Silly opened up a channel.
“Silly?” LaRe asked.
“Hello, LaRe. I'm with George Everez right now. We were wondering what you would do if you became the AI of Nancy,”
A list started cascading across Silly's planning table, George and Silly looking at the words.
“I've got to..,” George stood, playfully starting to walk away.
“You told me to ask him. Now you're going to help me understand just what the heck he's said,” Silly said, talking over George’s protests.
“Alright. Let’s see what he's thinking at least,” George said, the grin on his face making it clear he wasn't going to leave his friend to this mess.
“Then you want to help me with figuring out how we're going to fix all of these ships?”
“You're on your own for that one.”
The numbers were all messed up. George felt that Min Hae and Salchar both had something to do with that. Silly probably knew how many ships were coming but he also had the job of getting them all in fighting trim, Free Fleet fighting trim. It was no small feat but the first round of trainees from Hachiro would be a big help, as well as the incoming training freighters. Sols Free Fleet population was about to grow another forty thousand.
Let's see if we can't add a one onto the end of that. George thought as he began reading LaRe's list.
Chapter - Freedom
After the transmission to Overseer Marhtu the planet had been silent. The only activity we could see was a fast moving freighter that was on course to go straight past the Free Fleet. It passed us, undoubtedly sending a message to the planet. Marleen had her guns tracking it. Other than that, nothing happened as we closed in on the planet. Finally, Marhtu, looking no different from his last transmission, sent another message.
“We welcome you to our home. We would like to invite you down in order to meet you and know the Free Fleet better. We thank you for freeing us from the Syndicate. We hope that we can be of assistance.”
The lack of any emotion reminded me of videos I'd seen on heavy worlds, but Marhtu's eyes were dark, as if he was pissed off instead of happy.
Must of had a rough time with everything going on, I thought.
“Vort, send it to the relations people,”
“On it Commander,”
“Get me Cheerleader,”
“Hey, boss!” she said with a grin as she sat across her armrests and I shook my head at her antics. Of course she commanded her ship kicking her legs like a teenager in her father’s big chair.
“I want you to take the scouts to check the other systems. And link up with Bregend. Have his forces assist yours in scouting,”
“On it,” Her voice serious, despite her position.
“ Good luck,”
“You too.”
“I just stare at a world and wonder if they want the Free Fleet to protect them, or see if they want to survive on their own,” I said simply.
“Exactly! With a whole bunch of politicians!” she grinned happily.
“Please take me with you! They're the plague!” Rick said to the screen.
“Slanderous accusations on the command deck,” I heard Edwards say, just loud enough for Rick and I to hear. We looked to one another, an annoyed expression on our faces.
Cheerleader's expression made it clear she knew what we were feeling.
“The faster I go the sooner I can come back.” She gave a salute from her relaxed position. “See ya inna bit boys and girls!” she said, cutting the channel.
“She is moving away,” Walf said, the plot reflecting it.
Nine of the twelve Corvette's, one Destroyer, Cheerleader's Battle Cruiser and Turek's headed away. Leaving me with Resilient, three Destroyers, Heston and Xing's freighter-carriers and three Corvette's.
A message appeared on my station.
“Appears that the relations department already has an invitation to the planet. Its name is Daestramus. Rick...”
“I'll plan who goes on the little outing,” he waved me down, reading my mind.
“I swear sometimes you're the one married to him,” Marleen said, and Rick took on a look of horror.
“I couldn't deal with his singing in the shower,” I said as Marleen grinned.
“Earplugs,” she said, Rick tried to look hurt.
“People don't understand good music,” he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
I was happy to see hidden smiles. Parnmal had been an ordeal, but we'd made it. Most of us. Now just some more hoops to jump through.
“Looks like we have a few visitors,” Walf said and I looked up, my smile evaporating. A number of ships had approached us as we got closer to the planet. “Freighters are coming in for a closer look.”
“Probably just want to know why there's a non-syndicate fleet floating around,” Rick said. I made a noise of agreement, feeling myself relax.
“See that our weapons are stowed, best to keep a few surprises.”
Marleen worked her control panel as PDS weapons lowered and cannons went into the standby positions. It made us slightly vulnerable. The fleet followed suit, every gunner crew was trained to get their weapon systems operating in less than thirty seconds. Gunner Chiefs with years of battle experience had made that number even smaller. Ships circled the fleet, which had collapsed into a smaller sphere. There were quite a number of them that checked us out as we reached orbit and sent our shuttle down with our relations people aboard.
“Scans of the planet are problematic. Seems that there is still quite a bit of dust thrown up from the Syndicate shooting at the. We can only get basic scans of the top of the towers. Seems they're built to be heat retainers. The heat circulates to the base of the city, slowly coming up to the peak. I would guess that each city has mined into the ground and pulls heat from the planet,” Walf said.
“Isn't that some serious digging?” My armrest bugged me for my attention.
“Quite. But it seems that they're advanced enough to do that,” Walf finished. I accessed the message, it was a listing of all the races that were believed to not only be on the planet but be in the freighters. There were believed to be seven main groups, and four smaller groups of other races. I couldn't keep a grin off my face.
