Commandos pushed the PDS packet onto the ledge and activated it. It moved, looking for incoming fire or targets.
“Next,” Planner said in his voice metallic, he was working overtime trying to keep everyone from running into each other and helping people to set up defences in the optimal positions, while changing the coding on different systems so they would assist the Free Fleet defenders.
Yasu, the shuttle and her commandos repeated the process thirty one more times before returning for more supplies.
Bok Soo had made a rest schedule. Yasu and the people on her shuttle were up for a check-up by the medics, food break, and then sleep if they could get some.
Yasu was cleared out by the medic in no time. The medic looked like death, the Sarenmenti's jaws tight as it’s eyes looked haunted by all the sights it had seen over the past day.
Yasu looked at the crying, yelling, unconscious and lifeless personnel that lay across the beds in the med bay. Hellfire and the beds could only do so much.
She and her commandos said few words as they sat down and mechanically forced food in their mouths. They made their way to their squad pod. Yasu collapsed into her bed. Through the walls she could hear crying from some of the strongest and deadliest creatures she had ever known.
The walls she set up cracked and she begun to see their faces as they came to her unbidden. She saw those she had trained, those she had served with, their smiling faces, how they had helped one another, their determination. She sat on her bed, her body shaking from her silent tears.
The Sato sisters had been defending a group of engineers when they had been pincered between two groups of Kalu. The Kalu had paid heavily, but the sisters weren't enough. Yasu had done everything she could to get to them, but the tide of Kalu was unending.
“Thank you for giving us a life, not just a purpose,” they said, a mixture of both their voices as they overloaded their armor, and destroyed the corridor they were in, taking three Star Warriors worth of Kalu with them.
She didn't know how long she cried, thinking of the girls she had come to think of as her daughters. She wished James was there, to hold her, for them to cry together, rocking one another as they mourned their lost friends, the men and women that made up the Free Fleet and had followed them to their end.
She thought about not being able to see James, and the kids on Parnmal. The pain became too much as her sobs became audible.
Her commandos let her cry, as each of them dealt with their pain.
A beep went off on Yasu's data pad, her body still shook as she pulled it out. She and her people were on shift again.
“Get some wake up, we're digging,” Yasu said softly. They had all shared their pain, but now they had work to do. They were Commandos after all.
Yasu felt the clarity of wake up take her as she led her people out of the squad pod. They had five days until the Kalu came, but they still needed to be prepared for them to come down at any minute, in case they got impatient. At least the Kalu hadn't chased after the rest of the fleet that had escaped.
***
Commander Boot looked at the newest scans, there was no sign of life on the Sarenmenti home world, or any of the planets or regions of space in the Sarenmenti's home system. Instead there was a nuclear wasteland created by someone dropping ship to ship powerful nuclear warheads onto the planet.
The fleet had taken on a sombre attitude after coming into the system. Boot had pushed for everything to be checked, just to make sure. It was to no avail, the Sarenmenti home world was gone.
“Prepare the fleet to leave, we are going back to Parnmal at best speed, I want a course plotted around the Rosho system,” Commander Boot said, hoping that his Corvette crew had been able to reach a Free Fleet relay and tell them the location of Rosho station. It looked like one hell of a nut to crack. He sure wasn't going to try it with the forces he had.
***
Lady Fairgate looked over the Free Fleet creatures. Marhtu's skilled KaaOrv's did some of their finest work as she watched.
Lifendi had reached Rosho, finding the system populated with the biggest grouping of Syndicate in history. Lady Fairgate had grown bored of the pleasure planet and shifted it to Rosho. Though along her way her fleet had stumbled across the corvette that had held the creatures screaming in their own way in front of her. Her fighter's had quickly brought her home the prize. The corvette was part of what was being called the Free Fleet, the organization that had taken away her redoubt in the system Sol. The humans there had worked with their Kuruvians and Sarenmenti to rebel. They had taken her ships and were now hunting her down.
She looked at the creature, barely a flicker of emotion on her face as she watched their suffering, much like someone might watch a particularly uninteresting holovid.
Now she sat in Rosho's orbit, Lifendi controlled the station and Station Captain Drvja had been made a Captain Lord and assigned to be the Captain of the second carrier in Fairgate's fleet. It was good to have Lifendi in charge of the powerful station. Drvja was wise enough to not complain, he was effectively third in control and he got one of the near godly carriers.
She was going to do the exact same thing she had done to the Union to this rebellious Free Fleet. These zealots never seemed to learn.
“I was hoping that one would survive for longer,” she said, as if commenting on a horse race while one of the corvette's crew died, it seemed permanent by the way the Kaaorv was moving.
“Some species are weaker than others, it makes their song rarer and I find their music all the more sweet as these races cling to their lives. They screamed from the kaaorv's tender touches,” Marhtu said, stroking the cushions that decorated his craft and floating pads.
“I do want to sample all the voices of the corridor. You shall have to train more Kaaorv's, maybe some from their own planets. I think I would like that, an orchestra from every planet to show my rule,” Fairgate said, thinking of the screams of entire populations, not just a handful.
