Free Fleet Box Set 1

by Michael Chatfield

  “Where is my esteemed wife now?”

  “She’s in your quarters.”

  This caused me to furrow my brow as we didn’t have quarters that we shared.

  “Thank you,” I said dismissively as I stormed out.

  “Commander.”

  “Yes?” I was furious she was stopping me.

  “Some clothes might be in order? We got your spare battle suit.” She moved to a stow bin along the wall and pulled it out.

  “Thank you.” Control yourself, damn it! It’s not her fault. I quickly donned it, finding it strange that my new body made me feel as if I was clothed already. With the battle suit on, I felt better with the additional armor; my battle suit and my strange body seemed to be getting acquainted.

  “I’m sorry about being so rude.” I nodded to the doctor before I walked out. No one tried to stop me as I walked straight to the captain’s quarters. The Sato sisters crossed swords in front of the door.

  “Move. I’m not in the mood.” I flexed my hands as my claws sprouted from my battle suit. One of them quickly said something into their collar, moving her blade aside as the other did too. I couldn’t tell which one was which as the door opened and I stormed in.

  “What did you let them do to me?” I demanded hotly as I looked down; Yasu was in her own battle suit with her painfully normal human features.

  “They called it the awakening. They said it would keep you alive. Your head had been smashed in. The medics didn’t think even you would make it. Even with the medical machines we have, the awakening gave me another option, so I took it.”

  “So they turned me into an Avarian. You let them change me from a human into an alien race. Without my permission, you changed the very things that made me James Cook! Look at these eyes! Or the claws that come out of my hands or the fact that my bare skin blends into everything!”

  “I thought it would help you.” She looked at the ground; even this odd display of emotion wasn’t enough to stop my rolling anger.

  “If this is how you want to help me, forget trying to do so anymore in the future!”

  Anger and hurt simmered on her face. She threw a data pad at my chest. My new reactions made me catch it.

  “Do it all yourself. Put yourself in the line of fire. Command thousands of people, put everyone before yourself and be too paranoid to accept help, or to trust anyone! Who knows, one of these days when you finally sit down, I will come up from behind and take your place, or some nameless idiot interested in power instead of actually doing some damned good in this fucked-up galaxy!” she yelled at me before she stormed past me in my stunned state.

  Like an idiot, I stood there, trying to figure out what she was saying as the hatch closed. Annoyed, agitated and, like countless men before me, completely confused by the female mind, I looked at the data pad.

  On it, there was a map of a raised flat area. Overtop of it had wire buildings placed over the surface. Lines were laid underneath for water and electricity. There was a wireless hub and all the necessities, including a nearby space port connected by a wire diagram of a maglev transport.

  It was titled:

  Asul City,

  Commander Salchar and his mistress Yasu’s hold

  Stunned, I went through the other files that were open. To my surprise, in the three days I’d been unconscious, she’d put herself in charge of the development.

  She’d placed Ursht in charge of the city administration as she’d dropped colony buildings, which could be set up within weeks and then reinforced with the materials of the area. Avarians from across the planet had flocked to my banner at the promise of water, work, and prosperity. The mines had been shut down but the stockpiles we’d found on the planet had been impressive.

  Including not only the materials from the Avarian battle master I had killed, but the one-third tithe from the other two battle masters.

  Eddie and the Kuruvians, as well as everyone involved with engineering, were having rabbits as they happily filled their low stores, which had been minimal, to give Parnmal the most raw materials for the ongoing projects. They were pumping out parts for everything they could replace and recycling anything old. The majority, though, they were purifying and making ingots to be transferred back to Parnmal, or to be used in projects on Chaleel.

  With the materials from the battle master I’d killed also came his sworn warriors and a large chunk of his people. Most of his people hadn’t accepted the change and instead chose to defect to other battle masters.

  Yet, there were still a few pertinent problems I saw highlighted on the data pad.

  It seemed that ships that had traded for reactor fuel and waste water in most cases had been charging extortionist rates. With no other sources of fuel or knowledge of the accurate value for their materials, the Avarian had paid twenty times the regular price for premium reactor mass for waste water.

  The engineering crews had then been whipped up in a storm of building; they’d created storage tanks so large they had to be made in sections then transported to the ground and assembled. Shrift had the armorers making protective suits for the Avarians in the mines. It didn’t go without my notice that the suits were rated to be used in space mining. Or that there was a side project on a planetary elevator that would be able to transport people and resources up from Asul directly, instead of relying on shuttles from the space port.

  There was already a large asteroid in semi-stable orbit. Again, there were plans for thrusters to be placed on the asteroid to keep it centered and to create the platform of the elevator.

  There were plans for the development into the asteroid with Avarians, digging it out and using the resources to create what they needed.

  Yasu had gone so far as to identify possible other asteroids to have the main elevator platform to connect to or to mine afterward. She thought I was the one with plans within plans! I thought as I read the detailed outlines.

