by Devin Cain
"Admiral, you’re Human, and the mind-controlling this body is a Quazzarian. Do you think we could become anything more? You see, I don’t belong to the Quazzarians any longer, but we’re not quite on friendly terms with your race. We, as you called us more than once, are the mechanoid race, or something similar in our mind, so we might start over with your group of Humans if what you’re telling us is true. If you can show us that you truly have other races on board, and we could talk to them, to hear how they’ve been treated, I can promise you our friendship and cooperation all the way to the new world, and once we arrive there. More than that isn’t possible for now."
"I see. But give me your word as someone who represents the Mechanoid race, that once you’ve talked to them and saw with your own eyes that everything is as I promised, that this playing around is over.
"What do you mean with playing around?" he asked, cocking his metallic head to the side.
"First do this, then that, then this, then that. I find I hard to trust someone who doesn’t trust me in turn."
"Very well then, Admiral Cain. Shall we do so immediately?"
Some twenty minutes in, we were back on the Devil, to be more precise, on the ship’s aft side. Devil had created two compartments which resembled both the Squadrian and Gebradim habitats. I was rather proud of the crew who’d taken care of it, since there was no big difference but for the metal box around whatever passed for their private space.
I recognized Orange out of the bunch as we first entered the Gebradim hold, at which most of them backed up against the walls and shivered in fear, but not because of me. McGregor was a sight to behold, even in his ‘smaller’ form.
"Admiral? What is going on? Have we displeased you?" Orange asked as he approached wearily, the queen hiding partially behind him.
"No, we’re here to speak to you and your people. This here is McGregor, a new ally. But before we solidify anything, he wanted to see in person how you’re treated and what you have to say."
"I see," he replied, obviously more relaxed. He turned to his people and told them to relax, but more than one gave us a funny look.
"Mc, can you talk to Gebradim directly?"
"I’ve met their kind a long time ago, and one of our brothers was from Gebradim Alpha, so yes, I know the language."
"Great! Then I’ll hang back here, and you can talk to them directly. Have Orange walk you around."
"That’s very much appreciated, Admiral. I’ll take you up on the offer," Mc replied as Orange stood upright, almost challenging.
"Please, follow. I’ll show you around," he invited the Mechanoid and moved out into the spacious hold. I sat close to the door, observing the two as they milled around with Orange’s people. They laughed, cheered, and shook hands more than once, which seemed to make the Mechanoid very happy.
The same situation awaited us at the Sqvadrians. McGregor seemed very pleased as he looked around, spoke to the small colony and finally bade them farewell, and joined me on the way to the bridge. He barely fit through the double-doors, but with a slight reconfiguration on his end, we got in.
"So, what do you think?" I asked once we were inside, dropping on my leather sofa. He remained standing close by with what looked like a broad grin on his face.
"I’m overjoyed, Admiral. You seem to have people on this ship who love you, and not like that Cafka creature I gifted you. Even the other races respect you, so I don’t see a need to test you further. Please, accept my hand of friendship." His hand moved toward mine, and I took it slowly, shook the big, metallic hand, and nodded once at the creature.
"So am I. Now, can we start with the promised repairs? I want to be out of here as soon as possible."
"Have the ships been cleaned from enemies?" McGregor asked.
"Helena, can you contact our Raid Leaders? I want to know their status right away!"
"Yes, sir!" she replied, her voice strong and confident. A tense minute passed before I got a response from her. "The battleships are all clear, sir. The carrier has been swept by the troops, no, wait. They’re clearing the hangar bay as we speak. That’s the last area that was left contested."
"Good, what about the capital ship?" I asked.
"A group has holed themselves up in engineering. They’re afraid the aliens might blow the ship up."
"They’ll blow it up one way or another if they plan to. Give them a chance to give up. Promise them a small ship so they can go wherever the fuck they want to if they don’t do anything stupid."
"Relaying order, sir."
I sat there, wanting to bite my nails. Losing a capital ship with its complement of a thousand crew would be a much bigger blow than losing the tonnage. After all, battles were still fought by man, and not A.I., so losing any sailor was a tragedy.
I looked over at Gremory who seemed indifferent about the situation, but I knew better. She was a stone-cold killer on the outside, but within dwelled a little girl.
"What do you think about all this, Gremory?" I asked, trying to include her in the situation.
"I’d be happiest if we killed all of them, but I’ll accept any decision you make."
"How’s the pain from the explosion? Still feeling it?"
She shook her head, flashing me a grin, unlike any other.
"I’m as good as the day I was born, what’s more, I even feel rejuvenated and satiated."
My right eyebrow rose involuntarily. Had torturing someone helped her, or was it the explosion that did the job? In any case, it didn’t matter as long as she was back to her old self.
"Good, good. I was afraid I’d lost you out there. And this hectic situation with the ships and the aliens, as well as the Mechanoids, didn’t do much in my favor to check on how you’re feeling. I’m sorry."
She shrugged as if it didn’t mean a thing to her.
"Everything is good as long as we’re alive, no?"
"As long as we’re alive," I whispered. "To life then," I added, raising my voice for everyone to hear. "To life and a bright future!"
