Coming Home: Free Fleet Book 2
Author: Michael Chatfield
Date: 2015-06-27 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Science Fiction; Space Opera
Description: Salchar and the Free Fleet are tired, low on resources, man power and ships that should actually be flying. Yet they have a mandate, free those that are being oppressed. Sarenmenti, Humans, Kuruvians, Chaleelians and the genetic creations of the AI called the Planner, Avarians, band together under the banner of the Free Fleet to go to the fleet’s birthplace-Earth. Life is nothing but a battle for a survival, and Salchar is going to have to use all of his skills to keep his people alive. The galaxy has a few surprises to throw his way, as well as some polticians up to their own games. Salchar i

Chapter Misunderstandings

Yasu was confused, and not in a way that she could understand very well. First, it had to do with James 'Salchar' Cook. A year ago she would've liked nothing more than to see him fail. They had both been gamers, Yasu a traditionally trained fighter whose father created a popular game that reacted to bodily movement input.

Yasu had created a squad and risen to the top of the leader boards in short order. Then Salchar and his rabble, who called themselves 'Mecha Tail', had come back onto the scene, better trained and as hungry for the title of Mecha Warriors that came with winning Mecha Assault Two.

At the title match Yasu's Samurai Revenge and Mecha Tail were about to go head to head when the Syndicate disrupted everyone's lives and literally pulled people from Earth in sealed metal boxes. Yasu had awoken in what would later be termed as a squad pod, with Salchar dropping onto his face.

For month's Yasu's loathing for the man continued. Yet, while she didn't realize it, she understood that Salchar's ways, which she had found 'dishonourable' in MAT, were the exact kinds of things that the humans who had been 'recruited' needed.

While she had been focused on her hatred for him, he had looked after everyone. He had built rules, something that people could hold onto, to keep their humanity.

Wedding fights had come as a shock to her. Those were fights made by the Syndicate, masking themselves as some benevolent policing/military force for the Union of habitable planets and sentient races called the Planetary Defence Force. The purpose of the fights, they later learned, was to get the humans to reproduce. The Syndicate wanted soldiers for their mecha corps as they had grown bored of doing it themselves. There was no profit in it for them.

Humans as well as the other slave races - Kuruvians and Sarenmenti - were to birth children that would be subjected to systematic brainwashing, making them loyal to the Syndicate no matter what, something that was only guaranteed with kill switches in the slave races.

Yasu had seen something in Salchar's eyes as he made her stab him so he didn't have to harm her. She saw trust, compassion, and hope.

The more Yasu interacted with Salchar the more confused she became. She wanted to be around him, but it warred with a now inexplicable anger at him.

Now she sit in what should be their room and he never slept there. It made her suspicious, and gave her anger meaning.

She had talked to Salchar on many things. She went to every meeting that he hosted every other day. He'd now promoted her to training commander of the entire fleet.

But it did nothing more than make her more annoyed that he didn't talk to her in private. There was always someone around. She wanted to figure out what was going on; were they still going out? No? If not then what? She slammed her fist into the table, her anger rising.

She had finished training with the Armoured Marine Commandos, (AMC) or more commonly Commandos, for the day and was sitting at the large desk in the captains quarters, she watched the view screen on the walls, which made it look as if she was in an observation bubble on the outside of the ship, instead of being buried in the heart of it.

Even the peaceful sights of space couldn't help her. She made a frustrated noise as she held her head in despair, staring at the desk she sat at. She'd been told that James had left his place on the bridge and hadn't been seen anywhere else. All that was known was that his personal protection detail was standing outside of an unknown persons quarters with James supposedly inside. She had waited patiently for him to come to their wedding bed.

They'd been married for a year and he'd only slept in the same bed as her once - which she had forced him to - then he had disappeared before she awoke and hadn't talked about it since. He ignored her completely.

He's with someone else. Takahashi had highlighted to her. She wasn't in total agreeance, but something needed to be done.

Her door chimed that someone wanted to come in. Quickly she stood up, about to rush to the door, but she stopped herself just as she was about to press the open door on the frame. She composed herself, not sure why she was so giddy to open the door. She would not look like some eager school girl. Damn this man. She thought as she went back to the desk, unconsciously checking herself over and moving her hair out of her face. She looked at the door, projecting the right combination of power, strength, and seemingly uncaring while keeping her femininity.

She pressed the button on the desk as the door opened, revealing Takahashi. Yasu slumped as her old teacher walked in.

"I see he is not here." His voice was dark and annoyed.

"No." She didn't want to say anything more to set him off as she knew defending James would.

“Yasu, you must find this wench he is holding as a concubine and remove her. It is improper for a man and wife to have a middling in their relationship!" His voice settled into the old tone she remembered from her lessons that seemed to be a lifetime ago.

"You need to confront him.” Her anger simmered as she looked away. The look of disappointment in his eyes made her want to lash out.

She looked at the scene around the room, but it only made her think of James and the possiblity that he'd found some other woman to warm his bed.

She remembered the red eyes and tougher skin that she had cursed on him for eternity when he'd battled Krom. Is he doing this out of spite?

“You dishonour your name the longer you don't do anything. He might even give her a child behind your back,” Takahashi said.

She tried to clear her thoughts but the feelings of betrayal filled her. Is that what I'm feeling? How can't I know my own thoughts!?” She pushed the chair beside her away angrily, turning to Takahashi.

“Look at what a fool he's made you appear.” His was tone sad.

"We will talk, and you will be silent," she growled, fire filling her.

He nodded, getting out of her way.

She moved in her mecha; it was still sweaty from her training just a few minutes earlier. Though none of the fatigue from fighting weighed on her, anger gave her new energy.

She left Takahashi in her wake as the Sato sisters lounged around her door. A look made them stay there as only Takahashi followed.

They didn't say anything as they rode in the lift or when finding the door with Janice and Dave sitting outside. Janice and Yasu had become quick friends, and Dave was a nice man, gentle and kind. Though he knew his detail and he was as ready as any of James' protection detail to pull the trigger if need be.

They greeted her as she walked up to them.

"I'm here to see James."

"He’s, uhh, asleep I think," Dave said. Yasu looked to Janice who nodded. Well, it looked like Janice wasn't as good of a friend as she thought. Yasu winced inside as the woman she thought was her friend covered up for her husband’s infidelity. Yet, at the same time, she felt respect towards the two of them who would not disrupt their leaders privacy for anything.

Her retort was stopped in her throat as she felt her mecha lock up. Someone had pressed her maintenance switch, locking up her mecha. Takahashi! She thought as she saw Takahashi punch Dave in the face, a kick sending Janice down the hall before they could react.

Takahashi's blade cut through the hatches locking bolts. His boot followed quickly after as he rolled into the room.

Rounds spat from the room, hitting his visor as he continued forwards.

Chapter Rude Awakening

They'd killed Janice and Dave and they were coming for him. I rolled off of my bed, now fully awake as my hatch slammed into the cot I’d been sleeping in seconds earlier. I snapped off quick, precise shots with my ever-present rail pistol, changing from visor to joints as I reloaded. Whoever my assailant was, they were good. They continued no matter where I shot them.

I dove to my desk. It didn’t just hold my spare battle suits. I unlimbered the plasma cannon underneath it. A plasmid sword raked off of the ceiling and walls, landing where I'd been.

"You do not deserve to lead!" he said as I turned to face him.

The  mecha user must've seen the plasma rifle as he pulled the hatch from the floor.

Angered and not thinking clearly, I fired as my room became an inferno. The battle suits cooling system kicked into overgear as the hood covered my face, but not before I caught some super heated metal. Air recyclers worked to the max but I could still smell burning skin as pain from burns across my body registered. I was used to pain at this point as I continued firing at the hatch. The mecha jumped outside and I followed him, my shots missing as the fire dousing system came online.

I saw movement outside my door, My hearing was apparently gone as I couldn't hear anything. I rounded the door, seeing my attacker being tackled by Dave. Janice was shortly behind him, covering a mecha that was on the ground in its maintenance lockout.

My head covering retracted as ship recycled air was pushed into my face.

The two attackers didn’t struggle as I felt them looking at me. I lowered my plasma rifle, the barrel still smoking as it returned to normal temperatures. I woke my implants up which overlaid a HUD on my surroundings, showing me the IFF of my attackers.

"I should've fucking known," I hissed, anger coursing through me.

"Commander, are you okay?" Krom asked as he crashed out of his room; I could hear his footfalls. Calerd and Shreesht were right behind him, their weapons raised and ready.

"Yes, Krom, secure them," I said as Dave and Janice, with  Shreesht and Calerds help, locked out the mechas.

"Dave, bring him here and take off his helmet. Janice, if you please, do the same to my dear wife," I ground out, anger in every word.

Dave ripped the helmet off of Takahashi, throwing it in a pile of weaponry down the corridor.

I stared at my attackers, I couldn’t think of them as anything but. Janice removed Yasu’s helmet none to gently as well.

"James there's been a-" Yasu said immediately as she found herself able to talk and be heard.
"Misunderstanding? That's what you're about to say right?" I looked at her face, not letting her answer. "Thought so, but there isn't much to misinterpret when my wife's subordinate comes into my room after disabling my guards and tries to kill me with his sword while saying I don't have the right to lead,” I said, my fist tightening and releasing in anger.

"I thought you had a mistress," she said, her eyes looking lost.

"Me have a mistress, DO YOU THINK ME THAT LOW!" I demanded. Lack of sleep, adrenaline, and anger filling me. I took a breath, anger still boiling within me as I talked.

"I actually believe in marriage. I think it's fantastic. Look at Dave and Janice here. Though some marriages are shit, like yours and mine, don't worry - as soon as we get back to Earth we can have it annulled burnt and then thrown into the sun. Till then, though, you are my wife, and unfortunately you will be my first wife for the rest of my life and neither me or you can damned well change that however much I am wishing I could do so right now!" I turned, slamming my fist into a wall. The pain giving me clarity as I looked at the wall, not looking at Yasu in the case I might see the sadness there.

"You will both be charged with attempting to assassinate a fleet officer, stealing mecha units, damaging mecha units without reason, damage of a fleet vessel, impersonating fleet personnel. You are stripped of all ranks and titles. I looked at my little room for a second. Then I turned back to see Takahashi’s face.

“What?” I asked, a smile on his face.

“She will never be one with you, you are weak and dishonourable. You have proved your inability to lead, I have shown the fleet that you are nothing but a boy playing commander.” I felt everyone tense, especially Yasu. A cold smile crossed my face.

“Another person once said that, and you know what, she’s going to the brig with you. I wonder how it works that my dishonourable and weak ass keeps surviving.” I turned as if to walk away, holding a finger in thought and turning back to him.

“Wait, did I ever try to kill someone in their sleep?” I walked towards him, my voice becoming louder and heated.

“Or barge into their personal affairs instead of ask them what was going on? Have I not fought battles as you have?” I was bare inches from Takahashi's face. He looked away as if I was some cur.

“Look at me.” My voice was like liquid nitrogen as he did so.

"I am commander of this fleet and I don't care what you or anyone else cares to fucking say, I will sacrifice myself right here and now if I could save everyone from death and stop the Syndicate or anyone from bothering us. We both know that isn't going to fucking happen, and I know my people feel the same way, or they should get out of this fleet. I am new to this. I have a hard time figuring things out but everyone is new to this and I need officers I can rely on. How can I rely on those officers if one of my battalion commanders of ten thousand of my Commandos attacks me when I'm sleeping?" His eyes went wider at this a question.

"Something that you will not be seeing for a long time," I grated. He held my gaze as I saw them lose their glow.

"You have lost my faith, Stone Warrior." With a jerk of my head Krom took him away, another nod sending Shreesht with him. A Sarenmenti of my protection detail was waiting now as Janice and Dave watched Yasu, their faces emotionless.

"Calerd, get my armour out of the closet if you will." I signalled to the Avar who nodded, walking into the disaster that was my room and unhooking my mecha and its power cradle. “Dave will you please help Janice get Yasu out of her armour.”

They did so rapidly.

"Dave, please retrieve the weaponry from my room and bag it."

He did so as Calerd exited my closet with my mecha and its cradle.

"You wanted to know where I was sleeping with my supposed concubine? Well, I guess you can enjoy the comforts I did in an attempt to allow you to be free and not impose our marriage upon you. See, the reason I didn't sleep in the captains quarters was to give you room and to not pressure you, out of respect. Which you, like Takahashi, have lost. Janice, Dave, take her. I’ll take my weapons.”

Dave gave me a bag of the various weapons I’d had in my quarters as Yasu talked.

"James can we just talk?"

"I was always here for you to talk to, but then you tried to cleave me with a sword. Once you fool me, twice and I'm the fool, three times I'm a dead fool. I trust in my weapons and in my people.” I nodded my head to Dave and Janice who guided Yasu away, her body language dejected as she went willingly. I walked to the lift with Calerd carrying my mecha in its charging cradle.

I came out of the lift and saw the Sato sisters by the captains quarters door.

I held the massive plasma rifle up, ready to drop it and level it with them.

"I ain't in the mood girls, Yasu and Takahashi already took one crack at me today. So I have little patience, so you're going to report to the Bachelor Battalion and be integrated into that unit. Or we can fight it out." I let a savage grin cross my features, they could tell how much I was spoiling for a fight to let off my aggression.

"Yes, Commander, we-"

"Will take the-"

"First option," they said in a singsong manner between them.

"Thank you, ladies," I said and walked right past them and to the captains quarters hatch. I think my confidence as I came so close to them without flinching or caring made them really evaluate. I had already planned for them to attack me here, but the attack I expected didn’t come. After a few moments, they walked away, taking the lift to the AMC areas of the ship as I accessed my new quarters.

I spent the next few hours unloading the small armoury that had been in my quarters from the bag Dave had collected, placing them around my new quarters as Calerd put my cradle and mecha in its new spot and waited in my room with his own plasma rifle trained on the door. If anyone came in uninvited they wouldn’t be doing much of anything else.

I took a shower, some Wake Ups, and donned a new battle suit Dave had grabbed for me. I walked out feeling worse than I had when I'd gone to sleep, finding four of my protection detail inside my room.

"Sir, we should visit medical first about your injuries," Krom said in a way that brooked no argument.

"When did you become my babysitter?"

"Since I first saw you." This got a rough exhale from me in lieu of a laugh.

"The first time we saw one another we were fighting one another, to the death if I remember."

"Yes, sometimes one must teach the other how to survive better."

I grinned, Krom sharing it with me as I waved my hand.

"Alright, to the med bay then."

A lot of prodding and poking later, as well as a bunch of bandages - personally I think the medical staff was just a bit bored; I came out looking like a mummy when I left. I returned to the bridge.

"CFF on deck!" Rick said, affecting a slight muffling sound to his speech as he grinned. I shook my head. Of course Rick would be the one to make a joke of it. I couldn't help but feel a little better with my second in commands antics. At least he hadn't used my full title.

Officially, my title was Commander of the Free Fleet, but the thing was just too damned long. So CFF worked. Rick and Henry had come up with it, and being my military experts I was not allowed to say no, as they had put it.

I walked to my chair as if I didn't notice all of the stares. It wasn't like they hadn't seen my face covered in scars before. Though it was annoying to have them back, it did add a fearsome looking appearance that I’d lost from being ‘awakened’.

Rick came over once I was settled in.

"Are you good, sir?"

"Been better but I have other things to worry about than my personal matters. This fleet and our destination being one."

"Well, we've begun braking," he said immediately, changing to work as to take my mind off of my personal matters. The man knew me well.

"We're on schedule for meeting up with the second fleet. Shrift and Tactical have figured out the allotted supplies and worked with the shuttle pilots to figure everything out. It's going to be a very hectic eight hours before we jump."

"I want all of that equipment sorted out and the two eclipse ships are to be placed at optimum positions for their deployment. How long til we begin charging the jump drive?"

"Eleven hours."

"Good."

"CAMC and Bok Soo are in the conference room waiting for you."

"Thank you, I'll go see what they want." CAMC was another acronym, standing for Commander of the Armoured Marine Commandos, Rick was loving using all the damned acronyms he could find, and I had a feeling he would be for some time, unfortunately.

I got out of my seat and went to the adjoining conference room.

"Henry, Bok Soo," I said as I entered, relaxing as I slumped in a seat.

"Have you slept yet?" Henry asked as I looked up at him with a look that asked him 'what-do-you-think?'

"I would suggest getting some sleep soon, sir. We're going to need you for this upcoming battle," he said in a gruff manner as he looked to me like a dad would to a boy the night before school.

"Listen to Henry. You're working yourself to the nub, James," Bok Soo said, his voice gentle for a man that nearly had as many as scars as me. A man I considered my brother just as I considered Henry. His words made me bite back the quick response I had ready for Henry as I sighed, sitting back in my seat.

“I don’t think I’m going to get much sleep until we’re in the Wolf System with it fully scanned.”Bok Soo nodded in sad understanding. Henry spoke, clearly trying to steer away from my personal issues.

“Krom wants me to increase your protection detail and I agree. Though, I think you need to talk to Yasu. I think there’s more to the situation than meets the eyes. She knows that the Avar would be honour bound to kill her if she was to kill you, being their battle mistress or not.”

The rumours about gossip spreading faster than light across star ships seems to hold true once again. I looked sourly at a corner in the room before replying.

“I know.” I really did need to talk to her but I didn’t have the time and I was too sleep deprived to trust my own judgments.

“For now we need to work with the hole that’s in our AMC structure. I can’t have someone that attacked my protection detail, and from what I pieced together inspired this conflict, as my battalion leader,” I continued, switching to the issue of Takahashi's involvement.

“Agreed,” Henry said, his face taking on a hard edge, mimicking mine and Bok Soo as well.

“He was one of the best commanders by far and deserved the post on merit, but he’ll have lost the respect of most of his troops in this move,” Bok Soo said, annoyance on his face.

“So who’s going to replace him?” I asked.

I was pretty sure who it was going to be already, and on such an important mission the final decision would come down to me, but I valued both of their opinions and they where commanders in the AMC. Technically, I was too. But recently, because of my duties as CFF, I ‘d been doing so much more I had no time to stop in on the AMC. Though I knew Henry and Bok Soo had no illusions that when the AMC went into battle me and my protection detail would be there if at all possible. As much as they griped about me being in the front, something that I’d cut down after their repeated requests, they too - like me - lead from the front. The Free Fleet would not be run by some armchair generals the way I’d heard some of the Earth military people amongst my ranks.

"Santos," Henry said without hesitation, Bok Soo nodding g his head as well. Santos was Takahashi's second in command, but it was clear to anyone that he was loyal to the fleet. Before the recruitment he'd been a gang leader, his whole family dead in one way or another. He hadn't cared about giving until he was recruited. He had people that were willing to die for him, and he found himself wishing that he died for those that did so.
"I agree, though we also need to figure out what to do with Takahashi. We cant just leave him in the brig. James, your too close to this. Let me take it over so it can be done right and not be pulled into question later," Henry said.
"Agreed. " I sighed, feeling a small weight lift from my shoulders, both of them visibly relaxing.  "Alright, well, if that's all, I'm going to the armouries." I stood, both of them tapping their fingers to their foreheads before dropping them lazily as I did the same and left, going to one of the few places I knew I'd find solitude.

***

“What in the fuck was Takahashi thinking?” Bok Soo demanded, slamming his fist into the table. Henry's grin was replaced with a grim look, both of them where counted as members of Mecha Tail and the most trusted members of the Free Fleet by James, a naturally paranoid and suspicious man. Takahashi and Yasu's betrayal would only further his paranoia.

I wish I knew, Henry thought.

Both Bok Soo and Henry knew that James was going for a month and a half on three-ish hours of sleep, and he wasn’t going to get anymore for some time now.

“I have no idea, but I intend to find out.” Henry’s voice was harsh as he rose. I'll get an answer from Takahashi. He felt his fist tighten as he thought of the betrayal.

“I’m coming with you.” Bok Soo saw Henry was about to question him as he kept talking.

“James is as much of a brother to me as he is to you.”

“Alright, lets go.” Bok Soo rose, following Henry. Bok Soo’s face was hard as he thumped along behind Henry, weighing over a hundred and twenty kilograms he was one of the biggest humans on the ship and rumoured to be one of the only people to fight Avars without being in a mecha, the other being James and Henry, though Henry always found himself losing.

They walked through the ship and into the brig, no one trying to stop them and everyone moving out of their way, their looks thunderous.

“We’re here for him,” Henry said. A look of disgust crossing the jailers face as he knew who he was talking about.

“Yes, sir.” He saluted, opening the armoured doors. Inside there was one door guarded by two Avars. They came to attention, one opening the door to the cell. Bok Soo walked in first.

“So, he sends his dog,” Takahashi said, a smirk on his face. Bok Soo crossed the room in one step.

“Stop,” Henry hissed. Bok Soo backed up and leaned against a wall, anger on his face as he crossed his muscled arms.

Henry opened up his private communicator, connecting with Santos. “Come to the brig.“

“Right away, sir.”

“So, when can I get out of here and back to my battalion?”

“You don’t understand, do you?” Henry said

“Even if I wanted to have you as a commander, which I don’t, no one would listen to you. You’ve lost the respect of the fleet.”

The armoured doors opened as Santos ran in.

“CAMC!” he said, saluting Henry without even glancing at Takahashi.

“At ease,” Henry said, returning the salute.

“Santos Barrera, you are now in command of second battalion.”

Santos didn’t even pause in replying. “Yes, sir!”

“Do you know why your old commanding officer attacked the CFF?”

“No, sir, I do not.” Anger rang through his voice as Takahashi flinched.

“Would you accept commands from him?”

“No, sir, if we where in battle I would probably frag him, good soldier or no.”

“Santos as your commanding-” Takahashi's face turned to anger.

“You are no commander of mine,” Santos said, his fists turning white as he clenched them with rage.

“That is all, Commander. Go and get sorted out with your troops,” Henry said briskly.

“Yes, sir.” Santos said as they saluted one another again. Henry turned to Takahashi as Santos stormed away.

“Now you may realize the impact of your actions. The majority of the fleet is calling for your head. I might be inclined to give it to them.” Realization was dawning on Takahashi's face. James hadn’t been bluffing. There were limited few that would support him over James, which changed as soon as he attacked James.

“You will remain in the brig until we reach Parnmal station and judgment can be rendered. Do you have anything to say in your defence?” Takahashi took a breath before talking to the floor.

“I manipulated Yasu. After Chaleel I didn't believe there was any way that he could be a commander. Looking to how he had gotten so many people killed at Parnmal I didn't want my people to die for his mistakes.”

“Did you look at the video footage?” Henry growled, he'd lost too many good people there.

“Yes, but I thought it was faked, or made to seem as if the battle was bigger than it was.”

“It was different in one way, it was much, much prettier than being there.” Henry's voice took on a hard tone, his eyes making Takahashi continue looking to the floor.

“I wanted to show that he couldn't keep his marriage, so why should he be a commander. Or use Yasu to kill him and allow the position to be open. I just wanted my people safe.”

“So you would kill our leader.”

“I've killed many people now.” Takahashi looked to Henry and Bok Soo who nodded. They were all veterans now.

“Here's something else to think on. Your stunt to get into power and look after your people didn't just hurt you, it hurt Yasu and him. James believes in marriage, she’s his wife and he’s faithful to her, but now, well, now I don't know if he doesn't want nothing to do with it, or Yasu.” Henry saw something like pain in Bok Soo's eyes. He'd lost the woman he'd been married to on Chaleel.

“That man, who controls the fate of everyone in this fleet and has earned the position, will trust people even less than before. You better hope that me and Henry can fix it before he wraps himself with the security he finds in isolation. If you told him your issue he would have listened and you could've kept your commandership. Idiot, I fought with you on Chaleel, but I didn’t know you where this stupid.” Bok Soo looked away, clearly done with Takahashi. Henry signalled for the jailer to close the cell.

“I will take into account your statement,” he said as the door shut

“Will I be on the assault to free Earth?” Takahashi asked, his voice tight.

“No, you’ll remain in your cell for the duration.” Henry's voice was unyielding. I don't want a backstabber in my ranks.

Henry barely heard Takahashi's parting remarks.

“It looks like I made the wrong decision. He’s much stronger than I thought.

***

I spent seven hours in the armouries, fixing up my armour and helping Eddie fix others.

“Commander, we’re about to meet up with the fleet.”

“On my way, Rick.” I qued another Wake Up and all of my fatigue was washed away. I sighed as I stood from the chair I was sitting on.

“The luxuries of command,” I said as I picked myself up.

Eddie nodded at me knowingly as I left, walking back to my captains quarters as my four man protection detail helped me into my mecha. I powered it up, feeling the familiar systems come to life as the familiar HUD came into detail. My four man detail stayed with me as I entered the bridge

“Alright, Rick, lets get those materials sorted out.” I mostly watched as the reactors fed power into the hyper jump generators while shuttles madly rushed between the ships of my original fleet and those that had come from Parnmal.

“Shift into formation entry four,” I said to Rick as he sent Commands to the new ships, those that had been part of the original force moving into position.

I looked at the roster on my personal screen, we had one barely functioning battle cruiser which it’s commander, Bregend, had been driving his people to fix up as well as his chief, and they’d done miracles. We had a fresher battle cruiser from Parnmal,
but more than half of it’s weapons where out and it’s structure was - shaky.

Then there was the Resilient, two destroyers, three cruisers and eight corvettes all
with problems though with at least three quarters of their weapons online and most armour plating fixed or patched in some way. Most where missing power plants or had issues with their critical systems, and all of them had two fifths of a full crew if they where lucky.

The two troop transports we had were actually converted merchant freighters. We’d slapped more armour onto them and personnel defence. They would carry more AMC and personnel than all of my other ships combined and were nestled behind the umbrella-looking formation of the rest of the fleet.

“All shuttles recovered and ready for worm jump,” the combined arms officer said. They communicated between me,  a team that was working with mostly the shuttles, and the AMC, as well as the limited air fighters we had picked up from Chaleel.

“I want those missiles and ordinance being moved the entire time. Get the AMC to help out in their mechas. Bring everyone to full alert and administer Wake Up as needed,” I said, Marleen turning my words into action as she rode Tactical, getting the combined arms officer to move the AMC.

Twenty minutes later a blue light and siren signalling hyper jump in thirty seconds sounded.

I had already checked the navigation, had locked in our jump point, as well as the rest of the ships, and we were all linked in together - ready to make the jump as one body with a backup jump point already plotted.

“Secure all weaponry and personnel!” Marleen yelled as the communications officer passed this on to everyone in the fleet.

The hum that had been building for the past ten hours reached it’s crescendo as I could feel my teeth vibrating. Then there was nothing.

“Adjusting shield configuration!”

“Scanning immediate area.”

“All weapon systems are green, continue moving that ordinance!”

“Close vicinity clear.”

I watched as my team worked through the sequence of emergence protocols we’d made.

“Emergence of all shield forces confirmed,” Rick said.

“Troop transports have arrived. First Fleet is all accounted for and all ships are green.”

“Thank you, COS. Sensors?”

“Nothing detected in two light minutes.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At least now we would get two minutes of warning before someone hit us.

The miniature hologram beside me, as well as the main one in the middle of the bridge, began overlaying what scans had picked up with the last saved scan of the system.

“Take the fleet into the system. I want everything scanned before we move into Sol System.”

Ships sensor commanders where communicating with one another, breaking up the system into grids for their people to search and relaying the information to everyone else as the map started becoming populated with imagery faster and faster.

I had taken off my helmet which sat on a rack beside my chair. I had only once jumped into a new system when not in a mecha and I’d had my leg cut off, which was not a pleasant experience let me tell you. Eddie had made me new armour, my third since training with scrap mechas to enhance me new strength and abilities. It was a scaled down version of the ones the Avar used. I still had my sword and my rail gun and pistol, and limited flight thrusters had been added after the space acrobatics the AMC had been called on to perform.

My battle computer synced with the ship was throwing up information in the projected HUD with my helmet being off.

In a half hour the system was declared clear.

“Tactical, I want to know the minute all of the ordinance is secured in the correct place. Comms, signal the fleet down to twenty-five percent. Navigation, plot us a course to the Sol jump point. Helm, as that’s plotted and the other ships are in sync, take us there.”

I opened a channel to Eddie.

“Alright, Eddie, do what you can. I want the priorities on-”

“Weapons, armour, and propulsion, I know, we’ve been over it enough times,” he said in an exasperated tone.

“Then I’ll let you get to it,” I said with a smile.

“Thank yee, sir!” he said, his tone eliciting a small laugh from me.

Rick was calling me on a private channel. “It’s Commander Hoi’s watch. Should we get some food while he takes over and switch off some of the personnel that have been up for the majority? We’re going to need our first line crew.”

“Understood, Marleen is to let people go at her own discretion as I don’t want another group coming in and not knowing what the hell's going on.”

“I concur.”

Commander Hoi was sitting at one of the VIP chairs along the wall which also could serve as any one of the stations in the ‘pit’ as we called it, because the lowered areas on either side of a catwalk in front of my chair split into vital areas. At the front was the helm and navigation side by side then in the right pit there was communications, tactical, and sensors. In the left there was the combined arms, engineering, damage control officers, and the science division - there basically to answer any problems and to brainstorm ideas.

The view screens made it seem that we were on top of the curving hull of the ships, but in actuality we were buried in the centre of the ovaloid vessel.

“Commander Hoi, you have command,” I said as I got up from my seat.

Rick was finishing up talking to the people in the pit with private channels and he stood up too.

“Thank you, sir!” Commander Hoi said, jumping from his seat as we exchanged two finger salutes, mine more of a general point in my Mecha. I grabbed my helmet, following Rick out of the bridge and to the nearest mess. Rick made me sit as he got the food. I was already dozy when he came back with the trays.

“Sir, you need to get some sleep.”

“Not damned well lucky right now.”

“I have to insist. The doctor said that your body can’t take anymore Wake Up, it could kill you.”

“Everything’s trying to kill me.”

“Oh shut up and eat.”

“I don’t want to break the cutlery.”

“Don’t be stupid. You’re the best handler of a Mecha, you could pick up a fly without crushing it.” With a half grin, I slurped down some of the greenish soup we’d been having since we began training and some chewy meal supplement we’d added to the bland meal. I’d gotten used to it, having eaten it for so long, my last solid meal being made from a food compiler on Parnmal. After a few minutes of silence Rick began talking again.

“James, you need to get some sleep and have a talk with Yasu.” If there was something I didn’t want to do it was have a talk with Yasu.

“Hear me out.” He said. forestalling my complaints.

“You’re going to have the Wake Up drained from you and a solid eight hours then have a talk with her when your head’s clearer. Non-optional, I’ll have your security detail hold you down if I have to.” The intensity of his eyes showed me he wasn’t lying. Thinking about being dragged to my room, kicking and screaming, did not paint a pretty picture.

“Fine, I’ll have some sleep as long as I can sleep in my Mecha.”

“I don’t know how you can sleep in that thing, but fine.” We finished off our food quickly. The sooner I finished the sooner I could sleep and wake up I thought as we went to my room, a doctor waiting outside of it with a detox injection to clear my system.

I really need to just get them added to my auto injector, I thought.

They put it into the injector port in my Mecha, the auto injector system putting it everywhere in my body. I started to not feel so good on my feet as I stumbled into my room and lay on the floor, not even able to make it to the bed.

“Help me roll him over.” Rick said as two Mechas turned my body so I was lying on my back on the floor.

With that, I let sleep take me and the ghosts of the brothers and sisters I’d lost visited me.

***

Yasu had been thinking again when another meal was passed under the hatch she’d broken. The hatch was lifted up and then the tray was tossed in. She ate it slowly. Without any exercise, she’d put on weight, though it didn’t matter. None of it really mattered after she’d seen the look of hatred and sadness in James’ eyes. How she’d felt his trust leave her. She felt like such an idiot for listening to Takahashi and the ‘old ways’. She’d messed up anything she’d had with James and he’d never trust her again. Takahashi had been wrong about James. All he saw was the gamer. He didn’t see commander Salchar. He hadn’t seen what James could do up close. He had no respect for a man that deserved it.

After the talks she and James had had about his inability to trust anyone, her understanding of how paranoid he was, she’d stabbed him in the back and, in his eyes, tried to kill him. She felt miserable. The food was bland and tasteless as she stared at a bulkhead she’d sliced through with her plasmid sword. She thought of the looks from Janice and Dave that they’d given James, of sorrow and pity and then the rock hard emotionless masks they’d worn as Janice and Calerd pulled her from her Mecha and placed her in James’ closet. The hatch moved to the side, Rick standing in the doorway, and the hatch closed behind him.

“Why did you do it, and no bullshit.” His tone brooked no argument, she could see how Rick and James had grown, Rick becoming a confident, reliable and joking commander, while James had sully embodied Salchar, being a calming force when needed, but ever the leader who charged with his people instead of staying back.

Rick clearly wasn't joking around now.

“I thought he was sleeping with another female member of the crew,” she said flatly.

“He would never do that, he respects you too much for that, though it seems like that trust and respect wasn’t reciprocated.” Rick’s words hit her like blades as she bit her lip to stop tears. She couldn’t remember when she last cried, but from a few words it was all she could do to stop herself from sobbing. Once she was sure she had control over her own voice, she started talking.

“I just wanted to find out why he was spending all of his time away from me.”

Rick’s eyes softened a bit. “Why didn’t you talk to him?”

“Talk to him? He’s always doing something, around someone, people are always listening, I can’t talk to him. He’ll brush me off, send me to meetings for him, give me a room so he can hide in an obscure closet.” She waved at the room.

“He did those things because he didn’t want to place pressure on you. He knew that you didn’t want marriage. Hell, he didn’t, but you are married and he wants to respect you. He wanted to gradually know what was allowed and not, but he’s been so busy running the fleet that it’s been impossible. Plus, with us going back to Earth, you’ll be able to divorce him or be free of him one way or another.” Rick’s eyes were dark as he looked at the floor.

Yasu couldn’t understand it, being free of that crazy, annoying, stubborn, idiotic man was what she dreamt of. Now, when told that she would be free of him if he was dead or legally when she got to Earth, she felt at a loss of words. She couldn’t remember her life before James had pulled her and a band of recruits together into a working squad, had laid down rules to keep people civilized and then overthrown their masters with ingenuity, a forum made of data pads and his stubborn will that it would be done, and then go on to take the second biggest Syndicate post in the universe in one move.

“No,” she said, her fists bunching.

“What was that?” Rick said, leaning closer.

She grabbed his battle suit, suddenly coming to her full height, five centimetres taller than Rick. She could hear the hatch being thrown aside. “I’m not leaving him,” she said, her eyes locking with his. He held up his hand, stopping the Mechas from taking her down as a small sad smile spread across his face.

“I thought I saw a spark between you two.” He held her hands gently as she relaxed, her cheeks red.

“If you want to keep your marriage, you’re going to have to fight for it and bring it to life,” he said, the sadness and anger in his eyes replaced with happiness and relief as if he’d had the weight of the Resilient lifted from his shoulders. “Are you willing to fight for it?”

“Yes,” Yasu said, looking at the floor and, slowly, up at Rick who still held her hands, now not gripping his battle suit.

“Good, follow me.”

She was whisked out of the room as Rick marched along, dragging her by the hand. He jumped in the lift, sending them to the level the bridge was on.

The protection detail tensed as she came close.

“Shift it!” Rick said.

“She’s not to be allowed in there with him.”

“She’s his damned wife, and I doubt she’s going to be able to kill him while he’s in his Mecha. Plus, I’m making it an order. I will pull you off of that door if need be.” Rick’s eyes were ablaze.

“Scan her,” the man that had stopped them said to his team member, who passed a scanner over her quickly.

“She’s clean.” Sighing and obviously uncomfortable, the questioning guard opened the door with a code and Rick pushed her inside.

“Lock it,” he said as the hatch shut, a look of terror on Yasu’s face.

Locking bolts held the door firmly closed as she scanned the room. The light was dim but just enough for her to see outlines. Like the Mecha lying on the floor thrashing about and mumbling. She watched James as he slept, fighting his demons and talking to people he’d lost. She had never seen him like this before. She’d heard of it before from the people she talked to and trained. The higher up someone was who actually cared for their people, the more ghosts they slept with.

She knew that pain from losing those that she had known in their squad, and those she'd known as Salchar created the Free Fleet.

She felt a need to stop the pain that was written on his face, to hold him and let him share his burden. She knew such actions would only result in him pushing her away, so she sat and watched over him as he slept. She would wait for him this time.

***

I woke with a start. I never woke peacefully anymore. As I saw my sensor registered another person, I rolled, pulling my pistol as I did so and aiming at them.

The shadow didn’t move as my Mecha queried the persons IFF tag.

“Yasu,” I said as I stood up, holstering my pistol. I could still feel the fatigue as I raised the light level of the room so that we could see one another clearly and I took off my helmet.

“You need to sleep more,” she said softly, looking away as if in a, dare I say submissive manner, yet I was still angry to take her tone into account.

“I would if I wasn’t running a fleet and worried about people killing me in my sleep because they don't think I'm fit for command.” You know, the very fear I told you about. I thought as I bit off any words, my whole body tense as I forced it and myself to relax. “I guess we should have a talk about what that was all about. You wouldn’t be in my room otherwise, I would hope and think.” I ground out the last part, making it clear how I felt if she was in my room for any other reason.

“Rick locked me in here. I checked the door, it’s locked and sealed,” she said into the floor at my feet. She tensed slightyly. “So ask away.”

“Did you attack me because you didn't think I was able to command this fleet?” I asked without thinking.

“No.”

I glowered at her, trying to discern if she was lying. To be honest I had expected my authority to be challenged, though I thought it would've been a lot sooner.

Always be on the lookout for those that want what you have. I had promised to look after this fleet. I was no military genius, as was evident in the manner of how the Free Fleet personnel and Commandos acted. Salutes, big ceremonies and speeches were rare, practically nonexistent. This force didn't need to be babied, and things such as marching and drill were only used as punishment.

I had often thought of how I was 'playing' commander, but after Parnmal I knew I had to embody that person. I truly became Salchar, which had been reinforced by Yasu in front of me.

“Why did you assist Takahashi in his coupe?” I asked, my eyes not leaving Yasu's downward cast face.

“I didn't know it was a coupe.” She looked into my eyes. “You're my commander. I would do anything you ordered me to. I and anyone in this fleet would follow you into hell.”

That's a boldface lie, I thought, I wouldn't follow someone that had gotten so many people killed.

She continued, her voice rising as she got angry. “I know that you don't think of yourself as the CFF, but you are, so you best not be giving me that look, James Cook!” The fire in her rose as I sat back, taking a few minutes before I said something else.

“So what were you doing, assaulting my little cubby?” I asked.

To my surprise, Yasu looked at her feet as she blushed. It was the first time that I could remember her without that trained mask for more than a few moments, and actually blushing, I knew it was real by the awkward way she tried to hide it.

“I thought you where having a relationship outside of marriage, which is not taken lightly in Japan, at least not in traditional families. Whenever I tried to talk to you, you where surrounded by people and I wasn’t sure if I could get a truthful answer out of you or if you would be embarrassed if I was wrong. The more you pushed me away and brought others closer the more I thought you had someone else.”

I thought I could hear sadness in her voice. But that couldn’t be, she was the ice mistress after all.

“Every time you slept you slept somewhere new, but on this ship you slept in the same cubby. I didn’t think of any reason for you to sleep in the cubby instead of the Captains quarters, I thought of it as proof of your guilt. I didn’t think that you where trying to give me room so that I wouldn’t feel pressured in our marriage. I’m such a baka! Takahashi kept pressuring me, telling me that we must strike now or my families name would be tarnished. He started as soon as he heard from the Sato sisters that you kept away from me all of the time, used meetings to separate us, even training of the AMC.”

“He wished violence from the start?”

“To him, anything dishonourable deserves violence of some sort. He is a very old fashioned man.”

I nodded, having seen Takahashi myself. “So what should I have been doing?” I said, putting my anger away for a second. This seemed to return some of her hard exterior as she talked.

“Well, we should’ve consummated our marriage at least once at this point, and if we are to sleep, we sleep together so as to share in our problems of the day and relax so that when battle comes our minds are cleared and our blades are ready. Instead, you’ve only slept in a bed once with me, when I forced you to, and then you left as soon as you woke up.” There was no missing the hurt behind those words as I sat down on the bed, a little shocked. She had actually wanted me to be in the same room as her, consummating our marriage. I felt my blood pressure sky rocket as I was more awake without Wake Up than I had been in months, and I was blushing like a school girl.

“Ahh, uhh, well then. I think we need to learn to communicate more.” I stumbled through my words as I saw the corners of Yasu's mouth twitch upward while I collected myself. “So, what should we do from here?”

“I’ll probably be thrown into the brig for assaulting you as well as a bunch of charges. Then shipped to Parnmal with Takahashi?” she said, her statement becoming a question.

“Well, did you attack me with a desire to take command or disrupt the attack on Sol System in any way or affect this ship or fleet?”

“No.”

“Then I see it as a violent altercation of team members. This type of thing has happened before.” I shrugged as she visibly relaxed.

“What about Takahashi?”

I leaned back as I became more serious, my voice dark.

“This might be an issue between us, but his involvement is unwarranted, and he was to become a battalion commander. He should have confronted me and made me aware of this issue, not assisted on attacking me. His purpose was violent. He wanted retribution for seemingly tarnishing your name, which does not make him innocent. Though this is a strange situation I will waive most of the charges, but he will remain without rank or privileges. He will become a grunt again in the AMC. Unless someone warrants otherwise. It will be put before tribunal.” I pulled out my data pad, sending off a message to reflect my decisions.

“On a side note, I think I should tell Stephanie what he did. She might seem like a bag of wildly contained bouncing energy, but with this I think she won’t be too happy. She’s been talking to me about how he blows her off all the time. To find out that he tried to attack me for blowing you off, now that will be interesting to watch,” I said with a grin.

“He hasn't any long term relationships that I know of. Even with Stephanie being thirteen years old, I think she'll make Takahashi understand she is no child anymore,” she reflected as I nodded.

“So, I have my rank back and everything?” she asked after a few moments of reflection.

“Yes, though I expect to have that room rebuilt before we reach Sol System,” I said as I looked at her.

“So, fix the room. What else should we do in the meantime?” The way she bit her lip clearly showed what she wanted to do. Apparently she had some stress to work through. Though I was still bone tired, Wake Ups or not.

“I think talk, and if you aren’t going to stab me, I’m going to take this off and have a shower.” I indicated my Mecha as I stood.

“I won't stab you.” Her tone was a little exasperated as she rose slowly too. I hid my grin. Somewhere deep inside, I’d missed her, and maybe not that deep inside.

I started taking off the Mecha, helmet first.

“You really are slow,” she said from behind me. Just as I was about to whirl around I felt deft hands helping me out of my Mecha, and I relaxed.

“Thanks,” I said. Yasu nodded and shook her head at my Mecha as she went to a closet. I quickly made my way to the bathroom as I saw her pull a deodorizing can for the Mecha.

Maybe I should have spent a little less time in the thing, I thought as I got into the shower. I luxuriated in the feeling of water flowing over me as my muscles relaxed and I felt a little smile form on my face.

I'm with Yasu and I don't mind it,” I said to myself as I continued to wash myself off. Some time later I heard the hiss of the hatch open, followed by the shower opening as I felt Yasu press against my back, hugging me. I felt my eyes widen in alarm as certain, erm, things pressed up against me as she held me.

After a few moments I turned around, facing her.

“I know we used to be enemies, but everything changed when we were recruited. I can see that I was wrong.” She said, looking at my chest as I studied her as well. It was hard not to.

“You are a good warrior, no matter what I said, and I want to make this work.”

“Uhmm, okay.” Brilliant response I know, but I wasn’t exactly thinking with all my brain there.

She grinned as she crooked an eyebrow. “Something on your mind?” she asked.

“Just a lil something.” Her face split into a grin as she reached up, kissing me. It was rough and hard, but I liked it as I pulled her to me. After a few seconds she pulled away, my lips aching for hers.

“It’s about time we made this marriage real.” She guided me to the bedroom, dripping from the shower still as she pushed me on the bed.

The rest resulted in a very wet bathroom and then a soaked bed, which I fell asleep on again. I awoke to Yasu throwing me a battle suit.

“We’re about to start charging wormhole generators,” she said as I got to the end of the bed, putting the battle suit on as she pressed against me, her battle suit seeming much more seductive as I touched and caressed it.

I felt closer to Yasu than I had ever, not because of consummating our marriage, but because we'd shared our lives with one another; we’d talked until we’d fallen asleep about her father, my life with Mecha Tail. I don’t think I’d talked to anyone as freely as I talked to Yasu. I didn’t know what I was saying until I said it. I told her everything and she did the same. There weren’t any barriers anymore. Within a night we’d gone from an unsure two individuals to a married couple, and I kind of liked it. It gave me a sense of security I hadn't had before.

After a few minutes we walked out of the captains quarters.

“I was wondering what was taking so long, but from the pheromones in the air I can guess,” Krom said gruffly as both me and Yasu blushed, a grin on his face.

“I better go and get suited up then,” Yasu said

“See you later, love, and don’t do anything stupid.”

She turned looking back at me and marching up to me with a rigid finger. “Me do anything stupid? Have you seen our battle plan? It’s the stupidest, craziest, most reckless thing I’ve ever seen, and because you made it, and I know how stubborn you are, I expect it to damned well work.” She ended with a smile, grabbing my chest plate and jumping up to plant a kiss on my face before turning and walking away.

I couldn't help but grin as I watched her go.

Chapter Back to Sol

For the next few hours, everything was a rush as I made my way onto the bridge. The wormhole generators were in the final hours of charging.

“Alright, run final checks on all systems and everyone to check their positioning,” I broadcasted to every ship commander as the one hour mark approached.

Captains across the fleet ran the checks, greening up on everything that they had already checked.

Twenty minutes to go, and every ship had run their final tests.

“Bring everyone to pre-jump readiness,” I said to Rick, who nodded, making sure everyone was ready.

I felt the now familiar hum of the wormhole generators as they finished charging, the counter hit zero, and the fleet created a mass wormhole.

“Engaging worm jump!” Helm called out as we orbited the event horizon, all of the ships lining off of Resilient as we neared the horizon.

“Changed over to Sol System chart,” Sensors said as the map changed and shields waited to change over from adjusting to the magnetic forces from Chaleels System to Sol's for optimum shield output.

Helm guided us past the event horizon. There was a feeling of nothing.

“Configuring shields,” Shields said as they changed from Chaleel's presets to a slightly modulated version of the presupposed positioning of the planets, sun, and ourselves. At this point we were at our most vulnerable. We had limited to no shields and didn't have any sensor readings.

“Sensors, remember non-active systems! We don’t want them pinging us,” I said in a tone which carried as Sensors worked through the limited information each ship was receiving through their passive sensors.

“Shields modulated,” Shields said as Sensors updated the plot with the planets that the shield operators had had to compensate for.

Helm and Nav coordinated with the other ships to make sure that they stayed in formation by using just their maneuvering thrusters and the initial velocity we had entering the wormhole, which had now been cut off as we cruised in-system.

“Release them,” I said. The combined arms officer knew what I meant as they talked into their microphone.

“Phase one is good, no failures,” the sensors officer said, meaning that there was nothing in immediate weapons range. He remained focused however, not even turning around as I relaxed minutely, still watching the basic plot of Sol System as it filled with data, much slower than when we used our high powered sensor arrays. If we had used them, the enemy would’ve seen us as fast as we’d see them, even when we where coming from the furthest out jump point possible.

I looked to the two eclipse ships. They looked like damned big freighters, much like the ones that were carrying recruits to Parnmal.

The only major differences were ports that went diagonally through the freighter's cargo areas for fighters. No real offensive weaponry other than light cannons and a half dozen missile ports. Though it was covered in the newly developed Personal Defense Systems or PDS.

Felix had looked at the current laborious PDS and in a strongly worded memo expressed their absolute stupidity. They could hit a dime five million kilometres off, but it took them an impossible amount of time to get on target. They had limited arcs due to their bulky design, took up a ton of power and were, in Felix's mind, “Complete and utter fucking garbage, I now see why people need so few missiles.” His exact words. So he'd gone and taken the tracking and aiming system and upgraded it with Resilient in the time we were in Parnmal. He hadn't completed the new system until a few weeks ago, but it was so simple he'd been able to cover the Eclipse freighters with them.

They were essentially up scaled gatling guns that shot a seventy five caliber round with a highly advanced targeting system.

Being the defense for the fleet wasn't these freighters primary role, no, their primary role was to carry the seven wings of ten fighters into battle.

The fighters had stretched their legs as we had travelled, most of the fleet trying to catch a glimpse at the fighters who were elegant and precise with their movements. Rick told me applicants to be fighter pilots had sky rocketed.

I focused on the main screen. Now its time to see if it'll be enough.

Bit by bit the map filled with information until all that was left was what was in Earth's orbit.

“Picking up a structure with massive power output,” came from the sensor pit.

“I believe I have an orbital station, size, five kilometres long. It is hexagonal, belling out a third of the way down before belling down again, thinner than the other side of the station and still mostly scaffolding for the station to grow on. There's two factory ships at each end and another two on either side of the protrusion. It looks like they’re attached to the structure,” the voice continued as the structure filled the plot

“Well, it looks like we’re looking at our training facility,” I said as more than one pair of hard eyes looked at what had been our prison.

“I have confirmed weapons signatures, it’s also got weaponry batteries,” the sensor commander said after checking another operators screen.

“Control the orbitals, you control the population,” someone said through gritted teeth from the pits, getting annoyed grunts in return, the most violent from the Sarenmenti and Kuruvians who both believed in fair fights.

“Ship readings!” a sensor operator yelled and everything became business again. I checked the status of the mMechas that I'd put on thirty percent readiness.

“Reading a Battle cruiser, make that two, three destroyers, eight cruisers and four corvettes,” the chief said as other operators added their findings.

“I have another battle cruiser.”

“Two more destroyers.”

“Three more corvettes.”

“Two here.”

“One.”

“Two more.”

“Keep scanning, I want to know if there’s anything else lurking out there,” I said as the sensors officer began carolling all of the data from every ship, organizing it and then funnelling it back out. It was mostly automated, but he was there to make sure there weren't any overlap or issues.

So far we had three battle cruisers, five destroyers, eight cruisers, and twelve corvettes. Plus the incomplete training station.

“What’s the situation like on the ground,” I asked. I didn’t want to know, but I had to. It took a few minutes before anything concrete came back.

“Crater readings over southern Japan, the United states, Russia, Europe's mostly gone, China’s no more. Water levels have risen three feet, massive flooding on every land mass.” The sensor commander’s voice was dull and flat, professional. It was the only way they could get across what they were saying, obvious emotion hidden behind their words. The bridge was silent as we glided into the system.

Even the Kuruvian’s and Sarenmenti were quiet, no doubt thinking on the state of their own planets.

“The time for remorse will be later, for now we have a mission to complete and our home world to rescue,” I said. I left behind my emotions and became Salchar, the commander of the Free Fleet.

I looked at the clock on my view screen. It was set to a thirty nine hour day, what the Union had used as a general time which our bodies naturally adjusted to without time keeping. They’ll be getting their instructions now, I thought as I sat on my bridge in my Mecha, wishing I could be with my men hurtling towards the enemy.

***

Henry couldn't help but grumble good-naturally about the oncoming battle.

About to go into battle against a heavily outnumbered enemy, check. Flying towards them like idiots, check. Got the best job in the universe.... well, the food could be better, Henry mused as he grinned. No matter how much he complained about the uncomfortable ride, or the fact that his padding was gone in all the wrong places, or that he wish he went to the bathroom, it was all for show. He lived for this, for charging the enemy. He would’ve gone into hell if James told him, strapped naked to a rocket.

Which I pretty much did when we took Parnmal, he thought, shaking his head as he looked to his fellow Commandos.

Each were complaining about something or, what would seem as outrageous to anyone not in the military, playing games, sleeping or watching TV.

Salchar had okayed hacking a satellite to get all current information on the Syndicates and Earth's activities. With all of that information came television and movies that none of the Commandos had seen and some kind soul had routed to the shuttles via tight beam laser.

Currently, there were a group of Commandos of every race watching a projected version of an action movie made with all of the action stars basically blowing shit up.

Henry grinned as one of the younger humans, about fourteen, tried to impress the great value and battle worthiness of Chuck Norris, with such choice phrases as: a snake bit Chuck Norris and after three days of excruciating pain, the snake died. The humans laughed as the rest asked what a snake was.

The look on the kids face as he tried to explain it was priceless.

He was saved by Salchar, who came through every HUD, data pad, and earpiece.

“This is commander Salchar, I know that over the last year and half we’ve gone through a rough and terrible journey, but today we’ll claim back some of what was taken from us. As you all hurtle towards the enemy like the maniacs you truly are.” James grinned in a way that acknowledge that he and they were in the same club of maniacs, which drew whoops from the troops in the hold along with Henry who grinned himself.

“The fleet is going to come in behind you. We’ll breach the vessels of the Syndicate, allowing you to board their vessels. You need to take them apart, I don’t care if you eject their cores or rip out their engines; I want those ships dead. For those of you that will hit the station, there are quite possibly orbitals attached to the station. Taking those out is your top priority. The fleet, once we fire on the Syndicate vessels, will hold around Earth. Once your shuttles have dropped you off they’ll pick up the second wave and land us on the station to assist in the clean up.”

“Don’t kill the personnel of the Syndicate ships if you can help it, but this is our planet here, so if they aren’t cooperating, deadly force is authorized. We will have a full communications push as we go live. The lives of Earth and of this fleet are in your hands Marines, now show me what Armoured Marine Commandos can do!” Cheers rose again from the throats of the men around him, hungry and deadly cheers that sounded more like the baying of wolves for blood than it sounded like a noise that came from a human, Sarenmenti, Avar or Kuruvian’s mouth. As for the rest of them, their videos stopped and Henry’s kept going.

“To the shuttle wing commanders, CAMC, and battalion commanders; you will have to organize on the move who is to take Big Bertha and who are to take the supporting forces. I leave it up to your discretion, good luck and I’ll see you all on the other side.” James gave a solemn two finger salute as the video ended and Henry continued towards Earth. Salchar had kept his message slightly cryptic, he didn’t want to say the station and the ships. Even sending the message was a risk, but he wasn’t going to send out his people without letting them know he cared for them, and understood what he was sending them into.

“So you were explaining what a snake was Kalinsky?” Henry prompted. The kid sighed, eventually someone showing mercy on him and explaining what a snake was as Henry watched, grinning and popping a piece of gum in his mouth. The gum that the gun deck was pumping out was better than any cigarette he'd had, and it didn't give him the added issue of having to get his system cleaned by medical on a regular basis.

It was the small things Henry reflected as he looked around the shuttle, quite a few of them would die far from home, some just before they could set foot on it.

Chapter Changes

Ursht followed Tik, one of the two Kuruvian’s Salchar had left behind to look after things in his stead. Tak his partner was back on AIH; Ursht had even come to call his planet and his system by it's acronym, Avar Interim Hermanti was too long of a name.

“These will be the new mines of your people. Right now there are a group of miners that are already getting stuck into your dense planetary asteroid field. They have a contract to create a base for your people once they're trained to start.

Ursht nodded. Salchar and Yasu had pressed a lot of things on him, one was to listen to everyone before making a decision, and to also learn.

He had got a sleep training implant and was on multiple courses to try to make himself as good at his job as possible. It was still hard to learn everything Salchar and his people knew.

The other tribal leaders said that Salchar was a dictator and, while that was true in some ways, he was only that way because of Avarian traditions.

He has given me and the others under his banner the opportunity to better ourselves and our people, something that no dictator would want. Ursht studied the sky. It was not his first time seeing the asteroid field that orbited his planet. On any given night the sun reflected off of the asteroids, creating a sparkling sky intertwined with the stars of other solar systems.

“Will we be permitted to create Planetary Rail Cannons?” Ursht asked as Tik studied him closer.

“A planet is allowed to add anything that they desire to their own defenses. They will be under the control of the Free Fleet, unless AIH annuls their contract with the Free Fleet.” Ursht pulled out a data pad and gave it to Tik. “I think that AIH can be a supplier of weapon systems and power systems.” He said as Tik looked over the information.

“These are all very technical things.”

“Yes, which is why we need teaching and some assistance. We will be willing to pay for it. Our resource stockpile is rather extensive.” Ursht lifted his upper lip, a sign of challenge if it quivered, but it remained still, meaning a grin.

“This is all rather thought out,” Tik said as he went over the data pads information.

“We have one major resource on this planet numbers. We are strong and brave fighters, but that alone will not look after our children in this new multi-world society we have become a part of. We have already made bargains with the Chaleelians for Baroui, their highest yielding crop. We will be dependent on them for a long time until we get some growing towers, which Yasu and other people from Earth have talked about. Resources are a good thing to have, but every solar system is abundant in them. We need something that will make us relevant. Earth has many thinkers and makers. Making power and weapon systems is hard, however. If AIH gets a foot hold there, then we will have a 'one up' on them as Commander Salchar said.”Ursht said.

“There are plans here for engines.” Tik said, his hands moving excitedly as Ursht grinned.

“Well, we can't just be using the same old crappy haulers as before. Chaleel is also moving to be able to produce merchant ships.” Ursht said.

Tik looked to Ursht, Ursht reading his hands as excited trepidation.

“Well, me and Tak will be happy to do anything we can to help.” Tik said.

“The terms are set,” Ursht said as he put his forearm forward. Tik, now knowing the Avarian physical method of agreement touched his forearm to Ursht's, both of them lowering their heads till they touched.

They pulled their arms away and raised their heads as Tik gave Ursht his data pad.

Ursht knew Tik had been studying AIH culture and interactions, so he knew that neither of them was now able to break their word, on punishment of death.

Everything's by punishment of death, I should really get to changing that too, Ursht made a note, glancing at Tik who had his data pad out and was pulling up information while talking to Tak.

***

General Carsickle walked through the halls of Matro, or Hall of Leaders in the ancient tongue. His arm was starting to hurt as he walked through the hall, the Chaleelian salute was simply the pulling of forearm up against the bicep.

He got to the office of the planetary governor without issue. He was checked over by a couple of scanners before he was finally allowed to meet with the governor.

“Ah, General Sarsickle, Sarchen?” She asked, indicating the rare fruit that lay on her table and stopped him from saluting.

It was rude to not take food in Chaleelian society. There had been a time when Baroui had not covered the majority of the planet and many had been starving.

Even now, with plenty of food wastage, refusing food was not socially polite. Over eating was similarly looked down upon.

“Thank you, Governor.” Carsickle took a fruit, taking off its peeling and eating the sticky and spicy fruit; he nibbled on the peeling, which gave a sour taste. Spice and sour were as sweet and salty were to humans it was thought among Chaleelian's.

The governor wrote something down before lying chest first on the upward tilted bed-looking constructs. She indicated for Carsickle to join her; he promptly lay on an opposite Chaleelian version of a chair.

Carsickle never understood why humans sat in such an uncomfortable, rigid position.

“So, I hear you have quite the request to make of me,” The governor said as Carsickle cleared his throat.

“I wish to join the Free Fleet,” Carsickle said. The governor rolled her head in quiet contemplation.

“I had the feeling that you might want to. Commander Salchar made quite the impression on you.” Carsickle was about to retort when the governor lowered her snout, the equivalent of a human waving off the subject.

“It is not a bad thing. Many were impressed by them, myself included. I do think that our deal with the Free Fleet is the best spending of resources we have possibly ever had.”

Carsickle's brow rose. He didn't know the governor felt that way about the Free Fleet. At every meeting she'd kept to her Chaleelian roots and hammered out the best possible deal for the Chaleelian's. The governor was one hell of a negotiator.

“I didn't know you felt that way.”

Her ears moved as a sign of amusement.

“Well, I can't very well give the game away to them, can I? That Salchar is a wily one. I had the feeling he knew I'd pay him twenty percent more than we agreed to the entire time.”

Carsickle's ears similarly moved.

“He is quite the creature.”

“Why now though?”

Carsickle looked over the governor who looked to be genuinely interested. He tightened his jaw, a shrug. “We have agreements with the Free Fleet and AIH for food in order for protection materials and possibly technology in the near future. We also have an agreement with AIH to build ships in concert. There are a number of Chaleelian's being trained by the Free Fleet, as well as Avarians. We have two newly refurbished corvette's under our divided command. The Free Fleet has shown their reliability. I don't think I'm needed here.”

“You want to be out there defending your people, instead of sitting back here and twiddling your thumbs and going to meetings.” She pursed her lips in acceptance of that fact. “I am not going to stop you, General,” She finished, her ears moving.

“What is so interesting?”

“Wondering what Salchar has planned for you.”

“I doubt anything.” Carsickle tightened his jaw as her ears went faster, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

“That man has a lot of plans. He had a plan for you the minute he met you, I saw it. He probably has a plan for me too. It will be interesting to find out,” she said as it was Carsickle’s turn to move his head from side to side in contemplation.

“Before you go you must try my husbands Baroui etre Calvun,” she said, turning her head to show her stubbornness.