  “Comet water bomb inbound,” the communications officer said over the general channel as I tucked away Yasu’s data pad, still thinking about how far Yasu had pushed forward. I found myself on the bridge, garnering strange stares as I saluted Rick, who didn’t bat an eye as he returned the gesture. I guess he’d seen me do enough crazy things in the past that this wasn’t all that strange.

  “Comet water bomb?” I asked him quizzically.

  “Yes. Min Hae found a comet consisting of around eighty percent of water in the outer asteroid belts. We sent corvettes to go and pick it up—remember how you ordered us to scan for them?”

  “Ah, yes.” I didn’t remember much from the meeting with the other battle masters other than shooting the one and getting roughed up by Krom. “What’s its progress?”

  “It will be entering the atmosphere in five minutes.”

  I nodded, watching the main screen as the labeled water bomb passed the grouped fleet around Avar Interi Hermanti or as we’d been calling it; AIH.

  It slowly entered the atmosphere, using the temperature to melt the ice as two corvettes attached to the five-square-kilometer comet and held onto it, rotating around the planet as, for the first time in generations, it rained on AIH. I cut to a feed from Asul as Avarians were on the streets, stopping their work as they opened their arms. Rain poured down on them as they luxuriated in the feeling. It was odd to think these people hadn’t seen rain in their lifetime while on Earth it was cursed at times.

  “The water systems are working!” an excited voice said as I ripped my eyes off my command screen, looking at Eddie in surprise. The old Kuruvian was doing a jig at the engineering station. He wasn’t sitting in the seat but a liaison of his was. I couldn’t remember ever seeing the Kuruvian on the bridge, raising the priority of what was going on up a few notches.

  I linked my screen to his, seeing as he watched the buildings with their collection systems gathering the rain, the same as the streets. It dropped it into the massive tanks installed underground, which passed it on to be purified. The detriments were put into gr
owing towers to be used as fertilizer. The clean water was supplied to drinking fountains, faucets, and to critical systems for the city.

  Shuttles flew up to the melting comet, which was going along at a sedated pace. Using their onboard laser systems—or if they didn’t have them, gun teams—they cut out and pulled huge chunks out of the comet, taking them to the highest mountain ranges of the planet.

  I could see it had all been planned as the cut out blocks were rotated around the mountains, raining down on the lower sections, the higher ones too cold to melt the ice. As the blocks melted, water found old streams and other waterways.

  It took four hours for the asteroid to melt as chunks were ripped out of it by shuttles and placed around the planet.

  “Environmental, how many asteroids will it take to return the planet to a balance?” I asked.

  “It will take ten more of that size to get a minimal balance. Fifty would be optimal.”

  I thankfully checked my command screen instead of ordering more ships to start getting more comets. I could see that half of the fleet were gathering asteroids and shipping them back to the planet.

  I knew that I was going to need to apologize to Yasu at some time, but the fact that she’d allowed someone to change my body without my permission was still too new. I busied myself with her data pad, seeing what had been going on with the fleet and the planet below us. In most cases, I saw how well she was connected and the supporters she had in nearly every department.

  Annoyed, I left the bridge to find some refuge in the armories, where Shrift was waiting with two coffees and a large platter of food. Feeling ravenous, I happily dove into the food. Shrift and I sat in companionable silence, watching as the armory worked in noisy continuity. With the increased concentration on commandos and training, Shrift and every armorer had gained two apprentices.

  I took a large gulp of the coffee and sat there with him. “Where’s my Mecha?” I asked, still scanning Yasu’s data pad.

  “I haven’t fixed it yet.”

  I looked at him, about to demand why he hadn’t as he raised his palm to stall me.

  “I’m waiting until we know more about your—condition—to see if the settings need to be changed, helmet replaced and such. Or if I need to make an entire new one. The third one,” he said with feeling as I looked at my first one, still clamped to the wall with its plaque above it.

  “I didn’t want to have whatever was done to me done to me,” I growled.

  “I know, but with the Avarian Mechas we’re making, it should be easy enough to make one that’ll suit you.”

  “Avarian Mechas?” I looked up from the data pad.

  “Yes. It seems that the majority of the Avarian race are miners. They turned to the mines in order to trade with people, but it wasn’t long until people stopped coming. The mines kept going in case there was someone to trade with for fuel and they learned to work together. Being in the mines has done terrible things to their health but kept them in shape. Their warrior mindset is still very much intact. They host games in which they practice wars, battles, and re-enact their violent history. Winners get food allotments, so everyone participates.

  “With a bit of good old medical care to get them healthy and me making a new damned Mecha model, we’ll have some damned good commandos and personnel to help out the Free Fleet, all while we protect the planet and help them out.”

  “How do we know they will hold their word?”

  “They’re more loyal than any race I’ve ever seen. Don’t ask them to show their loyalty; otherwise, they’ll try to kill themselves to prove it.”

  “So, they have to do what Yasu or I say, or they’ll be killed by another one of their own?”

  “In most cases, they kill themselves. One can only leave the ranks of the sworn if they are so given permission by the one they’re sworn to, or their sworn breaks their vow, or is dishonored. Every warrior in your village is sworn to you. In return for their loyalty, you are to look after them. Yasu went to the city and asked everyone to come to the city hall and say what they want to do. Be it a medic, teacher, miner, builder, trader, fighter. She took the roster and had everyone get a sleep training headset.

