“I just ate all my vegetables.” Verlu grinned as Henry leaned back, trying to force more air into his lungs. Verlu made it look easy.
“Show-off,” he said as Verlu continued to grin. Henry joined in as he looked away, trying to not give the other man the satisfaction of seeing him grinning at his antics.
“All right, bring it in. I want everything.”
The leaders shuffled a bit but mostly stayed up against the walls before Henry started his lecture on who was doing what, anything new that was added to the schedule and such before leaving the floor open for anyone with questions or input.
Verlu leaned forward. He was one of the very few Sarenmenti platoon commanders and, from the way his people talked about him, Henry didn’t doubt his commitment to the Free Fleet or his people.
“I believe that we should make an effort to intermingle humans with other alien races, as I have seen from your histories, if one group is not connected or knowing of the other, then prejudice and racism is the usual outcome,” he said.
“Do you have a plan to get humans more used to alien races?” Henry asked.
“Allow more people to come up here other than shrinks. With the civvie jobs, have them stay here a few days maybe, or also have postings for jobs going to Chaleel or Avarian. If we bind these people together, then they will all become stronger and have a better understanding of the galaxy we live in,” Verlu said.
The other commanders nodded in agreement.
“I’ll take it to Salchar.” Henry already knew Salchar was working on a similar plan, but it was good to see others taking initiative.
“Also, if we took leave on the surface, that could help. Maybe ask which businesses would be interested in having us and if they have items that all races could use, not just humans.”
“Yeah, it would be nice to have some food that isn’t a brick or slime.”
“I dunno, I’m rather getting a taste for the stuff.” Erkshaw was playfully pushed by those around him as they overturned his opinion.
“You need to eat some real damned food, and soon!” Bok Soo said to Erkshaw’s laugh.
“I would but it seems that certain people can eat enough for an entire company!” Erkshaw said, unable to hide his amusement.
Bok Soo took on a look of innocence as he shrugged. “Well, I can’t help it if you aren’t fast enough.”
“That’s the biggest oxymoron I’ve ever heard.” Erkshaw smiled as he shook his head.
“Get the boy some food! His brain’s getting fried—doesn’t even know what an oxymoron is!” Bok Soo yelled out, pointing to Erkshaw with exaggerated gestures.
“Calm down, you two.” Henry shook his head. “I swear, you two are becoming the fleet’s foodies with the food you’re eating.”
Both of them took on looks of mock innocence and Henry chuckled at their attempts to admonish his point, which divulged into better tasting dishes.
Henry let it go on as the commanders started talking about different foods, highlighting the high points or low points of each dish.
Foodies—I’m in charge of a bunch of foodies. Henry grinned mentally as it wound down.
“Now, there’s one more piece of information I have to pass on.”
Talk died away as people looked to Henry with a mutual respect he shared with them all.
“Now, I know that we have lost a lot of people, to the dark and going home. It’s left holes in our organization and, according to the Syndicate ways, we should be marrying singles together to create new teams.” He paused. The reactions of his people would be how he could gauge the Commandos as a whole reacting.
“Salchar and I have decided to let people pick for themselves whether they want to uphold their marriages or to have them annulled.”
Slow nods came back as they understood what he was saying, thinking on it.
“Any issues?”
“If a couple decide to end their marriage, will they still work together, or be split up?”
“That will be on a case-by-case basis. You will have to make that decision with your Commandos to make this transition quick, painless, and keep us running.”
No one had any other points so Henry got them back on their feet and led them toward the restaurants that were taking up slots in Hachiro’s hull. They were in an area that was being called the “hump.”
The hump was a third of the way into the station. It was where the personnel crew had lived but was becoming the entertainment district, with the command center separated from it and connected to the training and barracks areas that lined the middle of the station.
“Maybe these meetings are getting better,” Rosa, one of Bok Soo’s company commanders, said. Bok Soo laughed.
“All right, get some food, you goons. I’ll pay this time,” Henry said.
The commanders seemed more like kids as they moved en masse to the Sarenmenti who quirked an eyebrow at them all.
Rick, as well as Min Hae and the intelligence division, were in charge of making a monetary system. It was based off platinum, getting the nickname plat. AIH and Chaleel had both adopted it. Some groups were trying to on Earth, but it was difficult.
Plat was connected with a person’s identity chip. They passed the chip over a reader, similar to the one on personal rooms, and were asked whether they wanted to pay however much plat an item cost. If they accepted, they got their purchase.
“Are you eating or trying to read?” he asked as the commanders went from poring over the menu to ordering. Henry sat back, waiting as someone sat beside him.
“Ah, the piranhas at the ole watering hole,” Rick said as if he were reflecting on an old memory instead of watching a bunch of Commando commanders shooting the shit and making a ruckus.
“Definitely nothing like any military group I’ve seen,” Henry said as Rick grinned.
“Oh, we’re completely insane; of course we’re going to be a bit different.”
Henry let out a burst of air as his mouth tried to betray his amusement.
Rick leaned over. “We have a twitch, yes, confirmed. A twitch! By jove, I believe that handsome young Rick has done it!” Rick said in an announcer’s voice.
