From the Black (Free Fleet Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  Edvasho had complete faith in Xentar's ability to destroy these Free Fleet creatures. He would deal with those that stopped him from finishing his fight with the Union. No one would stop his revenge.

  Ashota might have talked of subterfuge and trickery.

  What does it matter if they try to trick me, I will make any and all nothing but notes of victory in the stories of the clans.

  ***

  Krom watched as his battle master used Min Hae's advice to great effect, Kalu Star Warriors were heading out from Heija and going straight towards the nearest jump limit. There was over two and a half thousand ships that left. The Free Fleet forces on Heija had done better than the estimates.

  The second fleet waited in orbit. It was split into four thousand star-warriors and a thousand star-destroyers.

  “How long until we get to the planet?” Salchar asked, Krom sensed his battle masters anxiety. Their battle mistress was down there, as well as thousands of Free Fleet personnel, Kuruvian and thirteen other races fighting side by side.

  “Five hours,” Milra said.

  “Good. Vort, open a channel to the second fleet's leader. Let's see if we can't even the playing field.”

  “Channel is open, there will be a time delay of a few minutes,” Vort warned.

  A Kalu appeared on the main screen. Its armor shone with scratches and the details of battle, much like the Commandos own armor.

  “You must be the one called Salchar,” the Kalu said, its helmet open, revealing its face but still covering its lower jaw which moved freely.

  “Yes I am, what is your title?” Salchar asked.

  “I am Xentar, one of the two sub leaders to the great Edvasho, I am the one that will record our battles to tell those clans that follow mine,” Xentar said.

  “I wish to offer you battle as my forces on Heija have. If you agree we shall fight on the ground, our forces against yours. We can have support from ships in orbit by way of fighters, but we will not bomb the planet with orbiting forces. Do you agree to these terms?” Salchar asked. He needed to get fresh Commandos on the ground and get the wounded onto the ships in orbit and properly fixed up.

  Whether Edvasho or the Syndicate won, the cast was made. I was looking to keep the most people alive no matter the outcome of the Syndicate-Kalu confrontation.

  These rules were similar to the ones that Avarians would agree on to have an honourable battle. The planner had made them realize that full out war was only a way to create animosity. It was why there had only been small incursions, or great battles where primes of clan leaders fought to settle a matter. Krom wanted to shake himself as he thought of how close the Avarians had been to becoming a race akin to the Kalu. The awakened ones gave order, while the planner’s lessons stopped full war. He taught the Avarians to work together and to attempt to settle issues without violence.

  “I agree to those terms.”

  “Very well, then we shall have our battle,” Salchar said, his voice emotionless. Everyone knew the kind of hell that was about to occur on a planet they hadn't seen till a month and a half ago.

  “The Kalu forces have all departed Heija, the second fleet is going down and moving so that they cover less of the orbital of Heija,” Krat said.

  “Very well. Rick you have command of the fleet,” Salchar said, standing. He and Rick exchanged half salutes as Krom turned and moved to the doors that would allow Shreesht, Salchar and himself out into the rest of the ship.

  There were no commandos here, they had all been tasked to be either ship security or to be on the shuttles. Krom exited the first armored door, Salchar and Shreesht with him. They made quick work getting through Resilient. The ship had become their home, with that familiarity they had found short cuts.

  They moved through the armory, they had already gotten their ammunition and weapons and breezed through as different personnel on the ship were getting into powered armor. Salchar moved ahead of Krom, Shreesht moving to Krom's side, flanking their battle master as they came out into the shuttle bay.

  Powered armor moved in concert as commandos were loaded onto shuttles. HAPA's towered over the powered armor, their steps loud and lumbering as they moved their massive frames, weapons, and ammunition.

  Cargo masters yelled, shuttles rotated out of their storage and the Free Fleet started their pledge.

