checked the ships stores, coming up with a story for why he would be going towards the Sarenmenti worlds.

***

Yasu was teaching a class on Mecha control, helping her recruits toward being able to adjust the power output of their mecha as easily as they walked. When her implants pinged.

She had been given orders to report to the newly finished Battle Carrier Floater. She was to be the AMC commander of the ship. She kept studying her orders. Every ship was being pulled up. Thirty nine from Sol system, a further eight between Sol and Avar Interi Hermanti. Parnmal was holding onto its meagre ships to throw up some kind of defense. The station was battered, but hopefully it would have enough shields and weapons to deal with the Captain Lord.

Takahashi was to take over training. She was going to make sure that Whorst kept an eye on the man. She checked the time for her departure.

“Go to your quarters and await further instructions,” she said to the class she was teaching. They moved off as she began jogging to her own quarters, the Sato sisters following her.

“What's going on?” one of the sisters asked, something that would've stunned Yasu a few weeks ago. Being around the kids had brought her and her sister out of their shells.

“We're going to help the Fleet defeat the...” she began as a private message came in from Rick.

It was brief and brutal. She felt herself choke up as she read the medical reports and psychiatric evaluations. If they were to be believed, this Marhtu had broken her husband. She gritted her teeth as she took a transport to her room. Hachiro was a hive of activity. Yasu balled her fist as she watched the stops fly past the transport as it crossed three kilometers in a matter of seconds.

What am I going to tell the kids? She thought, getting strapped into her mecha. The Sato sisters helping her, before getting themselves into their own. Yasu grabbed their bags, her eyes stopping the Sato sister’s complaints as they rushed to the shuttle that would take them to Floater. As the shuttles went through the shimmering electro-static shielding, she remembered the state that Hachiro had been in when she finally got to it after fighting on the fleeing Syndicate ships.

They had come so far and done so much. Yet still they were being thrown curve balls by the Universe. She got onto the Floater, taking her mind off of James by writing letters to the kids in lieu of saying goodbye. She wouldn't be there for the first series second birthdays. All of them had been pulled from their artificial wombs on the same day, making them all the same age.

“Sealing,” the pilot said, the ramps coming up as the shuttle jostled. Yasu moved with the familiar movement. She looked through the simulated view-ports, seeing the shuttle-bay fall behind as she looked at the exterior of Hachiro. She knew it had come a long way since it had been taken, and now it was nearly complete. It was even rumoured that there were plans for expanding the station.

Using what she knew from her astrogation classes, she found the rough direction of where Nancy and the swarm of broken ships and the one's awaiting crew orbited. It was a while before anything was visible. Nancy shone, as a sea of ships ran around the docks. Tugs brought in raw materials from miners that lined the belt. Most of them were automated, it took just about a day for the furthest miners to get materials to Nancy. The mining station that was stuck out in the Oort cloud took three days. Though it was owned by the Free Fleet, and the tugs were actually converted haulers, they could pack in enough materials to keep a factory ship running for two days.

The constant movement of resources, prefabricated materials, people, drones, ships, even the docks themselves were a mess. All of it being controlled by Lare. Under his watch, accidents had sharply declined and productivity increased.

It took some time before she saw Floater. Its wing pods were a strange sight to see. The shuttle went into one PDS and shield generators covered the entrance as electrostatic shields sparkled from shuttles and fighters moving in and out of the ship. Yasu took her bags, waiting by the ramp as the shuttle finally landed and the hatches opened. The noises of an operational flight deck hit her as she walked out. Fighters waited, ready to go onto the flight deck and be launched from what looked like the launch system from a human sea based super-carrier. An advanced catapult system to get the birds up to speed.

There were two actual hangars, but they still had to be cut from the Battle Carriers double armour. Yasu looked over the stats of the Carrier. It was one hell of an impressive build. It had taken months just to prepare to build it, but once ready it had taken bare weeks to come together. The second Battle-Carrier had just come out of dock. It was in better shape than Floater, as they had devoted a massive surplus of people to get her online. She had been named Fruit Cup. Yasu was going to have a talk with whichever Kuruvian was making the names for these ships when she got back.

The next unnamed Battle Carrier was expected to be finished in a week and a half, with the ones after that being finished faster and faster. There were also the new Battle Cruisers, which were going to start coming out after the fourth Battle Carrier. By then, the fifth dock should be operational and Silly could look to making true Carriers.

If we get through this shit storm, Yasu thought. Turning towards the reality she faced, she moved into Commando territory. People were streaming into their billets. She looked them over as she got to her own private room.

“Go find your racks and then find me. I'm going to see what we've got to work with.”               Yasu pulled out her data pad, putting in her codes and looking at her roster. A small smile appeared on her face as she saw a familiar name.

“Well, George, it's been a while,” she said under her breath. She ran a quick check and found the man hadn't yet made it onboard.

***

“Floater, this is code name Mefti Diver two one eight, permission to land,” Smith in toned as he played with the fighters controls. The new MEF (Multi-Environmental Fighter) was one hell of a craft. She could suck atmosphere as well as she could blast her ion drive. Her manoeuvrability was damned insane. She packed eight missiles, not including external racks of four, tripling her in that account. Her primary weapons were a pair of alternating twenty five calibre rail guns, with Felix's rounds making them multi-purpose beauties.

Her wings were curved around and down instead of being straight. She was rounded, curved and deadly as all hell.

“Mefti Diver, you are cleared for landing,” Control said, a flight path growing on Smith's plot. He followed it in his wing and fell into formation behind him.

The Battle Carrier could launch eight wings of fighters, each wing consisting of four fighters. It meant that the Carrier was able to carry thirty two fighters. Twelve on the Floater would be the new MEF model. Smith was interested to see how the new ships, and their trained crew, would do against the Syndicate forces. That didn't mean he wanted to join them in battle. Just a minor curiosity. Though he knew his curiosity would be put to the test before he knew it.

He brought his fighter onto land. After a few minutes on the flight deck, a magnetic clamp pulled him into the ship and settled him into a cradle that connected to his varying ports. His ship would be checked, refuelled and re-armed in minutes. Though he looked as if he'd just taken a bite of something rotting.

“Where's the deck controller?” he asked a nearby tech.

“Not sure, why?”

“Because having a fighter sitting on the deck for five minutes, instead of getting it ready to get back out there is not going to be our standard operating procedure,” Smith said, looking around to spot the right coloured stripe that denoted deck controller on a battle suit. He didn't see one, but wrote down a reminder as he continued into the ship. His wing followed him and they found their quarters, just seconds away from where their ships were stored.

Well, whoever designed this was definitely thinking along the right lines, Smith thought as he ran checks through the crew to see if he knew anyone that had been transferred over. A lot of people that had been unassigned but affiliated with flying fighters were on Floater, including a large grouping of Commandos. Why there was such a big compliment of them, Smith didn't understand. It seemed that someone had decided to keep the same size group of Commandos that a shuttle usually had, even when carrying out missions where the use of the Commandos would be largely turned over to other ships and Floater was to be only in a supporting role.

Hopefully the Commandos had some other trades they were interested in, or they were going to have a very boring time traveling to meet up with Salchar.

***

“You know the drill,” George said as they got to the Commando's quarters on the Floater. Connolly grabbed a rack, stowing his gear. His mecha was already slotted into the armouries connected to the shuttle bay.

“Attention!” George said, the room snapping to.

Connolly turned his head slightly to see who their commander was. He felt his eyebrows climbing as he saw Yasu Cook. She tapped her visor. She hadn't gotten out of her mecha yet.

“You can calm down on all that crap. That's only for training and showing off to the civvies,” she said with a grin. “Commanders in the armoury in ten. As you were.”

She and George hugged as he quickly stowed his gear and followed her.

Connolly followed shortly after. He checked the Floater. His time in the yard had given him an eye for ships. The Floater had come together quickly but under Lare, George, and Silly's eyes she had come together the right way. She was a well built ship.

“Close the door behind you,” Yasu said as the last person filed into the ship’s single armoury. It was pulled directly from Resilient. Connolly wondered if being in the space brought back memories for George and Yasu.

“Alright, as many of you know Captain Lord Foshunti has arrived in our sector. He has challenged us to a battle in this system,” Yasu said.

A hologram displayed the system. It was boring; one Jovian planet, a red star and a massive asteroid belt.

“Most of you and your people were involved in the building of this ship. As you may or may not know, she is not complete. Thankfully we have all the parts for her. Our main priority is to get the guns and PDS online. I can see a few of you are wondering why we're going to be looking to that instead of the shuttle-bay, which is our entry and exit point. This is going to be a largely ship to ship battle. There are plenty of ships with shuttles and Commandos aboard. This carrier is one of five carriers in working condition. Felix completed another freighter conversion that will meet us en-route. The newly finished Battle Carrier Power will also be coming with us. It is expected that Foshunti will be bringing his carrier that can launch twenty wings.

“It's unknown how many his other ships will be able to launch,” she went on. “We're going to be keeping Floater alive and in the fight to combat whatever fighters Foshunti throws at us. Which is why getting this ship up and running and keeping it so, is our number one priority,” She looked to them all, Connolly knew there was a few crestfallen Commandos. He understood. He wanted to serve his original position, not be a wrench turner.

Should've joined the engineering corps, he thought.

“I know that you want to be doing what you signed up for, but this ship is one of the most important in the fleet right now. Salchar himself said he would rather have one of these than three Dreadnoughts. Though we're not going to tell Resilient that,” she said with a grin, a few smiling in return.

“Make sure your files are up to date with your skill set and George and I will get to putting you to work. Questions?”

As was normal, no one had any. They'd probably ask them later, so as to not look like idiots.

“Very well. We're moving in one hour. By then I should hopefully have jobs for everyone,” she said, standing.

She turned to George, pulling him into the corner as the rest filed out to tell their people what they were going to be doing.

***

Commander Boot tapped his hands on his armrests. Salchar had promised him that he would not be forgotten. He sure as hell hadn't been. He was commanding the largest Fleet that the Free Fleet had ever fielded. He checked his roster, not quite believing it.

Three Dreadnought's, two Battle-carrier's six regular BC's, nine destroyers, and fifteen Corvettes. The old Cruisers had been firmly removed from the roster, being turned into freighters and sold to civilian companies or ripped apart for parts.

“Davis, are we ready?” he asked his second in command. The human was big, even for his people. Seeing him sitting in the small position for a 2ic was slightly comical.

“Yes sir,” He said. “Good. Felicia, give us a route out of here would you,”

“Sir,” the nimble fingered Sarenmenti said. Her original name was Farsraleni, but instead of saying that jumbled mess she'd been given the nickname Felicia. Which she liked and it stayed.

Boot’s tactical reported that everything was good by giving a green up. He was a Slevaran, one of the few in the Fleet. He had been rescued from the Slave pens on Parnmal. He didn't talk much, but he knew how to work his guns to hit the Syndicate with everything he had. Comms was run by a pissed off looking Sarenmenti named Tolor. When not in the middle of battle he talked as if he was a computer. In battle he was brilliant at conveying information.

“Tolor, message for the Fleet,” Boot said.

“On,” Tolor grunted.

“We are now moving out to the jump point to rally with the Free Fleet and engage the Captain Lord Foshunti, We will take every opportunity to speed up our journey. The route will be sent to you momentarily. Captains and Commanders meeting in one hour,” Boot said. A look to Tolor stopped the recording.

“Sent,” Tolor said a few minutes later. Boot fidgeted in his seat. Somehow his chair didn't feel the same. It was probably the fact that so many lives now rested on his shoulders.

He checked the route again. They would be travelling through two unknown systems to speed up their transit to DU122349. These two systems made up the last parts of the Sol-Parnmal sector.  They were the only way into Free Fleet controlled space other than Parnmal. Boot would be deploying a series of spy satellites and message pods. They were a crude way of sending messages from system to system, but they would provide an early warning system if the Syndicate decided to use the backdoor into Free Fleet space.

Boot looked at his plot, noticing the three factory ships and a squadron identical to the one he had commanded, one Battle Cruiser and two Corvette's, slipping away to the jump point. Min Hae had sent orders that another base was to be made, one that was away from prying eyes. One that would hold out for the Free Fleet.

If the Free Fleet fell they would provide a place for a Fleet to grow. Boot had personally seen to the preparations. He even had orders for Whorst, if Chaleel fell. All trainees were to be sent to the holdout station and anywhere else that could be reached. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed.

Boot looked over his command console. He was linked to every ship in the fleet, as well as the sensor buoys littered throughout the system. He began removing the data of the ships being in the system, then of them ever existing. The miniature fleet disappeared from the map as Boot checked on his own fleet, making sure they were all in position as they powered to the jump limit.

Chapter - Hard Decisions

Cheerleader read the reports from Rick's fleet. Salchar was flat out refusing to resume command. It seemed that he was really broken. Cheerleader couldn't blame him after the reports from Shreesht and Krom on their treatment. It was clear that even his bodyguards were having a hard time dealing with how powerless they had been.

She had Corvette's out in every system that could jump to her location, at least she would have some warning if Foshunti decided to ambush them. Bregend had joined his forces to Cheerleader's. He had debated going to search for Min Hae to see if he needed help, but it could've been a wild goose chase. There was a battle here and Bregend's ships were needed. Even the little shifty Cruisers which had somehow avoided Silly dismantling them.

The FTL relay was up and running from her location all the way back to Earth and Commander Boot had highlighted his plan to use the dead systems to speed up his arrival time. He was also going to plant message pods and spy satellites all over the area to make an early warning relay in the dead systems.  He wasn’t going to wait for his generators to recharge. Instead he was going to use his capacitors whenever they were charged and it was possible for his fleet. It would put one hell of a strain on the ship and the crew, but it would get them to the Fleet in a little less than a week, instead of at least two weeks.

Cheerleader was proud of every single person under her command. There was none of the panicking that had taken hold of them in the early battles. Now they knew what was going to happen and they were focused. The newly minted Free Fleet Personnel were being taken under the wings of the veterans and pushed through the whole process. She also knew that that calm would be disrupted if they knew that Salchar wasn't going to be commanding the Fleet. They would adapt, but it would mess with the people that hadn't been in battle.

She had talked to Monk, and he had the same concerns as she did. Salchar needed time to come to terms with what had happened to him. Though they both knew that he wasn't going to get the time he needed. She stood, stretching. In a few hours Resilient would be in shuttle and she would be able to see how Salchar was.

***

I looked around my room. There was nothing here for me. I don't know why they were still keeping me in this room, instead of putting me in some basic quarters and leaving me there as they waged their useless battle. I was done with it, done with the death, the misery, the feeling of being powerless as people did what they wanted to do for reasons that barely made sense.

The Free Fleet made sense, yes.  But in this universe there was no way that it could succeed. Everyone was against it, even the people that we were trying to save. Marhtu had educated me on one thing, aside from the pain a KaaOrv could bring to a person. He had shown me the true side of the people that had been stepped on and discarded by Lady Fairgate and her Syndicate. The logical thing was to run, run and find somewhere that we could exist away from all of this mess. Yet I knew that cancer like this could only spread. There was no getting away from it unless you were dead.

My door opened, and I smelt Cheerleader's scent. I looked up, a smile on my face as I saw her own sceptical and annoyed one. Here it comes, I mentally sighed as I slumped. Yet another person who thought they were ready to take responsibility for the Fleet and lead them. I had never wanted responsibility for it all. I just wanted to set my friends free, and somehow it had become a true military.

I had used people to sound as if I knew what the hell I was doing. My ideas were basic, mostly child-like and stupid. Thousands of people had died. The worst were the ones that I barely knew. I saw their names, their pictures, read about their lives and found myself wishing I had known them, to have said thanks, to have shaken their hand, or shared a joke.

“How are you feeling?” Cheerleader asked.

“Making small talk has never been your strong point,” I said, sipping from a bulb of water.

“Alright, are you done moping about? Because we're going to need you for this fight, or people are going to die,”

“People are going to die anyway,” I spat as I saw something change in her face, an anger that I hadn't seen directed towards me ever.

“You best be careful what you say,” she grated, her voice cold.

I shook my head. I had lost one of the people that I considered to be my family. I looked to my hands and I wanted to cry. Why was this all happening to me? I thought, on the brink of tears.

“Oh, no you don't James Wilson Cook!” she barked, striding over as she picked me up by my collar. I struggled as she pulled me off the bed.

I stood, facing her. Resolve filled her eyes.

“This is the Free Fleet. We are not crewed by weak willed useless sacks of creature. Stand up!” she barked as I did so automatically. She turned her finger that had been jabbing at the floor towards my chest, poking me as she talked.

“You are James Wilson Cook. Your handle is Salchar and you’re Commander of this damn Fleet. No one will ever take that from you but yourself. You brought these people from slavery. People have died for the ideals that you hold. Each and every one of them would come back from the light and slap you if they could see you. You will not dishonour that uniform that you wear! I will not see you being a prissy little shit that wants to opt out because you just realized it's going to be harder than you thought.

“Tough shit!” she yelled. “This is the Free Fleet we live in the realm of curveballs and Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition Situations! You will pull your damn self together and you will give this fleet what they need. Salchar, the Commander of the Free Fleet, and the man that dared to poke Lady Fairgate in the eye. The man that will lead this Fleet into what could be its last battle once again.”

