The second heavy rail gun loader brought his plasmid sword down on my rail gun, just missing my forearm, which supported it as I drew my plasmid sword across his chest, catching on the thick armor. I left it in his rib cage as he died; his weight and armor took the sword down with him.
The gunner was scrambling for his pistol as I roundhouse kicked him, throwing him off balance and over the front of the gun. A ping went off in my implant, still connected to the bridge.
“Targeting picture acquired,” I heard as I dropped behind the rail gun. I stroked the butterfly trigger, puncturing the gunner’s torso with supersonic rounds.
“All batteries.” Marleen paused. The destroyer had nowhere to run as the full port broadside of the Resilient came to bear. “Fire!”
The ship shuddered as rail cannons fired and the lights dimmed as the laser cannons followed suit. The massive firepower sapped power from the ship’s fusion generators and massive stored power cells. My protection detail had caught up with me at this point as I walked back through the hole I’d created and grabbed my data pad.
I took a knee and watched as rail cannon rounds ripped into the destroyer’s armor. The laser cannons focused on the breaches as they ripped apart the internals of the destroyer. In mere seconds, the destroyer was turned into an expanding fireball by the overwhelming broadside of the Resilient.
I used a general channel, able to be heard by both sides. “All weapons are unlocked; stop trying to conserve ammunition. Fire at will unless they surrender.” At the same time, I sent a text message to the ships to fire every weapon they had as well as decoys that could imitate a weapon to make it harder for a missile to hit a real weapon.
My fleet of ten fired thousands of rounds into space in a second, each ship a cloud of destruction, spraying at everything and everywhere, rotating so that every weapon system could be brought to bear. Even point defense systems were brought to bear, being used as offensive instead of defensive weapons.
The corvettes that had been part of the Syndicate fleet were pushing hard for the jump point. Their lack of maintenance and the upgrades on my corvettes showed as my own ships accelerated for all they were worth; they’d get one pass at the enemy before they were able to jump.
“Leave some of them alive. To those who survive, take this message to your masters. The Free Fleet patrols this area. Any act of piracy or criminal activity in our area of operations will be dealt with severely. Anyone found aiding a criminal will also face similar consequences. The Syndicate will, in one way or another, cease to exist, I so swear.
“If I see any of you committing criminal acts, I will personally see you get the harshest punishment possible. Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet out.” I changed from the general channel back to my protection detail’s.
“Moving out. We have to clear this deck.” I took a rail gun from the gunner team’s security man’s corpse, checking it with practiced motions.
Krom had been placed on my protection detail as its leader. Shreesht, another Avarian, had also been added and Calerd, a tough Sarenmenti, filled the last position.
The old squad had gone back to being a squad instead of my babysitter. It meant I had protection all the time now, and a group that would get used to me and my habits, instead of only being there when I went into battle. Which was one of the things that they were supposed to keep me out of.
Krom was able to walk much faster than me and quickly walked in front of me, placing a hand on my chest.
“Get out of my way, Krom.” I looked up at him, my voice cold as space. I hadn’t forgotten about the awakening or my own state by a long shot as I looked at the massive Avarian.
“Commander, please think. You don’t have armor and you’re more important than any of us. You need to use us as shields.”
“I will share in the same risks that you do. We need to kill these attackers or they could kill us all. My life isn’t much compared to the entire crew’s, which we are putting at more risk just talking,” I said pointedly, pushing past him.
He held onto my shoulder; even my newly enhanced strength couldn’t shrug off his hold. “Commander Salchar, without you, this ship is a small loss. The fleet wouldn’t be able to continue without you.”
“Of course it would.”
“Sir, I don’t think there is anyone who could do so,” he said in a quiet voice.
For the first time since the fight, I really looked at the man. In his eyes, I could see intelligence underneath the veneer of a brute.
I thought about it for a second, seeing a few flaws immediately in my plans if I was to die, though I wouldn’t be really caring about it all that much if I was dead. With an agitated flick of my hand, I acknowledged his statement.
“That doesn’t stop the attackers in our hull.”
“No, Commander, it doesn’t.”
“And if I was to die, then someone would step into the gap and the fleet would continue.”
“It probably would, but it wouldn’t be the same.”
“Who knows, it might be better,” I muttered. Krom looked at me in shock. I finally shrugged off his arm.
“We’re going to move on, not because I have a death wish but because I hate goddamn party crashers. Especially party crashers on my damned ship and to my damned party! So let’s go show these Syndicate bastards what Armored Marine Commandos can do.” I finished with a growl, sharing hungry looks from my protection detail. I took off at a jog, looking at the sensor readings that showed the position of the next group of intruders.
They fell in around me, and I grudgingly let them. If it gave them one less thing to worry about, I was willing to be babied. They’d lost their leader and friend when Jeremiah had saved all of our lives. It was my job to push them through and get the mission completed, and then they could rest, cry, and mourn. I had no time for that.