Chapter Forty-Nine
"They’ve regained control over all ships and are now performing one last sweep, sir," Helena’s voice boomed on the bridge. "As promised, they’ve let the aliens go on one of the smaller vessels, but—"
"But what?" I asked after her voice trailed off into silence.
"Brown took it upon himself to blow up the ship."
I wanted to feel annoyed, but there was no way I could when it came to creatures like that. It was my first time meeting such a race, and then they show themselves as very hostile toward life in this region of the galaxy.
"Forget about it as we’re no conventional outfit anyway. What’s more important, though, are the people on the ships. We need them alive, all of them."
"There was only a score of casualties over all the vessels, so I think we got what we came for, Admiral."
I’d lie if I said they didn’t do a good job, so the Raid Leaders and the troops would need to be compensated appropriately.
"Good, that’s very good," I replied, trying to gauge Gremory’s expression. She seemed content but thoughtful. "What do you think?"
"That we were extremely lucky to have met such idiotic creatures. We may not be as lucky next time, but I’d take any victory, be it big or small."
"Exactly my point. Anyway, I was thinking of leaving a platoon of our mutated soldiers on each of the ships. I doubt that they’d be stupid enough to try anything but to comply with their orders. They could catch up with us once the reparations were complete, and the dreadnought could provide protection."
"Exactly my thoughts," Gremory replied. "Look, the freighters will be there sometimes just after we arrive since we’ve wasted enough time here, so we need to leave them behind and protect our assets. Speaking of which, the haulers and the civilians, the contractors and everyone who chose to come with us are of more import in my eyes."
"I think so too. We can’t start a colony with only spacers. In any case, we can take as many of
them with us, have them get accommodated to life on our ships and fill up the empty roles. Maybe Aiden would rather do some raiding as well instead of being a Captain."
"From what I know about the guy, being a Captain is more of a punishment to him, especially now that we can give people parasites, or mutate their genes."
"McGregor? What do you think about all this? Would you be willing to give up the ship to a Human crew? Of course, they would be following my orders and wouldn’t work on their own. I would station a hundred of my soldiers to provide support for you."
"Admiral, now that we have become more than what we used to be when we first met, I feel the need, to be honest. The dreadnought isn’t configured for Human travel very well, however, it’s possible with some changes. And now the most important question, Admiral. How long do we have for repairs and to catch up to you?"
"How long do you need?"
"We need a full day to reconfigure some of the spaces used for Quazzarian troops and spacers, as you put them. We will need another two days in the least for the repairs on your capital ship, and most likely another on the carrier. If the spacers help out, we might finish it much sooner."
"Good, good. We’ll leave for Gebradim Beta in the next twelve hours, so holding a conference with whoever is in charge of the ships is our priority."
"Do you want me to schedule the conference for you, Admiral?" Helena asked. I nodded.
"Please, have them be ready in one hour. What would be the best option, so we don’t have to ship them in?"
"If I may, we can have the hologram room up and running in a mere ten minutes," Esma interrupted. "It’s been a while since it was used, but me and the other—we kept it in good shape."
"Do the other ships have the necessary technology?"
"It’s more or less standard nowadays. We need you to get up to date with capabilities while we’re in transit toward Beta," Gremory replied for her. "But yeah, unless the rooms got blown up, they have the capabilities, yes."
"Good. I want you with me during the meeting. They don’t know me yet, but surely will know you."
"So you don’t want to strong-arm them?"
"We already did that, remember? But I don’t want to push my luck. It’s hard to win someone’s loyalty just like that, even if we saved them from their alien superiors."
We sighed in unison, then burst out in laughter.
"You’re right. They respect me, and if they see me sitting next to you, addressing you as the Admiral, it might tip the scales somewhat. In that case, I guess it’s time to dress in our finest."
"I’m leaving for the dreadnought, Admiral," McGregor said as he rose to his full height. "We need to start preparing immediately. Oh, and one more thing, Admiral. We’ll send a unit over as soon as we can. It will serve as a—booster. You see, we can handle all your needs much better than an Armament, firing from all guns at once without the need for Human assistance, boosting sensors for higher quality data and more. Do you agree, Admiral?"
"Hmm," I murmured, looking over the bridge crew. "I like my people too much for me to let them go right now."
"There won’t be a need for that, Admiral. The booster only helps, it doesn’t operate on itself without a mind. In all honesty, I find it too early to offer you a grown unit. This one will grow together with the crew and the ship in time, and if you ever decide to animate it, the unit will be of superb quality."
"Sure, I’d be more than grateful, McGregor. Oh, one last thing. Before we move out to Gebradim Beta, we’ll send you the coordinates where to meet us."
"Thank you, Admiral. I must be honest, my Quazzarian nature does not like this cooperation, but it only constitutes about twenty percent of our decision making. However, I am excited about seeing this new world. We have great plans in mind."
"So have I. In any case, I have to thank you for being honest. Even if we don’t like each other, working together is the only way forward. But please, let me ask one more thing, I can’t help being curious. Can we make more dreadnoughts given enough material?"
