Free Fleet #03 No Rest for the Wicked

by Michael Chatfield

  Now he watched from a crowded observation bubble as what looked like a black box the size of a tractor trailer was released from LaRe's old BC shell. It had taken four days for the AI to upload himself into his new storage center. Corvettes were on alert as a shuttle whisked LaRe down to his new home. He disappeared into a hangar. Another view appeared in the observation bubble as LaRe was pulled from the shuttle and moved into his new home. The feed cut as LaRe would be stored somewhere that only a select few knew of.

  “Second shift, you're up,” George said as people groaned in the observation bubble. Connolly was one of them as he walked to his control station.

  The work was unending, the ships that had been trashed in Parnmal's defense were still coming in. The Free Fleet ships were finished, as they had already been adapted over to the General Ship System. It made the ships like lego. Pick up a small power panel, slide into old power panel slot. It made fixing ships incredibly easy.

  But changing ships over from whatever style they were to the new system was a pain. Which was why only the Dreadnought's and a few of the BC's were getting it, while everything else was being put together as per their old systems. There were technically five working Dreadnought's in the Free Fleet now. Two were at Parnmal while a third was en-route and Resilient was out investigating the mystery planet. The last as well as the hulks of those that were beyond repair were being used by Felix.

  It was a massive undertaking, and with the yards growing constantly production was always increasing. Chaleelians and even Avarians were now working at the docks as civilian contractors. Humans were trying to stiff arm their way into positions but Silly was having none of it. He picked workers based on their scores and what they'd done as well as their own blurb. Sexism and racism was basically removed through the process. It also meant that Earth's programs to get into space were getting slowed down as people from different planets were accepted into the Fleet.

  The moon was being settled and there were a few Mars settlements being created, as well as plans for people to move to other planets and bodies in Sol system to study and live. Earth was finally in space, and it was slow going but it was becoming faster. People were taking up the Free Fleets deal to get into mining. There was still the ex-Commando mining facility which had expanded rapidly. They supplied forty five percent of Earth's resources and pumped the rest to Nancy, and did a swift trade with Chaleelian's as well. Earth's biggest export to AIH and Chaleel was technical items. The items weren't on par with the Free Fleet's stuff, but eventually they'd catch up. They had more people to throw at the problem than the Free Fleet.

  Connolly moved his camera view to see Mars. The massive atmospheric machines were pumping their planet changing chemicals, changing it to Union standard. It would be a planet able to have races from across the Union on its surface when completed in a century, though more changes were planned to cut down that time estimate.Connolly turned back to his work. He was pulling plating from a Corvette, and he worked with two others, a runner and a replacer. It was quick work but penetrations through multiple layers of armor made it annoying to replace some panels. Connolly lost himself in his work until the Corvette's mangled panels were replaced.

  “Thank you, team leader Connolly,” someone said through Connolly’s console.

  “Hello?” Connolly asked, checking his open channel which simply said LaRe.

  “Hello, team leader. You are probably wondering who this is. It is LaRe. I am checking if my systems are working and introducing myself to the crew. Do you have any questions?” Connolly sat back, a little surprised. He looked around noticing others also talking to the AI.

  “How are you talking to everyone at once?”

  “I am using an automated response system. I have collaborated your FAQ's and respond with it unless you have a question no one has asked yet.”

  “Ah. So why the name LaRe?”

  “It stands for last resort, as I was made from the syndicates that connected the systems that created me as a last resort.”

  An alert sounded as Connolly's drones reached where they were supposed to work.

  “So what do you think of Resilient?” Connolly asked as he started working on the next Corvette.

  “She has a storied past. She began as a refiner, then, with the planners’ assistance, she joined the AI league. She is considered one of the wisest councillors. She brokered the contract with the Union to have the AI league join the Union through supplying them with warfighting AI's. She was one of the first to put herself into a warship hull.”

  Connolly thought he heard pride in the AI's tone.

  “That's quite a bit,” Connolly said.

  “Yes it is. She is rather interesting,”

  Definitely proud. Connolly thought with a grin, which quickly disappeared. How am I going to be able to betray these people? Can I?

  Chapter - It's a Trap!

  “I'm not so sure about this,” Bok Soo said to Rick as they left Salchar's meeting. “James has a point. We can't just expect people to take us on our word. We could be Syndicate for all they know,”

  “Yes, but how they've kept the first team in complete isolation because of some bug they think is suspicious. No known race has a biology that should be able to cross over with the races in the fleet.”

  “Maybe it was something they ate,” Rick shrugged

  “Santos made sure that they had enough rations. Plus that atmospheric concoction we were living in during training should make us resilient to nearly everything.” Bok Soo's face was thunderous.

  “It is indeed odd. I can also sense that there is a lot of information kept off of official channels, as well as electronic devices. Something weird is going on down there,” Resilient said.

