“Well we're going to need room to expand. Parnmal is a sector station for a reason. It's easy to get here from a lot of different systems. We're not just going to be a base. I hope for Parnmal to become a place for trading to.”
The man had foresight that was for sure. Evelyn respected Salchar. He didn't act like he was any more important than anyone else. He made mistakes and freely admitted that he did. Though he was one hell of a tactician. That said, she had known many other respectable people, and more than one were found to have nasty vices. His results were not to be denied, but in her line of work people were rarely what they appeared to be. He had pounded a fleet that had outnumbered him five to one. Now he was going to meet a planet that had possibly been under the thumb of the Syndicate for over a hundred years. So he had given her a ride on the Resilient, though under no circumstances was she to get in the way of the ships operation.
She had done a few pieces already, submitting them through the FTL communications systems. People on Chaleel and AIH were sucking up any information she put out. Earth had been less receptive of the pieces she had done by herself, which was one of the reasons Rick said he had also hired one of Evelyn's biggest critics. It made sure that there was a contrast of information, not just one person's opinion. It was damned infuriating.
“Francis, you know we can't go on the gun deck?”
“Can't or won't?” he challenged as Evelyn controlled her desire to yell at him.
“Can't. If we start going in places we aren't supposed to we're going to get sent back home in disgrace,”
“The stuff behind closed doors is the stuff we need to watch,” Francis yelled back as a few others nodded.
“I agree that some doors need to be looked behind, but the weapons deck is not one of them,” she said.
“They're just guns. It's not like we haven't seen guns before,” Francis replied, talking to her as if she was a child.
Don't rip his head off, don't rip his head off. Evelyn silently chanted.
“Yeah we've seen guns. But have we seen ones that have the power to level Britain in one hit? These aren't weapons that kill one or two people. If a railgun can get past the shields and armour of another ship it can cause it to explode if it breeches the fusion plant. If that explosion was inside Earth's atmosphere it could set the air on fire and make it uninhabitable,” she hissed, as Francis waved her argument away.
“Our viewers need to know what the Free Fleet is all about. We're not going to do that documenting planets, or how the FTL network is growing.” He looked to the other reporters to gather their support. “We have an opportunity here. We shouldn't squander it,” he said as the majority of them agreed with him. He looked to Evelyn, who shook her head and raised her hands.
“Fine. Don't come to me when Salchar says that you've violated the terms of your stay.”
“Look at Edwards. I doubt anyone wants him here, but they still deal with him. No one wants to mess with Earth,” Jin Lee said with a confidence Evelyn found largely misplaced.
“Alright. This is on you though,” she shrugged as she stood and left, going to the nearest observation bubble.
The room was actually rectangular but a clever use of screens had made it appear spherical, and as if it was in space, except for the entrance and the floor.
Evelyn sighed as she opened her book, slowly getting lost in it. She was in the middle of the action when an alert passed over her data pad.
“Gunnery deck two, left side, now!” It was from Chief Zor. Evelyn closed her book, and got onto a transport, watching as people jumped on and shot through Resilient's massive structure to other positions.
She got off and found two gun crew members waiting for her.
“Where are the idiots?” the sighed.
“This way. They're being lectured by chief Zor right now,” one of them said. Evelyn was not at all surprised by the sympathy in the gun crew members’ voice, as she could already hear the Chief's voice a number of bulkheads away from him.
“I know you've all seen weapons, hell Commandos walk around with them all the damned time doing training! But these are not the simple fucking pop guns you know! Ah! Ms Evelyn!” he said as Evelyn winced at the volume of his voice.
“Chief Zor,” she said to the Sarenmenti chief gunner. He looked quite ticked off at the cowed group of reporters in front of him.
“Now we can get on with this fricking presentation.” He herded them towards a classroom which dimmed as Zor talked into his comms system. “Now get recording and pay attention!” Zor rolled as the screen in the room came alive with a view of an asteroid. “Seems the only way you lot can learn is if you record it!”
