Free Fleet Box Set 1

by Michael Chatfield

  I kept up the pretense of looking for a replacement as I looked over the officers making an argument as to why I should remain in charge of the Free Fleet. The president of the United States even offered one of the joint chiefs to take my position. I could see right through it. The new chief was nothing but the president’s puppet and would do anything the president said.

  The break was extended three times until closing remarks, and I stood to speak.

  “I thank all of you for your suggestions. Your military officers are of the highest caliber, and you are lucky to command such loyal and proud men.” I paused before continuing. “That is the reason I cannot take them.” I rolled over the startled outbursts. My voice’s subsonics caused them to be beaten into silence.

  “The Free Fleet is a force that will defend planets, not countries. I cannot in good faith place one of your officers in command of the Free Fleet in fear that they will use that power to help their old countries. It is not their fault they have been trained amazingly to defend their country, not to defend the human race.”

  “Again, we ask how you think you’re better suited for this job,” someone said.

  “I have no affiliations with one government or another, and I have done nothing but fight alongside people from other countries and aliens from different planets for a year and a half. As to me being violent. Yes, I damned well am. I would be dead and my fleet destroyed if I wasn’t violent and ready to use force to destroy the enemy before they destroyed me.

  “Do not kid yourselves. The universe is a terrible place. It is not for the weak of heart. I am also, through my gaming experience, better placed tactically and strategically to command the Free Fleet. I am capable of working ground fights and space battles at the same time. You have admirals and generals. In the Free Fleet, there is me. Certainly, I have a chief of staff and the commander of the Armored Marine Commandos, commanders and personnel who are amazing, but I need to know everything that’s going on and use my forces accordingly.

  “Your people have been trained to be soldiers or pilots or captains. My people have been trained to be in multiple positions. They need to be adaptable. The Free Fleet is no place for someone who wants to just be a grunt. They’ll be a Commando, an engineer, damage control, armorers, and any number of hundreds of jobs.

  “I thank you for the offers, but I am unable to accept them at this time. If they are able to think of the good of humanity, then I will accept them into my ranks, though they will go through the same training as my grunts and have to prove themselves. In the Free Fleet, officers are awarded on merit.”

  “Not trying to be offensive, but what is your merit?” the president of the US said.

  “If my people didn’t want me leading them, then I wouldn’t be the Commander of the Free Fleet.” My protection detail moved uncomfortably around me.

  “If you want your officers to give it a shot, they must be released from your military and they may apply to the Free Fleet. The conditions for application to the Free Fleet are on the information site.” I saw more than one leader flinch at my words as the speaker ended the day. After a few obligatory farewells, I was finally leaving the talks building and headed through the throngs of reporters to my awaiting shuttle.

  I have the feeling it won’t be the last time my abilities are called into question. I remembered a time when I had not wanted to be responsible for anyone else other than myself and Mecha Tail. The shuttle settled onto the ground. The ramp lowered; Yasu was waiting there.

  “What are you doing here?” I muttered as everyone got on and the shuttle sealed.

  “I think it’s about time you saw Korea. I know that Mecha Tail’s families want to see you,” she said as we picked up and were already flying toward Korea. Thankfully, the reporters had learned from yesterday and were well back from the shuttle.

  “All right,” I said, knowing I’d lost.

  With a smile, she sat down beside me and we went to Korea. The shuttle parked on top of a multiplex parking lot nearby the apartment building Mecha Tail had called home. I walked to the building, my group garnering stares and pictures. I came out onto the floor where Mecha Tail had lived and breathed. I put in my code for the door, which opened into a room of people training on simulators.

  “Salchar!”

  I heard a cry from one of the promising newbies who had brought a Japanese sword for good luck to every event. The same one I used to attack a grabbing arm with, and gotten stuck between my shoulder blades. The room was a rush as people turned, realizing who I was, and raced over. My manager was among them. Family members, new members, and most of the newbies as well all gathered around me.