“Very well, Governor, it would be my pleasure,” he said. Being invited to the governors house was not something to be denied, especially for food.

“Good, then you can sign up and go and see the galaxy with mine and Chaleel's blessing.”

Carsickle raised his head in thanks.

I wonder if she's right about Salchar having a plan for me. His plans are infamous. A shiver of excitement ran up his spine at the thought that in a few days he would sign up to join the Free Fleet.

Chapter Taking Back What is Ours

We were still a few million kilometres away from the station and the Syndicate fleet that was milling around it, but soon, with low emissions or not, they would see us.

“We've got movement within the Syndicate fleet,” Sensors said after we passed an invisible threshold.

“Sound battle stations and distribute Wake Up for those that need it,” I said, the comms officer relaying it to tight beam and to the rest of the fleet.

A few minutes later Rick turned to me. “Everyone is up and ready.”

I nodded to myself. “Comms, put me on with the fleet.”

“You’re on, Commander.”

“Initiate phase three. Bring all fusion power plants to full power, all weapons online and readied! Begin blasting information on all frequencies as well as surrender terms. Remember that the Kuruvians and Sarenmenti here are not our enemy, their masters are.”

Ships came alive as the sketch pattern from passive sensors and input simulations initiated and hard objects as sensors went to full power. Resilient came alive. Power surged through the bridge and lights came up green as different sections reported their readiness.

“Syndicate forces have seen us and are moving to intercept,” Sensors replied, much more relaxed than they had been when we entered the system.

“Good. Tactical, execute fire plan Alpha. Let's give them something to worry about besides our Commandos.”

Missiles were spat out from my ships, speeding across the relatively small distance between the station, it's scrambling forces, and my fleet.

After a few minutes the missiles split into multi-warhead payloads, following paths between shuttles that were converging on the station, or would attack ships with their shields down if possible.

The Syndicates forces PD was good, but because of  the lack of resources the Kuruvians had that didn't mean much. Most of them were down, and a lot of the systems had been sold by ship captains wanting to make more money. The ships and the station fired wildly and without any sort of pattern in response to our concentrated barrage. The Pirates were still probably arguing over who was in charge.

I didn't care what damage they did. I just wanted to distract them from my much more vulnerable shuttles heading towards their ships and stations.

“Incoming missiles,” the sensor commander said in the same calm way they had gone through the initial emergence phase. Now just to see if that professionalism filters down, I thought to myself as the sensor commander kept up his report. “We have confirmed hits on the station. Two corvettes dead, destroyer limping and a battle cruiser with engine problems.” Something disappeared from the screen.

“Battle cruiser destroyed.”

“Thank you, Sensors. Comms, get me the shuttles and Commander Heston of the Eclipse freighters.”

The comms commander opened a channel with our hidden forces.

“Lone Riders and company, this is Battle Wagon, time to join the fight.”

“Thank you, Commander!” I heard Heston say as someone whooped in the background.

“Well, this is going to be a ride,” Henry said as I smirked.

Shuttles came online with their accompanying fighters around the station, their engines firing on full burn as they braked, jinked, or whatever they felt they needed to do as their PDS went to work on the missiles between them and the station. Shuttles and fighters diverted power as they changed courses for the ships, spotting our non-existent shields.

Fighters let lose with their close ranged missiles, which had less fuel and three times as many warheads as a normal missile. They could take out a cruisers shield in one go and could crack a ship without shields like an egg up to a battle cruiser.

The fighters opened up the ships, their losses thankfully light as the shuttles descended and they peeled away to assist opening up other ships shields.

The remaining fighters were clearing the station of weapons but holding back their missiles. There were possibly innocent people in the station, people that were like us. Thankfully everyone kept their head as waves of shuttles landed, or crashed, into the station.

That part done, the battle between my ships and the Syndicate became wholly one sided. They fired on us as we diverted everything to shielding, hoping that we would be able to survive the onslaught of missiles and cannon fire.

The incoming missiles were knocked out of existence by the hundreds, the station's missile capacity was terrifying. They launched hundreds. Thankfully, theirs and the Syndicates volleys were staggered, meaning that they came in erratic waves, the Eclipse freighters worth their weight in gold as their new PDS systems let loose.

The Resilient took a beating. I was happy I made all of the bridge crew wear chair harnesses as we bucked and awed. Even at a few thousand kilometers, five hundred kiloton nukes were immensely powerful.

I watched as a destroyer disappeared when a missile got within four hundred meters.

“Rick?” I said as there was a lull in the missiles.

“The Delliante's engines are out but she’s holding with formation using reactive thrusters. Her weapon systems are still online. Destroyer Carthridge is gone. Corvettes Slip Stream and Blue Bird are dead in space, damaged. Resilient has taken a beating, and we’ve lost one engine. Destroyer Halbert is reporting port side gunnery is gone; they’re flipping to present their starboard.” I had no time to realize how Rick acted like a rock under fire, as before Rick was finished I was punching the button for Eddie's personal comm suite.

“Eddie, I need that engine up!”

“Yes, sir, we’re working on it!”

“Label the unknown ships as fighters, access file Eclipse One.” Someone did so and the map became populated with the wings of fighters, identifying the wing commanders.

“Secondary launch of missiles, two hundred and thirty incoming.” Times the twenty warheads they're carrying, I thought as I issued orders, my inner nervousness as it computed the numbers hidden behind my mask.

“Alright, brace.”

I couldn’t do anything as missiles bared down on my ships; this was the weak point of my plan. My ships would take a pounding, but hopefully my AMC would be able to get into the ships and station and disable them. PD flashed across the fleet as we took out all but seven which broke into a hundred and forty warheads. Close range PDS spat out small rounds and shotgun like batteries, attempting to catch most of the now dub missiles.  Twenty seven survived. One of the missiles faulted, blowing up and taking five with it. Four were out of range to do much more than buffet my ships. Five hit the AMC transports, taking a chunk out of the front sections. I silently hoped that the crews of the transports had followed my advice and stayed in the rear of the ship. It seemed so as the engines corrected course, following behind us. I blinked as reports flooded in, I’d been focused on one part of the battle on my view screen, and they’d already gone through the reports of what I knew.

“Captain Xing says Eclipse Two is losing atom. They’re sealing and diverting, but they’ve lost a quarter of their PDS.”

That's going to hurt us, I thought as the Syndicate ships and my fleet came closer.

"We've got the targets from CAMC and the locations of the AMC on the ships."

"Lock in targets with gunner crews. I want them opened like cans for our people to get in," I said as we came into laser cannon range.

“Hold on, plasma and mass drivers,” I said and Marleen nodded.

“Alright, you gun bunnies, listen up! Laser cannons only, I want those ships open like a damned four year old went at them! Don't just slice them, give me gashes and openings!”

It seemed to have the desired effect as the gunners began firing only lasers and the pirates fired everything they could a few minutes later.

***

"This has got to be one of the most idiotic, crazy damned ideas I've ever heard of or been a part of," Henry said, shaking his head into his helmet as Yasu nodded.

“Don't think his missions will ever be exactly sane,” Yasu said. He gave a gruff laugh. Yasu saw the ships were in weapons range. She was about to key the open channel as Henry's voice barked through it.

"EVERYONE BRACE!"

A few moments later the ships began pounding one another, more than a few Mechas had gone flying because of the massive forces exerted by the weapons on either side. It was over in a few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity .

"You know the drill, ladies!" The commander of the AMC growled.

Yasu rushed over the side, flipping herself down into the hole created by the Free Fleets weapons. Her boots clamped down as Commandos ran ahead of her, placing door breachers and popping the hatch as another group put in an airlock so the next hatch wouldn't seal. The entry team filed through then the next team and then it was her turn.

She wished she was at the front, but rank and her protection detail wouldn't allow it. She was surprised at first at the lack of accusatory glances, but it seemed they understood. She was Commander Salchars wife. It must be a pain dealing with him sometimes and getting him to listen. Though some didn't agree with her methods, they understood, most of them where married and one or both of them would probably complain about the other being a stubborn woman or man once and a while.

Though none of them agreed with Takahashi's part in it. He was a battalion commander, or was going to be. It wasn't his place to get involved with the commanders personal matters; he wasn't part of the Mecha Tail family. Even if he was on Yasu's side he had called for blood, not explanation.

She shook her head as she continued clearing it of thoughts; she had a ship to clear.

"I want this floor and that above it and below it sealed, get cutting." Plasmid blades where out already and they cut through the ceiling and floor. Yasu jumped up through a precut hole as she checked on Henry’s status in the station. The commander of the ship she was on kept talking, pushing more teams into the ship as they where encountering resistance already. Thankfully, they were Kuruvians and Sarenmenti not in Mechas and went down with a flurry of stun rounds.

"You know the drill, get me some damned blue prints and move to key locations, now get moving Commandos!" He barked as Yasu saw Henry had landed on the Station and had more shuttles arriving by the minute.

***

Henry was saying the same thing as the Commander on Yasu's ship to the four thousand troops under his command in the station that orbited Earth.

"Get those fucking weapons offline, and I need a blueprint now! Commander Erkshaw! Take your platoon to the south factory ship. It should have blueprints if nothing else."

"Yes CAMC!"

"Bok Soo, report."

"Heavy fighting to get to the training facility, we're blasting the info dumps into every Mecha and it seems that the humans that have just begun training are surrendering. Those that have been here longer are just berserk." We could've been them, Henry mentally noted as he flicked through information on his HUD.

"Knock out who you can; we don't have time to deal with it. I need you to push for the weapons."

"Understood," Bok Soo said grimly.

One of Henry's aides came up to him.

"Sir, the fleet is holding over Earth. The syndicate ships are still moving out of the system."

"Shit, get me into contact with Santos or get some kind of report from each ship. I need to know if they need reinforcements before they're out of range." The aide didn't say anything as they went to work. Henry had been working with them endlessly in his time on Chaleel, and it had paid off. He and his command team were a well oiled machine as Salchar's was.

"Commander Salchar is asking if we want the second wave brought up while holding the third in reserve."

"Tell him to give me two thirds and have the rest ready to launch for the Syndicate ships. I'll only send them once we've taking out their weapons."

****

Bok Soo looked at his arm pad as he yelled to the Commandos around him on the Close Area Frequency, or CAF. "Drive for the command centre, change to live rounds. Everyone from here on is trying to kill us, and I would prefer to take  lot of them with me if I'm going to Valhalla this evening!" His Commandos roared with him as they changed ammunition.

Bok Soo stood up to look over the cover he was hiding behind, getting a round in his shoulder for his trouble.

"Fucking piece of shit!" he yelled as it deadlined his arm, not thinking about how close his shoulder was to his head. Instead, his Mecha-trained and battle hardened reflexes took over as he swung his rifle over the barricade he was using as cover. His sights linked into his HUD as he let a burst go into his attacker who hadn't ducked back behind cover.

“Fucker,” He ground out. Now he had no mercy for those he killed as Salchar had not only sent the truth to everyone in the Syndicate fleet, but had also blocked the kill switch signal. Everyone who wasn't in their quarters was an enemy.

"Uploading blueprints now. South factory ship secured," Commander Erkshaw said over the command channel.

"Good man," Bok Soo said as he checked the map of his section. "Alright, boys, lets get some pay back. Amarr!"

"Yes, BC," he said, coming over with a grace that went against how the Avar made the decking shake like a Mecha entombed human would.

"Get me a route through here." Bok Soo threw the path to Amarr which he'd outlined on the blueprints, from where he was through as many rooms as possible, circumventing the deadly corridors that made effective choke points for the Syndicate forces which were now being reinforced by crew serviced weapons.

Amarr nodded as he got it, leading his mostly Avar squad easily through the walls with their mono blade swords, Bok Soo and his Commandos following them.

"Sir, you should hold back and get tended to," one of Bok Soo's commanders said as he saw Bok Soo's limp arm.

"There isn't anywhere to fall back and there ain't no way I'm letting you boys have all of the fun." This elicited grins and smirks as he kept moving.

"Now, lets get to this damned control center."

"Everyone get into cover; there are reports of internal weapon systems coming online," Henry said over the general channel.

"You heard the CAMC! Everyone, hurry it up!" He watched as his people packed into rooms, mono blades opening walls as Commandos cleared the corridors. But there were too many of them as rail guns deployed.

"Grenades!" Bok Soo yelled as he watched the rail guns activate and rounds cut through his people. Some got their grenades off, blowing the weapon systems and hallway to hell, but dozens of his people lay dead in the corridor already.

"Ming! Get your docs on those people! Rosa, grab this room and emplace security around it. This will be our medical point. Clear out the room if you aren't needed!" Bok Soo yelled, and his people moved to obey as Amarr cut through another wall.

Bok Soo planned three more routes, assigning commanders to continue on the fight going on throughout the floors above him and below him as well as to his left. James had given him a mission, and he was damned if he wasn't going to follow through with it.

Chapter What the Hell Are the Crazy Aliens Up to Now?

"Mr. President, it's confirmed that the two fleets are attacking one another. The Planetary Defense Force Fleet is turning but much more slowly than the attacking fleet, which is stationary over Earth. It seems that the orbital weapons have also been knocked offline as they've stopped firing on the new fleet," an analyst said from the armored bunker that the president was in, watching the ongoing battle above their heads.

"Who are they? Have we had any communications with them?" he said, leaning forward in his chair.

"They haven't contacted us the way the Defence Force has," a communications officer said.

"Someone see if they can get contact with them and get me a line to the chiefs. We need to know what our response is going to be," he said as he sat back with hooded eyes. One day we'll be the ones dictating terms from orbit, he thought darkly as pictures on the main screen appeared and the chiefs of staff appeared.

Five minutes later everyone that mattered was online.

"What do you propose we do about this situation?" he said, his gaze focusing on the marine chief of the joint chiefs, who couldn't see the president was looking at him, but was furiously going through multiple plans that had been created after the arrival of the PDF and their stealing of the worlds youth.

The chairman, a Marine, was put into power within the last year as the Marines were an amphibious fighting force. They where being trained to be able to operate in space, due to their ability to adapt to different environments. It wasn't any of the chiefs that responded but the director of the newly minted Intelligence Agency.

"I believe we should attack during the confusion. These new forces are showing a disciplined front which scares me. If we attack them then even if we fail, we'll gain standing with the Defence Force," the former director of the CIA said in the same voice he probably ordered coffee or someone's assassination with. Quite the useful man, the president reflected as he patted himself on the back for combining the CIA,  FBI, NSA, and all civilian intelligence departments into one uniform military organization. The military had gained back all of its power it had before and more. It controlled everything that happened in the United States.

"What if they're here to help rather than hurt us?” One of the 'covert' analysts said, they were damned annoying but useful, their job was to second guess everything. They had been a new thing introduced by the President that had been elected into power as the last one had been 'too soft'.

"We won't win without being decisive, we have an opportunity here.” The president surveyed the room, his eyes hard. More than one person looked away, it was hard to look into the eyes of the most powerful man on Earth. “We will attack,” he said, looking to the IA director who inclined his head as he did something off screen.

"Yes, Mr. President," the analyst said.

The president made a mental note to have the covert analysts replaced with people more… amenable with his thoughts, thinking of better ways to carry out his plans, instead of bringing them into constant question. He didn't want people to get in the way of making America the great country it had been before issues such as nuclear oversight committees and previous presidents helping other countries in aid had cropped up. Instead of making America stronger and armed with the weapons it needed to asserT it’s dominance. He would make America strong again, and he would do it with space superiority. "I suppose you want to begin this attack with the new Marines squads?"

“Yes, Mr. President, I feel that would be best.” The covert analyst said.

“General Stevens.” The president looked to the marine chairman with graying hair, where his regulation buzz cut allowed enough of it to be seen.

“Sir, they'll be ready within the hour and in the sky for the ships." The president nodded. Let's see how you bastards like being attacked out of the blue. His face didn’t show any of his thoughts.

"Good. Take everything you need to make sure your plan works."

"If I may take my leave?"

"Go." The president dismissed him with a wave, hitting the end call button for the man before he could salute. He loved salutes, but he wanted to put the hurt on these aliens more.

****

Chairman General Audacious Stevens angrily dropped his hand as he was cut from the conference. He didn't know what the people of his great nation had been doing when they elected this power hungry and idiotic president.

He had to tell himself he knew why. Hell, he had been in the same boat as them when the Recruitment had happened and collectors had dropped down, picking up twenty thousand people along the west coast of the United states, including a handful of Marines from Camp Pendelton, California. He had no idea where his people had gone in the universe as they'd departed fifteen months ago aboard the ships of this Defence Force.

He knew the new presidents plans which he wanted to propose to the Defence Force--who weren't against force--as was apparent with the bombardments of most of Japan, Europe, an America as they'd retaliated for the Recruitment. No assistance had come afterwards when the planet had heated up from the Kinetic Energy Weapons, they worked on the same premise as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. They caused dust and ash to cover they skies, ice caps melt and the water levels of the world to rise. America, which had been comfortable for too long, as well as other countries with populations near bodies of water had to weather the worst. Populations had gotten harder fast; they'd learned to deal with the chaotic and terrible weather. Most of them lived underground now, hiding from the world and the Defense Force who orbited their planet and whom they were powerless to touch.

With the people powerless, this new president had come along, proposing to unite the people with grand plans for underground fields. A plan that was already in affect, he just planned to expand it. While at the same time expanding the military, and the parts of the military that had become infested with the civilian security departments turned military. They were loyal to gaining more power and to this new president. He knew that the military was directly under the presidents command and not truly connected to the Marines, Army, Navy, or Air Force.
He hoped Captain Connolly was as ready as he didn’t feel.

***

“Captain, we have a launch order from the president!”

Connolly, who had been watching the events unfolding above Earth, now rushed out of the common room/command center of the Marines for Space Assault Force One.

“Up you get, Marines! Into your suits and ready your weapons, we’re a go!” He rushed to his own Mecha, which had been dug from the wasteland that was Japan, where the master game creator of Mecha Assault had made a small army of the man operated machines. Combined with the armor and technology that had been spread across the globe by the missiles which had hit, collectors, and other ships, the bastardized suits they wore reminded the Captain of something out of a bad sci-fi movie where things where held together with tape. Well, the padding on the inside was; it was hell to ride them without. He had no idea how the Japanese had used them to attack and take down three collector ships. Hell, today he was expected to take down a space ship.

His Marines readied themselves in minutes, showing his constant drilling had paid off as they used their Mechas considerable strength to get to their shuttles in seconds, running up catwalks and attaching themselves to the locking bolts and harnesses which would hold them in place while they where hurtling into space.

“Houston, this is Roman Candle One, ready for launch,” Captain Tyler Smith said. Connolly grinned at his pilots antics.

“Captain Smith, this is launch control, not Houston! You are known as Assault Ship One!”

“Roman Candle acknowledges, Houston!”

“Fine!” launch control said angrily as they accepted their new name of Houston, turning to deal with the rest of the pilots which had all thought of names for their rockets, varying from Rocket Ship Thing Three to Enterprise and I Am A Ballistic Missile. Everyone was ready. The massive bunker doors moved from above the ships as the engines warmed up.

Houston counted down. At one the main engines fired as Connolly and his shuttle leapt into the sky.

“We’re in the air, well, technically. Still getting out of this damned hole, ladies and gents,” Smith said a few second later. “Now we’re in the air. I would like to thank you for taking, this-is-the-worst-damn-ship-piece-of-crap-airlines today. Space is expected to be the cold annoying bitch that we’ve all heard about. I hope you’ve all taken your rad medication to stop your bits being roasted to a tender crispiness by they sun. If you feel at all sick in this ride, for the love of god, swallow or well we aren’t taking these things back. So what am I saying: Throw up everywhere!” Smith said in an annoying happy tone as some of the Marines took his advice literally, pasting the shuttle. The lucky ones had their visors down and their air recyclers cranked up to max.

The shuttle started shaking as Connolly thought that maybe his ship wasn’t going to make it out into space.

“The vibration you’re feeling right now, a similar sensation to being a martini in a shaker. At least it isn’t stirred! Thank god the Brits got something right!” Connolly wanted to say something but his jaw was locked tight as he fought the pressure which seemed to come from everywhere. How Smith was talking was beyond him as the shaking stopped.

“We’re in space. Moving to target,” Smith said in a somewhat disciplined voice as Connolly hoped he'd finally gotten on task.

“Two minutes till link-up. Ship seems to be bigger than any of those in the vicinity, it’s holding in a regular pattern. My co-pilot has found an airlock, so we’re going to give it an old knock. Remember that we are in zero gravity, and it sounded like any sick bags we had have currently been used. Disengaging bolts, remove harnesses as needed.” I just hope he's as good piloting as he is cracking jokes, Connolly thought as he looked over his readouts. Four shuttles hadn't made it into space and had fallen back to Earth. Thankfully, they were able to set down in the Pacific Ocean, and collection was already under way. The rest were still on target, following behind Roman Candle One.

“Ten seconds,” Smith said as a counter rolled down. Connolly and his men released their harnesses and orientated to the airlock, his lead team ready as the airlocks lights went green and they charged in.

“Contact!” they yelled as he heard weapons fire.

Chapter Busy Day

I was on my first Wake Up as we orbited Earth. There was nothing I could do. I’d sent the people I could with the recovered shuttles to the station and I was still waiting for a call back from Henry if he wanted more forces for the Syndicate ships which where floating out of the system towards the sun, their engines dead. I was hoping their dead engines meant my Commandos were winning. I knew that Yasu was out on those ships too, but she’s was on her own, as much as I wished I was there instead of her. It was weird how a night spent talking—and other things—had brought us so much closer. I actually felt somewhat like a married man.

I'd debated destroying the stations weaponry, but it didn't seem that it was needed as Henry and his Commandos were making short work of the station. We’d pasted the stations weaponry, not taking any chances with the whole of Earth at it’s mercy.

“We have incoming missiles from the United States,” Marleen said. The main view screen changed to the missiles as they left secret silos around California.

“Wait until they’re out of the atmosphere to shoot them down. I want to minimize as much damage to Earth as possible,” I said, moving back to overlooking everything that was happening around me.

“Understood.”

“I don't think they’re missiles,” Sensors said as Marleen looked to me for confirmation. I held up a finger as I checked sensors.

I watched the missiles on screen and watched as their trajectory changed. Four of the missiles, which where duds, turned back towards Earth, fired thrusters, shot out parachutes, and landed in the Pacific Ocean, boats rushing to them.

“Hold your fire!” I said as I watched the shuttles exit atmosphere and turn. They where wobbly compared to missiles I’d seen before.

“Get me an optical on those missiles.” On my view screen I zoomed in on the front of the ship, and I saw two windows and two pilots sitting beside one another as they flicked switches.

“Those are shuttles. Track where they’re going to land. I want squads along the airlocks on that side. I need comms with them as quickly as possible. Tell the teams to only stun. I don’t want any killing. Have a show of force and that should stop them.”

“Salchar, I believe we need to think whether they have nuclear armaments on those ships. Earth might have become desperate and if they want to erase evidence, a nuke is a good way to do it,” Rick said.

“Sensors, I want full scans of those ships. Tactical, track. If they’re carrying nukes, I want to know. Contact them to surrender if they do, and shoot them down if they come within ten kilometers.” The lull that had started at the discovery of the shuttles was gone.

“The ships are cleared; they’re not carrying nukes.” I sighed relief. I looked at the plot of the battle happening on the main screen before checking the track of the Earth shuttles.

“Rick, you have control. Contact me if I’m needed. I’ll go and say hey to boarders.”

“Sir, and Henry?”

“If he needs forces, give them to him.”

“Gotcha.” He turned back to his work as I walked out.

“Give them my regards,” he shot after me. I grinned and shook my head as my protection detail fell in around me. I checked my weapons and jogged down to the hangar bay where it seemed the first ship was coming in and, hopefully, the commander of this assault. I walked into the hangar as the airlock opened and soldiers rushed up and out of what was our relative down. They were wearing bastardized Mechas. I could see the first stumble, adjusting to the new gravity and tumbling over as they rolled on the deck, shooting at my closest AMC, which put three stun rounds in him before he could get more than two rounds off.

The rest of the assaulting force used their hands to throw themselves up, coming down in a roll. They came out in a flood, being stunned after they got just a few rounds off. Finally, all of them where stunned on the ground. There were some lazy calls from my Mecha's for medics. All of them where used to wounds now and none of them were immediately life threatening.

“There’s another shuttle inbound on that airlock.”

“Thanks, Rick. Looks like our boys have it in had, but I have an idea.”

***

It sounds like a slaughter, Connolly thought as his first men had gotten off a few rounds but it was less frequent, even with his men pouring out of his shuttle at an alarming rate.

Great way to start humanities attempt to take back the stars. Led by Captain Connolly gritting his teeth, he moved next to the airlock. He rushed after them, learning from the first man as he threw himself up and rolled right toward a circle of Mechas, these ones with the marks of battle and looking as solid as rock. He watched as his rounds, even from his high powered rifle, glanced off of the Mechas before his own Mecha went stiff with an electronic overload and he watched as his people poured in, all of them being cut down mercilessly. He hoped they where all using the disabling rounds which had knocked him out.

A Mecha strode into the room with a few others around him as well as a massive creature wearing what looked like a simple coverall. He strode through the Mechas as the last Marine made it aboard.

The Mechas moved out of the way, pushing others out of respect of the new arrival that walked through them, like his men would for himself, but this was more than just respect for rank. He could see by the way all of them turned to the arrival and then snapped back to work. All of them moved to do different jobs as Connolly started to hear a heavy mechanical noise of something moving.

A disabled shuttle came into view. Some Mechas moved to either side of the shuttle as Connolly felt a tug on his suit, and then he was in the air, stuck to the bottom of the shuttle’s pads. They’d used the shuttles gravitational fields or magnetic clamps to clean them all up. A group of Mechas pulled his men from their armor and Mechas kicking and screaming as they where quickly and deftly handcuffed or stunned again, dropping limply to the floor. Connolly watched as the second group came through the airlock. This time they didn’t even fire as they were pulled into the pads of the shuttle, stunned, and then sorted as Connolly's team was after everyone had left the shuttle. Mechas ran into the shuttle, dragging out the pilots. Connolly saw Captain Smith was already cuffed behind him, for once not saying a word.

“Alright, get these guys out of the way. Those of you assigned for relief, get a move on!”

The leader that had walked through the other Mecha's yelled as more Mechas poured into the shuttle bay and moved on to further hangars as shuttles waited, ready to launch, and hangar doors sealed Connolly, his men, and the remaining Mechas in the hangar bay. Connolly didn't have much time to think on it as he was roughly pulled from his armor.

“Fuck you, you alien piece of shit!” he said, spitting on the Mecha as he struggled against the strength that seemed impossible.

“Damn, Frank, I thought Avar’s were violent; you humans are crazy! And the amount you spit!”

“Hey! I don’t spit everywhere. I told you yesterday that was Bob that spit in the hangar. It's not like you Sarenmenti are any better at eating.” The man’s accent was clearly American. The aliens where making some damned scary translator tech, Connolly thought as the Sarenmenti made some comment about delicate salad chompers. They secured Connolly and then attached him to the posts in the floor the rest of his men were attached to. They weren't uncomfortable, but they were far enough away from one another that they couldn’t touch or talk without raising their voices.

Whoever these aliens, were, they knew their shit. About a half hour later the section of wall that had closed opened and Connolly looked at the eight Earth shuttles that were now there, their crews being systematically searched. He made a rough head count and it looked like everyone was there, if not for some loud cursing, yelling and screaming, as well as spitting, kicking, punching, and biting in one case—he was going to need a damned good dentist.

The man that was the leader pulled off his helmet, flicking his emo slice to one side, revealing blood red eyes which seemed to pierce Connolly's skull as they flicked over him.

“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled, subsonics shaking Connolly’s very bones as he was reminded of his non-commissioned officer yelling at him in basic training and putting the fear of god and the Marines into him.

Silence descended as the man looked over them, studying them as much as they studied him. He looked human, but for the eyes and the fact he was on a Planetary Defense Force ship, Connolly wasn't sure. Maybe he's one of the recruits? He thought with shame as he wondered how much the PDF had changed this kid to make him like that.

“My name is Commander Salchar, yes, the gamer. Now, Marines, I welcome you to the dreadnought Resilient, my flagship and, for the time being, your home. I can’t really explain much, but for your own safety you will be detained until we can have an actual talk and you can be returned to Earth. Now, the first thing you need to know is we aren’t Syndicate forces, those fuckers that are masquerading as some defense force. Many of the Commandos around you are human and will react just the same way you would if you got your gear spit on, especially because they’ve got to clean it off after our little meet and greet,” Salchar growled.

“Commandos,” he said, no mistaking the command in his voice. Humans, Sarenmenti, and Kuruvians took off their helmets. More than one of his Marines yelled at the Sarenmenti and Kuruvians, while pleading with the humans to help them.

Salchar slammed his foot down and as some kept on talking he talked over them. “You will be put into holding. Act like an asshole, and we'll be assholes. So don't be a jerk. I have a battle to win and our world to save, so don't make me have to look in on you more than I have to.” His voice was like iron and Connolly doubted anyone would want to cause a ruckus after the man's speech.

A group fell in around him as he walked away and the Mechas in the room moved with quick, precise movements.

Unarmored people and aliens ran around, securing Connolly's assault shuttles to the deck, going inside quickly before turning to other tasks in the shuttle bay, or disappearing through one of the hatches leading into the actual ship. Commandos picked up Connolly as if he was a child, attaching his bound hands to the harness with something similar to duct tape. One by one, his men were similarly strapped into the shuttles harnesses, a Commando walking to the front with more than a little verbal abuse from Connolly's men. It took off its helmet, showing a woman underneath. Presently shutting everyone up for a few seconds.

“My name is company commander Keiko. Commander Salchar has made it clear that no harm is to come to you if at all possible. So I will make you a promise: do as you’re told or I’ll stun you. Keep doing it and I’ll shoot you. This is space. I don’t have time to hold your hands, and we’re already losing a squad to looking after your asses, a squad that could be used to keep my friends alive.”

There was no missing the truth or sincerity of her words.

“Lady, I was fighting before you where born.”

Keiko's smile was anything but kind as she stared at the commenter. “Fighting before I was born? On Earth? Where you have atmosphere and a single round hitting you does not mean explosive decompression? Where you have people trained to keep you alive? Some place you can go back to that’s safe? Weapons that kill at hundreds of meters, not thousands of kilometers? Fighting people with less advanced weaponry than your own, not fighting in your own skin sometimes against two ton Mechas that can kill you with a back swipe as if you where a fly or paste you across the room with a single round?” She advanced on the commentator as she talked.

“Fighting in environments you know about before you ever step into them? Places that don’t have twelve times your number trying to kill you from every direction and weapon emplacements built into the walls that could destroy a corvette? You might’ve been play acting before I was born, but you’ve never fought like I do. The Armored Marine Commandos may have been made in a year, but it is the hardest fucking unit you will ever find this side of then galaxy, forged in a hell you couldn’t imagine and haven’t even begun to understand.” Growls rose from the other Commandos waiting in the back of the shuttle.

“And the part about getting pasted to the wall in a swipe, don’t test my people or you’ll quickly find out the truth.” She walked out of the shuttle without a backwards glance as some people filed off with her and others studied the marines and their pilots with bored but alert interest. Then the shuttle sealed up and as it was buffeted Connolly could hear the movement of hundreds of Mechas outside the shuttle, and yelling.

****

After my little talk with the Marines boarding team I rushed to the bridge. Never a moments rest being Salchar, I thought as I waited for the blast doors slow opening sequence.

“The weapons systems for the Syndicate ships are down. Henry is requesting support,” Rick said as I connected to him. I changed to the bridge's speaker.

“Helm, if we use the Earth or the moon, can we give those shuttles better velocity?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Okay, get those shuttles loaded and prepped. Nav, give me that route info and make sure the fleet is ready. Helm, plot us in.”

“Fire all shuttles at those ships. Except fifteen percent reserve.”

“On it,” Rick said as I cut my connection and I rushed from the lift to the blast doors. No one saluted me or stood as I got into my command chair, screens vying for my attention.

I checked all of the shuttles, finding them all ready, most of them holding Commandos already and a few not, having their commandos in within a matter of seconds.

“Let's launch these shuttles, Helm.”

“Sir,” they replied as the fleet began moving. Feeling proud of my people for their training, I looked around for the few minutes it took for the ships that were launching shuttles to build up a large initial velocity and spit the shuttles out towards the outgoing Syndicate ships. It would take them four hours to get there with the added push instead of the five hours it would’ve taken the shuttles alone. Less if the Commandos on the ships were able to take full control or even turn off the ships engines.

I watched impatiently as those shuttles sped off. I knew we had heavy casualties with the forces that had boarded the ships, but no solid numbers or casualty lists had come back, probably because they where too swamped to deal with things like that.

I wished I was on those ships, but I had enough to deal with myself.

“What’s the situation on the station?”

“We’ve taken the key positions. We’ve got recruits locked down in their training rooms. Bok Soo has taken the command center. The kill switch disabling signal did reach all of the recruits and people on the station, but the recruits killed others, which is our largest issue as we're working to contain them all and isolate them. Casualty reports are on your screen.” That meant it was bad. I pulled up the indicated file and bit my lip. Thirteen thousand people had been killed by kill switches. My AMC had faired better than I hoped, but the numbers where still grim. Two thousand killed or out of communication. Three thousand wounded, leaving half of the force I sent to the station alive and dealing with four hundred thousand recruits, and a hundred thousand Syndicate personnel.

Sorting out that many people is going to be a nightmare I thought. I was having a hard time of thinking about that while there were still battles ongoing on the remaining Syndicate ships that were running.

“They also found something else,” Rick said. He sent a message and a recording.

Oh god, I thought, a chill running down my spine as I fought to hold my composure. The station had enough room to train over three hundred thousand personnel when completed.  Currently, two hundred thousand spots were taken up by recruits children.

There hadn't been many pregnancies with the first training rota; the recruits had been old enough to understand what would happen if they had unprotected sex.

There had been stories from the second training group. We had listened but not really understood.

Quickly after a girl had sex, they took her away, treated her kindly, fed her and then released her back into training. They had extracted the fetuses, putting them in fabricated wombs and grown them.

The girls in the second rota just thought having sex got them out of the treatment the others suffered. They had been too young to understand.

I felt revolted. They were breeding themselves an army from, basically, children.

There were three groups taken out of their wombs.

While they were just a number of months outside of the womb, they were already being sleep trained and the oldest had bodies of ten year olds.

Rick looked to me, his stare asking what we were going to do.

We could give them to Earth to look after, but there was no knowing what state it was in. No, we weren't going to damn these kids to going through the system as I had.

We would give them a home, somewhere to grow up, and the choice of what they wanted to do.

Convinced with my own decision, I wrote up orders saying that they would be cared for by the Free Fleet. I would personally oversee it. Being an orphan, I didn't want these kids to feel like freaks or outsiders.

I sat back in my seat.

“Ship reports,” I said blankly. Rick sent them to me. The guilt and thoughts of regret, wondering if I could’ve done something else, filled me.

It was never easy. I looked at all of the names. I owed them that.

Grounded in despair, but the reality that nothing I could do would bring them back, I looked to the fleet movements.

Bregend was able to get his battle cruiser back into formation and was working tirelessly to get his weapons and engines in fighting trim, but I thought it was going to take a dock to put it right. It had suffered a lot going through Avar Interi Hermanti’s atmosphere and then getting battered when he was covering Chaleel from Syndicate forces weapons fire.

Resilient was taking longer to put back together just because of the size of her, being a third again the size of the second largest ship.

"James, I've had to put the second reactor into standby mode and the third at fifty percent as the magnetic bottle's unstable," Eddie said without preamble when I opened a channel with him, cutting back my opening words as my brain changed gears.

"What does that mean?"

"Either we move or we use our weapons."

I winced internally. That was a terrible way to go into a battle. "How long will it be till you can get the second and third generator back online?"

"She's going to need a dock; these generators are well past their limits and I might have to reduce the output of the third more as the bottle becomes more unstable. I have the release sequence readied in case it goes critical, which is a possibility at any moment."

"Fixes?" I said, trying to keep desperation out of my voice.

"We need new generators and soon; I don't know how long the first is going to last with the constant power usage."

"Shit."

"Yes, quite."

"Talk to the Kuruvians on the factory ships. Get them building reactors. I know Parnmal is making some, but I think you'll agree it'll be better to have them as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir. How many should I ask them to make?" His tone sounded judgmental.

"All of them. Might as well get it done."

"I'll get time estimates as quickly as possible." Joy filled his voice, obviously I'd passed some test, or at least satisfied his engineering desires. He cut the channel, probably so that I didn't get the chance to go back on my word.

I didn't mind because I started getting solid numbers from a cruiser that was braking slightly. It had been taken but with terrible losses. All the numbers where grim. We'd lost all but forty percent of the troops I'd sent to the ships, giving me two thousand remaining, but my shuttles where now less than an hour out and braking hard so they didn't pass the ships.

I watched tensely as a half hour passed, seemingly like a lifetime, and as a private call came in, I took it.

"Generators will take three days with the entire crew of the factory ships," Eddie said and I took a minute to realize what he was talking about.

"Alright, get it started if you can trust them."

"I do. They're of the same bloodline as me," he said, making it seem absurd that they wouldn't.

"Okay," I said, thinking I would have to look up why that was so important. Maybe they where family members. He could probably tell I was distracted by my tone because he cut the channel. I continued watching my shuttles. They where inside the Syndicates PD envelope.

"We have fire coming from one of the battle cruisers!"

"One of the destroyers is firing!"

I felt my blood go cold as I saw the shuttles jinking and taking fire, some of them where ripped apart.

"Five shuttles destroyed, six shuttles. The weapon systems have been destroyed and our forces are moving to reinforce the Commandos already on board," the combined arms officer said.

Again, I settled into waiting as I read reports filled with casualties and gruesome numbers and names of those who where so close to Earth but would never make it back to their home planet alive, whether it be Earth or AIH or the Kuruvian and Sarenmenti's home worlds. More ghosts to occupy my sleep. I kept my face a measured mask from years of practice as I looked over the names, my heart aching for the people I'd taken into battle but wouldn't make it back. I assured myself it was for a good cause, but a part of me questioned what good cause was worth all of those people dying.

Fourteen shuttles later, the ships stopped firing. There were a hundred and fifty commandos on board each.

Two hours later and the station was under my command and the Syndicate ships that had been running had turned around for Earth.

"Alright, cut orders to the ships to join with the station to affect repairs. Ships are to be repaired in this order." I sent a file to the combined arms and comms officers and they began cutting orders to make it happen.

I felt physically exhausted and emotionally dead.

“Helm, dock us with the station.” Engines fired, meaning that we where open to any and all attacks as we came alongside the station and docked.

I opened up a channel to the intel department based on my ship, not wanting to bother the busy comms officer.

"Commander Salchar, we've been collecting transmissions from across the planet as soon as we went full emission and the situation on Earth is complicated, to say the least. Mecha's were found in Japan and they took out what are being called collector ships. The ones that grabbed us from the ground. Everyone launched their nukes but the Syndicate took them out when they reached space and then cleared the planet of them, down to power plants. Though every country that can make nukes, have been in a mad rush to rebuild their weapons.

“Any kind of resistance was dealt with harshly, usually in the form of Syndicate forces dropping a KEW on people. The Syndicate made each country supply them with a certain quota of materials, if they fell below the quote people where recruited from that country. Some countries, like the United States, took other countries resources to pay for their own quota as they built up their military. There has been increased tension on Earth with multiple conflicts between world powers. Militaries have been heavily recruiting. In the United States, about seventy percent of the population have signed up with the military for warmth, shelter, and to fight the Syndicate forces.

“The president believes that America would have not befallen this fate if it hadn't abided by the Geneva Convention and laws of armed conflict, or really any rules in any conflict. He believes that America should rightly own the world and has turned ninety percent of the recruits he's got into what he's called the American Space Force. It's corrupt to all hell and the soldiers are crap, nothing more than bullies in uniform, and their officers are political up to the hilt. Most of them came from civilian agencies, knowing that that civilian control was dead, and will do anything to get a higher rank. They don't care about their troops unless it messes with their schedule.

“Every country has cut their ties to the United States. All of the other countries are united for once on two things: their hatred for the Syndicate and their wariness of the United States."

"Is that wariness warranted?”

“I would say so. I've pulled a letter from the presidents secured terminal and found out that he had gained the Syndicates approval to “bring the planet Earth under one stable ruler."

"That doesn't sound good at all."

"No, sir, with our arrival, I expect for there to be people vying for our favor, to take sides and to stop a conflict. Overall, Earth is tired. Except for the United States, who, with a combination of propaganda and change to total militarization of the country, they're spoiling for a fight."

"So, it's the metaphorical powder keg and we might be the match."

"Exactly."

"Well, seems like my job isn't getting any easier. Is there a way I contact the leaders of the world?"

"You could set up a summit, though you would need to go in person as they won't negotiate with anyone that is floating above them and controlling the orbitals."

"Alright, see if you can set up this meeting for me. Contact me if you need anything."

"Yes, commander." They cut the channel as I looked over the bridge. It had been a day and a half since we'd fired our first volley of missiles; everyone was only on their feet due to Wake Up.

"Alright, Rick, take everyone down to twenty five percent. Combined Arms, work with the medics to get aid to everyone."

"Sir," They replied, sounding determined but tired.

"I'll be in the station," I said.

"I'll take a survey of the ship," Rick said, putting the fourth watch commander in charge of the Resilient.

My protection detail fell in around me as I made my way to the dock, pausing and talking to my people as I saw them, though mostly nodding or giving tired two finger salutes as we went about our jobs.

The bulkheads inside the station, as well as the hatches, showed the severe fighting that had occurred within the stations tight confines. Lights flickered and sparks showered the halls as we continued on. I quickly moved to where an impromptu medical bay had been made. I walked in, finding the cramped room filled with harried doctors and wounded.

"Eddie, I need a work detail to my location, now. I am sending you the structural information of the area I'm in. I need med bays set up immediately in this area; I don't care if they're ripped from the training rooms and planted here. I'm expanding this med bay over four rooms and back two."

"I see; be there momentarily." I heard yelling as I cut the channel. I turned to my protection detail around me and any AMC still moving.

"Alright, we're expanding the medical bay. Cut down those walls, now!" I jumped in with my men and as we hacked the walls down more wounded where brought in. Eddie and his group arrived minutes later as we'd gone through the first wall. Eddie barked orders loud as any battlefield commander as his people rushed around the station getting what they needed. An army of droids followed them, connecting medical bays to the power sources available and bringing other unused medical bays into the room. Quickly, wounded were placed in the remorseless medical bays which did their gruesome work without painkillers, only bringing relief to their charges when they passed out from the pain.

James kept expanding the med bay with Eddie and any engineers they could find. As soon as a med bay was completed, it was filled. There seemed to be no end to the wounded.

I lost the track of time until I got to the last wall. Med bays, ripped from across the station, filled the rough space encompassing two training rooms, a few storage closets, and a large multi person bathroom.

"See what you can help with. I'm going to talk to the injured Commandos." They started to protest as I raised my hand.
"Krom, you can come, but these are your brothers and sisters. We need to do everything for them that we can." Without another word they got to work, putting their first aid skills to use as I walked around, talking to those that could talk and assuring them. I told them what was going on, how we'd taken the station thanks to their efforts, how they had saved my world, or their own world, and my deep thanks and praise for them. Some of them tried to get out of bed to go back and help their squads but, thankfully, Krom pressed a hand, keeping them down, and my severe glance ended their complaints.

***

I heard the commotion of a particularly stubborn Commando trying to get back to the now finished battle.

This is why our doctors are armored, I thought to myself with a grin.

"Mrs. Cook, please, you need to sit down. Someone get me a tranquilizer!" I turned, seeing the bloodied, ragged, and cut Mecha that enclosed my wife. Before I knew it, I had crossed the room and was pulling her helmet off.
"Yasu," I said in wonder as I looked at her. She looked like hell, her armor open in a dozen places, her shoulder ragged and bleeding.
A doctor was beside me as I looked at Yasu, her eyes searching for the next attacker. I threw my gauntlets at Krom and held her head. Her eyes snapped to me and I felt any anger I had for her disappear as she looked into my eyes, realizing who I was and a small, sad, tired smile appeared on her face.
"James," She half whispered half said as she let unconsciousness take her. I opened her suit manually with the doctors and they began hauling her into a med bay. More wounded were following her as I got my gauntlets from Krom and we helped get people out of their Mechas so the doctors could treat them.
I forgot time as I opened countless Mechas, pulling the wounded and mangled AMC from them for doctors to attempt to put back together. Henry found me some time later helping to hold down wounded as doctors did their work. He detailed his men to take over as he pulled me outside.
“We’ve made contact with the governments of the world and they each want to talk to you.”
I nodded, not having the energy to wear a mask. I felt numb as he guided me past yet more wounded that where streaming in from shuttles and ships.
I walked into the command center, my mask falling into place as I stood straighter and studied the room, which had seen better days, alien blood and bits where everywhere and craters looking like it had come down to grenades were visible in the floor. Techs were putting the room back in order with Mechas doing the heavy lifting. The intelligence officer that I’d talked to earlier walked up to me as I entered. There was too much noise to hear if anyone had called out my presence, so I thankfully kept my arm down.
“I’ve talked to the different nations on your behalf; they’ve agreed to have a meeting in Canada. I don’t want to show them how badly damaged we are, or this command center, so that they can gain information.”

I nodded, agreeing with the man's logic as I let him guide me away.
He turned to one of the rooms that were directly connected to the control center, finding inside a conference table with the intelligence group at one end as I sat at the other.
“Before we start, get me some Wake Up.” They all went out, which I found kind of odd, as I noticed Henry had followed me, waving them out.
“How are the Syndicate and recruit prisoners?”
“There’s a few hard Syndicate believers. The human recruits are in a bad state. Though many of them are closer to civilians than to savages, so I think we should allow them to decide what they need. The savage like ones, I think we should train them, at least give them some bearing. Also, with Earth right there we can hopefully get some more shrinks to make sure they’re okay. Our ones are overtaxed with just us.”
“See it's done. How are the Commandos?”
“They’re tired and strung out. I’ve got my people down to the lowest levels of readiness that I can with a good mind, Have to order those not on duty to rest; they keep on helping in the med bay or to fix their ships and the station up. We’re so used to having to be always ready and most of them are cross trained on something, so they’re falling back on their secondary skills and helping out. It’s tripled our workforce with the new droids that we’ve found, plus, the crews of the factory ships and of the station and Syndicate ships are helping out if possible on non-critical systems.”
“So the question is, to let them continue to keep working and burn out afterwards, or to make them rest for now.”
“Yes, with them we can get most of the ships at minimal standards in two days, without it’ll be closer to a week.”
“Force half of them to sleep; they need it. Get them to make sure that their barracks are good and secured then have them get at least six hours of sleep and an hour of maintenance. Then place as many as we need on security and have the rest cycle through that as you make the second group sleep.”
“I’ll see to it,” he said, about to leave.
“What about the assault force from Earth?” he asked.

I sighed. “They’re secured in a broken shuttle on the Resilient.”
“I’ll go and have a look at them after this. You need some sleep, Commander,” he said as he made his way out.

“You do too, Commander!” I heard a snort as he walked away. Krom and Janice glided into the room and took up position behind the pickup that the intelligence group had set up. I looked at my hand covered in blood. I wondered how I looked as I put my gauntlets and helmet on the table which I’d secured for myself at sometime. They too where encrusted in blood. I sighed as I sat back in my chair which squeaked with my weight but helped as I began thinking about what had to be done now. It seemed everywhere I went and whatever I did, I always had more to do. I swept back my hair and tied it in place, trying to look a bit more presentable.
The intelligence officer returned with a Wake Up clear liquid ampule which I put in my suits receptacle. It used the auto injector to deliver it into my entire system and my fatigue was washed away within seconds. I shook myself, waking up as the other members of the intelligence group filed into the room and sat behind terminals.
“We’ve been able to contact the nations and they’ve agreed to the meeting, though we didn’t tell them that they would be part of a conference. We thought that if they knew then they wouldn’t have all agreed to it…”
“Good work.”
Hologram projectors shimmered as an alien symbol appeared. Then as one the holograms showed the leaders of every nation in the world. It was strange, I had seen these people on television less than two years ago, and now I was addressing them as the most powerful person in the solar system with a fleet of ships.
“Hello, representatives of Earth.” I could see the president of the United States look at me darkly as well as a few other leaders as their screens showed the other leaders of the worlds nations. Their political training caused them to recover quickly and keep their composure, but I’d learnt to tell what people where thinking even as they had a mask. Those that weren’t angry were confused and surprised by my looks. I would be to if I was looking at a six foot human in a Mecha covered in blood, and the signs of battle with one red eye hidden by hair, while the other looked out at the video pickup.
“My name is Commander Salchar. Though I am registered as James Cook in the United states and Choi Joo Mi in Korea.” The Korean president was the only one that hadn’t been shocked. I’d met him on multiple occasions and his grandchildren where avid Mecha Assault fans. He smiled knowingly as I half bowed to him with him returning the gesture for measure.
“As of today, if you accept the terms of the Free Fleet we will protect the Sol System and help Earth and her population get into space.”
“Wait, you want us to agree to be slaves again. I do not think so,” The Russian president said, everyone around the table agreeing with him.
“Not slaves, plus, do you think my fleet—made up with a large amount of humans— would accept that? Definitely not. The terms are simple: allow people to join the Free Fleet as they desire and provide us with support so that we can keep the fleet working. Basically, instead of each having a huge military you can cut back to, say, twenty percent then give us a tithe of what you were giving your armed forces and use the rest to get into space.”
“We will have to look at these terms before we agree to them,” someone said, my tired brain not registering who.
“Of course, the rates of what you will have to support, in resources and monetarily, will be waived for the immediate future. Earth needs to rebuild and we’ve got four factory ships to do just that. Plus a station that we can turn into living quarters for close to a million people. Also, the moon and the asteroid belt just got closer.” I could see their imaginations working as they thought of the opportunities in the future.

Some optimistic, others looking hungry. I made a mental note to have my intelligence department see which nations would be interested in what.
“I am transmitting the terms to you which I hope we can discuss in person at the meeting in Canada our aides have set up.”
They nodded around the room, obviously used to group conferences and how out of order they became when people yelled their agreement to a simple question.
“I believe that time is of the essence getting this ironed out. So shall we agree to a meeting in three days time?”
“We would like to make four stipulations.” I nodded to the president as he talked.
“Could you begin returning personnel from the station and the Marines we sent up as well as their assault craft? We wish to extract data from their computers and have a line of defense for Earth other than your people and your word,” he said in a way that made it clear that he felt my word was as worthless to him than gum on the bottom of his shoe.
“I will return your personnel and, for the recruits, we wish to have volunteer shrinks talk to them before we allow them back to Earth. We don’t need to release people that will feel they have to kill for their next meal let out into the world en masse.”
The leaders of the world looked at me with shock as I sat back. While training was something that had turned me into who I was, these people didn't know what training meant for the men and women that had been taken.
“The way of training that the Syndicate had was of pitting recruits against one another, first hand to hand and then Mecha to Mecha. If you lose, you don’t eat. If you don’t fight, you don’t eat, and you get pain treatment. With the first recruits we made rules so that people wouldn’t lose their humanity to the fights. The ones that came after us would as quickly kill a human as they would an enemy. To them, to kill is to survive and eat. The third generation recruits attacked my Commandos as much as they attacked the Syndicate forces.”
“By Syndicate forces do you mean the Planetary Defense Force?” the prime minister of Australia asked. I was quickly thinking of all the things the leaders of the world would need to know in order to be prepared for our meeting, another thing to get the intelligence department to worry about.
“Yes, the Planetary Defense Force was created by a union of races to protect themselves. They grew weak as criminals grew stronger. The criminals banded together after the war ended and destroyed the PDF; this organization is called the Syndicate. Taking over their ships and using the PDF's history as a story and a reason for taking over planets in faraway sectors, the Syndicate has enslaved three systems and their people to do work on their ships and to mine their own planets for their resources, including Sol.

“Though they have many other systems under their thumb that they use for many different reasons.  I will have an information packet given to you all.” That seemed to solve many issues as there was a lull in talking.
“I think we’ll be able to find a few psychiatrists for people to talk to, to expedite people’s recovery.” The prime minister of Korea said, everyone nodding again.
“Please communicate when and where they will require pick up and I’ll have shuttles collect them. Also, we were wondering if my people would be allowed to visit their families? If you have any rules and such on such matters, please email the address that will be provided shortly.” Another thing to do, I thought as I got my head back to how I'd gotten here and I felt I'd missed something.

“What where your other two stipulations, Mr. President?” I said, looking at the president of the United States. He was a large man, bordering on fat, but his face was angular and hawkish. To most he would of looked handsome, to me I could see the anger and loathing behind his eyes. He looked more like a vulture.
“Yes, I will agree to this meeting if you are out of armor and have a security detail of no more than four.”
“Agreed.” I looked away from him, looking at all of the representatives. “Now, I believe I’ve taken up enough of your time. I look forward to seeing you all in three days.” They again nodded and murmured agreement as I cut the channel to all of them.
I stood, stretching.

“Alright, see what they do through their channels. I’m going to check on the station and the ships. Also, get that packet, email, and all that sorted, please.”

“Of course, Commander,” the department head said. Krom and Janice went in front of me as I walked out and into the control center. In the time I’d been talking it was already looking better. Droids were putting things back together and there were crew, mostly AMC still wearing their Mechas, sitting at stations.
Damn, I have good people, I thought as they worked tirelessly. Complaints could be heard and annoyed voices, but that was natural in any military group. There was a saying that I’d heard—I can’t remember the author—but they said that the role of a soldier is to bitch, the second they aren’t bitching then you better run for cover or stop, because you’ve got a problem on your hands.
It seemed that the factory ships had brought with them not only the sections of the station but hundreds of thousands of droids which where now crawling over our ships, putting them back together. I wandered the new station quickly, going past the med bay again and back to the Resilient. I first went to the mess, grabbing a box of energy bars. My protection detail closed in on me as I walked to the shuttle which held the Marines that had assaulted my ship. I walked through the airlock as the commander came to attention. I snapped off a salute in return.
“At ease, Commandos, protection detail two, front and back.” Krom and Calerd took the front as Dave and Janice took the back.
I tossed the commandos energy bars.
“Have a seat and get some food in you,” I said as I gave the box to the commander.
“Get them as fed as possible.” I nodded to the Marines and their pilots.
“Yes, sir.”

I nodded to him before turning back to our guests. I scanned them, using my connection with the American military database to find one Captain Connolly, leader of this little expedition. I slumped into a seat opposite him between two Marines without a care as I sat back and rested my head on a gauntleted hand.
“Can I help you?” the Captain asked as he looked at me, not caring about the blood, scars, or my eyes. Well, he was looking at me in the eyes so he might be thinking about them.
“Maybe, Captain Connolly, maybe.” The two Marines on either side of me tensed.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” I said to the Marines on either side of me with my voice raised high enough that all of the Marines and pilots could hear me, without looking away from Connolly or moving.
“If anything happens to me or my people, I’ll let Krom have some fun. Krom, introduce yourself.” Krom growled, his voice guttural and terrifying, having the same effect that meeting a bear in a forest might have on the American forces personnel.
The Marines on either side of me moved as far away from me as their chairs would allow as I continued looking at Captain Connolly.
“You have a question? The eyes?”
“Yes.”
“Well, in a battle where I was fighting Krom without a helmet, the bastard wanted me to have the same amount of brain cells as him, so he hit me in the head. By the way, he hits like a powered sledgehammer. So, feeling bad, he and his people fixed me up, with that came some extras. Tada. Cool looking, isn’t it,” I said.
“Scares the shit out of me if I’m honest.”
“It would me too if I was in your shoes, but I’ve seen much scarier things since I left Earth, like a Sarenmenti eating, that for the front row will make them a little more queasy about having a power bar.” My Commandos laughed as the  Sarenmenti’s among them shredded their power bars with so much gusto so as to get it on their fellow Commandos, to their own laughs.
“Well, here’s the good news, you’re on the first shuttle back to Earth. Which is probably going to be this one as it’ll be too annoying to move you, so it might take a day.”
“I sense the bad news…”
“Well, you’re going back to Earth, which means debriefings, questioning, and all the fun that that comes with. Oh, pilots, we’re going to ask you to take those rockets you call assault shuttles back home.”
“Damned fine ships they are!” one of the pilots said.
“It was built on the design of strapping four ballistic missiles to a train car. I’ve seen the initial sketches,” I said, shaking my head. “I always wondered why NASA didn’t get out into the universe earlier. The biggest was money, the second was risk, and the third was how much damned safety they have. Did you actually read that seven thousand page basic guide to using the assault shuttle?” I looked around the room.
“Thought so, the Free Fleet’s done more space work that NASA has in all it’s years, and common sense, safety lines, and a non-com yelling down the necks of troops has done alright by us. Sorry, just annoyed it took aliens screwing with us for us to meet the rest of the universe.” I looked at a space far away, shaking my head as I came back to reality.
“So, I have a question for you Marines and pilots. You don’t have to answer if you can’t or don’t want to; I just want to know like a man walking on the street.” All of their attention was rooted on me.
“What’s going on with the United States and this stupid damned Space Assault Force?”
“Bunch of canon fodder,” one of the Marines muttered as the rest’s faces showed anger and disgust.
“I’m sorry, Commander, but we can’t answer you,” Captain Connolly said loud enough that everyone heard.
“Okay, I respect that.” I nodded, rising from my seat.
“Well, if I don’t see you before you leave, it’s been nice meeting you and I wish you good fortune.” I gave a slight nod.
“Commander, they’re all yours.” I said to the guards commander who’s men were already taking my protection details positions, who where drifting back to me as I waited for them.
Leaving the shuttle and ship, I went to the command center of the station to rein in control of my new responsibilities and attempt to keep everything going with the ghosts of the latest battle waiting for when I went to sleep.
***
Captain Connolly and all of his Marines that had assaulted Resilient and Hachiro had been put on a different mission as soon as they were back on the ground.

One that nearly every single one of them hated. They were to be trainees for the Free Fleet, to gain positions of power in order to turn the Free Fleet over to the United States and the people that actually knew what they were doing, not Salchar, a gaming kid that was playing soldier.

That was how the woman at their briefing had said it.

As such, the Marines were officially released and all signed up to become, largely, Commandos. Connolly wouldn't doubt if there were other people that were being sent to infiltrate the Free Fleet.

Chapter Big Day

“Hey Doc, I'm here for Yasu,” I said as the doctor held up a scanner for me. I put my hand in it and it beeped.

“Follow me,” he said, his voice as tired as he looked.

Yasu was on a makeshift bed, which was a gravity cart and a pillow, her battle suit kept her warm.

“She'll be out for another couple of hours. Best to put her somewhere she'll recognize.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I said as they half waved acknowledgement before going to do something else.

I pushed Yasu out of the med bay and to my captain's quarters.
“For someone so deadly, you're pretty light,” I said quietly as I gently placed her in bed. I pulled the sheets up on her as I sat at the edge of the bed. I just sat there watching her, smiling. Thank you, I thought as I stood pushing the cart ahead of me.

“You two, make sure you're there when she wakes up,” I said to the Sato sisters who were lurking down the corridor. They looked to one another, a possible look of—shock? No it couldn't be, I thought as I walked the cart back to med bay. Dave, Janice, Krom, and Shreesht followed me as I dropped off the cart and boarded a shuttle bound for Earth.
Five shuttles had already dropped people off on Earth all across the globe who had been cleared by the army of shrinks aboard the station which had been up in more flights than I cared to remember. The fleet was fixing itself and it would take time. Eddie had nearly lost it when we got the generators, but I ordered him to put them into storage as we didn’t have the people or supplies to fix the Resilient and get the other ships in fighting condition. Instead, he took to putting in new weapon systems and hull sections on those which had been lost with the minimal crew required as the rest of his engineers worked to bring the smaller ships online. I had ordered tons of small power plants which where being integrated as secondary power sources on many ships, including the Resilient. It abated some of Eddie’s complaints but not many.
Shrift as well had complained as I took most of his workers from the armory to help build the ships up to full strength and supplemented them with Commandos. I hadn’t seen the Kuruvian in a while, and I missed him badly, but duty called.  Henry, Santos, and Bok Soo had got all of the Commandos in action. Now I was dealing with the largest problem of all though. My human personnel wanted to go back to Earth. I couldn’t blame them either, it was their home and while they’d been away terrible things had happened and Earth badly needed their skills. I didn't know how many would stay or go, though I had made it clear that they were free to do as they desired.

At the same time I had no one to replace them, and if I could they would need to be trained, and they wouldn’t be the veterans I’d had from before. With all of this going on, I sighed, feeling uncomfortable in my upgraded battle suit. All of my protection detail had there's, but I was still painfully aware of how little protection I was afforded with the battle suit, thinking of how I had to deal with this agreement with Earth first before I was able to even get my people on the planet to see their families.
On the first day, I had connected with Earth’s scattered internet and thrown down a few relay towers to boost it to cover the world, allowing my people to connect with their families. I hadn’t given out lists of who was dead or on other places of deployment. I’d do that after the conference, I thought, let people celebrate the hopeful union with the Free Fleet and then add in the good or bad news of their loved ones fates.