  “We are the Free Fleet, the Armored Marine Commandos, the ship personnel, the guns, the armor and shields. We are the defenders. We are the reckoning. We are the black. We have sent many to the black, and lost many to it. We are vengeance. We are rage. We are fury turned Free Fleet. We do not stop. We do not pause. We do not give up. Remember our names as we put on our battle suits. Come, test us, betray us and see the wrath of the good people that go to war.” The shuttle bay was surprisingly quiet as people continued to move. The volume of everyone’s voices together, blanking out the cacophony of noises.

  “I ask you one question. Will you fight with me to save your brothers and sisters?” Salchar asked, his voice low, but carrying through the shuttle bay.

  Everyone stomped their agreement, the shuttle bay shaking.

  “Then let us crush these bastards and show them what the hell we're all about!” His voice rising with emotion.

  Free Fleet personnel turned Armored Marine Commandos bellowed their agreement and stomped it.

  Salchar made his way to the HAPA's in storage. He climbed up the leg, turning and backing up to the harness. His back locked into grooves as restraints wrapped around his chest and torso. Salchar reached up, grabbing the two free-floating joy-sticks, moving them he manipulated the machine guns at his hips to rise above his head and move from side to side.

  Salchar didn't even need to move his feet to move the HAPA. Instead he used his nerve ports to great effect. The HAPA reacted like a second body for Salchar as he moved the massive creation out of its storage. Krom jumped up the second HAPA. Shreesht was just being sealed in his as Krom latched his powered armor into the HAPA. The harness locked in around him, restraining him, but also accessing his nerve ports. The feeling of invincibility that powered armor gave was similar to the feeling he had when being in the HAPA, in the HAPA, he felt like Ares, the god of war.

  Krom lumbered forward, following Salchar to their transport.

  Chapter Sorry we're late honey

  Yasu watched as the Kalu turned and fled.

  “Get those weapons back online!” She barked, not knowing why the damned monsters were running away, but she would take it.

  Powered armor rushed through the trenches, ammunition was collected and cross-loaded as weapons along the trenches were checked, loaded with whatever could be found, or thrown away when they were found to be useless.

  “Use the Kalu to bolster defences,” Yasu said, grabbing a Kalu and tossing the armored form onto the trench wall. There was so many of the creatures it was hard to walk through the trenches.

  “See to the wounded and the dead,” Yasu said as gun teams reported that they had manned something.

  It was a somber mood as commandos were shifted to the rear as fast as possible. Those that had suffered through wounds, finally took hell fire and were sent for recovery.

  Yasu opened her armored forearm. Hitting it as the mechanics stopped. The hit was enough to get them back in action. She put a bandage around her cut up forearm. She'd found herself under a Kalu, its damned claws in her arm. A trust of her blade had ended the thing. Though her forearm still bore the marks of its attack.

  The bandage sealed around the wound, infusing it with all the magic of medical sciences. She closed her armored forearm around her own.

  Her other wounds would have to wait.

  “Batteries!” She yelled, for once her Commandos were running low on power. The call went up as Yasu picked out three Commandos and sent them to get any supplies they could scrounge up.

  “Sweet black!” Someone cursed as Yasu turned to look to the skies. Star Warriors were departing at an increasing rate. Ships stopped
firing on them. No one wanted to do anything to make the Kalu turn around and come back to Heija.

  Yasu pulled out her magazine, checking her rail gun, then pistol.

  By the time the last Star Warrior had left Heija, the commandos had returned with boxes of ammunition and battery packs. Yasu accessed her control panel, locking her powered armor, then ejecting her spent battery. It smoked as a replacement was inserted. Yasu's armor covered it again as systems rebooted. After a few moments she was operational again.

  She changed the battery in her rail gun and leaned against the trench's wall. She pulled up a HUD of the battlefield, sending messages to Commanders to link up different groups, or sort out commanders for the remainders of some groups. There had been four lines when they had started the fighting in the trenches. Now they had barely one and they had been fighting in the last couple hundred meters of the destroyers.