Enemy at the Blast Doors
Henry pulled the feed from the commando on his side of the blast door, peeking out before he pulled back as ion bolts riddled his corner.
“So, who’s got some grenades?” He moved away from the corner, which was being cut down by continuous rounds.
They’d set up three ion cannons in front of the blast doors that lead to the bridge and they were good. They’d had a similar setup in engineering; it had cost Henry two squads’ worth of people to take the single ion cannon there. Here they had three and they could cover one another as they reloaded.
The blast door was the only way into the bridge. He’d had teams go around, coming from every side, only to find it was as thickly armored as the Resilient’s own command center, which even a plasmid sword couldn’t cut through properly.
He had Avarians using their natural mono-blade claws to dig through the armor, but it was slow going.
“They’re linking the computer systems together for firing control!” one of the techs under Henry’s command said.
Cold dread flowed through him. They could create a rogue AI, linking that much computing power together. They needed to get through the blast door—now.
He opened up a channel to Resilient herself. “Possible AI formation.”
“Understood. Readying information packets.”
“Everyone pull back. You stay,” Henry said to a passing Avarian wearing a grenade bandoleer. They loved the damn things, taking them even if it wasn’t needed, like on a ship where a grenade could do a lot more damage than it could help.
“Program them for a four-, three-, and two-second delay then toss them to me in that order as fast as possible.”
She nodded, prepping the three grenades. “They’re ready.”
“All right, as fast as possible.” He took the first one as she held the remaining two. He thumbed the activator, flinging it around the corner, turning as another was in his palm. He hit the activator again, and then the third and he turned.
Henry got a meter before the first exploded; the second and third less than a second apart. He was turning, checking his weapon as he was already ord
ering his people. “Up and at ’em, ladies and gents! Get in the damned bridge before they can recover!”
The commandos who had pulled back from the blast now surged back in the room, metal burning that had been Mechas and weapon systems.
Yasu and her group, including the Sato sisters and Avarians, dove over the white-hot burning and melted metal that would’ve stuck them to the floor if they paused. Henry watched Yasu as she ran up along the wall. The captain of the ship took a chunk of the wall out behind her with his heavy stubby slug thrower. She ran upward onto the ceiling, disorienting the captain as she flipped off the ceiling. Her blade cut through the captain as she landed beside his body.
Avarians and the Sato sisters were fighting in the main command area of the bridge. Yasu kicked the captain’s corpse away from the captain’s chair as she turned to survey the scene.
She had blood of various colors on her armor as she brought herself from her fighting stance. She surveyed the room, the remaining Syndicate crew dead or being secured by commandos.
Henry walked in the room and was struck by how powerful she looked. It was something she and James shared; they had this ability to command loyalty and respect wherever they went. They were always confident, had a plan and knew what was going to happen. Well, with others at least—with each other, Yasu and James were clueless as Henry very well knew from the talks he and James had had together.
“Commander, we’ve taken the battle cruiser,” Henry said in his personal channel to James.
“Good. Leave a security force. We’re going to visit Chaleel.”
“Yes, sir.”
James cut the channel as Henry opened one to his commanders.
“All right, those on security, do you need reinforcements to hold the ship and the prisoners?”
The numbers came back as Henry detailed out to the assaulters who was needed where. “The rest of you back to the shuttles. We’re going down.”
Henry turned as he checked over the flight plan. He waited for everyone not on security to run out of the room and he followed.
Missed Me?
I was linked into the bridge through my upgraded implants and the communicator in my collar, as well as the beaten data pad I had on me.
“What have you got for me, Rick?” I said as the rest of the teams on the ship and Resilient herself were declaring the ship clear of intruders.
“We have reports of fighters in the atmosphere bombing our people.”
“Place ships near our commandos’ positions in order for them to provide air cover. Bomb wherever they’re coming from.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What about our people getting down there?”
“We have people from all ships departing in shuttles for the surface; the count is sixty percent of our forces are down.”
“Good.” I waved to my protection detail as I headed for the shuttle bays. “Put Bregend in overwatch of the factory ship and any forces that he needs to assists. You have overall space command.” I paused, thinking of what I hadn’t covered.
“Also, with the Resilient,” I continued as Rick cut me off.
“Get ourselves free and moving so that we’re not a sitting target. Place prize crews on the taken ships. Start on repairs and take everyone down to half watches?” Rick said for me.
“Well, you are becoming a mind reader. About time!”
“Thanks, James, as I want to read your brain soo much,” he said dryly.
“Don’t get too in-depth—I don’t know what’s in there myself.” I grinned as Rick let out a laugh. “All right, look after the house while I’m gone.” I entered the shuttle bay.
“Will do, Commander.”
I cut the channel, feeling uncomfortable as I sat next to Yasu. Her regal calm poise was at odds with the dried blood and what looked like parts of metal. I could see the Sato sisters, who had attached themselves to her, were similarly covered in gore.
