From the Black (Free Fleet Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  Missile after missile hit the Kalu that had been centred on the Syndicate fighters.

  Thousands of fighters perished.

  “Get me those fighters’ comms,” Lifendi said, it was about time someone got them sorted out.

  “You’re on sir,” A comms officer replied.

  “Alright you bastards, you wouldn't be fighter pilots if you didn't have a damn death wish! We've cleared the way, it's time to show those damned Destroyers and warriors how the Syndicate will use every damned dirty trick we have to win! Get your shit together and crush these Kalu fuckers!” Lifendi said with anger that made him want to be those fighters, to press the attack upon the enemy.

  He looked to his display, seeing what else he could do to assist the fighters, draw the fire from them and hurt the Kalu as much as possible.

  “Get me any ships that are still manned,” The line crackled to life, his connection to anything outside of Rosho was being wiped away as fighters took down communications relays on the surface.

  “Our fighters are going to charge the Kalu ships. Now is the time to rush them and put as much damned hurt on them as we can. Hit them with everything that you have,” Lifendi said. Ships responded, they looked like water ships of old, Kalu ships attached to their armored sides like limpets as they rushed towards the nearest Kalu ships. It was uncoordinated and messy as the ships charged outwards at the surrounding sphere of Kalu.

  The Syndicate fighters flew off in five groups, right behind the Kalu ships. The ships hadn't turned to face them, showing how little they thought of the fighters.

  The fighters were low on ammunition but they made their reaction mass and ammunition count. They hammered engines with rail cannons and plasma, the engines, so close to the power cores, ended in explosions as the reactor's shielding was breached. The fighters hunted down the Kalu savagely. They had taken out tens of ships before some of the Kalu started to move their ships to attack. Kalu fighters swarmed their own craft, covering their brothers as they joined their number. Missiles were reserved for these groups.

  Swarms converged from other parts of the Kalu Sphere, they headed for the Syndicate fighters. They were now operating independently or in groups less than four. This made it harder for the swarms to strike them down quickly, having to move from one spread out individual group to another.

  The ships that were dealing with their own boarders moved as fast as was possible towards the Kalu. Their engines were weak due to the damage they'd taken, internally or from the earlier engagement. Now they weren't engaged by Kalu ships as got into weapons range. Their cannons that were still operational blazed as they laid into the Kalu sphere.

  Ships fell, the Kalu moved, but either because of their honour, or the fact that their forces were aboard the ships that attacked they tried to land on them, instead of firing back.

  “Take this to the black with you!” One Captain bellowed over an open channel as he linked all of his computers again. Lifendi saw alarms ring out over all channels, an AI had formed. The alarms went silent. That only happened if the AI had been contained, or it was already formed.

  AI's were formed when enough computing power had been interlinked and given enough complex commands that problems needed that massive computing power to solve those issues. In solving those issues the computing power combined and created something capable of thinking of non-linear patterns and start thinking of sorting out problems that it came with. It searched for information and fought for its very survival.

  Batteries that had been quiet on the Dreadnought came to life as the AI's processors churned out thoughts in the millions per second and realized that for it to find out more, it needed to get clear of the threats around it.

  “We have AI creation event,” A comms officer said.

  “Hopefully the damned inorganic can do some good,” Lifendi growled. The AI controlled ship seemed to have sorted out shields and propulsion as well, the ship powering away from the Kalu as shields took incoming fire and missiles. Unleashing its own weaponry without any real co-ordination.

  ***

  “Commander, an AI has been generated in Rosho system,” Devastahli said, his voice hard and filled with purpose.

  Commander Whorst looked to the holographic image of Devastahli which was turned to him, even though Whorst couldn't see Dev's eyes, he felt his every expression being watched.

  “Get me Commander Cheerleader, and Dev, I do not know how much this could possibly mean to you, but I cannot risk War Station,” he said, though clearly not finished as he talked over Devastahli's attempt to talk. “Though I will see if she will free Light Runner and Covesa to greet your new family member,” Whorst's eyes bored into Dev, AI and human staring at one another. There was a trust there, and a hope.

  “Commander Cheerleader is online,”

  “Whorst, what is it?” Cheerleader asked awake, but still groggy, apparently the fleet commander had been sleeping.

  “An AI has been created in Rosho system. I am asking if Light Runner would be freed to enter the system and communicate with the AI?” Whorst said, knowing it was better to tell her why he was calling her, instead of apologizing for waking her. There was a few tense moments before she replied.

  “Do it, they are not to engage in battle at all, make sure that the Relays are open in-case they need that to communicate with the new AI,” she said, her tones crisp and authoritative.

  Whorst looked to Dev who nodded slightly.

  “Thank you commander, I will see to it,”

  “Next time, please have the AI's contact me directly, while this is a member of their race, this fleet is made up of many. Running off to attempt to save one at the possibility of losing thousands is unacceptable,” It was clear who that point was intended for. Devastahli might be one of the most powerful known creation, yet even his holographic representation seemed to cringe at the promise in those words. Commanders in the Free Fleet were not to be crossed, nor was the code of the Free Fleet.