  “Get back to training, people! This war isn’t going to win itself!” my manager yelled as he grabbed a new kid I didn’t recognize. “Get me eight jjajangmyuns!” He brought us into the kitchen, ordering us to sit as he went in the fridge, throwing energy shakes and bars at us. Without thinking, and from a lifetime of habit, I started eating them as fast as possible, as if I might start playing another game at any minute. I was done before Janice even ripped open the wrapper of her energy bar.

  “They’re all good; eat them,” I said to my protection detail, who dutifully ate the food, at first hesitant and then rapidly. Ship food had gotten quite boring.

  “Remind me to get a hold of the company that makes these bars. I think I have a proposition for them. It’s better than the food I’ve had for the last year and a half.”

  My manager tsked as the new kid came in, carrying jjajangmyun. I couldn’t stop my eyes lighting up as he put it on the table. I grabbed chopsticks, not waiting for the others.

  “You always knew my weaknesses.” I dug in, unable to see my manager’s face as I devoured the bowl of food.

  “This tastes good,” Krom said as he similarly devoured a bowl.

  The manager gave me and the Avarians two bowls apiece and the rest one. He was like a mind reader, I’d swear.

  “So, what has been going on with the rest of the Mecha Tail?” my manager asked.

  I finished off my second bowl and sat back, satisfied. “I have Monk running a station, which we’re using as our base. I sent Cheerleader off as a fleet commander to have a look around the area and to create alliances with more planets, making them aware of our existence. Bok Soo is in charge of a battalion of AMC. He loves being in the field too much, and there was no way any of them were going to take a desk job.”

  “No, I suppose they wouldn’t,” he said with a knowing smile as he turned to Yasu. “Though I didn’t think we would ever have the esteemed leader of the Samurai’s Revenge in this apartment! It is good to see you again Yasu Masami Ono. Or do you prefer Blade Mistress?”

  “Yasu is fine,” Yasu said, a little color on her cheeks.

  “Very well. So, I heard that you two are married,” he said, his voice light but his eyes serious.

  “Yes, we’ve checked the records. We’re listed as married on Earth databases. It’s about as real as it can get,” I said.

  Yasu shot me a cold glance as my manager smiled.

  “Ah yes, and will you be remaining married? You two do make a lovely couple.” There was nothing but warmth in his voice.

  “Uh, well...”

  “We’ll see what the future holds.” Yasu came to my rescue as I heard a knock at the door.

  “Expecting guests?”

  “Yes, I am.” He smiled.

  I heard “Joo Mi!” come from the hallway and a rush of feet. I rose from my chair, turning in shock to face the Mecha Tail’s family members as they rushed to hug me in the enclosed space.

  After a few minutes of heavy hugging, smiles, and greetings, the women took Yasu and Janice, pushing the rest of us out of the kitchen and sending a few husbands to get ingredients as they set to making a feast. I spoke with the fathers of the other members of Mecha Tail and the mothers listened in as they cooked. The whole place was quiet as even the gamers put down their gear and listened in as I talked about what we’d gon
e through.

  As I finished, the meal was ready and we sat down in the main gaming room. The gamers were herded into seats by the women and told to eat to get bigger and stronger or there was no way they’d be able to join the Free Fleet. Yasu sat next to me, as the other couples did, and talked to the wives animatedly as I held my own conversations, eating my fill and talking well into the night.

  The meal was cleared away and good-byes said as the families loaded me and my protection detail up with food. They said good-bye to us as we ascended the shuttle’s ramp, which had gathered a crowd. They stepped back as we climbed into the sky. For the first time in a long time, I smiled happily. Yasu took the food to our room as I took a few treats with me to the AMC quarters on Hachiro station.

  Bok Soo came to the door groggily. “What is—”

  I put the kimchi in his mouth.

  He bit down on it and his eyes went wide. “Amoni’s kimchi!”