“The annoying chief of staff, he is,” Marleen said from behind him, as if she were bestowing great knowledge on them.
“Hey, Marleen.” Henry nodded as she smiled.
“Henry. What’s my errant husband been up to now?”
“Admiring the view, as some would say,” Rick supplied as Marleen quirked an eyebrow and her mouth in question; a hint of a grin showed through. “Not that kind of view. You know I only have eyes for you, my lovely carjack.”
She couldn’t stop her grin as Henry shook his head.
“You really are such a charmer,” Henry said.
Rick grinned, clearly unrepentant as he put an arm around Marleen’s waist. She mussed up his hair and leaned into him.
Henry knew the two of them would elect to keep their relationship. He found them odd but they worked. His own wife died when they’d landed on Chaleel. They hadn’t interacted much, acting more like acquaintances than a married couple. Sometimes he wished he had someone to confide in and hold when the times got rough.
Rick must’ve sensed the change in mood as he broke Henry’s line of thought.
“So, food field trip?” he asked as Henry looked over his commanders, taking over an array of tables but leaving Rick, Marleen, and Henry to themselves.
“Those who eat together, work better together. The better the food, the better the working together,” Henry said and Rick grinned.
“So, you’ve been talking to Foodie McBook Soo,” he said.
Henry nodded. “He is quite the foodie. Plus, he made a compelling argument.”
“I bet he did,” Rick said as he and Henry shared a look. Rick grinned wildly as the corner of Henry’s mouth twitched.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got a dinner planned already.” Marleen hit Rick with her hip. The impact made him shake a little
. Since training, the two had gotten on a level field with the amount they could throw around.
Although Marleen still looked as though she could lift cars in her free time, Henry, like every Commando, was a wealth of muscle. It’s probably one of the reasons the Commandos’ old families think we’re so scary, he thought as Rick picked himself up.
“See ya later, cattle herder,” he said.
Henry stood to join the end of the food line. “You can bet on it, squid brain.” He grinned as Rick cocked his arm and brought it back as if he’d won something significant.
Marleen made a fake annoyed face and pulled him away. Rick couldn’t stop grinning.
Henry didn’t know how he could be so damned happy, but it was nice to have someone who would always look on the bright side of things. He reflected as he ordered a burger and got a bill. His eyes widened. No wonder Bok Soo wanted to bring us here. He passed his hand over the reader as credits flowed out of his account.
“So, you’ve got next time, Bok Soo.” He took a seat and waited for his food.
Bok Soo looked up in alarm, his mouth full as others thanked Henry and Bok Soo for the next meal.
Bok Soo grinned as he cleared his throat. “But of course, Commander,” he said as they shared a look, both grinning.
Rebuilding
“So, how is the training going?” I asked Henry as we engaged in our weekly meeting aboard the Resilient. The chambers on Hachiro weren’t built yet after the redesigning of the station.
“Better than I hoped. I actually want to see if we can get some experts in from Earth. We’ve kind of cobbled a method to doing things, but people trained in such matters would refine our skills immensely.”
I nodded and a sense of tiredness washed over me. I grabbed the water in front of me and downed another Wake-Up pill. I didn’t miss the looks. Wake-Up and I had become best friends since I had taken over as the commander of the Free Fleet.
“See that it’s done. The countries’ leaders have agreed to allow their people to apply to the civilian job boards that we have. The countries that have agreed to put in the work to become the spacefaring front of Earth have finally finished their plans and are organizing a system that would work for everyone who joins their community.” I couldn’t keep the exasperation out of my voice. I had spent most of the past month and a half going over the damn plan. The only reason I hadn’t given up on it was the attempt to try to get the families of my Commandos, and the Commandos who had left the Free Fleet, into space.
There was already a community of old Commandos who had banded together, getting their credits into a pool to buy the supplies they needed to go and get a mining colony started in the Oort cloud. They’d bought one shuttle and a handful of drones, mixed with living quarters, supplies, asteroid strippers, and refiners. We’d let the stuff go rather cheap to help them out and to see at least something happening in space.
“I made it pretty clear that the stipulations for claiming a planet were the same as it was with the Union. So I want us making a claim on the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.”
“So, pretty much the entire solar system?” Yasu asked.
Nearly everyone quirked their eyebrows.
“Moon and Mars for bases. We’ll begin terraforming Mars as soon as possible. Felix and Min Hae are already working on that. Jupiter and Saturn for fuel.”
“So, we’re taking them over?” Henry asked, not challenging but inquiring.
“No, we’re going to own a part of them, much like we have places on Chaleel.”
“What if they don’t agree to come under the Free Fleet’s protection?” Rick asked.
“Then we still hold onto everything but Earth.” I looked at my data pad before I looked up. “I’m wondering if we should keep the station here,” I said as everyone looked at me.
“Why?” Rick said. He probably knew most of my reasoning, but it was his job to play devil’s advocate.
