Everyone was transferred, including Shrift who still had a month and a half to make up his mind and was working on getting more of Resilients weapon systems online. Edwards was being walked around the ship. I just hoped the walk would last a long time. Rick had talked about how the man had become more vocal and spoke daily about how his people would be charged for treason, or some other threat. No one paid him any attention and most people just wanted to get rid of him. But until I got back to Earth I was stuck with the bastard.
Monk appeared on one of my armrest's screens.
“Good luck, James,” He said as I smiled.
“Thank you, Monk,” I said, bowing my head as he returned the gesture.
“When we're together we'll have to have some drinks again,” he said.
“Sounds like you’re buying,” I said as he smiled serenely. I winked and cut the channel as I moved in my chair, only finding edges.
“Do these things ever get more comfortable?” I complained quietly, moving my perch. It always seemed like my legs went to sleep in the damn chair
“Nope,” Rick said, looking at his station. Clearly it wasn't quiet enough.
“Gotta use a cushion sir. Engineering hasn't even come close to the chairs up here,” Walf shrugged.
“Don't blame them with the silent killers you keep releasing into the wild,” Milra said, Walf's gassier moments had made more than one person cringe.
“Well there's a human saying, something like it's better to keep it out than in,” Walf grinned.
“There's something about letting it out, then forcing it out like a damn rail cannon gunner,” Rick said, I couldn't help but laugh.
“At least it isn't like the bed shaking warbles you let out at night,” Marleen joked.
“That was told to you in confidence,”
“Nothing was said, you just did it! Shook the whole bloody bed,” Marleen replied, the two couldn’t help but slip on goofy smiles.
“Woke you up didn't it,” Marleen looked as if she was stuck between being annoyed and laughing.
“Alright calm down you lot, or else we're going to find every last open wire in this place and go up like a damn Cruiser,” I said.
People got back to their work, the atmosphere light as I turned to my reports. The first one a summary from Min Hae on the information he'd found on the Kalu from our Syndicate prisoners. The information Gogs had given us had shaken me. The Kalu were a race that lived for war. Other than their physical make up. In many ways they were similar to the Avarians. But while the Avarians had actually brokered a peace, while having only small skirmishes and organized battles with one another. The Kalu had no thoughts about peace. They lived to fight and had done so for as long as the Union had looked back into the history of their race. The only reason they had made it into space was because a Kaluian commander realized that the clans with the higher elevation always won. So he created a class of makers and turned them towards getting him and the clan into space.
Other clans learned of this and this brought on a space race. Then once in space their territorial nature took over and they began claiming everything in sight. Fighting one another for every damned inch of territory, whether they needed it or not. Then they had crossed paths with the Union, and naturally went to war. Yet the Kalu had fought the Union and then secondarily one another. They would take a planet then set upon one another to get the rights to the planet. Every planet across the space they already owned was continually fought over. They were at war with each other as much as they were at war with the Union.
The Kalu that had survived through their ability to breed like crazy. Kalu young only took a few years to mature, becoming full fledge warriors and joining their clan against the Union. The Kalu fought in space as they fought on the ground. They worked in packs to decimate the enemy using numbers and stealth to cross great distances before they pounced from a parent drifting and used their fusion bomb acceleration systems coupled with their regular engines. Once they closed with the enemy they battered them until they could gain entry, allowing their Vahsnu warrior troops to ravage the ships in their black exosuits.
I looked to my people, the mismatch of races all working together to get the Free Fleet to be a force that could change this messed up universe. The Kalu might come, but it might just be the machinations of Lady Fairgate. They hadn't been heard of in centuries. For now I had to concentrate on getting my people organized and ready to deal with the threat of the Syndicate. I needed more people to fill my ranks and more allies to help build my hulls. Hopefully this mystery planet could help me.
While the ships were under crewed we found ways around a lot of problems, including Parnmal. However, the refineries, Nancy and all the infrastructure that fed the Free Fleet needed hundreds of thousands of people as well. The Free Fleet was mining and refining more materials than ever before. Factories were quickly turning resources into necessary equipment. And the Free Fleet wasn't the only entity having a boom either. It had passed onto Earth, Chaleel and AIH. All of the planets had adopted factories, while Earth had just changed theirs over.
We created incentives for companies that were building items which would speed up the Free Fleet's own production. Parnmal was training over three hundred thousand people from AIH, Earth and Chaleel. Half a million people from the planets under the Free Fleet's protection were in the system, being tested on their planet or being shipped on the massive training freighters, which, instead of taking the slow routes, were powering to Parnmal. By the time all of those people were trained, the Free Fleet might actually be somewhat close to being at full strength. Though by then the new designed Battle-Carrier's should be done and the Super-carrier slip should be setup, all requiring thousands more.
Two watches is better than one, I reminded myself as I looked at my crew, amazed at how the Free Fleet had become the massive war machine it was. It was as terrifying as it was exciting, just thinking of all I could do with the upcoming resources. I looked to my screen, my grin fading. All of the damned reports too. I thought, sighing before looking up. It was about time Resilient got moving. Which I hoped wasn't just a way of saying that I was trying to stave off having to do my paperwork.
