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?” he said.
“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 was that they were guarding. Hopefully it would 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 the Orvunut captain and his fleet a full complement of Commandos upon their arrival in the third slave race’s 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.
He grunted. “Eight hundred, plus gear.”
“Five fifty.” Although 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 inkling what it might be, but it was probably my imagination getting the best of me. Such a resource should not be placed in a system so far from the pirate’s central point of power.
I also told him that getting his ship in first would make it so that he got the best pick of the lot, 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 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 cut the channel. Those two would know who was needed and where. “Channel to the fleet and station.”
“Open.”
“Okay, they’re coming to us. We’re splitting the Commando forces and keeping the trainees who are on board. COS and CAMC are figuring out the personnel issues right now. I want 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 thinking 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 the 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 proved 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 to start a fireworks show that my body didn’t realize. “Really?” My tone was at odds with my body wanting to dance around the bridge like a crazy man.
“Yes, it’s one of five that Lady Fairgate possesses.”
“The heck’s 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 had parents who were raised by the Syndicate—they’re as loyal as it gets.”
“All right, thanks.”
“No worries, Salchar.” He closed 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 on their ships pretty well. The way they rigged their ships was something that the Free Fleet had copied with our manpower 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 were yet to be seen.
It’s not as if you haven’t fought this blind before. I called up Commander Verlu to ask him the way Mechas were transferred and see whether 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 journeys. 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. She risked everything to bring her watchers some of the views of the shuttles that took kids to the station.
She’d flown drones over the sites to get more footage for her viewers while large news organizations practically died overnight. 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 then Evelyn spiked as one of the most watched news reporters in the world.
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 VIPs, 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 actually knew that Evelyn had specifically colored her hair so it appeared unremarkable. Her appearance was her camouflage; it allowed her to get into places where others couldn’t or wouldn’t dare try.
Which was why she was learning how to replace power circuitry.
She’d already got some shots around the ship, such as Commandos doing physical testing or sparring.
She’d 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. Because she wanted to settle 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 in news, but what she’d seen of the PDF imposters did not measure anywhere close to the Free Fleet. They actually gave a crap about the people around them. The PDF/Syndicate only saw humans as nothing more than machine parts. To be used to replace old parts, and to be recycled 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 while others disregarded it. Only Connolly saw it too. Evelyn knew the captain of the failed American takeover of the 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 on the Resilient’s bridge.
Riding On Luck and Lies
After the Orvunut’s talk, none of the ships had tried to contact us which, although normal for the conservative Orvunut, still made me nervous.
We’d figured out a plan to try to get the Sarenmenti off 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 learned quickly.
How well would only be seen in battle.
“Coming into position,” Combined Arms said as I watched the main plot. The Resilient came alongside the dreadnought the Orvunut captained; 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 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 stood and looked at the 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.
Rick stood and strode over to my seat. “Now I see why you wanted to be commander; this seat is so much more comfortable!” He settled into it and flashed 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 shipyard 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 shipyard next to and start pulling apart to fill their stores.
Thankfully, they weren’t anywhere near Shirley and her group.
“I will go first,” the 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 Mechas to Hachiro.
“Combined Arms, have our ships move into forty-five degree fans out from Hachiro.” I made a quick sketch on my hologram and sent 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.” I turned my attention to Marleen. “How are we looking, Marleen?”
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 were part of the ship. I’d never seen her stumble, even with some of the worst hits the Resilient had taken.
“Ready as ever. All weapons are ready but uncharged.”
“Good work.” I watched shuttles move Mechas into Hachiro.
I was hoping that the Syndicate 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 picked up Commandos before returning to their own ships, where the other waiting shuttles raced for the air lock.
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 complement of Mechas, 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 the Orvunut and his forces were unloading around fifty thousand. It meant at some time 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 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’d chosen to give these kids the training they’d need to be Commandos instead of the murderous, uncaring monsters that they would have been. They’d have done anything that the individual with their pain implant told them to.
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 Mechas, 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.
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 its credits for the Sarenmenti and their gear while it had filled Ughs’s 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 Mecha’s internal water supply. Everyone on the bridge wore 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, however, were located at the rear of the double-tiered decks where Rick and I sat.
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