Free Fleet Box Set 2

by Michael Chatfield

  Turek was a good tactician and had followed orders to the letter. Cheerleader had gone so far as to make him her second in Command. It showed not only that she was willing to look past his history, but that the Sarenmenti were welcome in the Free Fleet. We had however left behind a swarm of ships at Parnmal. We would've taken them with us, but they were in terrible condition. Being used by the Syndicate, battle damage and entry/exit issues with wormholes had left the ships in the state that made them unsafe and almost unusable.

  I looked at Parnmal and the ships in a holding pattern around it. We had lost too many people there, for the second time. Now we would go out and poke the Syndicate. We had played the defensive game and held on, but no more. They had come for our homes, now we would wrestle the middling Union planets from them, take their resources and pound them into nothing. I changed my armrest view to the image captured by Bregend’s cameras.

  Looks pretty grey and modernized. I thought as I looked at what seemed to be massive cities which dominated the planet's surface, rising from the grey of the land and the blue of the icy water. Min Hae had been able to use light and colour detecting equipment to pick up that the water was largely ice, the land similarly freezing. The cities however were a fountain of heat. I was pretty excited to find out if we might be able to convince one of the Syndicate's middling planets to join our cause. There had been hundreds of planets and races that had been a part of the union. Yet there were now only thirty seven recorded surviving planets. Some races had become extinct, while others had just fled. This planet was not only a potential powerhouse of production, trade and people. It could also show us what we could expect from the other middling Union planets.

  “Look at us now, Henry, going from taking a couple of ships, to adding planets to our banner,” I said, cursing his loss.

  I missed Henry badly. He had been a great friend. No, he had been a brother. The Syndicate had taken him from me as he fought to uphold the values of the Free Fleet. His mantle had passed to Bok Soo, and no matter how much the man didn't want to be the CAMC, I knew he wouldn't let me down. I remembered how much Henry had tried to shift it onto someone more qualified. It was interesting how the best officers usually thought that they weren't good enough, but gave a hundred and ten percent for the creatures that followed them.

  Chapter - New Frontiers

  Evelyn Sparks looked to her small team of reporters. They had grabbed a ride on the first ship going through AIH. Commander Salchar's town was becoming a boom town. AIH was a hive of activity. Ursht was every part the Avarian leader, no one questioned him as he had turned Avarians into makers as well as space miners.

  The Avarians were relentless in their determination to become the best at not only mining, but also at fighting with the Free Fleet's technology. It had hit some rough patches with the other leaders equating Salchar’s influence to that of the awakened makers. Ursht had instead left the chambers and declared to everyone that could hear that the Avarians with the awoken minds were not makers, they were hoarders. Salchar was no hoarder, and nor were the people under his banner. Any and all were accepted under Salchar’s banner, not to hoard and become recluses, but to make something for their people. Word had passed fast as more and more people came to Salchar's banners.

  As Evelyn left the first PRC was being finished. A growing tower was also being built and Chaleel and AIH were doing a brisk trade with resources for food supplies. The Avarians mining skills had been turned on to their dense asteroid belts, AIH's rings and their Jovian planet. While collecting the Jovian's gasses for fuel wasn't quite the same as mining out an asteroid, the care and processing were close enough. AIH had a profound respect for the Chaleelian's it was their Corvettes that waited in their system to alert them if the Syndicate arrived. The Chaleelian's had a deep level of trust and respect for the Avarians, it was their people that had helped free Chaleel from the Syndicate. Chaleel and AIH had become close trading partners and had started laying the ground work to start trading with other systems. Chaleel had been trading with other systems, hopefully those same systems were interested in Avarians resources and fuel. She had seen how Earth could become a part of this growing friendship with these other planets. The potential of all three planets working together made her excited for the future.

