“We've got to focus on what we can fix and what not. We need to put down new hulls to incorporate all of the improvements we've come up with,” Shrift said as Silly sighed.
“You've changed, little bro,” Silly said as he nodded appreciatively.
“You're no longer scatter brained. You know what you want, and you get what needs to be done done. You remind me of Eddie. Father was smart getting you transferred to Uncle's ship.”
“I'm not like Eddie!” Shrift admonished as Silly grinned.
“Yeah you are, now you are; it's not a bad thing. You've grown up, bro,” Silly said and grinned.
“I agree with what you, Eddie, and Salchar have said,” he said. Shrift's eyes thinned and he poked a hand at him.
“You mean your annoying me was all a test?”
“Yup.” Silly grinned, unrepentant.
“Why you!” Shrift jumped on his brother, scraping his neck as Silly laughed uncontrollably.
“Stop it! It tickles!” Silly said as his smaller brother stopped him from getting free with his hands while he used his manipulators to keep his brother in laughing immobility.
“Never!” Shrift said triumphantly as he grinned, his brother rolling over and somehow getting on top of him. He felt his neck ridges begin scratched.
“No, stop it!” Shrift said as he giggled, kicking his feet spasmodically as he tried to dislodge his brother.
“Never!” Silly repeated Shrift's own words as the torture continued.
“What are you two slackers doin'?” A familiar Kuruvian's voice said and both brothers jumped to their feet.
“Uhh, just well...” Silly said as Shrift looked to their Uncle and his mentor.
“We reached an agreement on the schedule for the dock and yard. We also have a tentative time table lined out.
“An yah sorted this out while tusslin' on the floor?”
“The tousling was in an effort to get recompense for time wasted,” Shrift said as Silly scowled. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as Shrift had to stop himself from breaking out into a smile.
Eddie grinned as he walked between the two brothers. The old Kuruvian's hands snagged them both by the necks and they squealed as they fell to the floor from being tickled.
“Seems you two are just like your dad.”
Eddie grinned as the two rose with grins.
“Alright now, our clan isn't the kind to sit around. Let's see if we can't speed that timetable up a little.” They looked to one another, a drive in their eyes as Eddie led the way to the docks.
***
Henry finished the run through Hachiro first. As he waited for the others to finish up, he felt sadness at having lost Verlu. Their friendly banter which had happened every time they finished their run was now filled with silence…
Santos was in next, a bit of a forced grin on his face.
“Damn, Henry, mind slowing down for the rest of us? We aren't Mechas like you.” Henry grinned slightly as Santos smiled. It was clear Santos was trying to cheer him up.
“Well, you'll just have to learn how to be one,” Henry said as Santos shook his head, a grin still there. Santos had been in command of the trainees for the battle and had proven himself a great commander.
After Takahashi had attacked Salchar, Santos had taken over commandership of his Commandos. Santos had proved himself and made himself Henry's left hand man as Bok Soo was his right.
The others came in, Bok Soo trailing them all.
“Damn, you guys need to slow down,” Bok Soo huffed out as he struggled to catch his breath.
Henry knew that Bok Soo was probably the most physically fit out of everyone, getting back the legs he hadn't had for so long meant he spent all the time he could running.
Yet Bok Soo cared deeply for his people. He was willing to lose a few times if it meant he could get their minds off of the recent battle.
“So, what's new?”
“We've nearly got all of the trainees back to training,” Santos reported.
“Remember that they only have three weeks till they make their decision whether to stay or go home,” Henry said and everyone nodded. They needed Commandos badly, and after training it would be another few months before those that selected to not only stay but to become Commandos would graduate.
Till then there were only six thousand commandos. There should be close to eight times that number.
With the fleet in full repair mode, it also meant that Commandos were having less training time and were instead falling back on any secondary training they had. They were helping out the ship crews to get their ships operational and ready for anything else that might come their way.
“As you know, Salchar is going to be going to Earth tomorrow. With him will be FengFang and Pandora. He will be going across the globe to see if he can get more trainees. We will also be getting a large number of personnel in a week. Monk confirmed today that he had sent a carrier as well as some ships he'd taken from Cheerleader's fleet for protection.
I have passed on your personnel issues to Rick, who will divide the incoming forces up.” Henry caught Commander Tully's eye, the woman looked as if she was out of her depth. Henry nodded to her slightly and she seemed to gain confidence, nodding back.
“Any other issues?”
There weren't, so Henry looked to Bok Soo.
“Looks like you're buying again, foodie,” he said and Bok Soo took on an unhappy expression as others grinned. There was no laughter; the emotional loss was still too fresh.
Chapter Time to Face the Music
I had left command to the watch commanders as I worked beside the engineers to get Resilient back to fighting condition. Now, however, I needed to get back to command instead of relaying it through my underlings. I walked into the conference room and found Silly, Shrift, Henry, and Rick. Krom and Shreesht leaned against the wall, the others in the room becoming quiet as I sat down.
“Hello, Silly, good to finally meet you in the flesh.”
Silly nodded. “Likewise, Commander.”
