From the Black (Free Fleet Book 4) Read online

  There was never anything bad about learning how to defend myself better. Though some, including Yasu and the closest in my command team, wouldn't be best pleased to know I was training up to fight in powered armor. They wanted me to stay at the rear and orchestrate the battle. While that was hard, I wasn't going to lose the skills that I might need to lead my Commandos into battle one day.

  I was their leader, which meant I got in the muck with them, not just sat back and watched the results of the battle coming in. I wasn't that type of commander and my command team knew it, but it wasn't going to stop their whining.

  Resilient appeared in holographic form.

  “Commander, I am currently in Parnmal talking to Commander Monk and the leader of a group of AI that wish to join the Free Fleet,” There was a slight pause. “Well they are now part of the Free Fleet. I thought that you might want their details. Their hulls are quite impressive and in need of repairs largely. Not many of the worker AI's wanted to help those that had turned to fighting wars and destroying things.” she said, a mixture of annoyance and displeasure coming out in her voice.

  “Okay, contact the system leaders, we'll sketch out a plan,” I said, looking to Carsickle.

  “Some other time?” He said in understanding.

  “Yup, thanks Commander,” I said, before putting my helmet on and using the visor to access the information Resilient had sent to me, my eyebrows disappearing into my hair line with every passing line.

  I opened a line to her.

  “Is this for real?” I asked, unsure of what to think as my mind couldn't understand the dimensions and weight of the War station.

  “To the best of my knowledge,” Resilient replied.

  “Damn.”

  I didn't say anything else until I got to the conference room. I took my helmet off, the desk coming to life as holographic images flared up. I looked at Commander Whorst and Silly in Sol. Commander Diplo, a capable engineer who had been a Commando, was running the newly arrived dock in Chaleel. Then Tik, Tak, and Ursht in AIH. Monk and Rick were in Parnmal. Finally Yasu and Bok Soo that were on their respective ships in Sol.

  “Alright, does everyone have a report on the goings on in Parnmal?” I got some confused looks. “I'll be taking that as a no then. Resilient,” She appeared in holographic form once again, nodding to me.

  “You should have it momentarily,” I said, taking a seat and playing with my desk as I tried to figure out just how I was going to clear enough room for the incoming ships. We only had one dock capable of taking the carriers, not taking the super-carriers into consideration. We would have to do most of their work without the use of a dock, it would be slower, but completely possible.

  “Bring LaRe in on this would you?” I said absently as I worked.

  LaRe joined a few seconds later in holographic form. I gave him a glance, he returned it, and there was no confusion there. At least I wouldn't have to brief him. I looked around the table, some people were going back and reading facts, but everyone was done.

  “Okay, so as you've read, a bunch of AI have joined the Free Fleet. The Union gave them damned impressive hulls, which have degraded over time. We need to get these ships turned around as quickly as possible,” I said while looking to those that dealt directly with the shipyards.

  “What about this, War-station?” Silly asked.

  “Well we fill it with what we can, strap what damned weapons we can to it and let automated bots worry about the armor and turning it into a true moving station, instead of a moving asteroid. I was thinking that your brother Shrift might be interested in a new challenge,” I trailed off, Silly's manipulators thoughtful.

  “Still the other ships?” Tak in AIH asked, the FTL relays were worth their weight in gold, instantaneous communications was pretty damned awesome.

  “We're going to have to break them up according to production and personnel abilities of each system. We want to get them turned around as quickly as possible. We will of course try to make yards big enough as we will need to fix them at a later date, if not create more ships of this size,” I said to Tak.

  “Why aren't we concentrating on more smaller faster mobile ships instead of huge Dreadnought's like War-station and Battle Cruisers, we could turn all of our attention on to the Carriers and Super-carrier's, surely they would be of more use in battle against fleets believed to be in the hundreds, with ships the size of a Destroyer and the flight capabilities of a corvette,” Commander Diplo asked. We had been through the debate before, and his side would only gain more heat as we now had the ships mostly built and ready for our use.

  “Yes but I need the defensive capabilities of those ships, I am going to make as many fighters and carriers as possible, but the bigger ships will need to run the gauntlet of Kalu fire. They are going to hit us with everything they have, fighters won't do well in that kind of onslaught. Dreadnought's can soak that damage up to give Shuttles a chance. While the Kalu work with a single ship type and do it well. We work better with multiple ship types that we can move and adapt into new roles at any given time. We aren't big, so we need to focus on what we can do with our forces. Not on what we could do with a fleet that only has a limited set of abilities.

  “That's where the Kalu hamstring themselves, they think they have found the most economical way to fight. What they don't think is that having multiple different kinds of ships can give them the ability to react in different ways. While having all their armaments on their bow gives them strength in chases, it means there are more holes in their armor. If we get beside or behind them, they have to flip in order to face us, then we can pound them. With Every ship we have we can fight a battle tens of different ways, they can only fight one way. Our ability to understand, change and use our ships to their limit will give us an undeniable edge,” I answered.

  “Except Cruisers,” Rick said, any tension evaporating.

