The Recruitment: Rise of the Free Fleet

by Michael Chatfield

I twirled my sword experimentally as I followed other Commandos already making a hole in a wall. My shadow detail had caught up with me by now pushing me behind the other combatants. I grumbled but I waited it didn’t look good to be overeager to close with the enemy. As I waited for the Mechas in front of me to clear rooms I again checked my data pad.

  I felt my face whiten. We’d estimated the force inside the station to be around fifty thousand. From the manifests we’d pulled from the stations information hubs there was over two hundred and fifty thousand at least in the station. Making it twenty five to one in their favor.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw a plasmid sword come through the wall, weapons snapped up to it, with a quick glance to my data pad I yelled out.

  “Friendlies coming in don’t shoot!” I said on a general wide broadcast.

  ****

  Henry thought he was having a bad day. He couldn’t keep looking over at James. His armour was melted in places, his left arm a ragged mess only able to function because of his nerve ports. His helmet was gone and blood and gore covered his Mecha. Still he stood there issuing orders. The shadow detail Henry had put on him had already said how they’d been told he wasn’t going to get fixed up.

  “Henry! I need you concentrating man!”

  “Yes Commander.”

  “Take a Company and secure this processing hub. With it we’ll be able to shut down this section and focus on the internal areas it will also give us limited control of the internal weapon systems. Get a force to every one of the ships we’ve put into lockdown and secure them.”

  “Yes sir.” Henry said using his data pad to issue orders.

  “Good, make sure they know to not harm the crew but to keep them in lock down. Also to play the information packet over the internal systems, not to make entry and make sure the weapons batteries in their area are jacked into so Eddie and his people can work their magic.

  “Understood, ah sir?”

  “Yes?”

  “Shouldn’t you get some medical treatment for that?” He said pointing at James’ arm.

  “I’ll do it once we’re done I don’t have the time now.”

  “Sir.”

  “Medical attention can wait, and that will be the last of this getting medical attention kerfuffle.” James said sharing a pointed glare with his protection detail that looked away with some of them stubbing their feet on the ground. Henry was thankful Jeremiah the commander of the protection detail held James stare the longest before looking away—dismayed.

  Henry mentally congratulated himself in finding someone that could stand up to James’ basilisk stare that long.

  “Yes commander.” Henry said as he accessed his communicator spewing more orders. Out of the four companies each of two thousand people that had stormed the station he now had two companies fighting. Most of them walking wounded and a half company getting medical treatment. A company and a half had died already and the enemy was still twenty three to one, and they were finally getting organized.

  Henry glanced at his timer. It had been eight hours since he gained entry to the first airlock. It felt as if it had been a life time ago, and it felt like it had been seconds.

  “Everyone take a wake up!” He ordered as he did so feeling a prick on his neck as everything became clearer. He had a battle to fight.

  Chapter More scared, terrified and alive than ever.

  Yasu felt alive for the first time since playing MAT. Her customized samurai blade now identical to the one she’d left in Japan except for the green of the plasmid running across its front. The blade felt like it was part of her arm, like the two were connected in more than just a physical sense, it was like they were one. She was a weapon of metal and flesh. She had been fighting for ten hours and there was no one for her to call on for reinforcements. The battle was a losing one; she just hoped that she could give the forces behind her enough time to prepare for the pirates.

  She wished she’d retained more of her people but out of the company she had been with when she left the Resilient she had lost half to other avenues of advance. Then they’d run into a series of emplaced cannons which had taken out nearly a platoon before the corridor was cleared. Her own people had to carry back the wounded but she needed to keep advancing, and took the remaining half platoon forward.

  The Sato sisters had rallied to her call with their own stiletto thin long dual blades working together with such synchronistic movements it was hard to believe they weren’t telepathic, one wrong move and they would’ve killed one another.

  They didn’t speak except for their chilling giggles. In MAT these had scared even her, now they brought a feral grin to her face as adrenaline flooded her system and she felt the power of her body and her Mecha working together. She felt the rightness of what she was doing. Fighting an enemy that enslaved planets to do their bidding for their monetary gain and to terrorize the systems they travelled through.

  She thought for a second how her life would be if she remained a slave to the pirates not knowing the truth of what she was doing ever. She wouldn’t have known the wrongness of the acts she was party to, if it wasn’t for James.

  She paused for a second a pirate seeing their opening as they thrust their monoblade sword forward. She parried him and turned his blade her sword lashing forward and sticking in her attackers chest, stuck as he fell she found herself open as another attacker was already advancing on her.

  A bellowing cry which shook the hall gave her the time she needed to kill her new attacker, but there were three more that saw her weaponless and advanced on her. She felt the pounding of armoured Mechas trying to get out of the way of the pirates elongated reach their alien bodies gave them before they paused, and Yasu saw an image from hell came careening through the hall out of her peripherals.

