From the Black (Free Fleet Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Thank you, we have the money for these people,” the high priest assured me.

  “Good,” I said, my mind on other things as I pulled my data pad and transferred his list to mine.

  “There are also rumors that you do health treatments on the aged to make them of fighting ability?” The high priest turned the statement into a question.

  “Yes we do, if one signs up for a fleet contract all health costs are taken on by us,” I said, slightly unsure what he was asking.

  “That is indeed interesting,” a smile crept across his face. “We will meet again Salchar,” he turned and left, his cadre following.

  “Does he do that yoda, half sense, and half vague-as-hell all the time?” I asked Krom.

  “Pretty much,” he said, a half-grin on his face.

  “Avarians,” I sighed, turning to my data pad.

  I added the names to a message template, adding my own words.

  Hey Rick,

  Maybe look at having programs that will train people to teach others? The more half-trained people that apply, the faster we can turn them into free fleet personnel, instead of having them as trainees.

  See you soon,

  Salchar

  I looked at the message, it was kind of weird how I found my first name odd to my own ears.

  No need to sweat the small stuff when you’re running the Free Fleet. Well other than the fact that your wife will kill you if you miss dinner… shit, that was fifteen minutes ago. I started running, sending the message as I heard Krom laughing behind me.

  “You could’ve warned me!” I yelled.

  “Must have slipped my mind!” he said back, his footsteps making the deck shudder.

  “Damned bodyguards, protect me from plasma, rail guns, beads, and psychopaths, then forget the most important threat of all!” I said as I skidded to my door, missing it a little bit as I grabbed a rung to stop myself. I hit the button for the door, hiding my elevating breathing.

  “Hey beautiful,” I said with a smile.

  “You’re late!” She fired back.

  “Good luck sir,” Krom whispered, I gave him the dirtiest look I was capable of with my peripherals.

  “The Awakened priests came aboard, I had to meet them and talk about an education system,” I walked into the room, throwing the biggest line I had in my arsenal.

  “What did they want?” She asked, sitting at the table that I rarely used for meals.

  “To teach AIH, I passed it on to Rick and I’m going to have him look and see if we can’t improve the education systems of those under our protection,” I said, taking a seat across from her, I could already smell the delights on the table.

  “Interesting,” she said looking away, thoughtful. She was a model Commando Commander, she lived with her people as much as possible, trusted them with her life as they trusted her. She was a savant in fighting with anything at hand.

  “Ever wish that this just never happened and that we were still on Earth?” I asked out loud.

  “No,” she replied, looking a little surprised.

  “Me either,” I said, I knew that people had died in the thousands, that Earth was still trying to understand what was going on and there was a hell of a lot resting on my shoulders. Yet I wouldn’t leave these people for anything. If I hadn’t been ‘recruited’ then I wouldn’t have seen space and all its deadly glory. And I wouldn’t have married Yasu, the other deadly beauty in my life.

  We shared a look across the table, she got up and sat down on top of me.

  “That’s better,” she said with a mischievous smile.

  “Now how am I going to eat?”

  “Sounds like a personal issue,” she said, grabbing some food with chopsticks.

  “If it’s my problem it’s yours too!” I complained, in a wheedling tone, probably something that no one would expect from their commander.

  She just smiled, putting more food in her mouth so she couldn’t talk.

  I let out a grunt as I made sure she didn’t fall and awkwardly ate my food around her with chopsticks.

  “The one thing I wish we could do, is have a real date. Go out for dinner, watch a movie, drive home and sleep together. Instead we snatch what time we can, live on separate ships and even then we see each other little,” she said.

  “After we defeat the Kalu then we will,” I said, giving her a smile.

  “After we defeat the Kalu,” she said softly. “Will it end though? Lady Fairgate is still out there, so is the Syndicate and Kalu space is nearly as big as Union.”

  “I don’t know,” I said with a sigh.