Something shiny was moving towards the displayed asteroid. The view changed as it zoomed in on the Corvette which passed over the asteroid. The view zoomed out again and the Corvette looked to be the size of gnat against the asteroid.
“Gunnery crew three, one round,” Zor said. Power surged into the gun bay next door and everyone felt the round as it departed the rail cannon.
A plume rose from the asteroid as Francis scoffed, then an explosion ripped through it. The view zoomed in as debris moved away from the asteroid. It was clear there was a massive hole in the asteroid now.
“Jameson, how big you think that hole is?”
“Bout the size of Resilient,” a woman said, the shrug in her voice evident and audible to the entire room.
“That target was unarmoured, without shields and didn't have anything inside it to propagate the blast. Now do you fecking see why we don't want every damned monkey in the universe knowing how our weapons work? They can rip apart planets with real ease. If you look to this new planet we're going to you can clearly see the marks of bombardment,”
“Which marks?” Evelyn asked. She smelled a story and she was damned if she wasn't going to get it. Zor grinned bringing up an image of the planet.
“These disruptions in the surface are from some kind of impact, but they aren't original impact craters from a comet. Also the fact the planet is basically in the ice age is another factor. At some time there was enough crap in the atmosphere to actually cool the planet. I'm betting it was cause the Syndicate bombarded the planet.” He chewed gum as he highlighted what looked like massive towers.
“These cities used to be spread out, but after a few kinetic strikes,” Images of massive impact craters appeared. “The planet cooled and cities were made to retain heat in order to keep people alive. Which also makes them tightly packed and easy targets. Great for control.” His voice was colder as the remains of a city appeared, a crater in the middle of it. There was a sharp intake of breath at the sheer destruction, and methodical genocide that had been reaped upon that city. “It's rather smart. With everyone in the same place, all it takes is a few rounds and blammo, nothing left. It's very cold logic but effective. The syndicate got a planet where the people have to do what they say, or they can kill millions with a single round. No one can run away and hide from them because they've made the planet turn against the creatures living on it.” He shook his head.
“Now I have to get back to making sure Resilient is ready for any threats that come her way,” he said walking out of the room as Evelyn and the other reporters tried— and failed —to cluster around him.
Zor escaped into the safety of the gunnery deck, but Evelyn was already drafting an article on the new planet and how the Syndicate were systematically grouping people together to do their labour, with the option of killing their workers with just a press of a button.
That's going to get some response, she thought as she fired it off, hoping it would get onto the FTL communications before the wormhole sucked up any signal she sent
***
General, turned Company Commander, Carsickle looked over his Commandos. He had a newfound respect for all of them. He had seen troops in battle before, but after having them under his command on Parnmal it was impossible to look at them like normal troops. Avarians, Humans, Kuruvians, Chaleeli
ans, and Sarenmenti were interspersed throughout the commando structure. It was odd seeing the blending of so many cultures, yet combined with the fact that they relied on one another to stay alive, it meant that they accommodated one another's ways and their cultural differences.
Carsickle saw Krom, Shreesht and Calerd sitting together, cleaning their weapons as they watched the Commandos go through training. Carsickle caught Krom's eye as he walked in their direction. Krom indicated Carsickle should join them.
“General Carsickle.” Krom's deep voice matched the Avarian's bulk. “Good to see you with us. I wondered how long it would be before you joined us,” he said with a smile.
“Well, I had a few things to deal with first,”
“Chaleel’s quickly becoming a space faring race. You and the governor did quick work,” Shreesht said.
“That's nothing compared to what Krom's brother Ursht is doing,” Carsickle said as Krom smirked.
“My big brother was always the ones with the plans. It's how he became battlemaster,” Krom replied proudly.
“Big brother? So, we might have found someone able to beat you in a fight,” Calerd said and Krom took on a look of fake anger.