“Of course my lady,” Marhtu said, his eyes glinting in pleasure, his body tinting to reflect his feelings.
“First we will watch these Free Fleet fools ground themselves against the Kalu, then we will remove them from their weakened states. I hope that soon we can release some of our fleet to start pirating the trade routes the Free Fleet has set up,” Fairgate said, dragging her fingers over one of Marhtu's slaves, it didn't even quiver.
Maybe I should get Marhtu to run the recruiting drive when this is all over, the Kalu went well, but we had to exterminate the Sarenmenti's when the planet revolted. The human's started an uprising and got all of the races in action.
Lifendi came into the room, bowing deeply to Fairgate.
“My Lady, planetary governor Marhtu. I am sorry to interrupt. It seems that the Kuruvian Empire is not under our control,” he said. “It seems that they are trading with the Free Fleet,” he said, his eyes flicking slightly in nervousness.
Fairgate hissed in displeasure.
“Then I will have the new Captain Lord Drvja teach them what happens when they try to interact with the Free Fleet,” her eyes flashing with new anger.
“I will see to it my Lady,” Lifendi bowed again, exiting the room.
“These ones are getting quiet, see what you can do about making them sing louder,” she said as she fell into her throne, shifting her clothes over herself as a slave presented food.
“I agree about the shorter singers, their screams are sweeter. Shall we see what happens when we make some of these longer singers have a shorter life as well?” Lady Fairgate said.
“Your words are my command my Lady,” Marhtu said as screams filled Fairgate's mind.
***
Screams were filling Min Hae's ears, but they were the kind which alerted him to incoming ships.
“It's a confirmed Star Warrior,” Gog said.
“Sound readiness, I think it's time we showed what was really under Verslva's skin,” Min Hae said, Ashota was now far in unknown space,
above the line and away from Kalu and known space.
“It looks like Ashota has seen them,” Gogs said as Ashota was slowing.
Either Ashota was back stabbing them, or he didn't know what was going on. Either way Min Hae didn't want to be in the middle of it. He had enough information that needed to be passed on back to the fleet.
“Unlimber all weapons, fire at Ashota's vessel and get us the hell out of here, full power,” Min Hae said.
***
Ashota listened to the message from the Star Warrior, they had come with an update on how the Kalu forces were doing, they were still holding in the system Ashota had left them when the Star Warrior left.
Ashota looked up as sirens blared. His seers hadn't known why the panels of the freighter were opening until the weapons appeared.
Ashota had told them, but still they took things on face value. Kalu only looked at the surface of things for a threat by what it displayed. It was one of the reasons that Ashota had been able to push Edvasho to the top. To them he was useless, to Edvasho he was essential for getting him to power.
“Fire on it,” Ashota said, the Kalu looking in wonder but not reacting.
They were slow as the freighter fired, missiles spewed from its side's, rail and plasma cannons fired. Ashota's vessel bucked with the incoming weaponry, a number of missiles hit home, taking chunks out of the ship's armor.
The shields came up, stopping some of the missiles. It hadn't been modulated and spotted in places.
Rail-cannon rounds passed through weakened or non-existent armor, decks flashed red on the main screen as they were exposed to space. The shields snapped back, severely weakened but working, they took a number of rounds before the plasma hit. Plasma was slow moving but it was a hell of a lot of energy.
Shields spotted again after a few rounds, some were stopped, others got through, and they hit armor or outlying debris. The balls of plasma were useless in long-range combat, but this close the superheated mass hit Ashota's hull, burrowing its way through everything in its path. A power-plant ejected to stop itself from overloading. Decks and atmosphere bled from his ship.
The freighter hadn't been just sitting there either, it was accelerating for all it was worth for the nearest jump limit.
Missiles sprouted from Ashota's vessel chasing after the freighter. PDS systems sent hundreds of thousands of projectiles into the air, only one missile buffeted the freighter's shields.
Ashota's craft was too weak to do much more damage as it drifted, shields out of action and power being rerouted across the ship. Thankfully Ashota's people were more likely to try and get their ship working than abandon it, unlike the majority of Kalu.
I will get you.
“Get that Star Warrior to pick us up, we're going back to the fleet, set the ship to destroy itself after we leave,” Ashota said.
Chapter Heija
It had taken five days to get most of the defences up. Bok Soo had ordered his people to detox and sleep. Thankfully with the detox it sent most of the Commandos into a dreamless sleep.
Bok Soo woke from own sleep, disorientated and confused as to where he was.
The Kalu had taken four days just to gather themselves together and then press towards the planet. It had taken them a day to brake for Heija. They were slowly surrounding the planet, none of them were using their bomb-pumped acceleration. Maybe they're out of bombs, maybe they just want you to dread their coming even more, Bok Soo thought it was the latter.
He saw the familiar outline of the squad pod and sunk back down onto his bed. He laid there hoping for sleep but too awake to get anymore. With a sigh he got up and walked to the showers, he put the water to hot but it still couldn't get out all the kinks and aches of his body.
He stretched, using the drying station and getting into a new battle suit.
He checked his data pad as he walked to the powered armor storage in the squad pod.