“So, how long have you been preparing to get rid of the Syndicate?” I asked and Silly looked displeased.
“There had always been thoughts that the Defense Force was something different, but me and mine were kept in our home system building this monster until it was ready to move and us with it. Now I know the truth, I wish we had done something when we were in our home system, not across three sectors.”
“That must've taken some time.”
“Damn right, took us three years! Though, as we pulled old Nancy here through the stars we learnt more of the lies about the Planetary Defense Force.”
There were nods around the table.
“So, what are the plans of those that are leaving?” Rick asked.
“Most of those that wish to leave will want to go to Parnmal but for those that remain, which is standing at eighty-seven percent, we want to see Nancy up and running and get to work! We’re going to need more of everything, but we’re planning for the expansion of a dock or creating another to fix your Resilient and that other big sucker in one go instead of having to turn them to work both ends. Though, Eddie says we might have to expand even that soon, with plans for super dreadnoughts and even carriers.”
“What?” I asked as Shrift and Silly looked quite pleased with themselves.
“Well, it might take some time if our supply lines are bad and with our lack of workers. But I would say, in three months we might be able to start expanding, adding in repairs, though, it would take about nine months.”
“Don’t worry, I have plans for the supply line and workers.”
“We’ve come a long way from making plans in my armory, that’s for sure,” Shrift said.
“That we have, buddy,” I said as we smiled to one another.
The rest of the meeting was much of what it had been for the last few days. We were rebuilding and we had to figure out how to best spend our resources.
After it was complete, I excuse
d myself. Krom and Shreesht ghosted me until I made it to the observation deck that faced Mars.
Thankfully, no one was there as I sat on one of the chairs and watched the brown marble of Mars turn below me.
“James, you can’t blame yourself,” Yasu said.
I sat there, not looking at her, lost in the beauty of the planet. They'll never get to go down there, to go and see other beautiful planets like it I thought as I gritted my teeth, the view becoming blurry. I cleared what must've been some errant dust from my eyes.
“I can. I know we did the right thing, but it just saddens and scares me when so many die before they can see the end result of all of this. Though, sometimes I wonder if the end result is something they want to see, and they’re the lucky ones. We can’t hide from the fact that the Syndicate will be gunning for us. They were going to before, but now it’s unquestionable. We just took a shipyard and another station from them, not to mention a populated world they were using to fill their ranks.” I sighed, leaning forward so I could look at my wringing hands. “Even if we win, what will be the cost?”
“Always too much,” Yasu said sadly. “Yet, we should not focus on the loss but the gain. Humans finally made it to the stars! We’re not slaves and if we survive, we can thrive. We’ve got technology that we don’t know the half of, mathematics that we can’t make heads or tails of, and medical science that will see us alive for our great great grandchildren.” She sat down beside me. “I wonder if people who went to war before us thought the same things and what their answers were.”
“Probably something similar,” I said, looking up at her framed by the horizon of Mars and the stars, her hair falling delicately to one side over her shoulder, making a half veil . As her deep, dark, exotic coffee eyes looked at Mars, her face pinched in sadness. I looked at her thin yet strong arms and firm body against the battle suit she wore. I reached up, touching her chin as if it was china, moving it with barely a motion as I raised my head to meet hers closing my eyes as our lips touched. No matter what the future brought I would have that one moment of pain, passion, nervousness, trust, fear, and love.
“You forgot one thing,” I said softly as though if I talked too loudly the universe would disappear, not daring to move my hand as I looked into her eyes, a small smile on my face.
“I gained you.”
“Who would've thought Mecha Tail’s and Samurai’s Revenge’s leaders would be doing this?” she said. She pressed forward, my arms finding their way around her body as I embraced her, kissing her again until we pulled apart, sad smiles on our faces.
“Now you have a fleet to run. I’ll look after Hachiro and the fleet here. Earth is going to want to know what’s happening.”
“Yes, find out from Zor what the Sarenmenti that surrendered are going to be like. I want to know if I can use them or not. Then get the ships sorted, I want to-”
“Know which ones are operational. Which ones to send to Nancy filled with materials. Also, to look into the damage caused to the Hachiro. Maybe police the debris from the station and the ships that were destroyed around the sun to be melted down and used to rebuild the station and ships. Get the people and the Earth trainees to rest,” she said.
I smiled. “I’ll see you when this is all done.”
“You better.” Her eyes danced as she grinned, kissing me before I picked myself up and walked to the shuttle that would take me to Pandora, my ride back to Earth.
Commander Heston was waiting for me when I got off the shuttle.
“We have your quarters laid out for you and your protection detail.”
“Thank you, Commander. I know you're busy so I'll let you go. Where is the best place to talk to the world leaders? It's about time I let my staffers have a break from their yelling.”
“Your room has the ability to connect directly to the communications systems,” Heston said.
“Thank you, Commander.” We saluted and he walked off, pulling a data pad as he went. I steeled myself as I walked to my room. The Pandora, being a third the size of Resilient, didn't need the transports that carried people across her. Instead, everything was done with old fashioned legs.