  Evelyn had been able to distract herself from the fact that in Parnmal Salchar and his people had been fighting for their lives and keeping the future she envisioned alive. Ursht had wished them all good luck when they had left, and Evelyn got the feeling the man wished he was going as well. But Salchar had told him to look after his stead, he would carry out his duties no matter what. She was beginning to call the way the people acted around Salchar the “Salchar Effect.” He made them grow, by being a mentor, a friend and a confidant. None of them wanted to let the other down, they saw the same desire in him. He'd proved how far he'd go for them and they emulated that.

  Yet every time Evelyn talked to the man he seemed like a goofy, cheery nineteen year old. He listened to people's thoughts and suggested his own. He tried to answer people's questions as little as possible, but assist them to find the answers themselves. It was a trait that was wholly annoying for a reporter. Yet there was another hidden side to Salchar. Even under his smiles and laughs he was always thinking. The man couldn't stop it, Evelyn decided. When he was going into battle the goofiness left and any childish traits disappeared. Salchar was a maestro of battle. He said little in his orders to his other ships, but he knew their commanders and deployed them to their best effect. He was a true macro manager, a tactician with everything on the line.

  She had raced to the final send off for those that had died on Parnmal, which Salchar would be talking at. Evelyn and her crew knew how to be respectful and were as unobtrusive as possible at the tribute ceremony. She had watched as Salchar talked to Henry's casket and the others that had died, before they were sent towards the systems primary. Henry, for his stature and the way he commanded his troops, had been quite a shy man. Evelyn had been making eyes at the man for some time, not for some scoop, but because he was rather handsome and quite interesting. She kept up her reporting mask as she filmed the ceremony and watched the caskets disappear. Then she and the reporters went back to the hallways they'd rushed through and begun documenting the terrible wreckage left behind by the battle that had occurred within Parnmal's walls.

  As information came to light Evelyn and the others looked at the halls with more and more reverence and at the Commandos with respect. The halls were quickly fixed and made to look like new, Evelyn and the other reporters did their business and looked around Parnmal. But Evelyn had found out something rather interesting. There was a section of the station which had stalls, bars, cafes and other diversions from the everyday. She walked to a panel where the area seemed to end and found a door. Using her skills she'd gotten through the door and found the remainders of what had been the Syndicate market. Salchar had found her some time later. She'd asked him about it and he'd grinned.

  “Well we're going to need room to expand. Parnmal is a sector station for a reason. It's easy to get here from a lot of different systems. We're not just going to be a base. I hope for Parnmal to become a place for trading to.”

  The man had foresight that was for sure. Evelyn respected Salchar. He didn't act like he was any more important than anyone else. He made mistakes and freely admitted that he did. Though he was one hell of a tactician. That said, she had known many other respectable people, and more than one were found to have nasty vices. His results were not to be denied, but in her line of work people were rarely what they appeared to be. He had pounded a fleet that had outnumbered him five to one. Now he was going to meet a planet that had possibly been under the thumb of the Syndicate for over a hundred years. So he had given her a ride on the Resilient, though under no circumstances was she to get in the way of the ships operation.

  She had done a few pieces already, submitting them through the FTL communications systems. People on Chaleel a
nd AIH were sucking up any information she put out. Earth had been less receptive of the pieces she had done by herself, which was one of the reasons Rick said he had also hired one of Evelyn's biggest critics. It made sure that there was a contrast of information, not just one person's opinion. It was damned infuriating.

  “Francis, you know we can't go on the gun deck?”

  “Can't or won't?” he challenged as Evelyn controlled her desire to yell at him.

  “Can't. If we start going in places we aren't supposed to we're going to get sent back home in disgrace,”

  “The stuff behind closed doors is the stuff we need to watch,” Francis yelled back as a few others nodded.

  “I agree that some doors need to be looked behind, but the weapons deck is not one of them,” she said.

  “They're just guns. It's not like we haven't seen guns before,” Francis replied, talking to her as if she was a child.

  Don't rip his head off, don't rip his head off. Evelyn silently chanted.