Rick was going through compiling the list as fleet personnel wrote letters to the families of the lost. I know it was hell for the people that didn't know, but I wanted to give them something instead of just the horrible news.

First Japan and then every country had granted my plea for allowing my people to see their families, but only a few people had done so. I was hoping after the conference that more went down to meet their families. Though It was hard to gauge how people would react to having their kids return as adult looking soldiers with the skills to kill and survive in space.

I let that settle to the back of my mind as I focused on the coming conference.
The conference was being held in what had been a community center of a minor town, but the floods which had made the rivers of what was termed as the ‘Golden Horseshoe’ where Canada and America met on the Eastern seaboard, running from Nova Scotia to three quarters through Ontario. Now it stretched into Manitoba with the higher water levels and the population centers which had been there had been abandoned and people forced to move north for stable, dry ground. The prairies were enduring the worst storms in history, creating a food shortage, and British Columbia as well as the western shores of the United States had severe flooding and, again, severe storms.
The representatives from all of the nations were staying in the single Holiday Inn located in the town. Reporters braved the terrible conditions as well, mostly staying in trailers and their vans. The rest of the city had the common sense to stay inside as storms constantly passed overhead. They watched the events on the internet as they were unable to get into the meeting hall; it was blocked by military forces.
My shuttle touched down in a parking lot of a small shopping center. As me and my protection detail walked out, the press were racing over.
“I never missed this part,” I muttered as my Commander Salchar mask fell into place. It was beginning to feel natural as the first reporters rushed into my protection detail, hammering us all with questions and getting shots of Shreesht and Krom, who easily picked up reporters and moved them out of the way, with protests and squeaking from the lifted.
“Commander Salchar, what are your aims for this conference?”
“Do you wish to rule Earth?”
“Are you Salchar, the leader of Mecha Tail?”
“What have you been doing for the last year and a half?”
“Why didn’t you come sooner?”

I waved my hands as I kept moving, not liking where the questioning was going.
“Yes, I am Salchar from Mecha Tail, and I hope with this conference that Earth and the Free Fleet can come to an agreement about defense. As keeping a fleet of warships in space isn’t cheap,” I said with a winning smile as a few reporters laughed.
“I will be able to answer more questions later. If you please submit them to  Free Fleet information website we will be happy to answer any and all questions. There is also a FAQ page and information packets on what the Free Fleet and the nations of Earth will be working towards. Thank you for your time.” I smiled again as I walked past the armed guards and into the building that was to host our talks.
The leaders where waiting in the main lobby as I entered, each studying me closely. Apparently, not all of them had seen my eyes properly. They were drawn to them, staring at me and my Avar protectors, who scanned the room like the predators that they weere, making more than one guard uneasy as their hands rested a lot closer to what had to be hidden firearms. Interesting that they got firearms while I didn’t, plus Kevlar vests by the way the politicians moved. They shook my hand and we traded pleasantries before we entered the conference room. There weere cameras and reporters setup in half of the room with all the nations of the world sitting in an auditorium looking meeting place. I was guided to a seat by an aide, my protection detail checking everything they could through their implants before I was even allowed to sit and wait as politicians began their long winded speeches about being able to move on into the bright future and have a foothold in the universe.
Finally, it was my time to talk as I walked up to the podium.
“Hello, as you all know, I am Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet. Today I wish to begin talks of the co-operation between Earth and the Free Fleet. With my first point being to allow those that serve on the Free Fleet to visit their friends and families for the first time in a year and a half and talk to the friends and families of those that didn’t return so they can get some closure. Thank you.” I turned, walking back to my seat as everyone in the room was staring at me, it had the same affect as water hitting a Mecha; it just slid off. After facing down fleets, taking now two stations and planets, it would take a hell of a lot more to phase me.
Then we went for a break and I knew I was going to hate this conference. I stayed in my seat, my protection detail resting around me but always alert as they watched out. I tried to keep up with the seemingly unending paperwork that went with running a fleet. Well, as it was all on my data pad and on the servers that were aboard the ships, it was technically electronic work, but it was as tedious and annoying as paperwork, and I didn’t care for it much, but I had to do it to keep the fleet running.
Dave cleared his throat as all of the nations leaders filed back in. All of them giving me odd looks, except the Korean prime minister who, if I wasn’t mistaken, had a grin on his face as he sat down, pulling out a small mobile device.

“Again, I thank you. Now, I believe we should get to the heart of the matter and the negotiation. I believe you have all read over the information packet I sent to each of you. It contains the Free Fleet Code of Conduct and what the Free Fleet will do with the support of Earth. Also, it highlights the support we will be willing to provide. I can already see that a few of you have issues with the information packet, so please, lets talk about it,” I said as they listed issues they had almost immediately.
“When will we begin paying you these items listed here?”

“Thinking within a month,” I said as voices rose in complaint. I pointed to someone else asking a question.

They barked down the others. Not many people messed with the president of Russia.

“How about with our agreeing to your space development plan?”
“It will depend on how much time the nation will need to get fixed up to support themselves, which we will assist. Saying that, there will be a tentative schedule. If people feel like they don’t want to haul their weight, we will dedicate our protection grid to those nations that are willing to support the Free Fleet and are trying to advance themselves. The universe is not kind to slackers, and will kill them. Frankly, they’re a liability; and a trait I do not wish to carry into space.”
“It sounds like you will have all of the power,” The president of the U.S. said.
“No, we will be bound to you. People from Earth already populate our ranks and, hopefully, more will in the future. With AIH, another planet under the protection of the Free Fleet, they have signed the agreement, and they will always have a place at the talks. Each planet gets a seat at the talks, deciding how the Free Fleet is deployed and used. That is, unless it goes against the Free Fleet Code.”
“So you will be under our control?”
“Yes, to a certain degree. We will be a force to keep the planets clear of the Syndicate and any other enemy forces that pray on those weaker than themselves. We will not be a tool used for war between people signed under our agreement. If there is a planetary war we will do all we can to end the conflict up to landing our own forces on a planet. The same goes for if there is a interplanetary war. We are fine with people defending themselves and having their own warships, but not when they use them to attack another group without due reason.”
They digested this as the representative from the United Arab Emirates spoke.
“We cannot provide these materials you ask for in these quantities for an extended period of time…” And so I spent the rest of the day with people saying that they couldn’t support what I was asking, which was looking eight months in the future and was a tithe of what they’d be producing. Hell, I’d based it off of their own predictions I’d pulled from their computers. Everyone wanted to have a bigger slice of the pie.
As the day ended, I received messages on my personal email account limited few knew about, the first few messages where from Monk’s family, the others from Cheerleaders, then a message from Bok Soo’s mother telling me to force him to come with his wife for dinner and that as his brother I was supposed to make him. The last was from the prime minister of Korea.
Breaks are where the most politicking goes on. The barters and deals for power happen behind closed doors, not in front of cameras, that’s for looks. Behind the doors are for our people and where we can get to business. My grandchildren have been bugging me to allow them to come to Canada. I hope you will visit soon as a friend and not as the fine officer you’ve become.
I felt a wave of emotion. The prime minister was one of the few people I wished to emulate. He was calm and controlled whereas others seemed wild and uncontrollable. He thought through his actions before carrying them out. Getting a compliment from him of that magnitude was humbling and scary. How had I become an officer? The last time I’d seen him, I’d been a gamer.
Again, I went through the straggle of reporters and to the shuttle.
“Commander, the reporters are too close to the shuttle,” the pilot of the shuttle said after a few seconds.
“Use the external speakers.”

I heard them booming warnings as reporters backed up a bit as if the shuttle was a car.
“Commander?”
“I see, take us out slow. They won’t come this close to a shuttle again.”
“Understood, sir.” He powered up the engines fully, creating an audible whine as the reporters moved away more than before, and he exerted minimal thrust. Now you see, minimal thrust sounds small, but this was a shuttle that designed to get from a warship to the surface of a planet and then back up in breakneck speed and weighs close to a thousand tons by itself, two thousand with loaded Commandos. So the reporters where treated to what was like the back blast of a small jet plane as we picked up fifty meters and then darted out and up into space and the station.
“We’re really going to need to name it,” I said as we came around the station. I had the pilot take the long route. I wanted to see it up close from the outside instead of the inside, which I mostly spent in the command center or running around trying to put out fires, some literal. I had tried to get my people to rest, but most of them had turned and pointed out that I’d had even less rest than they’d had.
“What are you thinking, sir?”
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me James, Janice?”
“More, I guess, I can’t quite hear you,” she said, mimicking clearing out her ears as the rest of my protection detail grinned and I looked at the view screen showing the station in front of me, trying to hide my own grin.

“Hachiro Station.”

“The game developer that had a hidden Mecha army?”

“The one and only, the one man that took his hobby and turned it against those that tried to take our people and didn’t give up until they brought half of Japan down on top of him.”

There was no hiding the bitterness but respect in my voice. “The Mechas he had in his compound where nothing but toys, imitations of fighter builds he made. They gave enhanced strength but nothing much more. there was no armor and their charge only lasted a few hours before the power source had to be changed out. Yet he, his workers, family, and friends took his machines and fought back against an invader, against impossible odds and took down three collector ships. I don’t think I could have taken down one with twice his people back then.”

They didn’t say anything as we looked at the station and the ships docked around it.

“Alright pilot take, us in. No sense in prolonging our inevitable fate.”

“Yes, commander.”

***

Yasu woke up suddenly in a familiar bed. The lights were off and she couldn’t see anything. She reached for her pistol, but it wasn’t there. She wasn’t in her suit anymore.

“You’re safe,” a calm voice said from above her and to her right.

“Shoot, sorry, uhh.” The lights got brighter as she looked at James in a battle suit, sitting on a chair not two feet away. She recoiled in the sheets out of surprise. James’ eyes showed sorrow as he looked at the wall, a trait he’d picked up since his eyes had turned red.

“I’m sorry for startling you. You where wounded two days ago, and after the treatment you were sedated and put in here. The command quarters of the Hachiro Station.” Yasu looked at him with even more shock and sadness, but her mouth wouldn’t work it was so dry.

“I was just checking on you. I’ll see you later,” he said quickly, leaving the room. She wanted to tell him to stop but her mouth was so dry as she tried to get from bed, a wave of fatigue flowed over her as the wounds which had just recently healed began aching and registering.

In pain, Yasu laid back down. What had he misunderstood now? Why had he called the station after her father?” Tears came to her eyes as she remembered how Japan had been hit with a KEW and how she’d found his name in a quick search of the internet when she’d been in the shuttle, only to find out he was dead. He’d fought the Syndicate with everyone she’d known and took them out with him. The only people she knew from her family compound weere the Sato sisters and Takahashi now.

James opened the door.

“I forgot some..”

“Come here, now,” Yasu rasped and he came over, shock and softness in his features as she dragged him onto the bed, hid her head in his chest and cried.

For those lost, for those that will not find home, I hope I lead a life you'd be proud of. Thank you for fulfilling your duties. Rest now, she thought sadly as she cried for them, her brothers and sisters.

Chapter Reunions

I hadn't seen George Everez or Marco Pablo in months, but still they had asked for me to come with them as they went to see their parents.

I could refuse them but, after the stories he'd shared with me and the squad, I felt as if I knew them partially. Marco had joined us, as his parents lived near George's. I think both of them wanted my support. While they were still under than ten years of age, both of them they had bigger bodies than most twenty five year olds, and had seen more than most people had.

We went to George's first. People hid in their houses as they shuttle settled on the suburban street. A Mexican man and black woman waited outside of their door nervously. George ran to them.

“Mom, Dad!” he said as the man and woman looked at him with tears in their eyes and they embraced their son. After a few minutes of hugging and talking, George waved to me and Marco.

“Come on, guys, my mom has some food and drinks,” Hh said. I nudged Marco.

“Shall we?”

He grinned. “I won't be one to deny real food and drink,” he said as he walked down, me following while Jane and Dave followed in their Mechas, moving to the houses front and rear respectively as I followed Marco.

Inside the house was comfortable and George's mom and Dad were pining over him.

“Well, look who’s a big boy now.”

“Stop that, Dad,” George said, embarrassed, but also with some iron in his voice. George clearly wasn't a child anymore, and it was going to take everyone a little getting used to I could tell.

“I guess you've grown up fast, huh?” George's dad said as tears came to his eyes.

“But I'm here now, Dad,” George said. His Mom hugged his dad before turning to George.

“Yes you are, baby, just a bit bigger,” she said with a sad smile as she kissed George's head.

“Please take a seat. What are your names?”

“This is Marco and Salchar.” Both of their heads turned to me as I smiled and nodded, taking a seat.

“And they are...?” George clearly didn't understand what she was asking. In the Commandos there was no beating around the bush.

“We're his squad mates,” I answered as I accepted a drink from Mrs. Everez. Both her and her husband eyed me suspiciously.

“He's the reason we're alive,” Marco said, a faint grin on his face as he pushed me by my shoulder. The losses were too recent to not think on who hadn't made it. Abella had died on the Syndicate ships, and my squad mates continued to dwindle.

“So, where's the car?” George said and his dad grinned, taking him into the garage. They went to work there and Marco and I munched on the treats Mrs. Everez gave us before sitting down.

“So, what was it like?” she asked. Marco leaned forward and I leaned back, both of us in our memories.

“Bad,” I said into the ceiling as I remembered the pain implants, beating, and constant physical training which had been as much torture on my mind as it was body. Not for the first time, I wondered how the humans had learned to look past that and see the Sarenmenti were just like them.

“Thank you for looking after him.”

“He can do that all on his own now,” Marco said.

She hesitated before asking her next question.

“Are you going to take him away from us again?” Her eyes were like lasers as she watched my every move.

“That will be up to him.” I shrugged. “Every person under my command gets to make a choice when we liberate their home world. George is going to have to make his own decision,” I said. She kept studying me as if to glean another piece of information before nodding and looking away.

“Is there any of my boy in there still?” she asked the wall.

“He still is your boy; he's just gone through things you couldn't imagine,” I said gently as she turned to me with tears in her eyes.

“It feels like his childhood’s been stolen, as if he's gone from a kid to an adult much too soon.”

“We all had to,” I said, pointing to Marco. “Marco's only a year older than him.”

Marco nodded. “We just learned to grow up faster. Thankfully, the older kids helped us out and, we survived and kicked some ass in the process,” he said with a small fleeting smile which I returned.

George finished up with his dad quickly and excused us all as he made them understand that we were going to see Marco's parents. He hugged and kissed his parents more times than I could count before he jogged onto the shuttle with Janice and Dave getting on as it picked up and headed to Marco's parents.

We came down in the middle of a spread out, rich community where Lamborghinis and the newest Audi's were out for show.

No one came out as Marco dropped off the shuttles ramp and we followed as he walked to a grey house. He knocked on the door. Getting nothing after a few minutes he shrugged, input a code, and walked in.

“We don't want anything to do with your invasion,” a man said from upstairs as Marco spread his hands.

“Dad, it’s me, Marco,” he said as a head appeared from a room before darting back.

“My son is nine years old, not a fully grown man!” His tone was rising in anger.

“Dad, it's me. Otherwise, how would I know the combination for the door.”

“With the crazy stuff you guys have, you could've broken in!”

“Are Mom, Isabelle, and John up there too?”

“Just because you know my family’s names you think you're my son? Get out of my house!”

“Yeah, just get, you space fuck!” A teenage boy could be heard adding to his fathers tirade.

Marco let his arms fall as he raised his face in an attempt to stop the tears falling. He turned to me and George with tears in my eyes.

“They weren't much of a family anyway. Mom was always working from home, which meant going to the spa and talking to her friends with her phone plugged into her ear. My dad only showed up when he needed clothes or maybe to sleep. My siblings and I were decorations.” He shrugged. I walked over, hugging him as George followed a second later.

We broke apart and I smiled sadly. “What about that comic book collection you had? Don't you want that?”

Marco grinned as he waved to us. “Come on,” he said and we followed him up the stairs as the rest of his family moved to another room further in the house.

“Get out! I'm calling the military,” Marco's dad said. Marco hunched his shoulders but kept going. He opened a door with signs all over it. Inside was filled with toys and a wall of comic books. The room didn't look like it had been touched since we'd left Earth.

Marco went about, speaking of the various magazines he'd talked of with the squad as we had our daily memory chat. George and I grinned and listened all the same.

I don't know how much later it was when a large teenage boy with most of the same features of Marco leaned against the doorframe.

“So, what are you guys? A bunch of comic book nerds?” he snorted.

“If you're trying to imitate my useless brother why don't you take the things? It's not like he's coming back anyway.” The boy, who I surmised was John, looked directly at Marco. A smirk crossed his face.

“I always knew he was a waste, and finally Mom and Dad agreed.” George and I stood and stared at this boy as his surety disappeared. Anger for my friend, no, my brother being bullied so blatantly made my muscles bunch as I resisted the urge to put him through the wall.

Marco didn't have any of that resistance. He walked to John, picked him up, and punched him viciously in the gut before tossing him onto the landing.

“That's what you left us with, Mom and Dad. If you want somewhere to go, come with me, Isabelle. Come meet my real family,” Marco said as he turned back into the room, his anger dissipating. I'd known about Isabelle from Marco's stories. She was his older sister with the same dirty blonde hair as his. She'd been taller than him when he'd left, but she'd taken him to the comic book store after his chess club and her engineering club. She was pretty, with green eyes and a smile Marco said could light up a room. Marco looked a little downtrodden as no one came out. She must've been hiding with the rest of the family or wasn't in.

“Well, he was right about one thing. These are my comic books and I want them.” He grinned, a look of peace crossing his face as we looked at him in askance, our eyes moving to his brother.

“He was a bully more than a brother. He deserved it. Felt good to get some of my own back.” He shrugged as we smiled.

“True that,” George said. He grabbed a bed sheet and we began carefully packaging up the comic books as Marco continued his talk on all things comic related, me and George interjecting as he talked about something we knew something about.

We walked downstairs, John must've been dragged away by someone, or crawled himself as we made our way to the shuttle. Halfway there a girl emerged from the house and ran for the shuttle. Marcos' face broke into a smile as he dropped his comic books and ran to her.

Her look of shock turned into glee as her little brother picked her up and swung her around.

“I... I thought you...” She trailed off, hugging him as tears streamed down her face.

“I'm back now,” he said, his own eyes wet.

“I missed you,” she said into his shoulder.

“I know.” Marco's voice was as quiet as his sisters.

“Are you coming home?” she said, pushing away.

“We both know that this wasn't my home,” Marco said, pain in his voice.

“So where are we going?” she asked.

“Wah… Isabelle, I'm going back into space, to start a mining company. It's no place for you.”

“If my lil' bro can do it, I can too,” she said, getting on her tip toes to ruffle her 'little' brother's hair.

“What about Mom, Dad, and John?” Marco asked.

“Mom and Dad care about image still, they think that nothing has changed. John, he's a bully.” Isabelle looked away, cradling her arm.

“What happened?” Marco asked, his voice thunderous.

“Nothing,” she said, looking at him. “He beat me up, what do I care about someone that beats up his own sister?” Her voice filled with contempt.

“So, when you say you're going to space, I'm telling you, you're taking me.”

“Commander?” he asked, looking to me, looking lost.

“You'll need to train if you want to be a part of the Free Fleet, or talk to Chaleel, or apply to one of the civvy jobs we have.” I shrugged as Marco released her and her smile only seemed to widen.

“I'm in! As long as I get out of here as soon as possible,” she said. Marco smiled with his sister.

“How old are you?” I asked, not sure if I'd like the answer or not

“Sixteen.”

“Good! Just squeezing in,” I said, putting my fingers close together to emphasize by how much, grinning with Marco.

I hope more families can accept my people and their differences, I thought as we all got on the shuttle, leaving the super homes, dropping off George, and then heading back up to the Hachiro and the work which awaited us there.

****

It was the next day I dropped the bomb of who was confirmed as dead. I watched as flowers were placed at the newly forming spaceports across the world. I gritted my teeth as I watched. Families who had lost their children, brothers, and sisters had been given hope as we returned, that hope had turned to ash in their mouths. At least they'll get the letters from their comrades, I thought sadly. It was so insignificant compared to the lives of so many.

I returned for the second day of talks. The world was a mixture of happiness and sadness as people learnt what had happened to their loved ones and friends and family which had been taken from them.

I walked into the talks building, going through the same throng of reporters and into the talks room. The topic of the day was, again, nations trying to give the Free Fleet less. Then the president of the United States took the stand.

“Hello fellow nation leaders, today I would like to talk to you about an issue I believe we haven’t fully looked into.”

Everyone perked up at this, looking intently at the president. He took a few moments to make sure he had everyone's attention then he continued.

“The issue being that James Cook is in fact not a military officer. He has never served with any military or had formal training of any kind, and yet he commands the most powerful war machine in the history of Earth. In fact, before the events that led to his capture and those of his fleet, he was a gamer. A person that commits violent acts for fame, money, and fun. How are we to trust this man over a man that has dedicated his life to the military, to serving the people of Earth?” He looked over the assembled nations which where now talking to their aides.

“That is all,” he said as the speaker told us that the talks would have a recess till after lunch. I rolled over what the president had said in my mind. I too went on break with the rest of the assembly as the prime minister of Korea had suggested.

I was getting some food, there was some real stuff on Hachiro, but it was still rations unless you paid some credits, when the prime minister of Spain decided to get some fruit.

“So, Mr. Cook, how would you feel about taking a vacation. You have provided a wonderful service to the galaxy and Earth. We would like you to have a talk with Admiral Vasquez, an officer of impeccable record. We would also like to offer you a considerable retirement fund for you and your wife to live comfortably in Spain,” The prime minister of Spain said.

“I will think about it.” I said graciously as I googled the man on my implants, using the intelligence groups information as well.

Before I could read it, other leaders descended on me, each offering one or two of their head military officers to take my position.

Some leaders took me into private areas and we had a talk with their officers via webcam. Even the most upstanding officer I could see was nothing but a pawn. Their country would control them no matter what. No one was looking past getting power for themselves. They still thought in terms of countries, not as a race.

I kept up the pretense of looking for a replacement as I looked over the officers making an argument as to why I should remain in charge of the Free Fleet. The president of the United States even offered one of the joint chiefs to take my position. I could see right through it. The new chief was nothing but the president’s puppet and would do anything that the president said.

The break was extended three times until closing remarks, and I stood to speak.

“I thank all of you for your suggestions. Your military officers are of the highest caliber, and you are lucky to command such loyal and proud men.” I paused before continuing.

“That is the reason I cannot take them.” I rolled over the startled outbursts. My voice's subsonics causing them to be beaten into silence.
“The Free Fleet is a force that will defend planets, not countries. I cannot in good faith place one of your officers in command of the Free Fleet in fear that they will use that power to help their old countries. It is not their fault they have been trained amazingly to defend their country, not to defend the human race.”

“Again, we ask how you think you’re better suited for this job,” someone said.

“I have no affiliations with one government or another and I have done nothing but fight alongside people from other countries and aliens from different planets for a year and a half. As to me being violent, yes, I damned well am. I would be dead and my fleet destroyed if I wasn’t violent and ready to use force to destroy the enemy before they destroyed me.

“Do not kid yourselves, the universe is a terrible place. It is not for the weak of heart. I am also, through my gaming experience, better placed tactically and strategically to command the Free Fleet. I am able to work ground fights and space fights at the same time. You have admirals and generals. in the Free Fleet there is me. Certainly, I have a chief of staff and the commander of the Armored Marine Commandos, commanders and personnel that are amazing, but I need to know everything that’s going on and use my forces accordingly.

“Your people have been trained to be soldiers or pilots or captains. My people have been trained to be in multiple positions. They need to be adaptable. The Free Fleet is no place for someone that wants to just be a grunt. They’ll be a Commando, an engineer, damage control, armorers, and any number of hundreds of jobs.

“I thank you for the offers, but I am unable to accept them at this time. If they are able to think of the good of humanity, then I will accept them into my ranks, though they will go through the same training as my grunts and have to prove themselves. In the Free Fleet, officers are awarded on merit.”

“Not trying to be offensive, but what is your merit?” the president of the U.S. said.

“If my people didn’t want me leading them, then I wouldn't be the commander of the Free Fleet.”  My protection detail moved uncomfortably around me.

“If you want your officers to give it a shot, they must be released from your military and they may apply to the Free Fleet. The conditions for application to the Free Fleet are on the information site.” I saw more than one leader flinch from my words as the speaker ended the day and after a few obligatory farewells I was finally leaving the talks building and heading through the throngs of reporters to my awaiting shuttle.

I have the feeling it won't be the last time my abilities are called into question, I thought as I remembered a time when I had not wanted to be responsible for anyone else than myself and Mecha Tail. The shuttle settled onto the ground, the ramp lowered and Yasu was waiting on the ramp.

“What are you doing here?” I muttered as everyone got on and the shuttle sealed.

“I think it’s about time you saw Korea. I know that Mecha Tail’s families want to see you,” she said as we picked up and weere already flying towards Korea. Thankfully, the reporters had learned from yesterday and were well back from the shuttle.

“Alright,” I said, knowing I’d lost. With a smile, she sat down beside me and we went to Korea. The shuttle parked on top of a multiplex parking lot nearby the apartment building Mecha Tail had called home. I walked to the building, my group garnering stares and pictures. I came out onto the floor where Mecha Tail had lived and breathed. I put in my code for the door which opened into a room of people training on simulators.

“Salchar!” I heard a cry from one of the promising newbies who had brought a Japanese sword for good luck, which I had attacked a grabbing arm with, getting half of it stuck in my shoulder. The room was a rush as people turned, realizing who I was and rushing over. My manager was among them. Family members, new members, and most of the newbies as well all gathered around me.

“Get back to training, people! This war isn’t going to win itself!” my manager yelled as he grabbed a new kid I didn’t even recognize.

“Get me eight Jjajang myun’s!” he said as he brought us into the kitchen, ordering us to sit as he went in the fridge, throwing energy shakes and bars at us. Without thinking, and from a lifetime of habit, I started eating them as fast as possible as if I was going to be playing another game at any minute. I was done before Janice was even trying her energy bar.

“They’re all good; eat them,” I said to my protection detail, who dutifully ate the food, at first hesitant and then rapidly. Ship food had gotten quite boring.

“Remind me to get a hold of the company that makes these bars. I think I have a proposition for them. It’s much better than the food I’ve had for the last year and a half.” My manager tsked as the new kid came in, carrying Jjajang myun. I couldn’t stop my eyes lighting up as he put it on the table. I grabbed chopsticks, not waiting for the others.

“You always knew my weaknesses,” I said, digging in, unable to see my managers face as I devoured the bowl of food.

“This tastes good,” Krom said as he similarly devoured a bowl. The manager gave me and the Avars two bowls apiece and the rest one. He was like a mind reader I’d swear.

“So, what has been going on with the rest of the Mecha Tail?” my manager asked as I finished off my second bowl, sitting back satisfied.

“I have Monk running a station which we’re using as our base. I sent Cheerleader off as a fleet commander to have a look around the area and to create alliances with more planets and make them aware of our existence. Bok Soo is in charge of a battalion of AMC. He loves being in the field too much, and there was no way any of them were going to take a desk job.”

“No, I suppose they wouldn’t,” he said with a knowing smile as he turned to Yasu.

“Though I didn’t think we would ever have the esteemed leader of the Samurai’s Revenge in this apartment! It is good to meet you, Yasu Masami Ono, or do you prefer Blade Mistress?”

“Yasu is fine,” Yasu said, a little color on her cheeks.

“Very well. So, I heard that you two are married,” he said, his voice light but his eyes serious.

“Yes, we’ve checked the records, we’re listed as married on Earth databases. It’s about as real as it can get,” I said Yasu, shooting me a cold glance as my manager smiled.

“Ah yes, and will you be remaining married? You two do make a lovely couple.” There was nothing but warmth in his voice.

“Uhh, well.”

“We’ll see what the future holds.” Yasu came to my rescue as I heard a knock at the door.

“Expecting guests?”

“Yes, I am,” He said with a smile

I heard “Joo Mi!” come from the hallway and a rush of feet. I rose from my chair, turning in shock to face the other members of Mecha Tail’s family members as they rushed to hug me in the enclosed space.

After a few minutes of heavy hugging, smiles, and greetings the women took Yasu and Janice, pushing the rest of us out of the kitchen and sending a few husbands to get ingredients as they set to making a feast. I talked to the fathers of the other members of Mecha Tail and the mothers listened in as they cooked. The whole place was quiet as even the gamers put down their gear and listened in as I talked about what we’d gone through.

As I finished, the meal was ready and we sat down in the main gaming room, the gamers being herded into seats by the women and told to eat to get bigger and stronger or there was no way they’d be able to join the Free Fleet. Yasu sat next to me, as the other couples did, and talked to the wives animatedly as I held my own conversations, eating my fill and talking well into the night.

The meal was cleared away and goodbyes said as the families loaded me and my protection detail up with food. They said goodbye to us as we ascended the shuttles ramp, which had gathered a crowd. They stepped back as we climbed into the sky and. for the first time in a long time. I smiled happily. Yasu took the food to our room as I took a few treats with me to the AMC quarters in Hachiro Station.

Bok Soo came to the door groggily.

“What is…” I put the kimchi in his mouth and he bit down on it and his eyes went wide.

“Amoni’s kimchi!”

“She sends her best, and I’m taking you down tomorrow morning before the talks with a shuttle dropping off the first Free Fleet visitors.” He started to make excuses around a mouth of Kimchi but I raised my hand. “Yes, James. Thank you, James. I will introduce my wife to her, James. Good night, James. Is what you where going to say? Right?”

“It is!” his wife said from inside the room and he shot her a dark look, turning back as I gave him an armful of foodstuffs.

“See you in the morning!” I said, turning and walking away.

“I guess you will,” Bok Soo said with a grin, turning back inside. I worked on the paperwork which was, as usual, piling up in the station commanders cabin. Rick had been doing brilliantly in my stead as I was at the negotiations. I’d asked for his recommendation for the station commander to take over as he worked with the people of the station more. The intelligence group was working through the information held in the Syndicate servers and had more than a bit of useful information, but there were limited few of them, and they were also picking up information from Earth to assist me in the talks, so information was limited. It was yet another area I had to work on expanding. The shrinks had helped put most of the recruits back on Earth. A few too far gone to return had been added to the ranks of the training Avar under the tutelage of the Sarenmenti special forces. It would allow them to learn how to use their anger, and after their training they would be able to quit. The Marines that had boarded the Resilient had disappeared off the grid as I had expected them too. I just hope they hadn’t seen too many of our secrets. The fleet was at seventy percent effective. Meaning they could fly and fire, but most of them needed quality time in a dock. The Resilient’s fusion power plants were sitting in her storage so the other ships could be put online again. Both me and Eddie wanted to get her back to Parnmal to effect the repairs, but Eddie and myself where painfully aware how defenseless she was, so we were going to try putting her plants in later when the crews had had some time to rest and we could dedicate more people to the project.

Before I knew it, Yasu was walking in the room with an unimpressed look.

“You stayed up all night again, didn’t you?”

“I guess I did,” I said as I slipped a capsule of Wake Up into my pocket. I had a feeling I’d need it.  She shook her head as I got up and walked to the shuttle that would drop off the visitors to Korea and then go to Canada.

Bok Soo was already aboard with his wife. I nodded to him. I took my own seat as the shuttle dropped down towards Earth. We made three stops in Korea before Bok Soo, who was getting dropped off in the same parking lot I’d dropped off the day before. The parents of Mecha Tail swarmed him and his wife, dragging them away and thanking me as I smiled, taking off again.

As we came closer to Japan, Yasu held my hand.

“I want to see it for myself,” she said, her face emotionless as her voice quivered.

“Are you sure?” I looked to her as she looked at the harness across from her.

“Yes.” Strength filled her voice.

“Pilot, could you put us down at the southern crater of Japan,” I said into my comms.

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes.” My tone solid.

“Be there in two minutes.”

We waited in silence as the shuttle touched down gently on the rim of the crater centered on what had been Yasu’s home. I led her out by the hand as she stepped to the edge of the crater. It had filled with water, stretching from one side of the island to the other. Yasu sunk to her knees and she touched the side of the crater. There was absolutely nothing for miles as it had all been ripped up by the after affects of the kinetic weapon.  She held up a handful of burnt dirt, letting it fall through her fingers as wind whipped it away from her. I saw her shoulders shudder.

“Protection detail, look out!” I said. They all turned to face outwards as I knelt beside her. She turned, burying her head in my chest as I held her.

“We’ll make them pay.”

All she did was nod as she brought herself under control. “You have a meeting to go to. Let me stay here. Pick me up afterwards.”

“I’ll leave you Shreesht.”

She pulled away slowly and gave me a smile. “Show them the military man you are,” she said, rising and walking away slowly. I watched her go as I walked back onto the shuttle. I wanted to stay with her but as much as I did, there were more important things to do, and she knew. I promised myself I would keep her safe in the future and by Hachiro’s bones I was going to kill them or punish all of the Syndicate accordingly.

With this new fire I sat down and readied myself for the talks.

“Shreesht, look over her, please.” He nodded, following her with his weapon ready as the shuttle took off.

Chapter Beers, Brides, and Politics

Henry stroked what was becoming a decent sized beard as the shuttle touched down on a secluded farm in Texas.

A man sat on his deck sipping a beer, seeming a bit annoyed with the dust up created by thrusters.  A woman could be seen in the kitchen, a smile on her face as she worked on something.

“Thanks for the ride,” Henry said as he jumped off the shuttle before it landed, craning against the dust up as he walked to the house, the shuttle adding thrust and setting off towards the East coast of the United States.

The man eyed Henry.

“Looks like you finally grew in that beard, huh?” e asked as he offered Henry a beer, who dropped his issued gear bag and sipped on the beer.

“Might be water, but it's a hell of a lot better than what I've been drinking.” Henry muttered as he recounted what the man had said and took a seat in the handmade lawn chairs. “Yeah, no regs against it in the Free Fleet. With a Mecha it covers everything, no gas masks anymore.”

“Henry!” The woman that had been in the kitchen came out and Henry rose with a smile as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Hey, Mom,” he said as he realized for the first time how much he'd grown since being away. His mom looked tiny compared to him, and his arms almost engulfed her.

“Well, at least you've been eating right,” she said, her eyes misty as she looked him over.

“You don't even want to know what they've been feeding us.” Henry shook his head. The green goop was still in circulation and disgusting as ever. He took a long pull of his beer as his mom talked.

“Good thing we'll be having a proper meal then, isn't it,” she said as he smiled.

“Just got to wait for your brother's and your sister to show up,” his dad said, grabbing another beer.

“They're all coming?”

“Of course!” his mom said as a timer went off. “I've got to get that!” She rushed off, Henry smiling. I missed this, he thought as he took his seat again.

“So you're in this Free Fleet now,” his dad said.

“Yup, I'm the CAMC.”

“That's pretty odd sounding.” His dad gave him a look as he laughed.

“It stands for Commander of the Armored Marine Commandos.”

“British, eh?”

“Nope, Free Fleet,” Henry said, finishing the beer off. Might as well be good as water. that metal peeling crap's making my tolerance go up, it seems.

“How is it?” Henry's dad had been a Marine, did a few tours. Most of them had been hairy. He'd gotten out after getting a round to the leg. It caused him near chronic pain, but he always said he'd seen much worse; now Henry had too.

He looked to his dad with a quick answer on his lips as he saw a soft but steady look. You can tell me, I know something about it. His dad's eyes seemed to say as he leaned forward, grabbing a piece of hay, playing with it absently. His father just waited as he looked at that piece of hay.

“I've been in contact and battles, but this is different. There's no safety. It's nerve racking, crazy, and damned ridiculous.” He looked to his dad. “It's nothing like what you told me it'd be like when I was enlisting. It's so much more.” Henry couldn't even grasp the words.

“There's no stopping. There's no rest. We're constantly in a state of preparing for whatever comes next, and every time it's gotten harder and harder. Battles are fought in a three dimensional battlefield with multiple factors, it's a mess and it's terrifying, but we keep it together.

“Everything wants to kill us, the enemy, their ships, their stations, their people, their slaves, even space. Space is the coldest bitch of all. The dark will do anything to take you into it's embrace. Then you lose people and that stuff just faded away. That stuff just disappeared and the only thing that matters it getting what you need to ensure that your people are safe. The Marines is a brotherhood, but it was more of a hangout compared to this. I wake up, eat, train, hangout, and sleep with my lowliest team member to Commander Salchar. It makes us closer, and it makes losses terrible.” Images of the things sentient's had done to others passed behind his eyes.

His dad sighed.

“It's not going to be easy, but it never is,” he said, looking out onto his fields without seeing them.

Henry nodded as he twirled the hay.

A dust plume rose at the end of the drive way.

“Must be Carl,” his dad said as he nodded. “Know that I'm always here for you, plus, it sounds like you have a few friends there for you too.”

Henry grinned. “Oh, I've got a family. Have you heard about the gaming team Mecha Tail?”

Henry talked as his two brothers Carl and Jesse arrived, Cindy being the last as normal, wearing her office apparel as normal. Carl had his wife Lucy and his daughter Meghan, plus, they were expecting a second child. Jesse was seeing a girl, and Cindy was married to her job still, though no one denied Momma Terrance.

They sat, ate, and drank as the sun went down. Henry smiled as he looked at his family smiling and joking.

This is what the Free Fleet’s for, he thought as he looked at his dad who gave him a look that said the same thing about the Marines.

As the family lounged around the farm, Henry went to the barn. The smell of Hay was comforting, even though it reminded him of when he had to stack the damned things.

Jesse found him after some time.

“Hey, Henry,” he said simply as he sat down.

“I come bearing beer,” he said as he handed Henry one, none in his own hands.

“Not drinking tonight?” Henry asked.

“Nope, going to a party later, you should come, though we're going to have to get you some shine the way you're mowing through that beer,” he said with a grin.

“Pah, weak,” Henry said with a grin.

“The invitation was real. There's going to be people from high school there. Gotta show of my shiny new big brother in his grey and darker grey clothes,” he said. Henry laughed, looking at the Commando regulation battle suit he wore.

“It's for Commandos, the different color, or the stripe on the cuff-link, the different areas you're trained in.”

“Looks pretty snappy,” he said.

Henry shook his head and smiled. “I'll pass. Just a bit tired.”

“You sure? Girls love the uniform.” Jesse nudged Henry, who rolled his eyes.

“Girls also like to know how their little brother got to be the commander of the most powerful multi-role force,” Cindy said, Jesse almost jumping out of his skin as Henry sipped his beer.

“Hay's pretty loud, going to have to do better than that to scare me, big sis.” Henry smiled at her as he saw gears ticking in her head. His smile died in his eyes.

“So how did you?” she asked, her eyes intent now.

Henry shrugged. Salchar picked me and I keep finding my ass in this position no matter how much I wish I wasn't.” Her eyes turned calculating as she took in her brother.

Cindy had been a big shot in her scouting company. She found the talent and was able to talk them into lucrative contracts and get a big return on it. Since the Recruitment, Cindy had been pulled into the military and made people from other countries join the United States instead of staying with their own country. Henry felt that she was about to try to scout him.

“Well, I could see you living quite comfortably if you wanted to come back to the United States,” she said as she watched for his reaction. He sighed and shook his head.

“I have too many responsibilities.”

“You have family and friends here, not to mention the Marines.”

“You don't understand, Cindy, I won't leave them,” he said as he looked to her.

“How many of your friends have you seen hurt? Why would you want to keep going on seeing that?”

“Cinndy!” Jesse said as Henry placated him with a gesture, which she took as a lead and she continued.

“How many have been maimed? Shot or died? How many have died so that you can come home?” Henry felt his ire building.

“Cindy,” he warned as she apparently didn't catch on, full pitch mode.

“Why go back up there when they've died for you to come home? Doesn't it make sense for someone else to take your place and die instead of you?

Henry heard the glass break in his hand as Cindy and Jesse looked at it in alarm. Henry was clenching the broken glass into his hand.

“I have many waiting in the dark for me, Cindy. Many that you should respect instead of trying to use as some twisted ploy to get me to help your career.” He looked up at her as she physically flinched.

“If I go into the dark for one of my people, I would gladly do so. No commando, no person in the Free Fleet is above another. We fight together, side by side.

“Yet Salchar sits on his throne and...”

“Enough,” Henry said, his voice deadly as he stood. Cindy's eyes went wide and Jesse looked unsure of what he should do.

“Salchar is my brother. He has fought with me many times. I would follow him into the darkest realm if he asked me to.” Henry let out a breath of air as he opened his hand, blood pouring from it. He barely felt it, the pain implants had taught him how to ignore pain.

“Do not ask me again to leave my people,” Henry said softly as he walked past her and out the barn.

“You can be a real bitch sometimes, Cindy.” Jesse said as he hurried after Henry, saying nothing as they walked back to the house.

“How's the hand?” Jesse asked.

“It'll be fine,” Henry said as he pulled a salve from his pants pocket which he applied to his cuts, which pulled together.

“Cool!” Jesse grinned, having watched it. Henry shook his head as he put the salve back in his pocket and felt a familiar tube.

“Oh, this'll be cool,” he said as Jesse followed him to find his dad.

“Dad, you know about that leg...” Henry said with a grin on his face.

“Well, I might have something,” he said, holding up a needle labeled 'HELLFIRE'.

“I take back what I said earlier. Lets go to that party,” Henry said out the side of his mouth.

“Why?” Jesse said out the side of his mouth too.

“Cause otherwise dad’s going to chase me down and kick my ass.” Jesse looked to his brother in question as his dad shrugged from his seat.

“I'll give it a go,” he said as he finished off his beer.

***

Rick smiled as Marleen hugged his mom and then dad, both of them beaming as she followed him into the shuttle.

Did I just see them hold hands? Rick thought and shook his head, shrugging as he took a seat.

Marleen's grin was completely at odds with the hand wringing nervousness she'd had when she'd landed at Rick's mom's house in California. His dad, who lived in the Nevada Desert, had flown down to see his boy as well. Plus, it seemed like his whole family wanted to see his wife.

Everyone had been there, and so had the food and, of course, the booze. His family drank like sailors and swore worse than them too, but they loved meeting new people and Marleen was an instant hit. Being from New York and from a family that never wanted to see one another, she had been quite nervous for a big family gathering.

Yet his mom, aunt's, and multitude of cousins had added her in as if she'd always been a part of it. Rick was thankful as they'd got caught up on everything, as if Rick and Marleen had just been away for a while, instead of in space. It was relaxing and happy.

He sighed as he pulled out his data pad, his mother hadn't allowed him to take it out, so lord knew what awaited him when he got to the fleet.

“Another day at the office,” he muttered as Marleen put her head on his shoulder.

“I like your parents,” she said and he beamed. No amount of work could make him feel down now.

He kissed her head. “Good, they liked you too.” Marleen smilled into his shoulder as he did work, for once, with a smile on his face.

He got off the shuttle, still smiling, as Henry was coming off of his shuttle, bag slung over his shoulder.

“Have a good few days?” Rick asked as Henry grinned.

“Sarah Palmer, my friend, Sarah Palmer.” Henry grinned as Rick shook his head.

“The poor girl,” he said. He and Henry laughed, Marleen rolling her eyes.

“I'm off to the gun deck; you two don't get into trouble!” she said as Rick touched the data pad to his head.

“Yes, ma'am.”

She walked away, shaking her head.

“Good to see you walking away, ma'am!” Rick continued as she over exaggerated her walk, leaving Henry and Rick laughing.

“That's my girl!” Rick yelled as the people walking around the shuttle bay looked up, a few grinning as a few looked confused.

“How about you?” Henry asked as they meandered through the ship.

“Family gave the big thumbs up.” Rick grinned as Henry smiled appreciatively.

“Talking about family, how was yours?” Rick asked.

“Good, other than the part where I gave my dad Hellfire and he chased my ass through two acres of corn fields before my brother saved me with a truck.

A grin crossed Henry's face.

“Then Sarah Palmer?”

“Something like that.” He grinned.

“My dad gave me this,” Henry said, opening his bag and revealing four bottles of moonshine.

“Finally, something with a bit of flavor!” Rick grinned. Alcohol in their new bodies burned up pretty darned quick, so moonshine was like beer now, and the metal peeler was like homemade Russian vodka.

“You bet brother, we'll crack it when Salchars done wrangling politicians,” Henry said as Rick grimaced.

“Better him than me!” he said.

“Amen,” Henry said and they both grinned.

****

I took my seat as normal. Why they feel the need to label these seats, I don't know, at least they could've said CFF instead of just 'Salchar', sounds kinda pompous, I thought as I looked around the room. There were military members among the aides the leaders brought, apparently they where not done with trying to change me out with them. The day began with the topic of mining and got little traction throughout the day.

The breaks, however, were a mad scram. I talked with the military members, more times than not, finding myself in a group of them and preferring their company over the politicians, as I believed most of the officers did. As they realized I was not interested in having them replace me, they talked to me candidly about what had been going on.

I listened with half an ear, I knew if any of these people gained my position they'd pull their government to power.

I sat down at my seat, reflecting on these meetings. Just mere months ago, I had wished for someone to take power from me and believed that others would take it from me in a moment. Yet here I was, seen as an officer, not someone that was faking it—at least by military officers—and told that I was the only feasible leader of the Free Feet. Now I would have to fight to stay in control of the very fleet I had hoped and thought someone else would pull away from me with ease. With my oaths to the dead and the living to keep them safe and to make the Free Fleet a thing to be proud of, I needed to stay in command.

Again, the governments of the world tried to gain more power from me, and again I ignored them. My intelligence department already had a list of most of the leaders in the room who had plans in place to kill me. Radicals of all shades wanted to do the same. In a friggin room of vipers, I thought sourly as I plowed on with my major tasks.

We did make some progress with the countries that were willing to moving out into the Sol System, but it was minimal with the greedy countries and politicians.

My first job for them was to find an arrangement where they would work together and create a government that functioned for everyone, not just the nations. It was a tall order, and many were unhappy with it. The second was that they had a plan to get not only out of Earth's atmosphere but into the Sol System and traveling to other systems.

I'd let them stew over it but until they found a system that would work, I wouldn't release technology to them to get them into space.

The talks continued like that for a while and we made little headway as we went. Many of the leaders were asking for tours of my ships with their staff, no doubt trying to glean some kind of information. I would have granted it to them if the ships that we had weren't half pulled apart, getting put back together with their guts and weaponry open for all to see.

A rota was setup with Free Fleet personnel training, working on fixing up the ships or station, or enjoying the first real free time they'd had since we took Parnmal. Recreational areas were set up in Hachiro and they were made frequent use of by off duty personnel.

After the first week Rick had had a quiet conversation with me about the increased sexual activities of the human personnel.

With them being kids inside adult bodies, filled with hormones and working next to fit others and after having survived what not many would, Rick instituted birds and the bees classes. Much to his awkwardness, he became the teacher for it. Something Marleen and I had great fun talking about—much to his embarrassment.

Another project of mine was getting the FTL communications system up. There was a series of relays that had to be put in place and Parnmal was the only place yet making them. Chaleel was connected so far, but the relays were highly technical and took a long time to make, calibrate, and then put into position.

That would make it so that a ship was always at the wormhole line, the area which the gravitational forces of the system was small enough to make the calculations of wormholes much easier, and the possibility of running into an asteroid, planet, or something else that would ruin ones day much less probable. Anyway, that ship and another in Chaleel jumped back and forth once every day, making sure that we were in the loop constantly.

We set into a routine and we worked to improve the fleet, all while I dealt with the nearly daily talks with the world leaders as Earth slowly changed.

Chapter Slackers!

Eddie had finally allowed Shrift to come back to his position as engineer, but as the engineer in charge of overseeing the repairs to Hachiro and all of the other ships.

Can't have him becoming idle now that he's some use, Eddie thought as he saw a Kuruvian playing games on his data pad instead of watching the gauges in front of him. A boot sailed through the air, making the Kuruvian stumble as it hit its hard shell.

“Get to work!” Eddie said as the Kuruvian's eyes went wide. It practically dropped its pad and glued its eyes to the gauges. Eddie tapped a control on his belt as the boot's built-in winch whirred, collecting the wire until it was next to his foot. He put it on, checking the cowboy boot before tipping his cowboy hat and continued his rounds.

Winch was a damned smart idea, Eddie assured himself as past Kuruvians had taken his precious boots from him more than once or jammed his magnetic couplers.

The last time some aspiring Kuruvian had taken his boots, it took him four days to find them in a fuel station.

He never got his boots back, but the little whelp that took his boots had. It was one of the reasons Eddie had him running all the repairs.

Eddie grinned wickedly as people moved out of his way; ever since the Free Fleet had come into existence a man could get some room. Eddie mused as he got a few nods, but mostly harried looks.

“Good to see them moving with a purpose,” he said proudly.

“Indeed, I just wish we had more hands to do the work with,” Resilient said.

Should've thought about Ms. Nosy here, He thought.

“At least we were able to spring some of those drones from Parnmal, and the Syndicate here were still using there's instead of feeding them into a dismantler.” Eddie's tone became hard as he reflected darkly on the kinds of idiots that would destroy perfectly good and useful drones.

It's a wonder the Syndicate is still standing with that kind of idiocy.

“So, how are you liking serving in the Free Fleet?” Resilient asked and Eddie pondered the question. As soon as Resilient talked to him, he knew he'd be her engineer. His changes from Syndicate to Free Fleet hadn't been that much, as no one messed with the guy that controlled everything around you. Even the personal crew, when they saw Eddie, made sure to give him a bit of a berth.

Yet, there was a completely different mood. People were motivated, driven even, to get things done.

Kuruvians, who would spend their days looking at the stars or reading their data pads without much care to their actual duties, were pitching in and getting their jobs done, their searching for new information only occurring after they'd completed their tasks.

Also, with the cross training of Commandos being engineers or environmental experts or computer specialists meant that the majority didn't only do their jobs but spent their free time helping to perfect other skills they were cross trained on.

“I like it.” Eddie surmised. He found himself nodding as he looked at coolant piping and he stopped, in his own world.

“That Salchar knows how to motivate people, plus, he tries to put ships back together instead of ripping them apart. That man always has a plan. Mark my words, he's fifteen or so steps ahead of everyone. We picked well. What do you think of him?”

“I'm surprised by him,” Resilient mused.

“Oh?”

“Well, I thought that he would be more self centered after all he's been through in his life, but instead he's putting his life into the fleet and the people in it. He truly cares, and I don't know what that will mean.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie said. He could swear Resilient was playing mind games with him.

“Well, the Galaxy isn't the most forgiving place, and I don't know if he'll be tough enough for what it throws at him,” Resilient said.

Eddie thought on that. “Well, I guess we'll just have to see. Now, I need to go and check on those new weapon installs, apparently Chief Zor is raising hell over it all.”

“Oh yes, it is quite spectacular.” Resilient sounded rather amused.

Eddie snorted as he thought of Zor's famed, colorfully filled sentences, one might say. It was rather at odds with Chief Brusk who, while not being any quieter, was never heard saying a colorful comment. Yet, their competitive friendship was legendary.

Should be their ability to drink plasma, Eddie thought, thinking of the times the three of them had met up before finding a local brewery or a still in a secluded corner, some might call it,  which made stuff worse than the showers. Every time a small drink had turned into a contest of who could drink the most of the metal peeling mixture they'd obtained.

Eddie grinned as he shifted his weight to one hip and tucked his thumbs in his belt. Maybe we should give that one another go. Though this time we should see if Earth sells anything more palatable. Eddie hadn't felt his tongue for two days and then regretted when he did.

****

“Verlu, I swear you must eat helium instead of food,” Henry grumbled as he caught his breath again. Verlu grinned as he took a seat on the unfinished decking. The other officers coming in, similarly panting as they drank from the fountain that had been installed for the purpose of Henry's now infamous leadership meetings.

“I just ate all my vegetables.” Verlu grinned as Henry leaned back, trying to force more air into his lungs. Verlu made it look easy.

“Show off,” he said as Verlu continued to grin, Henry joining in as he looked away, trying to not give the other man the satisfaction of seeing him grinning at his antics.

“Alright, bring it in. I want everything.”  The leaders shuffled a bit but mostly stayed up against the walls before Henry started his lecture on who was doing what, anything new that was added to the schedule and such before leaving the floor open for anyone with questions or input.

Verlu leaned forward. He was one of the very few Sarenmenti platoon commanders and, from the way his people talked about him, Henry didn't doubt his commitment to the Free Fleet or his people.

“I believe that we should make an effort to intermingle humans with other alien races, as I have seen from your histories, if one group is not connected or knowing of the other, then prejudice and racism is the usual outcome,” he said.

“Do you have a plan to get humans more used to alien races?” Henry asked.

“Allow more people to come up here other than shrinks. With the civvie jobs, have them stay here a few days maybe, or also have postings for jobs going to Chaleel or Avar. If we bind these people together then they will all be stronger and better understanding of the galaxy we live in,” Verlu said and the other commanders nodded in agreement.

“I'll take it to Salchar,” Henry said. He already knew Salchar was working on a plan similar, but it was good to see others taking initiative.

“Also, if we took leave on the surface, that could help. Maybe ask which businesses would be interested in having us and if they have items that all races could use, not just humans.”

“Yeah, it would be nice to have some food that isn't a brick or slime.”

“I dunno, I'm rather getting a taste for the stuff,” Erkshaw said. He was playfully pushed by those around him as they overturned his opinion.

“You need to eat some real damned food, and soon!” Bok Soo said to Erkshaw's laugh.

“Bok Soo, how could I do that when all you're doing is eating it all.” Bok Soo took on a look of innocence as he shrugged.

“Well, I can't help it if you aren't fast enough.”

“That's the biggest oxymoron I've every heard,” Erkshaw said, smiling as he shook his head.

“Get the boy some food, his brains getting fried, doesn't even know what an oxymoron is!”

“Calm down, you two,” Henry said, shaking his head. “I swear you two are becoming the fleets foodies with the food you're eating.

Both of them took on looks of mock innocence and Henry chuckled at their attempts to admonish his point, which divulged into better tasting dishes.

Henry let it go on as the commanders started talking about different foods, highlighting the high points or low points of each dish.

Foodies, I'm in charge of a bunch of foodies. Henry grinned mentally as it wound down.

“Now, there's one more piece of information I have to pass on. Talk died away as people looked to Henry with a mutual respect he shared with them all.

“Now, I know that we have lost a lot of people, to the dark and going home, it's left holes in our organization and, according to the Syndicate ways, we should be marrying singles together to create new teams.” He paused before continuing. The reactions of his people would be how he could gauge the Commandos as a whole reacting.

“Salchar and I have decided to let people pick for themselves whether they want to uphold their marriages or to have them annulled.”

Slow nods came back as they understood what he was saying, thinking on it.

“Any issues?”

“If a couple decide to end their marriage, will they still work together, or be split up?”

“That will be on a case by case basis. You will have to make that decision with your Commandos to make this transition quick painless and keep us running.”

No one had any, so Henry got them back on their feet, to the groans of them all as he led them back through Hachiro, stopping at the restaurant that had been created in what was being called the 'hump'. The hump that was a third of the way into the station. It was where the personnel crew had lived but was becoming the entertainment district, with the command center separated from it and connected to the training and barracks areas that lined the middle of the station.

“Maybe these meetings are getting better,” Rosa, one of Bok Soo's company commanders said. Bok So laughed.

“Alright, get some food, you goons. I'll pay this time,” Henry said. The commanders seemed more like kids as they moved en masse to the Sarenmenti that quirked an eyebrow at them all.

Rick, as well as Min Hae and the intelligence division, were in charge of making a monetary system. It was based off of platinum, getting the nick name plat. AIH and Chaleel had both adopted it. Some groups were trying to on Earth, but it was difficult.

Plat was connected with a person's identity chip. They passed the chip over a reader, similar to the one on personal rooms, and were asked if they wanted to pay however much plat an item cost. If they accepted, they got their purchase.

“Are you eating or trying to read?” He asked as the commanders went from pining over the menu to ordering. Henry sat back, waiting as someone sat beside him.

“Ahh, the piranhas at the ole watering hole,” Rick said as if he was reflecting on an old memory instead of watching a bunch of Commando commanders shooting the shit and making a ruckus.

“Definitely nothing like any military group I've seen,” Henry said as Rick grinned.

“Oh, we're completely insane; of course we're going to be a bit different.”

Henry let out a burst of air as his mouth tried to betray his amusement.

Rick leaned over. “We have a twitch, yes, confirmed. A twitch! By jove, I believe that handsome young Rick has done it!” Rick said in an announcer’s voice.

“The annoying chief of staff, he is,” Marleen said from behind him.

“Hey, Marleen,” Henry said, nodding as she smiled.

“Henry. What's my errant husband been up to now?”

“Admiring the view as some would say,” Rick supplied as Marleen quirked an eyebrow and her mouth in question, a hint of a grin showing through. “Not that kind of view, you know I only have eyes for you my lovely carjack.” She couldn't stop her grin as Henry shook his head.

“You really are such a charmer,” Henry said as Rick grinned, clearly unrepentant as he put an arm around Marleen's waist. She mussed up his hair as she leaned into him.

Henry knew the two of them had elected to keep their relationship, one that he found odd but worked. His own wife from training had died when they'd landed on Chaleel. They hadn't interacted much, acting more like acquaintances than a married couple. Sometimes he wished he had someone to confide in and hold when the times got rough.

Rick must've sensed the change in mood as he broke Henry's line of thought.

“So, food field trip?” He asked as Henry looked over his commanders, taking over an array of tables but leaving Rick, Marleen, and Henry to themselves.

“Those who eat together, work better together. The better the food, the better the working together,” Henry said and Rick grinned.

“So, you've been talking to Foodie McBook Soo,” He said. Henry nodded.

“He is quite the foodie, plus, he made a compelling argument.”

“I bet he did,” Rick said as he and Henry shared a look, Rick grinning wildly as the corner of Henry's mouth twitched.

“Now, if you excuse us, we've got a dinner planned already,” Marleen said, hitting Rick with her hip as he shook a little. Since training, the two had gotten on a level field with the amount they could throw around. While Marleen still looked like she could lift cars in her free time, Henry, like every Commando, was a wealth of muscle that made him look as if he walked through walls if the door was too far. It's probably one of the reason Commandos old families think us so scary, he thought as Rick picked himself up.

“See yah later, cattle herder,” he said as Henry stood to join the end of the food line.

“You can bet it, squid brain.” He grinned as Rick cocked his arm and brought it back as if he'd won something significant. Marleen made a faked annoyed face and pulled him away, Rick grinning all the time.

Henry didn't know how he could be so damned happy, but it was nice to have someone that could always look on the good side of things. He reflected as he ordered a burger and got a bill, his eyes widening. No wonder Bok Soo wanted to bring us here, he thought, passing his hand over the reader as credits flowed out of his account.

“So, you've got next time, Bok Soo,” he said as he took a seat, waiting for his food, Bok Soo looking up in alarm, his mouth full of food as others thanked Henry and Bok Soo for the next meal.

Bok Soo grinned as he cleared his throat. “But of course, Commander,” he said as they shared a look, both grinning.

Chapter Rebuilding

“So, how is the training going?” I asked Henry as we had our weekly meeting aboard the Resilient. The chambers on Hachiro weren't built yet after the redesigning of the station.

“Better than I hoped. I actually want to see if we can get some experts in from Earth. We've kind of cobbled a method to do things, but people trained in such things will be able to refine our skills immensely.”

I nodded as I felt tiredness wash over me. I grabbed the water in front of me as I took another Wake Up pill. I didn't miss the looks. Wake Up and I had become best friends since I had taken over as the commander of the Free Fleet.

“See that it's done. The countries leaders have agreed to allow their people to apply to the civilian job boards that we have. The countries that have agreed to put in the work to become the space faring front of Earth have finally finished their plan and are organizing a system that would work for anyone that joins their community.” I couldn't keep the exasperation out of my voice. I had spent most of the past month and a half going over the damned plan. The only reason I hadn't given up on it was the attempt to try and get the families of my Commandos, and the Commandos that had left the Free Fleet, into space.

There was already a community of old Commandos that had banded together, getting their credits into a pool to buy the supplies they needed to go and get a mining colony started in the Oort Cloud. They'd bought one shuttle a handful of drones, living quarters, supplies, strippers, and refiners. We'd let the stuff go rather cheap to help them out and to see at least something happening in space.

“I made clear the stipulations for claiming a planet, the same as it was with the Union. So I want us making a claim on the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.”

“So, pretty much the entire Solar System?” Yasu asked and nearly everyone quirked they eyebrow.

“Moon, Mars for bases. We'll began terraforming Mars as soon as possible. Felix and Min Hae are already working on that. Jupiter and Saturn for Fuel.”

“So, we're taking them over?” Henry asked, not challenging but inquiring.

“No, we're going to own a part of them, much like we have places on Chaleel.”

“What if they don't agree to come under the Free Fleet's protection?” Rick asked.

