Free Fleet Box Set 1

by Michael Chatfield

  “More like the only one with a brain here, it seems,” I said loudly, making sure that all of them heard me. “All right, so I hear you have no more streams so you can’t fuel the power plant anymore with straight H2O. Have you had issues with your population because of the lack of water?”

  “The weaklings who needed it died as they were unable to protect their watering taps.” The one opposite laughed as the one to my right laughed with him. The Avarian to my left held my stare, clenching and unclenching his fists.

  I accessed my communicator through my implants connected to the suit’s more powerful communications suite. I turned off my translator and used my throat mic so the Avarians couldn’t hear me.

  “Rick, scan the area for comets heavy in water. We’re going fishing.”

  “Sir?” He sounded perplexed as I rolled over his questioning.

  “Also, get with stores and see if we have a purifier and a massive water holding tank. If we don’t have either, see if engineering can whip something up.”

  “Sir, I’ll ask but if we’re going to have to make it we may have issues with supply of materials.”

  I put the channel on hold. “Ursht, you said something about mines?”

  “Yes, we have thousands of mines which we would use to trade with people from space.”

  “Did you stop mining when no one came?”

  “No, and upon your arrival, there will be a tithe paid by the other battle masters to restore their honor. Paid in the blood of the workers.”

  A growl came from the other battle masters; obviously they didn’t want me knowing about the tithe.

  “Paid in blood by the workers?”

  “Yes. The mines are very hazardous, but if you work in the mine, you get a water allowance for you and your family.”

  “Ursht, how many mines do I now control?”

  “Seven hundred and eighty-seven.”

  “See to it that production is stopped immediately,”

  “Scared by the loss of a few workers?” the one to my right sneered.

  Ursht made a disgusted noise.

  “I don’t see why you’re sending these people to their deaths when you can teach them to raise food and crops easily enough,” I said levelly.

  “Banel, he is the one who talked from the dome and talked over the enlightened channel. The priests say there are signs he is the one sent by the Planner,” Ursht said as the other eyes in the room looked to me.

  I stopped myself from looking to Ursht.

  Resilient knows the Planner. It would explain how the Syndicate never found them if there was some AI-created channel that only Resilient could pick up on. I wonder how she didn’t know about Avar Interi Hermanti then?

  Ursht turned to me. The others examined me more closely as Ursht talked.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, his voice pitched low so the others couldn’t hear him as he looked to them, indicating who he was talking about.

  You are in a room with killers, I thought his eyes said. I wondered how he had picked up my gestures so easily. The Avarians seemed to be a race that picked up on other races’ nuances easily.

  Perfect for a leader needing an army without the issues of race divide. It made me wonder what else the Planner had done in its absence from the AI league.

  “Yeah, be interesting to see what these idiots come up with,” I said with a malicious grin.

  He bowed his head, clearly not understanding me. “If one of them attacks you, you are, under the rules of cease-fire, allowed to kill them and take their lands.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind.”

  Ursht left as the one to my left barked.

  “You whisper like a little baby. What will you do now that your minder is gone?”

  “Lay down a few rules.” I was now in command of a fourth of this small planet. I needed to assert my authority and show I wasn’t to be messed with. That said, I had no idea what kind of cultural land mines I might run into, or other issues. Maybe sending Ursht away wasn’t the smartest idea.

  “Rules? You must have power to have rules. You are without anything other than other metal beasts.”

  “Did you see the ship they came from?” I replied levelly as Lefty responded.

  “We saw nothing but a loose asteroid cutting through our sky.”

  “That was one of my ships.” This finally gained their attention. “One of twelve in current orbit of this planet. So when I am confident in my own power, you should respect it. Now, as I am making a water system for my own land, I will offer you a similar system for the cost of resources plus time and effort by my people to make it. This can be paid in raw resources.”

  “How will you make the water system? You will need to hold it, make sure it’s clean, then move it to a place that people can use it,” the Avarian who had not spoken yet in front of me asked.

  “I leave that to my engineers, but I think they’ll probably use a system similar to that we have on our ships, or if not, the one I have in this Mecha.”

  “I am interested by this Mecha; what does it do?”

  “It looks after me.”

  The main hall’s door burst open as a truly massive Avarian walked in. He was large, even for his own people; muscle from hard work as well as scars from fighting adorned him.

  “Are you the one who made my brother lose his station and now stopped production in our mines?” he demanded as I winced at his voice, my helmetless head unable to lessen the thunderous roar.

  As I turned, I felt more than heard or saw the Avarian battle master to my left move. In bare seconds, he’d covered twenty meters and was bringing his shining, extending claws down at me.

  I drew and fired my pistol. Rounds slammed into him as he kept coming. Finally, one of my panicked shots hit his skull.

  His head painted the room behind him as he dropped bonelessly. I holstered my pistol and looked to the new Avarians.

  “That’d be me,” I said to the stunned looks of all of the Avarians.

  “I, Krom, so challenge you.”

  “You’ve got to be shitting me! Can I just have a damned month where someone doesn’t challenge me?” I yelled. Yasu’s going to kill me, if he doesn’t.