  “Except goddamned Cruisers,” I said, trying to keep a professional mask, the corners of my mouth rising as a few laughs came out from the different people connected to the conference.

  “Rick, if you wanna take over, this is more your side of things,” I said.

  “Technically, very technically,” he said, waving a finger at me, before settling into his seat. “Okay LaRe, I need you to crunch some numbers for me,” Rick grinned at the suppressed but nonetheless felt groans around the room.

  ***

  It was some time before the AI fleet appeared in Sol. A number of the ships had been diverted to Parnmal and AIH, they were doing what they could for the ships and were the closest facilities that the ships would need to improve themselves.

  Sol was the only system that had a shipyard with a slip capable of handling a carrier. There was now a mad rush going on to make another yard for the super-carriers at least. They would add much needed strength to the fleet.

  It would take a lot of time to get them up to standard. They had been in the dark of space for a long time, their systems built in a time of war. They were built to work, not last, something that came with a whole damned crop of new issues.

  That was nothing compared to the issues that were coming up with War station. The creation barely moved with its massive engines which were largely jury-rigged to the asteroid body.

  The jump drive was unstable, but Devastahli was big, and his computing abilities damned impressive as they compensated for the disturbances in jump.

  There were no back-ups, the power plants were aged and barely functioning.

  Thankfully Shrift had taken a shine to the ship and was looking it over, it took at least one thing off of Silly and the shipyards plates.

  Shrift's plan was elementary, he was going to slap massive power plants inside the War station, just get them hooked in and move from the exterior, in-wards. It would take three years with the crew that War station was being allotted, we barely had enough people for the station. Hell I was thinking of pulling most of them off of it to crew other ships that would be ready to come with me. />
  That said the crew was largely green, there would be two full training groups taught the ins and outs of engineering on the lumbering creation.

  There was nothing against putting people to work before they were fully graduated, something that the Free Fleet took advantage of, and one of the reasons that Engineers expressed safety over everything and they were damned good at their jobs. The ones that hadn't been weren't around anymore, usually having injured themselves so badly they had to be removed from service.

  Either I went, waving the flag with the forces I had, or waited until I had more ships. Both choices had their own advantages.

  I sighed, burying my face in my pillow.

  “What's wrong?” Yasu asked, her hands playing over my tense back. With Floater being in dock and her people turned over to engineering duties, she spent all of her free time between her own shifts with me. Usually dragging me away from the Bridge, or the conference room.

  I would have probably died of starvation without her forcing me to eat, or gone nuts if she hadn't pushed work away and just had some 'us time.’

  I relaxed, sighing and rubbing my eyes.

  “Just juggling everything. Wondering if staying here, or going out there is the best bet,” I said.

  “Well if we stay here, then it will be easier to extend the time we want to stay here again, then again and again,” she said.

  “I know, but we could get two more destroyers and three corvettes if we wait another week,” I said.

  “You have to decide if waiting for those ships is worth waiting here for the Kalu.” She said, turning me to look at her.

  “I always get the easiest decisions,” I complained.

  “I know love,” she said, understanding in her eyes as she wrapped me up in her arms.

  I folded my arms around her, finding the comfort of another that would be there for me no matter what the hell the Universe threw at me.

  “Let's go and see what the Universe has to offer,” I said into her neck.

  “There's that spark,” she said, pulling back, a proud smile on her face.

  “Just doing my job,” I said, looking away embarrassed.

  “It's not because you want to see just what the universe has to offer, the different planets, the home worlds of billions, cold systems of dancing ice and frozen planets, or super-nova and star formations seen by so few before?” She said.

  “Maybe a bit,” I said. A spark of my old self returning as my excitement grew, “Though we first gotta look at winning this war, finding out what the hell Fairgate has planned, and then we can look at the beauty of space.” The part of me that had formed when I had been on Daestramus forcing cold hard logic into my thoughts.

  “I'd like that, to get away from this and to just explore,” she said, pulling herself onto me, nestling into my chest.

  “You're like a damned cat,” I said playfully.

  “Mine,” she said, tugging on my neck.

  “Yours,” I said with a smile, pulling her to me.

  “Mine,” I said, a whisper, as if it could be blown away.

  “Yours,” she said, her smile beaming as my heart thrummed in my chest.

  She might be a woman that made creatures from across known space snap to attention with the sight of her. Made Avarians talk of her fighting abilities in revered tones, and was one of my best damned Commando's, but she was still my wife, and I loved her for everything she was, and did.

  “How long until we leave for Chaleel?” She asked, interested but also anxious.

  “A week, we need to wave the flag, and Rick is going nuts on Parnmal,” I said.

  She nodded into my chest as I sighed, thankful to have that moment.

  Chapter A few last stops

  Carsickle looked out over the sensor readout that was connected to the Commando sections of Resilient. He had been on Chaleel a few months ago. It seemed so much longer than that.

  Everyone had seemed different, changed by the Kalu threat and the Free Fleet.