“Then we still hold onto everything but Earth.” I looked at my data pad before looking up. “I'm wondering if we should keep the station here,” I said as everyone looked in on me.

“Why?” Rick said, he probably knew most of my reasoning, but it was his job to play devils advocate.

“The nations have already shown that with the technology they have, they can get to Hachiro easily. If one of them doesn't like us, then they can launch a missile up into us, and there's only a small space where we can take it out and not harm the station or the planet. I think we move the station to Mars.”

I looked around and didn't see many people disagreeing.

“Shrift, how long do you think it would take to get us there?”

“If we move the ships around some, brace a few sections, I'm going to have to run this by Eddie, but I think that we can do this easily. Maybe in a few days we can be ready to move.” I nodded.

“Make it so.”

“Won't Earth think we're leaving them behind?” Rick asked.

“We're pretty much pushing them into space whether they want it or not. To be honest, I'm caring less and less what they think at this point,” I said as I found I was still tired.

“Maybe I should go down there for the next week and talk to them before we make a decision?” Rick asked. I thought on it. It would allow me to catch up on my work and get into fighting trim. Also, to get the sleep I needed. I was going to meetings all day to only get hurtled into space and continue doing my work for the fleet.

“That might be an idea. I think that we're going to need a department to deal with planets, like an ambassador. I'm just getting swamped,” I admitted. They nodded around the table in agreement as I could feel their care for me.

“Alright, Rick, you take over tomorrow and sort out a department for it. I'll get back to running the damned fleet.” He nodded, no grins now as we had spent more than one meeting in this very room with me complaining about the world leaders and their petty antics.

I sighed, feeling that weight lift from my shoulders.

“Okay, Shrift, how are we doing on ships?” I asked as I sat back, looking into equally tired eyes.

“The corvettes are good, we've cannibalized one of the Syndicate battle cruisers, and I feel that we should pull apart Destroyer Dark Palace. It's close to being useless, and the parts will allow us to get our weapon systems on the station to something like thirty percent coverage, or the ships could have a gun online for every destroyer class and down.”

“Can the destroyer run on the small power plants we're pumping out?” I asked.

“Yes, though it wouldn't be that effective if it only ran on them. There's slots for three.” I looked to Rick.

“There's an incentive if I've ever heard one. Strip the destroyer of every piece of weaponry and mil tech. We'll wait to see if Earth is willing to speed a few things up for the ship, if not, we give it to the Chaleelians. They need traders, and badly, if they want to connect with their old contacts. Or if we want to trade with them for food stuffs.”

“There is also that patrol leaving to check the surrounding systems in two days,” Rick said.

I pulled open the file as I drank more water. My brain was having a hard time remembering it.

The patrol would be one newly acquired battle cruiser under Commander Boot, a Kuruvian who I had given command to after Parnmal. He had done little of note, which surprised me for a Kuruvuian, but he knew his ship the best, got it into the best standard he could, and his people likened him to a statue instead of the sugar-rush-like Kuruvian engineers, other than my own sultry Eddie and overworked Shrift.

I marked in a meeting with the ship commander as I checked the remaining forces of the patrol. They'd have one destroyer and three corvettes, all of the best nick possible. Their mission was to simply jump from system to system and report back. It was a time arduous task, but it helped to know what was in the neighborhood.

With the loss of our best repaired ships, it left me with an array of ships that Shrift wasn't giving hope on just yet—the cracked-armored shell of a battle cruiser, eight serviceable corvettes and four damnable cruisers—I’d hated their design ever since I looked at their statistics. While they try to have the speed of a corvette, they're usually a third slower and much bigger, to hold the missiles they use, and lack in the cannons that the corvette or any ship bigger than a cruiser had. Plus, it was damned confusing to have cruisers and battle cruisers. Like, what bone head thought of having the same name for two different classes? It wasn't as if the cruiser wasn't ever in battle, even though it had damned near little use. Lastly, there were two destroyers, the Resilient, and the two carriers.

I was hoping to get the one close battle cruiser online, but it had suffered major EMP damage, meaning most of it's systems had to be pulled out and put back in. That took a lot of time. Plus, Eddie said he had an idea for the ship, as well as the broken shell of the other cruiser.

“Well, unless Shrift pulls anything out anytime soon, that's all they're getting. I'm feeling pretty damned thin as it is, plus, all of our ships are in bad condition,” I said and Kim nodded.

I tried to not look at the further eight ships listed as awaiting work.

“Henry, how are those care packages?” I looked to him as he pulled up a map on the holographic projector, showing a changed world from the one we had left.

“As soon as we got the go-ahead, we've been dropping aid as we can. Now we're dropping a squad of Commandos with them after recent issues with people stealing supplies, hoarding, and such. We got that issue dealt with quickly. Food, clean water, and habitation is being created en masse, quickly. I believe in a week they will be able to support themselves. Policing will become an issue of course, though that is something for Earth to sort out.” He looked to Rick, who nodded. Rick and I had spoken on the issue before, I had got some tentative agreements, but hopefully he could gain guarantees.

“What about the Commandos group heading for the Oort Cloud?” I asked the room.

“We have an agreement with them to repay some of their purchases with materials of certain element groups. We also have and overriding agreement that if we ask for more, they will supply with us everything they can, up to capacity, for market price,” Rick supplied

“In system or fleet wide pricing?”

“Fleet wide, they're going to be happy miners!” he said as I nodded.

“I hope so. Now, to get others to follow them will be your job.” I looked pointedly to Rick.

“Just taking all the fun outta da job!” he said in a fake Italian accent and I couldn't help but grin at the cult fiction flick's line.

“Now, marriage annulments and such, how's that going?”

“As of a week ago, when we announced it, we haven't had any major issues. Most have been sorted at the lowest commander level,” Kim said and I nodded my head.

“Very well then, anything else?”

“Any idea on when we'll be able to allow leave passes to Earth for more than Humans?” Henry asked.

“You know I've been working on it, but the people of Earth are still scared of aliens. Do you just wanna get your people together and get them to call up places they know?”

“Could work.” Henry shrugged as he sat back.

“Reporters,” Rick said. Both I and Henry winced at the word, I was pretty sure Krom would've just walked through a wall to stop hearing the word if he was inside the meeting.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Are we still not going to have any of them aboard the station or ships?”

“I don't want them near any weapon platforms or the like.”

“Though with the new personal quarters, which is acting as a entertainment complex, we could keep them in there. Have them based in Commando quarters that aren't used, and only let them see the ships from a distance, maybe even show them a shuttle if they behave,” Rick said, as if he was giving the reporters a cookie instead of showing them a transport system generations ahead of what Earth had been able to do at the beginning of all this.

“I really don't....”

“I know you don't like them, heck, I'm not a fan of them myself. Though, if we want to humanize ourselves and get people out to Earth, we need to show them just what the hecks going on. Some people are even saying that we're the Syndicate, that the PDF was really the PDF,” he said in a tone that made it clear what he thought of such people's mental capacities.

“Guarantees for the refugee policing situation and I'll allow reporters on board, under your watch.” Rick let out some air, shaking his head for a few seconds.

“Suuuuure.” He said, his tone unsure as he shrugged. “Worth a shot, don't worry, I know everywhere you hangout! I'll make sure they get the interview of their lives.”

The other people in the room had looks of amusement or interest as they looked to me.

“Here I was, thinking you'd take it easy on your poor old commander.”

“Hey, your younger than me there bucko!” My moping face split into a grin as I shook my head.

“Anything else?” I asked, still with a grin on my face.

“The kids,” Rick said and the room became somber.

“They're ours. We'll look after them as such. We'll educate them on the basics of space travel, give them citizenship of the fleet, which gives them citizenship of whatever planets fall under our protection. We have some people looking after them but we need nannies and support. I'm nowhere near qualified for all of that, but I know we can get an education program set up. We need people to fill the roles of caregivers.”

“I'll put it on the forums,” Rick said.

“All of them,” I said, looking off at nothing as I talked.

“Send the offer to every planet. If they're brought up with caregivers of every race, they'll be better adjusted,” I said with a nod.

“They've been accelerated into adulthood as we were,” In Sook said.

“Set up defense classes. Teach them to use their strength for good,” I said. Henry raised his hand.

“Sir, I know this is going to sound insensitive, but why don't we just put them in adoptive care on Earth?” he asked.

“Couple of reasons. These are our kids. They're going have to deal with issues we've dealt with and they’re in a group of people that are in the same situation as them. They can help one another. Put them in homes, then people don't know how to deal with the issues that could come with these kids. They'll also be seen as freaks, two year olds looking like adults,” I said.

“Though the first group is at the mental age of a fourteen year old, the second ten, the third six. By two they'll have the bodies of adults, and the minds of them. What are we going to do? Keep treating them as kids?” Henry asked.

“Not going to lie, I haven't thought that far ahead. We're going to have to look into that.” No one looked happy at that.

“All of them are going to be like that, stopping their treatments would send them into dangerous retrograde. They could die,” Rick said. These kids weren't going to be given childhoods. Within the space of twenty four month's they'd be the same as any other eighteen year old in cognitive ability and body.

“We'll take care of them. Part of looking after kids is adapting to them,” I said. I could see in the others eyes that they too had accepted the responsibility of these kids.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Get some damned sleep! I swear, we're becoming your mothers,” Rick said, his face looking serious, but his tone was light and playful.

“Alright, I will.” I said as everyone looked to me with you better stares, and I put my hands up in hope of placating them.

“Till later then,” Henry said, pushing away from the desk and standing. I did the same, stretching as I made for the door.

Watch Commander Vashna was sitting in my chair as I emerged. She made to stand, but I waved her scaly hide back into it.

“I've been ordered to nap, and as such, I will listen,” I said by way of explanation.

“Then I hope they told you to take a long one.” Vashna said.

“That's my girl!” Rick said. I let a laugh out as Marleen quirked an eyebrow in his direction.

“Marleen,” He finished somewhat seriously, pointing at her as if he'd meant to do that the entire time. Marleen laughed as she shook her head and turned back to her work. A few laughs could be heard.

“Smooth Rick.” I said, getting a well-crap shrug from him.

Krom and Janice followed me down to my room.

“So, I never asked, did you and Dave get annulled?” I asked as we exited the blast doors.

“Nope.” She grinned as I looked at her.

“Been through so much, dunno, kinda feel comfortable with the old sod now,” she said as I smiled.

“Good.”

“I wish you humans were a little more subtle about your excitement with your partners. Your pheromones do reek on every ship, and now station,” Krom said and I hit his shoulder.

“Just wait till you find the one, then we'll be the ones having to wear clothes pins on our noses for your pheromone stink.”

“Would be better if she released less, as to be better in battle,” he said solidly.

“Oh, you are quite the romantic, aren't you,” Janice said, rolling her eyes as I got to my room. “I think we're going to have to talk on the finer points of women, dating, and getting to know one another. And pheromones is low on traits.”

“Night,” I said, feeling a grin on my face as I left Krom to her mercy. I climbed onto my bed and had my battle suit run a cleanse as my body seemed to bleed off tension and unknown fatigue. It gave way to sadness and loss as faces came from the darkness to remind me of the company I kept in sleep.

***

Eddie hated this part of the ship, the bridge. Just a bunch of people pretending they have control over something. He mentally sighed as he walked through it and to the conference room that Salchar was in. Calerd let him in and he found Salchar working on a data pad and a holographic display. He looked through it, seeing Eddie.

“What do you want that BC shell for?” he asked, no messing about, good man, Eddie thought as he pulled up a rough sketch on his data pad and gave it to Salchar.

“I'm going to use it as extra armor.”

“Okay, but this thing is going to be a pig with the engines.”

Eddie came around as he flicked through a few pages. “It's here somewhere,” he muttered as he found the new power and engine diagrams he'd scratched together.

“This is a complete remodeling. You're going to take two type-three power plants,” Salchar said as he nodded appreciatively. Few people understood his doodlings.

“Yes, which is why I want the EMP'ed BC.”

Salchar nodded.

“I see you've got the new weapons for it.”

“Well, we don't want to give it second hand crap, do we?” Eddie said, inspecting Salchar who returned his data pad.

“No, and I give you the go ahead, though it's low priority, okay? You can do it after we've got to seventy percent among all ships here. As you know, we've got a weapon shipment coming in, which'll help out. Are the factories doing well?”

“Of course, we've cranked it up to a hundred and thirty percent production. Shrift thinks he can get it to a hundred and fifty easily, though we're burning through our resources. We need miners.”

“There's a group of ex Commandos out there. They're just getting set up though.”

Eddie thought on it. “We're going to need more, especially if we're going to make this a permanent position.”

“Has Shrift talked to you about my ideas to move the station?”

“Yeah, I got them. It'll be easier for us to get resources to the place.”

“I'm going to need someone to come up with a plan for changing Mars' moons into bases and such.”

Out of the bunch of five year olds I have to herd around? Eddie thought. Salchar crooked an eyebrow, and Eddie found out his thoughts hadn't stayed  private.

“Look, some of them are good, but most of them just want to know more. Working is secondary in all but a few,” Eddie said as Salchar nodded.

“Well, they don't need to be Kuruvian. If you feel they don't work, we have people from multiple races. On that fact, it should be three days until people are allowed to be recruited into the Free Fleet as the Earth completes their side of the protection agreement.”

“More idjits that don't know a hammer from a wrench,” Eddied muttered darkly as Salchar grinned.

“I've seen you use both for the same use once.”

Eddie took on an appropriate look of shock.

“I would never!” Though there was that lug bolt and the plasma conduit. Couldn't fit a hammer in there. “Well, unless I couldn't do it with anything else.”

Salchar's grin grew. “Okay, well, they'll be all yours once they finish basic. For now I just want someone thinking on how to get Mars, her moons, and Earth's moon ready for a base. As well as others to look at turning Jupiter and Saturn into refining plants, ready to supply our ships with fuel.”

“We'll need to get working on mining and getting the resources we need to keep our repairs going,” Eddie suggested. Salchar's grin made Eddie think the commander knew he couldn't resist the job. Eddie was an engineer. If nothing else, he liked building things.

“Very well, I think that's all. I'll leave it to you,” Salchar said.

“I'll get on it,” Eddie said in a resigned voice.

“Thanks, now how’s the Resilient coming along?”

“Quite fine,” Eddie couldn't help but perk up as he was finally getting the work he'd planned to do on the old girl for years finally started.

“We've got all of the small power plants installed and, with Shrift changing over to creating the type two or medium power plants, we'll be getting those in within two months. With the small ones, I was able to rip up the fuel and waste lines and replace them, as well as fix original power lines instead of having to run them through secondary or tertiary lines.

“Environmental's being fixed up. Weapons systems are being replaced. Pretty much, in four months we'll have everything done except the stuff we need a dock for.”

Salchar quirked an eyebrow as Eddie continued.

“Fixing up the girls structure, revamping Resilient's own server room, replacing most of the armor and adding additional to it, as well as more weaponry, upgrading the shield generators, get the main power plants installed, replace the capacitors.”

“It sounds like we're rebuilding her more than anything.”

“Not just rebuilding but upgrading.” Eddie grinned.

“She'll be a carrier buster! Give me eight months and no ship will be able to touch her toe to toe.” Eddie looked hopefully to Salchar.

“I'll give you as much time as I can, though I don't know if she'll be that powerful. Felix and Min Hae have only found a few upgraded systems from the Union information caches the Syndicate had.”

“While that stuff is good, there's nothing like looking to other sources for information.” Eddie grinned as Salchar's questioning look seemed to deepen. “Kuruvuians, while known for our almost insane want to learn more, also connect it to our old knowledge. There's groups all over the fleet that are looking at Earth and its information and adapting it to what we currently have. Like reactive armor, Gatling guns, removable armor, practices to cool or heat materials, information on physics, science, and such.”

“Though humanity can't get further than the Moon.”

“Oh, you could, though you're so focused on challenging everyone over Earth that your people never moved past Earth. The constant wars have made you think of incredible ways to kill, protect, and heal.”

Salchar nodded.

“With the different ways in which your world, my own people, and the Union and Syndicate think coming together there are connections made that none of any four would think,” Eddie finished.

Salchar looked excited. “I never thought of that, but it's kind of awesome to see how people think alike, and how it can combine into something new and kinda awesome.”

“Plus, it's helping to plug some holes in what we knew. We were pretty much plug and play. Well, except for me and Shrift, Resilient taught us more, though her memory cores went into retrograde.”

“Has she helped add more information?”

“She's helped in a lot of ways, though she didn't ever teach more than what Shrift or I ever knew from the Syndicate, so we had to learn from there.”

“Why didn't she?”

“I don't know,” Eddie said.

“I think it might be because she didn't want us to help the Syndicate if they found about her, or how we now knew things they didn't. Made sense to me, plus, we figured out quite a lot without her,” Eddie said and Salchar nodded appreciatively.

“Maybe we should ask her. Well, Resilient, how about it? Got anything we can add that might help the fleet?” Salchar asked.

Resilient appeared. Eddie nodded to his friend and one of the very few people that he counted as his peer. She nodded back as she bestowed a look that reminded Eddie of a mother being proud of her son's discovery.

“Yes, I do.”

“Why didn't you say so before?” Eddie asked. Salchar had an amused look on his face.

“You didn't ask,” she said and Salchar's amusement grew.

“Resilient, could you compile information from Earth? All the races, Syndicate, and what you've got, and give a copy to myself, Eddie, Shrift, and encode a copy for Felix and Min Hae?”

Eddie looked to his data pad as a file appeared there, taking some time to load.

“I have a basic correlation already. It will take a few hours to get it fully worked out,” Resilient said. Eddie looked at his data pad as if it were gold.

“Union technologies as well as bastardized, mutated technologies from multiple races,” Eddie said in a hallowed tone as he took a seat, opening the file.

“Yes, though the majority of the Union items cannot be made without facilities much more advanced than anything the Free Fleet has currently. Though in five to ten years it might be possible, with hard work, to get the Free Fleet to a position where it could create more ships of my class or even bigger.”

“Ten years, Pah,” Salcahr said. Eddie looked at him, finding the commander's eyes looking into his own.

“With Chief Engineer Eddie, I think we can shave more than a few years off of that time, and I don't think we'll just be making ships of your caliber Resilient. With the technology overlap I wouldn't be surprised if we make ships that the Union didn't think of but wished they had.”

Eddie grinned as he felt the confidence in Salchar's words as well as the implied challenge.

“Well, my boy, it looks like yah got a spark in yah yet. With a bit of roughing out those purty features of 'ors, I think we could make an engineer outta yah,” Eddie effected his deepest southern drawl instead of the slight accent he had picked up from his infamous cowboy and southern United States movies.

“Much better to have me funneling you everything you need and you making me some engineers instead.” Salchar grinned.

“You really do know how to boot them into shape.” They both shared a grin.

“Well, thank you, Resilient, Commander. I think it best that I went over this here mess you've given me and see if me and some of my lads and ladies can figure out some other useful nuggets to throw together for this here fleet.”

“Go on then,” Salchar said as Eddie raced for the door. He barely noticed Boot, a commander now of a BC and one of the better workers Eddie had taught.

“Boot, what you doing here?”

“Seeing the commander, Chief Eddie.”

“Ah well, wish you'd come back to the engineering side of things. Need more hard workers like you.”

“I could work hard, but I didn't like it much. Plus, I'm better at fighting a ship. Salchar said so himself. He was the one that saw my training videos and selected me.”

“Ah well, if the commander says so,” Eddie said, wondering where such garbage came from. Well, he did just get you to see past your blindness into Union technology. A bit of talking him up won't hurt. Eddie rubbed his data pad absently.

“I best be getting in there then,” Boot said.

“Ah yes, very well. I'll see you later, Boot,” Eddie said. He walked out of the command center and  into the nearest maintenance closet, taking the rat tunnels—which was what the maintenance walkways were now being called—into the heart of his own territory. He called a few hopefuls to the engineering break room.

Might as well see who will be making these bases and running the other projects Salchar wants done, while pulling gold from this beauty. What was that saying humans use? Two flying creatures, one thing for both of them? Oh well, more done in less time is always better to me, he mused as he walked.

“Resilient, I need you to get some people to meet me in the engineering break room.”

“Who?”

“Get Shrift to get me three people, and I'll choose... Vule, Mark, and Jasper.”

“Done.”

“Good, now we have the challenge of figuring out who’s best to get this system into a fleet outpost,” Eddie growled as he grinned. Should be fun! Finally, I get to make something instead of watch as everything falls apart!

Chapter Small Victories

Rick was on his way down to Earth when the large carrier, which held the supplies from Parnmal, was detected in Sol. It transmitted its codes, confirming it was indeed the parts ship.

It'll be good to have more than a third of our weapons online, Rick thought. He removed the news of the ship from his data pad, and the shuttle buffeted slightly before lowering as Rick stood.

He'd taken over Salchar's position at the negotiating table with Earth's representatives two weeks ago. He was having most of the same issues his boss had. The leaders had their aides talk to him more freely, which he hoped moved things along faster.

Though, nothing at all happening at a faster pace—was still nothing at all. So far, Rick was running into the same issues of nations holding onto their nationhood and not accepting that they were one planet, and thus they would be treated as such.

Getting an ambassador figured out between Earth and the Free Fleet had been a thing since the beginning of the talks, though it had taken three concentrated days to figure out the exact guidelines of what kind of person an ambassador of Earth should be.

Rick already knew that Commander Boot was going to be the man in the area, and as such, he would double as the Free Fleet's ambassador to Earth. That deliberation had taken Salchar a thought and a talk with the man to make the decision. Rick wished Earth's governments were as straight forward.

Rick was greeted by the regular throng of reporters, who he moved through easily. Krom had insisted on a personal guard and, with the media, Rick was thankful for their presence as two massive Avars seemed to push people away with their mere presence, their eyes causing even the bravest reporter to take an unconscious step back.

“What do you think of the tweets on Earth, paying to be part of a dictatorship?” someone asked and Rick mentally sighed at yet another one of the asinine questions the reporters threw at him.

“I think that the person that made that comment should go and read a historical or modern book on the military rank structure,” Rick said as other questions were hurled at him: about his supposed romantic involvement with Salchar, if he used steroids, when technology would be available for public purchase. Rick answered a few that actually could benefit someone by knowing the answer before he reached the hotel and the reporters stopped, crowding him, and began yelling their questions in louder voices.

Rick grabbed some food from the food table as people were wandering around the conference room, talking and mingling or taking their seats. Rick looked over the leaders of the world, becoming reflective.

These men control the nations of every human on this planet, yet I barely care for their opinion or am nervous in their presence. Before, I would've been looking around in awe and doing anything they asked. Now? Now, I see them as men, not rulers, but individuals that represent their people in varying different ways and are themselves as different from one another as possible. Yet they are all human, and all people that the Free Fleet will look after and die for if need be.

This is a strange fricking universe, Rick thought as he made no conclusions on the value of his own musings.

Rick noticed that the big players, the movers and shakers in the western and Asian world as well as the Russians, which Rick didn't really place with either, were looking to one another, their mannerisms speaking more than Rick thought he would be able to understand in their words as he leaned forward.

Could they be doing what I think? Rick thought as he looked to the president of the United States, who looked as if someone had pissed on his table.

Yep, looks like it. With America being used to being the one making demands, they were not happy when they were the ones being dictated what they had to give.

Rick didn't know about this new president either. The man wanted to take America back to a supposed golden age where the U.S. was master and commander of the Earth with a military that no one wanted to mess with. He bared looking at. Rick had not been blind to the careful hints that led him to think that if he wanted to go back to the U.S., he would have a place open for him, and that the U.S. was still trying to affect their claim over him as a member of the United States Air Force.

The presence of the chairman of the USAF had been a pretty big clue as to the president's desire to have Rick back in the fold.

I agree with Salchar. After this, I'm not touching politics, politicians, or any of this mess with a ten foot damned pole, he thought as the speaker arrived and everyone began making their way to their seats. The big leaders looked to one another as Rick's stomach screwed up in nerves and the speaker opened up the conference.

I wonder if our announcement to move the station had anything to do with this decision? he thought, shrugging.

****

The station and the majority of my ships were scheduled to move out in an hour, but I had two people I needed to touch base with first—Commander Boot and Heston.

They walked into the conference room, which had become my unofficial office.

“Commander Salchar,” Commander Boot said, about to give me a finger-tapping. I stopped it before he began, waving them to their seats.

“No need for all that nonsense here.” I grinned as Boot nodded and Heston relaxed slightly. He was obviously uncomfortable talking to someone high up. I had seen, in his personal file from Min Hae, that Heston was quite a relaxed commander, something that was an asset when dealing with fighter pilots nearly constantly.

“Alright, you two. As you know, the plan is for the fleet and Hachiro Station to move to Mars' orbit.

“You both know your missions. Boot is to scout as many systems as fast as possible, seeding them with sensor buoys, while Commander Heston will see to the protection of Earth.

“Now, I wanted to see if either of you had any issues. Boot?”

“No, sir, my mission’s much to easy for anyone to mess up.”

“Yes, but it is vital, nonetheless. Also, your scouting might find systems for us of tactical use.” He nodded. He might be slightly displeased with his mission, but I knew he would carry it out to the best of his abilities. I had more than a few feelers in his ranks who had reported on his stellar performance. Plus, his reviews from his previous commanders made me confident in his abilities.

“Heston?” Now, I hadn't talked to Heston much, and other than the files that Min Hae had sent, detailing the man's performance and knowledge of the fighters, his battle was the best that there was in the Fleet. His fighters, while being quite a small force, were hugely effective, as shown by their ability to keep my shuttles safe and take out shields as needed.

“I'm all good to go, though, I was wondering if Commander Xing and I could rename our carriers. C1 and C2 isn't very memorable.”

“What were you thinking?” I asked. I'd seen more than a few pilots in the entertainment district and, while they were ballsy and good at their job, they were by the whole a rambunctious bunch that rode by the seat of their pants and lived for the thrill of flying. Oh, and named everything.

“FengFang and Pandora,” he said, not batting an eyelid and I mentally praised his composure.

“FengFang, as in the Chinese word for hive, and Pandora as in Pandora's box?”

“Something along those lines.” A small smile crept on his face.

“Alright, I'll approve it.”

“Thank, you sir.” He grinned.

“How are your fighters and carriers, anyway?” I had read the reports, but it was always better to hear from the commander. Boot had already talked to me about the situation of his ships the last time we had met, if I asked him again it would be questioning his reliability, something that I had no issue with. Heston's face became somber as he recounted their situation from memory.

“Feng Fang got winged, but the sections that were damaged have been fixed.”

“Pandora had power issues, though with the new ideas coming from the meeting of information we're having with Earth, we've got new power lines in place to counter those issues. Our R and R time is not what I wished it was, but that comes with having basic haulers outfitted to be carriers instead of making a carrier from the ground up.”

“R and R?” I asked.

“Refuel and Rearm.”

“Ah, have you submitted your thoughts to Felix?”

“I have every department writing a brief every week on what works and doesn't. Last communication I got from Felix, he said that he was going to see if he would be able to get one of the asteroid hulls for a proper carrier.”

“Don't worry, I've already okayed it. After seeing what your ships did in our last engagement, plus, with the surplus of fighters in Parnmal, it would be idiotic not to attempt to increase our fighter numbers and get them a true carrier, no offence.”

“None taken. I've basically just got an electrostatic contained ramp diagonally cut through a hauler at this time. A real carrier, now that's something I'm looking forward to.” He grinned and I smiled. While he might not be the man in a fighter cockpit, there was no denying that he was still a fighter pilot at heart. Chaleel had given him the bug. I just needed to make sure that he was ready to stay back instead of charging forward with his men.

“Also, I was wondering if you would okay one of my pet projects,” Heston said.

I leaned in. “Which would be?”

“Okay, so the fighters are good at killing missiles and have the ability to kill ships if they get close enough with their missiles. Yet, with only four missiles, the amount of damage that they do is pathetic. I was wondering if I could maybe take a fighter and modify it to be a bomber.” Seeing my hesitation, he continued.

“A bomber will have the thrust abilities of a fighter, yet it can hold many more missiles, even larger ones possibly. Meaning that ships aren't shooting against a few handfuls of missiles. Instead they're up against dozens of close ranged missiles. Each with the ability to maim or kill.”

I sat back in my chair, resting my elbow on it's armrest as I stroked my chin in thought.

“If you can give me positive simulations, I'll okay it. We don't have the resources to dive into something that might not be an advantage and will cost us a lot of resources.”

“I understand, sir.” I could see in his eyes that he did.

While there were a lot of things happening in the fleet, certain things had to be prioritized. I had to deny Eddie upgrading the weaponry the day before. It would improve our current weapons by thirty percent in range and power, yet the cost in resources and time was too much and would've meant not replacing two sections of armor, as well as putting a brace on one of the structural members of a destroyer.

My pad beeped at me and I picked it up.

“Well, looks like you'll be getting a little more firepower on your adventures, Boot. The shipment of weapons and miners has arrived.”

Boot nodded, and I couldn't help but grin. My fleet was still not fully armed, but at least we would seriously mess up someone's day if they crossed us.

I checked the time against the schedule as I stood.

“Well, good luck,” I said, shaking both of their hands as they too stood.

“I'll let you get back to your ships, and remember, if you need anything, ask.” I smiled as they nodded. The informality in the Free Fleet was something I enjoyed. Without it I would never know the men and women around me. It made my fight for them even harder as I knew that some of them might be sacrificed in order to let others live. It was a bloody calculation.

Yet, for today I didn't have to think about it. Heston asked me if I'd like to take the fighter test the next time I was near his carriers. I laughed but said no. I could handle dropping in a shuttle onto a  planets surface. Being thrown around like a rag doll as my battle suit tried to keep me from blacking out from huge gravitational forces was something I thought was best left to the damned crazy fighter pilots.

I gave them both a two finger salute before I took my seat on Resilient's bridge.

“How long till we start moving Hachiro?”

“Twenty minutes,” Sook reported.

“Where's Shrift?”

“Making final checks,” Acting second in command Kawaga said, his face concentrated on his feeds. He'd played a lot of sniper games before the recruitment, a skill that had carried over to being in the Free Fleet. Yet, it was the patience and cunning, as well as a good ability to think on the fly, which had gained him the position of being Rick's understudy.

Yet, while he had got the position, I didn't know if he was happy with it. I made a note on my data pad as I continued. For now, I could do nothing about his position. I needed him where he was currently.

“Comms, confirm that the supply ships know where to rendezvous with us. Nav, I want you to confirm coordinates.”

“Shrift is saying that we are ready to go,” Comms said. I nodded.

I pressed Shrifts name on one of my screens and his voice came through my implants.

“We're ready.”

“I got that. Want to make the announcement?”

“You're the commander though.”

“Yeah, but you're the one that's put in all the hard work.”

“I should get a raise.” he said.

I laughed. “How about I let you pick your next posting instead of having Eddie just posting you to it.”

“Done!” he yelled, cutting the channel, making sure I couldn't go back as he came on through the fleet wide communications.

“Alright, let's move this damned station! Helms, people's, let's go!” A countdown started as Resilient computed how the ships attached to the station would have to move in order to get it to break free of Earth's orbit. The rest of the route had already been figured out by the navigators and helms personnel of the fleet.

For the next few days, the station and the Fleet would move, continuing on as they had when around Earth. There was no time to wait. There was always something to get done.

The bridge was tense for a few minutes before Helm relaxed.

“We're out of Earth's orbit, proceeding to Mar's orbit.” I connected to Shrift again.

“We good?”

“It seems so.” His tone told me he was sure something was going to go wrong.

“Good work, Shrift.”

“Thanks, James, never promote me again!” he said with feeling as I grinned.

“Noted. I'll leave you to it.”

Shrift cut off as I looked over the bridge, liking the feeling of actually being in command instead of having to do mountains of paper work and my thoughts turned to missing Yasu for a change.

After our talk, a lot of things had changed. We slept in the same bed, when I did sleep. We fought when we had time to and we ate together whenever possible.

I sent a message to her, asking to meet me for a meal if possible.

Putting off paper work? Mess hall C3. XO, she wrote.

I grinned. Paper work isn't everything.

***

I was walking through the gunnery decks, helping to get things ready for the new guns coming in when Rick contacted me.

“Sup?” I said, half out of breath as I pulled a burnt rail cannon from its housing.

“We have it!” he said, his voice clearly trying to hide his excitement as if there were others around him.

“We have what?” I asked, lowering the barrel to a grav cart with Krom. “Barrel done! One for recycler!” I yelled. One of the runners took the grav cart and I turned back to the gun, an overlay showing me what else needed to be pulled off of it.

“They've agreed to our contract for protection and they've finalized plans for getting humanity into space. I think that moving the station swayed them.”

I stared at the gun emplacement blankly.

“They've finally accepted it?”

“Yeah, and they've got their first payment of materials ready!”

“This is the kind of day we should get more often!” I said, sharing in his joy.

“Have you started recruitment?”

“Well, I've got the ones that signed up before everything that was okayed ready. Though, I'm going to need a few shuttles.”

I pulled out my data pad.

“How many?”

“Thirteen at least, say, on a running turnover. Have some extras over here maybe?”

“I'll give you sixteen, broken into groups of four, they'll run every four hours,” I said as I gave orders to captains to pick shuttles to be ready to fly.

“Works for me. We also got the okay to have a base of operations. Russia won the bid. They are the ones giving the most in this deal. They're probably trying to get the one up on everyone in the resources industries again.”

“They do oh so love their oligarchies,” I said, thinking of the mega rich Russians that controlled unopposed oligarchies in Russia, pretty much doing as they pleased.

“Indeed.”

The topic made me think of Shirely Manley and I checked on her status.

“Looks like they'll have to compete with Shirely, though. She's setup and about to begin digging into no less than four asteroids, and she's made claims on twelve big ones.”

“Competition is the one thing that humanity knows the best of,” Rick said.

I nodded slightly. “Yes it is, unfortunately. Though, hopefully, we can use it to our advantage.”

“Hopefully.”

A notification popped up on my data pad. “I'm launching shuttles now; they'll be with you in two hours.”

“I'll be ready for them. I'll let you know if anything else happens.”

“We'll talk later, Rick,” I said and I cut the channel.

Weapons, armor, and technical parts, including miners from Parnmal, personnel from Earth. Earth's getting into space and we've got a mining group already set up and pumping out resources.

“We've got another two gun decks to go before we can even think about getting those weapons on board,” Chief Zior barked as he carried a focusing crystal the size of his forearm over his shoulder, chewing his famous gum.

I too had picked up the habit, but only when I was sparring with Yasu or going through training. Chief Zor seemed to chew non-stop. There was a rumor that he chewed even while he was sleeping.

“Come on, my gun bunnies!” he said as his peoples efforts doubled, the scarred, veteran gunner grinning.

“Krom grunted as he began pulling the useless guts from the gun between him and me. Taking that as my queue, I pulled the old power relays. At least everything with guns is made to pull them apart in a quick fashion.

It was oddly calming taking apart the massive weapons. There was an order to them. They made sense, much like my own rail gun. For a time, I forgot what I was doing as I pulled, turned, and unhooked broken parts, calling a runner to take the parts as I moved on.

I popped in a piece of gum, finding its minty freshness and ingredients focusing my efforts more as I moved to the next gun. I got in the gunners seat, pulling the manual controls for the targeting crystal release as well as pulling the gun in so the barrel was inside the ship instead of in vacuum.

I kept going, moving methodically from gun to gun.

A hand on my shoulder made me turn around. I found Yasu giving me an exaggerated up and down look.

I looked at myself, finding I was covered in grease and grime.

“Forget something?” she asked.

I wracked my brain. Crap, crap, uhhh meeting? Paper work? Training hand to hand, yeah. I glanced to the time on my HUD. Crap.

“Sorry, I just got wrapped up in getting the guns ready.”

“I noticed,” she said, glancing at my battle suit.

We were on the last deck of guns and there were people already working on the last ones. Chief Brusk was sauntering into the room, the movement more awkward with it's exaggeration for a Kuruvian.

Zor growled. “Seems your gun bunnies are having a spot of trouble, bit slow?”

“Not slow, just have more guns to work through, you hippie.”

“You have five more guns there, chompers!” Brusk said as Zor squared off with him.

“Cause my gunners use theirs more, twinkle fingers.” Zor jabbed a finger at Brusk.

“Twinkle fingers! Well, I'll have you know, you clean, baby faced Sarenmenti, that my people have the highest accuracy in the fleet! The reason you have so many guns down is cause your people have to spray everything in hopes they hit the enemy.” Brusk's manipulators shook in annoyance.

“My gunners run their guns to the brink, giving the enemy all barrels.”

“Breaking all of them!” Brusk yelled, his arms moving in annoyance.

“Done gun!” the last crew said as they finished their gun, obviously not paying attention through their sound canceling helmets.

“Good!” Zor said, turning to the gun crew, swiveling his head as if it was a cannon to his fellow chief.

“Now, let’s go and show the starboard side how the port side can drink!” he bellowed. Brusk tilted his head to the implied challenge.

The port side gunners howled as they made a beeline for the exit.

“All except second watch.” None turned back, but as I looked, there were already gunners loitering around, cleaning up the mess that came from broken guns being pulled apart. None of them looked very pleased.

“Remind me I owe second watch a round!” Chief Zor said and grins appeared on second watch's faces.

I followed the gun crews as the chiefs hung back, allowing for me to meet up with them.

“So, you're probably asking what that was all about,” Brusk said with none of the previous anger of before.

“Yes, something like that.”

“Well, it's quite easy,” Zor said as we got on a transport after the gun crew. “Agroup does better when they're against another group every time. It makes it so we get our gunners into the mindset that failure is absolutely not an option. Burns, barrels out, focusing crystals burned out? Well the other side might have the same thing, yet they might be doing it faster. That is not a possibility, but I have to make sure that I beat them.”

“It used to be that there was one Kuruvian crew and one Sarenmenti crew on the guns,”  Brusk added. “It made it so that  they were constantly proving who was better. Though, when the crews mixed, they would be in massive fights, and they sabotaged one another all the time. When the two crews are intermingled and socialize often, then they don't fight as much and they don't sabotage one another. It becomes an honorable sport between two teams instead of a bitter rivalry.”

“It's also why we change crew all the time as if they were on a team, we keep each side even but it makes it so that they work together.”

“Would make sense with all the transfers you boys request.” They nodded and grinned together as we reached our destination and got off. The gun crews were both waiting.

“Have fun, and don't get too drunk,” I said and the two nodded, getting off in a flurry of slurs against the other, fake rivals once again. Their gun crews cheered their chiefs on while also intermingling with their opposite sided counterparts.

“You're going to need to shower first before we get to hand to hand,” Yasu said, I looked to her, nothing touched her features.

I sighed. “Very well.” I got back on the transport, punching in my destination as it whisked off. We stopped in some other places as people got on and off before we got close to our room. Krom and Shreesht followed us silently, one of the Sato sisters following, waiting as we finally got to our room. Yasu took a seat on the bed as I went to the shower. I could swear I heard her sigh as I unsealed my battle suit and showered off the gun decks.

I came from the shower, finding Yasu studying me.

I looked around, alarmed, as I grabbed a towel to cover myself.

“It's not like I haven't seen it before,” she said and I felt even more embarrassed.

“Ahh well...” Her look told me I should be quiet and I let my mouth close.

“When your wife sits on your bed in skin tight clothes, the first thing on your mind should not be to go and take a shower,” she said as I started to feel like a dolt. I really need to figure out women, I wish there was a class on it, I thought as she walked up to me.

“Though, you are nicer when you shower,” she said as her lips met mine. I let the towel slip away as I pulled her to me.

“What about hand to hand?”

“This is still a battle of wills, plus, it is physical,” she said with a small smirk. Well, you can guess what happened next.

Afterwards, we were looking up at the ceiling of stars that moved slowly when I felt my mouth working.

“Why did you stay with me?” I asked.

“Because you need me,” she said. A few minutes later she turned so she could look into my eyes. I could see that her eyes were wet.

“And I need you.” I could see the loss behind those eyes as I felt my own ghosts consume me and my eyes wet. I pulled her to me and felt her against me, the life that filled her body and mine that didn't fill those that we had lost.

Yes we do need one another, I thought, equal parts sad for our loss, yet happy for the ability to confide in someone fully.

Chapter In Position.

“We're in orbit,” Comms said in Hachiro's command center as Shrift checked the screens around him at the engineering station and people reported to him.

“We're all good,” he said and he felt exhaustion fill him as he'd finally completed his latest massive task. The tech from Parnmal had already been delivered and the ship was on its way back, which meant he didn't have to worry about it anymore.

Now I know why Salchar is so out of it all the time, Shrift thought as he took another tab of Wake Up, feeling marginal effects. Now all I have to do is oversee the uncoupling of the ships to the station and conduct an in depth check on everything. Just the thought made Shrift feel as if he hadn't taken the Wake Up tab.

Shrift issued his orders as he received a call from Salchar.

“Heyo,” Shrift said as he opened it.

“Alright, go get some sleep. I'll have Eddie take over for you. Don't make me make it an order.”

I could kiss you.

“Thanks,” he managed to mumble out instead of telling Salchar of his inner feelings. He closed the channel and made his way to the nearest unoccupied room, took detox and fell on to the bed.

***

Rick plastered a smile on his face as he exchanged pleasantries in the fabricated building, which sat at the edge of the American space port.

While the agreement for Earth and the Free Fleet had been a thing for some time, the nations leaders still wanted to meet with Salchar and confirm it in person. Quite a few were annoyed to be dealing with a subordinate, but it had meant that their aides could take care of the issue, making it much easier on all parties, no matter how much the leaders complained.

Which meant that Rick had to organize a press conference and get Salchar to agree to meet with the leaders.

Also, all of the leaders had agreed that the only proper place to have such an event would be on Hachiro Station. They would like it to be there to show how the Free Fleet and Earth were working together to get people into space. Basically, the leaders had ganged up on Rick and twisted his arm.

Now, while that request sounded easy, getting it past Salchar was a pain. First, he wouldn't have it while the station was moving. Second, he wouldn't have it when the weapons, armor, and other tech were being put on the ships.

Though, finally, he'd given in and had sent an extra two shuttles with the four that were sent to pick up applicants to the Free Fleet or a few civilian jobs. While the Syndicate coming and forcing people to become Mechas had been a bad thing, a lot of humans still wanted to go into space.

We are a crazy, adventurous, and curious bunch, Rick thought to himself as he watched the shuttles of trainees. Recruits had been removed as a term for new applicants.

The shuttles for the presidents and prime ministers as well as their collections of bodyguards and a throng of reporters made quite a noise, most of the reporters yelling questions as bodyguards kept them back and the leaders of the world looked as if they knew what the heck was going on. Rick was, thankfully, in the command center for Pandora's flight deck. While the captain guided the ship or the battle from the bridge, the flight deck command center made sure that everything ran smoothly. They were in charge of getting fighters deployed, rearmed, refueled, and retrieving them.

“Well, I better get down there.” Rick sighed. His squad was led by Wruck, an Avarian Krom had pushed onto him. Wruck didn't talk other to issue orders or to confirm his orders.

“Good luck, sir,” Wesley Stephenson, the man who made sure the flight deck was kept running, said.

Rick grinned. “Want to trade jobs?”

“No way, sir, that's all yours.”

“And here I was, hoping I had a savior.” Rick deflated as if moping before grinning.

“Ah well, it's why I get paid the big bucks.” He grinned as Stephenson grinned back. They tossed fingers at one another before Rick left the command center, taking an express transport down to the flight deck where deck chiefs waved leaders onto the utilitarian shuttle.

Rick fell in behind the moving reporters and VIP's; the former turned their attention to him. This is going to be a long shuttle ride, he thought as reporters asked him about the shuttle, the Pandora, which they had been in.

Rick kept his comments short, making sure to not talk about anything that would be of tactical value. Some reporters started to do in-depth reports of the shuttle. Rick had the reporters and the VIP's separated into different sections of the shuttle. He wished he was one of the pilots, safely tucked away in the cockpit.

At least he had Wruck, who stopped all but the most confident politicians from talking to him. Which still seemed to be a lot.

They arrived on a specially prepared dock and Salchar walked out in his battle suit from the airlock as the shuttle's doors opened. Reporters set up or went on the fly as the leaders made the most professional-looking walking race to Salchar, who put his hands behind him as he bowed, a few from countries which practiced the same gesture reciprocating.

“Hello, it is good to see you on this momentous day. Shall we proceed with a tour and the signing?” Salchar asked. Everything about him was picture perfect, from his hair tied back to his battle suit. Rick had to remind himself that the man had done interviews and lived in a world where the media was everywhere for quite a few years.

Salchar guided them off as he made small talk to a few, flashing a smile here and there.

I can see why he was good in front of a camera, Rick thought with jealousy as he shrugged and looked around.

“No reporters or anyone important...” he said as he waited for the airlock doors to shut.

“Oh god, that suuuuucked. I have no idea why I ever thought doing that job would be a good idea!” he yelled and a few of his protection squad laughed. He turned and grinned to them.

“How about we pop this musical stand and go get some beers?” he said, getting a few grins as he turned and started walking

“Well, c'mon then! We've got thirty minutes till they get to the bars,” Rick said and his squad hurried behind him.

In five minutes, Rick had a beer in hand and was surrounded by his people, Free Fleet people.

As all of his squad, except for Wruck, had a drink, Rick skimmed through what had been going on with the fleet. Before he finished his beer he was up to date. Then the beer just started to flow a bit faster.

His world became crystal clear as Wruck injected him with detox, as well as a few others.

“VIP's will be here in five minutes,” Wruck said, his voice carrying as the bar seemed to stand still, handing over their drink containers and paying up in a matter of seconds.

Rick did so as well, rushing out of the bar and towards Resilient.

“Hey, Resilient, how's it going?” he asked as he crossed her threshold.

“Rather well. I'm in better shape than I have been in thirty two years.”

“Well, that sounds pretty good to me! Now would you happen to know where my wife is?”

“The bridge.”

“We're surrounded by workaholics, I tell you!”

“Yes, we are,” Resilient said with an amused tone which implied Rick might be one of those same workaholics. “Would you like a full report on the fleet as well as myself?”

Rick paused for a minute, but the jig was up, he was a workaholic and he knew it. “Go for it.”

“Cheerleader has completed her reconnaissance of all the systems surrounding Parnmal. Now she is heading out into secondary systems.

“Felix and Min Hae have been going over the information file Salchar asked me to create and have come up with quite a few ideas. So have the people that Eddie has looking at it. Eddie has also has people that have completed plans for a base which can be deployed anywhere and will pretty much make itself. The plans for the refiners for Saturn and Jupiter are completed and Salchar has okayed the terraforming project of Mars. There are a few asteroids already picked, and Felix has some people working on a planet bomb as they're calling it.

“Bregend's battle cruiser is back to fighting condition. Some buyers have come to Chaleel and are spreading the word that there is a fleet fighting the Syndicate. AIH is getting better with each day. There is a steady stream of trainees from both systems going to Parnmal. One course of Commandos has been completed, eight hundred and fifty six new Commandos. Henry is itching to go and see them, but he's been training the Commandos here rigorously.

“There is also an additional near two thousand ship personnel.

“As for ships, well, everything that is not in Parnmal or strapped to Hachiro's hull is in working order. Plus, Parnmal has added an additional two destroyers and one corvette to Cheerleader's forces.”

Rick had got on a transport and was walking onto the bridge when Resilient finished.

He winked at Marleen as he took the commanders chair and Kawaga took Rick's usual spot.

“I'm going to need a full report on the ships and the Commandos. In Sol then moving back to Parnmal,” Rick said as his screens became populated with information and he forgot whatever complaining he'd done and got sucked in.

***

Henry watched as the VIP's moved through the station on one section of his HUD and he watched the squad ahead of him breech the scrapped destroyer, moving into it in a concentrated flow.

He'd learnt pretty quickly how to use his eyes separately and to think on multiple levels, so doing the two things was easy to him.

He checked over his Commandos, pride filling him. The Avarians who had come as Salchar's unofficial guard were a driven bunch and sucked up every piece of information that they could get on warfare. They'd quickly become an integral part of the Commandos, writing the name Ninja on their gear, the name that Salchar had given them when they'd first rose from the ground around the Commandos.

Felix and Min Hae were still figuring out how their natural sensor-absorbing bodies worked and Henry had turned his mind to other things, like bigger Mechas.

On this operation he'd gotten a full squad of Avarians outfitted with Mechas and trained up. The Avarians had to okay the operation to have their spine cut open. Though, this time they were knocked out instead of going through the whole ordeal awake.

The new Mechas could take more punishment, had larger reactors, more firepower, and were much bigger. Even with that, the Avarians had added extra armor plating to some of their fronts. Those that liked their bead cannons more had a basic metal plate in front of them which could suck up damage as they hosed the enemy, their HUD giving them an overlay through their impressive layers.

Those that favored their swords had added armor at points they found to be weak, or somewhere that would be exposed in a fight, meaning their backs were more heavily armored.

So far, the modifications had done nothing but improve their abilities, so Henry saw no reason to not allow them. Not one Mecha was the same, but then again, no one person was the same. The only thing that was uniform was where the Hell Fire manual lock was located, where the external medical pack was held, and the data pad rested on the Mechas lower back.

Henry rolled his shoulders, the armored exterior barely moving as the armour’s expanded exoskeleton rested near his chin, much like an American Footballer’s pads acted.

While none of his Commandos Mechas were uniform in appearance, it only seemed to add to their deadly looks. The Mechas hissed and groaned as they moved, their boots hammering into the deck in a rhythm which would scare the most experienced fighter.

They sounded like death come a knocking and looked like completely covered footballers with massive bodies, looking as if nothing could stop them.

“I'm surprised with how quickly they've learned.” Dave Smith, the man called himself. He was one of the close quarters experts Henry had accepted. Dave didn't want anyone knowing his real name and Rick accepted that. His resume was impressive, with his tours as a Green Beret. Christopher Giles was the other expert. He was from the SAS. Between them, they had taken the mostly trained Commandos and polished their skills. Henry wished he could test them against the professionals of Earth.

“We have to learn everything on the fly. Anything they learn from you guys mean that they can survive longer. Space is a cold bitch, as you've learned. There isn't room for idiots out there,” Henry said, his tone hard. Many people didn't deserve to learn those lessons first hand.

“Yeah, space is really the Darwin eliminator,” Rick said.

Henry nodded. “Now, I know you both have part time employment with the Free Fleet as contractors, but how would you like to take on the position as trainers? We need people with your knowledge passing it onto our Commandos.”

“What would that entail?” Smith asked.

“We train you up on our systems, get you to proper Commando standard, then you teach our trainees how to be the best they can be.”

“Though, you don't have that many recruits coming in from Earth,” Giles said, “and they won't be done for another five months.”

Henry looked to them, a grin on his face. “Trust me, you'll be working a lot quicker than five months. Also, you won't be in Sol System necessarily. We have another group of special forces trainers at work in a different system I would like you to get with and go over your stuff and come up with a better training plan than the one we ripped from the Syndicate.”

Both Giles and Smith looked interested as Henry looked away. “Just think about it. Oh, and you would, of course, get anti-aging treatments so you would be at peak performance.” Just try and say no, he thought, hiding his grin as he concentrated on his HUD feeds again. Wish I was in there instead of watching it, Henry grumbled as Commandos entered the stripped engineering department of the destroyer from four different locations. The Commandos inside gave a good fight, but they were swarmed quickly.

Need to work on defending, Henry thought.

“Exercise done,” Henry announced as the objectives of the destroyer was taken and the Commandos had moved into defensive positions.

“You know the deal. Run maintenance on your Mechas. Shower and food. Meet me in mess four,” Henry said. He made for the nearest airlock, using the newly added thrusters to get himself inside as Giles and Smith followed.

They went over a few points as they walked back to a secondary armory. With the Resilient inhabited with VIP's, Salchar didn't want to have Mechas running around making them nervous. Rick was about to exit his Mecha when the alarms sounded.

Chapter Perfect Timing

I was taking delegates from Earth onto the bridge, whole stations covered to protect their secrets, when I saw a reporter try to sneak away.

“Verlu, corridor D34,” I said. The commander accepted the order, a light of recognition turning on inside the HUD, it was called greening up. Another modification that came from the Commandos, making communications easier.

The tour had gone on without a hitch. I'd guided the VIP's through the station, giving plenty of good photo opportunities for the VIP's and introduced them to people from different races as reporters interviewed the Free Fleet personnel, who really sold the Free Fleet.

Two birds with one stone, I thought as I wondered about the trouble it had been to clear the path we were taking of anything that could be of military value.

I toured them through the ship, showing them the shuttle bays then a few corridors to the bridge, taking a circuitous route to confuse the reporters and VIP's.

Many of them were awed by the sheer size of the bridge. Most of them were probably still comparing it to the size of a super carrier, not something that could fit ten or so of them inside its hull.

Rick, who was in the command chair, gave a few greetings but was focused on his work, giving a few smiles out as world leaders seemed to keep wanting to bug him.

We made our way on another circuitous route to the shuttle bay where food and drinks were waiting as well as the paper and digital copies that would hold the signatures of Earth as it joined the Free Fleet's protection.

“Battle stations! Emergence of Syndicate forces. All personnel are to move to battle stations and await further orders.” My smile disappeared and the nation leaders and reporters looked around in confusion as Rick came over the system-wide emergency band.

“Send them and their people back to Earth with a warning of what's happening,” I said to Calerd, who waved that he'd got his orders and went to corralling the world leaders.

I ran to the nearest transport, pulling out my data pad as it whisked me off to the deck my room was on.

It had barely stopped when I was already running for my room and my Mecha.

In a few minutes I was in my room, and in another few I was in my Mecha. My helmet clamped shut as I got onto the command channel.

“REPORT!” I yelled. I cranked my servos up to the upper limits of their power, my protection detail falling in around me as we raced through the Resilient, personnel being warned of our approach as our boots hammered the deck.

“Fleet emerging from the Eridani jump point. Resilient's additional reactor is online and Eddie is initiating the fourth. He doesn’t believe the first and second will hold out. Three and five are out completely. The Kuruvians are already sending transmissions via tight beam laser to the incoming laser to try and inform the Sarenmenti and Kuruvians aboard,” Rick said.

“Good, I want all weapons brought online, including those just installed. I want the station to concentrate on laser arrays for PD. Have Heston have his forces ready to disperse to cover Earth's targeted side and take out missiles. Send all of our defensive platforms to him; they will be the last line of defense for Earth.”

I opened the channel to all of my ship commanders. “I want detailed reports on your readiness within ten minutes.” They greened up on my HUD, acknowledgement they’d gotten the message as I entered the blast doors.

Everyone was focused on their work as I strode to my seat, my eyes focused on the plotted Syndicate forces. We only had a basic reading from their emergence profile, their gravitational background noise they created as they entered the system showed me not only where they had emerged, but also that the skill level of the oncoming ships was not the best, and that they'd used their capacitors instead of their wormhole generators.

I took my seat, its comfortable, formfitting cushions hiding the weight that rested on my shoulders as I began reading reports and plotting the fleets movements till it would come into contact with the new arrivals.

***

Min Hae tried to not think of the information that Monk was reading as he worked on the side project he and Felix had going on, trying to see which technologies worked together. The new PDS systems had been a great success, but Min Hae and his people were pulling information out at an extraordinary rate. Plus, it seemed that everything they found, Felix could adapt to something.

I swear, he's going to fill up that yard he's got. Min Hae thought about the semi-secret development yard that had been holed out of Parnmal. It was the birthplace of both eclipse freighters, upgrades across the fleet, and whatever crazy things Felix could make.

Felix and Min Hae had settled into their positions on Parnmal station with ease. Min Hae and his people went through every piece of information that the Free Fleet had, compiling it and trying to glean secrets, ideas, or something from it to give to the right departments.

Usually, that department was Felix's research, developmental, and production kibosh.

The information that Resilient had supplied had made Felix lend Min Hae most of his big thinkers, so Felix was having a hard time getting through the main part of his job—gathering intelligence.

That was, until forty-five minutes ago, when one of his analysts cracked the cipher that the Syndicate was using for orders given by its leadership.

“Damn.” Monk sighed calmly. Min Hae had called the commander of Parnmal to come into his quiet office and read the report they'd been given from Hachiro's memory cores.

“Quite. It looks like Commander Salchar's forces will be outnumbered close to three to one, not including the station and with Commander Boots forces included,” Min Hae said. He had changed in his time on Parnmal, becoming much more confident of himself and more guarded, especially with the information he knew and who he told it to.

“Yes, but there is that if they survive,” Monk said, pointing to a listed on the manifest.

“Which by itself is more tonnage than the entire fleet and a good portion of the station in Sol System.”

Monk looked at the two lists of forces, nodding to himself.

“He'll do it,” he said, giving the data pad back to Min Hae.

“Sir?”

“Salchar will win, though at what cost, I do not know.”

“Should we send him reinforcements?”

“Cheerleader’s not expected back for another few days. The situation is similar in AIH and Chaleel systems. For now, we consolidate and be prepared if Salchar calls for us. Otherwise, they're on their own. We also need to figure out a way to use the cipher to decode the Syndicate's communications while not letting them catch on that we've done so.”

Min Hae nodded. “Bletchley Park,” he said and Monk looked at him with an odd expression.

“World War Two people in Bletchley Park figured out the German code and cracked the German's messages. Now we've done the same, we must make sure that it doesn't get out that we know the code.”

“Indeed, pass all information up to me as soon as you get it, and keep working on that package that Resilient pulled together, with our lack of people we need to use every advantage we can find.”

Min Hae nodded.

“Yes, commander.” Hopefully it'll take my mind off of the fact that Salchar and half of the fleet is fighting for their lives, Min Hae thought.

“Salchar will win,” Monk said, if to Min Hae or to himself Min Hae didn't know. Monk placed a hand on his shoulder in reassurance before heading back to the command center.

“Alright, we've got a lot of work to do and time is only running out,” Min Hae said and his squad worth of people that made up his intelligence department turned to their work.

He wished that he was Felix, putting together machines and weapons that would give the Free Fleet an edge, like the planetary cannons and shield generators for Parnmal he was making.

Salchar gave you a job, now it's time to do it, he thought as he turned back the intercepted messages and began decoding them.

Chapter Time is Never On One's Side

“Have we got clearer readings on the incoming fleet from the remote sensor buoys?” I asked the sensor commander of the Resilient.

“Getting rough images now, putting on the screen. From the signature it looks like they used their capacitors to make the jump.”

“Idiots,” I snarled under my breath but ,hopefully, their stupidity would mean they didn’t realize what was going on until they were too far into the system and hadn’t recharged their capacitors or jump generators to jump out of the system.

“Combined Arms, have you got those reports yet?”

“Yes, sending them to your station now,” Sook said.

“Sending to you now, sir.” My staff had come a long way from the bunch of strangers trying to grasp just what in the hell they were doing. Now we were one team, trained with precision and speed, working to move the massive force that was the Free Fleet.

In a corner of my HUD in the helmet of my Mecha I could see as forces from ships crew, fighters, and Armoured Marine Commandos that where supposed to be on ships and those actually on ships. Second by second the numbers increased, my people were well trained and our time in Sol System had only improved their skills.

I plotted rough vectors into the view screen connected to my seat as I talked.

“Rick, we have all of these trainees, it's about time we saw if they were any good. If a ship needs personnel they are to pull from the trainees. I do not believe that we will be having an engagement where we will be needing the Commandos to land,” I said as Rick greened up on my screen. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was already passing on my orders as well as getting recruits funneled onto the Resilient. He truly was an extension of myself at this point.

“Nav, I have a rough course, sending to you now. Refine and pass onto the rest of the fleet.”

“Combined Arms, what do you think about the cruiser Star Thrasher?”

“Commander Sung wants to prove himself, and I think his crew can get him to green status, but I think it’d be best if they stayed behind with the rearguard.”

“I concur, cut orders to the affect. They are to assist with PD of the Hachiro. If the station is badly damaged, they are to be an escape vessel. Nav, do you have a course?”

“I have the preliminary, doing the numbers, sir!”

“Comms, Eddie.”

“Commander?” Eddie said, his southern drawl at a minimum.

“Is that generator online? If not, I’ll be leave Resilient behind.”

“Working on it, need ten,” he said in a gruff manner.

“We're connecting directly to the Hachiro generators to kick start the fourth. There might be a momentary loss of power.” Eddie rolled over my lapse before he ended the channel; he had other things to do, so did I.

“Signatures recognized by sensors, we have approximately thirty ships incoming, three are factories attached to an unidentified structure. One dreadnought, a class below the Resilient, seven battles cruisers, three destroyers, seven cruisers, and fourteen corvettes. Thirty two ships in total,”  the sensor commander relayed to the entire fleet and station.

“Shit,” I said as I pulled up the table of my forces.

I knew my forces by heart, but I was hoping that I could pull something together; they doubled us in ships, and quadrupled us in tonnage. Other than Resilient, my next heaviest were two destroyers.

The bridge was quieter as people digested the news but continued on, nonetheless.

Well, we're just going to have to hit them as hard as possible. Trickery might be the best option. That way they just think we're being stubborn bastards, instead of the enemy. It would give us the best chance, I knew, as I opened a channel.