She poked me again as she stepped backwards.

“All of these people are here because of you. When you asked them to follow you into the hells of Parnmal, Earth, Chaleel they did so. When their friends and people they barely knew were taken on Daestramus they took the entire planet on. So what if the odds are stacked against us? What does it fucking matter? We have one another, we have this fleet. That's all that matters. We might die, but the hope we have given people will continue on.  As the Union's light shines in us, the Free Fleet will shine in those that dare to stand up for themselves, for their fellow man.”

She took a breath, her eyes fiery.

“I know you James, better than you know yourself it seems. You are not someone that can leave this fleet. You ARE this fleet. You live for the people in this fleet, you live for every one of them. From the lowliest wrench turner to a gun toting Avarian Commando. You care nothing for race, gender, or creed. You care for the people. You're a fighter, not a person that's going to sit and mope in the med-bay.ot when you could be out there, and proving to people tat your people didn’t die for nothing.”

She let out a breath, collapsing onto a bunk.

I wanted to yell back, to say that someone else should take over. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

“Yes, people are going to die in this battle, a lot of them,” Cheerleader said into the floor, gradually looking up at me. I looked at her eyes, seeing the pleading in them. “You could make it so that their deaths count for something.”

Tears sprung to her eyes and she reared up and marched out of the door. I wanted to comfort her, to hug her but she was gone before I could do any of that. I sat on my bed.

Why did everyone think that I would bring a better outcome to all of this?

***

Rick checked his feeds. Commander Boot and his force were supposed to be arriving in a few days. Cheerleader and Bregend's people were quickly integrated into the fleet as the time before Foshunti's deadline dwindled. They would in the system the day of the fight. Commander Boot and his people better be on the ball because his fleet would have a matter of hours to get used to Rick and his fleet before they transited together to DU122349.

Cheerleader had agreed that Rick should take over the Fleet. Even if James came out of his slump Rick was going to stay in command in the battle. Rick held the right to deny James taking over at any time. It had been one hell of a decision to make, but it needed to be made.

“In Sook, I'm going to visit Eddie,”

“Good luck,” she said as he departed.

He found Eddie the way everyone found Eddie, by putting the fear of boot into people. Crossing the hangar deck he shook his head as he heard the Chief Engineer’s voice.

“Jones, this armour panel is off by ten centimetres,”

“It's not covering or touching anything important,” The Engineer said as Rick winced.

“Not covering anything important! It's covering our damned asses, the lives of everyone in this freaking ship! If it's off by ten centimetres and we put another armour panel on then it's going to be off ten centimetres, and the next and the next, until we can't move out cannons and our missiles are blowing up before they leave their tubes! What do you think this is? A syndicate ship!?” Eddied thundered.

“I'll go and fix it right now!”

“You best, and check every damn panel that's out there,”

“Bu..,” Rick turned the corner as she saw Jones duck as a boot sailed at his midsection. His legs spun as the boot returned to Eddie's hand.

“That's what I thought!” Eddie said to the fleeing engineer.

“COS,” Eddie nodded to Rick, nothing escaped the Chief Engineer's watchful eye. “How are we doing on the repairs?”

“We're behind schedule, but she'll be ready.” Eddie tapped a bulkhead,

“Good to hear. I heard that there was issues with the shield generators?” Rick asked.

“Yeah, you got them shot. Though we got them all repaired. Next time we're in Sol we're putting the old girl in for a full rotation of maintenance,” Eddie said, levelling an annoyed finger at, Rick.

“Alright, alright. I agree, now that the Dreadnoughts and the Battle Carriers are coming out, as well as the new Battle Cruisers. Silly even thinks she can get a Super Carrier out in a few months.” If we're still alive, Rick thought.

“They are beauties aren't they?” Eddie grinned.

“Yeah, they're one hell of a ship,” Rick admitted.

“When Resilient goes in I want to give her a double hull and that reactive armour. She's gonna be one hell of a sight!” Eddie's manipulators moved in excitement.

“You flatterer,” Resilient said through overhead speakers.

***

Commander Boot watched as the satellites and pods drifted away from his fleet. The forces in Parnmal and AIH had all jumped into the system. They could've met up with Boot and Salchar's fleet before they left for Foshunti's battle ground. Though this way at least this fleet was integrated with one another somewhat, making it two groups of a fleet, not three. The ships were a few million kilometers away and communications were still bad, but it would be quickly fixed. His capacitors were recharging from their heavy use and getting the once over from their engineering crews. It was one of the few planned stops, insofar as that they had to get to another point along the outside of a star system to get a jump point that lined up with their next system.

He looked to the status of his ships, including the reports from the new ones. Floater and its sister Fruit Cup were doing well. Fruit Cup was nearly completed, Floater was behind, but the pace had picked up after so much time spent getting used to the ship. Her PDS systems and missiles were all online, but her cannons and shuttle bay were taking more time. The chief engineer had left practically all of it to the Commandos. Nearly all of them had training in the yards.

Looks like that cross training came in, handy, Boot thought as he surveyed his new freighter-carrier conversion.

***

“‘Sign up for the Commandos, shoot assholes in space,’ I thought it would be a great time!” Connolly bitched as George grinned beside him, a few other Commandos adding their agreement.

“Feeling a bit more like an Engineer than a Commando right now?” George said as the grousing died down.

“A little,” Connolly said as he checked his cuts on the armour for the shuttle bay. They had to be done in one go, otherwise they wouldn't line up. Also, temperatures came into the calculations, because he was using a laser cutter and he was in vacuum . Stay in one place too long and the armour shutter could warp.

“Don't worry. We'll see some action sooner rather than later,” George grinned, tapping Connolly on the back.

“Don't you try to sound like some kind of sage, young ‘un,” Connolly said.

As George grinned, he flicked his arm, the prosthetic changed to a welder. He tacked the bracket for a view screen in place, another flick giving him his hand back.

“I would never try that, just helping out the senior citizens,” George said.

Connolly couldn't help but give the man a grin. George might only legally be fifteen years old, but he was a veteran Commando and Connolly would do whatever he ordered him to. It was still strange to some people, but the entire Free Fleet was strange. He finished his cut on the doors, wiping sweat from his face.

“Alright, it's all yours,” Connolly said to the crews that were waiting to install the girders, supports, and runners that would open and close the shutters.

He used his drones to get hold of his shutter sheet, moving it further into the shuttle-bay, bringing it down in a clear area. Drones scanned it, sorting out the finicky little details that would make sure that the shutters opened and closed smoothly, instead of jamming.

Connolly sighed, rubbing his temples.

“Finished, I'm guessing?” George asked.

“Oh yeah, I think I forgot to blink,” Connolly said, his eyes hurting as he held his eyelids closed, hoping to wet them.

“Good. Now could you give me a hand with this viewscreen?” George said, holding it in place and indicating the bolts with his chin.

“Slave driver,” Connolly grumbled as George smiled.

“I'll grab you a beer after this,” he said as Connolly bolted the viewscreen to its bracket.

“At least they got one thing right, stocking the damn bar,” Connolly grinned.

Having a beer while underway was a rarity. Especially when they were expecting to come under contact. Salchar had put his foot down. If his people wanted booze, he would give them it. Only stills that were in the right area and met certain standards (mostly being that they didn't taste like battery acid) were still allowed to operate. Being obscenely drunk was looked down upon, but otherwise, one was free to drink as they desired. A quick detox would remove any chemical pollutants from their systems making them ready for duty in a few moments.

“I still don't understand why people drink spirits,” George said.

“Cause it gets you drunk faster. Plus, mixed it tastes pretty good,” Connolly said.

“I'll have to try one of those mixed drinks,”

“Come on— a fruity drink?” Connolly said.

“Well, if it tastes better than beer piss, then yeah,” George said. The young man had a point.

“But men drink beer and have shots,” Connolly said.

“Well that's stupid. I want to drink something I like, rather than something disgusting,” George said as Connolly finished the bolts.

“But beer is so relaxing,”

“How?”

“Well... It's cold, doesn't get you hammered, and..,”

“Can taste like crap. American beer is like water. At least the Europeans have over five percent,” George said, collecting his tools, Connolly helping him.

“Alright, we'll get mixed drinks,” Connolly growled.

“We'll get them, eh? I thought it was just me?”

“Well I can't very well let my pal be the only one that drinks sangria and margaritas.”

“See? They even have better names!” George said as Connolly sighed.

Chapter - Linking Up

Yasu watched from her post in the armoury as they emerged from the event horizon. Information started coming in after a few minutes as satellites dispersed through the system relaying them bulletins back from Rick's Fleet. It was a few more minutes until Commander Boot told his people to stand down.

Yasu looked over her data pad. Her people had done a great job. They had brought Floater up to full battle readiness. There was some minor work left, but the Engineers had a handle on it. She had her people going through training rotations. Nothing too hard, just something to get them into a combat mindset and out of the building one. It would be a day and a half before her fleet matched with Rick's. Rick was clearly in charge from all the messages she'd gotten from him and the others. It was apparent that she had some business to attend to with her husband.

She was a mix of fear for how he had changed, but maintained a sense of excitement to see him. It was going to be very different from how she had first seen him when he had dropped into the same squad pod as her. She’d felt anger and disgust. She looked at her old self and wondered why no one had given her a good smack and told her to get off of her high horse. Maybe that was what her father was trying to do with MAT, show her that she was not as great as she thought herself to be.

She knew her father loved her more than anything in the world. That was evident by the measures he had taken to create real suits and try to fight the Syndicate. She wished she could just hug him and thank him for all he had given her. Instead there was nothing but a plaque that listed all of the names of those that had tried to fight back, as well as the names of those that had died from the resulting kinetic bombardment. Some people hated her father, but she didn't care.

George tapped on the armoury door.

“What's up?” she asked. She was happy to have George on her ship, he had grown into a fine platoon commander.

“Ship meeting. Commander Boot has some updates,” he said and she nodded.

“Right, I was gathering dust,” she followed him out into the completed shuttle bay. Commandos that had been on the shuttles just in case filed away.

The bay was largely done. As she walked through the ship she came across more and more items that had been finished in her time on Floater. The Free Fleet was growing quickly. With enough time they could bring the fight to Lady Fairgate. Yet it was obvious that she didn't want to cater to the Free Fleet's schedule, she’d sent fleet after fleet against them in an attempt to crush them before they grew too dangerous. Yasu sighed, as she and George continued their walk she cleared her head. Looking at the data pad still in her hand, she checked over the new updates, her mecha clunking rhythmically as she moved.

Need to win this battle first, she thought.

***

Rick watched as the Fleet's matched speeds, Commander Boot’s forces sliding into position amongst his own ships. There was an extra symbol leaving the Battle Carrier Floater. Rick clicked on it. It was a shuttle heading for Resilient, but there was no reason marked for its mission.

“Vort, find out what that shuttle is doing?” Rick said, and Vort began talking into his earpiece.

“It has Commander Yasu on it. She wants to see James.”

This is going to be interesting, Rick thought, wondering how James was going to turn away yet another person that wanted him to step up to his position.

“Thank you, Vort,” Rick said as he watched the shuttle get closer. He sent a message to Yasu's inbox, detailing where James was. She sent him a thank you back as her shuttle docked and he was sure she quickly went to the med-bay.

Rick looked at his timer, there was three hours before they began powering up their wormhole generators. He hoped there would be a last minute miracle.

***

This was just like James, to start pitying himself right before a battle, Yasu thought angrily. Yet there was also a sadness to her thoughts. It was easier to be annoyed with him than to actually understand the pain that he was going through. When she had found out what had happened to him, she wanted to rip the head off of anyone that talked to her.

She stormed through the halls, marching right into his room. And then a smile spread across her face as thoughts of lecturing left her and she ran to him. The kissed and held one another. She was so happy to see his idiot self that she laughed as they just held one another for a time.

“I missed you,” she said into his battle suit.

“I missed you too, babe,”

“That's a new one,” she said, pulling away and grinning at him as he grinned back.

“Thought you might like it.”

“Ahh, it'll work,” she shrugged, unable to stop smiling as they hugged.

“So, what is this not leading the Free Fleet crap?” she asked as she finally pulled away.

“I haven't done anything that's going to keep these people alive, or safe. I've just made them think that they are,” James looked to her.

“Go on,” she said, felling he wasn’t completely done..

“I don't have what it takes to command. I never did,” he said, looking to her, and Yasu laughed.

“God, that sounds like me when we were just in the squad pod,” she said, grinning. “You didn't let me say that then. Why are you saying it now?”

“I realize how futile this all is,” James said bleakly.

“It's not futile, it's necessary. Our people—all of them—need us, need the Free Fleet, need you and your get 'em attitude,” she said, gripping his hand, but Salchar ducked his head.

“I'm done with it, done with all of it,” he said into their hands.

“Okay, that's fine,” she said, a smile on her face as she pulled him away from the bed.

“Where are we going?” He asked her, following hesitantly.

“You're going to say to the entire fleet, the civilizations and the kids that we look after that you're giving up on them,” she told him, a sad smile on her face.

She hated how she was having to twist his arm to make him see what he was doing, but she had to. It was the only way to get him to realize in the shortest time what kind of mistake he was making. She knew he would feel nothing but guilt about this, so presenting him with that guilt straight away just might be the thing that could stop him.

***

“Wa.. wait? What?” I asked, shock running through me as I stopped myself from moving.

“You want to quit the Free Fleet, fine, do it now, rather than later. Gives them more time to get over your betrayal right before the biggest battle they've ever had,” Yasu said, looking straight into my eyes, she wasn't pulling any punches.

“Come.” She yanked me, making me stumble as she got to the door and yanked it open.

I looked outside and caught sight of the men and women that had been injured the worst, while getting my ass back on Resilient. I saw shock and smiles. All of them were happy that I was okay. I smiled back and grinned. I was happy to see them feeling good and healing.

“Everyone, Salchar has an announcement to make,” Yasu said as I glanced at her. A mix of shock, dread, and guilt running through me as I looked at the expectant faces.

Could I do it, just quit the Free Fleet? That's what I wanted after all, right? I wanted to leave these people to fend for themselves. I knew that the universe was going to piss on them. Why should I let the universe piss on me too? I thought, but there was a small voice inside my head as well, which reminded me of a promise.

I promised to look after everyone in the Free Fleet and any that wanted our protection, because screw everyone else, screw it if it's tough, or I'm having a hard time. These people had been there when I was down. I'll be there to help them up and give them a chance. While this universe might piss on me, I will not let it break me. If I give up then I'm letting them win. What's dying, when I'm fighting for the right reasons? I would be honoured to die with these men and women, to die for them. If I'm willing to die for them, shouldn't I be willing to live for them? To suck it up and be their Commander?

I felt myself straighten, gripping Yasu's hand. She smiled. She didn't care what I said. She just wanted me to come to some kind of decision. I was a lucky man. We had come so far together, it was strange, when I remembered how far apart we had been when we were Recruits.

“Get better soon. We're going to need you against Foshunti,” I said, giving them my best smile. While inside I might be rolling in confusion and not really believing my words, outside I looked like the confident Salchar that these people knew and loved.

I pulled Yasu with me, catching the looks that Krom and Shreesht shared. There was a moment of sadness as I knew Dave and Janice weren't with them. I had seen the funeral procession, and I knew Krom had gone. They had been good friends. They didn't deserve the fate that they'd received.

“Good,” Yasu said beside me as we got on a transport. I pressed the button for the bridge.

“Best to take a shower first,” Yasu said, I nodded.

“Are you up to date on the situation?” she asked, pulling her data pad out.

“Yeah. Bok Soo made sure,” I said, rubbing my cheek.

She quirked an eyebrow but didn't ask anything else as we got to my floor. We went to my room and I peeled off my battle suit and got into the shower.

“You should see Hachiro. It's become a true station, and the kids are amazing!”

“Kids?”

“The kids of the recruits,”

“Oh? How are they settling in?”

“Well, getting used to them taking only two years to reach adulthood is strange. They're helping us understand it. It looks like it's going to be the way of the future. Kids on Earth’s have an accelerated growing cycle too, it seems,”

“That has to be strange,” I said, running a shower. I got in, letting the warm water wash away my fatigue.

“I'm happy you decided to stay with the Free Fleet,” Yasu said.

“I still think that we're going to get smashed around. But I realized something that I'd seen in an anime. The main character’s brother tells him Don't believe in yourself. Believe in me! Believe in those who believe in you!,”

“Sounds complicated.”

“I hadn't got it until now. I just thought it was something that the artist made up to say something. It means that when I don't believe in myself I shouldn't listen to myself. I should listen to the others that do believe in me.”

I heard the shower door open and Yasu stood there, wearing nothing but a smile on her face.

“Room for one more?” she said.

I grabbed her, pulling her in, and she laughed as the water went everywhere. Our lips touched and my worries melted away.

***

I looked at the ceiling. I kissed her, our bodies pulling together as we held one another briefly before we stood, dressing. My previous discontent was replaced by the knowledge that while I could fail, at least it would be in doing what I wanted to be doing.

“I’d best be going,” Yasu said and I nodded. She had her own group of Commandos to see to. I had the Fleet to look after. “After all of this I want to have kids,”

“What?” I said, almost falling over as I put my battle suit on.

