Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Krom grunted as he began pulling the useless guts from the gun between him and me. Taking that as my queue, I pulled the old power relays. At least everything with guns is made to pull them apart in a quick fashion.

  It was oddly calming taking apart the massive weapons. There was an order to them. They made sense, much like my own rail gun. For a time, I forgot what I was doing as I pulled, turned, and unhooked broken parts, calling a runner to take the parts as I moved on.

  I popped in a piece of gum, finding its minty freshness and ingredients focusing my efforts more as I moved to the next gun. I got in the gunners seat, pulling the manual controls for the targeting crystal release as well as pulling the gun in so the barrel was inside the ship instead of in vacuum.

  I kept going, moving methodically from gun to gun.

  A hand on my shoulder made me turn around. I found Yasu giving me an exaggerated up and down look.

  I looked at myself, finding I was covered in grease and grime.

  “Forget something?” she asked.

  I wracked my brain. Crap, crap, uhhh meeting? Paper work? Training hand to hand, yeah. I glanced to the time on my HUD. Crap.

  “Sorry, I just got wrapped up in getting the guns ready.”

  “I noticed,” she said, glancing at my battle suit.

  We were on the last deck of guns and there were people already working on the last ones. Chief Brusk was sauntering into the room, the movement more awkward with it's exaggeration for a Kuruvian.

  Zor growled. “Seems your gun bunnies are having a spot of trouble, bit slow?”

  “Not slow, just have more guns to work through, you hippie.”

  “You have five more guns there, chompers!” Brusk said as Zor squared off with him.

  “Cause my gunners use theirs more, twinkle fingers.” Zor jabbed a finger at Brusk.

  “Twinkle fingers! Well, I'll have you know, you clean, baby faced Sarenmenti, that my people have the highest accuracy in the fleet! The reason you have so many guns down is cause your people have to spray everything in hopes they hit the enemy.” Brusk's manipulators shook in annoyance.

  “My gunners run their guns to the brink, giving the enemy all barrels.”

  “Breaking all of them!” Brusk yelled, his arms moving in annoyance.

  “Done gun!” the last crew said as they finished their gun, obviously not paying attention through their sound canceling helmets.

  “Good!” Zor said, turning to the gun crew, swiveling his head as if it was a cannon to his fellow chief.

  “Now, let’s go and show the starboard side how the port side can drink!” he bellowed. Brusk tilted his head to the implied challenge.

  The port side gunners howled as they made a beeline for the exit.

  “All except second watch.” None turned back, but as I looked, there were already gunners loitering around, cleaning up the mess that came from broken guns being pulled apart. None of them looked very pleased.

  “Remind me I owe second watch a round!” Chief Zor said and grins appeared on second watch's faces.

  I followed the gun crews as the chiefs hung back, allowing for me to meet up with them.

  “So, you're probably asking what that was all about,” Brusk said with none of the previous anger of before.

  “Yes, something like that.”

  “Well, it's quite easy,” Zor said as we got on a transport after the gun crew. “Agroup does better when they're against another group every time. It makes it so we get our gunners into the mindset that failure is absolutely not an option. Burns, barrels out, focusing crystals burned out? Well the other side might have the same thing, yet they might be doing it faster. That is not a possibility, but I have to make sure that I beat them.”

  “It used to be that there was one Kuruvian crew and one Sarenmenti crew on the guns,” Brusk added. “It made it so that they were constantly proving who was better. Though, when the crews mixed, they would be in massive fights, and they sabotaged one another all the time. When the two crews are intermingled and socialize often, then they don't fight as much and they don't sabotage one another. It becomes an honorable sport between two teams instead of a bitter rivalry.”

  “It's also why we change crew all the time as if they were on a team, we keep each side even but it makes it so that they work together.”

  “Would make sense with all the transfers you boys request.” They nodded and grinned together as we reached our destination and got off. The gun crews were both waiting.