  “Many found they still wanted to do what they had in mind; others changed their ideas, but the warriors group only swelled. There were over four thousand Avarian warriors who applied the first day. Currently, there are twelve thousand who wish to join the ranks of the Armored Marine Commandos.”

  “So, I’ve got a loyal as hell group of super warriors who can work in a team, who have been working in mines most of their lives. I need to train them and get them outfitted with Mechas within the five days we have to get to Chaleel. I hope no one was busy before, because now it’s going to be a damned hell storm of work.”

  Shrift sighed with emphasis, a glimmer in his eye. “I was getting bored anyway.” He got up and stretched.

  I contacted Henry and the trainers within my fleet, including all of the Sarenmenti Special Forces we’d taken with us. They’d thought they’d escaped training people—ah, how cruel fate was. I waited for everyone to get back to me. Shrift was working on getting mostly made Mechas; it would mean that each Avarian got one but they wouldn’t be complete. They would give them basic armor, HUDs, and the ability to fight in a space environment. Copies of my battle suit’s medical systems were being made at an alarming pace.

  Now all I have to do is hope that they’ll actually listen to me.

  My head was still a whirlwind of work and things to do when I took a shuttle down to the planet. I needed to show my face and I wanted to see Asul. If nothing else, then it might get me a few more warriors who seemed like a well-timed gift.

  “Communications, connect me to the FTL system.”

  “Who do you wish to speak to?”

  “Commander Monk.”

  “You’re connected, Commander.”

  “James?”

  “Hey, Monk. I need the biggest ship we have at Parnmal that is jump capable to AIH.”

  “The Avarians?”

  “Yeah. We need to get them trained up, and Parnmal is the best place to do that.”

  “Agreed. I’ve been reading the reports your communications officer has been submitting daily.”

  “Good. Now it’s about time I had a look over my new city.”

  “Must be a nice place.”

  “Yeah, if volcano worlds with lakes of magma are your thing,” I drawled.

  “Go easy on Yasu. She didn’t know what would happen. She was only thinking of saving your life.”

  “It’s going to take some time.”

  “All things worthwhile do.” His voice was sad, reminding me of those that had died in the assault of Parnmal. “Look after yourself, James.”

  “I will.” I cut the channel as I checked the time for the next shuttle down to Asul.

  Damned Men!

  She watched as the shuttle touched down on the landing pad. There was a hover car already waiting by the landing pad, which moved quickly toward the city after a few moments.

  She stood on top of the administration building as a large figure uncoiled himself from the car. Even three stories above him, she could see the blood-red eyes that sent a chill down her back.

  He’d changed so much with the awakening. How was she to know that he would? She shivered as she remembered the metallic table that had restrained him, how he’d screamed, his body morphing and changing as he’d fought the restraints until his throat was raw. Then he finally ran out of energy as he collapsed back onto the table in exhaustion, the moment when she thought he was dead.

  She was still trying to figure out the emotions she’d felt as she saw Krom march out to James, bowing down to him as low as he could. James barked something and Krom was on his feet in an instant.

  Then James, in full Commander Salchar mode, began to roam the city.

  She watched him as he talked to groups working. Those from the fleet, recoiling from his appearance, kept out of arms’
reach as he tried to reassure them.

  He continued moving, trying to not let it bother him. She could tell by the tension in his shoulders. No matter his outward appearance, he was annoyed and saddened by the way the people from the fleet, especially the humans, reacted to him.

  After an hour, people were getting more relaxed, but they were still edgy around him as he walked into the administration building. She waited, using the sensors in her Mecha linked to the administration building to track his progress through the building. He had an exceedingly long conversation with Ursht, trying her patience, before he made his way to the roof.

  She turned, looking at him, his face a controlled mask. For the first time, she wanted to touch him, to reassure him as he tried to hide his pain. Only her training, similar to his own, showed her the smallest shadow of emotion.

  He walked up to her so he could see out over the growing city, which wasn’t much more than a town, without anyone being able to see him.

  “It’s impressive,” he said grudgingly.

  She wanted him to continue to say it was amazing, how she’d done well keeping the fleet running, helped with their lack of personnel and brought another race into space. Or that she’d transformed Asul from a series of underground warrens into a town which would, with time and resources, turn into a city and a port for the entire planet.

  “Thank you,” she said as she saw he wasn’t going to. He was still too angry with her to give her any more praise.

  “I’ve ordered our people to return to the fleet; we’ll be leaving tomorrow. We’ll retain two thousand Avarian warriors; we don’t have the resources to suit more. I’m going to leave three corvettes and a small contingent of shuttles in the system who will continue moving water comets into the atmosphere. One corvette is already traveling to Parnmal to get the biggest jump capable ship and bring it here to take Avarians to be trained on Parnmal.”

  She wanted to demand to know why he would take away the resources of the fleet that were busy creating their home city but remained quiet, fuming as she stared at nothing.