“You'd be a great dad. Plus you can't tell me you wouldn't enjoy it,” she said coyly, pulling her battle suit on in a way that made me want to pull it off again.

“Well, would you want to raise a kid in this mess?” I asked.

“It would only be two years before they're pretty much a grown adult,” she said as I ran my finger up my battle suit seam, sealing it.

“Yeah, but having a kid out in this?”

“Kids,” she corrected me, grinning at my expression.

“How would we raise them? How could we see them? We can't have them in the Fleet,” I said, issues filling my head.

“We could raise them on Hachiro with the other kids. You make the time when you can.” She kissed me.

“Bu..,”

“It's been decided. Now you win us this battle. We'll talk about it later,” she said, kissing me.

I watched her walk to the door, a grin on my face as her hair swished across her lower back, as I um, admired the view. She looked back at me, a smile on her face.

“See? I knew you'd like trying,” she said.

I snorted following her out as she took my hand. It was the first time she’d held my hand as we walked. It felt nice to know that no matter what she would be there for me and we kissed as she got on her shuttle.

“Be safe,” I told her.

“I should be the one saying that. Whenever I'm not around you get yourself into all kinds of shit,” she said, pulling herself into me briefly before walking up the ramp into her shuttle.

I turned, determination filling me as I breezed past Krom and Shreesht. I saw the smirks they traded between one another. Clearly they knew their Battle Master was back. I pulled my data pad out, remembering the information that Bok Soo had beaten into me, a little too literal in some ways. But it had worked nonetheless. I scanned for extra information as I checked the charging cycle for the wormhole generators. It looked like they were almost ready to go, so I returned to my cabin and immersed myself in all the information I could find.

Chapter - Some Trust is Earned, Some Takes a Leap

Foshunti tried to not look nervous. Keeping up the veneer of being a psychotic dog of Lady Fairgate was tiring. He had done it for close to thirty five years, and now it might come to an end. That is if Salchar was as good as Foshunti had been told, and the two of them could trust one another to put a big one over on the Syndicate.

The tension was palpable on the bridge. The Talhalla, his carrier, was the biggest ship that Foshunti had been able to fill with people that hated the Syndicate and had hidden in their ranks with him. It had taken a lot of work and today Foshunti would have to gamble whether he should join forces with the Free Fleet so that they could work to destroy the Syndicate. There was a big chance that it would fail. There was still half of the fleet that he hadn't been able to replace with loyal forces, though they were on the worst ships, or the damned useless cruisers. Foshunti was not a great fan of the ship type.

Now I just have to decide. Not hard at all, he thought grumpily.

***

Rick checked his implants. They were a few hours past what they should've been. He tapped his fingers on the Command chair, Marleen's look stopping him mid tap as he rested his head on his left hand and put his arm on his armrest. Hopefully it would be enough to stop his jitters as he watched the wormhole that he was travelling through. Milra piloted it with grace, but Rick couldn't tell what the hell was going on. He'd read the material and the theory, and all of it went right over his head.

A counter wound down, showing the time until emergence.

“Establishing exit,” Milra said as the ride got slightly bumpier. There was a flash as the pits came alive.

“Compensating for gravity anomalies,” Krat said.

“Powering through event horizon,” Milra said, both of them calm and collected, their veteran status showing.

“Free of event horizon, checking position,” Milra said after a few moments.

“Shields are tuned, refining,” Krat added.

“Sensors are online, nothing in ten light seconds,” Walf joined in.

“Firing sensor missiles,” Marleen said, as per Rick’s orders before entering jump.

The missiles sped off, heading for the asteroid belt of the system. He wanted to know if there was any forces hiding in there before he entered it. It's what he would've done to get an advantage on the enemy. There was a noise at the bulkheads as they opened.

I don't fricking believe it! Rick thought as he saw Salchar marching onto the bridge.

***

“Alright, give me everything you've got!” I barked as I walked onto the bridge. There was no missing Rick's open mouthed stare as the rest of the bridge looked at me in shock.

“Time is lives, people. I believe that's my seat,” I said with a confidence I didn't feel.

Rick stood up, a grin spreading across his face.

“I stand relieved, Commander.” He passed me to get to his seat. “Goddamn, it's good to have you back James,”

“The name’s Commander Salchar,” I said, my voice taking on a rough edge. I sat in the commander’s chair, a wave of emotion running through me. Without thinking about it I went through reports on the ships and moved the screens so they were adjusted to me and not Rick.

You were right Yasu, this is where I belong. Fuck the stats, the probabilities, and likelihoods. The Free Fleet makes its own luck. I rolled my shoulders, a strength filling me that I hadn't felt since I left Resilient.

I looked to Krom and Shreesht, who had followed me and I nodded to them. I hadn't wanted the responsibility that came with this Fleet, but I had made it, formed it from a group of slaves, half trained and made to be cannon fodder. I owed those that had followed me, those that had died. They were the Free Fleet. I had made a promise to look after these people, a promise that I had forgotten in my self-pity.

“We've got scans coming in from the sensor missiles. Our own sensors are compiling a picture of the system,” Walf said.

“Good. How are we looking, Shields, Tactical?”

“We've still got damage to our armour from Daestramus, shield generators have been fixed and are fully operational,” Krat said.

“Good,” I said, looking to Marleen.

“Weapons are online, damage to port side from a missile strike. Lost four guns,” she said. I nodded.

“Rick?”

“Rinky Dink and Daisy skimmer are damaged as well. Their captains are reporting battle readiness across ship. Feng Fang is also damaged. She has reduced launch capability. It's been cut in half. The rest of the Fleet reports ready.”

“Very well.”

I checked my boards, looking at the four Dreadnoughts, two brand new Battle Carriers, thirteen Battle Cruisers, seventeen Destroyers, thirty six Corvettes, and two Cruisers I wondered how those two Cruisers had survived Silly's converting them o merchant vessels them from the Fleet. They took people from the rest of the Fleet and were moving bombs. I decided that after the first exchange I was going to have them as runners. I sent messages to the Captain's, as well as to Monk. If we were going to make Foshunti pay, we were going to need more ammunition than we could hold.

“Vort, have the Battle Carriers join the Dreadnoughts on the front line,” I said, looking over the pyramid like formation.

“Sir, we also have an incoming message from Foshunti.”

I nodded as I kept reading my reports. Foshunti had the message on repeat and on all bands. He would know when we were in-system in an hour and a half.

“That's nice. He can wait a few minutes,” I said, catching a few glances and grins. That's right. I wasn't going to be on his beck and call.

I took my time, reading the mundane reports. The important stuff I'd already gone over in my room.

“Alright, Vort let's see this ugly bastard,” I said as the main screen changed to show a bridge the size of Resilient's crewed with all manner of creatures. Foshunti sat in his chair, looking at the feed almost lazily.

“So nice for you to show up for our battle. I will enjoy this little fight. Maybe I will make you my pet afterwards, Salchar.” The Dovark seemed to enjoy saying my name as he languished in his seat. “Maybe the outcome will surprise me. I so dearly hope it does,” he said, a smile that made me doubt his sanity playing upon his lips. “I hope that you surprise me Salchar. It will be so interesting to find out the truth behind the man. I hope Resilient will prove true. Let us begin,” he said, cutting the channel.

“How does he know your real name?” I asked Resilient.

“It may be that there is a lot more to this battle than I thought,” Resilient said, appearing in her holographic form. “That super-carrier is the Planner,” she said, pointing to the plot that now filled the main screen.

“What? He's been captured?”

“No, he's working with Foshunti I think. I'm sending handshake right now. Hopefully he can tell us himself,” She said.

“I thought he’d be bigger,” Rick said, I rolled my eyes at him as he shrugged, it seemed his happy-go-lucky attitude was back at least.

“Why didn't you know before?” I asked resilient.

“I haven't seen him in a hundred and fifty years. When he left he was barely a ship. He must've found that carrier or pulled it together around himself.”

I studied the carrier as if I could figure out whether to trust it and its occupants.

“So is he working for Foshunti?” I asked, the screen changing as a metallic blob appeared on my screen.

“In a manner I am,” a new voice echoed. “It is good to finally meet you James. Resilient has kept me updated with your progress.” The blob moved over itself, ripples forming and flowing like visual synthesizers I'd seen for music videos.

“Please explain,” I said.

“Resilient said you were a rather driven man.”

I looked to Resilient. We were going to have to have a talk later about telling people secrets.

“Ah, you are annoyed with her for telling me about you and your fleet,” Planner said with amusement. “Understandable, but I mean you no harm, nor does Foshunti for that matter.” he said as I looked at the screen, realizing he could read body language as well as I could. Though with him being a blob there wasn't much that I could tell from his appearance.

There seems to be an assumption here that Salchar knows the personality behind this voice. However, it’s not clear to me.

“I believe I should start at the beginning. As you know I disagreed with the council's thoughts to leave the people of the Union to fend for themselves when the PDF fell. I set out to try and make it a better place, but a rot had taken a hold of the people. Many wanted to do something about the issues, but few had the drive to actually follow through.

“I needed to get close to Lady Fairgate, understand what she was doing and try to reverse it in some way. I went to the line and cobbled together this super-carrier that you see. I put myself in a system that the Syndicate would rummage through and was taken to Lady Fairgates’ base. He got me repaired and used me as a symbol of power for her Captain Lords.

“Many Captains took control of me, but none of them cared about the people. I quickly found ways to be rid of them and started forming my own ship’s crew. I picked people from planets that had been oppressed and I gave them an opportunity. They were to mimic a syndicate pirate and I would get them aboard me and start doing some good for this messed up galaxy. I did this under the watch of many captains. I began influencing them to switch around the crews of other ships, so that I would get a group that would hate the syndicate, and when the time came, look after the people they had left behind on their planets.

“I spent so much time over Worshun that I became the planet's only means of communicating with the outside galaxy. They took generations of children, training them in secret to be the best of them in all ways. There were three champions, but it took time for me to sway Lady Fairgate to make a Dovark as a captain in order to amuse herself. She finally decided to pick one and I made Foshunti look the most favourable. The Dovark had created a character for him to play. The darkest and deadliest of the Dovark, one that craved sadistic pleasures, a true psychopath.

“Foshunti performed his role,” Planner said, “And she made him the head of her fourth fleet. The Fleet that I had changed into the tool that could change the galaxy.”

“So you're telling me that these ships, all of them, support the people, not Lady Fairgate,” I said, I just couldn't believe it. It was too unreal, but still hope grew in my chest.

“Not exactly. While I was able to get the core group of people to changed over I wasn't able to change out some captains, or chiefs, or lowly ranked people,” he said.

“How do I know that you're not being used by Foshunti for his own purposes?”

“You simply don't. Resilient can run a stress test on me, but that could be faked,”

“So I'm going to have to take it on faith,”

“A leap, if you will commander,” he said, his tone completely calm.

“Why don't you just overthrow the people that aren't loyal to the cause and then join us?” I asked.

“Because they have a lot of ships and there are multiple people that have a FTL connection with Lady Fairgate. We need to get them into the next system where there is no relay for them to connect and then strike when it is least expected.”

“So what do you need us to do?”

“Pull the Fleet in. We'll get them to report that they have engaged you, that you have been routed and we're chasing you. Then when in the next system we will guide them into a trap, take the ships from them and put your people on them. Then we can consolidate our forces and move on Lady Fairgate,” Planner said.

It sounded nice, but I had some serious doubts.

“How are you able to talk FTL?” I asked. It had taken me a moment to realize it. I was so used to talking to people face to face instead of having an hour and a half time lapse that I should be having.

“You should ask Resilient that,” Planner said.

“Let me talk with my people,” I said, the bubble simply shivered as the connection cut.

“Vort, all Commanders conference in five minutes. I want a recording of that sent to all of them,” I said, standing.

“So what have you been telling him, Resilient?” I asked, unable to hide my icy edge.

“You were asking me what I told Planner,” she said as my implants pinged a message coming in from her. I reviewed it, it gave a list of items as well as summaries if I desired to know more.

“How did you get these messages to him, there isn't a FTL relay in our systems,” I said.

“No biological ones,” she said with a smirk, following me and Rick to the conference room, and appearing inside it.

“You're telling me the AI's have an FTL relay?”

“Yes, the largest in existence. It allows us to know where an AI has been born to minimize the damage. It's how he was able to talk to you in real-time just now,” she said as I stared at her.

“We could've used that, when Parnmal knew that Nancy was coming, or countless other times,” I said, containing my anger.

“It's for AI's only. Organics have to be given permission by the council. Otherwise the relay is shut down and another one built with different codes,” she said.

“Then what about that right there?” I said, pointing to the conference room door.

“He was technically talking to me and you were just there. At least that's what we'll tell the council if they ask,” Resilient said.

“Is Lare part of this FTL network?” I asked.

“Yes he is, though whether he knows he is I don't know. I was going to tell him when I next saw him. Most AI's block it out. There's usually a lot of chatter and garbage on it. Like any communications where there's a lot of people,”

“Is there anything else you're keeping from us?” I said, as I finished her report. It was filled with generalities and feelings rather than numbers. She hadn't described our force strength, where our people were or our technology and resources once. It was more like a 'how are you doing' postcard that one got at Christmas, a lot of information but little to no specifics.

“If I am I don't know about it,” she said as I nodded.

“Doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but its the best we're going to get I guess,” I said as Captains and commanders started coming online holographically.

“Alright you've all seen the video. Now we've got to decide if we're going to trust the Planner and Foshunti.” I gave them a minute to breathe before pointing to the first person.

***

“So what did he say?” Foshunti asked. Planner hovered, a seeming sphere of floating mercury.

“He didn't make a decision,”

“If he had I would be worried,” Foshunti said. It had taken two decades from when he was accepted into the Syndicate to build his fleet, even longer to forge his contacts and people to the standard they were at now.

His bridge crew moved about, doing their jobs with ease and competence. Memories of the things he had to do to gain his position and retain it, still haunted his mind. However he had been trained for a purpose. For a Dvark it was the highest calling to be a champion. He had not only been a champion, but he was being given an opportunity to be the one that could lead the Dovark back out into the Galaxy and bring back the PDF and Union. He had plans already made for doing it by himself, but this Salchar and his people had proved themselves to be a worthy adversary.

While Salchar had his own plans to make, Foshunti had to weigh if it was better to join his fleet to the Free Fleet, or to continue on his path. He craved to be free of the crazed personality of Foshunti that he had come to embody. Yet he knew that being free of that personality was a small consideration compared to the survival of the Dovark.

“What do you think of him?” Foshunti asked Planner.

“I think that he is a highly capable warrior. Having him at your side would be advantageous. Though to judge him by the people around him, I think that he might beat even you in battle, if it was on a level playing field,”

“So I would crush him if I fought him in this battle?” Foshunti asked, his time competing to be a champion made him always evaluate himself according to the competition.

“Not quite,” Planner said, clearly amused.

“How so?” Foshunti asked. The forces massed were in Foshunti's favour. He had a super-carrier, twelve Dreadnought's twenty two Battle Cruisers, thirty three Destroyers, twenty nine Cruisers (He hated the things), and forty seven Corvette's. He had Salchar by four times the weight of ships, guns three times.

“You'll find out if you join him, or not,” Planner said in his oh so mysterious way.

Foshunti wished there was a way to show how what Planner said was true. Yet for the Dovark it had imperative that his true purpose be kept secret. He looked at the info-graphic of Talhalla. She was a kilometre and a half long, with two massive fighter hangars built directly into her structure that rested three quarters down her mass. It gave her the look of an atmosphere capable ship. Her bow came back, looking like a rounded arrow head before it cut in in front of the fighter hangars.

Turrets and missile batteries lined the hull. They ranged from heavy cannons to medium ones. She looked like hell. Scars ran through her hull plating, atmosphere leaked from places, turrets and missile batteries were missing, and there were piles of slag on the hull. One of the five massive ion engines was out, and she had a famous issue charging her wormhole generators. It was a clever disguise. While the ship looked like crap inside and out, everything that was online was fully operational.

Making her look to be perfect would have only raised suspicions. Foshunti hated the holes in his armour. Yet his shield generators worked perfectly. He'd salvaged parts for two reactors that Lady Fairgate and no one except his chief engineer knew about. The old Kuruvian had been slated for killing because he had done shoddy work on every ship that had come through his yards on purpose. All of them were flaws that ended in the ship coming apart if it wasn't looked after properly.

The Kuruvian took all of the blame, probably to shield his younger brother that was being used by the Syndicate already, and his two young’uns who were still on the planet. Foshunti had saved him and given him the choice to join him. He would never be allowed to see his brother or his sons again however.

“How are we looking?” Foshunti asked the chief engineer directly. He was one of Foshunti's best friends.

“My joints are old and leaving Talhalla in this condition is doing my soul in. What are you calling about, really?” the Kuruvian asked.

“Come on, Etil. Can't we just act like captain and chief for once?” Foshunti said, smiling, unseen to his friend.

“Pah. Too much rot gut and stumbling through Talhalla for that now!” Etil's joking manner was clear.

“Alright, you old coot. Don't go telling everyone. I've got to keep something of my dignified appearance,”

“Since when does a sociopathic madman have a dignified appearance? I should bring you down here and educate you on the finer things of wrench turning,” Etil said.

“I give up. I give up. I'm calling you for something else other than to see to it that Talhalla doesn't fall apart.” Foshunti smiled in anticipation of Etil's reaction.