  It was Salchar his armour slagged in places and his arm and hand connected to his body by just a few inches of exoskeleton resolutely holding a plasmid sword. The other hand holding a plasma rifle Yasu’s eyes went wide as he fired at her, she rolled away coming up her fists ready and pointing at Salchar.

  He’d just tried to kill her was all she could think as he unloaded his rifle. He threw it, grabbed his personal sword driving into the enemy.

  She watched as his yells became grunts as he hit with all of his power. His reinforcements joined him without thought joining with her line and hitting the pirates like a wave.

  The walls and roof opened as more commandos poured into the fight, a relentless wave as the pirates screamed in pain and surprise as their near victory had been turned so suddenly with Salchar’s arrival.

  He brought his left up to stop a blow his melted exoskeleton blunting the blow and finally separating from the force. James bellowed in rage, his other plasmid sword rammed into the offending pirate to the hilt as he picked her up with his sword and stump with inhuman strength and threw her into her cramped companions.

  “Surrender or die!” James yelled at them as more than one pirate threw their weapons down in fear.

  “Move back, disengage.” James said through the local AMC channel as all of the commandos did so killing anyone that wished to still fight. Those that didn’t or were too wounded to continue the fight stayed still. Finally the fighting stopped.

  “Round them up! They do so much as breath wrong, kill them.” His voice cold as grim commanders set to work a squad pulling apart the pirates armour none too gently and tossing it into piles as another bound them.

  “Fuck—will someone please find my goddamn hand!” James said looking at his severed exoskeleton. His protection detail started moving bodies out of the way.

  James slumped against a wall pulling his data pad out for a few seconds before getting to his feet.

  “Those not on prisoner detail on me. We’re nearly there people. After this beers are on me!” This brought some grins to the faces of the troops as she looked on in amazement. Moments ago they’d been near the cusp of death, now he was asking them to again risk death and they gree
ted it.

  Hell she could feel inside that she greeted it, she was an armoured Marine Commando, even if she was to die in the next minute or hour no one could take that pride away from her or anyone else in this hallway. She felt pride and a feeling in her chest of belonging, of anger, a bond to the people around her that had gone through the same things, had sweated, bled and pushed themselves to become the warriors they were now.

  Someone handed him his hand.

  “That’s a nice souvenir.” He said grimly before looking around.

  “Someone have space tape?”

  “Here you go sir.” The man as his protection detail said handing him a roll of the silver tape, very similar to duct tape but could work in thousands of more environments, including the vacuum of space.

  “Can you stick my hand to me; I’ll need that later. While you’re at it can you connect my sword to my hand, doesn’t do me any good sitting on the floor.” He said as if he was asking him to pick him up some milk from the convenience store to the laughs came from the commandos. More than one pirate with a translator’s eyes went wide.

  Yasu moved closer the Sato sisters automatically closing behind her watching the room and everyone in it with suspicion as she advanced to James who had a team taping his hand to his back and a sword on the remaining portion of exoskeleton on his left arm. As she came closer she saw he hadn’t come off from his bout with the last pirate unscathed, a violent red gash cut his forehead blood seeping down his face as he leaned back.

  “Use the tape to seal my face as well.” He ground out as they did so putting the sliced skin back to his face as it bled freely. One of his protection detail getting the blood out of his eyes and mouth as they worked his face now with a line of silver across it.

  “Alright get those prisoners moving. Jeremiah get over here with your headset.”

  The protection detail commander did so opening his visor as James jammed his head in it.

  “Henry.” A few moments later. “Tell me you have the damned hub now.”

  “Yes sir we’re in control of it.” She could hear through the leader channel.

  “Good, get those wireless hubs up.”

  “Yes sir. Also my teams have reached the other ships we can with minimal resistance they’ve been broadcasting the messages and a few crews have shut down all operations of the ships they are on and sealed their syndicate crew in their quarters. I’ve got Eddie running internal kill switch jammers through my people jacked into the ships to stop the slaughter but already some ships have been completely killed off.”

  “Shit.” James smashed his hand into a wall leaving a dent in its surface. Yasu’s sword coming an inch higher as she came at him on an angle as she listened. She nodded to the members of the protection detail who nodded back to her with smiles. Most of them her best students turned instructors she noticed who moved aside for their commanders wife.

  “I need some reinforcements though, is there anyone free?”

  “Rick is on his way with all I can spare, I’ll hold all that we control currently so you can drive the main push.”

  “Good man, tell Rick to hurry it up if he can, Salchar out.” James waved Jeremiah away as he moved his left forearm with its attached sword experimentally. He turned checking its reach grimacing, before looking Yasu right in the face.