I tried to sit as confidently in my seat as possible, but I felt the thinness of my comparative battle suit. Instead, I shrugged. I looked over the information coming from the surface when a channel connected with me put through the Resilient as the shuttle was pushing out of the bay. “James!”
“Iron Bok Soo, how goes it, brother?” I said. Happiness and relief swelled in my chest.
“Dealing with the Sarenmenti forces that the fleet you just destroyed sent down. The ones who were with us are working with us after having the information shoved down their throats.”
I heard gunfire in the background as he put me on hold quickly before returning.
“Some of the new Sarenmenti have defected to us after we’ve been relaying the information we have to them since you began attacking the fleet. Others—well, there’s always a few diehards.”
“Shit, well, they made their decision. What’s going on now?”
“We’re holding the positions we have. The Syndicate Sarenmenti are destroying whatever they can. We’re holding our stations and leading attacks against them as best we can, but again, we’re so thin it’s hard to have any forces move from one to another. Whereas they can attack a target with a good portion of their force, but we don’t know where the rest of their force is. We’re reacting more than acting and it’s pissing me off.”
“With the long-range sensors on our ships, we should be able to solve that issue. We’re already on our way with reinforcements, so tell me where you need us.”
“Takahashi needs you most. I’ll relay you to him. He’s direct, talks as little as possible, but he knows what he’s doing.”
“Okay, patch me to him,” I said, wishing I could’ve just kept talking to Iron Bok Soo. I heard a grunt on the other end of the channel of someone fighting. More grunting continued as Takahashi said nothing.
“Takahashi, where do you need men?” I said after a few seconds.
“Power stations nineteen, twenty-eight to thirty-two, and thirty-five.”
“Has anyone talked to the Chaleel leaders?”
“No.”
“Thank you.” I changed to Henry’s channel. “Split forces to power stations nineteen, twenty-eight to thirty-two and thirty-five.”
“Yes, sir.”
I connected with the Resilient.
“Commander, I’ll get you the chief of staff,” the communications officer said.
“No, I need you. I need you to put me in contact with the Chaleel leaders. I want General Carsickle included in the conference.”
“Yes, sir, one moment.”
“Five minutes till we hit pay dirt,” the shuttle’s pilot said through the hold.
“I have a connection with the people listed as the leaders of the planet by the Syndicate fleet.”
“Thank you. Please connect me.”
I felt the harsh thrust of the shuttle decelerating as my implant beeped. “Hello, my name is Commander Salchar. Carsickle can vouch for me. Currently, we are working to remove the forces that wished to enslave your planet. Please attend to defending your cities as we remove them from outside of your walls.”
“You say you want to defeat those who enslaved us, but it was in fact you and your people who were the forefront of those who attacked us. I’m sorry, we’re not that stupid,” one of the leaders said. “Just tell us your demands and we will fulfill them.”
“Carsickle, are you there?” I asked, realizing that he probably wouldn’t recognize me on looks alone anymore.
“Yes.”
“Incoming small arms fire. Gun teams!” the pilot said as gun teams in retrofitted jump seats next to the ramps and air locks hit emergency buttons. Their weapons in racks beside them shifted so that they were in front of them on pintles. The air locks opened as they swung outward through them. They’d taken the idea from when I’d done it the first time we were on Chaleel. I wanted to put actual turrets on the shuttles, but maybe later.
“I’ve undergone some—changes—recently but I am Salchar. I’m the one who brought your wounded out and was attacked by your peopl
e. Then talked with you directly afterward. You showed me the videos of the Syndicate captains demanding all of your people’s food and I said I would be back to help out. Do you remember me?”
He looked skeptical as I sighed. “All right, here it is, nice and simple. Look after yourselves; stay within your city walls and you won’t be hurt. We’re clearing the place of any Syndicate forces. You come within a hundred kilometers and you will be treated as Syndicate sympathizers. Carsickle, make sure they obey. I do not want any more Chaleelian blood on my hands, but I will to protect my people. Salchar out.”
“One minute!” The pings for the small arms fire could be heard hitting the armor of the shuttle as the shield gave spotty cover due to the changing forces placed upon it as the shuttle jinked and weaved. Making it of little use as it was letting a decent amount of rounds through.
“Hover drop!” the pilot said as our movement stopped in mid-air. I smashed my harness release. Only the Avarians matched my speed and ferocity; Yasu was a half second slower. Whereas I got up in a flash, she rose regally, popping her sword out a half inch with her thumb to make sure it was free.
I half-cocked my rail gun, checking the round seated in the acceleration chamber, even though the light was rose-colored, indicating there was a round in it. I did the same with my pistol and popped my sword. Then I was outside of the shuttle. I let my legs absorb the fall as commandos leading Avarians secured the perimeter. I pressed a tab for the battle suit’s hood and it formed to my head. My HUD came alive, feeding me battle information as I took cover behind a house.
With a quick glance, I got the lay of the land.
This power station had a decent-sized village around it; we were a kilometer from the actual station where the most severe fighting was going on.
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