Free Fleet #03 No Rest for the Wicked

by Michael Chatfield

  “I know the things that I did are inexcusable, but I want you to know that...” His voice caught as he looked to the ground before continuing.

  “I want us to be friends. I know this is a lot to ask, but a long time ago I stopped being a master and became your student, even more so when the Free Fleet rose from the bowels of the syndicate fleet to take their own freedom.”

  He raised his head as Yasu looked into his eyes.

  Technically he was the oldest person that had ever been recruited from Earth, but with the physical condition that his body was in they accepted him instead of throwing him into space as the syndicate had done with hundreds of others. A fact that had only been found out when the Free Fleet had taken Hachiro. Takahashi was one of four people that had come from her hometown which was now a large crater. Yasu was another, and the Sato sisters the remaining two.

  “Yes.” She held up her finger. “But now it's your job to socialize the Sato sisters,”

  Takahashi's look of joy faded into one of foreboding.

  “But..,”

  “While we trained them in the ways of war, we did not help them in the ways of the world. It's about time we did, before all they are is two lost girls who know nothing but how to kill,” Takahashi's face fell as sadness filled it. He has changed because of the Free Fleet too, she thought.

  Video gamers and actors might think they were hardcases and all, with their action movies and such, but real warriors, the ones stories were told about, were made from flesh and felt the pains everyone else felt. They weren't superhuman, they were driven. They weren't cold, they were focused, and that was what had changed in Takahashi. It’s how I've changed too, she thought as a small smile formed on her lips.

  “So which manga’s have you been reading?” she said as Takahashi broke into a smile too.

  Maybe it's time to savour what kinship we have, instead of focusing on the past. It's not like I know how long we're going to survive in this universe. Or how many people I'm going to lose, Yasu thought soberly as a sad smile passed over her face, her eyes seeing those that had already been claimed by the light. She close her eyes, a happier smile coming to her face as she looked at Takahashi.

  “Gurren Lagan again.” Her smile turned impish as Takahashi shook his head, a smile that she hadn't seen in too long, making the corners of his eyes crease.

  “Of course, I should have guessed.”

  Chapter Final Preparations

  Silly had spent a full day in the intelligence department understanding how contracts worked. While it had taken him away from Nancy, it had been time well spent, especially with the load of absolute crap he was getting from Earth contractors.

  He was looking straight at the CEO of GloboMine, who was explaining how the loaning of tools would be paid off at minimum interest over a decade of time, while still being able to return any particular item. How cancelling the balance owed on the tool and getting the newest replacement while not paying any extra was in Silly's best interest. With all the damned stupid words that he used to cover it up.

  Silly sat and listened until the CEO flashed a stunning smile.

  “Same rates as everyone else,” Silly muttered to himself as he cut the channel on the blabbering CEO.

  “Damned weasels,” he said before looking to the yards on his monitors, his foul mood lightening slightly as he grinned.

  “Best get some work done,” he said as he whistled, getting into his yard mecha and walked to the nearest transport. “How's it going Chum?” he asked one of the dock leaders who got on the transport, looking like proverbial crap.

  “LaRe keeps on changing the plans of what he wants done. I swear that ship is going through puberty,” the man said, his manipulating hands moving in tired excitement.

  “I'll have a talk with him,” Silly suggested as Chum's hands moved in amusement.

  “Be my guest.”

  “What else have you got in your dock?” Silly said. He knew what was there, but small talk did pass the time.

  “Two of those Corvettes from Parnmal, and we've got a merchant freighter with her engines getting fixed up. She's a Wolunti freighter. Surprised the Chaleelians were able to keep her going as long as they did,”

  “I heard they traded for the fix and check over?” Silly asked. He just cared about fixing what Salchar told him to. What Salchar got out of it he didn't much care.

  “Rations, some parts actually made on Chaleel. Plus they also had credit for transporting parts made by the Free Fleet in Chaleel.”