  Yasu opened her helmet, it blasted air into her face, alerting her to the bad conditions of the planet. She scanned the trenches and the battlefield beyond. Thousands of Kalu had died to get to and through the trenches. They had turned the brown of the rocks and the bare inches of dirt into a sea of silver and black. Their blood mixed with the dirt, turning it an odd color of olive brown.

  She looked to the trenches, Commandos were still being pulled out. So many had died, others might still from the grievous injuries they had sustained.

  More will die as that other fleet comes down, she thought angrily. It seemed as if the Kalu had heard her as the last Star Warrior cleared the atmosphere, there was a few minutes of pause and Star Warriors started descending, led by what looked like a shoal of fish as dark as night. They moved with an innate organic being, ships flying so close they had to be touching, or centimeters apart. They moved as one, some burned off due to entry, the majority survived as they reached the ground, turning like a whip on the back swing, right towards the Free Fleet ships and forces.

  “Let them have it!” Bok Soo barked as Yasu hit the side of her helmet, the manual override clamping her helmet shut and sealing it. She raised her rifle, firing right at the oncoming mass of ships. Destroyers and even the weapons on the Battle Cruisers and Talhalla that were free fired. MEF's took to the sky taking on anything they saw as a threat.

  All the fire power only slowed the writhing ship's movements.

  They hit the lines like a tsunami against the shore, they passed over the lines, lasers stabbing down and raking the Commandos and personnel that fired into the mass.

  The ships didn't slow, continuing through the destroyers and battle cruisers and carriers, then over Talhalla and up the Mountain's.

  Behind the main force four other smaller groupings of the ships charged at the lines.

  Fighting the first Kalu now looked as if it was child's play.

  ***

  I looked at the streams and writhing masses of ships as they descended like ichor onto Heija, they separated into streams, or came together as one with ease.

  “My Gods,” someone said over the close range comm channel.

  “Shuttle lift off in ten,” In Sook's voice came over the shuttle's speakers.

  I waited, a plan forming in my head.

  “Listen up HAPA's I think it's time to try something a little crazy,” I said, all of them greened up before I could tell them my plan. “Alright you bastards, lets test these new toys out,” I said, moving and feeling the power of the great machine wrapped around me.

  The shuttles lifted off, and powered out of the bay doors. For a few seconds there was nothing but the uncountable number of stars of space, then it turned towards Heija.

  We might be damned small, live for only a certain amount of time, but it's what we do with that, is what defines us, I thought. A well of feelings filling me as I knew that today people would die, people I cared for, hell I might even. It was a dooming thought, but if it helped keep those I loved and cared for alive, I would gladly pay any price.

  The Free Fleet might be low on personnel, but for this we had pulled out all the stops, Commandos from anywhere and everywhere had been pulled in. We had even transported entire Reserve Free Fleet Commando contingents from their planets to support this offensive. For once we had filled the Commando slots of every ship that was coming with us. A hundred and twenty thousand Commandos loaded into shuttles descended on Heija.

  The shuttle bucked as we entered atmosphere, there was a sort of calm before the storm feeling as we levelled off.

  “Good to go Commander,” the shuttle's pilot said. I hit my harness as the shuttle rotated, me and the HAPA's climbed to the upward side of the shuttle. The shuttle did not have wings only reling on engines. Meaning that there was no issue for a pilot flying sideways, well maybe a bit of disorientation.

  The ramp opened, wind howling as I grabbed the door-way and hauled myself out onto the outside of the shuttle. I activated my mag-boots and walked out of the shuttle and onto its hull.

  I moved as fast as I dared, thousands of feet above the ground. HAPA's were getting onto the hulls of their shuttles across the descending formations.

  I got to the front of the shuttle, Krom and Shreesht took a few minutes to get either side of me. I checked my outputs and my HAPA's readings.

  “Last Commando,” someone said. The ramp came up and sealed as the shuttle tilted, my sideways view becoming horizontal.

  Shuttles flipped as they too had the last HAPA get on top.