  “Have fun, and don't get too drunk,” I said and the two nodded, getting off in a flurry of slurs against the other, fake rivals once again. Their gun crews cheered their chiefs on while also intermingling with their opposite sided counterparts.

  “You're going to need to shower first before we get to hand to hand,” Yasu said, I looked to her, nothing touched her features.

  I sighed. “Very well.” I got back on the transport, punching in my destination as it whisked off. We stopped in some other places as people got on and off before we got close to our room. Krom and Shreesht followed us silently, one of the Sato sisters following, waiting as we finally got to our room. Yasu took a seat on the bed as I went to the shower. I could swear I heard her sigh as I unsealed my battle suit and showered off the gun decks.

  I came from the shower, finding Yasu studying me.

  I looked around, alarmed, as I grabbed a towel to cover myself.

  “It's not like I haven't seen it before,” she said and I felt even more embarrassed.

  “Ahh well...” Her look told me I should be quiet and I let my mouth close.

  “When your wife sits on your bed in skin tight clothes, the first thing on your mind should not be to go and take a shower,” she said as I started to feel like a dolt. I really need to figure out women, I wish there was a class on it, I thought as she walked up to me.

  “Though, you are nicer when you shower,” she said as her lips met mine. I let the towel slip away as I pulled her to me.

  “What about hand to hand?”

  “This is still a battle of wills, plus, it is physical,” she said with a small smirk. Well, you can guess what happened next.

  Afterwards, we were looking up at the ceiling of stars that moved slowly when I felt my mouth working.

  “Why did you stay with me?” I asked.

  “Because you need me,” she said. A few minutes later she turned so she could look into my eyes. I could see that her eyes were wet.

  “And I need you.” I could see the loss behind those eyes as I felt my own ghosts consume me and my eyes wet. I pulled her to me and felt her against me, the life that filled her body and mine that didn't fill those that we had lost.

  Yes we do need one another, I thought, equal parts sad for our loss, yet happy for the ability to confide in someone fully.

  Chapter In Position.

  “We're in orbit,” Comms said in Hachiro's command center as Shrift checked the screens around him at the engineering station and people reported to him.

  “We're all good,” he said and he felt exhaustion fill him as he'd finally completed his latest massive task. The tech from Parnmal had already been delivered and the ship was on its way back, which meant he didn't have to worry about it anymore.

  Now I know why Salchar is so out of it all the time, Shrift thought as he took another tab of Wake Up, feeling marginal effects. Now all I have to do is oversee the uncoupling of the ships to the station and conduct an in depth check on everything. Just the thought made Shrift feel as if he hadn't taken the Wake Up tab.

  Shrift issued his orders as he received a call from Salchar.

  “Heyo,” Shrift said as he opened it.

  “Alright, go get some sleep. I'll have Eddie take over for you. Don't make me make it an order.”

  I could kiss you.

  “Thanks,” he managed to mumble out instead of telling Salchar of his inner feelings. He closed the channel and made his way to the nearest unoccupied room, took detox and fel
l on to the bed.

  ***

  Rick plastered a smile on his face as he exchanged pleasantries in the fabricated building, which sat at the edge of the American space port.

  While the agreement for Earth and the Free Fleet had been a thing for some time, the nations leaders still wanted to meet with Salchar and confirm it in person. Quite a few were annoyed to be dealing with a subordinate, but it had meant that their aides could take care of the issue, making it much easier on all parties, no matter how much the leaders complained.

  Which meant that Rick had to organize a press conference and get Salchar to agree to meet with the leaders.

  Also, all of the leaders had agreed that the only proper place to have such an event would be on Hachiro Station. They would like it to be there to show how the Free Fleet and Earth were working together to get people into space. Basically, the leaders had ganged up on Rick and twisted his arm.

  Now, while that request sounded easy, getting it past Salchar was a pain. First, he wouldn't have it while the station was moving. Second, he wouldn't have it when the weapons, armor, and other tech were being put on the ships.