“Ben?” I asked.
“We're plotted for jump limit and ready to go,” he said from his navigation table.
I nodded, “Milra, I think it's about time we stretched our legs, if you please,”
“With pleasure Commander,” she began feeding power to Resilients’ engines. We glided through the asteroid field which surrounded Parnmal, shuttles moving around us at a furious pace, dodging between the massive warships as we headed out.
The refineries that had been built out of asteroids were now online pumping materials right into Parnmal’s holding areas. They never stopped, even after filling all of the ships and Parnmal's bunkers, the three two kilometer long asteroids getting hollowed out at a surprising rate. The prisoners had made incredible progress. Free fleet drones cut the material out as the prisoners grabbed the slag, sorted it out into useful and not, then sent it to the refiners. Soon enough that material would be coming back to lay down hulls. Felix was building the modules that would go in the asteroid once the prisoners were done.
I turned to my reports, finding them still waiting for me. I read the first one. Earth was just under a week from being connected to the FTL communications, linking them, AIH and Chaleel together.
“This is the life,” Rick said, smiling. He was fully reclined in his chair. It was quite a change in atmosphere from from when Resilient had jumped into Kelus’ fleet. We all knew our jobs now.
I sent a bunch of reports to Rick. His terminal pinged, and he made a fuss of getting his seat back to normal as he looked through the reports. He looked to me, his eyes thinned with a mildly sour look on his face. I just grinned, turning to Resilient. A report had caught my eye.
“So LaRe is thinking about joining us?” I asked the AI’s holographic form.
“Yes, well he's rather inter
ested in us all. I also think that he wants friends and to have peers. If he stays I doubt that he will remain a battle cruiser for long,”
“Because he's lonely he'll join us?”
“AI's get lonely too. We take on all the knowledge of the systems we are born into. There are very few races that are in space that like being completely isolated,” she said.
“Makes sense. So how are things?” It had been a while since I'd had a one on one with the AI.
“Much better than when you found me. I'm about to exceed my previous housing facilities. My hull might be patches now but it would take a full overhaul to replace all the panels back to new. The weapons are coming online nicely, but the best part is my primary and supplementary systems. Nearly all of them have been fixed. I still need the new reactors and to have my first two replaced or heavily serviced,” she said, repeating the same things Eddie sent to me daily. I think he just copied the report, re-sending it to me when he had a second.
“So we'll be able to route systems a lot better without having to make routes around damaged areas in the middle of battle,” I said as her eyes smiled.
“Indeed. I daresay I picked the right person to lead this fleet.”
“I hope you did,” I growled as her holo-image glowed, her version of laughter.
“Have you found any memory blanks, or things hidden away in your memories?” I asked, the AIH thing had snuck up on us. Forewarned was forearmed, but when we didn't know what we were missing it made one a bit nervous.
She took on a serious look.
“I don't think so, but then again I didn't know that I had the coded channel that the Avarians were asking help from. I don't know what Planner has hidden within in me,” She paused, her brow creasing. “It makes me rather anxious. If he was able to hide something like that in my memories, then I don't know what else he hid. He might have even fabricated a few things,” she said.
“We'll get through this together, and if we find Planner, then we'll ask it,”
“Thank you. Your words are comforting. I will leave you to your commanderly duties. I'm helping with some remodelling as well as a few holographic training simulations. It's quite taxing,”
“Very well,” I said. Her eyes smiled at me and I felt something like pride in her gaze as she disappeared.
I looked to my fleet, which moved on the main plot. We were arrayed in a pyramid formation, Cheerleader in the right section. Bok Soo was in the upper and Resilient led the way.
Heston and Xing were in the right and lower quadrant respectively. There were twenty one ships in the formation. Twelve were Corvettes, mostly the ones that had been liberated from the Syndicate and rushed through Nancy before being sent back to Parnmal. There were four destroyers, Heston and Xing's carriers, Cheerleader's Battle Cruiser and Turek's. The Sarenmenti had proved himself in Cheerleader's reports. The spark I had seen in him when I had been under his command on Chaleel was still going. He was quiet and kept everything running on his ship in fine form. Many of the Captains were great people, doing their job as needed. A few stuck out, but that was because of the crazy situations they had gotten themselves in, and then out of.
Turek was a good tactician and had followed orders to the letter. Cheerleader had gone so far as to make him her second in Command. It showed not only that she was willing to look past his history, but that the Sarenmenti were welcome in the Free Fleet. We had however left behind a swarm of ships at Parnmal. We would've taken them with us, but they were in terrible condition. Being used by the Syndicate, battle damage and entry/exit issues with wormholes had left the ships in the state that made them unsafe and almost unusable.
I looked at Parnmal and the ships in a holding pattern around it. We had lost too many people there, for the second time. Now we would go out and poke the Syndicate. We had played the defensive game and held on, but no more. They had come for our homes, now we would wrestle the middling Union planets from them, take their resources and pound them into nothing. I changed my armrest view to the image captured by Bregend’s cameras.