Foshunti reported that his people had been concentrating on the weapons, sensor, and shields for their respective ships. With the new systems the repairs were well ahead of schedule. It would be another day but most systems would be operational on every ship.
Bok Soo yawned, putting his hand to the scanner, his implants communicating with the racks as his powered armor rotated down. It had burns, scars and dents covering it, even places he could see through it.
“Time that you got a check-up in the armory,” Bok Soo said to it as it opened up. He got into it, his nerve ports lining up as the powered suit's systems came online and the armor sealed around him and then tightened to fit his body. His armored feet thumped on the ground as he got out of the harness, his servos whining lightly as he exited the squad pod and headed to the armory.
Bok Soo had moved from Talhalla to Floater since it was closer to the front lines and had the ability to co-ordinate air and ground forces. Ravasham would be handling the air side of things and Bok Soo would control the ground.
Foshunti had denied Bok Soo going any further, something that Yasu and the majority of commanders agreed on. He was the CAMC and the Commander of the free fleet on this rock, losing him from charging off would do more harm than good. Someone needed to keep them together for as long as possible.
Then I can have my own turn. There was no part of Bok Soo that tried to shy away from the fact that his mission would end in his death.
Bok Soo hummed as he took off his powered armor, rested it on a rack and started working on it.
That's not to say I'm going to sell myself short, his humming taking on a darker note.
He was halfway through using a nanite based epoxy, a kind of hellfire for armor when the armories opened.
“Hey Bok Soo,” Yasu said as she strode in.
“Yasu, how you feeling?” Bok Soo asked, genuine concern in his voice, he knew how close she and James were, and being apart must be hurting her a lot.
“Definitely not good, but I have a job to do and people to keep alive. Hopefully I'll have time to deal with it later,” she said with a sad smile.
Or we could be dead, Bok Soo mentally added, it wasn't death that scared him much, he had plenty of friends in the light now. Yet he had a duty to the men and women around him to keep them alive, and to do that he had to be alive so he wouldn't make anyone else shoulder the burden he had taken from Henry. He wondered for a moment if the stalwart man ever had the same thoughts.
“Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?” He asked, changing the subject to something less daunting.
“Only got a few hours after detox. Aren't you supposed to be too?” She asked, her tone teasing.
“Couldn't sleep after detox either,” he said, shrugging her attempts to goad him away. He thought he saw something flash from her armor, he looked, seeing battle suit poking through in a few places.
“Your armor nearly looks as bad as James' suit did when it was pinned to Resilient's armory,” he said, admiring the damage.
“Thanks,” She drawled.
“They do say that husbands and wives are pretty similar,” Bok Soo got a huff of a laugh from Yasu as she got out of her powered armor and put it on another work bench.
Bok Soo set to work, both of them in their own world, yet sharing in a companionable silence. They relaxed as they just worked on one thing, forgetting their worldly anxieties as they focused on getting replacement parts, or putting sealant in holes. Making sure everything worked perfectly took over their focus.
The alarm for battle stations rung out as Bok Soo and Yasu looked at one another, no longer joking or light. They're here. Both of them communicated the same thing without words as they prepped their powered armor and climbed into them. PDS could be heard, added to the sounds of people getting into powered armor and checking their weapons through the halls. The battle for Heija had started.
***
Edvasho was with the first Star Warriors to descend into the planet's atmosphere. His ship would be going for the staging area, others were flying over the enemy’s position to s
how them their might.
“They have air defences, the Star Warriors passing over their position are being pulled from the air,” a seer said, excited for its chance to get to battle. Those who died during battle earned great honour amongst the war leaders that led the silent clans.
“Have more ships come down and replace their numbers, we will wait till our proper guard is here, so that we might do battle honourably,” Edvasho said, being jostled by the effects of entering atmosphere.
He saw as multiple Star Warriors entered the atmosphere with shields, the bombardment of atmosphere overloaded their shields and sent a power surge through the ships. Some were okay, whereas others exploded. The surge affected the power-plants stability making others lost control, some plunging into the ground.
“Our brethren give us great honour with their sacrifice this day,” Edvasho bellowed, everyone on his Star Warrior rustling with pride. To have so many die in battle against these creature's fleet, and then on their first day of planetary battle showed that this battle and war would be a great one, talked about for many generations.
Star Warrior's kept passing over the ship's against the mountain range. Some survived, many did not.
Edvasho's Warrior touched down, the front end opening as Kalu flooded out of the ship. Edvasho went down the ramp in the middle of the bridge, leading into the belly of the craft and out the front of the Star Warrior. His armor wasn't fully sealed, he smelt the disgusting air that would be lethal to most creatures.
“It is a good day to die my Warriors!” He bellowed, his helmet clamping closed, sealing to his still mobile lower jaw.
Star Warriors flashed in the sky, some burning up, others pulling out of their dive and joining the growing grouping of those gathering on the ground.
A message beeped in Edvasho's helmet, he used his smaller limbs under his body to open it.
“Ashota!” He growled in pleasure, his battle brother had made it in time to see him triumph in ground combat.
Free Fleet Box Set 2 Page 46