  Though, finally, he'd given in and had sent an extra two shuttles with the four that were sent to pick up applicants to the Free Fleet or a few civilian jobs. While the Syndicate coming and forcing people to become Mechas had been a bad thing, a lot of humans still wanted to go into space.

  We are a crazy, adventurous, and curious bunch, Rick thought to himself as he watched the shuttles of trainees. Recruits had been removed as a term for new applicants.

  The shuttles for the presidents and prime ministers as well as their collections of bodyguards and a throng of reporters made quite a noise, most of the reporters yelling questions as bodyguards kept them back and the leaders of the world looked as if they knew what the heck was going on. Rick was, thankfully, in the command center for Pandora's flight deck. While the captain guided the ship or the battle from the bridge, the flight deck command center made sure that everything ran smoothly. They were in charge of getting fighters deployed, rearmed, refueled, and retrieving them.

  “Well, I better get down there.” Rick sighed. His squad was led by Wruck, an Avarian Krom had pushed onto him. Wruck didn't talk other to issue orders or to confirm his orders.

  “Good luck, sir,” Wesley Stephenson, the man who made sure the flight deck was kept running, said.

  Rick grinned. “Want to trade jobs?”

  “No way, sir, that's all yours.”

  “And here I was, hoping I had a savior.” Rick deflated as if moping before grinning.

  “Ah well, it's why I get paid the big bucks.” He grinned as Stephenson grinned back. They tossed fingers at one another before Rick left the command center, taking an express transport down to the flight deck where deck chiefs waved leaders onto the utilitarian shuttle.

  Rick fell in behind the moving reporters and VIP's; the former turned their attention to him. This is going to be a long shuttle ride, he thought as reporters asked him about the shuttle, the Pandora, which they had been in.

  Rick kept his comments short, making sure to not talk about anything that would be of tactical value. Some reporters started to do in-depth reports of the shuttle. Rick had the reporters and the VIP's separated into different sections of the shuttle. He wished he was one of the pilots, safely tucked away in the cockpit.

  At least he had Wruck, who stopped all but the most confident politicians from talking to him. Which still seemed to be a lot.

  They arrived on a specially prepared dock and Salchar walked out in his battle suit from the airlock as the shuttle's doors opened. Reporters set up or went on the fly as the leaders made the most professional-looking walking race to Salchar, who put his hands behind him as he bowed, a few from countries which practiced the same gesture reciprocating.

  “Hello, it is good to see you on this momentous day. Shall we proceed with a tour and the signing?” Salchar asked. Everything about him was picture perfect, from his hair tied back to his battle suit. Rick had to remind himself that the man had done interviews and lived in a world where the media was everywhere for quite a few years.

  Salchar guided them off as he made small talk to a few, flashing a smile here and there.

  I can see why he was good in front of a camera, Rick thought with jealousy as he shrugged and looked around.

  “No reporters or anyone important...” he said as he waited for the airlock doors to shut.

  “Oh god, that suuuuucked. I have no idea why I ever thought doing that job would be a good idea!” he yelled and a few of his protection squad laughed. He turned and grinned to them.

  “How about we pop this musical stand and go get some beers?” he said, getting a few grins as he turned and started walking

  “Well, c'mon then! We've got thirty minutes till they get to the bars,” Rick said and his squad hurried behind him.

  In five minutes, Rick had a beer in hand and was surrounded by his people, Free Fleet people.

  As all of his squad, except for Wruck, had a drink, Rick skimmed through what had been going on with the fleet. Before he finished his beer he was up to date. Then the beer just started to flow a bit faster.

  His world became crystal clear as Wruck injected him with detox, as well as a few others.

  “VIP's will be here in five minutes,” Wruck said, his voice carrying as the bar seemed to stand still, handing over their drink containers and paying up in a matter of seconds.

  Rick did so as well, rushing out of the bar and towards Resilient.