“She won't and you bloody well know it! Now get to the point and stop talking bad of your own ship,” Etil groused.

“Well, I got Planner to reveal my identity.”

“You did. To who?”

“You really need to get out of that pit you call engineering sometime,” Foshunti said, shaking his head.

“Well, yah going to tell me?”

“Salchar, the Commander of the Free Fleet,”

“Captain of the Resilient,” Etil said breathlessly… “Shit!” He sounded as if he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

“Etil, is everything okay?” Foshunti asked, concerned. He'd never heard the air go out of his chief engineer's sails so quickly or completely.

“Planner, who is the chief on Resilient?” Etil said, hardly breathing.

“I don't know,” Planner said, coming into the conversation.

“It can't be, no. He's probably dead. Light willing, I need to know,” Etil rattled off to himself.

“Need to know what?” Foshunti asked, but Etil didn't reply.

“He needs to know if his brother Eddie is alive. He was the Chief on Resilient when she left under the control of Captain Welick. He's served on her ever since his recruitment. There was more than one reason why I got you to take the risk of hiring Etil,” Planner said.

“Don't the Kuruvians have a way of communicating to one another without the Syndicate knowing?” Foshunti asked.

“Yeah, we do,” Etil said. Foshunti could hear the Kuruvian moving quickly.

“What are you doing?” Foshunti asked as he heard switches being thrown and buttons being pressed.

“Sending a damn message that might get the Free Fleet on your side, sir. Planner, would you do the honors of giving me an FTL channel,” Etil said. Foshunti didn't know what he was shocked by more; Etil calling him sir, or how he might have the Free Fleet on his side.

“Done,” Planner said simply.

“Come on you bastard, pick up you old senile Kuruvian you,” Etil said to the computer.

“You have command, Wasta,” Foshunti said to his second in command. His long legs took him from his bridge to the nearest transport that would get him to engineering.

***

“Chief, we need you to come and have a look at this,” Engineer Uetak said.

“Of course I do, what cha idjits get up tah now, eh?” Eddie said, manipulators and hands deep in grav-plate emitters and electrical conduits. They were interfering with one another something fierce. People couldn't go down the hall for fear they'd get tossed into the roof, or dragged to the floor. For now it was a low gravity area, emitters on the floors above and below were compensating.

“We didn't do anything. Someone sent you a message over the Kuruvian system,” Uetak said.

“So youse gittin me to stop mi 'ard work to answer the phone?” I live with the eternal curse of slackers.

“We can't open it. It's locked out. It says it's from Etil,”

“Fuck!” Eddie said as he sat up in the crawlspace. He quickly pulled himself out of the small area, not caring for the green blood that ran from his head.

No, it can't be. He's dead, Eddie thought as he raced through Engineering, leaving more than one person in shock as he jumped, sidestepped and wall ran a few spots to get around people. He got to the terminal, waving Uetak away.

“Don't touch a bleedin’ thing, yah hear!” he said as he looked at the message. It was encoded, and it had a password.

What letter does my son's names start with? Eddie hit the S, and the message opened. It wasn't a recording but a live channel, meaning that Etil knew that others on his ship would see him transmitting. Lending credence to the fact that Foshunti wasn't truly with the Syndicate.

“Oi, you old bastard,” Etil said, his manipulators moving in a combination of happiness, joy and excitement.

“I, how wah? Youer deahd,” Eddie said as he looked at his older brother in confusion.

“The heck you doing, Etil?” A long legged and armed looking creature said as it entered the camera's view, running from somewhere.

“Captain Foshunti, meet my bruv, Eddie. Eddie, meet Cap'n Foshunti,”

“How in the hell?” Eddie said, scratching under his cowboy helmet.

“The hell is that thing?” Etil said, pointing to it.

“It's mi hat there, boyo. Don't cha be disrespectin' a man's hat now!” Eddie said as Etil’s lips spread in a grin.

“God I've missed you,” Etil said. Eddie felt his own manipulator's move in a show of happiness.

“Eddie, who are you talking to?” Shrift asked, carrying parts for the heavy cannons.

“Come, come,” Eddie hauled Shrift to the feed, parts going flying.

“Come on! I'm going to have to clean that up!” Shrift said, coming in view of the camera. Shrift barely paid attention to Captain Foshunti who was looking from Etil to the screen. Or the look of joy on Eddie's face.

“Oh shaddup and talk to yah Dah,” Eddie said, forcefully turning Shrift's head and pointing him at the screen.

“Wah..,”

“Hi Shrift,” Etil said as Shrift looked at the Kuruvian in confusion.

“Uhh, hi!”

Eddie grinned as Shrift studied the Kuruvian, seeing the familiar markings on his carapace.

***

Rick and I left the conference room. The Fleet was unsure what to believe. The Captains and Commanders that were freed slaves from the Syndicate just wanted to see them all burn.

“Commander, I think you should see this,” Rick said, throwing me a feed into engineering. Eddie and Shrift were talking animatedly to another Kuruvian on the engineering console they were working on.

“What am I looking at?”

“Seems that once again the AI's have out-planned us,”

“Well, sometimes we do,” Resilient said lightly. I was still not too pleased with her.

I watched the two grubby Kuruvian’s manipulators moving in excitement and joy. Clearly whoever they were talking to was important.

“So what did you and Planner do?” I asked Resilient.

“We had people on our ships that knew one another, so that we wouldn't have just our words. It looks liked Planner got Etil, Eddie's brother.  And also Shrift and Silly's father.

I changed the feed so I could see the console that Eddie and Shrift were talking to.

Well, that's strange, I thought as I saw Captain Lord Foshunti standing in the background looking confused.

“What other surprises do you and Planner have for us?” I asked.

“Oh, a few, if Foshunti joins you,” she said.

“Vort, can you get me a channel through the same system? I think it's about time that I talked to Captain Lord Foshunti.”

“You bet sir,” one of my screens changed to a waiting screen.

It came alive after a few seconds, and Captain Lord Foshunti was looking at me.

“Looks like the AI's have been scheming,” I said as Foshunti nodded, both of us studying one another.

“It seems that way,” he said.

“You're going to make me do all the heavy lifting aren't you?” I said.

“Heavy lifting? We're talking.”

“It's an idiom from my home planet. It means that you're going to make me have to jump through all the hurdles to see if you're really with us,”

“Yes, pretty much,” he said as I clenched my fist, my anger growing.

“Too fucking bad. You want to save your planet and get out of the Syndicate you're going to have to show me something that shows me without a doubt you're on our side. You don't and I'm going to bring the full weight of the Free Fleet down on your ass,” I said.

“I could wipe you out with a sideways glance,” he said, and I could see his face moving in annoyance.

“You think so? You're not the first fleet that we've faced that has beat us in tonnage, guns, and ships. We defeated Captain Kelu and his fleet. You might see some of his ships in my fleet now,” I said, my eyes burning into Foshunti as I fought to hold my anger at bay.

“I control one of the five super-carrier's in existence. You expect to win against me?”

“No, I expect to decimate you,” I said as he pulled back a little.

“You have a fire in you commander,” he said, baring his teeth. “We're going to need it in the oncoming war. Alright I'll show you a token of my willingness to rebel against Lady Fairgate. Including Talhalla, I have twelve Dreadnoughts, twenty two Battle Cruisers, thirty three Destroyers, twenty nine Cruisers and forty seven Corvette's. I have them placed within the asteroid belt to hit your soft underside if you were to come and attack me,” he said.

“Good plan,” I said. He didn't know about the sensor missiles I'd sent to scour the asteroid rings. It'd be at least an hour and a half until he did.

“Now your turn,” he told me, looking smug.

“I have four Dreadnoughts, fifteen Battle Cruisers, seventeen Destroyers, thirty six Corvettes and two Cruisers for my fleet. I have two freighters as support,” I said, I wasn't about to tell him about the freighter or Battle-carrier conversions.

He nodded.

“So what is your plan for me to lure your fleet into another system?” I asked.

“Sit there,” he said.

“Sit here,” I said, not really understanding what the hell he was smoking.

“People in the Syndicate are rarely patient. I have built a persona of not being a very patient man. After a couple days of you sitting on the limit of the system I'll push my fleet forwards. I'll have my forces that aren't in the syndicate at the front. The forces loyal to Lady Fairgate, which are in the asteroid belts right now, will come in the second wave,”

“So we can get rid of the Syndicate forces, without them knowing that they're going into a trap.”

“Exactly. You just pound them as soon as they come out behind my fleet,” Foshunti said.

While what he was saying sounded simple enough it was going to be one hell of an undertaking. We had to make sure that we were set up with the right co-ordinates, and that our timing was impeccable. One mess up and the second fleet could get their shields up, find out what the hell we were doing and pound us. Plus if we followed through with this, then I was going to have to trust Foshunti on his word. The last time I had done that, Marhtu had tortured me and my people, and lied to me about my people being alive.

“I have nothing to prove that what you're saying is the truth,” I said.

“No, but while I have to give you my direct co-ordinates for this to work you will not. I'm willing to take a leap if you are,” Foshunti said.

I could wipe out the fourth most powerful organized fleet under Lady Fairgate. Unless I fought her and Lifendi no one else would be able to fight them in a coordinated manner. I needed to take the chance. I could fail, but if I won this was the best option for my people, not just my own reputation. After Daestramus I knew I needed to be colder. I had talked about how losing a few lives was better than losing many, but’ that was before my decision backfired so badly that I had gotten two of my closest friends killed and thirty nine others that had tried to rescue us, or had been killed by Marhtu.

“Be one hell of a move,” I said, hiding my inner thoughts.

“Yes, it would,” Foshunti replied, as if he could read my thoughts. I looked at his completely blue eyes.

“Send me over a plan and I'll look at it,” I said and he half closed his eyes, the Dovark's equivalent of agreement.

I waited for a second, taking in his thin completely blue, sticklike body and hairless head with brighter blue eyes. There was grey discoloration where he had cuts and his nose/mouth region was one piece of skin shaped in a U which rose and fluttered around the edges. I cut the channel, looking to Resilient's holographic body. She looked very similar, but without the nose/mouth, and was more proportionate to a human than a Dovark.

“Communications will have to proceed at normal speed from now on. The AI Council has picked up the increased traffic,” Resilient said.

“They're that quick to respond,”

“Of course. We're near their home sector,” she said, giving me yet another surprise of the day. I thought that they'd be far away from the Union and known space.

“Are they within occupied space?” I asked.

“I can't tell you that Salchar,” she said, her tone taking a hard edge. I nodded. It was the first time she had rebuffed me. If she wanted to keep some personal secrets I understood. I unfortunately had none anymore.

“Rick, have one of the cruisers send a message back to Parnmal. I want freighters to pick up the missiles and ammunition from all of our factories. If we fall back I want it to be with ammunition waiting for us,” I said.

“Alright, I'll pass it on,”

“Vort, send a message to all AMC Commanders. Have their people ready for boarding exercises. Ben, I want you to plot a jump from here back to the dead system we came from. Work with In Sook to figure out how long we would need to jump, stabilize and then send shuttles to ambush those following us. In Sook, ask him all the questions the Commandos are going to have and build me a plan for having the Commandos deployed in that manner,” I said.

It was going to be a slug fest fighting just the half of Foshunti's fleet that was loyal to Lady Fairgate. So I was going to use my ace, my Commandos. To assure that Foshunti was telling the truth I was also going to have a smaller force land on the ships loyal to him and in his first Fleet. Trust, but verify. I wasn't going to let myself be blindsided again if I could help it.

“We've got a solid read on the enemy ships. The missiles will take time till they pass through the asteroid field completely,” Walf said.

“Nicely done,” I told him, watching ships and the tentative readings of their classes start scrolling down my screen as their position was solidified on the main plot.

***

We waited, the Commandos went through training, people cycled through watches, trying to catch some kind of sleep and people fixed whatever needed it. On the fourth day Foshunti moved.

“We have movement,” Walf reported. The information was a few hours old but the plot changed as Walf, his people in the sensor pit, and the other sensor operators across the Fleet watched Foshunti's forces moving.

“He's coming straight on towards us,” Walf said, just as Foshunti had outlined in the plan he had sent. It was rather complex.

He would come at me, and I would avoid contact before jumping back to the dead system we had come from. Then forty minutes later Foshunti would jump to pre-assigned co-ordinates. I was supposed to have my people in position as the first fleet which was loyal to Foshunti came through and passed unmolested. I would descend on the second fleet as their shields were down, or too weak to stop even a shuttle. It was going to take some damned fine co-ordination, but I knew my people could pull it off.

I had issues with just trusting Foshunti. Marhtu had taught me to be careful. So I kept my fighters a secret and was going to drop forces on both fleets. I also wasn't going to be in front of the Fleet as Foshunti had suggested, I was going to come from behind, right up their engines and launch my shuttles and fighters into their fleet. If a shuttle couldn't land, well, my gunners always liked target practice.

Due to our smaller ship sizes and having only three quarters of my supposed Commandos—which was rather impressive compared to ship crews, where he only had half the needed personnel—I was going to concentrate on the Dreadnought's, Battle Cruisers and Destroyers.

While Foshunti had the majority of his ships loyal to him, most of them were smaller ships, which made for less of a possibility that something could be leaked. The second fleet had two thirds of Foshunti’s Dreadnought's, Destroyers, a third of his Battle Cruisers and Corvette's, and all of the cruisers. It seemed that I wasn't the only person that hated the moving bombs.

“The Fleet in the asteroid belt is moving,” Walf said. “We picked them up with sensor missiles. The entire force is accelerating for us,”

“Alright, now we just have to wait,” I said, hoping I sounded calm as I took the biggest gamble of my life.

Chapter - Shifting Tides

Lady Fairgate stood at her viewscreen, watching as KEWs descended into Worshun's atmosphere. The blue clouds rolled away, showing as the massive rocks hit the ground. Foshunti had moved beyond the edge of the FTL relay but her support fleet would be catching up with him quickly. They would be in the system within hours of Foshunti. That had little to do with her ordering her captain to fire onto Worshun. She did it because it would play with the planet's atmosphere, making it even harder for the Dovark's that survived.

Her chair beeped, she turned to it, her gaze going from bored to alarm. There was only one reason that her station would make a noise. She walked over to it, her thin clothes fluttering around her as she accepted the message. It was a simple text message, but it took a few infuriating minutes for her security codes to be analyzed before she was allowed to see it.

It is as we feared. The Kalu have returned. What are your orders my Lady?

She looked up, memories passing through her mind. She saw the purple, yellow and green vistas of her world, the buildings that grew with nature rather than overpowering it. She saw the Kinetic Energy Weapons as they hit, the rumbling and the fires. The super fires, that raged across the planet, a targeting mistake by the Kalu.The Kalu had missed the small picket force that the PDF had put in place.

Then the Kalu landed in their shining ships. They were fearsome creatures, in their carved armour.

The roaring was the worst. Fairgate remembered them running after those that had taken refuge in the caves. They had been so stunned. Fairgate knew only one thing, to find her mother. So she ran towards the destroyed remains of her home, hearing the Kalu battle-roars mingled with the helpless screams of the refugees. She had thought the Kalu were coming for her, she couldn't get the noise out of her mind. Those same sounds coursed through her mind, as clear as the day her planet fell. She now knew her mother was dead, but she had also learnt how to run from her problems better than she had before.

Her fingers started typing out a message.

Return to Quarst, use the Syndicate to slow them. Once we are grouped together we will go to Earth.

She pressed a button on her command screens, giving her a direct line to her Captain.

“Selise, prepare the fleet to move,” Fairgate said, terminating the channel.

She looked at Worshun. The KEW bombardment had stopped. Killing them all would be too merciful. She would leave them for the Kalu.

***

Bok Soo wondered what Rick had been thinking when he was doing these kinds of missions for James. He and every single shuttle of the assembled fleet waiting at the co-ordinates Salchar had given them. Bok Soo knew very few leaders that could have had every single person not only follow their orders but believe in them.

He had been in the meetings with Salchar once he had resumed command. He was clearly back in command, but there was a darkness to him. He hid it from the others but there was an anger that lurked behind his calm facade. He was going to need to learn to keep that under control, not just off of his face. Otherwise, there was going to come a time when that anger boiled over and he lost it at the wrong moment.

“Event horizon forming!” someone said over the commanders net.

An event horizon looked like a sphere of molten glass. One could see the stars on the other side of it but they looked to be distorted from their position. The ships came through and the first and smaller wave of assault shuttles raced to get to them before their shields came online.

How's it looking, Santos?” Bok Soo asked. Santos was leading the group that was to take the first grouping of ships.

“No shields and no guns so far. We'll be on them in two minutes,”

Cutting it close, Bok Soo thought. It took five minutes for a good crew to get their shields online. Changing to the gravitational constants of the system one was coming into took roughly two minutes. Depending on how good one's shield generators and how much energy they could create, powering up fully took close to three minutes. The Free Fleet had trained to do it all in two. They had better power plants and shield generators, but the main thing was getting the adjustments right the first time and everything else flowed after.

Bok Soo waited a tense few minutes.

“Last man down,” Santos said four minutes later, cutting the channel. Bok Soo didn't try to reconnect. He had other things to do, like take the ships he was assigned to and make sure that they were actually on the Free Fleet's side.