“Other than in a game of checkers,” Shreesht said. Krom looked mildly put off as the others grinned.
“Have you played chess yet?” Carsickle asked. Simple human games had come back in a big way, a long time from one place to another meant boredom.
“I'm more into the older versions of battlefield,” Krom said as Calerd laughed.
“Probably because you can blow holes in every damned building!”
Krom's smile showed the truth to Calerd's words.
“So what is this chess?” Shreesht said, disregarding Krom and Calerd's antics in the way of people who had spent a lot of time together in such crappy conditions.
“Well, it's like checkers, but different characters can move in different ways,” Carsickle said. Shreesht clearly looked interested.
“Well, I'm out then,” Krom said as he and the others grinned at his joke.
“I'll give it a go. I'm interested by these games.” Shreesht turned to Calerd with a thoughtful look.
“Do the Sarenmenti have any games?”
Calerd thought on it before shrugging. It seems that they've picked up a few habits from the humans.
“Most of us are third to fifth iteration of Syndicate recruits. We were taken and then we bred the fourth and fifth generation. We didn't have time to think of games. Just how we were going to survive,”
Carsickle thought it sad. If Chaleel hadn't been a planet capable of making massive amounts of food he doubted if the Syndicate would have even cared for the planet, other than taking personal slaves, or extorting them for the resources that Chaleel might have. If Chaleel hadn't been contacted by other Union planets before the fall and trading resources with other planets they could've ended up like the Kuruvians, Sarenmenti, and humans. Nothing but unknowing slaves.
“There's also the fact you're the best cheats around,” Krom said as Calerd laughed.
“It makes the game more interesting!” Calerd said, grinning as Krom held his hand to his mouth as if trying to stop Calerd from hearing him.
“Never play cards with a Sarenmenti,” he said as Carsickle grinned at the sage advice. Calerd looking proud of himself as Shreesht let a huff of a laughter out.
“So, how are you liking the Free Fleet?” Krom said as he indicated to a cleaning rag. Calerd tossed it to him.
“It definitely keeps me on my toes,” Carsickle said.
“Probably Groven's boy Bexatus,” Shreesht said and Carsickle felt a familiar headache start to form.
“Has he always known how to blow everything up? Is it just his inane gift?” Carsickle asked as Shreesht laughed, looking to Krom.
“Remember the Schollax explosion?” Krom made a pained noise. He clearly did.
“So, in Mines there's a build-up of all kinds of stuff. Sometimes you could hit a pocket of something really nasty. We did with the Schollax mine. Then one day, young Bexatus was roaming around and showing off. He threw a rock into the mine. It took some time to reach the bottom but it created a spark..,”
“And the damned mine became a crater,” Krom said, obviously entertained.
“Ever since then whenever something blows up, or gets set on fire, Bexatus is usually around, or gets the blame,” Shreesht finished.
“Well, he's still got the touch,” Carsickle said.
“He messed up the capacitor in his rail gun, thinking he could fix it himself and he blew the railgun up. The quartermaster at Parnmal was not pleased,”
“How the hell did he do that?” Calerd asked, looking at his own weapon as if he couldn’t figure it out.
“I don't know, but a round that wasn't even in the chamber got stuck two hundred meters into Parnmal's asteroid.”
Everyone looked to Carsickle, a little stunned.
“Yeah, Chief Zor and Brusk have him trying to replicate it,”
“Crazy bastards,” Krom said, respect in his tone despite his words.
“How are the Chaleelians settling in?” Calerd asked and Carsickle shrugged. Looks like they weren't the only ones that picked up some other races' gestures.
“Well, the food leaves something to be desired.” Everyone grimaced. “But they're happy with it. Most of them dreamed of becoming spacers, but the only way to do that was to get on a merchant freighter. Many that did that didn't come back,”
“How many planets did Chaleel trade with?” Calerd asked as the others leaned forward in interest.
“Five, all of which haven’t been contacted since the syndicate showed up,” Carsickle said.
