“Yes sir,” Edwards said, picking up the tablet his eyes not seeing it for a minute as he quelled his anger. The President must be making sure to keep the Prime Minister unaw… Shit. His mind reeled as he looked at the massive forms of powered armor rushing through Hachiro. Massive creatures that looked as if they were wearing HAPA’s.
“It looks like the Avarians have picked a side,” he said putting the tablet on the table.
“You said that he wasn’t capable of getting forces here for another week, let alone the Avarians. While in your report you called them ‘Mindless beasts with no understanding of tactics only a lust for bloodshed’,” the Prime Minister of Russia said as if he was quoting Edwards exact words.
“You also said that ‘they seem to enjoy two things, fighting and credits. It might be possible to buy them from Salchar’,” the Chinese General Secretary and President said. Anyone that thought Xi Biwu was harmless was a fool, Edwards didn’t even feel a tremor of rebellion in his body as he kept his mouth resolutely shut while his anger ate at his stomach lining.
“There is still the…” Edwards started.
“No there is not,” Prince Majdi Saud said, his normally dark eyes black. Again Edwards bit back a retort. “I am removing my support from this endeavor, but I will leave you with one piece of advice. Those fighters might look like savages, but they are loyal. They have broken off all trade with Earth as soon as they heard it, and they must have left as soon as they could.” A video played creatures yelling ‘Salchar!’ in a heavy accent not of Earth. “Salchar is their master and a good one from the way that they follow him. They will not abandon him and they will not be forgiving.” His eyes came to rest on Edwards, he thought he saw those eyes go colder and hungrier for a moment before his feed stopped.
I shouldn’t be listening to that asshole. There’s not just a chance left, we will win and then we will see who is giving ultimatums.
He looked to his President who was staring at the star-map without seeing it. Edwards noticed the ships moving on Hachiro in red outlines.
The might of the American military will smash them back to their useless planets and show how strong America is once again.
“We cannot go back now, Salchar is coming. It seems that we can expect more than our pessimistic estimate of his forces,” the President said.
“And their abilities,” the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said.
The President looked as if he had eaten something sour as he nodded, looking at the leaders of the conference, the nation-leaders that had devoted their resources, time and people to the cause of taking Salchar’s power from him.
America, Mexico, Egypt, Brasil, Argentina, Chile, the United Kingdom, Russia, Norway, Germany, Poland, what remained of Japan, Spain, France, Portugal, South Korea and until a few minutes ago the United Arab Emirates had representatives at this table. Other countries were deeply connected to the mining operations going on in the asteroid belt and had refused the group. Politicians looking after the interests of their people in the stars, like Canada, Australia, Norway, South Africa, Greenland and Iceland had made it clear who they supported. Soon enough they would find out the price of their betrayal. Edwards thought, not without some smug satisfaction.
Other nations had been more of a liability than a use and had been dismissed out of hand. Switzerland, stayed neutral and no one wanted to mess with the Swiss. India was already building a large colony on the Moon and were planning to make another on Mars. They’d been excluded due to how close they’d become with the Free Merchant Fleet and the Free Fleet personnel.
Alliances had shifted in a way that Earth hadn’t seen in centuries.
“I believe that it is time for us to deploy all our forces to attack Hachiro and Mars,” the President said, looking to them all.
Edwards felt pride ring in his chest as he stood straighter.
“What if the Free Fleet just come straight for Earth?”
“They will not fire on us as the Syndicate did, they can’t, there are humans on those ships, and they’d rebel if they did that. Other planets wouldn’t look on them with kind eyes if they slaughtered innocents. We need to reinforce our people and take Hachiro and Mars. If we get prisoners all the better. With the reports from Daestramus we know that the Free Fleet will not leave behind a single person if they can help it. They won’t shoot their stations or their training facilities out of the sky. We strike now to hold what we already have and advance our forces onto Nancy and the asteroid belts,”
“What of the AMC on Earth?” The Prime Minister of Russia looked to Edwards.
“They and their families have been rounded up by the majority. The recruiting stations have sealed themselves in and we have been unable to enter the premises. Less than a third of the AMC contingent on Earth made it to their bases, we have advised them that if they attempt to leave their camps then we will bomb them. We have assets in position to carry out these attacks if necessary,” Edwards said with confidence.
Grim faces looked to one another.
“I vote that we send in our forces to assist those already engaged with the Free Fleet,” the President said, raising his hand.
Other hands rose and Edwards hid the hungry look that threatened to overtake his face.
***
“It looks like Earth has finally devoted their reserves,” Vort said, I looked up to the main screen as the map of Sol added thirty ships to the enemy roster as they moved past the moon, towards Mars and Hachiro.
Min Hae’s people might have been blindsided by the fact that Edwards, that was supposed to be cooped up in the middle of nowhere, had been in fact planning this entire campaign since he had returned to Earth. Even our contact, nicknamed Knox had been unable to see this. It was believed that he was dead now.
As well too many of my other people. I thought, familiar anger fighting to break through my tightly held veneer of control.