  “Min Hae hasn't gotten a message to us about anything that bad. He said he'd be on that planet. Bregend's already with Cheerleader. Look I don't like it either, though James isn't going to back down now,”

  “I hope it doesn't come back to bite him in the ass,” Bok Soo said and Rick nodded his agreement.

  ****

  Min Hae didn't like the situation at all. The first team, after a week of being in an isolation ward, were supposedly moved to another healthcare facility. Min Hae had built his network voraciously and he knew that they never went to the health care facility. Though to all official appearances it looked like they were.

  They had disappeared, and there was only group that was capable of doing that with Min Hae's contacts not knowing. Daestramus' secret military were active in a big way. Thousands of them had supposedly come to Marhtu's city. But there was no extra gathering of supplies or other indicators that a massive force had gathered.

  “There has to be a compound out there,” Min Hae said as Gogs took a swig of what smelt like metal and dirt.

  Gogs perked up.

  “What if they're already ready for something like this? And that's why they don't need all of these supplies?” Gogs put his cup down as he worked his station. “Supplies coming down by shuttle are easy to track. You get it on the ground and transport it quickly and it can disappear. Use a shell company and no one can check it back to you. They would be buying large numbers of weapons and a lot of food.” He continued typing things in as Min Hae waited. Gogs sat back, a grin on his face.

  “What?”

  “We know who would be supplying the money, so I checked what shell companies Marhtu has. Checked what they bought, then tracked the merchant by his implant. I'm now kind of happy that Marhtu keeps such a close eye on his people,” Gogs said as he waved Min Hae over to him. “There's bases under Daestramus' surface. I don't know how many, or where yet. But it's massive,”

  Min Hae looked over Gogs shoulder. He saw the amount of supplies going into the place through different merchants and the entrances which told of its size and the depth of the bases.

  “They must have built them to get away from bombardments,” Min Hae said.

  “They're deep enough, though I don't know of anyone in the city that
knows about them. So whoever built them is either not in existence anymore, or part of the military.”

  “We need to find where our people are,” Min Hae said, with Gogs click of agreement.

  “So is this enough to get Salchar to stay on Resilient?”

  “No. It makes sense for them to have their military on alert. Having underground bunkers might mean that they actually care about their people. Our people disappearing is alarming, but he would ask Marhtu in person where they are. So as to not make him lose face. This is a new culture and he needs people on his side. It might be some small matter,” Min Hae replied, his voice reflecting deep concern.

  “Then why are we looking into it so much?”

  “Because that's our job. We're the negative department. We assume that something’s wrong and we gather intelligence we might need and see what skeletons Marhtu has in his closet. Best to know the wind and not fly, than fly and not know the wind,” Gogs said, his wing stumps twitching.

  “I think that works. You find out more information on those bases. I'm going to see if I can get anything more information out of my contacts and see if there's anything else shady about Marhtu,”

  Chrys's station flashed with an incoming communication. Min Hae barely had to reach for the console in the cramped bridge.

  “Cap'n! It looks like we've got some buyers on the uptake,” Chrys said, affecting an excited tone. Clearly in some crowded area, background chatter making it hard to hear him.

  “Are they solid?” Min Hae asked, masking nervousness with excitement.

  “Oh yah. Said they would send the credits direct,”

  “Good, good. Might as well have everyone come back then, if we've got that buyer.”

  “Yeah. He said it'll be good to send from the ship,”

  “Alright. Seal the deal and get back here. Good work,” Min Hae said, cutting the channel.

  “I didn't understand much of that, but it sounded like we have a way to communicate with the fleet now?” Gogs asked as he scrolled through information on his station.

  “Yeah. Chrys and the group have got it rigged so we can send our message undetected through Roshvi. Directly from the ship instead of on the ground,” Min Hae said, getting back into his chair.

  “So we're going to send them everything we know?” Gogs asked.

  “No, we're going to wait. We don't know if Marhtu will catch onto it immediately or not.”

  “I hate this not doing anything,”

  “I know,” Min Hae grimaced. “Patience is one of the hardest things in this job. That and the fact that your decisions mean people live or die,”

  ****

  I knew that there were certain risks with me going down to Daestramus but I had to do it. I was hesitant as to Daestramus coming under the protection of the Free Fleet. I didn't expect every planet to come under our protection, and was a bit alarmed when Marhtu was the first one who wanted to meet. After all of the time under Syndicate control I thought he might want to distance himself from me. Or not take our protection as they would be fearful of the Syndicate coming back and taking revenge on them.

  I couldn't hide on Resilient. If he was willing to take the risk then I had to too. I knew that everyone was looking out for me with their pleas for me to stay off the planet. I had also pressed my personal concerns about the first team which had got the flu. Marhtu said that he would not return them until they were healthy. He had released recordings of them consoling us every few days. Marhtu said due to technology being so limited on the planet, thieves and others would press to have the technology needed for the team to communicate in real time.