  “She sends her best, and I’m taking you down tomorrow morning before the talks with a shuttle, dropping off the first Free Fleet visitors.” He started to make excuses around a mouth of kimchi but I raised my hand. “Yes, James. Thank you, James. I will introduce my wife to her, James. Good night, James. Is what you were going to say? Right?”

  “It is!” his wife said from inside the room.

  He shot her a dark look, turning back as I gave him an armful of foodstuffs.

  “See you in the morning!” I turned and walked away.

  “I guess you will.” Bok Soo grinned and turned back inside.

  I worked on the paperwork which was, as usual, piling up in the station commander’s cabin. Rick had been doing brilliantly in my stead while I was at the negotiations. I’d asked for his recommendation for the station commander to take over as he worked with the people of the station more. The intelligence group was sifting through the information held on the Syndicate servers and had more than a bit of useful information. But there were a limited number of intelligence personnel, and I was also using their abilities to help me in the talks with Earth. It was yet another area I had to work on expanding. The shrinks had helped put most of the recruits back on Earth. A few too far gone to return had been added to the ranks of the training Avarian under the tutelage of the Sarenmenti Special Forces. It would allow them to learn how to use anger, and after their training, they would have the option to quit.

  The Marines who had boarded the Resilient had disappeared off the grid as I had expected them to. I just hoped they hadn’t seen too many of our secrets. The fleet was at seventy percent effective. Meaning they could fly and fire, but most of them needed quality time in a dock. The Resilient’s fusion power plants were sitting in her storage so the other ships could be put online again. Both Eddie and I wanted to get her back to Parnmal to effect the repairs, but we were painfully aware how defenseless she was, so we were going to try putting her plants in later when the crews had had some time to rest and we could dedicate more people to the project.

  Before I knew it, Yasu was walking in the room with an unimpressed look. “You stayed up all night again, didn’t you?”

  “I guess I did.” I slipped a capsule of Wake-Up into my pocket. I had a feeling I’d need it. She shook her head as I got up and walked to the shuttle that would drop off the visitors to Korea and then go to Canada.

  Bok Soo was already aboard with his wife. I nodded to him. I took my own seat as the shuttle dropped down toward Earth. We made three stops in Korea before Bok Soo’s stop. He was getting dropped off in the same parking lot I’d dropped off the day before. The parents of Mecha Tail swarmed him and his wife, dragging them away and thanking me as I smiled, taking off again.

  As we came closer to Japan, Yasu held my hand. “I want to see it for myself,” she said, her face emotionless as her voice quivered.

  “Are you sure?” I looked to her as she looked at the harness across from her.

  “Yes.” Strength filled her voice.

  “Pilot, could you put us down at the southern crater of Japan?” I said into my comms.

  “Are you sure, sir?”

  “Yes.” My tone was solid.

  “Be there in two minutes.”

  We waited in silence as the shuttle touched down gently on the rim. There was a crater centered on where Yasu’s house had once been. I led her out by the hand as she stepped to the edge of the crater. It had filled with water, stretching from one side of the island to the other. Yasu sunk to her knees and she touched the side of the crater. There was absolutely nothing for miles. It had all been ripped apart by the aftereffects of the kinetic weapon. She held up a handful of burnt dirt, letting it fall through her fingers as wind whipped it away from her. I saw her shoulders shudder.

  “Protection detail, look out!” I said. They all turned to face outward as I knelt beside her. She turned, burying her head in my chest as I held her.

  “We’ll make them pay.”

  All she did was nod as she brought herself under control. “You have a meeting to go to. Let me stay here. Pick me up afterward.”

  “I’ll leave you Shreesht.”

  She pulled away slowly and gave me a smile. “Show them the military man you are.” She rose and sauntered away.

  I watched her go while I walked back onto the shuttle. I wanted to stay with her but as much as I did, there were more important things to do, and she knew that. I promised myself I would keep her safe in the future and by Hachiro’s bones, I was going to punish or kill all of the Syndicate for their crimes.