Eleven more races! I thought excitedly. It was soon going to start being too hard to even distinguish who was what.
****
Min Hae looked over his crew. He and Rick had picked them each by hand, and all of them knew their jobs as if it was second nature.
“Making it a bit rough,” Chrys said as the freighter bucked and shook, unlike the other transitions it had made on the way to the mystery planet.
Gogs sat at the shields. The rest of the crew were about the ship. The majority probably checking the cargo. Being traders, they needed goods to sell. All but three of the crew were Chaleelian; Gogs, Min Hae and one of his analysts, Baldabuh. It would make the freighter less out of place. After Ervstl confirmed there was nothing in the immediate area Min Hae ordered the second deck cleared and sealed. Baldabuh signalled when he got out of the secondary deck where the control panels for the weapons shields and everything else was connected. It was in the middle of the freighter instead of the front where Min Hae was located. The rest of the journey was uninteresting until the Verslva made it into ten second communications range.
“State your goods and your intentions,” a grumpy looking customs clerk asked.
“We have food stores we wish to barter or sell for technology,”
“Fifteen percent tax,” Min Hae leaned forward, a sly grin on his holo-skin face.
“Is there any way you could lower that, for a tip?”
“Well, I would be interested in a few months’ supply of food for eleven percent.” The customs officer was no longer bored.
“Deal,” Min Hae grinned as the customs officer told them to make orbit and where to land their shuttle. As the channel closed Min Hae's pleased look disappeared.
“Gogs,” he said. The second fun
ction of the shields was a discrete connection to the communications antennae and a link to every sort of high speed information. Combined with Gogs hacking skills, the information of the entire planet filled the massive storage drives Verslva held.
“I'm already in some rudimentary systems, nothing interesting other than where people went and more information to update your star map of cities and such, minimal,” Gogs reported, his small nimble hands moving quickly.
Min Hae didn't comment as Gogs continued his work, letting out small squeaks of joy. Gogs had been helpful ever since he'd been able to talk to Salchar directly about how his middling planet was being treated and his wishes for them to be free. Afterwards Salchar had said to use the chipper hacker to get more information from the Syndicate ships. Gogs was a whiz with computers and trying to make it clear he was trustworthy. Min Hae wasn't completely sure on that point. It was why he was monitoring Gog's hacking and why the diminutive man was not to leave the freighter.
Min Hae spared a glance at the Free Fleet ships that orbited the planet.
“Chrys, see what rumours you can pick up, as well as all information on the Free Fleet from the planet's point of view. No need to be quiet about it. I will be going down with some of the crew to get acquainted with the land. You're in charge, but don't hesitate to call if you need me.”
“No worries sir,” Chrys said as Min Hae moved to the rear of the ship. He checked that he looked the part with his disguise as a Chaleelian, carefully inspecting his clothes which hid his array of weaponry.
He went through the ship, picking the first four he found that weren't busy, grabbed the food bribe, and fired up the junker shuttle and road it down to Daestramus. He wouldn't have admitted to anyone he really wanted to fly the shuttle. All he'd done so far was in-space and simulation flights. Entering atmosphere was its own kind of thrill. He let his smile show as he went down to the space port, which lacked in any kind of automated landing system. His smile tightened after having a few close calls before he got into the covered space port near the bottom of the largest city.
“The customs officer has said he'll meet you at this bar, Captain,” Chrys said to Min Hae. Commander and other connotations and names from the Free Fleet were forbidden on communication systems.
“Sounds good, Chrys. I'm feeling like a drink. Enjoy watching!” Chrys, probably stunned that Min Hae was talking in such a relaxed manner, took a minute before replying.
“Better leave something for me!” he said. “Been in this tin can for too damned long!”
Less time than the fleet taking the route past Bregend. Min Hae powered down the shuttle and led his crew
“Go in in two's and don't get lost,” He warned them before locking the shuttle.
Excitement bubbled up from the group at the sight of a new planet, city and possibilities.
Min Hae grinned slightly too. This was where he would finally get to show the commander how the intelligence department was worth it. He had a lot of work ahead of him, trying to get people to trust him and become his informants. Hell he'd never done anything like this, but he was determined to make it work. Salchar and the rest of the Fleet believed in him. He couldn't let them down.
Time to start, instead of standing here and lolly-gagging, he thought as he headed for the seediest bar he could find, a splash of some kind of alcohol and his self-affected stumble got him through the doors unnoticed. Ears were such a godsend, especially ones that had implants that could cut out background noise. He hid a smile as he heard some people talking darkly about the “shadows.” He was confident as they found the bar and entered.
Min Hae grabbed a drink and weaved to the table, a sad look on his face. He bumped into one of them.
“I am so sorry, just I'm sorry,”
The person looked at him in confusion.
“My brother got taken, by the shadows,” he said, licking his lips and slugging some of the drink back.
The man's expression softened.
“My son got taken,” he said sadly. Min Hae nodded understanding.
“Fucking bastards,” Min Hae grumbled.
“Come, have a seat.” The man indicated a chair. Min Hae plopped down.