"No, unfortunately, at least not right away. I will assign a unit to map out the whole ship and the systems, and once we’re sure that everything will run smoothly, we can start working on them."
"Or on improving our existing ships."
"Or that, yes. I prefer tinkering on your three ships, seeing they have so much potential for greatness, Admiral."
"Alright then, McGregor. It’s time to say goodbye for now, as I got a meeting to catch."
"Goodbye, Admiral," the Mechanoid replied with a slight nod. Was it already picking up mannerisms?
I found myself sitting in the holo-room, as Gremory called it, at the head of a rather short table. The room itself was barely fifteen by twenty, accommodating a large projector unit hanging from the ceiling, and a cut-off table with a total of three seats: the head of the table, where I was sitting, and a spot to either of my sides. Gremory sat on my right, while Kris sat on my left along with two half-filled glasses in front of us.
"Don’t talk too much, and make sure not to overpromise. They’re no fools," she said just before the first hologram blinked to life. The rest followed almost instantly, giving the room and table an appearance of being far larger than it was.
"Admiral," the first man who appeared said with a slight nod. He wasn’t much older than me, or at least he didn’t look like it, though the way he held himself surely said otherwise. "I thank you for the assistance and the way you handled—the whole situation."
"No thanks are needed. Now, please forgive me for being rude and not hearing out all the introductions, but we’re running on a tight schedule. We’ll get to meet each other over the next couple of days in any case."
"I see," the same man said. He aired authority far more than the others who joined after him, so I let the man speak his mind. "I think that serves us all equally well, Admiral. Our ships are in need of repairs at the least, and total reorganization at the most."
"Kris here will be your liaison and take care of everything. I’ll be on the frontlines most of the time, so it’s hard to keep in touch with me. What’s more, our legion, or rather the Steel Legion has been given an enemy of Humanity status, and any ship belonging to the legion is meant to be destroyed. So joining us is the only option."
"Kris is the Captain of Devil?" the man asked.
"Yes, Antonius, I am," Kris replied, looking the man in the eyes. "A lot of things have changed over the last couple of weeks, including the fact that able-bodied men and women can climb ranks."
"Hey, I’m not saying the Admiral was wrong to promote you, I just want to know how to address you."
"Good, Antonius. In any case, the Admiral gave me free reign when it came to assigning new captains and support crew. So here it is, the bomb you’ve all been waiting for," she announced and took a deep breath. "There are three ways we can handle this. The first is that the highest-ranking officers become temporary captains on the ships and assign their support staff over the coming hours. The posts could become permanent once your ships catch up with us on our final destination."
She stopped for a moment to take a breath and take a sip of water.
"Now, the second and third options are extensions of the first more than options in themselves. We are offering to a select group to join Devil two and three, as well as the dreadnought ship and become accustomed to it over the coming weeks. You could become more involved with our operations that way since the ships you’re flying now won’t do much in a real battle without modernization."
"And what if we don’t wish to join your group?" an elderly woman asked. Rectangular glasses sat on the bridge of her crooked nose as she stared at Kris intently. Her nametag read Molier. So she was from France, I assumed. Oh well, not that it mattered.
"Are my people with you in the holo-room right now, Molier?" I asked. She turned her head around and back to me, then nodded slightly.
"Yes, they are."
"Good. Shove her out of an airlock, tha
t’s an order to be executed immediately."
Her facial expression turned to pure horror as they dragged her off the chair, the image blinked out of existence for a moment before it focused on Brown.
"You again?" I joked. "You really like to put yourself in a shitty position, don’t you?"
"Sir, I thought you wanted me in shit up to my knees."
"I do, figuratively speaking of course. Anyway, don’t make her suffer, just throw her out."
"Sir, yes sir!" he snapped a salute before the holo blinked out again.
"Now, where were we?" I asked, trying to gauge their reactions. Most of them didn’t look very distraught. Had I just done them a favor? "You don’t seem too sad about Molier’s departure," I commented. No one responded, which just confirmed my statement. "Whatever. Does anyone else want to venture out on his own with the legion’s property?"
"No, sir!" the group replied as one.
"Good, but just to make sure that no one gets any stupid ideas, I’m leaving a platoon of my soldiers on each ship. To the crew, they’re god himself, to you, they’re guardian angels, but make no mistake, every single one of you can follow after Molier."
"Admiral, if I may?" Kris asked. I nodded slightly and leaned back into my chair. "You shouldn’t see this as a punishment or as something bad, but as a new beginning. There’s a planet we’ve searched out to lay down roots on, and we’ve got the supplies to do so. Three other alien species that are loyal to our Admiral are joining us in small quantities, as well as the natives who are a warlike species, but that’s on a need to know basis for now."
"Where exactly is this planet located, if I may ask, Captain?" Antonius asked.
"Also need to know basis. You’ll see soon enough, but it’s right outside Earth’s sphere of influence and reach, so you got nothing to worry about."
"I see. I can’t wait to see for myself then, Captain. Anything else you might need from us?"
"Yes. You’ll send me your stocks immediately. I want to know what we have to work with, as well as what your armaments are, what types of ammunition you have, manufacturing capabilities, a list of spacers, and so on. You know the drill."