  “You’re the furthest forward; we’re going to advance through here to the control centre. We’re just a few hundred metres from the main blast doors.” He sighed looking drained before he stood, his Mecha groaning as he did so.

  “You nearly killed me.” She said in a deadly whisper as she was close enough that others couldn’t hear her looking at his mounted blade her own ready to drive through his chest.

  His face flashed with confusion then anger.

  “This is war, you’re alive where people are dead. Think on that.” He said his words as hot as the sun and unrelenting as he made an annoyed and aggravated noise turning and tossing his head.

  “Alright commandos let’s take this damned control centre!” He pointed at a wall and Mechas rushed to cut it open as he continued after his men.

  Yasu was left in disbelief confused at his words.

  If he’d wanted to kill her though he would’ve done it, James had changed she could see it by his will and stubbornness dragging him on even while heavily wounded that most honourable warriors would have seen treatment. She’d at least married a great warrior with a loyal group that would and had followed him into hell outnumbered and outgunned.

  ***

  “They’re almost here.” Welick said his eyestalks moving rapidly in nervous anticipation.

  “Activate the kill switches.” Jorsht said with a languid wave to one of the personnel manning a command console. The operator ready with the kill switch program open hit the button and the room breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Well I’m glad that’s done with; get me a count of syndicate personnel on station.” Jorsht said as he felt the tension leave his body.

  “Sir, the kill switch isn’t working!” The command console operator said near panic as they activated the program over again and again.

  “WHAT!” Jorsht and Welick said as one as all the tension returned tenfold.

  “Activate internal weaponry, wipe them out!”

  “Sir the relays haven’t even been powered up it will take ten minutes to bring them online!”

  Jorsht shot the operator without thinking.

  “You get them working within a minute or you’ll follow your friend. The next person will have thirty seconds.” Jorsht said leveling his pistol with the new operator who gulped throwing the body out of the console as their hands flew across the interface.

  “They’ve reached the command centre’s outer door!”

  “That should hold them long enough they’ll need a plasma cutter to get through that door.” Jorsht said with a satisfied grin.

  “See Welick even though the kill switch doesn’t work we will win.” Jorsht said a grin on his face as he sat back in his chair.

  Welick’s eyestalks darted across the screens his nervousness getting on Jorsht’s nerves.

  Jorsht was going to need someone else to run his fleet. Having a spineless coward like Welick controlling his fleet would not do. He thought as he stroked his pistol.

  It would also give him a scape goat he through with a sick smile as he saw a red line appeared in the door. His eyes widened as another and then another red line appeared in the door slowly growing, he could see where they would meet up. He looked at it stunned; they were cutting through his two foot thick armoured door as if they had plasma torches. All they had were plasmid… he connected the two as another and then another sword added to the circle. He got out of his seat.

  “Get those guns online!” He said panicked as the tech just stopped.

  “There’s no way.” They said, it sounded as if they were sobbing as three boots attached to the other side of the door. They used the momentum of the falling door to roll on their sides coming up with their weapons raised.

  The command centre was in panic as some operators lurched from their seats with blade weapons.

  These Mechas were scarier than any pirate he’d ever seen, they didn’t gloat or even speak as they took down attackers with only enough rounds to drop them. They were cold and silent like statues, more poured into the room behind them working with those inside to create the most damage.

  He remembered seeing holovids of trained Union storm troopers he’d thought of them silly hiding behind cover and firing blindly as others advanced. These humans were constantly firing and hiding but any thoughts of them as cowards were lost as his hand shook.

  Each shot hit its target as they advanced like an unstoppable tide killing his personal crew the baddest pirates that he’d garnered over the years. Pirates with genetic and technological advancements that put them on par with a Mecha without a suit themselves were dropped like dogs as teams of two worked together taking out targets before searchi
ng for more.

  He felt the pistol fall from his hands numbly as Welick charged them with an unseen blaster a hail of rounds causing his gel like form to bubble and explode over Jorsht. The fighting was over except for those that had surrendered.

  Even here these humans were different as with the commonwealth that killed their prisoners outright they stayed their weapons binding those that had surrendered up. They even tended to their own wounded and those pirates still alive not placing one above the other.

  Their leader obvious from the way the people moved away from him in respect and the way a group congealed around him in protection marched into the room his eyes locking with Jorsht’s. There was power behind those eyes, which kept Jorsht rooted where he was.

  He took in the sight of the man, dried blood covered his face and his Mecha which was slashed and melted in places the servos and pneumatics whining as armour plates grated with the mass of the fighting Mecha. In one hand he carried a plasma rifle, his other hand with a plasmid sword attached where his hand should have been.