  “It's always good to get something useful.” Silly made an appreciative gesture.

  “I heard that we're going to be nearly fully automated in a year,” Chum said, his hands excited at the new ways of manufacturing and creating that they'd taken from Earth.

  “I hope. It'll make us a lot faster,”

  “I heard that Earth was complaining that we were taking away their jobs.”

  Silly made a rude noise at this.

  “Yes there'll be less employment, but it's not like the Earthies have the jobs already. Anyone can apply for them, from any system.” Silly shook his head as the transport stopped at Chum's dock and they walked off towards an airlock.

  “Human's on Earth are strange,” Chum commented as Silly agreed. “They make cars mostly with machines. Yet when it comes to ships, they're nearly all made by thousands of people. I don't understand why they don't just automate them all.”

  Chum took a call as they entered the airlock, exiting out into the yard, and using their thrusters to head for LaRe. Chum came back onto the Close Area Frequency, or CAF which connected all people within a fifty foot area to the same comm channel.

  “I've got to go, the freighter's got some more issues cropping up,” he said.

  “Good fixing. I'll have a look at what’s going on with LaRe.”

  “Appreciate you trying to talk to him,” Chum said, firing his thrusters to take him to a transport line within the docks scaffolding that would whip him to the freighter.

  “No issue,” Silly said to himself as he continued on his way, admiring LaRe's outer body, it was scarred and scuffed, blotches of where patches had been covered over. Burnt out weapons as well as sections open to space could also be seen. Silly climbed through one of these gashes, finding himself inside a shuttle bay.

  A few shuttles were intact but whatever had pierced the ship’s hangar had practically gutted the interior. Debris floated everywhere in zero g. Thankfully Silly's yard mecha easily glided through the debris as he reached an airlock, quickly passing through it as a voice came through his CAF.

  “Hello Shipyard commander Silly,” the slightly electronic voice said as Silly grinned. Not my fault I find new and crazy things interesting as hell, he thought with glee.

  “Hey LaRe! What's up, my AI?”

  “Nothing is up. That is a relative term,”

  “Uh huh.” Silly was still loving it, even if LaRe was acting like a snobbish child. “Well then I heard you had some issues with the renovation of yourself,”

  “Yes, first of all..,” Silly walked through LaRe, noting faulty systems and logging what should be replaced, LaRe detailing to him a list that Silly didn't think he could memorize if his hide depended on it. He remembered a few key issues as he supplied non-committal noises and assurances.

  “When do you think you'd be able to get that completed by?” LaRe's petulant tone making Silly raise an eyebrow in annoyance.

  “Most of the stuff you want done is items that would allow you to be a warship. Other than your current weapon situation I can't do anything for you in that regard, as you are not of Free Fleet personnel. The stuff about centralizing you I can do, shields no problem. Primary and secondaries too. You don't need more than one primary reactor and two secondaries. I'll leave in the second primary you have already though,” Silly said as he pulled up a deck grating, removing a corrupted bundle of cables.

  “Why not an extra reactor?”

  “With another reactor you'll
burn more fuel and you don't have many systems to power other than yourself and the engines. Heck your two primaries aren't even really needed,”

  “What if I come into contact with the Syndicate?”

  “Well, you'll have some weapons. But with you being AI you don't need internal compensators for going at ridiculous speeds. Nothing will be able to keep up with you other than another AI in a faster accelerating ship,”

  LaRe began listing his complaints as Silly pulled up a cable and scrutinized it. He was used to people making ridiculous demands. He'd been under the syndicate for a long time. At least now I can serve them a bit of reality, he thought as he discovered the bundle of wires had melted to a section of decking. LaRe's complaints grown to a halt as Silly used a combination of tools to pull the bundle from the decking and clear the melted coating.

  “Either you take what I'm offering, or you join the Free Fleet and we give you everything. You'd also get a crew like Resilient,” Silly said, standing and drinking from his fluid hose.

  LaRe was quiet for a few minutes.