  ***

  Commander Smith watched as Rosho was pummelled and swarmed. He had rooted for the Syndicate fighters as they threw themselves at their attackers.

  Now he watched in shock as the newly created AI's ship spewed atmosphere, it looked to have opened all of its airlocks. Weapons came alive each of them hitting a Kalu ship. Gunners were good at their job, but the Dreadnought was pin-point accurate, ships rolled away, exploding or damaged as the Dreadnought's batteries blazed, PDS were focused into a single beam, actually gouging into Kalu ships, missiles flew free, and the Dreadnought slowed its progress.

  The Carrier Light Runner transited into the system.

  Smith watched as the bandwidth on the FTL relay plummeted.

  There was a few minutes of the Dreadnought's targeting changing as it found weaknesses in the Kalu ship's design.

  Alerts fired off as a Battle Carrier went AI, then a Destroyer. The captains of the ships, knowing that they were going to die, turned their ships into AI's maybe the y hoped the AI's would be able to save them. Maybe they wanted to hurt the Kalu as much as damned possible, maybe they'd just simply given up.

  The FTL relay was fully taxed out as Light Runner shunted information to the AI's.

  Smith remembered a little bit in a class on AI familiarization he'd undertaken before going aboard War-Station.

  AI's at their creation sucked up all the knowledge possible. The faster that information was available, the faster they could become fully aware, instead of continuing on their original processes and commands they had been given.

  Smith opened a line with Light Runner and Covesa that resided within it.

  “Could you use us as relay stations to get information around the Kalu formations?”

  “Yes, do it,” Covesa said, as if she was holding an unbearable weight while others looked on, not lending a hand.

  Smith changed channels.

  “Position your ships around the Kalu formation, we're going to directly link Light Runner to these ships,” Smith said.
Jump fighter's plotted their points, moving in order of jump. It was the easiest way to control the Jump fighter and not have collisions. A way to look at it was an American football playbook. The Jump fighter each designated an area that they could jump into, like a coverage zone. Each Jump fighter had a coverage zone so that they didn't run into one another. Then there was position specific plays, like runs. Each Jump fighter would pick a place where they were going, according to their assigned number. So the first would pick a place, jump, second would check their place wasn't the same as the first, and then jump and so on.

  With the first Jump fighter's there had been a huge issue of converging. All of them had been MEF fighters, all of them wanted to come in on the perfect angle and run. The institution of a football-like playbook for their manoeuvres simplified the hell out of things.

  Jump fighter's had got damned quick at it as well. The ships accelerated or jumped close to their intended position. It took nearly an hour to get into position, another Destroyer had gone AI in that time. Even though that was fast as all hell, Smith knew that getting Light Runner linked was essential.

  Smith checked that everyone was in position, flicking over to Light Runner's comms.

  “Good here,” A laser beam which had to have been sent a good five minutes ago touched the Jump fighter's that were close to Light Runner, information passed through the linked ships like synapses firing through a human's body.

  “I guess this is what an AI's umbilical cord is,” Smith said.

  “You would be correct in that analogy Commander Smith,” Covesa said five minutes later, as Smith remembered his comm with her was still open. He couldn't help but think she sounded as a mother would after giving birth.

  “Well come on Gal you've got some kiddos to sort out!” Smith grinned inside his helmet, hoping to inspire her to push, once again.

  “No rest in this fleet!” she said a few minutes later, time lag making the conversation painfully slow as her voice turned metallic as it was clear she was increasing her output.

  There was nothing that Smith could do there and hope that his people's efforts would help one AI try to help the newborn of her kind.

  The destruction the AI's were visiting upon the Kalu was something to behold. Ships of every kind were reaching the Kalu, their captain's connecting every system they had together, in order to bring their no longer manned weapon systems online.

  Smith knew that the situation must have been dire inside those ships. He remembered the videos and stories from those that had engaged the Kalu in hand to hand in the fighting in Heija system.

  It wasn't inconceivable that there was just the command crew and a few holdouts left. The Kalu didn’t care for power systems or shutting off the ship, they gutted the ships of personnel. The only time they destroyed power systems was when it was between them and their prey.

  Smith didn't lie to himself, he felt slightly sorry for the Syndicate, they had no idea what would descend on them. He didn't think that they didn't deserve it, but there was still a part of him that reached out to them, knowing the hell that they were going through.

  Karma is a bitch. He thought coldly, remembering a sister he didn't talk about, he found out later that she had stood with the beginning of the Free Fleet, when it had been a thing of armory meetings and whispers. She had been killed with the battle for Parnmal.

  She had been his little sister and the Syndicate had killed her out of their greed.

  “Well Sis I got them for you, now we just have to deal with the black's own demons,” he said quietly, looking at the damned Kalu.

  The Kalu had been reduced to half of their number. That was no small feat. Though it was still only half of their number, there were hundreds of ships pressing home their attack. That number didn't even begin to include the number of Kalu fighters.

  Chapter Rosho, a rock against the Kalu Sea

  Edvasho had seen little of the fighter battle happening outside of Rosho. All he knew was that instead of pressing all of his forces forwards. Orshpa had kept most of his forces back, only sending some of the warriors and fighters to aid in taking the station. Edvasho saw as ships were destroyed from being so far from battle, the fighters getting behind them and raking them as if they were some kind of farmers!