  I didn't press the issue after he talked with the second team, who had said he was very open to having the Free Fleet's protection. Though his biggest desire was to meet the man in charge of it. Half of the second team as well as Marhtu's representatives had come up to get me. The industrious representatives were very animated, asking me a multitude of questions as the second team looked rather pleased with themselves. My entire protection detail was with me, wearing powered suits. Shrift had spray painted the name onto every single mecha. Powered suits was quickly catching on.

  Marhtu’s people had tried to sway us, talking about how the people had known the syndicate through their mechas and orbital strikes. Meeting them in our mechas might not send the right message. Right message or not, I wasn't taking chances. The second relations team had been adamant about staying in their battle suits. I was quite relaxed as the representatives filmed and talked to me. I hadn't been in front of cameras for a long time. It was rather comfortable to be in front of one again. I could almost think of it as a confidential interview before a game.

  The reporters from Earth had also wanted to come, but for security reasons I had made it clear that they were to stay on Resilient. I didn't want talks to get messed up because of a reporter, or have to bail them out of a messy situation. For now they had to be happy with what they could scrounge off of Daestramus' net, and looking from the observation bubbles.

  The shuttle's thrusters flared, the reps floundering as the rest of us adjusted slightly. It was nothing like our landing on Chaleel.

  “So what are you hoping to achieve with the agreement between Daestramus and the Free Fleet?” the interviewer asked as the shuttle's doors opened.

  “I hope that we can learn to work together against the Syndicate. Work to rebuild, be stronger than the Union, and better than it was, too,”

  “Do you think that's possible?”

  “Nothing's impossible. You just need time and work and anything is possible,”

  I stepped off the shuttle and the reps faded away as five people met us on the shuttle's landing pad.

  “You will be meeting with Overseer Marhtu in one hour for food and entertainment and drinks. Then we will take you to your rooms for rest before the talks tomorrow. These caretakers will see to your needs,” one of them said. He had four ostrich like legs with a slender body and small neck, his head was angular and official. Falu. I remembered his race from my sleep training.

  His eyes were dull and his mannerisms subservient as he looked to the ground. The other three also looked to the ground as they talked to us. I looked to the second team leader who came over to me.

  “Why do they look to the ground?” I asked, my tone low as we were escorted through the massive building the shuttle pad was attached to.

  “It's a societal thing. Marhtu explained that they look to the ground in deference of the untouched,” Balar said.

  “Untouched?”

  “Basically those of higher status,” she said her tail-stub telling me she didn't approve of it either.

  “Anything else I should know?”

  “They love steaming for some reason. It's harmless, but they feed steam through your room at periods during the night. It's nothing to be alarmed about.”

  “Thanks,” I said as we reached a suite of rooms. Red oranges and blues played across the walls as steam was indeed coming from ventsin the walls and floors of the apartments.

  We were each shown to our rooms and as the man was about to walk away I detained him with a hand.

  “I'm sorry if this offensive, but are you a slave?” The man's eyes looked around wildly as if trying to find a way to escape.

  “I am under Overseer Marhtu,” he said, his skin flashing a muted color before going back to black scaling.

  “What are the touched?” I asked as he clacked his beak, his purple and brown eyes again searching for an exit as his colours flashed dark green and blue.

  “They are the ones that have need to be taught,” he said as a flash of green greeted my eyes. I would have to look up his race, Slevarans again, but I'm pretty sure green was a sign of pain.

  I nodded to him.

  “Thank you,” I said as he left to stand with the other three. They stood in a huddle looking away from our rooms.

  I went into my room and waited. Krom walked into the room, looking around before talking.

&n
bsp; “Food,” he said simply, continuing to look around the room.

  I walked out, following him while the others were waiting for us. All of them were on their best behaviour. That didn't mean that they weren't completely focused on their task of protecting me.

  Balar and her people met us as the Falu, head servant, or slave--I wasn't so sure--led us through the building. Guards met us outside the doors, who exchanged glances with my protection detail. We were admitted in, but they stopped Dave and Calerd, two pistols and a knife were produced by Calerd and Dave, both of them shrugging at my stare.

  Sometimes I wonder who is in charge.

  The room was tiled with cushions covering the entire floor. There was a stage where music was being played and dancers moved. Marhtu was lounging over cushions of all different types of material, some that shone, some that were dull. They ranged from rough to smooth and some were obviously new.

  The others in the room showed their reverence to him with their eyes so down cast some looked like they were about to fall over. Three females sat around Marhtu, each beautiful yet deadly. They made me think of the Sato sisters. They looked cold and fearless as they looked upon everyone. They wore clothes of different pieces of material, like the cushions. Each had a baton within reach of their claws, tentacles or hands.

  Marhtu reached out his hand, lowering it to us.

  “Be seated,” he said as we found places on the cushions.

  As soon as we sat servants came out with a variety of food and drink and set it before us.

  “We have made sure that the food is acceptable for your body types. We do not know where the flu of your first relations team was infected with came from, but we have taken every precaution to make sure it does not happen again,” the head servant said.