“Eddie?”

“Not now,” he said, cutting off my channel. I pulled up a diagnostic of the ships power plants. I could see it directly linked into the station as a highly concentrated burst of energy was passed from the station to the ship, routed through plasma lines into the warmed reactor. The magnetic bottle strained to contain the miniature sun created by the massive power outflow. The bottle looked like it was going to destabilize as the engineers fought to contain the power of the reactor while increasing the inflow of hydrogen to stop the reaction from dying. They didn't do anything as they left it up to Resilient to control her own furious heart, which seemed intent on ripping her open. Finally, she balanced the bottle, containing the miniature sun that had come into creation as the reactor stabilized.

Systems across the ship came online. Data banks that had been dead came alive. Weapons relays surged as gunners powered up and down while propulsion did the same, checking that we could out run them at the same time. Tactical went through their checklist as the Resilient hummed. I rubbed my armrest.

“Good to have you back with us you, tough biddy.” I smiled, hoping that one day I might be able to get her up to full fighting trim, and what a sight she would be!

'Why, thank you, that was rather rough going, balancing that bottle. Next time I hope we can do it properly. The thought of blowing up from my own power plant is more than a little nerve wracking.”

“I bet.” I grinned as Eddie opened up the channel to me.

“What?” he said, his voice strained, the work with the reactor showing it's pressure in his voice. I didn't have the time to give him to relax.

“Eddie, I want you fixing any problems that came with that power surge. Reroute if possible or shut off, we don’t have time for repairs.”

“Understood.”

“Good job, let your crew know that, I haven’t seen a better group of engineers in my lifetime and that I'm proud to call each and everyone of them mine.”

Yes, sir!” I could hear even through the raggedly tired voice the pride of the chief engineer.

“Now, get my ship working and we’ll show these bastards what she can do.”

“They’ll know when they’ve been kissed by the Resilient, you can be sure of that, commander!”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Resilient, Shrift,” I said, Comms was busy routing a massive overload of other communications.

“Shrift, have we got extra sets of Mechas?”

“Yes, sir, a lot more than we’re going to need. Why?”

“I'm putting the trainees to work early,” I said, my voice reflecting my un-surety of the plan, but also the necessity.

“Gotcha.” A chime sounded in my ear. I checked my HUD.

“Got to go. Henry’s calling me.” I switched channels. “Henry?”

“Sir, I don’t have enough men.” He sighed, not sounding pleased, but he knew I needed the facts.

“I know. I'm pulling the trainees onto the ships. Though, they need to be trained up,” I said.

“We’ll have three days.” His voice made it sound like I was crazy while also trying to figure out how to make it work.

“Yes. Tell me what you need.” My tone was soft but undeniable.

“Damned crazy, man. If I see a normal battle plan once in this outfit I'll be surprised.” He laughed before becoming serious again. “You're not going to like it, but I need Takahashi,” Henry said.

I became annoyed. The man's heart had been in the right place, but the way that he had manipulated Yasu was something I couldn't get over yet. “Why?” I couldn’t hide the edge in my voice.

“I know your feelings about the man, but he can get people trained faster than any other person I know. His people on Chaleel were the best group that I had. Combine him with Yasu and I think we might be able to get something that could do some damage.”

“I don't need them to damage; I need them to be able to put the ship back together. This battle's going to be one of ships, not Commandos.

“Still, he can do it.”

I thought on it for a second, but I didn't have a choice. I had picked Henry because of my faith in his abilities. If he said he needed Takahashi, he needed Takahashi. “Shit, alright do it, Yasu will be his commander.”

“Yes, sir, thank you, I know how hard this is for you.”

“I trust your judgment, Henry, and when needs must, we put everything on the table.”

“Seems that it happens all too often.”

“That it does, that it does.”

“Good luck!” he said.

“I should start buying stock of Wake Up,” I grumbled, Henry laughing as he cut the connection.

“Combined Arms, inform Heston that he is to be the last line of defense for Earth, and as such he will be a missile net for the planet.”

I didn't need a reply as I checked my data pad for what else needed to be done.

***

A now formally retired Captain Connolly was sitting on a shuttle as it headed to Hachiro. He had no idea where the rest of his men were going or who else was trying to infiltrate the Free Fleet. He was completely alone and amongst the very people he might have to turn on.

His thoughts were interrupted as the speakers crackled to life and there was a slight sideways movement.

“We're now headed to the Resilient. Syndicate forces have been detected entering the system.” That was all the pilot said as the speakers went dead.

So what the heck are we doing going to the ships? We don't know anything of use yet. Connolly thought as many of the people in the room reflected the same thought audibly.

It was some time until the shuttle seemed to slow and then connect with something. While still moving, five Commandos walked in through the exit doors, one of them yelling as they entered.

“We are your training cadre. Regardless of your rank, you are now nothing. This is space. It is nothing like you have encountered before. We are to turn your sorry fucking asses into something that is worthy to be called a member of the Free Fleet and can put us back together. You fuck up and it's Earth that's getting hit.” Their tone made it clear that the trainees were nothing until they proved themselves, and for now they were just taking up their precious time.

It reminded Connolly of his first gunnery sergeant.

This is going to suck, Connolly thought as he doubted he was going to enjoy the next three days at all.

The shuttles stopped moving altogether as the Commandos moved outside except for the one barking orders.

“Get moving, junk! Shuttles weigh three hundred tons, and they will not stop landing because there is some junk in the way!” They were ushered through corridors to a massive medical bay where screams could be heard.

“Since you have enlisted into the Free Fleet, you will all receive basic implants and nerve ports. It is not pleasant, but you will need it to be of use. I will remind you, you signed up for them in your contract.

“Two ranks either side of the door. Move, junk! Or you will fucking die!”

Connolly was hustled into the med bay and quickly strapped down to a chair, which turned into a bed, as a woman stared at him with clinical eyes before typing in something and Connolly passed out. He awoke to pain and being pulled out of the chair/ bed contraption. His spine was sensitive as was his hand and neck.

He looked around the med bay and he saw limbs darting into peoples arms and backs as if they were lambs at a slaughter house. Then he saw another person wake up as the arms were done mangling his back and ushered out as he was. Dull metallic ports visible in his back.

He was ushered out as another person came in, yelling as she saw his back.

Connolly felt his back, finding those same ports as a Commando pushed him out of the room. Outside of the room, there were mirrors which showed him his back with the new ports.

Everyone was ushered into the room, Commandos pulling people out from the stream coming from the med bay. Connolly was no exception as he was herded into a group of people he didn't recognize.

He looked around, realizing he was in the shuttle bay he had assaulted through.

Commandos wearing Mechas went through the ranks, studying them individually, silently. Some flinched away, some stared back or did a variety of things.

The Commandos didn't seem to care.

Connolly remembered the Mecha that stood in front of all the groups. It was Salchar. Behind him was his entire protection detail, Krom, Shreesht, Calerd, Dave, and Janice. Connolly had memorized every piece of information about the man. He doubted the United States would want the man alive when they assumed control.

Two other Commandos stood with him. One was slightly smaller and, from it's armor plating, Connolly thought it to be a woman instead of a man. The other looked to be a man. Both of them had a lot more scarring on their Mechas than Salchar did.

It was some time before everyone was done being processed through the med bay.

As the doors shut, Salchar took off his helmet.

“There is a Sarenmenti fleet heading towards us and Earth.” He let this sink in as his eyes seemed to weigh the quality of the people in front of him without coming to a clear decision.

“As such, the Free Fleet is mobilizing to meet them. As you may have heard, the Free Fleet is understaffed. As such, Commandos will be taking over roles as ship personnel, and you as well will be taught how to keep Resilient's systems running and us in the fight in order to give these bastards a world of hurt.

“Now, I know that you might be upset with the quick way that we put the most recent of you trainees through implant's. For that I am sorry, but we don't have much time. Yasu Cook, and Takahashi will be in charge of getting you ready to be of use to us in the oncoming battle. It's going to be quick and fast. Learn as fast as possible, and if you don't understand something, ask. There will be no time when we are engaged in battle.” He looked over them all again, his red eyes eerie.

“I wish you good luck. Now, let’s show these Syndicate bastards what happens when we're on a level playing field.” He nodded, replacing his helmet as he marched off the elevated platform. Yasu and Takahashi walked forward as they took off their helmets.

Takahashi spoke first.

“My name is Stone Warrior. I have the displeasure of teaching you in three days the finer points of being a Mecha user and how to keep this ship running as she is damaged in battle.

There is no option to fail. Otherwise, Earth and everything you know so far will be destroyed.” Takahashi's face was emotionless as he looked over everyone.

“Every Commando is above you; you are junk. You will not be with Commandos when they have to enter ships; you will be the fix up crew. You will have Mechas only because all Free Fleet personnel are to have them because of the rules imposed upon us. You will be damage control; you will patch holes and the like. Thankfully, we have many holes for you to patch!” He looked over the group, his eyes judging them as unworthy.

“This is Yasu Cook. She and I will be so far up your asses you can taste it. Shrift?” A large insectoid with mandibles came out from behind a shuttle. Everyone stared. It was the first time they’d seen an alien. Not many of them had realized that most of the Commandos they’d seen thus far had been Sarenmenti. Connolly knew how to tell the race of the Commando by the Mecha they were wearing.

“My name is Shrift. I’m the guy that makes your Mechas. You put a scratch on them and I will have your asses. I will also be the one walking you through how to fix the ship with some other engineers. Listen, and listen well; we don't have much time. Takahashi.”

“Thank you. Commandos, split them up, get them battle suits, Mechas, and start going over basic controls. I want them knowing how to use a Mecha by the end of a day, on a one to one power ratio. Don’t worry, trainees, you won’t need sleep; you’ll be issued Wake Up to that effect.”

Commandos took control of groups. Connolly's group was led off to metal closets. There was one piece clothing waiting there and the leader picked it up.

“My names is Commander George Everez. You will each get one of these battle suits.” He threw them out.

“Where do we get changed?” someone asked.

“Don't worry, you're going to see enough naked assess running around that it doesn't matter.”

“Are you some kind of pervert?” a woman asked as George took off his helmet.

“Lady, if anyone's the pervert here, it's you. I'm nine years old.” That got a few shocked looks.

“Then why are we learning from you?” a man asked as George held his hand up to a Kuruvian that was moving inwards to the trainees.

“I was the with first round of recruits. Thankfully, I had the pleasure of serving with Commander Salchar. He kept me and everyone here alive. One thing you have to learn in the Free Fleet, we do not care what you are; we care how well you can do a job. Age, sex, race, religion, all of that doesn't count for anything here. Here, we strive to survive.

I survived Parnmal with injuries. I then led a squad on Chaleel, and I am also a squad commander, taking Syndicate ships that used to be in orbit of Earth. I know how to use every weapon system this fleet has, from my rail gun to the rail cannons mounted on the Resilient herself. Now, if you think the knowledge that I have is not of use to you, well, that's your issue cause we're leaving Hachiro in a matter of minutes. Now, get dressed. The battle suit doubles as a space suit, use it.”

Not many moved and George shook his head. He unsealed his Mecha and stood out of it.

He was a massive man now, despite his age. He pulled off his battle suit without blinking. Scars covered his body.

“Now, you put it on like this,” he said, putting it back on and pressing the tab so it sealed.

Those that hadn't been wearing it were embarrassed into putting theirs on.

“I am not here to embarrass you. I'm here to get you ready to keep this ship in the fight. If that means I have to resort to treating you like the children that I'm supposed to be, then I will.” Connolly knew George meant it. The man nodded to himself before he continued talking.

“You are each going through a simulation of the mark four Mecha armor. Use it wrong, and you will break your bones and kill yourself in the real thing. That was how I was trained, the simulator will not kill you, just cause discomfort.

“We'll begin with walking then we’ll work with different issues we might have in battle.”

***

Henry looked over the rosters of the new trainees; Salchar, Eddie, Shrift, Yasu and Rick were there in person while all of the captains and commanders of the ships Commandos were there in holograms.

“Henry?” He was broken out of his reverie as he looked up.

“Commander Salchar, it’s a shit show. I just hope they’re of more use than they are the trouble.”

“If it helps in anyway, I don’t care.” Salchar nodded. They'd had the new trainees on board for about an hour and there were already a ton of issues coming up.

“I agree, sir, just I’ve never seen anything like this. Even we had time to train before we met the enemy,” Henry said with a sweep of his arm, as if encompassing the entire fleet.

“Yes, but we need them, we don’t have the people to keep the ships moving and patch them up,” Shrift said as Eddie looked like he wanted to argue the point.

“For now we just need to focus on getting us in fighting trim for battle. Repairs are something to worry about when we're done with all this.” Salchar looked around the room as the commanders nodded in agreement.

Henry nodded his agreement as well. Salchar looked around the people in the room, real or holographic.

“Might as well get started. Prepare to undock from Hachiro and take up formation Charlie niner. Ten minute warning order.” Everyone saluted and James returned it as holograms disappeared, readying their people.

Henry remained. It had been a grim review of how much the fleet was in disrepair and unprepared for this battle.

“What issues are we having with the trainees and the Commandos?” Salchar asked relaxing minutely.

“Our people came from diversity and just sheer horrific training. These people haven't, as such they think that the Free Fleet personnel are being hard on them.”

“Show them a video of Parnmal.” Salchar looked into the table for a few minutes as Henry too dealt with his ghosts.

“I'll see to it,” Henry said, his voice harsh with sad memories.

“God, I wish we could rest for once,” Salchar said, leaning into his hands.

“That should be the motto of the Free Fleet.”

Salchar laughed hollowly. “Yes, I guess it should.” He physically gathered himself, pulling his head from his hands. “Well, I better get to work then.”

“Good luck, James.”

“You too, brother, you too.” In the time it took them to stand, James the individual disappeared, and Salchar the leader was ready to do what needed to be done.

Chapter Surprises

I took my seat on the bridge.

“Comms, do we have the holographic projection ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay, let's test it. Then we'll send a message to the other fleet.”

“Intelligence Commander?” I said. I caught the Commander's eye as he came over to me.

“Sir?”

“Do we know if Welick knew an of these ships captains?”

“I can't be sure, Commander.”

I rested my head in my hand. “Very well, thank you.” He drifted back to his station as Comms announced that the holographic projection was ready. I checked it on one of my screens, seeing Welick and his couch, as well as the finery that had decorated the inside of what he'd called the Golden Refuge, cover my own command chair.

“Open a channel,” I said. After some time an Orvunut, a large blockish alien with four limbs it used in its high gravity world to move, it's head like a hammerhead shark's.

“Hello, Captain, I have been sent to escort your package into Sol System. You may return to whatever you were doing,” I said in a dismissive tone which came out as Welick's with some filters.

The Orvunut let out a snort, which, when taking into account that the race did nothing unless it was warranted, meant he was royally pissed.

“Fairgate send. We to look after yard. Not you.”

Yard? My sensor pits were still trying to figure out what the object was, but with our current and still ciphered information, we had no idea what the massive object was.

“Jorsht got a message from her. She says that she wants you back in the home system.”

“Why?”

“I don't know why. I don't question the Lady Fairgate. Are you?”

“I do not question her. I question you.”

“But I'm giving you her orders.”

“I will protect the yard till she tells me not to.” I allowed annoyance to fill my voice. Damned stubborn bastard.

“She already has. Why did you move station?”

“Felt it was best to put it close to easier resources.” I shrugged and Welick's hologram did the equivalent.

“Good for yard.” He seemed to calm down, already moving past the issue of Fairgate's orders. Shit. I mentally cursed myself. I'd been hoping to maybe pull one over on these guys and get whatever the strange object that they were guarding was, and not have to come to battle.

“Fairgate ordered me to guide the yard in, so that is what I will do,” I said as the Orvunut grunted.

“Do as you shall. I need Mechas.”

“How many?” I asked, using the tone that I would when I was buying groceries from street vendors in Korea.

“Sarenmenti dying off, ninth generation. I will need all new stock.”

“Ten million credits.”

Comms forwarded me a message they'd received from the other captain.

I, Lady Fairgate, give Captain Orvunut and his fleet a full compliment of Commandos upon their arrival in the third slave races system.

It was signed with a fancy electronic signature saying it originated from the carrier Elshurvum.

I let my tone sink in defeat as I nodded.

“Very well. I'll take your old stock.”

“One million. Good stock, twelve years fighting at least.”

“What are you going to do with them otherwise? Clot your ships?”

“Space.” The one word made me want to blow the smug Orvunut's face off. He was going to kill a million troops because he simply wanted to turn a profit.

“Five hundred thousand,” I said and he grunted.

“Eight hundred, plus gear.”

“Five-fifty.” While I hated myself for putting a price on people, no pirate was going to take the first offer.

“Seven-eighty,” he said. Finally, we agreed on six seventy, plus all of their gear and he said he would dock at Hachiro. I said I would accompany him and his fleet with their mysterious yard. I had an idea, but I thought it was my imagination getting the best of me as such a resource would not be put in a system the furthest from the pirates center of power.

I had also told him that getting his ship in first would make it so that he got the best pick of them all, which hopefully meant that my Commandos could pull off what they had at Parnmal, and we could get the dreadnought out of the fight. The rest of the ships were hard, and with them docked we could take some of them out too. Though, I was planning to have to fight them, just in case.

“Henry, I need you to organize who you want to keep on Hachiro to take ships and who is going to stay with the fleet to put us back together in battle. Use Rick,” I said as I cut the channel. Those two would know who was needed where. “Channel to the fleet and station.”

“Open.”

“Okay, they're coming to us. We're splitting the Commando forces and keeping the trainees that are on board. COS and CAMC are figuring out the personnel issues right now. I hope to be moving within the day.” I cut the channel. “Commander Heston.”

“On!”

“Have a few shuttles going up and down to Earth for another eight hours then have FengFang come to the station. Another eight then yourself. I want the Syndicate forces to think that you're haulers. Also, make sure that the leaders are safely back to their nations.”

“Sir.”

“Nav, plot the straightest course for that fleet.” They looked at me with a confused look.

“Syndicate plot in straight lines; it's easier for them. We need to seem as Syndicate as possible.

“Commander.” They turned to their plot table as I sipped water from my Mecha's reservoir.

It was going to be a very long few days. At least it meant that our trainees had five days instead of three to get ready. For once we've been given time, I thought as a call from Shrift waited for me.

“What's up?” I asked, kind of confused why he was calling me. The last I knew he was raising hell in the bowels of Resilient alongside Eddie.

“I just got in contact with my brother.”

“You have a brother?”

“I have three.”

“Ah.”

“I don't talk about them because I think of them as dead until proven otherwise,” he said by way of explanation. The cold reasoning made sense when dealing with the Syndicate, especially when knowing their true identity.

“Anyway, Silly contacted me through the tight beam. He's on the massive structure. It's a shipyard.” I looked ahead at my bridge blankly and my brain seemed as if it was having a fireworks show that my body didn't realize.

“Really?” My tone was at odds with my body's want to dance around the bridge like a crazy man.

“Yes, it's one of five that Lady Fairgate has.”

“The hecks it doing here?”

“I have no idea.”

“Did you get any other information?”

“Yeah, I sent a recording to the Intelligence Department. The station has no fighting capabilities and there's only a handful of Syndicate forces on it, other than the Kuruvian workers.”

“They know anything about the ships?”

“Not really, the Kuruvians on those ships are being quieter. They're with us, but they don't want to be killed or tip off the Syndicate or the Sarenmenti. These Sarenmenti’s parents were raised by the Syndicate; they're as loyal as it gets.”

“Alright, thanks.”

“No worries, Salchar,” he said, closing the channel.

Better, but I'm still dealing with massive forces. Even if the ships didn't have Sarenmenti Mechas on them, the personal crew could still fight the ships pretty well. The way they rigged their ships was something that the Free Fleet had copied with our man power issues.

Though, I didn't know anything other than the shipyard had marginal Syndicate forces on it, and that the Orvunut had a lot of powerful ships. Weapons, their condition, and all of that was still to be seen.

It's not as if you haven't fought this blind before, I thought as I called up Commander Verlu to ask him the way Mecha's were transferred and see if I couldn't limit the effectiveness of the ships I faced even more.

“Combined Arms, Sensors, I want something covering the ships from the last battle. We don't want them recognizing parts from other ships.

What else do I have to worry about?

***

Evelyn Sparks had been a small-time reporter before the Recruitment. Sure, she had some stuff that aired from her risky journey's. She'd been to every war zone across the world, but only a quarter of her stories had been posted. Yet, when the Recruitment happened and the PDF took over, Evelyn had risen in popularity as she had risked everything to bring her viewers some of the views into the shuttles that took kids to the station.

She'd flown drones over the sites to get more for her viewers to see while large news networks practically died overnight and there was little to no use for them anymore. Evelyn had always thought that the big networks only existed to push the political ideals of a political party.

News wasn't about the news anymore, until the recruitment came, and Evelyn spiked as one of the most watched news reporters.

It was one of the things that had gotten her onto the trip to Hachiro Station. Her abilities had gotten her free from the pack of VIP's, into a battle suit, and rounded up onto the Dreadnought Resilient. Home to Commander Salchar.

The shuttle bay devolved into chaos as personnel began checking over different items and pilots rushed to check their machines. The two squads who had looked over the delegation were hard pressed to get everyone onto the shuttle and didn't notice her slipping away.

Evelyn worked to make herself as invisible as possible with her normal stature, her plain face, and even her unremarkable hair, being confused for either blonde or brunette by the majority. Few knew that Evelyn had colored her hair just so it was unremarkable. Her appearance was her camouflage, and it had allowed her to get to places where others couldn't or wouldn't dare to go.

Which was why she was learning how to replace power circuitry.

She'd already got some shots around the ship, such as Commando's doing physical testing or sparring.

She had been impressed, though she hadn't gotten anything to send back to Earth yet.

So, for now, she ate the terrible food, learned how to affect battlefield fixes on a dreadnought and waited for the oncoming battle and settled people's fears that the Free Fleet was just the PDF in disguise.

After having been in some nasty places, Evelyn always believed in the worst news which, by what she'd seen of the PDF imposters, was not the Free Fleet. They actually gave a crap about the people around them. The PDF/Syndicate only saw them as nothing more than machine parts to replace old parts, to be replaced by another in time.

George Everez, her squad commander, hadn't said much about his time as a recruit in Salchar's squad. Though, Evelyn could tell the man, no matter his real age, had seen some terrible things in his time. Evelyn wanted to hug the man sometimes as others disregarded it. Only Connolly saw it too. Evelyn knew the Captain of the failed American takeover of Resilient and Hachiro.

She touched her data pad pouch, there were still the two recorders from a Mecha there as well as a wireless transmitter she'd mangled together. At least these battle rigging lessons came in some use, she thought as she began planning how to get it planted in the Resilient's bridge.

Chapter Riding On Luck and Lies

After the Orvunut's talk, none of the ships had tried to contact us which, while being normal for the conservative Orvunut, still made me nervous.

We'd figured out a plan to try and get the Sarenmenti off of the ships and to get our own people on them.

It was two days after the Syndicate forces had appeared and my fleet was falling in around the shipyard. The trainees hadn't slept since they'd come to the ships, yet they'd learnt quickly.

How well would only be seen in battle.

“Coming into position,” Combined Arms said as I watched the main plot. Resilient came alongside the dreadnought the Orvunut captained as the rest of the Free Fleet dispersed throughout the remainder of the Syndicate forces.

“Nothing, no weapons powered up or shields raised,” The sensor commander said. I nodded as I considered my own un-powered shield generators and weapons. We were on the same standing as the Syndicate ships. Hopefully, we would be the ones to power up first if we came to blows.

We had just three days left until the fleet reached the orbit of Mars and Hachiro.

“Rick, I want you to personally make sure that everyone stays to their sleep schedule.”

“In that case, I think it's time you went and took a nap, Commander.”

“I..”

“You've been up since the Syndicate entered the system, boss,” he said as he turned in his chair. He wasn't going to back down.

“Okay, I'll take a nap if you do too.”

“You're on! My onesie is calling me,” he said with a grin as a few people chuckled around the room.

“I always wondered why you were so attached to your onesie,” I said as I stood, grins around the room. If we'd been in a regulated and ruled strict military like the ones on Earth, someone would have probably said that we were unfit to lead or something. I didn't understand it. People needed to blow off some steam before battle, and that was best done with laughter and a relaxing atmosphere, instead of having to keep everything bottled up and fear that someone might turn you over for being unprofessional.

Some people did blow off their steam with weights and with fights, but it was in a calm manner. When we'd gotten to Earth, I'd bought every comedic movie, stand up recording, or anything remotely funny and had it played in the entertainment lounges and messes.

I got up as Rick stood up and strode over to my seat.

“Now I see why you wanted to be commander; this seat is so much more comfortable!” he said as he settled into it, flashing me a grin which I returned before making my way to my room.I stared at the ceiling, willing myself to fall asleep but finding myself wide awake, thinking of the enemy fleet all around me.

***

I watched as the ships began docking at Hachiro while the ship yard was towed along the asteroid belt, all of their scanners cranked up to max as they examined rocks and their composition.

When they'd begun, I'd been alarmed, but Shrift had assured me that they were looking for the best asteroids to park the ship yard next to and start pulling apart to fill their stores.

Thankfully, they weren't anywhere near Shirley and her group.

“I will go first,” Orvunut said as his dreadnought reached the station.

Three battle cruisers and two corvettes joined him as they connected with the station.

The rest of the Syndicate fleet loitered around the station as they began sending shuttles with their old Sarenmenti Mecha's to Hachiro.

“Combined Arms, have our ships move into forty-five degree fans out from Hachiro.” I made a quick sketch on my hologram, sending it to her.

“Sir. Also, the dreadnought and the other ships are offloading their Mechas.”

“Good. Make sure everyone's guns and generators are ready for quick start.”

“How are we looking, Marleen?” I asked. She stood in her tactical section; I had seen her use her seat only during hard acceleration. Yet in battle she stood with her headset, working her table as if she was part of the ship. I'd never seen her stumble, even with some of the worst hits Resilient had taken.

“Ready as ever. All weapons are ready but uncharged.”

“Good work,” I said as I watched shuttles move Mecha's into Hachiro. Specifically, I had them funnel their un-armor Mechas into the squad pods, as I had my fully Mecha-wearing Commandos taking the role of the incoming Mecha's, stomp into shuttles or ships.

I was hoping that the Syndicates wouldn't look too closely at my Commandos; otherwise, they might notice that they were being given not only human commandos but Sarenmenti and two other races.

The first wave of shuttles picked up Mechas and took them back to their ships. Shuttles waited around the station as they connected, dropped off Mechas, and got Commandos before returning to their own ships and the other waiting shuttles raced for the airlock.

Watching the shuttles and ships butt for an attempt to get their cargoes changed over reminded me of documentaries that I'd seen on people in Europe and India of people driving cars.

It was a mess.

It also meant it was confusing as hell to know which ships still had a full compliment of Mecha's, those that had Commandos, or neither.

“Resilient, can you give me a real time measure of the Commandos or Mechas on the ships?”

“Certainly.”

A list of all the ships as well as a slider with Mecha and Commando forces appeared.

I had only around fifteen thousand fully trained Commandos while Orvunut and his forces were unloading around fifty thousand. It meant at sometime I was going to run out of Commandos. So I had taken a risk in order to face less Sarenmenti Mechas. I had asked for volunteers from the ranks of the recruits that we'd found at Hachiro. It had been a lot of work, but my Commandos had managed to train them up. It was one thing that had gotten me a lot of heat from the world as I chose to give these kids the training they'd need to be Commandos instead of the murderous, uncaring monsters that would do anything that the individual with their pain implant told them.

Becoming Commandos had given them back their ability to be themselves, but it also meant that they were the best trained forces I had other than my actual Commandos. I had asked for volunteers to just pose as Mecha's, and I'd gotten a further twenty thousand.

I'd armed them with stun rounds just in case anything went badly.

Just a matter of time, I thought as my Commandos flooded the Syndicate fleet.

Chapter Second Battle for Earth Begins

Ughs rested on his specialized chair as he looked over the room with a bored look. The Welick slime had transferred it's credits for the Sarenmenti and their gear while it had filled Ughs ship, and the ships of the fleet with him, with Humans.

“Narest say debris is odd.” Mmnh said as Ughs looked to his planet brother. The Orvunut relied on communicating with their eye movements to conserve energy.

“Ships were being used. Weapon fire on hulls is new.”

“Power weapons, ask about the ships,” Ughs said and someone saw to it.

“Prepare to activate kill switches of the new Mechas.” His voice was painfully slow as he grunted. The Orvunut equivalent of ripping his chair up in anger.

***

I was sitting in the command chair, sipping on water from my Mechas internal water supply. Everyone on the bridge was wearing Mechas. I had made it mandatory for all personnel. The majority had gone through Commando training and could dial up and down the power of the Mecha, thus being able to use it to do fine motor control work, or turn and fight hand to hand if needed. I wouldn’t have my people defenseless. Weapons were, however, located at the rear of the double tiered decks where Rick and I sat.

I surveyed both floors with my visor open as I drummed my fingers on the metal of the armrest, making metallic clinks with each tap.

Rick walked in, nodding to me and I nodded back. He sat in his chair, which locked him into place with locking bolts—similar to those in the shuttles—as he made sure he hadn’t missed anything pertinent.

“Two hours until engagement,” the combined arms Sook called out. Even though she was a good five meters away, Resilient's sound conversion fields made it sound as if they were a few feet away—making the massive bridge, spread out as it was, feel as if it was the size of a corvettes, allowing orders and information to be passed at surprisingly efficient speed.

“Communications, begin the broadcast and defuse signal.”

“We have weapon power ups!” sensor pit called out.

“Send the command,” I said without batting an eyelid. “Tacitcal, shields, fire them up and put rounds into their shield generators.”

“Your online, Commander.”

“Syndicate forces, this is Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet, this system is under our protection. Surrender and you will be sentenced according to your crimes. Do not and we will be forced to reply with the force necessary to detain you or to eliminate any threat you present. Do I make myself clear?”

“We have a return broadcast.”

“We will burn you and your planet, Human.” The Orvunut closed their channel as I turned to Rick.

“Fighters?”

“Flushing, five minute till their out.

“Weapons hot!” Marleen yelled as she checked over her preset targets. Resilient's weapons came online and began firing at Battle Cruiser Foxtrot and Bravo as well as Destroyer Bravo.

“Fighters are to target the corvettes. All ships are to take targets of opportunity. Combined Arms and Resilient, work to make sure we don't hit the ships we need. Pass blueprints to gunnery crews. Comms, you running that jammer?”

“We are online,” Comms confirmed as my orders were passed out. Resilient bucked from her own weapons firing.

“Shields?”

“We’re programmed, ready to supercharge shields, estimate a hundred and forty percent for two minutes.”

I checked the status of the ships under my command. All of them were firing and most were just about getting their shields online. The Syndicate forces were still charging their weapons.

I accessed Bok Soo and Shrift's channel.

“Alright, go for the shipyard. Shrift, communicate with your brother and pass on anything useful to Bok Soo.”

“Done,” Bok Soo said. I cut the channel and looked at the chaos in front of me. For now, the fight was going for me, but soon the Syndicate would have their larger weapons online and my destroyers and below would feel it.

As I had Rick as my second in command I had put Kawaga in charge of the station, which was still charging it's even bigger weapons. It's shields would take a few minutes more than the weapons, time I simply did not have.

I knew that pressuring him for a faster result would be useless. I turned to figuring out the best way to incapacitate ships with shooting them and having my Commando's aboard.

“Nothing survives contact with the enemy,” I muttered as my head twisted from screen to screen, wishing I was with my friends instead of watching who had the fastest charge rates and hoping that the Syndicates ships were damaged enough to take them out of battle, yet not so much as to harm my Commandos.

I was dancing on a knifes edge, and I knew it.

***

Commander Heston was similarly moving between screens as Stephenson came over his earpiece.

“All fighters flushed.”

“Very well, Wes,” he said, cutting the channel.

“Keep it together, watch your wing man and hit those bastards where it hurts!” Heston yelled to his fighters. He changed to flight commanders in charge of four fighters a piece.

“Cleo, you're all over the place,” he said. He watched over his fighters much like a bear would their cubs.

God, I wish I was in a fighter. I understand why the commander is always getting in the middle of battle. His hands reached for imaginary fighter controls as Commander Xing reported his fighters were also in the dark.

“PDS are online. Shit, Kar-” The line ended as the flight commander dealt with a renegade fighter going for glory.

“Pass to higher,” Heston said, pointing to one of his three comms team members.

He pressed an icon for a ship, connecting him.

“Pull your head in! Corvettes and targets of opportunity, not some slow moving PDS!” He cut the channel.

God, I wish I was in a fighter. He repeated the mantra as he tried to keep his fighters alive by trying to yell down their ballsy moves while also trying to temper that with the confidence to do the ballsy shit they were already doing.

“Bravo, Charlie—launch!” Wing Commander three said as three Bravo and Charlie fighters fired their missiles and the entire wing veered off. The corvette rolled to displace the damage over its hull as the missiles detonated at a distance enough to rake the Corvette's armor and weapons, but not penetrate the innards, hopefully.

“Good hit,” Heston said as the corvette powered out and away from battle, it's one side cleared of weaponry.

A fighter went down then another.

“This is not time for show boating; this is the real damned thing,” Heston growled at them. All as the fighters stayed closer to their wing member and only dived in close to deliver their missile payload.

Heston felt as if he was riding a bull more than he was organizing anything as someone overrode his channel. “Weapons firing, Syndicate are hot.”

Then another override. “Shields are online, premature detonation.”

One of the comms personnel was already passing it up as Heston was talking to his fighters.

“Get those shields. I will relay if any shields come down. Targets are shield generators.” Heston reminded them all as their adrenaline was probably skyrocketing, no matter their race.

***

Henry was listening to Heston's comms. He was in the belly of the dreadnought.

Already, he and the Commandos had a blueprint for the ship and were moving to the personal quarters of the Syndicate personnel. The Mecha's had been locked away in the outer layer with no communications. The Commando's plasmid blades served to quicken their progress to transports that took them to key areas of the ship.

“Alright, commanders, we need these ships down. Their weapons are coming online,” he supplied as his transport reached the bridge of the dreadnought.

“Commander, we can't get in,” one of Henry's platoon commanders at the bridge said.

“Then go around it, and cut the lines in. We need to get this ship down now.” Henry's voice was rough.

“Commander,” the platoon commander said, as Henry saw his forces were already cutting through the ship.

Henry's protection detail was around him as he walked off the transport and found a cubby to sit in. He checked the progress of his other Commando groups.

Bok Soo was nearly at the ship yard. The groups throughout the Syndicate fleet were having varying levels of success. Some were engaged with Sarenmenti Mecha's, others were working with them, some were being wiped out because there was not enough of them to hold the ship. The corvettes were already taken, the ones that had been docked, anyway. The Commandos had them pulling back behind the station, it only took two ships out of the battle, and the least damaging ones at that—but everything counted at this point.

“Verlu, Erkshaw, how are those battle cruisers going?” He'd put them in charge of two of the four battle cruisers that had shuttled their Mecha's in exchange for the disguised Commandos.

“Verlu here. We've just left the Mecha's behind. We had to fight our way through them. We took heavy losses. I have people operating in strike squads to run through the ship and cause as much damage as possible. Once the Mecha's get free, we're screwed. I need reinforcements if I can drop this shield.”

“Understood.” Verlu cut as soon as Henry had acknowledged.

“Erkshaw, we have taken the port gunnery. We were able to subdue the Mecha's and are working to take out the shield hubs and cut power to the starboard.”

“Understood,” Henry said as he passed their information to Kim In Sook.

“Kawaga, are my Commandos loaded and ready to be deployed?” he asked.

“Yes, they are ready and waiting. There is a core group of two thousand Commandos, and seven thousand of the trainees,” he said as if commenting on a thoughtful novel.

“Thank you.” Henry checked on Bok Soo, who was still an hour away from the ship yard. I can swear I checked that two hours ago, Henry thought as he checked the progress on the dreadnought's bridge.

“Commander, I want you at the blast doors into the bridge,” Henry said, picking a squad commander that looked to be doing little.

“Sir.”

Now time to prepare to have my Commandos leave for the other ships. We need to get those damned shields down! Henry stood and he began marching towards the bridge as he cut orders for his Commandos and trainees to lock up the Kuruvians in the same areas as the Sarenmenti. There was no knowing who was loyal or not and having a reactor blow up in his face was not high on his list of priorities.

***

I watched as Syndicate ships changed from orange to red.

“Syndicate weapons are online,” Sensors said as they updated which ships had their weapons online. First it was corvette's and cruisers then destroyers. The Resilient shook from impacts as every ship seemed to focus their fire on the dreadnought. When the battle cruisers and dreadnought came online, it was hard for me to not jump up and try to manage Tactical as Marleen was yelling to her gunners.

“Shields are at eighty percent, sixty-four.”

“Marleen?” I asked, trying to hide the near-panic in my voice.

“Roll!” she said. Helm rolled Resilient, putting new shields and new guns in the line of fire as Brusk's gunners let loose a full volley into every ships but the one Erkshaw and his people were on

“We have shield spotting!” Sensors said.

“Get those shields down, Marleen,” I said as I opened a channel to Heston.

“Heston, I need those guns and if needed, ships, taken out.”

“Hachiro is coming online,” Rick said. I nodded as I punched another channel open to Kawaga.

“Hit the battle cruisers.”

“Weapons are going down on the dreadnought. Henry is reporting command has been cut from the bridge. He's clearing house,” Rick reported.

“See if he can use those weapons against the rest of the Syndicate,” I said, remembering I was still live with Kawaga.

Resilient shook from another blast as shields called out.

“Forty-five percent and falling. They're focusing on us.”

“Prepare to roll!” I said, coming back to Kawaga.

“They'll turn their attention to you as soon as you become a threat.”

“Yes, sir, I have removed people from the outer areas already.”

“Good.”

“Shields are spotting,” Shields said.

“Roll!” I yelled as systems short circuited, someone swearing as Resilient shook violently.

“Talk later, Kawaga.” I cut the channel as Resilient was reporting her damage.

“I'm hit in a corridor, sealed and contained. Systems rerouted, also in second gunnery deck, area sealed, hull weakened.”

It had taken the firepower of the dreadnought, destroyers and some of the battle cruisers to do that damage which, while being a testament to Resilient's defenses, showed how even she was vulnerable.

“Destroyer Rising Sun has lost shields!” Sensors called out. I gritted my teeth. Zor's gunnery team was giving the Syndicate hell, but the constant battering was taking down our shields still, shaking us a fair bit.

“Get it to pull behind Hachiro to affect repairs.”

“We're spotting!” Shields called out.

“Pull everyone to inner rings. We're going to take a beating,” I said and Rick started yelling for people to pull back into the ship through the internal speakers.

“Hachiro's shields are up! They're firing!” Sensors called out.

“Resilient rocked even more as there was a grinding sound.

“Taking hits,” Resilient said. Come on, we just need to hold out enough to drop Commandos on those ships, I thought as I stared at my screens for some edge.

I watched as Hachiro's weapons, nearly twice the size of Resilient's, fired.

“Battle Cruiser Golf's shields are down,” Sensors said. I could see Heston's fighters were already moving for the ship.

“Corvette's Ravage and Ashkul are down,” sensors continued. I forced myself to watch the corvette's come apart, Battle Cruiser Charlie had turned on them with their massive rail guns. The rounds had punched through their weakened shields and cracked the corvettes.

I watched as another took two hits before it's shields gave way and the battle cruiser hit it's bottle. There was nothing left.

Sensors reported what I'd already seen.

“Rick, have the corvettes  and cruisers on striking runs,”  I said. Kim looked like a woman possessed as she coordinated where Commandos were and where gunnery crews should shoot or were shooting.

“Shields?” I asked. Resilient reported plasma rounds hitting her armor and burning into the second layer before chemical countermeasures stopped it.

“Suggest we roll. Crews are working on shield relays,” shields said.

“Do it, Helm,” I said as I watched the screen of casualties grow, anger and pain filling me. I had to tear my eyes from the readouts.

“The destroyers are gathering together with the cruisers and attacking Hachiro,” Sensors said.

“Resilient, get me the senior commanders on those ships.”

“On.”

“I need those ships dead, whatever it takes.” I knew that my talking to them personally and saying those words would mean that more Commandos would die than if they took the ship normally. Yet I needed Hachiro. It was the only thing other than the Resilient that could take the punishment. I checked the status of my other ships. All of them, except the corvettes that were running to turn around and get a run on the Syndicate ships, didn't have shields. Most of them had breaches and were leaking atmo.

Resilient shuddered as alarms went off.

“Bottles one and two have failed. Ejecting them,” Resilient said, her voice becoming very electronic.

My finger hovered over Eddies name for a second.

“Resilient, what does that mean?”

“We cannot maneuver, only shoot.”

“Shields, I'm going to need you online ASAP!” I said as I tapped the command chair's arms.

The dreadnought was still pounding us with one side, but only one other battle cruiser was joining in. The rest were attacking Hachiro.

Then the dreadnought went quiet before its engines fired to put it above Hachiro and fire onto the forces attacking the station. The destroyers and smaller ships scrammed as they moved to attack the dreadnought.

“Henry here, we have the dreadnought,” He said, his voice coming in ragged breaths. Knowing the physical regimen the man adhered to, I knew he was wounded. I just hoped he saw to it.

“We have taken down the shields on BC Golf.”

“Understood.”

Things were now changing rapidly for the group of ships that were attacking Hachiro. My words had seemed to have the desired effect.

A destroyer changed its IFF and moved out of the battle. It was a wreck. Three cruisers went dead as one corvette's bottle let go, taking it and the corvette nearest it out. Usually, such a thing didn't happen in space, but we were within each others personal space with everyone holding around Hachiro.

I let my fingers hit the armrest a few times as the bloody screen with my constantly updating wounded and dead list kept updating.

“We have shields!” Shields said. The calm shocked me, I'd become used to the battering of weapons fire.

“Use starboard side shields to assist port,” I said as the corvettes and cruisers came in on their attack run, laying down fire into the BC's, which were converging into a group, actually blocking one another's line of fire. One BC learnt this as it received a plasma round in its side away from the battle. It, like Resilient, had used its shields pointing away from the battle to bolster it's engaged ones, meaning it had no shields there as plasma ate into the hull. It took out the gunnery deck and caused an explosion before the plasma was finally stopped by countermeasures.

The battle cruiser turned, moving out of battle slowly as it fired at Hachiro.

“Rick, get the corvettes to focus on those engines,” I said as the cruisers loosed their missiles racks.

Stars erupted across the front of battle cruisers as their PDS was mostly too slow to hit the missiles.

“Shields down!” Sensors said as they ran off a list.

Fighters are reloading. Cruisers also have missiles to take down the weaponry quickly. Cannons will put holes in them. Yet if they miss then those Commandos will pay, I thought.

“Resilient, send the distances for the cruiser missiles to take out the battle cruiser's weaponry, and order to fire.”

I opened Kawaga's channel.

“We'll have an opening for those Commandos in a minute; be ready to release them.”

“Understood, Commander.”

I waited on the channel as I watched my plot. “Commander Felur is abandoning; her reactor is going.” Comms had barely finished when a handful of pods had gotten away from Felur's ship ResHin. The reactor was spat out and exploded, cracking the ship and killing any pods on the same side it was ejected from.

Fucking poor bastards, I thought as my face remained hard.

“Three battle cruisers are leaving the battlefield. They're practically touching one another,” Sensors said.

C'mon, Commando's, cut their power. I thought about possibly losing the men and women on those ships.

“We have confirmed all corvettes are ours as well as the destroyers and two cruisers.

“Rick, have the Commandos abandon the cruisers unless they think they can take them. Marleen, get ready to line them up.”

***

Evelyn grunted as she helped replace an ammunition feed line to the massive cannons with two others. Get some footage of the Resilient, you thought, join the group of trainees, you thought. It'll be like every other job you've done behind enemy lines, you thought. Evelyn Sparks chastised herself as the feed line was secured in place, George already rushing them to another damaged area.

“We're replacing power relays to the shield generators,” George said, barely out of breath as Evelyn thought that she'd run a marathon. The Resilient shook again. Those not connected to the ground through their Mecha's boots went flying but George or one of the Commandos picked them back up.

“Up you get, ladies and gents, those shields need work still.” Geroge's voice was forceful but not an order. Evelyn had found, in her five days with the Free Fleet, it wasn't like other militaries. It was much more relaxed. There wasn't someone yelling all the time and, everyone was treated as equal and vital.

The ship shook again as the lead Commando changed direction. Another section of the ship had been exposed to space.

One of the trainees yelled out as they grabbed the wall to steady themselves, instead grabbing a live wire and the Mecha shorted.

George twisted and pulled some recessed handles as the Mecha opened and a scared looking trainee emerged.

“You're all good,” George said with an upbeat tone as Evelyn sprayed the exposed wires with sealant.

“Let's keep on going, guys, we're behind Donnal now,” George said as Evelyn turned and began running after the rest of the squad.

I hope this footage is worth it!

Chapter Highs and Lows.

Henry just finished watching his Commandos fleeing all but two of the cruisers, heading away from the battle as shuttles were being scrambled to pick them up.

Resilient's guns hammered the cruisers, turning them into balls of light. I took no more than three hits to pierce the shields and armor, getting to the missiles underneath.

“We've taken Battle Cruiser Delta,” Commander Versai said over the commander channel before it returned to silence

One of the battle cruiser's fleeing split as one of its power plants exploded. Another stopped as its engines blew out; the last one just stopped as Henries casualties lists shot up.

Henry detailed six shuttles for the battle cruisers as reports filed in, names of people he knew passing in front of his eyes as he focused on the battle.

“Verlu, you're in charge of those four battle cruisers. I need to know what's going on and if it's safe for shuttles to land.”

“This is Commander Tully, Commander Verlu is dead. I will get those reports to you,” the Kuruvian said in dulled professional tones. Henry felt as if he'd had his already weakened frame kicked.

Henry let out a breath. I will think of you later, as well as all those that go with you into the dark, Henry thought as his mind turned back to battle.

“Very well, Commander Tully.”

He cut the connection as the battle cruisers still in the fight were bathed in missiles. Weapon systems went down as chunks of armor disappeared under the atomic wash.

Resilient lost its shields for the final time, but it still fought with a vengeance.

“We've taken Battle Cruiser Echo,” Erkshaw reported and Henry moved to the next report. Shuttles began speeding out of Hachiro, whose guns had gone silent as all the battle cruisers shields were down. Resilient picked off the larger weapons as it rolled with its own hits.

“Damned girl’s built tough,” Henry grunted as fighters raked the battle cruisers, the shuttles still not making the journey unscathed as they arrived minutes after, having lost thirty percent of their number—seven hundred Commandos.

Henry walked through the safe areas of the dreadnought, getting to the shuttle bay which had already been appropriated and was loading Commandos.

“Commander, are you sure?” one of the protection squad said. Henry looked to them.

“This is the Free Fleet. We stand together.” None of them said anything after that. They boarded the shuttle too. Henry thought it was the quietest shuttle ride he'd ever been on as ghosts sat with them all. Ghosts that Henry knew wouldn't seem real until he'd joined them or they were left still standing.

“We have missiles launched for Hachiro.” Henry checked his locking bolts as the shuttle was buffeted. Then again, but this time as if by the hand of God.

I was getting to old for this shit, anyway, he thought sadly as he felt blood on his face and darkness took over.

“Not the best time to be napping CAMC!” A squad Commander said as Henry was jolted awake with wake-up.

“Update.” Henry barked as he saw he was inside a ship with other casualties.

“Take a few minutes first.” A medic said.

“That’s for the dead, and I ain’t one yet.” Henry stood, feeling woozy, the Squad Commander bracing him as he regained his footing.

“Thanks,” Henry said as his HUD blinked an incoming message from Bok Soo.

He accessed the channel, sounding as bad as he felt.

***

Rick's voice cut through the noise of battle as I tried to find a way to use my forces to inflict more damage.

“The shuttles leaving the dreadnought were hit by the missiles. Hachiro's breached in multiple areas.” I felt my insides twist. I wanted to roll into a ball on the floor and make everything just disappear. Tens of thousands had died. People I had known. People I had trusted, and still more would die. Instead, I nodded, iron resolve filling me. I couldn't dwell on the past. I had taken up the mantle of CFF, and I would execute it to the best of my ability until I was dead.

“Commander Ilru reports that BC Foxtrot is taken,” Comms said.

Rick trailed after. “Golf has multiple breaches. It is believed that it will be taken shortly.” His voice was gruff from talking so much for so long.

“Bok Soo is on the ship yard and has made contact with the Kuruvians there that have already cleared it,” he finished. I looked to him and nodded before looking at the plot and drinking some water.

So, we're going to win, just not yet. Resilient's own guns had gone silent for fear of hitting a shuttle, meaning we had rolled to present our spine, the most heavily armored part of the ship other than the belly. Our shields were still down.

“Battle Cruiser Charlie has just purged all of their atmosphere. I'm detecting strange power fluctuations across the ship,” Sensors said.

Resilient's voice came over the bridge. “They're combining all of their computers and processors together in order to get some fighting ability back.” She sounded almost scared.

“How is that bad?” I asked.

“It could spawn an AI, an AI that could be for us, against us, care, or not. It could just blow itself up, using it's missiles to take all of us with it.”

“Why the hell would they do that?” Rick asked.

“Final resort. If they die, might as well take some with them.” Resilient sounded almost angry, very different from her normal, calm, almost motherly tones.

“Comms, order all ships to disperse!” I barked.

“Helm, do what you can to push us back, but keep our spine aligned with them. Shields?”

“I'm working on it!” the harassed Shield operator said as every ship that could moved away from the battle cruiser.

“I'm going to send it an information kernel, hopefully it will allow it to understand what is going on and what it is,” Resilient said.

I nodded, taking a sip of my water. Don't let them see you sweat and they won't either. You're their leader and rock. If it was easy, everyone would do it, I thought to myself as long minutes ticked by, then ten minutes.

“Hello, my name is.... Lare.” The voice was very electronic, slow, and pronounced the name Lare like larè. I waited for it to continue, but it stopped.

“Hello, Lare, what are your intentions?” I asked, as if talking to a newly made AI was a daily thing. Sure, I spoke with Resilient, but after the lessons I'd had as well as the answers Resilient had given me, new AI's were as dangerous as the resources at their disposal. One with a mostly functioning battle cruiser was quite alarming.

“I want to learn what I am. My.... mother says she will help me.”

“Can I retrieve my men from you?”

It took some time before it replied.

“Yes, I will also be willing to trade time with my shuttles for repairs that I am in need of.”

“We'll sort that out in time. I'll have shuttles there shortly.” I looked to Rick who began cutting orders.

“Very well, we shall, talk. Again, Commander Salchar.” Its sentences were broken up as if it had to think of the next word it was going to say.

The channel ended as Resilient came back.

“I will see that I educate him on matters. If he does not join us then I will point him in the direction of the AI league.”

“Very well.” It was a strange feeling, we had gone from battle to dealing with the basic birth of something new.

“Comms, fleet wide.”

“You're on.”

“Consolidate and report. There will be a docking rota to offload prisoners and Mecha's soon.” I cut the connection as I began looking over the damage as well as the lives lost.

I hope this never gets easier, I thought as I looked at names, not numbers. It was much to easy to think of them as cold statistics. Something that I never wanted to think of my people as.

Chapter Tallying the Win/Loss Column.

Bok Soo rushed in with the second wave of Commandos, not by his own choice, but he’d accepted it as gratefully as possible. The battle was almost done. BC's were trying to flee. It seemed the Syndicate fleet had finally given up.

Why couldn't the bastards have done that at the beginning? he thought as the Commando's jumped across the exterior of the ship yard.

“We're making entry into Factory Ship Echo,” Amarr announced. Bok Soo kept jumping across the struts of the ship yard as he got within a few hundred meters of the ship.

“Uhh, sir, you should come and see this,” Amarr said. Bok Soo was at Amarr's position a few moments later.

He was met with grinning armored and armed Kuruvians

“Well, hopefully you lot will have some interesting ideas for this ship yard. The last group, well, they just wanted to fill their pockets and kill innocents,” one of them said, his rail gun pointing to space as the others kept their weapons trained on Bok Soo and his people.

Bok Soo slung his weapon as he grinned, despite the battle that raged a few hundred kilometers away.

“Damn, Kuruvians in Mechas! Hah! I don’t think we have more than twenty Kuruvian Commandos. I'm Bok Soo.”

“Shrift said you would be coming.”

“Oh wait, that reminds me.” Bok Soo pulled out his data pad and flicked through things.

“Nope, no, no, not that, must be in here. Haha, gotcha!” He gave the pad to the Kuruvian.

“Shrift said that his brother would know the alignment, or something like that.”

The Kuruvian nodded. He held his rail gun in the crook of his arm as he typed something in. Bok Soo couldn't hear the data pad through the vacuum of space, but a few minutes later the Kuruvian nodded.

“Very well, we have taken all of the factory ships. My name is Silly, brother to Shrift.”

“Good to meet you.” Bok Soo opened a channel to the commanders and pilots.

“The natives should be on our side. Don't slack, but it seems we're not needed here. Pilots prep to get us back to Hachiro. I'm going to leave Amarr here with two hundred Commandos. If you aren't picked you're coming with me.” Bok Soo cut the channel. “Alright, Silly, well, I have a battle to get to, so if you'll excuse me?”

“Certainly, we will be waiting.”

It was a half hour later that the Second Battle for Earth ended.

“What do you want me to do?” Bok Soo asked Henry, who sounded as if the galaxy had crushed him.

“Get back to the station. We're going to need it functioning as soon as possible.”

“Sir.” Bok Soo wanted to say more, but he knew that Henry was still on the job. Later. Bok Soo thought as he sat in silence, watching as the casualty list scrolled down his HUD.

Oh Rosa, he thought as he bit his lip, pain and sadness filling him. Verlu too. He remembered their names, thinking of them as they'd laughed and lived.

“I'll see you in the dark, brothers and sisters,” Bok Soo said into his helmet. He hung his head, laughing sadly and happily—sad to have lost so many friends, but happy that he had known them well enough to call them friends.

Silly broke him out of his reverie as his helmet's earpiece came to life. Bok Soo accepted the call.

“I need your scans of the asteroid belt so I know the best place to put the shipyard.”

“Why don't you put it next to Hachiro then we’ll get the resources shipped from the belt?” Bok Soo said, feeling emotionally drained.

“That should work. Didn't think of it because the Syndicate made us weld the miners and refineries onto the yard. Also, I need to talk to someone about what my people can expect.” Bok Soo gathered himself. Salchar had invested the power in Bok Soo to make decisions on his behalf, and also a guideline on what he hoped to happen.

“You will be civilian's and will receive payment according to the skills the individual has.”

“With these civilian jobs, how will they be different from our current?” Silly asked.

“Well, you wouldn’t be allowed to work on warships or on design teams for new ships…”

“Designs for new ships?” Silly almost squealed.

“Yes, we’re not going to keep on using the same designs for ships. We might not have numbers or hulls, but we’ve got skills, know how, and ideas.”

“May we contact you privately and have time to decide?”

“Certainly.”

“In the interim, we will have the station begin deploying itself.” Silly said something into his helmet as parts of the yard began unfolding and others were detached, a veritable army of drones moving pieces bigger than corvettes into position

***

The fleet was in a state of mourning, and I was dealing with governments who were demanding they know when aid was coming, not caring for our own losses or the issues that we had. We had agreed to a contract. I was very tempted to rip it apart.

It had been two days since the battle had ended, yet we had only just finished recovering all of the personnel in space, Free Fleet and Syndicate.

The Mecha's were being taught the reality of the Planetary Defense Force with limited effect and the yard was still opening up. The Kuruvians had transferred the Syndicate personnel there over, yet I was thinking that I'd have most of them working under the Kuruvians purview.

The Kuruvians had split sixty-eight to thirty-two in favor of joining the Free Fleet. Rick was taking care of all the civilian appointments as well as positions within the fleet.

Now all of the people had been accounted for, there was the issue of dealing with the corralling of ships and having my engineers crawl over them, assessing what was good and what was not.

I'd sent a request to Monk for additional personnel. It should have reached him by now through our still expanding FTL network.

I stopped checking my pad as I walked into the shuttle bay of Resilient where Mecha storage containers waited, each of them carrying a fallen Commando or their battle suit.

Not even Eddie had challenged me on the containers, which were a significant use of resources.

I tucked my pad away. Everyone was in the shuttle bay.

I looked to the men and women around me. They were strong and great people, and more than one of them was crying as I let my sadness creep into my voice, forcing my mask of Salchar to stop the tide of emotion. I looked at Mecha containers which held people that I'd eaten with, fought beside, and trained with.

“We have come far, yet it has only been through terrible circumstances. I wish it wasn't, but the Free Fleet was born from battle, and it is what we must do to stop the Syndicate from continuing their reign of terror and piracy.

“That does not mean that we can't feel sad. These people that have given their last breaths did so in the service of the Free Fleet, for their brothers and sisters in arms. They came with us into the dark and the dark has claimed them as it's own.”

I felt determination burn in my chest.

“Yet their deaths will not go unanswered. As the Syndicate can only communicate with us in terms of pain and death, we will eradicate them and their name from this galaxy. It is up to us now to create something for our brothers and sisters to be proud of!” I paused as sadness and loss colored my tone.

“I know many of you will feel sad and angry. Use those emotions. We shall work on, and we will become a force that makes the Syndicate shake. Remember the names of those you have lost; tell their stories. They live through us.” I looked to everyone in the bay as I nodded sadly.

“Now we commit their physical bodies to the sun and light as we remember their lives and the memories we made with them.”

Pictures flashed over screens as every person that had died was shown to their fellow brothers and sisters. The containers were pulled into the air before gliding out from Hachiro and the ships of the Free Fleet. I stood at attention, holding two fingers to my head as the containers left Resilient as well as the other ships and Hachiro. The containers floated together, becoming one mass as they drifted towards the sun, all of the fallen facing their future together as one.

I dropped my hand and I let my face fall, regaining my composure as I drifted out to the mess. Watching the roll of faces across the screens as, I smiled sadly at the memories the faces brought.

Drinking restrictions were removed for all but the watchers. I got to the bridge, relieving everyone and they went to the mess to get something numbing in their systems as me and my protection detail sat around the massive bridge of Resilient. I watched as the fleet paused. Drones moved around space as the yard formed and chunks of ships were turned from their trajectories and pulled towards the refineries which had been exposed. Miners were attached to asteroids and mining, their bunkers loading up as shuttles had been used for recovery and were grounded until the next day.

I looked to the dreadnought, which had returned to the airlock it had been attached to when it had been docked before the battle. It was relatively unscathed, unlike Hachiro, which was still badly damaged. Some sections had been exposed up to the fourth ring.

All of the rest of the ships showed the vicious damage of space warfare.

I looked at the beauty of all of the ships, at the technology and the achievements that had been made, yet all of it had led to war.

A waste, I thought as I focused my attention on the faces of those lost.

“We'll make the bastards pay; you have my word, brothers and sisters.” Silently, I cried as I looked at the faces, emotion that I'd held back washing over me. It felt as if a dam had burst. I smiled and laughed, tears streaming down my face. My protection detail left me to my grieving as I left them to theirs.

Chapter To Rebuild Again

Shrift and his brother looked at the yard as it came together like some three-dimensional puzzle.

They'd already made one dock and had corvettes coming through and getting fixed up. The crews were working at an alarming pace to get the smaller ships done before the yard was big enough to accommodate the battle cruisers and dreadnoughts.

Since Parnmal, there hadn't been such a large loss. Everyone was feeling the affects. The trainees were being returned slowly back to their training. The Free Fleet was bustling with repairs once again. Most people just put their heads down and worked. A few had gotten angry with the fact that they were repairing the very damage they'd fixed when they'd freed Earth. There was nothing to do but threaten to rotate them out for rest. Not many wanted to sit back and have time to think this close to their friends dying.

As Salchar had made the process for making Mechas a factory production back on Parnmal, Shrift was doing the same for the ship yard and the docks. He was realizing the difficulties that Salchar had gone through to change his fellow Kuruvian's who'd been set  in their cottage-like work groups.

Silly had been reluctant to move to the new system until Shrift had Resilient crunch the numbers. Then Silly had jumped on board.

Shrift had specialty drones being built in all factories as the Kuruvians of the ship yard and dock got used to controlling multiple drones.

“Are you sure we can't get the smaller ships up to full spec?” Silly asked; it had been his argument for the past few days.

“We need the heavies online. The smaller ships have limited use as scouts and have been largely replaced by fighters. They have limited use in battle. Salchar is actually thinking about removing the cruiser altogether. Which is why they are so low on the priority list.”

“Then what about the 'modifications' that Eddie wants to add to the dreadnought and battle cruisers armor?”

“We've got to focus on what we can fix and what not. We need to put down new hulls to incorporate all of the improvements we've come up with,”  Shrift said as Silly sighed.

