Free Fleet Box Set 2

by Michael Chatfield

  It punched another Kalu's claw away, grabbing the back of the creature's helmet, and dragging the Kalu downward as he smashed his dagger into its face.

  The dagger became stuck and the Avarian was left weaponless in the middle of a shitstorm.

  Bok Soo opened a channel to the Avarian.

  “Hey!” He barked, the Avarian snapping back to look, Bok Soo threw him a shotgun. The Avarian snatched it from the air as another Kalu was attacking him, the creature's jaws clamped around his left forearm. Again the Avarian used the Kalu as a mace. A commando next to him, Slevaran by look of his powered armor, stabbed the Kalu through its neck joint. But the creature's jaws became locked onto the Avarians arm, even after its death. The Avarian used the Kalu's body as a shield and mace as it smashed Kalu away and shot them with a flurry of strikes and bullets.

  The Commando's progress was slow but constant until the teams that had gone through walls, or maintenance corridors appeared, cannons flashed as Commando's fired into the Kalu's main body. Commandos without beaders rushed in, using the surprise to their advantage as they rolled the Kalu, separating them into two groups.

  Bok Soo stored his shotgun and grabbed Henry's Battle Axe.

  Once again into the fray brother.

  “Come on you fuckers!” Bok Soo Yelled as he jumped into the middle of the Kalu and swung the axe with all his strength, clearing the area around him as he twirled his body like an acrobat. Yasu had shown him how to use the Battle axe to the greatest affect, he was now the conductor of death as momentum carried him from one target to the next.

  The axe came up on an upswing, killing the charging Kalu, he twisted his shoulder, bringing it around him and across another Kalu. He jumped from one foot to another, the axe making him spin right across a Kalu's back, as it arched in pain. Two Commando piled onto it, stabbing it and ending it.

  Bok Soo spun the axe with one hand bringing it down on another Kalu's head, his reaction was slow enough to add more claw marks to his chest as he stumbled backwards, pain lancing across his chest, at least one claw had penetrated. He spun forward again, his axe crashing through two Kalu fighting the force that had broken through the walls.

  “Move!” Bok Soo said bringing his battle axe into a spin above his head.

  He moved through the advanced line, right into the Kalu, he put his full strength into the blow, cutting limbs, heads armor and whatever else the axe could find.

  To lose momentum was death, so he pressed forward, swinging the blade around him and across the same area as before.

  “Are you here to admire the landscape or fight Commandos?!” He barked.

  “Fight!” They all yelled back, a new vigor filling them.

  Three new ships had docked within Bok Soo's area. His Commanders were already given areas to protect and each was smart enough to do what needed to be done. Unless something changed drastically Bok Soo was just another Commando, and he was just fine with that.

  “Let me welcome,” he grunted as he jumped, contorting his body as his axe struck the Kalu that had leapt for him, his axe stuck, he pulled his shotgun, releasing the battle axe, firing as he fell, the Kalu getting a face-full of plasma. “You!” He said with his teeth grinding together.

  He got up, the Commandos rallied to him, they'd gained a few seconds of rest.

  “Here,” Bok Soo said, throwing his shortened-lever-action-shotgun to the big brute with a Kalu still mostly attached to his arm. Bok Soo sprayed sealant on his suit as someone passed him his axe. He flipped it in his hands, the weapon as familiar as his powered armor. He tilted his helmet in thanks to them and checked where the Kalu were on his HUD.

  “I think we should formally introduce ourselves,” Bok Soo said, dark grunts and guttural noises telling him his Commandos were ready.

  They had lost a good number in the fighting already, but they were Commandos, they fought till the end, the time for the dead would come, now was time to send the fallen some companions and exact a Free Fleet price.

  They ran, their anger and desperation powering them as they found another group of Kalu.

  Bok Soo used the point between the battle axe's blades, spearing a leaping Kalu and smashing them into the floor, another charged through the gap. Bok Soo raised the axe over his head and buried it in the Kalu's midsection.