It turned out that the mysterious “Shadows” was a group used to police the people. Anyone stepped out of line and the police took them. Or they took people just because they felt like it. No one said if they were a gang, or who they were controlled by, but a look in their eyes made Min Hae think they all knew. Promises were made, contacts exchanged and Min Hae departed the bar and moved to the next, taking a pill to counteract what he'd drunk. The night was young and information ran freely from whetted tongues. It would take time to turn people from talkers into people to do stuff for him. But talkers would still be able to keep him in the loop.
He moved from bar to bar getting tidbits of information and growing his contact base. He couldn't get people to say who controlled the shadows. Asking straight out would probably make them clamp up. It was such common knowledge they thought everyone should know it. Though a lot of people wanted to do something about it, none of them had the tools. Min Hae saw an opening there.
Min Hae's comms bracelet beeped. Comms implants were a rare thing for merchants to have, and keeping up appearances was necessary.
“Captain, since we came into orbit we've got a small bidding war going on for our stocks,” Chrys said. Min Hae frowned that Chrys wasn't trying to say anything in code.
“Well, send it duurn here and I'll has a look at it.” Min Hae affected a drunken slur for the other patrons of the bar he was in, excusing himself from the table of merchants. They allowed him to sit in a private booth and look at the bids.
Looks like Daestramus has a food shortage issue. Quite a few other planets too. Min Hae made sure his elation didn't reach his holographic face.
He looked over the data pad to see a man walking in, obviously a regular by the way he greeted a few people. The bar woman had a drink ready for him as he put down some money and talked to her for a few moments. Something was familiar about the man. The man looked around and Min Hae realized he was the customs officer. Min Hae waved and his face split into a smile instead of his bored demeanor on the comms.
“Captain Saleni, it is good to meet you in the flesh,” the customs officer said as he took a seat.
“You too, Miiiister?” Min Hae slurred under the mask of Saleni.
“Narvu, so do you have that—package?” Min Hae made a show of pulling out his comms device and sending a badly crafted message to the team he'd had hold onto the goods. A locked shuttle wasn't enough protection.
“'Izz on its way!” Min Hae said as he put the comms device back and studied the man. By the way people talked to him he was a friend rather than an enforcer to many of the merchants. Though Min Hae wasn't going to use him based on that alone.
“Soo, if I say I have another shipment in the area,” Min Hae burped, “Would you be able to sayyy, keep this deal going?”
“I think so,” Narvu said.
“Well, that calls for some drinks!”
“I'm good,” Narvu said as Min Hae started to raise his hand to order.
“The wife got you on a short leash?” Min Hae asked.
“No, Marhtu has her now,” Narvu said, his hands tightening in rage as he took a hefty gulp of his drink.
“Uhh, I'm sorry,” Min Hae said, wondering what Naru meant by Marhtu having her.
“Got the kids still, so that's why I keep doing what I'm doing,”
“Ahh, I understand. I was married for some time, no kids. Though it feels like my crew are worse than a whole litter of them!”
Narvu huffed a laugh as two of Min Hae's crew came in. Min Hae waved to them as they came over with smiles. They gave Narvu a weighty box who opened it, looking at the contents inside.
“What is this?”
“Baroui, the most abundant food on our home planet,” one of the crew men answered, looking to Min Hae.
“We done, Cap'n?�
� he asked as Min Hae waved them off.
“No stupid stuff!” he warned, and the others waved as they departed.
“How do you eat this stuff?”
“Chomp on it, or boil it in some water with some flavoring, packed full of good stuff, but tastes awful without flavoring,” Min Hae said as he took another gulp of drink. “Anything interesting happening around here?” He asked, swirling his glass.
“Nothing other than these Syndicate ships testing that we aren't going to attack them,” Narvu said, keeping the box close and resting a hand on it.
“I've never heard of them doing it before,” Min Hae said, slurping his drink.
“Well there's a first time for everything, and Lady Fairgate is a very suspicious woman. Though it'll be worse for them if what they say is real. It would be nice if they dropped a few shells on Marthu and his gang of thugs,” Narvu said.
“But then what would happen? It'd be chaos,” Min Hae said. Maybe he’d still get something more than local gossip and a lower tax from Narvu.
“Well, we'd have to figure that out,” Narvu said, studying Min Hae again. Min Hae had interviewed thousands of Syndicate prisoners. He knew when someone was hiding something.
“Needs some organization, as well as something to use against them. Sticks and stones won't do much against plasma and rail guns,” Min Hae said.
“Well, it's not like anyone's going to sell them to the regular people,” Narvu said. And I'm betting you're not just a regular person are you Narvu? Min Hae thought.
“Just takes the right kind of drive and the right contacts. Look I picked up this book on organizational tactics. It's really interesting what some races have done,” Min Hae sent the file and Narvu scanned the hell out of it before he accepted it. It was a comprehensive look at how rebel groups on Earth had worked against the powers that be, from the French rebels to terrorist cells. The name “Earth” and all information about it was washed out, but the information was there.
“It is rather interesting, but people could get in a lot of trouble organizing themselves,” Narvu said. Min Hae didn't miss the way Narvu looked around, or the way his hand that had rested on the box had slipped to his leg.
Free Fleet #03 No Rest for the Wicked Page 13