Free Fleet Box Set 2

by Michael Chatfield

  “Where's the deck controller?” he asked a nearby tech.

  “Not sure, why?”

  “Because having a fighter sitting on the deck for five minutes, instead of getting it ready to get back out there is not going to be our standard operating procedure,” Smith said, looking around to spot the right coloured stripe that denoted deck controller on a battle suit. He didn't see one, but wrote down a reminder as he continued into the ship. His wing followed him and they found their quarters, just seconds away from where their ships were stored.

  Well, whoever designed this was definitely thinking along the right lines, Smith thought as he ran checks through the crew to see if he knew anyone that had been transferred over. A lot of people that had been unassigned but affiliated with flying fighters were on Floater, including a large grouping of Commandos. Why there was such a big compliment of them, Smith didn't understand. It seemed that someone had decided to keep the same size group of Commandos that a shuttle usually had, even when carrying out missions where the use of the Commandos would be largely turned over to other ships and Floater was to be only in a supporting role.

  Hopefully the Commandos had some other trades they were interested in, or they were going to have a very boring time traveling to meet up with Salchar.

  ***

  “You know the drill,” George said as they got to the Commando's quarters on the Floater. Connolly grabbed a rack, stowing his gear. His mecha was already slotted into the armories connected to the shuttle bay.

  “Attention!” George said, the room snapping to.

  Connolly turned his head slightly to see who their commander was. He felt his eyebrows climbing as he saw Yasu Cook. She tapped her visor. She hadn't gotten out of her mecha yet.

  “You can calm down on all that crap. That's only for training and showing off to the civvies,” she said with a grin. “Commanders in the armory in ten. As you were.”

  She and George hugged as he quickly stowed his gear and followed her.

  Connolly followed shortly after. He checked the Floater. His time in the yard had given him an eye for ships. The Floater had come together quickly but under Lare, George, and Silly's eyes she had come together the right way. She was a well built ship.

  “Close the door behind you,” Yasu said as the last person filed into the ship’s single armory. It was pulled directly from Resilient. Connolly wondered if being in the space brought back memories for George and Yasu.

  “Alright, as many of you know Captain Lord Foshunti has arrived in our sector. He has challenged us to a battle in this system,” Yasu said.

  A hologram displayed the system. It was boring; one Jovian planet, a red star and a massive asteroid belt.

  “Most of you and your people were involved in the building of this ship. As you may or may not know, she is not complete. Thankfully we have all the parts for her. Our main priority is to get the guns and PDS online. I can see a few of you are wondering why we're going to be looking to that instead of the shuttle-bay, which is our entry and exit point. This is going to be a largely ship to ship battle. There are plenty of ships with shuttles and Commandos aboard. This carrier is one of five carriers in working condition. Felix completed another freighter conversion that will meet us en-route. The newly finished Battle Carrier Power will also be coming with us. It is expected that Foshunti will be bringing his carrier that can launch twenty wings.

  “It's unknown how many his other ships will be able to launch,” she went on. “We're going to be keeping Floater alive and in the fight to combat whatever fighters Foshunti throws at us. Which is why getting this ship up and running and keeping it so, is our number one priority,” She looked to them all, Connolly knew there was a few crestfallen Commandos. He understood. He wanted to serve his original position, not be a wrench turner.

  Should've joined the engineering corps, he thought.

  “I know that you want to be doing what you signed up for, but this ship is one of the most important in the fleet right now. Salchar himself said he would rather have one of these than three Dreadnoughts. Though we're not going to tell Resilient that,” she said with a grin, a few smiling in return.

  “Make sure your files are up to date with your skill set and George and I will get to putting you to work. Questions?”

  As was normal, no one had any. They'd probably ask them later, so as to not look like idiots.

  “Very well. We're moving in one hour. By then I should hopefully have jobs for everyone,” she said, standing.

  She turned to George, pulling him into the corner as the rest filed out to tell their people what they were going to be doing.