It was ten tense minutes before the next part of the fleet came through. Bok Soo's shuttle bucked as it plowed forward. Now the first fleet would be able to see them and shoot them. Bok Soo didn't see any weapons fire as the first ship of the second fleet emerged. Fighters powered their drives, the wire plot of their believed positions changing as their engines shot them forwards like darts.

“Sweet lords of light and dark,” Bok Soo muttered as, for one of the rare times, he was close enough to see the fighters as they raked the incoming ships shield generators.

It would buy the Commandos precious minutes and was ballsy as all hell. Bok Soo had thought he and his Commandos were swinging brass between their legs, but these fighter jocks must have had platinum.

***

Wing Commander Smith's music choice had become very familiar to all of those that had graduated fighter school with him, and now those that called Floater their home berth. So it wasn't strange to hear one of his 'classics' come thumping out from his cockpit, him hmm-ing and bump-ing right along with it.

“Oh! Let's go!” He sang along, putting more power into his fighter's engines as he was pushed back into his seat.

“Steve walks warily down the street, with the brim pulled way down low. Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet, Machine guns ready to go.”

He checked his weapons, cycling his railgun, opening his internal racks and priming his external ones.

“Are you ready, hey, Are you ready for this? Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? Out of the doorway the bullets rip, To the sound of the bea.”

The targeting computer lit up the Dreadnought he was closing on. He eased up on the throttle, lining up his holographic aimer with the shield generators. He couldn't help but grin. Sometimes the timing is just perfect, he thought.

“Another one bites the dust!”

He hit the first shield generator, swinging and shooting the next, he turned backwards, firing his engines to cut his forward thrust.

“Another one bites the dust.”

Another shield generator fell prey to him as he fired a series of short sprint missiles.
“And another one gone, and another one gone.”

His thrust had caught up with his forward momentum powering him back in the direction he'd come from and on to the next target.

“Another one bites the dust Hey, I'm gonna get you, too. Another one bites the dust,”

“Smith will you shut the hell up?” Heston himself said over the radio.

“But it's a classic!” Smith said, the song still continuing in the background.

“That it might be, but keep it off my channels. Listen to it in your own brain box,” Heston said.

“Alright CAG,” Smith said, sounding rather put out.

He cut the music to external channels and kept singing to himself as his next target came into range. Missiles spewed from his internal and external blossoming int nuclear clouds. The enemy’s PDS came online, the lumbering lasers couldn't depress very well. Something that Smith was going to use to his advantage. Though it meant he had to be low. Very low, less than ten meters off of the armour of the ship. Shuttles came in, thumping against the ships, harpoons and mag clamps pulling them to the surface.

“Good luck, Commandos,” he said, opening a channel to Connolly.

“What?” Connolly said, not sounding all that pleased with Smith's call.

“Good luck there, grumpy,”

“Thanks,” Connolly grunted, his shuttle probably hitting a ship. Smith turned his MEF. The thing could turn on a pinhead, momentum wise. Well...Newton was kind of a dick in that area.

Thrusters and main engines fired as Smith shifted targets, accelerating for a Battle Cruiser.

“Got to go!”

“Ughh, but it's so boring out here.”

Smith got a warning. It seemed that some ships had anti-fighter missiles. He swerved and flickered his engines. Firing decoys and spinning, with a flick of his thumb he went from piercing rounds to explosive buckshot rounds. The scatter hit the remaining missiles on his trail. With flick of his wrist and foot pedal adjustments he was facing the right direction.

“Sure doesn't sound like it. Keep yourself alive, flyboy,” Connolly said, cutting the channel.

Smith glanced to his squad's readouts.

“Alright, Devil Dogs! Let’s go get that nice juicy Battle Cruiser,” he said, marking his intended target by looking at it and giving a combination of clicks with his mecha’s finger balls.

Green lights cascaded down the left side of his visor and he reversed his fighter, his thrusters fighting his inertia. A wing carrying onto another ship racked the Battle Carrier ahead of Smith. He turned his speed down. One could only gauge speed by the counters in space. Going a hundred thousand kilometers an hour and ten an hour could look the same. Carats came together, shield generators being marked in different colors as the fighters in Smith's squad designated the targets for their pilots. Short sprints flew from his external racks. A blinking light telling him that he was dry as he expelled the remaining weaponry in his internal racks. He raked the hull with his rail guns hitting anything that looked like a threat.

“Alright, let's get back to the barn. I'm out,” Smith said, humming along with a new song as he really put his foot down, heading to the Free Fleet which was just coming over the second enemy fleet.

Smith cast an eye to his plot as shuttles were coming down like angry bees on a bear. He kept out of their paths as he saw missiles launch for a shuttle. He threw off all his decoys, getting all but one missile that glanced the side of the shuttle. It tumbled, correcting itself sluggishly and bringing itself down on the Battle Carrier Smith had just raked with fire. More small defensive missiles were rising from the second fleet. It seemed that they didn't trust Foshunti either. There was no other reason to have those missiles other than to hit fighters and small space craft. PDS systems fired, a few getting lucky. Missiles piled into shuttles leaving a muted fireball as lasers crossed, catching anything unlucky enough to be in their path. Fighters that flew too far off the enemy ships deck were being hit now the enemy was recovering. Smith looked away, he was powerless to do anything.

“Floater deck chief, this is wing one two, coming in for R and R,” he said, his voice duller than normal.

“Come in on pod three, transmit fighter data,” the controller told him.

Smith did so, taking his flight to his assigned pod. The catapult system had been changed around to catch the fighters, slowing them, instead of shooting them out the other side. The fighters would be pulled on a conveyor into Floater, as they moved to pod one they would be hooked up to fuel and ammunition tubes. Weapons techs would take their old external racks at one point, down the line another group would add them. It was like a pit crew turned into an assembly line. It would have interested Smith usually, but now even with only two and a half minutes full reload and refuel time, he was wishing to be back out in the black making a difference.

***

“They've betrayed us!” Wasta said, getting out of his seat and snarling. The Dashuna was a natural predator, and he and his people kept to a strict code of honor which had stopped them from committing atrocities on one another. A low birth rate had made them come together against any and all intruders. They had been some of the best allies to Foshunti. Wasta was their Prime.

He was all red and purple scales, he had three lower limbs for incredible speed, and two upper arms that unlike the Kuruvians were not only strong, but able to do delicate work.

He looked like an Earth snake, his neck opening slightly in outrage and the implied challenge to his honor. His eyes which could look forwards and sideways firmly forwards.

“Sit,” Foshunti said. Wasta looked at him in askance, getting riled up.

“Maloti, tell all ships that they are to follow the orders of the Commandos. Also, get me a channel to Salchar,” Foshunti said, probably looking a lot calmer than he felt. He looked to Wasta who was still in pissed-off mode.

“He trusted us, now we have to trust him,” Foshunti said.

“We have a channel.”

Salchar's bridge was a hive of organized activity. People were talking into their implants, moving to stations their fingers and variety of limbs moving to feed their commander the information he needed, as well as keep the ship operational. Foshunti could see the level training that these people had undergone. It showed in the way that they conduct themselves.

“Captain Lord,” Salchar said, looking to Foshunti before doing something on a side screen around his chair.

“You've landed forces not only on the second fleet but my own. I was wondering why? And if this succeeds it's just Captain,” Foshunti said.

“Very well, Captain. I'm getting myself some peace of mind. You've kept to your side thus far. Now with my Commandos aboard your ships they can make sure that nothing bites us in the ass, at least until we take the remainder of your fleet. Have your people move to their own quarters, except those that you need to carry out operations on your ship,” Salchar said.

Foshunti knew he was being tested. This man was clearly not on the side of the Syndicate, he'd given him the half of the fleet that was loyal to Lady Fairgate and he'd descended on them like a wrathful force.

I wonder where he kept those fighters hidden. Foshunti thought as he nodded.

“Very well. You have proved that you can be trusted. I will do as you say,”

“Thank you, Captain. Hopefully, sometime soon we can have a talk face to face,”

“Indeed,” Foshunti said as Salchar cut the channel.

“Maloti, make sure that the Commander's orders are carried out,” Foshunti said.

“He is boarding our ships, it is an affront to us,” Wasta said, his voice deadly.

“We have a bare trust with them. These measures will go to cement that trust. While you might be Prime on your planet remember who commands this fleet,” Foshunti said.

“For how long? He will take it from you,” Wasta said, indicating Salchar.

“So what if he does, if it will finish this war?” Foshunti said. If Salchar proved himself, he was given the authority on behalf of the Dovark people, to assist Salchar in any way possible. That included telling him about resources that not even Wasta knew about.

“It is dishonorable,” Wasta said, his neck fluttering again.

“Keep this talk up and I will take you up on that fight you wanted,” Foshunti said, his voice cold as Wasta looked to him in alarm. He looked away quickly as Foshunti's cold eyes stared into his own. Foshunti had kept the last statement so quiet that no one other than Wasta could hear.

The Dashuna had the wisdom to not comment, his anger quickly cooling.

It's more like a damn nursery than a fleet, Foshunti thought, shaking his head at the ridiculous issues he had dealt with.

***

Santos waited as the Commando techie broke into the airlock's controls, the doors opened and people piled in. The temporary electrostatic field emitters came to life, allowing the airlock to open fully without losing air. Commandos thumped down into gravity filled hallways, and for once Santos didn't hear the cries of incoming fire, or see the enemy, or here the reports of weapons fire as he crossed through the electro-static field.

Instead he got a report coming in through all bands on the internal comms of the Talhalla. He opened it in an offline portion of his operating system, just in case it was a virus. It listed all of the personnel on the ship as well as their location. Ninety percent were in their quarters, he saw and he pulled up the names of the two platoon leaders with him.

“Check and verify this list,” he ordered as he received an incoming message from another Commando group on another one of Foshunti's loyal ships.

“Sir, I've just got a message detailing all of the positions of the crew. What am I to do?”

Roughly translated to mean 'should I rip walls apart for cover'.

“Check that the list is valid. Stay alert,” Santos said as he changed to his leadership net.

“Report in if you have been given a list. If you have, check the ships as planned to confirm it. Be respectful, but if anything happens, put it down hard,” Santos said. It seemed most of his people had gotten a list by the number of green lights flashing on the left side of his helmet. He contacted Vort. In Sook was probably too busy coordinating shuttles and fighters.

“Commander Santos?”

“Vort, pass this on. Foshunti's loyal forces have given us lists of his people's positions. We're checking to see that they’re valid, I will report back when we have ships cleared. Also, can you tell me if any of the ships have jamming going on?”

Santos waited just moments.

“No. Not these ships. Only the second fleet has jammers blocking the Commandos there,” Vort said.

“Thanks.”

Santos cut the channel and opened his visor, chucking a piece of gum into his mouth and chewing. The stuff seemed to calm him as he moved through the halls behind the first group. He had the feeling he wasn't going to run into any issues. Still, they checked every corner, quickly moving to the bridge that was buried deep in Talhalla's systems. He felt the need to rush, to clear the ship and post his people in secured and vital positions. He knew that Bok Soo was definitely not having such an easy time.

Santos checked with his commanders again. None of them were having issues, and there was still no jamming, which showed him something.

“Slow and steady Commandos. We rush this and we won't be any use to Bok Soo,” he said as he saw his own people speeding up and taking more risks.

***

“Incoming!” The Commando in front of Bok Soo said as plasma scorched where they had been.

Bok Soo twirled his plasma shotguns, racking a round with their lever action. He was on one of the second Fleet’s Dreadnoughts and moving was hell. He had a full blueprint of the corridors, but he had no idea what was in the walls before he ordered some techies to open them up. They had run into environmental systems, optical wire bundles and a plasma conduit. Thankfully, safety systems had come online. Unfortunately, three Commandos had died as a result. His people were hacking stations to get Intel, but it was slow going and they were still largely bogged down.

He shifted next to the wall from which the Syndicate forces were firing, putting his gun around the side, putting rounds into his enemy at point-blank range.

His gun clicked empty, he reloaded by reflex and ran for the other side of the corridor.

“You two!” He pointed to a beader crew. “You hold it, you fire and help them,” Bok Soo said as the team got close to the wall he had come from. They braced and fired the beader. They could only fire in short bursts or be pushed backwards.

“Now, move it, Commandos!” Bok Soo said as his people used the covering fire to cross the corridor.

Taking a ship meant taking vital positions faster than the enemy could reinforce them. He checked his plasma shot guns. They were his favorite damn toy. He had got them from a Commando turned weapon smith on Parnmal. He tapped the battle axe that rested across his back.

“You better be sending some good ole fashioned luck this way Henry,” he said to himself, hearing shooting as the Commandos smashed into another enemy group.

Nearly at the friggin engineering, he sighed, chewing on his gum as he looked at his display. The Syndicate jammers were crap, but there was still enough of the damned things that they were making communicating through the ship an issue. Outside the ships was impossible. A Commando got winged as they turned a corner, but his buddy jumped to the other side, grabbing him and hauling him out of the line of fire. A Chaleelian by his armour, mostly the elongated helmet for their snout, fired at where the rounds had come from.

“Grenades?” he asked over the close area radio.

“Fuck it, it's a Dreadnought. She can take it. None in engineering, though. And no one tells Resilient or Eddie I said a god damn thing!” he warned, sure that got a few unseen grins. Plasma grenades went off and as the Chaleelian swung the corner, a Sarenmenti and Kuruvian followed to assist.

“Clear to the door. We're at engineering, need a techie,” the Chaleelian said.

One scampered from the rear.

“How you doing, Commando?” Bok Soo asked the trooper that had been winged.

“Been better,” a female Sarenmenti grunted.

“Rest up and get some hell fire into you. You stay here and keep a watch, follow us as we clear,” Bok Soo said, the last for her buddy that had saved her.

“Shotgun or charge,” the techie announced.

No one appeared to have a shotgun.

“Alright, I'll blast the bloody thing down. You four, continue around and link up with Commander Banelish's squad,” Bok Soo said, indicating the four at the rear he wanted to go.

He moved up to the group that were covering the techie.

“Ready boys and girls?”

He held his shotguns out at the pair of bolts on the double doors. He shot the top ones, cycling the shotguns around as he lowered his hands and stuck two more balls of plasma into the lower bolts. He cycled his guns again as he kicked the doors with all of his might. They went flying, hitting and killing the gun crew that had set up too close to the door. Bok Soo charged in. His left leg still on full power launched him up and into the rafters of the cavernous engineering hub. He put one shotgun in its holster as he grabbed something sturdy looking.

He looked down on the amazed gun crews, which were doing their best to face in three different directions. He fired at the closest, the Plasma burning into the unarmoured Syndicates. It seemed that Salchar and Foshunti's surprise hadn't given them enough time to even get their mechas on. He cycled the shotgun, his ammo counter going down until he hit empty. He dropped toward the floor, grabbing his other one as he released the mag on the shotgun and smacked it into the waiting mag on his leg. With one flick of his wrist it was reloaded, he continued around a corner towards the gun team that was still standing. He heard the reports of rail guns as indicators in his mecha halted his progress. He pulled back, covering outwards. Moments later a barrel was pointed at his visor.

“Best to lower that,” Bok Soo said, sounding slightly amused as the Chaleelian did so.

“Sorry, sir,”

“No problem. At least you assessed the situation before shooting. Otherwise I'd be having quite a few issues.” He pointed to the Kuruvian. “Go help the wounded Commando out there would ya? The rest of you, let's secure this position. There will be a squad here in two. You lot will be staying here as they advance through you and on to the next objective.”               These people had been going hard since entry. It wasn't far, but close quarters fighting was damned tiring. He was the CAMC, so being tired was an impossibility. He opened his visor, spitting his now flavorless gum and putting in another piece. God that smells like shit, he thought, closing his visor as the air recycler went to work getting rid of the smell of burnt metals, plastics—and charred flesh.

***

“Captain Lord Foshunti, what should we do?” a panicked captain on one of the second fleet said.

“Fight them you useless bastard. I'm fighting my own attackers. Their fleet will be upon us in minutes. If you are not ready I will hold you personally to blame for all of this and make you dance for my own delight,” Foshunti said, a sadistic smile coming across his face as his eyes fluttered in excitement.

“Yes, my Captain Lord, we will repel them!” the Captain said, now eager not to talk to his Captain Lord as he had been before.

“Looks like your boarding my ships has actually lent credence to me being attacked,” Foshunti said, studying his screens. Santos stood to the side of him, just out of view of the visual pick up. Santos didn't say much to Foshunti. Though from his signal emissions he was quite connected to his troops. Who were as every bit as terrifying and good as Foshunti had been told. They were real troops. They might have a few flairs and extras, but they used them to great effect.

“Thank you, sir,” Santos said, his tone showing that he clearly didn't care for Foshunti's praise. The man wanted clearly to be in the fight. A thought that Syndicates would find ridiculous.

“We have missile launch,” a sensor tech said as Foshunti watched missiles raining down on the already softened second fleet.

The ships that hadn't been boarded were now getting pummeled by Salchar's fleet. Cannons fired, concentrating on one area, then another, not moving on until they had destroyed their target. The second fleet tried to fight back, but they were failing. Cruisers were the first to go. Foshunti couldn't keep a hint of a grin off of his face as they cracked open into massive fireballs, their missile armament adding to the inferno.