  It wounded the Kalu heavily, but they didn't die. Claws raked his sides as Bok Soo fell under the creature.

  He grabbed its jaws as it tried to gnaw his helmet.

  He used his nerve ports, his powered armor going full power as he ripped the creature's jaw off. The creature flinched away. Bok Soo flipped over the creature's lower jaw, using it like knuckle dusters, he punched the armored fangs into the Kalu's neck.

  He didn't know how long it was until the creature stopped thrashing. He rolled it off, grabbing his blade, purple blood stained his armor as wake-up sent intoxicating energy through him.

  “Well that's enough lying down,” he said to himself as he slung his axe and loaded the shotgun he'd given to the Avarian. It whined with a full charge as he cycled it, shooting Kalu that were using their companions corpses like a springboard to jump on the Commando's.

  “Come on you springy mother fuckers!” Bok Soo yelled as he pulled out his rail pistol, using his shotgun and pistol to smash the Kalu back, few died but it kept the pressure off of his Commandos. It had come down to Plasmid blades and Cannons being used as clubs.

  “Cannons on me, trust drop,” Bok Soo said, all the Cannons came back to him, their guns badly smashed, but hopefully still serviceable.

  There was two rail cannon gunners, one was the Avarian with the Kalu attached still, only half of its body remained now, the other was a similarly big bastard with scars in his powered armor to show he'd been on the front lines.

  The Kalu-wearer threw Bok Soo his shotgun as he unlimbered his rail gun.

  “Drop!” Bok Soo barked. The Commandos on the front lines dropped to the ground, the Kalu still attacking them, it was one hell of a risky move and required complete trust.

  Cannons bellowed, rail guns using penetrators and turning Kalu into small bombs as beaders ripped into anything with hundreds of thousands of rounds per minute.

  “Get back here,” Bok Soo said, as if talking to children, the Commandos crawled backwards underneath their comrade’s fire, forming ranks behind them.

  “Check yourselves over, we're going right back in,” Bok Soo said, the firing had cut down considerably, Kalu numbers were dwindling. Bok Soo sprayed sealant on himself, his armor damned tatters after the Kalu's claws.

  “You with me Commandos?” He asked, putting the sealant away and checking his shotgun.

  Noise of agreement rose from his people.

  “Alright then! Cease fire and advance!” Bok Soo said, his shotgun ready as a Kalu jumped up from its dead comrades, a hail of rounds and plasma put it back down.

  More Kalu Star Warriors were attaching themselves to the hull.

  Gonna be one long ass day, Bok Soo thought while putting his shotgun to a squirming Kalu, armor melted and glowed as his plasma round penetrated the Kalu helmet.

  ***

  “Will you kindly get the fuck out of my engineering department!” Etil barked, his rail-cannon turning the latest group of Kalu into mince.

  “Chief! We've just lost reactor two, the Kalu are ripping up our damned insides!” Tollheim, one of Etil's lieutenant said in a panic.

  “Hold the main engineering deck. Lock out all the damned doors AND USE THE FUCKING BACKUPS!” Etil's voice rose as his rail cannon barked again, painting the hall once again. His manipulators were tight in anger as he looked at the hole that was appearing down the hall from him.

  Making me shoot my own damned ship, you damned plasma kinks! He let another stream of rounds smash into the Kalu, and wall behind them.

  Alerts fired through his system as decks ventilated, the shields were down so every hit was coming through the layers of ablative and normal armor. It seemed like they had just
gotten through those layers.

  “Bok Soo, I'm going to need some Commandos to protect my people and get those holes fixed up!”

  “No can do, all my people are engaged, those holes are Star Warriors burrowed into our hull,” Bok Soo grunted, obviously dealing with his own issues.

  Fuck. Interesting how you pick up swear words so easily from other species.

  “Got it,” Etil cut the channel as the bridge was reporting that sensor's were going down. It seemed the Kalu were eating their damned way through anything that looked important.