  She put her food down and hugged me. I did the same.

  “I don’t want you to die,” she said, her voice full of emotion,”

  “Listen to your own advice, you’re the one charging into ships. I’ve been firmly told to keep my ass in a command chair,” I raised an eyebrow, indicating that it was her that had told me to do so.

  “You’re all that I’ve got left other than the Sato sisters and Takahashi,” she buried her face in my shoulder.

  “Saying I’m the same as Takahashi?” I said, trying to bring levity to the situation. I was not good with people if they started crying.

  “No, baka!” She said hitting my shoulder playfully, moving away enough to give me a smile.

  “I will do my best to train the Fleet to work without me,” I said, those words paining me, but also bringing their own sense of relief. Relief at knowing that I would be looking out for the future of the fleet even if I wasn't leading it. But how can I trust anyone with that kind of responsibility? You're going to have to take a leap. Another part of my brain seemed to respond.

  I wouldn't be around forever, so many had died, and there was no knowing if I would or wouldn't be one of those that went into the light.

  “Thank you,” she said, pulling herself into me again, banishing my sombre thoughts.

  ***

  In the morning I put a call in to Ursht, Tik and Tak. All three of them were on within minutes.

  “Alright, Ursht, would you be interested in joining the Free Fleet?” I asked, looking to the man. I knew he longed for battle and to prove himself, he was a damned good leader. Considering Asul and its assets working as well as they did, but I knew he didn't want to be Asul's leader forever. He was still young, he still yearned for battle, to blood himself again.

  “I do but my responsibilities,” he said hesitantly, he wasn't about to walk away from the tasks I'd given him. I waved them away.

  “I'm not telling you to drop them, I'm seeing if you would want to be part of the Free Fleet based on Parnmal, and the leader of Asul,” I couldn't help but grin at the anxiety and understanding that he was going to have even more work to do. “If you want to join the Free Fleet, open the message I am sending you and press your hand to it,” he looked out of the viewer and I heard a beep, my desk telling me I now had a new member of the Free Fleet.

  “Good, now I am promoting you to the Commander of AIH, though only if you are able to pass through all Commando training. Do me proud,” I said looking at the Avarian that sat straighter.

  “I will Battle Master,” he said. Those words could have been cut into stone, with the surety in Ursht's voice.

  “Now with that done it frees up you two,” I looked to Tik and Tak, both of them now sitting higher in their seats. “Chaleel now has a much larger fleet presence, I want you to look to the yard and the other infrastructure there. I know that you will do what is best for the fleet as you have done for AIH.”

  Their manipulators signalled that while they were sad to leave AIH, they were also excited at their new adventure.

  “Silly will be taking over the operations of Sol system, with LaRe as his assistant. He's going to need help from all of you to start off,” I looked at them all.

  Understanding resonated through their visages.

  “Now let's get through a systems briefing and you can meet your counterparts,” I said, opening the conference room d
oor as Rick joined me and the Commanders of every system we now were charged to protect. My command staff appeared on screens and in holographic form.

  Chapter Parnmal at last

  We transited into Parnmal, its traffic like a hurricane compared to the sedate wind we'd seen in Earth, AIH and Chaleel. Patrols moved through the system as the main body went to the military docks of Parnmal. The rest went to the docks, taking with them the ships still loaded on their hulls.

  Resilient glided into its docking position, hard sealing to the station.

  “In Sook, you know the drill,” I said with a smile.

  “It’ll be good to give Rick back his old job,” she said with an exasperated look.

  “What don’t like being in control of Resilient?”

  “I like it just fine, managing the ship and anything else that crops up in combined arms is just not the kind of fun that I’m looking for,” she smiled. She had the skills to be a ship commander, but she didn’t want the responsibility. There was something that had happened in her training that had gotten two people killed. She had time to get back on her feet, but she still disliked long periods of being in total command.