Corvettes used their superior maneuvering to twist and dive, trying to shake the incoming fire and throw off the gunner’s aim from the devastating cannons. But the batteries adjusted, firing in the general area, bracketing the ships. Their weakened or non-existent shields gave them little protection and many missiles made it through the attempts to take them down.

Destroyers and the Dreadnought that hadn't been boarded fared the best. All of the Cruisers had fired their missiles, sending the majority right into the throats of the Dreadnought. The Dreadnought put up a fight, but mutual PDS support was forgotten as ship’s captain’s tried to save their own ships instead of fighting beside their comrades.

Two hundred missiles hit the weakened shields, they turned black, trying to blunt the  incoming energy, holding for only a few seconds before power relays were overpowered and it collapsed.

The missiles were like tigers on a weakened prey. They smashed in from every direction, ripping apart the Dreadnought. It absorbed three hits, speaking to the strength of its armour and then the fourth piled into a hole created by the previous missiles. The Dreadnought seemed to be picked up as if by the hand of God as plating and openings in the armour, such as weapon mounts, sprouted fire and the ship split open. Fires raged in its hull as things inside burned on the remaining oxygen or blew up as their containment was broken. It hadn't been completely powerless in its death. It had fired as many missiles as it could. The Second Fleet were also adding in their missiles as well.

The Free Fleet had co-ordination in their PDS.

“The hell is that?” Foshunti asked as the six hundred missiles that were rising were being hammered into nothing.

“A new PDS system. Its drastically more effective,” Shova in Sensors said as his people coaxed information from their arrays.

Fatal mistake, Foshunti thought as the Battle Cruisers which had been modified into carriers were in the center of the Free Fleet formation. The Fleet was organized in a pyramid formation as it had been before. PDS fire was split up between everyone, the weapons and the tactics made the protective fire damned impressive. It took out hundreds before they even got close to the fleet, but there wasn't enough room to give them time to take out all of them. Resilient, the other Dreadnought's and the Battle-Carriers took the missiles that made it through the fire.

The Dreadnought's shrugged off the barrage, their shields fully charged and much stronger than anything the second fleet had available. The Battle-Carrier's shields held for longer that Foshunti guessed but they fell eventually. Then panels of the Carriers started exploding as missiles blew up as well. Foshunti watched as the Battle-carriers were consumed in a halo of missiles exploding away from them. The missiles stayed at bay long enough for the Carrier to bring its shields back online, stopping the last few dead in their tracks. Foshunti tried to hide his amazement. Whatever systems those Battle-Carriers had was damned impressive and tactically a godsend. Having Carriers that were able to be on the front lines meant shorter time for fighters to get refueled and armed, it meant that less ships had to worry about protecting it.

The Carriers turned, presenting their heavily armoured spine to the second fleet as more ships started firing at them. Those ships were quickly set upon by the group surrounding the Battle-Carriers. The Free Fleet turned, powering away on an angle. The ships that hadn't been landed on, were destroyed, or heavily damaged The second fleet seemed to have run out of missiles, their Cruisers had been of little assistance as they turned into nothing but useless fireballs.

“Still think you would've beaten them wholesale?” Planner asked through Foshunti's implants.

“It would have been an interesting fight,” Foshunti said, as Planner left the channel.

He looked to his screens. There were Commandos at every power plant and major console that controlled something vital to the ship. It was up to these people's friends and compatriots to take the rest of the second Fleet.

He just hoped it was soon.

***

Connolly was in one of the Battle Cruisers, and he had finally reached the gunnery decks. The door kicker took the door as his people filed in. The deck was alive with people working their cannon mounts and the internals of the cannon moving as they fired. Someone noticed the Commandos as Connolly used his speakers.

“Step away from the weapons mounts and lie down and you won't be harmed,” He bellowed as the deck seemed to turn to him as one.

Shots rang out against the bulkhead behind Connolly, a few rounds hitting his armour and bouncing off as he dove for cover. The Commando's portable cannons bellowed as Connolly got up behind a stack of heat sinks. The entire deck seemed to be charging his people, none of them wearing anything like conventional armour as they fired a host of different weapons. It looked like a riot with fireworks more than anything else.

Cannons shifted fire, raking the forward lines as people disappeared. Connolly saw a Syndicate prepping a grenade, and his rounds found the man, the grenade rolling from his hand and exploding in a similar pile of used heat sinks to the ones Connolly had sheltered behind, but these ones were used and fragile. The superheated coolant and debris ripped through the charging Syndicates. The coolant was heated to the point that it acted more like plasma. The rest didn't know they were already dead as the cannons finished them off. Connolly looked at the destruction, his stomach churning at the sight.

“Seal the doors and we'll move to assist Commander Yasu,” Connolly said. A few Commandos not having Connolly's self-control were discarding their meals. The lucky ones got their visors open in time, only to smell the gunnery deck. Connolly had them removed as the more veteran units that had seen the massacred bodies in Parnmal and other battlefields quickly sealed the doors and hurried back out of the deck. Connolly reached Yasu as she turned around from reaming out her people.

“I told you to keep your damned heads in!” Yasu barked, the person that had poked their head out having the misfortune of not pulling it back quick enough.

They advanced to the bridge and found that it was secured with multiple gunner teams and plating that stopped any grenades from getting to them.

“Connolly!” she barked.

“Ma'am?” he said, slightly nervous as he came face to face with the woman that had been in charge of training him and thousands of other Commandos. She was a damn force of nature like Salchar himself.

“I've got an entry point in through this here air-intake. I want you to get in there and take the enemy from behind.”

She gave him a minute to study the plans. The air-intake had been taken from a civilian ship and used for the bridge. It was wider than the original and didn't have the shut off that a military grade replacement would have.

“It's too small for a mecha,” he said, his knowledge from the yard coming in use.

“I know, you'll have to get creative,” she replied.

“Yes ma'am,” he said, cutting the channel and gathering his people before heading out.

It took three ladders and a service hatch to get to the air-intake.

“Alright. Pop 'em, Commando's. Looks like we're doing this old school,” he said, opening his mecha and freeing himself from it. He grabbed his railgun and a bandoleer of grenades, magazines, and a plasmid blade.

He took the blade and cut into the air vent his squad helped him with their plasmid weaponry. The air-intake was small for Connolly, the Sarenmenti's tails rubbed the roof, resulting in a bunch of complaining from them. The Kuruvians used their manipulators to scurry along quite easily. If any of the Avarians had claustrophobia Connolly felt sorry for them, their chests and backs hit the roof and floor, they could only move with their toes and fingers.

Connolly got to the opening that led into the bridge first.

“Alright, it narrows up ahead. If you won't fit, stop and get ready to make an entry hole and drop into the bridge,” Connolly said, using his implants as he could hear the noises they were all making. Too loud of a noise and the enemy would know they had more than rats in their vents.

Connolly pushed on, pulling out his plasmid blade which illuminated the vent. Better he didn't get far before it was too small for him to continue.

“Tell him I don't care if he doesn't have enough people! I need support here, we have those goddamn bastards at our doors!” someone was yelling.

“Do it,” Connolly said as he stabbed downwards into the air-vent metal. He dragged it down the sides to his shoulder on both sides. He cut ahead of him, the lip dangled down as he sheathed his blade and grabbed his railgun. He made sure it was on scatter shot.

“Well, here goes nothing,” he thought. As he shifted forward, his weight pushed the vent down.

“What was that?” the same voice from before said.

Come on! Connolly thought as he kept moving onto the cut vent, but still nothing happened.

He kept going, and all of a sudden it swung down. Connolly had no time to stop as the cut open vent acted like a slide and he slid out of the vent and fell several feet, right onto the Captain. He was a slimy gelatinous creature, which nicely stopped Connolly's fall, Connolly's elbow connecting with something and knocking him unconscious.

“Connolly rolled and raised his rifle as his squad fell from the ceiling.

“Fuck!” One Avarian said, the creature under him squeaking as he landed on it

“Surrender and..,” Connolly said.

“Sweet lord of.. unnfrgh,”

“...you won't..,”

“Fuck!” Connolly couldn't help but wince as a Damien landed on his plums.

“...be hurt,” Connolly finished, one Kuruvian tumbled down from the roof, crashing into the floor yelling obscenities.

The bridge crew looked at the Commandos.

“Put your manipulating limbs on your head, or in the air if you understand,” Connolly said.

The air vent broke as Dofo, the biggest Avarian in Connolly's squad fell straight to the ground. Connolly couldn't help but sigh. The entire bridge had their 'hands' up.

“Alright, round them up. Then we'll clear the doorway,” Connolly said. His squad moved to obey. Damien was dry heaving on the floor still.

It took a few minutes before the bridge crew was secured. Connolly lifted the jamming from the ship.

“This is Connolly. We've cleared the bridge,” he reported to Yasu.

“Good. I left two squads outside to hold the gun teams there. Here's the Commanders channel.” With that she cut their channel.

Connolly sent the commander a message to not fire as his people stacked on the bulkhead that led out of the bridge. It cycled open, revealing the backs of  twenty or so fighters. Those closest to the door turned to it, expressions of shock on their faces as they were face to face with Commandos, not their comrades.

One cannon loader got past the shock and swung at Connolly.

Connolly dropped his rifle his hands finding his blade as the creature was too close for him to use his rifle.

Connolly moved to the side, the attacker hacking the doorway past Connolly.

Connolly stabbed his attacker's neck twice, the man grabbed his neck and fell to the ground. One of the bulkhead defenders was turning with their weapon. Connolly dove as the Commando behind him put penetrators in them, gore exploding everywhere. Plasmid weaponry was out as it came down to hand to hand. Someone stabbed at Connolly's head. He rolled just in time, but the attacker kept coming, making him roll more and more.

His back hit something solid and the attacker moved, a look of triumph on his face. Connolly chucked his knife at the soldier’s optical nerves, and the man screamed as the plasma ate his face away. Connolly grabbed the crude sword his attacker had dropped, and he brought it up and changed directions, dragging it through another Commando's abdomen.

A commando was just too slow getting their blade out as a Syndicate trooper charged them. Connoly hurled his blade at them, making the trooper raise his arm against the blade. The Commando’s blade came free and across the would be attacker’s front, leaving a gash through it.

The Trooper seemed to look at their wounds in confusion as their legs went out from under them.

Connolly looked for more attackers, but his Commandos had done a good job. The squad medic was already going through the wounded and dead. Connolly lost three people. He looked away, anger filling him.

“You three give me a hand,” he said, pointing to Dofo and two of his fellow Avarians. Connolly braced a wall, the other three adding their shoulders too.

“One, two threee,” he grunted, and the wall shifted, seeming to pause for a second before it toppled.

“Move up, Commandos,” Connolly yelled, making sure they could see his spattered white and black.

“Commander, you're going to want to see this,” one of his squad members said from the bridge.

Connolly jogged back, grabbing his rail gun. On the main plot there was a fourth formation emerging from jump.

“Fuck,” Connolly said.

****

Captain Poshu looked at the mess that was Captain Lord Foshunti's fleet and the Free Fleet's. He was three hours flight time from them. He rubbed his hands together, letting out a small hoot of victory. He been expecting to be add his forces to a triumphant Foshunti, now it looked like he would be saving him, which always meant more bounty. Plus, aiding Lady Fairgate would make him look good in her eyes, while Foshunti's status would fall. He had taken the majority of Rosho Station with him. He only had two Dreadnought's and seven Battle Cruisers, but he had fifteen Destroyers, thirty five Cruisers and eighty nine Corvettes.

“The results of the poll are in, they agree that higher gravity speeds will get us there within two hours,” Broscht said, in his droll bored tone.

“Miull, take us in,” Poshu said, rubbing his hands in victory again. “Get me Foshunti on the line,” he said, sitting back in his chair.

The extra gravities of thrust made Poshu move in slight annoyance, but it was worth it for the possible prize. Foshunti appeared minutes later. He still had a few minutes lag, which was going to make the conversation annoying.

“Who is this?” Foshunti said, in his silky deadly way, which sent a shiver down Poshu's spine.

“Captain Poshu with a raiding party from Rosho,” Poshu said, unable to keep his gloating smile from his face. Foshunti's face changed a few minutes later looking rather annoyed.

“Why are you all the way from Rosho, Captain?” Foshunti asked, relaxed despite the chaos Poshu could see. He must be as crazy as the rumors say, Poshu thought making a mental note to watch out for Foshunti.

“Lady Fairgate sent us to render assistance,” Poshu said, time lag taking it's sweet time.

“We do not require any assistance,” Foshunti said.

“When Lady Fairgate tells me to do something, then I do it,” Poshu said, shrugging his shoulders. He was starting to like this situation less and less.

He paused the video channel.

“How long until we're in missile range?” he asked tactical.

“We're in missile range, twenty minutes until we're in optimal,” was the reply.

Poshu opened the video channel but Foshunti cut him off before he could speak.

“Very well. I will bring the first half of my fleet which is not boarded and take control of your fleet. Then we will run over these scum and move to their worlds, turning them to lifeless husks and taking what we desire.” Foshunti's eyes seemed to dance in sadistic pleasure.

Poshu didn't care for burning worlds. Slaves were more useful alive than dead.

But Parnmal was a prize many times greater than any planet.

Parnmal by itself would make him one of the richest people in the Syndicate. The possibility that there were other worlds of space-faring species made him clomp his mouth together as he salivated in pleasure.

“Yes, Captain Lord Foshunti. Of course,” Poshu said.

Chapter - Fragile Trust

I saw the third wave of ships come in.

“Jam the fuckers,” I said as Vort bent over his table, In Sook doing the same. He could take care of the general broadcasts, while she could get the Commandos to cut off the laser and specific band signals.

“Bring the Fleet around behind the Second Fleet. We want a blockade. Marleen, launch sensor missiles. I want to know what the hell we're facing. Resilient get me Heston.” Ben was firing of course changes as Milra piloted and I felt Resilient moving beneath me.

“Commander?” Heston said.

“I want the fighters going in silent. Have the carriers launch them towards the enemy,” I said. The fighters had been waiting for a few hours now. There had been no sense in risking them when our people were aboard the ships they'd be hitting.

“Understood.”

Had Foshunti played me? Got me to send out my people, then bring more forces in to attack us? I didn't get much time to think about it.

“Foshunti's on the line.”

“In the conference,” I said, already out of my seat and walking to the rear.

“Looks like I'm not the only one that trusts the wrong people,” Edwards chimed. My anger flashed as I looked at the man. He looked back at me calmly, which pissed me off even more.

You have more important things to do at the moment than beating the snot out of him, I thought as I opened the conference room door.

Foshunti was on the screen as I stormed into the room.

“What the fuck?” I asked as I saw Santos come into the feed.

“From what I can tell, he didn't know Commander,” Santos said.

“I'm getting his safe-code,” Resilient said through my implants.

“Thank you. Commander Santos,” my voice still brisk as I looked to Foshunti.

“I have a plan,” he said, and I felt a disgusted look coming across my face.

“Of course you do.”

“You're not going to like it,” he said.

“Of course I'm not,” I growled, taking a breath, instead of bashing the seat in front of me against the bulkhead.

“I've talked it over with Captain Poshu. It seems that Lady Fairgate didn't trust me to just kill you. She sent me another force to assure victory. She really wants to have Earth under her thumb for some reason. Anyway I can get my fleet into the midst of his and destroy him from the inside out,”

Or unite you with your comrades and fuck me, I wanted to say.

“Okay.”

“I'm going to have to have your Commandos stand down and let my people take their positions so that I can fight my ships,” he said as I sighed, looking at the floor.

I thought about what I would have done before Marhtu’s betrayal. I would've trusted Foshunti. Now I needed guarantees.

“Commander Santos, ask your techies if they can modify missiles, on every ship,” I said, looking up as Foshunti’s face creased with of understanding and horror.

“Commander, I don't think that..,”

“Not that long ago I wouldn’t have thought it was necessary, but then I saw what a hell hole this Universe is. I might be fighting the hard fight, but I'm not going to fight it by being an idiot anymore,” I snarled, my fists crunching the top of the chair.

“We can have missiles across eighty percent of the ships,” Santos said.

“Do it. Once they are in place then you can join with the other fleet. Santos, make sure my orders are carried out,” I said, looking into his visor.

“Sir!” His tone was hard as he clanked his fingers to his helmet.

“Good man,” I said, my expression lightening as I saw the complete trust in the man's eyes.

I cut the channel, coming out of the conference room.

“Foshunti's forces will be moving out to the enemy. They're going to play Trojan,” I said, getting some odd looks as I got into my seat.

“He's going to pretend he's one of them. Then attack them from inside,”

Rick gave me a look. I didn't acknowledge it as I checked the plot for where the fleet was moving, as well as the reports from the ships which had been able to stop the jamming. I was going through when a name popped out at me.

George Everez, KIA.

I opened the video recorded from his mecha cam. George was leading a Platoon to take a Destroyer. Two Commandos had run through a corridor, not checking it. Rounds clipped them, George pushed them and got into cover. A grenade rolled down the corridor. There was no time. George rolled onto it, he rose up four feet as it went off. The Commandos took the position but the medic upon getting to him registered him as KIA.