“You've changed, little bro,” Silly said as he nodded appreciatively.

“You're no longer scatter brained. You know what you want, and you get what needs to be done done. You remind me of Eddie. Father was smart getting you transferred to Uncle's ship.”

“I'm not like Eddie!” Shrift admonished as Silly grinned.

“Yeah you are, now you are; it's not a bad thing. You've grown up, bro,” Silly said and grinned.

“I agree with what you, Eddie, and Salchar have said,” he said. Shrift's eyes thinned and he poked a hand at him.

“You mean your annoying me was all a test?”

“Yup.” Silly grinned, unrepentant.

“Why you!” Shrift jumped on his brother, scraping his neck as Silly laughed uncontrollably.

“Stop it! It tickles!” Silly said as his smaller brother stopped him from getting free with his hands while he used his manipulators to keep his brother in laughing immobility.

“Never!” Shrift said triumphantly as he grinned, his brother rolling over and somehow getting on top of him. He felt his neck ridges begin scratched.

“No, stop it!” Shrift said as he giggled, kicking his feet spasmodically as he tried to dislodge his brother.

“Never!” Silly repeated Shrift's own words as the torture continued.

“What are you two slackers doin'?” A familiar Kuruvian's voice said and both brothers jumped to their feet.

“Uhh, just well...” Silly said as Shrift looked to their Uncle and his mentor.

“We reached an agreement on the schedule for the dock and yard. We also have a tentative time table lined out.

“An yah sorted this out while tusslin' on the floor?”

“The tousling was in an effort to get recompense for time wasted,” Shrift said as Silly scowled. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as Shrift had to stop himself from breaking out into a smile.

Eddie grinned as he walked between the two brothers. The old Kuruvian's hands snagged them both by the necks and they squealed as they fell to the floor from being tickled.

“Seems you two are just like your dad.”

Eddie grinned as the two rose with grins.

“Alright now, our clan isn't the kind to sit around. Let's see if we can't speed that timetable up a little.” They looked to one another, a drive in their eyes as Eddie led the way to the docks.

***

Henry finished the run through Hachiro first. As he waited for the others to finish up, he felt sadness at having lost Verlu. Their friendly banter which had happened every time they finished their run was now filled with silence…

Santos was in next, a bit of a forced grin on his face.

“Damn, Henry, mind slowing down for the rest of us? We aren't Mechas like you.” Henry grinned slightly as Santos smiled. It was clear Santos was trying to cheer him up.

“Well, you'll just have to learn how to be one,” Henry said as Santos shook his head, a grin still there. Santos had been in command of the trainees for the battle and had proven himself a great commander.

After Takahashi had attacked Salchar, Santos had taken over commandership of his Commandos. Santos had proved himself and made himself Henry's left hand man as Bok Soo was his right.

The others came in, Bok Soo trailing them all.

“Damn, you guys need to slow down,” Bok Soo huffed out as he struggled to catch his breath.

Henry knew that Bok Soo was probably the most physically fit out of everyone, getting back the legs he hadn't had for so long meant he spent all the time he could running.

Yet Bok Soo cared deeply for his people. He was willing to lose a few times if it meant he could get their minds off of the recent battle.

“So, what's new?”

“We've nearly got all of the trainees back to training,” Santos reported.

“Remember that they only have three weeks till they make their decision whether to stay or go home,” Henry said and everyone nodded. They needed Commandos badly, and after training it would be another few months before those that selected to not only stay but to become Commandos would graduate.

Till then there were only six thousand commandos. There should be close to eight times that number.

With the fleet in full repair mode, it also meant that Commandos were having less training time and were instead falling back on any secondary training they had.  They were helping out the ship crews to get their ships operational and ready for anything else that might come their way.

“As you know, Salchar is going to be going to Earth tomorrow. With him will be FengFang and Pandora. He will be going across the globe to see if he can get more trainees. We will also be getting a large number of personnel in a week. Monk confirmed today that he had sent a carrier as well as some ships he'd taken from Cheerleader's fleet for protection.

I have passed on your personnel issues to Rick, who will divide the incoming forces up.” Henry caught Commander Tully's eye, the woman looked as if she was out of her depth. Henry nodded to her slightly and she seemed to gain confidence, nodding back.

“Any other issues?”

There weren't, so Henry looked to Bok Soo.

“Looks like you're buying again, foodie,” he said and Bok Soo took on an unhappy expression as others grinned. There was no laughter; the emotional loss was still too fresh.

Chapter Time to Face the Music

I had left command to the watch commanders as I worked beside the engineers to get Resilient back to fighting condition.  Now, however, I needed to get back to command instead of relaying it through my underlings. I walked into the conference room and found Silly, Shrift, Henry, and Rick. Krom and Shreesht leaned against the wall, the others in the room becoming quiet as I sat down.

“Hello, Silly, good to finally meet you in the flesh.”

Silly nodded. “Likewise, Commander.”

“So, how long have you been preparing to get rid of the Syndicate?” I asked and Silly looked displeased.

“There had always been thoughts that the Defense Force was something different, but me and mine were kept in our home system building this monster until it was ready to move and us with it. Now I know the truth, I wish we had done something when we were in our home system, not across three sectors.”

“That must've taken some time.”

“Damn right, took us three years! Though, as we pulled old Nancy here through the stars we learnt more of the lies about the Planetary Defense Force.”

There were nods around the table.

“So, what are the plans of those that are leaving?” Rick asked.

“Most of those that wish to leave will want to go to Parnmal but for those that remain, which is standing at eighty-seven percent, we want to see Nancy up and running and get to work! We’re going to need more of everything, but we’re planning for the expansion of a dock or creating another to fix your Resilient and that other big sucker in one go instead of having to turn them to work both ends. Though, Eddie says we might have to expand even that soon, with plans for super dreadnoughts and even carriers.”

“What?” I asked as Shrift and Silly looked quite pleased with themselves.

“Well, it might take some time if our supply lines are bad and with our lack of workers. But I would say, in three months we might be able to start expanding, adding in repairs, though, it would take about nine months.”

“Don’t worry, I have plans for the supply line and workers.”

“We’ve come a long way from making plans in my armory, that’s for sure,” Shrift said.

“That we have, buddy,” I said as we smiled to one another.

The rest of the meeting was much of what it had been for the last few days. We were rebuilding and we had to figure out how to best spend our resources.

After it was complete, I excused myself. Krom and Shreesht ghosted me until I made it to the observation deck that faced Mars.

Thankfully, no one was there as I sat on one of the chairs and watched the brown marble of Mars turn below me.

“James, you can’t blame yourself,” Yasu said.

I sat there, not looking at her, lost in the beauty of the planet. They'll never get to go down there, to go and see other beautiful planets like it I thought as I gritted my teeth, the view becoming blurry. I cleared what must've been some errant dust from my eyes.

“I can. I know we did the right thing, but it just saddens and scares me when so many die before they can see the end result of all of this. Though, sometimes I wonder if the end result is something they want to see, and they’re the lucky ones. We can’t hide from the fact that the Syndicate will be gunning for us. They were going to before, but now it’s unquestionable. We just took a shipyard and another station from them, not to mention a populated world they were using to fill their ranks.” I sighed, leaning forward so I could look at my wringing hands. “Even if we win, what will be the cost?”

“Always too much,” Yasu said sadly. “Yet, we should not focus on the loss but the gain. Humans finally made it to the stars! We’re not slaves and if we survive, we can thrive. We’ve got technology that we don’t know the half of, mathematics that we can’t make heads or tails of, and medical science that will see us alive for our great great grandchildren.” She sat down beside me. “I wonder if people who went to war before us thought the same things and what their answers were.”

“Probably something similar,” I said, looking up at her framed by the horizon of Mars and the stars, her hair falling delicately to one side over her shoulder, making a half veil . As her deep, dark, exotic coffee eyes looked at Mars, her face pinched in sadness. I looked at her thin yet strong arms and firm body against the battle suit she wore. I reached up, touching her chin as if it was china, moving it with barely a motion as I raised my head to meet hers closing my eyes as our lips touched. No matter what the future brought I would have that one moment of pain, passion, nervousness, trust, fear, and love.

“You forgot one thing,” I said softly as though if I talked too loudly the universe would disappear, not daring to move my hand as I looked into her eyes, a small smile on my face.

“I gained you.”

“Who would've thought Mecha Tail’s and Samurai’s Revenge’s leaders would be doing this?” she said. She pressed forward, my arms finding their way around her body as I embraced her, kissing her again until we pulled apart, sad smiles on our faces.

“Now you have a fleet to run. I’ll look after Hachiro and the fleet here. Earth is going to want to know what’s happening.”

“Yes, find out from Zor what the Sarenmenti that surrendered are going to be like. I want to know if I can use them or not. Then get the ships sorted, I want to-”

“Know which ones are operational. Which ones to send to Nancy filled with materials. Also, to look into the damage caused to the Hachiro. Maybe police the debris from the station and the ships that were destroyed around the sun to be melted down and used to rebuild the station and ships. Get the people and the Earth trainees to rest,” she said.

I smiled. “I’ll see you when this is all done.”

“You better.” Her eyes danced as she grinned, kissing me before I picked myself up and walked to the shuttle that would take me to Pandora, my ride back to Earth.

Commander Heston was waiting for me when I got off the shuttle.

“We have your quarters laid out for you and your protection detail.”

“Thank you, Commander. I know you're busy so I'll let you go. Where is the best place to talk to the world leaders? It's about time I let my staffers have a break from their yelling.”

“Your room has the ability to connect directly to the communications systems,” Heston said.

“Thank you, Commander.” We saluted and he walked off, pulling a data pad as he went. I steeled myself as I walked to my room. The Pandora, being a third the size of Resilient, didn't need the transports that carried people across her. Instead, everything was done with old fashioned legs.

I got to my room, taking a slurp of water as I put in my security codes. My terminal filled with communications requests from people across the world.

“You’re setting up to mine the Oort Cloud; that’s ours!” the South African representative said as others began voicing their issues, growing in volume and incoherence.

“Do you want to get into a yelling match or hear what I’m doing?” My voice was tired and probably uncaring, but I was already stretched thin. Having people yell at me for no real reason was not something I wanted.

It took some time for them to calm down enough before I started talking. I now know how a nursery teacher feels, I thought as I cleared my throat.

“As you will look in the agreement that you signed, the Free Fleet is basically its own nation-company, meaning that we can claim land like any other group. There is another stipulation of the amount of land and such, so there isn't a monopoly. As for the Syndicate, well they've been beaten once again.”

“You say that, but how do we know that's true? It all happened behind Mars,” A prince of the UAE said.

“Cause a lot of men and women died for you to think that,” I said, not pausing as I continued. “Now, I have with me the aid that was promised in order for Earth to get into space. After delivering this aid, the Free Fleet will continue to act according to the contract signed by Earth and rebuild our fleet. Now, are there any issues?” I feared my last statement as a wall of noise greeted me. I hunched my shoulders and set to listening to the gripes the world leaders had, most of them nothing to do with the Free Fleet.

As they were talking, I received a message from the Intelligence Department of imminent importance. I opened it, finding a video on YouTube of myself coordinating the battle against the Syndicate as well as shots from telescopes and sensors of the ongoing battle.

I paused my channel to the leaders as I connected to the commander of the Intelligence Department.

“How did someone get this?”

“We think that one of the reporters snuck into the trainee pool and placed cameras to record different things.”

“I want it vetted for anything that might make the Free Fleet vulnerable, such as military secrets and such.

“Already doing so, though it seems that whoever did this is extremely smart. They left out anything that might tell secrets of the Free Fleet.”

I nodded, the gesture unseen by the commander. “Okay, get with Rick and have him find this person. I don't want anything else leaking out. Also, have a communications blocker checking traffic as it goes. Talk to Resilient about that.”

“Yes, commander.”

I cut the channel and opened the one with the leaders, who were still yelling at me.

The journey seemed to be one of the longest I'd ever had. When Commander Boot arrived in-system, I made it clear that anything would have to go through him. Meaning that I was left peacefully alone as we glided towards Earth.

***

“Did you receive my Mecha?” I asked Commander Kurft of Heston's Commandos. We watched a series of fights, all of them deadly, just stopping their attacks before they maimed one another.

“Yes, Commander. It’s in the armory, if you’ll follow me.”

I fell in behind him and he walked me into a decent sized armory with racks of Mechas hanging next to the sealed weapon door.

“What’s it now! I’m already fixing this broken Sarenmenti knee joint!” an annoyed sounding squat human said from his worktable, bent over the Mechas form as he worked on the Mecha in front of him.

“Do you have Commander Salchar's Mecha?” Kurft asked.

“Yeah, I’ll get to it in a bit. It’s on the racks. Damned transporters knocked the nerve ports out of alignment. Don’t know what they did to the damned thing to knock them out so bad. Never even seen anything like it, not even on the commanders first Mecha. Don’t know how in hell he survived that one, but even then the nerve ports weren’t that out of alignment!”

“I survived by the skin of my teeth and I did lose a hand,” I said as the armorer shot up, smacking his head on a tool rack above him. He shook it off, coming to attention. “Commander Salchar! I had no idea, sir.”

“At ease, its fine. If you don’t mind, I’ll have a look at these odd nerve ports.”

“It’s no worry, sir, I can get one of the other Commandos to do so.”

“They have better things to do than look over my Mecha. Plus, my security detail should probably have a look at theirs too,” I said, smiling as my mind was making conclusions of what would’ve happened to me if I had gotten into the Mecha the way it was and my need to check who’d touched it.

“Certainly, Commander Salchar.” The armorer nodded as he inputted information on an interface and all of my personal detail’s suits rotated down into Mecha bays.

“If that is all, Commander, I will return to my Commandos,” Commander Kurft said. His eyes were dark and his mouth was angry, but I could tell not at me; he had made some of the same conclusions I had.

“Yes, Commander, I’ll be here.”

He bowed his head before leaving. In the Free Fleet there wasn‘t a specific way of saluting, though the two finger salute was seen as the normal one for quick situations, and nodding for more formal and between those from lower to higher.

As he left, I walked over to my Mecha, queuing it to open and I saw the nerve ports connectors.

“That doesn’t look like just any transport damage,” Krom said in a grunt. Janice nodded in agreement as the others, unknowing, spaced themselves out, covering our backs.

“I think that we’ve picked up something other than allies in our latest hires.” I opened a private channel to the Resilient and the intelligence division created by Min Hae.

“Get me top,” I told the person that answered my call after checking my clearance.

“Yes.” Using outside communications names and ranks disappeared.

“Here,” a voice said a number of minutes later, the lag between the two ships still minimal at this point, thankfully.

“Initiate India Sierra protocols. PD one and two to be given top status to assist.”

“Incident?”

“Possible attempted Ceaser.” I moved to Calerd’s Mecha, which was beside mine. He opened it and I saw his nerve ports were also damaged.

“On PD one and individual.”

“India Seirra confirmed and acknowledged.”

“Continue on.”

The channel terminated as Krom made a noise.

I knew that their implants were updating, increasing their security status to two levels below my own, higher than anyone other than myself, Henry, Rick, and Bok Soo. They now had access to every visual and audio capturing device in the fleet.

“Let’s get working on these Mechas, then.” They nodded, moving to their own Mechas with Shreesht locking the door to the armory. The armorer looked up but shrugged, nodding to me as he continued on with his work and swearing. Bregend had a good crew it looked like from what I’d seen, with their loyalty proven over time and through fire. Yet I wasn’t sure that was entirely true throughout the fleet, and it definitely wasn’t on Earth.

I got to realigning the ports as we neared Earth

***

“Good luck, sir,” Commander Heston said to me as I was waiting to board my shuttle.

“Hopefully, I won’t need it.” I winked as I walked out of the conference room, Krom, Dave, and Janice falling in behind me.

“Good thing I took those piloting courses, isn’t it,” Janice said as we walked.

“I said that both of you should have taken the medical courses. You’d be of more help to the wounded than to me.”

“They don’t see how often you come apart and have to be stuck together again. It’s almost like you’re trying to imitate humpty dumpty,” Dave chimed in and I grinned into my helmet.

“Alright, alright, I get your point.” We took the speed elevator to the Rebirths docking hangar, walking straight from the Hachiro into the Rebirths shuttle bay.

Calerd and Shreesht were already waiting there, looking as stoic as always as I swung aboard the shuttle after Janice.

“Okay, so where are we going?” she asked as everyone got aboard, Dave rechecked the hatch’s seals and Janice brought the shuttle to life.

“Nepal.”

“What’s there?” Dave asked.

“Commandos.” I grinned as I sat back.

“Okay, be all mysterious then,” Janice said as she pulled her engines power up, getting clearance from Sung Ha himself before we passed through the electrostatic field of the shuttle bay and down towards Earth. The blast doors moved away from the view ports as I looked at the Earth moving beneath us. There’s no way to describe it, seeing the view that only pilots and astronauts had seen before me. The beauty of Earth made me smile.

“So, where in Nepal are we going?”

“The Himalayans.” I threw her the coordinates I had.

“Wait, I think I remember something about my military history class and a unit-”

“Yes, the Ghurkas.”

Krom and Shreesht ears twitched at this.

“Seems you two have been looking up on our fighters.”

“Yes, Battle Master, it is customary for one warrior to find the best warrior in the area to know whether to challenge them or not. While these Ghurkas are small, it does seem that they, like you, Battle Master, are great warriors and brilliant in the art of war. It will be an honor to meet them.”

“Hopefully, you’ll be fighting beside them soon,” I said as the shuttle neared the coordinates, flaring it’s landing thrusters and slowing our momentum until we finally settled down lightly in a village square.

“Tracking multiple weapon barrels trained on the craft, more appearing by the second. Damn,” Janice said.

“May I take the lead?” Krom asked.

“If they’re going to fight for me they should see me, not never know who the hell I am, hiding behind my subordinates.”

Before he could argue, I opened the hatch and jumped down, my Mecha taking the force of the impact as I stood slowly, my Mecha making whirring noises as power was shunted to it's different servos and pumps.

One elderly man walked up to me without any difficulty, speaking of the fine shape he was in for looking more than a hundred years old.

“Hello, what is your business here?”

“To recruit.”

“Ah, for the shiny ships above our heads?”

“Yes.”

“What has your master sent you with to bargain with us? Wealth, power? We have been offered all of those before and we are still loyal to the crown.”

Krom came out of the shuttle, Shreesht following him, both of them making heavy thuds as they jumped from the hatch.

“We cannot be bought,” the man said with a sad smile. “I am afraid you have wasted your time and effort.”

“I like them already,” Krom said.

“At least he didn’t throw me across the room the first time he saw me,” I growled and I saw Krom’s teeth through his helmet, immediately the Ghurkas shifted and I felt the weapons hidden around us did too.

“Can we fight them?” Shreesht asked. “I want to fight the legendary Ghurkas of the Humans.”

“You wish to challenge us, alien?”

“Shreesht?” I popped my helmet with a hood. “And, by the way, I don’t represent anyone but myself and the Free Fleet,” I said with a smile as my eyes bored into the old man. Krom and Shreesht lifted their helmets. Calerd and Dave who followed afterwards did the same. Janice was still at the controls, ready for liftoff in a second if need be.

“Ah, Commander Salchar, we still won’t fight for-”

“I don’t want you to fight for me; I want you to fight with me. Not for a country, but the world, against enemies that you can’t even imagine.”

Krom growled hungrily. “What my battle master says is true. My blades have not been more wet than they are now.”

“What blade do you use?” The mans face was immediately interested.

Krom pulled out his two moon shaped daggers, which would be small swords to any other creature, with their glowing plasmid edges.

The man studied the blades intently. “Yes, they must be quite effective.”

“I have heard about your own blades. May I see one?” Krom asked, sheathing his. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on the mans face, but I could see it in his eyes as he pulled out a kukri. We all studied it intently. I had seen it before on the internet but never in person. I thought of how it could be used to pull apart a Mecha.

After a few minutes, he put it away.

“So, what do you want?”

“For you to fight along side us in the Free Fleet as Commandos, or whatever you choose to be, to keep Earth and the other homesteads and races of those under our protection safe.”

“What about our families?”

“They would either stay on Earth until accommodations can be made for them at one of the Free Fleet bases or they can make their own place in the stars. They will be assisted of course.”

“Training?”

“Given by current Commandos. The band with me are veterans, but they are not fully trained Commandos. We have units training at one of our bases with Special Forces. I have high hopes that the training will be to the highest standard.”

“If we are injured?”

“We can fix up nearly anything, re-grow it, or give someone mechanical parts until the originals are re-grown. Or one can change trades or return to the civilian side as needed. Though, at this time, we are unable to release anyone into the civilian population from their term of service, which is a minimum of five years, as you will be gaining age treatments we believe this to be fair.”

“How do you battle?”

“Mostly hand to hand with plasmid weaponry and a Mechas fists.”

“Would we be a single unit or a mixed unit?”

“It would depend. I would want to have mixed units, as then our allies feel safe without us having a unit that could be potentially more loyal to Earth than the others under the protection of the Free Fleet.”

He nodded, looking thoughtful. “I will tell others.”

I nodded as he wandered off. I grabbed my drinking straw, taking a long pull as I tried to clear my dry throat. I thought I could feel all of the weapons around me pointed at my head. I could smell the gun oil and sweat with my heightened senses as I took a seat.

“What do we do now?” Calerd asked in his hissing voice.

“Now we wait.”

Krom nodded as he began making a watch shift and Dave got back inside the shuttle so he and Janice could switch off in a few hours so they were always ready to book it. I took a watch myself, taking in the sights and sounds of the Himalayas and the natural terrain.

It took three days before the old man came back.

“So, anything we should know?”

“We have decided to agree if you agree to a contract.”

“What is it?”

He told me that the Ghurkas wanted to be treated equally, their people given a place to live in the stars that they would call their own as well as their homes in the Himalayas. They wanted to be able to carry certain ceremonial artifacts, like the Kukri. He also asked if we would be putting women on the front line. I agreed and said we would. He looked at me, thoughtful again. “How much would we be getting paid per year as Commandos?”

“Approximately a quarter of a million pounds, without a mecha. With closer to three quarters of a million and the Mecha is worth ten million-ish with all of your implants and such.” He nodded his head before turning around.

“Who will carry the Kukri into battle once more for the Free Fleet?”

The hills seemed to sprout people as they ran down to the open area around the shuttle, getting into ranks and coming to attention. I pulled my hand away from my holster as I looked at the recruits standing in front of me.

“Well, let’s see if we can turn you into Commandos now.” I grinned as I looked at the sturdy, impassioned faces which looked directly ahead. I broke them into groups of fifty, giving them numbers.

“Okay, group one, on the shuttle. Buckle up. Shreesht, show them.” He nodded, barking at them to get moving as they rushed up the lowering ramp. I pulled my data pad from the small of my back. It had all of the information on it that the older man had asked me. I took off my gauntlet with Krom's help, placing my thumb down on it. I passed it to the old man who did the same.

“Dave, get me a print out copy as well as a digital one, should be coming from cockpit.”

“You do not believe our word?” The man asked and everyone looked to me.

“I believe your word, but I would rather that no one can argue with our agreement later, or interfere with it,” I said with a smile, the corner of old mans mouth lifting.

“Yes, best to cover all of the bases.”

Dave gave the man the two copies. He checked it over, there were actually copies in multiple languages. Always best for both sides to have proof, not just one with ownership. I had a feeling he was referring to the way in which the British used the Ghurkas, sending most of them home, or accepted them into Britain with little in the way of money and benefits due their station.

“I will send down a shuttle an hour if I can manage it to pick up the rest of them. They’ll go through basic testing on Hachiro. If they pass, they’ll be shipping out with the fleet to Parnmal to be trained into Commandos. Private mail will be monitored but allowed, though slow, as it will be done on a ship to ship basis, going through the systems to get here.”

“It’s understood; we’re used to sending ours to far away places.”

“Would you want to send a group with us to find a place for the Ghurkas to claim as their own or do that at a later time?”

“We will see if our people are ready to become Commandos and decide later when we wish to move out into the universe.”

“I still can’t believe this is happening. Ghurkas fighting for the Free Fleet. Damn!” I said, grinning like a kid as I presented my hand. He took it and we shook. Dave raced down with the paper copy as I took out my data pad.  I frowned as I accessed it and opened up the information database, adding a few military things but keeping it mostly civilian.

“Data pads?” I asked my detail and they produced theirs. I cloned mine onto theirs as I handed the small stack to the man.

“Hopefully, these will answer any questions you might have, and what was your name?”

“Anil, Commander.”

“Well, it’s been good meeting you, Anil.” I got onto the shuttle with Krom, sealing it behind me as I reattached my gauntlet and made sure it would hold pressure then I sealed my helmet and took my seat.

“Shreesht?” Janice asked over a channel to all of us.

“All secure.”

“Krom?”

“Hatch secured.”

“Alright, firing thrusters.” Slowly the shuttle picked up, clearing the trees before accelerating and taking us high and Janice added more acceleration until we were hurtling into space. The shuttle buffeted and jerked a bit and then we were free of Earth’s atmosphere and turning to Japan, Europe, and the other countries that were badly hit and with people looking for jobs.

Chapter: Time Waits For No Man or Woman

Rick greeted Commander Hun as he walked on board Hachiro, trading lazy two finger salutes.

“Good trip?” Rick asked as Commander Hun shook his hand.

“Uneventful.”

“Good, everything good?”

“Chaleel and AIH are growing in leaps and bounds. We have thousands that have joined up already from both planets.”

Rick nodded as he began walking into Hachiro, indicating for Hun to keep up with him as Wruck followed in the distance.

“You've got a lot going on here?” Hun continued as he made the statement a question.

“It is quite the mad house. Got Nancy eating asteroids and fixing ships. While people are putting ships back together from the inside, others are training or patrolling. It's more madness than planning,” Rick said with a grin which Hun returned.

“So, where are the people I brought going?” Rick took a breath as he collected his memories.

“Most are to be on Nancy. The Commandos are filling holes in their structure. We're moving the veterans over from other ships to command roles on the new ships we have and then we'll put the newbies underneath them.”

“Sounds like a lot of moving around.”

“It's a friggin headache,” Rick said as he rolled his eyes, Hun grinning.

“Well, after we're all checked over by the yard, we'll start back for Parnmal and grab some more people for you.”

“Sounds good, we'll also have people rotating out, visiting Earth. All people, including those from other planets are allowed.” Hun nodded to Rick's words.

“I'll figure out a rota for my ships and personnel and pass it over for your confirmation.”

“Giving me more work are yah?” Rick asked, putting his hands on his hips as Hun looked unsure. Rick laughed as he patted the commander.

“I'm joking, yeah that'll be fine. First, let's grab some food,” Rick said as Hun grinned. Rations were still the same crap as the Syndicate had given them, which made real food worth it's weight in gold.

“Lead on COS!” Hun said as they talked about less work and more about one another and of people the other knew.

***

After four days of shuttling around Earth, I finally got a shuttle back to Hachiro. I spent most of my time helping to get the ships back to battle readiness. The rest of the time I was in one of the holo rooms that had been finished in Hachiro for the Syndicates personal pleasure but we'd turned into training facilities.

The rooms didn’t have gravity, so I floated there, my battle suits sensors and nerve taps allowing me to manipulate what was projected in front of me. On one side I had constant streaming updates from Earth and from Nancy. In front of me I watched information packets from every ship we’d stolen, every recreated battle in three dimensions.

I watched battles, I played them, I had my crews part of the recreation within their ships sitting in dock. A fire burned within me. We had one advantage over the Syndicate—it wasn’t our ships, it wasn’t our numbers—it was our skill. We had to become the best damn fleet in the known sectors to beat the Syndicate. We needed to exploit every weakness, use every trick we could think of. Everyone was drilled, everyone would wake up for the daily games. Sometimes they could last as long as three days, sometimes I would make them watch games as we worked, but every single one of them learned and grew.

I moved back onto the Resilient and we moved toward Nancy, our hull filled with resources.

We went through a continuous series of simulations as we traveled and continued them as we got there, changing from single ship to entire fleet simulations.

“Game complete,” I said as the latest battle ended.

“Good work, go over AAR.” Commandos HUD’s cleared and they found themselves in mid-space when they had thought they were inside of a ship. The first time it had happened it had been… interesting when the Commandos realized they were hanging above the deck of the shipyard instead of firmly attached to metal. Now they returned to the deck with the use of their Mechas, maneuvering thrusters, magnetically clamping themselves to the floor.

It filtered up so that smaller groups talked over their problems then the leaders of these smaller groups talked about the larger picture. With me, I talked to the captains on how they worked their ships. Though, more often than not, everyone tuned in for my AAR kept me on my toes and scrambling for military sounding words, but after my share of games, I was getting rather good at it.

“Alright, that was great formation drill, and the synchronization of PD weaponry was great. Captain Ishtar, that was great intuition on your part, moving to cover Captain Kim while communicating with your battle group your idea and having them move so that you could execute the maneuver.” Captain Ishtar, my newest Sarenmenti captain nodded his head. I thought back to the time when I met my first Sarenmenti, Taleel, how I’d been truly terrified and scared, thinking that Taleel only wanted to kill me and my people. Not how he was hardening us up so that once we were in a battle it would seem easier than our easiest training.

“Everything else was good. I didn’t see any problems. Comments? Questions? Captain Geroud?”

“Thank you, Commander Salchar, I was wondering why we don’t practice with full weaponry and our ships in full fighting trim?”

It was a good question but I was prepared for it. “Our ships aren’t at that level. I want us to be ready to deal with a threat with what we’ve got, not what we might have. If an enemy jumped in right now, would simulations with fully refurbished warships help?”

“No, Commander,” Captain Geroud said, looking shame faced.

“Good question, though, and hopefully we’ll be simulating with fully ready warships soon enough.” This brought more than one grin to the faces of the captains projected in the conference room and doubtlessly around the warships.

“Okay, back to what you were doing, then. And let’s show up back at Parnmal with a fully repaired fleet.” I grinned, nodding slightly before cutting the channel. I left the conference room, finding Shrift outside.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“My brother wants to know if you would like a tour of the dock and a talk over what he’s thinking of.”

“I thought we had everything ironed out, and yeah, I’d love to have a wander around.”

“Well, it’s more like he has a few suggestions to make the process faster, but he’d need you to okay it before he went ahead.”

“Okay…” I said, feeling a little lost.

“I’ll let him explain. Follow me.” Shrift walked me out as Krom and Calerd settled behind me.

“How’s engineering treating you? I heard you got a transfer.”

“Yeah, had enough time in the armory. I’ll double up if I need to, but I was finding I had less and less work because every damned Commando is qualified enough to be armorers themselves.”

“Well, that’s good. I want them to know their kit well enough that they can fix it when need be.”

“I agree, plus, I missed wandering around fixing so many systems. It makes my head spin. Though, working on them in the Resilient is a charm.” He tapped a bulkhead fondly as we entered the main airlock which cycled, letting us into the dockyard.

“Why’s that?”

“Well, she has a maintenance system that makes it easier to access even the smallest areas, and the ducts have ladders in them! Then there’s the color coded wiring!”  Shrift carried on talking about the many things that made his life much easier, but I had never noticed and were not apparently on any other ship. I paused him in his list.

“So who made the Resilient?”

“Don’t know.”

“Don’t know? Doesn’t she have logs?”

“Well, yes, but it seems that the Resilient was found just on main drive, flying outside the jump point of a system, completely empty, the data was corrupt. Though, everything was fine with her and she was like a factory fresh ship.”

“So, the damage came from battle, damn, I didn’t think much could harm her.”

“The damage came from the Syndicate captain peeling off parts and selling them to settle debts.” I stopped, my face an angry ball. “Yes, he wasn’t the smartest.”

“That’s a fact.” I growled. “Eddie said that the Resilient is the only of her class.”

“Yes, she is a super dreadnought battleship, the biggest damned warship that isn’t a carrier. While the Resilient is one-point-two kilometers long, and eight hundred meters wide, a carrier is at least two kilometers long and one and a half wide. Then the biggest dreadnought below the Resilient is eight hundred meters long and five hundred wide.”

“Damn, I never really realize just how damned big she is.”

“Yeah, but in her prime, the Resilient is deadly as all hell.”

“You’re damned right she will be. I’ve only heard of the Resilient three times, to be fixing up such an elegant and powerful girl will give my crew goosebumps,” Silly said as me and Shrift entered one of the massive machine shops which created or fixed the parts from my ships.

“It is good to finally meet you, Silly,” I said, putting forward a hand.

“Likewise, Commander Salchar,” he said, accepting it quickly and pumping it twice and I felt the power behind his arm. He was a squatter, wider version of Shrift with mass behind him. “Now, talking about my crew, I need more of them.”

“We have shortages of people everywhere. I can’t give you people off of my ships as you know I’m only at two full shifts, if I’m lucky, per ship.”

“Yes, I wouldn’t want to take them away from the ships either. Dockyard and ship engineers are two different birds of the same nest.”

“So I can’t get you more people, as you see.”

“But you can,” he said, a light in his eyes.

“I’ll bite. How?”

“Earth.”

“And? None of them are trained in, well, anything. Plus, alliances and the like are changing.”

“Yes. It’s the best time to strike. Open up a training-on-the-job option and apprenticeship. Train them at Hachiro how to survive in space and all the basics then send them to us. We’ll train them on how to get a ship back into shape and how to build one from the keel up.”

“But all personnel in the Free Fleet need to have Commando training before they change to a trade.”

“Make them civilian contractors. Then give options for joining up. The higher positions can be taken over by Free Fleet personnel, but the general stuff like power lines and the like can be made by civilians. Have the Free Fleet work on weapon systems and such.”

“It would give us a possible supply of engineers for multiple trades within the Free Fleet and also bring Earth and other places into the present faster.”

“Yeup! I asked Shrift beforehand, so I wrote up a plan. It will need changes, but I also added in the suggestion of possibly hiring groups such as those that work for ship builders on Earth and bringing those that have a slightly better idea of what to expect into space.”

“You’ve done you’re homework; please send it to me.” I pulled out my data pad, checking I got the message before putting it away.

“Now, I was promised a tour, so lets have a look around at our newest acquisition.”

“No need to ask twice!” Silly said, beaming with pride at the dockyard he’d built as he took off.

“We have three through yards proper, meaning you can have a ship come in from any end and then out of the other. They can be used to house ships up to the size of a battle cruiser. Smaller ships can be doubled or even tripled up. There are also eight attached hangars for inter-system ships, such as fighters and shuttles. Please, put on a suit.” He waved to space suits on racks before an airlock.

I looked to Shrift who nodded appreciatively. When we’d been waiting in Chaleel the suppliers at Parnmal had been pumping out the improved battle suit which could now double as a space suit and not just an inner layer for a Mecha.

I activated the space suit shroud. My suit sealed and a clear hood came over my face. Shrift did the same as Silly watched.

“Damn, I have to get some of those,” Sily said, studying it.

“We should have some in storage. If not, we have the plans for them, so you can get some made up quickly,” Shrift said.

“Well, for now I’ll do it the old fashioned way.” He took a few minutes getting into his space suit. Shrift checked his seals. Krom had already checked mine and Shrift's seals on our battle suits. He went with Silly out first with Calerd coming into the airlock with me and Shrift.

The airlock rotated open as I whistled. We were on top of the central command center for the shipyard which stretched kilometers in every direction. I could pick out ships within the docks and the others attached to the sides, waiting for their turn. I looked at the Resilient, her massive bulk waiting patiently. My improved eyes let me pick out the missing weaponry and the deep scars in her plating. She looked like a true dog of war, seeing her repaired would be a dream come true.

“We’ve come pretty far haven’t we, Shrift,” I said absently as I looked at the military might all around me. I won’t lie, it excited me as much as it scared me. The power massed here was a drug.

“Yes we have, James, all because of you.”

I snorted, looking at Shrift. “Gah, don’t you go saying that. It was all of us that got us here, not just me.”

Shrift looked into my eyes. “Yes, we did all work together, but we wouldn’t have if you didn’t pull everyone together in training and then come up with a plan to let us escape. We all owe you more than we can repay in a lifetime.” He bowed his head.

“Oh, stop that. I need you all to keep me in check too. Look at all that we have.”

“Yes, but we trust in you as you will do what is for good us. You believe in the people under your command as we believe in you.”

I felt like scratching my head in embarrassment. “Thanks,” I said, clearing my throat, a small smile on my face as I looked back out to the yards around me. “So, what else have we got here?” I asked Silly on a general channel.

“The battle cruiser dock has five workshops for parts and the like, three large, two small. They are connected to two foundries which take in raw material, refine it, and process it. The other yards are slated to have the same compliment, but that is for later development. Currently, we’re also using the factory ships to supplement parts needed to bring the dock fully online and for repairs. They’re also building the necessary parts for their expansion as the other two docks can only fit a cruiser and below. Dock two is slated to be expanded to battle cruiser length. Though, none of these yards will fit the Resilient or a dreadnought, so plans have been created to add dock four. We will plan for it to be a super carrier dock but when it is half completed, we will be able to dock the Resilient there, or make a sister ship for her.

My eyes drifted to the Resilient. Thinking of having two of the behemoths stunned me. Through my sleep training and what I’d read. I had come to truly understand how damned deadly the Resilient was. Two of them and moving to have a super carrier? Things were moving faster than I had ever thought. It could mean that my fleet could maybe have shuttles that weren’t taken from others but made by ourselves. I was stunned. Yes, I had known intellectually that it was possible, even doable, but thinking that and actually having it put in my face that it would and could happen, seeing the deadly machine it would create was something else entirely.

“Damn, that’s exciting,” I said, feeling giddy.

“Yes it is! It will take three years for us to get dock three done and dock four halfway to fit the Resilient, by my estimates, but depending on resources and manpower, we could cut it to two and a half years. Plus, using this… factory method of producing things could make it faster still.”

“How long to get the yard to super carrier standards?”

“Not sure. I haven’t built a yard that big. I have some that have in my staff, though. I think it would be at least… five years? I’m not to sure.” He shrugged.

“Well, it’s something to think about in the future. She looks damned good.”

“Yes, sir, they’re all a great sight to see, especially in our hands and not the Syndicates.”

I nodded, making a noise of agreement as we all looked out over the yards, picking out people that looked like ants moving across ships pulling off the old and replacing it with new. It was a massive undertaking, but I had faith in my people.

“I’ll go with him to help out with the human and military recruiters as well.” I waved Shrift off. “Alright, shoo, I’m just going to enjoy the view some more.” I looked back out to the shipyard, sitting on the edge of the command tower, magnetically clamping myself down as I watched people working on the ships of the fleet. I was lost in my own thoughts when someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“Huh?” I said, shaking myself out of my reverie and looking up at Yasu. “Oh, hey.” I tapped the metal beside me and she sat down.

“It’s quite the sight.”

“It’s quite the undertaking.” I looked to her as she smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

I grinned. “Ha. Remember that time you tried to beat me up in the middle of our first fight of squad against squad?”

“Yes, why?”

“At the time I was furious, but all I could think of was how good you looked in a sports bra and leggings.” She tried to look unimpressed as the corners of her mouth tugged upwards.

“Who would’ve thought we’d go from that to not only taking over Hachiro, the Earth, a pirate station, another planet, plus-”

“I get the idea, aish,” I said, exasperated as she gave me a tap on the shoulder and I grinned. She rested her head on my shoulder. I sighed after a few minutes. “I don’t know how I’ve been able to keep it going. The leaders of Earth were right about one thing, I should step aside and have someone else take over.”

“What was all of that you said then?”

“It was also the truth. They don’t have the people that should take over the fleet either.”

“You really are a pabu sometimes.” She moved her head off of my shoulder, tilting my head so she was looking directly into my eyes.

“You are Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet, my husband and the deadliest bastard in space. The man that will pull apart the Syndicate and lead the broken people left behind the Syndicate into the light of peaceful times. You will lead men and women into battle and many will not come back, but you will do your duty and crush the Syndicate no matter the odds.”

I growled as battle hormones filled me. “Yes.” I looked back out to the fleet as I felt the need to punch something.

Yasu came closer, touching our helmets together so we didn’t need a radio channel.

“Now I think we should try out some of those hand to hand moves in our quarters and I might let you sleep afterwards.

I looked over as she bit her lip. In a second I was up, throwing her over my shoulder to her protests as I ran to the air lock, Krom and Calerd rushing after me.

“Put me down!” Yasu howled, laughing as she kicked and punched ineffectually.

We cleared the airlock, the Sato sisters faces slightly stunned, as I sprinted down the corridor with Yasu over my shoulder. I ran for the elevator. Krom and Calerd cleared the airlock, following the Sato sisters who where now running after me and Yasu. People looked up from their work as I made it into the elevator. I twiddled my fingers at mine and Yasu’s protection details, a grin plastered on my face as I put in the override codes and the elevator shot towards the Resilient.

I put Yasu down just as we stopped. We straightened our appearances as our hoods retracted and our battle suits unsealed. We had a speed walking competition to the ship. I gave a two finger salute to the airlock guard who was at attention, saluting me. He dropped his salute, turning back to the airlock to hide his grin as me and Yasu rushed to our room.

Janice and Dave were already waiting outside of our door, obviously being foretold by mine and Yasu’s protection detail. They hit the hatch release as me and Yasu rushed inside. Yasu hit the closing button as I pinned her to the bulkhead, our lips coming together in a rush as she hit the lock button. Our hands found the battle suits releases as we walked to the bed, our clothes falling away as our hands wandered over each other. Yasu pushed me back and I fell on the bed, falling on top of me as I pulled her to me.

“I think this is how I stopped you in training,” I said. She grinned wickedly, her hair falling on my face, making a curtain that closed us off from the world.

While we enjoyed in the, erm, physical side of one another a lot, we were pumped with endorphins and boosters through our food, and near death experiences definitely had an affect on our libido.

Chapter Recruiting Drive and Changes.

My implants and data pad went off, announcing that some new issue had arisen.

I got up groggily, looking at the bare back of Yasu. I played my fingers over her back as she nuzzled her pillow, unwilling to wake up. I grinned as I got out of bed and stepped into the head to take a shower. She’d been right. There hadn’t been much sleep, but the few hours I had gotten had been the most relaxing I’d had in a while. I had dreamed of Yasu instead of the many souls that visited me every night. I checked myself in the mirror, running my hand through my hair before letting it settle in its half slice. I put on a new battle suit as Yasu was shifting. She cracked an eyelid at the light from the head.

“Turn it off!” she said into the pillow. I did so, my eyesight adjusting to the minimal light in our quarters. “Now say goodbye,” she said with a smile. My face split in a grin as I kneeled down and she raised her head to meet my lips.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” I said.

“Yes you will, now get us the people we need for your fleet and hurry up about it. It’s about time we went and saw Monk. Also, remember to figure out how to house the families of those you offered accommodations to,” she said sleepily as I grinned at her reminders.

“Yes, dear.”

“I like the sound of that.” She smiled sleepily as I stood, shaking my head, not wanting to leave as I got to the hatch.

“Close the hatch after you!”

My grin widened as I walked outside and followed her instructions. Who would have thought that I would actually enjoy married life? I certainly hadn’t, I admitted to myself with a happy grin.

“Alright, well, let’s get to work then,” I said to my fully assembled protection detail as they fell in around me and guided me to the conference room turned office.

It was a few minutes until someone walked in.

“Hello, Shrift,” I said as I put down my data pad.

“James.” Shirft was one of the few people that still called me James, and only when behind closed doors. He took a seat as I sat back.

“So, I know you want to be kept up to date with what's happening with the ship yard and dock. Now, I would have my brother be here, but he's more like Eddie in this regard, the only time that he'll go to meetings is when it's for something he deems interesting.”

“We should have some coffee,” I said as Shrift's business like manner relaxed. While Kuruvians couldn't drink coffee, they loved the aroma, finding it relaxing. Somewhat akin to candles.

I ordered some from the mess. Rank did come with some privileges.

“So, did you find out anything about the rest of your family?”

“It seems that they all died when there was an outbreak of a 'virus' by some terrorists or another. It allowed the Syndicate to impose martial law and found a massive amount of troublemakers, sending them to the mining colonies.” Shrift looked to the table.

“Flor will be freed from the Syndicate as soon as possible.” My tone belayed the relaxed position I sat in.

Shrift locked eyes with me before nodding.

“I don't doubt it, Commander.” There was silence for a few moments before Shrift also lounged in his chair.

“So, how's the married life?” he said with a grin.

I returned it. “It's, interesting.”

“Even while you two were being pissed off at one another, the entire time training I knew that you liked one another.”

“There's no way you thought that.”

“Call it a Kuruvian's intuition.” He grinned as he tried to look all knowing.

“Why aren't you married, Shrift?”

“Well, Kuruvians don't marry, we associate with one another, but we move from partner to partner a lot. If we want to have a litter then we actually have to activate our reproductive organs.

“So, you can't have kids until you want to?”

“Exactly.”

“That's just cheating.”

“We don't cheat. We just don't stay attached to another for long, usually. There are always exceptions, like my parents, though there are only a few.”

“Why are there fewer female Kuruvians than male?” I asked.

Shrift grinned. “We can choose our gender. Most that are on ships choose to be male or neutral, as I am. On ships we're brothers. On Flor we're siblings.”

“That's got to be confusing.”

“Quite.”

The coffee arrived and someone from the mess put it between me and Shrift.

“Thank you,” I said as he made a nervous  bob before practically fleeing from the room.

“Strange,” I said as an alert sounded on my data pad. “One minute.” I sighed as I opened the channel.

“We found the reporter that leaked the video and such,” Henry said. The person was resourceful. They'd gotten from the Resilient to Hachiro, moving from the trainees to fixing up the video and sending it to Earth through the Free Fleet's communication system.”

I'd had Henry go through Hachiro. It had taken time, especially with his commandos being stolen for other jobs. “Who is it?”

“Evelyn Sparks,” he said.

I shrugged. “Bring her up.” I sighed as Henry cut the channel and I turned to Shrift. “It's never just one thing.”

Shrift grinned. “Shall we go over what Nancy and my brother are up to before she gets here?”

“Certainly.”

“Okay, so we've nearly cleared out the smaller ships up to destroyers. As you said, cruisers that are below a certain standard are being used as parts and then melted down. Shirley is doing a cracking job of mining. She's almost got an output a third of our own.

“Our miners and refiners times change due to their distances. With the fuel that they’re burning and the amount that we have at Hachiro, we've begun building an atmospheric dipper and refiner for Saturn and Jupiter.”

I nodded, taking a sip of my tea, Shrift's coffee releasing an aroma through the room. “What about the destroyers and bigger ships of the line?” I asked.

“Well, making the dipper and refiner has moved back our time line a bit, but we think that within three months we could get them to the standard that they were before the battle.”

“You mean the standard of the Syndicate which is, basically, it works, has armor and guns?” I crooked an eyebrow and he nodded.

“Pretty much.”

I nodded. “I want overhauls,” I said. I felt a twinge of regret for my words. Overhauls would take considerable time, but the ships would then hopefully be close to the condition they were in when they were really part of the PDF or system defense forces.

“Really? That with triple the amount of time.”

I nodded.

“We have one thing going for us right now—training. Add that training with ships that are actually close to fully operational and we have a force multiplier.”

Shrift nodded.

“Also, while we're doing these changes, we can make it so that the ships are all universal, making it easier for crew to move from one ship to another without needing special training.” Shrift nodded as he pulled out his data pad and began making notes. The door opened and a woman as well as two Mechas walked into the room.

“Thanks,” I said to the two Commandos, making it clear that they could leave as I reclined more in my seat and studied Evelyn Sparks.

***

“Listen up trainees!” Yasu said. They were all gathered in the massive running track dedicated to the trainees training and that Yasu had run on thousands of times during her own training.

Silence overcame the room after a few seconds of hushing.

“You are no longer on a war footing. You have stories and hopefully some training and useful information that you can share with one another.” She paused for that to sink in before continuing.

“But you are still trainees. You have a lot to learn and getting an inflated head is one way to get kicked out of the Free Fleet.” Takahashi and the training cadre behind Yasu nodded in unison.

“Keep that in mind when training.” She turned to her staff. “Commanders, take your trainees.” The training cadre broke apart as they took their isolated squads off to their squad pods and training rooms, and a few began running on the track.

Takahashi came up beside Yasu. They worked together, but there was a lack of personal interaction between them, for now it was only business.

He used me in order to try and prove Salchar's inability to command. He twisted what I saw until I only thought of him as a cheating bastard, Yasu thought as she felt a nasty taste in her mouth.

“Shall we have people finish the battle damage training quickly?”

Because they've already been taught it, Yasu mentally finished. “Make it so.”

Takahashi looked almost as if he was working up the courage to say what was on his mind.

After a few seconds Yasu turned to him. “What?” She was unable to hide the coldness of her tone as Takahashi's nervousness disappeared and he straightened as if under review like the trainees.

“I wanted to tell you I was wrong in what I did,” he said.

Yasu hissed. “Don't you think I already know that?” Takahashi didn't recoil from the words, but Yasu knew they hit home as the man kept talking.

“In wanting to look after my commandos, I thought that only I was the best commander for them. I thought that Salchar would just get them killed, that they were a number to him.” He looked to the floor. “And while a lot of them have died, I saw how every single life to Salchar is much more than a number. I saw how he uses everything in his arsenal to keep his people alive.” He turned to look Yasu's burning eyes, his own open as he smiled a little bit.

“I saw how he loves you, and that he will be there for you no matter what. You have found a good family, Yasu. Mecha Tail, while being great fighters, are no mere friends. They work so well together because of their complete trust in one another. A trust that few families of blood can reciprocate. Your father would be proud that you found people that you can grow with and not just train with.” With that Takahashi bowed before leaving an emotional Yasu in his wake, who turned to see the last of the squads being guided to some new training.

When did I become so caring about words and feelings? Yasu thought as she wanted to run to James, have Salchar melt away and have his arms wrap around her and never let her go. She turned to go to the training commanders office.

How was I so blind? She thought back to her time as the Blade Mistress and when training had begun and she had fought James.

She smiled to herself as she got into her office, its window overlooking the track.

“The one thing that went right was marrying that dolt,” she said, smiling and thinking of no other man she'd want to have by her side for the rest of her life.

She saw Takahashi giving a lecture off to the side of the track and her line of thinking soured.

“I'm going to have to figure out a way to look past his idiocy. He was doing it for his people, as blind as he was, and he also cares for me.” She sighed as she sat at her desk and opened her hatch.

“Natsuko, Taniko,” she said as the two sisters walked in.

Both of them were a couple of the deadliest people in existence, despite their girlish appearances, and completely loyal to Yasu.

“What are your thoughts on Takahashi?”

“Good fighter,” Taniko said.

“Emotional, makes him falter.” Natsuko.

“Preffered weapon...”

“...Sword.”

Yasu held up her hands as the two started finishing one another's sentences.

“What do you think of the man?” And for once the cold looks of the sisters broke as they looked at one another.

Yasu smiled, she couldn't help feeling motherly over the two. She was, after all, the one that had found them as toddlers about to be killed for not pick pocketing enough, by gangsters. She had raised them the only way she knew how, with fighting. I guess it's time I taught them about people.

She stood.

“Alright, you two, you're going to have new training.” To someone else the girls looks would have been one of neutrality, but to Yasu they were practically rolling their eyes and saying “Come on, we're already the best damned fighter's you've got.”

“You're going to work for Hachiro's theatre.” She grinned as the two looked confused. Hopefully, movies and dealing with people constantly will have something of an impact, she thought as Natsuko spoke up.

“But who will look after you then, mistress?”

It was Yasu's turn to look unimpressed.

“Takahashi.”

Taniko's expression said, Bout time.

While Natsuko's was, Are you sure?

Yasu nodded to the silent questions. Trying to humanize the Sato sisters and be friends with Takahashi, I think I'm going space crazy.

Chapter Gaining a Press Officer

Evelyn had been surprised by the speed with which the Free Fleet had gone through their fleet, trainees, and then Hachiro. Altogether, it was a lot of real estate to cover. Yet they'd done it meticulously, giving her no where to run. That said, she didn't make it easy for them to find her even as she'd come to that assessment.

They'd dragged her out of some duct, frisked her, and then taken her to Resilient. She knew the corridors and the familiar smell. It's strange how we gain connections to a place where we thought we might die, she thought as she was made to face the back wall of the bridge. She was then ushered into the conference room behind the bridge.

“Thanks,” thee Commander Salchar said to the Commandos who saluted before leaving, Salchar tossing them one in return.

The man looked perfectly at ease with an unbound woman that had recorded him in battle and had hid in his fleet. The Kuruvian Shrift shrugged before continuing to work on his data pad, he obviously didn't think what was going on was any of his business.

“Want anything? Water? Food?” he asked as she looked for any signs that he was overly mad. He looked as if he was sitting on a tropical beach sipping a Mai Tai for the way he acted.

“Water might be good.”

He grabbed a water bottle from his leg and he threw it across the table. She grabbed it and sat down, squirting the contents into her mouth.

“Okay, so when do you want to go home? We have shuttles running every four hours still for trainees,” he said as he sipped on something warm looking.

“Uhh, as soon as possible would be nice,” she said as the door opened in a rush.

“Ms. Sparks!” She whirled around and was greeted by the grinning but harmless smile of Rick.

“Haven't you learned to knock at this age?” Salchar asked as Shrift chuckled.

“Nope, rather like the shock and awe aspect,” Rick responded, Salchar grinning from this.

Rick walked around to the other side of the table as he looked to Evelyn.

“So, how would you like a job, Ms. Sparks?” he said with a grin as everyone in the room stared at him.

“What? I am chief of staff,” he said defensively as Salchar flicked his hair out of his eyes and Shrift shrugged.

“Why would you want to hire me?” Evelyn asked carefully.

“So we can have you talk to the people protected by the Free Fleet-”

“And make some propaganda up that the Free Fleet is awesome.”

“No, and get the separate races used to one another and comfortable with working one another.”

“Huh?” she said, looking to Salchar who was sitting back, listening to what was going on. Shrift was still on his data pad.

“Okay, so these races have never met one another. Other than interacting with the Free Fleet these other planets and solar systems could just not exist. I want you to report on the different systems, religions, really get into the different societies and pull them apart, get people thinking about the other races, and not just their own. Hopefully, it will also give them ideas for trade, such as Earth making technology and Chaleel supplying food stuffs now Earth's been messed up. Or a trade with the Kuruvian's for rare elements and mining assistance,” Rick said as Evelyn sat down.

“You're trying to link them together in such a way that they care if the other is attacked. That way they will help the Free Fleet grow.”

“Essentially, yes. You saw that we need people to fight this war, people that we don't currently have. Now, this might sound pretty dictatorial as most political leaders called us,” Rick said and Salchar's expression soured.

“But as of now, the Free Fleet is the only force that these five races have in hope of protecting them against the Syndicate. Yet we're not tyrannical, no matter what people have said, and we're trying to incorporate everyone into our Fleet so we have a fair system where no race is put ahead of another.”

“Yet that's you saying it,” Evelyn said as she sat back. Her natural reporting skills making her devils advocate even if she approved of what the Free Fleet was doing, no matter what the political leaders were saying as well as their news networks. After being part of a system where each individual was cared for, she knew that the Free Fleet was the best thing that Earth had going for it. Though, she wasn't going to say that.

“That's why we want you to do the reporting, a third party to look at not only the races but the Fleet. We want you to see what issues we have, how we're different and similar to other militaries,” Rick said, his look imploring.

“Yet not in a way that would reveal any military secrets.” Salchar added as Evelyn found herself nodding and biting her lip in thought.

“What about me sneaking aboard and all that?” she asked hesitantly.

Salcahr's eyes sparked. “Evelyn, what you did was deceitful and pulled people away from their jobs which might save people one day. We're going to have to learn how to trust one another, so no more lying or messing with people.”

Don't do this and your out, she silently added. “You have my word.”

Salchar seemed to weigh her before looking satisfied.

“We've got some time, so think on the job,” Rick said.

“Well, she's all yours, the next shuttle is in three hours,” Salchar said as Rick stood.

“Well, shall we then?” I'm due to meet my wife for some food in the mess. I bet that running around tired you out,” he said as Evelyn stood. She had little choice, and if they were keeping her hostage they were by far the best mannered hostage takers she'd met thus far.

Rick made sure she looked at the back wall again as a woman that looked as if she lifted shuttles for fun met them with crossed arms.

“You going to lolly gag around all day?” she asked as she tapped her foot.

“Well, I was.”

“No excuses,” she said.

“But!”

“None,” she said as her face split into a grin and Rick kissed her.

“Hello, dear. This is Evelyn Spark, she was the one that made the video.”

“Highlighted the third tier gunnery on ports sides ineptitude. Off by a full three degrees on that rail gun round!” She huffed as she pumped Evelyn's hand.

“Uhh, I'm sorry.”

“Not your fault at all. Thank you for pointing it out. Having it all over Earth will make them the better for it,” she said with a conspiratorial grin as Evelyn found herself smiling at the intense woman.

“Well, my beautiful ladies, shall we get some food?” Rick said with a grin as Marleen turned and crooked an eyebrow at him. He kept up his smile as Marleen laughed, holding Rick's hand as they began walking.

“Coming, Evelyn? I do love to see the Commandos playing hide and seek, but it seems it tires them out a bit,” Rick said as Evelyn followed the two. It took her a few minutes to work up the courage to talk.

“So, how did you two meet?” she asked.

“Well, I was waiting in the squad pod when this dolt came from the ceiling yelling Geronimooooo.” Marleen simulated the falling.

“Seems he lost his few remaining brain cells.” Marleen winked at Evelyn as Rick squinted at her, a grin on his face.

Evelyn didn't know why, but she was already beginning to like the ridiculous pair. At first her questions were slow, and then she forgot where she was and fell into the role of a reporter, something that came to her naturally as she'd interviewed her father before he died covering protests in Africa.

Kids had thought her weird when she interviewed her teachers, usually sending them to the breaking point. The workplace had been the same thing for her then VICE had helped her and she'd reported on everything possible. VICE was no longer a thing, but the people that made it up kept in contact with one another. If she was going on this ride, she could think of a few more people that could join her.

Look at me, Dad, I'm interviewing kids that were trained by a PDF-impersonating Syndicate. Doesn't get more bizarre, does it? she thought as she was hanging onto every word Rick and Marleen said.

****

I looked across to Shrift as I sat down in my seat with a sigh. With everything going on, I needed to keep on top of not only the progress with my people, training, and relations, but also the engineering side. Without ships, guns, and Mechas we were not going to win the war.

“That went well,” Shrift said.

I shrugged. “Hopefully she isn't like the reporters that bug me for my comment on anything, from fashion to my love life and my tactics.” Shrift laughed, looking at my face of weirded out confusion.

“Back to the ship yard and dock?” he asked, a grin still on his face.

“Alright, onwards and upwards,” I said, getting comfortable in my seat as I pulled out my data pad, damned thing was a life saver. I never left home without it.

“Now, for weapons systems, Felix and Min Hae have come up with some interesting designs. They're testing them right now, but they could add significant firepower to our ships.”

“Did they turn away from the plasma weaponry?”

“Yes, they agreed that the technology is so unstable that, while it is very effective, it does more harm than damage as we saw with the battle cruisers.”

“Also, have you placed the order for the Gatling guns and other PDS's?”

“Yes, I have, I have an armor contractor that is interested in joining the fleet. It makes sense, really, if we're making reactive armor big enough to fit on a space ship that we have it in space. The costs in fuel will be astronomical otherwise, and the resources are more readily available,” Shrift said.

“Makes sense. Now, I know that Eddie had plans for the hull from the last battle as well as one of the operational battle cruisers, have you been able to sway him into using that hull as the base and the cracked BC for whatever he needs?” I asked.

“Yes and no. Yes, he'll use them, but he wants to put all new systems into it.”

I nodded. “Very well, I'll want it in full fighting order, anyway. Once our current forces are fixed up then I want to start getting the broken destroyers and such into the line then use anything left to get me carriers, proper carriers. Min Hae and Felix are only able to make bastardized versions so far, but I want real ones.”

Shrift nodded to my words as he made a note, talking as he did so. “Shall we continue with the extending of the dock?”

“Yes, I want everything growing. Nancy is going to be key to us with our oncoming battles, and she won't be much use to use without the materials she needs.” My face turned sour. It's all damned numbers, if we could use the market, however, maybe make loans, then have them pay it off.

“We're going to need some accountants,” I said.

Shrift looked at me with clear confusion. “Accountants?”

“We need some people to look into the financial workings of the Union or... Resilient?” I looked to the ceiling.

“Yes?” she responded.

“Would you be able to assimilate the information on the banking systems of the Union?” I asked, probably sounding a little hopeful.

“Lare would probably be more interested in that, he like's numbers. At this stage he's basically a child AI, so he's making way more connections than I ever could, though he needs more processing power. I do too.” She finished and I looked to Shrift.

“I'll get right on that,” he said and I saw him scroll to the top of the list and do just that.

“Now, Resilient, could you have Lare have a look at Union laws, specifically the rules about loans?”

“Certainly, he's been looking for something new to do.”

“How is he doing? Has he made any decisions?”

“Not yet, though he's interested in the Free Fleet and what it does. For now he needs more computing power and to get his physical aspects fixed.”