  ***

  Commander Boot tapped his hands on his armrests. Salchar had promised him that he would not be forgotten. He sure as hell hadn't been. He was commanding the largest Fleet that the Free Fleet had ever fielded. He checked his roster, not quite believing it.

  Three Dreadnought's, two Battle-carrier's six regular BC's, nine destroyers, and fifteen Corvettes. The old Cruisers had been firmly removed from the roster, being turned into freighters and sold to civilian companies or ripped apart for parts.

  “Davis, are we ready?” he asked his second in command. The human was big, even for his people. Seeing him sitting in the small position for a 2ic was slightly comical.

  “Yes sir,” He said. “Good. Felicia, give us a route out of here would you,”

  “Sir,” the nimble fingered Sarenmenti said. Her original name was Farsraleni, but instead of saying that jumbled mess she'd been given the nickname Felicia. Which she liked and it stayed.

  Boot’s tactical reported that everything was good by giving a green up. He was a Slevaran, one of the few in the Fleet. He had been rescued from the Slave pens on Parnmal. He didn't talk much, but he knew how to work his guns to hit the Syndicate with everything he had. Comms was run by a pissed off looking Sarenmenti named Tolor. When not in the middle of battle he talked as if he was a computer. In battle he was brilliant at conveying information.

  “Tolor, message for the Fleet,” Boot said.

  “On,” Tolor grunted.

  “We are now moving out to the jump point to rally with the Free Fleet and engage the Captain Lord Foshunti, We will take every opportunity to speed up our journey. The route will be sent to you momentarily. Captains and Commanders meeting in one hour,” Boot said. A look to Tolor stopped the recording.

  “Sent,” Tolor said a few minutes later. Boot fidgeted in his seat. Somehow his chair didn't feel the same. It was probably the fact that so many lives now rested on his shoulders.

  He checked the route again. They would be travelling through two unknown systems to speed up their transit to DU122349. These two systems made up the last parts of the Sol-Parnmal sector. They were the only way into Free Fleet controlled space other than Parnmal. Boot would be deploying a series of spy satellites and message pods. They were a crude way of sending messages from system to system, but they would provide an early warning system if the Syndicate decided to use the backdoor into Free Fleet space.

  Boot looked at his plot, noticing the three factory ships and a squadron identical to the one he had commanded, one Battle Cruiser and two Corvette's, slipping away to the jump point. Min Hae had sent orders that another base was to be made, one that was away from prying eyes. One that would hold out for the Free Fleet.

  If the Free Fleet fell they would provide a place for a Fleet to grow. Boot had personally seen to the preparations. He even had orders for Whorst, if Chaleel fell. All trainees were to be sent to the holdout station and anywhere else that could be reached. Hopefully it wouldn't be needed.

  Boot looked over his command console. He was linked to every ship in the fleet, as well as the sensor buoys littered throughout the system. He began removing the data of the ships being in the system, then of them ever existing. The miniature fleet disappeared from the map as Boot checked on his own fleet, making sure they were all in position as they powered to the jump limit.

  C
hapter - Hard Decisions

  Cheerleader read the reports from Rick's fleet. Salchar was flat out refusing to resume command. It seemed that he was really broken. Cheerleader couldn't blame him after the reports from Shreesht and Krom on their treatment. It was clear that even his bodyguards were having a hard time dealing with how powerless they had been.

  She had Corvette's out in every system that could jump to her location, at least she would have some warning if Foshunti decided to ambush them. Bregend had joined his forces to Cheerleader's. He had debated going to search for Min Hae to see if he needed help, but it could've been a wild goose chase. There was a battle here and Bregend's ships were needed. Even the little shifty Cruisers which had somehow avoided Silly dismantling them.