  “Yeah we've seen guns. But have we seen ones that have the power to level Britain in one hit? These aren't weapons that kill one or two people. If a railgun can get past the shields and armor of another ship it can cause it to explode if it breeches the fusion plant. If that explosion was inside Earth's atmosphere it could set the air on fire and make it uninhabitable,” she hissed, as Francis waved her argument away.

  “Our viewers need to know what the Free Fleet is all about. We're not going to do that documenting planets, or how the FTL network is growing.” He looked to the other reporters to gather their support. “We have an opportunity here. We shouldn't squander it,” he said as the majority of them agreed with him. He looked to Evelyn, who shook her head and raised her hands.

  “Fine. Don't come to me when Salchar says that you've violated the terms of your stay.”

  “Look at Edwards. I doubt anyone wants him here, but they still deal with him. No one wants to mess with Earth,” Jin Lee said with a confidence Evelyn found largely misplaced.

  “Alright. This is on you though,” she shrugged as she stood and left, going to the nearest observation bubble.

  The room was actually rectangular but a clever use of screens had made it appear spherical, and as if it was in space, except for the entrance and the floor.

  Evelyn sighed as she opened her book, slowly getting lost in it. She was in the middle of the action when an alert passed over her data pad.

  “Gunnery deck two, left side, now!” It was from Chief Zor. Evelyn closed her book, and got onto a transport, watching as people jumped on and shot through Resilient's massive structure to other positions.

  She got off and found two gun crew members waiting for her.

  “Where are the idiots?” the sighed.

  “This way. They're being lectured by chief Zor right now,” one of them said. Evelyn was not at all surprised by the sympathy in the gun crew members’ voice, as she could already hear the Chief's voice a number of bulkheads away from him.

  “I know you've all seen weapons, hell Commandos walk around with them all the damned time doing training! But these are not the simple fucking pop guns you know! Ah! Ms Evelyn!” he said as Evelyn winced at the volume of his voice.

  “Chief Zor,” she said to the Sarenmenti chief gunner. He looked quite ticked off at the cowed group of reporters in front of him.

  “Now we can get on with this fricking presentation.” He herded them towards a classroom which dimmed as Zor talked into his comms system. “Now get recording and pay attention!” Zor rolled as the screen in the room came alive with a view of an asteroid. “Seems the only way you lot can learn is if you record it!”

  Something shiny was moving towards the displayed asteroid. The view changed as it zoomed in on the Corvette which passed over the asteroid. The view zoomed out again and the Corvette looked to be the size of gnat against the asteroid.

  “Gunnery crew three, one round,” Zor said. Power surged into the gun bay next door and everyone felt the round as it departed the rail cannon.

  A plume rose from the asteroid as Francis scoffed, then an explosion ripped through it. The view zoomed in as debris moved away from the asteroid. It was clear there was a massive hole in the asteroid now.

  “Jameson, how big you think that hole is?”

  “Bout the size of Resilient,” a woman said, the shrug in her voice evident and audible to the entire room.

  “That target was unarmored, without shields and didn't have anything inside it to propagate the blast. Now do you fecking see why we don't want every damned monkey in the universe knowing how our weapons work? They can rip apart planets with real ease. If you look to this new planet we're going to you can clearly see the marks of bombardment,”

  “Which marks?” Evelyn asked. She smelled a story and she was damned if she wasn't going to get it. Zor grinned bringing up an image of the planet.

  “These disruptions in the surface are from some kind of impact, but they aren't original impact craters from a comet. Also the fact the planet is basically in the ice age is another factor. At some time there was enough crap in the atmosphere to actually cool the planet. I'm betting it was cause the Syndicate bombarded the planet.” He chewed gum as he highlighted what looked like massive towers.