“How long until the Chaleelians and jump ships arrive?” I asked, looking to In Sook. Rick was off shift, eating and sleeping. It had nearly taken a direct order from me, but he had been satisfied with the promise that we would switch and I too would get some rest before we got to Earth.
“The Jump Ships will be arriving in two hours and the Chaleelians will arrive in twenty nine hours,” In Sook read off of her screen.
Thirty-three hours before we get there, two and a half days.
“Thank you In Sook,” I said by reflex, my mind trying to figure out how to speed up the fleet. There was one option and I didn’t like it.
Breaking us apart will only make us weaker. Yes there is a part of you that wants to be there with your entire fleet and charging it right into battle. Thinking that is the only reason you’re keeping them back is idiotic. Resilient is badly damaged, Eddie is surprised that she’s handling the stresses so well. One hitch and her generators will rip us apart. Having people show up in parts and parcels will deny their effect as a complete fighting force. No once we get there then I can pull apart my formations if needed. Doing it here could only complicate things.
“We will be ready to engage the projectors in another two hours,” Ben, a Kuruvian, said from his post at navigation.
“Good, pass on my praise to the helms people of the fleet, they and you have done a great job of getting the Fleet this far and at this speed,” I said, looking into the Kuruvian’s eyes.
“Thank you commander, it is an honor. I will pass it along as you say,” he said, his arms crossed and went still in a sign of great respect.
I tiled my head in a slight bow before clunking my way to my chair in my powered armor.
Krom and Shreesht sat behind me, I could feel the anger that seemed to radiate off of them. I felt it course through my veins as well.
We were passing through the space between systems, star light, older than humanity could comprehend shined down on our machines of war.
Eighty ships, ranging from Imperial classed Dreadnoughts like Resilient to the four squadrons of five corvettes moved thr
ough that light with deadly intent.
As of yesterday a tentative agreement had been made for the founding of the Union, six governing bodies had attached their seals, signatures and prints to the document. I had submitted my own finger print via FTL relay transmission.
Daestramus, the system Quarst, the Kuruvian Empire, Avar Interim Hermanti, Chaleel and Parnmal representing the Merchant Free Fleet were the signators.
The Earth ambassadors had been ignored in their want to sit in on the talks.
It seemed that they, unlike their masters understood what was happening, they had seen the fleet leaving Parnmal after all.
***
“How are we looking?” Felix asked his people, tired faces looing back at his own. They were all sitting in the mess, a slew of food filled the table they sat at. They ate as they talked, time was running out and there was only a few hours until they ran into the forces between them and Hachiro.
“We have one laser cannon back online, though its cooldown is going to be long,” Salhunda said. “The PDS are still good, my team was able to bring a number of units back online,” Gunther said.
“Good work, How about shields?” Felix’s eyes fell to Gunther.
“They’ll hold for a while, we don’t have many spares, we were going to get them from Nancy,” Gunther said his brows knitting together in annoyance. He’d been blaming himself for that since they had come out of jump into their attackers.
“No one could have predicted this, it got past even Min Hae,” Felix said, his voice making it clear that Gunther better stop thinking along the lines of him failing.
“Yes sir,” Gunther said, his voice harsh, losing friends would make anyone think of ways that they might have gone about saving their lives.
Felix didn’t need to ask about the wormhole generators, he’d personally spent four hours looking at them and trying to figure out a way to fix them before giving up on the futile exercise.
“Well let’s get this food away and then we’ll see if we can’t make these bastards pay dearly for facing Elshurvum.” His eyes were dark, the quick smile gone from his lips.
***
It was two hours later that things started getting interesting.
“We have missile launches from the Earth Force ships,” Salhunda said. The Earth force ships were merchant freighters that had been pulled apart to stuff racks of missiles, a few railguns and their own version of PDS into and on their hulls. They were ugly things.
And unarmored. Felix thought with a savageness that he had not felt since taking Parnmal.
“Well it’s about time we gave them a response. Salhunda,” Felix said, looking to the diminutive looking Sarenmenti.
“Krofo, fire when ready,” Salunda said, his voice clear to the five people that manned the massive carrier’s consoles.
Krofo replied by discharging his cannon. It took a matter of seconds to slice through anything in its path and smash into a freighter with all the delicacy of a steel hammer against a fine-paper-thin porcelain cup.
“I’m getting a new plot update and a message from Silly,” Dasqa said.
“What?” Felix asked, surprise pulling the words from him.
“I thought that you might as well have some more toys to play with,” Dasqa said, looking to Felix.
The shared a mutual look of confusion before Dasqa looked back to her console.
“Multiple Jump signatures appearing all around us Commander!” She said in an almost panic.
Felix felt a lump rise in his throat in fear.
No, no, please!
His eye noticed something, something that he had seen for months and months, something he had recognized.
No! Something I built.
***
The convert ship Wasp was hit by the laser cannon he had seen in action against General Davidson’s forces. It was every bit as powerful as it had been then. The converts forward section was mauled, anything explosive in those forward sections had ripped through the remainder. Leaving it a floating hulk of metal, a marker of three hundred people’s deaths.