  It had taken longer than Edvasho had hoped to get to the base of the guns, multiple smaller weapon systems had cut down many of the horde with him.

  He didn't stop moving as he got to the base of a planetary cannon, it was massive, and 50 veteran Kalu could go around the base with comfortable space on either side.

  Edvasho didn't think of much but getting the cowards and tricksters that resided inside of the station. His claws ripped into the cannons armor, leaving grooves in it. He kept going, the cannons plating then innards started to drift away from the station. Edvasho would yet close with this enemy.

  ***

  “They've breached Rosho!”

  “Get Units moving to the breach, put it on screen,” Lifendi snapped, he was in his element, he didn't know if it was because he had gone beyond sleep. He knew what awaited him at the end of this all, he would soon have all the rest he wanted, for now he would live, live like he had never lived before.

  The main screen moved to highlight a battery of planetary cannons.

  Seems like there was a weakness in our armor, our guns.

  “Have our forces move so that they are ready to support gun crews. I want all gun crews in armor,” Lifendi was confused by the calm surety that filled his voice.

  At the end, when the outcome is clear, mishaps become a much smaller issue.

  Alarms went off as the Kalu pierced the base of the planetary cannon, tens of them went flying away as pressurized gasses were pulled into the void of space. The bodies of gunners followed that gas out as the massive cannon tilted slightly, it was a painful few seconds before the cannon's last restraining supports were either cut by the Kalu in their race into Rosho, or the pressures of the gun crew’s air. The cannon tumbled free of the station, taking Kalu and whatever had been kept in place by it.

  The area behind the cannon quickly ran out of air as gun crew members fired at the Kalu that rushed in through the new breach. There was only a token force left now, most hadn't been wearing their suits as it made it harder to use the cannons.

  “Operate the Cannons on remotes,” Lifendi ordered. Tactical averted their eyes from the main screen, passing orders to get those cannons online and firing still.

  Each of those rounds could rip through a Star Destroyer, Lifendi was not going to have them sit idle if he could help it.

  “Have our people put breaches on the doors leading out of that compartment, we'll use the pressurized air to our advantage. All weapons are cleared for use,” Lifendi said. That kind of order was rare to hear, especially with some of the modified weapons that certain Syndicate members used.

  The communications officer grinned ferally, passing on the information as they pulled out a plasma pistol, changing out power cells and the barrel.

  The way the officer's hands moved made Lifendi wonder what the creature had been doing before they decided on being a communications officer.

  The Kalu over ran the surviving gun crew members in minutes, pulling them apart with their claws and fangs.

  There had to be hundreds moving across the surface to the new breach, other groups were trying to get through other weapons mounts, more than one gun crew chief had ordered some armored personnel to clear his guns. Most had survived so far. The Kalu fighters were falling away, turning towards the other ships, not because they had cleared all of Rosho's weapons, but because shooting at Rosho was as likely to kill the tens of thousands of Kalu, as it was to hit the actual station.

  Lifendi had no doubt they would be back, he had a plan to get them back after all. He looked at one of his numerous consoles, checking the status of the shields.

  “I want those damned ships, screw the fighters, if they have nowhere to get fuel then they're fucked,” Lif
endi said, casting a glance to his own fighters, their numbers were now down to less than a hundred, they had done their job and then some. It seemed that every ship that made it to the Kalu Sphere had gone AI. Eight ships still survived, they had claimed at least twenty times their number of kills. A shiver went down Lifendi's spine as he thanked the dark he hadn't ever faced an AI.

  The Kalu had come with one hell of a fleet, but now there was only two thousand ships left around Rosho. Lifendi had bled four thousand ships. There was still many times that number of Kalu fighters, but their number had been hammered down in the thousands.

  Rosho still belched weapons fire from its still operational and not at all inconsiderable batteries. Kalu ships fell to this fire as fighters ran from swarms attacking or strafing as many Kalu ship's backsides before the swarms caught them. The AI controlled ships were pounded as they were a sea of fire, they stumbled and staggered, every single weapon they had firing, lines of fire lancing out at their enemy ships. Swarms now descended on these ships, Freed from Rosho, and reinforced by fighters that had refueled or been repaired enough to continue flying. Every Fighter had been deployed now, they moved to join with swarms or created their own as they hunted down their targets doggedly.

  Lifendi looked to the Free Fleet ships in the system, there was a Carrier moving closer to Rosho and its Kalu forces, the damned jump fighters encircled the Kalu for some unknown reason.

  Lifendi traced lines between the jump-ships and back to the carrier.

  “They're sending messages through tight beam. To the newly created AI's?” He said under his breath, surprised at the conclusion he'd come to.

  Why would they try to communicate with AI's? He cast his mind back to the rumors he had heard. There had been some about the Free Fleet working with AI's. He tapped his arms that must have been the reason. The Free Fleet were working with AI's they were trying to recruit these ones, or maybe give them the information to kill more Kalu.