  “These cities used to be spread out, but after a few kinetic strikes,” Images of massive impact craters appeared. “The planet cooled and cities were made to retain heat in order to keep people alive. Which also makes them tightly packed and easy targets. Great for control.” His voice was colder as the remains of a city appeared, a crater in the middle of it. There was a sharp intake of breath at the sheer destruction, and methodical genocide that had been reaped upon that city. “It's rather smart. With everyone in the same place, all it takes is a few rounds and blammo, nothing left. It's very cold logic but effective. The syndicate got a planet where the people have to do what they say, or they can kill millions with a single round. No one can run away and hide from them because they've made the planet turn against the creatures living on it.” He shook his head.

  “Now I have to get back to making sure Resilient is ready for any threats that come her way,” he said walking out of the room as Evelyn and the other reporters tried— and failed —to cluster around him.

  Zor escaped into the safety of the gunnery deck, but Evelyn was already drafting an article on the new planet and how the Syndicate were systematically grouping people together to do their labour, with the option of killing their workers with just a press of a button.

  That's going to get some response, she thought as she fired it off, hoping it would get onto the FTL communications before the wormhole sucked up any signal she sent

  ***

  General, turned Company Commander, Carsickle looked over his Commandos. He had a newfound respect for all of them. He had seen troops in battle before, but after having them under his command on Parnmal it was impossible to look at them like normal troops. Avarians, Humans, Kuruvians, Chaleelians, and Sarenmenti were interspersed throughout the commando structure. It was odd seeing the blending of so many cultures, yet combined with the fact that they relied on one another to stay alive, it meant that they accommodated one another's ways and their cultural differences.

  Carsickle saw Krom, Shreesht and Calerd sitting together, cleaning their weapons as they watched the Commandos go through training. Carsickle caught Krom's eye as he walked in their direction. Krom indicated Carsickle should join them.

  “General Carsickle.” Krom's deep voice matched the Avarian's bulk. “Good to see you with us. I wondered how long it would be before you joined us,” he said with a smile.

  “Well, I had a few things to deal with first,”

  “Chaleel’s quickly becoming a space faring race. You and the governor did quick work,” Shreesht said.

  “That's nothing compared to what Krom's brother Ursht is doing,” Carsickle said as Krom smirked.

  “My big brother was always the ones with the plans. It's how
he became battlemaster,” Krom replied proudly.

  “Big brother? So, we might have found someone able to beat you in a fight,” Calerd said and Krom took on a look of fake anger.

  “Other than in a game of checkers,” Shreesht said. Krom looked mildly put off as the others grinned.

  “Have you played chess yet?” Carsickle asked. Simple human games had come back in a big way, a long time from one place to another meant boredom.

  “I'm more into the older versions of battlefield,” Krom said as Calerd laughed.

  “Probably because you can blow holes in every damned building!”

  Krom's smile showed the truth to Calerd's words.

  “So what is this chess?” Shreesht said, disregarding Krom and Calerd's antics in the way of people who had spent a lot of time together in such crappy conditions.

  “Well, it's like checkers, but different characters can move in different ways,” Carsickle said. Shreesht clearly looked interested.

  “Well, I'm out then,” Krom said as he and the others grinned at his joke.

  “I'll give it a go. I'm interested by these games.” Shreesht turned to Calerd with a thoughtful look.

  “Do the Sarenmenti have any games?”

  Calerd thought on it before shrugging. It seems that they've picked up a few habits from the humans.

  “Most of us are third to fifth iteration of Syndicate recruits. We were taken and then we bred the fourth and fifth generation. We didn't have time to think of games. Just how we were going to survive,”

  Carsickle thought it sad. If Chaleel hadn't been a planet capable of making massive amounts of food he doubted if the Syndicate would have even cared for the planet, other than taking personal slaves, or extorting them for the resources that Chaleel might have. If Chaleel hadn't been contacted by other Union planets before the fall and trading resources with other planets they could've ended up like the Kuruvians, Sarenmenti, and humans. Nothing but unknowing slaves.