“That's reasonable, though as he is not personnel of the fleet then he will be one of the slower jobs, unfortunately.”

“I understand. We need ships capable of defending our interests and our charges. Working on him would possibly not get us closer to either of those goals.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Do not worry about it,” she said, her calming voice making it so that I didn't.

I looked to Shrift. “So, what are our forces at right this minute?”

“To the standard you would want, not including Boots forces. One battle cruiser, two cruisers and seven corvettes. The destroyer will be fixed in a week, three for the corvettes and cruiser. The remaining two BC's, other than Eddie's project, three weeks on top of that. Then the dreadnoughts. With your wanting to overhaul all of them except the cruisers, again triple the time.”

I nodded my head. “Get it done.”

“Very well.” He rose, checking his data pad. “See you around, James,” he said.

I grinned. “You can bet on it, Shrift. You decide where you want to be posted yet?”

“Nope, still thinking on it,” he said. I shook my head as he wandered out. He was holding the promise I'd given him like a get out of jail card.

As he left I checked over the transfers that Monk was proposing to send to Nancy. Cheerleader was also requesting a few of her ships to be overhauled.

I went through each of the ships, assessing their value and making a schedule for them to be fixed up. I reached the point where Parnmal's own docks and yard would be built in a years’ time, by Monk's estimate, before I stopped.

“I also need to figure out a schedule to rotate people into Sol System and the others systems and keep patrols going on without a hitch.” I sighed to myself as I finished my tea. It was summer berry. While smelling nice, I never found it had the actual taste, something that I missed from Korea. Teas actually tasted as it said it would. Still, it smelt good and had some taste to it.

Chapter Rebuilding

Henry barely felt any strain as he used his Mecha to lift bulkhead paneling into place. Drones tacked it to the deck and ceiling quickly before moving on to seal it fully. Henry moved to the next panel, knowing the drones would be done by the time he had the second one in place.

“Don't you find it annoying that we have to fix the holes we put in these ships in the first place?” Rick asked and Henry grunted a laugh, pulling the panel into place, the drones darting around again as he waited a few seconds before going to the next one.

“Takes a few seconds to take them down but hours to put it all back together,” Henry said and it was Rick's turn to grunt in agreement.

“Makes you almost want to use corridors, even though they are veritable death traps,”

he said, somehow making light of it as Henry sighed. They'd been putting the ships back together, rotating crews and Commandos in and out so everyone got some training and rest.

“More fun to use a sword than just walking. More, wham bam, thank you, damn,” Yasu said.

Henry laughed at this. “It does sound better that way.” He got to his next panel, the drones following him like loyal dogs as they tacked the panel and he continued on.

The work was menial and mind numbing, but Rick's anecdotes made the time go quickly. Min Hae and Felix were supposedly working on designing an army of drones with their teams as Silly and his gave them feedback. The drones would be able to put the ships back many of times faster than Henry and his Commandos could. Henry just wished it was a reality already. Pulling down panels and then replacing them was a dull job, indeed.

Henry's mind wandered as he began to think on the ships that had already left to change out with Cheerleader's people who'd bring back another mixed bunch of newly minted Free Fleet personnel.

It's all rather exciting once you think of it, though it's going to take a lot of damned time, Henry thought as the Free Fleet was finally on a standing where it could grow instead of diminish.

“Seems that Cheerleader's pretty certain about there being life in system RX-4,” Rick said, breaking Henry from his thoughts.

“Well, there were some readings from Parnmal,” Yasu said, “seemed that they were looking for a civilization that used to be part of the Union. Looks like Cheerleader has the bug too. She was always damned determined and stubborn.” A note of respect was in her tone.

She's come a long way from thinking that our underhanded tactics are dishonorable. Heck, I bet she'd do them too if she thought she could keep a few of us alive. While Yasu was most definitely part of the Commando's and retained the rank of company commander, she was pretty much Henry’s filler. If he needed someone to take command of a group which was in disarray or he needed something done and his other commanders were busy, Yasu was always the one he went to. She was also the one that created the training program, overseeing Takahashi take the trainees through it and had also created the advanced physical and hand to hand training of a Commando, forcing the Commandos around her into peak condition.

Great Commando to have when we're doing this work a third of the time. For once working for Salchar is boring. Henry couldn't stop himself, letting a laugh go as he grinned to himself.

“What was that?” Rick asked.

“Did you ever imagine being bored under Salchar?” Henry said, chuckling. Rick paused for a second before chuckling and shaking his head.

“No comment,” Yasu said as the two's chuckles became laughter.

****

Eddie was in no laughing mood as he was installing Resilient's new upgrades, from processors to cooling systems and memory cores.

While Earth wasn't very advanced compared to the information that Resilient had shared from the Union, their computer systems were a different matter. While their societies didn't look to expand as it would make the capitalist society they lived in a very hard one to control, they did believe in making new and advanced systems to make life faster. So Resilient was not just getting a small upgrade but a rather large one.

“Vac! Davidson! I don't care if you’re talking; just get the damned job done!” Eddie said as the two got to work, speaking quietly in hopes the all hearing-seeing Eddie wouldn't notice them.

Eddie sighed. Kids and slackers. He groaned as his auto wrench finished bolting the massive memory bank into the floor.

Eddie saw something out the corner of his eye. He pulled his boot off and threw it in one motion.

“Ow!” Damn Amart. Eddie knew every engineer under him by the noises they let out when his boot connected with their backside. Eddie retracted his boot.

“Amart! Check those bolts and the shock structure. You don't just bolt and leave!” he said as Amart turned and studied the structure for faults, jacking into it to make sure everything was fine.

“Always check your work. Doesn't make sense to-” Eddie threw the boot that had just come back to him. His aim had improved after he'd hit Retter in the face the first year he'd been chief. He'd never been quite the same after he fell off that catwalk because he wasn't properly secured.

“Shit!”

“Maaaark! You've been staring at that cooling system for an hour. It's not going to run away on you unless you try to mate with it.” Eddie picked up the boot which had come back to him.

“Chief,” Mark said as he closed up the cooling unit and moved on, looking more than a bit embarrassed.

“Now, as I was saying, it doesn't make sense to install it and not check it. Otherwise, we'll be doing it in battle. Then you'll have to answer to Commander Salchar.” Everyone put their heads down to work and conversations ceased.

That's better. Eddie checked the memory bank, running start up on it before moving on. Eddie knew his people were the best in the fleet, but that didn't mean that he'd let them rest on their laurels. Being the best meant they had to maintain that status.

So he was going to get Resilient's guts into fighting order before the yard rats got to it. Nine months was a nice estimate and all—if it wasn't a ship run by Chief Engineer Eddie.

Not going to have the commander of the Free Fleet with the worst off ship in the fleet. Not on my watch!

Eddie didn't think that Salchar was some god as some of the personnel in the Free Fleet did, but he was quite exemplary, while being just a human.

Plus, Chief Fuddy on the new dreadnought was known for his ability to get things done. He should be after being my protégé, Eddied thought darkly. Now it was protégé against master in a race to finish their dreadnought. Though, Chief Fuddy had the added advantages of being in zero grav and having less damage from the battle, yet it was evened out with his thrown together crew and the fact that the dreadnought was in terrible condition.

Chapter It's Never One Thing At a Time.

Bregend grunted as he lifted enough weight to make the bar bend. Kurft, Bregend's commander of the contingent of Commandos across his ship, was one of the few people that could spot the mass of a man.

Bregend stood slowly before dropping just as slowly down to the floor again, exhaling and then pushing up again, all in one fluid movement. Bregend racked it as Kurft got out of his way.

“Don't want to squat a shuttle today?”

“That's Marleens gig,” Bregend said. She was one of the few other people that could spot him.

Kurft grinned as he got into the squat rack.

A siren went off as Kurft was about to lift the bar. He got out from the Rack as Bregend turned to leave.

“Seems we're needed,” Bregend said. Kurft grunted, running off towards Commando territory.

Wish it was after we got our structure seen to, Bregend thought as the Rebirth's main structural supports had been realigned and strengthened, but with Nancy now online Rebirth had been on the fast track to getting new supports. It was a big job but otherwise Rebirth was the only BC at a hundred percent in everything but structure. She even had some upgrades that Bregend was going to owe Min Hae and Felix a few beers for.

“Move,” Bregend said, his deep voice unforgettable as crew moved to either side and the ship commander barreled through before they continued to their positions.

Should have gone for an Ashenti Class Battle Cruiser, thing has transports on it, Bregend thought. He'd memorized ships, their abilities and names while training. He thought it was one of the only reasons he stayed sane, unlike many of his generation of recruits. It had become somewhat of a hobby, and an exercise he continued onto his commander ship of the Rebirth.

Bregend had downloaded some interviews from the information broadcast from earth where Salchar was asked about strategy.

Don't just know your opponent, know their gear, the battlefield and their lives. To properly gauge an opponent, you need to know them better than they know themselves. You need to be able to read them. Do it often enough and you know your enemy as soon as you see them.

Bregend entered the bridge as his thoughts turned toward the present and he took his command chair.

“We have a pre-one flash from Parnmal. They have a Syndicate fleet moving in on them and are requesting aid from Free Fleet forcesc” Comms Commander Kyle Tonfen said.

Mills, Bregend's second, as if reading his mind had a plot of Parnmal and it's surrounding system projected into the bridge and transferred to Bregend, who looked at it.

Too many. Plus with the relay only going to Salchar, Cheerleader won't get this for another four days. Bregend checked when the switching ships would get to Parnmal, it wouldn't be for another three days.

“Nav, I need a possible plot around Parnmal to meet up with Cheerleader's forces,” Bregend said, his tone solemn. That many jumps, if done roughly, could rip apart the repairs they'd carried out on the Rebirth.

Just until we get to Cheerleader, Bregend thought as he rubbed the armrest of his chair.

Mills looked to him. She already knew what he was thinking. He nodded to her as she turned to her terminal and began checking if Rebirth was ready for the journey as best as possible.

“We will take the Rebirth and go around Parnmal in an effort to catch up with PC's fleet. While the message will get to Salchar in two days, Cheerleader will not get a message. We know where she and her fleet will be. We will have to be the messenger. We have the fastest ship, other than the corvette, and the fuel reserves to make it that far.” He looked around the bridge. When he'd come into command, they'd been strangers. Now they were his alter egos.

“Kyle, I want the patrol forces here to go silent. I want AIH to do the same. AIH went undetected for twelve years, they can do it again.”

“Nav, do you have a plot?”

I have one out of system, working off of planetary maps for possible jump locations as well as gravitational anomalies.”

“Good.” Gravitational anomalies could mean a friggin black hole, Wilma. Bregend's mind automatically going to the worst possible outcome as he refrained from asking Wilma to find something better. He knew she would not enjoy him using her name instead of her occupation, and she was damned good at what she did. Salchar had recommended her and he'd seen her scores himself.

“Continue on. Mills?”

“Sir, Engineer Rous says that as long as we make smooth transitions, we'll be good.” Or we won't be and it won't matter anymore, Mills' eyes said.

Bregend nodded once. “Very well. I want to be underway in ten minutes.” Rapid orders were yelled across the ship. Bregend hadn't been just sitting on his hands. He'd made sure that his people were ready for such an emergency where time mattered, and right now every second did.

Chapter Unexpected Guests

“We have jump point emergence!” The sensor commander squealed in excitement. Monk knew that it would wear off soon enough.

“Getting bounce back from IFF; they’re Syndicate.” The sensor commanders previous excitement was now replaced with business like tones.

“Prepare Commando teams and inform ship Captains I want them ready to move. Tactical, get those gun platforms ready.”

Monk remained where he was, holding his reinforced staff as he sat on one leg, his face calm like untouched water as around him Parnmal prepared for battle. Min Hae and Felix came from their departments as Monk accepted a message from Karl that the Commandos had segregated and isolate the old inhabitants of Parnmal into their cells.

“Min Hae, Felix.” Monk nodded slightly as Min Hae move to his station and Felix came to Monk's chair.

“We've got a hundred and twenty planetary cannons ready to be deployed,” Felix said into his data pad.

“You've been quite busy.”

Felix looked up.

“Just a lil.” He grinned as Monk sported a small smile.

“I will leave it to you to deploy them.”

Felix nodded as he left the command center. Probably to harass someone to get his cannons deployed. He undoubtedly wanted to test out his new toys.

It was still a few hours until the Syndicate ships message reached Parnmal.

“Incoming transmission, putting onscreen,” Hulio said

“To the band of idiots in Parnmal, as you have missed your shipment, Lady Fairgate has deigned it that Jorsht and his command staff will die. The first one to bring me their heads will get a portion of the new controllers trades.” The transmission stopped as the ships continued to advance into the system, directly towards Parnmal.

What would Salchar do? Distract, deter, but back it up with some facts. A small grin spread over Monks face as he sat up.

It would still be some time until his sensor buoys reported back what the ships were, though there was a rough count of over a hundred and fifty ships from wormhole emergence sensors which worked FTL.

“Hulio, I need to have the hologram ready to go. Min Hae, I want to know who that was,” Monk said as they both worked.

“Hologram is ready, Commander,” Hulio said.

“Thank you, now, shall we begin?”

“Ready when you are.”

“I see that the Lady Fairgate has sent her lapdog to once again bite at my heels. Now listen here, Parnmal is no longer under her command. Try to take Parnmal and I will use your hulls for my own. Tell the Lady Fairgate that I will soon be thanking her for the additional use of her shipyard. It will come in use to build my fleet.

“Now, go home and tell the Lady Fairgate of Jorsht's control of this sector.” Monk looked to Hulio who cut the recording, checked it and sent it to the oncoming fleet.

“His name is Captain Kelu; he is completely loyal to Lady Fairgate and one of her eight admirals.”

Monk rubbed his head.

“Thank you, Min Hae.”  Min Hae nodded as he turned to other work.

Monk had people at twenty-five percent readiness, there was no use in having them tired out before a battle. He also had approved all of Felix's extra needs. The planetary cannons were twice as powerful than the Reslient's own and could take out a destroyers shield in two or three hits.

Monk didn't move from his position as the sensor reports finally came in.

“Seven dreadnoughts, fifteen BC’s, thirty destroyers, forty cruisers, and a hundred and thirty-five corvettes.” Noise went though the command center, but Mad Monk cut it in the bud.

“As of now, we are all on level two readiness. Machine shops are to concentrate on getting craft combat ready and creating weapon platforms as well as power sources. Training Commando units should be used to bolster the guard for the Syndicate prisoners for when they find out and to stop their meddling.

Looks like the vacation’s over and we’re back in the fight.” Monk said as he wished he had a couple of corvettes to send to PC, but with the Syndicate fleet there was no way the corvettes would get to the wormhole line before getting cut down.

“Is the fleet moving?” he asked shortly.

Sensor Commander Wast answered. “Once entering the system they grouped together and shot at the sensor buoys in range.”

Monk and Min Hae shared a look, Min Hae's face turning dark. “It seems that they are waiting for reinforcements.”

As Monk had learnt from Syndicate logs, it was very rare that the first group at an objective would strike, they would build their numbers until victory was assured, such was the way of pirates.

“Prepare message for Salchar,” Monk said. Hulio declared his readiness after a few minutes. Now I just hope we have the time for it to get to you and for you to get here.

Chapter I Hate Surprises

The first thing I saw as I walked into the conference room were two Kuruvians yelping in joy as well as the other commanders in the room.

“Well, I guess something’ ms good?”

“You bet, Commander Salchar!” Rick said, a glint in his eye as he smiled, bringing both his thumbs up and others grinned.

“I did not know that your people were so learned, that some actually went to gain more knowledge. Let alone that your people build and create such fine machinery.”

“Thaaanks,” I said, quirking an eyebrow at Silly.

“I have never seen so many people so interested to learn more and move to the stars. Your race is certainly an interesting one,” Shrift said.

“How many? Trainees?” I asked as the people who had applied to the Free Fleet had finally calmed down.

“Three-point-two billion for civilian jobs,” a third Kuruvian, who was on his data pad, said. His coveralls and insignia put him as a trained engineer, communications tech, and quartermaster.

“Wow.” I was going to need to find someone to manage all of this and I thought I might have the man for the job. It would bare looking at it later.

“Indeed! We will have the Nancy, Defender Moon Base, and Hachiro slowed down at first to train these people, but once they are trained, they will change the system,” Silly said, excitement bubbling over as Shrift and the commanders grinned.

“May I ask how many applied to be in the Free Fleet?” I looked to Rick.

“Two hundred and forty three thousand extra. Though I believe many will change later as their contracts expire.”

I nodded.

“In other news, what is the status of the ships?” I asked as I took my seat at Hachiro's conference table, ,ommanders took theirs as well.

“The Resilient has been put in Nancy for some fixes. With the work Eddie's done, it will take four months to have it ready. Dreadnought Bastille is also nearly completed; it seems the engineering race has done them both a world of good. BC's Veritable and Ilentr are now at sixty percent and they’re working on them as they can, including the Rebirth. Twelve corvettes, four destroyers, and five cruisers are nearly done. Their engineering crews are doing the final internal work. The remaining repairs and rebuilds, we can expect slowed rates as workers are taking up classes to teach the new workforce,” Silly said.

I made a note on my data pad before I continued talking.

“When I pass through Chaleel, I’ll let them know of the job opportunities and tell the recruiting center there to contact you, via the FTL relay, for you to transport the ones that have undergone space testing.”

“Understood. Now-”

“Point emergence reported from Nancy,” came through both my comms implant as well as the conference room table. Everyone stood as we rushed out of the doors. Commanders to their stations as I went to Hachiro's command center. Commander Whorst was there. I'd had Kawaga transferred to Parnmal to pass on his marksman skills to the advanced Commandos that the previous Sarenmenti Special Operations Mechas were teaching.

I came in as Sensors were confirming the wormhole emergence data.

“It's the messenger corvette,” they said.

“Just what message do they have?” Rick asked behind me as I looked to him. “I'll get the fleet ready,” he said before I could say anything. I didn't have time to think on how he'd said what I'd been thinking as commanders began filing in information on the full conditions of their ships.

The corvette's transmission came in five hours later.

“It’s a single corvette flashing fleet IFF. Carrying a message for Commander Salchar.”

My collar piped in and Monks voice asked, “What is life?”

“Mecha Assault,” I answered without thought

“Family?” he asked, his voice calm.

“Mecha Tail.”

The message loaded onto the main screen.

“Salchar, I am sending this message as Parnmal is under attack, and I am not sure if I will be able to hold off the attackers. I have attached below their disposition at the time I send this message and in a secured file our own force. Please, make your best speed. Monk out.”

I was moving out of the command center as the transmission ended, my face a mask as I connected with Resilient's comms, mentally making a list of battle from the reports the ship commanders had given me.

“This is the Resilient,” Walf, my communications officer said through my implant and I accepted it. After the Second Battle for Earth I had memorized every person on my bridge's name.

“Connect me to Combined Arms.”

“Sir?” In Sook asked.

“I want these ships ready for combat,” I said as I sent a file from my data pad.

“Understood.”

I got on a transport rail which sped off towards the shuttle bay. I changed to Rick's channel as I watched sections of the Hachiro speed past me. “I'm having the ships loaded with ammunition and having the ships that are going with us made priority at Nancy; get any repairs we really need done. Engines and hauling gear are priority.”

“Uhh, sure.”

“Also, I want you to sort out who will replace Boot.”

“Consider it done, amigo.”

“Good, Salchar out.” I jumped off the transport rail and marched towards my shuttle as everyone got out of my way, Krom and Dave marching behind me.

Walf buzzed my implants and I accepted it.

“Sir, it looks like some representatives from Earth wish to talk with you.”

“Their timing is impeccable,” I muttered.

“Commander?” he asked, his voice relaxed. He had clearly heard me but was overlooking it.

“Connect them to me.”

“Commander Salchar, we would like to talk to you about the… recruiting you’ve been doing,” someone said.

“Cut the shit. Yes, I took your people and gave them jobs in space, so what?”

“It could destabilize the economy!” the first one said

“It very well might, which is one of the major reasons why none of you really wanted to go into space, and that now it’s on your doorstep you’re trying to stop it. Well, let me tell you something. These people are free and they can choose to do as they wish. I’m offering them employment and adventure if they want it, and they’re going to have to work their asses off to get it.”

“But you’ve hired most of our ship builders and maintainers, people that keep the worlds resources moving,” someone else complained. I was getting bored of politicians. I was also beginning to think that the all had slightly whiny, annoying voices.

“Then use something else. Mag trains, shuttles, all will move materials a hell of a lot faster and, once built, a hell of a lot cheaper. Now, I don’t have time to talk. I have work to do.”

“Ah, yes, that brings up another point.” I felt my eyes flash with anger as I fought to keep my composure. I brought my harness down with more force than was needed as the shuttle buttoned up and the airlock depressurized.

“Yes?” I asked, keeping my annoyance out of my tone.

“We would like to put and observer on your ship to see if you act in the way your people say you do.” Since Evelyn had taken up the position of independent reporter for the Free Fleet there had been an out pour of news people trying to get a gig with the fleet.

We hadn't taken any of them. We instead took the real reporters who wanted to show the worst of the Free Fleet. It made it so that everyone knew that we didn't pay them off or bribe our reporters if they were busy pulling us apart and reporting on the places that we went.

Governments had shortly followed the public outburst with wanting to get their own people to 'observe' the fleet, as if Earth was somehow more important than the other worlds I was dealing with.

“You want to give me a babysitter? You’ve signed the document giving you protection and you, one planet, want to have the authority to give me a watchdog? I’m interested, who would this watchdog be?”

“Mr. Keith Edwards,” one said, another leader quickly following him.

“Yes, and if you do not allow him to board, then we will cut the agreement and all ties to the Free Fleet. Denying you the ability to recruit on Earth.”

Which means I will lose most of my forces as they will be cut off from their families, and they can't get back up here.

If I had more time then I'd be able to figure something out, but for now I didn't have the time. So, for now, I was going to have to walk the line, but it didn’t mean I had to be happy about it.”

“Very well.” I stared at the bulkhead in front of me. “Krom, record.”

“Recording.”

“I, Commander Salchar, do accept a watchdog, who is duly appointed by Earth’s governing bodies, by the name of Mr. Keith Edwards. Is what I say correct? State what you govern as well as your consent.”

They each did so.

“As with any contract where personnel are placed in the command structure of the Free Fleet they are subject to Free Fleet rules and codes. Thus, if your watchdog does not follow these rules and codes to the letter you all, who agreed on his behalf, will be subject to the full penalty that he will enjoy, up to and including execution.” I paused as they began whining again. “They will also not be allowed to reveal military secrets or other military information.” Think you were the only ones that could pull a fast one, I thought to myself as I enjoyed the imagined looked on their faces.

“A shuttle will be sent momentarily. He will be on that shuttle.”

“Why so fast?” someone complained.

“Because my fleet is needed elsewhere. Have a good day.” I cut the channel as I stood, the shuttle was moving through Nancy's superstructure and towards Resilient's hangars.

“Do you have it all?” I turned, looking to Krom.

“Yes, sir. I have made backups in Hachiro and made sure Commander Whorst is made aware of it.”

“Good.”

“I will stop recording now,” he said as he fiddled with his Mecha.

“I thought you already had.”

“I’ve never used it before, damn thing’s finicky.”

I half grinned as he opened the hatch with Calerd walking in with my Mecha. “Get that shuttle down to Pendleton to pick up the watchdog. Have the Rebirths armorer ready to outfit him with a battle suit and Mecha.”

Calerd grunted. “Once more into the flames.”

I rolled my shoulders and moved, knowing that for the foreseeable future my movement would be much more limited.

“Alright, strap me in,” I said as I connected with my nerve ports and the others strapped, tightened, and clamped me into my Mecha.

I felt the reactor's power supplied to the systems as the servos whined with my movement.

“Damn, I thought I got rid of that,” I grumbled as I walked through the shuttle bay. The noises of deadly machines making their way across the deck made me grin as Commandos and personnel moved through the armories and off to other jobs.

No one saluted as I came in as per action orders. Though, I did see a few twitches.

“How long for the cross loading and finally work up?” I asked as I walked in.

“Six hours,” Rick said.

“Make-”

“I've already made sure that everyone knows how long it'll be.”

I nodded as I took my seat. My comms buzzed. Yasu was calling me.

“I see that I'm not on the roster,” she said in a tone which made it clear that she should be.

“I need to have Commandos and personnel to keep this fleet going. Earth is where we're getting most of our trainees from. You're the best trainer of Commandos that I've got.”

“So it has nothing to do with not wanting me on the front lines?”

“Probably partially, but it is also the best use of you.”

“I am...” She took a breath as she calmed down. “It does make sense, as much as I hate to admit it. Though, I want to be back with the fleet once you're done getting Parnmal back.”

She says it as if I'm going for a walk, not going up against a proper fleet. “Yes dear.”

“Good, I love you.” And my brain left my skull as I sat there, repeating those words over again. “You going to say anything?”

I kept myself from grinning like an idiot. “I love you too.”

“Good.” I could hear the smile in her tone. I, however, needed to keep up appearances sitting on my bridge.

Supplies, last minute and vital fixes continued as Boot moved to join his patrol group to mine. I had a destroyer commanded by Kalel with three corvettes underneath him to continue their survey of the nearest systems to wormhole to and provide security for the Free Fleet and Earth.

Sparks flew from a panel as it blew out.

“The fuck was that?” I asked.

“Eddie is having the new power plants put online,” Rick said.

“Why didn't he do that earlier?”

“Well, he didn't exactly expect us to be moving so quickly.”

I nodded. “Understandable.”

“He's replacing the two that were scrammed during the last fight,” Rick continued as I pulled up a work order Eddie had submitted. Well, at least I'll know I can move and shoot at the same time now. I'm going to need that extra thrust.

Chapter Rough Journeys

Bregend grunted as Rebirth shook exiting a wormhole event horizon.

“Engineer Rous is working on a report,” Mills said.

“Good. I want the generators running. Nav, plot our next route.”

“Clear out to one AU,” Qurv the sensor commander said, a slight Sarenmenti lisp making him sound liked a snake rather than the clicking and grunting most Sarenmenti sounded like without a translator.

“Charging wormhole generators; five hours until we're ready,” Wilma said.

“Go-”

“I'm getting radio signals emanating from a planet,” Kyle said, cutting off Bregend's response.

“Log it. Qurv, launch a sensor buoy and a stealth information collector.”

No one said anything, they didn't have time to sightsee. There was still a lot of distance to cover till they got to PC.

***

Cheerleader tapped her fingers as Prancer came back into the system where she and half of her fleet were waiting. Durfna, Prancer's sister corvette, followed a minute after.

“They're within time check; all clear,” Jorvut grunted. He was one of the first generation of Chaleelian Free Fleet personnel. Cheerleader had lost her old sensor commander to the training halls that took Chaleelians, Avarians, and anyone that wanted to be trained in something other than the trade they were forced into by the Syndicate.

“Very well,” Cheerleader said in a light tone, belying the boredom she felt.

While she had been in command of the fleet that looked to explore the systems surrounding Parnmal, it was time consuming work with eight systems within wormhole range and only one of them not leading to another system while the others had up to four.

“Speed is level,” Jorvut said after a few seconds of checking.

Cheerleader had figured out a method of using the jump sensors which got information FTL. With the first few jumps she'd found that each wormhole exit was changed in signature by the speed they entered the wormhole's horizon.

Thus, if a ship was in a system, gathered all the incoming light from the sun and other star systems, and jumped back with over five minutes between ships—meant that the system was safe in the immediate vicinity. Any other time and it was not. Then speed was used to highlight how many systems were within wormhole jump. Faster than normal, over three, slow—no systems, normal—up to three.

Which meant that the system that the two ships were in was immediately clear and had up to three systems.

“Send the Destroyer Hakara, Cruisers Damnation and Throw, as well as Corvette's Speedy and Borva,” Cheerleader said as her combined arms commander sent the orders to the ships, which moved away from Cheerleader towards the incoming corvettes.

“Werv, you've got command. I'm off,” she said as her shift ended.

Werv took her seat as she walked out to the mess and grabbed some food.

“Hey there Onur, Jesse, Simiah,” Cheerleader said to the people at the table she sat down at. They were from all areas of the ship, but they all had joined the gaming club, which was one of the most popular clubs in Cheerleader's fleet.

“We got the new maps finally,” Simiah said, one of the few Kuruvians that had picked to be female.

Cheerleader grinned. It had taken months, being sent by Salchar when he freed Earth.

“Good, we can get to work on setting up another Mecha Assault Cup.” Her grin became serious as she looked at them.

“Now, we better win here, there is a reputation that I have to uphold. I am from Mecha Tail. Losing is not an option!” she said as her teammates grinned. “I'm being serious here!” She felt the corners of her mouth betrayed her with their small attempts to form into a smile.

“I don't think I've met a bunch of people that look less serious, well, other than Monk and Salchar,” Onur said as Cheerleader's mouth split into a grin.

“You haven't seen us when we've had Soju after a championship. I swear that Salchar has never drank alcohol in his life. Great for guiding us home, stumbling as we do.”

“I heard about your drinking escapades with the Commandos,” Jesse said.

Cheerleader's face turned a light shade of green. “Calling that drinking would be a compliment. It was a fight to keep gasoline down,” Cheerleader said to their unrelenting grins as she looked at her food. “Just had to bring it up as I'm having dinner,” she looked at the meal, looking mildly disgusted.

“We heard tales of your vault like stomach from that night.” Jesse grinned knowingly as Cheerleader shrugged and dug into her food.

“Doesn't look you're having that bad of a time,” Simiah said as Cheerleader looked up, clearing her throat.

“You're right, Simiah, we should do it as a team next time.” Cheerleader's grin promised sinister things.

“Uhh, I think I'm needed back in Commando territory,” Jesse said.

“Yeah, I think the chief needed us back in the gunnery,” Simiah said as they rushed to stand up.

“We'll play next friday!” Cheerleader said as they rushed to deposit their trays on the return belt. Cheerleader sat at her table, eating her dinner in peace. She grinned slightly at her friends reactions as she opened her data pad and the manga and comic books James had sent with his maps and other electronic entertainment items.

“Ah, you know me too well, James,” She said as she read. Now, just get me doing something interesting instead of scanning systems!

Chapter A Rushed Departure.

“Shuttle's coming in,” Rick said as I stood.

“Well, I best go greet them.”

Rick grinned like an idiot as I went by. He knew what I was probably getting myself in to.

The shuttle came in quickly but under control as Resilient took over and guided it onto the shuttle bay. My transport dropped me off and I looked over the bay.

Keith Edwards was a wispy looking accountant of a man, wearing a business suit complete with a briefcase, glasses, and furiously typing on his touch pad.

I went down to meet the man who was glancing around the room. As I got closer, he held out his bag in one hand towards me.

“Take this to my quarters. I will be on the bridge,” he said dismissively.

I stopped myself from sighing as Krom grunted. The noise making it clear he was about to separate something from the man's body.

Edwards looked up to Krom.

“Remember to muzzle your pets too,” he said with disdain as he looked to me.

“Well, are you going to take it or leave me, the evaluator of the Free Fleet, keep a hold of it?” The threat was clear as I gave Calerd a head tilt.

“Very good, you’re learning, James,” he said as the shuttle bay was becoming ominously quiet.

“Bag,” Calerd said, ripping it from Keith and mangling the handle.

“I’ll have you know, that bag cost me two thousand dollars, and I will see to it personally that you pay for it,” he said into his touch pad as he made a note.

The Sarenmenti made an unpleasant noise as he chucked it to a Commando half the shuttle bay away.

“Find him a room,” Claerd said. The Commando who caught it nodded before moving off.

“Commandos,” I said in a warning tone. They continued to move as I turned and headed back towards the bridge. I'd had enough of the man already. He'd better learn to shut his mouth or someone will give him a short trip out of an airlock.

“You’ll be fitted for battle suits and Mechas for your own protection. Shreesht, deal with it.” I heard a noise of annoyance as I lost one member of my protection detail and he indicated for Keith to follow him.

“I don’t think that will be at all necessary. I have a change of clothes in my briefcase,” Keith said as he continued to look around the shuttle bay and make notes.

“This is space, not some resort...” Shreesht began as I walked through blast doors into the ship and onto a transport that would take me to the bridge.

***

“Thanks gents,” I said as I pulled my hair back from my face into a fierce pony tail as I entered the main bridge.

Rick stepped out of my seat and into his own, pulling his work from one to another.

I settled into the familiar seat, putting my helmet on a rack beside it as my computer rolled out my preset screen and began filling it with information I’d be interested in.

I sat back in my chair for a second as I felt the humming of the war machine beneath me. Even though I couldn’t see the other ships of the fleet I could feel the power I commanded, the power to destroy star systems, to rip asteroids apart as if they were piñatas. I felt a thin grin spread across my face. I looked at the numbers I’d already seen dozens of times by now. It was certain death for my fleet I knew on a level.

But with my ships in their condition, personnel levels, and armament readiness would make one hell of a dent. Hell, I was looking to make the biggest damned dent I could. My best bet was that Parnmal would survive. My Fleet would see to that. If I was gone, the command structure was strong enough that Monk or Cheerleader could take over, and Cheerleader had her own Fleet which was off some where to keep Parnmal and the rest going, as well as the ships we’d seeded in Earth, AIH and Chaleel. The Free Fleet would recuperate even if me and my fleet wasn’t there.

I looked to Rick who looked up at me, sensing my stare as he reflected my half-crazed grin. We both knew all that they could do to us was kill us. It was comforting in an odd way to know that death awaited us all, and that it was not something to be feared. It was something to make the best use of and be prepared that eventually it all comes for us.

“Ben, are we all set?” I asked my navigation, the Kuruvian turning and grinning to me.

“Yes, Commander.”

“Combined, Helm, and Nav, get us out of Nancy and into formation Romeo Foxtrot Alpha Three.”

The bridge came alive as commanders began talking in business tones and Milra my helmswoman proceeded to undock from Nancy.

“Releasing clamps and moving free of Nancy's supports.” She paused as she confirmed that. “Powering main engines.” A few minutes later.

“We'll be free in twenty seconds. Following Nav's plot.”

“Very well,” I said as I saw a smile appear on Milra's face.

Now I just have to wait till we get there, I thought as I continued to look over my fleet and see what else it needed as my two dreadnoughts, three battle cruisers, one destroyer, four cruisers, and fifteen corvettes came into formation.

And hope that my crazy assed plan works.

It would be four days until we made it to the jump point and then off to Chaleel, AIH, and finally Parnmal.

“Sensors, pass me the latest readings for AIH.”

I saw the map populate my screen and I threw it up on my personal hologram so it floated above my head and in front of me as I rotated it around.

“Nav, could you give me a best time plot through AIH.” It took a few minutes but it appeared as I saw where the fleet would pass through.

“Engineering,” I said to my computer and it connected me to Eddie.

“Commander?” he asked, sounding tired already.

“How are the power plants?”

“Purring like kittens, sir!” Eddie said, his voice seemed to regain some energy and pride.

“Good going there, chief, now we’ll be able to pummel these bastards.”

“Yes, sir, we will do that. I have my people suiting up to install the remaining guns we have in our hold. The Resilient still won’t be near her prime.” The sadness crept in again.

“But she’ll plow on as she’s always done,” I said.

“That she shall!” he said, pride evident through his chest.

“Good luck.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I cut the channel and I began running some simulations to see if my crazy idea would work. About an hour later I sat back and stretched. “Rick, conference room.”

He looked at me quizzically. The watch officer took my chair as we moved to the room.

I threw a hologram into the middle of the table.

“The hell is that?” Rick asked as he took a seat.

“Armor,” I said as I had the hologram show it’s schematics.

He looked up at me. “Damn.” Rick whistled as he sat back in his chair. “That’s some armor. Good thing we made fusion plants replacement the top priority.”

“Yes, and timing is going to be hell.”

“Yes, plus, getting some the right size would be a pain,” he said, grinning. He was clearly already sold on the idea.

“I’m working on a sensor algorithm for that.”

He looked in my eyes. “So, one last charge.”

“Yes, right down their damn throats.” My Avarian changes appeared and I growled; Krom growled with me, his eyes dark. Where as a normal human would have been scared, Rick grinned like a wolf with us

“Well, sir, I don’t think Eddie will like it, but I have one alteration.”

“Oh?” I asked as Rick expanded the hologram and modified it. “Oh,” I said, nodding appreciatively as Rick grinned like the proverbial cat with the canary.

After a few more hours we emerged.

“Alright, take a break. I’ll run the shop for a few hours. Go check on our people,” I said to Rick as he gave a two finger salute before wandering off.

I sat back in my chair as I looked over the goings on of my Fleet. We continued to near the jump point while I worked on my side project.

I figured I’d tell Eddie when we were in AIH so he had less time to throw a fit over the idea.

I looked over reports from Henry on the readiness of the Commandos. They were even eager, though this wasn’t out of blood lust or war mongering, just a sense of duty to their friends, family, and people they knew on Parnmal station.

After a few hours, I wandered my way to the sparring rooms of the Commandos and I went through a few rounds with the men and women there. It felt good to be down where the meat met the metal. These people were different from everyone, even most of the other people of the fleet. They were the ones that would see death coming and charge it down a corridor in another warship. Their humor wasn’t kind and neither were they, but there was a kind of camaraderie that couldn’t be explained, that linked all of them together and would make them die for the one to the left or right of them, even if they didn’t know them much.

I divided my attention between roaming the ship and seeing my people to checking on the condition of my other ships.

Time passed quickly and I found myself on the bridge as the wormhole generators hummed. They started their now reduced six hour charging cycle. Helm and navigation were already inter-linked across the fleet and with one another.

My personal comms chirruped with a private channel.

“Commander Salchar, this is Chief Brusk. I found a Mr. Edwards looking around my weapon mounts.”

“Send him my way with a pair of guards,” I said as I wondered what happened to the last pair.

“With pleasure, sir,” he said, cutting the channel and I opened a private channel with Mr. Edwards’ guards. Their vitals were fine as I accessed their mecha readouts.

“How is the prisoner?”

“Been in his room for the past five hours, Commander. We were aiming on getting him when we made jump.”

“Could you check on him?”

“Yes, sir.” A few moments later. “Sir, it seems that he’s escaped. We’ll search him down.” The Commandos voice was harsh.

“It’s okay, Commando, come to the bridge. We’ve got Mr. Edwards in our custody again. I just wanted to see how he got out.”

“I will take full responsibility.”

“It’s not your fault, Commando, you didn’t know what you were dealing with before hand. Now you do. Report to me soon.”

“On our way, sir.”

I'm just not going to get a break with this guy. Edwards had treated me and mine as we were a doormat, essentially. He had been found trying to get into every area we told him not to be in. He raged about the food, and then complained that we weren't feeding him when he didn't accept it.

The man had no regard for anyone but himself. He couldn't care less what we thought of him, and he only saw our attempts to stop him getting into secure areas as some kind of impingement on his rights, which he still quoted from the United States. After trying to reason with the man, I'd given up and given him guards. Guards which he'd learned to dupe.

I turned to Dave.

“Seems that Mr. Edwards slipped his room and got onto the gun deck.”

Dave's face turned sour, an expression I had rarely seen.

“We're going to have to put that guy in the brig for his own good,” Dave said and I nodded.

“We'll see what information he's gathering then we'll decide.”

Calerd and Dave tensed behind my seat as Edwards was guided in front of me with two gun monkeys in their specialty gun crew Mechas.

Edwards straightened his back, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently as he stood in front of me, still wearing a suit instead of the battle suit provided to him.

“Are we wasting your time, Mr. Edwards?” I said lightly, but there was no missing the iron in my voice.

“Yes, I was sent here to evaluate this ship and this fleet; not to be pulled around this ship at your whim, like some kind of warlord.”

“What gives you the authority?”

“The United States and the entirety of planet Earth,” he said defiantly.

“You see, I don’t hear anything about me or one of my subordinates allowing you to do that. Calerd, if you had someone walking around your base, trying to take the plans of your nuclear weapons, what would you do?” I asked, my eyes not leaving Edwards.

“Restrain them, place them in complete isolation, and then send them off to be interrogated and their information spilled.”

“I thought as much,” I said as I raised an eyebrow to Edwards.

“You want to compare rail guns to a nuclear bomb?” Edwards asked, his face showing how ridiculous he thought it was.

“Are you an idiot?” Marleen asked, voicing my thoughts from her place at tactical. Her helmet was off, her head recessed in the armored shoulders that held the exoskeleton.

“Comparing them to a nuclear device-” Edwards said, as if talking to a three year old and getting clearly angry by the reddish tint his face was taking on.

“Is stupid if you're talking about Earths nuclear devices. With a single rail gun round I can take out the majority of America. Few rounds of Plasma, and I can cook cities.”

Edwards pulled out his touch pad.

“Thank you for that information.” He put the protective cover back over it with a slap.

“Giving those kinds of weapons to a jumped up gamer turned dictator with delusions of grandeur and ships crewed by brainwashed minors is ridiculous. The fact that this fleet, which is falling apart at the seams as seen by the disgusting state of the engine rooms and gun decks, only highlights this point. This fleet belongs in Earth's possession, not yours, James Cook. It's time you went back to being a drunk gamer that loves attention, money, and fame.” He smirked as he looked at me as if he had won.

I barely stopped myself from squeezing my armrest into uselessness. I kept my face clear as everyone stared at Edwards. So this is where the expression you could hear a pin drop comes from, I thought, letting that pause calm me as I looked at Edwards. I barely remembered being James Cook anymore. I no longer had to think I was playing a role. I was Commander Salchar. The man that fought battles in a hospital gown, without an arm and would take on forces that greatly over powered him without blinking.

“I do hate pretentious pricks like you. You think that you’re everything in the damned universe. Well, Mr. Edwards, you might not give a shit about me or my people, but I will show you what we do before we die.”

Edwards flinched away from my eyes as I continued to look at him.

“We might very well all die on this mission. The odds for our survival are slim to none. So, Keith, let me give you the fine print. No one gives a shit what you say. We’re dead already. Look around you.” I did so myself, seeing the eyes of every bridge member.

With my words they seemed darker and deadlier than I'd ever seen them. They'd all known that they'd probably die on this mission.

I'd heard the gossip as I walked Resilient.

But now I'd vocalized their doom, it seemed to cross from the realm of possibilities to reality. Edwards looked somewhat cowed by their faces as he looked back to me.

“That language is unaccept-”

I talked over him. “Do you think I would take brainwashed people into battle? What use would it be if they followed just me? I have relied on them more than they have ever relied on me. They are the Free Fleet. I’m just the guy that got stuck with all the damned paper work. Their smarts is what has kept this fleet going. You want to see the true power of our fleet. It’s not our damned guns. It's our people.”

A grin passed over me. No, don't say that, that's a terrible idea! “So now, Edwards, you will keep to me like my damned shadow.”

Then to his security detail.

“He’s yours now, secure him to his seat.” The gun crew moved out of the way and the Commandos picked up Edwards none too gently by each arm as he yelled threats before being put into a chair behind me and it's harness was pulled down and locked out.

“Thank you, gentlemen, for securing him, and pass on Chief Brusk my regards.”

They nodded, leaving as Edwards' previous guards took positions on either side of the man, who was still making a ruckus in his locked seat.

“If you do not shut up, I will have you gagged, Mr. Edwards.” I looked at him with cold, uncaring eyes.

“I'll have you court marshaled for this! I'll have you thrown in prison!”

“Because I restrained you, and you call us children.” I shook my head.

“Commandos, put his hood up.” One of them pressed the activation button on the neck. Edward's complaints disappeared and I turned to focus on the goings on of the bridge.

“Hopefully, that’s the end of that!” I said and a few grins appeared.

The rest of the time was uneventful as Rick returned and I finished up the daily routine of paper work.

Him mostly complaining and coming up with ideas of what he wished he was doing, which he relayed to me as often as he did things that needed my attention. Then we sat back and monitored the goings on of the fleet and ship as we waited for the wormhole generators to complete their work.

“Worst part of the job, waiting,” Rick said, completing a test that accompanied his sleep teaching implants to make sure he was actually understanding what the implants told him.

“Yeah, damn, it’s the worst, all this preparation and moving takes time, it’s dumb really. We’re so used to things being instant or quick on Earth yet with our technology it would take us decades to get from Earth to the jump boundary. Getting to other planets, centuries. Yet here we are, complaining about a few hours and a few days.”

“No one accused humans of being the brightest bunch,” Rick said with a grin.

“Ain’t that the truth,” I said, sparing a glance toward Edwards. Rick's smile widened as he let out a half laugh-half exhale.

“Chaleel will be good to visit,” he said.

“Hopefully they’ve got those planetary elevators back up. I hoped that they would be able to keep trade going. We’ve got trade agreements with Parnmal and them, so I hope that could bring more traffic to Parnmal. Though, I hope that no one went there once the Syndicate moved in.” So many plans destroyed by the damned bastards, always making us react to them.

“What would Parnmal trade, though?” Dave asked.

“Technology, minerals, schooling are a few, I wanted to see how it would grow by itself. I already passed a port fee. Each ship pays per tonnage and for transportation if they use ours.”

“Smart, no matter what, we get something,” Rick said, nodding.

“Spent enough time in Korea to look into the future, not at the right here and now. Sometimes it seems like the here and now throw us curve balls.”

Rick made an unhappy noise as we continued to watch the countdown reach toward zero. Connolly made it onto the bridge as the general alert was sounded and everyone secured themselves and any equipment that could move.

“Wormhole established,” Helm said as enough power to power quite a few countries ripped a hole from Earth to another star system.

“Other ships are confirming wormhole links,” Nav said, all of the ships lined in formation, our generators working together to make a wormhole for the entire fleet.

“Entering wormhole area,” Helm said as the ships began orbiting the spherical wormhole, quickly getting closer to it before we plunged through it. The Resilient shook slightly as we entered the hole in the fabric of space.

We extended our sails in order to catch bands of charged particles. The sails had been ripped off by the Syndicate for the rare materials that they were made from. Eddie had seen to their replacement and was able to ramp down power plants as well as collect a minute amount of anti-matter. Resilient had kept the facility quiet from the Syndicate, Eddie helping. It was always useful to be able to have immediate power when needed.

The secrets the two had kept had been immense. I still didn't know a lot of the ones Resilient kept, and I doubt she did herself

As we transited, the other ships followed in formation as Navigation took us into rich areas of charged particles Sensors found. Resilient passed the commands to the other ships continuously.

For two days we watched the rainbow of colors, like liquid mercury, switching out our navigators.

I had Keith follow me everywhere I went, from sparring with Commandos to taking tests when I was told to by my sleep teaching supervisor.

Keith learnt to sleep in his chair—as I didn't sleep, my changed body making sleep less necessary.

I forced everyone to get at least six hours of forced rest the final day before we entered into the next system. An hour before we emerged everyone was in their Mechas, the gun crew were manning their guns and engineering was in reaction areas for damage control.

“Transitioning, event horizon formed,” Vort said.

“Lowering sails,” Milra said as the gossamer looking sheets pulled together and then retracted underneath the armor plating.

“Entering horizon,” Ben said a few minutes later. Their voice were tense.

“Configuring shields.” Krat didn’t share in any of the nervousness of my bridge staff. In wormhole travel there were no shields instead, we had to rely on layers which stopped particles speeding through our ships and bodies.

The metallic, colorful swirl which had enveloped us changed to a surrounding darkness, the blandness of complete darkness illuminated by trillions of stars.

Its starkness held a different kind of beauty and could—and had—mesmerized more than one person with it's vista as wormholes had in the time of the Union. All that life, so much to discover, and so much beauty and here we're going to fight a battle, I thought sourly for a second before turning to my tasks.

“Clear of Horizon,” Ben said as the ship seemed to calm without a hiccup at the exit from the wormhole.

“Populating map with sensor buoys information,” Vort said. He'd already completed the hand shake protocol with the sensor buoy.

“Weapons are deployed and roving,” Marleen added. Everyone’s voices were business-like and brisk as silence reigned except for information snippets between groups.

Kart was one of her supposed sub-commanders, but reported directly to me instead of Marleen. Shields were our first line of defense, after all.

“Shields are online and accommodating the system's gravitational forces,” he said.

“The fleet has emerged from the wormhole with us. All thirteen accounted for,” In Sook said. No one relaxed, even though we’d all made it through yet another possibly deadly wormhole transition. Other things could kill us and in the near future.

“We're cleared out to five light minutes. Sensor buoys reporting nothing in the system.” Vort's voice was calming to everyone as we relaxed minutely.

“Good work, people. Milra, begin charging generators,” I said as the tell tale thrum began once again.

The worm limit was an unseen line in which the ships were outside of the solar system. We jumped from here as it created less issues going through the wormhole, and we came out at the same limit to make sure that we didn't arrive inside an atmosphere or right into a rock. Being on the system side closer to where we were jumping took less charging and thus less fuel. Yet, you could jump from any worm limit. Making it so we could stay where we arrived from the first wormhole, jump to a limit or open space within range, and then repeat the process again, never entering a systems and shaving days off of our arrival time. It had been just over two weeks since Parnmal had detected the Syndicate fleet. I was expecting it to take us at least that time to get our preparations completed and get to Parnmal, making it close to five weeks since the Syndicate fleet was first detected.

Chapter Arrivals

“Gravitational anomalies!” Qurt said as Wilma threw Rebirth in order to avoid the impingements on the wormhole throat.

“I'm dropping us out now,” Wilma said as more anomalies cropped up in the sensor feed and she reduced the amount of power going to the wormhole generators and kept the throat open.

Rebirth shuddered as the throat reduced in size and the swirling metallic colors slowed.

“Coming out in five, four, three, two, one.”

There was no time for talking as commanders and their people worked to keep Rebirth together in seconds notice.

Rebirth's structure screamed as Bregend grunted. There was nothing that he could do.

Power fed back into the command center as power lines overloaded, smoke filling the area, Mecha helmets sealing to keep it out as Bregend climbed out of his chair. Grabbing a fire extinguisher, he sprayed the fires as the Rebirth screeched again. Controller Worchek was covered in sparks, his Mecha saving him from a serious burn.

“We're clear of the wormhole, stabilizing,” Wilma said, her voice now inside Bregend's helmet as he pulled up a schematic of the ship on his built in arm data pad.

“Shit,” he said as he looked at the damage. It was severe.

“Get us on silent running and behind some cover. Flush sensor buoys.” Bregend said and his people saw to it.

Bregend took his seat again.

“Preliminary, looks like the Rebirth won't be making any jumps anytime soon,” Mills informed him as his face took on a gargoyle-like appearance, his heavy lifting adding to he protruded lips and large cheeks.

“Well, she's going to have to. Use whatever we got. I don't care if we have to use cables and splint her. We have three more systems to go,” Bregend said, brooding as his map populated. He had a week to go till he got to Cheerleader. Five weeks since the first report, he thought, wishing he could bend physics just a bit more to get there sooner.

***

I watched as Vort updated the sensor output of Chaleel with our own sensors. He accessed the information stored in a stealth sensor collector.

“Populating system map,” he said as the handshake protocol went through and the plot populated.

“Good, we'll go in-system to get fuel from our outpost and then continue on.” I had already said the plan once, but there were also contingent plans based on what we found.

It was a few hours later when Walf spoke up.

“Incoming communication from Chaleels planetary governor.”

“On screen.”

“Ah, Commander Salchar, it is good to see you again.” I could see by the way the governor’s elongated head drooped that he was speaking the truth. The fact he was trying to have a conversation with me with a seven minute time delay was going to be quite annoying.

“Only here for a short period of time. We have some bastards playing around in our backyard,” I said, sipping on water. Well, this is going to be a long conversation, I moaned inside my head.

“Yes, indeed.” The Chaleelian Governor's eyes became cold.

“How is your Planetary Defense Force?”

“It is good.” I could see tension return to the governor as his snout lifted as if in challenge.

“Don’t worry, I’m not stripping them. I just wanted to see what their missile supply was like.”

“We need every missile, Commander.”

“I don’t doubt it, and I am willing to give the Free Fleet personnel in this system plans for more missiles as well as the specialized machinery to re-arm your ships.”

“We do not have those kinds of natural resources on Chaleel.”

“I was going to put it on your asteroid belt or on your fifth planet.”

“It has no atmosphere, though,” he said.

This conversation has been going on for an hour and a half nearly, I thought as Rick, outside the feed, was mouthing those exact words before leaving, a mischievous grin on his face.

“Drop in asteroids in one place, strip them and then spit out weapons and ammunition. Other things will be available as well, such as ships and engines, with enough time. Though, as the primary sentient inhabitants, to my knowledge, I want to ask if this is okay with you?”

“Yes, it suits us. You may have five percent of the planet, though,” he said, nodding his head officiously.

I would never put the machines on a planet, but I would need somewhere secure to hold such armaments. The machines would be put in the belt to get reloads out faster, also, they were closer to resources and could be moved quickly…

“Thank you. Shall we have this as the official record?” I asked as Rick had returned and began eating some kind of real food in front of me as I waited for the response.

“Make it so,” he said as he straightened his appearance.

“As witnessed here, the fifth planet of the Chaleel system, Salchar, the Free Fleet will control five percent on its land mass,” I said, Rick making a show of eating his roast beef and all the trimmings, down to the Yorkshire pudding. I should have never told him about how I had Yorkshires, soo good! Ass, I thought, trying to impress my words on him with my eyes as I waited.

“I, Planetary Governor Ferwlick, accept these terms as long as the Free Fleet keeps their word to re-arm the Chaleelian space force on agreed terms.”

“I, Commander Salchar, agree.” There's even gravy!

“Very good, Commander,” Edwards said, “for a second you had me going. I actually thought that we were in a different solar system, talking to another group of aliens.” He'd learnt how to activate his comms.

“I did not give you permission to talk, Edwards. When talking to the person that has a more populated and powerful planet than your own, it might serve to hold your tongue,” I said as his guards took him away, complaining as he usually did when he was in the mess.

“Who is this creature that talks?” Ferwlick hissed, his tongue flashing out in anger as he received the transmission a few minutes late.

“He is-” I tried explaining as Edwards yelled over me.

“Your hologram is more powerful than Earth? I think not. Plus, you say he has a more powerful planet? We have two protecting bases and a shipyard.” He let out a sardonic rush of air as I looked to him.

“Correction, the Free Fleet does,” I said back to him as I turned to Ferwlick, nodding my head in respect

“I am sorry. Sometimes one must teach their young and idiotic,” I said as the guards were pulling Edwards away in a rash of threats.

“I am disappointed that you have one as such in your ranks,” Ferwilick said. He had been a warrior, a friend of Carsickle's actually, but in a time when nothing but war with the Syndicate was practically guaranted, they'd taken a man used to such items.

“Trust me, I would not accept one like this into my ranks,” I growled. Ferwlick nodded his head to the side in acceptance, a slight apology without losing face.

I held a finger up to the guards taking Edwards.

“If Ferwlick so wanted to invade Sol System, you’ve just told him your defenses and the targets he should pick for long range bombardment. Now, if you want to keep putting people in this fleets home's in danger, keep talking. Don’t worry, I have recorded everything you have said and I will be reporting it to Earth’s governing body.” The color drained from his face. God, it felt good to turn the tables on the smug bastard. I turned back to Ferwlick as the blast doors closed on a mercifully silent Edwards.

A contemplating Rick was gnawing on a Yorkshire. He has no mercy, I thought.

“Sorry for that interruption, Governor. We will have our people meet us on our journey to the nearest point we can transition to AIH and then Parnmal.”

Sensors reported on my personal screen that the area had been checked and the sensor buoys were reporting that there was no enemy in the area. Intelligence Department was reporting the same in their study of sensor logs, Tactical was going to half across the fleet and Commandos were standing down and preparing for the next part of my plan.

“Very well, I wish you well on your journey.” He brought himself up, looking at the camera fully as a sign of respect. “Thank you for what you and your fleet have done, Commander Salchar. May we, upon your return, take tea in the Southern regions of Chaleel?”

“I would be honored, Planetary Governor Ferwlick.” I inclined my head in the Chaleelian way of deep thanks.

“Till then.” He cut the channel and I opened a private channel to Eddie, being transferred to a console.

“Get those bucking cables ready! You dolts, I told you ton get them ready when the commander came up with this latest harebrained idea!” A boot flew across the screens pickup as I reflected that the Free Fleet members were picking up one another's idioms quite quickly. A yelp came from the boot connecting with an offending ‘dolt’.

Eddie made his defining limp into the view, only having one boot.

“What?” he demanded before looking at his foot, pressing a button on his belt before grinning.

“Looks like they finally figured out how to out-maneuver my boots. I'll just have to get old school.”

Of course he'd find a learning opportunity in hurling boots at his people.

“I need to put a damned magnet in that thing.” He shrugged, looking up into the feed. “Well, you going to answer me?”

“I take it everything is under control?”

“Nothing’s under damned control! I am more shorthanded than I was in the Syndicate fleet. But, if you’re asking if we’re ready to try out your idea, then yes, we’re damned well ready. I think you’ve watched too many westerns and rodeos with their damned nooses.”

“Maybe a few, wait how do you know-”

“Hey! What in the ejection port are you doing over there! Git!”

“Eddie?” My voice rose as he talked to someone off feed.

“I told ya!” I could imagine Eddie pointing his accusatory manner.

“But Chief!” they said, sounding panicked as I saw a boot fly through the pickup, accompanied by a resounding “Ow!” as the boot connected, returning to Eddie a few seconds later.

He put it on his foot as he hopped into view. “Now some of us have to try and be damned rodeo clowns.” He scowled.

“Good luck.”

“Good luck, he says! Good lu-” I could swear I saw a hint of a grin as I cut the channel.

I turned to Rick. “Seems everything’s quiet in Engineer,” I said, belying what I'd just heard.

Rick blew out in a disbelieving way. “Engineering, quiet? Eddie would have a fit. And an empty closet of boots!”

I saw grins around the bridge as my eyes thinned on Rick.

“Now, there was something I had to say about my subordinates eating on the bridge while I'm on an important call!” Rick was already running, the blast doors opening as the bridge crew laughed and I chased after him. “Where are the damned Yorkshires! Get back here, Rick.” I yelled as we were out in the halls. Rick took a corner, running on the walls to miss people. I saw him look back to me and put the last piece of the golden delight in his mouth.

“Riiiiick!” I yelled. I used the wall to run on as I chased after my laughing second in command.

It's going to take some time to get my reputation as Salchar, the cold commander, back after this, I thought as Rick flipped from a catwalk over a transport rail and onto the other side, the transport coming in as I dived through it, rolling to the other side as Commando's and ship personnel got out of the way, laughing and grinning the entire time.

Chapter Crazier Than an Avar?

Ursht rushed into the city halls militarized underground bunker. Tik and Tak, the Kuruvian couple that his battle master and mistress had left behind, building the Avar’s space abilities and expanding the city at an alarming rate, were waiting for him.

“They’re coming back, though their ships are different,” Tik said, not even turning as Ursht burst into the room. Trained Avars, nicknamed Ninjas, watched Ursht closely through their Mecha’s visors. His shoulder blades itched; he’d seen what his brethren warriors trained in their battle masters methods could do.

“May we talk to them?” Ursht asked, anxious to talk to his battle commanders Yasu and Salchar.

“It will be some hours before we are capable of real time conversation. The commander has undoubtedly sent a message. We have already sent him one, updating him on the conditions in Parnmal system,” Tik said

“Excuse us, please,” Tak finished. While they were some of the nicest creatures Ursht had met, they were also members of the Free Fleet as Ursht was no longer a part of the warrior clan, nor allowed to join it. He bowed his head, quickly as so to not show his sadness at what he'd lost before he walked out as fast as possible. He had matters to attend to which would assist his battle commanders. With any warrior duties, it was best to carry them out as soon as possible. Ursht did not want his battle master knowing that he impended vital communications with slow walking.

He got to his office, using a data pad, making sure the launch pad was cleared. He turned to his reinforced windows, looking over the city which had grown: Lake Cook’s blue waters, clear down to the melted shards of rock that had been hammered by Mechas in target practice; the planetary elevator behind it growing upwards, half of it beyond the clouds growing downwards; growing towers, a new innovation, dotted the city, providing food for the city dwellers, though Ursht didn’t see any of this. Instead he felt his blood rage filled him as he remembered glorious battles. A grin crossed his face as he remembered standing over his foes, his brother at his side as his clan celebrated their victories and his strength.

He had become battle master when his father had died in battle. His brother, being one of the Awaken, was not allowed to take the place of battle master. He had done his duties, though now his age-old hunger for battle flowed through his veins. He craved for battle. He knew it was wrong and that a warrior should crave for peace, but his thirst had not been slaked in many moons. He hoped that his battle master would release him from his leadership and give him a place among the Ninjas.

***

Tik looked to the Avarian Commandos, nicknamed Ninjas, who nodded as soon as Ursht was gone and the doors to the bunker secured. No one could be that safe with what they were going to tell Commander Salchar.

“We ready to transmit?” Tik asked.

“Yes, Projects Commander. We’re online.” Dreckt, one the previous Mecha Special Forces officers turned trainer with Avarians said.