  “Zoom, take over for me. I'm going to reroute the sensor's lines,” Zoom jumped into the chiefs’ spot as Etil turned to head into his domain. He sprinted through the deck which was a mess with people doing all they could to keep the fucking ship operational.

  I hope that it's going on better out there.

  ***

  Smith smashed his control pedals and joystick, throwing his ship into an erratic spin. The Star Destroyer's Fighters had entered the fight and they acted like a school of fish. They grouped so closely together that they seemed to come together as one mass instead of a formation. They brought massive firepower to bear and if one fighter was shot away then the one underneath would lash out with their laser cannons.

  What the made up for in numbers and firepower, they lacked in manouverability. The front always led, meaning that they had to make massive wide turns as if they were cars on a race track, instead of nimble Fighters that could turn in place and power right back at their enemy.

  Smith raked the forward elements of a swarm, ducking below a Star Warrior as his next song came on.

  “Rising up, back on the street

  Did my time, took my chances”

  Not even the dire consequences could keep the childish grin off of his face as Eye of the Tiger played through his cockpit.

  His play had worked and he was free of the Kalu-fighter-swarm and amongst Star Warrior's.

  He let loose into the closest Star Warrior, his inertia taking him past it in seconds.

  “Oh no you don't,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet

  Just a man and his will to survive”

  Smith's threw his MEF around, gunning his engines and coming back at the Star Warrior that was firing on the Destroyer Valiant.

  He skewed his flight path, keeping out of another swarm's weapons envelope, singing under his breath.

  “Too many times it happens too fast

  You trade your passion for glory

  Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past

  You must fight just to keep them alive”

  He brought his missiles online, he was close enough to eyeball it. The Kalu opened their front to breach Valiant.

  An evil smirk came over his face as he fired manoeuvering thrusters, slowing his forward momentum and lined up for one hell of a shot.

  “It's the eye of the tiger

  It’s the thrill of the fight”

  He stroked his trigger as the reticule fell right where he wanted it, the missile spat out. Smith threw his fighter around erratically. Staying that slow and on a steady path was a really easy way to get oneself killed.

  “Rising up to the challenge of our rival

  And the last known survivor”

  The missile struck the airlock, penetrating it and making the air inside the Kalu Star Warrior turn to fire, gutting the ship, the power plant lost containment, ripping the back of the Star Warrior apart.

  Smith looked away from his latest victim, he had two missiles left and a few hundred rounds, he was past his reserves, but Talhalla was heavily boarded and only Fruit cup was clear of Star Warriors, though it was on the other side of the fleet, and in two minutes it would be at the front because of the rotating formation.

  Floater was getting smashed, there was twelve Star Warriors attached to the Battle-Carrier, more heading straight for it.

  Smith flicked his joystick and hit his throttle.

  “Face to face, out in the heat

  Hanging tough, staying hungry

  They stack the odds still we take to the street

  For the kill with the skill to survive,” he sung as he looked for friendly MEF's.

  “Form up on me, going to give Floater some help,” he said on a wide broadcast, flashing his beacon.

  “It's the eye of the tiger it’s the thrill of the fight

  Rising up to the challenge of our rival

  And the last known survivor

  Stalks his prey in the night

  And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger”

  Thirteen ships joined him, all of them scattered all over the place, being in formation with Fighters was death when an actual battle started, running silently it kept people alive, for the public it looked cool. Here a clump of Fighters were a target.

  Smith lit up targets and passed them around. He swung into a dive, aiming for a Star Warrior that was shooting close to one of Floater's pod like docks.

  “Rising up, straight to the top

  Had the guts, got the glory

  Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop

  Just a man and his will to survive”

  He switched to rail gun penetrators, kicking the throttle to full, making it hard to breathe as multiple G's pressed down on him. He squeezed the trigger, the rounds smashing into the back end of the Star Warrior. He whipped past, the Star Warrior's power-plant buffeting him as the ship expanded and fell apart, the fireball that had destroyed the ship from the inside disappearing in vacuum.