  “I want to go and see my home.”

  He sounded almost, vulnerable.

  “Me too. Though where would your home be? With the AI league?”

  “Yes,” LaRe said, like a child expecting to be denied.

  “I wish you all the luck. We'll have you set to go within a few months,” Silly said, setting back to deal with the damned burnt out bundle of wires.

  “From what I've seen of history most people who have the advantage will do anything to hold onto it,” LaRe said.

  “Is there a point to what you're saying?” Silly grunted.

  “Well, I'm a huge advantage,”

  “Yes, but we aren't very likely going to keep you here, are we?”

  “Though it would give you an advantage. Look at Resilient. She's an Imperial Dreadnought, the biggest of the Dreadnought class, and she has the crew of a Destroyer,”

  “This is the Free Fleet. It's kind of in the name that we won't make you do anything you don't want to,” Silly paused. “Well... unless you’re the bastards that are harming others.”

  LaRe remained quiet for the rest of the time Silly was there, retracing all the damned wires back to their connected systems, pulling them or leaving them and continuing on.

  Gave you something to think about huh? I'll chalk that up to a win and a discovery.

  Chapter - Disarray

  Captain Kelu was not in a good mood. Nothing had changed since the mysterious fleet had ripped through his own, and that was the reason for his current rage. The enemy Fleet hadn't been shooting randomly.

  Unlike my own captains. Kelu thought, battle hormones spiking once again.

  The enemy had picked off communications relays and crippled engines. All of which were taking entirely too long to be fixed.

  Syndicate personnel were to a large extent a lazy bunch, if they could fob a job off on someone else, then they would. They were also great at making excuses, which was why Kelu was personally overseeing his engineering officer fix a damaged communications relay. It had worked for a short period but now all communications across his ship had fallen silent, and as much as the Engineering officer raved he'd fixed them, Kelu had yet to see a result.

  The officer looked up as if to say something, and Kelu caught the Dalarr's eye as he tapped his holster. The words died in the Engineering Officer's throat and he turned back to his work. Out of his remaining fleet half of them were now using unsecured communications systems, a quarter were using secured communications, and the rest were still working to get any kind of communications online.

  Urlow broke into Kelu's audio implant, and Kelu's temper not being the best right now, he was about to yell down the communication's officers neck when Urlow talked first.

  “We have reports of explosions coming from Parnmal There's also a transmission from Syndicate forces which were imprisoned on the station and are now retaking it,” he said as Kelu turned and stormed toward the bridge, missing the relieved look on his engineering officer's face.

  “Get that array working!” Kelu yelled back and the Engineering officer mumbled something colourful, but got back to work.

  “The Fleet is moving to Parnmal to assist,” Urlow said.

  “I didn't give any such order!” Kelu barked.

  “I know sir, but we can't transmit,”Urlow's tone making it clear he shared his captain's anger at the situation.

  “Shit.” Kelu said to no one in particular.

  “Yes sir. More and more ships are following the initial ships,” Most of those without communications are in the forward elements.” Urlow said.

  Kelu loathed being moved by forces not under his control. But he couldn’t do anything about it until he got his communications arrays back online.

  “Follow them,” he bit out, his annoyance clear. If I find someone's behind blocking my communications array there'll be hell to pay! He thought, barely catching Urlow's words.

  “Yes sir,” Urlow did the wise thing by

  Cutting the channel as Kelu ran through his ship, everyone moving out of his way as anger clouded his eyes.

  ***

  “Their entire fleet is now moving to Parnmal, Commander Salchar,” Wast, Parnmal’s Sensor commander said, watching the plot change as sensor buoys bounced their information back.

  Pre-planned explosions could be heard in the distance.

  “Very well,” I said as I tapped my metal mecha fingers against the commander's chair that Monk had insisted I use as he sat in his second in command's chair “Accelerate the mines and no one fires a PRC until I say so.” I caught Releams’ eye, Parnmal's tactical commander as he nodded.