  If she wasn’t able to adapt to being a ship commander and didn’t have the confidence for it, then I wasn’t going to do that to her. She was a great combined operations commander, something that I relied on completely in battle.

  “Alright, I’ll go pick him up,” I said, turning to Marleen. “Coming?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” she smiled in thanks.

  We got to the airlock which was already open as supplies were being funneled through lines and by cargo drones. In other militaries I would have been the first person off of the ship. We were usually working on a tight schedule, we didn’t have time for all of that.

  We got to the doorway, Rick and Monk were waiting for us. Marleen picked up the pace, her and Rick wrapping one another in their arms and kissing.

  “Get a room,” I said, getting an amused smile from Monk.

  Rick pulled away slightly.

  “Already got one!” He winked, Marleen hitting him playfully.

  “Ahh how I have missed it, shall we give it a visit?” Rick said, pulling Marleen into Resilient.

  “Nice to see you too Rick!” I said to his receding backside, laughing slightly as I turned to Monk. We embraced.

  “It is good to see you brother,” I said to him, waving into Parnmal.

  “Bok Soo says he’ll meet us at the bars,” Monk said.

  “Sounds like him. He probably owes the Commandos a lot of drinks,” I said, sharing a smile.

  “Have you eaten?”

  “Not yet, shall we get something before we meet him. You know we’ll get stuck drinking somehow.”

  “I know a great place with burritos,” Monk said, leading the way.

  “We've come a long way from just having the damned goop,” I said. Monk's calm broke as he winced and looked as if he was trying to scrape something off of his tongue with his teeth. I laughed and slap his back.

  “Thank the universe for people with actual taste buds,” Monk agreed.

  “Oh my,” I said as I smelt the food sector of the market, exotic and strange smells interacted, wafting over to me. My stomach let me know that it agreed with the smells.

  Even over the sounds of the market place doing quick business, I could swear I heard Bok Soo across the market.

  A cacophony of voices yelled in sounds of agreeance.

  Monk and I gave one another a look, rolling our eyes. Monk led the way to the burrito place.

  I put my hand out to pay for the burrito that I desperately wanted in my stomach.

  “It’s on the house commander,” the owner said with a smile.

  “Umm, thanks!” I said reaching a hand over the counter and shaking theirs.

  Monk and I retreated to a bench, opening our packaged delights. Flavours swarmed out at me.

  “Dis is soo gud,” I said over a mouthful, quickly going for another.

  “You always were a messy eater,” Monk chided.

  I heard a commotion behind Monk. I looked to see Bok Soo who seemed very pleased, and had three drinks in his hand. I didn't have to guess who they were for.

  I started chomping down faster, Monk looked at what I was staring at.

  Monk turned around and started devouring his burrito as fast as possible. We didn't win as Bok Soo lowered his butt next to Monk placed beers in front of Monk and I.

  “Found yah,” he said proudly.

  I used the beer to clear my throat, holding my three-quarters burrito in my other hand. I saw Bok Soo's eyes turn to the Burrito. With a sigh I offered it to him.

  “Thanks Sally,” he said, munching on it.

  “Sally? Really?” I said, seeing Monk look quite amused behind his burrito.

  I took another swig of the beer, realizing that it actually tasted like beer instead of damned acid.

  “What, is this...? Sapporo?” I asked.

  “It might just be,” Santos said from beside Bok Soo, sipping his beer.

  “Someone grab shot glasses,” Bok Soo said, grabbing something from behind him, he pulled out two green bottles of Soju. I felt my internal organs recoil. Soju was great stuff, when mixed with beer, by itself it was kind of like vodka, and a touch of battery acid.

  “For once this is not the worst thing that I have ever drunk,” I said, picking up the bottle and going through the ritual of opening the damned thing.

  Shot glasses appeared. I poured for everyone.

  “May I?” Monk asked, I handed him the bottle. He took it, pouring me a shot.