  The FTL relay was up and running from her location all the way back to Earth and Commander Boot had highlighted his plan to use the dead systems to speed up his arrival time. He was also going to plant message pods and spy satellites all over the area to make an early warning relay in the dead systems. He wasn’t going to wait for his generators to recharge. Instead he was going to use his capacitors whenever they were charged and it was possible for his fleet. It would put one hell of a strain on the ship and the crew, but it would get them to the Fleet in a little less than a week, instead of at least two weeks.

  Cheerleader was proud of every single person under her command. There was none of the panicking that had taken hold of them in the early battles. Now they knew what was going to happen and they were focused. The newly minted Free Fleet Personnel were being taken under the wings of the veterans and pushed through the whole process. She also knew that that calm would be disrupted if they knew that Salchar wasn't going to be commanding the Fleet. They would adapt, but it would mess with the people that hadn't been in battle.

  She had talked to Monk, and he had the same concerns as she did. Salchar needed time to come to terms with what had happened to him. Though they both knew that he wasn't going to get the time he needed. She stood, stretching. In a few hours Resilient would be in shuttle and she would be able to see how Salchar was.

  ***

  I looked around my room. There was nothing here for me. I don't know why they were still keeping me in this room, instead of putting me in some basic quarters and leaving me there as they waged their useless battle. I was done with it, done with the death, the misery, the feeling of being powerless as people did what they wanted to do for reasons that barely made sense.

  The Free Fleet made sense, yes. But in this universe there was no way that it could succeed. Everyone was against it, even the people that we were trying to save. Marhtu had educated me on one thing, aside from the pain a KaaOrv could bring to a person. He had shown me the true side of the people that had been stepped on and discarded by Lady Fairgate and her Syndicate. The logical thing was to run, run and find somewhere that we could exist away from all of this mess. Yet I knew that cancer like this could only spread. There was no getting away from it unless you were dead.

  My door opened, and I smelt Cheerleader's scent. I looked up, a smile on my face as I saw her own sceptical and annoyed one. Here it comes, I mentally sighed as I slumped. Yet another person who thought they were ready to take responsibility for the Fleet and lead them. I had never wanted responsibility for it all. I just wanted to set my friends free, and somehow it had become a true military.

  I had used people to sound as if I knew what the hell I was doing. My ideas were basic, mostly child-like and stupid. Thousands of people had died. The worst were the ones that I barely knew. I saw their names, their pictures, read about their lives and found myself wishing I had known them, to have said thanks, to have shaken their hand, or shared a joke.

  “How are you feeling?” Cheerleader asked.

  “Making small talk has never been your strong point,” I said, sipping from a bulb of water.

  “Alright, are you done moping about? Because we're going to need you for this fight, or people are going to die,”

  “People are going to die anyway,” I spat as I saw something change in her face, an anger that I hadn't seen directed towards me ever.

  “You best be careful what you say,” she grated, her voice cold.

  I shook my head. I had lost one of the people that I considered to be my family. I looked to my hands and I wanted to cry. Why was this all happening to me? I thought, on the brink of tears.

  “Oh, no you don't James Wilson Cook!” she barked, striding over as she picked me up by my collar. I struggled as she pulled me off the bed.

  I stood, facing her. Resolve filled her eyes.

  “This is the Free Fleet. We are not crewed by weak willed useless sacks of creature. Stand up!” she barked as I did so automatically. She turned her finger that had been jabbing at the floor towards my chest, poking me as she talked.

  “You are James Wilson Cook. Your handle is Salchar and you’re Commander of this damn Fleet. No one will ever take that from you but yourself. You brought these people from slavery. People have died for the ideals that you hold. Each and every one of them would come back from the light and slap you if they could see you. You will not dishonour that uniform that you wear! I will not see you being a prissy little shit that wants to opt out because you just realized it's going to be harder than you thought.

  “Tough shit!” she yelled. “This is the Free Fleet we live in the realm of curveballs and Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition Situations! You will pull your damn self together and you will give this fleet what they need. Salchar, the Commander of the Free Fleet, and the man that dared to poke Lady Fairgate in the eye. The man that will lead this Fleet into what could be its last battle once again.”