  With this new fire, I sat down and readied myself for the talks.

  “Shreesht, look out for her, please.”

  He nodded, following her with his weapon ready as the shuttle took off.

  Beers, Brides, and Politics

  Henry stroked what was becoming a decent-sized beard as the shuttle touched down on a secluded farm in Texas.

  A man sat on his deck, sipping a beer, seeming a bit annoyed with the dust-up created by the thrusters. A woman could be seen in the kitchen, a smile on her face as she worked on something.

  “Thanks for the ride.” Henry jumped off the shuttle before it landed, craning against the dust-up as he walked to the house. The shuttle added thrust and set off toward the East Coast of the United States.

  The man eyed Henry. “Looks like you finally grew in that beard, huh?” He offered Henry a beer.

  Henry dropped his issued gear bag and took a sip. “Might be water, but it’s a hell of a lot better than what I’ve been drinking,” Henry muttered as he recounted what the man had said and took a seat in the handmade lawn chairs. “Yeah, no regs against it in the Free Fleet. With a Mecha, it covers everything—no gas masks anymore.”

  “Henry!” The woman who had been in the kitchen came out.

  Henry rose with a smile as he wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, Mom.” He realized for the first time how much he’d grown since being away. His mom looked tiny compared to him, and his arms almost engulfed her.

  “Well, at least you’ve been eating right,” she said, her eyes misty as she looked him over.

  “You don’t even want to know what they’ve been feeding us.” Henry shook his head. The green goop was still in circulation and disgusting as ever. He took a long pull of his beer as his mom talked.

  “Good thing we’ll be having a proper meal then, isn’t it,” she said as he smiled.

  “Just got to wait for your brothers and your sister to show up.” His dad grabbed another beer.

  “They’re all coming?”

  “Of course!” his mom said as a timer went off. “I’ve got to get that!” She rushed off.

  Henry smiled. I missed this. He took his seat again.

  “So you’re in this Free Fleet now,” his dad said.

  “Yup, I’m the CAMC.”

  “That’s pretty odd sounding.” His dad gave him a look as he laughed.

  “It stands for Commander of the Armored Marine Commandos.”

  “British, eh?”


  “Nope, Free Fleet.” Henry finished the beer off. Might as well be good as water. That metal-peeling crap’s making my tolerance go up.

  “How is it?” Henry’s dad had been a Marine, did a few tours. Most of them had been hairy. He’d gotten out after getting a round to the leg. It caused him near chronic pain, but he always said he’d seen much worse. Now Henry truly understood what he meant.

  He looked at his dad with a quick answer on his lips as he saw a soft but steady look. You can tell me; I know something about it, his dad’s eyes seemed to say as he leaned forward, grabbing a piece of hay and played with it absently. His father just waited as he looked at that piece of hay.

  “I’ve been in contact and battles, but this is different. There’s no safety. It’s nerve-racking, crazy, and damned ridiculous.” He looked to his dad. “It’s nothing like what you told me it’d be like when I was enlisting. It’s so much more.” Henry couldn’t even grasp the words.

  “There’s no stopping. There’s no rest. We’re constantly in a state of preparing for whatever comes next, and every time, it’s gotten harder and harder. Battles are fought in a three-dimensional battlefield with multiple factors. It’s a mess and it’s terrifying, but we keep it together.

  “Everything wants to kill us—the enemy, their ships, their stations, their people, their slaves, even space. Space is the coldest bitch of all. The dark will do anything to take you into its embrace. Then you lose people and that stuff just faded away. That stuff just disappeared and the only thing that matters is getting what you need to ensure that your people are safe. The Marines is a brotherhood, but it was more of a hangout compared to this. I wake up, eat, train, hang out, and sleep with my lowliest team member to Commander Salchar. It makes us closer, and it makes losses terrible.” Images of the things sentients had done to others passed behind his eyes.

  His dad sighed. “It’s not going to be easy, but it never is.” He looked out onto his fields without seeing them.