“Fleet Commander Salchar, this is Project Commander Tik. Before Parnmal was cut off from us, we received weapons armaments, including missiles and weapons reloads. We also received newly trained Avar Commandos, who have taken to calling themselves Ninjas.  As they have been trained on Parnmal Station, we believe their knowledge will be of use. We await your orders.”

“Sent,” Dreckt said as he checked the transmission had been sent. Can never be too careful, he thought.

“How long till we get his transmission?” Tik asked Tak.

“Five more hours. It will take him nine to respond to ours,” Tak replied.

“I will have the Commandos move out and prepare the materials for pick-up,” Dreckt said as Tak nodded. The man's straightforward and largely silent manner made him something akin to a statue, but at times it was nice to have something reliable like a  statue, Tik thought, as she watched him leave the bunker for the skimmer outside which would take him to the Free Fleet Base built into the mountain connected to Lake Cook.

Tik waited impatiently for the five hours it took for Salchar's message to reach the communications station. Finally, it came alive as a message came in. Commander Salchar was sitting in his chair, looking deadlier and more assured than he had when Tik had last seen him, yet with no Yasu beside him. His protection detail flanked looked deadly as they hung back along the bulkhead; people in the foreground worked on their consoles, all of them determined and ready for battle.

“This is Fleet Commander Salchar, we will be taking any reserve Commandos on Avar Interi Hermani to Parnmal with us and will detour to collect them.  Making best possible time for the jump limit again and then to Parnmal. Salchar out.”

“Get me Dreckt.” Tak had a channel open for Tik in seconds. “The Commandos are to be shipped up the main fleet as soon as possible.”

“Understood,” Tak said, closing the channel.

“Contact space control; have all shuttles ready to begin moving Commandos when the fleet is close enough.”

Tak nodded his head, clearly already doing so as he talked into his mecha's pickup.

Now she just had to wait nine hours until Salchar replied to her message and then two days until the commander made it to AIH.

**

Dreckt moved in his Mecha, finding the familiar restriction annoying but also familiar. Tik was making sure everything was kept moving as shuttles were picking up off of the space port and heading for the fleet Salchar commanded.

And what a fleet, with ships that actually work and are nearly double the standard Syndicate ships were held to, he thought, proud to be under the commandership of someone who actually cared about the state of things for once.

There was an air shattering boom as Commander Salchar’s shuttle made entry into the atmosphere. Out of the cities representatives that were with him only Ursht didn’t flinch at the noise. The shuttle continued its descent, flaring its thrusters as it touched down gently. The hatch opened and Krom, Calerd, and Shreesht walked out, scanning for threats, Salchar and the rest of his protection detail following.

The two hundred Avar and Chaleelian Commandos standing on the landing pad came to attention, the sound of their Mechas audible even over another shuttle craft taking off.

Dreckt felt pride within his chest. He'd trained these people with his war brothers, they were the best warriors he had produced and went so far as to scare him with their strength, wit, and battle ethic. Add in giving them Mechas and weapons, Dreckt nearly cracked a smile at the thought.

Let's see how happy you'll be with what you've stirred up, he thought as Salchar walked right up to him.

“At ease,” he said, touching his fingers to his helmet.

The Avarians moved as one. Salchar lifted an eyebrow, looking impressed.

“Good work, Commander Dreckt. I can't wait to see them in the battlefield,” he said as Dreckt beamed with pride.

“You'll be seconded to Bok Soo. Get your people aboard,” he said. Dreckt sent a command on his data pad as a squad picked up their necessities and walked into the shuttle Salchar had vacated, three more squads following.

Dreckt saw Salchar grin.

“Very well, I want to learn more about these new Armored Marine Commandos after I've talked to the civvies.” He gestured to the group waiting with Ursht, Tik, and Tak.

“Sir,” Dreckt said as he tailed behind Salchar, noticing how the protection detail appraised him and kept an eye on him. Instead of being insulted by the implied distrust, Dreckt was pleased. It's good to be dealing with professionals, finally.

Salchar made a beeline to Tik and the cities officials in the waiting building.

“Well, Tik good to see you and Tak have things under control with the Free Fleet and with the ongoing projects.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Tik said as both she and her partner beamed.

“Ursht and city officials, you are not to be left out, what you have done for this city has been no small feat; you are to be applauded,” Salchar continued.

“It is our duty, Battle Master,” Ursht said, inclining his head slightly.

“Thank you's are still in order,” Salchar said, inclining his head to them. “Yet, as much as I would like to talk on it, I read the reports transmitted to me and I am sure you have everything under control. Preparations for battle is something I still have to look after,” Salchar said, his tone becoming more serious as Ursht and the other city officials inclined their heads.

“We understand, Battle Master,” Ursht said as he led them away.

Salchar waited a few minutes before turning to Tik and Tak.

“Missiles information?” Tik gave him a pad and Salchar reviewed it in silence.

They watched him in rapt interest. His brow was creased in focus as he flicked through the pages of information.

“Ship them up immediately. We’ll need them,” Salchar said, dismissing the two of them as they began talking into their Mecha's comms suites.

Salchar motioned for Dreckt to join him. “Now, I want to know more about these Avarian and Chaleelian Commandos,” he said as he looked over squads loading onto the continuous stream of shuttles.

“They’re aggressive as all hell and, once the Avarians go into their blood rage, they’re nearly unstoppable unless killed. They’ll be a handful, but they’ll do anything you ask of them. The Chaleelians, while being aggressive as hell, are used to using their natural teeth and claws and are much better shooters. They are both driven groups and have come together to make balanced squads. They're the best group of soldiers I have trained in my years. I would welcome every one of them into my clan. Kareesh and the other training off-commanders agree.” Dreckt kicked himself for his slip up but Salchar over looked it as Dreckt continued.

“That said, Avarians do have certain—tendencies. They use mounted weaponry instead of carbines and rifles. They also love grenades and plasmid blades. Thankfully, they know how to use them so you can expect to live through their blood rages. Use them, Commander Salchar, and use them well. Oh, another thing, they all took to calling themselves Salchar's Ninjas, or Ninjas. They count themselves as your honor guard and will throw themselves at anything in your way. I gave them leaders that are level headed as much as possible. Reining them in is hard; I would suggest putting veteran Commandos in charge of them. They’ll respect their service and, with someone to rein them in, they can be used as a scalpel instead of a hammer which is their natural tendency. The Chaleelians use normal load out except for their more accurate rifles and plasmid claws most of them use.”

Salchar looked to Dreckt instead of the units.

“Get with Henry and have veterans take over the units. Best to get them acquainted soon.”

“Sir.”

Dreckt turned to leave.

“What about the other materials I asked for?” Salchar asked.

“They are ready and waiting at the inner system belt, I moved Free Fleet engineers there to help with the modifications.”

“Good work, Tik.”

It was a few hours later when Dreckt saw Salchar in Resilient’s shuttle bay where the new Commandos were waiting to be sent to the other ships.

“Atten-CHUN!” Someone bellowed and Commandos snapped to attention as Salchar and his entire protection detail walked through the shuttle bay. Dreckt nearly winced as a table exploded in splinters from an Avar standing up—and through—it. More than one storage crate sailed through the air as cards settled to the ground.

Salchar said something to Shreesht and Krom, who took off their helmets but kept them in their arms, ready to put them back on in an instant, marching towards the arrayed Commandos.

They wandered around through the Commandos, who didn’t move an inch.

“Borg’s boy?” Krom asked an Avarian bigger than himself and a few feet and wider in the same manner, he would take up three quarters of a service hallway.

“Yes, Commander Krom!” the Commando bellowed, sweat appearing on his face. Wish I had someone like him to strike fear into them before we started training, Dreckt thought, thinking of the mess the Avarians had been before the ex-Special Forces Sarenmenti showed them they were worth listening to.

“That would make you Brik, correct?” Krom asked as the Avarian was looking more like he'd taken a shower.

“Yes, Commander!” he said without flinching.

“What is your weapon of choice, Brik?”

“Modulated cannon, capable of shooting fletchette and rail gun rounds,” Brik said, a grin appearing on his face.

“That’s one hell of a shotgun,” Krom said, rocking back on his boots.

“Yes, sir.”

Shreesht stood in front of a squad leader.

“Inneal,” he said, sizing up the Chaleelian.

“Yes, Commander Shreesht?”

“Say Commander Salchar will die without your assistance but has ordered you to take the reactor core of the ship you are on. What do you do?”

“Protect the commander.” Shreesht made a disgusted sound.

“You have saved the commander’s life, but the Syndicate's have blown the ship, now you and he are dead.” Shreesht moved on.

“Bilge, you are part of a mixed species squad and the cowardly Kuruvians are to take point with you on communications. What do you do?” Krom asks.

“Tell my leader of their oversight and take the Kuruvians position.”

“Wrong!” Shreesht pushed the Avar back with his helmet.

“Best way to take down a Sarenmenti in a Mecha?” Shreesht yelled, pointing to an Avarian as if his finger was a pistol. The Avarian didn’t move an inch—others barely restraining themselves from flinching.

“In Commando or pirate Mecha, and which race?” the Avarian replied.

Shreesht hid his grin as he stood straighter. “Pirate.” They only have one armor type, if you don't remember...Dreckt was not unhappy as Kolum answered.

“The leg joint, specifically groin, then head. They’re sensitive to even getting hit in the helmet.”

“In Commandos armor, Kuruvian?” Shreesht picked out another victim.

“Arms then legs, finally hips, aiming for their primary and interlinked secondary convulsive sacks located in their stomach.”

“Good,” Krom barked, nodding to Shreesht, showing his respect between two warriors. Shreesht worked his way to the side as Krom stood at the front of the formation.

“You, like I, before training are nothing.”

“You were an Awakened!” an Avar growled from the rear.

“Pull your neck in!” Avar growled, his eyes flashing as backs straightened even more.

“Yes, I was Awakened. Yes, I was powerful, but I was an individual. The Armored Marine Commandos are  not individuals; they are a unit. One might be stronger or more technically inclined than another, this serves to improve the unit. As an individual, I could take on many opponents at once. With a veteran Commando unit…” He paused, leaning forward as iron filled his voice. “I could take Avar Hermanti Internmi and Chaleel.” Growls came back from the Commandos.

Dreckt let a grin appear on his face. You’ve got their attention now.

“You will follow orders. You don’t and you and your brothers will die.” Krom began walking in front of them as he continued talking.

“You will be more trained than the Commandos were when they first took the planet Chaleel, but do not think that training trumps experience at any time. You will learn more than you thought possible in a short time, and they will ask to know what you do. In the Free Fleet we must help one another and defeat our enemies totally.” Krom stopped his walking as he grinned hungrily, his eyes cold. Shreesht had the same hungry grin appear in his own face.

“Mark my words, though, in this battle, our battle master will throw us at the enemy,  AND WE WILL SHOW THEM WHAT HAPPENS, WHAT COMMANDOS CAN DO!” Shreesht added his own hungry growl to the other Avarians, the Chaleelian's tongues hissing out in response.

“WE WILL CARVE INTO THEIR PIRATE SOULS, SENDING THEM INTO THE DARK TO AWAIT US AND OUR BATTLE COMMANDERS!”

Krom relaxed, lowering himself into a fighting stance as he thumped his foot and beat his chest. Shreesht did the same as well as the other Awakened, the other Avarians looking in shock as the Awakened thumped one leg, thumping their chest, causing the hangar to rumble. Excited and blood lusting growls came from them as they grinned hungrily and joined in.

Dreckt had studied the Avarian history on the Awakened. They could swear to any leader they desired, but none had made the blood and war oath that tied them to their chosen battle master in hundreds of years. Here, hundreds were making it alongside their already sworn warrior brothers.

I wonder if he knows what kind of power he wields, Dreckt thought as the oath began.

Chapter Blood and War Oath.

I was with Eddie, talking about the special surprise I was concocting for the Syndicate fleet that wished to come into my territory as I felt the ship begin to vibrate.

“Eddie?” I asked, a note of confusion in my voice as I checked my pad for alerts.

“It’s nothing engineering related,” he said, looking up and listening to it. He knew enough about Resilient that he didn't need to look at his pad to know what the noise was.

“It’s a beat,” he said as I looked up and listened.

Boom, thump, thump.

Boom, thump, thump.

Boom. Thump.Thump.

BOOM, THUMP, THUMP. I walked closer to the noise as I came out of a service corridor and into the main walkway. Avarians were getting into a fighting stance, hitting their chests before stomping the walkway. The noise reverberated through the ship and some primal part of me desired to join in.

Then they started their oath:

“Give us war;

Give use death,

And know despair.

We are Avarians.

We are shadows,

Blades, and claws.

Hear our chant.

We are war;

We are death;

We are despair.

We serve battle,

Masters lead us

Not to victory,

But to death.

I felt my blood racing as they started over again. I saw Commandos joining in as I lowered myself and joined in, repeating with them their oath. It became fevered until the third repetition when they continued their beat for a few moments before chanting again.

“Battle Master,

Battle Commander.

Salchar,

Salchar.” There was a pause of three beats before they spoke again.

“We serve.” Then there was ringing silence as Avarians stood, inclining their heads in servitude.

They didn’t say anything more as they kept up the new beat for a few more minutes before the ship went completely silent. I could see hungry grins which in my time being a gamer would’ve scared me. They were grins of hunters.

I found myself grinning similarly. I was one of these hunters. I hadn’t been born one, but through the fire of battle I had become one. I had earned my place. I didn’t welcome a fight but I knew I would leave a mark on anyone that tried to take a piece of me now. Armored Marine Commandos of every races and species I saw had a similar grin. I did not welcome the upcoming battle, but now I wasn’t nervous. After all, I was taking my Commando brethren and Free Fleet with me.

“You Commandos are crazy,” Eddie said, shaking his head, unsure as to what just happened.

He didn’t know the brotherhood of Commandos. It was cruel and unforgiving, but it was like a cloak, one that made you feel invincible, like you could trust another Commando instantly even if you knew nothing about them, and you would do anything to protect their back as they would do the same for you

“You wouldn’t understand,” I said as I felt the adrenaline still rushing through my veins.

Life started returning to normal and people began moving through the halls, grim looks but focused and steeled eyes as they went about their work.

Eddie grinned; he didn't and he was fine with that, and he knew I meant no ill with my words, either.

“These bastards will know when we hit them,” I muttered under my breath as I walked to the nearest rail car, my eyes dark, not seeing the golden lights of floors as we passed them to the bridge.

I stepped off the rail car as it reached the personnel deck and I walked straight into my quarters. My touch-sensitive desk display glowed a light blue as it recognized me walking in, the rest of the lights still off.

“Low power lights,” I said as I waved my hand over my desk, the pounding in my head from multiple Wake Ups dimming slightly with the lower lighting.

I pulled up the desks display into a hologram as I sat in my seat, studying the latest of the sensor readings Monk had sent to me. The Syndicate fleet was now moving into the system towards Parnmal; it seemed they were happy with their sensor readings.

“Just need you to hold out for another five days,” I said to myself, knowing that five minutes, let alone five days, was a lifetime for those fighting.

Chapter Patience is a Virtue

Mad Monk sat in his command chair, his eyes transfixed on the main screen as the Syndicate fleet began moving.

“Send the First Fleet the newest scans and estimates of Syndicate ship paths,” Monk said in a soothing calming voice, as if he was commenting on the fall of a cherry blossom.

“Comms, could you get me Felix, please.”

The veteran comms controller just nodded, making Monk think about how most veterans before a battle grew quiet as they prepared to unleash hell upon their enemies.

“Connected,” he said simply.

Monk stopped his line of thought. “Hello, Felix. Are all the preparations made?”

“The last crews are coming in now,” Felix said, sounding every bit as tired a man that had been working for weeks ought to.

“Make sure you and your people get some rest; you’ve earned it. Plus, I have a feeling that we’ll be needing your people’s help soon enough.”

“Understood.” Felix’s voice become grim like the comm controller. “I could-”

“Get some rest.” Monk’s voice was still calm but with thread of iron to it.”

Felix sighed. “Alright, I’ll get some food and rest.”

“Good.” Monk’s voice was light and soothing once again as he sent a message to Commander Chen, making sure that Felix and his people got some sleep and were left undisturbed.

“Get me if anything happens.”

“Naturally.”

With that Felix cut the channel and Monk continued to focus on the star plot of his carefully laid defenses and decoys. Felix’s people had stopped all their secret projects and repairs and turned to making decoys when the Syndicate arrived. The decoys were ECM projectors made to imitate weapons platforms and attached to asteroids with air jet nav-packs. With the interference of the asteroids and the low emission of the nav-pack, Monk only knew where they were due to the real-time projections of the nav-packs guidance system. They were simple to make and there were tens of thousands of them littering the asteroid ridden space around Parnmal, all away from the actual weapons platforms which were heavily shielded and not powered on.

He sat there silently as he regarded the timer; it’d be eighteen hours before they came in range of the decoy live weapons system.

“I’m going for a walk, Akatsuki.” Monk bowed his head to the stations second in command.

“Commander Kim,” Akatsuki said, bowing his head in return as he moved from his seat to Monk’s. He studied the room before walking through the opening bulkheads in a reflective light, seeing the work that had gone into the walls to hollow them from the asteroid Parnmal called home. He got on the rail car, nodding to those on it as he secured himself in with a harness and was hurled through the station. A few got off before he got to one of the undeveloped areas of Parnmal waiting to be expanded into a habitable area for those that dwelled in her rocky exterior. He walked through the rough corridors, reaching a hatch—one with a red light indicating that there was no atmosphere on the other side.

Monk pressed his hand to the scanner on the wall. It connected with his identification chip and beeped open. There was no rush of decompression as Monk continued into a roughly finished corridor, the door shutting behind him as he repeated the process with the second door and walked out onto a cat walk that connected to a rail car. He stepped into it as it shot out from a tunnel and into the expanse of a pressurized space dock.

There was no one here—as Monk had ordered Felix to send all of his people to get rest. There were four more of the carrier ships in various stages of modification waiting in their cradles as fighters were stacked in their storage formations on another side.

Monk stopped his car as he studied the area more. There was another section of the massive space dedicated to experiments and projects. They had everything from side arms and Mecha weaponry to planetary weaponry and space drives in there. Whereas the people in the Free Fleet knew how to repair the systems and even make some of them, most of the Free Fleet didn’t understand the science behind it. The Kuruvians and their natural insatiable curiosity made them great researchers. They pulled apart everything Monk and Felix would let them so they could see how it worked. The people working in this massive space had progressed the Free Fleet and science of all the races by centuries in months.

There were newly built assembly lines that chugged away, drones continuing their work even as their creators were sleeping.

“We learn so much, yet it is in the hope to wage war more effectively,” Monk said sadly as a crate of rail gun canon rounds were picked up and taken by a drone to a magazine that would feed them through the massive weapons of destruction.

Monk arrived at the command tower which hung from the roof. He wandered through the halls to the break room, grabbing a tea as he sat at one of the couches and looked out on the hangar, finding the drones that worked on various projects throughout the area.

Monk had elected to have a divorce from his ‘battle wife’ as most people were calling their forced partners. She was a kind girl, and they elected to stay friends. Monk had found it weird—having a wife that was only ten—but she was someone he could talk to.

Maybe in a few years. He smiled sadly to himself. She was with Salchar and his fleet. He knew that Salchar would do everything in his power to keep his people alive, but lives were lost in war. Monk expected that his and the people of Parnmal might add to those lists.

He drank his tea, emotions such as fear and loss flooded though him, but slowly a smile grew across his face.

“Well, it’s been a good run, anyway” he muttered to himself, toasting the galaxy as he sat back, thinking about what he’d accomplished in his life, the people that followed him and the planets the Free Fleet now represented.

He knew Salchar would ravage the Syndicate fleet with whatever he came up with, but the Syndicate had more than four times the force of Salchar’s, and they were all second line ships or ships of the line and in much better repair.

Grim determination filled Monk as he felt resolve filling where there had been confusion. He finished off his tea and walked back to the rail car.

If they want this station, they’re going to have to get through me. Monk felt excitement within his body now. He’d already accepted his death, and a man without a care for living was a deadly man indeed.

****

Captain Kelu looked over the ships that the Lady herself had given him command over. His original fleet had increased with his reinforcements, minus the ones from Earth which would be there in two weeks. The Orvunut was as loyal as Kelu to the Lady; once he got a message from her he'd burn his ships up to be there.

Yet, his fleet stood at eight dreadnoughts, twenty one BC’s, forty-five destroyers, the same number of cruisers, and a hundred and sixty-two corvettes. It was the largest fleet assembled since the Syndicate had taken Union space, and Kelu hated it.

“Captain Zestur is again requesting that we stop crawling like Forvud in muck,” the comms officer said tiredly.

Kelu felt sorry for Urlow; he’d been handing all of the comms traffic from the unhappy pirate captains. With so many first line ships, there was a massive problem with chain of command. Sure, Kelu was in charge, and no one would go against the Lady, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t question everything he said, especially if it didn’t fit into their fighting tactics—which usually consisted of charging the enemy, and not caring for the casualties.

Captain Kelu would normally be endorsing these kinds of tactics, but that would be against a group of ships, not the biggest station in the sector with enough natural armor to take direct hits from planetary cannons for days. A few of those cannons littered around could take out a dreadnought's shields in a few hits.

So, nice and slow we go, Kelu thought, the other ships captains filling up space with their annoyed transmissions.

Jorsht had shown smarts and cunning, but he wouldn’t fool Captain Kelu.

Urlow put down his headset, massaging his cranial receptors.

“Captain Eilo now,” he said as he ended his latest complaint.

“Weapons signature!” Sensors yelled.

“Give me-” Kelu didn’t finish uttering orders when Tactical yelled out.

“Weapons firing! Hit on first line ship The Destroyer!”

“Direct hit,” Sensors yelled out.

Kelu watched as the first line ships side was cracked, a scar running across the left side and across the engines. Three were out and the ship was venting atmosphere.

They didn’t have their shields up, Kelu thought darkly as he realized he didn’t feel anything.

“Tactical, why am I not feeling us returning fire?”

“Captain.” Tactical looked to his station, his face greening like the Blurduz race did when they were embarrassed.

“Gunners, take down that platform!”

“Comms, get me the fleet.”

“You’re on,” Urlow said a second later. Damn good pirate, Kelu thought.

“Get your shields up! Otherwise, I’ll board you in the name of the Lady and replace you.” His voice filled with cold fury as he did a cutting motion, Urlow cutting the comm.

“We got the weapons platform. It was a short range rail cannon,” Tactical reported.

“Sensors, I need an early warning system for those things. Helm, reverse thrust and coordinate with the rest of the fleet to hold position relative to us.” It took a full ten minutes for the fleet to break and pull back.

Sloppy, Kelu thought as he looked at the five ships that belonged to his personal fleet which had braked and come into position within three minutes.

“Sensors.” Kelu drew out the word, making it a threat as sensors shivered.

“They have sensor shielding but there’s a leak for the power generators, we’re isolating momentarily.”

Kelu grunted as he waited another five minutes, feeling his trigger finger twitch with the need to reinstate his command. Sensors stopped their furious flurry of activity.

“Updating plot now,” they said with a relieved breath.

On the main screen, the asteroid field added five more markers, each a red dot with a faint red circle around it.

“Set our range sphere too.” Blue circles overlapped for Kelu’s fleet as he could see his range was more than twice the weapons systems.

“Comms, relay this to the rest of the fleet. Nav, correct our course to bring those weapon systems under fire before we get to them. Correct as needed.” Kelu sighed; their approach was going to take a hell of a lot longer now. They’d need to play cat and mouse with the weapons platforms, and move around asteroids to get a clear line of fire, or waste their fire into a useless rock. All of which would mean using ordinance Kelu hoped to use to crack Parnmal and having shields up all the time which, with the power plants on some of the ships, would be an interesting game of roulette.

And it’s up to me to make sure I don’t have anyone charging in. Patience is a virtue, but I don’t think I’ll be able to hold onto it by the time we get to Parnmal, Kelu thought as the fleet continued on at a quarter of the speed that they’d been traveling at.

Chapter It Always Starts Off Slowly

I read the latest reports from Monk. the Syndicate fleet was still at a crawl, still two days from bringing their weapons into range of Parnmal.

In the room, I had all of my staff. Shrift had even dragged Eddie out of his hiding spot. Which he didn’t looked pleased about as he reclined in his seat with his arms crossed, his cowboy hat tilted forward as he chewed on a piece of something that looked like a toothpick.

Rick, In Sook, Ben, Milra, Walf, and Krat were in the room with me and Ship Commanders, Rick, Bok Soo, and Dreckt were holograms.

“Rick, are we ready?”

“We’re mostly there, Eddie?”

“All asteroids are attached and fighters are in place. Though, the ridiculousness of it is beyond anything I’ve ever seen.” He tried to look glum but I could see his eyes sparkle. He was probably just jealous that I had come up with the idea.

“Alright, are we ready on your side?” I gestured with my head to Ben, Milra, Krat, and Walf

They looked grave before Milra spoke. “We’re ready. We’ll be mostly running off Resilient and without her help, we wouldn’t be able to do the translation so quickly. We’ve been running drills for as long as we’ve been able, too. We can jump in our sleep now. We’re as ready as we’re going to get before people start to tire themselves out,” she said. I noticed that she didn't say anything about our likelihood of survival.

“Good work. If we pull this off, it’ll be in a large part due to our wormhole emergence crews across the fleet,” I said soberly, looking in their eyes as they visibly straightened, pride returning some of the energy they’d lost over the two weeks of drills.

“Commander Heston, are your people ready?”

Heston looked to Xing who nodded, his face sour as his lower lip jutted out in a perpetual pout, his tired eyes doing nothing to make him look like a fighter commander.

“As much as they can be. They know that there’s only a slight possibility that they’ll be used in the battle. They’re annoyed that they’ll be sitting back as we watch the battle.” As their friends die. His eyes told me.

“But if we have an opportunity, we’ll take it and smash the bastards.”

“Good.” I looked to them all as I took a breath.

“Forced rest for eight hours. We’ll begin charging our wormhole generators in five. Two hours before, we’ll go to yellow, red at thirty to jump. Questions?” There were none left; they’d all been answered as we’d prepared.

“Alright, dismissed, I’ll see you in twelve hours.” With that, holograms disappeared as Eddie practically rushed out of the room, giving his two finger salute. The rest gave their salutes and I returned them.

“Make sure you get some sleep, as well as your people, you’re going to need it,” I said, seeing each of them agree before I waved them from the room.

Rick and I reclined in our chairs, doing nothing as we looked to the ceiling.

“The things I’d do for a beer,” I said to the ceiling.

“You don’t even drink,” Rick said with a crooked eyebrow.

“It’s the premise,” I scowled.

“Isn’t if you’ve never done it.” My scowl deepened as he grinned.

“Just trying to kill a man’s hopes, eh?”

“Not at all. If you want, I could get Druv to grab us some,” Rick said with a grin as my scowl became a grimace.

Druv and the gunner’s still was infamous throughout the fleet, due to the fact it tasted like gasoline and got you stinking drunk in record time.

“I think I’ll pass. I thought someone would’ve gotten some good tasting alcohol from Earth at least.”

“Well...”

“Rick?” I drew out his name as if he’d better tell me what was on his mind.

“Ah, it’s nothing. You should get some sleep,” he said, a sparkle in his eye and a grin on his face that made me think it wasn't nothing.

“Alright, I’ll go first then you,” I said, knowing that he wouldn't accept himself sleeping first, plus, I wanted him to have as much time with Marleen in peace as possible. And they say chivalry is dead, I thought as I walked into my empty quarters. I got under the sheets, missing Yasu as I took a detox to remove any Wake Up or anything that could cloud my judgment.

I wonder when the last time was I slept when I didn’t just detox, I thought as darkness took over.

***

Rick was still on the bridge when I came back, wearing my Mecha.

“Git.” I pointed to the door with my thumb as he grinned tiredly.

“Yes, Commander,” he said with a rolling flourish of his hand as if bowing to nobility. I snorted in response as I looked around the bridge and he and Marleen wandered out, hand in hand. The bridge had rotated to the second crew, which was keeping everything running.

I sat in my chair, which came alive with screens and information. My right armrest showed the formation of the Free Fleet and the timer which slowly crawled to wormhole generator start up.

I turned to the minutiae of the fleet, burying myself in the work that the whole damned thing needed.

“Initiating wormhole generator power up,” Helm said, breaking me out of my work. A hum started through the ship as power was fed to the wormhole generators. With the noise and feeling, it was as if Resilient was just waiting to strike.

I checked it on my armrest screen, everything was going accordingly to plan, I could tell, as I went back to my work.

It was a few hours until first watch came back, more than one looking as if they were unable to get any sleep. Second went to go to their other stations. With our manpower issues, they reversed roles, becoming Commandos, engineers and shuttle pilots and were ready to take over from the first shift in an emergency. All of the old Free Fleet personnel were able and doing multiple jobs.

Everyone was wearing their Mechas now as I looked at the timer. There was an hour to go.

“Run your checks and hammer it into everyone that we will have bare minutes when we initiate wormhole to Parnmal.” The bridge rose in volume as everyone communicated to their counterparts and the fleet readied itself.

Reactors went through tests as weapons were extended, checked, and stored again.

Twenty minutes to wormhole creation another alarm went off as the fleet dropped into condition red.

“Applying thrust,” Milra said as the Resilient's engines fired up. I checked my armrest as the rest of the fleet in position began accelerating with the Resilient.

It’s about time we started moving, I thought as dread and excitement filled me. War was a terrifying thing, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but it was a drug. In war you never feel as alive as you are scared. You don’t trust, love, hate as you do when you’re not fighting for your life, and all the small shit just floats away.

Yet the payment for feeling that alive is the pain of regret, of second guessing and questioning why you were alive when others were not. It’s why I would fight from the front, leaders lead and commanders would deal with the shit just as any team member would.

“Vort, Record a message for Commander Monk.”

“You’re on.”

“Monk, show them what happens when they come into our backyard when we’re ready.”

Comms cut it with a look.

“Send it.”

Chapter Then Comes the Bright Lights and Fireworks

The command center of Parnmal was silent as Salchar’s message ended.

Monk was calm, but he felt a fire inside him. They’d been waiting days to be given the go ahead. Monk knew James liked to play it close, but this was last minute.

If James waited till now, then there was a reason, he thought with a smile.

“Overlay of ships and weapons on screen.” The main display changed from a distance plot to overlapping fields of fire. It had been refined further with the Syndicates firing of their ordinance.

“Tactical, are you ready?”

“Yes, Commander.” There was a hunger in Wendy’s voice.

“Comms, Get me the gunners.”

On Monk’s armrest he saw he was live.

“The enemy wishes to take this station which they used to sow pain and fear through this area of space. We have made it our home and a place of hope. I ask you to make sure with me that they never be allowed this station to be used to enslave others. We will show them what the people of the Free Fleet can do. Now, get me those first liners, gunners! Give them both barrels.” Monk’s serene face turned into a wolfish grin.

“Tactical, you are free to fire.” Monk sat back in his chair, calm returned as the crew of Parnmal was wrapped up in the heart thumping reality of the moment.

The feed was cut as Tactical’s cold voice cut through the command center.

“Get those first liners.” The tone which would’ve made a normal person shiver raised wolfish grins on the command centers operators.

***

The captains had given up badgering Kelu, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. They were now playing cat and mouse it seemed with the weapons stations. A few had powered up and Kelu could swear that they were about to shoot when the captains destroyed them.

They didn’t listen to him as often as they could, but they never crossed over to directly disobeying him—as that would be disobeying the Lady whose feelings on the matter were quite clear. It was better to die than let her catch you disobeying her.

“Contact! Shit!”

Kelu, who was reclined in his chair while he studied a piece of the bridge in tired contemplation, barely moved as Sensors became a hive of activity.

“We have weapons systems powering up!”

“Makes them easier to detect.” Kelu continued to study the wall.

“These aren’t the systems we’ve encountered!”

“Shots fired!” Tactical yelled as stations started coming alive.

“It’s a miss.” Kelu pulled up the information on his armrest lazily before snapping to attention.

“The hell are those?” he asked, the tiredness gone from his voice as weapon systems activated throughout the asteroid belt.

“Modified planetary rail cannons and laser batteries.” Fear was clear in the sensor officer’s voice.

“Update the plot, shoot those damned things down!” Kelu yelled as he saw his disorganized fleet falling apart at the seams. Comms, tell those bastards to get back into formation!”

Kelun looked at his plot as he saw the weapon systems coming online and felt his ridges go cold. We should’ve expected them to do better.

“Tactical, get the rail cannons onto them.” Kelu had to yell over the tactical officer. “Tell all ships to fire rail cannon rounds at the targets.”

“Shields are to eighty-five percent!” Shields added.

“Tell them I will let the Lady know if they do not obey.”

Hopefully, the captain's fear of the Lady would be more than the immediate threat of the weapons systems.

Icons were changing from purple to magenta rapidly.

One changed to white.

“First Liner Daskl  has been destroyed,” Sensors reported. “They’re targeting ships of the line.”

“Allow the second line ships to advance.”

He watched as the second line ships raced outward at maximum thrust. At least they know how to chase, Kelu thought grudgingly. Hopefully, it’ll buy me the few minutes I’ll need to get the first liners ready.”

The guns shifted fire almost immediately as the first liners returned to position, firing everything they had at the powerful guns which were throwing dustbin sized projectiles at 0.018c. They took nearly a minute at furthest range to hit the ships, yet there were thousands of projectiles, and they packed one hell of a punch. If it was just those weapons, Kelu would’ve taken a lot of damage, but he would’ve gotten to Parnmal. The heavy hitting rail gun cannons were the least of Kelu’s problems—the laser batteries were.

He didn’t know how Parnmal had come up with it, but the lasers were a full magnitude more powerful than Kelu had seen on the Lady’s fleet Man o’ Wars. Plus, they didn’t have the issue of range. Their shots landed at the speed of light and hit with nearly the power of the rail gun rounds, yet they took longer between each shot.

Add in the fact that these weapon systems had dedicated defense systems, or DS, it made them as hard as a third line ship to take down, but with the hitting power of a single second line ship, and there were fifty of them Kelu was reading.

They were forcing his hand, and he knew it. He growled as another rail gun round hit his shields.

“Shields to seventy-five.”

“Order all ships to attack Parnmal.”

“Captain?”

“You heard me!” Anger at how he’d been played by the Free Fleet was in his voice.

“Tell them the first pirate gets their share and a half.” He saw his own helmsman begin yelling at navigation for the quickest route. Hopefully, the chaos would help.

“Lubts has been destroyed, Aeriph has ejected their reactor.”

Both second liners. “Keep the second liners attacking along the route; those with ten kills will get their share and a quarter.”

The incentives seemed to work as the entire fleet began accelerating and clawing their way towards Parnmal. It would take time to build up velocity, and at maximum thrust and braking it would take six hours to reach Parnmal.

“I have a hole jump confirmation in the outer system, Sdigk’s engines are out, and her shields are going down.”

Shit, first liner. “Tell me only the stuff I need to know. The jump limit is twenty one hours away if we were at full thrust!” I need a new sensor officer.

Kelu watched as a further three second liners went down.

“Inner system jump!” Kelu whipped around to the sensor pit. No one does inner system jumps! It was suicide and the math was too hard for an inorganic to compute! What idiot would throw away their force like that!

“We have unidentified objects four million kilometers away!”

“To my armrest,” Kelu said and the scans were passed to him. The hell are those? Asteroids?

The objects were asteroids, yet they were reading as having power and thrust, and they had just completed a wormhole transition.

“They’re above our acceleration already and gaining speed; they’ll be on us in an hour.”

“What are these asteroid ships weapon capabilities?”

“Seems there are no weapons on their exterior.”

“Re-scan and prepare for missile barrage.” Kelu felt anger as his plot changed once again. Shit.

Chapter Then Come the Surprises

“How is our extra plating holding up?” I asked as I checked the formation and status of every ship. Battle Cruiser Forsut had hit an asteroid when clearing the wormhole horizon, cracking her structural spine. Yet the addition of the asteroid armor was helping the ship to maintain some integrity as she flew out of the line of battle and around to Parnmal. I glanced at the casualty list of fifty dead and twenty-three wounded. With the lack of personnel in the Free Fleet, it meant we lost less people, but it also meant we knew one another a lot better than a larger military.

Though, I didn't have time to worry about that now.

My face was stone as Krat reported.

“All plating fleet-wide is holding,” he reported.

“They’re turning to cross our T,” Walf reported.

“Good.”

“Ben, Vort, have thrust plans and times to everyone in the fleet. Remind them to be around an acceleration couch.”

I waited as the timer went down, the asteroids strapped to my hulls wearing away, yet they were still solid metal and rock and no less than a hundred meters thick.

Twenty minutes to go. I had Vort open a channel to Monk.

“James?” he asked, his voice calming as ever.

“ We're going to put on a show. When we do, you are weapons free.”

“Understood.” Others might have asked what he meant, but Monk and Salchar trusted one another completely.

“Why are they holding their missiles back?” Milra asked through clenched teeth. Piloting the Resilient had improved with the new power plants and the fixes to the old engines, but the added plating mass was a big issue. It also covered most of the positioning thrusters.

“They want to use them to crack Panrmal,” Marleen supplied.

They're firing in barrages,” Walf said as the Syndicate's fire became routine. “Fifteen minutes,” he continued.

I tapped my fingers on my armrest twice before pressing a button on the rest, connecting me to the rest of the fleet. “Everyone to their acceleration couches,” I said. In minutes everyone was ready.

“Release plating, reverse thrust,” I said as Vort communicated this to the other ships. The cabling which had bound the asteroids to Resilient was released, thrusters fired across the ship, pushing the asteroid away. Every other ship was doing the same, turning to apply braking thrust, battle suits across the fleet injected drugs to make our bodies able to handle the stress as we grunted and groaned at the weight. Yet our training did us well. We had all been subjected to gravities of up to two-point-five of Earth's. We were at seven and quickly going down, as our bodies couldn't maintain that for more than a few seconds.

I watched as the plating fell away, still at the speeds that the ships had been going at, which had been a fair speed even with only thirty minutes of acceleration.

Thrusters fired on the plating from our side, missiles embedded in the asteroid accelerated the asteroid's even more.

Missile pods, also hidden underneath the asteroids, released their loads which cleared the asteroid and began accelerating for the Syndicate fleet.

“Fire two barrages of missiles,” I said as Marleen relayed to her gunners, Vort communicating to the other ships. “I want them two minutes behind the asteroids.”

I felt the ship belch as missiles launched.

The asteroids were five minutes from the Syndicate fleet, that time becoming shorter as energy blooms populated Parnmal, adding to the plots already marked weapon positions.

Planetary cannons took shields apart as the Syndicate fleet panicked, shields failing on many ships as smaller ships became fireballs.

Then the asteroids missiles reached them.

Blooms formed as PDS systems labored to clear the sky. The Syndicate ships fired in disarray, only a few working to protect one another, the rest looking after themselves as they launched everything at the incoming garbage.

Sensors labored over trying to get information as the asteroids cracked from strategic explosives placed in them.

Fifty pieces of asteroid turned into tens of thousands, each speeding as fast as a space ship and all larger than a car.

It was like using a shotgun against a pile of ants.

The Syndicate was close together so they didn't get caught out by Parnmal's weapons when they'd turned to face my incoming fleet. The planetary cannons had made some turn, others stayed where they were, firing from both gunnery decks.

Asteroids took out whole ships. Some still with the now exhausted missiles exploded like miniature shotguns, destroying anything in the immediate area and throwing more debris into the Syndicate fleet.

This is what happens when you mess with the Free Fleet, I thought, looking at the chaos.

“Turn our weapons on them. Wait to fire on my command,” I said. My orders were carried out quickly.

“We're taking hits,” Krat said.

“Shields holding.”

“Walf, I need a better picture of what's going on in there.”

“Trying to, Commander, but with the nuclear interference, it's hard.”

“Very well.”

The second barrage of missiles cleared their launch tubes, accelerating for the fleet which was finally becoming clear of sensor blocking radioactive explosions.

The first barrage of missiles hit the Syndicate fleet, stopping them as they plunged further into the Syndicates formation.

The third, at full burn, hit them a few seconds later even deeper in their formation.

“Fire all weapons,” I said as the second barrage hit.

I felt Resilient rumble as her gunners fired into the heart of the Syndicate graveyard I'd made.

“Resilient, can you do anything to clear up these sensor readings?” I asked.

“I'm mapping which ships would have been caught in the waves you sent at them with possible flight paths. It will take me a minute,” she said, her voice harried for once. She was undoubtedly helping others throughout the fleet as well.

It took a few moments before a line sketch of where the ships were proposed to be filled the plot.

The force of two hundred and eighty-one ships had been hit, losing a supposed two thirds of their force, leaving them at still a rough one hundred ships, still seven times my own forces number.

“Super charge starboard shields.” It gave us more shields but weakened us in other areas, and we were prone to overloading shield circuits.

“Commander,” Krat said, making it so.

The planetary cannons stopped firing as we crossed into the area where our waves had hit the Syndicate. No one broke formation as we went in like a bowl with our sides presented.

The nuclear waste dissipated as gunners got clear targets, sensors updating at a rapid rate.

“Dear God,” someone said as we sped through a graveyard of cracked ships.

“Taking hits. Down to ninety-two percent,” Krat informed me.

I studied the oncoming Syndicate ships. They were in a ragged line formation—with their faster and smaller ships in front of the larger, slower heavy hitters—while it looked impressive I knew that it was one of the easiest formations for a group of unorganized ships to be in. It had little to no tactical advantage as, unless they moved on an angle to my own Free Fleet, then they could only bring their forward weapons to bear. They were also facing me head on now, and braking hard, making it so that I'd pass through them quicker. It also meant the massive firepower of their starboard and port batteries would only able to bear when the fleets intersected.

Then there was a good chance of them hitting their own ships if, say, I charged right down the middle—interceding my ships with their own.

“Ben, lay in course five degrees over their formation.”

“Understood, Commander.” There was no question in his voice.

Whereas the Syndicate forces were taking potshots with their forward guns, mostly their corvettes, Marleen was guiding a systematic hand of death over the Syndicate forces, taking out those very corvettes.

“Flip!” she said. Milra did so, bringing the starboard side back around and letting port check their guns.

“We have launch of missiles!” a sensor operator yelled.

“Rein that in, Sensors,” I said with a warning, raised eyebrow, the now coloring operator turning back to his work.

Pandora and FengFang proved their worth with their simplified PDS systems, but they weren't the only ones with the Gatling gun systems now.

Lines of rounds spat out of every ship, reaching out to touch missiles with hundreds of rounds. Missiles bloomed around us. Resilient shook from the pounding.

“Forty percent,” Krat said.

“Just lost Ilmurta,” Rick said as one of our corvettes disappeared in a radioactive bloom.

“BC Mentr's just scrammed a reactor. They're holding position.”

Good, if they didn't they'd be easy pickings.

“Twelve percent,” Krat said as the missiles ended and we were on the enemy.

“Use the PDS,” I said as Marleen was bellowing orders, Vort relaying them to every other ship.

“We're hitting them hard. They're shields haven't had time to recover,” Rick said, none of his usually playful tone there, his face serious as he flipped from one feed to another to get more information from the fleet.

I could do nothing now, I just had to sit back and wait for the outcome, really.

“Redistribute stern shielding to the bow if needed.”

“Yes, commander,” Krat said as he waged a war against multiple energy sources.

“Whatever gunnery sector can get me a communications array gets a round on me at Parnmal.”

“Yes, sir!” Marleen said as I flicked my hand, closing the channel. I watched the battle on the holo projected from my seat.

“Down to thirty percent shields. We have spotting!” Krat said as the shaking was becoming more violent.

“Twelve percent.” We were finally within their firing envelope.

The Resilient rocked as incoming fire struck her hull.  There was nothing to do, we couldn’t roll to present another side as the other side was getting pounded as well, and it would take time for our gunners to re-organize themselves.

It was a battle of strengths; our shields, hull, guns, and people against theirs. They had more of everything, but we had better trained and actually better repaired ships than them. Hopefully, it would make a difference.

“Communications relay taken out on the dreadnought. We have secondary explosions,” Rick informed me, Marleen too busy working her crews.

“Get the gunnery section that took out the array to target engines. The rest are to focus on the battle cruisers.”

“We have breaches in the bow. Plasmid and atmosphere venting. Gunnery Ring Bravo on port side has two guns down, Delta one. Starboard is reporting Charlie is down four,” Krat said, his voice emotionless as he focused on facts without thinking of the reality that we'd just lost fifteen people.

“We’re having blow outs!” Marleen yelled.

“Keep up the fire, only change out rails and targeting crystals when at five percent. Increase rate of fire!” What I was saying was strictly against what every gunner chief said. I wonder what they’d say to my instructions.

Chapter From the Belly of the Beast.

Chief Brusk spat out the side of his mouth as Marleen yelled out the new orders.

“You heard the lady, Commander Salchar wants us to ruin these damned pretty boys ships! Resilient is not about to disappoint! Have replacements and burn treatments ready. More than one of you’ll get your gunners badge today!” He put his head to the aiming sights as he selected the highest rate of fire the rail gun he was manning could take. As he hit five percent he ejected the rails, hitting the recovery button as the mantle came inside the ship. Quickly, new rails were slapped into place and he was given the thumbs up. He hit the recovery button as he spat into his collector, the targeting computer locking him onto his last target as he depressed his trigger. Three other linked rail guns, through Resilient's massive processing power, fired into the same space.

Brusk couldn’t help but grin at the firepower he and the gunners in his command actually controlled as the shielding of the battle cruiser he was firing at began to spot.

“Spotting!” he said as he hit a targeting laser. Firepower from other ships in the main body added to Resilient's own gun deck’s, causing the battle cruiser to roll after a few seconds of punishment then, as it cleared the Resilient, a rail cannon hit the engines. The laser cut through it as if it was butter—its lack of shielding its downfall.

“Change targets!” Brusk said as fusion reactors were ejected by the ship and her weapons went silent as she tried to pull away.

He heard sirens in the background as a crystal failed, ejecting the gunner backwards, the loaders already out of the way. As the blast shield dropped, the atmosphere drained from inside and the crystal was ejected. The gun recovered. He put his gun on auto as he glanced over. The blast shield went white hot, one of the loaders yelling in pain as the gunner ran over with a burn kit, spraying the burn victims wound with white foam. The gunner helped the loader up as they ran to another sealed blast shield.

“What are you doing!?” he yelled to them.

“Chief, it caught a round, the crew of this gun all got severe burns. We’re going to take it over.” A woman turned—still running—as she yelled her response over the firing, a testament to her lungs.

“Good work, boys!” he yelled, the woman in the crew not even noticing his use of words as he spat, turning to his gun. The crew had just reacted, he doubted they had even understood that if their crystal hadn’t nearly overloaded and ejected itself, they would’ve been cooked crispies. Not many had been so lucky. He stopped himself from looking around the gunner deck with all too many blast shields closed. There was a reason their nickname was the tombstone. Once they closed from a blast, no one was coming out from behind it alive.

He let his anger out as he took his gun off of auto and picked out the battle cruisers thrusters he was hitting and raked them with rail gun rounds, whooping as he saw one of them sputter and die.

“I want closer groupings! Link up with another gun crew to rake their thrusters!” Brusk yelled, not looking away from his screen as he spat into an intake.

“Follow my lead,” he said to the gunner to his right as he fired into the thrusters of a new battle cruiser passing his screen. The gunner did so. Their lasers caught the massive rail gun bolts and super heated them as they sliced into the battle cruisers hull like the molten metal it was.

“That’s the ticket!” he said as the thrusters manifold buckled and gave way, the ship shaking from the loss of thrust.

Eddie rushed into a group of Commandos and earth troops.

“Out of the way!” he yelled as the Commandos did, automatically pulling the Earth troops with them as Eddie rushed through on his way to fix the starboard shield generators.

He felt another Kuruvian bump into him, making him balance on one foot to stop falling over. The Kuruvian grabbed his arm, righting him.

“Well, you little… Shrift! Goodman, follow me, we have a shield generator to fix.”

“Yes, Chief,” Shrift said, thumbing his work belt. Eddie turned, muttering under his breath. “Thought you could escape to the armories, did ya? The hum of a star cruising warship will always be your call, mi boy.”

“What are you muttering now?”

“Wondering if you remember how to fix a shield generator any more.”

“I think I can handle it. I’ll go for the alpha ring.”

“Bah!” Eddie kept looking ahead as he ran so Shrift couldn’t see his smile as he turned for beta.

“Now, don’t muck it up or I’ll have you repainting thruster manifolds!”

“Aye aye, Chief!” the young Kuruvian said, touching a wrench to his head as he ran backwards, turning and running forwards again.

“You’re damned everywhere, aren’t you!” Eddie said as he ran into another group of the Earth troops and their minders.

“Damned bugs”

“I might be a damned bug, but I’m the damned bug keeping you alive and this beauty running even after the way you’ve treated her!”

The man about to make a retort got a clap to the back of the helmet! “This is not the foucking time for arguing, get fixing, cause your life does foucking depend on it. Excuse them, Chief,” The other human said, nodding his head in respect as the other one went back to replacing power lines.

“No worries!” Eddie yelled, already down the corridor and turning, closing in on his shield generator.

“You poor darling,” He crooned as his wrench touched the shield generators housing, pulling it apart down the layers of hardware, opening in levels as he got to work.

***

Resilient still rocked from hits as I realized we were past the Syndicate fleet, but I couldn't believe it.

“Give them our bow,” I said. Milra flipped the ship as Rick looked like a crazed man working his station.

A final hit got our side as sparks came from a panel, flames erupting from it.

“Contain that fire, Shreesht!” I barked.

“Get me ship reports as soon as possible, Rick.”

“Commander.” He didn't even look away from his work.

We had pounded the Syndicate ships, crippling most of their battle cruisers thrusters, forcing them to slow down. The dreadnought was also listing badly and without communications. Our formation and coordination had saved us crippling losses, but we were four corvettes, a cruiser, and a BC lighter, with my other two BC's heavily injured.  None of my ships were ready for another fight like the one we just had in the slightest.

The Syndicate had sixty-five ships still in fighting condition and then the planetary cannons, which had stopped for our passing, started again as the Syndicate had to continue to brake, their inertia making them follow us.

I kept on eye on the plot as Monk appeared on my main screen. Just as I was about to contact you.

“Well, you've hurt them worse than I ever thought possible. Teach me to doubt you,” he said, inclining his head as I grinned.

“But I'm not done yet.”

Monk let out a rare grin.

“Cut firing,” I continued as Monk yelled to his people and the cannons went silent.

“Always more surprises with you,” he said, clearly watching his own system plot.

Chapter To Quote a Good One: I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

“Take this, you bastards,” I said as a wire cone passed over the Syndicate forces. I activated my comm, connecting to Heston.

“Bring the pain, Commander.”

“With pleasure, sir,” he said and he cut the channel.

***

Heston activated his comm to every fighter commander.

“Get me some dreadnought's,” he said as fighters who had been drifting behind the fleet dropped off after the second wormhole transition lit their drives, right amongst the Syndicate fleet in disarray.

The fighters fired their missiles at point blank range, following them up with their external railguns and high-wattage lasers..

Now, the interesting thing about shields is they do great with direct energy, such as light energy and plasma. They don’t like kinetic energy, or nuclear as much, especially when that kinetic and nuclear energy is from multiple directions so shields have little time to compensate. Shield generators overloaded from the bombardment, letting the slower rounds in. Then the lasers were on the naked hulls of the ships. Now, what happens with shields and lasers, well, it’s not the same with lasers, especially at high enough wattage.

Lasers cut through like, well, lasers, bulkheads, armor, plasmid, living, the lasers didn’t care as they cut deeper.

The initial slugs had been fired on a point and hit something, kind of like a shotgun in a space battle which could be over in seconds, like this one had. You shoot first and ask questions later.

The battle cruisers had taken the hit on the nose, their ships and crew rolling from the massive damage. They were stunned and massively damaged, taken out of the fight, bleeding atom, and with catastrophic power surges from the lasers catching power circuits. Power cores spat out of them, adding more into the fray. Cores exploded when they collided with the corvettes, vaporizing two of them. The destroyers and cruisers, missing their corvette cover around them, fought with their PD, trying to deal with the power cores as they ran into the later shots from the fighters and their lasers. But the corvettes were the ships that held all of the PDS.

They didn’t fare as well, ships being ripped apart due to colossal power failures.

***

Eddie was tempted to jump as his HUD cut to what Resilient deemed vital information.

“Commander Salchar, I take back everything I’ve ever said, you genius of a man!” Eddie whooped as he watched the end of the battle through his data pad and he and Shrift replace a shield heat sink.

Shrift grinned as he leaned against the wall, a tired smile on his face from having replaced heavy duty power relays.

“Maybe I should tell him that,” he said as he slowed his breathing down.

Eddie growled.

“You're becoming a slacker with your new jobs,” Eddie said as he tucked the data pad away, Shrift following him with a grin as the Syndicate forces moved to safer ground out of reach from the PRC's massive rounds.

***

“Alright now, lets get everyone sorted out. I want ships statuses as well as repairs needed as fast as possible. Don’t think of this as the end of this battle. We still have lots to do. Main priority is guns and shields. They can accelerate for us at any time,” I said as Resilient was, thankfully, corralling the information I needed first.

God, it's great having an AI, I thought.

“Medical bay is at capacity and requesting more medics,” Vort said.

“Rick.”

“On it.”

I watched as my well drilled team barked orders. I watched the main screens, loaded with the two separate fleets. My own screen showed wounded being loaded and shipped out to Hachiro as well as preliminary reports from every ship’s chief engineer. Earth might call me some jumped up little shit with too much power, and hell, I kind of was, but I was also a man looking out for me and mine. I had changed from the gaming legend to a man that would make the hard choices, have sleepless nights with the regrets, and tell the universe into which black hole they could shove it.

Chapter Aftermath

Captain Kelu looked at his plot as his fleet retreated to safety. A bandage encircled his head and arm and his bridge was a sea of sparks and emergency lighting.

Who the hell is that? he kept on thinking as he looked over the enemy fleets tactics, their timing and efficiency. Their ability to follow damned orders. He grumbled; he'd lost at least half of his ships because their captains were too damned stubborn.

“Someone, deal with those damned fires!” Kelu snapped, his hand alarmingly close to his pistol as someone rushed to do so.

“We've taken out the planetary cannons,” Pleuck, a replacement for the previous tactical commander, said. His predecessor had been thrown into a piece of debris, piercing his liquid cleansing organ, making his death painful and offensive to every odor sensing organ on the bridge.

Kelu shifted his eyes to the casualty lists, his fist trembling slightly as it wished to use his holstered pistol. The bridge was quiet, nursing their own wounds, in shock or angry and, above all, not wanting to piss off their infamous commander and his quick draw.

The enemy had whittled Kelu down to three dreadnought's, nine battle cruisers, sixteen destroyers, fourteen cruisers and thirty-one corvettes. Nearly a fifth of our original strength, he thought as he saw the footage of the fighters replay.

He snarled, causing more than one person to double their efforts to look busy.

Kelu had seen the Lady's carriers used exactly twice and their crews had made him respect the smallest of ships.

Yet, while the Lady's fighters had been vicious with their attacks on those that had crossed her, these were like a cold instrument. They never fought as one. They always fought in groups, giving one another cover and making it so that they hit in barrages, not allowing shields to have time to recharge before their next hit.

The lay's fighters had only done that because there had been so many of them.

“Urlow.” His quiet voice belayed the dark feelings the man that spoke the words was having.

“Open a channel to that dreadnought.” He highlighted the dreadnaught in question as Urlow worked on it.

It was a few minutes later when Welick appeared. Captain Kelu had memorized every ship commander of a ship that could do some actual damage. A creature in charge of a Man 'o War Dreadnought was someone that definitely warranted his attention.

Something's not right though, he thought as he looked at the scans of the dreadnought against those in his database.

I thought so, he thought. The Golden Refuge showed that it had been fixed up, and not in a minor way either, it had new armor plating as well as weapons.

“Come to accept terms of trade? As you can see, Jorsht is not without support.” Welick said as Kelu studied him intently.

“Who are you?”

Welick raised himself up in anger, his breathing flaps fluttering. “You dare ask who I am!” he said before relaxing. “It makes sense that the Lady Fairgate's dogs would not know anything of us.” Welick snorted.

Kelu studied the creature in front of him. These are not the actions of a few disgruntled captains; it's by an organized force. Plus, Welick would never add weapons to his ship, due to their cost.

“You're not Welick,” Kelu said with growing confidence.

“I'm done with this slander,” Welick said with an imperious wave, the channel ending.

“I want to know who the heck is in charge over there,” Kelu said as he stared at his screen.

“Urlow, have a corvette return to the Lady, request reinforcements,” he said as the bridge crew looked to Kelu.

No one requested more reinforcements when the Lady had given them forces. It was paramount to signing one's own death warrant.

“Sensors, match the second dreadnought,” Kelu said, feeling more confident with his request. The sensor officer came back a few minutes later.

“It's Orvunut's dreadnought,” she said, sounding stunned.

“Urlow, also inform the corvette crew that Orvunut and his fleet have been defeated.” Kelu sat in his chair as he rested his odor sensing cavities on his hands, his hooded eyes looking at the fleet around Parnmal.

I'll find out who you are and crush you, he thought. Embarrassment and shame fueled his anger as Captain Kelu retreated for the first time ever.

***

I tried not to sigh as the enemy fleet didn't make to follow us. My people were beat from having to travel all the way from Earth at full speed and then fight what was one of the most nerve wracking battles I'd been in yet. Making a wormhole in-system was idiotic in the extreme, but it had given the Free Fleet the advantage they'd needed to smash into the Syndicate forces. We were now nearly out of ammunition on all weapons systems.

Parnmal could've covered us if the Syndicate decided to follow us, but the ships would've been largely useless.

“Lining up main airlocks,” Milra said, her voice tense as she used the manual controls at their station instead of the array of dials, switches, and buttons usually used.

“Airlocks are magnetizing... and we have a solid connection.” Milra hid her sigh as secondary airlocks extended from Parnmal and Resilient.

Ammunition, stores, and fuel began transferring from the station, the rest of the fleet in different states of docking. Forsut was still a day out from Parnmal with its circuitous route.

Mentr had made it to the station and was about to begin it's docking. There were three ships and their crew who would never make it to Parnmal, however.

I reflected on that as I stood, my Mecha seeming heavier as I walked through the ship without seeing it.

When does it end? I asked myself the same question after every battle as I looked up to find myself leaving Resilient, so lost in grief I'd blocked out my walk.

I stopped my grieving for now as I knew that to keep my people alive I had to focus on other things. It wasn't fair to those that had given their everything, but it was what I had to do.

Monk met me as I came off of Resilient.

“Brother,” he said as I nodded to him.

“Now the siege of Parnmal begins,” I said grimly.

“Indeed.” I don't know how one would explain the perfect calm he portrayed, yet the fury that waited, ready to be used only when necessary. He was a man truly at peace and truly deadly.

“Rick, prepare the fleet to leave,” I said into my comms as I thumped into the heart of Parnmal.

Resources that had been taken from Earth's miners funneled into Parnmal. We'd need the supplies.

“On it already, James.” His voice was like stone. I'd finally laid my plans out in AIH and none of the ship commanders had liked it, but they had all accepted it, a few saying “Salchar's rules.” which was met with knowing nods.

That's right I'll meet the bastards on my terms, not theirs. Then I'll exact a Free Fleet price for those lost.

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Table of Contents

- Chapter Misunderstandings
- Chapter Rude Awakening
- Chapter Back to Sol
- Chapter Changes
- Chapter Taking Back What is Ours

- Chapter What the Hell Are the Crazy Aliens Up to Now?

- Chapter Busy Day
- Chapter Big Day
- Chapter Reunions
- Chapter Beers, Brides, and Politics
- Chapter Slackers!
- Chapter Rebuilding
- Chapter Small Victories
- Chapter In Position.
- Chapter Perfect Timing
- Chapter Time is Never On One's Side
- Chapter Surprises
- Chapter Riding On Luck and Lies
- Chapter Second Battle for Earth Begins
- Chapter Highs and Lows.
- Chapter Tallying the Win/ Loss Column.
- Chapter To Rebuild Again
- Chapter Time to Face the Music
- Chapter: Time Waits For No Man or Woman
- Chapter Recruiting Drive and Changes.
- Chapter Gaining a Press Officer
- Chapter Rebuilding
- Chapter It's Never One Thing At a Time.
- Chapter Unexpected Guests
- Chapter I Hate Surprises
- Chapter Rough Journeys
- Chapter A Rushed Departure.
- Chapter Arrivals
- Chapter Crazier Than an Avar?
- Chapter Blood and War Oath.
- Chapter Patience is a Virtue
- Chapter It Always Starts Off Slowly

- Chapter Then Comes the Bright Lights and Fireworks

- Chapter Then Come the Surprises

- Chapter From the Belly of the Beast.

- Chapter To Quote a Good One: I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

- Chapter Aftermath