  “Hey, Resilient, how's it going?” he asked as he crossed her threshold.

  “Rather well. I'm in better shape than I have been in thirty two years.”

  “Well, that sounds pretty good to me! Now would you happen to know where my wife is?”

  “The bridge.”

  “We're surrounded by workaholics, I tell you!”

  “Yes, we are,” Resilient said with an amused tone which implied Rick might be one of those same workaholics. “Would you like a full report on the fleet as well as myself?”

  Rick paused for a minute, but the jig was up, he was a workaholic and he knew it. “Go for it.”

  “Cheerleader has completed her reconnaissance of all the systems surrounding Parnmal. Now she is heading out into secondary systems.

  “Felix and Min Hae have been going over the information file Salchar asked me to create and have come up with quite a few ideas. So have the people that Eddie has looking at it. Eddie has also has people that have completed plans for a base which can be deployed anywhere and will pretty much make itself. The plans for the refiners for Saturn and Jupiter are completed and Salchar has okayed the terraforming project of Mars. There are a few asteroids already picked, and Felix has some people working on a planet bomb as they're calling it.

  “Bregend's battle cruiser is back to fighting condition. Some buyers have come to Chaleel and are spreading the word that there is a fleet fighting the Syndicate. AIH is getting better with each day. There is a steady stream of trainees from both systems going to Parnmal. One course of Commandos has been completed, eight hundred and fifty six new Commandos. Henry is itching to go and see them, but he's been training the Commandos here rigorously.

  “There is also an additional near two thousand ship personnel.

  “As for ships, well, everything that is not in Parnmal or strapped to Hachiro's hull is in working order. Plus, Parnmal has added an additional two destroyers and one corvette to Cheerleader's forces.”

  Rick had got on a transport and was walking onto the bridge when Resilient finished.

  He winked at Marleen as he took the commanders chair and Kawaga took Rick's usual spot.

  “I'm going to need a full report on the ships and the Commandos. In Sol then moving back to Parnmal,” Rick said as his screens became populated with information and he forgot whatever complaining he'd done and got sucked in.

  ***

  Henry watched as the VI
P's moved through the station on one section of his HUD and he watched the squad ahead of him breech the scrapped destroyer, moving into it in a concentrated flow.

  He'd learnt pretty quickly how to use his eyes separately and to think on multiple levels, so doing the two things was easy to him.

  He checked over his Commandos, pride filling him. The Avarians who had come as Salchar's unofficial guard were a driven bunch and sucked up every piece of information that they could get on warfare. They'd quickly become an integral part of the Commandos, writing the name Ninja on their gear, the name that Salchar had given them when they'd first rose from the ground around the Commandos.

  Felix and Min Hae were still figuring out how their natural sensor-absorbing bodies worked and Henry had turned his mind to other things, like bigger Mechas.

  On this operation he'd gotten a full squad of Avarians outfitted with Mechas and trained up. The Avarians had to okay the operation to have their spine cut open. Though, this time they were knocked out instead of going through the whole ordeal awake.

  The new Mechas could take more punishment, had larger reactors, more firepower, and were much bigger. Even with that, the Avarians had added extra armor plating to some of their fronts. Those that liked their bead cannons more had a basic metal plate in front of them which could suck up damage as they hosed the enemy, their HUD giving them an overlay through their impressive layers.

  Those that favored their swords had added armor at points they found to be weak, or somewhere that would be exposed in a fight, meaning their backs were more heavily armored.

  So far, the modifications had done nothing but improve their abilities, so Henry saw no reason to not allow them. Not one Mecha was the same, but then again, no one person was the same. The only thing that was uniform was where the Hell Fire manual lock was located, where the external medical pack was held, and the data pad rested on the Mechas lower back.

  Henry rolled his shoulders, the armored exterior barely moving as the armour’s expanded exoskeleton rested near his chin, much like an American Footballer’s pads acted.