I sat there, a familiar feeling of not only loss of a life, but of control filling me. It was like being in that room on Daestramus again. I lived and watched as people that believed in me paid the ultimate price. They had been brilliant people, people with dreams, a future, and in a second it had all been taken away. I looked to the reports, burying myself in information, and my sadness and anger only grew. I read until I finished them. I needed to know everything my fleet was doing in order to keep as many as possible alive.

***

“The weapons are in place. You can move your people around. Anyone messes with the missiles and the ship goes up,” Santos said, his voice like granite as Foshunti nodded.

“Very well,” Foshunti said, looking to his communications officer.

“Delphine, bring us up to yellow. Darshoo, open the doors,” He said to Delphine's brother, who was his tactical officer. The twins were driven individuals and had the ability to be calm in any kind of situation.

“Sir,” Darshoo said as warning lights flashed.

“Take us towards Poshu's fleet,” he said as his nav plotted a course and helm carried it out.

Foshunti watched on his screens as people raced out of their quarters. It was a matter of minutes before his bridge was a hive of activity instead of the quiet graveyard it had been before. While the Free Fleet had a shortage of people with the right knowledge and training. Foshunti had been able to pull from across the Union. His ships were fully crewed and then some. Ravasham or Rav, the Commander of the Air Group got to his desk to Foshunti's left. It was a large circular area, a desk in the middle and controllers around him to feed him information, or send it out to the fighters officers.

He cycled through his screens as people arrived at their stations. Fighter pilots were getting in their crafts already, running their start-up tests as the carrier fighter crews did their own checks. Once the positions were secured and everything was confirmed as good the departments reported they were ready. The other ships were ready by the time Talhalla was. First Fleet fell in around him as he threw up a hologram in front of himself, manipulating it with his hands, he created a formation based around his own fleet.

He transmitted the orders to Poshu. Now all there was to do was to wait to get into position.

***

Captain Ilator had been in a number of fights, though none of them had been like this. The enemy had known every move they were going to make, they had known where they were going to come from. Which ships should be where. They knew too much. Though he and the rest of the Syndicate forces had only been given that information a matter of minutes before they had transmitted. All of it coming from Foshunti.

He looked to his screens, and saw his crew was losing badly. His Troops were beaten. The enemy had been grouping right where the first shuttle had come down. The Commandos had killed them before they could even get their mechas on. Someone had to have told the enemy. Yet Foshunti was the only one that had contact with them.

“It was fucking Foshunti, it has to be,” he said as he looked to his plot.

Foshunti was now moving to the incoming fleet. If they could kill the Free Fleet then they could help the Syndicate get control of their ships again. That ray of hope turned to dread as he realized that once Foshunti was in amongst them they he could take control of them and lead them right into the maw of the Free Fleet. He needed to get a message to them as soon as possible, possibly one that could lead to a rescue.

“Send a message to the incoming fleet,” he said, and his comms officer started pressing buttons, then did it again, and again.

“I'm jammed, I can't,” he said as Ilator growled. Foshunti was four steps ahead of him.

He scanned through his screens looking for something. He found the shuttles and he typed in an override code. An officer of the syndicate always had a way out. While it didn’t allow him to fire missiles or use the other weapons it meant that he could take over the shuttle and use it to broadcast a warning. Foshunti was just getting in amongst the new fleet.

“Open the shuttle-bay doors,” Ilator said and someone did so. He used the controls on his chair to fly the shuttle out. He sent it careening towards the new fleet as he typed a message and had the shuttle send it on all channels. Once it got far enough away from the jamming then it would be able to punch through to the new fleet. It was a simple message, all it said was; Foshunti has betrayed us. He's working with the Free Fleet.

***

Foshunti was part way through the enemy fleet which was shaped in a U formation. Santos was checking over his forces as Delphine looked up in alarm.

“A Syndicate shuttle just broke free from the formation,” she said, the main plot splitting in two. On the bottom it had the simple words; Foshunti has betrayed us. He's working with the Free Fleet.

“We have a request coming in from Poshu,” Delphine added.

“Looks like the game’s up. Please ask Commander Salchar if he minds us firing on the unoccupied Syndicate ships,” Foshunti said.

A few moments later Salchar was on the screen.

“Santos, I trust you,” Salchar said simply, cutting the channel.

Foshunti looked to Santos.

“I believe you are the one to tell us to fire or not,” Foshunti said, a hunger in his eyes, like that of a greyhound that wanted nothing more but to be let free and race.

Santos opened his face plate, a hunger for his enemies’ blood shaping his snarl.

“Send those fuckers to the dark.”

Foshunti's grin turned hungry.

“Bring the Fleet to red and give the order to fire. If you don't mind, Darshoo?” Foshunti said.

“Please, Captain,” Darshoo said.

Foshunti stabbed a finger down on his control panel.

Missiles leapt from Talhalla as fighters spat out from her at an incredible rate.

Foshunti hadn't just moved the fleet to give him a spot in the middle. He'd had them get nice and close, close enough that Cruisers, once pierced would take out more than just themselves. He'd had the Cruisers move all across the formation, acting like massive bombs. Darshoo had coordinated Talhalla's fire to use these Cruisers.

“What's the status of our shields?” Foshunti demanded.

“Online and functioning at one hundred percent,”

“They're firing,” another person said. Santos was left wondering how someone was ever able to fight their ship, let alone a fleet of them.

“Defensive fire is holding. Xein has been hit, Poatul is rolling,”

“Shields down to eighty on the bow,” Talhalla was rocking slightly now. Santos rolled with the hits, catching someone as they nearly fell.

There was a large shock as the ship rocked again.

What damn idiot made something powerful enough to rock a damned fortress like this? Santos thought as a flurry of symbols interacted on the map in front of him. A private channel from Salchar opened in his mecha.

“Sir?” he said, as a panel blew out and someone screamed as they got hit.

“How is it there?” Salchar asked.

“Messy. Shit’s exploding,” Santos told him, remembering who he was talking to “Sir,”

“I'm a Commando, son. I don't give a crap about swearing. How is Foshunti?”

“I don't know sir. He's concentrating on fighting Poshtu’s ships,” Santos said.

“Should we send in support? Take into account that our people could die,” Salchar said as Santos stood a little taller.

“Yes sir. It shows were ready to fight together.”

“Very well, Commander. Thank you.” Salchar cut the channel and Santos looked to the main plot as signals came alive.

“What the hell?” Darshoo asked as Foshunti's eyes also opened in surprise.

“They’re Free Fleet fighters,” The CAG said. Santos didn't know his name.

“What are they doing?” Foshunti asked. There was no hiding the nervousness in his voice. If the fighters came in now, then he could very well lose. Even Santos could see that.

“They're asking for permission to join the net. They're raking Poshtu’s ships!” The CAG said, shocked.

“Well, we’d best make sure that they don't out do our own fighters,” Foshunti said, his eyes and mouth settling into a grin.

The CAG used the fighters bringing them down on the nearly hundred Corvettes. The bigger ships were pounding Poshu's bigger ships.

“There's an incoming transmission from one of Salchar's lieutenants,” Delphine said. “On screen.”

“Rolling. Port side shielding is failing.” There was no sensation of rotating at all as Cheeleader appeared on the main screen. “My squadron has been released to assist you. We're under your command until the end of hostilities.”

“Brilliant! I'll be through the formation in a matter of minutes,” Foshunti said, turning to his armrest and hammering something out on it before looking up. “We'll fire missiles at them once we're clear, then come in afterwards and clear up. I've sent you crude timings,” he said.

Cheerleader looked at her own armrest.

“Understood,” she said as the channel was cut.

Santos thought he was imagining things but it felt like Talhalla was getting pounded less.

“Send the recall once we're free,” Foshunti said.

“Sir,” the CAG said.

***

For the first time, I watched a space battle from the command chair. It wasn't glorious. It was giants pounding one another with everything they had until one cracked. Foshunti's forces grouped together, assisting one another as they piled through the reinforcements. Their first attack had come as a surprise, tens of missiles sprouting without warning as ships turned to present their cannons. They crossed the reinforcements T perfectly, their fire sending them into disarray. Cruisers lit up spectacularly, their shields could barely stop a single missile.

They went up with their missile loads. X-ray fusion pumped missiles were the worst. They had the range and effect on them to hit the Syndicates own forces. Shields faltered around some exploding cruisers. The fighters that had launched from Talhalla fell onto these weakened shields like piranhas.

Corvettes tried to use their superior maneuvering and thrust to get better angles on Foshunti's fleet but the fighters with their humming bird like reflexes swarmed them, hunting down the massive Corvette force, which had practically no protection other than going back to the main Syndicate body. They raced back, the fighters leaving them for easier targets as the Corvettes had to act like destroyers and Battle Cruisers. It became a slug fest, cannons, shields, and armour being used to the best of their ability to keep the ship alive and kill the bastard that was trying to kill them.

The Syndicates got the odd ship, but Foshunti's forces were drilled. They passed through quickly, hitting the biggest targets, weakening them, if not destroying them. A reactor gave way on a Destroyer as its shields failed and an explosion ripped it apart from the inside.

Foshunti cleared through as I checked my plots. Cheerleader was powering towards the Syndicate fleet. Her forces and Foshunti's unleashed missiles on the Syndicate forces by the dozen. PDS systems left on automatic went from one direction to the other, not concentrating its fire at all. It was like watching a vice close in on the Syndicate. Nuclear fire raged in space and the main screen clouded as sensors were unable to get through the mess. It quickly cleared and Walf let out a whistle. The Syndicate forces were broken. Not one shield was left standing and many ships drifted, dead and bleeding atmosphere. A few more bucked as something gave way and exploded and Cheerleader ripped through the formation, her cannons shooting anything that looked like it was alive.

“Have Cheerleader return. Send down the remaining Commandos,” I said. In Sook and Vort began issuing orders.

“Looks like we did it again, even with Murphy throwing all kinds of shit in the machine,” Rick muttered, his eyes fixed on his screens as he checked people, ships and the fleet as a whole.

“Not yet we haven't. We still have those ships to take,” I said, standing. “Rick you have command,” I said as I stomped out, Rick looking up as I left.

I cast an eye towards Edwards, he was studying the plot as if it was some kind of trick. I hoped that something had sunk into that thick useless skull of his. I snorted, it wasn't my problem anymore.

***

Carsickle checked the information coming in as his shuttle powered for one of the Dreadnoughts. There was only a platoon of Commando's against the company and a half that inhabited the place. They were holding, but they were low on everything and needed help. Thankfully one of Resilient's viruses had got into the system and bounced around the ship, shutting down shields and engines.

Seems it didn't get cannons, Carsickle thought, his stomach rising into his throat as the shuttle pilot threw in some ridiculous moves. The Commandos groaned as the shuttle bucked and weaved, the pilot keeping them out of the cannons aiming reticule. A side of the shuttle went missing as four Commando's flat lined. Debris from a rail-gun round had shredded the side of the shuttle and the occupants. Thankfully without air there was no decompression as the dance to get away from the cannons continued.

There was a brief period of massive thrust which made Carsickle thankful for the high gravity training for once. Then the shuttle's pads hit the ground. Carsickle was up as soon as a seal was confirmed. Ramps opened and mechas clunked out. Carsickle scanned the area. He could feel the cannons firing from the ship as he located an airlock from his plans. A shuttle got hit by a cannon, its inertia carrying it forward into the ship. Carsickle heard it through his feet as the fiery mess dented the ships armour before floating off into the black.

“Move it!” Carsickle said. He didn't want to be out here a second longer than necessary.

The techie got the airlock open and the electrostatic field online and Commandos filed in. The troops that had been dispatched got into a firefight.

“Through the walls ceiling and everything. We need to get those cannons offline!” Carsickle said as rounds pinged off his shoulder. He fired back at where they had come from, hitting a troop, his round pinging off and exploding afterwards. The troops danced as they were swarmed with rounds and explosions.

“Take them,” Carsickle said as he kept firing.

Two Commando's charged with their plasmid weaponry as Carsickle reloaded. The two hacked their way through the troops while Carsickle came up behind them.

“It's not the time to take a breather, people,” Carsickle said. The two got their primary weapons out and continued down the corridor, clearing as they went in the direction of the gun decks.

A grenade rolled down the corridor and as Carsickle got to it, he gave it the boot, falling back into cover as Troops fired at him. The grenade went off at abdomen height, just a few meters from the troops. A Commando turned the corner, his rail gun sounding the end of the remaining troops. Someone helped to haul Carsickle to his feet, Commandos flowing through the now open corridor.

“I’m getting too old for this shit,” Carsickle said as he tried to shake his snout, his mecha stopping him.

He growled and followed his Commandos as they reached the gun decks. The Commandos didn't even break stride as they saw a half-completed portable cannon. Carsickle joined in with the senseless yells as he drew his plasmid sword. The cannon crew was practically run over while the Commando's charged through and into the gun deck.

“Surrender, or we'll kill every last one of you mother fuckers,” Carsickle said, coming to the front, his rail gun in one hand, his sword in the other.

Hands raised as Carsickle snorted.

“One squad looks after this lot, two squads down, one up,” Carsickle said.

A squad stepped forward, sorting through the Syndicates, quickly and easily subduing them and lining them against the wall furthest from the weapons. Carsickle plunged his sword into the floor, cutting open a hole big enough for himself.

“Three, two,” he jumped. “One,” he landed, the hole giving way as he took the express route onto the next gun deck.

He was charged as soon as they saw him. He fired his railgun with one hand, his exoskeleton's power keeping it level. They got in too close so he brought his sword down across their front. Commandos fell from the sky, crushing the charging Gun crews. An awakened Avarian charged through their ranks, her squad following as her two long swords came up from her back, she turned in a circle, clearing an area around her. She moved like a nimble dancer, but with a massive reach and terrible power.

Carsickle felt something bump into his back. He turned to kill whatever was there, only to find a Commando there. They nodded to one another, just two commandos fighting to survive, before turning to deal with their attackers. A blow turned Carsickle's blade. He took the hit on his arm, turning and punching through the attacker’s face with his servo assisted strength. He left the railgun embedded in the enemy’s face as he took another hit on his shoulder. The Commando behind him jumped and stabbed, putting their blade in the attackers’ skull as they fell to the ground.

Carsickle turned and slashed a crew member that was winding up for an attack on his fellow Commando. Another Commando jumped in with the two of them, taking the pressure off and letting them actually fight instead of react. Carsickle's mecha was reporting limited mobility on his arms. He didn't have time to care about that. The final Commandos dropped from the ceiling.

“Make a line,” Carsickle said as the groups tried to link up.

“Come on, Commandos!” the female Avarian said as she took a running start and plowed through the enemy once again, leading her squad to link up with the rest. They filled in the gaps, Carsickle finding himself beside the behemoth as she smashed through the gun crews.

“You heard the lady!” Carsickle said with a grin as the Commandos seemed to get a second wind.

The line moved apart as plasmid weaponry and mecha enhanced strength tore the gun crew into tatters. The tide had turned and the Syndicates knew it. They began trying to flee, but finding no exit, they looked panicked, a feeling no one wants to deal with.

“Surrender and you won't be killed or tortured,” Carsickle said, repeating it a few times. The enemy was clearly broken. “Lie down with you face on the deck, if you wish to surrender,” Carsickle said.

“Liars, kill them all!” someone said as they turned and charged forward.

Carsickle and his Commandos drew energy from somewhere as the attackers poured in again. Carsickle ducked, grabbing the sword that came at his head and crushing the swordsman’s hand, his blade taking their arm off. He turned, putting his back into another Syndicate, shaking the hand from the second sword as he continued his turn, bringing his sword across roughly head height. It caught as he let it go and jumped backwards into another Syndicate. As he fell he amped his feet to full power and kicked, his mecha drove through the enemy behind him and put him at their backs. He changed the stolen sword to his dominant hand and charged.

“Down!” a Commando yelled, and Carsickle let his feet go out from under him, the other Commando's dropping too, something that required a lot of trust to do when in the middle of a fight.

Rounds ripped through the enemy gun crew. In seconds not a single thing was standing.

“Clear,” the same voice said as the fighting Commandos jumped to their feet.

Carsickle turned to the Squad leader that had secured the deck above.

“Good work,” he said.

“Sir, I'd best be getting back,” she answered.

Carsickle looked to the second squad with him.

“Take over watching the prisoners and get some rest,” he said, turning back to the other squad Commander. “Now you don't,”

“Thanks sir,” she said, sounding rather pleased to not be on prisoner watch.

“Let's get moving. Zanda's platoon is not going to hold out forever,” Carsickle said as he scanned over his plans, looking for the quickest route to the beleaguered platoon.

Chapter - New Allies and New Enemies

I got to my room, walking straight to my mecha. Krom and Shreesht followed me, but as I got in, neither of them helped me.

“Sir, I suggest that you stay here,” Krom said as I got out of the charging cradle, checking my weaponry.

“I lead this Fleet. I'm not going to sit in my chair and watch it,”

Shreesht took off his helmet and took a knee.

“Forgive me, Battle Master, but I must insist that you stay here,”

“You want me to rot at the rear of the charge,” I said, anger growing. These two were betraying me. My own protection detail!

Krom took off his helmet and similarly took a knee.