  “It does seem to be a trend with you,” Jeremiah admitted as I threw myself off the chair, landing in the center of the room. I pulled out my plasmid sword and almost lazily twirled it.

  The other battle masters had stared at me in shock when I’d killed their third, but now they were nearly apoplectic as they stared at me facing down Krom.

  “He has been battle trained; you will not survive even if you come from the stars,” Righty said.

  I rolled my eyes, brandishing my sword in his direction. “Will you please SHUT THE FUCK UP?” Listening to the silence, I opened my hands in exaggerated relief, holding the sword between my fingers.

  “Thank you. Now, you were challenging me?” I turned to Krom conversationally; he really was a giant, bigger than even his brother Ursht. As I stood in front of him in my Mecha, I realized just how tall he was, he was even taller than his brother Ursht. It was the damned planet of giants with muscles that would put Bregend to shame.

  “Yes, blades only,” he said.

  “Works for me.” I put the safety on my pistol as well as my rail gun, throwing them to Jeremiah.

  Krom pulled a sword off his own back of similar length to my own but this sword had the same metallic look as the fusion and shield generator dome. The edges were impossibly thin—a telltale sign of a mono-molecular blade.

  I left my helmet where it was. After my last experience of it being stuck, I wanted the mobility of not wearing it and being able to see my opponent.

  I could see around the room red eyes appearing in the shadows. Apparently we had a crowd.

  As if a switch was flipped, Krom and I charged each other; our blades smashed into each other’s in a shower of sparks. My plasmid dulled the single molecule edge of Krom’s sword, making him grin.

  I grinned too as I kicked
out his knee, dropping him to the ground. I brought my sword down to where his abdomen would’ve been. But he’d already rolled away and was on his feet again, barreling into me and sending me flying. I hit a wall, back first. My head cracked against the wall, but my battle suit’s raised collar stopped me from cracking my skull open. Blood ran down my back. I shook it off as I got to my feet, dazed as Krom was following up his attack by running for me.

  I had just enough time to interpose my sword; my servos whined as he tried to use his massive strength against me. My servos did their job, pushing him away by inches. Finally, I released some tension, unbalancing him as I pushed again with the full force of my Mecha, sending him into the chair I’d been sitting on. Chunks of the black rock that made up the chair fell away as he grabbed it with his claws, leaving two-inch-deep rends in the polished surface.

  He grinned as we circled each other. My left forearm, still not completely healed, ached something fierce, though my head and the weird liquid coming from my nose scared me more.

  “You are, indeed, warrior borne,” he said as we circled each other.

  “Thanks. You’re not too bad at swinging a sword yourself.”

  He laughed the kind of deep belly laugh that makes you have to smile.

  “I wonder what the awakening would do for you,” he said as we turned, facing each other, no longer pacing as we came together again. Where the battle master had been quick, Krom was lightning-fast. I could barely keep up with him, stopping one out of three of his attacks.

  My time training and being Yasu’s dummy paid off as I was able to turn the hits that made it through my guard so they, thankfully, didn’t penetrate my armor, but they were making me lose mobility quickly.

  I caught him cross guard to cross guard; planting one boot, I kicked him away savagely with the other. I heard something break, but he just got back on his feet without even a wince. What the hell was he made of!

  “What in the hell are you doing?”

  I winced at the cold voice I knew all too well.

  Krom raised an eyebrow at the source.

  “I got challenged,” I replied without looking back.

  “And you thought it was a great idea to accept it.” There was anger but also something else in her voice.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Who are you?” Krom asked.

  “I’m Yasu Masami Ono Cook. His wife,” she said without hesitation and with raw anger at the questioner, not the question.

  I wanted to look back at her, but I knew Krom would use the opening.

  He caught sight of her, glancing between me and her. His eyes widened as he fully focused on me.

  “And I—”

  I rushed Krom with a roar I felt inside me, cutting off what she was going to say. Krom focused on me entirely, blotting out the rest of the room as he turned. His sword glanced off mine as I went past him. His fist smashed into my back, causing me to stumble and fall. I slapped the floor and then kicked it, doing a backflip over him as he came at me again, and drove my fist into his unguarded ribs. He winced as I felt something crack. I did so, knowing all too well the feeling of broken ribs. I dropped to the floor, using my servo-assisted legs to kick out his.

  He controlled his fall and landed on top of me. His elbow found my face with a crunch and blood welled up. Enraged, I grabbed his armpit, amping my Mecha to full power as I tossed him off me and into another battle master’s chair.

  “Why is it always the damned face?” I picked myself up. I wasn’t the poster boy I’d been anymore as blood fell from my face. If I’d been wearing my helmet, I would’ve been fine, but it would have probably locked up from the hit.

  With the upgraded implants, I could see that my armor was heavily damaged and I was a walking bruise. Thankfully, painkillers and touches of Hellfire were keeping the wounds at bay.

  Krom picked himself up, a bloody gash across his chest from the battle master’s chair. He barreled at me again, this time swinging his sword. I parried him, dancing; his skill with a sword rivaled Yasu’s, I would guess. I had a hard time stopping all of his attacks from coming through. His blade darted down, cutting my lower thigh. Pain lanced through me as the auto-tourniquet of the battle suit activated and painkillers rushed to make me forget.