“The nations have already shown that with the technology they have, they can get to Hachiro easily. If one of them doesn’t like us, then they can launch a missile up into us, and there’s only a small space where we can take it out and not harm the station or the planet. I think we move the station to Mars.”
I looked around and didn’t see many people disagreeing. “Shrift, how long do you think it would take to get us there?”
“If we move the ships around some, brace a few sections—I’m going to have to run this by Eddie—but I think that we can do this easily. Maybe in a few days we can be ready to move.”
I nodded. “Make it so.”
“Won’t Earth think we’re leaving them behind?” Rick asked.
“We’re pretty much pushing them into space whether they want it or not. To be honest, I’m caring less and less what they think at this point.” I was still tired.
“Maybe I should go down there for the next week and talk to them before we make a decision?” Rick asked.
I thought on it. It would allow me to catch up on my work and get into fighting trim. Also, to get the sleep I needed. I was going to meetings all day, to only get hurtled into space and continue doing my work for the fleet.
“That might be an idea. I think that we’re going to need a department to deal with planets, like an ambassador. I’m just getting swamped,” I admitted. They nodded around the table in agreement. I could feel their care for me.
“All right, Rick, you take over tomorrow and sort out a department for it. I’ll get back to running the damned fleet.”
He nodded, no grins now as we had spent more than one meeting in this very room with me complaining about the world leaders and their petty antics.
I sighed, feeling that weight lift from my shoulders. “Okay, Shrift, how are we doing on ships?” I sat back, looking into equally tired eyes.
“The corvettes are good, we’ve cannibalized one of the Syndicate battle cruisers, and I feel that we should pull apart the destroyer Dark Palace. It’s close to being useless, and the parts will allow us to get our weapon systems on the station to something like thirty percent coverage, or the ships could have a gun online for every destroyer class and down.”
“Can the destroyer run on the small power plants we’re pumping out?” I asked.
“Yes, though it wouldn’t be that effective if it only ran on them. There’s slots for three.”
I looked to Rick. “There’s an incentive if I’ve ever heard one. Strip the destroyer of every piece of weaponry and mil tech. We’ll wait to see if Earth is willing to speed a few things up for the ship; if not, we give it to the Chaleelians. They need traders, and badly, if they want to connect with their old contacts. Or if we want to trade with them for foodstuffs.”
“There is also that patrol leaving to check the surrounding systems in two days,” Rick said.
I pulled open the file as I drank more water. My brain was having a hard time remembering it.
The plan was to check out the surrounding systems, place sensor buoys in them and then have the patrol return to Sol system where they would become a reaction force under Commander Heston.
The patrol would be one newly acquired battle cruiser under Commander Boot, a Kuruvian who I had given command to after Parnmal. He had done little of note, which surprised me for a Kuruvian, but he knew his ship the best, got it into the best standard he could, and his people likened him to a statue instead of the sugar-rush-like Kuruvian engineers—much like my own sultry Eddie and overworked Shrift.
I marked in a meeting with the ship commander as I checked the remaining forces of the patrol. They’d have one destroyer and three corvettes, all of the best condition possible. Their mission was to jump from system to system and report back. It was a time-arduous task, but it helped to know what was in the neighborhood.
With the loss of our most repaired ships, it left me with an array of ships that Shrift wasn’t giving up on just yet—the cracked-armored shell of a battle cruiser, eight serviceable corvettes, and four damnable cruisers—I’d
hated their design ever since I looked at their statistics. Although they try to have the speed of a corvette, they’re usually a third slower and much bigger. That’s necessary to hold the missiles they use, but makes them lack in the cannons that the corvette or any ship bigger than a cruiser might use. Plus, it was damned confusing to have cruisers and battle cruisers. Like, what bonehead thought of having the same name for two different classes? It wasn’t as if the cruiser wasn’t ever in battle, even though it had damned near little use. Lastly, there were two destroyers, the Resilient, and the two carriers.
I was hoping to get the one close battle cruiser online, but it had suffered major EMP damage, meaning most of its systems had to be pulled out and put back in. That took a lot of time. Luckily, Eddie said he had an idea for the ship, as well as the broken shell of the other cruiser.
“Well, unless Shrift pulls anything out anytime soon, that’s all they’re getting. I’m feeling pretty damned thin as it is. All of our ships are in bad condition,” I said, with Kim nodding in response.
I tried to not look at the further eight ships listed as awaiting work.
“Henry, how are those care packages?” I looked to him as he pulled up a map on the holographic projector, showing a changed world from the one we had left.
“As soon as we got the go ahead, we’ve been dropping aid where we can. Now we’re dropping a squad of Commandos with them after recent issues with people stealing supplies, hoarding and such. We got that issue dealt with quickly. Food, clean water, and habitation are being created en masse, at a very quick rate. I believe in a week they will be able to support themselves. Policing will become an issue, of course, though that is something for Earth to sort out.” He looked to Rick, who nodded.
Rick and I had spoken on the issue before. I had gotten some tentative agreements, but hopefully he could gain guarantees.
“What about the Commandos group heading for the Oort cloud?” I asked the room.
Free Fleet Box Set 1 Page 61