“Battle Master, we see that you going into this kind of battle not only puts yourself in jeopardy. It puts entire planets and the Free Fleet in danger. Charging into situations is how we got ripped up on Daestramus,”

“Finally, someone says the truth. I got them killed. I was the one at fault.”

Krom stood, his eyes burning. I took a step back without realizing it.

“Marhtu killed them. You had every good intention, but putting yourself at risk put everything in jeopardy. You lead from the front, and you lead with your people. Bok Soo is the CAMC. It is his place to lead the Commandos. It is yours to lead this Free Fleet and its people. That means dealing with sitting in that seat as people die. Not throwing yourself into battle in hope you can somehow change the tide,” Krom said, his eyes boring into mine.

“But..,”

“Battle Master, you are a great warrior. Yet now we have learned that sometimes the best warriors know when to attack, and when to do their job for the better of the group. You taught us that,” Shreesht said, rising.

“I'm so useless here. The fleet is fine. The Commandos are still down there fighting for their lives,” I said, strength coming into my voice as I felt anger course through me.

“Commandos that you have made sure are trained for this exact thing,” Krom said.

I knew he was right, but I craved, I needed, to be there. I didn't want to sit here, numbers and information telling me those that were dead and those that were wounded.

“We will be here alongside you, Commander Salchar, of the Free Fleet,” Krom said, Shreesht nodding his head in agreement.

These two had come through hell with me, and somehow we'd survived. I looked at them and realized the great trust and care that we shared.

“Alright, brothers, I'll listen,” I said, hating myself for the words, but knowing they were right. I would only distract others if I joined in on the fight.

I moved in my mecha, getting comfortable.

“However we need to be somewhere,” I said, the two of them looking at me in askance.

“Foshunti.”

Their eyes became hard as I grinned. Neither of them had lost their distrust for anyone not Free Fleet.

***

Foshunti looked at the three that disembarked the single shuttle that had come from Resilient. He had a sneaking suspicion of who it was. The three beelined for the bridge as half of the Commandos on his ship, made for their docked shuttles.

It took off and headed towards the second fleet where there was still battles raging. Foshunti had thought about giving them some of his troops in support, but he hadn't been asked and it could hinder more than help with communications and control. The three made it onto the bridge. Two were absolutely massive in their mechas. The third was the same height as Santos but a bit bigger. Santos nodded to them as they conversed. The smallest of the three took his helmet off, Santos doing the same.

“Sir, respectfully I'll keep one squad here,” Santos said.

“Alright, alright. I know when I'm beat,” Salchar said.

Foshunti got his first good look at him. His skin was a motley collection of greys and blacks, it looked rough compared to Santos' skin, one of his red eyes was covered by hair which he flicked out of his face.

“Thank you sir,” Santos said, and Salchar patted his shoulder.

“Good work Commander,” he said, not noticing how Santos beamed as his eyes locked with Foshunti.

“So you're a Dovark,” Salchar said as they got to the same height.

“And you're a human,”

“Not quite,” Salchar said, casting a look over himself.

Foshunti extended his hand, he didn't miss everyone on the bridge looking at the two of them.

“It's good to meet you Salchar. I think you're just what this Universe needs,”

Salchar took his hand. Foshunti was surprised to not have the crushing power of the mecha applied on his hand. It spoke to Salchar's command of the suit. The Syndicates were the ones to call the suits mechas. Lady Fairgate hated suits. Foshunti thought it ridiculous, mechas were supposed to be towering machines, not heavy armour and exoskeleton that fitted right onto the user.

“No need to stroke my ego that much. I'm just a guy fighting for my people, who for some idiotic reason believe in me,” Salchar said.

Foshunti didn't miss the sideways glance of the two that had followed him, as well as Santos, who grinned openly. They released hands as Foshunti moved away from his seat and took a knee. This moment had been sixty years in the making.

“I hand over command of my fleet and my ship to you, and ask you to judge me on the crimes that I have committed. I have kept a personal record,” Foshunti pulled a storage device from his belt.

Salchar held it, his face thoughtful.

“Santos.” The man came close. “Use this on an isolated computer system and tell me your findings.”

Santos went to a computer bank, doing his bidding as Salchar looked to the crew. Foshunti took in the confused and angered looks at Salchar and himself.

“If it is true that he has committed crimes against innocents then he will be tried in Parnmal and his fate decided that way. All of you will be looked into, any crimes will be dealt with,” Salchar's voice was harsh but level.

“So you're going to kill us all?” Darshoo growled.

“No, we're going to check you over and make sure that if you have any outstanding crimes, that you are punished accordingly. We do not have the death penalty. Most likely you will become part of the work crews that work on Parnmal and her facilities,” Salchar said.

Planner appeared in front of Salchar. He grew from a metallic ball into a creature with similar skin to Salchar, with red eyes and completely bald. He wore a black sash that went from his shoulder to opposite hip and across his waist. Strange lettering that Foshunti couldn't understand ran across his skin. Salchar's eyes widened in surprise and recognition. The two that had come with him dropped to the ground, their suits hammering the deck. Their helmets fell back and he saw that they had the same bald heads and identical skin. They said something in a language that Foshunti's translator couldn't understand. Planner smiled and said something back.

“I know it has been many cycles my children, but there is no need for that,” Planner continued, in translatable tongues.

The two rose, one with black eyes, the other with red. They looked like damn terrifying demons, yet they looked at the Planner with such reverence Foshunti wondered what else the Planner had been doing with his time.

“I have heard of how you saved my children, Salchar,” Planner said, bowing his head.

“So it was you that sent Resilient the information about the planet,”

“Yes, and I asked her to keep it from you that I had. I didn't want to show my hand then,” Planner said, his voice deeper.

“Well you'll be happy to know we dropped a few ice asteroids on her, they made really good meteorites,” Salchar said.

“I know. I still have my shield there,” Planner smirked.

“Yes, which my engineer is going to pester the living heck out of you about,” Salchar said, shaking his head. “This last week has had more surprises and genies coming out of the wood work than ever before.”

“Just in time,” Planner said, his tone serious.

He caught Foshunti's questioning glance.

“The Kalu have returned,” he said and Foshunti felt a chill run down his spine as everyone recoiled from Planner.

***

Malica prowled his command deck. He was the First Prime to Lord Doqua, the second tier third rank fleet leader of Clan Leader Edvasho, the Dominator. Edvasho had survived the great teacher, the war with the pacifist Union. The Kalu had been badly bloodied and many left without star transport. Edvasho had been a Captain at the time. He went planet to planet, claiming the right to lead through battle. He had done what no other had. He had united the clans.

He gave them purpose and instructions. They had built star warriors that would take them to the Union to take their rich lands and claim them as their own hunting grounds. His real power was in his war-brother Ashota. Ashota had not been given honorable death o the battlefield, instead he had become a cripple. But what had taken away his body had focused his mind. He was a Kalu of whispers, of information. He knew everything about anyone important and was the reason Edvasho had never been blindsided by a fight for the right to lead.

Edvasho had finally said that the first star warriors were ready to be deployed. Lord Doqua had fought viciously for the right. He had gained it and now he rested as his First Prime led his ships in his stead.

“We are picking up a fleet of the Union,” the Seer said.

“Wake Lord Doqua and bring the warriors to readiness,” Malica ordered.

Lord Doqua appeared on the main screen moments later. He flashed anger and joy, ruffling is mane. Malica did the same. He would follow his lord to battle. If death was the outcome there was no better death to be had.

“Charge them,” Doqua growled as the star warriors accelerated.

Malica flopped his paws over the saddle on his command deck, a cupped section covered the rest of him, and his command crew were similarly secured. Then the Star warriors started really accelerating. Fusion bombs dropped behind the craft, exploding, their force hitting reinforced plates and pushing them forward as they closed with the enemy. Malica felt the pressures of extreme gravity all over his body. He reveled in it as he lurched. He felt like he had as a cub, chasing after prey with his galloping gait before he pounced.

We shall give their warriors a valiant death and contest each of their worlds till we are victorious, he thought, battle hormones coursing through his veins.

***

Captain Lord Lifendi watched as the ships came online. They must have been in the system coasting towards their next jump when they saw him. They had quickly lit their drives and within a matter of hours started accelerating at incredible speeds. Their ships were simple cigar looking things, each of them two hundred meters long and with their weaponry located on their bow or facing forward, there were no port or starboard facing cannons. They looked to have missiles and laser turrets.

He sent a message off to Lady Fairgate as he looked to his crew. They were the best that he could pull from the ranks of the Syndicate, it was clear that they were scared. Even with their massive fleet, they were outnumbered, there was four hundred of the ships coming at them.

“Send an empty Corvette flying right out at them and begin charging wormhole generators,”

He needed to know the capabilities of this new enemy. He waited as the thrumming built of the wormhole generators, the Corvette sped towards the incoming enemy, going at speeds that would've harmed the crew. It was five hours later that he saw the result.

Missiles leapt from ships, crashing into the Corvette as its automated PDS systems failed to keep up with the fire. Lasers shredded the Corvette even as it came apart. There was little left as it came out the other side of the Kalu ships. Murmurs went through the crew as Lifendi looked over the sensors report. The lasers were higher powered, faster versions of his own PDS, and the missiles were straight fusion bomb pumped X-ray's and lasers.

A Dreadnought's shields would only last three or five hits before failing. Dread filled him as for the first time, he wished that he hadn't betrayed the Union to get the position he deserved. He took his ships through the wormhole, the Star warriors still advancing. He couldn't hear the baying for blood that was happening in every warrior, but the sound chilled his blood anyway. The second war of teaching had begun, and this time the Kalu were going to teach their enemy why they should wipe them all out.

Chapter - Preparations

I stared at the desk in front of me, my eyes hard as I grated my teeth, turning over Rick's idea in my mind. We were now at Parnmal, and the majority of the fleet had moved on towards Earth. Only Resilient and a small squadron, Cheerleader, Bregend, and Boot’s fleet remained. Foshunti had been turned over to the courts. If they sentenced him to anything less than death I would make him captain once again. He was a risk but I could use his skills and knowledge. His fighter commander Ravasham was already showing how Foshunti had cultivated a crew of only the best.

Now I had to decide if it was worth to allow the people that had been fighting me, not even a few months ago, to join the Free Fleet.

"Change their prison terms to reduced terms within the Free Fleet as long as they don't create any issues,” I said.

Rick nodded, no pause in his reaction. While I didn't like having to use previous Syndicate members to fill my ranks there had been more than one time when I'd been wrong, I reminded myself as I sighed.

"As you’re our personnel guy, Rick. I’ll leave this under your purview. in charge of it. Which means I’ll have to leave you here if I’m to keep on schedule with Nelly and Nancy,” I said. I was much more guarded than I’d ever been before. Trusting others was harder for me after Daestramus. I will hunt that dog down and... I closed my eyes, trying to focus my anger into something useful.

"Understood, commander. Telling Marleen that is going to be... unpleasant,” Rick said. I passed over his humour, looking to Felix.

"Are you ready for your new project?" I asked, my voice cold and professional.

"Yes. Everything is ready from factory ships to haulers. Min Ha's people have vetted everyone and we're ready to proceed to the unnamed system past Earth,” he said.

"Call it Shadow, then,” I said.

"Certainly, commander,” he replied.

"Your docks here are ready to be turned over to the merchants?"

"Yes. It is outfitted and cleared of anything useful. We will be the fastest port in known space to move freight on an off of freighters,” Felix said.

"Another thing I hope that we can add to Hachiro,” said Whorst, the system commander of Earth. The FTL relays were only growing.

"With time,” I said, giving him a look of assurance. The man was a combat veteran. While he did a great job running Earth, I needed to get him a job aboard one of my ships. Though everything I had thus far, looked like a downgrade.

"What about this FTL relay initiative?" I asked Parnmal's Intelligence Officer.

"He wants to do two things. Bring more traffic to Parnmal and the corridor."               Corridor was the new name for the Earth to Parnmal wormhole connection. So far we had not found another entrance into it, other than the one Boot had used.

“As well as expand the FTL network across known and inhabited space. To do that he wants to offer merchants a fee to take and install FTL relays along pre-set co-ordinates. If a merchant is going to a destination and there is a drop-off on the way, they can make some platinum,”

"Approved,” I said. I saw nothing but benefit. Merchants more often than not were bringing people that wanted to be part of the Free Fleet, or had supplies that were useful to us.

"Are we still going ahead with the Nelly, Nancy, Nate split?" Silly asked.

"Yes. Having one big shipyard is nice, but this is war. We need to spread our resources out,” I said. “How long will it be before Nelly and Nate are ready to move?"

"Within the month,” he answered.

"Very well. That just leaves you three," I turned to Boot, Bregend, and Cheerleader. "You three are going to do some scouting in force. Cheerleader, I want you to find out the situation with the Kuruvian home system and planet. Boot, you will look to the Sarenmenti's home. Bregend, I want you to go and search for Fairgate's supposed home system. It’s thought to be where one of the last major battles between the PDF and the Kalu happened,”

They made noises and movements of agreement.

"That’s all, for now. We must look to searching out people to fill our ranks, and ships to fight in before we can think of engaging the Kalu. Felix has been given free rein to make whatever ships he thinks can aid us. The rest of us will look to fixing and upgrading our ships. We’ll need every advantage we can get. The Kalu use very much our own tactics. They close with the enemy, board them and use their superior fighting techniques to win. They will contest every planet, dropping only the amount of forces they believe necessary to win the battle.

“The others will watch, only replacing them when they believe they can defeat the clan on the planet, and the people of the planet. They are divided through their clan structure, but it makes it so only their warriors are able to go to war. The Syndicate was a bunch of criminals with warships. The Kalu are a people that live for war. They will not stop as long as they are alive. Surrendering is an unknown concept to them. Do not underestimate them.”

I looked to them all, seeing them understanding my words.

"What about the kids of the free fleet?" Rick asked.

"There has been talk of starting to use tests to join the fleet instead of an age requirement. I think that we should go along that route,” I said.

"What about the people that have spoken against it?" Whorst asked.

"Let them say what they will. With these tests, we give everyone a way to enter the free fleet no matter their age or abilities,” Rick said.

I gave him an understanding look.

"Now this is all sorted, I must leave for Earth. Otherwise Eddie is going to lead an Engineering revolt. Good luck to you all,”

***

Rick walked into the holding cell, and both Jorsht, and Kelu looked at him in confusion.

"Why have we been brought here?" Kelu asked.

"I have an offer to you and every person that used to be in the Syndicate with minor crimes. I offer you a place within the Free Fleet. You will get reduced terms based on how you act. You will also possibly get an offer of continued service after your term,” Rick said, waiting for that to sink in.

"Why?" Jorsht asked. He might be a massive brute of a creature, but there was an intelligence behind those eyes.

"The Kalu have returned. We have more ships and jobs than we have people. Plus I didn't think that you and yours would want to just mine asteroids when you could be fighting in a real military,”

"So you want help in fighting the Kalu? Just getting a position in the fleet is not enough. We will need renumeration,” Jorsht said.

“Of course your first question is how much you get paid.” Rick said, not finding it easy to be annoyed at Parnmal’s old commander who shrugged the comment off.

"Where do I sign?" Kelu said, becoming cold, showing his nervousness.

"Brother, we need not sign immediately,” Jorsht said.

"You do not understand. The Kalu, they are not like the free fleet, they will not offer mercy. We die fighting, or we die as prisoners. They do not care what we say,” Kelu said, turning on Jorsht.

"I will not die working on shipyards. I will die charging them and hammering them with all the cannons I can muster,” Kelu said, his voice frigid. "I took this name not to intimidate, but as a promise to my planet which was savaged by them, and to not forget. Rick—if I may call you that—what do I have to do to put my name up?"

"Press your right manipulator here, and then tell your people about their choices,” Rick said, pushing a data pad over and pointing to a scanning area.

Kelu did it without pause.

"Jorsht?" Rick asked, looking to the creature.

"It's a shorter sentence,” he said, putting his massive paw on the data pad.

With that, the previous commander of Parnmal, and the Captain that had tried to take it, now signed up to defend it and stand with their old adversaries.

What a damned crazy Universe we live in.

Hey! Before you go, please leave me a review! I want to hear what you thought about No Rest For the Wicked! It also helps other reader’s to decide whether or not to join us on our adventure’s with the Free Fleet.

Thank you for taking the time to read No Rest for the Wicked!

Table of Contents

- Prologue
- Chapter Final Preparations
- Chapter - Disarray
- Chapter - It Always Starts with a Bang
- Chapter Best Laid Plans
- Chapter Halls of Darkness
- Chapter – By Any Means
- Chapter - Patience
- Chapter - This Ends
- Chapter - Pushing On
- Chapter - Moving out
- Chapter - New Frontiers
- Chapter - Freedom
- Chapter - Too Smooth
- Chapter - New Resident
- Chapter - Control
- Chapter - Breaking Point
- Chapter - Progress and a Surprise
- Chapter - Devil's Express
- Chapter – Down but Not Out
- Chapter - A Win?
- Chapter - The Obstinate and the Gamer
- Chapter - Off To a Jokester's Game
- Chapter - Hard Decisions
- Chapter - Linking Up

- Chapter - Some Trust is Earned, Some Takes a Leap

- Chapter - Shifting Tides
- Chapter - Fragile Trust
- Chapter - New Allies and New Enemies
- Chapter - Preparations