  The shuttle's guns sighted targets and started firing. The HAPA's waited, our rounds were as big as the shuttle's guns, but without the specialized stabilizers of the side guns.

  “It is good to see you once again Commander,” Planner said in his deep gravelly voice, sounding tired.

  “Sorry we weren't faster,” I said, guilt coloring my words.

  “What's done is done, now we can only look forward.”

  HAPA's started firing at the leading edge of shuttles, some of the black masses of Kalu fighters, turned towards the shuttles.

  “Got to go,” I said, cutting the channel with my finger balls and rotating my guns into position while taking off the safeties. The other HAPA's did the same.

  The range identifier ticked down.

  “Let them fucking have it!” I screamed as I pulled both of my triggers, the cannons firing as HAPA's joined in. It was a terrifying but exhilarating display of firepower. The streams caved in on themselves as they tried to cover one another and stay a solid stream. We pressed on, the streams and shuttles crossing one another.

  Then we were amongst them.

  “Come on you bastards, come and get me!” I yelled, turning and using each cannon individually, letting my eyes become unfocused, I didn't think I just fired at any threat I saw.

  The HAPA pilots had learned long ago how to work in concert to not only not hit one another, but so that they could cover multiple areas at once, we moved with ease and bare glances at our HUD's. Our guns never fell silent as the fighters kept descending on us.

  Then they were gone, as if someone had pulled of a blind fold, they were past us and taking a wide turn to compose themselves into proper streams and turn to us.

  The shuttles began flaring to cut speed and bring us over the battlefield. The fighters that had been swarming the lines were adding their forces to the swarms that had attacked the shuttles.

  The deceleration was immense but the battle suit forced blood through my body and limbs to make sure I didn't pass out.

  Then there was no momentum as the shuttle hovered.

  “Off we get, time we saw to our brothers and sisters,” I said, unlocking my mag boots and jumping the fifteen feet to the ground. The HAPA absorbed the impact, I felt nothing inside my powered armor as I stood and scanned the area. Communications came online, it seemed that the Kalu's armor acted as a signal absorbing material, which was why we couldn't make contact with them until we got past the Kalu ships in orbit.

  “Bok Soo,” I said as my comms suite registered a connection to him.

 
“Salchar?” He said, as if coming up from a deep sleep.

  “I want you and all of your people to trade off roles with us. It's about time they had time to recuperate, this battle is going to be a long one. I don't intend for them to collapse because of wake up overuse,” I said, my tone making it clear that this was not a request.

  “Yeah we'll get your lot sorted out. We just...,” Bok Soo trailed off, fatigue affecting him in a big way.

  “Carsickle and I will handle it,” I said, compiling the conversation I'd just had with him and orders to take over command sooner rather than later.

  “Okay, thanks for coming back Salchar,” Bok Soo said,

  I checked my HUD, coordinating weaknesses in the defences, and looking for a certain tag. My battle computer found her before I did.

  I moved with what felt like slow-motion steps, each shaking the ground as I moved, faster than any powered armor wearing commando would when running. Krom and Shreesht steps only served to further shake whatever we passed.

  I got to the trench of a familiar set of armor getting newly arrived reinforcements into position.

  I let her finish up, waiting for her to turn around, she looked up at me, confusion on her face. I opened my visor and leant my HAPA down.

  Shock and a myriad of emotions passed over her face, she scrambled up the side of the trench as I released my harness and jumped from my HAPA. We came together in a clash of armor, her legs around my midriff, my helmet closing as I fell backwards. I opened it again as she opened hers.

  “James,” she said, her voice melting my walls as I pulled her close, emotions running free through me. She released her hand, stroking my hair.

  “I knew you'd come back,” she said as I held on even tighter. “You’re going to crush me with that grip,” she teased settling on my chest.

  We lay like that for a while, savoring the moment we hadn't been sure we'd be able to have.

  “Go get some rest and relaxation, we'll fight these bastards side by side now,” I said.

  “Such a romantic,” she said, raising herself so I could see the amused expression on her face.