  He cut my right forearm. The armor caused his blows to pause as his blade had to force its way through the high-density armor.

  I forgot thinking about how to fight and let myself react as hours of sleep training came to the fore. I blanked out the rest of the room as we clashed again. We traded blows evenly; my speed matched his as I let myself react. I didn’t know what I was doing. I felt as if I were on another plane, as if I were playing Mecha Assault Two all over again.

  For once in the fight, I got the upper hand.

  I saw an opening as he turned away from me. I lunged forward as he quickened his turn, giving me enough time to recoil. He missed my head and I caught a blow of his sword with my shoulder. It was slow going through the dense material as he continued to try to cut off my arm. Unable to bring my sword to bear, I dropped it and picked him up. My tortured servos whined as he now tried to pull the blade free, struggling to try to get me to release my Mecha’s grip on him. I started running with him raised above my head. He let go of his sword; his fist connected with my jaw as I felt my Mecha throw him. I dropped to the floor, unconscious. Hellfire brought me back immediately as I watched him crash into a wall, rolling to the floor in a heap. I looked to my side—his sword was still in my shoulder.

  “I hate getting stabbed,” I wanted to say to the approaching female figure, but I realized my jaw was broken. My face felt strange and more of the weird liquid came down from my bleeding nose.

  I looked up at Yasu before the floor met my face.

  I heard the unsheathing of swords and Yasu.

  “What the hell are you doing? Put him down.”

  I felt myself being lifted as a calm, serene voice that reminded me of Monk’s spoke.

  “He has proved himself. He will be awakened.”

  “I so vouch for him and swear my fealty to him,” Krom’s voice carried. “You may come as his wife, but the rest must stay. This is our way and not for outsiders.”

  I passed out. I faintly realized I was awake, but unable to do anything except listen.

  “How can it not be for outsiders when you want me and him to do it?” Yasu demanded.

  “You are our battle mistress and master; we will follow you into battle and listen to your commands.”

  “Then why will you not leave him when I say so?”

  “The awakening is something beyond even a battle master and mistress. They cannot tell one to be awakened. Only the priests of the awakening can choose—”

  “What is this place?”

  “It was left by the Planner to awaken the true abilities of the Avarian,” the serene voice said as I was put on a table, which moved underneath me.

  “Can you release him?”

  After a few seconds, I felt the familiar catches being opened as I was pulled out of my Mecha. I opened my eyes and looked at Yasu.

  “Don’t I need that?” I said, my voice slurred as my body threatened to put me back under. The tourniquets weren’t tight enough and the resulting blood loss kept putting me under. I came back in a few minutes, now out of my Mecha. I coughed as blood came from a wound in my chest; Krom had hit me more times than I thought.

  “It has to be done.” She hit the uncompressing feature of the battle suit, pulling it off me rapidly. The table swarmed around the wounds, covering them.

  I coughed as I felt my lungs fill with liquid. I thrashed against restraints that had formed over my arms as I tried to turn to cough out the liquid. Then everything turned to inky darkness.

  Awakening

  I woke up slowly for the first time I could remember after being fixed up as a nurse came in.

  “They said you’d be awake at this time,” she said.

  My eyes adjusted nearly instantly to the b
right light that would’ve taken me a few minutes usually. I rubbed my head with my right hand, feeling my skin was rougher than before.

  “Fuck.” I recognized the naturally tough skin of the Avarian on my hand and arm.

  “Get me a mirror,” I hissed, barely able to hold in my rage as my mind worked over the information it had.

  She looked about to protest before she saw my face and quickly rushed out.

  A doctor replaced her, asking some questions I ignored while the first nurse appeared with a view screen.

  “Try not to be too alarmed,” the doctor said as the nurse turned the view screen on.

  Red eyes and the lack of a scar across my face looked back at me. I stood up from my bed, moving with ease as if I didn’t weigh a thing. I studied myself. My skin was thicker and tougher; it had the same restrictive feeling that the armor in my prototype battle suit had. My feet weren’t cold, even against the bare metal of the deck.

  I felt stronger and, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel the pain and aches of my body. The scars were gone, as well as all of the injuries I once had, including my melted arm. Which only served to highlight the changes someone had done to me—making me feel less human than ever before. I had been taken from my body, put into a new and completely alien one without my permission.

  I felt violated. I felt helpless and I felt angry.

  “Who did this to me?” I growled as I looked at the doctor, the nurse having already retreated. I noticed that before, where I’d have been probably looking right at her, my height had increased dramatically. I was now the same size standing on my own two feet that I would be if I were in a Mecha. Fucking great.

  “An awakening priest. It seems that when you defeated Krom, you passed a test to lead the awakened. With that, they, in turn, awoke you. If they didn’t, then you would have died from the head trauma. You were leaking cranial fluid.”

  Explains that weird liquid.

  “Your wife went with you and was with you when Krom brought you back. We have no idea where you went. Krom wouldn’t say. Your wife doesn’t know either.” Of course she doesn’t—she just stood there and watched me be turned into...something!