Ship Commander Salinzki looked at the wormholes that ripped through the space between him and his quarry.
“Get me the identity codes on the fucker trying to take our prize,” he said through gritted teeth, his knuckles white with pressure, looking to his first officer. Even after seeing what the carrier was capable of at a distance did nothing to make the loss of an entire ship in a few seconds any less painful. That pain turned into biting anger, his words.
“Yes sir!” Demikov said, the same acid fear-fueled-anger filling his words.
Though whoever it is, they’re a risk-taker for jumping so close to all of these ships. It must be impossible to calculate it. That thought made him frown, that frown turning into a wide eyed stare as fighters came through those wormholes. Jump fighters, five wings of them.
He had heard about the craft, they were erratic, most would say suicidal. Their capabilities were not that well known, other than their ability to jump frequently, thus their name.
No one had told him about the missiles that hid in their internal storage, or the possibility for them to mount external racks.
Twenty-five jump-fighters unleashed a barrage of seven missiles each in their first two seconds of emergence, another seven two seconds later.
In twelve seconds they had dried their external racks, sending just over one-thousand missiles at Captain Salinzki’s fleet.
“I want all PDS on those missiles, flush our magazines to take them out!” He yelled, coming out of his seat, spittle flying from his mouth.
Wide eyes from around the bridge focused on the cluster of warheads coming at them, as if trying to determine if they would be spared or not.
A few were taken out before the missiles split into ten payloads each. These were the new multi-warhead missiles that had been designed to be used against the Kalu. Salchar didn’t have any other missiles to supply them with when they had rushed forward towards Elshurvum’s aid.
Now seven-thousand missiles raced against Salinzki’s defenses, they crashed like waves against the shore, striking missiles and running into rounds that had filled the space between the Earth forces and the Free Fleet jump-fighters and their carrier.
Salinzki watched, his mouth dry and his eyes wide as warheads ignited with the brilliance of suns. They rolled in like a merciless storm. Ships were ripped apart by forces that would make Gods look.
The angry tide rolled in. The carrier’s single cannon had enough time to charge, Salinzki looked to the plot. People screamed in panic. Their searching eyes had found their answer in that invisible light that smashed through rounds and debris like a train through the rain.
***
Salchar didn’t smile or cheer like the others on the bridge when Elshurvum cleared Hachiro.
The rest of the ships from AIH were happily hammering into the Earth Forces moving to their other comrades in Mars’ orbitals. Thirty had swelled to fifty-five with the ships that had been covering Hachiro and waiting for Elshurvum.
None of them strayed far from Hachiro in case they gave the Earth Forces an opening.
General Davidson’s ships were still coming, heading now towards Mars instead of Hachiro. All thirteen of them that had survived Elshurvum were making sure to go around the Free Fleet ships as much as possible.
Another hundred reinforcements from Earth, followed just three days behind. Earth forces consisted of one-hundred and sixty-eight converts of all sizes and types left.
The AIH had brought thirty and twelve active ships had been in the system already.
Earth had nearly four times the Free Fleet in hulls, and firepower seeing as there were just two Battle Cruisers and seven Destroyers. Nine Cruisers and twenty-four corvettes rounded out the remaining ships. One Battle Cruiser had pulled back due to battle damage with the Carrier Elshurvum which couldn’t be counted in that number due to its damage. Two Destroyers were effecting repairs and one cruiser and four corvettes
were with the Battle Cruiser in protecting Elshurvum.
“Update on the Chaleel,” I asked, my voice calm and concentrated, cast against the cheers and yells of my crew.
“Twenty-seven hours,” Rick said, the smile that had been on his face falling away.
“Let’s hope they can hold out that long,” I said, pulling up a map of Hachiro which had gone from a mass of red, green and mostly yellow to resolute green and red with the green forces pushing the red back with unrelenting force.
Chapter Fools tread heavily
“Alright lads, we have them on the ropes. Yes they got their carrier back and yes their jump fighters came out of nowhere. This, this is a real battle, not the kind for the navy pukes. Here we show these Armored Marines what real Commandos can do!” Royal Marine Commando Colonel John Harris said, looking at his men that wore dull green powered armor and HAPA’s. Most of the powered armor had a cobbled together look to it, because it had been thrown together with the limited knowledge of Earth.
Their armor showed scraps and signs of use. Harris was proud of his men. He lifted the new model L85A3, loading a round into the bullpup rifle. It fired seventy-five caliber rounds and took a few to penetrate armor but they were familiar and a show of British engineering.
The shuttle bay’s doors opened, showing Mars below them.
Harris closed his communications channel as his own shuttle headed towards the vista he could see through his elite seat next to an armored porthole.
***
Delahil refused to look away from her main screen as she watched the forces around Mars start dropping troops onto the planet. It seemed that they were trying to see if the original forces at Hachiro could clear and hold the station before they fell down to the planet’s surface.
Preference had disappeared as it became clear that they now needed to take and hold Earth, then focus on the station when reinforcements came.
From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) Page 10