I got to my room, taking a slurp of water as I put in my security codes. My terminal filled with communications requests from people across the world.
“You’re setting up to mine the Oort Cloud; that’s ours!” the South African representative said as others began voicing their issues, growing in volume and incoherence.
“Do you want to get into a yelling match or hear what I’m doing?” My voice was tired and probably uncaring, but I was already stretched thin. Having people yell at me for no real reason was not something I wanted.
It took some time for them to calm down enough before I started talking. I now know how a nursery teacher feels, I thought as I cleared my throat.
“As you will look in the agreement that you signed, the Free Fleet is basically its own nation-company, meaning that we can claim land like any other group. There is another stipulation of the amount of land and such, so there isn't a monopoly. As for the Syndicate, well they've been beaten once again.”
“You say that, but how do we know that's true? It all happened behind Mars,” A prince of the UAE said.
“Cause a lot of men and women died for you to think that,” I said, not pausing as I continued. “Now, I have with me the aid that was promised in order for Earth to get into space. After delivering this aid, the Free Fleet will continue to act according to the contract signed by Earth and rebuild our fleet. Now, are there any issues?” I feared my last statement as a wall of noise greeted me. I hunched my shoulders and set to listening to the gripes the world leaders had, most of them nothing to do with the Free Fleet.
As they were talking, I received a message from the Intelligence Department of imminent importance. I opened it, finding a video on YouTube of myself coordinating the battle against the Syndicate as well as shots from telescopes and sensors of the ongoing battle.
I paused my channel to the leaders as I connected to the commander of the Intelligence Department.
“How did someone get this?”
“We think that one of the reporters snuck into the trainee pool and placed cameras to record different things.”
“I want it vetted for anything that might make the Free Fleet vulnerable, such as military secrets and such.
“Already doing so, though it seems that whoever did this is extremely smart. They left out anything that might tell secrets of the Free Fleet.”
I nodded, the gesture unseen by the commander. “Okay, get with Rick and have him find this person. I don't want anything else leaking out. Also, have a communications blocker checking traffic as it goes. Talk to Resilient about that.”
“Yes, commander.”
I cut the channel and opened the one with the leaders, who were still yelling at me.
The journey seemed to be one of the longest I'd ever had. When Commander Boot arrived in-system, I made it clear that anything would have to go through him. Meaning that I was left peacefully alone as we glided towards Earth.
***
“Did you receive my Mecha?” I asked Commander Kurft of Heston's Commandos. We watched a series of fights, all of them deadly, just stopping their attacks before they maimed one another.
“Yes, Commander. It’s in the armory, if you’ll follow me.”
I fell in behind him and he walked me into a decent sized armory with racks of Mechas hanging next to the sealed weapon door.
“What’s it now! I’m already fixing this broken Sarenmenti knee joint!” an annoyed sounding squat human said from his worktable, bent over the Mechas form as he worked on the Mecha in front of him.
“Do you have Commander Salchar's Mecha?” Kurft asked.
“Yeah, I’ll get to it in a bit. It’s on the racks. Damned transporters knocked the nerve ports out of alignment. Don’t know what they did to the damned thing to knock them out so bad. Never even seen anything like it, not even
on the commanders first Mecha. Don’t know how in hell he survived that one, but even then the nerve ports weren’t that out of alignment!”
“I survived by the skin of my teeth and I did lose a hand,” I said as the armorer shot up, smacking his head on a tool rack above him. He shook it off, coming to attention. “Commander Salchar! I had no idea, sir.”
“At ease, its fine. If you don’t mind, I’ll have a look at these odd nerve ports.”
“It’s no worry, sir, I can get one of the other Commandos to do so.”
“They have better things to do than look over my Mecha. Plus, my security detail should probably have a look at theirs too,” I said, smiling as my mind was making conclusions of what would’ve happened to me if I had gotten into the Mecha the way it was and my need to check who’d touched it.
“Certainly, Commander Salchar.” The armorer nodded as he inputted information on an interface and all of my personal detail’s suits rotated down into Mecha bays.
“If that is all, Commander, I will return to my Commandos,” Commander Kurft said. His eyes were dark and his mouth was angry, but I could tell not at me; he had made some of the same conclusions I had.
“Yes, Commander, I’ll be here.”
He bowed his head before leaving. In the Free Fleet there wasn‘t a specific way of saluting, though the two finger salute was seen as the normal one for quick situations, and nodding for more formal and between those from lower to higher.
As he left, I walked over to my Mecha, queuing it to open and I saw the nerve ports connectors.
“That doesn’t look like just any transport damage,” Krom said in a grunt. Janice nodded in agreement as the others, unknowing, spaced themselves out, covering our backs.
“I think that we’ve picked up something other than allies in our latest hires.” I opened a private channel to the Resilient and the intelligence division created by Min Hae.
“Get me top,” I told the person that answered my call after checking my clearance.
“Yes.” Using outside communications names and ranks disappeared.
Coming Home (Free Fleet Book 2) Page 22