“And Chaleel has no idea where they came from?” Calerd asked, the other two either forgetting or done their cleaning.
“Well, we know what kind of ships they were piloting now, so we think we might have some ideas where they come from. Though we need to go through system by system to make sure our territory is clear, instead of charging right to their planets, which might be middling’s,”
Krom began putting parts of his rail gun back together.
“We'll let someone else do that. For now us three have the hardest job in the damned galaxy,” he said as parts were slotted, slapped and clipped into place.
“What's that?” Carsickle asked.
“Keeping Salchar out of trouble,” Shreesht drawled and Carsickle laughed.
“Yes, that is quite the difficult task,” Carsickle said as Shreesht and Calerd stood. They looked odd side by side, Shreesht was large by even Avarian standard, stretching his battlesuit with his muscles frame as Calerd was stooped by his Sarenmenti posture and height. His larger torso made him look overweight but he was one of the stronger people Carsickle had seen. The jaws were the oddest thing, when talking and eating a Sarenmenti's four separate jaws mashed together creating odd guttural noises without a translator. Though otherwise Chaleelian's were closer in appearance and stature to Sarenmenti than any other race.
Carsickle also had wide hips and stubbier arms compared to other races, and his head had only one jaw, but no matter their physical attributes, they were all Free Fleet Personnel.
“We're on watch for him, so we'll see you later,” Calerd said. Standing next to Shreesht he looked like a dwarf, but he moved like greased lightning when he needed to.
“Good luck boys,” Carsickle said. Shreesht gave a small hand wave as they continued their walk to the armouries.
“So I don't believe I formally challenged you to a game of chess,” Carsickle turned to Krom, whose eyes slitted.
“Is that a challenge I hear Carsickle?” Krom asked.
“Why I think it is.” Carsickle tried to sound as if he found the fact surprising.
“I'll take you up on that, only if you teach me how to play.” Krom said, moving
“Be my pleasure,” Carsickle smiled, Krom doing so as well.
“You Avarians don't get much shorter do you?�
�
“We do get wider,” Krom shrugged.
“Now I know why all the pastries are gone,” Carsickle said, a glimmer of amusement in his movements.
“I didn't mean it that way,” Krom growled.
“Commander Krom, you are admitting to putting on a few pounds. This is quite the discovery!” Carsickle said, signalling humour.
“Carsickle, I'm going to whip you at Chess,” Krom said, trying to get back to the original point of the conversation.
“We'll see,” Carsickle said, feeling like he wanted to be Krom, Shreesht, and Calerd's friend.
Can't go wrong when all of them are a damned sight crazier than yourself.
Chapter - Part of the Job
I watched as we exited the wormhole. The bridge was silent as Milra, Walf, and Krat made Resilient emerge untouched. Everyone was on alert as Walf busied himself with finding out just what the hell was in the system.
“Clear to thirty light seconds,” he said as the main plot overlaid current information on the information pulled from Bregend.
“Launching sensor missiles,” Marleen said.
The sensor missiles were another Felix and Min Hae wonder child. They blasted off at incredible speeds and used simple FTL relays to transmit back to the fleet in real-time.
“One minute clear,” Walf said as everyone relaxed minutely. Resilient was relaying the information to the gunner crews as well as the rest of the fleet that had emerged behind us.
It was a small force, but it was powerful. I was confident that it would be enough to deal with any potential issues, unless we ran into Foshunti, which shouldn't happen for some time if we were lucky.
“Picking up old chatter. I'm recording,” Vort said, working his terminal. The other ships had already reported full readiness.
“Slow,” Edwards said from behind me as a familiar headache settled over me. Edwards’s constant over watchfulness was wearing my patience severely thin. The man had become a master of finding a way to annoy me. Now he wore an anklet to make sure we could find him, something he'd raised all hell about, with mutterings of being treated like a prisoner.
Free Fleet #03 No Rest for the Wicked Page 11