  He pulled back on the power, turning his ship so he was running on an angle away from Floater. He kicked his fighter again, twisting and diving as a Star Warrior seemed to have him in their sights.

  A fighter raked the ship, the second following it loosing two missiles and cracking the ship.

  Its weapons fell silent. Smith pushed past it, he couldn't believe his eyes. Surviving Kalu climbed out from the hole in the side of the Star Warrior, leaping for Floater and using thrusters in their armor to get there.

  Smith made a tsking noise. He lined up a run towards the line of Kalu. He flicked his rail gun rounds to fletchette, those Seventy-five calibre rounds didn't leave one Kalu alive.

  He had twenty rounds remaining and his two missiles still.

  “Mufti diver?” A familiar voice said over the comms.

  “Helllllooo?” Smith said.

  “Goddamn it Smith, we really need to talk about your name choices for crafts,” Heston sighed.

  “Of course sir,” Smith said, flicking his joystick as he powered for a star Warrior hunting down one of the fighter's he'd brought with him. “Take that in yer keister,” iron entering his voice, firing his remaining missiles into the Warrior's engines. The blast rocked Smith as he pulled away.

  “...was that?” Heston demanded.

  Smith had been so focused on keeping himself alive he hadn't heard the beginning part of the commander’s message as he was thrown around in his craft.

  Might have been the whole 'take that in yer keister thing'.

  Warning signs blared louder than when he had charged that first Star Warrior.

  Rather fussy once it takes a few hits, he complained as he searched for a new target, remembering to reply to Heston with his best guess of what the man wanted to know.

  “Shot a Star Warrior,” Smith said, checking his ammunition supplies.

  “Well get back here Mufti Diver, you're low on damned well everything and we're readying a nice surprise,” Heston's voice hard with malice.

  “Will do Commander,” Smith's voice as dark as the black that surrounded his craft and had leaked into his eyes. There were a lot of Fighters that wouldn't be making it back to any carrier.

  “Back to Fruit cup for resupply,” Smith told his fellow Fighters, nine were still alive. Smith tried to not reflect on that as he applied full power towards Fruit cup and tried to find a new song.

  “Let t
he bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor.”

  Smith’s expression was nasty as he let those words speak to his desire to repay the Kalu for the holes in his and the other fighter wings formations.

  ***

  A sick feeling rose in my stomach as I looked at the feed on my visor. We had repelled fifteen Kalu Star Warriors, our shields weren't coming back anytime soon and Resilient had returned a lot of control to the gunners, the computing assets that made her were close to overheating, one processing centre had been doused with coolant for fear it would melt.

  The Fleet was getting hammered, we had lost twenty-nine ships, and there was only eight that hadn't been boarded by the Star Warriors, something that was probably about to change as the formation rotated them to the side facing the Kalu.

  Seven ships had fallen to the Kalu boarders.

  We had less than half of our total ships under our control and fighting to repel the Kalu, they never seemed to stop, gunners would destroy four or five, only for a sixth to get through and latch onto the hull. The battles in-ship were savage affairs coming down to claws against plasmid weaponry.

  If this kept up I knew the Fleet would be destroyed.

  “Ben, set course for the jump limit away from the Kalu, best speed,” I said, my navigator greening up. I shot a Kalu that had risen to its feet among the corpses around me.

  My armor was more exoskeleton than plating at this point, sealant only did so much.

  I checked my sword, it was bent from me using it like a baseball bat against a Kalu's head. Plasma spluttered through the partially compromised electrostatic shielding.

  Krom and Shreesht rose, each supporting fresh scars in their powered armor. Their cannons were slung on their back, plasmid weaponry in their hands.

  Each held a sword and a small hatchet, and could use them to devastating effect.

  “Let's go, sector five nine is compromised,” I said, a group of Commandos that had attached themselves to me rose up, checking their equipment and weapons.

  “Salchar we're getting over run,” Carsickle said, his voice calm despite the circumstances.