Looks pretty grey and modernized. I thought as I looked at what seemed to be massive cities which dominated the planet's surface, rising from the grey of the land and the blue of the icy water. Min Hae had been able to use light and colour detecting equipment to pick up that the water was largely ice, the land similarly freezing. The cities however were a fountain of heat. I was pretty excited to find out if we might be able to convince one of the Syndicate's middling planets to join our cause. There had been hundreds of planets and races that had been a part of the union. Yet there were now only thirty seven recorded surviving planets. Some races had become extinct, while others had just fled. This planet was not only a potential powerhouse of production, trade and people. It could also show us what we could expect from the other middling Union planets.
“Look at us now, Henry, going from taking a couple of ships, to adding planets to our banner,” I said, cursing his loss.
I missed Henry badly. He had been a great friend. No, he had been a brother. The Syndicate had taken him from me as he fought to uphold the values of the Free Fleet. His mantle had passed to Bok Soo, and no matter how much the man didn't want to be the CAMC, I knew he wouldn't let me down. I remembered how much Henry had tried to shift it onto someone more qualified. It was interesting how the best officers usually thought that they weren't good enough, but gave a hundred and ten percent for the creatures that followed them.
Chapter - New Frontiers
Evelyn Sparks looked to her small team of reporters. They had grabbed a ride on the first ship going through AIH. Commander Salchar's town was becoming a boom town. AIH was a hive of activity. Ursht was every part the Avarian leader, no one questioned him as he had turned Avarians into makers as well as space miners.
The Avarians were relentless in their determination to become the best at not only mining, but also at fighting with the Free Fleet's technology. It had hit some rough patches with the other leaders equating Salchar’s influence to that of the awakened makers. Ursht had instead left the chambers and declared to everyone that could hear that the Avarians with the awoken minds were not makers, they were hoarders. Salchar was no hoarder, and nor were the people under his banner. Any and all were accepted under Salchar’s banner, not to hoard and become recluses, but to make something for their people. Word had passed fast as more and more people came to Salchar's banners.
As Evelyn left the first PRC was being finished. A growing tower was also being built and Chaleel and AIH were doing a brisk trade with resources for food supplies. The Avarians mining skills had been turned on to their dense asteroid belts, AIH's rings and their Jovian planet. While collecting the Jovian's gasses for fuel wasn't quite the same as mining out an asteroid, the care and processing were close enough. AIH had a profound respect for the Chaleelian's it was their Corvettes that waited in their system to alert them if the Syndicate arrived. The Chaleelian's had a deep level of trust and respect for the Avarians, it was their people that had helped free Chaleel from the Syndicate. Chaleel and AIH had become close trading partners and had started laying the ground work to start trading with other systems. Chaleel had been trading with other systems, hopefully those same systems were interested in Avarians resources and fuel. She had seen how Earth could become a part of this growing friendship with these other planets. The potential of all three planets working together made her excited for the future.
Evelyn had been able to distract herself from the fact that in Parnmal Salchar and his people had been fighting for their lives and keeping the future she envisioned alive. Ursht had wished them all good luck when they had left, and Evelyn got the feeling the man wished he was going as well. But Salchar had told him to look after his stead, he would carry out his duties no matter what. She was beginning to call the way the people acted around Salchar the “Salchar Effect.” He made them grow, by being a mentor, a friend and a confidant. None of them wanted to let the other down, they saw the same desire in
him. He'd proved how far he'd go for them and they emulated that.
Yet every time Evelyn talked to the man he seemed like a goofy, cheery nineteen year old. He listened to people's thoughts and suggested his own. He tried to answer people's questions as little as possible, but assist them to find the answers themselves. It was a trait that was wholly annoying for a reporter. Yet there was another hidden side to Salchar. Even under his smiles and laughs he was always thinking. The man couldn't stop it, Evelyn decided. When he was going into battle the goofiness left and any childish traits disappeared. Salchar was a maestro of battle. He said little in his orders to his other ships, but he knew their commanders and deployed them to their best effect. He was a true macro manager, a tactician with everything on the line.
She had raced to the final send off for those that had died on Parnmal, which Salchar would be talking at. Evelyn and her crew knew how to be respectful and were as unobtrusive as possible at the tribute ceremony. She had watched as Salchar talked to Henry's casket and the others that had died, before they were sent towards the systems primary. Henry, for his stature and the way he commanded his troops, had been quite a shy man. Evelyn had been making eyes at the man for some time, not for some scoop, but because he was rather handsome and quite interesting. She kept up her reporting mask as she filmed the ceremony and watched the caskets disappear. Then she and the reporters went back to the hallways they'd rushed through and begun documenting the terrible wreckage left behind by the battle that had occurred within Parnmal's walls.
As information came to light Evelyn and the others looked at the halls with more and more reverence and at the Commandos with respect. The halls were quickly fixed and made to look like new, Evelyn and the other reporters did their business and looked around Parnmal. But Evelyn had found out something rather interesting. There was a section of the station which had stalls, bars, cafes and other diversions from the everyday. She walked to a panel where the area seemed to end and found a door. Using her skills she'd gotten through the door and found the remainders of what had been the Syndicate market. Salchar had found her some time later. She'd asked him about it and he'd grinned.
Free Fleet #03 No Rest for the Wicked Page 10