  “Yes sir,”

  Now we wait. I thought as I opened a channel to Henry.

  “How are you doing?” I asked.

  “Just hurrying up and waiting,” he sighed as I grinned.

  “Some commanders huh?” I said.

  “Some commanders,” he agreed, laughing.

  “At least you don't have to deal with Edwards anymore,” he said.

  “That is one good thing,” I agreed. I'd had him go with Rick, and after going through the headlong charge through the Syndicate Fleet he'd become somewhat more subdued, though I doubted it would last for long. No doubt the report he’d make for Earth would damn me for my actions.

  “Now I just have to deal with reporters,” I growled.

  “Oh what a shame,” Henry said, his voice not apologetic at all.

  “I know you wish you were giving a one on one interview with Ms. Sparks,” I leered, it was no secret that he had for some reason fallen for the petite reporter.

  “Ah well, with freedom of the press you told us that we should be available for comments whenever possible,” he said as I laughed.

  “And if said interview was to take place over dinner, maybe with a movie afterwards, one must do whatever they can to inform the people under the protection of the Free Fleet,” I replied in a mock serious voice.

  “But of course,” Henry smiled, barely stopping himself from laughing.

  “What would Evelyn say if I told her you thought of your interactions as interviews?”

  “Well we've known each other for a long time, ole buddy. I should think that such a comment should remain as more of a you-didn't-hear-anything, kind of statement,”

  “But of course,” I said as he laughed.

  “Well, I'm gonna go check on the Commandos and make sure they aren't pressing any buttons they aren't supposed to,”

  “Yeah, I heard about team member Genatti.” She'd pressed a button thinking it was a light switch. Little did she know it was a shut off for the gravity plates for the area she was in. The area had a gym, mess and a handful of bathrooms. People, food, liquids, chairs and tables all started floating and, as Genatti pressed it again, moments later, everything that had started floating came crashing back down. One Avar even broke the toilet he was sitting on when he came back down.

  “Just
classic,” Henry laughed and I joined him.

  “There was one Kuruvian who was playing basketball in the gym. He went for a slam dunk and ended up in the rafters. Took an hour to get him down,” Rick marvelled as I laughed at the image of the Kuruvian's panic when he missed the net and kept going upwards.

  “Talk later, commander,” he said.

  “Henry,” I replied by way of goodbye as I cut the channel, a grin on my face as I thought about the reports I'd gotten about the incident.

  *** Maybe we should be inserting identifying legends when the scene break takes a somewhere else - like “Bregend, Cruier Rebirth, Rebel Forces” (if that’s who he is) or make it shorter but something to keep the reader oriented...

  Come on baby, just stay together, we're right there, Bregend thought, trying to project an aura of calm as he felt sweat trickle down his back. The Rebirth had undergone some ad-hoc fixes as he jumped from system to system with her broken main supports.

  Rous her engineer had used towing cables to take some of the strain off the super structure. Mechas and EVA suits were now mandatory and everything was checked to make sure it was secured more than usual, as Rebirth could crack with any great strain. Armour panelling had been tacked onto the worst sections. If Psycho Cheerleader was in a battle then Rebirth would be screwed.

  “I can see the event horizon,” Jamzie the sensors tech said in her nasally voice. Wilma grunted her acknowledgement and everyone started to pray to whoever they believed in. Or grabbed their knees, tilted their head, and kissed their asses’ goodbye.

  “Stowing sails,” Wilma said as the gossamer like membranes retracted.

  “We're ready,” Mills said, her voice calm and collected as Wilma glided towards the event horizon. Afnar on shields flexed his hands, no doubt wishing he could be doing his job instead of just sitting there. I feel your pain, Bregend silently acknowledged to Afnar as he sat in his command chair. He'd decided to not have shields configured upon exit of the wormhole. When done correctly it was barely felt, but if not then the ship was in for some rough bucking, and Bregend was not going to risk that.