  “One shot!” Bok Soo said, raising his glass, tapping it to the table, turning and throwing it back. Everyone else repeated the process.

  “Glasses,” Bok Soo said, taking the bottle and pouring another series of shots.

  “May I?” Santos said, picking up the Korean ritual of drinking shots.

  “Be my guest,” Bok Soo said, Santos pouring Bok Soo a shot.

  “One shot!” Bok Soo said again, an evil glimmer in his eye as we repeated the process for the first shot.

  “Aish! That hits the spot,” Bok Soo said.

  Tomorrow we would be leaving Parnmal, but for now it was time to get blind drunk, remember those that weren't with us and do them proud. The hangover tomorrow would hopefully be worth it.

  Chapter Waving the Flag

  I read a message for my eyes only as we drifted towards Ohular.

  It was from Min Hae, its contents were rather, interesting.

  Apparently the Kalu have changed some since the Union-Kalu war. I need to find out what else has changed about them. We need more information and there's only one way I can think to get it. I looked up, my face grim. That information can only be bought in blood. It suddenly seemed colder on my bridge as I knew I had already made a decision. If Min Hae was able to track the spy rings he had found, back to the Kalu controlling them, and then find where the Kalu were. Then I would lead the Free Fleet into that Kalu grinder. We needed to know what the Kalu were capable of, now more than ever.

  Bregend had the forces to keep the Kalu at bay if needed. Cheerleader and Boot should be able to react to any raids by the Syndicate.

  There's just too many things to go wrong. Yet if we do nothing then the Kalu could hit us literally anywhere and we would have no information beforehand. I had memorized Kalu battle tactics. If we offered them battle and ran back to Parnmal, then according to their previous battles, they would hammer Parnmal until they were unable to fight, or had taken the station. I was hoping that was still the case.

  This still all hinges on Min Hae's ability to track the Kalu back to a staging area. So many damned variables!

  “We have an incoming communication from Foshunti, he says it’s important,” Vort said.

  “Very well, on my screens,” I said, hiding my relief at doing something simple. Foshunti appeared moments later.

  “I found out where Lady Fairgate is,” he
said excitedly without preamble.

  I leaned forward without knowing it.

  “Where?”

  “A pleasure planet, she sent me co-ordinates to meet her. I also have word from some of my people I sowed into Lifendi’s fleet that he has left the planet in search of information,”

  “Send it to me,” I said, getting a file a few minutes later. I sent it to the intelligence department as well.

  I opened it. It looked like she had sent it as soon as she had gotten word of the Kalu entering Union space. She didn’t know anything about Foshunti betraying her trust. She talked about sending reinforcements from Rosho, and how she’d told her forces to rally there. It made sense the station was close to her hideaway, and in proximity of the Sarenmenti and Kuruvians. Pairing that with the report Boot had sent back, it looked like I had found the station, and knew its approximate power.

  “This raises the issue of who we will attack, the Kalu or the Syndicate,” Foshunti said.

  “Easy, we attack both of them,” I said, a plan forming in my head.

  “That’s suicide, either fleet would take some tricky and crazy tactics to win against,” Foshunti said, clearly not trying to comprehend what I was asking.

  “Yes, but this is the free fleet, we take risks and make leaps.”

  “What if they fail?” Foshunti asked, regaining his composure.

  “Then we’re doomed anyway,” I shrugged.

  Foshunti looked away before looking back to me.

  “Very well. I have sworn my allegiance to this fleet, as such I will do all you order me to,” he said gravely.

  “That is all that I ask. Soon we will reach Worshun. Hopefully we can do something good before we bring a damned war onto everyone’s heads.”

  “Thank you Commander, I have made my people wait long enough,” he said.

  “No longer,” I said, “Now I’ll have a look over this information you’ve given me. We shall talk later.”

  “Of course commander,” he said, cutting the channel. I put the message from Fairgate on one screen, opening another screen with the message from Min Hae.