I nodded to him before I turned 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 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.” My voice was 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 to look at Captain Connolly. “You have a question? The eyes?”
“Yes,” Connolly replied.
“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. Ta-da. Cool-looking, isn’t it?”
“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.” I gave an exaggerated shudder. My Commandos laughed as few of the Sarenmenti among them shredded their food bars with their four jaws.
“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 shook 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 than NASA has in all its years, and common sense, safety lines, and a non-com yelling down the necks of troops has done all right 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 cannon 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 and rose 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 guard’s commander.
I left the shuttle and headed for the station’s command center, taking another dose of Wake-Up. I had a lot of work to do still, and something as simple as sleep wasn’t going to get in my way.
***
Captain Connolly and all of his Marines who had assaulted the 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 who actually knew what they were doing, not Salchar, a gaming kid who 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 didn’t doubt that there were other people, just like him, who were being sent to infiltrate the Free Fleet.
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 acknowledgment 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 waited there, watching her, and couldn’t help but smile. Thank you. I stood and pushed 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 each other, a possible look of—shock? No, it couldn’t be. I walked the cart back to the 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. They’d 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, slowly, but it was coming along. Eddie had nearly lost it when we got the generators, but I ordered him to put them into storage because 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 that had been lost, with the minimal crew required; the rest of his engineers worked to bring the smaller ships online. I had ordered tons of small power plants, which were being integrated as secondary power sources on several ships, including the Resilient. It abated some of Eddie’s complaints but not by much.
Shrift as well had complained because 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. I was dealing with the largest problem I’d faced so far. My human personnel wanted to go back to Earth. I couldn’t blame them—it was their home, after all—and while they’d been away, terrible things had happened. Earth badly needed their skills. I didn’t know how many would stay or go, though I made it clear that they were free to do as they desired.
At the same time, I had no one to replace them, and even if I did, they would need to be trained, and they wouldn’t be the veterans I’d had before. With all of this going on, I sighed, feeling uncomfortable in my upgraded battle suit. All of my protection detail had theirs, but I was still painfully aware of how little protection I was afforded with the battle suit. 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 in other places of deployment. I’d do that after the conference; I thou
ght, 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 who 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 would go down to meet their families. Though it was hard to gauge how people would react to having their kids return as adults, looking like 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. Most of the major population centers had been abandoned as people were forced to move to 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, mostly staying in trailers and their vans, trying to grab that all important exclusive. 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 attend the meeting hall. It was blocked by military forces.
My shuttle touched down in a parking lot of a small shopping center. As my protection detail and I walked out, the press raced 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 the 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 toward. 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 were waiting in the main lobby as I entered. Each studied me closely. Apparently, not all of them had seen my eyes properly. They were drawn to them, staring at me and my Avarian protectors, who scanned the room like the predators that they were, 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 were cameras and reporters set up 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 checked 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 with a foothold in the universe.
Finally, it was my time to speak. I walked up to the podium, and awkwardly tapped the mic a couple times, checking my feedback, before I drew in a deep breath.
“Hello. As you all know, I am Commander Salchar of the Free Fleet. Today, I wish to begin talks of the cooperation between Earth and the Free Fleet. With my first point being to allow those who serve on the Free Fleet to visit their friends and families for the first time in a year and a half. To speak with the friends and families of those who didn’t return so they can get some closure. Thank you.” I turned and walked back to my seat. Everyone in the room stared at me. It had the same effect 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 faze 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 rested around me but was always alert as they watched. 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 nation’s leaders filed back in. All of them gave me odd looks, except the Korean prime minister who, if I wasn’t mistaken, had a grin on his face as he sat down and pulled out a smartphone from his suit jacket.
“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, let’s talk about it,” I said.
They began listing 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. “What if we are using those resources to get into space exploration?”
“It will depend on how much time the nation will need to repair and support themselves, which we will assist. Saying that, there will be a tentative schedule. If people feel like they don’t want to pull 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 US said.
“No, we will be bound to you. People from Earth already populate our ranks; 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 prey 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 the planet. The same goes for if there is an 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 peo
ple 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 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 that limited few knew about. The first few messages were from Monk’s family, the others from Cheerleader’s, 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 unreasonable. 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 gaggle of reporters and to the shuttle.
“Commander, the reporters are too close to the shuttle,” the pilot said after a few seconds.
“Use the external speakers.”
I heard them booming warnings as reporters backed up a bit as if the shuttle were 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 was designed to get from a warship to the surface of a planet and then back up in breakneck speed, weighing close to a thousand tons by itself, two thousand with loaded Commandos. So the reporters were 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 toward the station.
Free Fleet Box Set 1 Page 57