  She poked me again as she stepped backwards.

  “All of these people are here because of you. When you asked them to follow you into the hells of Parnmal, Earth, Chaleel they did so. When their friends and people they barely knew were taken on Daestramus they took the entire planet on. So what if the odds are stacked against us? What does it fucking matter? We have one another, we have this fleet. That's all that matters. We might die, but the hope we have given people will continue on. As the Union's light shines in us, the Free Fleet will shine in those that dare to stand up for themselves, for their fellow man.”

  She took a breath, her eyes fiery.

  “I know you James, better than you know yourself it seems. You are not someone that can leave this fleet. You ARE this fleet. You live for the people in this fleet, you live for every one of them. From the lowliest wrench turner to a gun toting Avarian Commando. You care nothing for race, gender, or creed. You care for the people. You're a fighter, not a person that's going to sit and mope in the med-bay.ot when you could be out there, and proving to people tat your people didn’t die for nothing.”

  She let out a breath, collapsing onto a bunk.

  I wanted to yell back, to say that someone else should take over. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

  “Yes, people are going to die in this battle, a lot of them,” Cheerleader said into the floor, gradually looking up at me. I looked at her eyes, seeing the pleading in them. “You could make it so that their deaths count for something.”

  Tears sprung to her eyes and she reared up and marched out of the door. I wanted to comfort her, to hug her but she was gone before I could do any of that. I sat on my bed.

  Why did everyone think that I would bring a better outcome to all of this?

  ***

  Rick checked his feeds. Commander Boot and his force were supposed to be arriving in a few days. Cheerleader and Bregend's people were quickly integrated into the fleet as the time before Foshunti's deadline dwindled. They would in the system the day of the fight. Commander Boot and his people better be on the ball because his fleet would have a matter of hours to get used to Rick and his fleet before they transited together to DU122349.

  Cheerleader had agreed that Rick should take over the Fleet. Even if James came out of his slump Rick was going to stay in command in the
battle. Rick held the right to deny James taking over at any time. It had been one hell of a decision to make, but it needed to be made.

  “In Sook, I'm going to visit Eddie,”

  “Good luck,” she said as he departed.

  He found Eddie the way everyone found Eddie, by putting the fear of boot into people. Crossing the hangar deck he shook his head as he heard the Chief Engineer’s voice.

  “Jones, this armor panel is off by ten centimetres,”

  “It's not covering or touching anything important,” The Engineer said as Rick winced.

  “Not covering anything important! It's covering our damned asses, the lives of everyone in this freaking ship! If it's off by ten centimetres and we put another armor panel on then it's going to be off ten centimetres, and the next and the next, until we can't move out cannons and our missiles are blowing up before they leave their tubes! What do you think this is? A syndicate ship!?” Eddied thundered.

  “I'll go and fix it right now!”

  “You best, and check every damn panel that's out there,”

  “Bu..,” Rick turned the corner as she saw Jones duck as a boot sailed at his midsection. His legs spun as the boot returned to Eddie's hand.

  “That's what I thought!” Eddie said to the fleeing engineer.

  “COS,” Eddie nodded to Rick, nothing escaped the Chief Engineer's watchful eye. “How are we doing on the repairs?”

  “We're behind schedule, but she'll be ready.” Eddie tapped a bulkhead,

  “Good to hear. I heard that there was issues with the shield generators?” Rick asked.

  “Yeah, you got them shot. Though we got them all repaired. Next time we're in Sol we're putting the old girl in for a full rotation of maintenance,” Eddie said, levelling an annoyed finger at, Rick.

  “Alright, alright. I agree, now that the Dreadnoughts and the Battle Carriers are coming out, as well as the new Battle Cruisers. Silly even thinks she can get a Super Carrier out in a few months.” If we're still alive, Rick thought.