  Chaleel had grown into space in a big-way. It was making quick trade with AIH and the planets beyond Parnmal at a good rate. Merchant ships travelled straight from Chaleel to Parnmal every few days. Other traders plied the entire corridor. Everyone wanted food and Chaleel, now armed with the knowledge of the Union had quadrupled their crop production, and reduced their workforce by forty percent. While there were those that blamed the Free Fleet for taking their jobs, there were so many opportunities that a large number of people were moving from the farms onto trade jobs, or taking their knowledge to other planets to sell their skills or raise their own farm. One aspiring Chaleelian had started to build domes on one of Chaleel's moons. The soil needed a bit of chemical rejuvenation, but he would have his own tiered farm up and working within a few months. The Free Merchant Fleet or FMF was a silent partner at thirty percent. The Free Fleet was the biggest lending house in the entire known Union and they had the power to move any freight anywhere. Parnmal had become the trading place in the known universe. It was one reason that the station was growing faster than ever.

  In Chaleel while food and farms were king, Nelly, the dock separated from Nancy was undoubtedly second, and growing as fast as Parnmal.

  The Yard was doing booming trade with the merchants and the contractors that were trying to make their own ships. The AIH-Chaleel partnership was made for the purpose of increasing their trading abilities, one of the factors keeping them back was the number of ships they could get their hands on. There was a number that the FMF rented out, but as the merchant's ranks increased, the ships available for rent were getting small.

  There was plans to build a civilian yard in Parnmal, but for now military needs had to come first.

  Though in some situations both sides could be satisfied.

  The yard was happier than anything else to give the partnership re-serviced non-military parts in exchange for raw materials to fill the yard's appetite.

  The Fleet barely slowed as it went through Chaleel, picking up ammunition from the factories that were now in close orbit to the yard. The two corvette's that had patrolled the system were now doubled to four and had a Destroyer on station, that wasn't including the sixteen or so ships going through the yard.

  A message beeped on Carsickle's screen, a childhood friend that he had one day hoped to make something more, but had never been introduced to his mother, requested to talk to him.

  He grinned, thinking of the times they'd gone to the meetings of youth in the fields, or their escapades with his closest friends in school. He was becoming old.

  He accepted her transmission, unable to hide his joy at seeing her.

  ***

  AIH was doing me proud, Ursht had made alliances with all the other clan leaders and started combining the leaders and the people’s efforts with his own. He had also worked out a way for those sworn to other leaders to fight in the Free Fleet. They were to be viewed as attached honour guard to myself and Yasu. It was rather tricky, but it worked and got me more trained people. Avarians weren’t just trying to join the Commandos to call themselves Ninja’s, I don’t think I would ever live that comment down, but were coming in as engineers, gun techs, environmental specialists, miners, refinery crew members. They were populating every branch of the free fleet.

  Most of them were also on the fast track like the children of the free fleet, due to their use of new technology, and sleep training.

  “There seems to be some kind of commotion in the shuttle bay,” Walf said.

  “Put it on my personal screen Walf,” I said.

  I looked to the internal cams, watching as Commandos moved out of the way as a group wearing the skin of a Quarvar, the deadliest creature on AIH. Something that the Avarians killed with nothing but swords and spears while a Commando would have a problem with a plasmid blade.

  They moved, projecting an air of calm while moving as one.

  “Awakened priests,” Krom said from beside me.

  “It looks like it,” I said, ri
sing and looking at my own Avarian-human skin blend. “I guess we should go meet them. In Sook you have the bridge!” I raised my voice.

  “Understood,” she said, populating her screens with information pertinent to Resilient.

  It didn’t take long to find the priests, I waited by the elevator to the Bridge. The head priest of AIH looked to me.

  “We meet again Salchar,” his deep voice reminding me of Krom’s.

  “What can I do for you high priest?” I asked.

  “The Awakening priests of AIH wish to be teachers of the stars. We wish to learn your ways in order to pass them on to our people. There has been debate to bring back the creators. Now that we know more, we can make them useful once more and begin the propagation of Avarians into space.”

  “Why do you want to become teachers of this all?”

  “We are teachers anyway, we have taught the Avarians much. They now crave for new lessons that we wish to supply. We hope to assist AIH in becoming one of the more advanced peoples. Living on the ground has taught us of our fragility. When the shields went, the Syndicate could have taken our people, we were on the path of destruction. We were becoming like the Kalu. There is much that our people need to learn,” The high priest said.

  “Very well. I can’t argue with your desire to educate your people. Give me the numbers of those that wish to learn how to teach others. I’ll pass it to my Chief of Staff and he will figure it out for you.”

  “Certainly,” a data pad came out from the Avarian’s cloak as they pressed a few buttons and turned it to me.

  “These are the names and what they wish to study,” The High priest said.

  “This will also take money, I will provide half of the tuition, and the other half will be on you,” I said, I had found that through Ursht, Krom's brother and my appointed leader of the city Asul that I had amassed quite a bit of wealth. I had gained Asul by saving the planet by providing the shield generator on the planet with the helium three it needed to stop the planet's massive volcano from erupting. Ursht had been the leader before, and I put him in charge as Yasu and I were off fighting in the Free Fleet. He had made Asul a prosperous city, and had gained three freighters which were doing a brisk trade down the corridor.